Chapter 831 Lurker
The girl died silently, her neck was broken, and her body was caught before she hit the ground.
Before the girl exhaled her last breath from her lungs, Ariana had begun dragging the body into the maintenance bay.
The video from the small reconnaissance robot flickered at the edge of her vision. A group of three men in full-coverage uniforms turned into the passage, talking with low voices and tired eyes.
She watched them pass through the shadowed cubicles, and once they were gone, she got to work.
The dead girl's uniform fit her well enough, and when she put it on, she felt the rubber seal squeeze over her head, and at the same time noticed with a kind of detached interest that the clothes still carried the residual warmth of her body.
She had spent hours studying the girl's face through the scout robot's eyes.
But she looked at her again, trying to make sure that her facial features could roughly imitate the exhausted state on the dead man's face, while changing the size of her body. She didn't want to be noticed by someone who looked closely. It doesn't fit.
With what little time she had, she could only make a rough estimate of size and shape, even with the uncomfortable risk of error in finding the right moment to kill the girl.
But she was confident because she was the daughter of Callidus.
Then she began her routine analysis.
Inference: There are 605 seconds until the patrol assembly time, and 907 seconds before the presumed deadline for termination.
She stood up and walked into the passage. Behind her, the body was hidden in the shadows, and some kind of potion was dissolving her.
It will be discovered, but then all that will be left is a puddle of slime of unknown significance.
She began to walk quickly, rushing to the protective door leading to the assembly area, the little white hat swaying in her hands.
The entire task is actually disorganized and lacks accuracy.
She doesn't like this, not at all.
Behind her, four micro-robots following the surveillance channel were suspended in mid-air like flies, making a buzzing sound.
Soon, they landed on her shoulders, and then crawled into her hair. The rest had completed hiding, their silver bodies attached to the synthetic skin under her uniform, like larvae clinging to After worm penetration.
Leaving the shelter is not a problem, but it is not that simple either. Entering an orbital station is a low-level sub-problem. Entering a circle that she can quickly integrate into is another factor, but there is no So significant.
The importance of lurking targets is even more important; if they are too important she may not be able to break away from them, which narrows the options.
The next thing is time.
It is very likely that the Astral Knight will take action soon. The longer she delays in the orbital station, the smaller the probability of reaching her target.
On the other side of the calculation was the fact that she was moving quickly, and the mistakes that followed her haste like worms on a corpse.
Proceed too quickly, take too many shortcuts, and her plan may fail.
The time when all risk factors reach critical levels is the presumed deadline for her termination, a deadline that is approaching with every second since she killed the girl.
Inference: According to the patrol assembly time of 581 seconds, the estimated deadline for termination is 883 seconds.
She walked into the assembly area. Under the stereotyped light of lighting strips and spotlights, rows of supplies and weapons and equipment stretched into the distance
The exhaust fumes from transport trucks were dirty. From the ceiling, a strong smell of oil floated in the air, and metal sounds were ringing: the click of the metal shell when the ammunition belt slid into the ammunition box, the clang of the tracks pressing against the stone, and the bang of the hatch opening and closing. Voice.
Most of the people here are servants of the Astral Knights Chapter, and they are preparing nervously for their master's expedition.
She sees it all at a glance and derives a series of estimates for machines and people with 99 percent accuracy.
As a result, Ariana unexpectedly discovered that the Astral Knights' armament level was astonishingly high, and the ammunition and quantity prepared far exceeded the level of their personnel.
"Strange——"
"Which department are you from?"
Hearing the sound, she looked around, blinked quickly, and found that it was a person wearing a The man in gray and green uniforms was looking down at her. Rank insignia, lieutenant, department, logistics.
She realized she had not answered yet and spoke.
"Benita Mars, first-class correspondent, affiliated with the third communications department of the Unbound Soul."
She took a breath, then thought about it, and then Added:
“I was on vacation and now I’m preparing to return to work.”
The lieutenant sighed, frowning and focusing his bloodshot eyes.
The assassin immediately analyzed his physical characteristics. There was a 78% possibility of long-term insomnia, a 56% possibility of weakened motor function and limit perception, and a 34% possibility——
"Are you taking drugs?"
The girl froze for a moment, and the compulsion to look around filled her.
She felt blind, and her attention was limited to the data coming from her five senses. There might be eyes watching her, her footsteps approached, and her hand touched the weapon.
So she licked her lips and scanned the lieutenant's face.
"You know..."
A look of embarrassment appeared on the girl's face.
"Want to...find a way to stay in shape."
She once heard a soldier say these words, and then saw him drink a lot of alcohol, which seemed like a kind of explain.
The lieutenant stared at her, then nodded after a moment.
"Don't touch those things. If you want to be promoted in the future, take that road in the passenger passage, past the second row."
"Thank you."
The girl bowed, but the lieutenant was already gone.
She suppressed her instinct to run, and instead walked as she remembered people walking in a hurry.
Within a moment, she saw the shuttle she was about to take.
She had observed it from a distance before and reviewed every detail of these models.
Now it is as familiar to her as her own hand.
As she hurriedly approached, some people turned to look at her. She examined the faces, found the face whose main facial features matched the commander in her memory, and then saluted.
“We’re about to leave, hurry up.”
The female officer who spoke had a flat face that seemed to be shiny with sweat and lubricant stains, and her black hair was tangled in knots.
Lieutenant Cassandra, captain of the 9th Logistics Detachment of the Unbound Soul.
The female assassin nodded and ran towards the shuttle in small steps. The nearby passengers had already begun to enter the cabin door. They were also the crew and officers of the Unbound Soul.
As the engines started firing up, expelling hot exhaust fumes into the air, she had already found her spot.
At the same time, she wrote a string of data in her mind, which would be sent to another group of people on a neighboring planet by a secret device installed in the orbital station half an hour later.
[After about 30 standard Terran hours, the fleet of the Astral Knights Chapter will set off]
(End of this chapter)