There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)-Chapter 449 - 442. At The Edge of Darkness

For the past few months, something happened in the Borderland Unit 04-2.

Trucks upon trucks came; not to the Unit itself, but to the empty field next to the Unit’s headquarters. Some did find their way to the headquarters, however. There was a truckload of new equipment, and a truckload of food from the green-zone--not the usual thing they got during the monthly logistic drop, but higher quality canned food and some fresh ingredients they didn’t even get during the New Year.

Naturally, they knew it was a bribe.

Or rather, an incentive from the lovely rich people who came to conquer the Deathzone. Do not hinder us; do not sabotage us; be cooperative.

Of course, it was weird to think that anyone would want to prevent people from clearing the Deathzone. If the Deahzone was claimed, the Unit’s staff would get freed from this dreary job of guarding the border. Ideally, that should be the case.

But not everyone saw being ’freed’ as a benefit. A lot of people came to the borderland because they couldn’t find jobs in other zones, be it because they were deemed not skillful enough, had to run away from something, or used to be criminals. Hell--some of them were still a criminal.

And then, some psychotic people loved living on the edge in dangerous places and wanted as much chaos as possible.

So, unfortunately, there was always a risk of hindrance.

The bribe--or incentive--therefore, was more for the leader of the Unit itself. Control your people; or something like that.

Naturally, the ’package’ wasn’t just sent to Unit 04-2, but to every unit of borderland troops out there. But since the reclamation project’s headquarters would be set up near Unit 04-2--the closest Unit to the entrance of the Deathzone--the Unit had the privilege of better incentives.

It wasn’t because of one the executives in that project used to work there, surely.

"Is this what you’re aiming for?" Agni asked the scout beside him, who had been spending most of his free time watching the construction of the headquarters.

"Half," Ron shrugged, and then added at the Captain’s arched brow. "It doesn’t matter if it does not succeed in the end."

"You’re the type who only looks at the result, huh?" Agni ruffled the scout’s hair--a habit Ron had told the Captain to drop because he was no longer a youngster in his early twenties.

As for now, Ron had given up and let the man do whatever, choosing to focus back on the new structures that quickly formed in just two months. Of course, all of them were temporary, but each was sturdy enough to endure the environment of the borderland with all the miasma. There was a main building and several warehouses, as well as what seemed to be a dormitory. They remembered that the warehouses for food and potions were made of special materials that would prevent the content from going bad.

It was basically a whole new Unit headquarters already, and to think it was built in just a few months. "It’s like watching a show made by wealthy people," Ron smirked.

"Nah; it’s more like...see what can be done if the government gave us money?" the Captain cackled.

It was a total irony how the borderland, the gate of their safety, became a place of throwaway instead. But what can they do? The Captain couldn’t even leave the borderland, as decreed. All they could do was survive and use companies’ CSR programs to make life a bit easier.

"Anyway, when did they say they’ll come?"

"They’ll start to depart on the twenty-second, so either in two or three days from now," Ron replied after glancing at the screen blinking today’s date in the corner of the control room. "Depends on what they’ll use as transportation."

"And Zen?"

"Zein," the scout corrected. "He’s Luzein Ishtera now, Captain. He’s not your backwater guide any more."

Agni rolled his eyes at his strict partner. "Ugh--whatever. So, he’ll come with that...advance troop or whatever?"

"He should be," Ron nodded. "At least, he said so in the letter."

* * *

But Zein wasn’t there even after said advanced troop arrived on the afternoon of the twenty-second.

True to his reputation, Radia Mallarc sent the two squads through the inter-area portal, before continuing from area-14 to the Borderland with an aircraft carrier. All members of the Unit who were not on duty came out just from the sound, and watched in fascination as the military-grade aircraft came down at the edge of the Redridge plain.

Before these squads arrived, however, another team had been there since the twentieth. A support and management team, who would stay in the headquarters at all times and became the beacon of communication between the Deathzone and the central commando in Althrea. These people came out to guide the aircraft and made sure the headquarters were ready for the squads.

But then, these advance squads--including six guides--came out without their two commanders.

"And where are they?" Ron asked for confirmation from the scout named Kei who seemed to be the second in command for one of the squads.

"On their way, don’t worry," she replied and added with a sigh and rolled eyes. "They were in the southern sea and supposed to go back yesterday, but got hit by a sudden storm, so..."

"Southern sea?"

Kei just smirked and shrugged. "Vacation."

"You mean honeymoon," Han Shin, whom Ron had known before, chimed in.

"They’re not married yet, Shin."

"Trial-honeymoon?" a girl who seemed to be a guide remarked cheerfully behind her mask.

