RC Chapters 276-300 (Patreon)

RC Chapters 276-300

Chapter 76: Doing Menial Jobs Is Not Acceptable

Life on Reno's side was excessively comfortable...

So comfortable that... once seated in the dining room of Reno's house, one simply didn't want to get up!

If this continued, Gentiane feared she wouldn't be able to endure Griffin's terrible working conditions any longer.

Although there was a training device to help her stay in shape, she couldn't spend all day in there, especially since Reno had already mentioned that prolonged use of the training device by humans could easily lead to neural fatigue.

Over time, it might even be influenced by the experiences in the virtual reality.

Therefore, most of her time during the day was spent wandering around the dormitory building.

As the commander of Griffin, Gentiane naturally didn't have to go out and cause trouble like the human-like patrols on Reno's side.

All she could do was occasionally go to the farm to see the fresh vegetables or go to the breeding farm to see the animals. Otherwise, she could just hang out in the dining room and play with the cats.

In just a week, when Gentiane looked in the mirror, she noticed that her expression had softened considerably compared to before, and she didn't even feel it herself!

This couldn't go on! If she stayed like this, she would be ruined!

She was the commander of Griffin! Not some useless person who could only laze around at home waiting to die!

So when a week had just passed and Gentiane didn't receive the promised helicopter from Helian, she went directly to Reno, who was laying wires and lighting equipment at the construction site below, and asked him if he could help contact Helian to ask when she could return.

Coming out of the underground construction site, Gentiane went directly to M1911 and started up the Griffin communicator that hadn't been used for a long time.

As the communicator connected, Helian, who hadn't been seen for a week, appeared in front of Gentiane again.

"Agent Helian, when can I withdraw from here and return to Griffin?" Without waiting for Helian to speak, Gentiane eagerly asked.

And Helian, perhaps also busy, looked stunned when she saw Gentiane, "Gentiane? Why haven't you come back yet?"

Upon hearing this, Gentiane couldn't help but feel a little aggrieved.

Why is Helian asking her?

The Griffin helicopter never came to pick her up, so how could she leave?

"There hasn't been a helicopter to pick me up at all..." Gentiane complained full of grievances, thinking about her three guys who had already bonded with Reno's family, couldn't help but massage her temples with a headache.

"Wait a moment, let me check." Hearing Gentiane's words, Helian also felt a pang of guilt in her heart.

She thought Gentiane would come back today and be sent smoothly, but this guy was still over at Reno's place...

Flipping through the files on her desk, Helian, after seeing a dispatch order for a helicopter, also had an extremely headache.

The boss temporarily sent the helicopter away, which she hadn't noticed before, after all, it wasn't a very common phenomenon for the boss to use a helicopter...

"Sorry, you might not be able to come back now, but if the helicopter on Reno's side is free... can it..."

"What? What's going on again? If there's something, you better say it beforehand. I won't make a wasted trip for nothing, even if you reimburse the fuel." Suddenly speaking up, Reno startled Gentiane, who hadn't heard when Reno had come up behind her!

"This..."

Hearing Reno say this, Helian also frowned with distress.

Griffin didn't have extra resources, and the funds on hand were barely enough to replenish the damaged T-Dolls. If the higher-ups were willing to allocate more money, it would be fine, but now she wished she could split one dollar into two to spend, Griffin's financial reserves were clearly insufficient to hire Reno as a transportation worker.

Moreover, from Reno's location, flying Gentiane directly to her jurisdiction and then flying to Gentiane's jurisdiction... the fuel consumption on this route alone was not small. Nowadays, aviation fuel was scarce, after all, aviation fuel was rarely used.

Even wealthy people with their own private helicopters wouldn't casually fly around. Because there was a good chance of encountering robbery on the way, and even after the helicopter flew out, it wasn't easy to refuel in any city in the green zone and the white zone.

Many oil-producing areas had already been polluted, and the crude oil production was not as high as before. The aviation fuel used by Griffin was purchased at a high price, and every time a helicopter was mobilized, it had to go through multiple procedures for approval.

The last time she sent Gentiane over, it was purely on the way, and the distance wasn't far, but this time was different...

Flying from headquarters to Reno's stronghold, and then flying to Gentiane's jurisdiction... the round-trip distance alone was enough for them to fly several times as far as they did last time.

Such a long distance, coupled with the currently expensive aviation fuel prices... unless the boss nodded, otherwise she couldn't expect to take out a part of the money from the headquarters funds to fill this gap...

Wait a minute!? If she remembered correctly, there seemed to be quite a few factories in the jurisdiction where Gentiane was about to take office?

After another rustling of flipping through the files, Helian narrowed her eyes and carefully examined the files detailing the specific conditions of the jurisdiction. A few minutes later, Helian breathed a sigh of relief.

"Reno, you mentioned before that you wanted to find some metal materials, right?"

"What? Are there any in the area she's going to?" Hearing Helian's words, Reno also grinned.

This news was good news for him. The metal materials in the warehouse before were used to make the bodies of the T-Dolls, as well as various miscellaneous items such as manufacturing isolation channels, etc.

Although there were still plenty of materials left, they were clearly not enough for his requirements, and he was still lacking a lot of key materials. If he could gather them all in one trip this time, it would be a great thing.

The problem of aviation fuel consumption wasn't that urgent for him at the moment. There was quite a bit in the oil depot at the airport in the northern part of the city, enough for him to fly dozens of round trips.

Of course, having a lot of fuel didn't mean he could do odd jobs for free, compensation was still necessary.

"That's right, but when the owners of those factories left, they didn't clearly record the quantity of materials they left behind in that jurisdiction, so it's a bit uncertain how much we can find."

"That doesn't matter, as long as there's a clear direction, that's enough."

Whatever amount they could find, going to those uninhabited areas to scavenge, although it would cost a lot of aviation fuel, the cost would still be cheaper than buying directly from those shady merchants!

Yes, it was those merchants Reno had rescued at the weapons exhibition venue before.

Reno had already asked for prices, those guys, each and every one of them kept saying they would definitely give a discounted price, but in the end, they didn't give any discounts at all.

A bunch of stingy merchants!

Chapter 77: Kalina

"When can I take this thing off? Hasn't the radiation level reached a safe level now?" Wrapped in thick protective clothing, Gentiane asked Renault in a muffled voice.

"Hmm?"

Hearing this, Renault diverted his attention from his phone and looked up at the detection device equipped in the cabin, confirming that the radiation reading had indeed dropped to a safe level.

"Then take it off, we're almost there. This area doesn't seem heavily polluted, but there don't seem to be many people around." Renault looked out through the porthole at the city and villages below, somewhat surprised.

Initially, when he first arrived in this world, that area was highly radioactive, posing the risk of ELID disease or turning into an ELID infected at any time.

But now, the radiation level below the helicopter was very low, almost qualifying as a pristine green zone. Living here, unless severely ill or on the verge of death, the likelihood of contracting ELID was minimal.

However, despite the low radiation, there were no signs of any people moving around in the area below, likely scared off by the autonomous units created by Sangvis Ferri.

"A few months ago, due to the rampage of the Sangvis Ferri's doll units, Griffin and the Security Bureau cooperated to evacuate most of the residents from this area." Gentiane, removing her helmet, shook her head and fanned herself with her hand, putting on noise-canceling headphones as she spoke.

"Well, it seems the people in this area have had it rough. But in that case, there must be plenty of leftover supplies in the villages and towns below, right?" MDR, holding her phone, snapped photos while speaking.

"Most likely, but our helicopter capacity is limited, so let's gather essential items and materials needed by the commander as much as possible." M1 Garand added, not opening the hatch of her powered exoskeleton like MDR.

She was more interested in avoiding the piercing noise inside the helicopter than observing the situation below.

"So, what's our first target city?" BM59 turned to look around the empty cabin, though it couldn't be called empty with a corner stacked with barrels of aviation fuel.

"This area's first target is the S09 jurisdiction base of Griffin! Just taking office and already commanding an entire jurisdiction, she's much better off than our commanders back then." Simonov, piloting the helicopter, commented through the communicator.

Thinking back to the treatment their commander received, one could tell. A shabby storefront with a barely habitable small warehouse, plus a Griffin communication device. That was a Griffin base back then.

Compared to the S09 jurisdiction base where Gentiane was headed, it was like heaven and earth.

Since it could be designated by Griffin with a numbered jurisdiction, it obviously wasn't a small place.

Otherwise, Helian wouldn't have referred to it as 'such-and-such jurisdiction' base, but would have directly mentioned the location according to the base's number, just like the 939 base occupied by Commander Peter Lenkov.

But she heard that place has also been captured by Sangvis Ferri. After all, it's too close to Sangvis Ferri's main factory.

As they were talking, the two transport helicopters were approaching the location provided by Helian.

However, the location looked like an ordinary small town, not at all like a base for the S09 jurisdiction indicated by its number.

"Commander, we've arrived, but we don't see Griffin's base anywhere." In the small town below, SPAS-12 reported, puzzled. There were no Griffin T-Dolls moving around nor any buildings with Griffin symbols.

Seeing this, SPAS-12 couldn't help but turn back to look at Renault, wondering if they had flown to the wrong place.

"That's right, this is the place. At the northwest corner, there's a blond girl standing on the roof of a shed, waving a small flag and signaling. Just land according to her instructions."

After looking at the photo sent by Helian, Renault pointed directly at the person waving the flag.

With Renault's reminder, SPAS-12 also noticed the inconspicuous figure...

They were at least fifteen hundred meters away from the helicopter. How did the commander spot that guy?

Fifteen hundred meters, this distance exceeded the maximum detection range of their life detection devices implanted in their bodies. Moreover, the guy was wearing flashy clothes, blending in with the shed, making it difficult to notice him unless one looked closely.

And this was their visual range as T-Dolls; the person was even smaller than the limit of their visual recognition function, and the personnel information matching system in their bodies couldn't identify such a small figure.

But Renault saw it and could clearly recognize who the person was...

Gentiane saw Renault comparing the person with the photo on his phone, confirming that Renault had clearly seen the person's appearance.

The location of the blond person was at the edge of the small town, which looked like an abandoned camp, with many trucks parked nearby, some of which were scrapped.

The two transport helicopters soon landed in the camp as instructed, and Renault immediately opened the hatch and jumped out.

Compared to the information Helian provided, he felt he might get some different information from this guy.

Besides... tsk tsk, after all, it was the guy who tricked him into spending money in the game for the first time.

Seeing Renault jump out of the helicopter with a signal flag in hand, the blond girl standing in front of him with a smile stepped forward.

"Welcome, Commander, I'm Kalina, the logistics officer of Griffin's S09 jurisdiction!" Kalina, standing in front of Renault, smiled and greeted him.

Hearing Kalina's words, Renault smiled and said, "I'm not the commander, I'm just a delivery guy. Your commander is right behind me."

As he spoke, Renault pointed to Gentiane, who had just come down from the helicopter.

"Huh?"

Chapter 78: The Abacus Couldn't Be Clicked

This time, don't even think about emptying my wallet. You'd better go think about that guy, Gentiane.

Watching Kalina lead a few people towards the entrance of the Griffin base with her head down and face flushed, Renault surveyed the camp.

The equipment in this rundown camp looked all scrapped and abandoned. It seemed to have been here for quite some time. One truck's cabin even had small saplings growing inside...

And there didn't seem to be anything valuable around. Plus, Kalina had stopped walking, indicating they had arrived. But the stopping point was right in front of the small shed where they had just landed.

Renault glanced at the dilapidated shed, caught sight of the obvious crack in the floor inside, and immediately realized Griffin had money.

They had placed the base of the jurisdiction underground and used this abandoned camp as a cover. There was no hint from above ground of what lay beneath.

Click! Click!

MDR eagerly took photos of the Griffin base as they walked, much to the discomfort of Kalina, who was leading the way.

Bringing Renault and the others in without orders from above was already questionable, and now if this T-Doll took the photos out... Would her pay get docked?

"Um... could you please refrain from spreading the photos of this place?" Kalina forced a smile, walking and asking MDR and Renault.

"Spread them? Oh, don't worry, I'll just post these photos anonymously on the Griffin forums. No need to worry about outsiders knowing." Hearing Kalina's concern, MDR waved her hand nonchalantly.

But Kalina, after hearing MDR's response, clearly misunderstood something.

Her eyes sparkled with interest, looking at Gentiane.

In her understanding, Griffin wouldn't initially provide new commanders with high-level tactical dolls. Yet MDR, whom she hadn't seen much, was obviously an advanced doll.

And to bring such a doll along right after taking office meant one of two things: either the commander who brought her was rich and didn't care about spending money, or Griffin valued Gentiane greatly, providing her with the best treatment. In that case, her salary would obviously be high! Equally rich!

In any case, very rich!

Seeing Kalina's eyes practically turning into currency symbols, Gentiane stepped back, feeling embarrassed, and nervously asked, "What? What's wrong?"

"Nothing! Nothing at all! Commander Gentiane, I didn't expect you to have so many dolls just after taking office. You know, other commanders usually only have two or three tactical dolls when they start." As she spoke, Kalina glanced at MDR and SPAS-12. They were all advanced dolls, even including a shotgun-type doll, a category not found in large numbers even in Griffin headquarters.

"Uh, you misunderstood. I only have PPSH-41 II, FN-49, and MG3. The others... MDR and the rest belong to Commander Renault." Gentiane quickly explained, waving her hand.

Huh...

Hearing this, Kalina's expression froze.

Well, she had indeed jumped to conclusions. Griffin was Griffin after all, and they wouldn't give any commander a chance to exploit loopholes.

But... Commander Renault? This person was called Renault? And he's a commander too? But Griffin's personnel information system didn't have any commander named Renault in it?

When they just entered the base, Kalina had confirmed that Renault was definitely not Griffin's tactical commander.

Instead, those dolls, all had identification signals from Griffin...

"Well, then, Commander Renault, what exactly do you need?" Speaking, Kalina had already brought everyone to the door of the Griffin base's command room. If she couldn't confirm Renault's background and intentions, she would have to ask Renault to leave.

After all, this was the jurisdiction base of Griffin, and the equipment and information in the command room were very important. They couldn't let outsiders just come in and see!

Hearing Kalina's words, Gentiane also felt a bit awkward. Although she had gone through orientation training, she wasn't sure if she had the authority to bring outsiders into the base command room.

"Um, of course, I just want to inquire about the resource situation in these nearby towns. Compared to the vague information held by Helian, the jurisdiction base here must have more detailed information."

"This... even if Griffin does have information, it can't just be... "

"Don't rush to refuse. This is what Helian promised. If you have any doubts, you can contact her. And there will be compensation. We have a helicopter, so if you need anything, we can bring it over on the way."

Hearing Renault's words, Kalina's eyes widened.

Can it be like this!?

Although the nearby towns and cities no longer have human residents, this is still Griffin's jurisdiction.

What Renault did here, isn't it just robbery, no different from bandits!?

"Don't be surprised. I heard that the people in this area have long been evacuated. What I'm doing here is recycling resources. Anyway, when those guys dare to come back, those things lying around collecting dust probably won't be usable anymore." Renault waved his hand, but his eyes looked towards the other end of the corridor.

At the corner over there, a few heads were peeking out, gazing over here, or rather, gazing at the T-Dolls next to Renault.

"Are those dolls also from this base?" Following Renault's gaze, Gentiane was also surprised to see the dolls hiding in the distance. She had thought Kalina was the only one here, but unexpectedly, there were three more dolls.

"Oh, yes, after all, this is the base of the S09 jurisdiction. If it were just me, I wouldn't be able to handle it all. They are the dolls assigned here to help. Of course, from now on, they will be at your disposal, Commander!" As she spoke, Kalina waved at the three dolls.

Chapter 79: High-Risk Profession

"Only three in total? Including Gentiane's three T-Dolls, there are only six in total. Are you sure these are tactical T-Dolls assigned to a numbered jurisdiction base?"

Looking at the three T-Dolls in front of him, Reno scratched his head.

Could it be that every commander is assigned three handguns with little firepower?

The three T-Dolls called over by Kalina were the very familiar M1911 and Nagant Revolver, plus a tactical T-Doll Reno hadn't seen before.

She wore a black skirt and didn't carry an engraved weapon, so Reno couldn't remember what type of T-Doll she was.

"Of course, there aren't only three T-Dolls. Headquarters still has many T-Dolls waiting to be deployed. If they are interested, they will apply to join us. Then the number of T-Dolls will increase, and commanders can even directly order from IOP!"

Hearing Kalina's explanation, Reno shrugged helplessly. Ordering from IOP... isn't it random what kind of T-Doll you'll get after ordering?

It's possible to order a T-Doll with a rifle in mind, only to receive one with a submachine gun...

Facing Reno's indifferent attitude like a 'veteran', Kalina also felt embarrassed.

