Although he did not wait for reinforcements from the college until the end, Zhao Xiao unexpectedly received a piece of news from Lao Bai that he could not believe.
He can go home.
A dark and windy night.
There was no one in the empty camp, and there was silence.
The soldiers of the Burning Legion arranged this place fifteen minutes ago, but did not station themselves in the camp. They left a truck and some supplies and left here.
Zhao Xiao, standing in the center of the camp, felt a little complicated.
Unexpectedly, that old white man was not joking and actually let me go.
Not only him, but also Chen Yutong, and Wu Liangping, who was seriously injured and lying unconscious in the dormant cabin... all the captured personnel are here.
As for Xuan Feng.
The Alliance insists that androids without "intellectual plug-ins" installed should be considered equipment, and this is the academy's own view, so its body and AI core are not included in the exchange of captives.
Although the words are a bit strong, the academy does not admit that bionic people are human beings, and Zhao Xiao can't 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 never expected those people to return the weapon and freedom to him.
Although he regained his freedom, there was one thing that Zhao Xiao couldn't figure out.
That's why the Alliance and the Corporation let their captives go.
What made him even more confused was why he wasn't happy at all even though he was going home soon. Maybe it was because of the bet.
The guy named Lao Bai didn't mention the glass of beer. In the end, he just smiled and patted him on the shoulder to express congratulations. 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 and turned to look at her.
"change idea"
Chen Yutong nodded.
"Well, I plan to stay."
The confusion in his eyes gradually turned into surprise. Zhao Xiao stared at her in disbelief, and it took him a long time to squeeze out a sentence from his throat.
"reason?"
Betrayal is a serious crime.
Students who defect will be subject to endless bounties and hunts by the academy. The higher the level, the higher the bounty amount.
Not only that, any student is obliged to record the words and deeds of a traitor when he discovers it, and report it to the Department of Internal Affairs for processing by the Purge Planning Team.
Otherwise, you will be sentenced to connivance...
Zhao Xiao subconsciously put his hand on his waist, but soon found that there was nothing there and put his hand down again.
"have no idea."
Chen Yutong didn't care about his teammates' actions and shook his head gently as if he didn't see it.
She turned around and looked at the night sky with twinkling stars in the south, and said to herself in a very soft voice, "Maybe... I just want to take a look."
Although it is clear that the Alliance is not the "heaven" she imagined, she still wants to see what kind of place it is, so that those who are loyal to him can speak those words with confidence...
You can use your eyes to confirm.
At this moment, she was even more curious about the place than the ruins.
Of course, the fact that the food is delicious is also a reason.
After finally making a decision, Chen Yutong suddenly felt as if he had let go of all his burdens, and his whole person suddenly felt much more relaxed.
Level, status...
Those things are no longer important.
She has already died once for the academy.
In the rest of her life, she plans to pursue her true heart and live for the things she is interested in.
She looked at Zhao Xiao.
"Just tell the captain that I died in the previous battle. Say thank you to him for taking care of me..."
When she said this, she paused, suddenly laughed at herself and shook her head.
"Wait, forget it, let's just skip this sentence. It's so weird that the dead can talk."
Anyway, the captain probably didn't know that she was captured, so it would be good to just assume that she had died in the previous operations just like her teammates who died in battle.
As long as she doesn't let the college feel disgraced, the college doesn't have to worry about her as a small E-class. Those prospectors who disappeared in the operation may not be really dead. Maybe they are just like the D in Lao Bai's mouth.
A senior prospector can live a good life there.
As for thank you.
Let’s talk face to face when we have the opportunity in the future.
Zhao Xiao swallowed.
His duty told him that he should stop the defector in front of him, but he found that what he said was another sentence.
"………Take care of yourself."
After all, he is a teammate who has worked together for many years, but he still cannot enforce that discipline.
He only hoped that she would not regret her choice today.
Just treat her as dead.
Chen Yutong nodded, turned his back to him and walked away unpreparedly towards the outside of the camp.
Almost less than ten minutes after she left, the creaking sound of tracks running over stones could be heard along the ground.
Zhao Xiao raised his head and looked towards the north of the camp, only to see the familiar heavy tracked vehicle slowly driving into the quiet and empty camp.
Sitting in the driver's seat is 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.
"team leader!"
