The cave's entrance is approximately two meters tall and three meters wide. The gaping hole in the rocky wall of the cliff's edge is pitch black, almost gone unnoticed with the dark night, had it not been for the reflecting property of the white snow all around.

The pitch black hole is silent, like any other cave I presumed, nothing is coming from it, but it felt as if there would be something jumping at us at any moment. What will it be? A bear if lucky a monster if not.

"W-what are we here for?" I asked, trying to sound relatively scared, but not too much. Bell sent me a single raised eyebrow but didn't say anything.

Of course, she will see through.

"You will see." Alec said dismissing me like a fly as he examined the cave's entrance.

I didn't want to ask either you know?

I understand perfectly the level of the annoyance of someone who had nothing for him other than asking questions can get. Thus, I didn't ask even the question that couldn't expose my huge lack of this world's common knowledge.

Of course, even while trying to be in line and not appear like an eyesore to anyone, there are still people that still won't just be happy. Eric, for instance, the guy is annoyed with just me breathing. So yeah you cannot make everyone happy.

Nonetheless, one wrong step at the wrong moment can get me pushed out of my armed escort, so the plan all along was better to just watch and listen, until they got relatively comfortable around me, then I can open the jar.

... yet the ominous aura gushing from the black hole caved in the walls is giving a second thought.

Not in the staying quiet part, no, the second thought is more radical, like is it a good idea to accompany this military team in their unsure mission.

I already anticipated, wherever they are going or whatever their mission might be, chances are it could be riskier than exploring this forest on my lonesome. Yet due to my vast lack of knowledge, I still chose to come along, and it is not like anything is granted since even they don't seem what exactly their mission's stakes are.

But what is it is some sort of nest?

Shredders have to come from somewhere right?

That is a question I asked multiple times in my head, and it is not that simple either, since for one they don't have genitalia. I did, from the last confrontation, analyze the Shredder. The majority of the detail I deemed irrelevant has been forgotten, but some of the key points are still here, like their weak senses or the lack of anything below.

The absence of reproductive organs gives all these creatures more strangeness. How the heck do they reproduce?

"Got anything?" Alec asked not looking at anyone in particular.

"Negative." Eric answered, cementing my speculations even more.

"Stay sharp, let move in."

And with the orders given, walking slowly and warily for anything unexpected, we entered the cave. The flashlights mounted on the team members' rifles fought the cave's darkness a revealed its insides.

The cave's ceiling is not much higher than the entrance, and its width started to narrow as you advance further inside. The cave is empty, where the flashlight's light is reaching at least. Only rocky walls, rocky floor, and rocky ceiling not even some small stalactite or stalagmite to give it a touch of design, and it is not like we would have stopped to admire them either if there were.

As we walked and the sides started getting narrower, angst and uneasiness begin playing in my head, whispering strange things. The cave is almost quiet save for the occasional sound of water drops hitting the puddle on the ground, the wind whistling through the cave's entrance, and the redundant sound of the boots stepping on the stony ground.

I moved my right hand and hide it inside the coat between two buttons on my chest, with slight difficulty and a perceptible pain. The effect of the drug is wearing out, and both the pain and cold are getting more noticeable. Especially since this coat had gone through not so gentle two days, and not just the coat even the two woolens inside are not in a good shape, especially my back, I can feel the wind going through the tears.

I also want to put my frozen left hand in my pocket, but that would negatively affect my balance and footing, especially if something were to happen that requires hast movements.

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I tried to look at the other's faces to judge their feeling if they are as tense as me for instance, after all, they are now unofficially my protectors, and my life depends majorly on them, or at least their ability to fight. Unfortunately, I couldn't glean anything, Alec and Eric were impossible to glimpse at their face from my position, that being behind them. For Zane and Bart who both are behind are likewise, though their faces are not hidden by the angle but by the flashlight mounted on the front of their rifle, that being too blinding.

That only leaves Bell who is at my side. As I looked at her she looked back at me for a brief moment, then smiled. That is not a smile of encouragement as I hoped, nor is a smile of courtesy or politeness, I doubt she comprehends what any of those words are. No, that smile has an intended purpose behind it and that is to mock me.

She knows of... um my uncertainties on this dark cave, and she is laughing at it.

So...

I smiled back and winked.

I would have liked to say something too, yet I don't fancy being scolded by Alec or being thrown to wolfs.

