The Children Of Thalia

Rediscussing

The cold air blew ushering in the horrors that suddenly crawled over my shoulders. The sky doesn't look cloudy, maybe it's my feeling. But it's definitely not a good feeling. I heard Ansel take a deep breath, then rubbed his face firmly withstanding any emotions that might be stirring.

"Before, I was sorry for what happened. Sorry, I can't act fast." Ansel. His voice sounded more aggressive. His calm began to disappear.

"Ah, yes. Also, there is no need to apologize. Not that it was your fault either."

Ansel shook his head many times. "We are too negligent in taking the situation into account." His words sounded full of regret. "I had a hunch that they would attack some remote place after escaping from Helder, but I was less quick to predict that they would move to Jirca."

Wait, what?

"Attacking Helder?"

Ansel paused for a moment, pondering. The expression he made was probably the same as me who had been remembering the incident at the parlour back then. He was rewinding the unpleasant memories in his head before trying to convey them with words. When he took a breath, I knew he was ready.

"A month ago, about five weeks ago, there were reports that some thugs had gathered in a rundown apartment across from Helder. Reports of assault, extortion, and harassment came to the security division of a number of students. As it was already unsettling, the security division sent out several patrol members to inspect it. Three days passed, the entire patrol squad members disappeared without any news. Judging too suspicious, the division head wanted to send out a special squad that usually only moved when commanded directly by him. But I suggested that Wild Dogs be taken down first just in case. Two of our men left, an attacker and a healer. They both returned in the afternoon. Full of wounds, one unconscious."

Ansel's voice trembled like a lion as he told a story. Anger really looks smoldering from his eyes. I-i understand. He had been holding this for a month, only to find that the person he was looking for had all died silenced.

"What are Wild Dogs that are unattached squads?" many ensure.

"That's why it's called Wild Dogs."

"I understand." I clenched both my hands. I see, now I understand the main plot, as well as the reason why Ansel was so irritated. "The attack on Helder's students made the academy's side unable to stay still. Because of that they deployed special forces without students, but the Security Division also had a way. Wild Dogs are not a tied squad, so they can move freely alone. I don't know if you did get the permission of the division chairman or not, but that is reflected in your actions are so limited. You want to find the perpetrators yourself before Helder finds them. Of course it worked, but the perpetrators turned out to be silenced with death, making your effort......"

I didn't say the last word, but I know Ansel understands. He grinned, full of disappointment as if laughing at himself. "Via. Our efforts are in vain." He actually laughed as he closed his eyes with his hands. "By the way, how did you know that Helder was deploying special forces?"

"You told me yourself that the police had nothing to do with this case. From the beginning you knew this was not a matter that the police could solve, or one that did not require police."

It felt like there were bells clinking when I said that. Ansel looked at me with such a cold grin, but I stared back at him sharply. We understand what we're talking about, and Ansel understands that there's no need to hide some things from me.

"You're pretty dangerous apparently."

"People say that to me." I relaxed my shoulders, leaned against the bench before explaining again. "It's just a guess, I don't have any evidence, but it makes sense to think about it again. Ulkafa and Thalia are in a complicated conflict. The war took place at the border, which of course made the defense ministry give orders to further tighten the border guard. That way, the attacking Ulkafa militant forces need to think of a new safe passage to infiltrate Thalia. They were successful in the beginning, but this matter had already been going on for ten years. I'm sure the gaps that exist to infiltrate will be narrower, almost none of the paths. Moreover, those people carry weapons, when Thalia law is really strict about firearms transactions. If they could get enough weapons and ammunition, then there was clearly someone behind them."

Ansel who had been silent and listening earlier could only shake his head in disbelief. "I can't say right, I can't say wrong."

Indeed, from the beginning I said this was just a wild guess. But there was a little more that bothered me.

"That time, the guy who attacked us at the end, he wasn't the receiver, was he? There has never been a recorded receiver that can fire and teleport."

"True, he's a Half-Men. Have you heard of that?"

".......... Little."

I know, I read it a long time ago. Half-Men, as the name implies, they're only half human. In the past, around 2006, there was a major war between humans and receivers. The first year of the war, despite using terrible technology, humanity was still defeated. The second year, the war turned into a one-sided massacre by the receiver, the third year, the resistance of the human side was fierce. Many receivers were killed, including their captains as well. In the fourth year, humans begin to lose their humanity by conducting experiments. The researchers then injected the receiver cells into the children of war victims. I don't know if there are hundreds or thousands, which is certain that the results of the study lead humans to the top of the war once again. The study was called Half-Men. They're not receivers, but they're not humans either.

