I Have a Modern Weapon Gacha System in the Zombie Apocalypse

Chapter 86: Briefing for Operation Cold Reach

After 500 spins, Adrian looked at his inventory and saw a copious amount of items glowing in their own icons. With this amount, he could technically become one of the largest armies in the world. But the problem now is how he’ll deploy these assets?

He couldn’t just set it down on the Basa Air Base as it is limited by its space. They needed to expand. He looked at the map of the base and saw it is between two major roads, the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway and the Angeles-Porac-Floridablanca-Dinalupihan Road. In between, there is a width of about four kilometers and along its length, it stretches by more than ten kilometers.

There’s room for expansion as the nearby areas are just residential with no people living in it. Meaning, they could just demolish it and make way for the construction of new runways, hangars, barracks, and other military infrastructure such as maintenance depots, fuel storage farms, ammunition bunkers, and hardened shelters for high-value assets.

But aside from that, he also acquired naval assets.

What are those naval assets again?

He looked at his inventory and browsed for the naval assets he had.

The list appeared in front of him.

Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers.

Zumwalt-class destroyer.

Independence-class littoral combat ship.

Cyclone-class patrol ship.

Virginia-class nuclear attack submarines.

Los Angeles-class attack submarine.

Mark VI patrol boats.

RHIB fast assault crafts.

Adrian stared at the list for a moment.

Then leaned back slowly.

"...Yeah," he muttered. "That’s a problem."

Because none of that could be used here.

Not in Basa.

Not this far inland.

He stood up again and walked back to the map.

Zooming out.

Then dragging the view west.

His eyes settled on the coastline.

Subic Bay.

"...That’s the nearest one," he said quietly.

From Basa Air Base to Subic. It’s roughly sixty kilometers.’

It is not impossible, but it is not simple either.

He zoomed in further.

The port facilities were still there.

Dockyards, piers, fuel depots, warehouses.

All built for naval use even before the outbreak.

Which meant, if it was still intact, it would be a perfect naval base for his private militia. After all, if the worst were to come where the base is overrun, they’ll have a place to retreat to.

But for now, he’ll bookmark it and plan it out with his summoned personnel to discuss it.

Now, they have a lot of military arsenal at his disposal. He could now focus on their next objective, which is going to Korea to get them a virologist to figure out the origin of the outbreak.

***

Three hours later, at the command center planning room. Adrian, along with Ryan and ten special operatives units were in the room.

Ryan stood before them, while Ryan and the operatives sat, about to listen to what Ryan had to say for their new operation, aided by projectors.

"Good afternoon everyone, I’m sure you have been informed that you are the people selected for our new operation. We call it, Operation Cold Reach."

Ryan let the name settle for a second.

No reactions.

He turned slightly and nodded to the operator at the back.

The projector came to life.

A map of the Korean Peninsula filled the wall, clean and layered with routes, markers, and annotations.

Ryan stepped to the side and pointed at the southern portion.

"Ingress will be conducted via a C-17 Globemaster," he said. "Departure is scheduled tomorrow, 0700 hours."

He traced the flight path.

"Flight time is approximately four hours and thirty minutes. Estimated time of arrival in South Korea is 1130 hours local."

No one spoke.

They were already processing.

"Our landing zone is Camp Humphreys," Ryan continued. "Specifically, Desiderio Army Airfield."

A marker pulsed.

"But we are not treating this as a friendly airfield."

He paused.

Then said it clearly.

"We are treating it as overrun."

A few of the operatives shifted slightly.

Not surprised.

Just adjusting expectations.

"Reconnaissance conducted one week ago via MQ-1 Predator confirms widespread collapse across Seoul and surrounding regions," Ryan said. "Urban density worked against them. Civilian evacuation failed. Infection spread rapidly."

The screen changed.

Aerial footage appeared.

Masses of infected moving through streets.

Highways clogged.

Structures damaged.

"Conclusion, expect large concentrations of hostiles. Not scattered. Not isolated. We are talking about hordes."

Ryan tapped the next slide.

Vehicle silhouettes appeared.

"We are deploying with ground assets," he said. "The C-17 will carry the following."

He pointed one by one.

"Oshkosh JLTV. Fast, mobile, lightly armored."

"Cougar MRAP. Heavier protection. Mine-resistant."

"Stryker ICV. Main transport and fire support platform."

"These vehicles will be deployed immediately upon landing," Ryan continued.

He looked at the group.

"Speed is survival."

The route shifted north.

"Primary objective is Seoul National University Hospital," he said. "We are looking for one person—Dr. Han Seo-yeon."

The name appeared on the screen.

"Virologist. Infectious disease specialist. Top-tier researcher in adaptive viral mutation."

"She is not optional," he added. "If she is alive, we bring her back."

He pointed again.

"If she is not found at the hospital, we proceed to secondary location—KDCA headquarters."

Another marker lit up.

"Time on ground is limited. We are not conducting a sweep of the city. We are not clearing sectors. We go in, locate, extract, and get out."

He stepped back slightly.

"Extraction will be conducted at the same location—Camp Humphreys."

"Communications will be maintained through an airborne platform," Ryan said. "An AWACS, Boeing E-3 Sentry, will be deployed and maintained overhead."

A few heads tilted slightly.

"Call it a relay node," Ryan explained. "It links us directly back to base. Without it, we are operating blind."

He looked across the room.

"This is a long-range operation in a fully compromised environment. You will not have local support. You will not have resupply beyond what you bring."

Ryan folded his hands behind his back.

"Questions."

One of the operatives raised his hand slightly.

"Why are we landing?" he asked. "Why not jump? HALO insertion reduces exposure on the runway."

Ryan nodded once.

"Valid question," he said.

He pointed back at the vehicle icons.

"We are bringing heavy assets," he answered. "JLTV, Cougar, Stryker. You don’t drop those from the sky without preparation, and we don’t have that luxury."

He stepped closer to the map.

"Second—control," Ryan continued. "A jump insertion spreads the team. In an environment like Seoul, that’s a risk we don’t take. We land together, we move together."

Another operative spoke.

"Landing on a potentially overrun airfield puts the aircraft at risk. If the runway is blocked or compromised, we’re stuck."

Ryan nodded again.

"Correct," he said. "Which is why we are conducting pre-landing surveillance. Final approach will be cleared in real time. If the runway is unusable, we abort."

"Abort to where?" another asked.

"Alternate landing zones are pre-marked," Ryan replied, tapping another part of the map. "But they are less ideal. Higher risk. Less space for deployment."

A third operative leaned forward slightly.

"What about fuel?" he asked. "Round trip without refuel?"

"The C-17 will carry enough for insertion and extraction," Ryan said. "But loiter time is limited. We are not staying longer than necessary."

Another voice.

"What about variants?" he asked. "We’ve seen inconsistent infection patterns here. What if Korea has something worse?"

Ryan didn’t answer immediately.

Then, he answered.

"Assume it does."

That settled it.

"You are not going in expecting standard infected," Ryan continued. "You are going in expecting unknown variables."

Silence followed.

Then another question.

"What’s our engagement rule?" one of them asked.

"Simple," Ryan replied. "Anything that moves and isn’t part of this team is a threat."

Ryan looked around once more.

"This is a high-risk operation," he said. "But it is necessary. We need to understand what we’re dealing with."

He glanced briefly toward Adrian.

Adrian said nothing.

He just listened.

"Okay, that’s it! See you tomorrow!"