Although the academy did not receive reinforcements until the end, Zhao Xiao unexpectedly received a piece of news from Lao Bai that he could not believe -
He can go home.
It was a dark and windy night.
The empty camp was deserted and silent.
Fifteen minutes ago, the soldiers of the Burning Corps set up here, but did not stay in the camp. They left a truck and some supplies and left.
Zhao Xiao, standing in the center of the camp, felt a little complicated.
I didn't expect that Lao Bai was not joking and really released people.
Not only him, but also Chen Yutong, and Wu Liangping, who was seriously injured and unconscious in the hibernation capsule...all the captives were here.
As for Xuan Feng.
The Alliance insisted that the bionic man without the "intellectual plug-in" installed should be considered equipment, and this was the academy's own point of view, so its body and AI core were not included in the exchange of prisoners.
Although it was a bit far-fetched, the academy did not recognize that the bionic man was a person, and Zhao Xiao could not think of how to refute it.
It's not just Xuan Feng.
His own sniper rifle and accessories were also seized by the guy named Ye Shi... But he didn't expect those people to return his weapons and freedom to him.
Although he regained his freedom, there was one thing Zhao Xiao couldn't figure out.
That was why the Alliance and the Enterprise released their captives.
What made him even more confused was why he couldn't be happy at all even though he could go home soon.
Maybe it was because of the bet.
The guy named Lao Bai didn't mention the beer, and finally just smiled and patted his shoulder to congratulate him.
But he knew very well that he lost after all...
At this time, Chen Yutong, who was standing aside, suddenly spoke.
"I changed my mind."
Zhao Xiao was stunned for a moment, turned his head and looked at her.
"Change... your mind?"
Chen Yutong nodded.
"Well, I plan to stay."
The confusion in his eyes gradually turned into surprise. Zhao Xiao stared at her in disbelief. After a long time, he squeezed out a word from his throat.
"Reason?"
Betrayal is a serious crime.
The students who defect will be rewarded and hunted by the academy endlessly. The higher the level, the higher the reward.
Not only that, any student is obliged to record the words and deeds of the traitor when he finds it, and report it to the Internal Affairs Department for handling by the rectification plan team.
Otherwise, he will be sentenced to connivance...
Zhao Xiao subconsciously put his hand on his waist, but soon found that there was nothing there, so he put his hand down again.
"I don't know."
Not paying attention to the actions of his teammates, Chen Yutong shook her head gently as if she didn't see it.
She turned around and looked at the starry night sky in the south, muttering to herself in a very soft voice, "Maybe... I just want to go and take a look."
Although she knew that the Alliance was not the "heaven" she imagined, she still wanted to see what kind of place it was, which would make those who were loyal to him stand up and confidently say that sentence -
You can confirm it with your own eyes.
At this moment, her curiosity about the place even surpassed the ruins.
Of course, the delicious food was also a reason.
Chen Yutong, who finally made a decision, suddenly felt as if she had put down all the burdens on her, and the whole person suddenly felt much more relaxed.
Rank, identity...
Those things are no longer important.
She has died for the academy once.
In the rest of her life, she plans to pursue her true heart and live for things that interest her.
She looked at Zhao Xiao.
"Just tell the captain that I died in the previous battle. Please thank him for taking care of me..."
She paused when she said this, and suddenly shook her head with a self-deprecating smile.
"Wait, forget it, let's not say this. It's too strange for a dead person to talk."
Anyway, the captain probably didn't know that she was captured. It's not bad to think that she died in the previous operation like those teammates who died in the battle.
As long as she doesn't make the academy feel ashamed, the academy doesn't have to worry about her, a small E-level explorer. Those explorers who disappeared in the operation may not be really dead. Maybe they are alive and well somewhere like the D-level explorer mentioned by Lao Bai.
As for thank you.
I'll say it to him in person when I have a chance.
Zhao Xiao swallowed his saliva.
His duty told him that he should stop the guy who defected in front of him, but he found that he said something else.
"...Take care."
After all, they were teammates who had worked together for many years, and he still couldn't enforce that discipline.
He just hoped that she would not regret her choice today.
Just treat her as dead.
Chen Yutong nodded, turned her back to him, and walked out of the camp without any defense.
Almost less than ten minutes after she left, the creaking sound of the tracks rolling over stones came from the ground.
Zhao Xiao looked up in the north of the camp and saw the familiar heavy tracked vehicle slowly driving into the quiet and empty camp.
Sitting in the driver's seat was Zheng Hao, the captain of the Beacon Team.
Zhao Xiao's eyes were filled with surprise. He didn't expect that he would come to pick him up in person.