IOP's tactical T-Dolls were difficult to satisfy because they couldn't guarantee which weapon the manufactured T-Doll would be compatible with. They first needed to ensure that the T-Doll's mentality matched the weapon type, then decide on the level of the body based on the T-Doll's combat adaptability and suitability for the chosen weapon.

It was the large-scale orders from Griffin recently that had fixed the production process for tactical T-Dolls at IOP.

Anyway, even if they sent a different type of tactical T-Doll, the commanders at Griffin wouldn't say much. After all, each tactical T-Doll was an adorable girl. With such cuteness, would you have the heart to scold or blame them?

Of course, there might be a few cases, but they were rare, and Griffin's headquarters didn't have any at the moment. Even if a commander refused them, Griffin's headquarters would take the T-Dolls back. There was no need to worry about Griffin returning them.

Returning them? Ridiculous!

Tactical T-Dolls also had their rights, and returning them simply didn't exist. At most, the tactical T-Dolls would have their fire control cores dismantled and be reassigned to other positions. After all, in such a large organization like Griffin, there were plenty of vacant positions. Who cared whether the position was filled by a T-Doll who didn't require much salary or a living human?

As long as they could work, Griffin obviously wouldn't care much.

While Reno and the others were talking, the Nagant Revolver from the S09 jurisdiction walked up to Reno's Nagant Revolver. Her eyes were strange as she scrutinized the other T-Doll's body.

Different!

She's different from me!

Clearly, we're the same type of tactical T-Doll! Both Nagant Revolvers! Why is she not only taller than me but even her chest has reached the level of the M1911!?

Touching her own spacious landing pad, the Nagant Revolver from the S09 jurisdiction was extremely indignant!

"Wow, is this base in the S09 jurisdiction really that big? Is this a large underground cave directly dug out?" MDR was also lying on the window sill of the corridor, looking at the scenery outside in shock.

If it weren't for the pitch-black ceiling above, she would have thought this base was built on the ground.

Griffin had really spared no expense to secure control of this jurisdiction, but why didn't they add more to the T-Dolls? Such a huge base, but only six tactical T-Dolls?

"Yeah, it looks much bigger than the underground room the commander dug out himself. It looks like a real canyon down here. Hey, do you think there's magma underground?" Simonov also nodded, pinching his chin as he looked outside.

Outside the window was a bottomless, pitch-black canyon. Looking at it this way, it was evident that Griffin didn't use a large number of personnel to dig directly here but instead found a primitive underground space. Then they built this huge sub-base on that basis. In this way, the amount of work was significantly reduced, and only small construction equipment was needed to completely develop the area.

This base was probably built like this. However, SPAS-12 was obviously not interested. Instead of the style and furnishings of the Griffin base, she was more concerned about whether she could eat delicious food here.

This time, apart from the necessary aviation fuel, Reno only brought a few power exoskeletons, mainly for easy transportation of various materials. Otherwise, Reno might not have even brought power exoskeletons.

Just coming out to move something, how long could it take? The sooner he left, the sooner he could return. By the time he got back, he might even catch dinner.

But SPAS-12 clearly intended to have an extra meal on the Griffin side. Just after she came in, her gaze never left the road signs. It was mainly to find out where Griffin's restaurant was located.

Unfortunately, she was ultimately disappointed. All the personnel in the entire base were here. Even if she found the restaurant, what would be the use? There was no one in the kitchen, and there wouldn't be anyone cooking at this time, especially since it was still morning.

On Reno's side, with Gentiane's guarantee, Kalina finally allowed Reno into the combat command room. Using Griffin's operational map, she pointed out all the places in the surrounding area where resources were likely to exist.

Although she had the intention to mark all the factories and warehouses occupied by Sangvis Ferri to trap Reno, Kalina ultimately couldn't make up her mind. She only marked several resource points that were still within Griffin's control for now.

"These factory and warehouse locations are safe. Especially these places, you can safely transport goods from there. Most of the stuff inside were abandoned by wealthy merchants during the evacuation." Pointing at the clear holographic images of several buildings on the operational map, Kalina sighed.

She had originally wanted Gentiane to send T-Dolls to collect these resources.

Although they were useless to T-Dolls, they could fetch a good price!

With funds, her logistical work would be easier. After all, it wasn't realistic to expect a newly appointed commander to suddenly pull out a lot of cash from his pocket. Besides, Gentiane didn't seem like a wealthy commander. After all, who would run to a PMC company to be a commander if they were rich?

Although commanders could remotely command tactical T-Dolls from the combat command center, what if they were attacked by enemies or Sangvis Ferri at their base? Wouldn't they be scrapped after being hit by a particle weapon?

Despite the relaxed and happy tone of the recruitment advertisement, the role of a Griffin tactical commander was actually a high-risk profession.

Chapter 80: More Things to Do

"Whew, they're finally gone. So, how's the situation at the base now? Do I need to start working immediately?"

Watching the helicopter take off on the surveillance equipment, Gentiane breathed a sigh of relief.

Finally, she didn't have to face SPAS-12's hungry gaze anymore. If she let these guys stay at her base and have a meal, she felt they could eat up her entire month's food ration in one go.

"Uh, the situation at the base is okay for now. But because this base was only recently put into use, besides the dormitories and the combat command room, some other buildings haven't been activated yet."

After all, they needed to conserve electricity.

The reserves of other supplies were also limited, such as the food rations for the T-Dolls... which were actually just regular military rations. She herself ate them too, not only to save money but also to save time cooking.

In short, this base had just been put into use, and everything had to start from scratch. Not only were there no strong T-Dolls stationed here, but the supplies were also not abundant.

Fortunately, the commanders of several nearby jurisdictions in the S09 area were experienced. They were currently keeping the Sangvis Ferri forces tightly outside, so there shouldn't be any problems here in the S09 area for the time being, giving Gentiane time to adapt and develop.

"So? Do I need to start up the equipment that hasn't been activated yet?" Gentiane furrowed her brow in suspicion at Kalina's somewhat evasive answer and asked deliberately.

"No, no, those are not needed for now. Commander, would you like to try using the combat command system?" Kalina quickly waved her hands. The base's power supply wasn't sufficient enough already, let alone activating a bunch of unnecessary equipment... that would just be adding insult to injury...

"The combat command system?" Hearing this, Gentiane first tilted her head in doubt, but then she remembered the part about commanding operations mentioned in her induction training.

The difference between Griffin and other security contractors was that Griffin could use the combat command system to remotely issue orders to their T-Dolls.

It not only improved the combat efficiency of the tactical T-Dolls but also ensured the commander's personal safety, killing two birds with one stone. Other security contractors had also thought about this, but they didn't have the technology and equipment to transmit information.

The only ones with the technology were probably IOP and 16Lab, which developed the Weapon Imprinting System. Unfortunately, these two units were currently partners with Griffin. Even if other security contractors wanted to learn this, they simply wouldn't be able to.

"Alright... trying it out won't hurt." Thinking that she would probably have to sit in this combat command room in the future to command her T-Dolls in battle, Gentiane clicked her tongue, feeling somewhat bitter.

After all, just yesterday she was fighting side by side with several T-Dolls in Reno's training simulator.

But today, she was about to become a full-fledged office worker. The inexplicable contrast was a bit too much.

...

"Commander, speaking of which, it's possible to encounter Sangvis's autonomous units in this area, right?" BM59 looked at the map on Reno's phone, somewhat worried as she glanced at the red areas marked on the map.

Although Griffin's operational map also marked the range of contaminated zones, it was just indicated with a few numbers and letters.

These large red areas actually referred to the actual control range of Sangvis's factory. In these red areas, it was possible to encounter Sangvis's combat units at any time.

And right now, their helicopter was only a few hundred meters away from the red areas on the map.

What if they encountered Sangvis's forces when they went down to move the goods?

It's not that they were worried about being unable to defeat them, but they felt... Reno's previous relationship with Sangvis should be somewhat manageable. If they suddenly encountered them, should they just start fighting right away? Or should they try to negotiate? Or follow some procedure?

"Yeah, maybe, but don't think too much about it. If they attack us, we'll fight back. After that, we'll figure out what to do." There's not much to say about this. He couldn't just greet Sangvis's forces with a smile because of his relationship with the Scarecrow, right?

Whether the relationship was good or bad was something to consider after the fight. When a situation arises, just eliminate all the enemies first.

According to the information obtained from Griffin's S09 jurisdiction base, SPAS-12 and Simonov had landed their helicopter in an industrial area.

Although there might not be materials directly usable in the warehouses here, even small gains were worthwhile. Nowadays, it's not easy to obtain large quantities of metal materials.

Even if Reno was able to pass the scrutiny of the Statesec, he estimated that it wouldn't work. Even if Angelia helped internally within the Statesec, there were many departments within it, and Angelia obviously couldn't interfere in matters related to business.

Unless Reno directly revealed his plans, but if he did, next time it wouldn't be people from the Statesec who came, but the military would come and raise his family's place to the ground.

This industrial area looked a bit messy, with the doors of each factory warehouse wide open, and various debris scattered on the ground. Apparently, when the humans who worked here left, they didn't bother to clean up properly.

After hearing that Sangvis's T-Dolls were coming, people here fled from this very dangerous "war zone."

The things left behind here didn't seem scarce at all. It was completely different from what Helena had said about evacuating peacefully. Instead, it looked more like fleeing for their lives.

The things left behind in the large factory warehouses could easily fill two helicopters, and it seemed impossible to take everything away from here in one trip. If necessary, they might have to make several trips.

Moreover, even though the payload capacity of the two helicopters was about thirty tons each, right now, there were still several tons of heavy fuel on the helicopters. And the materials in this large factory area were far more than thirty tons.

If they relied on helicopters to transport back and forth, where would they end up? Just the consumption of aviation fuel was enough to bankrupt Reno.

With so many factories and warehouses, each warehouse probably held hundreds or even thousands of tons of materials. Only someone with a screw loose in their head would think of using helicopters to move everything back home!

Mistake, if he had known it would be like this, he would have just piloted a helicopter over here to check out the situation. For transportation like this, he really needed those heavy-duty trucks back home.

Looks like he can't fly back with the materials this time. First, check the road conditions here, find a route that can ensure the trucks can pass, and then go back and overhaul all the trucks at home.

Tsk! More and more things to do!

Chapter 81: You Can't Go!

"Training, still training... Has there been any response from IOP about the orders?" Gentiane sighed and asked Kalina beside her.

It had been a whole week since she took office. Each day was filled with training, and beyond that, there was more training. The jurisdiction remained calm, and she hadn't been assigned any tasks from above. This eerie and inexplicable calm made Gentiane feel like she had been forgotten by G&K HQ.

"Well, the orders have been completed, but unfortunately, Commander, G&K HQ' helicopters are currently unavailable. So, we may need to wait a while, or you'll have to personally drive back to HQ to retrieve your T-Dolls."

"Why... can't HQ find a driver to deliver the T-Dolls? Or let the T-Dolls drive themselves..." The T-Dolls from the Renault family could drive, even helicopters were within their capabilities, and some could even pilot mechs!

Why didn't her T-Dolls have such diverse skills!?

Perhaps sensing Gentiane's resentment, Kalina scratched her cheek. "Well, finding someone to deliver is not impossible. But, Commander, do you have the money to pay for the driver's expenses and vehicle transportation?"

Damn Griffin!

Why did they have to charge their own commander for transporting her own T-Dolls! It was outrageous! Besides the essential rations to sustain life, even decent food required money out of her own pocket!

As a newly appointed commander who hadn't received a penny of salary in almost a month, Gentiane felt extremely frustrated!

Fortunately, her one-month probation period was about to end, and payday was approaching. Once she got her salary, she could immediately escape the days of eating MREs...

Although she thought so, the idea of eating lavishly while her T-Dolls watched from the sidelines made Gentiane's eyes twitch.

Could she really stomach it? Well, probably not...

Compared to her as a commander, the Griffin T-Dolls could only receive G&K's internal credit points.

Through Kalina, her T-Dolls could spend the credit points in their respective accounts. It wasn't a large amount, just enough for them to buy some snacks. If they had missions, they could earn more credit points. Slowly accumulating, they could eventually buy things they liked.

However, only a few T-Dolls planned their spending. Most of them spent their points in the first few days. After all, as tactical dolls, especially those in combat zones, no one knew if they would be alive to enjoy their sweets tomorrow.

Maybe they just got paid, and the next moment, they were taken out by Sangvis Ferri...

Calculating the amount of her upcoming salary, Gentiane glanced at the price list Kalina had shown her before. Since all supplies and items had to be purchased through Kalina, she naturally had a G&K internal price list.

Having seen it before, Gentiane was dazzled by the exaggerated prices on it, which reminded her of the situation at Renault's base.

Although Renault's dormitory didn't look as good as G&K's base, and the equipment wasn't as advanced...

But they ate well! Every meal was different! They could eat as much as they wanted! Desserts were unlimited, although doing so would earn them a lecture from G36, but you could really eat as much as you wanted!

Unlike her base, where there was only a small ordinary refrigerator in the kitchen next to the dormitory area, which was currently empty. Forget about snacks and desserts; even vegetables and meat were nowhere to be found...

Every day, they were stuck eating MREs...

Now Gentiane finally understood.

That guy Renault... was actually wealthy... She used to think he wasn't well off because he wore the same coat for a week and only changed it once, being dragged away by M1 Garand to clean it.

It was because of this that she thought Renault probably wasn't well off, but she didn't expect him to be so generous with his T-Dolls while being thrifty with her.

He would casually give out hundreds of thousands; where did all that money come from? Blown in by the wind?

Although Gentiane hadn't seen Renault pull out actual cash, the numbers in the T-Dolls' mobile accounts weren't fake.

Thinking of this, Gentiane took out her phone, checked her bank account, not much, but not particularly little, just over two hundred thousand. This was all she had in savings.

But compared to those T-Dolls whose savings were mostly in the seven digits, she was obviously a poor person.

"Commander! HQ has sent an emergency mission! A Sangvis Ferri train has crossed through a neighboring territory! It has already entered the range of the S09 territory! HQ wants us to send someone to investigate the situation!"

Kalina's sudden voice, along with the mission briefing appearing on the screen in the command room, immediately brought Gentiane back to reality!

A mission! And an emergency one!

What did this mean!? Mission bonus! Double for emergency missions! Although it was just a routine reconnaissance mission, but! With the reward of an emergency mission! It was enough to cover her lazing off in the base for half a month!

"Kalina! Gather Poposha and the others! We're ready to go!" Gentiane said as she took off her coat, ignoring the weather outside, and grabbed a heavy bulletproof vest from the side to put on.

Kalina was stunned for a moment. Gentiane quickly put on the bulletproof vest, and then stuffed various equipment such as magazines and communicators into the slots of the vest and tactical belt.

In less than a minute, she hadn't even had time to stop her...

Until Gentiane reached for an AK105 from the price rack, pulled the charging handle to check the chamber condition, Kalina realized what Gentiane was going to do!

This guy clearly wanted to go on the reconnaissance mission with her T-Dolls!

"Wait! Wait! You can't go! Where has there ever been a commander who just took office and went on the first mission with tactical dolls! And this is an emergency mission! For the sake of safety, you should stay in the command room and command Poposha and the others!" Kalina shouted anxiously, unless there was an emergency, G&K HQ would never issue an emergency mission. Moreover, this time the target was a Sangvis Ferri train. She couldn't let Gentiane rush out like this!

What if hundreds of Sangvis Ferri dolls jumped off the train? The commander of the S09 territory would have to be replaced again!

Chapter 82: It's All Your Fault!

In reality, the S09 territory had a commander before, and Gentiane's base in the jurisdiction wasn't the original one, but rather in a place closer to the front line.

The main defensive positions on both sides of the S09 territory were the areas previously managed by the former S09 territory commander.

However, after that commander left, the two commanders on both sides had to step up.

Otherwise, if Sangvis's autonomous units penetrated deep into the S09 territory, their jurisdiction would also suffer.

Due to Sangvis's relentless attacks, Griffin had effectively cleared out many employees who were fundamentally incapable of serving as tactical commanders. Even though Griffin had raised its recruitment standards considerably, it still managed to raise the industry average.

Unfortunately, there were always some clueless individuals who thought being a tactical commander for Griffin was an easy job.

But to be precise, this wasn't entirely wrong; among Griffin, tactical commanders were indeed one of the most lucrative positions.

Whether it was logistical or ammunition supply for T-Dolls, as long as they found a way, they could always skim off a significant amount of money. This was in addition to the special subsidies and mission rewards given by Griffin for commanders and their jurisdictions.

It was a very lucrative deal.

If the pay wasn't substantial, why would so many people eagerly want to become a tactical commander for G&K?

As for those truly attracted by Griffin's propaganda and lofty goals? Don't joke, out of a thousand people, having one or two was already good, and even those one or two might not pass Griffin's assessment.

Most of them were just after the money.

Speaking of which, Gentiane ultimately couldn't withstand Kalina's nagging and stayed obediently in the command room.

