"Wake up, everyone. I have an announcement to make."
At 2 PM, Buck returned to the transport plane and waved at the sleeping team members.
"Get up, guys!"
Buck's tone was serious, indicating that there was a new mission.
When all the team members were awake, Buck took off his skull helmet, let out a heavy sigh, and said:
"The latest news is that Team Three didn't make it back, and Teams Four and Eight each lost two people."
"Watt?"
Hearing Buck's words, the team members were stunned.
They thought it was a mission notification, but they didn't expect it to be a casualty report for their teammates, and 14 of them had been killed at once.
"This is the battlefield!"
Zhou Yuan put down the ammunition box he was carrying and sighed.
In fact, he had anticipated this when he returned in the morning. There was a possibility of casualties in this operation.
Just talking about their first wave in the morning, if it fell on any other team, they would probably not be able to come back alive.
Moreover, the situation on the battlefield could change in an instant, and there were many worse scenarios.
It's easy to get into trouble when walking along a river.
"Tomorrow morning at 6 o'clock, we will go to Pluto again to capture some new brain-sucking worms."
"I applied for search area 4, which is where Team Three went in the morning."
"So...be careful when catching the worms."
"If conditions permit, bring back something. Their families will need it."
At this point, Buck made a gesture as if he was raising a glass and said: "Cheers to heroes!"
"Cheers to the next hero!"
Everyone took off their helmets and made the same gesture as Buck.
... ...
The next morning at 6 o'clock.
The Hunter Squad of 87 people gathered at the boarding field and boarded a medium-sized transport plane.
Today's mission was mainly to search for and capture the new worms.
There were many areas to search, and the mission would take longer, with a higher probability of encountering worm groups and worm tides.
So all members of the Hunter Squad had to participate, as did other squads.
"This is not going to be easy!"
When checking their weapons, Zhou Yuan had a bitter expression on his face.
With so many people moving together, it was unlikely that the brain worms would come looking for trouble, and they were likely hiding in the worm nest to avoid detection.
Pluto's surface area was more than 16 million square kilometers.
Finding a worm that wanted to hide and could change its location at any time in such a large area was even harder than finding a needle in a haystack.
"Listen up, guys."
"After yesterday's Starfleet bombing, there are fewer worms on Pluto, but this does not mean we won't encounter a worm tide."
"The worms that survived underground or outside the bombing zone can still easily crush a squad."
"Yesterday, we lost 14 heroes. I don't want to see the 15th hero today."
"So, keep your eyes open, report any situation at any time, and don't get separated."
After the transport plane took off, Bucky clapped his hands to attract everyone's attention and emphasized the need for caution. The Hunter Corps was his unit, and each member was carefully selected by him. The losses suffered yesterday were deeply painful for him.
"Yes, sir!" The team members responded loudly, their hearts trembling.
... ...
Soon, the transport plane landed smoothly. They landed beneath a high mountainous area, with Outpost 4 of Pluto in sight. Unlike the research center, the outpost was a security base built directly on the ground for observing insect movements. It was relatively small, about the size of a sports stadium.
"Shit, it's the work of the giant beetles!"
"A small team can't handle so many damn big stink bugs!"
As soon as they approached Outpost 4, the team erupted in curses. The defense wall of Outpost 4 was severely damaged, with many large holes created by tank beetles. There were also numerous insect corpses at the foot of the wall, indicating that the Third Squad had fought the insects on the defense wall yesterday.
"Tenth Squad!" Bucky raised his hand gently and signaled a small team to scout ahead. The Tenth Squad stepped forward, leaping into a large hole and checking the surroundings before giving a safe signal.
"Damn it!" As soon as they entered the outpost, everyone came to a halt. Under the stairs of the defense wall, there was a pool of fiery red liquid, and next to it was a rifle with a green phantom emblem.
"Seventh to Tenth Squad, go up to the defense wall!"
"Fifth and Sixth Squad, patrol the open space!"
"First to Fourth Squad, follow me and inspect the interior buildings!"
Bucky took a deep breath, hung his rifle on his shoulder, and picked up the rifle with the green phantom emblem. In a cold voice, he gave the order, "Yes, sir!"
The nine squads dispersed in formation and began fortifying their positions.
"Fourth Squad, go to the armory and bring out all the usable weapons. Second Squad, go to the main hall and check the communication and surveillance."
"One Squad, follow me. The rest of the area is ours."
After leaving the defense wall, Bucky assigned three squads to act separately. There were insect corpses everywhere, but he recognized them all, and there was no sign of new insects. So he wanted to check the surveillance footage to see what happened yesterday morning.
If there were no new insects, once they determined the fate of the members of the Third Squad, they would leave the outpost and search outside.
... ...
In the next ten minutes, the First Squad searched every building except the armory and main hall.
The Second Squad finished watching the footage from yesterday morning. The new insects did not appear at Outpost 4; it was breached by tank beetles and soldier insects. The tank beetles not only broke through the defense wall but also dug many tunnels within the outpost, coordinating with the soldier insects to capture it.
As for the Third Squad...
They arrived too late. Although they avoided the first wave of insects, they ran into the second wave head-on and didn't even have time to retreat. No one survived, and all they could find were some... incomplete body parts.
The team gathered what they could find and handled them properly before taking some items. They couldn't take the bodies with them, only the non-disruptive artifacts. They still had a mission to fulfill; that was the rule of the special operations forces.
"Take all the ammunition we can carry. Let's continue the mission!"
After a simple funeral ceremony for the members of the Third Squad, Bucky waved his hand and pointed to the arsenal that had been moved to the center of the field by the Fourth Squad.