Lin Ao and Edward jumped out of the minecart in front of the checkpoint at the exit of the mine, but this section was actually guarded by several HER soldiers, and thanks to Edward's presence, he seemed to be particularly adept at sneaking up on the enemy.

Lin Ao asked, "Were you a special soldier before?" ”

Edward proudly: "Tell you, Lao Tzu crossed the swamp alone and killed a battalion..."

Before he could finish it, he heard the footsteps of the nearby HER soldiers gathering, and they hurriedly hid.

I heard only one HER soldier shouting: "The workers in the mine have rioted!" Just now, a brother saw that they were talking on a suspicious phone, and when they went to check, they were attacked, and it was simply indispensable! Come here, everyone! ”

Another soldier: "Don't go down the mine!" Captain Endo wants to block the entrance to the mine, send poison gas inside, and bring everyone back! ”

When Lin Ao and Edward heard that HER was going to gas the workers in the mines, they were angry and anxious. Edward was furious: "These beasts! Do all this kind of thing? Lin Ao, let's contact the body quickly, we can't wait until the appointed time! ”

Lin Ao nodded, after accidentally calling the No. 2 machine in Athens last time, in order to avoid the wrong call next time, AI Toth and Lin Ao agreed on several ways to call the No. 2 machine. He pressed the instrument behind his ear and whispered to Unit 2 several times in succession, and a few minutes later he heard the sound of firefighting coming from the woods.

Anton here, he saw that the No. 2 and No. 3 planes were starting to act on their own, so he picked up the microphone and contacted the Osiris: "Lin Ao and Edward have started to act, and the rest of the troops are acting according to the plan!" ”

The sudden appearance of Unit 2 alerted HER's outpost in the mountains, and they tried to intercept Unit 2, but Unit 2 flew straight to Lin Ao's position despite their attack. Some of the outposts were equipped with eagle hoists, intending to forcibly seize the No. 2 machine. But all attempts to approach Aircraft 2 were destroyed by a laser beam from the woods. It turned out to be Edward's "Howling Dog" who was also awakened and was hiding in the woods to cover Unit 2.

"Rush! Rescue our compatriots! ”

The partisans of the "Children of Freedom" drove the armored vehicles lent to them by the Osiris and their own modified vehicles to follow the No. 2 and No. 3 machines to the mines. The outposts on this route were attracted to the fire, unable to stop the sudden outburst of guerrillas, and were repulsed one after another.

The guerrillas fought until they were only a few hundred meters from the mine, only to be stopped by HER's improvised reinforced defensive line. But to the despair of the HER defenders, they saw a huge space warship take off from the east, heading towards where they were.

Before the Osiris could bombard HER's defenses, the soldiers in charge of the defense fled, and the guerrillas were able to drive straight in. When they arrived at the mine, they found that the situation was under control: Unit 2 wielded a laser tomahawk to slaughter all sides in the cramped mine, while Unit 3 had suppressed all the points of fire in the mine. Except for some of the undetermined soldiers who were still resisting, most of the soldiers tried to escape.

"So fast! The mine, which gave us a headache for months, was taken down so quickly with the help of the Osiris! ”

The guerrilla captain John was so excited that he jumped out of the armored car and directed the fighters to capture the fleeing HER soldiers. Seeing the guerrillas and the Osiris, both Lyn and Edward breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well done, brother, I didn't expect us to really succeed, so happy!"

Edward is a man who knows himself, especially his comrades-in-arms who have been born and died with him. He knew Lin Ao for the same time, and he had already begun to affectionately call him brother.

The mine was taken, except for Captain Endo and some soldiers who tried to gas the laborers, but the guerrillas captured hundreds of prisoners and seized a large amount of supplies and weapons. The refugees, who had been forced to work as laborers, were freed, took off their dirty shirts issued to them by the HER, threw them into the air, and hugged each other. They have all been through a lot, and their relatives may have long been missing, but the days of suffering together have made everyone build a bond with each other.

The team leader who tried to attack Lin Ao was also carried out, regardless of whether he became an accomplice to the HER to protect his family, and the refugees who had a long-standing grudge against him would not let him go.

Lin Ao and Edward didn't bother to sigh about this, they were thrown up as heroes by refugees and partisans.

"Here come the journalists, let them interview our heroes!"

The crowd put down the two, and Sima Qian walked over with a relieved smile and said to Lin Ao and Edward: "You did it!" You are all heroes! ”

Edward scratched his nose proudly: "Sister Sima, now you believe that my deeds are true, right?" ”

"Believe it~ Come, tell me in front of the camera about how you rescued the refugees."

