RC 1066-1075 (Patreon)

Chapter 1066: Almost, very soon"Hmm, not bad. It's rare that you two didn't slack off this time."Helian inspected the spaceship and nodded in satisfaction when she saw RFB and Ouroboros diligently installing the soundproofing panels."Uh, cough cough. It's our own room after all. We should put some effort into it..." RFB cleared her throat awkwardly after hearing Helian's words.Ouroboros beside her also smiled awkwardly at Helian. Damn it. Thank goodness they were so bothered by the construction noise next door that they remembered to install the soundproofing panels. Otherwise, if Helian saw them slacking off again, they would be in big trouble!Who knows if Helian would just confiscate their entire stockpile!"That's good. But when you install the soundproofing panels, pay attention to the internal wiring in the walls. Don't wait until everything is installed before realizing you haven't left any outlets. Otherwise your dorm will be full of external wiring."Helian did not expose their awkward thoughts. She simply pointed to the wall that would soon be covered by the soundproofing panels and gave them a friendly reminder.That was where the various wiring outlets were located. If you wanted to live comfortably in your dorm, you had to install all the wiring below the decorative wall during renovations.After Helian left, RFB and Ouroboros suddenly realized something and gathered around the pre-installed electrical box."This... looks like a communication line connector, right? Speaking of which, where's the power cord connector in our room?""I don't know. I've never seen what a cable connector looks like.""Then... let's go check over there?"After a brief discussion, the two went straight to the dormitory across the hall. This was G11 and HK416's room. It was not intentional, just a coincidence.Yeah, a coincidence."Hmm? You two haven't started yet?"They're surely not that lazy, right?All the materials were already piled up in their dorm rooms according to the quantities the Dolls had designed. Calling it renovation was really no different from playing with a large-scale model kit."Uh, good morning, HK416. I didn't expect you guys to be almost finished. We came to check out the electrical box. We looked all over the room and couldn't find it..." Ouroboros waved in greeting while her eyes scanned HK416's room.Compared to her and RFB's room, HK416's progress was remarkably fast. The walls and floors were already fully installed. G11 stood on a ladder installing ceiling lights."Electrical box? You started with this? You two haven't even started yet?" Hearing Ouroboros's words, HK416 knew they had barely done anything.Otherwise, after everything was installed, they would turn around and realize there wasn't a single power outlet left in the room. Just thinking about that made HK416 want to laugh.HK416's sudden smile startled RFB and Ouroboros. HK416 wasn't always expressionless, but she usually wore a stern face. Why was she suddenly smiling today?"Here it is. The location is similar in every compartment, just a little inconspicuous. There should be a row of pre-drilled holes for wiring. Otherwise it looks no different from the wall."HK416 spoke while pressing on a wall. The partition flipped upward to reveal a dense array of switches and neatly arranged cables. RFB and Ouroboros stared in shock."Uh, wasn't that a construction mistake?""Looks like it. I think we covered that wall with soundproofing panels first.""Can we take it off now?""How should I know!?""Let's go!"The two snapped out of their daze and rushed out of the room. HK416's eyes crinkled with laughter."Why did they leave? Didn't they have something to do?""Nothing. You can continue.""Okay."There were not many Dolls as absent-minded as RFB and Ouroboros, but the number of reworks during renovation was considerable. The construction team's Sangvis Ferri had already made several trips back and forth.Some of the Sangvis Ferri had been worn down by these girls to the point of becoming veterans. If Renault had not forbidden them from helping the Dolls, they might have already taken over the work themselves.However, besides engineering work, they also had their own cabins to renovate. Not all Sangvis Ferri Dolls were mentally sharp enough to decorate their own rooms.There were some bumps along the way, but the overall renovation of the spaceship was progressing steadily.According to Helian's observations, apart from RFB and Ouroboros, the other Dolls were making good progress. Many, like HK416 and G11, were nearing completion.In a few more days, the cabins in the new spaceship would be ready for occupancy if they didn't mind the smell of building materials.Even if there was a smell, it would not harm the Dolls' bodies. Helian still suggested that everyone turn on the ventilation system after renovations were complete and wait four or five days before moving in.Besides the Dolls' individual dormitories, the only other areas that needed renovation were the dining hall and the common lounge."By the way, why didn't you put the coffee shop next to the restaurant this time? It would definitely be more convenient if it were beside the restaurant, right?" WA2000 carried several stacked bar stools and looked at the unfinished common lounge with a headache."Because the restaurant space needs to be expanded too. There are more and more Dolls at home now. The old restaurant on the ship can't fit everyone, so the new restaurant naturally needs more space."Springfield usually managed her little café leisurely, but she was not oblivious to the restaurant becoming more crowded every day.The number of Dolls had not increased significantly since their batch boarded the ship, but many new ones had arrived. The growing number of Sangvis Ferri Dolls added to the pressure.The ever-increasing number of Sangvis Ferri Dolls equipped with bionic joke modules made the space problem even worse for G36 and her team.If they did not want to open a new restaurant, they had no choice but to increase its size.The café also needed expansion. The customer volume only looked low because there were not enough seats.Not every Doll would dare sit at the bar and chat with her like Renate and UL-Nurse while acting completely oblivious to her presence."Okay, but what's with the bar across the street? The setup looks exactly the same as yours.""Heh, how could it be exactly the same? Those are liquor cabinets. Maggie and the others even dragged Susanna over to check the equipment.""Ah? Ahh? Liquor... liquor cabinets..." WA2000's face flushed slightly. The photo MDR had taken of her while drunk was still vivid in her mind. Having a bar across from the coffee shop felt like a trap waiting to happen.“Hehe, it was Helian's suggestion. Maggie and the others often hang around the brewery, which might disrupt their work. So it's a good idea for Maggie and Susanna to set up a bar here too.”“Um, won't that definitely affect our business?”The common room wasn't huge, but it wasn't small either. Two counters would not take up too much space. There was still room for twenty or thirty tables and some musical instruments.But thinking about drunkards lying around in disorder at the bar made WA2000 worry about Springfield's business.“Don't worry too much. We'll use soundproof glass to separate it later. By the way, WA2000, remember to help think about the café's decorations. About twelve tables should be enough. The bar counter can be extended a little this time.”Springfield had already considered this. A soundproof glass panel would solve the problem, so Maggie had no objections. She had witnessed firsthand the drunkards in her family."No, no, no! That won't do! I'm just a waiter! Not a bartender!"“You can learn this! Renault won’t stop you from learning new things!”Susanna was dragged over by Maggie and Catherine and exclaimed in panic. She was completely forced into this situation. After working as a waitress on the intercontinental train for so long, she had no desire to return to her original job.“Hehe, it looks like the preparations on the other side will take a long time.” Springfield chuckled as she watched the three of them making a ruckus across from them while speaking to WA2000.Besides these places, Leone was equally troubled. She looked at the empty plant research section of the biological laboratory and the mountain of construction materials and experimental equipment piled beside it. Leone was practically on the verge of tears.Was she supposed to do all this work by herself?!"I should never have submitted the renovation design to Renault! The biological lab is usable even without renovation!"...Boom!A series of roars echoed out. Seven or eight vehicles were thrown into the air. They spun before crashing heavily to the ground."Good! Let's see if you guys dare to keep chasing!" Gentiane waved her arm excitedly and felt her desire for heavy firepower grow even stronger.If she could stop now, she would have loved to snatch all the heavy weapons from those scavengers.The barrage of attacks from vehicle-mounted machine guns and grenade launchers shattered the command vehicle's external armor plating and observation windows in each compartment.Fortunately, when the command vehicle was being repaired, she had not approved Kalina's plan to cut corners for safety reasons. Otherwise their command vehicle might already have been hit in the power zone and rendered powerless.Thinking of this, Gentiane raised an eyebrow smugly at Kalina.Faced with Gentiane's provocative gaze, Kalina knew she was in the wrong. She could only shrug and continue focusing on the terrain and target acquisition ahead. It might be futile, but there was nothing else she could do.With the addition of RO635 and M16, the swarming number of scavenger vehicles finally showed signs of decreasing.These scavengers were already considering retreating.The command vehicle had taken out their leader at the start, and they were morally obligated to fight to the death. However, their forces were dwindling. Continuing the relentless pursuit would likely lead to the complete disbandment of their unit.Reality did not allow them to do that. A large number of people in the settlement depended on them for survival.But returning like this would leave them with a difficult explanation back in the settlement.They had come out empty-handed. They had lost most of their manpower and vehicles. Their savings were nearly gone.How could they possibly face those waiting in the settlement?Therefore, although the number of scavenger convoys did not increase, it did not decrease significantly either. They changed their pursuit tactics. Instead of charging to force the command vehicle to stop, they followed at a distance and hoped to find an opportunity later in the journey.This behavior made Gentiane's initial excitement grow heavy.She had indeed misled the rebel spies, but now ended up attracting so many scavengers. She was now starting to doubt whether her initial decision had been right or wrong.However, what was done could not be undone. She could only keep going.There was some good news.“Gentiane, we're almost at the edge of the yellow zone. We've been going full speed this whole time. If we keep going like this, we should enter the green zone in about half a day. The problem is that the command vehicle's engine might not be able to handle it…”The prolonged full-speed operation had already strained the command vehicle's engine. It was running at overload, and if this continued, it would likely break down before they reached base.“Phew. Let's slow down a bit. Those scavengers behind us aren't going to catch up yet. Let the Dolls take turns resting. There's probably a tough battle waiting for us at the edge of the yellow zone.” Gentiane sighed helplessly.She looked back at M4 and M16, who had just gotten off the roof of the vehicle, and wondered what else the scavengers would bring to their defenses.---Chapter 1067: We're waiting just around the corner!The Dolls were busy decorating their rooms. Renault was not idle either. He needed a place to live. The two Scarecrows were now practically permanent residents of the workshop. Pulling out two chairs and making do was no longer suitable.Even if he could think of other makeshift solutions, Helian would not agree.The Dolls were tidying their own rooms. As the commander, he had to do the same.Besides his own room, there was Helian's room. There were also the rooms of the Nytos, as well as rooms for Hunter and Maria. The younger Nytos could not handle the work at all. Renault also worried that Maria and the others would cause trouble.There was also the new biological laboratory and the new workshop. The workshop needed to be partitioned into several more rooms depending on the situation. This was necessary to cope with the increasingly complex functions of the space.What was originally there was a single large cubicle contained small printing equipment, Doll Neural transfer devices, Renault's workbench, and repair bays used by the Dolls. These bays were now mostly used by Sangvis Ferri Dolls.There was also equipment for creating nanomachines. A large number of Doll parts filled the area. Some were usable and some were not. A curtain divided off a Doll's dressing room.Everything was piled together. The workspace had become noticeably cramped. Moving to a larger room and separating the various functions was imperative.All of this required Renault's personal supervision. If he was unlucky, he might even have to help overwhelmed Dolls tidy their dormitories.The number of Dolls in his household kept increasing. His workload increased with it and never seemed to decrease.Even so, Renault was happy with the arrangement. He had something to do every day. Being busy kept his mind from wandering toward unnecessary thoughts....