"Captain!"
Looking at Zheng Hao who jumped off the tracked vehicle, Zhao Xiao trotted over and gave him an excited hug.
Patting the young man on the shoulder, Zheng Hao let go of his hand. Looking at the young face in front of him, his tense expression suddenly showed a trace of relaxation.
On the way here, he was hesitating whether his decision was right, but at this moment all his hesitations vanished.
He was extremely glad for his choice at this moment.
Perhaps from the perspective of the academy, it would be the most "economical" approach to remove the names of these E-levels from the list, and what he and other team members should do is to delete the names of these people and the memories of them from their memories.
But he is not the academy after all.
Both the conclusion doctor and the chief technology officer are too far away from him.
He is just a selfish person, an insignificant D-level, a small person who is ordered around by his superiors...
No matter what the difficulties were, those people died under his orders.
Even if he could save one person, it would alleviate the guilt in his heart.
"Those people didn't do anything to you?"
Zhao Xiao shook his head excitedly.
"No! They were quite friendly to me... They didn't even beat me up."
"Very good."
With a rare smile on his expressionless face, Zheng Hao patted his shoulder and let the young man go.
"They kept their promise, I will remember this favor... By the way, did that guy named Lao Bai give you anything?"
"Yes! I have it with me!"
Zhao Xiao nodded immediately and took out a test tube from his pocket and handed it over.
Lao Bai had told him before to hand it to their captain in person.
After taking the test tube, Zheng Hao's eyes flashed with joy, but when his eyes fell on the hibernation capsule next to him, that joy was quickly diluted by complex emotions.
"Are there any others?"
Zhao Xiao was silent for a while and shook his head.
"No more."
Zheng Hao said nothing more.
"...Carry Old Wu onto the truck. This is not a place to stay for long. We should leave."
Zhao Xiao nodded, and without asking any more questions, he helped the captain carry the hibernation capsule containing Old Wu onto the back of the truck.
The two then came to the front of the truck, opened the door and got into the main and co-pilot seats.
A piece of paper was pasted on the steering wheel.
A few crooked sketches roughly described how to start the truck, how to turn on the headlights, how to drive, etc.
Zheng Hao took a glance and tore off the paper and threw it aside, turned the key, started the car, and drove out of the camp.
Looking at the camp gradually going away in the rearview mirror, Zhao Xiao suddenly spoke.
"By the way...there's one more thing."
Zheng Hao, who was driving, replied casually.
"What is it."
"Chen Yutong...was seriously injured before, and felt that she would not survive, so she gave the hibernation capsule to Old Wu who could still be rescued."
This is the story he just made up.
Without exposing that she was still alive, she could barely justify herself.
After a moment of silence, Zhao Xiao continued.
"She asked me to say thank you to you... Thank you for taking care of me all the time."
Zheng Hao nodded.
That expression seemed to have guessed something, and he didn't seem to think too much about it.
"Well, I know."
Zhao Xiao breathed a sigh of relief.
Some words are uncomfortable to keep in my heart.
It feels much better to say them out.
...
The truck drove about five or six kilometers and stopped beside a mountain road.
Several members of the Beacon Team surrounded them with rifles. Seeing that the captain and the sniper were sitting in the driver's seat, they breathed a sigh of relief and lowered their guns.
"The transaction was successful."
After jumping off the car, Zheng Hao glanced behind him and saw that there were no car lights following him.
It seems that those people did let him and his people go.
Maybe, just like what Lao Bai said, they are still looking forward to the next cooperation with him... although he doesn't want to meet those monsters again.
Deputy Captain Song Changfeng stepped forward and asked.
"What should we do now? Without communication equipment, we can't report our situation to the academy..."
"That's perfect. When we go back, we will say that we were attacked by the Alliance and Enterprise reinforcements and the follow-up operation failed."
After a pause, Zheng Hao continued.
"But there is always a way out. We not only successfully rescued the captured team members at the cost of a vehicle, but also successfully obtained the tissue samples of the mother."
Although they lost a tracked vehicle, it was not theirs in the first place. It was not bad to be able to use the academy's equipment to exchange the captured teammates.
They had communicated about this before, and everyone agreed. For this reason, the engineers in the team also helped format the AI cores of the two bionic team members.
A team member climbed onto the back of the truck and suddenly found that there were two boxes in addition to a hibernation capsule, so he shouted and asked.
"What are the two boxes on the truck?"
Zhao Xiao heard and answered.
"Oh, that, they sent us supplies, saying that they couldn't finish them anyway, so they left them for us to eat on the road..."
The medical soldier curled his lips.
