Ch.169Chapter 20. Patriot (21)

* * * * *

200km north of the health center, at the Olpia City Gymnasium. Originally used as an indoor arena, it now houses the headquarters of the Elza Midwest Regional National Integration Army.

The place was chaotic—medium-sized tents, electrical wires, and supply boxes scattered across the urethane floor, with soldiers and officers running around like grasshoppers in a burning field.

“Kyaaak! No, no! Don’t shoot! Kyaak!”

Occasionally, someone would turn into a zombie. Each time, officers and soldiers would unhesitatingly fire their taser guns to subdue them, cover their heads with fertilizer sacks, and drag them outside the stadium for “disposal.”

In this situation, no one found it suspicious when Ellen Burrow sat in a corner with a laptop. The surrounding officers and soldiers even cleared space for him.

Thanks to this, Ellen could freely curse—not with his mouth, but with his keyboard.

“What the hell are you doing?”

As soon as he sent the message, Ellen activated the IP tracking protocol. IP tracking was a basic skill for all officers. After all, it was essential for tracking Elza terrorists faster than anyone else.

In less than 30 seconds, the protocol pinpointed a location. It was near the Elza capital. Alarmed, he zoomed in on the map, but 30 seconds later, the location changed. This time to eastern Elza. Bewildered, he blinked, and now it showed the eastern coast of Römer.

“Using disruption devices to mess with me?”

The IP tracking protocol could break through most bypass equipment. So whatever the other person was using wasn’t just any ordinary program. The next step would be to change the password and log out.

[Enter current password]

[Enter new password]

[Confirm new password]

Ellen filled in all three fields.

[Incorrect current password]

“What?”

A message arrived for the confused officer.

– “By the way, I already changed your password. If you log out, you won’t be able to log back in. I’ll give you credit for not using 1q2w3e or qawsed. But seriously, ‘password1234’ is a bit much, don’t you think?”

Ellen gritted his teeth.

At this point, he should request assistance from the “Security Department.” But that was the one option he couldn’t take.

“Those idiots!”

When Ellen lost his temper, the surrounding officers and soldiers moved even further away. Thanks to that, he barely managed to stop himself from shouting, “What kind of idiots allow duplicate logins in the first place!”

In a normal security system, such “duplicate logins” would be treated as major incidents. The problem was that this was Elza, and the users of this security system were the incomparably incompetent Elza soldiers.

Regardless of rank, Elza soldiers considered it normal for subordinates to do their superiors’ work. Writing reports, attending video conferences, reporting overtime, approving documents—all were delegated tasks.

Subordinates burdened with these troublesome duties would make excuses: “The Security Department has blocked duplicate logins, so we cannot complete the tasks.” The Elza superiors would then use their political influence to address their subordinates’ grievances.

Eventually, after enduring countless complaints, threats, verbal abuse, and curses, the Security Department surrendered by allowing duplicate logins, regularly updating pornographic videos from Minsk on backup servers, and providing USB delivery services for old officers who couldn’t figure out how to stream over the intranet.

After the zombie outbreak, the Security Department’s situation worsened. Before, they only had to stare at monitors and touch keyboards, but now they had to reinstall utility poles pulled out by zombies, reconnect communication lines, and provide customized training for old generals who complained, “Why does my laptop’s Wi-Fi disconnect when there’s a power outage?”

And now, was he supposed to report to these people, “Sorry, but I think someone hacked my account”?

The red-eyed Security Department staff would rush to fillet him alive. They would thoroughly investigate not only his search history but even his incomplete searches, displaying them on the gymnasium’s large screen to ridicule him.

That absolutely could not happen.

“Okay. Stay calm. Stay calm.”

Ellen still had many cards to play. But he didn’t want to reveal them all when he didn’t know who his opponent was or what they wanted. Ellen, once known as the “Human Butcher,” changed his approach.

“Though brief, serving under Captain Clayton was the pride of my life. I sincerely regret his demise and only wish for him to rest peacefully by the Goddess’s side. But how dare you, squeaking like a rat, impersonate him?”

The reply came after quite some time.

