In November 2117, on the pretext of testing a new type of stand-in robot, Xu Xiaoting joined the Army of Country A, the Western Army, the 117th Militia Battalion, and the third class.

The Western Army Corps of Country A's Army (US_Army) is a temporary formation and is in the process of being formed, and its troops are mainly from the former Northern Theater of Country A (which governs North America). These include the Utah Guards, the Salt Lake City Guards, the Grand Junction Guards, and the famous Guards of the Western Military Academy.

The Western Corps, as determined by the Hexagram Command and the President, is primarily responsible for "xenowarfare" against unknown creatures in the western states of country A, including, Utah, Colorado, Nevada, California (Liver), and other states. The so-called "xenowarfare" is an offensive rather than defensive operation against unknown creatures such as "giant bats" and "cerberus". If, at some point in the future, the base of an unknown creature is revealed, units like the Western Corps will attack as vanguards.

The Army of Country A plans to establish the Eastern Army Corps with the Western Corps as a model in the near future.

Launching an attack on the base of unknown creatures is not the whole mission of the Western Corps as a "vanguard". Before the emergence of the unknown biological base, the Western Corps needs to capture unknown biological samples for the "National Academy of Sciences" of country A for research. What the National Academy of Sciences hopes to see most is that the GIs of the Western Legion can catch a "giant bat" or "cerberus" alive, put it in a cage, send it to a laboratory, be tested with various instruments, and then dissected. They don't want to send scientists to dangerous areas anymore.

During the battle in Raccoon City, two scientists of the National Academy of Sciences were looted by "giant bats", and the National Academy of Sciences and the military of Country A also hoped that after the establishment of the Western Legion, the two scientists could be retrieved - this is naturally one of the tasks of the Western Legion.

One day in mid-November 2117, at the stand-in operation center in TJ City, Sima Aya entered the "coffin", crossed the Pacific Ocean, and remotely accessed the stand-in. In a barracks near the Xidian Military Academy, a stand-in robot wakes up. This time, the fake identity provided to Sima Aya by the National Security Bureau is still that of a stand-in test engineer, Xu Xiaoting.

When Xu Xiaoting opened her eyes, she found that other stand-ins in the same team had been activated. In this barracks, there are a total of five people and five stand-in robots:

Squad leader of the third class: Sergeant Craven, who is not smiling, but has few words;

Deputy of the third shift: Corporal Blis, who has a bad temper and likes to be sarcastic;

Female soldiers, private of the first class: Casey, beautiful and sweet-mouthed;

Male soldier, Private 1st Class: Raff, who is said to be a procrastination, has worked as a man before.

and, stand-in test and communication soldier, Xu Xiaoting.

Xu Xiaoting saw the four robots next to her, these four machine people, in appearance, except for the different military rank and name tag on the chest, they look similar, the robot does not have gender characteristics, and it is impossible to tell whether the operator is male or female. The robots in the army all look the same.

It feels very strange, it's like dealing with the same group of masked people with different masks, just like the people in the smog of country C, who wear anti-smog masks, all look the same.

This is a sense of déjà vu for Xu Xiaoting.

Although she has been training with the other four people in the team for half a month, if she doesn't look at the rank and name tag, she may not be able to tell who is who if she wants Xu Xiaoting to distinguish who is who. In retrospect, when I was in the dormitory of the police academy, I could distinguish my classmates from just a back from a distance, but now? You have to look at the rank and name tag or listen to the other person to know who the other person is.

Although this military camp actually exists, for Xu Xiaoting, she still feels that she is in a virtual 3D world, in which there are only robots full of eyes.

Craven, Briss, Kathy, Raff, and the four stand-ins are all highly mechanical robots, with bare iron bones on all limbs: hydraulic rods. Originally, this X4G robot was also equipped with some alloy armor on the outside of the hydraulic rod: leg guards, arm guards, and wrapped the hydraulic rod to make it more beautiful and also play some protective roles. But, again, in order to reduce costs, this batch, leg guards, arm guards were omitted, and only helmets and cuirasses that protected important parts were retained.