Seeing Zheng Hao jumping off the crawler truck, Zhao Xiao quickly ran over and gave him an excited hug.
After patting the young man's shoulder, Zheng Hao let go of his hand. Looking at the young face in front of him, his tense expression suddenly became relaxed.
On the way here, he had been hesitating whether his decision was right, but at this moment all his hesitations were in vain.
He was extremely grateful for his choice at this moment.
Perhaps from the perspective of the academy, it would be the most "economical" thing to write off these E-class names from the list. What he and other team members should do is to delete the names of these people and their memories.
Delete from memory.
But he is not an academy after all.
Neither the PhD nor the CTO are too far away from him.
He is just a selfish person, an insignificant D-class, a little person who is ordered around at will by his superiors...
No matter what their motives 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, right?"
Zhao Xiao shook his head excitedly.
"No! They were quite nice to me - they didn't even beat me."
"very good."
With a rare smile on his expressionless face, Zheng Hao patted his shoulder and let go of the young man.
"They kept their promise, and I will remember this favor... By the way, did that guy named Lao Bai give you anything?"
"Yes! I'm bringing it with me!"
Zhao Xiao nodded immediately, took out a test tube from his pocket and handed it over.
Lao Bai had previously told him to hand it over to their captain.
After taking the test tube, Zheng Hao's eyes flashed with joy. However, when his eyes fell on the sleeping cabin next to him, the joy was quickly washed away by complicated emotions.
"Is there anyone else?"
Zhao Xiao was silent for a while and shook his head.
"Gone."
Zheng Hao said nothing more.
"...Put Lao Wu on the truck. This is not a place to stay for a long time. It's time for us to leave."
Zhao Xiao nodded, without asking any further questions, and cooperated with the captain to carry the sleeping capsule containing Lao Wu into the back compartment of the truck.
The two then walked to the front of the truck, opened the door and got into the main and passenger seats.
There is a note taped to the steering wheel.
Several crooked simple drawings roughly describe how to start the truck, how to turn on the lights, how to drive, etc.
Zheng Hao glanced at it, then tore off the note and threw it aside. He turned off the key and started the car, driving towards the outside of the camp.
Looking at the camp gradually receding in the rearview mirror, Zhao Xiao suddenly spoke.
"By the way...there's one more thing."
Zheng Hao, who was driving, replied casually.
"What's up."
"Chen Yutong...she was seriously injured before. She felt that she would not survive, so she gave the dormant cabin to Lao Wu who could still save her."
This is the story he just made up.
Without revealing that she is still alive, she can barely justify herself.
After a moment of silence, Zhao Xiao continued.
"She asked me to say thank you...thank you for taking care of me all the time."
Zheng Hao nodded. #Only for internal communication
His expression seemed to have guessed something, and he didn't seem to think too much about it.
"Yes, I understand." Zhao Xiao breathed a sigh of relief.
It's hard to hold some words in your heart.
It feels better to say it.
The truck drove about five or six kilometers and stopped beside a mountain road.
Several members of the Beacon Team gathered around with rifles in hand. When they saw the captain and the sniper sitting in the driver's seat, they all breathed a sigh of relief and lowered their guns.
"Transaction successful."
After jumping out of the car, Zheng Hao glanced behind him, but there were no car lights following him.
It seemed that those people had indeed spared themselves and others.
Perhaps just like what Lao Bai said, they are looking forward to the next cooperation with him... although he doesn't want to meet those monsters again at all.
Vice-captain Song Changfeng stepped forward and asked.
"What do we do now? Without communication equipment, we can't report our situation to the college.
"That's just right. When we went back, we said that we encountered an active attack by the alliance and corporate reinforcements, and the follow-up operation failed."
After a pause, Zheng Hao continued.
"But there is always a road ahead. At the cost of a vehicle, we not only successfully rescued the captured team members, but also successfully obtained tissue samples from the mother's body."
Although they lost a tracked vehicle, it was not originally theirs. It would be nice to be able to use the academy's equipment to replace their captured teammates.
They had communicated this point before, and everyone agreed. To this end, the engineers in the team also helped format the AI cores of the two android team members.
A team member climbed into the back of the truck and suddenly found that in addition to a sleeping cabin, there were two boxes inside, so he shouted and asked.
"What are the two boxes on the truck?"
Zhao Xiao heard and replied.
