22 Interrogation (1/2)
The average walking speed of a human is 5km/hr. We had four times the speed of an average human. So in two short hours, we're able to reach Alampur Village without any setbacks.
We killed a few Abnormals in the way and their crystals went to the 'team fund' which was supposed to be used for buying a spatial ring.
After hearing the notion of the spatial ring, the tracking bag that I usually wore without any problems seemed to have become a bit heavier.
'Sigh! I've already started to become lazy.'
But all of these useless thoughts came to an end when the reached Alampur.
Because the sight we saw in front of us was definitely not something we had expected.
The whole village was filled with corpses for as far as eyes could see.
The whole ground of the village was soaked red with blood and body parts.
The houses in the village were tattered with bullet holes and the ground was charred with explosions.
A strong stench permeated from whole village which didn't not lose the stench emitted by the corpses lying around the Mutant tree. Just that, this time there was a mix of gun powder in there.
”The army must have passed through here.” I said.
It didn't take long for one to understand who was the culprit of this carnage. Who, aside the army would have enough manpower to destroy a whole village filled with abnormals.
”Yes. And this happened recently. A few hours at most. They must not have gone far from here. They couldn't have.” Rahul said and looked at the map for a moment before saying.
”If their commander is competent, then he must have camped his troops at this hilly area over here.” He pointed at a few hills shown in the map.
”That's not far from here.” I said.
'Not only was it not far. But it was actually in between Alampur and our hometown.'
I wondered for a moment if the gunshots that little Neha heard was their doing or not.
”How many of them are there?” I asked.
”Not many” Rahul replied. ”Less than 200.”
”How did you know that?” I asked in confusion. ”Did you guess that from the number of bullet holes?”
”No, not really” he chuckled then pointed at the ground ”Look closely, although the ground here is hard, you can still see the tracks left behind by their vehicles.”
”Going by their tracks, there must have been two or three large vehicles and one small jeep.” He said.
”But that's not necessarily all of their troops. This could just a small detachment for all we know. We won't know about the situation until we see for ourself.”
”So… are we going to their camp?” I asked.
”No. We won't go to their camp. Just scout it a little bit to gain a better understanding of the situation.” He said ”But that's for later. First, we must salvage any crystal we can find in this battlefield.”
”Well… Alright.” Although the army has turned this place into hell, we still might be able to gain some benefits from it.
And so, our search started.
And even though I started this search very excitedly, I was soon disappointed.
The shockwave produced by the bullets which destroyed the brains of the Abnormals, destroyed the crystals along with it. And the few that I remain intact were heavily damaged as well.
Plus, a lot of Abnormals perished in the explosions as well, so I never even put any hopes in finding any crystals from them since I couldn't find their heads in the first place.
'But this village was once home to around 500 people. So there must have been at least 400 abnormals in here. I'm sure I'll find something.' I thought and with carried on this arduous task.
By the end of our search, we were able to salvage about a 100 crystals. But most of them were damage so didn't fetch a good price.
The 100 crystals that should have gained us 800 white coins, had they been in their perfect conditions were only able to gain us 200 white coins.
'Well… Still better than nothing.' I thought.
Now we only needed around 300 more crystals to buy the Spatial Ring.
”Huu. I find it hard to believe that out of those 200 people, no one was able to find about the usage of the crystals.” I said.
”That's not surprising.” Rahul said. ”People in the army are thought how to follow any command given to them. They not thought how to think independently. Actually, I would have found it surprising if those people had been able to find the proper usage of the crystals.”
”Well… Isn't this a good this for us. We just received 200 free white coins.”
”In a sense.” Rahul said ”This also goes to show how rare and talented Gaurav was.”
”Hopefully he's still not dead.” I said.
”Nah! He's not among the ones who die easily.” Rahul smiled ”I think he'll come back. What do you think?”
”Well… I'll tell you the truth. I didn't like that old man. But…” I thought for a while and then said ”I think he'll come back as well.”
”In that case, let's continue on our way. There's nothing else left in this village.” Rahul said and stood up to walk.
”Brother…” I suddenly remembered something and said.
”Huh! What is it?” he turned around and asked.
”There are no survivors here… Do you think the army took them?”
”Most likely.” He replied.
”Then… Do you think Neha's situation has something to do with the army as well. After all… their camp is rather close to Zakopur.”
”We'll know once we get there.” He simply said. But I could not see his expression anymore.
At that time, I suddenly heard a mechanical voice in my head.
'Necessary conditions met.'
'Your Skill 'Advanced Vision' has been upgraded by a level.'
'New features unlocked within the skill.'
I heard the message and my blank expression turned ecstatic.
—————
I looked at the army camp in the distance. Although it was dark in the night, I was still able to see everything very clearly because of the 'Night Vision' featured of the 2nd tier Advanced Vision.
Not only was I able to see everything clearly, I was even able to see everything 3 times further as well.
But that brought me no joy at this moment.
Instead I was burning with rage.
'Those women… Those poor women. What did they ever do to get treated like this.' I clenched my teeth and looked at the sight going inside the Army Camp in anger.
'They're their own countrymen. They're the very people they were supposed to protect. How could they do this.'
”Those bastards.” I cursed in a voice filled with rage. ”Those filthy beasts. They were supposed to protect these people and not…”
”Calm your emotions…” Rahul interrupted me at once.
”But brother. They're…”
”I know.” He said. ”I can see everything just as well as you.” I could feel a hint of anger in his voice but I felt as if he was trying to subdue it.
”But then…”
”What?” he snapped. ”You plan to go and save them. Do you think that it's so easy to infiltrate an army camp. That you'll be able to enter and leave as you wish.”
”Do you not see those men petrolling the area. Or those sentry on guard with the heavy machine gun.” He said in anger ”Have that little bit of power of yours gone over to your head little brother.”
”But I… I just…” I dropped my head and punched the ground.
Rahul looked at me and finally let out a sigh.
”We cannot save those women Ashok. And even if we could have saved them, I would not have done so.”
I looked up at him in confusion and sadness and asked ”Why?”
”Because we cannot protect them. Once we saved those women, then what? How are you going to feed them? How are you going to protect them? If a Abnormal horde attacked your group, then would you leave them behind to die or die yourself trying to buy them a few more minutes.”
”You have to consider a lot of things before making such decisions. You cannot just go taking actions based on your feelings.” He said ”You must understand little brother, that you cannot protect everyone. At least not with your current strength.”
”I…” I sighed and said ”I understand. But…” I wanted to ask about Neha but he signalled me to shut up.
”I know what you want to ask.” He said ”We'll catch one of those guys patrolling the area and ask him about the information relating to Zakopur.”
”Alright.” I said with clenched fist. ”Then let's do this.”
”No. Only I'll be going. You'll stay here and wait for me.” He said sternly.