Germany, Waltem Star Sector, Second Space Station, City of Cang, Year 2137
Joseph was completely baffled. He couldn't understand why the recorder just wouldn't open. Was the battery dead? No, that couldn't be; the plasma battery was clearly still inside. Was it broken? That was even more impossible; the recorder was operating perfectly normally, at least from the outside, showing no signs of damage. Yet, the information module simply wouldn't open, as if the recorder had been tampered with beforehand.
Joseph refused to give in to superstition. He tried again and again to open the recorder, but undoubtedly, every single attempt failed without exception. Burgred advised him to stop trying, but with Joseph's explosive temper, it was as if he wouldn't see tomorrow unless he got it open today. Knowing better than to interfere, Burgred wisely left. The incident in the office over ten days ago was enough to shatter whatever courage Burgred had left.
Although they had completely annihilated the enemy forces last time, they hadn't captured anyone alive, so intelligence remained a significant problem. Fortunately, Joseph hadn't planned on taking prisoners anyway, since he held the recorder as his trump card. But now, at this critical moment, this trump card was useless, stubbornly refusing to open.
Furious, Joseph hurled the recorder to the ground. At least Edward could still distinguish what was important. He lunged and caught it.
Joseph drove his anti-gravity car out of the garage. This vehicle was manufactured by Porsche, though Joseph generally preferred driving Bentleys or Lincolns. After all, he was used to them from the war and didn't mind these older brands now. He picked up the other four squad members and headed to his next secret base. This base was hidden near the underground bar of the largest gang organization in Cang City. While gangsters occasionally caused trouble, at least this location helped them avoid attention and prevented them from being discovered too early by the militants.
Arriving at the secret base, Joseph attempted to activate the recorder again. This time, there seemed to be some effect. A flash of intense green light, and the recorder's blue core began to react—though only with a loud electrical hum and crackling green sparks. The specific recording module still wouldn't open properly. However, this at least restored a sliver of Joseph's confidence, enough to keep him from smashing things in anger.
Burgred and the others were tactful enough to stay outside the door. From time to time, small-time thugs would come up to curse and provoke them. Burgred couldn't tolerate it for long; he stepped forward and dealt with them in a few moves. This was despite him being injured—he had taken four bullets in his shoulder and arm. But that was comparatively minor. The "big unlucky one" of the squad had his waist completely shattered by a laser round. Although advanced medical technology had saved his life, it had left him with irreversible trauma.
Of course, Burgred was also a very intelligent man. He and the others in the squad had long understood that the enemy would embed some "advance reconnaissance units" within these gangs to surveil them. In essence, these people were detectives privately hired by the enemy. Fortunately, the Solar System Federal Committee's secret police had strong counter-surveillance capabilities, something exemplified perfectly by Burgred.
It was then that Edward spotted the pair of eyes in the darkness.
Those eyes had been following them for so long, but were finally discovered.
The others in the squad hadn't even noticed a thing.
But luckily, they had found out now. Burgred, Edward, Ankaria, and the others chose not to disturb Joseph's research. They approached the figure in black from the front. Of course, those sharp, hawk-like eyes had noticed them too, and the figure began to retreat. But with Judy's agile skills, this black-clad individual probably wouldn't escape. As the figure in black turned to flee, they found a knife already pressed against their neck.
There was no choice but to surrender.
Joseph walked out of the room.
He entered the interrogation room. What met his eyes was the figure in black, but he absolutely hadn't expected that the person who had been tailing them for so long was actually a clear-eyed, pretty girl, visually estimated to be no older than sixteen.
Of course, choosing to exchange one's own life for the organization's deepest secret was definitely a worthwhile trade—at least for the organization, it wasn't a loss.