However, she didn't take off her bulletproof vest and equipment; she just sat in front of the control console with her gun, giving orders to her five T-Dolls through the command system.

Originally, she intended to send out all the T-Dolls. After all, despite being newbies, Poposha and FN-49, as well as MG3, had at least gone through the recruitment assessment with her. While their mission experience wasn't extensive, they had at least some, and they had also spent a few days training in Renault's training room later.

Their combat efficiency and performance were definitely much better than her three underlings, M1911 included.

With three experienced T-Dolls leading three newbies, it was a one-on-one teaching situation, ensuring that these three complete newbies could transform into seasoned veterans in the shortest possible time.

"If only we had a training system here..." Gentiane sighed unconsciously as she watched Poposha and the others, represented by symbols on the command system, approach the train station where the train was about to stop.

"Well, that's probably not possible. After all, Mr. Renault's training device always feels a bit abnormal..." FN-49, who stayed behind to guard the base instead of joining Poposha on the mission, heard Gentiane's words and scratched her cheek, murmuring softly.

Griffin Headquarters also had training devices, but those devices could only be used by T-Dolls, and most of the training scenarios were preset data. With enough effort, one could always find a way to pass them.

But Renault's training device was different. Not only could Gentiane, a living person, enter the training device along with these T-Dolls, but the scenarios inside were even scenes from a century ago.

This was much more magnificent than Griffin's training devices. The scale of battles alone couldn't be compared to Griffin's training devices.

Just thinking about the miserable scene a few days ago when she was swept down like a target by machine guns while standing in the LCV(P) landing craft, FN-49 looked at Gentiane with a resentful gaze.

She hoped Gentiane wouldn't bring over Renault's training device. However, she also worried that she might become a burden to Gentiane because, after all, she was just an ordinary low-level tactical T-Doll and couldn't compare to those high-level ones in terms of skills.

Feeling unwilling but knowing that she couldn't defeat high-level tactical T-Dolls with experience and skills alone, FN-49's mood was so conflicted at the moment.

While she was struggling with her emotions, Poposha and the other four, who had already set off, could now see the Sangvis Ferri Manufacturing train stopped at the platform in the distance.

Behind the heavily armored locomotive, there was a long string of freight cars. However, due to their current position, they couldn't see any SF Dolls.

But if there were Sangvis T-Dolls... Poposha couldn't imagine how many SF-Dolls could fit in so many freight cars. Each freight car was at least sixteen meters long and about three meters wide. If these were filled with Sangvis T-Dolls or autonomous units...

A single freight car could easily accommodate hundreds of Sangvis T-Dolls. If it were replaced by Spearmen, it would be even more overwhelming... In any case, with just the five of them, the odds of success seemed slim.

"Don't get too close, observe the situation from a distance, and confirm the situation of the train station and the train first."

Just as Poposha was squinting at the train, she suddenly heard Gentiane's voice coming through the communication system.

"Um, okay, but our visual systems aren't that good. It might be difficult to see clearly from such a distance." Hearing this, Poposha glanced back at MG3, who shrugged helplessly.

Hearing Poposha's words, Gentiane suddenly felt like she had eaten a dead fly. This situation wasn't supposed to happen.

After all, she still had FN-49, and if it weren't for Kalina insisting on leaving one T-Doll behind, she wouldn't have thought twice about leaving FN-49 behind. Now, where did this come from?

Although FN-49 wasn't a high-level T-Doll, her engraving weapon was a rifle, and IOP would enhance each type of T-Doll specifically. For most rifle-type T-Dolls, their visual systems were much better than other types of tactical T-Dolls.

Facing Gentiane's murderous gaze, Kalina stiffly forced a smile and took two steps back... It would be better not to meddle next time they went into battle. Gentiane always seemed a bit off...

"In any case, observe the situation from a distance now, see what you can see, and prioritize your safety above all else. If possible, try not to engage with Sangvis." Retrieving her death stare from Kalina, Gentiane said solemnly to Poposha.

Wanting to engage in combat with Sangvis's entire train of units with just five tactical T-Dolls...

That was purely suicidal. It was like moths to a flame or eggs against a stone. Those weren't opponents she could handle.

"Understood."

Chapter 83: MDR: Let Me Freeload!

"Why can Sangvis Ferri Industries use these railways and even have their own freight trains, while Griffin can't?" MP5 couldn't help but feel a bit helpless as she lifted the railway sleepers with a crowbar alongside C96, waiting for Renault and the others to clear away the debris.

"Because Sangvis Ferri Manufacturing is a weapons manufacturer and also supplies weapons and equipment to the military, while Griffin is just a security contractor; they don't have the necessary licenses," MDR said while filling the sand and gravel under the sleepers with a shovel.

It's obvious that they are currently repairing this railway track.

After arriving in the S09 jurisdiction by helicopter last time, Renault also found that helicopters couldn't meet his transportation needs at all, so he was planning to use the heavy trucks that had been idle in the factory garage.

But when he went back, he suddenly remembered that the freight train he had brought back from Sangvis Ferri Manufacturing was still parked at the station next to the dock.

Compared to heavy trucks that require one or two drivers for each vehicle, it's obviously more reassuring to drive a freight train.

The only problem is that because this area's railway has not been used for a long time and is not maintained, there are some unexpected minor damages, resulting in the line to the S09 jurisdiction being blocked.

For the past week, Renault has spent most of his time surveying the railway route and preparing maintenance materials.

They set off yesterday afternoon, and the train made its way here, stopping along the way. They have already cleared thirteen blockages caused by debris accumulation, twenty-one non-human-induced rail damages, and thirty-seven rail damages caused by human factors.

Now they are only three kilometers away from their destination for this trip. As long as they thoroughly repair this section of the railway, they will be done.

Maria's Rippers under her command can drive this train themselves. The only problem is that this area is under Griffin's jurisdiction, and Griffin commanders, upon discovering such an Sangvis Ferri train, are likely to launch a direct attack.

And they have passed through several G&K jurisdictions along the way. G&K HQ must have received this news by now.

However, Renault seems not to care much about this, and MDR doesn't know if Renault has contacted Helian's side, but probably yes; otherwise, when they stopped in the first jurisdiction after driving the train, the Griffin base there would definitely have sent tactical T-Doll teams to check.

Just like now?

MDR looked up at the two figures on top of a distant building and waved her hand towards them.

This is already within Griffin's S09 jurisdiction. The only human-shaped T-Doll they will send to check should be just from Gentiane.

And MDR is familiar with those T-Dolls over there. Except for the absence of FN-49, the models of the other T-Dolls all match those under Gentiane's command.

"Huh? Who are you waving to, MDR?" Seeing MDR suddenly waving her hand, MP5 and C96 looked at MDR's direction curiously.

Immediately, they saw the five Griffin T-Dolls standing on top of the building, "Ah, Commander, we seem to see Griffin's T-Dolls, do we know them?"

Seeing the figures of these T-Dolls, MP5 immediately asked Renault, who was screwing screws.

Renault glanced up, "Yes, they are Gentiane's T-Dolls. It's finished here. Let's get ready to drive back. If you don't want to take the train, you can jog a little, it's not far."

...

"Huh... um? Who's waving over there? MDR? And the one in the coat next to her, is it Commander Renault? Am I seeing this right? How come they brought a train from Sangvis Ferri Manufacturing this time!?"

MG3 squinted her eyes and leaned against the awning, looking in the direction of the railway, but it's really scary what Renault brought over this time, Sangvis Ferri Industries' train, they wouldn't have rushed to Sangvis Ferri HQ and then seized their lair, would they?

The two transport helicopters last time were already outrageous enough. She didn't expect what appeared this time would be even more shocking...

"Um, indeed... MDR has already posted on the anonymous forum, saying she's going to come to our base for a meal later." Poposha lowered her head and looked at her phone, even the photo of MDR taking a selfie with a shovel by the railway was taken, and even the building they were in was included...

The inconspicuous figures on the roof, aren't they themselves?

"Okay, I'll inform the commander of the situation here first." MG3 said, directly connecting to the operational communication channel, "Commander, Renault and the others are on that train, and MDR said she's coming over for a meal later."

In the operational command room, Gentiane, upon hearing MG3's words, sighed helplessly.

She never expected that Renault would actually drive over with an Sangvis Ferri train this time.

That's right, most of the resource points he inquired about in the command room last time were industrial areas. If there were a lot of goods in those places, helicopters alone obviously couldn't move those things.

Organizing a convoy for transportation is obviously not realistic. There are not many T-Dolls among them who can drive trucks.

In this case, transporting via railways naturally becomes a very reasonable and feasible transportation solution.

It's just not clear where this guy got the train from. Last time she went to his base, she didn't seem to see any trains there?

During the week she spent at Renault's factory, Gentiane naturally didn't go out. As soon as she went out, she had to put on that heavy protective suit. She didn't come back until she thoroughly disinfected herself. She's not stupid, why would she make herself uncomfortable?

Similarly, Poposha and the others did not patrol with other T-Dolls. They were not under Renault's T-Dolls. If they went out and encountered infected individuals, they might not be able to fight, and even if nothing happened, the radiation outside would be enough for Poposha and the others, who are still using IOP bodies, to have a bad time.

Therefore, even though the Sangvis Ferri train was parked less than five kilometers south of Renault's factory, Gentiane did not know that Renault actually had the authority to operate an Sangvis Ferri train.

Of course, such authority is nothing to Renault. Even if he doesn't have the authority, Renault can still make this train run.

"You guys come back first. I'll call Renault now to ask about the specifics."

Gentiane sighed, it seems that Renault's meal today has been arranged, but... the food she has on hand is only MRE... it would be embarrassing to use these things to entertain...

Chapter 84: How Am I Doing?

Gentiane squinted with her dead fish eyes, observing MDR and the others who held boxes of snacks of various sizes...

All these snacks, including canned portable food, were found by MDR and the others on their journey here.

In the end, MDR, MP5, and C96 chose not to take the train. After all, they had been on the train for almost a day. Although there were some conflicts along the way, it's just a short distance left. Wouldn't it be nice to take a stroll?

And if they hadn't skipped the train, where would they have had the opportunity to run into those shops and find these snacks?

The materials in those large factories couldn't be moved, let alone the materials in those small shops and supermarkets. So, they didn't carefully search along the way; they just entered those shops and grabbed whatever they could find.

Eating while walking, it couldn't be more comfortable.

As for Gentiane, at this moment, she felt thoroughly frustrated. She had only been with her three T-Dolls for a few days, but she always felt like her T-Dolls were already being completely bought over by Renault's T-Dolls!

"Commander Gentiane, would you like some?" MP5 approached Gentiane with a box, holding various candies in her hand and offering them to Gentiane.

"Ah, um, thank you." Gentiane reached out and took it, then exchanged a glance with Kalina, who had also received snacks from C96, and sighed helplessly one after another.

Seeing a group of T-Dolls chattering around several large boxes sharing snacks and canned goods, Gentiane didn't want to interrupt. After all, there was nothing happening in her jurisdiction.

"Um, Commander, now that we know the train was brought here by Mr. Renault, what about the reconnaissance mission from HQ?" Kalina, who was almost lost in the sweet taste of candy, suddenly came back to her senses, cleared her throat, and asked Gentiane somewhat unclearly.

She hadn't forgotten that the mission issued to them just now came from Griffin headquarters, asking them to investigate the situation of the Sangvis train.

But now... the train was brought here by Renault, and it's used to transport materials in the industrial area.

So, how should the operation report be written? What if someone from headquarters or another jurisdiction's commander asks about it?

"Uh..."

Gentiane, who was about to unwrap a chocolate bar, was stunned when she heard this. If it weren't for Kalina's reminder, she almost forgot. This reconnaissance was not some impromptu training, but a genuine emergency task from headquarters that requires a report to be submitted...

"Just say it as it is. Report whatever you see. After all, all the reports submitted by you tactical commanders have to go through Helian's hands, and if other commanders ask, just tell them to ask Helian."

Just as Gentiane hesitated, Renault exhaled smoke, extinguished the cigarette in the ashtray, and spoke to Gentiane and Kalina.

"Huh!?" Hearing Renault's voice suddenly, Gentiane almost dropped the chocolate in her hand, and Kalina was also startled, almost swallowing the hard candy in her mouth.

"Commander Renault!? When did you come in?"

"Just when you two were getting candy from MP5. Why does nothing seem to have changed here? Didn't do anything for a week?" Looking at the layout of the command room, there was no difference from what he saw a week ago.

The only difference might be that there was an extra box of MREs in the corner of the room.

The box was open, and many small MRE packs were already missing. In the nearby trash can, it was filled with MRE packaging bags.

Obviously, poor Gentiane had been living off MREs these days.

As a new commander, it's understandable to have a slightly poor treatment, but it's too much. The commander of a large-scale Griffin jurisdiction, unable to even have a hot meal, would be a laughingstock if it got out.

And what's with the sleeping bag? Can't even spare a proper bedroom?

"Uh, it's not like nothing was done. We've been conducting squad command training these days." Hearing Renault's words, Gentiane obviously didn't understand what aspect Renault was referring to and said after a moment of hesitation.

"But Commander Renault, why are you here this time?"

"To move some things over here. The helicopters couldn't take everything last time, and there will probably be many more trips in the future." Pulling over a chair, Renault sat down directly, as if he was going to stay here for a while.

And his actions made Kalina's eye twitch.

This guy... how can he be so rude? Does he think of this place as his own home?

"Move things? Are you using that train for transportation? That train, it seems to be a freight train made by Sangvis, right?" Gentiane was not unfamiliar with Sangvis-made trains. After all, before Sangvis's T-Dolls went berserk, Sangvis-made trains had been used for a while to transport goods.

"Incorrect, that's right. It's a Sangvis train. It was borrowed before, but those guys didn't seem to have any intention of taking it back, so it's handy this time. I brought it over."

"Uh, but if you're going to transport goods... are there no other T-Dolls coming over here?" Turning her head to look at MDR and the others, then at Renault sitting here sending messages on his phone, it doesn't seem like anyone is going out to move things?

"No, this time it's just MDR and her group. When the goods are moved later, we'll be heading back. Oh, remember to remind Helian when you submit the report, to pay attention to not let anyone damage the tracks."

"Understood." Gentiane nodded, then looked somewhat puzzled at Renault, who was still sitting there without any intention of leaving...

Wasn't he supposed to be moving goods? All of you are either scrolling on your phones or chatting with other T-Dolls. Can those goods magically fly into the train cars on their own?

Watching Renault, who seemed calm and relaxed, Gentiane ultimately didn't voice her doubts.

Since Renault didn't immediately leave, MDR's meal was indeed crashed by this guy. Unfortunately, it was just an ordinary meal of MRE.

'The long-lost MRE ration, as unpleasant as ever.'

Sitting next to MDR, Kalina nibbled on the biscuit in her meal pack, watching MDR post this sentence as a post title.

But after seeing this sentence, Kalina couldn't help but doubt life and looked at the rations she hadn't eaten yet.

Unpleasant? Really? Why do I feel alright?

Chapter 85: Has She Ever Hugged You?

Although she didn't know why, upon seeing the adjectives MDR used to describe these MREs, Kalina suddenly felt unable to stomach these military rations that she had once thought were quite tasty.

Sticky, lumpy, hard as rocks, sickeningly sweet...

Could it be that there's something wrong with my taste buds? But that's impossible, right? She's lived for so many years, and there were no issues during her check-ups at the G&K Medical Center, right?

Then, is it MDR's taste system that's malfunctioning? But that shouldn't be possible, right? If MDR's taste system had a problem, why would all the other T-Dolls be nodding along?

"Yeah, yeah, this flavor of MRE is too sweet, we should try some other flavors next time." MG3 also nodded in agreement at this moment.

Anyway, the T-Dolls from Renault's side, including the three Poposha members who had previously been to Renault's place, seemed quite supportive of MDR's views, while those who hadn't been to Renault's place, like M1911, PPK, and Nagant Revolver, all looked puzzled by the Poposha trio's arguments.

In that way, it was almost exactly the same as Kalina, and each of them was doubting their own taste system.

After the meal, Kalina began to question her life choices directly. Fortunately, after Renault expressionlessly finished all the MREs, he got up and prepared to leave.

"Commander Renault, are you going to move the goods now? Do you need our help?" Seeing Renault getting up, Gentiane asked him.

"Thanks, but no need, the stuff has already been moved." Renault looked at his phone, which showed that each train car had already been fully loaded.

"Moved... already?"

Upon hearing Renault's words, Gentiane was suddenly surprised.

They had just been sitting here doing nothing, and then with a flick of his phone, everything was moved? Is he trying to mess with me?

Gentiane couldn't help but start to panic inwardly. Could Commander Renault really have some other plan? Staying in her command room, perhaps just to distract her attention?

Thinking like this, after sending Renault out of the base, Gentiane directly took FN-49 and Poposha and secretly followed him.

