Transcendent Gene
Chapter 116: Deployment [2]

Chapter 116: Deployment [2]

Raymond didn’t give anyone the time or opportunity to say anything against him. He made plans and put them into motion before the team could speak, making it impossible for them to hold him back.

In the end, raids on those four camps were scheduled. They had to be done fast, and more importantly, they had to be done silently. The team had to remain dead on paper even as they acted, meaning they absolutely couldn’t allow their identities to leak.

That also meant they would have to restrain their abilities to leave fewer clues about who they were, but that could be accomplished.

Raymond didn’t put himself on any of the missions. The first three had to be done simultaneously, while it was determined that the last required the aid of more team members.

The raid Gio wanted to attend was pushed off for later. In the meantime, the others moved.

The first team consisted of Jason and Ulver. The two men worked very well together, covering each other’s weaknesses. They would be attacking one of the beast control facilities. Alice and Amaya would handle the other.

The last facility was given to Jax and Natalia. All of them were more focused on information-gathering than destruction, but Jax and Natalia were the only ones who had to remain completely undetected.

According to the intel they already had, the facility was used to house information of all kinds. It was one of many centers through which the cult’s data flowed. As such, the longer they could stay inside, the more they could unveil.

The meeting ended unspectacularly that day. The following morning, all three teams had left for their respective missions. Only Raymond and Gio were left on the zephyr with its normal crew.

"But why are you here? I’m pretty sure there are better places for you to be..."

Gio looked up from his phone and glanced at the man sitting in his wheelchair comfortably in the center of his room. It was a fancy chair that even had its own reclining function, so he was more than comfortable where he was.

Raymond shrugged casually.

"I can check up on operations when things start happening, but everyone’s just traveling right now. Watching their cams is the same as looking out the window."

"Do you do this with everyone?"

"I’ve been doing it since before you were born. You’re just the only one here right now."

Needless to say, Raymond didn’t have any real purpose in coming to Gio’s room. He just knew that it would be a few days before he had work again.

Frankly, he was bored. It wasn’t like he could particularly do anything while he waited. He could work out and maintain the fitness of the remainder of his body, but even that was only a matter of a few hours a day.

How was he supposed to spend the rest of the time?

"Have you been rotting on your phone this whole time?"

"I’m never on my phone," Gio responded, shaking his head.

Unless he was checking up on current events, he never had a reason to be on his phone.

"It’s too inconvenient to hold it instead of just having a holowatch going, but I don’t have one of those. Plus, usually, one of the other guys is taking me out to train. I haven’t really had downtime until now."

He didn’t know what to do. The zephyr was moving, so the amount of training he could do was minimal. If Raymond had nothing to do on the zephyr, there was no way Gio would be able to do so.

In the end, he decided to use his phone for the first time in a while and respond to any messages he’d missed.

Ricky reached out a few times to ask if their plans were still happening and the Old Lady checked up on him every once in a while. Raymond happened to come in right as he was responding to them, and now he had been labeled a screen-addicted teen.

Really, his life was a tragic one.

As Gio mourned his fate, Raymond raised his eyebrows thoughtfully.

"The others have been taking you out? What do you do?"

"We mostly hunt," Gio responded after a second.

"Sometimes it’s beasts and sometimes it’s people, but the end goal pretty much never changes."

"The life of a Sequencer is definitely a boring one if you aren’t addicted to fighting."

"That’s why we all learn how to be addicted to fighting."

Raymond laughed. Gio was really similar to an adult at times like these. He spoke like he perfectly understood the woes of an old Sequencer who had been at war for decades.

’So he’s been spending his time in the field...’

That was good in some ways. If they continued to take him on missions, the other team members must’ve learned to trust his abilities to an extent. That allowed Raymond to form a bit of trust as well.

"But if you’re in real combat all the time, have you had the time to really build your foundation?"

Gio hummed in thought.

"I think I’m fine physically. As long as I maintain a routine, my body will keep growing. I could use some Sequence training, but I have to wait until we land to do that."

"Not necessarily."

"Hm?"

Raymond looked up from his phone again, surprised at Raymond’s response. He didn’t consider himself a training expert. His methods were cruel and straight to the point. He would charge into battle and use his Sequences with his life on the line until he learned them.

He somewhat understood how people trained their Sequences in the current era, but he was by no means knowledgeable on the subject. If Raymond wanted to tell him something, he was more than ready to listen.

"I figured I’d be bored while I waited, but maybe this is a good way for both of us to pass some time," Raymond said with a grin as he watched Gio’s expression.

"You’re going to train me?"

"If you ask like you know for a fact I’m going to do it, I might change my mind."

"What do you mean? You’re the Captain of the Blue Steel Squadron. You wouldn’t stoop so low as to break your promises, right?"

"Hahaha, I guess you’ve never met military mercenaries before. We’re world-renowned for our ability to break promises."

"No, but it’s already too late for that?"

Before Raymond knew it, Gio was behind him with his hands on the wheelchair’s handles.

"I can wheel myself."

"Your arms will get tired."

"See these little arrow keys? I can drive this thing like a toy car."

"The novelty wears off if you do it too much. Might want to let people push you around for a little."

Raymond rolled his eyes.

"I can’t run away, can I?"

"..."

"Don’t do it."

"Too soon?"

"Too soon."

"Anyways..."

Gio turned the chair around and wheeled Raymond out of his room. He was never one to turn down an offer to train.

Raymond was even kind enough to help him cover his current biggest weakness: the limited state of his abilities.

He would be a fool to turn down the offer and an even bigger fool to let it pass him by.

So, he set up the situation before Raymond could say a word otherwise.

He couldn’t wait to get stronger again.