This is a passion work. So, I would really appreciate it if you leave behind a review when you're done reading.
***
CH42: SUB-TACTICS
Six Months Ago
It had been two weeks since Korede started living with the Hanzos. Every day, after morning practice/training, Korede would go into the forest behind the residence. Of course, he doesn't go too far. Just enough that he was surrounded by nature on all sides and he would sit at the bottom of a tree.
He started doing this a week when he noticed a flaw with the {Training Space} and perhaps a cheat to {Life communication}. {Life Communication} required that there be a lifeform around for it to work. Any type of life that Korede could see with his eyes, up to the size of an ant. In the {Training Space}, the lifeforms Korede imagined, even though they triggered {Life Communication}, gave no feeling. Just silence. Korede believed it was because they were 'lifeforms' but had no 'life'.
This was his first comprehension of the Tactic bringing it to Lv2.
Now, almost a week since then, he had started to sit under this tree. During this time, he had quickly discovered two benefits brought by {Life Communication}-Lv2. First, the Will Tactics changed from an active-type, where he had to channel his Will strength into the Tactic script to activate any time he wanted to use, to a passive-type which was always active as a small amount of Will strength flowed into the script at all times. He discovered that the activity of the tactic was now in four ranges.
This brings us to the second benefit where each of the four activity ranges determines how animals, and nature in general, interact with him.
First range, If he consciously decides to prevent his Will strength from entering the Tactics script, the Tactic will not be activated. At this activity range, he discovered that animals react to him the way they should. Those that should run away, ran away. Those that should ignore him, ignored him, etc.
Second range, a small amount of Will is channelled through the Tactic script. This is the automatic activation range. At this range, he discovered that he doesn't disturb any of the animals in the forest as long as his actions are not deemed threatening.
Third range, a medium amount of allowed Will strength is channelled into the Tactics script. At this range, he discovered that the animals gathered and played around him.
Fourth range, the maximum amount of Will strength the Tactic script can bear is channelled into it. At this range, he discovered that the animals were no longer afraid of him and treated him like a part of the forest. Rabbits jumped and sat on his lap, different species and varieties of birds landed on his shoulders and head.
Throughout the previous week, he had been testing the animals' reaction to different ranges of {Life Communication}. He even noticed that if he started at the fourth/highest range, and brought it down to the second/lowest range, the animals just leave but don't run away.
Throughout the previous week, all the experiments had been done while making sure he didn't move in the slightest. Today, he wanted to see what would happen if he moved. He set the activation to the third range. He noticed different animals moving closer to him. He stood up and moved towards them. Though the animals didn't run away, the most cowardly ones maintain a distance away from him.
So, he revved it up to the highest range. The animals all moved towards him, even the cowardly ones. A rabbit hopped to his leg and held it. Korede squatted and placed his palm down on the ground and the rabbit hopped on it. He brought his hand to his shoulder and motioned for the little rabbit to hop on his shoulder. As if understanding him, the rabbit looked hesitant but still jumped on.
It was then Korede had a thought. 'What if I can control them?'
To test this out, he raised his hand towards a woodpecker and motioned for it to land on his palm. Unlike the rabbit, the woodpecker didn't hesitate to do so. Korede unconsciously smiled. Suddenly, the woodpecker started to chirp. For some reason, Korede intuitively understood it.
It wanted to return to its family.
So, he raised his hand for it to fly off.
Korede started walking around and attempted to touch different animals, to which they all allowed him to. Suddenly, the bunny on his shoulder started purring. It was about to jump off his shoulder when it stopped, perhaps due to the height. Then, it started whimpering. Korede quickly understood that it wanted to get down. He helped the bunny down and saw it hop away to two bigger rabbits, presumably its parents. They exchanged different sounds that Korede couldn't understand, but same as the woodpecker, Korede could tell what the rabbit was saying. It was describing how it felt to stand on the shoulder of 'that gentle, sweet-smelling giant'.
It was at this moment Korede felt he was beginning to understand the function of {Life Communication}. Korede wondered about the limits of the Tactics.
Was it only useful on animals?
Before he knew it, he was back at the Hanzo residence. He heard Hattori and Miyako discussing something in Japanese. Since Korede arrived, they had been making a conscious effort to speak English in his presence.
As he got closer, he could finally hear their discussion clearly. Like with the animals, he discovered he could understand what they were discussing even though he didn't know the language. It was then Korede realised that his {Life Communication} was still activated to the highest range.
