RC 901-910 (Patreon)

RC 901-910

Chapter 101: Scared Away

Buy, buy, buy!

Three words can describe all the actions of WA2000 and her team in the black market.

If an ordinary person came to the black market, they would not dare to be so high-profile, as many here choose to take risks and make a fortune.

However, facing WA2000 and her team, it seems no unruly people dares to step forward.

The well-informed forces in the black market have all calmed down, and those who are not well-informed must consider whether they have the strength to capture these seven tactical dolls without alerting the black market guards.

Yes, that’s right, seven.

P226 and wz.29 also disembarked from the gunship and walked around the black market with WA2000 and her team. SPAS-12 and Type 80 will also be over soon.

They’ve already come out and are right next to the black market. Wouldn’t it be a loss if they didn’t come to take a look?

As for the gunships and SCVs, they can be parked directly in the black market's parking lot. After all, the people in the black market don't dare to mess with the gunships and SCVs.

Moreover, gunships and SCVs are not something that can be stolen easily. Although there are cranes in the black market’s parking lot, they are clearly not intended for moving the gunship and SCVs, which weigh at least ten tons.

Even if the people in the black market manage to find a larger crane and more powerful transport equipment, the first time they try to move the gunship or SCV, SPAS-12 and Type 80 will be immediately notified.

The distance between the market and the parking lot is less than two minutes for the dolls to cover.

In two minutes, moving a ten-ton SCV—well, it's not impossible, but the chances are slim.

And if someone really touches the SCV, I’m afraid Renault will be forced to make the spacecraft take off, even if it means cutting off the power supply to the spacecraft in the industrial park and testing the durability of the air defense in this black market base.

Ten SCVs are not too many for the construction of the new spaceship. If one goes missing, Renault will be furious.

Of course, SPAS-12 and Type 80 have not arrived yet, so it is premature to think about these things.

But maybe there's no need to think so much...

When the black market guards that were frightened by the gunship, driven by P226 saw another gunship flying toward the entrance of the black market followed by an SCV that looked difficult to handle, they nearly picked up their weapons and opened fire.

When the two big machines drove through the tunnel and into the parking lot inside the black market, all those with a clear view held their breath, fearing the SCV would use its impact drill to create a hole in the parking lot's gate.

"Hmm? It seems there should be no parking fee here."

SPAS-12 jumped out of the gunship cockpit with a folding axe and her own imprint weapon, looking around.

Type 80 also picked up her machine gun and jumped out of the SCV cockpit.

Bang!

Not caring about the cement crushed beneath her, Type 80 paid no attention to the curious onlookers and directly called WA2000, M14, and the others through the communication protocol.

"WA2000, we’re at the parking lot. Where are you?"

"Oh? You're here? I’ve marked the route map. Just follow the path."

"Okay, we’ll be there."

As they responded, the two walked directly along the route WA2000 and her team had taken earlier, heading toward the market inside the black market.

After the two dolls left, the mercenaries or merchants watching from around the parking lot smacked their lips, thinking that things were getting a bit out of hand.

"Hey, where did these people come from? When did such a group of tough girls appear near us?"

"Tough girls!? They’re just dolls! What’s so great about them!?"

"Nothing great? Then why did you look so breathless just now?"

"Hey, just don’t mess with these girls. The group of scavengers in the south asked us about the gunship. Have you seen those scavengers come back yet?"

"No..."

Perhaps it was really thanks to the group of scavengers from before and those who were just PKed by them that WA2000's purchasing spree did not result in any trouble this time.

On the contrary, it made the merchants in the black market smile. There aren't many customers so generous as to purchase large quantities of goods!

Especially the items bought by these dolls, which are mostly food and daily necessities.

In the black market, these daily necessities are definitely not the best-selling items. Weapons and equipment, various survival supplies, and mechanical parts and materials are the biggest sellers here.

These dolls not only helped clear out a lot of inventory, but they also didn’t bargain too hard. Nearly half of the box of Sardis Gold in their hands was spent at the market, allowing the daily necessities merchants—who usually have a hard time making sales—to make a lot of money!

One merchant selling pet food in particular was almost bald from stress over the large stock of cat canned food he had accumulated.

Who would have thought that suddenly a few dolls would come and buy all the cat food in his hands, which would expire in two months, at normal prices!

They are truly angels!

"Well, most of the things have been bought, but there are no clothes here, so the reference samples P90 wanted are unavailable."

"Well, there’s nothing we can do about it. After all, this is a black market. It's good enough that some sell basic clothes here. There are no fashion stores."

M14 shrugged, holding a lot of small items in her hands—some of which were ordered by dolls and others by Sangvis dolls.

Compared to what the dolls wanted, what the Sangvis dolls wanted were mostly smaller items, mostly toys and dolls, just like the ones PK had with her.

Turning her head to look at the man-sized stuffed bear in PK's hand, M14 blinked and then looked at the pedestrians around her.

As expected, the pedestrians around all stared at PK in astonishment.

To be more precise, they were looking at the large doll in PK's hand.

Obviously, they never thought someone would go to the black market to buy this kind of thing.

What was even more unexpected was that there were actually merchants who brought these kinds of things to the black market to sell. Was there something wrong with their brains?

But if there was no problem with their brains, then it would be those merchants' turn to make a fortune this time...

Just as WA2000 was stuffing the goods into the cabin of the gunship bit by bit, Leone on the other side also returned to the airport of the previous city.

The transport plane provided by Galatea Corporation was waiting there.

The mercenaries who escorted Leone and the other two cars of goods couldn't help but show a weird expression upon seeing the transport plane with the Galatea Corporation logo.

The people of Galatea Corporation sent out special transport planes, but you tell me they don’t have the money to find someone to escort the goods? The only bodyguard is a colleague's personal bodyguard?

Are you kidding us?

After finding out that Leone and the others were from Galatea Corporation, the mercenaries became alert. They originally thought this was an easy job, but now it appears that a mission that was too easy wasn't necessarily a good thing.

Would these Galatea people wait for them to leave the city and then kill them?

Especially after the cargo was unloaded, when Leone and two soldiers in white protective clothing came towards them, the mercenaries all clenched their weapon handles, their fingers already on the gun safeties, waiting for Leone to make trouble. They planned to catch her immediately, so they could leave the airport in one piece.

But they were overthinking. Leone was currently thinking about going back to study the materials she bought from Renault, and she had no time to argue with these mercenaries about whether they would leak secrets or not. Besides, neither she nor WA2000 had mentioned what was in those supply boxes from the beginning.

"Here, this is the final payment for this commission, in the agreed Sardis Gold." Leone didn’t even put it in a bag, nor did she try to avoid being seen by others. She simply took out the Sardis Gold that WA2000 had reserved for her from her pocket and said.

"Ah?"

"Ah? What? This is the agreed price; don’t think about raising it!"

Seeing the other party standing there in a daze, Leone immediately frowned. Even if the price had increased, she had no money to pay.

She only had so much Sardis Gold left. If she wanted more, the Galatea Corporation would have to allocate funds specifically.

Hearing Leone say this, a group of mercenaries smiled speechlessly.

No way, how could the price increase?

Why did they always feel that this woman's brain wasn’t working properly? They had already delivered the people and the goods, and now they were in the city anyway, with a group of Galatea crew members not far away.

In this situation, what bargaining chips did they have to raise the price?

After receiving the Sardis Gold, which was smaller than the size of a palm, the mercenaries immediately drove out of the airport, fearing that Leone might suddenly change her mind and want to keep them.

"Huh?" Seeing the mercenaries driving away as if they were fleeing, Leone frowned in dissatisfaction and confusion.

...

Not far from the cargo door of the transport plane, a girl in a black robe watched the scene, then returned to the cargo hold and took out a communicator.

"Ms. Gray, the goods have all been received, but Leone let the mercenaries who followed her go. Do we need to send someone to clean them up?"

"No need, we don’t have time to provoke Renault now."

The previous action against Renault had completely failed. If someone were sent over again, it wasn’t certain whether Renault could be killed, but it was hard to guarantee that Renault wouldn’t turn against Statesec and rush directly to the Galatea Corporation headquarters for a reckless bombing.

Renault’s style of doing things was incompatible with Griffin. Griffin would at least estimate the rules of secular law, but Renault was different. This guy could do anything when provoked.

Directly fighting the military in the city— even if those military combat units were soon declared rebels— Renault’s behavior of forcibly breaking through the security system of an entire city had completely exceeded everyone’s imagination. That guy not only dared to do it, but also really had the ability to do it.

He dared to do such a thing with just a gunship. What if he came with a spaceship next time? Wouldn't he be able to do something as crazy as bombing Statesec or the Stasi headquarters directly?

"Then..." Nyto Black wanted to say something after hearing Ms. Gray’s words, but was interrupted by Gray before she could speak.

"Your current task is to transport the things that Leone brought back intact, and then send the test report after Leone has tested those things."

"Understood! Understood!"

Hearing Ms. Gray’s words, Nyto Black immediately stood up straight and responded, somewhat stammering.

...

A delivery operation did not affect Renault’s daily plan. It was just a half-day trip. The other dolls and Sangvis Ferri continued to work as usual after WA2000 and the others left.

It was just that after WA2000 and the others drove back with two gunships full of various goods, today’s work was almost over early. Whether it was the three IDWs who smelled the cat food, or the two devils raised by UMP40, they rushed to the cargo hold with a large group of dolls as soon as the gunship arrived.

The Sangvis dolls who had been responsible for making various basic building materials in the factory building of the industrial park also ran out from their respective posts and gathered in the cargo hold.

Of course, this was allowed by Scarecrow. Who could stop these Sangvis dolls who now had their own little thoughts? It was obviously impossible to control the thoughts of those droids who were ready to move by forcing them to stay at their posts.

Renault was not aware of the situation in the cargo hold. At this time, he was discussing the expansion of the bottom of the reservoir with ME79.

Just widening the area of the reservoir was already a very heavy task. If the reservoir had to be dug deeper at the same time, their workload would undoubtedly increase exponentially.

"The workload is not a problem. The efficiency of SCV is much higher than you think. You’ve seen the working efficiency of SCV."

"Uh, sorry, I didn’t think of it for a moment." ME79 scratched her head and said embarrassedly. "If we build the hull shell first, what about the energy engine inside? I’ve seen the blueprint. The energy engine shouldn’t be assembled underwater, right?"

"Reserve a place and wait for a passage that will allow vehicles to pass. Then let Simonov drive the parts in and assemble them directly inside the hull."

"Oh, that's right, Commander. Now the Rippers have completed a small part of the core area's structural materials. Do we need to start installing it now?"

"No, let them wait. After widening the reservoir, let the SCV start to build the main structure of the spacecraft. There’s no rush now. By the way, WA2000 who went out earlier is back. You should have asked her to bring something back, right?"

---

Chapter 102: There Are So Many Things to Do

"Oh! This is it! I didn't expect to find this model on the black market! This is a limited edition released in 2059! It's out of print!" ME79 held the half-person-high box in her hands and cheered excitedly!

Without waiting for WA2000 to say anything, ME79 rushed out to Renault's workshop with the box in her arms. She needed tools, and only Renault's workshop met this condition!

ME79 returned to the workshop with the box in her arms and began excitedly preparing various tools for herself. She even sorted out all the blueprints on her desk and put them in the drawer.

You know, ME79 usually doesn't do this kind of thing. There are all kinds of things on her desk, and the blueprints are directly used as mats. But now, ME79 actually started to clean up the desk properly?

It's really strange!

The two Scarecrows next to her looked at each other in surprise when they saw this scene. Even Renault standing at the door smoking was stunned after seeing this.

"Hey, Commander, look at her now. What should we do next?" The planned widening project at the bottom of the reservoir had been agreed upon before WA2000 and the others came back. It was originally planned that ME79 would start the work immediately after getting her stuff.

But now, it is obviously unlikely. It may take a while for this girl to recover from assembling the model.

Looking at the size of the box, there must be a lot of parts in it. Scarecrow has never understood how long it takes to assemble such a model, but it should still take a day or two, right?

And looking at ME79's cautious look, she is obviously not the kind of person who will perfunctorily do things she likes.

"Don't worry, just treat it as a vacation for her. Anyway, she stays in the workshop every day. She hasn't rested since she changed bodies."

Besides, except for ME79, didn't the other dolls react?

ME79 looked like this when she got new toys. The other dolls were probably the same.

Anyway, there was no need to think about starting work immediately, although Renault felt that it was okay for him to give orders directly.

However, when he thought about convincing such a large group of dolls to work willingly, forget it... Let's give them a day off today.

The chief engineer in charge of the entire project looked like a plastic man who was not interested in work. Could he still expect other dolls to take the initiative to take the lead?

This work is not a simple matter of digging a hole underground. If you want to work correctly underwater, instead of just digging out a pile of riverbed silt from the bottom of the water, this kind of thing is obviously impossible without ME79's command.

As for going into battle personally... It's not that he hadn't thought about it, but Renault was now preparing the engine-related materials for the new spaceship, and compared with the construction of the spaceship engine, the project of widening the reservoir at night for a few days didn't matter.

It was only when Renault strolled out of the workshop door and planned to go to the industrial park to see the preparation of the materials that he found the scale of the dolls' "holiday" appeared to be much larger than he had imagined...

