"Target locked!" Valerie's voice came from the Iron Guards.
The neural connection system allowed her to react almost in sync with her body; the heavy bomb gun on Iron Guard's shoulder unleashed deadly flames, precisely blocking Alpha's path of movement.
Jackie, piloting the Iron Guard, used his automatic cannons to clear out the ordinary mimics that tried to approach, creating an environment for Valerie to deal damage.
Alpha skillfully evaded the direct hits of the bombs, its energy shield flashing violently under the impact of the continuous explosions.
Just then, Sasha reported: "Interference effective! The coordination efficiency of the mimics around the target has decreased by approximately 40%!"
Kiwi added, "An Alpha individual was detected attempting to re-establish the command link, but the signal quality was severely degraded."
"Now!" Rebecca pulled the trigger.
A thick stream of plasma sliced through the battlefield, shooting toward Alpha at an astonishing speed.
Alpha attempted one last change of direction, but the chaos of the surrounding ordinary mimics created an opening in its evasive maneuver, and Valerie's bomb conveniently blocked its final escape route.
The incandescent plasma completely engulfed it.
The eerie blue light vanished instantly in the intense heat, the shield shattered due to overload, and the sturdy outer shell rapidly melted and vaporized under the 10,000-degree heat.
There was no blood splattering, no screams, only a moment of extreme light and heat, leaving behind a shallow, molten crater and a few twisted remains.
"Target cleared," Rebecca reported, her tone satisfied.
Sasha and Lucy's device pointers jerked violently for a moment before returning to normal.
"A strong energy release was detected, consistent with the characteristics of a high-energy-level unit death. But… no spacetime curvature abrupt change or global pulse of the scale previously detected." Sasha's voice was filled with surprise.
"The spacetime readings are stable," Lucy confirmed.
The mimics on the battlefield showed obvious signs of chaos, and their actions became more disorderly and inefficient.
"The overall performance of the mimics network has further declined," Sasha monitored the data flow. "After losing the alpha node, their adaptive ability has been significantly weakened."
Kiwi nodded in confirmation: "The interference remains effective, and the mimics within the area is no longer able to organize an effective offensive."
With Alpha out of command, coupled with the continuous barrage from the two Iron Guards and Rebecca, as well as the effects of electronic jamming, the mimics in the S-7 area was quickly cleared.
With the pressure on the UDF forces greatly reduced, they seized the opportunity to consolidate their positions and even launch small-scale counter-offensives.
"The loop did not reset." Maine stared at the crater where Alpha had disappeared, his optical lens flickering slightly. "We have ruled out one possibility: Alpha's death itself was not the direct trigger for the reset."
Cage let out a long sigh of relief, feeling his tense nerves relax a little.
Watching the mimics retreat under the firepower and electronic jamming of Maine's squad, he truly felt for the first time that the course of the battle could be changed.
"But this raises more questions," David pondered. "If Alpha's death doesn't lead to a reset, then what is the key? Is it that Alpha's blood must come into contact with Cage?"
Or is it that... Cage's death itself was a necessary condition?
Rebecca interjected, "So, even without that blue guy, time will still reverse as long as this newbie dies?"
Sasha adjusted the sensor recording: "There's another noteworthy phenomenon: every time Alpha appears, it clearly targets Cage. This targeting is very unusual."
"We've obtained valuable data and ruled out a wrong option." Maine synthesized the team's observations. "What we can confirm now is that the Alpha individual can be safely eliminated, provided that its blood does not come into contact with Cage."
Electronic interference techniques have proven effective against common mimics, but we still need to verify the exact triggering conditions for the reset.
He looked towards the still-smoke-filled sky in the distance: "This cycle is not over yet. We will use the remaining time to continue collecting data, focusing on observing the changes on the battlefield while Cage is still alive."
Meanwhile, Pilar, you should begin gathering the materials needed to build the capture device. We need to prepare for testing the next hypothesis.
"Understood!" the team members responded in unison. While this operation answered one question, it also raised more conjectures that remain to be verified.
——
With the last remaining mimics of resistance eliminated, the UDF declared victory in the landing operation.
On the beach, soldiers hugged and celebrated, but the members of Maine's squad simply packed up their equipment calmly.
They submitted an application through official channels, citing "special technical assessment and adaptation training" as the reason for transferring Cage to their temporary jurisdiction.
The UDF leadership quickly approved the request.
When Cage arrived at the independent area assigned to Maine's team at the rear base with his simple luggage, Rebecca was leaning against her equipment box, chewing on a nutrition bar.
"So, what did you do before?" she asked casually, sizing up the young man who seemed completely out of place on the battlefield.
Cage put down his luggage somewhat awkwardly: "I am a civilian officer in the recruitment propaganda department, responsible for... writing recruitment materials and planning propaganda activities."
Dorio, who was passing by, stopped when she heard this: "A civilian officer? Then how come you're on the front lines of the landing force?"
Cage explained with a wry smile, "I... offended a general during a propaganda campaign. The next day I was transferred from my original post, my identity information was changed to that of a private, and I was put into the landing force."
Valerie whistled: "Wow, offending your superiors means going to the front lines to die? This is way more ruthless than the workplace retaliation we have back home."
"So you wrote all those morale-boosting recruitment slogans?" Pilar looked up from the pile of equipment and asked curiously, "'Join the UDF, drive out the aliens'?"
Cage's face flushed slightly: "Um... it was indeed one of the copywriting tasks I was responsible for."
"Looks like you're not just going to be able to write slogans," Dorio handed him a training suit, "now you'll have to experience it firsthand. Go change, training starts in ten minutes."
Training began at the first training field.
Dorio looked at Cage, who had changed into his training uniform. He stood loosely, showing no signs of having received military training.
"Alright, Propaganda Officer," Dorio said, "let's see what you're made of."
The first lesson is close combat.
Cage clumsily imitated Dorio's demonstration, only to trip and stumble.
"Relax, you're not giving a speech," Dorio said, supporting him. "The mimics won't listen to your recruitment slogans."
As training progressed, Cage was repeatedly thrown to the ground.
When he got up for the fifth time, Dorio praised him, which was rare for her: "At least you have good perseverance."
During halftime, Cage slumped to the ground, panting heavily.
Maine walked over and handed him a can of energy drink: "How are you feeling, Cage?"
"My whole body is protesting…" Cage took the drink with a wry smile. "I used to only write copy in the office at most."
Jackie laughed loudly from the side: "Then you can write an article titled 'From Propagandist to Frontline Soldier' now."