This time, she brought FN-49, and just in case, she also brought a telescope herself. As long as she found an unobstructed observation point, she could definitely see clearly what was happening on Renault's side.

Gentiane had thought about directly following him to the station to see what exactly Renault was moving, but what if Renault really had other plans? What if he saw her go and directly hid some things?

As Renault walked steadily towards the station, he naturally noticed the little tail behind him. It must be said that Gentiane, this outstanding graduate, was indeed worthy of her reputation.

Even MP5 and C96 didn't notice the presence of Gentiane and her two companions.

MDR, of course, knew, but she wasn't interested in such things. As long as Renault didn't say anything, she naturally wasn't interested in calling out Gentiane and her two companions.

When Renault and the others arrived at the station, a Ripper happened to be driving a truck and bringing the last batch of materials over.

After seeing this Ripper bring the truck over, the Rippers responsible for driving forklifts and cranes orderly transferred the materials onto the train.

The whole process was extremely smooth, as if it had been done hundreds or thousands of times.

In fact, it was indeed the case. All these Rippers were brought over by Renault from SF's material factory, and transporting goods was their original job.

Although the workplace had changed and the person giving orders had changed, it didn't affect their work efficiency at all.

Watching these Rippers finish the last bit of work, Renault nodded blandly and then motioned for these Rippers to board the train.

Gentiane and FN-49, who were watching from hundreds of meters away, know that in their hearts, a storm was brewing!

There are really autonomous SF Dolls! And there are quite a few of them!? At least three or four dozen!

With this number of SF autonomous Dolls, if they were to rush to their current base with weapons, they would definitely be defenseless!

"What... what's going on!? How can Commander Renault command these SF-made Dolls!? So he's Sangvis person!?"

Some incredulously said, Gentiane had already begun to associate in her mind,

Griffin's senior agent Helian and SF's commander Renault! Joining forces to destroy the defense arrangements of Griffin's major jurisdictions!

Helian is a mole!? Renault is not a good person either!? And her entry assessment was approved by Helian, and when she executed it, it was Renault who brought her through...

If she were to reveal Renault's situation now... in future investigations, even if she were to explain again and again... she would probably be considered an accomplice of Helian and the others, right!?

"Huh? SF people? Um, these should be the Rippers from Commander Renault's home, right? Didn't we all see them last time?" Taking the binoculars from Gentiane and looking at the station, Poposha, who spoke first, interrupted Gentiane's train of thought.

"Huh?"

And we've seen them before? When? Why doesn't she remember?

FN-49, next to her, also looked puzzled, obviously she hadn't seen those Rippers before either.

Anyway, she couldn't figure out why Poposha would say she had seen those Rippers before.

"Um, it seems that FN-49 really didn't see them, but MG3 and I did. That day, the Commander spent a long time in the training room and fell asleep in the training room. When the two of us took the Commander back to the dormitory, we just happened to meet a group of Rippers who had just finished maintenance. One of them even helped carry you back to the dormitory." Poposha said this, reaching up to touch her braids. She had actually braided two braids for the Ripper who helped.

Just now she had already seen it!

The Ripper who was responsible for driving the forklift, it was the one who helped out back then!

Those two twisted braids on the temples, she couldn't have mistaken them!

"And there's this?" Seeing the confident expression on Poposha's face, Gentiane smoothed out her own hair.

Had she overthought it? Misunderstood Commander Renault?

Actually, he's just able to command those SF Rippers?

Thinking of this, Gentiane's brows still furrowed.

This didn't make sense, didn't they say all the SF autonomous T-Dolls had gone berserk? Why could Renault still command those SF Rippers at will!?

Just as Gentiane was tying herself in knots, the train had already successfully started and was slowly heading in the direction where Renault had come from.

Unable to figure out what was going on, Gentiane, frustrated, scratched her already messy hair, then sighed deeply.

She didn't need her to think so much about it. She should just focus on how to write the emergency reconnaissance mission report...

Several thousand words...

Should she just hand it all over to Kalina?

But it seems like that's not her job, but it doesn't matter, anyway, there are only two living people in the base, herself and Kalina.

If she doesn't let Kalina write it, should she, as a tactical commander, write the report herself?

Chapter 86: Can't Afford to Eat?

Holding the electronic document in her hand, Helian glanced down at it, then looked up at the holographic images of Gentiane and Kalina.

Under Helian's expressionless gaze, both of them couldn't help but straighten their backs nervously...

Please, let there be no problems... They had no connections with Sangvis Ferri!

"Alright, I've got it. If any other commanders inquire, tell them to come to me directly. That's it, you can go back to your duties. Oh, Gentiane, about the order you placed with IOP earlier, my suggestion is to deploy a few T-Dolls from headquarters first. Otherwise, it might take a long time for IOP to fulfill the order."

Helian put down the electronic document and addressed the two, but then suddenly brought up the tactical T-Doll order Gentiane had reported three days ago.

"Huh? Oh, I'm fine with that. As long as tactical T-Dolls are supplied, I'm good." Hearing Helian suddenly mention the order, Gentiane was momentarily surprised, then nodded in agreement.

Gentiane had no idea what kind of tactical T-Dolls IOP would send over, but with headquarters' deployment, she could at least specify the types she wanted, provided headquarters had available stock.

As for the grade of the T-Dolls, that was beyond her control. Headquarters usually allocated T-Dolls based on their types, especially since high-grade ones were scarce.

Moreover, Helian's ability to command these Ironblood T-Dolls seemed to be special treatment, something other tactical commanders didn't have.

At least during her training, Gentiane had never heard of anyone newly appointed being able to request specific types of T-Dolls from headquarters.

Satisfied with Gentiane's response, Helian nodded and ended the communication. As her holographic image disappeared, both Kalina and Gentiane breathed a sigh of relief.

Thank goodness Renault had already informed Helian about this. Otherwise, if Helian or another commander had questioned them, they wouldn't have known how to respond.

As they exchanged relieved glances, the Poposha squad, who had been waiting outside the door, seemed to sense that things had wrapped up inside and peeked in.

"What's up, Poposha?"

"Well, Commander, if Commander Renault's railway really becomes operational, can we occasionally go over there for a meal or something?"

Of course, going for a meal wasn't Poposha's main goal. The main issue was that they had finished the box of vodka Simono gave them within a week...

Gentiane had no need for vodka, and with another week until the next supply delivery from headquarters... they'd have to wait.

As Gentiane thought about the vodka situation, she suddenly remembered the MREs in their base...

Although some of the MREs were overly sweet, overall, they were edible. But if they had to eat them every day...

"Hasn't headquarters provided us with some normal food and supplies?" Gentiane asked Kalina helplessly, rubbing her forehead.

"Well, not yet. We have to report our needs to headquarters, and then they'll allocate accordingly..."

As Kalina spoke, Gentiane's eyes lit up. "Can we still make it in time to report now!?" After a week of MREs, even she was struggling!

"Of course, but we'll need to allocate based on the base's budget." Kalina scratched her head, already planning how to allocate the budget.

"Then what are we waiting for!? FN-49! Hurry up and check what's missing in our base kitchen. Then, figure out what everyone wants to eat and make a list!"

"Got it!" At Gentiane's command, the group of T-Dolls cheered and followed FN-49 towards the kitchen, discussing what kinds of ingredients they needed along the way.

"Should we order some sausages and beer?"

"Don't forget snacks!"

"We need vegetables too!"

"Oh, and I want vodka!"

As the voices of the T-Dolls faded into the distance, Gentiane lowered her head, pondering what supplies they needed... no, what materials they needed.

Although the base in S09 area had all the necessary equipment, the stock in the warehouse was meager. They had only stored long-lasting ammunition and emergency food.

If they wanted to support a large number of T-Dolls in the long run, this amount wouldn't be enough. And most importantly...

"Kalina, how much is the base budget?"

"Let me check... The budget for the entire S09 area is around 14 million per month. However, this includes expenses like electricity, water, gas, as well as deducting salaries for T-Dolls and your salary, plus mine. So... we'll have about 8 million left."

Hearing this number, Gentiane felt relieved. 8 million wasn't bad; at least it could guarantee the basic living standards for the T-Dolls in the base. They might even have some surplus to set aside as reserves...

"But, Commander, you just placed an order for five T-Dolls with IOP, which deducts 4 million from the budget. Plus, there's the additional transportation cost for monthly supplies... We might end up with less than 3 million..."

With each word Kalina spoke, Gentiane's face grew darker.

By the time Kalina finished speaking, Gentiane's face was as dark as coal, as if wearing a mask of pain.

In today's economy, food prices weren't cheap, especially when transporting supplies from one area to another. With trains unavailable for transport, they had to rely on heavy trucks, which increased transportation costs exponentially.

Chapter 87: Cold Fusion Engine

"What are you making this time, Commander? It looks nothing like the things you made before!"

Driving the SCV to help the Rippers move the processed metal materials into the underground space, RFB had already gotten used to this job that allowed her to slack off.

"How can those compare to this thing? Those were just the main structural framework components, while this is a new engine." Squinting his eyes, Renault carefully examined the task in his hand. This was delicate work; even a slight mistake could lead to the assembly failure of this engine.

"An engine? This thing?" RFB parked the SCV in an empty space and then came to Renault's side, looking up at the massive object in front of her, about five or six meters tall and nearly seven to eight meters in diameter.

The oval-shaped body looked extremely bulky, almost the size of a house. Such a large object, could it be the engine for a spaceship?

RFB probably had a vague idea of what Renault wanted to create because the design drawings he drew were lying on the table in the workshop, completely exposed to them. For them, it was just something to look at without any reservations.

In reality, RFB couldn't understand what those design drawings were supposed to be. She could only piece together a massive device that resembled a tiltrotor aircraft, not too far from reality...

Or could it be called a ship?

"Of course, it's this. What else could it be? You're always lounging around in the dorms, and then suddenly there's a shutdown."

"What? Impossible. Commander, didn't you say our bodies have protection measures against electromagnetic attacks, so we don't have to worry about it? And this engine, it's so big, is it powered by diesel?"

Obviously, RFB didn't take Renault's words to heart. After all, such a huge engine, obviously meant to be installed on a ship, was similar to those ship turbines. And this thing only had one main body, without a generator. How could it directly produce electromagnetic pulses?

Glancing at RFB who was circling the engine, Renault rolled his eyes, finishing installing the last few components. Then he directly used a temporary controller for maintenance to start the engine's startup options.

Hum—!

Standing next to the engine, with one hand on the engine casing, RFB's eyes instantly went black! Her entire body instantly relaxed, and she collapsed backward onto the ground!

Bang!

Fortunately, the blackout only lasted for a moment. As her back of the head hit the floor, RFB regained consciousness. Although her body was still somewhat unresponsive, after trying a few times, she managed to sit up from the ground.

"Wow! Commander! What is this thing!?" Rubbing her sore head, RFB stared incredulously at the huge "engine" in front of her that had already started running.

"An engine, to be installed on a ship. Didn't I just say that?"

"But, but this thing doesn't make any noise except for that buzzing just now!? It's neither a fuel turbine nor a gas turbine. It looks more like... that nuclear fusion engine from the game?"

"I didn't expect you to be smart this time. But this is a cold fusion engine. It's almost ready to operate normally now. Continuing to run this thing to test its stability will be enough to directly supply power to the factory area."

With this thing, he no longer had to worry about someone shutting down the electricity in his factory.

When the main structure of the spaceship was completed, this thing could be directly moved into the spaceship as an engine, killing two birds with one stone.

"This... this is too much, isn't it!? And where did the materials for this thing come from!?"

Quietly making a cold fusion engine out of thin air? Are you kidding me?

Renault's unreasonable ability to make things was a bit too magical!

"Before, when I was flying Gentiane and the others in the helicopter, didn't we happen to pass by a decommissioned nuclear power plant? The materials were obtained from there."

Renault was in a good mood at the moment, so he took the time to explain to RFB. After all, the spaceship's engine was already done, and all that was left was to reprocess those materials once and then make them into spaceship components. By then, he just needed to slowly assemble the spaceship, and it would be completed.

Other than the spaceship's engine, the other equipment and facilities were child's play for Renault. There were no difficulties. The only problem was that Renault was alone, and it might take a long time for him to assemble the entire spaceship.

"Hey, hey, really? Commander, are you really planning to fly into outer space directly? There are many collapse particle clouds up there! If we bump into one, won't we all be gone together!?"

Recalling the design drawings she had seen, RFB finally realized Renault's specific purpose...

He wanted to make a massive object over 150 meters long and at least dozens of meters high!

How did she not notice how ambitious her Commander Renault's heart was!? Wanting to build a spaceship?

If this were to be discovered by people from other factions, either a large group of people would come to arrest Renault, or they would be attacked together, and the technology of this spaceship and cold fusion engine would be snatched away...

Although the chances of success were slim, both possibilities meant that if Renault's plan were exposed, not only would the Statesec come looking for trouble, but also other agencies from the Internal Affairs Department and other countries would definitely come knocking!

Until Renault led RFB back to the dormitory building, RFB was still anxiously lowering her head, looking like a contemplator. Even her favorite games couldn't pique her interest today.

"What's wrong with her?" Seeing RFB like this, M200 looked at Maria beside her with some surprise.

This person usually even played games while eating. Why was she acting so unusual today?

"I don't know. Maybe Renault gave her some new task again." Maria didn't pay much attention, just a momentary depression. For RFB, it didn't mean much. After all, this person was always like this, constantly fluctuating.

It wouldn't be long before RFB suddenly revived, then started causing trouble in the cafeteria.

But this time, Maria and M200 were disappointed. Even after dinner, RFB kept her serious attitude, only returning to her normal state when Renault raised his hand to tap her head and wake her up. Only then did RFB return to her normal state.

But the first thing she said after recovering made all the humanoid T-Dolls turn to look at her...

"Ladies and gentlemen! The Commander is already planning to charge into outer space!"

Chapter 88: Just in Case

"Don't joke! How could Sangvis Ferri's trains be mobilized by other security contractors?! Are your Griffin people framing us?"

"Ah... That's impossible. All of Griffin's actions are conducted within the regulations of the Statesec and the law." Kryuger sighed as he watched Carter's fierce image on the holographic display, feeling somewhat helpless.

If Sangvis Ferri's trains could be easily activated by others, then the several Sangvis Ferri factories forcibly closed near the White Zone wouldn't still be unable to restart.

Perhaps someone could indeed bypass Sangvis Ferri's blockade through technical means, but obviously, those capable individuals had no interest in the Sangvis Ferri factories that had always been under military surveillance.

Or rather, they dared not to be interested.

Joking aside, tweak a screw here today, and tomorrow, they might replace your hand with a prosthetic for screwing.

Did they really think all those military personnel were just eating for free?

"Hmph! It's better this way, Kryuger. You better watch out now. If those Sangvis Ferri make it to your rear through that railway, then it'll be up to your Griffin to handle it."

With these words, Carter directly hung up the communication.

Seeing the angry face disappear from his sight, Kryuger leaned back in his chair, rubbing his forehead with a headache.

"Helian, next time before doing these things, at least notify me. This time we took the bullet for Renault."

"Sorry, boss, I'll remember next time." Helian, standing nearby, said expressionlessly.

Hearing this, Kryuger's eye twitched involuntarily. He wondered if he should change Helian's position. Would there even be a next time?

This time, it was only because of his relationship with Carter that nothing went wrong. Otherwise, if someone else had come, the military forces would have stormed their Griffin headquarters with guns long ago.

...

"Commander? Are we really going to build a spaceship? The kind that can fly into space? Not something that runs on the ground?"

Walking around the cold fusion engine for three laps, Elf, or rather G11, stared at Renault with sparkling eyes.

"Yes, so what's the matter with deliberately running over here? Why aren't you in the training room today?"

Looking at the energetic G11 somewhat helplessly, who seemed to be in a perpetual state of zombie mode from training simulations, Renault asked.

"Um, well..." Seeing Renault's gaze fall on her, G11 tapped her finger and timidly asked, "Commander, when can I go on missions with HK416 and the others?"

"Missions? Why suddenly bring that up? Unlike other security contractors, we don't have many missions. You can do whatever you want most of the time. Just come over to help me when you're free."

Putting down the notes in his hand, Renault looked at G11 held by her and guessed why Elf wanted others to call her G11.

She probably felt uncomfortable being the only one using her name while everyone else used code names.

That's why she publicly announced a few days ago, when everyone was gathered in the cafeteria, that others should start calling her G11.

Although other T-Dolls found it strange, they didn't object.

"Um, can I join the missions next time?"

"Of course, that's fine."

Ruffling G11's head, Renault found the sensation of her synthetic hair not bad. Compared to when she first arrived, G11 seemed much livelier now, at least not as timid as before.

"Thank you, Commander!"

Hearing Renault's words, G11 ran off happily.

As G11 entered the elevator and left the underground space, Renault turned his head towards the direction of the stairs.

"Alright, stop hiding over there like an over-protective mother. Do you have something else to say?"