Not only the dolls, but even the Sangvis dolls in the industrial park were on "holiday." There were a lot of them gathered in the corridor, chatting quietly at this time.

Looking at the Sangvis dolls chatting, Renault scratched his head with some emotion.

You know, some of these Sangvis dolls had just come to the spacecraft, but after a long time, they slowly developed their own self-awareness.

And now, many of these Sangvis dolls had come with Scarecrow No. 2 and the others. There were many types, but not many in number.

Like the Dragoons, Guards, and the Strikers, etc. Meanwhile, there were not many of the two Sangvis dolls, Jaegers and Vespids.

Maybe these two Sangvis dolls had the largest number and better combat efficiency, so they were hit hard by the military?

Renault didn't know about this, and he didn't ask Scarecrow No. 2 why these dolls under their command were configured like this.

However, it was still a bit of a headache to have too many Sangvis dolls at home, especially that fellow Jaeger...

If Jaeger hadn't changed her clothes and hairstyle, while still always liked to wear the Jaeger's standard multi-functional goggles as a headband, Renault might not be able to tell the difference between her and other Jaeger without using psychic power.

He'd gone too far in his musings. Speaking of these Sangvis dolls now, he doesn't know if it's because the Sangvis dolls have more exchanges with each other, or because Helian often gives these Sangvis dolls some private lessons after coming here.

The mental growth rate of these Sangvis dolls is obviously much faster than that of the previous Sangvis Rippers.

Maybe it's because the Sangvis dolls produced later used a larger neural core? It made these Sangvis dolls grow faster... No, no, maybe it was because of the higher-level Parapulei virus that the military spread among the Sangvis dolls. After he changed the root protocols for these Sangvis dolls, that thing directly promoted the evolution of the minds of these Sangvis dolls.

"Commander, Madam Helianthus suggested taking the dolls to have a picnic next to the reservoir. Is it okay?" 

Just as Renault was looking at the dolls in the hangar who had gotten what they wanted, Intruder walked over slowly and waved to Renault.

"Well? Sure, just be careful."

Hearing this, Renault did not doubt it, thinking that Helian had a sudden impulse, or was troubled by a certain doll, so she agreed.

"No, no, no, Commander, Madam Helianthus means to take all the dolls with her directly." Intruder waved her hand and said with a smile.

"Together? Now the spacecraft is still supplying energy to the equipment in the industrial park..."

"But I heard that you just agreed to give the dolls a holiday, didn't you?"

Intruder retorted immediately.

Obviously, this must have been heard from Scarecrow, otherwise, if she hadn't directly notified the dolls to take a holiday, how could the news have spread?

Patting his forehead, Renault sighed speechlessly. "Okay, but you have to find someone to put away the energy cables first, and count the number of people. The closure of the quarantine passage of the Sangvis doll dormitory is all handed over to you. Understand?"

"Understood!" Hearing Renault's promise, Intruder immediately responded with confidence, then waved behind him. "Hey! Did you hear that? Come out to work! Gager! Jaeger! And you! Architect! Don't think about running away! This idea is yours!"

As Intruder spoke, a group of Sangvis elite dolls suddenly emerged from behind the corner and smiled at Renault a little embarrassedly.

Helian also walked over, holding Nyto's hand at this time. "Will there be any impact?"

"No, there will be no impact. It's nothing more than reconnecting the cables."

He had already made the interface, and this kind of thing was not a troublesome task for now.

The trouble is how to manage these free-moving Sangvis dolls and ensure that no one gets lost.

Now, these Sangvis dolls, once they go out, are probably no different from children going on a spring outing. He's just afraid that someone will get lost if they're not careful.

"That's good. I saw the video footage shot by MDR and Vera before, and this child is also very curious, so I plan to take other dolls to have a look. After all, once the project starts, the reservoir will probably become a different sight, right?"

Helian has also seen the engineering blueprints of the reservoir widening. Although the construction method planned by Renault and ME79 will not have any impact on the environment around the reservoir, it is inevitable that the ecological environment inside the reservoir will be destroyed.

Therefore, under the chain reaction, the environmental protection area next to the reservoir will inevitably be affected.

However, even if Renault did not take action on the reservoir, the nature reserve was already in the yellow zone, and the collapse radiation was eroding the boundaries of the nature reserve all the time. If this trend continues, it will take less than a few years for the nature reserve to be turned into a wasteland by the collapse radiation.

"It is possible, but the underwater dock will not have much impact on the environment of the reservoir, as long as the construction method is correct."

The dock was originally meant to be hidden in the reservoir, so it would be best if the water environment in the reservoir remained unchanged. Even if changes are necessary, increasing the number of aquatic creatures would be ideal.

This way, any suspicions from others forces can be dispelled.

After all, a reservoir full of various wild animals and intact biodiversity wouldn't likely be the location of an underwater dock, right?

If the environment here is directly damaged, even without a deliberate search, people with certain intentions will notice the sudden changes in this area.

If the spaceship suddenly flies to the reservoir, it may attract the attention of certain groups, but it will likely remain just attention.

Currently, only a portion of the satellites in the sky have resumed functioning.

The number available is limited, and not all satellites have intact signals.

At the very least, Renault can be confident that no one can use the satellites overhead, as most have been damaged and left unmaintained for decades. This is a normal situation.

How does he know this?

Because Renault himself controls several of the satellites and uses them as communication relays for the mobile phones he created.

By the way, he also optimized the transmission method for communication signals. Otherwise, how could his mobile phone guarantee signals everywhere?

However, this method is only a temporary solution. After all, these satellites are old, and the original owners could discover them at any time. When that happens, even with a spaceship, Renault is likely to attract attention from larger forces.

After all, a security contractor with a spaceship could be considered a threat, but that pales in comparison to someone who could access the information and secrets of every force.

"That's good; I'll go organize those Sangvis dolls first," Helian said, not doubting Renault's words. She sighed in relief, smiled, and pulled Nyto toward the Sangvis dolls.

A lot of preparation is still required before the spaceship can take off, and currently, the internal space is insufficient. The two Jupiter cannons in the cargo hold need to be moved out first. When the time comes, they can be set up around the industrial park to serve as its defense.

He didn't plan to install the two Jupiter cannons on the new spaceship. If he did, they would be entirely redundant. These cannons aren't top of the line but are better than nothing.

However, their size is substantial, and putting them on the new spaceship would be... impractical.

After Helian left, the dolls' progress was indeed somewhat... slow.

Although they were all excited to have a picnic by the reservoir, both the regular dolls and the Sangvis ones were quite thrilled.

But the more excited they got, the faster they worked. The dolls began packing in a hurry, found someone to move the two Jupiter cannons out, and the Sangvis dolls packed their belongings as well.

Originally, there weren't many dolls at home, and packing might have taken less than half an hour or even just ten minutes.

But with the addition of more Sangvis dolls, things suddenly became complicated, especially since the Sangvis have their own self-awareness.

Even Helian had to admit she was naive at first. Managing a group of Sangvis dolls with childlike erratic thinking was no simple task.

After working all afternoon, it was already evening by the time the spaceship and the dolls were ready to set off.

"It seems a picnic is out of the question. The scenery can be enjoyed anytime, so we'll have to settle for a bonfire tonight." Hopefully, it won't start a forest fire.

Thinking of Vector's overly excited demeanor whenever there was a fire, Helian rubbed her temples in frustration.

As planned, the spaceship quickly flew toward the reservoir under P226's control. This was also the first time P226 acted as a spaceship pilot. Overall, she did a good job; at least it was much smoother than her previous gunship piloting.

The flight only took a bit over ten minutes. Once the spaceship landed, G36 and the others began setting up the area, which mostly involved getting some barbecue equipment ready.

To keep the dolls from wandering off, M1 Garand and the others found something to set up signal generators around the reservoir. This way, the dolls would be reminded not to stray too far, and if they did get lost, the signals would help them find their way back.

Managing these dolls was far more challenging than managing tactical dolls in Griffin. With so many tasks to handle, even Helian who started to relaxed couldn't help feeling a headache coming on.

However, seeing the dolls' excitement and Nyto running wildly along the shore with several IDWs close by, it didn't seem so hard to bear...

---

Chapter 103: Who Should I Find?

"Okay! Okay! Vector! Calm down! The dry wood has burned out! No need to cut trees!"

It’s called a bonfire party, but obviously, except for Vector, the other dolls aren’t very interested in the fire. After burning for two hours, the dry wood they picked up has all turned into charcoal in the barbecue grill.

Fortunately, there are more dolls at home now, so it’s much easier to hold Vector back than before. Just rush forward and pile unto her.

Looking at the group of dolls making a fuss not far away, Helian smiled and then asked Renault with some doubts, "Renault, why do we have to build a spaceship? If we build a bigger spaceship, we will definitely become a thorn in the eyes of other forces."

If we find a place where no one knows to build a base, it sounds more reliable than Renault’s idea of directly building a spaceship and wandering around with a whole ship of dolls, right?

Hearing this, Renault scratched his chin. "I’ve thought about this before... and more than once."

"Once? Then... what was the result?"

Hearing Renault say this, Helian immediately had a bad feeling in her heart.

Could something have happened?

"The result is that all the bases we built were destroyed. One of them was blown up by me personally, along with an entire planet."

"Uh..." Hearing Renault say this, Helian paused for a moment, remembering Renault’s origin. This guy is a transmigrator who came from another world...

Now it seems that Renault has rich experience and is sure that it’s not safe to build a base in a fixed location, so he wants to directly build a spaceship that can take everyone around...

And at present, this decision is indeed quite safe. At least, now those large forces, one by one, have no interest in Renault.

Renault was flying in the sky. The spaceship couldn’t be penetrated for a while. Anti-aircraft missiles were useless. It was okay to grow mushrooms, but people could fly. Who knew where Renault was at that time?

When the missile was launched, it might be able to shoot down the spaceship, but it was very likely that a new round of thermonuclear war would also be set off.

At that time, this world already on the edge of danger, might really become a hell on Earth.

As for weapons transformed with collapse fluid, those things had been stopped long ago. So far, there is no reliable long-range delivery method, and the pollution capacity of this thing is even more exaggerated than nuclear weapons.

At least, nuclear radiation won’t cause a cute rabbit to become a monster with eight petals.

Before, Helian had seen the news that some areas with serious collapse radiation had already seen mutant animals that could survive in collapse radiation, but these animals had completely exceeded the scope of normal animals and began to include humans in their menu.

Well, they are the species that were originally herbivores...

So, if you think about it, it seems that there is no problem with building a large spaceship as your headquarters...

After getting the answer from Renault, Helian was suddenly worried that Renault might disappear quietly one day.

"Don’t worry, at least not now. So far, I haven’t found a way to actively travel to other worlds." Renault shrugged when he noticed Helian’s worry.

In the previous worlds, there was always a system urging him to do this and that, but now it’s different. After he used the technology and energy of Xel'Naga to tear the unknown system from himself, except for the residual power of the other party that brought him to this world, no trace of the system has been found so far.

That’s good.

Hearing this, Helian was relieved. Although she wanted to say something, it was a pity that Nyto at home ran back quickly and pulled Helian to join the barbecue.

The dolls were noisy almost the whole night, and they were in a state of joy the whole day afterward.

However, after having fun, most of the dolls also quieted down. After all, except for the three IDWs, even Maria and Destroyer couldn’t stand this kind of noisy state every day.

When the spaceship left, ME79, who had already assembled her model, along with some engineering equipment and SCVs, stayed behind.

"This? It seems that we have to dig a hole directly in the mountain next to it." G11 looked at the construction blueprints given by ME79 and scratched her head in confusion.

Didn’t they say that they were going to widen the bottom of the reservoir? Why did they have to dig a hole in the mountain next to it?

This is a huge amount of work—can their ten SCVs really handle it?

"That’s right! Don’t worry, the construction isn’t difficult! Because of the SCVs, we can use a more flexible operation method!" ME79 confidently promised. She was not worried that G11 and others would be exhausted.

"But... considering the size of the SCVs, this project is still a bit too big, right? We should need some larger engineering machinery..." Type 80 also scratched her head.

The engineering blueprints provided by ME79 not only includes the project of widening the underwater space and building an underwater dock, but they also need to dig a channel directly underground, and then let the spacecraft pass through the channel, bypass the reservoir above, and come out from the mountain next to it.

Such cumbersome steps... are they really necessary?

"There are no larger engineering machines, but there can be more SCVs. Boss Renault has already said that he will let other dolls and Sangvis dolls learn to drive SCVs. At that time, more SCVs will come to support you, and you won’t have to worry about living in the cockpit 24 hours a day."

ME79 spoke as she pointed in the direction of the industrial park.

"Oh, that’s good. I thought we wouldn’t even have time to rest for a while." C96 said while looking at M1919A4, both of them relieved.

Although they all volunteered to learn to drive the SCVs at the beginning, after actually using them, they found that driving an SCV was quite interesting when traveling, but it was very boring when working. After all, there were a lot of repetitive tasks.

Pop!

"Let’s get started now! Finish it sooner! We can live in the new house sooner!" ME79 clapped her hands and said excitedly.

Although the dormitory in the spaceship isn’t small now, it’s not too big. At least it doesn’t support ME79 in putting a formal model display cabinet in the dormitory, and there’s no place to put a workbench.

