RTS System in the Apocalypse: New World

Tyrus watched Hans carefully.

Hans could feel it from the way the Shearman’s smile thinned, the way his eyes no longer wandered around the base with childish curiosity.

Project DAEDALUS.

A name Hans had never heard before.

And now, somehow, the term had become synonymous with his Power Plants, his Radar Facility, and his rapidly growing army and base.

It was uncertain if that was good. Or bad.

One thing was certain for Hans—he needed to juice information about Project DAEDALUS out from Tyrus as much as he could.

”What makes you say that?” he asked.

Tyrus tilted his head slightly.

”Commander, that is not the denial I expected.”

”You were waiting for one?”

”Not exactly,” Tyrus smiled. ”But your denial is no different from your confirmation.”

”I am not fond of your riddles. Be blunt.”

”The Hands of the Tether. Are you familiar with it now, Commander?”

Hans almost narrowed his eyes. Hands of Tether. A codename for all subjects under Project DAEDALUS?

The old world truly loved naming its secrets like pieces in a child’s game.

”You’re quite knowledgeable,” Hans said. ”Tell me more about it.”

He did not hesitate with his rebuttal. Any pause and Tyrus might realize that something was off. He was willing to act and strike while the iron was hot.

His eyes sneakily glanced at the scientist. The latter felt spooked, mistaking Hans’s action for something else.

Tyrus pursed his lips. He even wondered why he started the topic for no good reason.

”I’d rather not,” Tyrus shook his head. ”I might be a Shearman, but I still want to live.”

”Are you scared?”

”Commander, there are things even a Shearman should not say carelessly.”

”Yet you already said the name.”

”That was my mistake.”

Hans’s gaze lingered on Tyrus.

The air suddenly changed.

Tyrus’s eyes widened, feeling something in the void encroaching him in all directions.

”I...”

At the instant he wanted to fight back, the dread retreated from wherever it came from.

”Tyrus Shearman,” Hans turned around. ”You can do whatever you want, as long as it does not conflict with my interests. I will help you in your endeavors, and you will help mine.”

He paused slightly. ”Do we have an agreement?”

Tyrus looked back at Hans. Then his lips twitched, though the smile felt out of place.

”Yes, Commander.”

”Good. Let’s keep things friendly between us.”

Before Tyrus could speak up, Hans’s figure has already vanished, departing toward his Command Room.

”The Hands of the Tether,” Tyrus narrowed his eyes. ”I should have taken Engineering than this lousy field.”

He scoffed and turned around.

On the other side—

Hans did not slow down.

The Command Room doors opened before he reached them. Two soldiers stepped aside, saluting without a word.

He entered and let the doors close behind him.

Only then did his thoughts return to the name Tyrus had dropped.

Project DAEDALUS.

Hands of the Tether.

Mysterious entities he had not heard until now, and it seemed that the future was not as optimistic ahead.

Hans sat behind the table and opened the Radar map.

If DAEDALUS’s mechanism was similar to his System, was he about to encounter a real-life reenactment of the many RTS games he had played?

It may have sounded ridiculous in the past, yet now, such idea could become reality indeed.

The old world had already touched Project HELIX. Pills, superhumans, unstable mutations. If flesh could be turned into a project, then why not infrastructure? Why not command systems? Why not mobile deployment?

His eyes moved across the map.

A base growing from nothing, soldiers appearing with training already burned into their bones, and structures that followed rules no normal logistics could explain.

However, Hans quickly pushed away the worst possibility.

That should not be the case. DAEDALUS should not be as convenient as my System. If that was the case, the old world should have been very different.

His mind drifted along the southern areas of Grefort City—underdeveloped with lots of spaces left for construction.

That was a plausible ground for DAEDALUS trials, yet it seemed that the project had never gone public.

Either the results were too godly that nobody else should know of its existence.

Or the results were subpar and not viable for public testing. Yet.

Or worse, it failed. And heavily at that.

Hans knew he could not afford to underestimate anyone, yet what the System had shown him barely scratched the surface of its true potential.

Project DAEDALUS should not be as mature as the System. I still have to be cautious against them, however.

He was unsure if the recipients of Project DAEDALUS were also enhanced by Project HELIX. If those people were still alive, then encountering them would become troublesome.

And beyond HELIX and DAEDALUS, there might still be a larger shadow around it.

Hans may not know, but he could feel it.

Libertan was the pioneering country in terms of knowledge and technology. It was impossible that they could only produce two Projects from that so-called alien spacecraft.

As his thoughts drifted about the unknown, a sudden change in the Radar map caught his attention.

Hans’s eyes shifted.

A small group of red markers—around five or six—had stopped moving near the eastern sector. They neared Echo Two’s position. The scout team had taken shelter inside a building.

Hans leaned forward.

The scout team’s route had been slow but steady a moment ago. Now, they were about to have a coincidental encounter with an enemy group

His eyes widened as the enemy group suddenly moved around the building’s edges yet never leaving its proximity.

One of them suddenly closed in on a wall. Its elevation slowly rose, seemingly crawling vertically upward.

”Are they searching for Echo Two?”

Hans’s hands moved, comparing the elevation between Echo Two and the dangerous crawler-type infected.

”No, they’re underground. Did they make a mistake?”

Two more red markers followed the first one, ascending atop the building in different directions. The other three remained outside, seemingly guarding the exit doors.

”How coordinated,” Hans took a deep breath. ”I hope Echo Two won’t be found out.”