Chapter 154
"Jack, what's wrong?"
Lucy's voice pulled Jack back from his chaotic thoughts.
Somehow, she was already standing at the training room door, holding a thermos.
Jack looked at her, his eyes complicated.
He wasn't sure whether he should tell her about the email.
This woman had already gotten caught up in too much trouble because of him.
He didn't want to drag her into a new, even more dangerous mess.
"Nothing." Jack collected himself and walked over, taking the thermos from her hands. "Just tired from training."
Lucy looked at his face, which was written all over with worry, but said nothing. She just quietly opened the thermos and took out a bowl of steaming hot chicken soup.
"Drink some. I spent a long time making it."
Jack looked at the bowl of soup, warmth flooding his heart.
He sat down and drank the soup, every last drop.
"Lucy." Jack put down the bowl and looked at her. "Once I'm fully recovered, we'll leave this place."
"Okay." Lucy smiled, a genuinely happy smile.
But Jack knew he was lying.
Before he figured out what happened with Vera, before he understood what "the war isn't over" really meant, he couldn't go anywhere.
After Lucy left, Jack immediately went to find Alex.
In the Lighthouse command center, Alex was staring at a pile of complex data, looking frustrated.
"Find anything?" Jack got straight to the point.
"No." Alex shook his head, looking defeated. "I used every resource I have. I even hacked into the Pentagon and CIA databases, but I found nothing about 'Vera Kane.' She's like a ghost, a code name that only exists online."
"But..." Alex changed his tone. "While tracking that new organization 'Ouroboros,' I found something interesting."
He enlarged an image from one screen onto the main display.
It was a torn report that had been digitally reconstructed, still incomplete.
The title read: "Project Ark - Phase Three Clinical Trial Report on Genetic Optimization."
The report was filled with technical terms and genetic charts that Jack couldn't understand.
"I dug this out of an abandoned server from the White Tower Foundation." Alex pointed to a line in the report. "Look at this."
Jack leaned in and saw the line:
"Test Subject Number: V-01."
"Status: Out of control."
"Action: Eliminate."
V-01...
Jack's pupils contracted sharply.
"You mean..."
"I suspect your comrade Vera wasn't some ordinary soldier at all." Alex's expression was more serious than ever. "She was most likely one of the earliest, and most successful, test subjects of Project Ark."
"Impossible!" Jack rejected the idea without thinking. "I trained with her, ran missions with her, for three whole years! I know what kind of person she is better than anyone! She was just... just a normal girl who was a bit competitive!"
"A normal girl?" Alex laughed coldly. "A normal girl who impressed even you? A normal girl who survived a cluster bomb explosion?"
"Jack, wake up! What you knew was probably only what she wanted you to know. Have you ever thought about why Ronan betrayed you? Why your Black Hawk squad specifically?"
Alex's words hit Jack's heart like a heavy hammer.
Yeah.
Why?
He'd always thought Ronan wanted to suck up to some big shot, so he used them as an offering.
But now it seemed things were far more complicated.
"Project Ark... genetic optimization..." Jack muttered. "What were they trying to do?"
"I don't know." Alex shook his head. "Most of the core data in this report is missing. All I know is the project's goal was to create a 'perfect being' that surpasses human limits through genetic modification."
"They divided the process into several phases. Ronan's War Dogs should be products of phase one or two."
"Through drugs and brutal training, they enhanced soldiers' physical abilities and combat instincts, but the side effects were severe - emotional instability, shortened lifespan, things like that."
"And V-01, meaning Vera, she was most likely a phase three product. She no longer needed external drugs. Through direct genetic editing, she gained strength, speed, and healing abilities far beyond normal people."
Alex looked at Jack and said word by word: "Maybe even... some kind of special ability we can't understand."
Jack's mind went blank.
He remembered many details he hadn't noticed before.
Vera's fighting style was always so precise and efficient. She seemed to always predict enemy movements in advance.
When she got injured, she always recovered much faster than others.
Once, they were trapped in the mountains, without water or food.
Everyone started hallucinating, but she remained absolutely clear-headed.
At the time, they all thought it was because she had strong willpower.
But now thinking about it...
"The report said she was out of control and needed to be eliminated. What does that mean?" Jack asked.
"Literally." Alex said. "When a test subject stops obeying, it gets destroyed."
"I'm guessing the raid five years ago wasn't about betrayal at all. It was a long-planned 'elimination operation' targeting Vera."
"And your Black Hawk squad was just... collateral damage."
Collateral damage.
Like a poisoned blade, those words stabbed deep into Jack's heart.
He'd always thought he was avenging his brothers.
Turns out they were just innocent victims caught up in protecting a "test subject"?
What kind of sense did that make?
What the hell kind of sense did that make!
"Ahhh—!"
Jack slammed his fist on the console. The hard metal console actually dented deeply under his blow.
His eyes were bloodshot, his chest heaving violently, like a completely enraged beast.
"Vera... Ronan... White Tower Foundation..."
He gritted his teeth, speaking each name.
"If all this is true... if my brothers really died for nothing because of her..."
"I don't care what kind of test subject she is, or what reasons she had..."
"I swear, I'll personally snap her neck."
Alex watched the furious Jack without speaking.
He knew this man had found a new "purpose" to keep living.
Only this time, his goal wasn't revenge anymore.
It was...
Finding the truth.
A truth that had been buried for five years, cruel and bloody.