He came to a conjecture.
'Language is a means we communicate by transmitting our intents to one another through different established means such as sounds, signs, symbols, etc. Come to think of it, we won't be communicating if we can't understand the intent behind the language. Thus, we can speak the same language and not understand each other. Only through a successful transfer of our intent can we say we have communicated.
In that case, {Life Communication} should be able to understand the intent a lifeform is trying to transmit to another.'
In exactly the moment Korede proposed this conjecture in his mind, the Tactic script glowed intensely and a new ring appeared around it. The description of the Tactic also changed.
({Life Communication} - 4 golden rings - 3 silver ring(Lv3) - communicate with lifeforms to certain degree. Welcomed by all peace-loving creatures. Neutral to hostile creatures
Sub-Tactic- [Translator]: From user's comprehension. User can understand the intents transmitted by other creatures of the same intellect or lower.
Requirements: Comprehension)
Korede was intrigued by the formation of the Sub-Tactic. Aon couldn't help but say.
[Aren't you progressing too fast?]
'Does this mean that every Tactic will produce a Sub-Tactic based on my comprehension of it?' Korede asked.
[Yes. This is why differences in Will Tactic arises]
Korede nodded.
He was excited to test out the [Translator] sub-tactic. He walked into the house. The grandfather and granddaughter were still discussing what to eat when Korede said,
"Sis Miyako, it's OK. You can cook whatever you want. You can't keep cooking simple meals because of me."
Because she had been speaking in Japanese and Korede understood them, she unconsciously replied in the language. "How can I do that? You are our guest. I can't make something you can't eat."
Korede replied with a smile. "Aside from dog meat and pork, I can eat anything else. I'm also not allergic to anything. Just take it as me wanting to enjoy authentic Japanese cuisine."
"Ok. If you insist." Miyako said (in Japanese), only to turn around and see the shock on her grandfather's face.
"What's wrong?" She asked.
Hattori ignored her question and asked Korede his own(in English), "You understand Japanese?"
It was then Miyako also realised what had happened. She also looked at Korede quizzically.
"I have been listening to you and Sis Miyako, conversation on TV, and conversation of different people in Nago city. Though I still can't speak the language, I can make a reasonable guess of the general conversation." Korede made up a good-sounding excuse.
Even though Hattori had said to himself that he wouldn't be surprised by whatever Korede did, this was just too different.
He couldn't believe it.
He said different things in Japanese and Korede continued the conversation.
Of course, he didn't give a totally correct response as that would've been too much. Instead, he gave something close to it that still allowed the conversation to continue while also presenting as a novice of the language.
After different tests, Hattori was convinced. Miyako was amazed while Hattori's eyes shone. Since then, the Hanzos spoke only Japanese and Korede was able to quickly pick up the language. On a side note, Korede discovered that [Translator] would not work if the intent was transmitted through technological means such as Radios, Speakers, Cellphones, etc. However, TVs and other screens were not affected.
Korede initially thought [Translator] didn't work if the lifeform wasn't within his visual range but debunked that as it worked fine when Miyako spoke to him directly when she was outside of his line of sight. He concluded that [Translator] didn't work if an indirect transmission method, such as the aforementioned, was used that prevented him from seeing the lifeform sending the intent. Let's not forget that it doesn't only work on humans.
Memory ends
Hence, by combining {Sense Boost}- Lv2 and {Life Communication}- Lv3, Korede was able to focus on individual conversations and understand them, even though he didn't know the language.
While most of the discussions were about trade, some gossip and current affairs, Korede was able to pick up on an illegal deal in progress causing him to shake his head.
Before long, the taxi left the market area and made its way towards a residential area close to the city center.
He brought out the envelope Special Agent Ndike gave him and opened it. Inside was a set of keys and a note. The words on the note were encoded with a simple cypher that was taught to every recruit in the Special Forces training camp. Korede was able to decipher the code at a glance.
On the front page, there were instructions on what to do on getting to the safe house while the back page had information on how to find the secret weapons cache. He put everything back into his pocket and reclined on the seat.
Korede watched as the taxi turned street after street and the scenery kept changing. Eventually, they arrived at an affluent residential community. The taxi came to a stop in front of a six-floor condo.
"This is the place." the driver said.
"Thanks." Korede replied as he paid the man and got down.