"Oh, that's the supply they gave us. They said they couldn't finish it anyway, so they left it for us to eat on the way..."
The medic curled his lips.
"Who would eat from the enemy?"
He had already unloaded the supplies on the crawler, including enough freeze-dried food, energy bars and fresh water for the team to consume for thirty days.
Zhao Xiao scratched the back of his head.
"That's what I say, but those things taste pretty good..."
Several team members looked at each other with strange expressions.
This guy must have been imprisoned for a long time, right?
Song Changfeng looked at Zheng Hao, with an expression that clearly wanted to ask for his opinion.
Zheng Hao didn't say anything, he nodded and said casually.
"Keep it."
He had already heard Zhao Xiao talk about the two boxes in the car. Although he was confused as to why the other party would do such unnecessary things, he never thought that those people would poison him or something.30
With their abilities, there is absolutely no need for this.
He didn't bother to worry about such trivial matters.
What he is thinking about now is which professor should be contacted after returning to the college.
There is 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 traveling long distances for nearly a week, Lao Bai and his party finally successfully reunited with the large troops who came to support them.
Looking at Sun Ze walking towards him, several corporate pilots smiled and walked up to him and patted his shoulders and arms.
"Haha, brother, I heard later that you had a terrible fall."
Sun Ze sighed.
"That's not the case. Who knows, those crows in the swamp took the wrong medicine, and they just killed me with a missile when they met!"
You don’t know how exciting it was at that time, I was so close to being doomed! Fortunately, I have great driving skills and was rescued!”
"What about the plane?" Another pilot asked curiously.
Sun Ze waved his hand carelessly.
"It's scrapped! I've marked the wreckage on the map. Let's wait for the aviation department to send people to deal with it... No matter what, I'm worth it anyway! Haha!"
As he spoke, Sun Ze vividly told what happened to him and the Burning Legion after they landed.
In particular, the focus was on how he relied on his wit, bravery and determination to lead a group of soldiers to escape from the siege of the academy, completely forgetting that he was so scared that he almost peed.
Several young players stood aside and were dumbfounded, staring at the subtitles on the VM and whispering to each other in Mandarin.
"Damn it, this is too awesome."
"+1, this face is probably thicker than the walls of Boulder City..."
The two rescued corporate pilots will take a direct flight back to Ideal City, where they will accept interviews from the media and clarify some misunderstandings.
But before going back, the pilot's commander seemed to have something to say to the two lucky people who had been rescued, so he pulled Sun Ze aside who was bragging.
As for Luo Yu and Xiao Yu, they will take the samples previously recovered from the Eagle fighter jets and return to Dawn City on the company's plane.
The company is not particularly interested in Xiaoyu.
Or to put it more accurately, people who are interested in it do not have enough voice and influence in the Supreme Council.
In contrast, the bionic man named "Xuan Feng" may arouse the interest of Kangmao Group, but that is a matter for the managers to worry about.
Lao Bai confirmed the updated task on the VM.
After reuniting with the large forces of the Burning Legion, they will return to the frontline airport with the reindeer heavy tracked vehicle "captured" from the academy to wait for further instructions.
I heard that the battle on the front line was going extremely smoothly. Under the joint attack of the Skeleton Corps, the Storm Corps and the Lion Kingdom Army, two more of the nine ten thousand troops that retreated were defeated.
If this trend continues, less than half of the 10,000-strong team will be able to successfully evacuate 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 meet its old friends on the Pioneer.
At this time, Guangfeng, who was operating the drone, suddenly raised his head and looked at Lao Bai, who was thinking about the marching route later.
"Someone is coming from the north."
A look of surprise appeared on Lao Bai's face.
Have you not given up on recruiting those nerds from the north?
"several."
Kuang Feng touched the bridge of his nose and said.
"I just saw one."
"Go meet him!"
Ye Shi jumped out of the truck excitedly, and was about to try out the newly seized weapon accessories, but was stopped by Lao Bai with his hand.
"They may not be here to cause trouble for us. I'll go take a look."
With that said, Lao Bai walked out of the camp alone.
After about ten minutes, a figure quickly appeared on the sand dunes in the distance.
She came alone, unarmed.
Looking at Chen Yutong walking in front of him, Lao Bai asked with a smile.
"Did something fall here?"
