The next two days were a strange, tense kind of limbo. On the surface, Task Force Chimera was on a well-deserved leave. Lin Ming helped his mom with groceries. Quynh Nhu held an impromptu 'Advanced Snacking and You' seminar for some awe-struck junior cadets.
Pham Tuan discovered the joys of zen gardening in the barracks' small atrium, finding a strange peace in meticulously raking patterns in the sand. To any outside observer, they were soldiers at rest.
In reality, they were a pack of wolves waiting for a tripwire to snap.
Every few hours, Lin Ming would get a one-word update from Minerva on their private comms: Waiting. Monitoring. Nothing.
The waiting was beginning to fray everyone's nerves.
"Maybe he didn't fall for it," Quynh Nhu said, restlessly pacing the living area. "Maybe he's not as dumb as he looks. Maybe your dweeby cousin is actually a master spy playing the long con."
"My cousin once tried to make toast in a microwave," Lin Ming deadpanned. "He is not a master spy."
It was on the afternoon of the third day that the alert finally came. It wasn't an alarm, just a calm message from Minerva that made Lin Ming's heart leap.
Minerva: We have movement. The 'Element Zero' file has been accessed from Lin Bao's terminal. It has been re-encrypted with secondary protocols and forwarded.
"He took the bait," Lin Ming announced to the team. They all instantly snapped to attention, their lazy demeanors vanishing. "Where's it going, Minerva?"
Minerva: The packet is moving through the ASEAN military's secure server network. It's bouncing between three different continents to cover its tracks. Amateur hour. I'm following it.
A holographic map of the world appeared in the center of the room, a single golden line tracing the packet's convoluted journey.
Minerva: The destination IP address is resolving... It is located... here.
A red dot appeared on the map. It wasn't in a military bunker or a secret hideout. It was on the top floor of the ASEAN General Assembly building, the very heart of their government. The terminal belonged to the office of a single individual.
General Armitage. The hero of the early wall-defense wars. The second-in-command of the entire human military.
"Son of a..." Quynh Nhu whispered, her eyes wide. It was one thing to suspect; it was another to have digital proof.
Minerva: He's decrypting the file now. The trap is sprung. I have a complete record of the transaction, from Lin Bao's terminal to his. It's undeniable. What are your orders, Zenith?
This was the critical moment. Lin Ming could take the evidence to Director Tran and Agent Hien. They would handle it cleanly, quietly. General Armitage would be arrested, Lin Bao would be interrogated, and the scandal would be buried so deep it would never see the light of day. It was the smart, logical, political choice.
But Lin Ming thought about the billions of dead. He thought about Su Quyen's death in his last life. He thought about Quynh Nhu's lost family. He thought about the man who was willing to sell them all out for... what? Power? A promise of survival from the aliens?
The smart choice wasn't enough. He wanted justice. And justice, sometimes, had to be loud.
"Minerva," Lin Ming said, his voice dangerously calm. "I want you to do two things. First, send a copy of that entire evidence file to Director Tran and Agent Hien. Let them know what's happening."
He paused, a cold, hard glint in his eyes.
"Second, I want you to broadcast the contents of that file. All of it. The original report about Element Zero, Lin Bao sending it, General Armitage receiving and opening it. And add in the 'Project: Chimera' file we got from Mars, the one that proves Armitage was aware of our team composition from the start. I want you to play it on every screen in the General Assembly building. The main hall, the press rooms, the janitor's closet. Everywhere."
There was a stunned silence in the room.
Pham Tuan's jaw dropped. "Leader... that's not... that's not how things are done!"
"He's right," Quynh Nhu agreed, though a wild, excited gleam was entering her eyes. "You're not just exposing a traitor. You're detonating a political bomb in the middle of our entire command structure! It's career suicide!"
Minerva: The tactical and political fallout of such an action is... catastrophic. It will cause widespread panic and destabilize the military leadership. It is a profoundly illogical and reckless course of action.
A tiny smiley face appeared next to her text.
Minerva: I love it. Broadcasting now.
In the General Assembly building, General Armitage was sitting in his opulent office, a cruel, triumphant smile on his face as he read the data about 'Element Zero'. This was it. This was the gift that would finally cement his position with Lord Maka-Jed. He was just about to forward the information to his alien masters.
And then, every screen in his office—his main monitor, his data-slate, even his personal photo display—flickered and changed. They all began playing the recording of his treason.
Throughout the entire building, the same thing was happening. Senators stopped mid-speech. Journalists stared in disbelief at the press room monitors. And down in the basement, Lin Bao, who had just received a hefty, anonymous payment to his credit account and a message praising his 'efficiency', watched in horror as his own face appeared on a security monitor, showing him sending the file.
The entire government saw the betrayal, live and undeniable.
Pandemonium erupted.
Back in the Chimera barracks, the team watched the chaos unfold through news feeds Minerva was patching through.
"He... he did it," Pham Tuan stammered, watching footage of Blacklight security storming the General's office.
Quynh Nhu was just laughing, a hysterical, joyous sound. "Oh, you are the worst influence, boss! I'm going to follow you into hell itself!"
Just then, a priority call came through. It was Director Tran. His face appeared on the screen. He did not look happy. He looked incandescent with fury. But his fury was not directed at them.
"Lin Ming!" he thundered. "Do you have ANY idea what you have just done?! You have decapitated my intelligence operation, you have thrown the entire Joint Chiefs into chaos, and you have started a political firestorm that will take me months to put out!"
He paused, taking a deep, calming breath. A slow, dangerous smile spread across his face.
"It was magnificent. The single most insubordinate and effective act of political warfare I have ever witnessed." He looked at Lin Ming with a newfound, terrifying respect. "General Armitage has been taken into custody. His network is being dismantled as we speak. You have single-handedly cauterized a wound we've been trying to stitch up for years."
Another pause.
"Congratulations on your promotion, Commander. Task Force Chimera is no longer an experimental unit. As of right now, you are an autonomous Special Operations group, with me as your sole oversight. Your first official mission as Commander is to clean up your own damn mess. Get down here and give a formal statement."
The line went dead.
Lin Ming stared at the screen. Commander? Autonomous group? He had started the day as a team leader on leave and had ended it by causing a government-wide meltdown and getting promoted for it.
[Mission Accomplished: The Rat is Caged.]
[Treason Exposed. Government Destabilized. Promotions Acquired.]
[System notes: Failing upwards is a valid and highly entertaining life strategy. Please continue.]
He had just made enemies with the most powerful people on Earth, and had been rewarded for it. Life, he concluded, was profoundly, beautifully absurd.