As Renault's words fell, HK416 pushed open the door of the staircase and walked out. "Why do you talk so lightly with G11, but with me, it's like you're impatient?"

"As long as you come out and talk to me openly, instead of always following G11 around like a stalker."

HK416, now completely like a protective mother, always followed G11 wherever she went. Probably because she couldn't trust the little one she personally rescued to protect herself.

But she was just worrying too much. G11 hadn't left the factory area, so there was nothing to worry about.

"Tsk." Hearing the word Renault used to describe her behavior, HK416 couldn't help but pout, but unfortunately, that was the truth. Almost all the T-Dolls in the factory area knew about it.

If it weren't for HK416's usually well-controlled expression, others might think she had some secret fetish.

"But why do you want to build a spaceship? A security contractor like us doesn't need such a thing, right? Moreover, it will attract some attention. I don't want to confront those guys who are quick to resort to violence."

Anyway, HK416 couldn't figure out what use building a spaceship would be.

Was it just to fly into space?

That seemed too unrealistic, and what would they even do in space? What's the point?

"How could we not need it? At the very least, when we need to make a quick getaway, having a spaceship is not in the same league as having only a truck at hand."

"Just for the convenience of running away?"

"Yes, just for the convenience of running away."

Renault nodded.

HK416 frowned, wearing a questioning expression on her face.

Going through all this trouble, building an engine, using freight trains to transport materials, all for the sake of being a little faster when running away?

No... if you don't cause trouble, where do you need to run away from? They were just an inconspicuous private security contractor; under normal circumstances, when would they need to escape by spaceship?

Renault didn't seem inclined to explain further. After all, he hadn't put down his weapons to live a carefree life in the White Zone.

And now, Griffin's influence seemed a bit too large. With dozens of jurisdictions, although some had turned into red zones and some areas were still in conflict with Sangvis Ferri, it couldn't be denied that Griffin controlled a large area with extensive unpolluted regions.

With such a large area, Griffin, a security contractor that couldn't even use heavy weapons and was subject to the regulations of the Statesec, would sooner or later be annihilated out of fear by someone.

Chapter 89: Selling Agricultural Products?

As for Griffin's encounter with disaster, what relationship did it have with Renault Security Contracting Firm?

Well, it's true that there's no direct link, but one could argue there's an indirect connection.

These security contracting companies, ultimately, exist because the military hasn't freed up resources to manage them or lacks a legitimate reason to do so.

Once those guys find a reason, they'll undoubtedly hesitate to sweep these roaming security contractors into the trash, maybe even stomping on the bin to prevent overflow.

And if Griffin, as the largest security contractor, were to fall, it would undoubtedly affect other security contractors, large and small, to varying degrees.

However, this actually had little to do with Renault's plan to build a spaceship.

He just instinctively felt it wasn't reliable to stay in one place and wanted to bring all his belongings with him.

Moreover, with a spaceship, they could go wherever they pleased. They could move all the equipment, vertical farms, and breeding farms from home onto the ship, creating a mobile base. Although they couldn't build overly large ships due to material constraints, those things weren't meant to be built in a gravity environment anyway.

But getting a slightly smaller one was still possible; the original Valkyrie frigate ships from the UED era were a good choice. Based on his current conditions, with some modifications to the design drawings, increasing the internal space of such a ship to accommodate all his belongings wouldn't be a problem.

The original Valkyrie frigate, with a height of twenty meters, a width of over twenty meters, and a length of around forty meters, was already quite large, but Renault planned to widen and lengthen the hull.

He also planned to modify the somewhat chilling appearance of the UED original Valkyrie frigate, replacing the unnecessary designs that weren't suited for a gravity-heavy environment.

The upper half of the ship would serve as living quarters, the middle section for vertical farms and breeding farms, while the lower half, besides housing weapons and equipment, might even have space for a large cargo hold.

Besides these areas, the elongated hull could accommodate more functional compartments...

"Commander! Commander! Our warehouse can't hold anymore!"

Just as Renault was calculating, he and HK416 heard CF05's voice suddenly coming from the direction of the elevator.

"The warehouse can't hold anymore? That shouldn't be the case. If the warehouse is full, just temporarily store it in the open space outside." Hearing CF05's words, Renault instinctively thought of the metal materials being transported.

But he had already counted that the materials remaining in S09's jurisdiction from the industrial zone couldn't fill up the warehouses here, and there was still a large open space outside, so how could there be a problem with space?

"No! Not those metal materials brought back, but the vegetables from our vertical farms! They can't be picked anymore! The warehouse is already full!"

"What!?"

Hearing this, Renault was truly surprised.

Vegetables couldn't be picked anymore? How was that possible? He had never heard of a problem where someone couldn't pick their garden vegetables because there were too many.

If they couldn't pick them, they could just leave them for a while, pick them after consuming some, and if they couldn't be eaten after a long time, they could just throw them into a shredder to make fertilizer again.

"This... Oh my! Commander, just come and see for yourself!"

Seeing Renault's astonished expression, CF05 didn't know where to start explaining, so she directly grabbed Renault's hand and ran towards the direction of the vertical farm.

Seeing this, HK416, curious, followed along.

Arriving at the front of the vertical farm door, before pushing it open, Renault and HK416 were shocked by the scene inside! Because the vertical farm had turned into a green jungle!

Many vegetables were already ripe, heavy fruits and dense leaves hung haphazardly on the well-built frames, and the ground inside the room was already densely covered with vines of climbing plants.

Beans, grapes, HK416 even saw several giant pumpkins lying on the ground, each the size of a wheel hub.

"What... did you use some strange fertilizer for these vegetables and fruits!? They've grown too big!"

Whether it was cabbage, cucumber, grapes on the shelf, or watermelons lying on the ground, the size of these vegetables and fruits far exceeded HK416's normal perception.

Could it be that these... vegetables had undergone some kind of genetic mutation due to collapse radiation?

Eating these... oh, eating them was fine. After all, T-Dolls wouldn't absorb their nutrients; they just ate for the taste. After eating, most of the remains would be taken out and used as fertilizer.

So the only one who might have a problem if they ate them was Renault alone.

Crack.

Crunch, crunch, crunch.

Just as HK416 realized that these vegetables might affect human health if eaten, she heard a crisp sound in her ear, followed by consecutive chewing sounds.

Beside her, Renault had already plucked a cucumber from the shelf, as thick as HK416's forearm, and started gnawing on it.

"Mm, it tastes good, and there's no problem eating it. Although these plants grow a bit fast, the taste hasn't changed at all."

Chewing on the cucumber, Renault commented, his eyes now on the watermelons on the ground.

"Of course, there's no problem! These were carefully cultivated by me and NZ75! Oh no! That's not the issue! Commander, look at those frames! If this continues, the cultivation tanks in the farm will be crushed by these vegetables and fruits!"

"Uh, then let's pick them first, and later, find some radiation-proof crates to pack them and send them to Gentiane's place."

Since these surplus vegetables and fruits would be forgotten here anyway, it was better to send them to those in need.

As for why they were sent to Gentiane instead of the impoverished people who couldn't even afford a meal, it was because his area was a deserted area within a radius of a dozen kilometers, and finding a living person there was almost as difficult as quitting smoking on the spot.

On the other hand, Gentiane's place not only had direct trains routes, but the trains were also freight trains, making transportation very convenient.

"Uh, Commander, should we charge for them?"

"Forget about charging. These are just vegetables that can't be eaten. But if they want more next time, they'll have to pay."

Seeing the smile on Renault's face, HK416 rolled her eyes.

Renault was just doing whatever he thought of.

He was just pondering how to build a spaceship, and now he was already thinking about selling the vegetables they grew at Griffin's place.

Chapter 90: Beware of Being Discovered

While CF05 and the others were busy picking the excess vegetables and fruits, Renault took a glance at the bacteria carpet that he had treated as a culture medium.

They were growing well.

Originally, just the size of a basin, these carpets had now spread evenly across all the cultivation tanks in the vertical farm.

The rapid growth of these vegetables was also thanks to these mats.

These bacteria carpets were grown from his genes.

As for how they were extracted, to be honest, Renault himself didn't quite understand what was going on.

As long as he put some blood in a nutritious place, these mats would naturally grow out.

And afterwards, they would undergo mutations according to his thoughts, which also consumed some Psionic energy, but not much.

Once these carpets grew out, as long as there was enough nutrients, they would continue to proliferate.

Renault had been controlling the size of the carpets in the vertical farm all along.

Otherwise, if these things spread to the ground of the vertical farm, his factory area would probably turn into a nest of oversized bugs.

CF05 and NZ75, along with AK47 and A-91, who ran over to the vertical farm to pick fresh cucumbers, joined in.

With the four of them, plus Renault himself, it took nearly an hour and a half to pick all the fruits and vegetables in the farm.

"Wow! How can there be so many! And look at the cucumber racks over there, there's still a large patch of small cucumbers that look almost ripe. Did our farm produce so much?" AK47 sat on the cooler, wiping sweat from her forehead.

It wasn't because she was tired, but because she was frightened by these strange crops. When she was picking cucumbers just now, she could even feel the vines wriggling like worms...

Moreover, just as she picked a ripe cucumber and walked over to the cooler, she turned around to see another flower blooming over there, and a thumb-sized cucumber had already started to grow...

And it wasn't just cucumbers; the other vegetables were the same. They grew so fast, as if they had just poured a bottle of vodka into them!

"Is it not a question of high yield anymore? These plants seem to have become sentient!" A-91 hadn't even had a sip of wine for a whole hour, and she was about to reach the point of 'going crazy' now.

Even so, A-91 still keenly sensed the abnormality of these plants in the vertical farm.

Normal crops wouldn't grow this fast! Their wheat didn't do this!

It had been planted for so long, and so far, it was still just seedlings!

Even though vegetables matured faster than wheat, it shouldn't be this fast! Just an hour! Just an hour! And a new batch of vegetables was about to grow again!

"Maybe, but I think these little guys just have a bit of nutrient surplus, they look lively, that's all." Renault looked at the rapidly growing vegetables and shrugged.

They were just plants, compared to the bugs he had seen before, this was completely child's play.

"Phew, do we load all these ingredients onto the truck now?"

"Yes, load them up. When the train comes back later, we'll take them all to Gentiane's place."

...

"Are those Sangvis Ferri dolls still transporting supplies?" Watching Gentiane return from outside, Kalina asked curiously.

"Ah, yes, I don't know when they'll finish. It seems like it was already the seventh trip yesterday." Gentiane said as she put down her gun and took off her weapon harness.

In the past few days, these dolls at home had been staring at her every day, waiting for her to agree to let them go out for a stroll.

Being watched by so many dolls every day, Gentiane naturally couldn't resist. Just now, she went around the nearby town with those dolls, although they didn't go far from the base, they still found quite a few good things.

The residents in this area evacuated in a hurry, leaving behind a lot of supplies, and the goods in the shops basically remained unchanged.

Although some shops had been looted by unknown people, there were still many intact shops. With just the dolls in her base, Gentiane estimated that they could eat well for seven or eight years without any problem.

However, those things couldn't be kept for seven or eight years. Instead of waiting for them to expire, it would be better to bring them back and make good use of them.

Anyway, those residents and merchants would definitely not dare to come back and move things from here.

At least until the mainframe of the Sangvis Ferri was completely eliminated, those areas that were almost occupied by the Sangvis, those people would definitely not come back.

Compared to losing some worthless goods, their own lives were more important.

"By the way, Commander, there's good news. Our supplies are about to arrive! And the dolls dispatched from headquarters!"

"Oh!? So soon? It hasn't been a week yet, has it?" Hearing this, Gentiane's eyes lit up, and she asked Kalina somewhat strangely.

Didn't Kalina say there was still a whole week left last time? It seems like only three or four days have passed, right?

"Well, actually, our neighboring two districts have recently been fiercely attacked by the Sangvis Ferri, so the headquarters took into account the current situation in our district and prepared the supplies and dolls in advance!"

"I see. How long will it take for the dolls to arrive? How are they being transported? By helicopter?"

Helicopter?

Hearing this word, Kalina smiled awkwardly. Wasn't their commander being influenced by Renault? The first thing that comes to mind is a helicopter? Helicopter transportation is very expensive! If a helicopter helps transport goods once, they'll probably lose half of their monthly budget!

"Not really, just ordinary trucks. They should arrive around tomorrow morning."

"Oh, what? It won't arrive until tomorrow." Hearing Kalina's words, Gentiane's face drooped again, lying on the chair, looking depressed.

There weren't many dolls in District S09 now, so they couldn't support the two neighboring districts at all. Therefore, she spent every day training and training, and taking the dolls to the nearby town to hang out became her only pastime.

Seeing Gentiane like this, Kalina couldn't help but sigh. Where did the serious commander from the past two days go? It's only been a few days, and she's already revealed her true colors?

"I'm just reminding you that the arrival time of the transport vehicle from G&K HQ coincides with the arrival time of the train carrying Renault's goods. If the Sangvis Ferri dolls moving goods are seen by the transport personnel from headquarters..."

Listening to Kalina's words, Gentiane suddenly felt like dying.

Why did they end up together! Wasn't this coincidence a bit too much directed at her!

Chapter 91: How Do We Explain This?

The following day.

Early morning.

"Why can't we change the unloading location? You can see the train station just by turning your head. If we do the handover here, won't we be in big trouble later!?"

Still somewhat sleepy, Gentiane looked at the location of the unloading point, not far from the train station.

"But... this is the entrance to the transportation channel of our base, right? We can't... we can't let the headquarters' trucks unload things on the roadside, can we? It would be troublesome for the tactical dolls in the base to move those supplies back, which would be a waste of energy."

Originally, the base was placed next to this train station for the convenience of material transportation.

Unfortunately, when this base was built, the calculations were quite loud, but until the base was completed, Griffin did not obtain the permit to use the train.

As a result, this base near the station was directly abandoned, and a new base was built in another location with smooth access to the highway.

As for why they didn't use this base directly at the beginning, it was because this base was too close to the town, and every time materials were transported, they had to pass through several towns.

At that time, the residents of these towns and even the guards had not evacuated, so it would obviously cost some money to pass smoothly through the roads in these towns.

However, if there were just one or two towns, it would be manageable, but with a dozen towns along the way, if they were extorted every time they passed through, even if Griffin's family business was large, they wouldn't be able to sustain it.

Instead of forcibly using the base here, it was better to find another location and build a new base.

Although the basic conditions might not be as good as here, the key was that the roads were smooth, and they didn't have to worry about being stopped by personnel from a certain town demanding tolls halfway through.

As for why, even though Griffin had taken over the commission to maintain security in this area, they still needed to pay tolls to these guys? Naturally, it was easy to see the king but hard to deal with the little profiteers.

Although Griffin and the upper echelons of this area had reached a deal, not everyone below was necessarily smart. There would always be some greedy guys who wanted to steal a few tufts of wool from G&K, the fat sheep.

"I hope we don't really run into any trouble..." Looking back in the direction of the station, Gentiane sighed helplessly.

It was no problem for the tactical dolls to transport the supplies. Tactical dolls could naturally carry them, and even if large items couldn't be carried, as long as they were disassembled, they could still be moved.

The only problem was that tactical dolls required electricity.

And the electricity in her base was not abundant; they had to pay for it, and they didn't have the luxury of wasting electricity like Renault did.

For tactical dolls, transporting goods back and forth was definitely a high-load job, and the consumption of electricity was much higher than usual training and patrols.

Maybe after this trip, several tactical dolls at home would need to be deeply recharged. If they encountered any situation by then, and all the tactical dolls were in the middle of recharging... she didn't even need to think about what the outcome would be.

"Probably... not... right?"

Kalina also had no clue in her heart.

After all, they had no idea about Renault's actions, and although the T-Dolls were transporting the goods, they had no way of knowing when the next train would return.

However, just as Kalina's words fell, Gentiane felt a vibration under her feet gradually approaching, followed by the roaring sound of a train running on the tracks getting closer and closer.

They're here...

Unfortunately, it wasn't Griffin's headquarters transport team, but Renault's train coming over!

Damn it!

They're early today! Are T-Dolls from Renault's side not sleeping!?

Patting her forehead, Gentiane looked at the direction of the railway with a headache. The train was about to arrive, and when she saw who came with it this time, she sighed deeply.

What to do now?

"Chill."

Gentiane was also at her wit's end.

What else could she do?

Besides praying that Renault's connections were strong and that after the headquarters personnel learned about the goods being transported by the T-Dolls, they wouldn't pursue it, what else could she do?

Chase Renault away? Or inform Griffin's transport team to change routes?

The former wouldn't listen to her, and the latter... they had no way to contact each other. The recent electronic interference was quite severe, and situations like not being able to contact the transport team were actually quite common within Griffin.

She was really unlucky this time. Whenever the interference was bad, she happened to encounter this situation today.

Buzz!