When the new spaceship is built, it will be no problem for the dolls to directly switch to single dormitories! One dormitory per person! Then she can put as many display cabinets as she wants!

In addition to the display cabinet, she can also place various other tools in the dormitory! Just like Renault’s workshop!

"Oh!" Although G11 and the others didn’t have an urgent need to change their dormitories, they wouldn’t refuse the idea of living in a bigger one.

Just as ME79 and a group of SCVs started to work and found a location on the mountain next to the reservoir to start digging a hole, Helian and M1 Garand at home also got busy.

"Look at this. Except for the materials needed to build the main structure of the spaceship, we don’t have enough materials to make the pre-set parts of the dock."

Seeing the amount of materials pointed out by Helian, M1 Garand was also a little troubled. "Should we ask the dolls to check the situation in the material warehouse next door? The commander seemed to have mentioned before that the materials in those places should be used."

"Well, that’s it, but... all the idle dolls are now being trained by Renola for SCV driving, and the Sangvis dolls aren’t qualified for this job at present..."

Helian was also a little troubled. Only when the manpower is needed does it feel insufficient...

Although there are already a lot of dolls at home, the various tasks inside the spaceship will make a large number of dolls unable to get away from their fixed positions, just like G36 and G3. Other dolls who help in the kitchen can be replaced, but most of them have been moved to the training room now.

As for the two Scarecrows, they couldn’t leave either. In addition to supervising the Sangvis Dolls to manufacture the structural parts of the spaceship in the industrial park, they also had to be responsible for manufacturing the SCVs in the factory department inside the spaceship.

Even Intruder was who used to slack off, now had to put down her hobbies and run to the factory to help Scarecrow.

"So... Do we still have some free Dolls now..."

M1 Garand thought about it and tried to find one or two Dolls who usually like to slack off...

But this time, even RFB and Ouroboros were forcibly dragged to the kitchen by G36 to start working, and it seemed really difficult to find them for a while...

Just when the two felt helpless, two dejected figures walked side by side through the workshop door.

AR15? HK416? How did these two end up together?

Seeing these two figures who rarely walked together, M1 Garand and Helian exchanged a confused glance, unsure why these two looked like this.

"HK416, AR15? Where are you two going now?" Helian asked in a somewhat strange tone.

They were heading toward the kitchen, right? Could it be that it was their turn to help in the kitchen?

It shouldn't be that serious, right? Although the kitchen couldn't do without G36 and G3, as long as there were a few dolls present, they could call on a few Sangvis dolls for help. There were still many Sangvis dolls at home.

"Uh, Helian, I'm going to help in the kitchen," HK416 said somewhat dejectedly.

Although AR15 beside her didn’t speak, it was clear that what she was going to say was probably no different from HK416's.

"Go to the kitchen to help? Didn't you two go to learn SCV driving skills?" M1 Garand asked in surprise. Because of the large number of SCVs required for the subsequent projects, most of the idle dolls went to the training room to learn SCV driving skills.

AR15 and HK416 were no exception, but looking at their current state, could they have been eliminated? This appears unlikely, right?

Because whether it was AR15 or HK416, their combat capabilities were among the best among dolls, and their body coordination was absolutely excellent, so there was no reason they should be stumped by the SCV driving course.

But when they heard what M1 Garand said, their faces suddenly turned black, and they shook their heads in embarrassment.

"In short... it's just... hey, SCV driving may not really be suitable for the two of us!" AR15 wanted to explain the reason, but after a while of blushing, she couldn't bring herself to say it.

They can't help but always want to drive an SCV to fight the Zergs! How can this be considered unqualified!?

HK416 beside her also covered her face in exasperation. Clearly, she understood what AR15 was thinking now.

But who can resist...

It feels so good to control the impact drill to drill through the Zerg!

Looking at the two who were too embarrassed to speak, Helian scratched her head. "Well, anyway, since you two can't learn SCV driving skills, were you sent to the kitchen by Renault?"

"Ahem, you could say that..."

"That's perfect! There's a mission that needs to go out. Can you two find a few more people to go to the warehouse next door and check the inventory? Of course, if the situation allows, it would be no problem to clear out the ELID-infected there."

Helian didn't think much about it and spoke directly to the two.

Hearing this, AR15 and HK416, who were feeling a little down, both brightened up!

This mission was great! Professional work! They liked this kind of task! It was much more enjoyable than driving an SCV and not being allowed to fight the Swarm!

"Okay! Let's go!"

Seeing the two agree so readily, M1 Garand and Helian were relieved. Fortunately, at least they could still find dolls willing to work.

But soon, AR15 and HK416 started to have a headache. Where should they find people to go on the mission with them?

The storage area next door wasn't far. They didn’t need to drive a gunship—just find a car in the industrial park.

But with only two of them, the number of people still was a bit small...

"Ahem, anyway, I’ll find a car first, and I’ll leave the task of finding people to you! HK416! Get moving!" With that, AR15 ran off, leaving the headache to HK416.

"You!? Hey! Come back!"

Seeing AR15 run off in an instant, HK416 was so angry that her teeth itched, but grinding her teeth wouldn't solve the problem. Now it seemed like her only option was to see if the dolls in the vertical farm were interested in going with them, and maybe check out the breeding farm too.

By now, the ingredients for lunch should have been prepared. Maybe she could recruit the alchemist? Or A-91?

---

Chapter 104: On the Way

"Why didn't you go to learn SCV?" AR15 asked helplessly, looking at Hunter sitting in the co-pilot seat.

She didn’t understand why. Maybe they were just born to be incompatible. AR15 always felt that Hunter was out of sync with her nature.

"Too many people, I couldn't get a spot, and I didn’t want to wait there." Hunter crossed her arms and looked out the window. She appeared very casual, as if she was just going out for a walk.

In fact, it was almost the same. After all, finding someone to go with her was a forced request from Helian and M1 Garand.

If it hadn't been for this, AR15 and HK416 would have gone out directly, and there would have been no need to call Hunter and Renate along.

"Ugh, I thought I could have a relaxing vacation." Renate in the back seat looked at the RPK16 in her hand with some emotion.

Without the imprint of the branding system, just holding this weapon of the same model she had used before made her feel quite nostalgic.

Well, it’s fresh, but it doesn't seem much different. It just doesn’t need the fire control core to perform the relevant calculations.

As for whether she can hit the target with the gun in the end? She shouldn’t miss. Although she’s lost the fire control core, the memory of long-term battles remains.

Though she has no muscle memory, she still remembers how to use the weapon.

"It's just a reconnaissance mission a few kilometers away. A large number of infected have already been cleared. Even if there are infected there, the number won't be large." HK416 also held her gun, not worried about any danger.

After all, the previous battle in the industrial park had attracted most of the ELID-infected from the surrounding areas. No matter how many ELID-infected there were, their numbers were limited.

Not everyone would become ELID-infected, and not all ELID-infected people could survive for long.

In fact, all the ELID-infected killed before could be considered Heavy ELID infected, because Heavy infected individuals are typically not fully silicified on the surface and will continue to rot over time. However, it's been years since this area became a red zone. The infected people who survived are thick-skinned and have basically no chance of rotting.

If no one comes to kill them, these guys might still be wandering or dormant here for dozens or even hundreds of years.

"Well, it’s probably easy, but can you really not find anyone else? Isn't A-91 not working either?"

"She was already asleep when we went there. She drank a whole can, two liters."

AR15's eyes twitched. A-91 was clearly refusing to work. When she saw the two of them approach, she picked up the can without saying a word and drank it all.

After drinking two liters of vodka, A-91 immediately collapsed to the ground with a plop.

Although AR15 had guessed that A-91 wouldn’t get drunk easily, her behavior showed that she didn’t want to move!

Just say it outright! Is it really that serious!?

"Okay, by the way, what are your former teammates doing now? Are they still working as security guards?" Renate waved her hand, looking bored, and asked AR15.

"Maybe they’ve arrived at some Griffin base again. Isn’t the job of a security contractor like that? Patrol every day, then go out to scout, destroy some hostile targets, and so on."

"Didn't you ask them clearly?"

"Ask clearly? Why?" AR15 was a little confused. Why should she ask? M4 and the others weren’t like her now. They hadn't deleted their root protocols, so they couldn't just say whatever they wanted.

"Well, at least they can call Renault to save the situation if something goes wrong." Renate spread her hands and shrugged.

"Can’t you say something nice?" Hearing this, AR15 immediately rolled her eyes at Renate.

Do you know how to have a conversation? Who curses others to get into trouble right away?

"Although I want to say that, can you please look at the road? And drive more steadily? Your hands are shaking." Hunter in the co-pilot seat turned her head from the scenery outside and sighed at AR15’s unsteady hands.

"Renate, don't provoke her. I don’t want to climb out of a car that’s flipped into a ditch, and I definitely don’t want to run more than 20 kilometers on foot." HK416 said to Renate unhappily. This girl was clearly doing it on purpose.

"Okay, I won’t say anything more."

After AR15’s hands stabilized, the speed of the off-road vehicle increased a bit. Clearly, Renate’s words had an effect.

HK416 and Hunter noticed it, but it wasn’t a big problem. They hadn’t seen many infected along the way. Even if there were, they were the kind with missing arms and legs—basically no threat.

But the more pressing issue was the increasingly strong collapse radiation around them.

"This radiation level is a bit off. Are you sure we're not heading into a black zone?"

Hunter sat up straight, frowning as she looked outside. She had seen a lot of plant remains that had turned into silicification.

Mainly trees, while other herbs had completely silicified and turned into large particles or powder, scattered on the ground.

"Of course not, it’s not like I’ve never been to a black zone before. Why are you so nervous?"

The car’s communicator had long been invalid, but the mobile phone signal was still full. Obviously, Renault’s phone could still be used here.

As long as communication can be maintained, there's nothing to fear, especially since this isn’t a black zone.

"We're here, it's the factory area up ahead." HK416 pointed to a factory building on the side of the road. It looked different from an industrial park. There were no large open spaces, only huge factories one after another.

"Okay, let’s go and come back quickly. Just staying here makes me feel like there’s a layer of silicified powder on my body."

Renate patted her sleeves, looked at the smoke rising from them, and frowned in annoyance.

---

Later, at the airport:

"Isn’t this a bit too much!? You didn’t say you would take so much!" Leone annoyingly stared at Gray in front of her.

Although the other party was the sponsor of the Flora Institute, and the transport plane she took this time had also been arranged by Gray from the Galatea Corporation, taking away half of the goods right away was a bit much! She paid for those goods herself!

"Leone, you don’t think that the little money you paid is enough to charter a plane to transport 30 tons of goods back, do you?"

Facing Leone, who was almost angry, Gray said slowly, then waved to Nele next to her.

When Naile and Mia saw this, they knew that Leone had suffered a lot this time, but they could do nothing to help, since Gray was both her teacher and boss.

They could only shrug their shoulders, smile apologetically at Leone, and get in the car to leave the airport.

When Leone heard what Gray said, she immediately cooled her temper.

Indeed, a large transport plane flew from Bremen Airport to the yellow zone of Azerbaijan... and had to pass through several places in between. This long distance was definitely not something she could afford with her money...

She couldn't even afford the jet fuel...

Compared with the cost of the charter flight, the little money she paid was at most a small fraction.

"It's good to know. Although the Galatea Corporation took away a lot of samples this time, you should know that you are the real expert in plant research. I hope you can come up with truly valuable experimental data one step ahead of time."

After saying this, Gray turned around and boarded the Galatea Corporation's transport vehicle, then left the airport with the goods that had been loaded.

Leone was left standing there in a daze.

"That... Miss Leone, these remaining goods..."

"I know, you don't have to worry about it." Hearing the words of the staff next to her, Leone waved her hand a little irritably, but then she realized—remaining goods?

What does that mean? Gray had asked people to move the portion taken by the Galatea Corporation?

Looking closely, sure enough, half of the supply boxes were still standing there, and they had not been moved at all!

"Ahem, Miss Leone, can you move these things away as soon as possible? These things will affect the airport's dispatch..."

Hearing this, Leone's face flushed red. She thought that the person had come to ask her where the things were to be transported, but it turned out that the person was not a freight worker at all, but was urging her to move the things away!

Damn it! Gray! You bastard! Why didn't you ask someone to help move these things away? How can I move these things by myself?

When she thought that her pockets had been empty for a long time and she couldn't even take out half a penny, let alone hire people to help transport these things, Leone was about to explode!

"Is it really okay for us to leave Leone there like this?" The woman responsible for driving the truck had the same silver hair as Gray, looked at Leone jumping in the rearview mirror, and asked Gray with some surprise.

"Don't worry. Only when that woman really suffers will she truly know that she has no other choice." Gray smiled and said after looking at Leone, who was still scratching her head and clearly at her wits' end.

"Okay."

Leone, who was left there, scratched her head for a long time and couldn't think of who else she could ask for help except calling Gray.

Just when she was at a loss and was about to give in to Gray and ask her to send someone to help, a familiar voice sounded from behind her.

"Oh? Miss Leone, are you in trouble?"

Looking at the figure in front of her, who was scratching her hair like a chicken coop and was at a loss in front of a pile of supply boxes, Mrs. Graven raised her eyebrows and asked.