“Helian! You’re so kind!”Leone exclaimed. Her eyes brimmed with tears as she looked at Helian, who had rolled up her sleeves to help. This only made Helian feel more embarrassed.What could she say? Perhaps it was her fault for not helping earlier.She had considered helping before. Before she could act, she realized there simply were not enough people available. Renault was busy repairing other cabins. On Leone’s side, the only person who could help was herself, the so-called idle one.Fortunately, Leone knew her limits. When designing the biological laboratory and plant research institute, she submitted very minimalist designs.Most of the delivered decorative components were modular. Even then, she could not handle everything alone because the room for this department was too large.The six-meter-high chamber had been divided into two levels by Sangvis Ferri Dolls and their team. The structural work was already complete. Only miscellaneous tasks and decorative installation remained.The chamber already covered more than 600 square meters. Dividing it into two levels increased the workload significantly. There was one advantage. They no longer had to climb five- or six-meter ladders to work on the ceiling.Even so, Leone and Helian were unsteady on their feet. They nearly fell from the ladders several times."By the way Helian. Does Renault have any suggestions regarding the sales plan for the Collapse Radiation Antibody Drug?" Leone held a rubber mallet and hammered floorboards together. Since floorboards were laid from above, she had some spare attention to ask about the sales plan."The antibody drug? That will probably have to wait for a while. At least until we find a city where we can settle down."If they wanted to consider the market for their supplies, the city could not be too small. Otherwise there would be no one to sell to.The issue of selling supplies added an invisible requirement to Helian's city selection process.Many previously considered cities could now be removed from the shortlist. Their populations were too small and would hinder future development.Their current situation had also exposed a problem. They lacked manpower.Renault's spaceship was only 240 meters long. Its width was roughly half that. Its height reached an astonishing 100 meters.Its appearance was boxy and almost like a giant metal container. Helian did not understand Renault's aesthetic sense. Still, she had to admit that this shape gave the interior enormous space.The bridge, weapons areas, hangar, cargo holds, and other public facilities occupied only part of the ship. The propulsion system and maintenance routes took up about one-eighth of the interior.Everything else could be used for customizable crew cabins. Each floor offered at least a hectare of usable area. The ship contained twelve floors in total.The Dolls had also divided some areas into two or three levels. Just thinking about it gave Helian a headache.At that moment she thought of LWMMG, who was still under Gentiane's command. That girl had originally been an accounting Doll. Even after becoming a Tactical Doll through IOP, her professional skills remained intact.She managed all accounting work at Gentiane's side flawlessly.“Helian? Helian?”“Hmm? Ah?”“What are you thinking about? Is it because no city is willing to let Renault's ship dock?” Leone did not know what Helian had been thinking about. She guessed it was related to finding a place to land.This job had started before Maggie and the others boarded the ship. It still had not reached a conclusion."Well, it's not that there aren't any. Those cities just don't meet our requirements. Especially those with only tens or hundreds of thousands of people left."Those cities had already filled many jobs with Dolls. The remaining residents were mostly wealthy individuals. The cities might sound friendly to Dolls. Reality was probably different.Think about what they planned to sell. Daily necessities and affordable antibody drugs for the poor. These products would not sell well in cities full of wealthy people.Rich people who valued their lives would not trust a security contractor of unknown origin. Even if Renault pointed a cannon at them, they would still hesitate.Selling all their supplies there would only make those people richer.Helian wanted to make money. She also wanted to do some good alongside it.Back in Griffin she had dealt with wealthy people constantly. She saw no reason to keep pretending friendship with those pot-bellied individuals after changing jobs.“Cities like that?” Leone could not imagine cities with only tens or hundreds of thousands of residents. Could such a small population really withstand ELID mutants outside the walls?“Of course there are. There are plenty in the Green Zone.” Helian picked up a floorboard and tapped it into place."Oh, okay." Leone scratched her head. She felt awkward for reasons she could not explain...."Achoo!" LWMMG, who had been dozing, sneezed violently and woke up with a start. Nearby T-Dolls looked over in surprise. Sneezing during hibernation felt abnormal."LWMMG? Are you alright? Should we take her to the repair pod?""No need. It's probably just a malfunction in the bionic system. I can adjust it myself."LWMMG began a self-check. She examined her internal modules for problems.The surrounding Dolls watched her for a moment. Then they shrugged and returned to hibernation.After intimidating the pursuing scavengers, a strange peace formed between Griffin's command vehicle and the scavengers trailing behind.The Dolls inside the command vehicle finally had a chance to rest. Some Tactical Dolls who had been ineffective in battle stood up and stretched.Most simply stood guard. Submachine gun T-Dolls and Pistol T-Dolls had been almost useless in the previous battle.Their weapons lacked range and power. Even assault rifle T-Dolls, usually the main force, had failed to perform well.During the battle they were pushed to the sidelines. Machine gun T-Dolls and Rifle T-Dolls handled most of the fighting.This situation hurt morale. Judging from the current circumstances, they would probably have few chances to contribute in future battles.When facing heavily armored units, these Dolls often served as shields or decoys for the firepower units.Gentiane had no time to comfort them. Their rest period was ending. She could already see green plants appearing along the roadside.The plants indicated lower Collapse Radiation. They were approaching the green zone.This made her even more vigilant. Many people from the yellow zone would relax when seeing greenery.Gentiane did not. She had years of experience as a Griffin combat commander. Those plants did not represent safety, and more like represented potential danger.Scavengers could throw camouflage nets over vehicles and hide among the plants. The environment would instantly become natural cover.If they were careless, they would walk into an ambush.Fortunately, the vehicle's detection equipment had returned to normal. Collapse Radiation dust no longer interfered with it."Gentiane! There's strong interference in this area! It looks like a Paradeus jammer!"Kalina shouted.Gentiane pulled at her brow stiffly. She had expected trouble. She had not expected scavengers to possess jammers.This! Is there any justice?! How can they have everything?! Are they all carrying military-grade jammers now?!The detection screen immediately turned into static. It became completely useless."Phew. Wake up the Tactical Dolls. Have the Rifle T-Dolls take positions and observe the surroundings."The command vehicle's detection systems were failing. The Dolls' onboard systems would not perform much better.In this situation only visual systems remained useful. Rifle T-Dolls had excellent eyesight. They could see the surrounding terrain clearly even without binoculars.If scavengers disguised themselves, the situation would test the experience of these Tactical Dolls. Experienced ones could spot disguised enemies.Several hours had already passed. The scavengers likely had enough time to prepare camouflage. They might not have even entered ambush range yet.Gentiane furrowed her brow. She nervously bit her fingers as unease grew in her heart. She feared the scavengers might bring out artillery or rocket launchers.These weapons were not difficult to manufacture in this era. The scavengers had sufficient technical skill.The scavengers chasing them had not used such weapons earlier. They wanted to preserve the command vehicle.If the enemy now only wanted to annihilate them here...Boom!Ominous!---Chapter Sixty-Eight: Jumping from the Vehicle"Artillery fire—!"The SVD's roar followed immediately by a boom. Hearing the sound, Gentiane immediately rushed toward the driver's cab of the command vehicle!Even the instant she heard the artillery fire, Gentiane had already reacted. Strangely enough, she had only been able to distinguish the sound of artillery fire after hearing it so many times in Renault's training pod.The Flak41, commonly known as the 88mm anti-aircraft gun, had several earlier and later models besides this one, but Gentiane had mostly encountered this more mature model in the training bay.She was utterly sick of the sound of this thing; it had given her a physiological aversion to it!Being hit by an 88mm gun while riding in a jeep, being hit by an 88mm gun while driving a KV-1, being hit by an 88mm gun while standing on a landing craft, being hit by an 88mm gun while sitting in a bomber, and even being hit by an 88mm gun while on foot!Enough was enough!Now there's another problem! She's getting hit by an 88mm gun while sitting in the Griffin command vehicle!Is this ever going to end?!Why are these things everywhere?! It's already 2063! More than 120 years have passed since the 88mm gun's heyday! How can this old thing still jump out of its past memories to attack her?!Although her resentment instantly overflowed, Gentiane had to admit that the Griffin command vehicle couldn't stop these things.Although her Dolls had added armor plates to the command vehicle during repairs, it was only light armor. Its defensive capabilities were more than sufficient against Sangvis Ferri and the ELID infected, but against the 88mm gun specifically designed to target armored units, it was definitely insufficient.Thicker and more advanced armor plates weren't unheard of, but unfortunately Griffin hadn't received permission. Otherwise, when the scavengers caught up, Gentiane wouldn't have needed to order the driver to go full speed; she could have simply let the Dolls on board fight them off slowly.Boom!Another boom echoed as another high-explosive shell landed on the ground not far from the command vehicle.The two consecutive explosions made Gentiane squint and look ahead at the terrain.Compared to the previous wasteland, the terrain at the boundary between the yellow and green zones was beginning to undulate. Not far ahead was a small, inconspicuous hill. If they drove the command vehicle there…it would undoubtedly be walking into an enemy ambush.The hill could indeed provide cover from the 88mm guns, but clearly a command vehicle parked at the bottom of the hill would also become a target for the ambush. She didn't trust those scavengers.Along the way, they hadn't even seen the terrain there. Firing the 88mm gun from a kilometer away using high-explosive shells clearly intended to force the command vehicle to turn and head toward that conspicuous hillside.Perhaps because the hillside blocked the dust from the Collapse Radiation, the vegetation on the leeward side was noticeably denser, with numerous thick shrubs providing excellent cover for personnel.As for the location of those scavengers… if they were roughly there, they should be at the top of that hillside, and they all drove up, definitely not by getting out and walking up the leeward side.That wouldn't be a problem for Tactical Dolls, but it would be problematic for humans, especially considering the scavengers were all wearing heavy protective suits.Wearing such protective gear and climbing a hillside full of shrubs with no clear paths on the ground would probably leave the scavengers exhausted by the time they reached the top.And it would definitely take a long time; at normal human speeds, they might not be able to make it in time.Thinking this through, Gentiane already had a plan in mind.Compared to stubbornly turning and charging directly into the other side of the flat ground, her plan clearly had a higher success rate."Phew, thank goodness those guys' artillery observation and aiming systems weren't very accurate, otherwise those two shots would have been enough to destroy our command vehicle." Kalina, also standing in the driver's seat, wiped away a cold sweat after the command vehicle turned.She thought she was going to be blown to bits along with the driver's seat!"I'll take over."Just then, Gentiane patted the driver Doll on the shoulder, taking over the driving duties.However, Gentiane's action completely confused her, because Gentiane didn't choose manual driving; instead, she directly activated the command vehicle's autopilot system, set the speed, direction, and stop time, and then stood up.What does this mean?"Move! Have the Dolls each take rations and two basic loads of ammunition, or as much as they can carry! Prepare to abandon the vehicle!""Huh? Ahh!? Wait! Gentiane! This is...""Don't ask now! Time is limited! I'll explain later!"Gentiane waved her hand and joined the Dolls who were hurriedly grabbing their weapons and equipment.Although the command vehicle was cramped, thanks to Kalina's usual organization, the supplies inside were very neat and orderly. The Dolls didn't cause any trouble while collecting ammunition, and in just about three minutes, all the Dolls were ready at the vehicle's exit.Even Kalina was wearing a bulletproof vest and had an AK-74u slung around her neck. Persica, standing beside her, was also reluctantly fitted with a bulletproof vest and helmet."Seriously… I'm a non-combatant… why does this have to happen the moment I come here…" Carrying her briefcase, Persica muttered, almost in tears. The weight of the bulletproof vest made her feel somewhat weary.And the thought of having to hike through mountains and rivers later made Persica desperately miss her well-equipped laboratory."Stop complaining. Those scavengers might not even recognize you. And even if they do, they certainly won't spare the bullets they're firing."In the chaos of battle, Persica's chances of survival as a non-combatant were practically zero.Within three minutes, the command vehicle, under the control of its autopilot system, had successfully left the open area and moved out of the 88mm gun's firing range. At this moment, the command vehicle's speed suddenly decreased significantly.Partly due to the uneven ground in the area, and partly due to Gentiane's prior setup."Go! Get out! Assemble in the woods!"With Gentiane's command, the Dolls jumped out of the open vehicle doors. This speed of jumping posed no danger for the Dolls; the only one facing some difficulty was Persica, the researcher.Fortunately, with M16 and RO's help, Persica didn't land face-first.Gentiane and Kalina were safe; they were the last to disembark. Their jumping motion looked almost identical to the Dolls', with only a slight bend in their knees upon landing, absorbing most of the impact.Seeing the two of them move as swiftly and cleanly as the Dolls, even with their equipment, Persica's eyes lit up. She smacked her lips, reached into her tactical ammunition pouch, pulled out a fresh cucumber, and began to crunch on it."Huh? Persica...why are you eating cucumbers at a time like this...?" M16 looked at Persica, somewhat embarrassed. This girl shouldn't she at least consider the situation? They were on the run, not having a picnic."Huh? Of course I'm eating cucumbers! Don't you see the Collapse Radiation readings here? You're all either T-Dolls or enhanced humans. If I, a normal person, don't eat some cucumbers to prevent Collapse Radiation, I might turn into an Infected in no time!"As she spoke, she pointed in the direction of Kalina and Gentiane, who winked at each other."Wait, what? When did we become enhanced humans?""Huh? Listen to that! Look at what you two are carrying! One of you is carrying two heavy machine gun ammunition boxes, plus an assault rifle and two magazines. The other is carrying three ammunition boxes and a heavy machine gun weighing nearly 30 kilograms. And you jumped from a vehicle traveling at 30 kilometers per hour, oh, from a height of two meters...""Stop! Stop! We understand! We understand! Stop nagging! Let's get into the woods first! So we don't get discovered by those scavengers!"Hearing Persica's barrage of criticism, Gentiane quickly stopped her from continuing and pushed Persica toward the woods.The T-Dolls around them were already giving her and Kalina strange looks; if she continued, several posts on Griffin's Anonymous Board would soon appear saying that she and Kalina were no longer human.Upon entering the woodland, the Dolls huddled together for a moment before dispersing and creeping toward the top of the hill.This kind of combat in the woodland was like home to them; their battlefields during their fight with Sangvis Ferri were similar to this wilderness environment.Of course, there was also street fighting in the alleys. The Dolls' fire control systems and excellent reaction capabilities were fully utilized in such complex environments."Alright, now you can finally tell me why we abandoned the vehicle? Was there an ambush on that hill?" Kalina asked Gentiane with a hint of resentment.The command vehicle alone already accounted for a large portion of Griffin's current assets, not to mention the various expensive equipment purchased for it.