"Who would eat the enemy's food?"
He had unloaded the supplies on the tracked vehicle, including freeze-dried food, energy bars and fresh water enough for the team to consume for 30 days.
Zhao Xiao scratched the back of his head.
"That's what I said, but those things tasted good..."
Several team members looked at each other with strange expressions.
Could this guy have been locked up and become stupid?
Song Changfeng looked at Zheng Hao, and his expression obviously wanted to ask for his opinion again.
Zheng Hao didn't say anything, but nodded casually.
"Keep it."
He had heard Zhao Xiao talk about the two boxes in the car. Although he was confused about why the other party did such an unnecessary thing, he didn't think that those people would poison or something.
With their abilities, there was no need for this.
It didn't matter what happened to such trivial matters. He was too lazy to worry about it.
What he was thinking about now was which professor he should contact after returning to the college.
There was only one chance.
He had to think of a way to maximize the value of the test tube in his hand...
At the same time, to the north of Oasis No. 8.
After nearly a week of long journey, Lao Bai and his group finally successfully joined the large force that came to support.
Looking at Sun Ze coming towards them, several pilots of the enterprise smiled and walked up to pat his shoulders and arms.
"Haha, brother, I heard from the back that you fell badly."
Sun Ze sighed.
"That's right. Who knows what happened to those crows in the swamp? They shot me down with a missile the moment they saw me! You don't know how exciting it was. I was almost dead! Fortunately, I have great driving skills and I was able to rescue it!"
"What about the plane?" another pilot asked curiously.
Sun Ze waved his hand indifferently.
"It's scrapped! I marked the wreckage on the map. Let's wait for the aviation department to send someone to deal with it... Who cares? Anyway, it's worth it! Hahaha!"
As he spoke, Sun Ze vividly described what happened to him and the Burning Legion after landing.
In particular, he focused on how he relied on his wit, courage and decisiveness to lead a group of soldiers to break out of the siege of the academy, and completely forgot that he was almost scared to death at that time.
Several young players stood aside and stared at the subtitles on the VM while whispering in Mandarin.
"Fuck, this is too boastful, right?!"
"+1, this face is probably thicker than the walls of Boulder City..."
The two rescued Enterprise pilots will take a direct flight back to Ideal City to accept interviews from a group of media and clarify some misunderstandings.
However, before going back, the pilot's commander seemed to have something to say to the two lucky rescuers, so he pulled Sun Ze, who was bragging, aside.
As for Luo Yu and Xiao Yu, they will take the samples recovered from the Eagle fighter and return to Dawn City on the Enterprise plane.
The enterprise is not particularly interested in Xiaoyu.
Or to put it more accurately, those who are interested in it do not have enough say and influence in the Supreme Council.
In contrast, the bionic man named "Xuan Feng" may arouse the interest of Kangmao Group, but that is the matter for the managers to worry about.
Lao Bai confirmed the updated tasks on the VM.
After joining the main force of the Burning Corps, they will return to the front-line airport with the reindeer heavy tracked vehicles "captured" from the academy to wait for the next instructions.
I heard that the battle situation on the front line is progressing unusually smoothly. Under the joint attack of the Skeleton Corps, the Storm Corps and the Lion Kingdom Army, two of the nine retreating 10,000-man teams were defeated.
If this trend continues, I am afraid that less than half of the 10,000-man teams can successfully retreat to Oasis No. 2. The balance of victory is almost in the hands of the alliance.
It is estimated that before the end of the year, the alliance will be able to see old friends on the Pioneer.
At this time, Kuangfeng, who was operating the drone, suddenly raised his head and looked at Lao Bai, who was thinking about the route of the march later.
"Someone is coming from the north."
A trace of surprise appeared on Lao Bai's face.
North?
Have those nerds not given up yet?
"A few."
Kuangfeng touched his nose and said.
"I saw one."
"I'll go meet him!"
Ye Shi jumped off the truck excitedly and was about to try the weapon accessories he had just seized, but was stopped by Lao Bai.
"Maybe he is here to cause trouble for us, I'll go and take a look."
With that, Lao Bai walked out of the camp alone.
After about ten minutes, a figure soon appeared on the sand dunes in the distance.
She came alone, without any weapons.
Looking at Chen Yutong who walked in front of him, Lao Bai asked with a smile.
"Did anything fall here?"
Chen Yutong shook his head, but after a while, he nodded gently.
"I want to follow you... to the place where the wastelanders you mentioned huddled together for warmth."
Lao Bai looked at the girl in front of him in surprise.
Seeing that the expression did not seem to be joking, he did not ask any more questions and smiled and stretched out his right hand.
