At the junction of the Wandering Swamp and the Luoxia Province, the thin sunlight penetrated the mist and enveloped the gray-yellow wasteland.
The crow biting the corpse raised its head, and a silver-gray cross that was out of tune with the surroundings was imprinted in its amber pupils.
"... This is Torch-1, and the 'Seagull' has arrived above the coordinates... Let me look for it, are you sure it is this coordinate?"
In the cabin of the Orca transport plane, the pilot sitting in the co-pilot seat chewed gum and poked the tablet with his index finger.
His name is Xiao Hua, a pilot affiliated with the Enterprise Aviation Department, but the "enterprise" is not an "enterprise". His actual employer is the "Casual Look Salvage Company" controlled by Kangmao Group.
Although the name sounds casual, their business has always been known for its stability and reliability. It is for this reason that the insurance company that provided insurance services for the crashed plane handed this big deal to them.
They were also quite cautious when taking over this business, and they had not relaxed their vigilance since entering Luoxia Province.
Although this place is far away from the crossfire area, the aviation department crashed a plane nearby just a week ago, so he dared not take it lightly.
Those lonely, weird, and dark-minded swamp guys cannot think with common sense. God knows why they would launch missiles at their "old friends" on the east coast.
But since the council does not want to cause trouble, they can only try to avoid conflicts.
Therefore, they carefully hovered the Orca transport plane at an altitude of 100 kilometers away, first sent a drone to check the situation, determine the specific location, and then decide how to deal with it.
If the academy repeats the same trick again.
Sufficient height allows them to glide to the desert in the south.
There was a rustling sound of electricity in the communication channel. Perhaps the sandstorm was finally over, and the unstable signal finally recovered a little.
"Wrong coordinates?! How is that possible!?"
"Can I still joke with you?" The pilot swiped his index finger on the tablet and compressed the aerial photo and sent it over while the signal was good.
There was a brief silence on the other side of the communication channel.
After seeing the aerial photos, the pilot named Sun Ze seemed to be confused by self-doubt.
"It's impossible... the remaining craters are still on the ground."
"Are you sure that's a crater?" The pilot sitting in the driver's seat came over and asked cautiously, "We didn't find any bodies on the ground... nor did we find the 'beehive' you mentioned, and we didn't even see a sub-drone."
"That's right... It's probably the people from the academy who cleaned it up for us. Maybe after they hit it, they realized that they had offended someone they shouldn't have offended, so they cleaned it up for us."
"That makes sense, haha."
There was no response to the two pilots' ridicule in the communication channel.
There was only a rustling sound of electricity.
The pilot named Sun Ze might be doubting his life.
However, they did not want to wait any longer, and the remaining power did not allow them to waste time here any longer.
"Anyway, we didn't see anything... The power is running out, so let's stop here." The pilot sitting in the cockpit looked at Xiao Hua who was operating the drone next to him.
Xiao Hua looked up at the captain.
"How do I write the report?"
The captain said indifferently.
"Whatever, just take a few pictures near the coordinates and put them in."
"Got it."
Xiao Hua nodded, and he was also too lazy to cause trouble for himself. He stretched out his index finger and selected the return button.
After receiving the evacuation order, the silver-gray drone quickly ended its hovering and flew towards the Orca transport plane hovering above the mountains in the south.
The two staff members in the cabin recovered the aircraft, and Xiao Hua's index finger continued to slide the screen, selecting the photos that would be put into the report later.
But at this moment, a light exclamation suddenly leaked from the corner of his mouth, and he sat up straight from his seat.
"What's wrong?" The captain sitting next to him glanced at the tablet in his hand, and saw that the screen was a group of mountains, and there was nothing special.
Xiao Hua did not speak, but selected the tool box with his index finger and clicked twice, switching to the heat source identification mode.
Just as the picture turned black and white, a silver-white bright spot suddenly appeared in the dark valley.
The captain looked slightly surprised.
"What is that?"
"I don't know... but there seem to be a lot of people," Xiao Hua muttered with a puzzled expression, "In the valley about 30 kilometers away from us, the drone took a picture when it returned."
The captain did not say anything.
"Then forget it."
Xiao Hua shrugged his shoulders and lightly swiped his index finger on the screen.
"You have the final say."
At the same time, in the valley 30 kilometers away, a team of ragged scavengers were pushing large and small carts and moving through the mountains.
The returning Enterprise pilots didn't know that the Orca transport they had been looking for for a long time was right under their noses.
It was even almost caught by the aerial camera!