He looked at the building in front of him. He didn't expect the NDI safehouse to be a high-end place. He entered the compound and approached the building manager's office on the ground floor as instructed on the note in the envelope. The man, who Korede assumed was the manager, was reading a newspaper in the office.
"Hello." He greeted the man.
"Hello. Who are you?" The man inquired
"I'm the new resident moving into the top floor." Korede said.
"Oh, welcome. Your company called to inform me. I have been expecting you. Please show me your key and sign here." The man said opening a ledger for Korede to sign his details into.
The man used the key to open a lock-box. Inside the box was a keycard which the manager handed over to Korede along with the key. He got up from his seat and said, "Let's get you to your apartment."
The manager led Korede to the elevator just past his office. Just past the elevator is the staircase. According to the manager, the entire ground floor aside from his office is a parking space which could be occupied by twenty cars at maximum where each residence was allocated parking space for five cars each. The manager also informed Korede that his 'company' had sent over a car for him. It was parked in the parking space.
In the elevator, the manager selected the sixth floor and a prompt was given to swipe the keycard on the card scanner. Only then did the elevator move to the sixth floor.
"This keycard can be used to access all public facilities in the building. You also need it to make use of the elevator. Please don't lose it." He said handing the card back to Korede.
Soon the elevator opened and a short corridor was revealed. The manager stayed in the elevator while Korede got out. "If you need anything, don't hesitate to call me through the intercom."
Korede nodded as he watched the elevator close. He noticed the staircase to the side of the elevator. Korede gained access to the apartment through the door on the other side of the short corridor with the keycard.
The first impression he had of the apartment was luxurious, then huge. The apartment was a three-bedroom flat with a large well-furnished living room and dining area. The kitchen was also well equipped with the necessary electrical appliances. Everything Korede could see in the house from furnishing to the appliances to the decoration looked very high-end and expensive.
To Korede, however, all that didn't matter. After a simple look around the apartment, he took his luggage to the master bedroom. Then, he brought out the note and followed the instructions on it.
He counted four tiles from the door and followed it to the wall on the right. He placed his hand on the wall and knocked six times in quick succession. Suddenly, a panel was revealed behind the wall. Korede typed in the code as instructed in the note and a hidden door opened two feet away from him. Korede entered the hidden room to find the weapons cache.
[A.N: Please, don't forget to leave a review of the work to encourage me. Your opinion matters to me.]
This is a passion work. So, I would really appreciate it if you leave behind a review when you're done reading.
***
CH43: COMMENCING OPERATION PYTONSLAYING
"Wow. The NDI isn't messing around. There are enough weapons here to start a small war." Korede said.
He was very impressed with the inventory in front of him.
[I thought you were here to fight a small war]
Slightly taken aback, Korede replied, "That's true."
He shrugged his shoulders and continued inspecting the weapons cache.
The room was long but narrow. This wasn't just a weapons cache, it was more like an armoury.
The first things he saw entering the weapon cache were gun racks, each with ten assault rifles on it. Although each rack had a different model of assault rifle on it, there were only three models in total.
"MK14 Elite Battle Rifle, HK416. There's even Remington ACRs."
The MK14 and HK416 rifles were more abundant than the ACRs, after all, the two models were almost standard-issue rifles.
Hung on the wall, to the left of each rack, was a sniper rifle.
"M2010 Enhanced Sniper Rifle. Again, another standard-issue weapon."
Korede was a little disappointed. He expected the NDI to have more varieties of weapons than this, seeing the size of the weapons cache. It wasn't until the last five racks that he saw a change in the Sniper model.
"Barrett Rifles. Well, I guess I'll take that." His eyes moved to the last rifle. "Is that… L115A3?"
Korede couldn't but walk up to it and pick it off the wall. He examined the rifle for a bit before putting it back.
"Not bad."
[I never took you for a gun enthusiast.]
'That's because I'm not. I'm just happy with the tools given to me. As the saying goes 'A farmer cannot work the land without hoes and cutlasses.' The same also applies to me.'
Korede moved on to the next items.
Pass the rifles were steel tables with pistols on them. There were P226s, Colt M1911a1s, Glock 19s, and Beretta M9s. Then, there were one meter high cupboards filled with ammunition compatible with all the guns on display. Other drawers had night vision goggles, thermal vision goggles, trackers, bugs, grenades, explosives. Everything a self-respecting one-man army would need to wage a small war.
