More than ten minutes later, 11,810 Covenant soldiers were reduced to 7,102.
A total of 24,098 human soldiers were deployed, with 8,902 remaining; the exaggerated casualty ratio was shocking.
Frank pulled the plasma blade out of the Covenant soldier's head. The squad had run out of ammunition and could only use plasma blades and weapons looted from the Covenant soldiers.
After eliminating one wave, hurried footsteps could be heard not far away; they had already penetrated deep into the Covenant Base.
Gunfire, explosions, and screams were incessant. Frank felt as if he had returned to Afghanistan, the night he was sent on a death mission.
The difference was that in Afghanistan it was night, and he couldn't see anything. Now it was bright, but he didn't know how many enemies remained or how much further he had to go.
However, he was long used to this situation.
The 10-man squad was down to only 4 people, and he knew he had to keep moving forward.
Picking up the dog tags of a fallen teammate nearby, Frank headed deeper into the Base.
The entire test did not require the soldiers to complete the mission, but rather to test whether their on-the-spot capabilities had deteriorated.
These 10 virtual pods were all crafted by Harry himself. Encountering death in the virtual pods would deal a huge blow to the nervous system. If subjected to such shocks repeatedly in a short period, it would cause irreversible damage to the consciousness and nerves.
After these soldiers "died" on the battlefield, their bodies would convulse violently. The virtual pods would initiate emergency medical measures, and once their vital signs stabilized, they would be transferred to adjacent medical pods for recovery.
Facts proved that the good brothers Frank brought were all skilled in warfare.
Through psionic abilities and the special design of these pods, Harry could directly "observe" their consciousness levels. Not a single person experienced a decline in consciousness due to fear or other emotions.
Moreover, because the enemies were Aliens, some soldiers' consciousness levels even exceeded their usual levels by a wide margin.
This situation mostly occurred among believers. Harry wasn't sure if these warriors would resist his orders in future missions due to their "faith," so he temporarily removed them from the first batch of the enhancement list.
Frank's performance was still the best, including his combat will and combat ability.
The squad he led was the only one that successfully destroyed the entire anti-aircraft array and completed the tactical objective, although only 3 survivors remained in the end.
Frank watched his comrades vomiting and said, "Boss, this game console is too insane."
"This is not a game console; it is a genuine training device—if they were to enter the pod and die again now, they would really die."
Harry's words stunned Frank—he had thought this reaction was just like seasickness, but it seemed the consequences were far more serious than he had imagined.
However, this was still better than actually dying on such a battlefield.
After resting for a while, the wobbly soldiers returned to normal, but their faces remained pale. Dying once in that level of realism caused damage to the consciousness that required time to recover.
"The real alien war doesn't feel very good, does it?" Harry said.
50 people, 5 squads, only 3 survived, and only 1 squad completed the mission; this feeling was certainly not good.
"But that is a problem we must face."
Harry didn't need to say more; the virtual reality not only simulated the scenes but also instilled the background of the war into them.
Compared to learning about these things from paper or electronic media, this method allowed them to experience the weakness of humanity more immersively.
"This is why I called you here—just as Dr. Erskine selected Steve Rogers, I have also selected you.
Osborn has its own Super Soldier program, which is not entirely safe.
And once you accept the modification, Osborn will sign a special contract with you—this will impose many restrictions on your freedom."
The group looked at each other.
Many U.S. soldiers were tricked into joining by recruitment propaganda related to Captain America. After fighting, some admired Captain America even more, while others had other opinions.
But this did not affect their understanding of the meaning of this statement.
"Just like Dr. Erskine selected Steve Rogers," in a sense, this was a modern American myth scene.
After a brief silence, Frank stepped forward.
He didn't know what others thought, but he recognized Harry as his boss.
Harry had resurrected his family, saved his dying child, and helped him deal with the person who killed his wife; these things were enough to make him follow Harry wholeheartedly.
Moreover, so far, he had never seen Harry do anything harmful or evil; most of the time, he was saving Earth. Whether considering it from a realistic or sentimental perspective, he had no reason to refuse.
As Frank stepped out, 32 more people stepped out of the queue.
Some of the remaining people were filtered out by Harry because they were believers, and others just wanted to maintain the status quo and did not want to become a Super Soldier.
"Very good—if none of you had stepped out, it would have made me doubt Frank's judgment," Harry said with a smile.
Even if these people did not participate in the spartan program, they were already Pilot-level warriors, and they would be more than qualified to serve in the Osborn private armed contractor company.
33 people was not a small number; Harry would personally perform human enhancement on them.
With the help of UIS, this work would not be too difficult.
First, conduct uniform genetic modification on these subjects, adding all 5 genetic traits currently mastered by Harry, and then perform the Spartans biological modification surgery on them.
First is reinforcing the bones; implanting carbon-ceramic into the bones to make them indestructible, capable of withstanding dozens of tons of pressure.
Then inject protein complexes into the muscles to enhance muscle density; modify the sensory nervous system, replacing biological nerves with superconducting nerve fibers.
Since they were already much stronger than ordinary humans after genetic modification, the effect of the biological modification surgery would only be better than expected.
Next, inject an appropriate amount of Extremis into the subjects, prompting cells to produce high-energy sulfate bond energy storage substances that can store higher energy. The cell fluid environment modified by the virus can stabilize these higher-energy chemical substances, allowing them to burst out several times the energy of phosphate bonds when needed.
By this point, many subjects had shown adverse reactions during the process, but Harry had active enhancer in his hands; this drug could well help the experimental subjects get through the initial stage of modification.
Throughout the process, screams continued in the laboratory, and Harry had been monitoring their consciousness status using psionic abilities.
Fortunately, in the end, all 33 people survived the modification surgery without danger, no one had life-threatening adverse reactions, and their consciousness levels did not change.
Facts proved that there might only be one Steve Rogers, but that didn't mean the remaining billions of people were softies.
A week later, Frank walked out of the enhancement pod; this scene was quite similar to when Captain America walked out of the enhancement pod back then.
However, this time, there were 32 equally strong Spartans warriors beside Frank.
"How do you feel?"
Harry smiled; Frank looked very good.
This newborn Spartans warrior clenched his fist; he felt he could now kill an elephant with one punch.
"Ready for battle at any time, boss."
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