“That’s right. We realized it when we were shelled. Those guys were using high-explosive shells, and the 88mm gun isn’t that bad at aiming.”“An 88mm gun? Isn’t that an antique from over a hundred years ago? How do you know?” Persica raised an eyebrow. When she was selecting equipment for the Heavy Ordnance Squad, she had done some research on those old heavy weapons, and the 88mm gun was quite famous.She had originally wanted to get a Heavy Ordnance Squad that used 88mm guns, but unfortunately those things were too big; a few Dolls simply couldn’t handle them.Besides, Statesec wouldn’t give her permission. Griffin would never get permission for that level of heavy firepower.“Um, I encountered that thing in Renault's training pod. Anyway, if those scavengers wanted to destroy our command vehicle, the driver's compartment would probably have been penetrated by the first shot. They couldn't possibly be without armor-piercing rounds.”Although it's unknown where those scavengers got their hands on the 88mm gun, if they could get their hands on the main body of such an old heavy weapon, then the corresponding ammunition would certainly be no problem.Therefore, those two high-explosive shells that exploded next to the command vehicle, both on the side of the vehicle, were rather obviously malicious.“You mean they simply wanted to force us to change course to that hill over there? Oh! I get it! They're ambushing us on that hill, with a high vantage point, and we just ran out of the artillery fire, only to be met with a head-on attack as soon as we relaxed? No, didn't they expect you to jump out of the vehicle?”Persica also realized, but then looked at Gentiane with some suspicion and asked.“Um, you already said it yourself, a normal person! Would a normal person jump out of a moving vehicle?”Besides, she deliberately slowed down when passing through that wooded area, not by much. Even if the scavengers noticed, they would probably assume it was because they had left the road.After all, even the most battle-hardened commander of Griffin couldn't jump out of a normally moving command vehicle.It didn't matter if the Dolls jumped out; they just needed to capture or kill Griffin's commander to make the Dolls obediently walk back.The scavengers' plan was well thought out, but they never expected that this security contractor commander they encountered wasn't a normal person at all!Thinking to herself, Persica shook her head helplessly, looked up at the small hill above, and began to worry about the scavengers' fate.Encountering hundreds of Tactical Dolls skilled in mountain warfare in this woodland, along with Gentiane and her Heavy Ordnance Squad, if the scavengers didn't have time to start their vehicles, they would be wiped out in one fell swoop."Alright! It's time to show those guys what Griffin's Tactical Dolls are like!"With Gentiane's command, the Dolls surged toward the top of the hill...---Chapter Sixty-Nine: Children's Room?"What's that sound?""What sound?""Well, did you hear some rustling noises?""Huh? You've been standing next to the generator for too long. Are you hallucinating?""Yeah, then I'll switch places with you...""Tch! Don't even think about it!"Listening to the conversation between the two scavengers shouting at each other a few dozen meters away, Gentiane was speechless. She felt these scavengers' skill levels were unpredictable.She had previously used meticulous planning to force her command vehicle into an ambush. But now these guys showed no sign of being caught off guard.Raising her hand to stop the restless Scorpion beside her, Gentiane looked toward the top of the hill and counted the number of scavengers there.Not a large number but not a small one either. About fifty people in total. Most of them were already lying in ambush on the edge of the hillside. The original vehicle-mounted machine guns and other equipment had been dismantled and deployed there.There were also many cigarette butts on the ground around them, indicating that these guys had been lying in ambush for quite some time. These guys were really bold, even risking ELID to have a cigarette. How addicted must they be?And the two scavengers who had just spoken were indeed beside a large generator. It was vehicle-mounted and used to power a jamming transmitter that looked like it had been patched up many times. Judging from its style, it was clearly a Paradeus product.It was unexpected that these scavengers could even make Paradeus equipment work.If ññ Paradeus found out, they would probably kill these scavengers immediately. Their equipment could still be used after being patched up a couple of times. This was a huge loophole…However, it was precisely because of the jamming transmitter and the vehicle-mounted generator that the rumbling noise completely masked the movements of Gentiane and the T-Dolls as they moved through the forest.Even though the scavengers had covered the device with a soundproof shield, the generator's roar could still be heard at close range."Huff! Huff! Cough cough!" Persica's face was covered by a mask similar to the scavengers' as she breathed heavily. Even with the help of M16, running all the way from the foot of the hill to here still made her feel like her lungs were about to burst."Looks like these scavengers never expected us to jump out halfway." Kalina, on the other hand, looked unchanged. She was also without a mask. Like Gentiane, she felt no discomfort from this level of Collapse Radiation in this area."Huff! Who in their right mind would think of jumping out of a vehicle!" Persica gasped.In this situation, having the armor of the command vehicle for protection was better than nothing, right?Wasn't that what every normal person thought?Gentiane, however, was anything but normal. She and her henchmen jumped out of the vehicle, leaving the scavengers with an empty vehicle as target practice while they themselves crept up from the forest.Persica's words immediately earned her glares from Gentiane and Kalina. Persica was clearly implying they weren't normal."Alright, these guys' jammers have been a big help. Let's leave them running like this for now. AS Val, you handle those two over there, and remember to slap them in the face."Not revenge, of course. But slapping them in the face was the safest bet. After all, these scavengers were all wearing ordinary gas masks. Those things didn't offer any bulletproof protection."Huh? Me?""Of course. It's because your weapon is too quiet. Everyone else, come with me. Once you're in position, wait for my signal." Gentiane waved, leading the others toward the scavengers lying in ambush on the edge of the hillside, leaving AS Val, Kalina, and Persica behind.Kalina crouched beside AS Val, waiting for about ten seconds, but AS Val didn't take down the two scavengers who were chatting and bragging. She nudged her curiously."What's wrong?" she asked, pointing to the two scavengers."Nothing! It's okay! I can handle it alone... no problem!"Seeing AS Val stammering and panting, Persica became a little worried. Had something gone wrong?However, Kalina wasn't too worried. After all, AS Val was always like this. But when it came to actually fighting, there was nothing to worry about.As Gentiane and the others reached their designated positions behind the scavengers, AS Val took a deep breath and, controlling her puppet Doll, aimed her gun at the gas masks on the two scavengers' faces.Bang bang bang bang—The gunshots, barely audible, rang out as a barrage of 9x39mm subsonic armor-piercing rounds flew toward the faces of the two scavengers.Persica, who had been about to complain that even swatting a mosquito was louder than the gunshots, didn't even get a word out before blood splattered across the faces of the two scavengers, and they fell backward to the ground.Thud.Gentiane, who had already reached her designated position in the distance, nodded in satisfaction upon seeing this. Both the gunshots and the sound of the two scavengers falling were completely masked by the noise of the generator.The scavengers lying prone at the ambush point could barely hear anything. All they could hear was the noise of the generator and the howling wind.These guys were really carefree, just lying there without moving an inch.Their focus was for a reason. Just as Gentiane and her team crept up behind these people, their command vehicle had already bumped into the scavengers' firing range.Upon seeing their target appear, the scavengers naturally focused intently on it. After all, this thing was crucial to the profit of their job, and they couldn't afford to lose it.However, the vehicle was already completely empty. Even if these guys riddled the command vehicle with bullets, they wouldn't be able to harm Gentiane and her team in the slightest.Oh, I forgot. This might cause Kalina quite a bit of heartache, since she had already screamed several times from the damage to the vehicle during the scavengers' chase.The scavengers were ready to attack, and so was Gentiane's team. Hundreds of gun barrels of various sizes had already found their targets.Then one of the scavengers, who was lying prone, raised his hand after a moment. A gesture that clearly indicated he was ordering the scavengers next to him to attack.Gentiane, of course, readily complied. The instant his hand rose, and before it could even swing, she pulled the trigger of the heavy machine gun.Thump thump thump!Bang bang bang!As the heavy machine gun roared, the T-Dolls, receiving the signal, pulled their triggers at their designated targets. The combined sound of hundreds of different weapons was like a cacophony of firecrackers.However, this chaotic noise lasted only a moment.Less than three seconds later, the T-Dolls' gunfire ceased.The scavengers didn't even have time to figure out which shaky hand had fired prematurely before being sent to their dormant state by a hail of bullets.At a distance of only thirty meters, and with the scavengers lying motionless on the ground, a thirty-meter stationary target was easier for the Tactical Dolls than their usual training simulations.“Phew, finally a sigh of relief.”Hearing the noise subside, Kalina stood up and emerged from the woods. She approached the vehicle carrying the generator and examined it, wondering how much it could fetch if sold.Persica did the same, but after coming out, she took out a small Collapse Radiation Detector, checked the radiation level, and, confirming the reading was normal, removed her gas mask and took a deep breath.However, the first breath she inhaled was met with a foul stench of blood, causing her to frown. Her hand, which had been reaching for a cucumber, paused, suppressing the urge to eat.“Seriously, these guys were taken down so easily? They were chasing us relentlessly just a moment ago, but once they were out of the vehicle, they became incredibly weak.”“They’re not wearing full protective gear, so they’re no threat to Dolls. The real threat is the heavy weapons these guys have loaded onto their vehicles.” Kalina tugged at her collar, pointing to several vehicles parked nearby.Two off-road vehicles with added armor plating and a van, apparently intended to transport the jammer and the remaining scavengers.There were no spare vehicles. Clearly, these guys were determined to capture Griffin’s command vehicle intact as their trophy.Gentiane climbed onto the roof of the van, stood on the high ground, and looked through binoculars toward the location where the 88mm gun had been fired.The top of this hill was the highest point in the vicinity. From here, they could see not only part of the road they had come from but also another scavenger position.Compared to the position on the hillside, the position with the 88mm gun had fewer personnel.It was obvious that the scavengers present were roughly the main fighting force of this group.Those remaining at the artillery position were without a doubt, their support personnel and the leader of the scavengers.However, it wasn't impossible that the leader had already been eliminated.“Kalina, you and Persica stay here. Take a few people and organize the loot. The rest of you, find some things from the scavengers to wear, and then two people drive with me.”Gentiane was no longer worried about any backup from the scavengers.They had already destroyed nearly ten vehicles belonging to this group of scavengers, carrying at least thirty people. Now they had eliminated another fifty.Only about twenty people remained at the artillery position, totaling around one hundred. This was a considerable number for a scavenger team.The situation with dozens of cars chasing them like before was because those guys were a group of several scavengers gathered together.“Got it, be careful. But shouldn’t we turn off this jammer?”