From Titan Corporation to the Empire of Man

Chapter 90 "Don't look for trouble" "Interrogation on the spot" (4000)

afternoon.

Dark clouds blocked the direct sunlight, and a haze enveloped the earth.

Countless refugees sit on the street, begging for food from passers-by, making the Eastern European-style town look even more deserted and run-down.

Pedestrians' clothes were also wrinkled and old. When they saw the refugees, they quickened their pace as if they were avoiding the plague, for fear of being caught.

Who knows what hungry refugees will do?
  What's more, pedestrians are also worried about how they will survive until next year, and how can they have time to care about other people's stomachs.

"."

The bearded man edited the message and saw "successfully sent" displayed on the screen. He put the phone back into his pocket and tightened his unbuttoned black windbreaker.

Passing by a refugee mother and son sitting in the alley, the man's steps faltered slightly, but he finally chose to move on.

Perhaps because he was afraid that giving money or food would lead to the death of the mother and son, the man's eyes showed some apology.

The "Redfield" displayed on the phone screen just now is actually the man's surname. As for the first name, it is the more popular Chris.

The intelligence transactions in the bar and the unique mobile phone that looks shabby but actually has many functions all point to his true identity——

Atlas Investigators.

And even Chris himself doesn't know what the special meaning is of connecting his last name and first name together.

He was originally born in February 1973 in the main universe. He joined the United States Air Force in 2. Because he showed excellent tactical qualities and excellent physical fitness, he was recruited into the 1991rd Reconnaissance Company of the Special Operations Command.

By early 1993, his files and those of his teammates came to the attention of Atlas.

After a series of routine operations by senior military officials and military-industrial enterprises, Chris and his teammates were transferred to Atlas to build a military base in Kenya in accordance with orders from their superiors.

From then on, Chris and his team were incorporated into the Atlas combat unit, and in January 1994, they were transferred to the Investigation Department.

When the first space gate opened, because their employee level did not have the right to know about the ruins base, they did not participate in the first outer universe investigation operation.

July 1995.

Because the company needed to integrate Europe from Earth Zero-1, Chris and his comrades followed the instructions of their superiors and passed through the space gate to the reconstructed Paris.

Europe has been plagued by mimicry for five years, with 70% of its infrastructure completely destroyed.

Coupled with Mimicry's take-no-prisoners behavior, most of Europe has been an absolute no-go zone for humans in the past five years.

As mimicry lost its threat, the United Nations and the United Defense Force (UDF) were unable to afford the huge expenditures and significantly reduced their military strength. Relatively mature countries and regions such as the United Kingdom, Morocco, and Norway immediately "persuaded" those who fled the war. Refugees, it’s time to “go home”.

At first, less than a million refugees chose to voluntarily return to their homeland with a deep yearning for their hometown and a desire to rebuild it.

But not long after, the refugees faced the reality of having no money and no food, making rebuilding their homes a luxury.

In order to solve their current predicament, the refugees chose to request some humanitarian assistance from the nearest and seemingly powerful member of the United Nations, the United Kingdom.

However, the reply received was rather perfunctory. If the UK did not want to maintain its remaining international image, it might refuse directly.

After all, the five-year human-mimetic war has almost depleted all mankind's wealth. All countries have fallen into a state of being too busy to take care of themselves, and there is nowhere left to take care of the refugees.

Next, countries led by the United Kingdom and the United States used the media to publicize violent incidents caused by refugees on a large scale, and then guided public opinion toward "hating refugees", resulting in more frequent demonstrations and unrest.

Seeing that public dissatisfaction reached its peak, Britain and the United States publicly announced that they would take coercive measures to expel refugees.

In order to maintain the international image and the country's social stability, this process is indispensable and inevitable.

However, many scumbags who rely on their refugee status choose to give up on themselves and are lazy. They frequently violently and rob local citizens in the countries where they are being rescued. Coupled with the saturation of jobs in the society, forced deportation becomes logical.
  Within one year after the war ended (1994 in the main universe), million refugees returned to Europe.

