บท 77: Certina City-State

"Sia, don't even start."

"But what was I starting?" she asked innocently as if she was being wronged.

"It doesn't take a genius to guess your train of thoughts," he gave her an eye roll.

"Hmph," she protested lightly. Seemed that she would have to wait for a better time to proceed with her designs.

As they were approaching Sia's apartment, Alex finally broke the lingering stillness,

"Is he staying with you tonight?"

Though Sia was a bit distracted at the mention of 'him', it didn't take long for her to come back to her senses,

"I am not sure."

There was apparent bitterness in her voice: however composed she appeared to be, she was still a woman in love who couldn't help but think and worry about her beloved. If she was a treasure box to him, where he continuously searched for and discovered treasures, then to her he was a pandora box shrouded with darkness that hid way too many secrets inside.

He` wanted her to be back early but she still had no idea where he was, the only thing he told her was that he would not be returning tonight. He had promised her to be honest but he still kept his secrets: without doubt, only he knew what was going on in his head.

- At the moment, in city-state Certina -

"Everyone, maintain your positions," a man in an army camouflage ordered through his wireless communication device with a deep frown on his face.

There were in total four men hiding in the bushes and trees that surrounded a small hut in the middle of a forest. Nevertheless, those people weren't here for the ordinary looking hut but rather for what it was a cover of.

Cain and his men were here to obliterate the underground base that was hidden away by the shabby looking hut.

From the first glance it looked like the habitat of a forest ranger with no guards to protect it. But, it was the scouts' vigilance in addition to their high tech detection goggles that had allowed them to discover the continuous radiation sensors that were placed around the building. This was why they couldn't infiltrate the place without appropriate measures.

The four of them had been here for around an hour now but could not find any openings in the protection system of the hut. The only way in to the hut was to go undetected by the X-rays, which was most probably impossible.

This was why Cain was having a headache at the moment. He could more or less guess what could be used to cover up small scale objects from detection, but even that was not fool proof and could potentially end their mission in failure. Furthermore, they didn't have much manpower as they could not afford to get detected by their enemies. Thus, if they tried to forcefully enter the building they could easily get wiped out given their scarce numbers.

Though they had finally found this base after long years of search, this new surveillance system did not leave them with many choices.

"I told you this was a dead end," a man with dark brown hair said to Cain.

"I finally found a lead. There is no way I will give up on it," Cain stood firm at his decision.

"Cain, we get you. But you can see for yourself that it is impossible to get there. Kalix and I have been trying to find loopholes in the protection for the past month but there is still nothing," Ash spoke solemnly.

Cain was a leader known for his meticulous planning and his foolproof winning strategies that knew no equals. If the Lion could be considered impulsive and overbearing in his actions then the Dragon was the exact opposite, as he was never arrogant and would not fight battles that he had no chance of winning.

Their only way was probably to forcefully invade the place, but they didn't have the numbers for it. They couldn't come in big numbers as the enemy had the means to take note of any person that entered the city state.

The Certina city-state was considered a buffer zone between the neighbouring countries that had years of enmity among themselves. Though the regulations, after the last war many years ago, established a peace agreement, this independent city state was created to control and prevent the neighbouring countries from going at each others throats by mainland invasions.

This was why, despite its small scale, Certina was a militarised zone and would get a full check on anyone who even came close to their borders. Their preventive measures against people that were considered 'suspicious' were the horror stories of the kids all around the world.

Therefore, one knew one thing from the day they were born: stay away from Certina if you want to live on.

It took Cain more than a year of careful calculations and layered planning to have his men infiltrate the small city state. He could probably be considered the person who did the impossible by forcing his way through the military state.

However, here he was now, standing right in front of his goal but in a position where he couldn't reach it.

Kalix, who had been stationed here as a scout from the very beginning of the mission, once again spoke his mind,

"Cain, how about I stay here as a scout and you go back and find ways of dealing with the problem? You can maybe contact some physicists that could come up with some ways?"

Cain shook his head, "I promised Sia you will go back this weekend to continue her training in martial arts."

Kalix was surprised yet happy at Cain's words: as long as he had Sia backing him up he could easily get out of this sh*thole. He had been here for a month for God's sake. Though he wanted to help Cain with his plan, he wanted some freedom too... Sia was always his golden ticket... Sia's was his best student... She was certainly the best...

Wait, best?... Wait!

"Cain!" Kalix literally shouted.

Ash was the closest to Kalix and quickly covered his mouth with his hand.

"Are you dumb!? We are going to get detected because of you!"

Cain, however, was calmer, "What's the matter?"

"We are all so dumb, but you and I are still the dumbest of all!"

Ash looked incredulously at Kalix and without a second's hesitation aimed his silent pistol at his head.

"Hey, hey! Chill dude. Are you crazy or what?"

"You misspoke," Ash sounded colder than ever.

"No I didn't. I mean everything I say. We are all dumb. We are here breaking our brains to find solutions when we actually hold the solution in our hands."

"Clarify," Cain said calmly. His calmness was never a good thing as it was a sign of him thinking... If the thoughts were because of a person's mistakes... That person would later wish he was dead...

"Hey Cain, don't kill me in your mind or else Sia will never forgive you if she learns about it," Kalix said proudly, but Cain just gave him a snort, "Wanna try?"

Looking at Cain's dark gaze, Kalix's forehead covered in cold sweat momentarily. He really wished Sia didn't have such an influence on him. He used to be such an upright soldier but that girl had turned him into a normal thinking person. But at times his tongue got him into really big problems. Like right now!

Though he knew Cain would never do anything to him, it still felt like his life was on the line. All those thoughts crossed his mind in a matter of split second and he quickly explained his previous statement,

"We have one of the best scientists in the world on our side and we still want to look for others. Though Sia doesn't specialise in physics, she is still a neurosurgeon who comes across many scanning machines in radiology department every day. Moreover, we both have forgotten that she had studied neuroradiology as well, so given her learning abilities and her passion for science, she surely knows the specifics of all types of radiations. So the best person to ask for help with the problem would definitely be her! We are so dumb for forgetting about our lucky star and our most valuable trump card!"