"Eh? Mrs. Graven! Why are you here?!"

"Me? Of course, I'm here. After all, the goods I ordered are about to arrive, but there are still people standing here blocking the road. Of course, I have to come over to see what's going on."

Mrs. Graven, dressed in official attire, looked very energetic, with a pair of bright eyes, and didn't look like she was over 70 at all.

"Ah... this... I'm sorry, Mrs. Graven, I'm sorry to bother you, but... I really don't..."

"Spend all your money on purchasing supplies? This is not a good habit. Sometimes, even if you're gambling, you have to think about whether you have a way out when you lose everything." Seeing the embarrassed look on Leone's face, Mrs. Graven pulled the corner of her mouth, waved to her own transport team, and came to load Leone's goods onto the car.

"This, you're right... Thank you so much!" Seeing Mrs. Graven's actions, Leone felt both ashamed and grateful.

"No, I have a request as well."

"Request?"

"Of course, all the goods you brought back this time were from Renault, right? Give me a little bit, of course, I will pay for it, and it doesn't need to be a lot, I just eat it myself."

"Ah, this is so embarrassing, just take whatever you like!"

Although she also felt sorry for those materials being eaten, Leone was not ungrateful.

"No, no, you also inspired me. After all, Renault has been hanging around in some heavily polluted areas recently, and there has been no chance to get these things directly from him. Your route this time is indeed feasible. This time it is just to satisfy my craving."

It is indeed a good choice to airfreight it back through other logistics companies. Although it requires a large amount of transportation fees, Mrs. Graven now obviously does not need to worry so much, and she can still afford this money.

And according to M200, it will not take long, at most a few months.

After a few months, Renault should be able to drive the spaceship around again.

In fact, the blockade of Renault's spacecraft by various countries is not so strict now. After all, Renault has not made any large-scale destruction except for fighting with KCCO.

"Line?" Leone was stunned when she heard this and didn't react to what Mrs. Graven was talking about.

"Of course, the transportation line. I didn't expect that the airport over there could still be used before. The Galatea Corporation reminded me this time."

"Then... won't this have any impact?"

"Hehe, what impact can this have? The route is there. As long as you can afford the price, there will be no problem."

Seeing Mrs. Graven's rich appearance, Leone immediately opened her mouth with emotion.

It seems that Mrs. Graven is planning to buy these things directly from Renault by air transport... Is this a rich person?

"Okay, stop standing here in the cold wind. Let's go to the lounge. Wait for my goods to arrive and then go back together. It's just on the way." Patting Leone's arm, Mrs. Graven took Leone and walked towards the lounge.

"Oh, okay."

-----

Chapter 105: I'm Curious

"It looks well preserved. This trip should be smooth, right?"

Mrs. Graven opened one of the supply boxes and nodded with satisfaction. The fruits and vegetables inside were well preserved and didn't look like they had been through a rough ride.

Hearing Mrs. Graven's words, Leone scratched her head awkwardly. "Well, it can't be said to be smooth..." She then explained the situation she encountered in the black market without hiding anything.

Facing Mrs. Graven who had helped her before and was now helping her return to the institute, she felt too embarrassed to lie.

"Haha! It's still the same. That Renault and those under him all look like they're overdoing it when they do things."

Overdoing it?

Hearing this, Leone nodded in agreement. Although she wished the gunship's firepower had been several times stronger when she met those scavengers, thinking about it afterward, it seemed unnecessary.

The heavy machine gun alone was enough to deal with those scavengers... Well, with the strength of those dolls, a doll holding a heavy machine gun could definitely crush those scavenger convoys.

"Do you mind if I open them all?"

"Oh, it's okay, please."

Anyway, the things in these supply boxes would soon be placed into the cold storage room at the institute, so opening them in advance wouldn’t affect anything.

When the dolls packed the boxes, they didn't mark what was inside because they were all types the dolls didn’t like to eat.

Well, some carrots, some green peppers... just these two types took up nearly five or six boxes.

Seeing the contents of the boxes, Mrs. Graven immediately shook her head with some amusement. "Haha, those girls, I'm afraid they put all the things they don't like to eat into the boxes!"

But fortunately, Gray had already taken away half of the boxes, and those boxes contained the bulk of the goods.

A large part of the fruits and vegetables left were still normal types.

According to the quantity in stock, some of each type was taken, since Leone had not specified the types of goods before.

There were even a lot of fresh seasonings in these boxes, some peppers, and a lot of fresh basil, parsley, rosemary, etc.

Obviously, when loading the goods, neither Renault nor the dolls considered the different prices of these crops at all.

The prices of seasonings and vegetables are obviously different, especially fresh seasonings. The price of this kind of thing in the black market can definitely be equated with Sardis Gold.

"Leone, I'm a little tempted by these things. You must not have checked the types of these things, right? Tsk, if you really sell them, you will probably become a multi-millionaire immediately."

"Huh?" Leone was stunned when she heard Mrs. Graven say this. Then, she saw the various seasonings piled up like rotten vegetable roots in the box.

"Ah!? Why did Renault sell them to me? And so cheap!?"

Seeing the two boxes of various seasonings, Leone's eyes widened immediately. Even though she didn’t cook herself, she knew the value of these things.

Two boxes, with the exact same weight as those vegetables like carrots and green peppers... If she could buy a small box of them with the money she paid before, it would be a blessing!

"Hehe, he's counting on you to buy more next time. Well, these things are already yours anyway. I don’t need to tell you how to deal with them. I'll just take a little bit."

Mrs. Graven didn't take much. She just found a box, picked some fresh fruits and vegetables from it, and asked someone to put them in her car.

"Oh." Leone's mind was buzzing, her thoughts full of the two boxes of seasonings. She didn't know whether she should sell them or try to cultivate them in her own research institute...

No, no, no! She's not studying these! Her purpose is to find the key substances that can resist collapse radiation! Now is not the time to think about growing vegetables!

Throwing away the idea of standing in the market to sell vegetables to others, Leone also sent Mrs. Graven to the car.

As they walked, Mrs. Graven reminded Leone, "By the way, it's okay to use those vegetables for research, but remember to keep some for yourself. They're good for your health. Also, if you have some spare money, remember to find yourself a bodyguard. The world is a little bit unstable now. Well, it's best to have a doll."

When saying this, although Mrs. Graven was a little reluctant, she had to admit that sometimes, as a personal bodyguard, a doll is definitely the best choice. At least, most dolls, even if they have some small thoughts in their hearts, will still complete the task well.

"Huh? Uh, okay, I'll do it as soon as possible." Although she didn't know what Mrs. Graven meant by reminding her about the bodyguard, Leone was indeed tempted.

But she subconsciously thought of Renault.

If she could hire one or two bodyguards from Renault...

...

Of course, Renault would definitely not agree. He didn’t want to let his own dolls go out to be bodyguards for others.

What's more, there were not enough people at home.

With the existence of SCV, the SCV team led by ME79 had made good progress, but the speed of the project had slowed down due to the production of structural fixings in the industrial park.

Scarecrow No. 1, who had been producing SCV, had to go to Scarecrow No. 2 with Renault to help improve the production lines in the industrial park to increase the production speed of structural parts.

In this way, the consumption rate of materials would definitely increase.

Now, it depended on whether HK416 and the others had any good news.

Speaking of HK416 and the others, the four of them quickly entered the far warehouses in the storage area. Although they encountered several ELID-infected people on the way, the number was not large.

Obviously, many of the infected people they had attracted around the industrial park had run from this storage area.

Bang!

Kicking the chain on the warehouse, HK416 raised her hand and pushed open the door.

Renate following behind her saw the full materials in the warehouse at a glance, most of which were already processed.

"It seems that we are lucky. The materials here should not have been loaded and transported out in time."

Several warehouses in a row were all full. Obviously, the materials here could definitely meet Renault's next consumption.

"Maybe, but the collapse radiation here is a bit too strong. If we go two streets further, it will really be a black zone. I can see the silicified crystals everywhere."

HK416 frowned and pinched the skin on her arm. The last time they followed Renault to the black zone, AR15 did not wear any protective equipment, but her bionic skin all over her body was silicified.

Although her bionic skin surface had been specially treated, it was definitely not much better. After all, Renault had said that it was only a temporary solution.

On the contrary, Renate who changed into a new body, at least until now, appeared to have no discomfort at all.

"Don't you feel uncomfortable?" Looking at Renate's chuckled look, HK416 frowned and asked.

"No, um, I know what you're asking. It's a tingling sensation on the skin, right? Actually, there was a little bit of it when we just entered the factory, but it's gone now."

"Uh, could it be that your skin has become silicified, so you don't feel anything?" Hearing this, HK416 raised her hand and pinched Renate's arm in a strange way.

"Of course not. If it had, do you think I could still laugh now?"

"I should be able to. After all, you have a foxy smile on your face all day long. It's hard to imagine what you look like when you don’t laugh."

"Hey, isn't that a bit too harsh? I shouldn’t have done anything to let you down, right?"

As the two talked, they met up with AR15 and Hunter on the other side.

"We’ve checked the warehouses, and most of the things inside are there. We just need to ask the SCV to move these things away."

"Yes, then this mission is successfully completed. We can go back and report to Helian and M1 Garand."

This mission was basically uneventful. Apart from dealing with a few ELID-infected people, there was no other battle at all. It was impossible to see any other living people in this place, so they naturally didn't worry about any problems.

Just when the four of them were about to return to the car and head home, a sound of a car suddenly came from another street not far away.

Car sound!?

Are there others!?

The four of them all heard the noise at this moment and immediately looked at each other in horror.

This time, because there was a shortage of manpower at home, only the four of them came out, and they were just small operatives sent to investigate. Helian had no reason to send another team.

In addition, the sudden sound of the car didn’t sound like a small vehicle but must have been a heavy transport truck!

That is to say! Are there other people also eyeing the materials in this industrial park?

Several of them looked at each other, exchanged opinions in the communication channel, and nodded after they all agreed to check it out.

At this time, Renate realized how troublesome it was to lose the doll communication protocol. "You three are looking at each other and nodding here. Can you consider my feelings a little? Can't you speak out? Even in a low voice?"

Hearing Renate lower her voice to the lowest level and say this helplessly, AR15 and the others immediately pulled out a weird smile on their faces, the kind that wanted to laugh but didn’t know whether to laugh or not.

Although they really wanted to see Renate who always had a foxy smile on her face get humiliated, they didn’t expect it to come so soon!

"Ahem, anyway, we plan to go and take a look. At least we need to know who else is targeting these materials."

"Well, that’s true, but there are only a few specific targets. Either they are from Statesec, or they are from the military, and then from Paradeus. There shouldn’t be any other possibilities, right?"

Anyway, Renate herself really couldn’t think of who else had the ability to send people to the black zone to find such a batch of materials.

"And Svarog Heavy Industry, they actually have the ability to find these things in the black zone."

"Just looking, I think Svarog Heavy Industry should not have the ability to send heavy trucks—oh no, it should be a convoy—to this place, right?"

As Renate said, she pointed to a place not far away. There was no need to investigate anymore. The other party's vehicles were already visible.

And it was very clear who's force they came from.

Although there were no obvious signs on those heavy trucks, the Nyto sitting in the cab could already explain a lot of things.

"Nyto? They are really Paradeus's people. Why did they come here?"

In the entire black zone, the only valuable materials seemed to be in this warehouse, right?

"Just ask them and you'll know. Anyway, we have a lot of accounts to settle with these guys." AR15 raised her eyebrows. Although she had the same doubts as HK416, she was more inclined to think about these troublesome things after the battle.

As AR15 said this, Hunter had already rushed out.

Of course, she didn’t rush directly to the front but went around from the side. Hunter was not Executioner and never made the kind of behavior of directly attacking the enemy’s position upfront.

After reaching a consensus, the four of them immediately dispersed and found favorable positions around them, waiting for the Paradeus convoys to arrive.

In addition to the few empty cars that led the way, there was also a heavy truck that looked inconspicuous in the center of the Paradeus convoy. It was somewhat out of tune with the other heavy trucks because the car looked dirty, as if it had been parked in one place for a long time.

"Most of them are empty, but there are some Paradeus soldiers in some of them. Can they be considered soldiers?" HK416 was referring to those guys whose protective suits were full of skeletons.

These guys should be similar to ordinary combatants from Paradeus.

"Maybe, but there aren’t many of them. I’m more curious about what’s in the van. They should have come from the south, right? That is a complete black area."

"Since you’re curious, go and have a look. I’m ready here. If you want to fight, we can do it at any time," Hunter said happily.

The strength of this Paradeus team is not strong. With the strength of several of them, it is enough to wipe out this team.

"Well, let’s do it!"

Da da da da!

------

Chapter 106: What's the Use?

Without mercy, the bullets tore through the protective glass of the heavy trucks, penetrating the heads of the Paradeus soldiers, leaving only bones in the moment of the gunshot.

"This is the first time I’ve learned that you can drive even if you have no brains. Should this be considered illegal driving?" Renate teased the Paradeus soldiers who were left with only bones in their helmets, unsure if it was to cover up the embarrassment of not being able to shoot immediately after hearing the sound.

There were no other vehicles in the convoy except for the heavy trucks. The first three and the last three were driven by these ordinary Paradeus soldiers.