This must be Zein’s troop--Ron thought as he observed the black uniform the girl wore. There were five others with the same uniform, each looked more fit than the guides Ron had used to--including the one inside the Borderland Unit.

Definitely Zein’s troop.

"Vacation, huh..." Ron shook his head. To think that ’Zen’ could even entertain something like a vacation now--right before something as big as this too...

He couldn’t help but smile at it.

"How easygoing," Agni commented with a smirk. It was a playful one, but the guides flinched nonetheless, prompting Ron to smack the berserker’s chest.

"They were the ones who worked the hardest to prepare this, so...it’s rather deserved," Kei said with a smile.

"Oh, I know enough how hardworking Zen--I mean, Zein could be," the Captain chuckled. "It’s harder telling him to stop working here and go out than telling him to go on an outpost duty."

Dheera, despite feeling rather scared of the huge Captain, commented with a grin. "Sounds like Captain, alright."

Agni raised his brow. "You called him ’Captain’?"

"Yep!" Dheera nodded, seemingly having gotten rid of her initial fear of the berserker. "Oh, aren’t you a Captain too, Sir? Doesn’t it mean you were our Captain’s Captain?"

Agni grinned, recalling someone in the Unit who had a similar vibe to this one. "He must have treated you like his younger siblings, huh?"

Dheera, and in extension, the other guides, only grinned behind their mask and scratched their neck. Agni laughed loudly at how Zein seemed to change and yet also not change. He could already imagine the rivalry between these black-uniformed guides with Zein’s old kids in the Unit if they met.

Well, they would eventually meet since there was a plan for a joint dinner once their Commanders came. After all, some of the espers of the Unit would also involved in the reclamation project. They wouldn’t move right away--except for the scouts who would act as a guide inside--but gradually with the following troops including the mercenaries that Trinity, or rather Radia Mallarc, had contracted.

"Well, please tell me when they arrive later," he told them. "I supposed you’ll want some rest before--"

"No need," a voice cut the Captain’s words, and everyone turned toward the newcomer. Newcomers.

"Captain!" Dheera, who had been deprived of her Captain’s presence for two weeks, came over and clung to the masked man even if the boyfriend was still there holding onto the man’s waist.

Ron raised his brow at this nonconventional entrance. "Did you teleport?" he squinted in the direction of the plains, where he could see the shadow of a helicopter that slowly left the area--back to the safer zone. With the sharp vision of the scout, he could also see the sandstorm chasing the helicopter away, and his brow arched even higher. "What a blessed journey you have."

"I know right? Two storms?" Zein chuckled while patting the girl’s head before pushing her away. He didn’t think he would experience teleporting five times in a row.

"I’m starting to think someone’s behind this," Bassena shook his head, which had been dirtied by the sands, patting the collar of his coat. And he wasn’t completely unserious about it, despite the nonchalant-sounding remark.

Zein glanced at the familiar black cloud past the towering gate. But there was a time later to think about it. For now, he stared at the scout and the berserker--the men who kicked him out of the Borderland. He tilted his head and smirked behind his mask. "You miss me?"

"Hah!" Agni scoffed. "I work hard to send you out and you come back in a year with your own legs?"

"What about it?" Zein raised his brow.

Agni smirked as he patted the guide’s back. "Too long, you bastard. I almost thought you wanted to wait for me to get old," he pointed at the scout beside him. "This one even made a retirement plan already."

"I make my retirement plan," Ron scoffed. "You just happen to be there as a luggage carrier."

Agni filled the new headquarters with his laughter that the place didn’t seem dreary anymore for the people who came there for the first time. While going on their own task, they secretly watch Zein’s interaction with the ’natives’ of the Borderland Unit in interest.

"Why are you talking about retirement when you’re not even fifty?" Zein rolled his eyes. "I don’t think you’ll stop even when you hit a hundred."

"Well, thanks for praying for my longevity," Agni smirked. "But what can I do if someone constantly whined about it?"

"It’s not a bad plan, isn’t it?" Ron shrugged. "To be done with this and retired after."

The scout turned toward the hovering black cloud that could be seen even from the new headquarters. People slowly followed his eyes and for a while, they just stared at the looming darkness that they would have to thread tomorrow.

Yes. Tomorrow.

"Anyway, do you have a name for this whole thing?" Ron asked.

"Dead Star," Bassena replied. He couldn’t see it himself, but he had been imagining the entity that Zein saw in his vision. "We call it Operation Dead Star."

He recalled the might of the Celestial Being he had to endure inside the black orb, and smiled deeply to encourage himself.

"We’ll be slaying a dying Star."