“Leave it on for now. This thing probably affects those scavengers too. Otherwise, their communicators wouldn’t be completely silent after so long.”…While Gentiane was busy dealing with the scavengers, Renault was carrying a paint roller, painting the rooms of the little Nytos. Pink, beige, orange. All soft-looking colors.“Um... it looks like a children’s room now…”Nimogen had originally wanted to help, but now stood in the room and looked at the colors on the walls, somewhat at a loss."Hmm, what? Don't want to share a room with the other Nytos?" Renault raised an eyebrow, glancing at the paint in the bucket.These colors... well, many of the Dolls at home seemed to like these colors, though not all of them.The elite Sangvis Ferri Dolls, for example, mostly preferred deeper, cooler tones. The Dolls generally chose white or beige, though some opted for pink.Renault had also checked out the regular Sangvis Ferri Dolls. They had every color imaginable, much more flamboyant than the Dolls'. Some Sangvis Ferri even painted their dormitories a rainbow of colors…So, in Renault's opinion, the colors used in the Nytos' room were relatively normal.Unfortunately, Nimogen still couldn't quite accept it. Compared to these warm-looking colors, she preferred white, dark gray, or even silver-gray. Anything that didn't look like a children's room.Upon hearing this, Nimogen hesitated again. If she lived alone, Mercurius would definitely come chasing after her again.How could she possibly live alone? In less than two days, her room would likely be used as a new base by Mercurius and the three little Nytos…“Don’t think so much. After this wall is painted, I’ll partition off all your rooms.”Even if Nimogen hadn’t said it, Renault would have done it anyway.Although the other Nytos’ behavior was sometimes a little childish, they still needed their own rooms. Helian had designed it that way before.“Oh.”Seeing Renault pick up the roller again and continue painting, Nimogen nodded somewhat blankly, her mind already starting to plan how to arrange her own room.However, the first thing that came to mind wasn’t the style of her bedroom, but rather the cramped culture tanks and research facilities from Paradeus.Thinking of this, Nimogen blinked and sighed helplessly.But then she looked up and saw those brightly colored wall paints again…Who wants to live in a children's room like that?!---Chapter 1070: I Don't Care! I Want This!"There are four on the outer perimeter. Those should be sentries. There aren't any hidden sentries lying in ambush," Mosin-Nagant spoke to Gentiane who was driving. They had just scouted the scavenger's firing position using the deployed dummy dolls."Yeah, I see them. Don't worry about those guys for now. There are two machine guns inside the position. When I make my move, you guys take out those two machine gunners first."Gentiane spoke while reaching for her military knife and cutting a gash in the bare metal door.The armor plating on the outside of the door was pieced together with the gash being placed precisely in the gap between the plates.Thanks to the scavengers' shoddy welding skills, Gentiane didn't need to borrow a pistol from one of the other Dolls. Now, with this gash, she could simply shove the muzzle of the AKM she had picked up into the hole.Furthermore, the armor plates and doors were all black, as were the gun muzzles, so the scavengers might not notice anything amiss.Gentiane and Mosin-Nagant sitting in the passenger seat were both dressed in clothes stripped from the scavengers and wore matching gas masks. At first glance, they looked like the same scavengers of the opponent's group.However, it was only a temporary disguise. The clothes and gas masks inevitably bore marks; they wouldn't be noticeable from a distance, but up close it would become clear that something was wrong.But this was enough.Gentiane didn't need to completely fool these guys. As long as the truck got close to the scavengers' hideout and parked outside the firing range of the two machine guns, that was sufficient.At the very least, she could ram them before they could react. The T-Dolls in the truck were already prepared, all wearing protective suits stripped from the scavengers, so they weren't afraid of getting hurt.While instructing Mosin-Nagant beside her, Gentiane carefully positioned the AKM on her lap, much to Mosin-Nagant's dismay.Gentiane didn't really need to be involved in this; after all, she was the commander of all the Dolls, and if anything went wrong, Griffin would likely be wiped out.Unfortunately, lately, for some reason, as Gentiane's physical abilities improved day by day, her actions became increasingly audacious. It was as if commanding from the rear was no longer enough for her.If handled cautiously, this operation could have been led by the Rifle T-Dolls, with several combat forces slowly infiltrating. A few precise sniper kills would have completely eliminated this scavenger-built artillery position.Moreover, there was no risk along the way. There was no need to worry about Gentiane's personal safety, and the T-Dolls responsible for sniping would certainly be fine.Turning to look at Mosin-Nagant who was only nodding but not responding, Gentiane raised an eyebrow."Alright, don't worry about that. There won't be any problems. We're short on time; those scavengers who were chasing us could catch up at any moment."Furthermore, besides those scavengers, Gentiane was certain that others were watching them. If they didn't act quickly, no one knew what might go wrong.Besides destroying the 88mm artillery position, Kalina and her team weren't idle either. They needed to clean up the battlefield, collect usable supplies, and restart the command vehicle. The scavengers' few small vehicles weren't enough to carry all the Dolls.They only had two choices: either protect the command vehicle and drive back, or trek back to Griffin's base on foot.As for calling for backup, asking that stingy old man Havier to send someone to pick them up would definitely cost them. If the command vehicle had been blown up by those scavengers, where would they find the communication equipment to contact him?Meanwhile, the truck was approaching the scavengers' position. Mosin-Nagant used the communication protocol to notify the Dolls in the rear compartment to prepare, while her hands gripped her Imprint Weapon and loaded her rifle.Sitting in the passenger seat and handling such a long rifle was rather inconvenient, but Gentiane hadn't asked her to sit there for combat effectiveness. It was mainly because Mosin-Nagant's dummy dolls were still alive. Sending four of them out was perfect for scouting the artillery positions.With her main body in the passenger seat, it was convenient for her to relay messages.Waiting in the rear of the truck were either machine gun T-Dolls or Shotgun T-Dolls with external armor plates.This time, Gentiane hadn't even brought the three members of AR Team. Dealing with the remaining scavengers through a surprise attack, coupled with the Mosin-Nagant puppet Dolls providing support fire from afar, was more than enough.Sure enough, compared to constantly chasing these scavengers on the road, the moment their feet touched the ground, the entire group's combat level dropped several levels. They weren't exactly amateurs, but they were clearly unskilled.As the truck slowly approached, the scavengers standing near their position didn't notice anything unusual. The only slightly strange thing was that this time it wasn't a small car but a cargo truck that had been brought back.Of course, this was normal among scavengers. With the jammers on and long-distance communication impossible, they naturally drove whichever vehicle was most convenient.Gentiane was somewhat surprised by the scavengers' reaction. She had expected them to be at least a little wary, given the recent bursts of gunfire from the hillside.Didn't these guys have any sense of caution at all?The scavengers leisurely approached the truck. Gentiane was pleased to see this. She eased off the accelerator, and slowly brought the truck to a stop in front of them. The rear cargo door faced the two machine gunners, while the side cargo door faced the approaching group of scavengers.Clearly, these scavengers thought she was delivering goods or had found something on the hillside and all gathered near the cargo door without suspicion.Scattered around, besides the two scavengers approaching the driver's seat, there were about ten others near the cargo door. Even the gunner of the 88mm mortar and the ammunition handler had left their positions and were walking toward the truck."Ha! Just like a pillow delivered to someone who's sleepy! These guys are practically walking into a trap!"Gentiane smirked. She released the accelerator, slammed on the brake, and reached down to pull the gun barrel she'd shoved into the car door.Seeing Gentiane's action, Mosin-Nagant in the passenger seat felt her mind race.What was her commander doing now? Wasn't the plan to ambush one as a signal?Why don't you just stick to the plan?!Just as the two scavengers approached the car door, before they could even settle in, they saw Gentiane turn around in the driver's seat. One of the scavengers immediately noticed the gas mask on Gentiane's head.Where the lens should have been on the mask, there was now a large gash, clearly from a gunshot wound, the kind where a bullet had hit the back of the head and pierced through the skull.Before he could even react, Gentiane kicked the car door open!This kick, delivered with almost all of Gentiane's strength, turned the car door into a murder weapon!The armored door slammed directly into the scavenger's face. Not only did it knock him to the ground, but the door even broke free of its hinges and slammed backward against the A-pillar.The other scavenger didn't even have time to feel relieved that he had dodged the door, nor did he have the thought of drawing his gun, before Gentiane's AKM was already pressed against his forehead.Bang! Bang! Bang!The AKM shots were now indistinguishable from starting pistols. The T-Dolls inside received the signal. They immediately kicked open the car door without hesitation.The hooks that were only loosely attached outside were deformed and dislodged by the Dolls' kicks.Before the scavengers outside could even figure out why the carriage door had suddenly opened by itself, they were blasted in the face with 12-gauge buckshot by the T-Dolls standing in the front row.The scavengers in the front row were hit in the face and fell to the ground. Some of the scavengers in the back reacted quickly enough to grab their assault rifles, but before they could even release the safety, a hail of machine gun fire rained down on them.Caught off guard, the nearly twenty scavengers fell to the ground in less than two seconds.Meanwhile, the two machine gunners in the distance who had taken a break from their work and were huddled together smoking after removing their gas masks, turned around and saw this scene. They dropped their cigarette butts onto themselves.Bang! Bang!Before they could react, Mosin-Nagant already aimed at them. She pulled the trigger without hesitation. Two shots rang out, one near and one far, from Mosin-Nagant herself and her dummy doll.After that, several more gunshots rang out. The remaining three Mosin-Nagant dummy dolls swiftly and efficiently dealt with the few half-trained sentries on the perimeter of the position.As the brief assault on this position came to an end, Persica, who had witnessed the scene through binoculars from the hilltop, decisively shut down the continuously operating jamming transmitter.“It’s over so quickly? I thought it would take longer.”Taking the binoculars from Persica, M16 watched Gentiane pacing back and forth around the 88mm gun position with a strange expression on her face.How were these scavengers even became less skilled than cavalrymen on horseback just from lowering their guard down a little? This wasn’t just a matter of being wiped out in minutes; their survival time was measured in seconds.Whether it was the scavengers they had ambushed earlier or those Gentiane and her group had just openly killed, they all appeared excessively weak.Could there be an ambush?However, Kalina had already restarted the command vehicle. In the short moments after Persica shut down the jammer, the surrounding surveillance data had been transmitted to M16's cloud via the Dolls' communication protocol.It was confirmed that there were no other ambushes within detection range; they had indeed wiped out this group of scavengers with malicious intentions."M16! We should go!" M4 in the driver's seat of an SUV opened the door and called to M16. Persica standing in front of the jammer sat in the back seat, waving at her.Neither the large generator nor the jammer was of any use to Griffin. Persica didn't care about the jammer; it had no research value, merely a high-powered full-band jammer.It consumed a lot of power. Even if she didn't shut it down, the generator wouldn't last long.When AR Team and Persica arrived at the location of the artillery position by vehicles, Kalina also arrived with the remaining T-Dolls.However, Gentiane's actions left Kalina and Persica somewhat bewildered…“No… Gentiane, this really won't do…”“Right… even though this is over a hundred years old, it's probably not even good enough to be considered an antique, let alone something a scavenger cobbled together…”“Won't do? What won't do? This won't do, that won't do! When we go on a mission, someone will tell me I can't fail! I don't care! Nothing will work! When I'm dead, they won't be saying anything like 'The Commander of G&K is gone'!”Gentiane rolled her eyes, clearly not intending to heed Kalina and Persica's advice. She cranked the wheel, the 88mm gun's support slowly retracting under her control.Mosin-Nagant and DP28, on the other hand, nonchalantly helped Gentiane push the 88mm gun along the tracks the scavengers had made into the transport vehicle.Seeing Gentiane's current reckless attitude, Persica slapped her forehead in exasperation and sighed inwardly.Clearly, Statesec's image in Gentiane's eyes had plummeted; after all, comparison was the thief of joy.If Renault hadn't interfered before, Statesec's plans would have gone perfectly, and no matter how wronged she felt, Gentiane would have had to endure it—Griffin was simply hopeless.Now, the fish in the pot was watching the fresh fish outside thriving in the bathtub next door; why would she be willing to continue being fried in oil?Compared to the difficulty of the task Statesec had given Gentiane, it was clearly safer for her to have more useful weapons at her disposal.After all, illegally possessing heavy weaponry meant that as long as Griffin didn't openly attack the troops guarding the safe zone, the worst that could happen was that she got arrested and maybe even went to Siberia with a Doll to dig up railway tracks.But what if she didn't? Then she'd be dead on the spot!