The only difference was the heavy truck with a carriage in the middle of the convoy.

And the drivers of that truck were not ordinary Paradeus soldiers, but two Nytos.

The main reason was that the carriage of that truck was too conspicuous, so the first thing that several people noticed was the two Nytos inside.

"Hmm, in addition to mindless driving, there should be another unlicensed driver now. These two Nytos are definitely not old enough to take the test..."

"Okay, stop talking and help clean up the Paradeus soldiers in the back car, okay?"

HK416 rolled her eyes at Renate beside her. What's wrong with this girl? She didn’t see her talk as much as now.

She didn’t use grenades directly. HK416 didn’t think it was necessary in the current situation. There were only about 30 Paradeus soldiers at most. Even if Renate didn’t help, she and AR15 had a way to deal with them.

It was just a matter of spending a few extra seconds.

But now Hunter had rushed to the front to stop the van. Getting rid of these Paradeus soldiers, who weren’t too troublesome but couldn’t be ignored, as soon as possible was the best help for Hunter.

Hearing this, Renate couldn’t delay any longer. She put her index finger on the safety and switched it to full automatic.

This was a habit she had developed when she was a doll. After all, even if it was semi-automatic, it could be fired at full-automatic speed by a doll.

Unfortunately, perhaps because she hadn’t touched this commonly used weapon for a long time, or because she wasn’t used to it after changing her body, Renate, who aimed according to her original habit and pulled the trigger, was unable to directly kill the group of Paradeus soldiers who were jumping off the car.

Da da da da!

A series of bullets appeared to have intentionally avoided those Paradeus soldiers, sometimes high and sometimes low, or passed through the gaps between them.

In short, after a long burst of shooting, not a single Paradeus soldier was shot down...

"Puff!" Seeing this, HK416 finally understood why Renate had started talking too much.

She was afraid of showing weakness, so she didn’t shoot!

"What do you mean, HK416? What is Renate doing?" AR15 who was not in the same location as HK416 couldn’t help but ask.

Although it wasn’t directly connected to the communication protocol of the doll, Renate could hear it because she was listening on her mobile phone. AR15's voice was transmitted to her ears through the receiver.

"Ahem, she wasn’t playing; she just missed the target." Turning her head to see the not-so-obvious blush on Renate’s face, HK416 cleared her throat and “explained” a little.

But after HK416 explained, Renate couldn’t take it anymore. She gritted her teeth and ruthlessly pulled the trigger, refusing to let go. She didn’t shoot any long bursts and started shooting at the Paradeus soldiers.

It must be said that such random shooting was very effective. The distance between them and the Paradeus soldiers was only about 100 meters at most. Even if Renate’s shooting skills were terrible at that moment, as long as she could control the recoil, she could definitely knock down a large number of them with more than 80 bullets in the drum.

And it was true. Without considering ammunition consumption, more than half of the Paradeus soldiers fell. The remaining dozen Paradeus soldiers began to search for cover near the vehicle and launched a counterattack against HK416.

"Let’s go." Seeing this, HK416 didn’t stay where she was, but called Renate, and the two rushed directly toward the temporary shelter in another direction.

At this time, Renate was too embarrassed to speak, except for clumsily stuffing the empty drum into the carrying bag.

If it were back then during the time when she still had the fire control core, she wouldn’t have used a whole drum of bullets to kill these more than 30 Paradeus soldiers. At most, she would have used up half of it.

It was nothing like now. A whole drum of bullets was fired, and the result was that only more than a dozen Paradeus soldiers were killed or injured. Those who were injured were lying on the ground, struggling...

AR15, who was in the other direction, also sighed when she saw this. Although she had considered the possibility of accidents, she never thought that the accident would happen to her own people first.

Is Renate this kind of person? I’m afraid that after changing her body, she never thought she would run out to perform a mission one day?

Although she thought about it, AR15’s hands didn’t stop moving. After just a few seconds, the remaining dozen Paradeus soldiers were reduced to only four or five.

When HK416 and Renate rushed to the front, the remaining Paradeus soldiers were only those lying on the ground.

These were blocked by the truck, and AR15 couldn’t hit them from her angle.

Boom!

Just when HK416 was re-shooting the remaining Paradeus soldiers, a sharp roar suddenly came from the direction of Hunter!

"Hunter! What’s going on!?"

"That’s it! That Nyto just blew up the fuel tank of a truck. What on earth is that guy’s supplementary gun? Can it move horizontally after firing?" Although her tone was a little anxious, Hunter sounded full of energy and was obviously not injured.

It’s just that the van in the middle didn’t stop. Instead, it rudely knocked away the vehicle in front of them and drove away!

And Hunter was lying on the roof of the van at that moment!

At this time, Hunter had already found the blind spot of Nyto's attack, which was the truck's compartment. Nyto holding a sniper rifle stopped attacking directly after seeing her standing on top of the compartment and just stared at her with unfriendly eyes.

"I'll try to stop this car. You guys hurry up and follow. There may be something important in the vehicle." Squinting at Nyto who leaned out of the window, Hunter picked up the particle pistol in her hand and fired at the truck's cabin.

As long as the engine of the truck is destroyed, the two Nytos in the car will have no choice but to stop.

"Stop! Stop!"

Just as Hunter opened fire, Nyto holding the sniper rifle finally couldn’t help but shout in panic.

Unfortunately, Hunter wasn’t listening to her and continued to fire at the truck's engine, one shot after another.

Seeing this, the Nyto in the driver's seat couldn’t take it anymore and immediately shouted loudly to the other Nyto who was driving beside her, "Stop!"

"Hey! Wouldn’t it be over if you did this earlier?" Seeing Nyto stop the car, Hunter pulled the corner of her mouth, but she didn’t mean to get off.

What if she got off and the Nyto in the car stepped on the accelerator and ran away again?

"What do you want? Sangvis, there’s nothing you need in this car!" Facing Hunter, who was sitting calmly on top of the car, Nyto asked helplessly.

"Heh, it’s not up to you to decide whether it’s there or not. I have to see it myself. Get out of the car!" Hunter shook the gun in her hand and signaled for the two Nytos in the cab to get out of the car.

Hearing this, the two Nytos were indifferent, but after seeing Hunter pointing a gun at her with one hand and the muzzle of the gun pointed at the car with the other, Nyto, who was holding the sniper rifle, had no choice but to grit her teeth. She then reluctantly opened the door and jumped out of the cab.

The Nyto driver who jumped out on the other side wasn’t armed. After getting out of the car, he stood next to the cab, staring blankly at Hunter.

"Put down the gun."

Just as Nyto who was holding the sniper rifle stared at Hunter, thinking about how to send a distress signal, AR15’s voice also sounded from behind her.

This was enough time for AR15 and HK416 to run to the side of the car.

Hearing the voice behind her, Nyto knew she had no chance and could only throw away the sniper rifle in her hand.

Seeing this, Hunter jumped down from the top of the carriage, grabbed the other Nyto, who was responsible for driving the vehicle, and brought her to AR15.

"What should we do with these two? Should we take them back? Renate, do you want to try to get some information from them?"

As soon as Hunter said this, she suddenly realized something. Renate was no longer the electronic warfare-specialized doll.

She now had no interface, and it was even more impossible to use any electronic warfare means without equipment.

Realizing he had said the wrong thing, Hunter was stunned, cleared her throat awkwardly, and looked away from Renate.

"Why do we need to get information? Just open the carriage and see what’s inside, right?" HK416 was uninterested in the two Nytos. She didn’t intend to wait for them to confess. She walked straight to the back of the truck, intending to open the carriage and see what cargo Paradeus was transporting.

Seeing this, Nyto who was pointed at by AR15 wanted to struggle, but AR15 pushed her back with the muzzle of the gun. She stood still, only glancing at the sniper rifle she had just thrown away.

The Nyto who was caught by Hunter was much more compliant. She didn’t say a word, held in Hunter's grip in a daze, and didn’t struggle, which made Hunter feel awkward.

Bang.

Just after HK416 opened the compartment of the truck, her eyelids suddenly twitched—not because of what was in the compartment, but because of the sudden increase in collapse radiation concentration.

If the collapse radiation concentration outside the compartment was already at the edge of the red zone and was about to reach the level of the black zone, then the collapse radiation concentration inside the compartment had definitely reached the level of the real black zone!

So... what exactly was carried in this compartment was self-evident!

Collapse fluid bottles!

And it had to be the kind that had cracks! Otherwise, how could you explain the collapse radiation in this carriage?!

Looking at the container fixed in the middle of the carriage, HK416's eyes twitched. She never expected that Paradeus would use this kind of transportation method to carry such a dangerous item!

If there is even a slight leakage in the carriage, the collapse radiation concentration will increase by several levels wherever this truck goes!

And once the crystal lattice in this truck is completely broken, it goes without saying that a brand new black area will soon appear.

"What did you see? Your face looks so bad." Renate walked over with curiosity and looked from behind HK416. Her face suddenly darkened. She never expected that after defeating a Paradeus transport team on a whim, they’d end up with such a hot potato!

"Let’s notify Renault. This thing is not something we can handle." Renate raised her hand and helped HK416 close the compartment door with a grim expression.

HK416 also sighed, took out her phone, and began calling Renault.

AR15 raised an eyebrow. Although she didn’t know exactly what the two were talking about, she already felt the increased collapse radiation concentration and had a rough guess about what was inside the truck.

What HK416 said to Renault over the phone confirmed this.

"We found the Paradeus transport team here. There’s a collapse fluid bottle on their truck, which has cracks. I’m afraid the collapse radiation in this area is related to Paradeus."

"Okay, I understand."

Hearing this, AR15 sighed and patted her forehead helplessly. Hunter also pulled out a long chain from the cab and threw it to AR15.

AR15 took the chain and tied up the two Nytos without hesitation. Although she wasn’t sure if the two Nytos has more capabilities, it was definitely wise to tie them up.

They might need to wait here for a while until Renault arrives. During this time, she didn’t want to keep guarding these two with a gun.

"Really, I don’t know what Paradeus is trying to do with this thing. The direction they were heading before should have been a yellow zone, right? Are there many people there?"

"How should I know? You should ask MDR. She’s well-informed and might know something." Renate spread her hands and said.

Fortunately, Renault didn’t make them wait too long. It wasn’t long before he drove the gunship over.

Well, he drove it here himself. It’s not that there was no driver, but when it comes to Collapse Fluid Bottles, it’s safer for him to handle it alone. An extra person wouldn’t be of much help.

---

Chapter 107: Don't Mess Around

"Renault, are you really okay?"

Seeing Renault only take down two rather inconspicuous pieces of equipment and send the four of them to the gunship, Renate couldn't help but ask worriedly.

After all, it was a Collapse Fluid Bottle. The amount of Collapse Fluid in this entire lattice was many times greater than the two Collapse Fluid Bombs Renault had taken from the military before!

And Renault's safety was crucial to her own survival, so she couldn't help but worry.

Hunter didn’t say anything, but simply frowned, looking a little displeased. AR15 next to her looked similarly concerned.

HK416 looked at Renault but didn't say anything.

Instead, she turned around and sat in the gunship's driver's seat.

AR15 was a bit puzzled. This girl should have joined Renault's team long ago, so doesn't she have anything to say now?

"Why are you looking at me like that? Do any of you three want to volunteer to drive the gunship?" HK416 recalled her mediocre driving skills while fastening her seat belt.

She had learned driving from G11 and UMP45. Although she failed the elementary driving skills test, she knew at least how to take off and make the gunship move forward and backward.

"Uh..." Hearing this, the three of them looked at each other, their eyes asking, 'Can you do it?'

But the answer was obvious: three cobblers combined aren’t as good as a half-baked driver. After all, none of them had ever touched a gunship’s joystick.

"That being said, aren’t you worried?" Looking at HK416 who appeared as calm as ever, AR15 couldn't help but ask curiously.

Seeing that all three of them had fastened their seat belts, HK416 didn’t immediately answer AR15’s question. She first controlled the gunship to take off. After the gunship had flown for hundreds of meters, she spoke.

"There’s nothing to worry about. This isn’t the first time he’s dealt with these things."

Not only that, but the two Collapse Fluid bombs they had obtained not long ago had already been dismantled by Renault.

The containers of the two bombs were now placed in Renault's cabin, but the Collapse Fluid inside was gone, replaced by two bouquets of flowers placed by M1897.

Obviously, M1897 had treated the two bottles like vases, which can be found everywhere.

After that operation, they hadn't seen Renault handle the Collapse Fluid bombs in front of everyone, nor had they noticed any increase in radiation concentration inside the spacecraft.

This was enough to prove that Renault must have some other method for dealing with the Collapse Fluid, or at least making it harmless.

What exactly that method was... HK416 already had a guess in her mind, but the possibility was a bit small.

Could it be that this guy just drank the Collapse Fluid directly like before?

The three members of AR15, who were unaware of this, could only look at each other blankly at the moment, then focus their attention on the two Nytos who were wriggling like insects on the floor of the cabin.

As for Renault, Renate was certain that he had taken the two instruments and walked directly into the truck's cargo compartment. Then, he had closed the door behind him, and she couldn’t see what he was doing at all.