Xu Xiaoting remembered that Craven said that from the combat experience of raccoon City, the X4G limb joints basically can't withstand the blow of the "Cerberus", and the leg guards and arm guards do not have much protection for the joints, which only increases weight and reduces the flexibility of the robot. So, the new batch made such an "improvement". The bones of the hydraulic rod are generally exposed, and in the end, the X4G model looks like an iron skeleton.

The barracks where the "Iron Skull" lives are also very "skinny" and simple, and the robot does not need to sleep, so there is no bed, no living supplies, only ammunition and charging equipment. The barracks are like a shipping container, and they are not filled with the "scent" of mammals like the barracks of human soldiers.

When Xu Xiaoting started, everyone turned their attention to her - her X2117A robot - the new model: the whole body is covered with exquisite armor, and the new armor surface is glowing with dark light, which is very textured. Of course, the X2117A may not be equipped with these armors during mass production, but in the experimental stage, in order to protect the experimental data, Xu Xiaoting's X2117A robots are the highest configuration.

This, of course, dwarfs the X4G model next to it.

The X2117A is a robot developed by country C, and there are only two X2117A models in the 117 militia battalion, which test the Chinese mode and English mode operating systems respectively. In addition to the X2117A model, there are also some new models developed and designed by the allies of country A for testing in the 117th battalion.

In the 117th Battalion, those X4G "bargains" who look like iron skeletons will always cast envious glances at new stand-ins such as X2117A.

"Yo, Tang Dynasty beauty, you're late again." When Bliss has something to do, he will always taunt Xu Xiaoting for a sentence or two, "The armor hasn't been oiled yet, right?" Would you like Kathy to bring her nail polish and give it to you? ”

"Sorry to keep you waiting." Xu Xiaoting said apologetically, anyway, Bliss is such a person, and he is still the deputy of the class, and for half a month, Xu Xiaoting has long been used to the way he speaks.

Xu Xiaoting knew that although Corporal Bliss was unforgiving and looked like he was jealous of the new robot he was using, but, in fact, he didn't really mind. What really minded was Private Raff, because when he joined the militia battalion, he only watched the recruitment advertisement, which was full of glamorous stand-in robots like space mechas, more majestic than Marvel's superheroes, but when he arrived at the barracks, he was only allocated a bargain, and the gap in his heart was very large, so he often complained.

Xu Xiaoting remembers that the day after she arrived, when she saw her new X2117A, Raff expressed her dissatisfaction with her use of the old model X4G.

At that time, Sergeant Craven communicated with him again and told him: At present, the 117th Battalion may soon face a strong enemy, and the casualties will be very heavy, and using the old model of robots can pay less and accumulate more combat experience, and when the combat experience is rich, it is not too late to use the new model of robots.

Later, during the half month of training, he always secretly asked Xu Xiaoting if he could use it instead, which made Xu Xiaoting almost impatient - in the army, on the battlefield, each operator must be responsible for the stand-in robot, of course, it cannot be exchanged without authorization, and the DNA identification code of each operator is not the same, and the exchange of robots cannot be used.

During the small talk, Casey secretly told Xu Xiaoting that Raff's purpose in joining the army seemed to be to play a stand-in robot war game. According to the formal enlistment criteria a few years ago, a "gamer" like him would definitely be turned away, but now the army is also short of people...... In fact, there are quite a few people who join the army with his mentality, and they just think that the stand-in robot is cool and fun.

It is said that the generals of the Western Army also grasped the motives of these people and formulated a system of rewards and punishments: in order to motivate the soldiers, soldiers with different performances will use different models of robots, and among the robots, they will also be divided into three, six, nine and so on. Moreover, those who do not cherish robots and are "blind and brave" on the battlefield will be punished and even sent to a military court......

"Xu, you have to be careful, you can't be late again in the future!" Sergeant Craven said loudly, interrupting Xu Xiaoting's thoughts. After saying that, he turned to Casey again, "Next, Casey will confirm today's mission to everyone!" ”

Generally speaking, in other teams, the squad leader will ask the squad deputy to confirm the task to everyone every day, but because Casey's voice is sweeter and his speech speed is faster, Craven usually asks Casey to confirm the task or release the mission briefing.

"Alright, guys, our mission today is to ......" Casey's X4G didn't open her mouth to speak, but her voice came from the communication channel, like a jumping candy.

This voice reminded Xu Xiaoting of Yang Yiyi again.