Finally, Korede came to a workbench. There was a laptop on top of it which was his goal. He took the laptop and left the weapons cache or, as Korede saw it, armoury.
Back in the living room, Korede opened the secured laptop with his fingerprints and retina.
His biometric data had already been programmed into the laptop.
He found a folder on the home screen. He opened the folder to see files on different individuals, almost twenty of them. There was also a video file named 'briefing'. So, Korede connected his Bluetooth headset and played the video. He watched the briefing video three more times to make sure he didn't miss anything.
"This guy is messed up."
This was Korede's evaluation of the Duke after watching the video.
The NDz was originally a small gang operating only in the oil-rich Niger Delta region of Nigeria which was where they got their name. Back then, the gang's major business was in crude oil bunkering and illegal small-scale modular petroleum refining. Under the chaos of a major crackdown operation of involved security outfits, the then third-in-command Jonathan Duke ambushed and killed the two leaders of the gang, thereby becoming its leader.
Under his command, the gang retreated and went underground for a while. After the heat had died down, he came back out and made a big gamble. Gathering every single penny the gang had, he got in bed with drug and human traffickers. The high risk, high reward gamble paid off and he acquired enough money for his grand plans.
Fifteen years later, the NDz had become the second-largest criminal organisation in the country. They handled most of the drugs and other illegal exotic goods entering the country. They sold anything and everything they could get their hands on without impunity or care for the consequence. Their efforts paid off and the NDz were considered the Dark Merchants of the Nigerian Underworld.
As Korede read this, his impression of the Duke changed. Like most people, he had always thought the Duke was just a barbaric loudmouth. Now, he could see that there was a method in the madness. One of the ways to easily get what you want in the criminal underworld is…
Fear.
It was exactly this fear that the Duke was using.
"Rule of Engagement gave me full autonomy. I can do whatever I want as long as there're no civilian casualties and infrastructural losses are at a minimum.
Primary objective is to take out the five major figures of the NDz in Onitsha.
Secondary objective is to disable the gang so that it would be difficult for anyone else to take the reins after the Duke has been handled." Korede mumbled. "So how do I go about this?"
He folded his arms and tapped his right index finger on his left arm deep in thought.
After a while, he said. "That would have to do. Unfortunately, I have to finish this within ten days. If I had more time I could have come up with a better plan. Then again, finishing things quickly is also for the best."
Though the mission didn't have a timeline, Korede put one for himself because eleven days from now would be the first anniversary of the Alpha team's deaths. Korede wanted to end the NDz before then and return for the anniversary memorial.
[Did you come up with a plan? Is it interesting?] Aon asked.
'Can't you just read my thoughts?'
[Where's the fun in that? Watching everything unfold is more enjoyable.]
'Suit yourself' Korede thought with a shrug
Korede typed away on the computer trying to get as much information as possible on his targets and for the implementation of his plan.
The NDz had five important figures which were Korede's targets.
1. Jonathan Duke: Head of the NDz.
Designation: The Duke.
2. Peter Duke: Jonathan's brother and right-hand man, Head of the gang's security outfit.
Designation: The Knight.
3. Esther Duke: Jonathan's wife, NDz public campaign manager, Gang members' idol.
Designation: The Beauty-queen
4. Chidozie Agbu: Head of the gang's smuggling operations
Designation: The Smuggler.
5. Adeshina Owolabi: Jonathan's accountant. Head of NDz financial department.
Designation: The Accountant.
Korede jotted some things in a notepad before he closed the laptop. He stretched his body as his body was feeling sore.
He had gotten back from Okinawa around noon, arrived Onitsha around 3 pm. Now he had sat in front of a laptop screen for hours. Even as a Master, he couldn't help his body feeling fatigued. Unfortunately, there was no time to rest.
'No rest for the weary.'
Korede returned the laptop to the 'armoury'.
Back in the master bedroom, he opened the wardrobe/closet to look for cloth hangers to use to arrange his clothes only to find them full. Whoever prepared the safehouse also prepared a change of clothes for him. The only problem was that they were all suits. Casual suit, Business suit, Tuxedo. At least one each of every type of suit he would probably need. He checked them and found that they fitted him perfectly. Left with no choice, Korede left his clothes in the luggage bag. He entered the bathroom and took a bath.
Done with his bath, he selected a casual suit from the closet. It was a black blazer on grey trousers with a light blue shirt and no tie. He walked into the armoury and came back out with a backpack. He removed the blazer and wore a shoulder holster for his Beretta M9 pistol.
