I Am Extraordinary Alone-Chapter 637 - 635 Demon Marine Corps

"Let’s opt for a compromise," Commander Lu suddenly said. "Too weak won’t do, and neither will a success rate that’s too low. The Sethiyan Federation once had an alternative to superpower soldiers, called the Enhanced Soldier Program. The initial goal of this program was to alleviate the costs of developing neutralizers and Black Medicine by creating a batch of soldiers whose physical fitness far surpassed that of ordinary people, but who possessed no superpowers."

"Oh... you weren’t asleep?" Price said.

"I’ve been listening all along," Commander Lu said with a smile.

"I’ve heard of this program, thought it was just a smokescreen. Does it really exist?" the administrator of the Human Alliance Army’s Superpower Department said at this moment.

"It’s no secret. Back when I was still in Yin Country, Mr. Xu was there too, and so was the Emperor... Ah, they had an internal meeting back then and discussed it. They analyzed that the Federation’s super soldier program was intended for small-scale units deployed in low-intensity geopolitical conflicts. Though they lacked superpowers, they were much stronger than ordinary soldiers, even outperforming many in Triangular Formations. After all, once human bodies are enhanced, they can use firearms to ambush, and the reflexes of a typical Triangular Formation would not keep up," Commander Lu explained.

Price nodded and said, "Yes, superpowers also vary in strength. Some are formidable, but special forces are still human. Even without super soldiers, a sniper could take them out. But if their physical abilities are augmented, it’s a different story. Even without those fancy superpowers, they pose a significant threat."

"Mm, after all, modern warfare still requires missiles and guns to solve problems. It’s just that... that program actually ran for seven or eight years. But in 2106, because of His arrival, the program was shelved," Commander Lu said.

"After all, at that time, those politicians thought He could be mass-produced. And because He was too powerful and too close to Yin Country, their plans to use super soldiers to intervene in low-intensity battlefields were foiled. His arrival could clear the field; no amount of soldiers would make a difference," Price agreed, nodding his head.

"Now, He has become a global threat. Other organizations around the world are actively responding and preparing, aside from us. However... in this era of disconnected networks, finding them is extremely difficult. Nevertheless, I’ve managed to obtain some experimental data and intelligence about the Federation’s super soldier program through my old contacts," Commander Lu said.

Everyone turned to look at Commander Lu, who smiled, picked up the leather briefcase beside his chair, and placed it on the table.

"This contains thirty solid-state drives and some paper documents. Within, there’s 4,500T of raw data. My suggestion is that, essentially, this program has nothing to do with Black Medicine. It relies purely on surgery and enhancement agents to augment the nervous system and muscle tissue of the human body, and the density of bones—there’s a significant link to bioengineering," Commander Lu said.

"I’m more concerned about the success rate of these surgeries. Have there been successful cases in the past?" Price asked.

"Take a look at this list; it’s still not declassified. It records the names of three batches of super soldiers from twenty years ago, a total of 102 people. The failure rate of surgery is not high. After all, our medical technology is very advanced in this era. Out of 300 subjects, 102 were successful, 4 died, 109 saw no change, and the rest suffered varying degrees of disability," Commander Lu said as he pulled out a document pouch from beneath the hard drives, passing it to Price.

Price opened the document, spreading sheet after sheet on the table, and everyone stood up to examine them.

These documents not only recorded the personnel list but also detailed a series of test data. The lucky ones who succeeded in surgery spent two weeks recovering, then underwent a series of military skill and physical fitness tests. Their average running speed for 100 meters reached an astonishing 4.5 seconds.

The strength test results indicated that these soldiers’ punching power averaged 7 tons, with significantly improved strength in skin, muscles, and bones—comparable to wearing a military heavy-duty bulletproof vest. They could resist 9mm handgun shots to non-vital parts of the body with their flesh alone; they also had enhanced self-healing abilities. Scratches, minor bumps, and slight fractures could heal themselves within half an hour. Squatting 3 tons and deadlifting 5 tons, their weight reached 400 kilograms, and their height generally reached 2 meters. Regardless of gender, they had become demigods among humans.

However, these individuals did not possess any superpowers, and because of the surgeries, their lifespans were drastically reduced. The 102 successful participants were in their early 20s at the time and barely 40 or 50 today, but all of them died of organ failure 10 years ago, with an average lifespan of 35 years.

Everyone had thoughts after reading through the document, and Commander Lu’s smile was chilling to witness. He had undoubtedly read these documents himself and was acutely aware that even if the surgery was successful, the lifespans of these super soldiers would not be significantly extended; it was a case of sacrificing longevity for power, which was still preferable to Black Medicine...

As if sensing everyone’s concerns, Commander Lu said, "The success rate of Black Medicine is far lower than that of this surgery. The reason it has become mainstream is only because politicians can control those who take it with a neutralizing agent, and moreover, it does not come with the negative aspect of reduced lifespan. Successfully developed Black Medicine is completely risk-free and can be openly used on regular troops. However, the situation we face now is different."

He looked at Price, who nodded in agreement.

"Do we still have another ten years? Does humanity still have that time? We’re not politicians; we don’t need to lock down our soldiers. I’ve considered Professor Wang Yu’s plan for quite some time. Our standard for discussing whether this approach is viable is whether it gives us a chance to defeat Him. The soldiers you want to create, I see no chance for them to defeat Him, and so I say it’s not viable."

After Commander Lu finished speaking, he turned to Feng Nuoyi with a sharp look in his eyes and said, "Feng. I’ve been patient with you and considered your thoughts... You’re right, to lose one’s animal nature is to lose everything. But now is not the time for that. Our preparations must be orderly and progressive; we can’t go all in from the start."

Feng Nuoyi and Wang Yu both nodded, no longer speaking.

Price said, "So, have we finally reached a conclusion? Do we start with the super soldier plan? You didn’t have this plan from the beginning and just fail to tell us, did you?"

"Price," said Commander Lu with a smile, "my plan is also a last resort... After all, asking my soldiers to sacrifice years of their lives, how could I, as their leader, possibly accept that? But we must win the war, and humanity must come after victory. The plans you’ve provided, one is not viable, and the other is even more of a last resort than mine, so I had no choice but to bring out my plan."

Everyone nodded in agreement with Commander Lu’s thoughts.

The Human Army Alliance had 3 million soldiers under its command, previously only 600,000 belonged to the army, and in fact, just over 20,000 were originally from the Council Army, with the majority having joined subsequently. These included motorized infantry, air force pilots, engineer troops, and rocket forces...

But now, all these people needed to be retrained as infantry, which was a tremendous waste of talent, yet it was a necessary compromise.

"Let’s give this new force a name..." said Price.

"We’re fighting a Pseudo-God, Commander. In the mythology of our West Soil, the enemy of gods is demons," spoke up a general at that moment.

"Demons... How does Demon Marine Corps sound?" Price suggested.

"Marine Corps from the army? That’s kind of odd," chuckled Commander Lu.

"Not odd at all; the surgeries our troops will undergo... It might as well be a voluntary descent into Hell," explained Price.

The general also nodded, saying, "Exactly, like evil spirits crawling out of Hell – isn’t that exactly the ’Marine Corps’?"