The battlefield descended into darkness again, and only the unextinguished flames burned.

Colonel Chandler struggled to get out of the BTX, half of his body was dripping with blood, his left hand was hanging limply in the air, and the combat uniform repeatedly sounded the alarm of the lack of analgesics in vain, but he didn't care, just jumped out of the chariot and looked at the scene around him.

In the distance, the three remaining battleships of the WPA were slowly lowering, and there were faint figures shaking around, but they were not noisy, which only proved that there were other people on this battlefield who survived except him.

"Sir, did we really survive?" A young sergeant poked his head out of the cockpit with a look of disbelief, "It's over?" ”

Colonel Chandler shook his head: "I don't know - what about the others?" ”

"Sergeant Major Tim was seriously injured and unconscious, and the others ...... No, sir, there is no one alive. ”

Colonel Chandler walked forward slowly, and the mechanical tower floating in the air in the distance was like a mountain that was about to fall at any moment, still causing endless pressure.

"Sir!" A man came running from behind, he took off his helmet, it was a black man, "It's good to see you're alive!" ”

Chandler narrowed his eyes: "Major Aaron? ”

"24 Mechs, Aaron Remick! Sir! The black man said loudly and saluted, looking very energetic.

"I'm glad you're alive too...... What about your casualties? ”

"It's not good, I can only contact the crew of one tank...... The headquarters also couldn't count the number of people, and the electromagnetic shock just now made many people's life monitoring systems useless. Major Aaron smiled wryly and looked at the sky, "The aliens have withdrawn that barrier, and the suppression particles have begun to work again on this battlefield, and it seems that everything can only wait until dawn." ”

"But at least you can search the battlefield first, search for survivors."

"Yes sir, everyone who can still move is doing this!"

"Then you can go on." Colonel Chandler coughed, and walked in the dim light in the direction of the tower.

"Colonel!" A few more mechs of infantry came up in front, it was someone from the European Legion, apparently miraculously not damaging all the equipment in the electromagnetic shock, "We are counting the number of survivors...... Is the battle over? ”

Colonel Chandler was silent for a moment and replied, "I don't know. ”

But one thing must be certain.

He walked past the wrecked steel cemetery, where the surviving crew of the "Shanghai" was busy carrying the wounded out of the dilapidated cabin with other soldiers, mainly Russian GIs, while only a small number of soldiers were busy on the side of the "Incheon", and it was clear that the losses of the "Incheon" were much worse than that of the "Shanghai" - as for the "Mumbai", it seems that there were less than double digits of survivors.

Chandler limped on, finally stopping at one point, the mechs behind him following for unknown reasons. After a day of fierce fighting, Colonel Chandler had established an indelible image among all those involved, and all were willing to follow him unconditionally.

But this time Colonel Chandler didn't say anything, and the mechintron's lights illuminated the object in front of him - it was a mutilated MF1 mechanical spider, two-thirds of the cockpit had disappeared, and the rest was twisted and scattered on the ground, barely recognizable.

"It seems that something has detonated the ammunition compartment......," said one soldier, gasping for air, "and the people in the cockpit are dead, and they must not even be able to find the body." ”

Colonel Chandler just stared blankly at the wreckage, and on a barely legible shell, the letters "DA" were written crookedly, and the writing was terrible.

"The battle isn't over yet." He struggled to remove his helmet with his right hand and whispered, "It's too early to quit, friend." ”

At this moment, the voice of the Ahmed people resounded: "The second stage of the assessment will start in 5 minutes from Earth time, and the assessment rules will be announced now. ”

Somewhere in Las Vegas, Catherine Chow looked curiously at Christine checking the magazine: "What's wrong?" ”

"Be a little prepared." Christine said, "By the way, thank you for waking me up in time." ”

"It's okay, I couldn't hold back and slept for a while...... Sergeant Borg, they are really powerful, they haven't slept for a day and a night, and they have insisted on high-intensity fighting, and I don't know how they are now. ”

Christine shrugged: "Soon we'll know." ”

“…… You don't seem to care much? Catherine was a little surprised, "Did something happen?" ”

"Like I said, be a little prepared." Christine dropped the magazine in her hand and hugged Catherine, "I'll miss you, Catherine." ”

"What are you talking about?" Catherine was about to ask again, but Ensign White's voice from outside the door caught her attention: "Two ladies, the second test will start soon, are you awake?" ”

"Oh, we'll come right over, let's watch it on the big screen downstairs, right?" Catherine shouted out the door and turned around, "Christine, we ......"

But Christine is gone.

Catherine stood blankly in the room, looking around, but Christine, who had been talking to her a few seconds ago, was gone like smoke.

At the same time, Zhao Yu opened his eyes.

What caught my eye was a somewhat familiar room, which seemed to be somewhat similar to the base warehouse when I was still in the 475th Mecha Regiment in the Seventh War Zone. But what's going on? In my memory, I should have been desperate on the battlefield before I lost consciousness, and I was only a few meters away from the alien tower, and the gray wolf hugged the guy in front of me and was about to blow himself up, and I rushed up with the mentality of gambling, and then, uh, what happened?

Looks like they crashed into that door together?

Then why is he in the base now?

