TWO SPOONS OF DESPAIR

After a bone-jarring landing in the emergency capsule, Adrian pondered his situation. His heart was lost, and his will to live was gone. He unbuckled his seat and removed his helmet from his protective suit.

Thanks to the rigorous and repeated training in the MREA space program, his body and mind were trained to deal with any problems that may arise. However, Adrian's struggle to reach the emergency capsule had not been easy. He had to float through the damaged parts of the space station, which could have damaged his protective suit. If his protective suit had been damaged, he could have died from decompression sickness and hypothermia.

Decompression sickness occurs when the pressure inside the protective suit decreases rapidly. The dissolved gases in the astronaut's blood and tissues come out of solution and form bubbles. The astronaut begins to experience symptoms of decompression sickness, including pain, numbness, weakness, dizziness, and other you-don't-want-to-know pain.

In normal circumstances, the astronaut would be immediately returned to the space station and placed in a hyperbaric chamber. The increased pressure in the hyperbaric chamber allows the bubbles to dissolve and the symptoms to improve. However, in a rundown space station like Asa, this would be as difficult as pulling an SSR item or character in a greedy Gacha game.

Adrian then looked at his communicator, which was actually a normal cell phone with military specs and a color e-ink display to save energy. However, the screen still displayed the message "No Signal." Of course, the signal was from the space station. Annoyed, Adrian threw the communicator against the side of the emergency capsule, causing it to bang loudly. He then held his head in his hands, thinking about everything that had happened.

The adrenaline was gone, and so was the training he had received. He wasn't trained for this scenario. Even though there had been a survival scenario in his training, it had still assumed that the Asa Space Station would still be functional.

Memories of the destruction of the space station, the deaths of Igor and Jane, began to haunt Adrian's mind like darkness swallowing candlelight. Remembering the standard operating procedure book, he took a box containing a 9mm pistol, magazine, and bullets from one of the panels in the emergency capsule. The words "PX3-ELITE" were visible on the side of the gun. Adrian stared at the gun for a long time.

Suddenly, Adrian heard a huge bang that also shook the emergency capsule. He was curious about the sound. Was there another capsule that had also fallen nearby? he wondered. He then felt a tinge of hope. He hoped that the capsule was that of the Pathfinder team, so he wouldn't have to live on that alien planet alone. Adrian then loaded the bullets into the magazine and took the gun.

Adrian emerged from the emergency capsule, which had landed between the trees. He seemed to be in some sort of forest on this planet. He looked for the source of the explosion, which was not too difficult to find: smoke was rising up in the distance ahead of him. He ran towards the smoke, carrying his 9mm gun.

As he got closer, the smell of smoke from the burning trees disturbed him. "The capsule landing shouldn't have set the trees on fire like this," he thought. He was plagued with questions. What force had caused such a fire? Was he in a war zone?

The next sight that met his eyes was very confusing for Adrian. He saw several humans lying helpless on the ground. For a moment, he was silent, remembering his bad experience when the Asa Space Station was destroyed. He flashed back to the tragic deaths of Jane and Igor. But then he forced himself to look at the bodies.

They were wearing leather armor and carrying swords, like soldiers from medieval times. They looked like an army ready for battle. Adrian approached one of them, but as he got closer, he felt something strange. Even though the surroundings were scorched, the bodies did not seem to be burning. Adrian then saw a stab wound in the soldier's chest, with fresh blood pouring out. Unable to stand the sight, he ran to the side and vomited.

This was the first time he had seen a human die like that. The experience of seeing it firsthand was very different from what he had seen on TV or the internet. After he felt a little stronger, he forced himself to see if any of the soldiers were still alive. He did not want to experience the loss of loved ones and close friends again. As long as there was someone he could save, he would save them.

His search was successful. He found one soldier who was still alive. The soldier had been thrown into a tree, but strangely he was still alive and his body did not seem to be damaged.

Reminded of his space program training, Adrian used his skills to bring the soldier to a safe place, which was none other than the emergency capsule where he had landed. But before he could take the soldier away, Adrian heard the sound of animal footsteps behind him. He opened the safety on his gun and cocked it. He pointed his gun at the sound.

