Chapter 90 - (6) Pentagone

The Secretary of Defense looked around him, even glancing at the President for approval. The latter gave him no reassurance.In fact, nobody dared to meet his gaze except the Chief of Staff of the Army, who gave a slight nod as though to say, "Sit down and stop making a fool of yourself in public!"Despite this lack of support for his position, the Secretary of Defense tried to maintain his dignity. "Alright, fine! Let's say this story is true. Then let's go further and say that we increase your funding… What good does that do us? What, are you going to increase your financial means, do you think you could put together an S-Tier team capable of killing this so-called Super Alpha? Are you saying that will get rid of our problem for good?"The Dean gave a deep sigh before replying. "Mr. Secretary… You don't seem to understand the full scope of this problem. In his reports, Dr. Goldberg estimated a 90% chance that this Super Alpha was patient zero of the epidemic. Back then, we knew that the Russians had captured him and imprisoned him in a military research facility in Sevastopol. Even though we'd lost that territory, at least we knew where the Super Alpha was at the time! We had an opportunity, an idea, and an objective…"The Dean shook his head in disgust. "But today we're at a serious disadvantage. We know the Super Alpha is a tremendous threat. Yet we have no idea why he has reappeared after all this time, nor what his true power is. The Super Alpha has made the first move in a new game, a game in which we don't even know the rules. That is why our situation is so dire. No, I am not suggesting by any measure that if we send a full team that we could be sure of eliminating the threat."The Secretary of Defense replied, "So we should just expect a second Great Wave and do nothing!?"The annoyed Dean replied, "No, that's not at all what I said. Let me be as perfectly clear as possible: There is a war coming. We must prepare, whether or not we like it… or even have a clean plan for victory."The Terra Corp CEO replied, "Excuse me Mr. Secretary, but that's not strictly true. The procedure Dr. Goldberg used to trace the Super Alpha Zombie may still be applied today. However, we'll need access to an S-Tier Nest Queen."The Dean's eyes almost bugged out of his skull with shock. "Capture an S-Tier queen!? You can't be serious! Queens are considered the most powerful Zombies in the nest! Just the act of killing them takes monumental effort, and capturing one intact is a risk no Hunter would take! It's pure suicide!"The CEO replied calmly, "If you have any other options, Dean, I'd be happy to hear them."The Chief of Staff cut in just then. "The Hunters will do as they always do, risking their lives where there's money to be made." He glanced at the President.The latter, seeing that everyone was waiting for his reaction, spoke up again. "Erm, alright! I've heard everyone's arguments. I… Well, I don't think we have much choice! We'll approve an increase in funding and credit for the Hunter Association. However, this will be under the condition that the objective of capturing an S-Tier Nest Queen be made top priority. We must do everything we can to bring the world back from the brink of darkness, and we can't do it without sacrifice!" The man seemed very pleased with himself for making this announcement. "Alright, get going! Reunion's over."***The following day—8amAlexandre's Hotel—Hunter IslandThe alarm clock buzzed out, waking Alexandre up. He rose and shut off the alarm, feeling well-refreshed.There was now only one day remaining before the official start of classes. Alexandre wasn't usually the type to slack off, but today he was going to make an exception. Once classes began, he knew that he'd have no time to rest. Besides, there was still quite a lot of information in the Hunter Academy database that he wanted to study.Alexandre opened his laptop and saw that he'd received a message. Unexpectedly, it was from William, the very well-to-do friend he'd made during the entrance exams. "Please meet me this afternoon…" Alexandre read aloud. "I wonder what this is all about?" he wondered.