"It seems that you have considered it for a long time. Since you have decided, I will not persuade you... Welcome to join us."
"Thank you, if you don't take me in, I'm afraid I will be homeless."
Stretching out his hand and shaking his hand, Chen Yutong joked with a slightly relaxed expression, "After making this decision, I should have gone from missing to dead at the academy."
Lao Bai also joked jokingly.
"Congratulations on starting a new life. Do you want to change your name?"
Chen Yutong said simply.
"No need. I don't intend to forget the past. Besides, there are so many people with the same name. I don't think anyone would care about the life or death of an E-level explorer."
She was just a nobody, not worthy of the attention of those high-ranking A-level or B-level people.
After a pause, she looked around and continued.
"Didn't you get a tracked vehicle from Zheng Hao? Why didn't I see it?"
Lao Bai said embarrassedly.
"It's still on the way back... My people just took over and are studying the instructions left by your captain. It will probably be back in a few minutes."
Compared with the Alliance's trucks, that thing is much more troublesome to drive. There are more than 50 buttons on the 12-inch central control.
That thing is not much easier to operate than the flapping-wing aircraft sold to them by the enterprise.
Chen Yutong smiled.
"That's great. When your people come back, I can teach you how to drive that thing."
Lao Bai's eyes flashed with a hint of surprise, and he said with a hearty smile.
"That's great, you can help us a lot!"
Her naturally drooping bangs blocked her view, and she shook them lightly, saying indifferently.
"You're welcome, this little thing is nothing, just treat me to a glass of that potato wine when we get back...what's it called?"
"You mean vodka?"
Lao Bai looked at the brave girl in surprise, and said with a smile, "I heard that people in the academy don't drink alcohol, and ethanol is only used as reagents and fuel...Are you sure you can drink it?"
Chen Yutong's mouth curled up.
"I'm not a member of the academy anymore. And how can I know if I can drink it if I don't try it?"
Perhaps because of her different identity, or perhaps because she has come to her senses, Lao Bai always feels that she seems to have changed compared to yesterday.
However, this is not a bad thing.
Try more new things that you haven't tried before, which is still very helpful for integrating into a new life.
"Okay, I won't stop you... But I recommend you a way to drink it that's suitable for novices. You can add some Coke or Sprite to it." Chen Yutong asked curiously. "What is that? Is it delicious?" "A kind of drink... Those professional life players - I mean the shelter residents who love life made it. Simply put, it's sugar water with some carbonic acid." "Carbonic acid? Does that thing have a taste?" Chen Yutong frowned slightly. The academy certainly also has drinks that supplement sugar, caffeine and vitamins. But they will never add carbonic acid to drinking water, but will put them in a labeled sample cabinet like ethanol. Those things can neither supplement nutrition nor promote dopamine secretion. Instead, they will cause mineral loss in the body, just like alcohol damages the brain. Even if the harmful dose is controllable, there is no need to increase avoidable risks for meaningless things. "No, there is no taste, but the feeling of bubbles exploding between the lips and teeth can bring a different stimulation to the mediocre sugar water. You will know if you try it..."
Lao Bai's answer was in line with her expectations.
But what surprised her was his other views on "meaning".
For her who was reborn, this was more interesting to her than deliciousness.
"I see, can you tell me more about Sprite? I'm a little curious."
Looking at the face full of curiosity, Lao Bai explained with a headache.
"Hiss, this question is too professional. Generally speaking, it's the same as Coke, but we replaced caffeine with citric acid..."
"Citric acid instead of caffeine?! I see... It's really exciting."
I don't know when the two of them started walking back.
Chen Yutong followed him naturally, and asked many questions that she was interested in but didn't have time to ask before.
The two of them were like old friends who had known each other for a long time. There was no estrangement at all. They walked for a long time without realizing it...
On a sand dune not far away, Ye Shi, who was holding a sniper rifle, put away his gun with a curse, patted the dust on his pants and stood up.
"Damn it! I won't watch it anymore. I was worried that he would get into trouble, so I was fed a mouthful of dog food."
Kuang Feng, who was holding a telescope, glanced at him.
"Which eye of yours saw that it was dog food? Can't it be pure friendship?"
Ye Shi complained.
"Come on, have you forgotten that bastard Fang Chang? At the beginning, he kept talking about missions, but later he kept calling his wife... Ugh."
No.
He can't stand dog food, unless it's his own.
Kuang Feng coughed.
"Fang Chang is Fang Chang, Lao Bai is Lao Bai... They are different."
Ye Shi rolled his eyes.
"Go back."