Chapter 1535
[ 614 words ]
Claire poured the remaining medicinal broth into canteens to take with them, knowing the rest of the team would desperately need it.
While they had been delayed outside, Officer Miller was currently locked in a brutal fight for survival inside the hidden cave.
Yes, after being attacked by the frenzied boars, they had been intentionally misled by Zeke straight into this underground cavern.
Once inside, the entire squad had been incapacitated by Dreamweed gas and taken prisoner.
Miller was the only one who had managed to slip their grasp.
He desperately wanted to rescue his men, but he was vastly outnumbered.
He had inhaled the toxin as well, though his iron will and superior constitution kept him somewhat lucid. He was barely holding on.
As their commanding officer, he was determined to bring his soldiers home.
But he had never expected to find a fully staffed, heavily armed enemy cell hiding deep within the mountains.
These weren’t common thugs; they were highly trained combatants. This entire facility was deeply compromised.
Relying on decades of military instinct, Miller quickly connected the dots.
What about Zeke?
What was his true role in all of this?
His identity as a local guide was nothing but a perfect cover to move freely through the restricted mountains.
It allowed him to steer innocent travelers and patrols away from the cave, protecting the secret base from accidental discovery.
He had been running interference for this shadow organization all along.
Observing from the shadows, Miller concluded that these operatives were almost certainly from Sundara.
The exact nature of their ties to the Sundaran government was unclear, but running clandestine operations deep inside Solenia was a blatant act of hostility.
Miller’s eyes burned crimson with suppressed rage and toxins. He was trapped.
He wanted to save his men, but he also needed to get out and call for reinforcements.
He was terrified that Silas and the second team would fall into Zeke’s trap just as he had.
Ultimately, this was his failure of judgment.
If he hadn’t personally vouched for Zeke and introduced him to Silas, the second team might have hired a different guide.
“These men will make excellent test subjects. Their physical conditioning is far superior to the last batch we brought in.”
Hiding in the dark, Miller overheard the conversation.
Among the heavily armed guards were men in lab coats. What the hell were they researching?
“Doctor, these men are official military personnel. Won’t their disappearance cause unwanted complications?”
“The current crop of Dreamweed is on the verge of maturity. If a search party sweeps the mountains now, our entire operation will be compromised.”
The lead scientist, wearing a pristine white coat, scowled. “This is all
l.ne
and
because some idiot got carelexi
leaked the experimental neurotoxin outside the perimeter
If the Dreamweed toxin hadn’t been detected off-site, no one would have launched
an expedition into The Aila Highlands in the first place.
Fortunately, their heavy countermeasures had kept the area secure for years,
preventing the facility from being completely wiped out.
The doctor wasn’t the only one furious about the breach.
Another commanding voice chimed in, “We just wanted to field-test its potency.”
“Besides, Doctor, you’re about to
harvest a massive yield of
Dreamweed. Once we have an unlimited supply of the toxin, we wont have to be so conservative with its application.”
If Claire had heard this exchange, she would have immediately understood why Silas’s men had reacted soviolently to the poison. Natural Dreamweed induced mild aggression and agitation.
But the violent, psychotic breaks Silas’s men suffered were the result of an artificially amplified strain.
Someone had deliberately cultivated the plant, extracted the core compounds, and weaponized it into a devastating neurotoxin.
“Who the hell are you people?”
One of Miller’s captured men, still clinging to his sanity, finally spoke up.
Looking at the heavily armed guards and listening to their clinical discussion of human experimentation, a cold dread settled over him.
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