---Chapter 71: No One Escaped!“Huh? Where’s G11? Are you guys all done here?” Standing at the door of HK416 and G11’s dorm room, RFB peered inside and searched for G11.“Hmm? Yeah. What happened?” HK416 was vacuuming away the debris. She finally put down the vacuum cleaner and looked at RFB standing in the doorway.These two weren’t here to catch up or chat. If they had a game console, they could sit in front of the TV all day.“Ahem, well, I heard from someone that some of the pre-installed wiring has a direct connection to the training room, so we can put the training pods in the dorm…” RFB looked around to make sure no one was watching before scratching her head and asking HK416.“Hmm? That’s true. Look, G11 made one for herself.” HK416 gestured to a corner of the room where two square boxes stood side by side. They looked somewhat like repair pods, but instead of lying flat they were angled, allowing a Doll to lie down comfortably inside.These were products made by ME79 and G11 with Renault’s help. Their appearance was somewhat rough, but it didn’t affect the training pods’ functionality at all.Previously, G11 and ME79 had been busy with other things. When they received the design blueprints from Renault, they were already preparing for their next mech construction project. Since Renault had no requirements for the appearance, he naturally didn’t bother refining the shape of these training pods.After being hastily informed that new training pods were needed to fill the new training room, G11 and ME79 rushed into action, designed a basic shape, and built the prototype.Now there were still over a dozen training pods waiting to be installed in the new training room.“Oh? This… it looks much better than the old training pods in the training room.”At least it had a shell now. It wasn’t just a simple helmet you could slap on and use anymore.“Then…”“Want to install one in your dorm too? Then you’ll have to go to the new training room and ask G11 and ME79. No one else can install this.” HK416 shook her head, indicating she couldn’t help.As for SOP2, who was equally handy? And Renault, who might be free right now? Or the two Scarecrows in the workshop?Just kidding. If she said there were so many people who could help install this, how would G11 get a few more people to help out in the new training room?RFB and Ouroboros didn’t suspect anything. HK416 didn’t show any odd expression on her face. She remained as expressionless as ever and revealed nothing.As the two left the dormitory area and asked for the direction of the new training room through the Doll communication protocol, HK416 finally allowed herself a slight smirk. She had managed to fool two, so she figured she had done her part.The rest would have to rely on MDR and Carol to persuade.Many Dolls still wanted to install training pods in their dorms. The training pods Renault created, once the difficulty of the exercises was adjusted to the lowest level, were practically virtual games. If they couldn’t pass the training exercises, they could at least beat a low-difficulty game.Moreover, training in the training room was broadcast live throughout the entire process. If there were a training pod in the dormitory, it might avoid some problems.Quite a few Dolls had this idea, but only RFB and Ouroboros approached HK416. The others, after seeing the announcement in the communication protocol, went straight to G11 and ME79 in the new training room.It was easy to predict that those who wanted training pods in their dorms had probably already been recruited by G11 and ME79 to help renovate the new training room.Thinking of this, HK416 breathed a sigh of relief.Perfect timing. She could use the free time to properly organize the things she had packed up in the dormitory. Things that needed to be secured had to be secured beforehand to prevent them from being thrown into chaos by the ship’s acceleration in an emergency.“416! 416, are you there?!”Unfortunately, just as HK416 finished putting away the vacuum cleaner and stretched her fingers, UMP40’s voice rang out.Upon hearing UMP40’s voice, HK416’s eye twitched. She immediately tried to pull open the still-empty wardrobe and crawl inside.However, since undergoing the Protoss Templar training course, UMP40’s agility was far superior to HK416’s. She had also slashed through numerous Paradeus with her lightsaber, and her new bio-engineered form was developing much better than HK416’s.HK416 had just poked her head into the cabinet when UMP40 grabbed her tail.“Hey! Don’t be shy! I just asked you for a small favor! I saw you’ve already tidied up here! Don’t be so formal!”“How did you time it so perfectly?! How did you know I was done?!” Holding UMP40 tightly around the waist, HK416 couldn’t break free and could only roar in annoyance.“Hey! That’s normal! You don’t usually talk in the communication protocol. RFB said five minutes ago that you were already finished, and I was worried you’d run away!”“RFB?!”HK416’s eyes widened instantly. Her mind already conjured the image of RFB secretly tattling to the other Dolls through the communication protocol....“Heh heh! See? That’s foresight! As long as I expose those idle guys first, no one will be watching us and dragging us into the work!” Hearing the roar from not far behind, RFB grinned smugly.Hearing this, Ouroboros looked enlightened and nodded knowingly.The training room on the new spaceship wasn’t far from the dormitory area. Finding the right direction, the two quickly arrived at the training room, which was already crowded with Dolls.The atmosphere felt strangely off. Thinking this, Ouroboros narrowed her eyes, reached into her pocket, and pulled out a black mask similar to Scarecrow’s. She untied her pigtails and restyled them into a neat single ponytail.While RFB pushed her way through the crowd, Ouroboros quietly slipped away.RFB, walking ahead, was completely unaware that Ouroboros had disappeared behind her and continued struggling to push forward.After pushing past Dolls and Sangvis Ferri Dolls on either side, RFB found G11 sitting at the entrance of the training room with a formulaic business smile on her face.“Welcome, welcome. Are you installing training pods in the dorm?”“Huh? Ah, yes.” Still not understanding the meaning behind G11’s smile, RFB scratched her head and answered honestly.“Okay, so that means your dorm is already set up and you don’t have any other work to do right now, correct?”“Huh?” Hearing G11’s words, RFB sensed something was wrong. The smile on G11’s face twisted slightly.“So… since you don’t have any other work and still want the training pod installed, then the installation fee will be paid with your own hard work!” G11 said with a smile, opening her eyes wide.With that, she leaped up from behind the table, performed a somersault in the air, and landed steadily next to RFB.Slap!G11’s small hand gripped RFB’s arm tightly. RFB stared in shock and even forgot the pain in her arm.“ME79! Another one’s here! One person on the schedule! Make a note of it!”“Alright! Come on over! Go get the blast-proof glass!”G11 flicked her wrist, lifting RFB into the air before she landed steadily in ME79’s arms like a doll.ME79 placed RFB on the ground and pushed her toward the blast-proof glass stacked in the training room, intended as viewing windows.“Huh? Ee!? No way! You guys… are you setting a trap?! Is this even possible?!” RFB wanted to argue, but the personnel movement records from M1 Garand were already crystal clear in her mind.This was it! M1 Garand had memorized this! She really had no choice but to do the job, even if she didn’t want to.RFB turned around to call Ouroboros for help but found she was nowhere to be seen. That girl had already escaped.However, sometimes running away wasn’t the best option. Otherwise, why would so many Dolls be gathered here? G11 was openly recruiting. Wouldn’t the others run away when things got bad?Of course…They couldn’t run away.“Hmm? Don’t you have anything to say?” Scarecrow Number One glanced at the black mask on Ouroboros’s face, then at the long straight ponytail behind her head.Scarecrow no longer used the mask style Sangvis Ferri wore. Instead, she wore a black mask purely out of habit, and her hairstyle was a single ponytail chosen to distinguish herself from Scarecrow Number Two.Unlike Ouroboros’s straight long hair, Scarecrow Number One’s ponytail was loose and curly.Ouroboros’s shoddy disguise wouldn’t fool Sangvis Ferri Dolls. It could only fool the Dinergates in the corridor.What happens when a fake meets the real deal, especially when sandwiched between two genuine individuals?Before Ouroboros could even process what was happening, Scarecrow Number Two stepped forward and placed her hand on Ouroboros’s shoulder.“Seeing you still have the mind to play role-playing games, you must be quite free. Perfect. Our work here is ideal for someone like you who loves to slack off.”“Hey! Wait! Wait! My dorm isn’t finished yet! Let me go! Let me go back!”Even an Ouroboros who rarely left her room knew that the two Scarecrows were in charge of the new workshop. Being dragged away to work was obvious.It was nothing more than being dragged to work by these two. What else could it be?“Hmph, behave yourself. It’s rare to catch someone slacking off. If you don’t behave, I’ll suggest Renault cut off the power to both of your dorms when we get back.”“We can recharge with our own energy engines even without power! It’s just a power outage! We’ve experienced that before!”“And internet outages.”“So what if there’s no internet! We can still play local co-op games!”Seeing Ouroboros still struggling, Scarecrow Number One sighed. “Are you sure you want me to persuade Helian to check your two dormitories for anything defective?”“Quack!”At those words, Ouroboros immediately became docile and was carried by Scarecrow Number Two like a chick toward the new ship’s workshop.This kind of conscription was not uncommon on the ship, but most of the time they pulled in passing Sangvis Ferri Dolls and offered rewards to trick them into helping with chores.Even M1897 was forced to call upon her Rippers to help, showing how desperately short-handed the ship was.“Renault, we’re really short-handed on board right now. Shouldn’t we consider recruiting more?”“Recruit more?” Leone’s eyes lit up at Helian’s suggestion. She was clearly hoping for more help so she could get assistants for her lab and avoid working alone later.Renault, who was welding the staircase frame, put down his welding torch with a headache after hearing Helian’s words.Recruiting more… that was a distant concept. It felt like the only people he had ever hired were the two professional Dolls, UL-Nurse and ME79.Their prices were high due to their professional status. Unless Renault wanted low-end civilian Dolls with no combat experience, he would have to spend a fortune.Furthermore, the source of the Dolls was a problem. Large corporations were definitely out of the question. When the underlying agreements for UL-Nurse and ME79 were terminated, the Doll sales departments of those two companies had probably already written his name in their notebooks. Ordering Dolls again wouldn’t be easy.As for the Tactical Dolls from IOP, there was probably little hope. Considering Renault’s current armed forces, Statesec likely wouldn’t allow IOP to sell those Tactical Dolls to him.Sangvis Ferri’s side was even less likely. Now the Mastermind only had a few elite Sangvis Dolls left.If they kept exploiting her, even the emotionally detached Eliza might jump out and fight him to the death.---Chapter 1072: Yes! We’ve gotten away with it!“Our passes shouldn’t have expired yet, right?” Gentiane asked Kalina, who was counting ammunition while sorting through the weapons and equipment she had collected from the scavengers.Kalina showed an unusual lack of excitement despite the large quantity of weapons and equipment. She was deeply worried, her brows furrowed.The weapons from the scavengers weren’t advanced, and their condition wasn’t great either. They weren’t good enough to be sold as junk, and their appearance was certainly not appealing.However, Gentiane hadn’t collected these blood-stained weapons for the Tactical Dolls’ use. T-Dolls’ weapons were all made by IOP with excellent manufacturing processes. Aside from mechanical malfunctions caused by original design flaws, they were flawless.Of course, some of the better-quality weapons among these items could be kept. More importantly, items like the RPG-7 and AT4 rocket launchers were worth keeping.Kalina’s somber expression came from the items that clearly exceeded the legal scope of a security contractor’s possession, along with the two scavenger trucks following the command vehicle.One truck was loaded with the 88mm gun that Gentiane insisted on bringing. The other was piled high with various types of ammunition suitable for the 88mm.“No, it’s not expired, but how are the security going to let us through with all this stuff?!” Kalina’s tone had been relatively calm, but she became almost hysterical by the end of the sentence.Griffin did indeed have a pass, but that only applied to the equipment the T-Dolls were carrying. Even the three Heavy Ordnance Squads that Persica brought were illegally brought in. She just wanted to know how Persica had managed to bring them in the first place.“Um, maybe we need some handiwork?” Kalina called out.Persica appeared carrying a cup of sweet soup. Her free left hand pointed toward the Heavy Ordnance Squad that had followed them in. Each of them now carried a backpack the size of a travel bag.The BGM-71 anti-tank missiles, 2B14 mortars, and AGS-30 grenade launchers they had taken from the warehouse earlier were nowhere to be seen.In their place were a large parasol, a telescope, a blowtorch, and a camping gas canister.Basically, it was just some seemingly harmless camping gear. The Heavy Ordnance Squad still carried other weapons, but none of them looked outrageous and could be considered normal personal defense equipment.After all, when operating on the edge of the green zone or inside the yellow zone, some necessary weaponry was acceptable. Otherwise, how would they deal with suddenly appearing ELID infected?However, Kalina didn’t expect that not only had the heavy weaponry been dismantled and disguised as camping supplies by Persica, but even the ammunition had been turned into ordinary-looking incendiary devices.Wait… is this even possible?Kalina paused for a moment, then her face lit up with joy. If this worked, she wouldn’t have to endure all those border control checks.But then she looked down and saw the sheer number of weapons and ammunition at her feet.Persica’s method was good, although extremely difficult. With Dolls’ help, it wasn’t impossible. The question was whether Persica could disassemble all this and disguise it as inconspicuous items to smuggle across the border.Obviously—impossible.There was simply too much. Kalina herself was reluctant to discard some of it. Items like the AT4 rocket launchers were disposable. She could throw away a few RPG-7 launchers, but how could she discard the AT4s?And those were just incidental items. The real problem was the 88mm gun on the truck behind them. Even if Persica was skilled enough to disassemble it, how would she disguise it? And how would she hide a whole truckload of shells?