Several days had passed since the underground base collapsed.
The operation that had continued for days had finally come to an end.
The weather gradually cleared.
The temporary headquarters resumed normal operations.
Damaged equipment began to be repaired.
The wounded gradually returned to their units.
Large amounts of data were organized and archived.
And the name that had once cast a shadow over the entire underground world
was rapidly disappearing.
Morning.
Inside the conference room.
Personnel filled both sides of the long table.
The secretary stood at the front.
He held a thick stack of reports in his hands.
The projection screen slowly lit up.
The meeting officially began.
The air was completely silent.
Everyone knew.
There was only one most important topic today.
Cobra.
The secretary opened the file.
He spoke slowly.
"Regarding the investigation into Cobra's remaining forces."
The screen changed accordingly.
A large number of maps appeared.
The red-marked areas were rapidly shrinking.
The secretary continued.
"Viper confirmed dead."
"Grave Hound confirmed dead."
"More than seventy percent of the core armed forces have been lost."
"The logistics system has collapsed."
"The intelligence network has lost command."
The screen changed again.
A large number of base names flashed across it.
The secretary said,
"We have now confirmed that"
"all of Cobra's major controlled territories have gone silent."
"More than eighty percent of its bases have been abandoned."
"The remaining territories are currently under attack by outside forces."
The conference room remained silent.
Everyone stared at the map.
Because no one had expected
an organization that had once been so powerful
to collapse at such an astonishing speed.
The secretary continued.
"According to the investigation,"
"within twenty-four hours of Viper's death,"
"thirteen regional leaders attempted to take control of the organization."
Thirteen names appeared on the screen.
Then,
seven of the names were crossed out.
"Three were assassinated."
"Four died in internal conflicts."
The screen changed again.
"Two fled with the organization's funds."
"One surrendered to a local faction."
"The remaining personnel are missing."
A slight commotion spread through the conference room.
The secretary continued.
"In fact,"
"Cobra was not completely destroyed."
"What truly destroyed it"
"was Viper's death."
The air fell silent again.
No one objected.
Because everyone understood what those words meant.
When Viper was alive,
the entire organization functioned as a single entity.
But the moment Viper died,
all ambition was released from its restraints.
Fear.
Profit.
Betrayal.
They all erupted at once.
And so,
the organization tore itself apart.
The secretary opened the next page.
A new map of the power structure appeared.
"Over the past three days,"
"nine underground organizations have entered Cobra's former territory."
"They include the Blood Wolf Society,"
"the Ashen Merchant Guild,"
"the Iron Serpent Group,"
"and the Black Harbor Alliance."
One name after another appeared.
Many people recognized them.
These organizations had once been suppressed by Cobra to the point where they could barely breathe.
Some had even come close to being wiped out.
But now,
they were like sharks that had smelled blood,
rushing toward the corpse.
The secretary continued.
"More than sixty percent of the territory has already been divided."
"The remaining areas are still being contested."
"It is expected that within two months,"
"Cobra will completely disappear from the underground world."
The screen slowly went dark.
The conference room fell silent for a moment.
Someone muttered,
"That's fast."
No one responded.
Because everyone knew.
When an organization concentrates all its power in a single person,
the moment that person falls,
the entire organization falls with them.
The secretary opened another file.
"Additionally,"
"the various countries have already begun taking action."
The screen lit up again.
A large number of official operation records appeared.
"Over the past few years,"
"the reason various countries tolerated Cobra's existence"
"was because they restrained one another."
"No one was willing to be the first to commit massive resources."
"But the situation is different now."
"After Cobra's collapse,"
"multiple countries have simultaneously intensified their efforts to eliminate underground organizations."
"For the next several years,"
"they will not allow another large-scale underground armed force to emerge."
The conference room gradually fell silent.
Everyone finally realized.
An era had come to an end.
The secretary slowly closed the file.
"That concludes the report."
"The commissioned mission is officially complete."
The air remained silent for several seconds.
Then,
Lucian gently nodded.
"That's enough."
Three simple words.
They marked the complete end of the long-running Cobra arc.
The secretary returned to his seat.
The meeting entered its next stage.
Lucian looked at Dawolf.
"Next,"
"let's talk about the real issue."
Dawolf slightly raised his head.
The data on the screen changed again.
A new organizational chart appeared.
It was the structure of the Escort Unit.
Lucian spoke calmly.
"This battle confirmed one thing for me."
Everyone immediately became serious.
"Our training system has problems."
The conference room fell slightly quieter.
Lucian continued.
"The training is too evenly distributed."
"Everyone learns everything."
"Everyone can do everything."
"The result is that there is no true core."
New data appeared on the screen.
Viper.
Grave Hound.
Lucian.
Dawolf.
The profiles of all four were enlarged simultaneously.
"What truly determines a battlefield"
"has never been overall average strength."
"It is core combat strength."
No one objected.