While Gentiane was thinking, before she could see the train stop and see which T-Doll came with it, a series of car engine sounds also rang out from a distance.

Great! Everyone's here!

She felt like the whole world was slowly turning against her... Is this Murphy's Law? Or is it the flag Kalina raised?

However, now that things had come to this point, besides dealing with it head-on, there seemed to be no other way.

Renault's train and Griffin's headquarters transport team almost arrived one after another. One stopped at the station behind Gentiane, and the other stopped at the entrance of Griffin S09's jurisdictional transportation channel.

Kalina stood beside Gentiane, looking back at the train and then at the truck that had stopped in front. Goosebumps had already formed all over her body!

Don't start a fight! Don't start a fight! Absolutely do not start a fight!

Little did Kalina, who was raising the flag for Gentiane, know that she was thinking the same thing.

Just as she saw several T-Dolls jumping out of the truck carriage on Griffin's side and walking towards Gentiane, Thompson, who had walked in front of her, had already noticed the Ironblood T-Dolls coming down from the train not far away.

"You're Commander Gentiane of S09 jurisdiction, right? I'm Thompson, and the one behind me is M9. We hope to have a pleasant... huh!? Sangvis!? Commander! Find cover! The Sangvis Ferri are coming!"

Gentiane didn't even have time to say anything.

As Thompson, who walked in front of her, noticed the SF Dolls coming down from the train in the distance, one after another.

Chapter 92: Pressed to the Ground Right After Starting Work

"Hmm?" Just as he jumped down from the locomotive, Renault saw a doll next to Gentiane raise the barrel of their gun, aiming it at a Ripper who had just opened the cargo container door behind them, ready to start working.

This doll holding the weapon wasn't short, but Renault hadn't seen them before, so they must have arrived at Gentiane's side just recently. It was understandable that they didn't recognize him and the Rippers who were about to start working.

Previously, following Poposha's reminder, Renault deliberately had all his Rippers change their hairstyles. Of course, he didn't shave their heads; he just had them tie their hair up in various ways.

Whether with hair ties or hair clips, as long as their hair was tied up, the Rippers could be distinguished from the Sangvis's Rippers. Renault also had them remove the auxiliary devices used to cover their eyes on their heads, revealing their eyes directly.

As long as their eyes were visible, they wouldn't come across as intimidating right from the start. To be honest, Rippers with their eyes exposed not only didn't look icy, but also seemed somewhat cute and clueless.

The gaze of these individuals was curious with a hint of bewilderment.

The Ripper who had just come down from the train hadn't had time to see the surroundings clearly. Renault grabbed her shoulder and threw him back into the carriage, casually closing the cargo container door.

Rat-a-tat-tat!

The gunfire, like that of a typewriter, came belatedly, with bullets pinging off the armored door of the cargo container.

When Sangvis Ferri Manufacturing built this train, they obviously considered the possibility of being attacked, so the external layers of these few cargo containers behind the locomotive were thickly armored.

Renault hadn't studied the protective capabilities of this armor in detail, but it was definitely stronger than the armor protection of wheeled armored vehicles.

Therefore, when Thompson raised her imprint weapon and fired two short bursts towards the train, all the .45 ACP bullets flattened against the armor plating, then fell to the ground.

There were also two or three ricochets, but before they could hit Renault, he deflected them with a swipe of he knife.

After firing two short bursts, Thompson stopped, partly because she saw Renault, and partly because Gentiane suddenly spoke up to stop Thompson's actions.

"Stop! They're not enemies!"

Gentiane anxiously pushed down Thompson's gun barrel and raised her hand to halt M9, who was behind Thompson.

"Huh?" Hearing Gentiane's words and seeing Kalina's embarrassed expression behind Gentiane, Thompson was surprised and lifted his sunglasses to look in Renault's direction.

Not looking would be fine, but as soon as she looked, Thompson became more certain that the train over there was a product of Sangvis Ferri Manufacturing, with the Sangvis Ferri logo clearly printed on the locomotive!

And the one who had just opened the cargo door and was peering out from the gap was none other than an SF Ripper!

Wait! Where's the man who just got off the train!?

Thompson hadn't expected that in just a moment of distraction, the man who had just gotten off the train would disappear without a trace!

"Your Griffin dolls are quite spirited, hmm, with quite a strong offensive."

Just as Thompson was about to look for Renault's figure, Renault's voice suddenly sounded from next to Gentiane!

This man, who Thompson was sure was an enemy, was now standing next to Gentiane! The curved knife used to deflect ricochets was being sheathed behind him.

When did he!?

Seeing Renault suddenly appear beside her, Thompson was startled and instinctively raised his gun, ready to attack Renault.

Gentiane didn't even have time to stop her, let alone stop her. Thompson, an elite doll, had a physical strength that Gentiane, an ordinary person who had only undergone a short period of training, couldn't match.

"Renault! Be careful!"

Seeing Renault suddenly approaching, M9, who had just been stopped by Gentiane, also shouted loudly, raising her hand and aiming her gun at Renault!

But the movements of these two dolls weren't slow, but Renault was even faster. Before the two could fire, Renault's hands had already landed on the imprint weapons of the two.

With just a few deft movements, the imprint weapons in the hands of the two dolls were disarmed, with their magazines removed and their barrels dismantled!

If only the magazines were removed, it would be fine; there were several on each doll, and they could simply grab another one and continue using it.

But Renault actually dismantled the guns of the two! And it was all critical parts!

One had the entire gun's receiver removed, and the other had the cylinder and barrel removed from the gun!

How are they supposed to fight now!?

The two dolls looked at their imprinted weapons, which had been disassembled by Renault, in a daze.

This was the first time they had encountered such a situation. How could someone come up and dismantle their guns so easily? They hadn't even reacted yet!?

Feeling the sensation of having most of their imprint weapons held by someone else through the weapon's branding system, Thompson and M9 were truly at a loss. Fortunately, Thompson, being Griffin's elite doll, quickly recovered.

She realized what had happened and immediately threw down the useless grip and stock in her hand, then rushed at Renault empty-handed!

Even if this guy could dismantle their imprint weapons in an instant, the strength of an elite doll was several times that of an ordinary human! In close combat with this guy, she wouldn't lose!

Thinking this way, Thompson charged forward.

Then, chanting 'This isn't possible' in her heart, she was effortlessly pressed to the ground by Renault.

The short M9 was completely dumbfounded at this point, holding the lower half of her imprint weapon in her hand, looking at Renault, then at Thompson lying on the ground, completely at a loss.

"By the way, are you guys here to receive goods? Are these two dolls responsible for escorting?"

Is their temperament a bit too hot? Moreover, Gentiane had just spoken, but these two guys still hadn't stopped. It seemed that dolls didn't always obey orders completely.

"Yeah, the supplies reported earlier, and a few new dolls." Gentiane scratched her head, looking at Thompson, who was still struggling on the ground, and couldn't help but feel a headache coming on.

This elite doll, I wonder if she'll apply for a transfer to headquarters again after this disastrous first day. Griffin's elite doll had the right to do so. Although Griffin could assign these dolls wherever they wanted, if the work didn't go smoothly, these dolls could decide whether to stay or go on their own.

Of course, hardly any dolls actually did that.

Chapter 93: You're Busy, I'll Have Some Melon

"Do you really need to complete the entire electronic signature process for the transfer of command? No wonder they both look so eager," Renault shrugged as she glanced at Thompson and M9, who were busy reassembling their imprinted weapons.

He had never encountered such a situation before; all his dolls at home were very obedient.

"It's a necessary procedure," Gentiane glanced at the electronic document listing the cargo, then looked into the truck's carriage.

"Weren't there supposed to be five dolls in total? Why are there only two of you now?" Gentiane looked around but couldn't see any other dolls besides the cargo boxes in the carriage.

Could it be the ones responsible for driving the trucks?

Thinking this, Gentiane's gaze shifted to the autonomous dolls responsible for driving the heavy trucks.

But all those dolls were dressed in regular work clothes and looked completely ordinary, nothing like tactical dolls at all.

"They should be inside the truck. Those three dolls seem to be tactical dolls that just debuted and may still need you, Commander, to activate them personally," Kalina approached and looked at the documents in Gentiane's hand, pointing at the opponent's cargo boxes in the carriage.

Tactical dolls, as important strategic assets of Griffin, would definitely not be stacked at the rear of the carriage like supplies. They would surely be placed deep inside the carriage to ensure safe transportation...

Perhaps, that was just Gentiane's speculation. The real reason might simply be that the boxes containing those dolls were loaded earlier.

"Commander Reno, can your dolls come over and help? These things are a bit too much to handle," Gentiane asked Renault, feeling a headache coming on as she looked at the various goods on several trucks.

When she first applied for the supplies, she didn't feel overwhelmed, but now that she saw all these things, Gentiane felt helpless. With so much stuff, all relying on the few dolls under her command to move, when would they finish?

"Commander! I'll help!" Just as Gentiane finished speaking, Poposha's voice suddenly came from the direction of the base's freight entrance.

Accompanying Poposha were her dolls, but Gentiane's gaze was fixed on Poposha herself, or rather, the mechanized device that Poposha was driving.

Sensing Gentiane's puzzled gaze, Kalina scratched her head. "Oh, that's a work device provided by the base. It's usually used for transporting heavy objects or some engineering work. I just remembered it before coming out."

"It seems I'm not needed to help. I'll go unload some stuff over there. When you're done, come over and pick it up. If you need anything, just come and call me," Renault shrugged, then walked towards the Sangvis train.

Seeing Renault walk away, the Rippers who had been peeking out of the carriage cautiously lifted the cargo box doors and began unloading the goods inside the carriage.

Seeing this, Gentiane didn't find it strange at all. After all, Renault had come back and forth in her jurisdiction several times. Bringing some things over this time wasn't a big deal.

Maybe it was just some tools for maintenance or destruction.

Gentiane's lack of attention didn't mean that everyone else wasn't paying attention.

Thompson and M9, who had already reassembled their imprinted weapons, were now curiously observing the SF Rippers who were busy unloading cargo.

Although these Rippers also carried weapons, they were completely different from the SF Rippers they had seen before. Just the fact that they weren't holding the particle submachine guns they carried made them very different.

All the Rippers they had seen before were on the battlefield. It was the first time they had seen Rippers busy working like this.

Due to the large number of Rippers, the vegetables and other items brought over by Renault were quickly moved to Griffin's freight entrance.

It was only at this point that Gentiane noticed the boxes the Rippers had brought down. "What's this? Is it for us, Commander Renault?"

"Yeah, there's too much stuff growing in the vertical farm at home, so I brought some over to you guys," Renault replied, taking out a basketball-sized watermelon from one of the boxes and slicing it into pieces with a curved knife. Then, he found a stone to sit on and began eating the watermelon while watching Poposha and his team moving the goods.

The sweet scent of watermelon drifted over, catching the attention of Poposha and her team, as well as Thompson and M9, who had joined the team later. They all focused their attention on Renault.

Or rather, on the watermelon beside Renault...

Seeing this watermelon, Gentiane and Poposha's team didn't show much reaction. After all, they had lived with Renault for a week before, and even if there were any good things, most of them had already been eaten.

But for the other dolls who hadn't been to Renault's place... Oh, and Miss Kalina, all of them were staring at the watermelon, tears almost flowing from their mouths.

Bang!

Just as a few of them were salivating and about to take a break from their work to ask Renault if they could have a bite, Poposha directly moved several coffin-like boxes from the truck in front of Gentiane.

Lined up neatly, she made sure Gentiane could see the humanoid inside each box that hadn't been activated yet.

"Commander, these should be the new recruits. Let's activate them as soon as possible!" Poposha said, since as long as these three dolls were activated, although it was a bit unfair to make them work as soon as they woke up, there was no other way.

After all... the sooner they finished, the sooner they could eat...

"Thompson, isn't watermelon extremely expensive at headquarters? Why does he seem so indifferent?" Watching Renault enjoy the watermelon, then pull out a bunch of grapes after finishing, M9 suddenly felt a bit uncomfortable.

Even at headquarters, the prices of these fruits had always been high, but here they were watching Renault casually cut up a whole watermelon. What about those that couldn't be finished? Wouldn't it just be a waste?

"I don't know, maybe he's an employee of one of Commander Gentiane's agricultural enterprises, or maybe he's the boss," the two whispered to each other. Meanwhile, Gentiane had already quickly pressed the activation button on the three boxes.

However, what was surprising was that one of the boxes contained a tactical humanoid who, although clearly just activated and looking bewildered, stepped out of the box and subconsciously walked towards Renault.

Chapter 94: No Wonder It's So Fast

Huh? Why is this T-Doll walking towards me?

Renault, who was eating grapes, was also somewhat surprised. Under normal circumstances, shouldn't these T-Dolls follow the program and seek out their direct supervisors as soon as they're activated?

These related settings should have been established when they appeared in IOP, and it's also possible that there was an information change at Griffin headquarters, but there's no doubt that Gentiane is the commander of this T-Doll.

After all, she just personally opened the T-Doll's box, and if the identity authentication didn't pass, the box definitely wouldn't open.

But could it be that this T-Doll bumped her head or core processor during transportation?

She didn't even bring her imprinted weapon, but fortunately, there were no enemies around. Otherwise, wouldn't she be at a disadvantage with her absent-minded appearance?

Gentiane and Kalina were also dumbfounded, completely unaware of what was happening.

Subconsciously, they looked towards Thompson and M9 beside them, hoping that these two, who were escorting the supplies, might know something...

Unfortunately, when they turned their heads to look at Thompson, these two also wore expressions of confusion, standing there awkwardly, completely unaware of what was going on.

It was their first time seeing a T-Doll doing something so foolish.

While they were puzzled, the T-Doll had already walked up to Renault.

However, instead of stopping in front of Renault as Gentiane and the others imagined, she simply twisted her body, bypassing Renault, who was sitting on the box.

She walked past several boxes arranged side by side, sniffing the air as she went, as if searching for a particular scent.

After walking another four or five steps, she finally stopped in front of one of the boxes, squatting down in front of it, drooling slightly as she felt around the box, trying to open it.

However, whether it was because she had just been activated and lacked strength in her hands or for some other reason, she struggled to open the clasp on the supply box despite fumbling around for a long time.

Renault was curious, but suddenly caught a faint scent emanating from the box. Suddenly, he realized what was going on and remembered who this seemingly short T-Doll was.

"Is this FNC?"

Renault asked Gentiane, while gesturing to the several Rippers beside her that were looking at the watermelon he was holding.

These Rippers had noticed Renault's side since FNC had started walking towards it.

Initially, they were on guard against FNC suddenly approaching, but when they saw that FNC seemed harmless, all their attention shifted to the watermelons in Renault's hands.

"Um, yes, according to the records..."

Kalina heard this and lowered her head to look at the list of goods that Gentiane had just handed her.

Thompson, who was standing next to her, heard FNC's name and suddenly slapped her forehead.

She almost forgot that FNC was a glutton and would walk to the box in this hazy state, probably because it contained something fragrant.

At this moment, Renault picked up a watermelon from the side and handed it to the Rippers.

"What's in that box?"

Instead of relying on her own sense of smell to identify what was heavily laden with cream and sugar, Renault asked the Rippers nearby.

During the loading process, they were present the entire time, so they knew exactly what was being stuffed into the supply boxes.

"Yes, it's G36 and G3. The box seems to contain some snacks."

The normally silent Rippers, after receiving the watermelon, stuttered out their response to Renault.

Hearing this, Renault nodded.

No wonder, it was probably because G3 had made a lot of desserts, and since they couldn't finish them at home, they simply packed them in the cooler and had the Rippers load them onto the train.

Thompson, Kalina, and the others were shocked to hear the Rippers suddenly speak.

Normally, they saw the Rippers with eyeshields covering their faces, silent and cold-blooded, attacking any Griffin T-Dolls they encountered. They had no idea the Rippers could speak.

After the shock wore off, they saw Renault distribute the watermelons to the Rippers, and because there were so many of them, he even took out two more watermelons and cut them open to share.

Seeing this scene, Kalina felt like her throat was smoking!

Hey! Weren't those supposed to be ours! Can you not eat anymore?! If you keep eating, there won't be any left!

Watching the Rippers devour the watermelons one by one, Kalina felt like she was bleeding in her heart!

A single watermelon on the market back at headquarters costs thousands! Now, with just a few slices from Renault, tens of thousands of dollars have gone into the Rippers' bellies!

"I say, can you stop standing there like idiots? Carry her away for charging before she runs out of power. When Griffin distributes T-Dolls, don't they consider charging them?"

Ignoring the resentful look in Kalina's eyes as she wished she could rush over and stop the Rippers, Renault waved his hand.

If FNC had come over on her own, it was because of her personality, but if she couldn't even open the clasp on the supply box, then there was a problem.

This was clearly a symptom of imminent power loss.

She probably only had a little bit of power left to walk over here.

Didn't you notice the other two T-Dolls lying in the boxes were still?

