The Bunker was an artificial structure located in Earth's satellite orbit.
It served as the frontline base for the organization known as YoRHa.
Suddenly, a door to a YoRHa member's room opened, and a cold-looking figure walked out.
A face beneath silver short hair was half-covered by a black eye mask, but judging from the fair and delicate features of the lower half, it was undoubtedly a perfect face.
The black dress she wore fit her body perfectly, as if custom-made, flawlessly displaying her beautiful, graceful curves.
Below the skirt were round, slender legs wrapped in over-knee black stockings and black boots.
She was a member of YoRHa, a YoRHa No. 2 Type B all-purpose battle android, simply called 2B.
Now, having received a communication from the Commander, she was heading to the command room.
Looking toward the other side of the corridor, one could see the outside view through a viewing window.
In the cold, dark space, twinkling stars could be seen, as well as the most striking blue planet—Earth, the homeland of humanity.
Being summoned to the command room clearly meant some new mission would be assigned, likely sending her to that planet.
The mission probably had something to do with the machine lifeforms occupying humanity's homeland—perhaps collecting intelligence about them or destroying one of their servers somewhere.
Or maybe it was to support a resistance group somewhere.
Come to think of it, the Commander's tone just now seemed more serious than usual, as if something unexpected had happened.
She withdrew her gaze from the viewing window, as there were no more windows in the corridor ahead.
The Bunker wasn't large, so it wouldn't take long to reach the command room.
When she arrived at the command room, several others were accompanying 2B.
They were No. 1 Type D, No. 4 Type B, No. 7 Type E, No. 11 Type B, and No. 12 Type H.
The so-called Type B specialized in combat.
Type D was mainly responsible for defense.
Type H was for healing.
As for Type E, it was more special—the executioner type.
Upon entering the command room, everyone first looked toward a figure.
Blonde hair and blue eyes, with a tall, full figure dressed in white attire and white boots—this was the Commander of YoRHa.
"Commander."
The group greeted her in unison, also giving a salute.
"Mm."
The Commander responded softly, nodding.
Without saying much more, the Commander immediately operated a screen, playing a video.
"This is footage detected from ground reconnaissance seven minutes ago."
Had the reconnaissance type discovered some major intelligence about the machine lifeforms?
2B had heard previously that the machine lifeforms were manufacturing some super-large machine. Had they now found their factory?
Then the mission would be to destroy this factory, right?
Hmm?
In the footage, the machine lifeforms were suddenly attacking another humanoid mechanical being.
No, that didn't appear to be a machine lifeform; it might be heavy armor specifically made by the ground resistance to protect themselves.
But wasn't this armor a bit too sturdy? It was more resilient than the power armor on the Bunker, as it wasn't torn apart by such artillery fire.
Moreover, logically speaking, wearing such heavy armor should significantly slow one's movements, but there was no reduction at all—in fact, it seemed even stronger.
And those weapons they were carrying had never been seen before.
They didn't look very refined, rather crude in appearance, but the bullets they fired had incredible destructive power. The shrapnel after explosion could easily penetrate the armor of those machine lifeforms.
Additionally, the other gun they held was a laser gun. Each beam easily burned through the thick armor of the machine lifeforms, its power clearly stronger than the lasers of their Pod assistants.
"Regarding these two types of firearms shown above, I've already inquired, and we don't have weapons of these models."
The Commander's voice was somewhat heavy.
If they weren't from here, and they couldn't possibly be developed by the machine lifeforms, were they developed by the ground resistance?
That seemed even less likely; the ground resistance didn't have such capabilities.
In the footage, the armored figure suddenly encountered an attack from a defense-oriented machine lifeform, making it temporarily unable to destroy it with its firepower.
The armored figure decided to use another weapon—was that a chainsaw sword for logging?
Nimbly avoiding the attack of this large, heavily armored machine lifeform, the chainsaw sword sliced right through, effortlessly tearing open the armor.
From its movements, 2B could see that the resistance encountered when cutting down was even less than the recoil produced when firing a gun.
It was easy to imagine how incredibly sharp this chainsaw sword was.
If she were to engage in combat with the opponent, with the force applied in their swing, 2B doubted her current sword would last even 0.1 seconds before being cut through.
As this machine lifeform was eliminated, the figure then finished off the remaining few, ending the battle.
2B now noticed that the Commander's expression had become even more stern, as if what came next was even more shocking.
The armored figure walked to the edge of the forest, then the heavy armor was removed, revealing a male android figure.
Extremely refined, looking just as meticulously crafted as only YoRHa androids could be.
"This appearance design doesn't exist among YoRHa androids."
The Commander's voice became even heavier, causing everyone's expressions to change to astonishment.
This meant that an unknown force had appeared, possessing android technology no less advanced than theirs.
"Commander, could it be that the Human Council has another secret force?"
This speculation came from a female android with golden twin braids—that was Operator 6O.
"Impossible!"
The Commander answered with certainty, which surprised 2B somewhat, wondering why the Commander was so sure the Human Council wouldn't deceive her.
It was as if the Commander knew everything about the Human Council, as if their every move was being monitored?
That couldn't be possible.
Perhaps the Commander simply trusted the Human Council too much, never doubting them at all.
Her gaze continued to follow the footage, where the male android took out a small knife and was scraping away the rotting skin on his wound?
"Hmm?"
"This is!"
"The wound seems to be self-healing? Self-regeneration?"
Due to the distance, the footage wasn't very clear, but this could roughly be made out, leaving everyone astonished.
This android seemed more advanced than the YoRHa androids.
Then, after putting on the heavy armor again, he suddenly charged into the forest.
Had he discovered they were being observed and immediately fled?
"So, you should understand this mission now, right? Investigate this target, and if possible, capture him without harming him!!!"
The Commander issued the mission with a stern face.