The main reason he wore the suit was to conceal the gun. Nigeria has strict laws against gun possession. Also, if a person is seen carrying a gun and isn't a security officer, the person is automatically deemed a suspicious individual. Since he didn't want undue attention, Korede decided to use this method to conceal his gun, though he had a permit to carry. The permit was amongst the things in the armoury. The NDI's preparation was really thorough.
After rummaging the left bedside drawer, he found a car key. Wearing back the blazer and carrying the backpack on his shoulder, he walked out of the apartment.
In the ground floor garage, he found the car prepared for him. It was a previous year Toyota Corolla. He got in and threw the backpack on the passenger's seat. He brought out the notepad and inputted several addresses into the navigation system which showed him the shortest route to all locations.
[So, are you going to attack all the locations tonight? Going straight to finishing them once and for all?]
'Remind me to stop watching action movies. I only brought the M9, how am I going to attack all the locations? Besides, I'd be dead if I do that.' Korede berated. 'I'm just going to do the most important but also possibly the most boring aspect of any investigation.'
[What's that?]
'You should just read my thoughts for the plan'
[No! You think too much. It's easy to get lost in your thoughts. I'd rather just watch things unfold. Besides, it's more fun that way.]
Korede chuckled as he shook his head.
'Well, to answer your question, It's Surveillance.'
With that said, Korede drove off.
Though he called it Surveillance, he was mostly familiarizing himself with the routes to the locations he jotted down.
At the locations themselves, he just took pictures of the buildings and the people there that looked affiliated to the NDz. It wasn't too difficult to identify who was and wasn't affiliated to the gang because gang members had gang identifiers on them; tattoos, clothing, accessories, etc.
Most importantly, they all had that cliché 'I am a gang member' vibe to them causing Korede to shake his head.
In most of these places, security was very lax so he was able to waltz in and place surveillance bugs in them. Others, he had to be very careful as the security was tight.
Unlike the former locations which were just entertainment and gathering areas owned or frequented by the gang, these places were their places of operations. Though well hidden, Korede was able to find them and sneak in with his skills. He noticed a lot of criminal activities but ignored them for the bigger picture.
On his way to other locations, a bug in one of the entertainment centres picked up something that pissed Korede off.
He heard the Duke force himself on one of the female workers. After threatening her, the woman gave up and he had his way with her. Aon could feel that if the Duke was currently within Korede's sights, he would kill the crime boss without any consideration for the 'bigger picture'.
It took a few minutes for Korede to calm down. He felt pity for the woman. The Duke was a man who built his empire on a foundation of fear and violence. If she hadn't agreed, only God knows what he would have done to keep his reputation. Korede decided to quickly put his plans into motion as it should take up the man's attention and prevent him from harming anyone else.
He changed his plans and made his way to a particular location. It was the home of the brother and right-hand man of the Duke, Peter Duke.
Like every other house in the community, the house was surrounded by a tall three to four-meter fence. Luckily, Korede had learnt extreme parkour from Miyako Hanzo. He was able to scale the fence with some effort and get on the property. According to intel, Peter Duke had something to discuss with his brother tonight. Since the bug didn't pick up anything, he should be safe.
Korede entered the four-bedroom bungalow quietly by picking the locks. The house was surprisingly low-key. Not what he expected of the home of a criminal Underboss. He searched the house and planted bugs in obscure locations at the same time.
Though he didn't find anything, he did find something interesting.
Well hidden under a floor tile was a lockbox. Korede wouldn't have found it if he hadn't enhanced his eyesight with {Sense Boost} to scan the house.
In the box, he found a picture of Peter Duke and Esther Duke together with arms around each other. The picture was old as the two looked very young. No matter how you looked at it, the picture was one of a young couple in love.
'Although not enough, this will work well for my plan."
Aside from the picture, Korede found letters going back and forth between the couple that confirmed that they were lovers. He brought out the NDI-issued phone and took pictures of everything in the lockbox. While he was doing so, he discovered that the oldest letter dated back eight years. Intrigued, he made a rookie mistake. He started reading the letters there and then while losing track of time. It wasn't until his ears picked up the sound of the automated gate opening that he came to his senses.
'Shit! I lost track of time. Peter Duke is home.' Korede cursed.
[A.N: Please, don't forget to leave a review of the work to encourage me. Your opinion matters to me.]
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