Adrian was surprised to see four wolves appear from behind the bushes. These wolves were different from any he had ever seen before. Their fur emitted a strange black smoke. As the wolves ran closer, Adrian felt his life was in danger. He reflexively fired two bullets at one of the wolves, and it immediately fell to the ground. He then fired two more bullets at another wolf, and it too fell dead.

The remaining two wolves suddenly backed away and ran off. Adrian was a little confused. Were wolves really such intelligent creatures that they knew when to give up? He then holstered his gun and walked over to inspect the two dead wolves. The black smoke had disappeared, and blood was oozing from the bullet holes.

Adrian was grateful for the Close Quarter Combat (CQC) training he had received. He had learned the double tap shooting technique from his instructor, who had been a former special forces officer. The instructor had said that the technique was developed by William Ewart Fairbairn and Eric A. Sykes, British police chiefs working in Shanghai during the 1930s. They had developed the technique to overcome the limitations of full metal jacketed (FMJ) ammunition, which was prohibited by the Hague Convention of 1899. The goal of the double tap technique was to fire two quick shots at the target in order to ensure a kill, even with FMJ ammunition.

The FMJ ammunition decision on the MREA Space Program was in compliance with the Hague Convention of 1899, Declaration III, which prohibited the use in international warfare of bullets that easily expand or flatten in the body. The goal of this was to reduce the amount of suffering caused by war.

Adrian was glad that he had used the double tap technique on the wolves. They had been a threat to his life, and he had been in a kill-or-be-killed situation. He had no intention of letting them take him down.

Adrian turned to leave, but he didn't notice the human figure approaching him from behind. The figure had cast a spell that made it difficult to detect. The figure drew a knife and was about to stab Adrian in the back. Adrian realized there was an enemy behind him and turned his head, but it was too late.

***

Malcolm is the youngest member of the Shadow mercenary group. He has the ability to tame and control up to ten Strong Wolf wolves. He was ordered by the team leader to attack a convoy carrying an important group of people.

At first, Malcolm was happy with the job. But after the raid was over and the old Sage Gwendolyn cast a medium fire spell, completely destroying the convoy and the surrounding area, he was tasked with checking for survivors while the rest of the team and their leader returned to their hideout.

After all, six of his Strong Wolves had been killed by the troops protecting the convoy. He could find and tame more Strong Wolves, but that would be a waste of time. Jobs like this should be given to ordinary people. But he couldn't go against the team leader.

[Check Target: Deceased]

Malcolm used the Check Target spell on all of the unconscious people to make sure there were no witnesses to the incident. The other team members had confirmed that no one in the convoy was still alive, so he was only tasked with using the Check Target spell to check if anyone was alive. If there was, he had to kill them.

He approached a girl with long blonde hair and a fancy dress. "This looks like our target," he said. He recalled the team leader's order to specifically kill nobles. Without hesitation, he killed the girl with his sword.

He then looked around for the soldier who had killed many of his Strong Wolves. He found the soldier knocked over near a large tree. He cast the Check Target spell again.

[Check Target: Deceased]

But something was wrong. The soldier didn't look dead to Malcolm, who was a trained Shadow mercenary. There were no visible wounds on his body, and he was glowing slightly. Healing spells? Malcolm readied his sword to quickly kill the soldier, but he was startled by someone running out of the bushes.

[Optical Camouflage: Active]

[Soft Step: Active]

Malcolm activated his protection spells, making himself invisible to the stranger. The stranger was wearing a strange white shirt with a coat of arms that Malcolm didn't recognize. A noble? Then he should kill him too. But he remembered that nobles usually had rare skills that made them difficult to kill, even for a mercenary.

Malcolm tried to deploy his Strong Wolves to attack the stranger, he being careful. He knew that if the person was a noble, they would likely have a way to defend themselves. Sure enough, the stranger easily killed two of his Strong Wolves with a strange stick they were holding.

Malcolm then had an idea. He ordered his two remaining Strong Wolves to run away. The stranger let down their guard, thinking that they were no longer a threat. Malcolm then snuck up behind them and got ready to stab them in the back.

He turned off the optical camouflage spell so that his sword could kill them. If the spell was still active, he wouldn't be able to kill them because he would have to change the spell to a high-power level spell.

[Unyielding Blade: Activate]

Malcolm made sure that no more barrier spells could block his attacks.

But then, he felt something pierce his chest. His blood was gushing and he lost strength and consciousness.