Seed of Titan-Chapter 204: The Cursed Seven Squad

Subdued gasps were heard following Beachball’s shocking report, and even the ever-aloof Gramps looked pretty stupefied.

"Elaborate," Frost ordered, visibly way less perturbed than the rest of the squad.

Beachball took two deep breaths before saying, "I-I see eight people lying d-dead around the area where w-we fought earlier. S-Six are from the two patrol groups, and the other two I don’t recognize, b-but they’re wearing our standard uniform."

"Those two must be medics," Frost surmised. "Can you infer their cause of death, Eric?"

"B-brain damage or hemorrhage, p-probably. I see a large p-puncture wound on each of their heads."

"Were they sniped?" Cubes asked, causing the others to glance around warily.

"I-I’m not sure..." Beachball weakly replied. If it were up to him, he’d rather pull back all his scouting marbles to cut off the grim scenes he was currently observing.

"Are their bodies far from each other?" Frost questioned.

"Uhm... Not really, but they’re not too close either. The closest ones are a few meters away from each other."

"Hmm... Then if they had really been sniped, either the sniper is so skilled that he could finish off all of them before they could run far, or there were multiple snipers," Frost mused aloud before asking Beachball again, "Are the wounds very similar?"

A slightly revolted look appeared on Beachball’s face as he remotely inspected the head wounds.

"In my eyes, they’re nearly identical aside from their exact location," he eventually reported.

"Then the perpetrator must be just one person," Mandy remarked.

Hearing her conclusion, Frost shook his head and said, "Not necessarily. If the wounds were caused by a skill, then sure. But if a weapon had done this, then the possibility of multiple assailants is still open."

After saying this, Frost released Beachball from the ice pillars before falling into contemplation, presumably to formulate their course of action. And following his lead, the rest of them also fell quiet.

While the squad members were dealing with their own thoughts on the abrupt turn of events, Danny suddenly let out a wry chuckle before muttering, "And so the curse continues..."

Drai’s ears perked up as he was reminded of Danny’s remark a few days ago regarding their squad being cursed.

At that time, Drai had completely dismissed the weird remark, not only because of his rather muddled state of mind, but also because he thought Danny was only trying to get his attention by sounding dramatic.

However, upon seeing the change in his squadmates’ expressions just now, Drai suspected there might actually be more to it.

"T-that’s just idle gossip," Beachball said, though his wavering voice made his denial sound unfounded.

"Then how do you explain what’s happening right now? You think we’re just randomly getting caught in some kind of scheme? Why didn’t this happen when other squads were doing their mock missions?" Danny reasoned, silencing Beachball.

"How long has it been since the last incident?" Mandy asked.

"Three or four years, just in time for a new one," Gramps answered from Drai’s back before musing, "I wonder who’ll be the victim this time around..."

Hearing this, Cubes frowned and said, "Guys, how about we skip this shitty talk and focus on the matter at hand?"

"Well, technically, we are discussing the matter at hand, hun," Gramps shruggingly remarked, earning him a vicious glare from Cubes.

Tired of being out of the loop, Drai decided to interject. "Can someone please fill me in?"

Danny was the quickest to respond, as he swiftly moved to Drai’s side and whispered enigmatically, "At least once in seven years, the curse takes its toll, my friend. Someone from the Cursed Seven Squad must die to temporarily quench the vengeful spirit’s wrath."

Hearing this, Drai gave Danny a weird look since his vague explanation had only sparked even more questions.

However, to Drai’s surprise, no one refuted Danny’s bizarre claim.

"Danny made it sound strange, but it’s somewhat true," Cubes said. "Our squad’s average casualty rate is 1.8 per seven years, which is about triple that of other squads."

"That high? But..." Drai glanced at Frost, who was still contemplating. "...our leader doesn’t look suicidal."

"Because he isn’t, the same with his predecessors," Mandy said before she began to explain. "I’m not really sure how this ’curse’ came about—it has been attached to the Seventh Squad even before General Alancho took over the army. Rumor has it that our squad fumbled a mission a long time ago, and a terribly implicated evolver with an occult class put a curse onto the squad."

"What?" Drai exclaimed, doubting the absurd tale.

"Like I said, it’s just a rumor. Personally, I think what really happened was that the Seventh Squad did have a relatively higher casualty rate, so people began twisting the term ’Lucky Seven’ and turning it into the current ’Cursed Seven Squad’ others often refer to us behind our backs."

Clicking his tongue dismissively, Danny countered, "If the curse is made up, how do you explain the casualties that kept piling up throughout the years, Mandy?"