– “I’ve noticed before that you seem well-raised. So let me ask you this. The corpse of that superior you’re so proud of—you left it on a health center bed with dog tags at his feet. Did you learn that from how your parents treated your grandparents, or is it the same filial piety you showed your own parents?”

“This… this… this son of a bitch…”

Ellen had a good idea where this bastard was. The health center. Somehow, the laptop there had been compromised, and the bodies discovered.

“These incompetent bastards can’t do anything right!”

Ellen finally pulled out his phone and frantically sent messages to his former subordinates.

* * * * *

Leticia doesn’t know Officer Ellen Burrow well. Even in intelligence, one can’t know every soldier in Elza, and he wasn’t someone she needed to know about.

But now, she realized he was a man of broad knowledge. Otherwise, he couldn’t have mixed profanities from Minsk, Elza, and Römer into such a dazzling cocktail of messages.

Some were familiar. They reminded her of Elza curses her grandmother had shouted while storming into school with an AKM rifle fitted with a bayonet after the Leticia siblings came home crying from being beaten up. Only as an adult did she learn these were actually Minsk curses pronounced in the Elza style.

As Leticia was lost in old memories, Johan handed her a note.

– Are you recording well?

He had passed it from an angle to avoid the camera. Leticia waved her hand to indicate not to worry. Johan continued typing polite insults on the keyboard without a care.

‘But why are we recording this?’

Johan had turned on the laptop screen recording program to capture all the messages in real-time. He also asked Leticia to record with her phone for cross-verification, on the condition she only film the laptop screen.

Eventually, a lengthy message arrived from Ellen. When Johan copied and pasted it into a notepad, it exceeded 5,700 characters.

“Lazy effort. He just copied and pasted the same sentences over and over.”

Johan sent one final message asking about Ellen’s parents. Then he changed the password again and logged out. The recording ended there.

“…Well, good.”

“Would you mind telling me what’s so good about this?”

Leticia deliberately put on a pouty expression. Johan chuckled, rubbing his palms together.

“This Ellen guy is in league with those who killed their superior as a sacrifice and installed CCTV, right? Now that we’ve provoked him, he’s desperate to know who we are and how much we know. At first, he tried to figure out our identity with leading questions, but then he threatened to come kill us. He’ll probably send his minions to this health center.”

“Doesn’t that put us in danger?”

Leticia frowned at Johan’s answer, but he remained unmoved.

“Not necessarily. First, we don’t know if they’ll come or not. This might have been an abandoned base. But by provoking them like this, we can ensure they either never return or can’t return. Second, even if they do come, we can prepare adequately. Our supplies aren’t just here—we can set traps and temporarily retreat. And third is the most important.”

“…What is it?”

“They know this place well, so they might bring less food but plenty of ammunition. 5.56mm standard bullets. What we need most but have trouble finding.”

Johan answered nonchalantly. Leticia’s mouth opened slightly.

“…So you’re doing this for ammunition?”

“No, it’s just frustrating. We’ve been wandering around only finding shotgun shells and no military ammunition. So I’m making them bring it to us.”

“Wait. Johan.”

Leticia shook her head.

“I’m listening.”

“What did you say last time? That they’re regular army and you don’t want to fight them directly. But now you’re severely provoking the regular army because you need ammunition. That’s inconsistent.”

Surprisingly, Johan agreed. Leticia added another point.

“Moreover, we’re dealing with someone who killed his superior, laid him on a bed, and had enough leadership and ability to mobilize his subordinates to escape the central district. Who knows how many cards he has hidden. You don’t think one attack will solve everything, do you? I believe in your abilities, but this seems reckless.”

For a brief moment, Johan’s eyes seemed to cloud over. Leticia worried he might be intoxicated with his own abilities. But soon, Johan smiled slyly.

“Don’t worry about Ellen. We can just take him down.”

“We don’t even know where he is. Are you planning to track him through his IP?”

“No. We don’t need to catch him ourselves. That’s why I recorded everything.”

Leticia looked at Johan with disbelief. Johan nodded.

“We’ll hand this evidence over to the National Military Police. The best people to catch regular army are other regular army. That way, we can see all the cards he’s hiding. So…”

“Yes?”

“You still have that woman’s number, right?”