The wait lasted for two hours, during which Helian and M1 Garand also sent messages asking if something had happened. The tone of their messages suggested they hadn’t noticed that Renault had driven the gunship away from the spaceship.

AR15, noticing this, frowned immediately. She was clearly dissatisfied with the lax management of the spaceship. But then she remembered that it was Renault’s spaceship, one he built himself.

Given the guy’s strange abilities, it wasn’t difficult for him to hide things from Helian and M1 Garand.

"Hmph! That guy must have died in there! That level of collapse radiation is definitely not something humans can withstand!" Just as the atmosphere grew heavy among AR15 and the others, Nyto, who was lying on the floor, suddenly spoke.

Hearing this, Renate and Hunter’s faces changed, and they looked at Nyto with displeasure. AR15 also glared at her, wondering if she should kill him now.

However, if they did that, they might not be able to retrieve any information about Paradeus from their virtual consciousness.

Paradeus was an organization with strange technology. They had caused them a lot of trouble both before and after, and it appears to be intentionally or unintentionally targeting G&K.

With the bad luck of Gentiane and the fact that all forces are chasing M4’s actions, they were likely to be involved with Paradeus in the future.

After all, they had found traces of Paradeus' activities in many places, and the military couldn’t be unaware of this large organization. The military's decisive actions against Griffin may have been fueled by Paradeus.

So obtaining information about Paradeus was indeed not important to Renate and Hunter, but it was still necessary for AR15, since M4 and the other three members of the AR team were still staying in Griffin.

"Humph, and I’ve contacted support! In a few minutes, you’ll be surrounded!"

"Encircle? How do you plan to surround? Do you mean to surround an aerial gunship from the ground?" HK416 raised her eyebrows. Although she didn't know whether Paradeus had air units, she didn’t think there was anything that could stop the gunship.

At least, in this era, equipment capable of intercepting aerial gunships— which have armor as thick as tanks and fly at extremely high speeds— has not yet been developed. At most, they could just drive them away. After all, no matter how strong the gunship is, it is not invincible.

But on the contrary, as long as HK416 is determined to drive the gunship away, no one can intercept it.

That said, although Paradeus certainly cannot surround them in the sky, Renault is still on the truck on the ground...

If Renault's work reaches a critical moment and is obstructed by these Paradeus people...

The situation is indeed not good.

"HK416, where is the detection system on the ship?" AR15 unbuckled her seat belt, climbed into the co-pilot seat, and asked HK416 while flipping through the driver's manual.

"It should be on the center console. You can find it if you look carefully," HK416 said, glancing at the driver's manual in AR15's hand, not worried that AR15 would mess around.

---

---

---

"Why are you looking at me like that? Are you thirsty too?" Gentiane scratched her head, looked at the cup in her hand, and asked M16 in a strange way.

For a while, M16 had sat there, staring at the cup in her hand, looking dumbfounded, and no one knew what was going on in her mind.

"She must be craving wine," RO sighed and shrugged her shoulders. M4 next to him also smiled awkwardly. I'm afraid that except for Gentiane, all the dolls in the base knew about this.

"Um, sorry, M16, I can't help you. Just pray that when the supplies are delivered next time, I can bring you a few bottles of wine." Seeing M16's almost dumb look, Gentiane could only say helplessly.

Although Havier had sent back the supplies she bought from the original base through the IOP channel, it obviously did not include the wine jar that M16 had gotten from Simonov.

Who would have thought that M16's inventory actually included a wine jar placed in the warehouse...

"Alas, I'm just thinking about it. I'm not that tired yet." M16 came back to her senses at this moment, sighed with some emotion, and wondered whether Renault’s wine had been sold.

If it hadn't been sold, could she get some from Simonov?

Well, it's free!

These days, wine is so expensive, a big jar is really worth a fortune.

Just thinking about it, the red alarm light suddenly lit up in the originally calm combat command room!

"Oh no! Commander! Another batch of infected people has been found! They are already rushing toward the base!"

Hearing the shouts of the dolls, Gentiane, who was drinking water, almost spit out a mouthful.

They had just cleaned up a batch of ELID infected people yesterday, why are they here again today!? This place is not a heavily polluted area! Where did so many ELID infected people come from?

Since arriving at this base, Gentiane had received a new job from Kryuger, or Havier, which was to clean up the ELID infected people that might exist in the surrounding areas.

Originally, Gentiane thought it would be an easy job. After all, although the ELID infected people are strong, their numbers are limited. As long as they have enough ammunition, those ELID infected people shouldn’t be too hard to deal with.

But the reality is that the number of those ELID infected people has reached a level that even the tactical dolls find extremely difficult to handle!

Just two days ago, hundreds of them were dealt with, and now there’s another batch?

"Where do these infected people come from? Why are there so many?" Gentiane complained while arranging the dolls to go out. Although this is her job, such a batch after batch, even an tin man can’t stand it!

Hearing this, Kalina scratched her cheek helplessly. "I’m afraid some refugees who wanted to cross the edge of the red zone encountered the floating collapse radioactive dust... so..."

Hearing this, Gentiane fell silent and sighed helplessly. She could only accept that she was powerless. The investor of this job came from the green zone not far behind the new base, and around this green zone, there is a large yellow zone.

There are indeed many refugees gathered here, most of whom ran from other directions. And those who are unlucky enough to accidentally encounter the collapse radioactive airflow or large areas of collapse radioactive dust during migration...

Now, they’ve become ELID infected and are attacking the defense line they just built.

Although she sympathizes with the plight of those people, Gentiane is now powerless to do anything for them. All she can do is clean up those who have become heavily infected to prevent them from attacking other residents.

Fortunately, she now has a lot of dolls under her command and can handle the work of guarding the green zone while clearing the infected. Otherwise, the employer of this job might have to consider changing to a security contractor.

Compared to when she first joined the job, the current situation is clearly not the same. After all, when she first joined, Griffin was cooperating with the military and Statesec, and all the commissions she undertook were from the official side.

Not only did they offer a good price, but there weren’t as many troubles as there are now. At least she didn’t receive a complaint from the security area every other day.

"Commander, we found some enemies wearing white protective suits among the ELID infected. They seem to be arresting those who fled."

"They?"

"Uh, yes, because I'm not sure whether there are living people under those protective suits... They might be machines or dolls..."

Hearing this, the three members of the AR team who were standing in the combat command room and had not been assigned tasks by Gentiane suddenly thought of the intelligence shared with them by AR15 before.

Gentiane was also stunned when she heard this and looked at the three people, obviously thinking of something.

"Provide assistance to those people as much as possible. We need to understand what happened." Gentiane narrowed her eyes and said, "M4, RO, please."

"Understood."

"What about me?" M16 scratched her head.

"Same old."

"Got it."

---

"I see! There is a team... no, two teams of Paradeus combat units rushing over here! Are these guys so close?" AR15, who had finally found the detection device, shouted angrily.

These Paradeus combat units are closer to this storage area than she thought. Maybe in a few minutes, they will appear in their field of vision.

The reason for this phenomenon is probably that this Nyto called for support as soon as he was attacked!

"What should we do now? Should we provide artillery support to Renault directly in the air?" Renault spoke, wanting to unbuckle her seatbelt and sit in the gunner’s seat.

Unfortunately, before she could move, HK416 called her, "Stop! Don’t mess around! I can’t do this! I can only control the gunship to fly slowly now!"

Renault drove out in a new gunship. The guns on this gunship are much more difficult to control than the tank guns on the old gunships. It’s not that the gunners are difficult to control, but the driver needs to control the posture of the gunship at all times.

In fact, the gunship still has an automatic hovering device. As long as it is turned on, the gunship can become an aerial turret.

Unfortunately, HK416 didn’t know what button to press or what instructions to give to the gunship.

--------

Chapter 108: He is not a human!

Just when AR15 and HK416 were arguing about whether to turn around and fly back to support Renault, who was still in the carriage, Renault, who had been silently staying inside, suddenly stretched out his hand and pushed open the door of the carriage, holding the two pieces of equipment he had brought with him.

But Renault's current appearance was definitely not normal!

The coat he was wearing had become tattered, and the lapels and hems were even burning!

This condition on his clothes was a minor issue in Renate and AR15’s eyes, because Renault's condition looked even more terrifying!

Renault's entire body, from his face, neck, chest, and arms, was covered with large patches of cracks everywhere! It looked as if he could fall apart at any moment!

"Hey! Renault! What's wrong with you!?" Seeing Renault's appearance, Renate was shocked and picked up the phone to call.

The phone had been switched to intercom mode, so it should transmit her voice to Renault immediately.

"It's okay, no need to come over." Hearing the phone in his pocket, Renault took it out and waved in the direction of the gunship.

HK416 was relieved when she heard Renault’s voice. Fortunately, as she had guessed, Renault always had a way to handle things like collapse fluid, but what exactly had happened to him?

The Paradeus combat units were approaching. Although HK416 admitted that Renault's combat power was definitely much higher than theirs, there were many Paradeus rushing over, with at least fifty transport vehicles alone.

With such a large-scale force, no matter how strong Renault was, facing fifty vehicles and at least five hundred Paradeus...

He alone couldn’t possibly handle it, right?

Of course, the number of soldiers might not reach 500, but HK416 considered all of them to be ordinary Paradeus soldiers.

If, in addition to those ordinary Paradeus, there were others who could use beam weapons...

Last time, when they dealt with Paradeus, they had already seen the threat of those beam weapons. If there were only a few, it would be fine, but if the number was large, they would likely be in a very bad situation.

HK416 had confidence in Renault, but not much.

Adding to Renault's clearly abnormal appearance, HK416 felt that the balance in her heart was gradually tilting toward "something is going to happen."

Renault sighed and put the phone in his pocket. He had originally planned to put it in his coat pocket, but the coat was now full of holes, and the shirt inside and the lining of the coat had all been burned away. He didn't know when it would break.

Fortunately, the pants were still intact.

If he had known it would turn out like this, he should have brought a spare set of clothes.

Raising his hand and looking at his arm covered with glowing cracks, Renault actually felt quite refreshing.

Although it looked a bit shabby, he could clearly feel that his current condition was better than ever before.

Although absorbing the collapse fluid had cost him a bit, it was nothing more than a shirt, and he could continue wearing the coat after mending it.

Additionally, the energy in his body was a bit too full and needed to be released in some way.

"Are Renault's eyes glowing?" Hunter who had already approached the porthole pointed at Renault, who had jumped out, and asked Renate and AR15.

"This... is indeed glowing..." Looking at the red light blooming in Renault's eyes, Renate nodded solemnly.

AR15 had a similar expression. HK416, who was in the driver's seat, didn’t care at first when she heard Hunter’s words. After all, she had known for a long time that Renault's eyes would glow, so it wasn’t strange at all.

But when HK416 glanced at Renault again, her eyelids twitched!

Renault's eyes could no longer be described as "glowing"!

They were like two glaring headlights! The red light being emitted could serve as an emergency light!

But now it was daytime! It wasn’t normal for him to emit such a bright light in daylight!

"Hey! Renault! Commander! What are you doing!?" Seeing that not only were Renault's eyes glowing, but his hands were also beginning to have red light condensing, with red arcs similar to lightning flashing around him, HK416 immediately called into the communicator in panic.

Unfortunately, Renault was busy now. Although he heard HK416’s voice, he didn’t have time to withdraw his hands.

"Fly! Fly up!" AR15 immediately saw a scene that shocked her even more.

Renault actually took off from the spot!

The body that was originally standing on the ground suddenly lifted into the air and flew directly to a height of dozens of meters!

"Isn't this a bit too exaggerated? A Superpower?" Hunter was also stunned by the scene.

No matter how much Renault had beaten Executioner before, it was at least within her understanding. It was nothing more than greater strength, faster speed, and more exquisite skills...

But now... Sorry, she seemed to have watched too few movies.

"Forget it, there are so many things wrong with Renault anyway. Why didn’t I feel surprised when I saw this guy flying just now?" Renate had nothing to say about this. She could only sigh and continue staring at Renault.

At this moment, the Paradeus convoy entered the field of vision of several people, and it appears that Renault had finished his actions.

He wasn’t seen waving his hands or anything, and the two balls of red energy condensed in his hands disappeared inexplicably.

Swish!

It was as if they heard the sound of G36 frying Wellington steak in the kitchen, and a sound like boiling oil came from a distance!

"Look! Look! The Paradeus convoy!" Hunter raised her hands and patted AR15 and Renate on the shoulders.

And AR15 and the others were watching— they were not blind!

Like a red lightning storm, red energy raged through the Paradeus convoy, and in just a few seconds, it directly tore apart the vehicles’ shells! And the crew inside!

A group of Paradeus combat units who had come by car were torn to pieces by the red lightning without even firing a shot!

It’s unclear whether they were burned, but AR15 and the others definitely didn’t want to go over and check what had happened...

The two Nytos lying on the cabin floor, the one who was smarter, was already a little flustered. Hearing the sudden screams from Renate and the others, she struggled on the ground, trying to stand up and see what was happening outside the window.

Unfortunately, AR15 had tied her feet long ago, so she could only crawl on the ground like a cricket. Not to mention standing, it was impossible for her to even sit up!

The Paradeus convoy, struck by the red lightning, turned into wreckage almost before Renate and the others' eyes.