The war ended in 2013. At that time there was a peace treaty after the earth's population only numbered about ten million. Terrible numbers, indeed. But that's what's recorded in the history books. The great war lasted until the remaining parties were fed up with the smell of blood as they came out of their hiding places. The treaty was then signed. Since the existing lands were already razed to the ground, the people decided to re-establish a new state, and the Republic of Thalia was born.

If Ansel's words about the man being Half-Men are true, then something is going on in Thalia's shadow. There is one more unsolved mystery about the Half-Men during the war. After the great war ended, the Half-Men suddenly disappeared, no news or information at all. They were completely lost as if engulfed by the earth. If the man turns out to be a Half-Men rising from the past, or worse, a new Half-Men from an illegal experiment that goes unbeknownst to the world, the, then this matter is really much more complicated than I thought.

"That man, his name is William Wilxes." Ansel began to explain. "He's the man we're looking for, next to one more man who's also now a corpse."

".................."

I can't comment anything.

"Your explanation, in general, is correct, but it is very less about details." Ansel continued his explanation. "Right, after the two Wild Dogs members returned full of injuries, the security division was quite shaken. The patrol team also returned unconscious. Information was immediately heard to the ears of the Helder officials, so that special squads were immediately fielded. Ah, but don't get me wrong about the drop of a special squad. Our distrust is not focused on one agency alone, we consider almost all parties outside Helder suspicious. For the security division itself, despite returning home with injuries, our members had time to provide information, that the one in the building was not a thug or a delinquent, he said, but the people of Ulkafa are with the Half-Men by teleportation and manipulation of fire. That's when I realized the case was complicated.

"Helder had actually given a warning to the security division; no students were involved in the case because it was too dangerous. But I don't put my trust in them. I got permission from the division chief, then I moved the Wild Dogs in secret. The Security Division also fielded our secret investigation team, Merlins. The investigation led us to discover that there were two masterminds behind the attack, a Half-Men and a receiver. We call the receiver U-1 and the Half-Men U-2.

"Si the receiver, U-1 was the first person to smell his tracks. He recruited some thugs to be subordinates. Thanks to that, Wild Dogs could find it easier. We arrested his subordinates one by one for interrogation. I thought the search was that easy, but that was my biggest mistake. The subordinates were killed with their heads crushed right after they exposed some information."

".... Uh?"

"You hear me? The skull, the brain, the eyes, the mouth contents, the ears, the nape bone, everything was shattered like it was blown up from the inside. Only the outer skin and hair were left intact."

Their heads....The contents of their heads are crushed from the inside? With only skin and hair? Ugh, I don't want to imagine it, but the picture of his condition automatically looms in my head, making me a little nauseous. Even though I was used to living in a delinquent world, I never imagined such a cruel event would actually happen.

"That's the receiver, right?"

"Who else can destroy the inside of a person's head by leaving a scalp that is still perfectly fused with the body?"

"Well, I understand. Explained so it makes me cringe myself."

The young man giggled as I closed my ears tightly. He purposely told her so, he wanted to see the expressions of the people.

"As you said, they were silenced. U-1 is a distraction. The tracks are legible, but the chase is time-consuming. As a result, we spent three weeks chasing U-1. We didn't realize that behind it, the U-2 trail was completely unstoppable. When caught, the fate of U-1 is the same as its subordinates. Thus, the pursuit of U-1 ended in vain. Merlins was already trying to find traces of U-2, but I decided to move on my own. I suspect they'll be looking for a deserted place in the suburbs to serve as a base. Jirca is one of those places.

"Actually I've sent a spy there, someone with a gift «All-Seeing Eye», but he has a weakness. He could not filter out the information he could see, so when it rained, he got all the information he could take from every raindrop. It made his eye nerves burn. He also did not provide information about U-2 when we evacuated because he could not see it at that time. U-2..... William Wilxes got rid of it before attacking us. His body full of wounds was found in his place on standby."

Ansel berhenti menjelaskan sejenak. Tangannya dikepalkan erat, dia menahan amarah yang begitu membara. Dia menahan hasrat ingin membunuh, yang mana aku bisa lihat dari sorot matanya. Dapat dimengerti, tiga anggotanya terluka dalam misi yang sebetulnya tidak menghasilkan apa-apa.

"He survived?"

Ansel's brown eyes glanced at the hospital gadung in front. "He was in this hospital too, in a different room because his condition was worse. It's lucky that V has healed his big wounds, but just like you, he needs recovery. It takes more time too. Maybe he'll be back in a week."

"That's it......." Now I feel bad. It turns out that this case is also complicated on the side of Wild Dogs. "I hear the people involved at the time were all dead?"

Unexpectedly, Ansel suddenly tightened his bite.

......* * * * *......