“That thing’s finished? How’s it doing?”Just as Kalina was racking her brain trying to understand why Gentiane was so calm, Gentiane clapped her hands, stood up, and asked Persica.“Ah, barely passable. The quantity is a bit small, but it’s enough. It should be fine for fooling the border checkpoints,” Persica said with a nod, though she still looked slightly annoyed. She had never even considered this kind of technology before.Paradeus’s nanotechnology exceeded her imagination.Currently, it was only being used for Nyto camouflage. If these things were turned into weapons…“Huh? What kind of riddles are you two playing? Can’t you be clear? I’ve been worried sick for days!”Although she didn’t know what Gentiane and Persica were talking about, it was obvious they had already found a solution. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be so calm.“Remember those external command modules Renault brought?” Gentiane asked, raising an eyebrow at Kalina.“Hmm? That? Wasn’t that the device used to command Paradeus units?”“NONONO! What Renault brought wasn’t that simple! That external command module is actually an identification code conversion device. It’s not a disguise. It’s a conversion through a series of algorithmic calculations…”“Can you explain it in a way I can understand?”“It’s simple. Think of it as a foolproof identification signal converter. With it, you can even command the military’s Dolls, provided they have enough computing power.”“Oh! I see! So you’re planning to disguise yourselves as military identification signals at the checkpoint and get them to let you through?”“That’s just Plan A. Just in case, we also have Plan B!”Snap!Gentiane chuckled and snapped her fingers, gesturing for Persica to show Kalina her research results so the logistics officer, who hadn’t slept well for days, could finally see the power of technology.“Huh?” Seeing Gentiane’s confident expression and Persica calmly drinking sugar water beside her, Kalina tilted her head.Before she could ask anything, Persica casually beckoned toward the door, signaling the person outside to come in.The moment the person entered, Kalina saw a green military protective suit and a standard military rifle in their hands.“What!?” Thinking the person was a soldier, Kalina instinctively reached for her sidearm.Then she quickly realized something was wrong.While the newcomer’s upper body was covered in military protective clothing, the lower half wore the same white floral pleated skirt as RO635.Seeing that stark contrast, Kalina immediately shrank back, her brows furrowed.What kind of monstrous combination was this? Couldn’t they be a little more normal?“Of course, it’s not just this one disguise. There’s this too!” Persica said, snapping her fingers.The military helmet twisted and shrank, transforming into another person’s appearance.“This is… Yegor, right? He showed up during the operation to take down Sangvis Ferri?”“Hmm. Anyway, I’ve already recorded all the common appearances, so even impersonating you is no problem!”This time, without Persica’s prompting, RO635 returned to her original form.Well, almost. The clothes were still RO635’s, but the head had become Kalina’s.“Hmm… uh? I didn’t expect RO’s outfit to actually suit me so well?” Looking down at her uniform, which she hadn’t changed in a long time, Kalina wondered if she should dress more youthfully.“Hey! Kalina! What are you thinking about?” Gentiane asked, patting her shoulder.“Uh, right. I get it now. If the identification signal doesn’t work, we’ll just use Captain Yegor’s face to fool them, right?”“Pretty much. Those border checkpoints’ information systems probably aren’t very reliable. Fooling them shouldn’t be hard.”Even if that failed, the T-Dolls driving those two trucks could disguise themselves as military personnel and force their way through. No one would suspect a pitiful, ordinary security contractor like her.Hearing this, Kalina finally breathed a sigh of relief.As long as there was a way, that was enough. Being a security contractor wasn’t easy, but it was still better than becoming a homeless scavenger.Meanwhile, RO on the other side removed her disguise. Now that she was back to normal, her eyes looked lifeless and she looked completely drained.Next time, I’m never letting Persica be my equipment inspector again! Persica should test this herself!She thought transforming into Gentiane or Kalina was already her limit, but Persica had actually made her impersonate Yegor. Even that old man Havier was on the list!“Ahem, don’t look at me with that resentful gaze. I won’t forget what I promised you. Right now I don’t have the materials or equipment. Once we get back to base, I’ll get a batch from the lab and make you an upgraded transformation device.”Hearing Persica’s words, RO finally softened her stare and nodded in satisfaction.Although it was just a nanotechnology disguise prop and lacked the magical functions of tokusatsu transformation devices, RO635 was completely smitten....“Hehehehe! Good stuff! So much material! This time, the black history book will be even thicker!”“Tsk, let’s not talk about that. Are you sure we don’t need to go back and help Vera? Can she really handle it alone? What if everyone else’s dorms are finished and we still don’t even have a place to stay?” Carol scratched her head, feeling awkward without her beret.“It’s okay! Don’t let Vera’s frail appearance fool you. She changed her bio-body before me. Underestimating her will come at a price!”“I think you’re just trying to slack off, aren’t you? We’re all the same. Everyone knows what everyone else is thinking!”“So you’re going back?”MDR squinted at Carol. What a joke. I’m here to slack off, what about you? We’re all in the same boat.“Uh, cough cough, the new training room should be almost finished. I’ll go check it out. Commander Renault will probably be nagging me to train again soon.”She said that, but ran off in the wrong direction. That was the Sangvis Ferri Dolls’ cleaning department.She claimed she was going to the training room, but she was probably hiding in Sangvis Ferri territory until everyone else finished their work.But that suited me perfectly. Split up and hide! Before we get caught, I’ll expose Carol and let everyone chase her instead!As for whether MDR really escaped her work?Obviously not.With WZ.29 on the bridge, she could monitor all the Dolls on board. She could instantly tell who was working diligently and who was slacking off.All she had to do was send their location to G36 or M1 Garand, who were busy arresting people, or to the UMP40 crew members involved in the arrests. Once that happened, no Doll had a chance of escaping.After the initial few days, Helian restarted the city selection process. Compared to the first screening, where unsuitable cities were easy to spot, the current process was much more difficult.Most online information only highlighted positive aspects, while information from Anonymous Boards was often unreliable. It was hard to distinguish real analysis from misinformation.Without external data, Helian could only rely on the spaceship’s large scanner.The spaceship, which had remained stationary above the cities for a long time, was now moving again under the control of WZ.29 and P226, slowly flying toward the cities they hadn’t yet visited.Sitting at the scanner control panel on the bridge, Helian looked around. Apart from the two pilots responsible for flying the ship, there were no other Dolls nearby. She couldn’t even find a co-pilot to help her.Sigh… let’s take it slow.---Chapter 73 So Easily Fooled?“Griffin? A security contractor?”The border checkpoint chief stroked his thick beard. He glanced suspiciously at Kalina, a blonde woman with bright, intelligent eyes, then looked at the enormous command vehicle. It was far too big to fit inside the checkpoint. His gaze also fell upon the heavily armed Tactical Dolls.His mouth went dry. How had killers like these managed to sneak into their small outpost?Just seeing so many Tactical Dolls staring at him made him reluctant to step inside that massive vehicle for inspection. Its hull was riddled with bullet holes. Most of the glass had shattered. Some of the armor plating was half-burned away, clearly by rocket-propelled grenades.Though the Tactical Dolls all looked like pretty young girls, they exuded a palpable aura of gunpowder just by standing there. They had obviously just emerged from a fierce battle. If Kalina hadn't been the one getting out of the vehicle with the documents, he might not have dared to approach at all.“Yes, yes. Our customs paperwork should be in order, right?”Kalina forced what she thought was a friendly smile. She didn't realize her face was still smeared with grease from handling weapons and ammunition, which made her expression look rather sinister. Add to that her bulletproof vest with visible bullet holes and the steel magazines and grenades tucked into her tactical gear. She didn't look like someone to be trifled with.Startled by her sudden smile, the checkpoint chief abandoned any thought of verifying the documents properly. He simply took out his equipment and quickly scanned the various expiration dates.Confirming they hadn't lapsed, he hurriedly stuffed the papers back into the manila envelope and returned it to Kalina.“Everything's normal. Not expired.”He waved his hand, signaling his colleagues to open the gate and let the command vehicle pass.The inspectors, who had dreaded having to board the vehicle with their chief, breathed sighs of relief. They rushed to clear away the debris piled on both sides of the road. These obstacles wouldn't impede ordinary vehicles but would definitely block the command vehicle's massive wheels.As those enormous wheels—each as tall as a person—rolled past them, everyone present wiped cold sweat from their brows.But Griffin's command vehicle didn't go far. It stopped again just outside the checkpoint, waiting for the two trucks behind it.Cough cough!The stationmaster had been about to sigh with relief, but now a thick glob of phlegm caught in his throat, nearly choking him. After coughing several times, he raised his head and glared furiously at the quick-witted rookie who had lowered the barrier.Why the hell did you put it down? Just let them go straight through! You don't actually want to board and inspect them, do you?Faced with his superior's death glare, the newcomer kept his hand on the switch, panicking. He hesitated, unsure whether to raise the barrier or leave it closed.Station Master! Give me a clear answer!Just then, Gentiane pushed open the truck door, stepped out, and walked heavily toward the stationmaster. Without a word, she produced two documents. She didn't hand them over but flicked her fingers, letting the papers unfold naturally.The first document was harmless—a special pass from Statesec for Persica and the AR Team. It had broad applications; Persica had used it to bring the command vehicle this far.The other document, however, made the stationmaster's blood run cold. Craning his neck, he spotted the KCCO stamp and felt a chill crawl down his spine. He shrank back and glanced at the passenger seats of the two trucks. Everyone inside wore military protective suits, some with military-grade exoskeletons strapped on.Seeing this, the stationmaster didn't bother checking the names on the identifications. He straightened up and waved his hand forcefully toward the checkpoint.What are you waiting for?The veteran checkpoint employee immediately opened the barrier upon seeing his chief's gesture. The newcomer stood by, terrified.As the two trucks rolled out of the checkpoint, Griffin's command vehicle ahead slowly started moving again, smoothly pulling away.Only after the vehicles disappeared into the distance did the checkpoint chief finally breathe easy. Then a surge of anger flooded through him. He charged at the new recruit, knocked his hat off, and with practiced ease removed his own cap to slap the rookie across the head.“You idiot! Who told you to lower the barrier so fast? Couldn't you see those people were in cahoots? Trying to get us killed? Huh?”The chief practically choked on his words by the end, striking the recruit with each syllable.The blows to the head didn't hurt much, but they left the new recruit completely bewildered. He couldn't understand what he had done wrong.“If you don't need your eyes, donate them to someone who does! Rich people love eyes like yours—eyes only good for venting frustration.”After venting for a while, the stationmaster had mostly calmed down. He shook out his crumpled hat, straightened it, and put it back on his head with an irritated huff.“But... what if they were smuggling...”Slap!Hearing this, the stationmaster immediately smacked the guy's forehead. “Have you ever seen smuggling done with a large combat command vehicle? Couldn't you see those people were all wearing military protective suits?”They were already armed to the teeth. And you, a little coward armed with only a baton, wanted to meddle?The entire checkpoint had only five rifles—just ordinary assault rifles. The rest carried simple pistols. This was a tiny outpost with very little traffic, probably no more than thirty people crossing per month. Since it wasn't adjacent to any contaminated zone, it rarely attracted ELID infected or scavengers. Normally they only needed to check a handful of border crossers.Including the rookie who had arrived two days ago, the whole checkpoint had only eight people—and that counted the stationmaster himself.Rubbing his temples, the stationmaster took a deep breath to calm himself. “Be more clear-headed in the future. That group had over a hundred Tactical Dolls alone, plus the military soldiers in the two trucks behind. They could wipe us out in less than five seconds. Even if there really was a problem, it's beyond our control. Next time you encounter something like this, if you don't want to die, just let people through obediently and then report the situation. Understand?”