But even if these wastelanders walked past them in a swagger, they would not recognize that the parts were removed from their transport plane.
Under the temptation of a huge reward of one million silver coins, these scavengers were like ants moving.
From the plasma engine hanging outside to the glass cover on the dashboard, they dismantled the huge transport plane in less than half a day, and packed them all on the big and small carts with bottles and cans.
Not even a screw was left!
Not only that.
Even the "beehive" drone hive launched by the Beacon Team before, and the countless small attack drones destroyed by EMP, were picked up by these scavengers without a single one left.
Just as the old man named Gust boasted.
They are professional in picking up garbage!
"Salvage company? What is that?"
"There is a company specializing in recycling business in Ideal City. We originally planned to contact them to do the work, but they only provide free shipping within Yunjian Province."
"Free shipping?"
Another strange phrase he had never heard of before, Gust, who was sitting on the back of a two-headed bull and smoking a pipe leisurely, cast a curious look at the Alliance soldier who called himself "Old Six in the Corner".
Old Six in the Corner coughed and explained in a non-standard human language.
"It means door-to-door delivery... It means delivering to the doorstep."
"Oh," the old man nodded, and then said with a chuckle, "Then we also provide free shipping, it's nothing."
Old Six in the Corner looked at him in surprise.
Most wastelanders looked longing when they mentioned the enterprise and Ideal City, just like they were afraid of the Legion.
It was the first time he heard a completely different evaluation of Ideal City from the mouth of a wastelander.
"It's okay if it's nothing, isn't it great to be able to work for a company?"
"Tsk, that's nothing," Gust curled his lips, knocked on his pipe and said, "Our ancestors worked for the post-war reconstruction committee, it's hard to say who has picked up more garbage."
The corner old man was even more surprised and nodded subconsciously.
"Then I guess you picked up more...if you count the ones you picked up before."
Although the old man's face was envious when talking about the good things in Ideal City, when talking about his old business, his wrinkled face showed unquestionable authority and pride.
The lost newbie walking next to him had a confused expression throughout the whole process.
When he was dismantling the plane yesterday, he took a picture of the scavengers dismantling the plane.
However, no matter how many times he watched, he couldn't imagine how these people did it.
"...Wow, they really dismantled it back." The lost newbie muttered to himself.
Looking back at the mighty team and the small pieces of junk carried by the team, Bai Gei scratched his head and said.
"But how do we pack it back?"
Hearing the conversation of his teammates, Lao Liu from the corner came over with a smile.
"Who knows! Why bother? Whether it can be packed back is the business of the professional players and NPCs. Let's transport it back first!"
...
The mighty team soon climbed over another mountain.
Just when the little players performed the "disappearance on the spot" under the eyes of their allies, Lao Bai, who returned to the line after a night, finally found his two good brothers embarrassedly and confessed everything that happened last night...
"...Anyway, this is what happened. I was temporarily suspended by the manager and had to stay in the rear for three days."
Looking at Kuangfeng embarrassedly, Lao Bai continued awkwardly.
"During the time I'm away... I'll trouble you."
He originally thought that even if the two good brothers didn't sympathize with his experience, they would at least express regret or understanding.
However, what he didn't expect was that before he finished the second half of his sentence, Ye Shi, who was standing next to him, burst into laughter.
"Hahaha! It's what you deserve!"
Although his reaction was not as exaggerated as Ye Shi's, after listening to Lao Bai's words, Kuang Feng still had a subtle expression on his face.
After a moment of sorting out his thoughts, he tried to summarize.
"So... you were temporarily suspended by the manager because you pleaded for that Ms. Chen?"
"No, didn't I say it? It was the manager who thought I was suspicious of him... Oh, shit, why is it so difficult to explain this."
Looking at Lao Bai who was almost driven crazy, Kuang Feng didn't say anything, but just looked at him scratching his head with an expression of "Do you think I will believe it?"
However, regardless of whether he believed it or not.
The pop-up window of the announcement on the Corps system interface will never be fake.
Kuangfeng sighed, held his forehead and thought for a while, and suddenly thought of something.
"By the way, will Ms. Chen go back with you?"
Laobai was stunned for a moment, and nodded subconsciously.
"Of course, this is a war zone, and it doesn't make sense for her to stay here as a non-combatant..."
Ye Shi, who was still holding his stomach and laughing a second ago, suddenly couldn't laugh out loud.
The melon he had just eaten turned into dog food in less than two seconds, and his happy expression instantly put on a mask of pain.
"I'm so stupid! This is not fair!!!"
Laobai looked at him in a daze.
"What are you doing again..."