Looking at the convoy that had been destroyed, the group was a little incredulous.

The Paradeus convoy which had been so aggressive just a few seconds ago, was gone just like that?

"HK416, open the rear hatch."

HK416's eyes were also dull at this time. After hearing Renault's voice, she raised her hand in a daze and opened the rear hatch of the gunship.

Nyto, hearing the sound of the hatch opening, looked up in the direction of the hatch and saw a figure floating in from outside…

Nyto’s expression at that moment was almost the same as Renate's and the others’, who had not turned their heads from the porthole.

It wasn’t until Renault raised his hand, pulled down the hatch switch, and closed the hatch again that the people in the cabin regained their senses.

"This... Renault? Are you human? Are you an alien?" Renate turned around with a complicated expression and asked Renault.

Hearing this question, Renault immediately raised his eyebrows, paused for a moment, and stepped over the two Nytos on the ground. "...Maybe."

L

He paused! He hesitated! It’s certain! This guy must be an alien!

Renate’s face scrunched up. This was something she didn’t expect. Her new boss was actually an alien... But if he was an alien, maybe she could go to other planets with him in the future?

Hiss, this possibility doesn't seem so bad, right?

Ignoring the complicated looks from AR15 and Hunter, Renault put the equipment in his hand on the seat, walked from the cabin to behind HK416, raised his hand, and pressed the hover button. "I'll drive."

"Oh, oh." Hearing Renault’s words, HK416 hurriedly got up from the driver's seat and moved to the co-pilot seat next to him.

While moving, she carefully looked at Renault's current appearance. He looked no different from usual. The cracks on the surface of his body and the glaring red light in his eyes had all disappeared.

Except for the tattered clothes, he was completely the usual Renault.

'MDR! You won’t believe what you missed!' After looking at Renault for a while, HK416 took out her mobile phone and started sending messages to MDR.

Although HK416 usually didn’t care about MDR’s gossiping behavior, now she felt that telling MDR this news and seeing her dumbfounded expression would help relieve her excitement.

The three people in the cabin also looked at each other, then shrugged their shoulders at the same time, expressing through their actions that they had never seen such outrageous thing in their lives.

"Hey, Renault, has the collapse liquid in the collapse liquid lattice been dealt with?"

"Of course."

"Uh? How did you deal with it?"

"Absorbed. What else can you do?"

Renault didn’t worry at all that the two Nytos in the cabin would leak the news. Even if they did, so what?

"Absorbed... That just now... That move just now created a lot of red lightning in a flash..."

"Psionic Storm. Learned from a friend."

Looking back at Renate, Renault could see that, in addition to curiosity, she obviously had some small ideas.

But it was nothing more than wanting to learn how to obtain psionic energy. It didn’t matter.

"Psychic energy? Isn't it collapse energy?"

"It’s very complicated. It will take a while to explain. Let’s talk about it after we go back."

During the few minutes when the gunship flew back to the industrial park, the people in the cabin all stared at Renault blankly. Even Renault couldn’t help but feel goosebumps at that time.

After Renault stopped the gunship, he took the two Nytos to the workshop. First, he needed to deal with the virtual communication protocols of these two.

Of course, before that, he needed to go back to the room to change clothes.

"No? Renault? What's wrong with you?" Seeing Renault walking back in a mess, Helian couldn’t help but exclaim.

"It’s okay, just the clothes are burned."

After placing the two Nytos in the workshop, Renault waved to Scarecrow. "Keep an eye on these two. I’ll be back soon."

"Nytos?" Seeing Renault leave, Helian noticed that the two Renault brought back were tied up like insects with steel cables. Not to mention getting up, it was quite remarkable that they could pupate in an instant.

"They should have just been caught outside. HK416 and the others have contacted the commander before." Scarecrow nodded, looked at the two Nytos, then looked at Helian with sympathy. This woman's workload might increase again.

One Nyto already made Helian a little overwhelmed, and now there were two more... tsk tsk…

Of course, maybe it can't be called work. After all, Helian herself was a little happy about it, wasn’t she?

On the other side, MDR, who received the message from HK416, came over as soon as Renault left the hangar. Ver looked bewildered, was beside her. She had no idea why MDR suddenly looked so bitter and overly excited.

"HK416! Come on! Show me! What did you see?" Seeing that both HK416 and AR15 looked emotional, MDR felt itchy in her heart!

Fortunately, they were all dolls, and they could actively convert the situations they had seen into video files and save them.

"No, I have to ask Renault before I can agree to this." HK416 shook her head. Although she refused, MDR had already guessed what HK416 had seen, and it was probably related to Renault!

"Oh!? What did you see? If you can’t show me, tell me first! Don’t hide it! I won’t tell anyone casually!"

What do you think of MDR? Is she the type to gossip?

"Ahem, okay, actually… Anyway, you’re not allowed to laugh after I say this."

"Okay, I won’t laugh, we are professionals!" MDR was stunned when she heard this, then looked at Vera beside her.

"That's good, ahem, Renault is not human!"

"Puff!"

---

Chapter 109: You Look Good

Leaning behind the bunker, M16 watched from afar as the Paradeus soldiers escorted the people.

"What's the situation?" a voice sounded from the communication protocol, asking M16 helplessly.

"Fortunately, they are only escorting those people at the moment, and it seems that they have no intention of attacking them."

"Did you see what shot down the drone just now?" Gentiane scratched her head in confusion. She had asked M4 and the others to release the drone for reconnaissance from the start.

But who would have thought that when the drone flew over the heads of the Paradeus soldiers, this drone, which always performed well in their battles with the Sangvis Ferri, was shot down like a target?

Although it’s not that they’ve never experienced a situation where they could only understand the battlefield through the doll information system, there was certainly much less information available.

"No, we could only see those ordinary Paradeus soldiers in the visual area, and we can't see any other types of combat units." M16 looked around vigilantly, guarding against any enemy units that might be hidden outside the visual range.

"It's really a headache. Don't rush ahead. Send the puppets to explore the way ahead first, so as not to get caught." Gentiane sighed and said helplessly. Although sending puppets forward is a foolish method, and there’s a high probability that the locals will be discovered first, it’s better than letting the dolls walk into the opponent's trap.

"Of course, but what about those personnel?"

Hearing what M16 said, Gentiane narrowed her eyes. Now was not the time for indecision.

"Don't worry about them for now. Since those Paradeus soldiers are escorting them, they won’t harm them for a while."

Or… it doesn’t matter whether they’re hurt or not. Most of the captured people are ELID patients. Some of them have reached the pathological stage, and the outer layer of their bodies has begun to show obvious silicification.

ELID patients at this stage—let alone whether they can be saved—would they even be treated if they could? ELID patients with mild symptoms might still be saved in large medical institutions, but severe cases like these...

This is no different from issuing a death sentence.

Even if M16 and M4 really saved these people from the Paradeus, she would probably only be able to provide some humanitarian hospice care; there would be no other way…

Nearby medical centers would never accept these terminally ill ELID patients, and there was no treatment available.

"Okay." M16 naturally understood this, and Gentiane had no other good solution for those ELID patients.

Just as Gentiane temporarily hung up the communication with M16, Persica who had been standing silently next to her, raised her hand and waved to her.

"Hey."

"Persica? You finally came out of your own laboratory? What’s the matter? Haven’t all the materials sent to you before been moved to the laboratory?" Seeing Persica appear in the combat command room, Gentiane was a little surprised.

This woman usually didn’t want to step out of the laboratory. Why was she acting so strangely today, even coming here?

"I have good news. I think you’ll definitely thank me after hearing it."

"Don’t keep me in suspense. Just tell me directly. I’m busy here." Gentiane gave Persica a cold look and moved her eyes back to the screen of the command terminal, sighing.

"The Heavy Ordinace Corps I mentioned to you before is ready to go into battle. Come and meet your commander." Persica said, turning around and clapping her hands at the door of the combat command room.

Hearing the clapping, four dolls walked in from the door hesitantly.

"Hello! Commander Gentiane! BGM-71 Heavy Ordinace Corps reporting for duty!" one of the four dolls saluted Gentiane energetically.

"Hmm? Oh? So… when did they arrive? Could they be the supplies that were delivered earlier?" Gentiane was stunned when she saw the dolls standing in front of her, then stared at Persica.

There were dolls in IOP’s support supplies! Persica didn’t say a word about this!?

Facing Gentiane’s questioning gaze, Persica shrugged indifferently and grinned. "Well, they all had to go through my debugging before they could go to the battlefield, and I asked them to come to you."

The four dolls stood in front of Gentiane, all wearing combat uniforms with the IOP logo and carrying different equipment. Among them, only one doll was carrying a weapon.

It seemed there were different divisions of labor within the group, but… they didn’t seem to be of much use now. After all, the Paradeus that the dolls were about to face didn’t appear to have any combat threats requiring heavy firepower to deal with…

"Commander! I found Paradeus’s heavy mecha here!" Just as she was thinking, the communication voice of RO635 suddenly sounded from the terminal, and a video was also sent to the command terminal by RO635.

Gentiane, hearing the voice, turned her head suddenly, staring at the giant white mechas in the image, which looked heavily armored, and then turned back to Persica with unfriendly eyes.

"You already knew this in advance?"

"No, no, no, I can’t predict the future. This should just be a coincidence..."

Persica raised her hand to wipe away her sweat. She certainly didn’t know about Paradeus’s plans. This time, it was really just a coincidence.

"Ahem, anyway, I’ve sent the person over. The rest is up to you. I’m leaving now. Bye!" Despite wearing slippers, Persica fled like a child..

Gentiane who was complaining inwardly, then turned her gaze to the four figures standing before her.

---

"Puff!"

MDR covered her mouth with her eyes curved, looking like she was trying to hold back laughter. Though Vera next to her wasn’t as exaggerated, HK416 could see the smile clearly at the corners of her mouth.

"What are you laughing at?"

"No, no, no, we were just thinking about the big dinner tonight." Seeing HK416’s unhappy face, MDR waved her hands repeatedly, indicating that the reason for her laughter had absolutely nothing to do with HK416’s words.

But when she said this, even MDR didn’t believe it. The smile never left her face.

It wasn’t until the two saw HK416’s unchanged expression and the three people surrounding them that they stopped laughing awkwardly.

"Eh? Is it true?"

"Well, although I don’t really want to believe it, I don’t think a guy who can release lightning with his bare hands and tear through hundreds of Paradeus combat units in seconds can be classified as ‘human’." Renate curled her lips and said to MDR and Vera.

Hearing Renate’s words, MDR finally wiped the smile from her face, raised an eyebrow, and took out ber phone, holding it in front of HK416. "Please tell me more!"

Seeing MDR's rare serious face, HK416 was not in a hurry at that moment and remained silent. Instead, she raised her hand, pinched her thumb and index finger together, and twisted them under MDR's eyes.

The meaning being self-evident.

"Ah... don't... anyway, this news will definitely spread... what's the harm in telling me earlier?"

"Hmph! Too late! You laughed when I wanted to say it just now. If you want to hear it in advance now, you'll have to give something in return!"

Not only did HK416 say this, but AR15 and Hunter, who were next to her, also had the same expression. They clearly agreed with HK416's proposal.

At the same time, they all began to think about how to make MDR pay a heavy price. They hadn’t forgotten who had placed all the photos and videos representing their black history into the black history memoirs!

In the end, it was unclear what price MDR paid.

Anyway, MDR kept a bitter face and a pained expression in the following moments. She held her wallet and mobile phone tightly, fearing that someone might rush up and rob her small treasury.

Meanwhile, the images taken by HK416 and the others, showing Renault controlling lightning and displaying his divine power to the Paradeus team soon appeared on the dolls' communication network.

Additionally, Renault also appeared in an anonymous board, but MDR coded his figure.

Of course, Renault's consent was sought first. Otherwise, if she sent out this thing carelessly, she would likely end up being stuffed into a Dinergate or a rice cooker and then hung on the deck to endure the cold wind in no time.

It's a pity that, except for Renault's own dolls who thought this picture didn’t seem fake, most of the feedback MDR received on the anonymous boadd were comments like "good special effects."

After all, no normal doll would believe that there are humans who can "control lightning" like Renault.

Of course, it didn’t matter to Renault whether they believed it or not. Anyway, he was in a good mood now and had no time to care about such trivial matters.

Although he had absorbed more than half of the collapse fluid from the crystal lattice, which filled his energy, he still had a long way to go before reaching his prime. However, in the short term, he didn’t have to worry about running low on energy.

"You look like you're in a good mood," Helian remarked, surprised. It was rare to see such an unusual expression on Renault’s face.

"Fortunately, these are the data extracted from this guy's virtual consciousness. If you're interested, you can take a look." Renault said as he pulled the data cable out of the data interface on the Nyto's neck.

"Gu!"

As soon as the data cable was pulled out, Black Nyto glared at Renault with unwilling eyes. She then stared hatefully at the other Nyto, who had been bribed by Helian with a bottle of sweet milk.

"Traitor!"

Slap!

As soon as the words left her mouth, Helian raised her hand and slapped her on the forehead.

Although it didn’t hurt much, it made the Nyto feel something akin to "humiliation."