“Oh, understood!” Seeing the stationmaster raise his hand again, the newcomer hurriedly nodded while clutching his head.“Stationmaster, I already reported it.”“Did you say anything specific?”“Just that we don't need to worry about it.”“Good, then it's settled.”Hearing this, the stationmaster finally breathed easy.At least there wasn't really a problem....While the checkpoint chief sighed with relief, Kalina did the same."Looks like we got away with it. Luckily those guys didn't dare to check after seeing the military equipment and identifications. Otherwise we would have been in serious trouble.”“Don't worry. Old man Havier must have put in a good word for us. As long as we don't run into any stubborn types, chances are no one will check us.” Gentiane shrugged. The border crossing had gone much smoother than expected; Havier had probably given prior instructions.But Gentiane hadn't anticipated that her plan A—disguising herself with a military identification signal—wouldn't be needed at either checkpoint. These posts had no signal recognition devices.Instead, backup plan B worked perfectly. Once those people saw the military protective suits and fake identifications she carried, they didn't dare say a word.“There are three more checkpoints ahead. The larger one will be the real problem. You'd better think of some excuses to cover it,” Persica said calmly, as if these matters had nothing to do with her.That made sense given Persica's position. These affairs really didn't concern her much. Even if an investigation occurred, that would fall to Statesec and the Ministry of the Interior. Persica was involved in too many sensitive projects; any scrutiny definitely wouldn't land on her.“What a headache!” Gentiane rolled her eyes upon hearing this, but she didn't regret anything. With that 88mm gun, once they returned to base, having Persica modify the command vehicle and install a hydraulic control system wouldn't be difficult at all.When stowed, the 88mm gun stood less than one meter tall. By placing the transmission mechanism and automatic loader inside the vehicle, the command vehicle's height would increase by at most a little over one meter—negligible compared to a vehicle already several meters tall.With that cannon's range, her Doll echelons could receive artillery support anytime within a radius of about ten kilometers. The automatic loader was far more efficient than having Dolls manually load anti-tank missiles.Those scavengers couldn't access the cannon's fire control system, so they could only lay it flat and use it as a direct-fire gun or anti-tank weapon. But she had Persica. She might not get the most advanced fire control system, but a basic one would definitely work. With a little optimization and integration with the Dolls' communication network, Persica could make it hit anything—point and shoot with incredible precision.Before, Gentiane had always been the one facing artillery fire raining from the sky. Now the tables had turned. When she pulled the Flak41 88mm cannon from the command vehicle, how would Paradeus react?Thinking this, Gentiane couldn't suppress the smile on her lips.Seeing Gentiane's state, Kalina sighed helplessly. “How long will it take for her to recover?”“I don't know. Maybe she'll feel better after giving Paradeus a good beating with that 88mm cannon,” Persica shrugged....“Angelia, do you see that in the sky?” AK12 wrapped her arms around AN94's waist and grinned, pointing toward the sky.Hearing AK12's words, Angelia's eyes twitched. She frowned and turned her head away. “I saw it. So what?”“So if we weren't in such a hurry to get off the ship, could we have hitched a ride?” AK12 chuckled, making RPK16 nod and grin mischievously in agreement.They had set off from Belgrade, driving and cycling along the way, eventually managing to acquire three secondhand motorcycles after much searching.After traveling for several days, they discovered that Renault's ship seemed to be slowly flying in the same direction they were heading.If she had seen the state of that research institute that day and led DEFY straight back to Renault's ship, she could have flown hundreds of kilometers by now. There would be no need for this current situation—exhausted, weary, and barely making progress.“Tsk!” Angelia closed her eyes, trying to shake the irritating thought from her mind.Fortunately, she had managed to contact K. With a few more days of travel, they could obtain a better transport vehicle from K, most likely a helicopter. That would be much better than being forced to continue by motorcycle.Thinking this, Angelia glanced again at the ship in the sky. Somewhat annoyed, she pulled her scarf up around her neck to block the dust kicked up by the speeding motorcycle.Why could Renault fly around the sky so freely?Although somewhat resentful, she understood why. At this juncture, all the major powers were closely watching the formation of the Federation. Carter's group constantly tried to prevent it. Neither side wanted to—nor had the inclination to—clash with Renault, this seemingly reckless individual, at such a critical moment.This situation would likely continue for a long time. At least until after the Federation was successfully established and those guys had integrated the various powers, no one would dare to cause trouble for Renault.Well, those with poor judgment were an exception. Those people wouldn't cause Renault any real trouble anyway.Bang!“Ouch! Slow down, RPK16! You did that on purpose, didn't you!”Just as she was thinking this, the motorcycle's sidecar rolled over another rutted hole gouged out of nowhere. The almost nonexistent suspension made Ange feel her tailbone go numb from the jolting.---Chapter 1074; Well Done“Connect the red wire to the green wire, then put the cover on and turn the ratchet wrench three times…”RFB recited the installation instructions ME79 had repeated at least ten times. Her eyes were lifeless. Her hands moved deftly as she installed the wiring cover on the training pod. Then she stood up and moved to the next one.“Very good! Excellent! Miss RFB! You’ve done a superb job. Consider this training pod a reward for your hard work. You can install it yourself next to your bed!”Just as RFB stood up with the training pod and prepared to find the next installation location, G11 appeared. She had somehow escaped her receptionist duties. She tiptoed over, patted RFB’s shoulder, and spoke in a strange tone.Only after being pushed out of the training room by G11 did RFB come back to her senses. The Dolls who had left earlier were returning to collect their training pods, and their gazes felt strange.“Huh?” RFB snapped out of her daze. She looked back at the training room door, then glanced at the Dolls on either side. She nodded at M200. After that, she turned back blankly and tilted her head at the training pod she was holding.“Ah?”As the sound left her mouth, RFB’s selective memories gradually returned, honed through repetitive labor.From the moment she entered the training room, ME79 had pulled her aside and given her a few instructions on the installation procedures she absolutely had to remember. After that, ME79 ran off to work with G11 in the other training rooms.RFB had spent the entire afternoon installing forty training pods by herself.As for the other Dolls who went to help, RFB had no idea what they were doing. She hadn’t seen them at all.The entire afternoon’s work left her completely disoriented. Then she suddenly froze.Wait… where’s Ouroboros!?Where is Ouroboros?! She hadn’t seen her anywhere! They were supposed to come together to ask G11 for help installing the training pod! So where was she?!Realizing something was wrong, RFB’s eyes widened. She slung the training pod over her shoulder and dashed toward the dormitory.Ouroboros! If she wasn’t here, she must have gone back to the dormitory!But when RFB stormed back to the dormitory area, she found it eerily quiet. The construction noise was gone. The Dolls’ chatter was gone. Even the sound of the Dinergates’ chopsticks tapping on the floor had disappeared.“What happened? Where did she go?”Like the rest of the dormitory area, her and Ouroboros’s room was silent and empty. Ouroboros, whom she expected to be hiding inside and playing games, was nowhere to be seen.“That’s weird… Oh well! Who cares!” With no one around, RFB’s attention returned to the training pod in her hands.“We already brought it back. It’d be a waste not to install it! G11 and ME79 clearly did this on purpose! They made me install so many training pods. Now they don’t need to come install this one themselves. They can handle it on their own.”RFB pulled out the pre-installed wiring from the corner of the room. A few clanging sounds echoed as she skillfully installed the training pod. She grabbed a half-used bottle of orange paint and wrote “RFB” in large letters across the top.“Hmph! We agreed to share the good times and the bad! Who knew you, Ouroboros, with your thick eyebrows and big eyes, would run away halfway through! This training pod is mine! Figure out your own!”With that, she sat down inside the training pod and prepared to put a combination lock on it....“Hey, hey, don’t just stand there! Didn’t you see the materials being delivered again?”“Get moving! Ouroboros! You’re not leaving until you finish your work here!”“And you, Intruder! Don’t even think about sneaking away! Your dorm is finished. I did it myself! We agreed we’d help you clean up and then come help in the workshop. Don’t try to back out!” Scarecrow Number Two pointed at Intruder, who had slipped toward the door, and waved an anti-gravity drone in front of her face.She had recorded everything when Intruder came to ask for help. Trying to skip out now, go slack off, and listen to music?Not happening.Ouroboros listened to Scarecrow and Intruder bickering but had no desire to turn around and watch.They had thought finishing their own dorm would be enough. But Scarecrow and Intruder had come to the ship specifically to drag people out to work.And those two had almost seemed like they were waiting for her. They ignored the other Dolls at the training room door and pulled her over instead.Luckily, she wasn’t the only victim. Intruder, another expert at slacking off, was there too, so she at least had someone to share the burden with.The renovation work in the workshop wasn’t physically demanding for a Doll, but the repetitive tasks were mentally exhausting. Ouroboros tightened a wrench and found herself oddly understanding the two Scarecrows’ behavior. She even felt slightly tempted to help catch a few slackers.Hmm… there didn’t seem to be many slackers left on the ship.“By the way, Scarecrow, speaking of which…”“Hmm? You want to ask what the other people who like slacking off, like you two, are doing?” Scarecrow Number One glanced at her tablet before Ouroboros could finish speaking.RFB: Training pods installed in the training room.Ouroboros: Partition walls installed in the workshop.Intruder: Flooring installed in the workshop.Architect: Directing Sangvis Ferri Doll in the layout of the ship’s interior structure.MDR: Distributing cleaning tools and inventorying supplies.Carol: Directing the cleaning department in cleaning the old ship’s dormitory area.Without further explanation, Scarecrow Number One simply picked up the tablet and showed it to Ouroboros.Ouroboros blinked at the list, confused. “Huh? Wait. Why are only our six names on it? Where are the drunkards?”Whether it was Executioner, the Presiding Judge, or Simonov and A-91, they all belonged to the category of drunkards. Ouroboros constantly saw them slacking off while drinking.Why weren’t their names listed? She felt indignant.“Them? They’re renovating the new brewery, the new material storage warehouse, and the new wine storage tanks.”“Uh, well… right! Destroyer! Destroyer and Maria! They’ll definitely be on this list, right!?”Hearing this, Scarecrow raised an eyebrow. "They're helping out in the kitchen.""Achoo!" Maria and Destroyer sneezed simultaneously from the kitchen. "Who's talking about us again!?""Hmm, probably Dreamer. She looked pretty disheveled when she left.""Oh, that's possible." Maria wiped her nose with her sleeve and continued peeling potatoes, but suddenly felt a chill run down her spine.G36 had materialized behind them. Her death glare was the reason."Eek! No, no! I didn't sneeze on purpose! Besides, we're using Doll bodies. Even our saliva is clean!"Destroyer spotted G36 approaching. She dropped the raw potatoes from her apron, still clutching the peeler, and tried to slip toward the kitchen door.G36 wasn't interested in excuses. She grabbed Destroyer and pulled her back, wrapping a cotton string around her waist several times—the kind normally used for trussing food. Then she snatched the two masks Maria had set aside and shoved them onto their faces."Wash the potatoes properly. I'll test them with equipment later." G36 clapped her hands. She wasn't worried about Destroyer breaking free. Running away was possible, but then what? Where would she run? Would she skip meals? Dessert? Her daily snacks?G36 doubted these two could be like those Sangvis Ferri Dolls who hadn't received bionic organs yet—the ones that just recharged every day without eating or drinking.Back to Ouroboros. When she heard that Maria and Destroyer had both been drafted into the kitchen, her expression shifted to disbelief. Her voice trembled slightly, though whether from anger or frustration was hard to tell."Then... UMP9...""Helping at the farm.""Uh, what about AK47...""At the vertical farm.""Then... then..." With several Dolls busy working, Ouroboros genuinely couldn't think of anyone else slacking off. "Right! And Spectre M4! What about her? She can't be busy too..."Ouroboros spoke excitedly. Spectre M4 was usually practically invisible. She'd only just remembered her, but she really couldn't imagine what work Spectre M4 could possibly be doing right now.Clap clapSomeone tapped her shoulder twice. "I've been standing right next to you, handing you screws and nuts. Next time, could you at least check before you speak?"Indeed, Spectre M4 had been in the workshop from the start. Ouroboros had been assisting with tightening screws, passing her whatever parts she needed. Even some of the flooring Intruder used next door had been moved there by Spectre M4."Eek!" Spotting someone beside her, Ouroboros jumped onto the roof in fright. She gripped the unfinished roof frame tightly and stared incredulously at Spectre M4 below."How long are you going to hang up there? Come down and get back to work. Do you want to eat on time?" Scarecrow Number Two sighed and rubbed her forehead.Spectre M4 shrugged helplessly. Her invisibility problem had improved considerably after the bio-body replacement—at least the Dolls with