Kuangfeng coughed.
"This time I stand with Ye Shi... We go to the front line, and you run back alone to enjoy the good life, which is really not very authentic."
Ye Shi couldn't help shouting.
"That's right! I have also made contributions to the alliance, and I have also shed blood for the alliance, why don't you reward me!"
Laobai: "???"
I'm suspended from work.
What kind of reward is this!
…
To be honest, there must be a reward.
It avoided direct conflict with the academy, and while completing the rescue mission, it also protected the interests of the alliance to the greatest extent. All players who participated in the operation received a generous reward.
Because the official website holds one or two mysterious auctions from time to time, the silver coins on the forum have never been short of buyers, and this generous reward is still very attractive.
However, when he saw the pale numbers on the settlement interface, Ye Shi's eyes were full of resentment.
Embarrassed to face his gaze, Lao Bai coughed dryly, threw down a sentence "See you in three days" and turned to walk towards the transport plane not far away.
Luo Yu and Xiao Yu were also in the cabin.
Including the bionic man Xuan Feng fixed in the iron coffin and the fruiting body wreckage sealed in the box, as well as the two corporate pilots who were rescued before.
The plan has changed. Since the remaining fuel is not enough to return to Ideal City, they need to return to the aviation base in the north of Xizhou City for a transfer.
Waiting for the plane to take off, the two pilots whispered and exchanged the "ghost stories" they had just heard.
"What the hell."
"What happened?"
"The plane disappeared."
"Disappeared?!" The partner sitting next to him looked at Sun Ze in surprise, his eyes wide open, "How is it possible, such a big plane can run away by itself?"
"I don't know... The salvage company contacted by the Aviation Department went to the coordinates I reported, and they insisted that I remembered the location wrong."
Sun Ze was very puzzled.
He calculated the approximate coordinates based on the flight data in the black box, and he calculated it twice, how could there be a problem?
And the aerial photo was clearly the place where the Burning Corps and the Beacon Squad had exchanged fire before, he could be sure that he was not mistaken.
Such a big plane, and there was a wasteland without even a road nearby...
How did it disappear? !
"Hey."
Seeing his teammate pulling his sleeve, Sun Ze raised his head while wondering.
"What are you doing?"
The teammate didn't say anything, but pointed to the entrance of the cabin, and saw a young woman in a beige coat coming up.
Her long brown hair was tied into a ponytail, and she was thin and tall, but she was still very attractive.
What surprised him was not that he saw a beautiful girl here, but that he had seen this woman before.
Out of curiosity, Sun Ze whistled and talked to her.
"Hey, beautiful girl, aren't you going back?"
Chen Yutong looked at him twice.
"I'm staying."
Sun Ze was even more surprised to hear this.
"Stay?"
The partner sitting next to Sun Ze was not surprised and said with a smile.
"I've said it before, the academy is not a normal life, how could anyone want to go back to that kind of place... Do you want to go to Ideal City to have a look?"
"Maybe later."
Chen Yutong said perfunctorily, found a more open place to sit down, and fastened his seat belt.
Although she had left the academy, she still couldn't like people in the enterprise... They were frivolous, always not serious, and liked to show off things that she thought were not worth showing off.
She knew this might be prejudice.
But prejudices that had been formed for twenty years could not be changed in a day or two.
"Be careful not to tear the wound with your way of tying."
Hearing the non-standard man's words, Chen Yutong raised her head and happened to see Lao Bai walking in from outside the cabin.
She raised her eyebrows slightly and asked curiously.
"Then how should it be tied?"
"It would be better to avoid the abdomen and concentrate on the legs and shoulders... like me." Lao Bai couldn't figure it out with his index finger, so he simply sat down next to him and demonstrated it.
Following his demonstration, Chen Yutong unfastened the nylon buckle on her abdomen and fastened the seat belt again, and she really felt a lot more relaxed.
"Thank you... You're not going to the front line?"
"Like them, the plan has changed," Old White pointed his chin at the Enterprise pilot sitting not far away, and said helplessly, "Anyway... I have to go back for a few days."
Chen Yutong stared at his expression for a while, and the intuition she had developed from work made her see something.
"Because of me?"
Old White hesitated and shook his head.
"It has nothing to do with you."
Although he was teased by his good brothers, he still stubbornly believed that this matter was a punishment for him as the manager said.
Actually, there was nothing wrong with it.
Even if he had never doubted the correctness of the alliance and had never hesitated about his beliefs, he could not deny that there was indeed selfishness in that sentence.
"Sorry."
Old White smiled and said.
