CHAPTER 48: SEWERS AND RUIN CITY

That night, Gideon and his team began forming small squads with different tasks. Luke had once helped architects build city layouts and such, so he was familiar with sewers.

Not all sewers led directly to a river, but most implementations supported that fact. With his basic knowledge of sewers, Luke could help them.

Gideon took a book and pen, sketching three locations: the city ruins, the river, and the lizardmen’s lair.

If Lady Siver’s words were true, there was a chance the lizardmen had made the sewers their home.

There were plenty of supplies to survive down there, and that was one of the reasons Gideon wanted to flush them away with the hope that it would shatter the lizardmen’s will.

"We have a much better way to drive them out without using our weapons."

"Tomorrow, Lyra will send a drone toward the city to locate their floodgates. It’s possible they closed them with something to keep the river from flowing inside," Gideon explained.

"I see."

"When the floodgates are found, the drone will return and map the location. From what I learned from Lady Siver, the lizardmen are active at night."

"Luke and I will go there with full gear. We’ll plant C4 on the floodgate to blow apart whatever is blocking the river flow into the sewers."

"Lena, you stay here and help Lyra. We won’t be long," Gideon said.

"Understood, Captain."

Gideon smiled, tore the paper, and burned it in the campfire. For Luke and the others, this task seemed much easier, but it was more complicated to think through. Hopefully what Gideon had in mind would turn out the way he imagined.

"Meeting dismissed. Get some rest."

Lena cleared her throat, stood up, and motioned for Lyra to follow. The two of them left Gideon’s camp to head toward Lady Siver’s residence to rest.

Luke watched them leave, then started asking Gideon about his plan.

"Are we going to drown them?" Luke asked.

"I want to flood the place and keep the river water flowing, so it can’t be inhabited again."

"Hmm... actually, by destroying the floodgate, the sewer will always be filled with river water. But high flow might collapse part of the city."

"Controlling the flow, huh?"

Luke smiled and patted Gideon’s shoulder lightly. He was sure the two of them would figure out the answer later. Gideon nodded. There was no use worrying about it too much.

He had to rest and prepare for tomorrow’s mission. If this mission succeeded, Gideon could move on to the final stage, which was filtering the river water.

For some reason, Gideon felt nervous about this mission, even though he had carried out many dangerous ones before. This time, he felt he had to get it right if he wanted to survive.

Just fear, nothing more.

***

The next day

As planned, Gideon and Luke were already in uniform with full gear, complete with M4A1 rifles and C4 for the critical task. Lena helped adjust Gideon’s helmet and vest.

"Lyra... aren’t you going to help me?" Luke whined.

"Shut up!" Lyra snapped.

Not long after, two drones took off from the Lamia village. The villagers stared in disbelief, their eyes fixed on the metal machines flying in the morning sky. Lady Siver grew curious and crept closer to Gideon.

"What is your plan, Sir Gideon?" Lady Siver asked.

Gideon turned and smiled. He explained the outline of his plan to her, trying his best to use simple language she could understand.

In short, he and his team would flood the sewers beneath the ruined city. Hearing that, Lady Siver was left stunned. The idea of drowning a city had never even crossed her mind before.

"How do you intend to flood the city?" Lady Siver asked.

"We’ll use the river."

Lady Siver turned her head and shook it in disbelief. She never imagined Gideon and his team planned to sink a city with nothing but the river. She still could not fully grasp the core of his plan.

"Eyes in the sky, Captain!"

"Map the river flow. Find the floodgates."

"Copy!" Lyra replied firmly.

Luke finished with his gear and walked over to Lyra to watch the search process on her laptop. Lady Siver’s curiosity pushed her closer as well, and she gasped in shock when she saw what was on Lyra’s screen.

"W-What is that?" Siver asked, confused.

"Calm down. Let us finish our mission," Gideon said, looking at her.

"How skilled are your people with spears?" Gideon asked again.

"Fairly skilled."

"Order the able villagers to take up spears and stand by the riverbank."

"For what purpose?"

"You’ll find out soon enough."

Lyra raised her hand, signaling Gideon’s attention. He walked over, geared up and ready, and she held up her laptop to show the location of the floodgates.

Not one, but two different gates. The river split the city down the middle, with a west gate and an east gate.

From what Gideon had seen with thermal vision yesterday, most of the lizardmen were concentrated in the western sewers. He would probably open the west gate first to deal with their main problem.

"Look, Captain. There’s a valve pipe," Luke pointed out.

"That could be a tool to control the water flow," Luke added.

Gideon nodded, glad to finally have an answer to his earlier question. With the location confirmed, he and Luke readied themselves with their gear.

"Be careful, both of you," Lena said, her sad eyes fixed on Gideon.

"We’ll be back quickly. You don’t need to worry."

After their goodbyes, Gideon and Luke stepped into the swamp forest, aiming for the ruined city. Suppressors were mounted on their M4A1 rifles, useful for muffling sound and avoiding attention.

There were many ways to enter the ruined city, but the closest for Gideon and Luke was the west gate. They stopped, Gideon crouched, and used his helmet scope like binoculars.

"How is it?" Luke asked.

"Negative. No one there."

"Stay close," Gideon ordered, and Luke acknowledged.

They emerged from the swamp and set foot on the dirt road. Moving quickly and quietly, they avoided drawing attention. Gideon focused forward, Luke covering the rear.

"1.2 kilometers to the checkpoint. Fire only if the target is clear."

"Roger that, Captain."