Zhao Yu sat up, looked around, and then saw an unexpected person.

"Christine?"

The black-haired Latina girl sat cross-legged next to him, dressed in civilian military clothes and wearing two power arms on her hands, waving at him: "Awake?" ”

"Yes, wake up...... I ......"

"You slept for ten minutes at most." Christine interrupted him, "Now we should be in that alien tower. ”

“…… Well, while every time I wake up I ask how long I've been in a coma, this time I'm not asking about this, I'm trying to ask – why are you here? ”

This time it was Christine who looked at him curiously: "Dr. Thomas didn't tell you?" ”

“…… Not at all, should he say anything to me? ”

"About the principle that you are internally designated to participate in the second stage of the assessment." Christine replied, "When I was in Las Vegas, Dr. Thomas said something about 'beacons,' and in fact, beacons represent a fixed frequency band of signal sources, and it is this fixed frequency band that allows the Ahmed civilization to select the carrier in the second stage of the assessment. But at the same time, the beacon also emits radiation – don't worry, it's harmless. ”

Zhao Yu gradually realized something: "If you emit radiation to the outside world...... Then you're because ......"

"Yes, because I've been with you for so long, and most of the time I've been in a sealed or semi-sealed environment, I've been exposed to a fair amount of radiation." Christine shrugged, "So I've been judged to be a participant in the second stage, and I'm even teleporting here next to you!" It's just that you're a little ahead of me, and the guys in the first stage of the battlefield will probably teleport first. ”

Zhao Yu smiled bitterly: "I'm sorry, I've tired you." ”

"I originally wanted to go to Asia with you, and I proposed it myself, so I didn't have any trouble." Christine patted her side as she spoke, and Zhao Yu noticed that there was a big backpack beside her, "Anyway, now the burden of the second stage has fallen on us...... First and then! ”

Zhao Yu took the rifle she threw away: "You still brought this?" ”

"When you guys were fighting in that hellish place, I took the time to collect a round of weapons, and for a whole day, it was so boring to watch you fight stupidly in front of the screen." Christine said as she threw over a few more guns, "and got some sleep and took a hot shower...... What's that expression on your face? ”

"An expression of envy to death."

Christine proudly gave Zhao Yu a V.

"Oh yes, since you slept like a dead pig just now, it seems that you didn't hear the second phase rules announced by the aliens." Christine said, "Shall I explain to you first?" ”

"Oh, of course!"

The rules are not complicated, but people don't know how to start for a while: the Ahmeds announced that 126 people were randomly selected from the 18-60 year olds who were still alive on the North American continent - exactly corresponding to the 126 gates, and it is estimated that the aliens have a preference for this number - of course, Zhao Yu and Christine did not join randomly, fortunately the aliens did not know about it.

The 126 people are teleported to the tower, along with their tools or equipment, and their mission is to reach the third level before the countdown ends, and at the end of the third level, the third and final stage of the test is waiting there, and any one of the 126 people will become the only examiner of the third stage.

"Our current location is the first floor, there are five waypoints on each floor of the tower, find one of the waypoints and enter the command, you can go to the higher level," Christine said, "Of course, there must be enemies on the way, the aliens didn't say anything about the enemy's information, only guaranteed that it was also within the technological level of the earth." ”

"Ha, within the level of earth technology! The first stage they said the same! What the hell you see coming out! Zhao Yu said stupidly, "If there are 10,000 more gray wolves that will blow themselves up in this tower, we won't have to fight!" ”

"That's just a try...... Oh, I've got this with me, so let's go once you're done. ”

Zhao Yu took two sips of the military nutrient solution handed over by Christine, and suddenly remembered something: "Christine, you said that the aliens randomly selected 126 people to enter the tower?" ”

"Yes, but the two of us are certainly not random."

"How many people are there on the North American continent right now? Seven hundred million? Eight hundred million? ”

"God knows, it's been a long time since I've done a census, and I think it's between seven and eight hundred million." Christine replied, "What are you going to say?" ”

"Even if it's limited to 18 to 60 years old, the number should be hundreds of millions." Zhao Yu said, "Except for the two of us, the chances of the other 124 people getting to know each other shouldn't be high?" ”

"Obviously, very low."

Zhao Yu nodded, and said to his companion with a solemn face: "Christine, listen up, until their identities are confirmed, these 124 people can't be fully trusted!" Vigilance must be maintained! ”

Christine's eyes widened in surprise: "What does this mean?" ”

"I had the opportunity to have one last conversation with the people of Buttermins while I was tackling the sanctions mine in Las Vegas, and it told me something." Zhao Yu opened the safety of the rifle in his hand, "One of the most important things is about the enemy...... Christine, the real enemy, is likely to be among these 124 people! ”

"The real enemy?" Christine asked, "You mean to say that there are people among these people who have taken refuge with the Ahmeds?" ”

"No, when I say 'real enemy,' I mean it literally." Zhao Yu burst out of his mouth syllable by syllable, "I'm talking about letting us fall to the point where we are today, making North America what it is now, and making the entire earth civilization circle do all the stupid things in the past hundred years, and the enemy who has no way out...... The real enemy of all mankind! ”