…

A few hours later

Low Earth orbit

In the colonial satellite "Shang", where the headquarters of the Moore Chamber of Commerce is located, Thomas. President Moore was facing away from his desk, staring at the wall "between the stars" in a daze. He wasn't really staring at the wall, but at the cosmic image projected onto the wall by the camera. The whole room was like this, and he was like a contemplative standing in the universe.

Thomas hears the office door open, and only his female secretary, Mira, can enter his office without asking for instructions.

"Mira, what's the matter?"

"President, there's news today, I think you should take a look."

President Thomas didn't look back, he rubbed his temple a few times, "Is there any news worth my attention today?" ”

The female secretary smiled slightly: "Sometimes you can't just read the headlines of the news. ”

President Thomas turned and sat down, took the tablet that the secretary had handed him, and saw that the screen was displayed with the news from the Global News Network, titled "Rage! HER New Atrocities in North America, Arresting Civilians as Miners". The synopsis at the bottom of the headline reads: "At xx o'clock today, the guerrillas under the North American Rescue Alliance joined forces with the independent anti-HER force Osiris to capture a mine controlled by HER, and HER captured hundreds of civilians and refugees nearby to serve as miners, according to a reporter from Global News Network..."

Thomas was impatient: "What's the matter?" ”

Female secretary: "Scroll down and there's a video." ”

Thomas didn't bother to read the text, so he slid directly to the video, and he clicked on it to see that it was a live report of the incident.

"I..."

"Bear with me."

In the video, the female reporter ends her reporting on the incident and begins to interview Lin Ao and Edward.

Female secretary: "Both of these young men are pilots of the Ten Swords series of airframes we developed, although this East Asian teenager has been on the news a few times before. But now the news is getting more attention than ever, and now almost everyone knows that we're working on a humanoid weapon. ”

"So what?" Thomas looked nonchalant and pulled out his cigar to smoke.

"There will be people who will criticize our chamber of commerce for making war money, and there will be people on the board of directors who will use this matter to target you and affect the reputation and stock price of our chamber of commerce."

"I've thought of this kind of thing a long time ago, and I already have a plan to deal with it, don't worry."

Thomas was about to send the female secretary away, but he seemed to suddenly notice something, pulled the video progress bar back to the interview with Lin Ao, and stared at it seriously.

"What's wrong?" The female secretary asked curiously.

President Thomas pointed to Lin Ao in the video: "Read this young Rao to me." ”

The female secretary called up Lin Ao's information: "Lin Ao, 18 years old, crew member of the Osiris. Originally a refugee from West Asia, he was involved in the theft of the No. 2 machine and was registered as a pilot of the No. 2 machine. Because it was a complete coincidence that he became a pilot, the AI on Plane 2 had asked our researchers for permission to skip Lin'o. But Lin Ao did well afterwards, and the AI withdrew the request. ”

Thomas: "... It's redundant to have a self-aware AI on Unit 2, and the man-made thing just has no soul and almost delays my plans! ”

"What do you mean..."

Thomas pointed at Lin Ao: "This young man is the best material for the Soul Plan!" ”

The female secretary asked puzzledly, "Really?" You're judging too quickly, aren't you? I have studied all the pilot information of No. 2~7, and I don't think there is anything special about him. ”

Thomas lit his cigar and smoked it confidently: "Intuition! My instincts are never wrong! Mira, you know what I'm capable of. This Lin Ao is my kind, but he hasn't awakened yet, but I've been through his stage, I know! ”

Mira nodded and asked, "So what are your plans?" ”

"Invite him here, quick!"

"This... I'm afraid it's not easy. Our intelligence shows that the Osiris has no plans to go to space, so why don't you go to the Sphere? ”

Thomas: "No, that's too high-profile. Well... I remember that Dr. Hohenheim, who was on leave, was also on the Osiris, right? ”

"That's right."

"Well, inform Dr. Hohenheim. I've restarted the equipment development program for Unit 2, and of course the messy design won't continue, I'm going to design the new weapon myself! ”

The female secretary reminded him: "There is still a set of equipment for the No. 2 machine in the warehouse, which can only be installed in our factory." Maybe it's better to invite the Osiris directly to the universe, as long as you have some blood. Because they are rangers, someone definitely needs to sponsor them. ”

"Yes, but also for Dr. Hohenheim to do something, he will be happy to hear that I have restarted the development project, and will convince Lin Ao to come here. And compared to our newly developed No. 9 and No. 10 units, the No. 2 machine really needs to be strengthened. Alright, let's do it! ”

The female secretary saluted and withdrew from "Among the Stars", and President Thomas stood up again to stare at the universe, only this time the corners of his mouth were slightly raised.