Following Orders is mission 3 of Modern Warfare 4. On Hardened and Veteran, the safest solution is to treat the opening as a methodical evidence search rather than a fast interrogation: clear every room, read the notes, confiscate the contraband, use the evidence-based dialogue route, and stay ready for the knife counter at the second house. The first-house toolbox code is 214.
This route can secure the defector’s location without harming civilians, collect all four notes and four contraband items, and set up both reported Silver achievements. The walkthrough below also separates confirmed mission actions from combat advice that published guides do not establish, such as a best weapon or attachment.
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What Following Orders asks you to do
You play as a North Korean soldier searching village homes for a defector during a regime transition. The mission’s objective flow is deliberately investigative: clear each house, gather evidence, question the families, regroup with Ko and Ri, and bring the defector out alive.
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Higher difficulties make two mistakes especially costly. Rushing the first interrogation can remove the safer dialogue options needed for the civilian-safe achievement, and the second house contains a bedroom-door knife ambush. On Veteran, the published CODEX guide reports that missing the counter prompt can kill you. Your priorities are therefore:
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- Search before speaking whenever a house has evidence.
- Use nonviolent, evidence-based dialogue with civilians.
- Keep your attention on doorways during squad movement.
- Do not trade collectible progress for a faster sweep.
First house: complete the evidence sweep
Do not question the couple as soon as you enter. Finish the first house first; the items you find unlock the safer conversation route and count toward the completion achievements.
1. Enter the first room on the right
From the entrance, turn into the first room on your right. The red toolbox is here. You can open it by entering the code described below or by shooting the lock. Shooting it does not change the contents, but entering the code preserves the intended investigation flow.
2. Open the toolbox and read the note
Inside the toolbox, take the heart medicine and read Note From Your Friend. The medicine is contraband; the note is one of the mission’s four notes.
3. Search the bathroom and adjoining room
Move to the bathroom and open the wall cabinet to collect the MP3 player. Then enter the adjoining room and take the western novel from its cabinet. Both are contraband that must be confiscated for the full sweep.
4. Search the kitchen
In the kitchen, read the Baekseolgi-Tteok Recipe in the left cupboard. The adjacent cabinet contains the rations, the fourth contraband item in this house.
The red toolbox code: 214
The recipe provides the combination. Its instruction says, flour, then water, then raisins — skip the salt.
The listed quantities are two for rice flour, one for water, and four for golden raisins. Reading those quantities in that order gives 214. Salt is explicitly omitted, so it is not part of the combination.
Rank #2
- Game is playable on October 23, 2026. Digital code will be available on September 25th to redeem.
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- MULTIPLAYER BUILT ON CONTROL — Engage in grounded, precise combat where fluid movement, player choice, and refined mechanics give you greater control in every firefight.
If you prefer not to enter the combination, shoot the toolbox lock. The contents are the same, but the code is the reliable solution when you are pursuing the evidence route.
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After the first-house sweep, speak to the family and choose the evidence-based, nonviolent responses. Do not strike, threaten, grab, or shoot civilians if you are pursuing No Harm Done. The objective is to obtain the defector’s location without harming civilians, not simply to force an immediate answer.
Evidence changes the conversation. Reading the note and recipe and confiscating the medicine, MP3 player, novel, and rations before the conversation gives you the safer options that a rushed interrogation can remove. If a dialogue choice appears coercive, select the option supported by what you found rather than escalating.
Second house: prepare for the bedroom ambush
Follow Ko to the second house and remain with the squad. Published guides report no collectibles in this house, so there is no reason to break formation for a separate search. The danger is concentrated at the bedroom doorway.
How to survive the knife attack on Veteran
Keep your view on the bedroom entrance as you approach. A knife ambush is triggered there, and a counter prompt appears. React immediately and complete the counter input shown on screen. CODEX reports that failing to execute this prompt can be fatal on Veteran, so do not look away to reload, check a menu, or scan another room at that moment.
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Third house: find both remaining notes
The third house contains the final two notes. Search it methodically instead of following the objective marker straight through.
1. Take A Note From Your Neighbor
Enter the bedroom and open the cabinet to collect A Note From Your Neighbor. This is the third note overall.
2. Find the key on the wall hook
Locate the key hanging on the wall hook. It opens the kitchen floor hatch.
3. Open the kitchen hatch and enter the cellar
Use the key on the kitchen floor hatch and descend into the cellar or crawlspace. A woman is under the hatch. Bring her out safely; the final note is only available if she is handled safely.
4. Read Note From Mom
Once the woman has been brought out, collect and read Note From Mom. This is the fourth and final note.
Collectible and achievement checklist
The 2026 CODMunity and CODEX guides describe four notes and four contraband items in total. The first house contains six items: two notes and four contraband objects. The second house contains none. The third house contains the final two notes.
Rank #4
- Game is playable on October 23, 2026. Digital code will be available on September 25th to redeem.