Because they had witnessed it with their own eyes.
Viper had supported the entire Cobra organization alone.
Grave Hound had suppressed the battlefield by himself.
And Lucian had directly determined the final outcome.
Lucian looked at Dawolf.
"Starting today,"
"the training system will be restructured."
The conference room became completely silent.
"You will be responsible for it."
Dawolf froze.
"Me?"
Lucian nodded.
"From now on, you will oversee all Escort Unit training."
"Tactics."
"Close-quarters combat."
"Battlefield experience."
"You will design all of it."
Several people simultaneously looked surprised.
Because this was no longer an ordinary position.
It was the core of the entire escort system.
Lucian continued.
"The future training standards"
"will be built around you."
"Combat simulations"
"will be designed around me."
Everyone gradually understood.
The future Escort Unit
would be built around two cores.
Dawolf would be responsible for training.
Lucian would be responsible for actual combat.
This was an entirely new system.
Yet Dawolf remained silent.
Because he had never imagined something like this.
For the past several decades,
he had always been a tool.
Fight.
Get injured.
Carry out orders.
Fight again.
That was all.
No one cared what his future would be.
No one cared when he would die.
He did not even care himself.
And now,
Lucian had handed the entire escort system to him.
For the first time,
this gave him a strange feeling.
After a long silence,
Dawolf asked quietly,
"What about the front lines?"
Lucian looked at him.
"Try not to go there from now on."
The conference room instantly fell silent.
Dawolf froze.
"What do you mean?"
Lucian replied calmly,
"Exactly what I said."
"For important battles from now on,"
"you are not allowed to charge at the very front."
Several people froze simultaneously.
Because they knew Dawolf too well.
Charging forward.
Risking his life.
Taking the hit for others.
These things had almost become habits for him.
And now,
he was being forbidden from doing them.
Dawolf remained silent for a long time.
Finally, he could not help asking,
"Really?"
There was even a trace of hesitation in his voice.
Lucian looked at him.
Then slowly nodded.
"Of course."
"You will have other important responsibilities from now on."
The conference room fell silent again.
Dawolf lowered his head.
He said nothing more.
His fists simply tightened slowly.
No one noticed.
The man who would not waver even under artillery fire
was now showing obvious emotion in his eyes for the first time.
Because for the first time,
someone had told him
that his value did not lie in throwing his life away.
On the other side,
the secretary opened the final file.
There was only one name on the cover.
Crow.
The atmosphere in the conference room changed again.
Lucian looked at the file.
He remained silent for a long time.
Crow was a very unusual existence.
He was unlike Viper.
Unlike Grave Hound.
He was not even like a normal enemy.
He did not expand his forces.
He did not fight for territory.
He did not build an army.
He simply continued to hide.
People like him were actually the hardest to deal with.
The secretary said quietly,
"There are currently no leads."
"Scope's final attempt to track him failed."
"The target has disappeared completely."
The conference room fell silent.
Someone asked,
"Should we continue searching?"
Lucian was silent for a moment.
Then slowly shook his head.
"No."
The secretary froze.
"Give up?"
Lucian replied calmly,
"We can't find him."
"Continuing to invest resources is meaningless."
Everyone nodded slightly.
However, in the next second,
Lucian continued.
"However."
"We can't let him get too comfortable either."
The atmosphere in the conference room suddenly became strange.
Those familiar with Lucian had already guessed what would come next.
Sure enough,
Lucian slowly spoke.
"Put a bounty on him in the underworld."
The secretary froze.
"A bounty?"
"Triple the amount."
The air fell silent.
Everyone looked stunned.
Triple.
That was no longer an ordinary sum.
It was an enormous fortune capable of driving countless people insane.
Lucian continued.
"If we're not going to invest personnel,"
"then let money drive the world."
The secretary finally understood.
"Understood."
The meeting ended.
That night,
the first bounty appeared on the underground intelligence market.
A massive electronic screen lit up.
A new wanted notice covered the entire display.
Codename.
Crow.
Below it was a long string of numbers.
The entire hall instantly fell silent.
Someone counted it again.
Then sucked in a cold breath.
"Are they insane?"
"That much?"
"For an information broker?"
The news spread rapidly.
Bars.
Casinos.
Mercenary outposts.
Underground trading districts.
More and more people saw the bounty.
The entire dark world began to tremble.
Because everyone knew
what an amount like that meant.
Meanwhile,
somewhere in the mountains,
Crow sat beside a campfire.
In his hands was an intelligence newspaper he had just purchased.
In the most prominent position
was his own bounty notice.
He stared at it quietly for a long time.
Then slowly set it down.
The flames gently swayed,
illuminating his expressionless face.
A few seconds later,
Crow let out a quiet sigh.
An extremely rare occurrence.
Then he muttered,
"I really picked a troublesome enemy..."
The firelight flickered gently.
And far away,
Lucian's new arrangement
had officially begun.