Bell Shook her head, the smile however still on her face as she looked ahead.

My effort of finding the general mood of the team turned out to be fruitless, the only fruit I got is a sore mocking one. Though however, the unease and worries I was experiencing a moment ago, while they didn't vanish, were lessened greatly.

So instead of uneasiness now is irritation I am feeling.

After that nothing happened, albeit there being multiple occasions and places, something could or should have jumped at us. The walk was silent and the cave more and more narrow. After, twenty or thirty minutes of walking, we reached the end of the cave and what end that is.

"Halt!" Ordered Alec with his fist raised.

"W-what is that?" I asked, trying my luck one more time.

"The entrance." Bell answered as Eric shot me a pointed look.

An entrance? I would have never thought a door could be an entrance.

I don't know if she is trying to irk me out or if she just doesn't know, her face at least doesn't show anything.

The end of the cave is a man-made concrete wall, painted white, with some places the painting getting worn out due to the humidity. Multiple droplets of water were spewed all around the wall, still, even with all that tattered places, you can recognize the wall is not that old, at the very least it appears to be no older than five years.

At the center of the white wall is a steel door, the door was painted likewise white and looks reinforced. Another thing to note was the absence of a handle and rectangular black screen on the left side of the metal doorframe. The black screen had what I recognized as two LEDs, one emitting red light the other was off.

"This place still got power?" Unexpectedly the one who asked was Eric.

"It is not connected to the grid," Alec roamed his pocket for a second before pulling out a magnetic card "it has its own independent power source."

"Well off bastards," Eric swore, doing what does best as Alec proceeded to place the magnetic card on the black screen.

Thaav.

Immediately a sound was heard coming from behind the door, the red LED turned off while the other emitted a green light before the door opened slightly with a click.

"It really works, the bastards," the woman beside me echoed "I bet they shower with butter too."

I raised an eyebrow at their reaction, not just Bell, but Eric's too, before resuming my not-understanding-what-is-happening face.

While I am relieved none of those eighteen Shredders Eric mentioned showed up, and an electronic metal door built in the middle of nowhere, which is uncommon, is also interesting. But the little bits of breadcrumbs both Eric and Bell gave out are not to be ignored.

"Weapon on retention," Alec ordered, voice firm "don't open fire unless ordered."

When they gave their positive responses, Alec fully opened the door, and with rifle ready Eric stepped in, swiftly directing his rifle left then right.

"Clear."

Alec followed suit before Bell and me, in that order, then come Zane and Bart.

What we found ourselves in was a corridor, long and white, with white walls, a white floor, a white ceiling, and white lights placed every two to three meters on the ceiling. This place is so white that it makes me dizzy. The only visible color other than white is the symbols or the letters painted in blue on the wall at the intersection, showing direction or guidance.

Other than the heavy troubling use of white paint, there is nothing, the corridor is empty. And it seems I am not the only one finding this emptiness upsetting, noticing the frown appearing on Alec's face, it quickly disappeared but I didn't miss it.

"Got anything."

"Negative." As usual, the one who answered that question was Eric.

"Nothing at all?" Alec asked again.

"Nothing at all, sir." Stressing his last words as Eric answered.

"How many are supposed to be in here, Cap?"

"Start moving." Ignoring Bell's question or just didn't know the answer, Alec took the lead order.

I see, a mission only the captain knows the detail of.

Keeping something so fundamental as the mission details from team members that are supposed to conduct the said mission, is not just counterproductive but also harmful.

I kept some of my attention on the members' faces, though my face-reading skills aren't on Bell's level, I like to believe I am not bad at it. Still, I didn't gather anything particularly useful. But if I have to guess, I would say only Alec and to some extent, Bart knows what this mission is about.

I looked at the bald, buff guy walking behind me. The first you get from him is the quiet muscle-for-brain guy, but from the conversation, I accidentally overheard while in a feverish sleep, he is anything but that.

I do not remember the details of their conversation but I do remember him insinuating this mission had a political reason behind it. Which isn't necessarily bad or harmful per se

Yet the paranoid voice doesn't think the same, I may not know the politics of this world but I am not unfamiliar with my previous world's politics, how much different can they be?

If previous world politics, some countries stepped so low as to kill, assault, and conspire against their own people in order to start a massacre war for the oligarchy's interest.

How will this world differ?

A world where monsters and humans doted with superpowers exist.

And what is the secret this mission is hiding in two layers?