"No--" A faint cry came from the closing door of the conference hall.
"Hey…"
At this moment, William frowned, his eyes closed slightly, and he sighed heavily.
One would have thought he would no longer hold such strong sympathy, but he was still human and humans are infected with empathy.
He has classified murderers and severely sentenced prisoners as numbered D-class personnel, William holds such a mentality that people should use scumbags as test subjects to gain better value from their lives.
But those were children.
Thinking about this from another point of view...
William felt as if he couldn't bear that guilt after all.
"Hey now, it's shouldn't be uncomfortable if you have me here~ Be good."
'?'
William, who felt a deep suffering in his heart, suddenly noticed a faint softness surrounding of him.
As William opened his eyes and lowered his head.
He discovered that they soothing softness came from Halsey, who had moved in front at some unknown time, and had spread her arms to hug him tightly.
Halsey looked up at him, blinking, and whispered: "Boss, rather than regret tying them up, think about how to make up for them. For example, after their training, we can give them comics, models, and so on as rewards. We can also host some activities, such as movie nights on weekends, going to Africa and so on. Surely this will make it right?"
"Ok..."
William's heavy heart disappeared after hearing what Halsey said.
She was right.
This woman...
"Okay." William patted Halsey's head gently, and smiled: "Where else can an employee take the initiative to comfort the boss? Now let go of me, there is still much to do."
"Hee hee~ good~"
_________________
...
Due to the fact that the 14 children have not yet adjusted from the jet lag, the training plan has been temporarily suspended.
During the waiting period, they were arranged to study indoors and be taught by different senior teachers in various subjects.
William led the team back to the Kenyan military base, and under the protection of Hank and Alpha, went to South Africa to make some large purchases.
As for Halsey, she chose to not follow William, instead she chose to stay on Minos and help take care of the children.
With her there the teachers help explain to the children what anomalies are, and told them greek myths and legends at night.
Like the twelve great labours of Hercules, who rose to godhood in Olympus after his death and became a god.
Or about the Spartans, who were the descendants of Hercules, and how in 480 BC, King Leonidas led three hundred warriors to resist the feats of hundreds of thousands of Persian troops at the pass of Thermopylae.
This wasn't without purpose though as it was to help install the concept that they were Spartans and to teach the children so they understand what their responsibility was.
With Halsey's patient companionship and communication, these little Spartans slowly let go of their past, and no longer held their fear that had gripped them when they first came to Minos.
Just after these children fell asleep, Halsey would inject a strain of the T virus that she had debugged herself into their bodies.
And in the early morning, she would use use the vaccine on them again.
She did this repeatedly to gradually enhance the physical fitness of the little Spartans, in order to improve the success rate of future remodelling operations.
The Hive technical team arrived on Minos during February 26, 2007, and they will be responsible for the operation of virus injection and vaccine, as well as recording the various changes of the Spartans.
The first training had also started on the same day. Major Kent numbered each child and prohibited them from using their real names.
The number assigned by John was 7.
_________________
Spartan initial training plan and the content of the day are roughly;
①. Get up at 05:30 in the morning.
②. Run around the grounds for 5 laps (1000m/circle) without a load.
③. Eat after 15 minutes of rest.
④. 07:30 obstacle training, such as crawling through a 30-meter barbed wire 100 times, etc.
⑤. 10:00 Strength training, such as bench press, curling, etc. (This is different every day).
⑥. 11:30—13:00 Rest and lunch.
⑦. At 13:30, Anti-exposure body training began, and the gun was held flat on the beach.
⑧. 15:00 Explaining and training in target shooting, or teaching physical skills, etc. (This is also different every day).
⑨. 17:00 End of training, Rest and eat.
⑩. 18:00-20:00 For normal subject study.
11. 21:00-22:00 Free time.
12. 22:00—05:30 The Spartans are sent to bed.
For the seven days a week, only Monday to Thursday was the above content.
They would add a Load of roughly ten kilograms on Friday and go trekking and cross-country training around Minos until 5 o'clock in the evening.
Saturday was for swimming and diving training.
In the conference hall on Sunday, Major Kent explained tactical knowledge.
High-intensity weight-bearing endurance training is conducted every seven days.
Conducting a low-altitude sea parachuting training happen fifteen days.
Carrying out forest wild survival training every 30 days.
________________
...
March 11, 2007, Sunday, 18:30.
The conference hall of the Minos Island base complex;
The fourteen Spartans sat in the front row one by one, their skin had turned darker from the sun exposure, and the tenderness on their faces has faded a lot.
They were sitting upright, with the behaviour that held the temperament of a soldier.
The Spartans have been trained by Kent and other USS and UBCS for over two weeks, and they are no longer the 'children' who cried upon their first arrival.
On the podium in front of their eyes, there were several large silver metal boxes and several Alphas in suits.
And standing behind the table is William, whose skin had also become rather tanned.
William scanned over every child present, and when he saw John in the centre, his eyes paused for a moment.
Finally, he smiled and said: "Spartans, I believe that you should have gotten used to this kind of life training. But as Dr. Halsey has explained to you about the true meaning of the Spartan project and about the enemies you may face in the future. I am curious if you may also resent me. After all, I deprived you of the right to live freely, and I have become the culprit that prevent you from the right of a happy childhood..."
The Spartans replied loudly, "No, boss, it is right to pay for humanity."
Of course, William knew that these words were just Kent's teaching, and that he had made the Spartans respect him.
"Ha ha."
He smiled, turned his hand aside and said, "It's ok, I know that those words you just said are against your will. But I don't ask for your forgiveness either, that would be unrealistic. But.... *(finger snaps)*....."
The Alpha squad move with the prompt and neatly opened the boxes on the podium.
Inside them were all kinds of toys, models, comics and other items that would be seen as a Child's favourite item, and there is even parts belonging to outdoor movie equipment.
When the Spartans saw the box opened, their eyes were instantly drawn to them.
But with the discipline of soldiers that had long been installed deep in their mind they remain stoic.
Even as they gained the thought of 'Want to play and see', They remained motionless.
William put his hand aside and explained with a smile: "I also had to grow up at an early age like you, and I feel disgusted with being forced to study and train. You are Spartans, but you are also children. So…You may pick any of these, and you can play with them as you like during your free time. I promise to bring you new things daily."
'!?!'
Children are children after all.
After hearing that there are finally toys and comics to amuse them during their free time, they all showed joy, and straightened their chests more hard and loudly: "Yes! Boss!"