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| Location | Items | Required action |
|---|---|---|
| First room on the right | Note From Your Friend; heart medicine | Read the note; confiscate the medicine |
| Bathroom wall cabinet | MP3 player | Confiscate it |
| Adjoining-room cabinet | Western novel | Confiscate it |
| Kitchen left cupboard | Baekseolgi-Tteok Recipe | Read it |
| Kitchen adjacent cabinet | Rations | Confiscate them |
| Third-house bedroom cabinet | A Note From Your Neighbor | Read it |
| Third-house cellar or crawlspace | Note From Mom | Bring the woman out safely, then read the note |
No Stone Unturned
No Stone Unturned requires every note to be read and every contraband item to be confiscated. The quickest way to miss it is to question the first family before checking the cupboards, or to leave the third house without opening the hatch.
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No Harm Done requires obtaining the defector’s location without harming civilians. CODMunity and CODEX list this requirement, while CODMunity labels its trophy-list information as datamined and not yet confirmed by Activision. Treat the achievement condition as reported rather than as an officially confirmed trophy description.
Mission reward and Gamerscore
CODMunity lists a Double XP Token as the mission reward. AllThingsHow reports that No Harm Done and No Stone Unturned are Silver achievements worth 50 Gamerscore each on Xbox. The Gamerscore value is specific to the Xbox listing.
Choose your route: safety, speed, or completion
There are practical differences between a fast objective run and a full achievement run. Use this comparison before starting the mission.
| Route | What you do | Benefit | Risk or cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full evidence and civilian-safe route | Search the first house, use 214, confiscate all four contraband items, read the notes, choose nonviolent dialogue, counter the second-house knife, and complete the third-house hatch sequence | Best chance at both reported achievements and the defector’s location without civilian harm | Slowest approach; requires careful room-by-room movement |
| Fast objective route | Move toward the marker and minimize searching and dialogue investigation | Faster mission completion | Can skip notes or contraband and remove safer dialogue options |
| Coercive dialogue route | Rush or threaten the first family instead of presenting evidence | May produce a quicker immediate response | Conflicts with No Harm Done and can lose the options needed for a civilian-safe outcome |
| Veteran reaction-first route | Stay with Ko, watch the bedroom doorway, and prioritize the counter prompt | Reduces the chance of dying to the ambush | Requires delaying looting or menu use until the encounter is over |
Stealth and combat habits that the mission actually supports
Stay aligned with Ko, Ri, and the objective marker
Following the squad keeps the investigation moving and prevents you from entering a combat beat without the intended prompt. The guides support staying with the squad and objective marker; they do not establish a special stealth exploit or alternate patrol pattern.
Search from the entrance outward
Use a repeatable sweep: right-hand room, bathroom, adjoining room, then kitchen in the first house; bedroom, wall hook, hatch, and cellar in the third. This minimizes backtracking and makes it easier to notice a missed cabinet before you start dialogue.
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Keep civilian safety ahead of speed
Do not fire through rooms or use force to shorten an interrogation. The civilian-safe objective is tied to how you handle the families, not to how quickly the marker advances.
Reserve your attention for scripted reaction windows
The second-house bedroom doorway is the critical reaction window. On Veteran, watch the doorway rather than your inventory or surroundings until the knife counter is resolved. Afterward, resume the normal search and squad-following routine.
Do not rely on an unverified “best loadout”
The available published material does not provide a verified mission-specific weapon recommendation, recoil table, enemy-health value, perk setup, or sensitivity setting. Claims that one rifle or attachment is optimal go beyond the established information. A reliable plan is positioning, evidence collection, civilian restraint, and prompt execution.
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If something goes wrong
You questioned the first family too early
Reload the latest checkpoint before the interrogation and complete the first-house sweep. Rushing can remove the dialogue options required for the safer outcome, so restarting this section is more dependable than trying to repair the conversation later.
You missed the 214 code
Return to the kitchen recipe and read the quantities in sequence: rice flour 2, water 1, golden raisins 4; skip salt. Enter 214 at the red toolbox. If the lock is already damaged, the contents remain available because shooting it open produces the same result.
You died at the second-house doorway
Reload and approach with your view centered on the bedroom entrance. Do not open a menu or turn toward another room as the squad reaches the doorway. Complete the counter prompt as soon as it appears.
The final note is missing
Check that you collected A Note From Your Neighbor, found the key on the wall hook, opened the kitchen hatch, and brought the woman out safely. Note From Mom is tied to that safe hatch sequence.
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One-run checklist
- Enter the first house and search the first room on the right.
- Open the red toolbox with 214, or shoot the lock if necessary.
- Read Note From Your Friend and confiscate the heart medicine.
- Take the MP3 player from the bathroom wall cabinet.
- Confiscate the western novel from the adjoining-room cabinet.
- Read the Baekseolgi-Tteok Recipe in the kitchen’s left cupboard.
- Confiscate the rations from the adjacent cabinet.
- Question the family using nonviolent, evidence-based dialogue.
- Follow Ko to the second house and counter the bedroom knife attack.
- In the third house, read A Note From Your Neighbor.
- Take the key from the wall hook and open the kitchen floor hatch.
- Bring the woman out safely and read Note From Mom.
Following this order gives you the strongest available route for Hardened and Veteran: complete evidence, civilian-safe dialogue, all four notes, all four contraband items, and a prepared response to the mission’s one lethal reaction check.
Quick Recap
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