But it was during this most chaotic year that the Atlas branch was established. Using abundant living supplies, it successfully attracted a large number of refugees who voluntarily returned to their homeland and were capable of working.

At the same time, the branch also dispatched many investigators, including Chris, to conduct "things-for-things" or "things-for-money" transactions with Eastern European underground markets in order to quickly exchange for local arms and cash.

In mid-1995 in the main universe, Atlas, equipped with Hex robots and 3D printing technology, completed the preliminary reconstruction of Paris.

With Robert (Guilliman) serving as the chief military officer of the Atlas Division, the company began to accelerate its expansion centered in Paris.

As of September 1996, 9 in the main universe, which is today, all of France, Switzerland and Austria, as well as parts of Germany, Italy and other regions, have been included in the Atlas Division and have become green safe areas.

There are approximately 740,000 employees working for the branch in this area, of which more than 36,000 are former UDF soldiers, responsible for maintaining law and order, expelling harassment, and performing various military tasks.

As for the residents under its command, there are as many as seven million people, most of whom are relatives and friends of employees, but Atlas is not responsible for the daily expenses of ordinary residents.

If you want to exchange for coupons for food, other daily necessities, or even entertainment products, you must obtain them through labor or farming.

Of course, residents can also rely on working family members for support.

The drastic reconstruction work first attracted the attention of the United Kingdom, followed by the entire United Nations and UDF.

But in the face of all doubts and inquiries from the outside world, the Atlas branch chose to ignore and remain silent. At the same time, at Robert's suggestion, it created an official account on the Internet, with the introduction:

"Atlas' mission is to provide people with safety, order and hope amid chaos and disaster, and to help people return to normal life."

Then, the promotional videos of New Paris, the weapons and equipment display of Atlas, the nuclear fusion power plant that provides energy for the reconstruction area, and other such videos and graphic information were uploaded one after another.

One of the videos with more likes and comments shows viewers the gorgeous scenery shot from the Atlas "Space Station" around the Earth's equator.

In other words, the Atlas branch publicly stated that "we want to rebuild Europe", "we have enough resources and manpower", and "we also have armed forces to maintain the territory, including nuclear weapons for external strikes", using A more subtle way is to warn the outside world not to look for trouble.

Both Britain and the United States understand the information contained in "nuclear fusion power plant" and "space station perspective".

Regardless of whether the controllable nuclear fusion technology is genuine or not, the video taken by the "Space Station" has been identified by British and American experts and has been confirmed to contain no fake elements.

So, when was the Atlas rocket launched? And how to quietly send the parts needed for the "space station" into low-Earth orbit?
  Why didn’t radar and satellites detect anything unusual?
  Or, is that really a "space station"?

No matter what the United Kingdom, the United States and other countries think, Atlas came out of nowhere and put "this is the truth" online.

In the past, the situation in Europe was corrupt, and countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States did not dare to intervene easily, but only "supported" internationally.

But in less than two years, Atlas integrated France and other places, and the momentum of this integration became more and more "rapid". Faced with the sudden rise of the enemy and Atlas's refusal to negotiate, Britain and the United States, which felt a serious threat and could not tolerate being ignored, had tried some secret blockades, but all ended in failure.

Because Atlas has no dependence on technology or supply, and even has a large amount of resource reserves, and Eastern Europe also has endless black market transactions due to various melees.

An open blockade?

There is absolutely no reason for Atlas to take the lead on the side of "justice" and promote the so-called "corporate purpose", "corporate welfare" and "show of force" to the outside world through the Internet. Moreover, the reconstructed European region is indeed better than It was more suitable for human habitation before the war.

As for cyber attacks and slanderous remarks, the British and American cyber forces have also been repeatedly frustrated.

On the other hand, before Atlas expands, it will first expose the current situation of the target area, such as the miserable life of people and the violent behavior of warlords, soldiers and extremists, to guide the trend of public opinion on the Internet.

This resulted in the British and American parties apparently having no way to deal with Atlas's expansion.

