Random Again

Tu Ran closed her eyes without hesitation. Even with her noise-canceling helmet, the helicopter's roar was loud enough that a faint sound seeped through, making sleep impossible. She began sorting through what she'd learned over the past two days.

Half an hour passed quickly. The helicopter descended slowly onto a landing pad, and the eleven of them gathered their gear and stepped off one by one.

Other helicopters had already landed earlier, arranged in neat rows on the ground.

The Executive Department's guard forces, dispatched by the Federal Government's Regaken State branch, were fully equipped and waiting in the distance—a sea of black as far as the eye could see.

More helicopters kept landing, the wind from their spinning rotors flattening the grass underfoot.

Tu Ran's combat boots pressed the grass down as she stepped into formation.

Two people led the group: one named Li Wenchuan, the other Xie Xu.

Tu Ran couldn't quite understand why Xie Xu, a man from the Research Institute, spent his days with the Pioneer Team—and apparently held a high position at that.

From what she knew, Research Institute personnel didn't need to risk their lives in the Threshold. They could stay safely in their labs, waiting for the Pioneers to bring back video records and fresh materials at the cost of their lives.

But last time in the Threshold, she'd run into him.

She didn't get it.

By Tu Ran's current life philosophy—everything for survival—she could never understand Xie Xu's behavior.

All one hundred Pioneers had arrived. Given the mission's objectives—first, to find another gate into the Threshold; second, to capture the alien creatures that had escaped—the group was split in two.

One team was a squad of twenty, led by Xie Xu, tasked with finding the Threshold gate.

The other, led by Li Wenchuan, would hunt down the alien creatures.

To ensure fairness, transparency, and that everyone had a choice, the selection was again announced through communicators.

A series of dings rang out as the communicators came to life. On each screen appeared two options: "Xie Xu" and "Li Wenchuan."

Without hesitation, Tu Ran pressed the button for Xie Xu.

Of course she'd choose the option with the lowest danger.

Within seconds, everyone had made their selection.

The results were announced.

Seventy-six people had chosen to join Xie Xu's team.

Tu Ran sighed inwardly—so everyone was afraid of death. She was just one more among them; one more wouldn't make a difference, one less wouldn't hurt either.

Just as she was thinking that, her wrist communicator buzzed twice.

Tu Ran's heart skipped a beat. She looked down. A bright red "×" was glaringly conspicuous.

So?

So?!

She'd been kicked out?!

"Those who received a system random notification, follow me. Those who didn't, listen to Researcher Xie's command." Li Wenchuan's smile was barely contained, his gleaming white teeth showing off his smugness.

He loved watching these people—the ones who didn't want to join his team but were forced to by fate—wear that sour, bitter expression on their faces. It could make him laugh for days.

Tu Ran was one of the sour-faced ones.

In the few seconds it took her to walk to the back of Li Wenchuan's group, she began to question the reliability of this system's random selection.

Randomized twice, and neither time went her way. What a load of garbage!

She fumed inwardly, but in reality, she had no choice but to obediently follow Li Wenchuan.

It was now three in the afternoon.

Regaken State was located in the northern part of the Federation's forty-two states, and the weather wasn't warm.

The eighty-person team split into eight squads of ten in the field.

Each squad could command fifty guards from the Federal Government's Regaken State branch Executive Department.

Tu Ran was assigned to Squad Four.