RTS System in the Apocalypse: New World

Heh. Found you, Cell 7.

Hans’s eyes centered on the abandoned SAS outpost where dozens of blue markers overlapped.

These were Dmitri and the forward units he had sent as backup earlier.

He did not want Dmitri to continue their mission eastward. If they moved too far, they might encounter Cell 7 before Hans was ready to control the situation.

The north was also blocked by the splitting northern river flow.

Thus Dmitri’s group was stuck guarding some abandoned SAS outpost.

It wasn’t the worst place to be stuck in. But it wasn’t a great way to spend idling either.

Hans trailed eastward on the Radar map.

Near the northwestern edge of Grefort’s western districts, a group of gray dots waited.

Two drifted closer to Dmitri’s position, and the rest huddled around a structure—possibly a safehouse.

A large area around the structure was cleared of any other dots or markers.

Did they kill all the zombies nearby?

Hans pondered.

Looking at the blocks tens of meters away, he could see countless red dots still roaming around.

The clean space around the structure was not natural.

Someone had probably swept the area or scared everything else away.

Hans zoomed in further.

Four dots—no, five... six?! Hans observed carefully, recounting the dots in case he made a mistake.

Cell 7 must be larger than Johannes’ SAS Cell. Or...

Or two Cells had merged into one.

Hans didn’t know which outcome was more favorable to him.

He locked his attention on the two gray dots closer to Hans’s units.

They didn’t wander anywhere. They simply stationed themselves in that position as if they were blocks of earth.

”Something’s not right,” he narrowed his eyes. ”Why are they a little transparent than the rest?”

He quickly commanded to shift the perspective downward.

Underground? Hans rubbed his chin. No wonder they’re far from the main group.

He finally understood.

Their distance from the main structure already felt too intentional. It was close enough to observe the routes but far enough to retreat and avoid detection.

With this discovery, Hans was certain that these two were a pair of sentries.

Are they waiting for someone to pursue them through the sewer? Or are they waiting for other Cells to pick up their signal?

The receiver left on the abandoned observation post was a large clue.

Perhaps it was an attempt to lure unwanted people and take them down.

Or maybe it was meant to guide civilians toward their care if someone stumbled upon the post.

But the probability of that was too low.

First, those people would have to locate the tunnel hidden behind a large metal cabinet.

Second, one had to assume that Cell 7’s people were as saintly as Cell 12.

Hans wasn’t bold enough to claim that idea.

Johannes’s Cell acted like decent people. The same could not be said for other Cells.

”System, can the Radar estimate weapons or equipment among gray biological signatures?”

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[ Please unlock the Tech Lab, Commander. ]

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”Right.”

Hans didn’t argue. What the Radar Facility provided to him was godly enough.

To even pinpoint each dot and reveal their info was nothing short of a cheat. Such a convenient user experience wouldn’t come so easily.

He glanced back at Dmitri’s blue markers.

No need to call him.

Dmitri’s group had no reason to move east unless Hans ordered so. Calling him now would only put tension to the forward group and whatever lay on the other side of the sewer route.

Hans did not need curiosity from his own people.

His eyes returned to the gray cluster.

Though the Radar had given him Cell 7’s approximate location, it wasn’t a permission for him to act stupid.

If he marched with his soldiers and confronted Cell 7, they would either fight or vanish.

If he sent Johannes like a package to their doorstep, the SAS might help, but it might also expose Hans’s cards too early.

If he maintained the status quo and utilized the recovered receiver instead...

Hans slowly smiled. Guess we’ll have to stick to that.

That was his Plan A.

Use the receiver.

Knock through the door that Cell 7 had left behind, then see whether anyone answered from the other side.

If they did not answer?

Hans would not force it.

He could simply keep Johannes and the rest away from that area for now. With the Radar’s assistance, his soldiers could steer clear of Cell 7’s location and avoid accidental contact.

Unless, of course, Cell 7 approached his soldiers first.

That would be a different matter.

And if they did hopefully answer...

”System, can the Radar truly detect radio activity within its coverage?”

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[ Electromagnetic communication and the like can be sourced but cannot be directly pinpointed unless triangulated. ]

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”That’s great!” Hans’s eyes widened. He felt more confident of contacting Cell 7 through the receiver.

With the System’s EM signal sourcing functionality, he would at least know whether Cell 7 was transmitting from the same general area. If they tried to play tricks, he would not be completely blind.

I hope it leads to a collaboration with them; he sighed.

The prospect of gaining contact with an Elemental superhuman was too hard to ignore.

”System, can I create a private marker? One where it doesn’t sync to my soldiers...”

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[ Affirmative. ]

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”Mark the two underground contacts around here. Alert me of any movement from this side.”

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[ Private marker registered. ]

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Hans closed the window.

He shifted his attention farther northeast, looking for a semblance of the nuclear power plant.

”Nothing?”

Hans shook his head. ”Damn. Should be close around here...”

Though he could easily look it up on his tablet, Hans wasn’t interested in the location alone.

He wanted to know its condition, and the surrounding area’s situation.

Was the plant intact?

Was it swarmed?

Were there survivors stuck in that area?

Did the roads leading there still exist in reality?

A location on a tablet could not answer those questions.

The Radar could.

Or at least, it should have.

Hans dragged the map farther northeast, then pulled out his tablet and cross-checked the locations.

The revealed terrain thinned near the edge of the detection radius. The clean 3D terrain slowly lost detail, turning into rough outlines and black fog.

The nuclear power plant was either outside the current Radar coverage or hidden beyond the range of reliable scan resolution.

”Tsk. What nonsense.”

It may not have been a failure, but Hans just felt it was a wasted opportunity.

He could indeed send Dmitri and his scout party on the way without the Radar’s help. But if they could know of the terrain in advance, they would have more margin of error to execute their scouting mission.

No use thinking more about it.

Twenty-five kilometers sounded large until he remembered that Grefort City itself was a monster sprawled across the land.

If he wanted to see the northern expanse, the core districts, and the larger strategic facilities, it seemed that he would need more Radar Facilities.

He slumped on the rooftop ledge, lifted his head toward the sky, closed his eyes, and slowly massaged his temples.

”Ah... why do you have to do this to me...”