"Well, based on my research, our squad actually takes on more significantly riskier missions compared to the others. Maybe this is an elaborate setup by the higher-ups since they’re able to use the curse as a scapegoat to avoid unwanted grievances from mission fatalities, and perhaps scrutiny too."

"Wait, that actually makes a lot of sense," Cubes exclaimed with a look of horrid epiphany. "You know, after Jacko’s death, instead of asking for more details or questioning what could’ve caused that, most people just said things like, ’He’s the current cycle’s victim,’ ’The curse strikes again,’ or ’That’s a risk that comes with being a member of the Seventh Squad.’"

"Who’s Jacko?" Drai asked. He had never heard the name getting mentioned before this.

"He’s our latest casualty, the one who died during a mission three or four years ago," Cubes explained. "He was actually our youngest and most recent addition, though not as young as you. If you’re curious, you can take a look at him on our portrait memorial—he’s the one grinning mischievously at the farthest end near the dining room entrance."

"Wait—those people in the living room photos, they’re all dead?!" Drai asked incredulously, taken aback by the revelation. During the past few days, he had never thought of inquiring about the line of portraits before, since he was quite certain they were merely displaying his predecessors, not KIA1 mementos.

"Now that you know, just take a good look at their faces whenever you’re feeling down, bud. I guarantee it’ll renew your appreciation for life in a matter of seconds," Gramps advised, which left a somewhat bitter taste in Drai’s mouth.

After smacking Gramps on his head, Cubes said, "Regarding Mandy’s hypothesis about us being assigned far riskier missions, if that’s actually true, then it makes sense that only misfits wind up in this squad. But then why is Drai here? Not only is he far from fitting the bill, he also barely spent a few hours here before they assigned him to us."

"Well, he did destroy a couple of training machines in that short time..." Beachball pointed out.

"Nah, those are accidents, Beachball. That’s an entirely different matter compared to your voyeurism, Mandy’s drug making and dealing, or Gramps’ hacking and chronic lethargy," Cubes bluntly stated, much to Drai’s bafflement and Beachball’s embarrassment.

"What about your steamy pastime, hun?" Gramps asked with a teasing grin.

With her cheeks flushed, Cubes hurriedly replied, "Yeah, that too. Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that Drai isn’t like the rest of us."

"Heh, our bro probably offended someone high up. That was the main reason for my transfer too," Danny mentioned.

These words reminded Drai of Blaise, as he felt that the lieutenant had been quite hostile to him during his interview for practically no apparent reason.

’I thought my arrangement was mostly decided by Captain Ailem, but was it actually Blaise’s doing?’ Drai couldn’t help but wonder.

Just as Drai was about to inquire more about his squadmates’ past deeds that landed them in this undesirable squad, Frost’s voice was heard.

"Quit with the chatting and come here."

The squad immediately gathered in front of Frost, who proceeded to brief them.

"We’re abandoning our usual retreat plan. From now on, everyone move according to my command. Eric, maintain maximum alertness and notify me as soon as something catches your eyes or ears. Nas, move around and secure our path, but keep a reasonable distance from the squad. June, gear up completely and don’t hold back on ammunition and fuel. Mandy, stock up on concoctions and stay close to me. Drai, prepare to augment on command or at your discretion and take on anything that targets us, especially anything I fail to block, and hand Linus over to Daniel."

"Wha—" Danny blurted before he was cut off.

"You’re far less effective in defensive situations like this, Daniel, so just focus on safeguarding Linus," Frost instructed. "And Linus, stay put for the meantime. If I pass out or die, take over the command."

Frost’s last instruction puzzled Drai, as he didn’t think that Gramps suited such a role. Yet, Gramps simply gave Frost a nonchalant thumbs-up as if he had no qualms about the order. Instead, it was Danny who had a reluctant expression, though he was apparently sensible enough not to raise a ruckus.

After adjusting their equipment and formation, the Seventh Squad finally advanced. The direction they were heading was away from their designated insertion or extraction point.

Whether it was due to the tense atmosphere or the palpable chill coming from Frost, the squad proceeded in silence. Even Gramps was noticeably out of character, as he hadn’t muttered a single word of complaint.

"More casualties, three hundred meters at two, likely other patrol groups," Beachball suddenly reported.

"...Squad, adjust course to ten-thirty," Frost ordered, upon which the squad responded accordingly.

A few minutes later, Beachball sighted another batch of fatalities, and Frost adjusted their course once more to the left. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

’Won’t we end up going in circles if this keeps happening?’ Drai couldn’t help thinking.

Frost seemed to have a similar line of thought, as upon Beachball’s next report of a similar scene, Frost ordered them to take a hard right.

However, what happened next suggested that this choice might have been a lapse of judgment.