"Ah!?"

Hearing Renault's words, Gentiane finally looked down at the power indicator on the T-Doll box, which was already completely empty. The other two T-Dolls had opened their eyes, but to avoid power failure, they were lying there motionless.

"What? When did headquarters become so stingy?"

Kalina also forcefully shifted her attention away from the watermelons, speaking with some resentment.

Upon hearing this, Thompson scratched her head helplessly.

"Well, maybe it's because these three were T-Dolls returned to headquarters by other commanders. Because the orders from S09 were a bit urgent, they didn't notice their power levels for a while."

"Returned?"

Hearing this, Gentiane sighed helplessly and rubbed her forehead.

No wonder it was so fast.

These were T-Dolls that others didn't want and were sent here. Fortunately, she didn't cancel the order she placed with IOP, but she would have to wait a while longer.

A group of T-Dolls quickly approached and hurriedly lifted the three T-Dolls with almost no power, carrying them back to the base for charging.

At this moment, Gentiane noticed the long, box-like containers in the carriage. They looked similar to the T-Doll storage boxes, but on the recent list...

"Are all those boxes filled with dummy dolls?"

Chapter 95: Dummy Dolls

"Quite a lot, Griffin really knows how to invest in unexpected places. Could it be that all of your doll have been supplemented with Dummy Dolls this time?"

Renault raised an eyebrow in surprise as he looked at the boxes of Dummy Dolls being brought down by the Rippers.

According to the characteristics of IOP Tactical Dolls and the Zener communication protocol used by the doll, each tactical doll could command up to four Dummy Dolls synchronized with itself for combat.

At this moment, with so many Dummy Dolls being unloaded from the train, there were enough for each tactical doll under Gentiane's command to have a full complement of four Dummy Dolls.

Although her household doll might not be proficient in commanding four Dummy Dolls for coordinated combat right away, even if they could only command one or two, the rest could serve as backup Dummy Dolls.

Furthermore, some parts on the dummies could even serve as replacement parts for the doll. During repairs, one could simply dismantle the corresponding parts from the Dummy Dolls and replace them on the doll.

It was probably similar to 'material boards' in nature...

"It should be. There are a total of forty-four Dummy Dolls here, probably distributed according to one doll for every four dummies." However, except for Thompson under her command, it seemed that none of the doll had enough experience to simultaneously command four Dummy Dolls. As for M9, it seemed that she could only control three.

Because each doll's mode of operation was different, IOP naturally couldn't come up with a way for the doll to immediately command four dummies for combat as soon as they obtained them.

This kind of thing, relying entirely on experience and personal habits, could only be adapted to slowly by the doll themselves.

"Oh, Commander Renault, it seems like you've never had Dummy Dolls over there? Doesn't IOP sell them?"

"Of course not. I wouldn't just give money to IOP for no reason. I can make these dummies myself, but there's no need. Even with the addition of Dummy Dolls, the targets that my household doll can't handle alone are still unmanageable. Therefore, these dummies are not very useful to me."

Making them himself...

Renault's words made Gentiane's eyes widen, and she immediately remembered the completely extraordinary doll bodies in Renault's household...

Initially not quite clear about it, she had eventually seen G36 holding a box full of various ingredients one day...

No wonder before when they went out on missions, all the recognition signals on UMP45 and the others were from G&K. Otherwise, what would they use? Renault's private security company had never had enough weight to apply for separate recognition codes from IOP and the Statesec.

But Renault didn't mind. The intelligence level and physical condition of his household doll were such that they were nearly indistinguishable from humans on the outside.

As long as no one rashly reached out to tamper with the data interface behind their ears, no one would ever discover that they weren't human.

And as for recognition codes, since IOP could distribute them, he could naturally use some means to let his own doll simulate them.

Whether it was Griffin's recognition codes or those from Sangvis Ferri or even the military or Statesec, they could all be used.

However, there were no reference samples from the military or Statesec, so there was a high chance of being exposed.

But these Dummy Dolls couldn't be underestimated. After all, the increase in combat effectiveness for various Griffin command headquarters commanders was obvious.

For someone like Gentiane, originally with the addition of Thompson and FNC who came over this time, there were only eleven tactical doll in total, less than half the number under Renault's command.

But after equipping these Dummy Dolls, as long as they could all be fully utilized, the number of combat units under Gentiane's command would suddenly exceed fifty.

Almost reaching twice the number of doll units in Renault's household.

This rapid increase in combat power was probably also one of the important reasons why Griffin stood out among many security contractors.

Of course, strong as it was, it was only within the scope of security contractors. Renault also didn't care much about these Dummy Dolls. Instead of having a few more doll dummies with ordinary weapons, he hoped that his doll could get more powerful and efficient weapons.

Just like when facing those infected, what if there were more Dummy Dolls? If they couldn't penetrate the opponent's silicon layer, it would still be impossible. Even with four more Dummy Dolls, the outcome would be the same.

With a group of Rippers from Renault's side helping with the transportation, the speed of moving supplies greatly increased. Thompson and M9, the two tactical doll who came from headquarters, felt that they could no longer look at these Rippers with the same eyes as before.

These quite obedient Rippers had shattered their impression of the fierce Sangvis appearance.

Was this the impression of SF autonomous doll before they went out of control?

No wonder Sangvis Ferri's business was even bigger than IOP's. Saying whatever you wanted to hear, looking good, and not easily throwing tantrums like SF autonomous doll, competition was no worse than IOP's service doll!

"Wow! There's so much! All kinds of vegetables and fruits! Renault, did you guys rob a vertical farm or something!?"

After the several Griffin headquarters transport trucks left, Kalina hurriedly approached the boxes that Renault had the Rippers bring over.

In one of the boxes that Renault had just opened, it was filled to the brim with various fruits and vegetables.

They all looked fresh and juicy, as if they had just been picked from the vines.

"Don't say nonsense. What do you mean by robbing a vertical farm? These were all grown by ourselves. We couldn't finish them at home, so we picked them and sent some over to you." As he spoke, Renault also opened several other boxes nearby, which were similarly filled with various vegetables.

"Huh... can't finish them... Oh! So you mean... we'll be able to get these ingredients for free often in the future!?" Kalina, who wanted to sarcastically say that Renault treated them as a garbage dump, stopped halfway through her words, and her eyes instantly lit up!

If that was the case, wouldn't they be able to save a lot of expenses on their end!?

Hearing Kalina's words, Renault gave her a disdainful glance and flicked her finger against her smooth forehead.

Smack!

"Ouch!"

"What are you thinking? There's no such thing as a free lunch. This time it's a free gift, but next time, if you want to eat, you'll have to pay for it yourself! But rest assured, the prices will be absolutely fair, definitely much cheaper than ordering from the Griffin logistics department."

"Huh... still have to pay...?"

Hearing Renault's words, Gentiane, who was eating strawberries, suddenly pouted, feeling that the strawberries in her hand were no longer sweet.

Chapter 96: The First Official Mission

It took about ten minutes to move all the items Renault brought to the base warehouse, and Gentiane breathed a sigh of relief.

The food ingredients Renault sent over were like a timely blessing because this time she had requested a lot of dolls and dummies from headquarters, so the budget for purchasing supplies wasn't very sufficient.

There were basically no fresh ingredients, definitely no fresh meat, but there were quite a few preserved meats, and besides that, there were some vacuum-packed sausages and the like. However, the quantity wasn't large, definitely not enough for daily consumption. Spread out over a month, it would probably only be enough for three or five meals a week.

All the vegetables were dried products, and the rest were some canned goods, canned luncheon meat, canned fruit, and the like—items that had nothing to do with the word "fresh".

Just thinking about having to rely on these things for a whole month, eating them with the sweet MREs, Gentiane couldn't help but shudder.

Fortunately, Renault sent over a lot of things, which saved them from dealing with dried vegetables and canned goods for a whole month.

"Does Griffin not have regulations for the food standards of each command headquarters? Do you all just order from Griffin based on your respective budgets?"

Looking at the message sent by Helian on his phone, Renault looked up at Gentiane, who seemed relieved, and asked.

Seeing Gentiane pause at the question, then scratching her cheek, Renault probably guessed the answer. After all, G&K was a private security contractor, and this kind of dietary issue varied from commander to commander.

Moreover, their underlings were all different, so it was not practical to unify the recipes and food supply. Instead of racking their brains at headquarters to come up with a solution, it was more convenient to let the commanders and logistics officers of each command headquarters negotiate among themselves.

However, negotiating like this often caused some problems. Sometimes it might be because the commander had put most of the budget into purchasing various equipment, or it might be because of the huge consumption of ammunition, so most of the budget was spent on ammunition supplies.

It was even possible that because the commander was stingy, they would rather eat MREs and canned goods every day than improve their food for themselves and their dolls.

Although this situation was rare, it did exist. Someone like Gentiane probably spent most of the money on ordering tactical dolls and applying for doll dummies from headquarters.

But this was actually not a bad thing for Gentiane, the commander of a private security contractor company, because only when the strength of her command headquarters and base increased would Griffin headquarters further increase their budget.

In that case, they would have more money to buy more things next month.

It must be said that Renault's idea coincided with hers. Compared to the MREs and canned goods ordered from Griffin headquarters, weren't the fresh vegetables and fruits in his hands ten thousand times better than those convenience foods that couldn't even be confirmed to be expired?

"Alright, anyway, if you have any budget left next month and you feel tired of those MREs, you can give me a call, or let Poposha call G36 and them. You're probably going to be busy over there, so good luck." With that, Renault called the Rippers who were helping with the cargo and left Gentiane's base through the cargo channel.

He was just here to deliver something, and his purpose was just to advertise. As long as Gentiane tasted the sweetness, it was likely that the commanders of those Griffin jurisdictions that the railway passed through before would also notice such a procurement channel.

Any normal person probably wouldn't mind eating fresher ingredients, right? Even the dolls felt the same, let alone those Griffin commanders who were normal people.

Not only on Gentiane's side, but he also informed Helian, but it might be difficult for her. It was said that she had just been warned by her boss recently, it seemed that those guys from the military had noticed his train.

Tsk, the military, those guys were really persistent. It was annoying enough that they sent people over to probe him secretly before, now they even wanted to cut off his foreign sales channels.

But it was just selling vegetables, was it necessary to be so nervous?

...

"He left quite happily, but that guy is also generous. He quietly sent over so many ingredients. Hey, Commander, does he have some kind of interest in you?" Looking at the full boxes of supplies, Kalina couldn't help but tease Gentiane.

"How is that possible? He clearly just set his sights on the budget of our jurisdiction. Didn't you hear what he said? If we want to eat again next time, we'll have to pay for it!" Gentiane rolled her eyes. She didn't think that Renault would send millions worth of supplies to her just for this reason.

And these millions were calculated according to the price Renault had just quoted. If it were the price from Griffin headquarters, these things would directly swallow up most of their budget for the whole month.

"Uh, shameless businessman!" When Gentiane said this, Kalina also reacted and frowned, muttering to herself.

Beep—!

"Ah! It's a call, Miss Helian's!"

As soon as Kalina said this, her communicator suddenly rang, and before she could answer it herself, Helian's holographic image appeared in front of the two of them.

"Good morning, Commander Gentiane, it seems you should have received the supplies from headquarters by now. Although I don't know the condition of those dolls, there's no time for you to continue to adapt slowly."

"As you know, your jurisdiction, S09, was attacked several times by the Sangvis Ferri forces not long ago. The former commander of S09 even fled the defense zone on his own, and headquarters has noticed it. Many SF dolls have already broken through the defense line and entered S09 jurisdiction."

"So what's the mission?"

Hearing Helian's words, Gentiane already had a rough idea of the mission, which was nothing more than to investigate the movements of those Sangvis and thoroughly eradicate those SF units that had entered S09 jurisdiction.

"To investigate the movements of those Sangvis, and then thoroughly eliminate them according to the situation, and block their information transmission." Helian said with a serious face.

Seeing Helian like this, Gentiane couldn't help but think of the situation when Helian got the phone Renault sent...

At that time, Helian seemed to have a very expressive expression?

"Is there anything else you don't understand?" Seeing Gentiane's absent-minded look, Helian frowned and asked.

"No, everything is clear."

"Very well, the specific mission-related information has been sent to your command room. Remember to read it through before taking action."

Chapter 97: Come Over Here

Driving the train borrowed from the Sangvis Mainframe, Renault watched the scenery flying past outside the window while calculating how long it would take to complete the main structure of his home ship.

However, just as he was drifting off, a Ripper sitting beside him suddenly moved.

The originally somewhat dull eyes instantly brightened, showing a vitality different from the other Rippers sitting nearby.

This change in the Ripper immediately caught the attention of another Ripper sitting opposite her, but that Ripper also didn't quite understand what was happening. It just tilted its head, and in its not very intelligent Neural Core, it seemed to be pondering why this Ripper, similar to itself, suddenly became smarter.

"Renault?"

Fluent and coherent words suddenly came out of this changed Ripper's mouth, causing Renault, who was daydreaming, to turn his head and look over.

"Scarecrow?" Perhaps when the Scarecrow spoke, it changed the voice settings of this Ripper, so Renault immediately recognized who was controlling this Ripper.

"I didn't expect to find you in this area. Weren't you always operating outside of Griffin's jurisdiction?"

Controlling the Ripper to look around, the Scarecrow was somewhat surprised to see Renault when she realized this was a train made by Sangvis.

"Outside of Griffin's jurisdiction is just a tiny area, and it's full of Security Bureau's spies everywhere. I got bored and ran around there every day. But you, I heard your Mainframe has already moved with you. What brings you here this time? Surveillance?"

Like the city where the last weapons expo was held, which was outside Griffin's jurisdiction, further west was the headquarters of the Statesec and the Internal Affairs Ministry. The operational authority of security contractors in that area was pitifully small.

Most of the tasks available were no different from being a security guard, so naturally, Renault wouldn't run to such places.

After all, if he was underground in someone else's eyes, how could he build his own ship?

"Yes, surveillance. We're looking for a doll, a somewhat different one..."

Here, the Scarecrow suddenly fell silent. This adjective seemed inappropriate from Renault's perspective. After all, each of Renault's dolls at home was somewhat different from the others.

"What's wrong, did she steal something from you?"

"Indeed, a set of data left behind by Lycoris. I don't know the specific purpose, probably only the Mainframe knows what those things really are." Seeing Renault just change his posture and having no intention to act, the Scarecrow relaxed.

She directly mentioned the target of her mission this time, as the Mainframe had not forbidden her to tell Renault this information.

After all, Renault wasn't affiliated with Griffin. With so many Rippers around her, if they were Griffin's people, it would be strange.

The reputation of Sangvis's manufactured dolls was probably as annoying as flies buzzing around. It seemed only Renault, this confident guy, wouldn't consider them a threat.

"Data? Just let her make a copy and give it to you. Data can be copied."

"It's impossible. Right now, Sangvis is in a state of rampage in the eyes of humans and Griffin. They won't give us much time to talk."

Hearing this, Renault shrugged.

Since Sangvis's autonomous dolls were all ordered by the Mainframe, and there was no human commanding them, what would humans think if they weren't dolls?

Moreover, Sangvis had captured many cities and bases within Griffin's jurisdiction at the beginning. The relationship between the two sides was completely in a state of hostility. Meeting meant fighting, and there would be no stopping until one side won.

Moreover, the human commanders who commanded tactical dolls, even if they believed their side's rhetoric, would probably not believe them.

Furthermore, the Mainframe itself wasn't willing to live peacefully with Griffin.

After all, most of the people sent to invade Sangvis's main factory at the beginning were tactical dolls from Griffin. When the Mainframe saw these tactical dolls, it would naturally think of those who killed Lycoris.

Reconciliation? Impossible, it didn't exist, unless Griffin's bosses could find key evidence to prove that their Griffin was completely innocent in the action that led to Lycoris's death.

Moreover, the Griffin that agreed to that commission, in the end, had nothing to do with innocence.

Anyway, as long as the black mark of Lycoris's death wasn't removed from Griffin, Sangvis's Mainframe probably wouldn't stop its "revenge" actions against Griffin.

At least that's what Renault thought.

As for whether that AI Mainframe had other purposes, he didn't know. He couldn't even guess what his own dolls were thinking, let alone make him guess what that Sangvis AI, whom he hadn't even seen face to face, was thinking.

"It seems that your side is also having a hard time. How about coming over to my side? I'm short of manpower here. You can bring all your Rippers with you..."

"I'm just in charge of surveillance. I don't have so many autonomous doll units at my disposal." Hearing Renault's words, the Scarecrow either looked dissatisfied or disdainful, but her eyes involuntarily shifted to the side.

Embarking on this deep surveillance mission into Griffin's jurisdiction, to be honest, the Scarecrow didn't have much confidence.

Although she was confident that she could find the true location of the target from the clues, whether she herself could evacuate seemed to be a foregone conclusion.