Chen Yutong shook his head, but after a while, he nodded slightly.
"I want to follow you... to the place you mentioned where the wastelanders gathered to stay warm."
Lao Bai looked at the girl in front of him in surprise.
Seeing that the expression didn't look like he was joking, he didn't ask any more questions and smiled and stretched out his right hand.
"It seems that you have been thinking about it for a long time. Now that you have made your decision, I will not advise you anymore... Welcome to join us."
"Thank you. If you didn't take me in, I'd probably be homeless."
Stretching out his hand to shake his hand, Chen Yutong joked with a slightly relaxed expression, "After making this decision, I should have gone from missing to dead in the academy.
Lao Bai also made a joke.
"Congratulations on starting a new life. Do you want a new name?"
Chen Yutong said simply.
"No need, I don't intend to forget the past, and there are so many people with the same name, so no one will care about the life or death of an E-class prospector."
She is just a little person, not worthy of the attention of those superior A-level or B-level people.
After pausing for a moment, 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.
"Still on the way back... My people have just taken over and are studying the instructions left by your captain. We will be back in a few minutes."
Compared with Alliance trucks, that thing is much more troublesome to drive, and the 12-inch center console has more than fifty buttons crammed into it.
That thing is no better at all than the ornithopters sold to them by companies.
Chen Yutong smiled.
"That's good. When your people come back, I can teach you how to drive that thing."
A hint of surprise flashed in Lao Bai's eyes, and he said with a hearty smile.
"That's great, you've been of great help to us."
The bangs that hung naturally blocked her sight, so she shook them gently and said nonchalantly.
"You're welcome, this little thing is nothing. Just treat me to a glass of that potato-made wine when you get back...what's it called?"
"You mean vodka"
Lao Bai looked at this brave girl in surprise, smiled and joked, "I heard that people in the academy don't drink alcohol, ethanol is only used as reagents and fuel... Are you sure you can drink it?"
The corners of Chen Yutong's mouth curled up.
"I am no longer a member of the academy. And if I can drink it, how will I know if I don't try it?"
Maybe it was because of her different status, or maybe it was because she was overthinking it, but Lao Bai always felt that she seemed different from yesterday.
However, this is not a bad thing.
Trying more new things that you have never tried before will be very helpful for integrating into a new life.
"Okay, I won't stop you...but I recommend you a way to drink it that is suitable for a novice. You can add some Coke or Sprite into it."
Chen Yutong asked curiously.
"Is that something good to drink?"
"A kind of drink... a thing made by those life professionals - I mean shelter residents who love life. To put it simply, it is sugar water with a little carbonic acid added."
"Carbonic acid? Does that stuff smell?" Chen Yutong frowned slightly.
Of course, the college also has drinks to supplement sugar, caffeine and vitamins.
But they will never add carbonic acid to the drinking water, but will put it in a labeled sample cabinet just like ethanol.
Those things can neither supplement nutrition nor promote dopamine secretion, but will cause mineral loss in the body, just like alcohol can damage 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 at all, but the feeling of bubbles exploding between your lips and teeth can bring a different excitement to the mediocre sugar water. You will know after 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 had regained her life, this was more interesting to her than the delicious food.
"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 some confusion.
"Hiss, this question is too technical. Generally speaking, it is the same as cola, but we have replaced caffeine with citric acid..."
"Citric acid instead of caffeine?! That's it... really exciting."
I don't know when they started, but the two of them started walking back.
Chen Yutong naturally followed him and asked many questions that he had been interested in before but had no time to ask.
The two of them are like old friends who have known each other for a long time. There is no barrier at all and they have been gone for a long time without knowing it.
On the sand dune not far away, Ye Shi, who was holding a sniper rifle, put the gun away with a curse, patted the dust on his pants and stood up.
"Damn it! I won't read it anymore. I'm worried that something will happen to him, so I stuffed my mouth full of dog food."
Guangfeng, who was holding the telescope, glanced sideways at him.
"Which of your eyes can tell it's dog food? Can't it be pure friendship?"
Ye Shi complained.
"Come on, you forgot that Fang Chang, that bitch started talking about missions, but then he started calling me wifey... vomit."
No more.
He couldn't stand dog food, unless it was his own.
Guangfeng coughed.
"Fang Chang is Fang Chang, Lao Bai is Lao Bai - different."