"What are you apologizing for? I said it has nothing to do with you."
At this time, the cabin door was closed, and soon the buzzing of plasma plumes came from outside the cabin behind the two of them.
With a slight tremor, the transport plane slowly took off.
Luo Yu and Xiao Yu, who were sitting at the other end of the cabin, were still whispering to each other.
"...Eat, eat, eat. I'll buy you a box of lollipops when we get back! You can eat as much as you want at once!"
"Eh!"
"Ice cream? Are you sure? Can't you stand something too cold?"
"Eh!"
"Okay, okay... I'll buy it."
The harmonious and friendly scene made Lao Bai smile like an aunt, but he still couldn't figure out how the two of them communicated.
Relying on radio waves?
How did they do it?
"It's incredible..."
Chen Yutong spoke for him, and his eyes also showed an interested look, and he spoke in a soft voice.
"The mother of the mutant slime mold can actually communicate with people... This simply overturns our understanding of it for two hundred years."
Lao Bai nodded.
"Well, we were also surprised when we found it, especially in a place like Qingquan City, where slime mold is almost synonymous with death and plague. If it weren't for the administrator's order, I'm afraid no one would allow it to live."
The players didn't care much.
As long as they can communicate, even the Death Claw can be used as a mount, not to mention the mutant slime mold. The weirder it looks, the more awesome it is.
If the mutants' minds were not too cruel and bloodthirsty, and the mind interference device could not interfere with their brains, the goblin technology would have to raise two as free labor.
However, compared to the players who don't play by the rules, the wastelanders who live in this world seriously still care a little.
It's only because of the personal charm and prestige of the administrator that they accept the existence of this alien.
Chen Yutong looked at Lao Bai.
"But even so, you still accepted it?"
Lao Bai scratched his head.
"Well, at least it is harmless at present. We may find a way to make those mother nests harmless from it... Anyway, I think it is unlikely to completely eliminate them. This thing can survive for more than 200 years without air, water and oxygen."
Chen Yutong thought for a while.
"I once heard a rumor."
Lao Bai asked casually.
"What rumor?"
Chen Yutong pointed to the top of his head.
"Where do they come from."
"Where?"
Lao Bai was stunned.
He subconsciously raised his head, but only saw the silver-gray ceiling.
"She might be talking about Nanmen 2."
Sun Ze, who was sitting not far away, couldn't help but interrupt. Under Xiao Yu's eager gaze, he smiled and threw a piece of chewing gum into his mouth.
"The former colony of the Human Union, a planet covered by the aurora, I have heard of the rumor, but what's the matter with hearing it... By the way, you can't see it here."
Lao Bai cast a puzzled look at her.
This is a setting that has not been explained in detail on the official website.
Ignoring the complaints of the enterprise employee, Chen Yutong nodded gently, with a hint of regret in his voice.
"Many people have forgotten that it once belonged to us."
At the same time, in the desert thousands of kilometers away, hundreds of trucks broke down beside the broken road, and scrapped steel was burning on the sand dunes.
Standing in the middle of the tank turret, the mole holding a telescope was looking at the messy battlefield in the distance.
Another hearty victory.
Thanks to the intelligence of Comrade "Pangolin", this retreating 10,000-man team was defeated by the steel torrent of the alliance.
This is the third 10,000-man team they have annihilated this week.
Counting the results of the friendly forces, the legion may not have many chess pieces left.
The only thing Mole wanted to do now was to occupy the Falcon Kingdom before Brother Fountain and intercept the supplies sent by the Legion from the east.
He put the communicator close to his mouth.
"Armored Grenadiers, advance!"
"Got it!"
Patting the front of the truck, Irena, who was standing next to the machine gun on the roof, signaled the driver to start the truck, and at the same time straightened the 20mm heavy machine gun welded to the roof.
The black muzzle pointed directly at the messy battlefield in the distance, and the heated metal barrel was rising with twisted heat waves.
The armored forces had wiped out most of the resistance.
Next was the infantry to clean up the battlefield.
In fact, the only job they had to do was to gather the surrendered soldiers together, confiscate their weapons, and then hand them over to the Lion Kingdom Army following behind.
At this moment, the Skeleton Corps was only the last fifty kilometers away from the Falcon Kingdom, and they would soon see the royal palace that General McLen "never forgot".
Glancing at the Weilant people who were holding their heads in their hands, Irena said with a smile.
"I hope the warlord is not in there."
Hearing the teasing with a funny emoticon, the construction site boy and the brick drew a hammer on their chest.
"Pray for him."