Chapter 119: Chapter 119: Quality Inspection
They really love Renee’s catchphrase!
After a few silent seconds, the barrage of comments exploded again.
Start over.
[Another day of diligent studying. Taking out my notebook: Famous saying from Z country—Winner takes all, loser becomes the villain.]
[Z country proverb: Winner takes all, loser becomes the villain. Learned it now.]
[...]
They admit their mistakes and learn from them—such good students.
Kennedy isn’t stupid; he understands the meaning of that phrase.
She’s calling him a thief and a loser.
He wishes he could strangle Renee Morgan and feed her to the dogs, but his headset keeps urging him to leave. Otherwise, someone will come and drag him away, and he’ll deal with the consequences.
As for Team Red’s other six members, Jay Monroe scored four points, Dane scored two.
The three didn’t linger, leaving swiftly.
When they returned to the shelter, Bama and the others were already back. Seeing them all return in one piece, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Even though the whole night they only heard Team Blue’s headshot scores, no news of Team Red scoring, what they did was insanely risky. Them making it back is pure luck.
Who could believe Jay Monroe and Dane actually went—just the two of them—to sneak attack Team Red’s headquarters?
Tonight, since Jay Monroe and Dane weren’t able to talk much, Team Blue’s commander worried about interfering with Renee Morgan and routed the comms to Squad 2.
The Blue Team commander heard the headshot scores and, as usual, checked in to see how they earned those kills.
When Squad 2 answered honestly, the Blue Team commander nearly fainted.
Three people went to ambush Team Red’s headquarters?
Who the hell came up with that insane idea?
Bama and the crew wouldn’t rat out Jay Monroe and Dane, only vaguely said it was a group decision.
The Blue Team commander worried for their safety, but knew recriminations were pointless now. He told Squad 2 to report immediately if anything happened, and if the three made it back, to let him know right away.
Jay Monroe and Dane listened to Squad 2’s exchange and silently took out their comms, connecting all four headsets.
Renee Morgan, Jay Monroe, Dane, and the Blue Team commander’s headsets all went live almost simultaneously.
The Blue Team commander heard they were safe and gripped the table, letting out a massive sigh. They were Team Blue’s elites, the most skilled members. If they’d fallen tonight, Team Blue’s chances of winning would be slim.
Once the commander learned it was Jay Monroe and Dane’s plan, he was furious.
"Team Red’s HQ is insanely dangerous—how could you even dare go there?" If they were right in front of him, the Blue Team commander would be poking their foreheads nonstop.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah..."
"We weren’t thinking straight enough."
Jay Monroe and Dane admitted their mistake, genuinely; tonight was nuts.
"Not thinking straight? You call that not thinking straight?" The commander wanted to say: Y’all are out of your minds!
"If we’d been thinking straight, I would’ve planned everything before charging in." Dane didn’t think sneaking into Team Red Tower was wrong. His mistake was not prepping enough—he almost got headshot by Kennedy.
Blue Team commander: "..." This kid’s hopeless.
The livestream revolved around the fifteen team members, but viewers didn’t actually see how Dane and Jay Monroe broke into Team Red Tower—just tournament updates and their kill scores inside.
Knowing Dane could disable defense systems and rebuild them gets everyone hyped.
The whole internet begged the commander to play mouthpiece and ask them how they managed to break into Team Red Tower.
"Ahem, well, you made it out safe and that’s good. But, don’t pull stunts like this again. Don’t drag Renee Morgan into your mess." Team Blue commander.
Jay Monroe, Dane: "..." That last bit is the real message here.
The commander had scolded enough and finally got to the point: "You actually got inside Team Red’s headquarters?"
The livestream camera, operated by someone, now showed seven people sitting around, with Renee Morgan, Jay Monroe, and Dane sitting across, forming a triangle, all connected with the commander.
Renee’s headset audio was even boosted—so everyone could hear what the commander was saying.
Hearing him finally ask what they wanted, viewers were low-key delighted, straining to hear every word.
Jay Monroe: "...Yeah, I guess." Their commander’s getting old, asking silly questions like these.
"How’d you pull it off?" The commander knew Dane could mess with defense systems, but was still unsure—Team Red for sure has their own geniuses.
He just wanted to know, compared to Team Red’s experts, did Blue Team actually win out?
How did you get in?
Jay Monroe and Renee Morgan both looked up at Dane at the exact same time.
Renee was just curious.
Jay Monroe, on the other hand, looked at him like he was some kind of freak.
"..." Dane stayed quiet.
Jay Monroe got forced to answer the boss. He said, "Dane can disable defense systems."
"Oh?" The commander looked pretty interested.
The boss was curious, so Jay Monroe added more detail: "He had a military-grade knife, pried open the security door, then used that same knife to disable other traps and defense setups."
The commander had seen Dane disable defense systems or rebuild them, but never straight-up wreck one. Hearing Jay Monroe’s simple, brutal explanation stunned him.
"That’s it?" The commander couldn’t believe it.
Did Team Red really get assigned noobs by the base? That easy to break the defense?
Jay Monroe: "It’s really that simple."
The commander wanted to say more, but Jay Monroe pushed ahead: "I doubt Team Red can fix their defense system now. But that’s good for us—they’ll be way easier to attack next time."
"Why wouldn’t they be able to fix it..." The commander couldn’t believe their luck.
Jay Monroe gave Dane another freakish look and sighed, complicated: "I seriously don’t think they can fix it."
So basically, not an answer.
The commander cut to the chase, asking Dane: "Dane, did you sabotage their defense system on purpose?"
Dane: "Coach, it wasn’t sabotage. I was just doing quality testing for them."
Full-on professional jargon...
The commander paused for a moment. No more beating around the bush: "Do you think they can repair what you brok—uh, what you quality-tested for them?"
Speech really is an art form.
No wonder he’s a commander.
Jay Monroe and Renee Morgan both felt outclassed.
Dane: "Nope."
"Oh?" The commander tried to hide his excitement, pretending to be reserved while asking.
Dane mused, "Both the software and the hardware are problematic. With that severe a quality issue, how could they fix it?"
Jay Monroe was floored—software and hardware issues? Isn’t that usually just a Dane problem?
Now he finally understood why Freyos’ enemies want him dead so badly...
Team Red commander probably wants to pull a knife and murder someone by now.
No shame at all.
The Blue Team commander heard Dane’s absolutely confident reply and found it honestly convincing—totally satisfied.