Unless you no longer consider Atlas's nuclear counterattack and choose to attack from the front, it will trigger a war of all human nature...

But Britain and the United States are not that crazy yet.

Since there is no clue on the surface, a secret strategy is adopted.

By secretly supporting extremist forces, and directing the leader of the forces to use thousands of refugees as "hostages" for defense, and at the same time sending troops to the border to constantly harass and provoke the rebuilding Atlas, it is the most "lasting" one. Best solution.

Faced with this approach of treating life as trivial, it has indeed slowed down Atlas' recent rapid momentum. After all, the victory or defeat in street battles determines the ownership of a city and town.

The "Panonia Organization" mentioned by Chris is an emerging force jointly supported by Britain and the United States, occupying the former Slovakia and Hungary regions.

Since the pronunciation of "Panonia Organization" is too convoluted, Chris and his comrades in charge of this area usually refer to it as the Nia Organization.

The main members are mostly refugees, civilians with extreme ideas, and a large number of UDF soldiers who were forcibly retired.

And Chris also learned that the elite troops of the British and American Intelligence Agency seemed to be responsible for the daily training and tactical guidance of the Niya organization, but there was still no conclusive evidence.

However, one thing Chris is sure of is that in order to avoid exposure and leaving evidence, Britain and the United States did not provide direct arms assistance, so the Nian organization needed to purchase it on its own.

As for the town where Chris is located, it is Isilava, forty kilometers east of the trading place "Brno".

At this moment.

Chris left the main road where there were more people, and went around several uninhabited paths, and finally came to a dark alley.

Walk to the end, stop in front of an iron gate and wait for a few seconds.

"Click~!"

With the crisp sound of unlocking, Chris pulled the door directly in, but he didn't forget to close the door smoothly.

Step over the stairs.

Arrive at the second floor.

Chris saw a console with a suspended holographic screen, a table with modular weapons, and more than a dozen investigators in "civilian clothes."

And here is a temporary outpost to facilitate the investigators' operations.

"The guy in charge of operations is following me."

After hearing what Chris said, four men and one woman, a total of six people including Chris, walked to the small conference room to the side.

Close the door.

Chris debugged his mobile phone, placed it on the table, presented detailed holographic information to everyone, and said in a deep voice:
  “If the intelligence is accurate, Valento Rodak, the second leader of the Nia organization, will personally rush to the arms trading market in Brno tomorrow.

The mission goal is to disintegrate the opponent's accompanying escort, interrogate the hiding place of their organization's leader on the spot, and provide accurate intelligence for Enio 003's airborne operations.

To avoid alerting others, this operation is solely our responsibility.

If the operation fails or encounters a trap, we will have the right to apply to our superiors for airborne support from Enio 003 based on the actual situation.

However, failure to act will cause us to miss an excellent opportunity. No matter when the next window appears, it will affect the company's subsequent plans, so please be sure to stay alert and be prepared. "

"Yes, sir."

"clear."

"no problem."

After the words fell, the five investigators all gave their customary answers.
-
  ...

Afternoon the next day.

Main universe time: September 1996, 9, 5:14.

Town of Brno.

Observed from above, it is not difficult to find that this former tourist destination has been devastated by the erosion of mimicry.

Half of the buildings were severely damaged and ruins could be seen everywhere, but the main traffic streets leading to the inside and outside of the town had been cleaned up.

And the town’s central square can be described as “busy”.

Along the street are sales stalls with sunscreen shelters and shops with conspicuous signs. Stall owners and shopkeepers also stand on the street and shout, inviting passers-by to take a look.

It's just that the products they sell are not fruits and vegetables, let alone tourist souvenirs, but a large number of UDF's active weapons, including firearms, grenades, and even anti-tank guns and rockets.

At this moment, a convoy of seven SUVs and three military trucks appeared on the not-so-congested road.

See this.

A woman walking among the crowd, covering half her face with a scarf and wearing a desert-colored coat, reported in a low voice: "This is the crampon, please pay attention to all units, the target has appeared."

(End of this chapter)