Fiction: Group 3
Gile spent the rest of day arguing with himself. It was a difficult and complicated situation. “I
shouldn’t...no, I shouldn’t...but if I get the money...I can retire and relax for the rest of my life! Besides, this
is for my wife and daughter... They’ll definitely want to live a good life! Yeah, that’s right. I’m doing this for
them. Yeah.” He had made his decision.
“If you, Commander agree to go along with this, I’m sure it’s for the betterment of our city,” a soldier
said.
“I’m glad to have your trust.” Gile answered with a smile. But he couldn’t help but feel guilty.
“I thought of a plan yesterday, but I’m not sure if it’ll work.” Gile began saying. “We should try to lure
them into the centre of Pearl River Delta and we can attack from all three sides. Then we can force them
out to sea.”
“But Commander... the Pearl River Delta is a key trade area. There will be a lot of boats and ships passing
by. We can’t risk harming people who aren’t involved in the war.”
“A little sacrifice is always necessary for the benefit of our country. We need to keep our eyes on the
prize,”Gile said coldly.
A while later, he went to check on new weapons that had been recently completed. Every single one of
them was as big and tall as a 3-storey building.
“Which model is this?” he asked the technician, examining the nearest machine from head to toe.
“This one’s a beauty, Victory. The Chief thinks this name best describes our next battle,” the technician
explained with pride.
The Victory was the most developed killing machine of Hong Kong. It was armed with every single
weapon you can name. Riffles, lasers, bazookas, everything. It even had the ability to fly. And it wasn’t just
any flying. It was so fast that not even a plane or rocket could catch up. In order for it to perform at its full
potential, a pilot was necessary.
The chosen pilot of the Victory, August Freeman was a 5-star soldier. Although he was an excellent pilot,
he wasn’t very fond of wars. In fact, he hates it. When he was only a young and innocent schoolboy, the
military of China discovered his hidden talent and forced him to quit school to join the military. He
transferred himself to Hong Kong not long after acquiring his 5-star title to avoid further fighting. But it
seemed like his years of living in peace were finally up.
“I heard that we’ll be using August Freeman in the battle,” the technician said.
“Yes, that’s right. He will be fighting the troops of Macau,” Gile explained.
“All by himself? He’ll die!” the technician couldn’t believe his ears.
“Yes. We need to deal with Guang Zhou. We can’t risk losing too much manpower before that,” Gile
replied bluntly. “It will be a meaningful sacrifice.”
The sound of gunfire rang through open air. People were shouting and yelling at the same time.
Numerous machines burst into flames, fire spread across the city in mere seconds while sparks flickered
brightly. August and his machine, Victory were battling in the sky, barely managing to dodge the attacks of
the enemy’s ace. Mustering all his strength, August flew upwards and returned fire.
“Why are we fighting? Why can’t we just coexist in peace?” he used to ask people. They always found
him naive. No matter how much he hated wars he wanted to protect his city.
Things didn’t go as well as they expected. Guang Zhou and Macau had found out their plan and formed
an alliance to counterattack Hong Kong, leaving it in a bad situation. They even stole their data on Victory.
Now that both parties are armed equally, the fight grew intense. Taking advantage of the Pearl River Delta’s
triangular shape, they had Hong Kong surrounded.
Sweat trickled down Gile’s face and he cursed himself. They were losing. The enemy was too strong. His
face turned even paler as he realized that Victory had been completely destroyed. Only ashes remained in its
place. The remaining fragments flew out into the sea.
“August...What have I done? This isn’t what I wanted! Please be alive...we need you...The city needs
you!” he shouted, not because of frustration, but fear and regret. A second later, he noticed, a body floating
on the surface of the water next to Victory.
Even in different times, people are full of greed. Greed is the thing with a mask. Greed can always be found
within us. It is disguised. It is hidden in the deepest, darkest parts of our hearts. But Greed is always with us
wherever we are. And in the end, it’s always greed that ruins us.