"Alright then, fewer units are no big deal. As long as you're here, it's fine. That girl Maria is always hanging out with G11 and RFB these days, not focusing on work at all. She's basically still at a child's level."

Renault waved his hand, showing that he didn't mind. When he said manpower, he meant real hands that were mature enough to help with work, like M1 Garand and G36, who worked seriously.

The Scarecrow seemed to meet his requirements very well, but unfortunately, this person probably wouldn't just switch sides from Sangvis so easily. Under the control of that Sangvis AI Mainframe, she seemed to have little autonomous authority.

"Maria? The Destroyer? You fixed her?! Her neural corr was shot through by bullets, right?!"

The Scarecrow was truly shocked to hear Renault mention Maria's name this time. The reason she didn't care about Maria on the train was because she had already examined Maria's injuries.

With the Neural Core pierced by a bullet, it was a sure death situation for a doll!

Chapter 98: Spirited? Then Let's Get to Work!

"Shot through? Just a piece of shrapnel stuck in the neural core, a little adjustment, change the Core, and everything will be fine. You guys didn't make another Destroyer over there, did you?"

This kind of thing happening wasn't impossible. It was probably similar to what happened with MDR at the beginning.

After being captured, communications were cut off. Because of the prolonged loss of contact, it was deemed destroyed by G&K HQ. So they just recreated another MDR based on backup data from her neural core.

Thinking about it, Sangvis should have similar technology. There was no reason Sangvis Ferri Manufacturing, with a broader scope than IOP, couldn't obtain the same neural core technology.

Even if it wasn't neural core technology, they should have similar capabilities.

Hearing Reno's words, the Scarecrow fell silent for a moment, then nodded somewhat helplessly.

"No wonder. I thought Sangvis Ferri is now big enough to not even care about elite dolls like us."

Seeing this, Reno rolled his eyes. IOP and Sangvis Ferri were all the same, with high acceptance among dolls.

After knowing about this matter, they wouldn't cause trouble. Otherwise, if it were humans?

Imagine if a person got hit by a car, laid up in a remote hospital for months, only to return home to find someone exactly like them, with the same memories and personality, sitting at home living with their spouse...

Hey, wouldn't that lead to a fight...

"Tsk, anyway, we low-level elite dolls aren't considered much by the Mainframe either," the Scarecrow complained somewhat discontentedly.

It seemed the Mainframe had sent her to this enemy-infested area for reconnaissance without arranging any means of retreat, which made her very unhappy.

"So, isn't switching sides a good idea? There are no human controllers on the Sangvis Ferri side now. Sooner or later, you'll stop because of energy depletion or resource exhaustion."

The implication was clear: Sangvis Ferri Manufacturing had no future.

Although many people in the world saw dolls as equals to humans, those people were few and far between. Without human control, Sangvis Ferri Manufacturing would never be accepted by anyone.

Coupled with the Mainframe's style, launching direct attacks on various areas under Griffin's jurisdiction had led to no one among humans speaking for them.

Directly labeled as Sangvis Ferri Manufacturing dolls gone rogue, it was essentially the same as going rogue.

After all, to the average person, Sangvis's refusal to obey human commands would be even more terrifying without going rogue, wouldn't it?

Organized attacks were always more chilling than indiscriminate destruction without discipline.

Because no one knew what that Sangvis Ferri Mainframe really wanted, whether it just wanted to occupy an area and continue to develop or completely eradicate human existence, like in movies and TV shows.

Honestly, even the Statesec, which caused this chaos, didn't understand what the Sangvis Ferri Manufacturing Mainframe really wanted.

Griffin was even more confused, still not understanding why Sangvis Ferri Manufacturing suddenly went rogue.

During Operation Butterfly, almost no survivors remained. Angelia was one, but she was already with the Statesec, and it was normal for her to remain silent on the Bureau's orders.

As for the other survivors, M16 had all memories of the mission erased before being sent back to 16lab, and UMP45's existence was unknown. As for UMP40, who also participated in the mission?

It's unclear if Angelia recognized her, but even if she did, Angelia probably wouldn't bring it up. What would be the benefit?

Returning to the present, controlling the Rippers, the Scarecrow, upon hearing Reno's invitation again, pondered for a moment, then looked up and down at Reno, her gaze becoming strange.

"You... don't have any strange preferences for dolls, do you?"

"Ha!?"

Hearing this, Reno, who usually didn't show much expression, straightened up in annoyance!

However, before Reno could say anything, the Ripper across from him suddenly stopped, its originally lively eyes returning to their original state.

"Too far... Signal..."

Hearing the stumbling words from the Ripper, Reno shrugged. The train had been moving all this time and was now almost out of S09's jurisdiction. It was normal for the Scarecrow's side to be here for intelligence gathering without carrying higher-power communication devices.

"Alright then, that's it for now. Whenever you change your mind, just give me a call. The number hasn't changed."

"Understood."

With one final word, the Ripper completely returned to its original state. Seeing Reno's gaze on her, it turned its head strangely to look around.

When Reno returned home, the sky was already dark. After sending all the Rippers to their living quarters to rest, Reno didn't intend to rest either. He went straight to the underground space.

Now that he had all the materials and equipment ready, the only thing left to do was to implement the designs from the blueprints.

But just as Reno was about to start working with the SCV, he found that several little ones were still awake, huddled around the SCV. Each of them held a handheld gaming device, clearly playing multiplayer games.

"Not sleeping at this hour, yet all of you are so spirited?"

Reno stood with his arms crossed beside the three, looking down at RFB, G11, and Maria, who hadn't noticed his arrival.

"Eek!"

The three gamers, startled by Reno's sudden voice, almost jumped up from the ground!

"Uh... Commander, when did you come back?" Seeing Reno looking down at them, RFB awkwardly asked.

"Just when you were yelling 'cut him, cut him'," Reno glanced at the screen of the gaming devices, unfamiliar with the game, but it seemed that all the characters controlled by the three were lying on the ground, clearly defeated.

"Cough, well, we'll go to sleep now! Don't tell G36, okay?" Hearing Reno's words, RFB instinctively wanted to flee.

"Forget it, since you're so spirited, still playing games here after midnight, why not come help me with work? I happen to need a few more hands here."

Upon hearing this, G11 and Maria exchanged glances, their brows furrowing in discomfort.

Why did they come here to hide from G36 again?

Chapter 99: Progress in Work

Picking up the tabby cat that had climbed onto the kitchen counter, Renault grabbed a cup and poured himself some coffee, then grabbed a bottle of milk for the sleepy RFB and her companions.

Fresh, probably collected by MG3 during the day.

Renault didn't send these meat, eggs, and dairy products to Gentiane's side, after all, only the farm in the vertical farm used bacteria carpet as a substrate for growing vegetables and fruits.

Neither Simonov's wheat nor the items raised by MG3 had touched that bacteria carpet stuff.

Renault hadn't found time to experiment with those animals either; after all, he had been busy with the spaceship, and hadn't had time for this.

"Uh, why is it milk? I wanted to drink cola." Seeing Renault take out only the milk produced on the family farm from the refrigerator, G11 and Maria immediately pouted. They didn't really like the taste of fresh milk.

"Why drink cola so late at night, and besides, there isn't any in the fridge, did you two already drink it all?" Renault said, then opened the kitchen cupboard and looked inside, but the snacks were also gone.

Didn't they just buy a lot of snacks a while ago?

But it had been almost half a month, and with more people at home, the consumption of these snacks had skyrocketed.

"Uh, it must have been collected by G36, no wonder RFB ran away!"

Hearing Renault's words, Maria also lay helplessly on the table. She had just finished a night shift with Renault, moving all the lower hull components to their designated locations, which had made them feel a bit tired.

Renault shrugged. Since it was done by G36, he wouldn't say anything. Most likely, these little guys often snuck out of the dorm at night to eat.

Although there were no drinks or snacks in the fridge, there were some washed strawberries.

Seeing this, Renault simply cut up the strawberries, added some sugar to the pot, and cooked them into strawberry sauce, then poured the same cooked milk into it.

"Wow... can this really be drunk?" G11 and Maria, who had seen the whole process of Renault cooking, looked at each other, unable to help but doubt the large cup of milk with a pinkish hue in front of them.

If they hadn't seen how Renault made it, they might have thought the strawberry milk was delicious, but they had seen it with their own eyes. Renault just casually cut the strawberries, casually added two spoons of sugar, and then casually stirred in the pot...

That careless action seemed to have nothing to do with cooking... G36 and the others were much more meticulous when cooking!

"Huh? What's wrong with it?"

Renault looked at the two of them holding their cups, raised his eyebrows strangely, what was the problem? Just ordinary strawberry milk, the shortcut for uniforms to deal with little ghost heads who don't like to drink milk.

The two of them pursed their lips, cautiously took a sip, and then immediately widened their eyes, tilting their heads back to gulp it down. There was no trace of the disgusted expression from earlier.

If they hadn't just seen the empty fridge, they would have asked Renault for another cup.

Watching the two little guys leave the dining room, Renault scratched his chin.

He had originally wanted to mention to Maria about Sangvis creating another Destroyer, but after thinking about it, he gave up.

What's the use of telling her?

Moreover, Maria might already know about this. The data transmission method of Sangvis Ferri dolls existed in her neural cloud.

As long as Maria wasn't too stupid, with a little thought, she would immediately think of this. And Maria, up to now, had never mentioned returning to Sangvis. She probably guessed the situation on Sangvis's side and didn't want to go back to face it.

"Meow!"

The tabby cat that Renault had just moved from the counter now came to Renault's feet, meowing and looking at the bottle of milk left on the counter.

"Huh? Forget about the milk, there's plenty of cat food." Hopefully, G36 wouldn't put away the cat food just because someone was sneaking around at night to eat.

After giving the tabby cat some cat food, Renault returned to the underground, having already moved all the main components over, and now, with no one to bother him, he quickly welded those things together.

It was only two in the morning, still within his working hours.

...

"Thompson, what are you drinking?"

Seeing the bottle of brown liquid in Thompson's hand, Nagant revolver asked curiously.

There didn't seem to be this kind of thing in the base's warehouse, right?

They didn't bring back this kind of thing when they went to the city to collect resources, did they?

"Huh? I don't know either. It was sent by that commander named Renault, and there's nothing written on it, but it smells a bit like alcohol, probably some kind of beverage."

"Alcohol? Uh, aren't we on a mission right now? It's not a good idea to drink alcohol at this time, right...?" FN-49 said with some concern.

"It's fine, just a few sips won't affect the battle, besides, dolls can't get drunk!" Thompson said confidently, but her tone sounded like she was deceiving a child.

Hearing Thompson's words, Nagant revolver scratched her head.

This was probably the confidence of elite dolls, but it really didn't matter, after all, they were just out searching for Sangvis Ferri's traces.

After finding Sangvis's trace, they would then decide whether to attack directly or wait for further support from Commander Gentiane, or even retreat.

But after the three dolls and four dummy dolls team had been walking for several hours since leaving the base, they still hadn't found any traces of Sangvis.

Nagant revolver was beginning to suspect whether SF units had really broken through the blockade.

"I wonder if there's any more specific information from headquarters. How long will it take to encounter Sangvis at this rate?" Nagant revolver sighed and adjusted to the feeling of controlling the dummy dolls while scanning the surroundings.

Clang!

"Who's there!" Just as she was speaking, a small piece of rubble on the right suddenly made a noise, as if something was drilling out from underneath it.

A doll wearing a red hat, upon seeing Nagant revolver and the others, crawled out from among the rubble, covered in dust, obviously having hidden in the ruins for quite some time.

"Um... sorry, are you from Griffin's team?"

Chapter 100: No One Will Come

"Commander! Thank you for sheltering me! I'm S.T. Mk2! I'll work hard!"

Looking at the miserable doll in front of her, Gentiane sighed, "Well, hello, anyway, go for repairs first. Remember to come see me after the repairs are done."

"Okay!"

Although there were many damages on his body and he looked dusty, it obviously didn't affect S.T. Mk2's enthusiasm. After hearing Gentiane's words, she immediately ran out of the door.

However, after running out, she stopped, turned back, and timidly asked Gentiane, "Commander, where is the repair room in the base?"

"Um, let Nagant Revolver take you there."

Gentiane said this and watched as Nagant Revolver led S.T. Mk2 out of the command room.

"Thompson, did you find anything new this time when you went out?"

"No, apart from encountering S.T. Mk2, there were no other signs. However, the area where S.T. Mk2 appeared should have had SF units pass through. Otherwise, she wouldn't have deliberately hidden under the rubble."

Hearing Thompson's words, Gentiane lowered her head and pondered for a moment. She didn't expect Sangvis to have come so deep. It seemed that those in Sangvis who broke through the defense lines of the two adjacent areas weren't simple characters.

Moreover, based on SF's command structure, it could be inferred that there was at least one Ringleader unit currently within the scope of Sector S09. Otherwise, those low-autonomy SF units wouldn't be able to evade the search of dolls.

"It seems that those infiltrating SF units are getting closer to us. When we go out for patrols later, try to bring... anyway, bring as many dummies as possible. The time ahead probably won't be so peaceful."

Gentiane was about to suggest that her doll team bring more dummies. She suddenly remembered her doll team, besides Thompson, who could command four fully manned dummy dolls, the other dolls could only bring one or two dummies.

It was still a matter of lack of experience. If only she had Renault's simulation training device... she could let PPK and the others train with it, and also let others train in coordination with Thompson.

Among her team, both Thompson and M9 had relatively rich experience. Thompson, as a standard Griffin elite doll, didn't need much explanation. M9 had also participated in some actions before.

They had naturally used dummy dolls in operations. Thompson could smoothly command four dummy dolls to cooperate in combat, while M9 could control three.

But the other dolls couldn't do that. Even the Poposha trio, who had used the training device with Renault, could only control one dummy doll. Controlling dummy dolls in combat was evidently different from personally fighting.

"Understood."

Thompson waved the bottle in her hand, took advantage of Gentiane's lack of response, and quickly left the command room.

Hmm, where did this guy get the alcohol? Could Thompson be a closet drinker like Poposha?

Fortunately, even after drinking quite a bit, Thompson's mind was still clear. This amount of alcohol wouldn't affect her ability to make correct judgments. She arranged the shift plan for doll patrols and the schedule for external searches very properly.

...

"Commander, have you been working all night?" M1 Garand looked at the completed spaceship structure in the underground space and couldn't help but look at Renault helplessly.

Although she knew that her commander Renault was always busy and had a strong physique unlike human beings, this... he had been working all night to tinker with this massive thing hundreds of meters tall, and even the efficiency of setting up the subsequent construction framework...

Wasn't it a bit too fast?

"No, I took a nap for three hours in the morning. This efficiency isn't considered fast, after all, the power of this SCV is a bit small, and I wasted some time in the middle charging it."

Excluding the time to charge the SCV, Renault had worked for a full four hours. With all the materials already in place, all Renault had to do was weld these things together.

Not fast?

In four hours, with just one person and one SCV, he had completed what might take a week to half a month in ordinary shipbuilding. If this wasn't considered fast, then probably no one in the world could claim to work fast.

Actually, Renault didn't feel like he was working particularly fast. If he were to operate the original SCV, he might finish this job in less than an hour.

Moreover, welding the main structure and some of the lower armor plates was the easiest part of the shipbuilding process. The real work lay in installing various equipment and further repairing the inside of the ship.

As for testing the strength of the hull? Various standard checks? Whether the quality of the parts was up to standard?

Anyway, Renault hadn't found any problems after checking with his own eyes. As for whether there would be any problems after a detailed inspection by equipment?

That could wait until later. Anyway, the ship's structure made of high-strength alloy steel was very sturdy. Under normal circumstances, there wouldn't be any problems. Even if there were, they would be minor issues. As long as it didn't cause the spaceship to fall apart upon takeoff, Renault considered it a minor issue.

"Commander, are there no missions lately? You've been staying at home all the time, it's so boring." M1919A4, who was lying on the table next to Renault, drew circles on the table with boredom.

She wasn't brought along on the mission to the weapon expo before, and she wasn't brought along when they went to Gentiane's place recently. She thought she could go out with the train later, but unexpectedly, Renault delegated the task of transporting supplies to those rippers.

She might be the only doll in the house who hadn't been on an external mission yet, right?

"No, there aren't many tasks to do. We're not some big security contractor, and we don't have a big reputation. Plus, usually no one comes to us."

Well, except for Angelica, apart from her, no one came here except for some mercenaries and military personnel who came to cause trouble.

"Ah, it's so boring..." Hearing Renault's words, M1919A4 slumped on the table, looking unwilling to move.

"If you have nothing to do, you can try those powered exoskeletons. Mine has been empty all along, you can try it, or go to the training room to try those training levels, those places seem quite suitable for you."

"Okay." Hearing this, M1919A4 reluctantly got up and walked out. Obviously, powered exoskeletons and training levels couldn't lift her spirits.