bio-bodies no longer overlooked her. Those without them, however, remained out of luck. This probably had to do with Spectre M4's habits. She consistently stood in blind spots, kept her footsteps quiet, and even minimized her breathing. Under normal circumstances, being ignored made perfect sense. Fortunately, the Dolls' senses had sharpened significantly after their bio-body replacements. Otherwise, they'd still overlook her.Time passed amid the Dolls' bickering, but the spaceship renovation didn't actually take very long. Apart from the first two days when the lazy ones got dragged away to help elsewhere, the work stayed more or less on track. The Dolls had already finished organizing their own dormitories, so they could devote time to decorating other areas that needed attention.All told, only a week had passed.A week was enough for Architect to transform the Sangvis Ferri Dolls' room into a children's playground.Helian stared at the slides and swings, watching the little Nytos scramble down the slide alongside several Sangvis Ferri Dolls. Her mouth fell open. She never imagined Architect directing the Dolls could achieve such results.So... when she transferred from Griffin, her actual position wasn't Renault's assistant, but kindergarten teacher?Helian removed her glasses and rubbed her temples, caught between melancholy and relief. At least with this setup, she no longer had to worry about the little Nytos running off to the slaughterhouse every day to watch Alchemist butcher an ox.Architect stood beside Helian, sweating profusely, her heart pounding as she watched Helian's pained expression. She frantically signaled to Gager across the room, urging her to say something—anything—to distract Helian.Gager remained speechless. What could she say? She hadn't suggested building an amusement park at Sangvis Ferri's place!Besides slides and swings, Architect had even prepared a small bumper car arena. Whenever a Sangvis Ferri Doll visited, she'd charge ten dollars!Architect's imagination didn't stop there. She wanted to tear through adjacent cabins, through the layered floors and walls of the spaceship's construction, to create a mini roller coaster in that space. Fortunately, Gager kept her wits and successfully stopped Architect's wild idea.Otherwise, Helian wouldn't be standing here merely rubbing her temples."Alright, well done, Architect. Keep it up next time. But remember to follow the ship's operational procedures. For unreinforced tools, get extra securing equipment from storage so they don't fly around when the ship moves.""Ah, oh, huh?"---Chapter 1075: You Should Take a Look at This"Because of Architect's whim, there's now a children's playground on the third floor."Hearing Helian mention a children's playground, Renault's smile turned stiff. That girl Architect really did come up with things on a whim. How had she even thought of building a children's playground on the spaceship?He looked at the colorful facilities on the tablet and watched Architect taking a selfie while sitting on the rotating unicorn, then shook his head helplessly."Oh well, there are plenty of unused cabins on the ship anyway. Next time... actually, there won't be a next time. Fine, I'll remind her to submit a report before doing anything like this again. Otherwise, I'll stuff her into a Dinergate!""Uh, but Architect has already been transformed into a bio-material body." Helian blinked. She wouldn't fit in one, right? He couldn't exactly dissect Architect, could he?"Couldn't we just make a bigger Dinergate and stuff her in?"Ah.To be honest, Helian really hadn't considered that possibility. But this was probably just Renault's twisted sense of humor surfacing. He did seem to have a strange obsession with stuffing Dolls into Dinergates.She had to admit, though, that stuffing Dolls into Dinergates was indeed an effective form of punishment. All the Dolls in the house were now aiming to become Superman, so simply making them do repetitive tasks clearly wouldn't be enough.Just look at RFB. After work, she didn't plan to rest at all, immediately starting to play with her training pod. That girl was purely using the training pod as a game console.Her playtime didn't last long, however. When break time came, the Dolls who had been busy all along carried their brand-new training pods back from the factory to their rooms. Even Ouroboros, who had been working herself to the bone in the workshop, did the same.Suddenly, RFB became useful again. She had previously helped install the training pods in the training room, after all. One by one, the Dolls lined up—or rather, swarmed around her, pulling her out of her pod and dragging her off to install theirs.Only G11 and ME79 knew how to install these things, and even with RFB added to the team, they were completely overwhelmed.Thinking of this, Helian shook her head. "By the way, Renault, probably because of Ulrich and the several Stasi operatives we rescued last time, it seems Bremen has relaxed its controls on us. Universal Anything informed me that their ports are now usable.""Hmm? That's good news." Renault's eyes lit up. Ever since rescuing Griffin from the military's encirclement, his ship hadn't landed in a proper city for a long time. Actually, that wasn't quite right—he'd even had to go to a resort because of inventory issues.It felt like ages had passed, probably because he'd been so busy lately. A resupply trip to Bremen wasn't a problem, but giving the Dolls a break was out of the question. He didn't want them on vacation all year round."Also, Mrs. Graven has been urging us again. She says we haven't delivered anything to her area in ages."Hearing this, Renault slapped his forehead. He'd been so busy working on the new ship that he'd almost faced financial difficulties after its completion, then taken on two more commissions to make money. Ahem, ignoring the vacation in between, he hadn't really thought much about it at the time. The Dolls had worked for over a month building the ship; they needed a rest."Alright, in that case, let's head over there and resupply. While we're at it, we'll give that impatient Mrs. Graven a little something.""Mrs. Graven definitely wouldn't be happy if she knew you were using her as a periodic inventory disposal worker.""Not at all, that's too harsh. I'm just doing this for our mutual benefit.""Hmm, I understand. By the way, Executioner said they've developed a new wheat juice, but the shelf life might be a bit short. If possible, we should try to sell it this time. Otherwise, all that stuff will just end up back in the decomposition furnace as fertilizer."Before Renault could nod and respond, Helian continued. "Also, Alchemist recently collaborated with Xiao Wan and produced a full twenty tons of sausages. G36 and the others can't possibly consume them all. And G3 turned all her wheat flour inventory into compressed biscuits—thirty tons worth. MG3 also needs to clear out the cheese they've had stockpiled for months. Excluding the ones still fermenting, the inventory has reached one hundred and twenty tons. Besides these, there's milk powder made from the unused milk. And NZ75 at the vertical farm has produced a huge amount of peanuts. I don't know how she managed it, but the peanut inventory is now over a hundred tons, and that's after using a large portion for oil extraction."Listening to Helian speak faster and faster on her tablet, Renault clutched his forehead. He felt like his head was about to explode.He had initially used the fungal mat as a nutrient substrate for the vertical farm simply to ensure crop yields on the spaceship wouldn't be too low. He didn't want the Dolls running out of food. But who could have imagined that NZ75 and CF05, those two farming prodigies, would produce crops more and more abundantly than ever before?Helian's face grew increasingly dark as she spoke. These Dolls were busy all day, yet they had only managed to add a mountain of unusable inventory to the ship's warehouses.And that was just part of it. The tally didn't even include the countless metal materials G11 and ME79 had wasted.If Renault prepared the materials for them beforehand, the ship's metal inventory wouldn't suffer much loss. The difference between the wasted material and the finished product's weight wouldn't be significant either.But if G11 and ME79 were left to their own devices? Well, that was a disaster. The amount of material they'd scrapped could have built a dozen SCVs.Thinking this, Helian gave Renault a resentful look.It was only because Renault let those two do whatever they wanted. Otherwise, where would G11 and ME79 get all those blueprints? Did G11 draw them all herself?Not necessarily. If all the blueprints for a single mech were printed out, the quantity would be at least a ton. For G11 to simply copy the blueprints she saw in the training pod would probably take at least a month to complete.Only Renault had the authority to directly convert the blueprints from the simulated human environment in the training room into printable data. And even then, the other Dolls probably wouldn't know how to integrate that data individually."I'm saying you should really keep an eye on those two." Helian sighed helplessly. "At this rate, all the metal on the ship will eventually become scrap.""Let's forget about that for now. Let them tinker with those materials. It's better than letting them mess with engines and accidentally blow up the ship."Renault paused, then shook his head. They were just tinkering with metal materials. Even if something went wrong, it would only produce some scrap. That was much better than a mech engine or ship engine exploding.Hearing this, Helian rolled her eyes in annoyance. He'd rather let those two mess around than spend a little more time managing them?However, she had to admit Renault had a point. None of the Dolls at home were idle. If they weren't given something to do, these guys would be even more troublesome than the Dinergates running around everywhere.If Renault wanted to recruit new ones later, he'd definitely need to find some more composed Dolls. UL-Nurse and ME79 were undeniably skilled, but their personalities and habits left much to be desired."Just keep an eye on things." Helian shook her head. "Besides, you're running low on metal materials for the ship. It won't be long before those two kids are blocking your bedroom door demanding new ones."She secretly resolved to take a good look at the lists of Dolls from several publicly listed companies later. Recruiting new Dolls couldn't be delayed any longer. While the Sangvis Ferri Dolls at home were maturing daily, the likelihood of them turning into spoiled brats instead of mature and stable Sangvis Ferri Dolls was clearly less than ideal.Ultimately, there were just too few reliable Sangvis Ferri Dolls at home. Come to think of it, only Scarecrow seemed somewhat reliable.The others? Well, next in line was Hunter. While Hunter was diligent at work, she seemed a bit like a chuunibyou in her daily life. Especially lately, she appeared obsessed with tokusatsu dramas. She'd even specifically asked SOP2 for RO635's phone number, saying she wanted to exchange tips.After that came Executioner. Both Executioners were alcoholics, but they'd consistently done their work at the brewery well. If she drank less, she'd be perfect.The others were hopeless. Intruder was a master of slacking off. Ouroboros was a hardcore gamer. Maria and Destroyer were always messing around with UMP9. And Gager?Gager was truly a complicated character. Such a nice kid, yet she always liked to follow that troublemaker Architect around....As Renault's ship turned northwest, Gentiane successfully passed the last checkpoint and returned safely to the control area of the new Griffin base."Whoosh! Finally back!" Seeing the Griffin base building faintly visible in the distance, FNC jumped up excitedly. She almost leaped off the command vehicle.They were finally back at base! Kalina wouldn't be guarding the supply depot like a gatekeeper every day! And all sorts of chocolates waited, stockpiled at home!She was completely tired of the cocoa butter substitutes from MRE!The other Dolls in the command vehicle, while not jumping up as excitedly as FNC, were clearly much more relaxed. After all, this was Griffin's safe zone, and they'd seen other Griffin Dolls patrolling there earlier.Although the Dolls and Gentiane themselves were all overjoyed, one among them furrowed her brow more and more deeply the closer they got to Griffin base.After the command vehicle, guided by a Doll, pulled into the garage, Kalina stepped out with her brows furrowed deeply."Ha! Finally back! Persica! Help—""Stop! I know what you're going to say! But I refuse! I need a whole week of rest! Don't call me unless it's important! Yawn!"Yawning, Persica staggered towards her lab. After days of being jostled in the command vehicle, even standing on solid ground made her feel like she was still swaying."Hey! Don't go!"Gentiane was about to chase after Persica to persuade her to hold on a little longer, but Kalina pulled her back."Commander, I think you should take a look at this first, rather than your rooftop artillery plan.""What is this? A bill? Huh? Huh!?"Gentiane initially didn't think much of receiving the bill. But when she saw the string of at least six zeros at the end, her eyes widened in shock."Why is there so much!? Where did this expense come from! I don't remember spending this much money on our mission!"Back in Belgrade, she would order five cups of coffee in a row just to break even on her coupons. She didn't even order a slice of cheesecake. She stayed in safe houses provided by K, the kind that didn't cost a penny.This bill was fake. Definitely fake. Kalina was trying to steal money from her."I knew you wouldn't believe me, but take a closer look anyway." Kalina shook her head helplessly. Of the seven million in expenses, Gentiane herself hadn't spent much.However, the command vehicle's journey there and back consumed a considerable amount of fuel. The ammunition carried by the Dolls after such a long battle with Paradeus was also a huge expense.But the bill Gentiane saw didn't even include the subsequent ammunition resupply for the Dolls.Most of that seven million was for the command vehicle's fuel.After seeing the glaring "fuel cost" on the bill, Gentiane was stunned. But besides fuel, there was a long list below compiled by Kalina. It detailed the various supplies and ammunition that needed resupplying.Gentiane hesitated to look at the rest."Hey, Kalina, our base's funds account should have enough for resupply, right?""Unfortunately, no.""Wait! What about the commission from Statesec? It's been so long! It should have been transferred by now!""No, they seem quite dissatisfied with our operation."