According to Mirai's data, this gate is the most unguarded one among five to six entrances. The primary gate automatically opens, leading us to a smaller room. After we enter the room, the primary gate closes tightly. Two high-pressure pumps drain all of the water inside the room, leaving a dry space. The verification machine of the secondary gate emerges from the ground, asking for identification.
- Give me a minute. - Mirai gives me a pat of assurance on my shoulder and approaches the machine which is protruding from the ground.
A few connecting wires grow from Mirai's left arm. She plugs the wires into the machine and performs a hack. In exactly one minute, the machine is disabled, and after the primary gate, the secondary gate opens.
- Okay, done. - Mirai retracts her wires.
- Nice.
I know the outcome of Mirai's attempt by heart, but a compliment does not kill.
As the gate opens, there are specks of light, enough for us to switch back to normal vision. In front of us, there is a contemporary town, except there is nobody. As theorised, this place is just a military facility to house the occupying Intruders. But then, to construct a whole town to accommodate the Intruders, instead of just a dormitory, is quite weird. Very weird.
- The satellite data gives me a rough idea of what the place looks like, but I need to obtain more real-time data. Wait ah.
Mirai takes out a squadron of anti-radar tracking drones and sends them out in every direction. After every drone has been set in orbit, we find a place to hide and wait for the drones to collect data.
The outskirts of the dome enveloping the town are very sparsely distributed with any form of infrastructure. Instead, there are only trees and rocks, and they are not even artificial trees. The environment is modified to simulate a forest in a circular ring shape, with a thickness of about ten metres or more. We just find a tree which is sturdy enough, climb on them and sit in between the branches.
I just sit down for ten minutes or so, and my instinct spikes again. Something is watching us, and it is something I anticipate when stepping onto their territory.
Mirai stretches her arm and aims her arm in the direction of the sky, although our vision is covered by the thick layers of leaves, and she fires. An electric ray zaps in the air, forming a zigzag pattern that hits something in the air. It falls, right onto Mirai's lap. A drone with aluminium protection, which likely renders most electromagnetic wavelengths useless.
- You know what this means, right? - Mirai asks a redundant question.
- Yep. Let's move. - I also give a redundant answer.
We are exposed.
As soon as we climb down the tree, I can feel the ground rumbling. The Intruders have been deployed.
- Get ready. We will play the passive strategy here. - Mirai equips herself with a photon assault rifle.
- OK. Transmit further instruction via the shared vision.
In the forest, there is the quietness contagiously spreading throughout. Probably, the only sounds that can be heard are the creaking leaves as we try to silently move from tree to tree, the vibration of the ground and the humming of the engine as the troop of Intruders and the retaliation drones take over the area.
Soon, the evasion strategy comes to a dead end. Their numbers can easily cover every possible area.
- Yuusha, initiate the active strategy. We have dispersed their formation, so let's hunt them down one by one.
- Yes, ma'am!
The first few Intruders have entered my sight. My spectacles show an overall rating of only thirty. I switch my photon submachine gun to autofire mode and start firing my first rounds.
The laser rays hit the cores of the Intruders, and they are knocked out. The shooting sounds echo throughout the forest, alerting the Intruders about our position. We move away.
Behind our back, I can see a whopping crowd chasing after us. There is a storm of bullets and rays coming from both behind and above us, but Mirai has timely placed multiple Force Fields on the ground, deflecting them. As for my role, I try to diminish their numbers, although just a little. All of the Intruders and their drones that get close to us immediately fall under my cold barrel.
The whole purpose of this is just to buy sufficient time until the drones collect all the data that we need. While trying to sweep through the bloody forest, we also need to conserve our stamina.
- Mirai, how long before we can proceed?
- One more minute.
I try to only shoot whenever necessary, but I have reloaded my gun at least two to three times. Normally, dealing with the flock of Intruders in a neutral area is already a burden just because of their sheer numbers, and now, imagine dealing with them right inside their territory, where they can restock whatever amount of personnel they want.
Even though we try to keep a half-passive tactic, my kill count per minute has probably struck two digits. That does not seem to reduce their numbers at all, but I cannot afford to waste ammunition.
- Three... Two... One... Done! Yuusha, let's retreat!
Mirai draws a symbol in the air with her finger and flicks the finger. From the air, the faint outline of some heavily modified, medium-sized, two-person vehicle is traced. The image quickly turns into a motorcycle. Mirai has calculated the time of summoning and the running time, and as soon as the motorcycle appears, she immediately jumps onto the driver's seat.
- Yuusha, hop on. We will go straight to our first assault destination.
- Yes.
I leap onto the vehicle, and Mirai spins the handgrip. The engine starts bursting, more and more powerful, and the motorcycle starts plunging out of the forest like a strike of lightning. I try to fend off the Intruders to our side and the drones flying above us with whatever there is left in my current magazine, as we fade away from the Intruders' sight and reach the interior of the town.
The motorcycle rushes through the streets and roads of the town. However, despite being a town, there are no traces of any Intruder to be seen. Or rather, I cannot sense any presence, except for occasional drones spying on us from above, but I shoot them down right when I sense their presence.
After ten minutes, the map signals that we have entered the so-called central area, which is approximately twenty per cent of the area of the whole town. However, instead of a direct attack on the critical infrastructure, Mirai parks in front of a small house in the rear of the area. Mirai retracts the motorcycle back into the arsenal and starts scanning around with her vision.
- So, what are we doing here, exactly? - I ask.
- After the drone surveillance, the collected data shows some kind of hidden mechanism somewhere in the central area. They also manage to detect physical connections between the various checkpoints, so I assume that they play some significant role in maintaining the town. We will hack into the system via every single location and make a decisive strike after the whole system has been brought down.
She looks around, where there is only a house surrounded by walls and tree bushes, and then looks at the map again. She does that a few times before she walks toward the building and kicks open the entrance door.
- There is nothing here... - Whatever I see is just a typical layout of a house, except nobody is here.
- You mean, nothing here yet.
Mirai charges up the propellers attached to her arms and slams down. The ground is shattered and breaks open to form a large aperture.
- There it is. - Mirai shows a satisfied smile, as everything fits her data.
There is a big machine implanted under the house, with wires linked to the ground.