To make it easier for Helian to discipline Nyto, Renault reduced the power output of her prosthesis so that she could only maintain the strength of an ordinary little girl, which was completely incomparable to Helian, an adult whose body had been heavily enhanced recently.

As for the other Nyto? That wasn’t necessary. After all, the other Nyto didn’t have any strong abilities. She was only sent out to drive the vehicle because she was much smarter than the average Paradeus soldiers.

If we really wanted to talk about combat power, maybe she had some electronic warfare capabilities, but not much—certainly not even one-tenth of the original RPK16.

Renault had also turned off the nano monitoring equipment on them, and the underlying and communication protocols used by Paradeus to control and communicate with Nyto were deleted.

Thus, there was no need to worry that these two little ones would leak any information.

"But... by the way, do all Paradeus Nytos look so similar?" Helian raised her hand and pinched Nyto Black's cheek, saying with some surprise.

Whether it was the Nyto already on Renault’s ship or the two brought back this time, they all looked very similar, almost like twins or triplets from the same mother.

"Well, if nothing unexpected happens, they should be clones. If it were just a transformation, they wouldn't look so alike." Renault nodded, not hiding his findings..

Nyto might not fully understand this. Although they could fight, their knowledge wasn’t necessarily superior to that of dolls. In other words, they were definitely not as knowledgeable as the dolls of his.

After all, most of Griffin's dolls had been transformed from civilian models and had a lot of common sense in their minds.

Although Nyto Black heard Renault’s words and felt something was off, she still didn’t understand what the conversation between Renault and Helian meant.

Helian frowned angrily upon hearing Renault’s confirmation. Although she didn’t know what kind of power was behind Paradeus, it was clear that they were directly transforming these cloned children into this state and throwing them into battle…

No matter how you looked at it, those Paradeus were absolute scumbags!

"Alright, leave these two little ones to me first. I'll educate them well." Helian sighed and raised her hand to pat the heads of the two Nytos.

One Nyto squinted her eyes with joy, while the Nyto Black shook her head with some resistance. However, the corners of her eyes, which bent subconsciously, revealed that she was still happy, though a little embarrassed.

Seeing Helian raise her hand to touch the heads of the two new Nytos, the first Nyto in Renault's family pouted and threw herself into Helian's arms.

After Helian led the two Nytos and took the awkward Nyto Black away, Scarecrow looked at Renault. "Speaking of which, Commander, you look good now."

It wasn’t a compliment, but Renault really did look good now, with a rosy face, as though he hadn’t been out on a mission, but had just enjoyed a nutritious meal.

-----

Chapter 110: No, Nothing

"Not bad." Hearing Scarecrow's words, Renault raised his eyebrows and, for once, allowed a rare smile. It was obvious that he was in a good mood.

The two collapse liquid bombs he had obtained earlier had been completely absorbed by him. He hadn’t expected to accidentally find a collapse liquid crystal lattice now. The collapse liquid capacity within the entire lattice was definitely enough for at least twenty collapse liquid bombs, or even more.

It was also thanks to Paradeus, otherwise, he wouldn't have had the heart to trek out to those barren lands to search for one.

Although restoring some of his strength didn’t offer much help in his current situation, since it was unlikely to be used soon, he wasn't a fool. Who would turn down more power?

Seeing Renault's current demeanor, Scarecrow scratched her head, unsure whether this was a good thing or not.

But she was overthinking it. Renault hadn’t changed at all, except that his mood was slightly better. Not long after he returned, he had immersed himself back into his work.

Thinking about the unfinished tasks at hand, Scarecrow shrugged and resumed her own work, just like Renault. There were still many parts of the spacecraft that needed to be built, and ME79 had begun to urge for the next batch of structural parts.

"By the way, Commander, how are the materials in the storage area? There aren’t many building materials left, and we need a new batch of high-standard cement."

"Well, the materials there are fine. You’ll go to Helian and M1 Garand later. They should have summarized the situation. When the time comes, let them find someone to drive the SCV and transport those things. Let those who’ve just learned to drive the SCV do it; it’ll be a good opportunity to practice their skills."

By transporting materials, the dolls can also practice their driving skills. It’s a win-win.

Nodding, Scarecrow began to think about who had successfully passed the SCV training course recently. After all, as far as she knew, it seemed that not everyone could pass the SCV driving course.

Just like AR15 and HK416 before, those two had obviously mastered the SCV controls quickly, but they just couldn’t pass the basic assessment. Every time, they drove the SCV to fight alien creatures like Goliaths or Vikings, but the assessment content clearly wasn’t about fighting…

Speaking of AR15 and HK416, the two had already sent the video data they had seen earlier to MDR. At the same time, they both received a bunch of credit points from MDR. The credit points they had previously spent on the black market were now back in their pockets.

With the credit points back, the two of them were in a much better mood. When they returned to the training room, they happened to run into a few dolls coming out.

"Eh? HK416? You’re back? I just passed the test!" Seeing the two at the door of the training room, MG42, who was about to walk out, immediately raised her eyebrows and proudly showed off.

Uh…

Hearing MG42’s words, MG34 was momentarily stunned, then smiled awkwardly at HK416 and the others. Wasn’t MG42 rubbing salt in their wounds?

Everyone knew that these two were completely different when seated in the SCV driver's seat. Aside from fighting the Swarm, they focused on that and completely ignored the assessment content. They had failed the assessment three times in a row.

Now MG42 was showing off so proudly—wasn’t she afraid of being beaten?

"Tsk!" x2

Almost in unison, HK416 and AR15 crossed their arms and stared at MG42 disapprovingly.

But they didn’t say much because MG42 was straightforward—she would say whatever was on her mind. She definitely liked to show off, but not necessarily mock.

"Ahaha, that… M1 Garand is calling us to go find her, so we’ll head out first…" Facing the death-like stares from the two, MG34 laughed awkwardly and quickly grabbed MG42, dragging her away from the door.

As if hearing the noise from the door, RFB who held a game console in her hand poked her head out of the training room and looked at HK416 and AR15. "Ah, you're back. The commander said that after you return, you’ll be allowed to enter the new cockpit and learn how to control the Goliath."

Hearing RFB's words, HK416 was a little surprised.

Goliath? Wasn’t that the kind of robot that G11 and the others made before? Hadn’t it been dismantled? Why did they need to learn how to drive it again?

"Don’t be surprised. It was Commander Renault’s order. I don’t know why, but Scarecrow should have been preparing for this. When you crawl out of the training pod, you’ll probably get to touch the brand-new Goliath mech," RFB said boredly, even yawning.

Hearing this, AR15 and the others exchanged uneasy looks. They had a bad feeling.

They knew about the Goliath robot, whether it was the one G11 and the others put together or the Glorias they had seen in actual training scenarios.

Compared to the SCV, which used jet propulsion, they didn’t really like this robot that could only move forward by walking on two feet. Its speed was too slow…

Even if the Goliath robot’s speed wasn’t much slower than that of a vehicle, or even better, it was completely different from the SCV. The driving experience was definitely unlike anything they were used to.

"Hehe, anyway, hurry up. Otherwise, someone else will take your spot soon. Don’t say I didn’t warn you, SOP2 and UMP9 are both eyeing this new thing," RFB waved her hand and said to the two.

Seeing RFB, who still looked half asleep, AR15 and HK416 exchanged glances and decided to let AR15 go first, while HK416 would wait outside for a while.

As AR15 entered the new training room, HK416 finally had time to look around. There weren’t many T-dolls in the training room, obviously because most had already passed the basic SCV course and were familiarizing themselves with the new SCV in the cargo hold.

RFB was there because G11 had been taken away by ME79 for construction. Otherwise, managing the training room would probably have been G11's responsibility.

Of course, managing the training room had only gotten busy recently. In the past, aside from G11, who stayed there all day, the frequency of other T-dolls coming by wasn’t very high.

‘Where are you and UMP40? Have you passed the assessment?’ HK416 looked around but didn’t see UMP40 and UMP45. She asked UMP45 through the communication protocol, feeling a little curious.

"Of course I passed. I’m in the cargo hold. I saw you just now, but you were so busy bargaining with MDR that you didn’t notice us at all."

HK416 felt a little embarrassed hearing UMP45’s words.

Let alone the casual chat between HK416 and UMP45, the Griffin base, thousands of kilometers away, was completely different from the peaceful atmosphere surrounding Renault.

Da da da!

The crisp gunshots rang out from almost all directions around the Griffin base. Gentiane standing in the combat command room was quite troubled, especially when she saw those thick-skinned white mechas.

These Paradeus mechas! It’s simply outrageous! Not only are they equipped with heavy armor plates, but the most important thing is that they also have Force Shields, a protective device that can deflect most small-caliber bullets!

Now, except for the armor-piercing rounds from rifles and machine gun dolls, which can still cause some damage to the Force Shields and armor of these giants, other dolls, no matter how many bullets they fire, are just tickling them!

"Save some bullets! Especially don’t waste them on those mechas! Only rifles, machine gun dolls, and BGM-71s are effective! How is your team doing?!"

Gentiane thought the BGM-71 team was useless before, now she looked at them as if they were the saviors.

This Heavy Ordinace Corps—or rather, the Dow anti-tank missile modified by Persica—has an effect that cannot be matched by the imprint weapons in the hands of the other dolls. It can penetrate the Force Shields equipped by those mechas and Paradeus dolls!

Once the Force Shields are penetrated, the assault rifles and submachine guns in the hands of the dolls can finally do some real damage.

As for the pistols in the hands of the dolls? Sorry, Gentiane overlooked that...

"Already in position! Ready to attack!"

"Attack! Engage whoever is close!" Gentiane was completely bloodthirsty now because these Paradeus enemy units had appeared for no apparent reason.

She had initially thought that only a small group of Paradeus were chasing refugees near her base, but she was shocked once the fighting started.

While the AR team had rescued refugees from Paradeus, the Paradeus echelon they had led out was far from the few stragglers Gentiane had imagined. Instead, it was a large group of ordinary Paradeus shooters in white combat uniforms, as well as many sword-and-shield warriors—those "Rodelero" units, as the dolls called them.

The Paradeus combat units, equipped with high-speed mobility gear and capable of using beam weapons, had caused many casualties among the dolls.

Luckily, the battle was near her base, and Persica had set up the server. The dolls could upload and back up their neural cloud data at any time, so there was no concern about losing any doll neural data.

The problem was that these Paradeus combat units appeared endless, always appearing from every direction!

"After destroying one batch, another batch shows up! What the hell is this? Did Griffin build a base next to the Paradeus base!?" Gentiane shouted angrily. The various ammunition supplies that IOP had just sent over were already half-consumed in a short amount of time!

And how had these Paradeus appeared here? So many combat units and heavy mechas, and the military doesn't care?

Gentiane now even missed the heavy combat units of the military. If she had those on hand, why would she need to deal with these Paradeus now? A few quick shots from her end, and it would all be over in seconds!

Unfortunately, that wasn't the case...

"Persica! How long until the new Heavy Ordinace Corps is ready? They can’t handle the BGM on their own!" Gentiane pressed the communicator, her voice tinged with hysteria.

"Soon! It’s almost done!"

"Don't say soon! Give me an exact time! Accurate to the minute!"

"Ten minutes! Hold on for ten more minutes!"

"Tsk! Better than nothing!"

Gentiane was busy and exhausted, and Kalina, the logistics officer, wasn’t idle either. She was looking at the grenades and bullets that had been taken by the dolls, her heart bleeding.

This was the ammunition supply they had just purchased! And it was being consumed on these Paradeus units in such an unclear way! All that money, gone!

But the current situation was what it was. Ammunition was only valuable when it was fired; otherwise, it would just gather dust in the warehouse. Besides, once the base was breached by Paradeus, it was uncertain whether any of them would still be alive. At that point, everything would be lost.

---

...

"Oh! This is delicious! I didn’t expect it to be so fresh after several days!"

Leone held the plate and happily ate the strawberries from the fruit bowl.

Leone no longer looked distressed about spending all her savings. She had said before that she would invest all these materials into research, but now, she was eating happily!

Looking at Leone’s current appearance, Nele couldn’t say anything, because her mouth was also full of fruits, bulging out like a hamster’s.

So it was better not to laugh at others when she was doing the same. It was better to eat honestly. Fruits of such quality weren’t common.

After swallowing the food in her mouth, Nele finally had time to ask, "So, Senior Leone, Teacher Gray asked me to check on the progress of the previous project?"

Leone almost choked when she heard what Nele said. "Ahem! Ahem! Can you not ask such a spoiling question while I’m eating? Can’t we talk about this later?"

Leone’s eyes suddenly darted around awkwardly.

Seeing Leone’s guilty look, Nele knew what the result would be. Anyway, it definitely wasn’t that the research had made progress, or else Leone would have gone to Teacher Gray to ask for more funds.

"I can’t help it. Who told you there’s been no news for so many days? Otherwise, why would I need to come here in person?"

It’s not that she didn’t have a communicator. It’s just that she couldn’t get in touch, so she was sent out to ask.

But at least it was a good thing that she came here. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have known Leone had such a good thing!

You have to know that in the boxes Teacher Gray took away earlier, there was only lettuce and cabbage—stuff that’s not very tasty when eaten raw. Moreover, Gray wouldn’t let her cook with those ingredients... and she herself couldn’t cook either.

---