Although he didn't wait for reinforcements from the academy until the end, Zhao Xiao unexpectedly got a piece of news from Lao Bai that he couldn't believe -

He can go home.

The moon is dark and the wind is high on a high night.

The empty camp was empty and silent.

Fifteen minutes ago, the soldiers of the Burning Corps set up the place, but did not stay in the camp, leaving behind a truck and some supplies.

Zhao Xiao, who was standing in the middle of the camp, had a somewhat complicated mood.

I didn't expect that Lao Bai was not joking, and he really let people go.

Not only him, but also Chen Yutong, and Wu Liangping, who was seriously injured and lying in a coma in the sleeping cabin...... All the captured personnel are here.

As for Xuan Feng.

The Alliance insists that a droid without the "intellectual plugin" installed should be considered equipment, and that this is the Academy's own opinion, so neither its body nor the AI core is among the prisoners exchanged.

Although it is a bit of a strong argument, the academy really does not admit that the android is a human, and Zhao Xiao can't think of how to refute it. One is not just Xuanfeng.

His own sniper rifle and accessories were also detained by the guy named Night Ten...... But he didn't expect those people to give him back their weapons along with their freedom.

Although he regained his freedom, there was one thing that Zhao Xiao couldn't figure out.

That's why the coalitions and corporations let them go.

And what he couldn't understand was why he couldn't be happy at all when he was going home soon. Maybe it's because of the bet.

The guy named Lao Bai didn't mention the beer, and just smiled and patted him on the shoulder to congratulate him. But he knew very well in his heart that he had lost after all

At this time, Chen Yutong, who was standing on the side, suddenly spoke.

"I've changed my mind."

Zhao Xiao was stunned and turned his head to look at her.

"Change...... Idea"

Chen Yutong nodded.

"Well, I'm going to stay."

The confusion in his eyes gradually turned into surprise, Zhao Xiao stared at her in disbelief, and it took a long time before he squeezed a sentence out of his throat.

"Why?"

Betrayal is a felony.

Students who defect will be hunted down by the academy for a never-ending bounty, and the higher the level, the higher the bounty.

Not only that, but any trainee is obliged to record the words and deeds of a traitor when he is found and report it to the Department of Internal Affairs for the Purge Planning Unit to deal with.

Failure to do so will result in a punishable connivance......

Zhao Xiao subconsciously put his hand on his waist, but soon found that there was nothing there, and put his hand down again.

"I don't know."

didn't care about his teammates' actions, Chen Yutong shook his head lightly as if he didn't see it.

She turned to the starry night sky to the south, and muttered to herself in a soft voice, "Probably...... Just wanted to check it out. ”

Although she knew that the Alliance was not the "kingdom of heaven" she had imagined, she wanted to see what kind of place it was that could make those who were loyal to him puff out their chests and say that with confidence......

You can use your eyes to make sure.

At the moment, her curiosity about it even outstripped the ruins.

Of course, the delicious rice is also a reason.

Chen Yutong, who finally made a decision, suddenly felt as if he had let go of all the burdens on his body, and the whole person suddenly felt much more relaxed.

Rank, Status......

Those things don't matter anymore.

She had already died once for the Academy.

For the rest of her life, she plans to pursue her heart and live for what interests her.

She looked at Zhao Xiao.

"Just tell the captain that I died in the previous battle, and say thank you to him for taking care of me all the time......"

She paused, then shook her head with a self-deprecating smile.

"Wait, forget it, let's skip this sentence, it's too strange that dead people can speak."

Anyway, the captain probably didn't know about her being captured, and it would be nice if she, like her teammates who had died, had already died in the previous operation.

As long as she doesn't make the academy feel disgraced, the academy can't worry about her little E-class, and those explorers who disappeared in action may not all really die, maybe just like the D-class explorer in Lao Bai's mouth.

As for thanks.

I'll have a chance to say it in person in the future.

Zhao Xiao swallowed.

Duty told him that he should stop the defector in front of him, but he found that he was saying something else.

“……… Take care. ”

Even after years of teamwork, he still couldn't enforce that discipline.

He only hoped that she would not regret her choice today.

Just act as if she's dead.

Chen Yutong nodded, turned his back to him and walked away defenselessly in the direction outside the camp.

Almost less than ten minutes after she left, the creaking of the tracks over the stones came down the ground.

Zhao Xiao looked up in the direction of the north of the camp, only to see the familiar heavy tracked vehicle slowly driving into the quiet and empty camp.

Sitting in the driver's seat was Zheng Hao, the captain of the Beacon Squad.

Zhao Xiao's eyes were filled with surprise, he didn't expect him to come to pick him up in person.

"Captain!"

Looking at Zheng Hao, who jumped off the tracked car, Zhao Xiao trotted over quickly and gave him an excited hug.

Patting the young man's shoulder, Zheng Hao let go of his hand, looking at the young face in front of him, his tense expression suddenly appeared a little loose.

All the way here, he was hesitating whether his decision was the right one, but at this moment all his hesitation came to naught.

He was extremely glad he had chosen at this moment.

Perhaps from the Academy's point of view, it would be the most "economical" thing to do to remove the names of the E-Class from the list, and what he and the rest of the team should do was erase the names of these individuals and their memories from memory.

But he's not an academy after all.

Neither the conclusion nor the CTO is too far away from him.

He's just a selfish man, an inconsequential D-class, a little guy who's called around at random by his superiors.......

No matter what the suffering, those people died at his command.

Even if he could save one, it would alleviate the guilt in his heart.

"Those people didn't do anything to you, did they?"

Zhao Xiao shook his head excitedly.

"Nope! They were very nice to me ----- didn't even beat me. ”

"Good."

With a rare smile on his expressionless face, Zheng Hao patted him on the shoulder and let go of the young man.

"They kept their promise, and I will remember it...... By the way, that guy named Lao Bai didn't give you anything. ”

"Yes! I'll take it!"

Zhao Xiao immediately nodded, took out a test tube from his pocket and handed it over.

Lao Bai had told him before to hand over to their captain.

After taking the test tube, a trace of joy flashed in Zheng Hao's eyes, but when his eyes fell on the sleeping cabin next to him, that joy was quickly diluted by complicated emotions.

"Is there anyone else?"

Zhao Xiao was silent for a while and shook his head.

"It's gone."

Zheng Hao didn't say anything anymore.

“…… Carry Lao Wu onto the truck, this is not a place to stay for a long time, we should go. ”

Zhao Xiao nodded, didn't ask more, and cooperated with the captain to carry the sleeping cabin containing Lao Wu to the back compartment of the truck.

The two then came to the front of the truck, pulled the door and went to the main and passenger seats.

There was a note on the steering wheel.

A few crooked stick figures depict how the truck starts, how to turn on the lights, how to drive, and so on.

Zheng Hao glanced at it, tore off the note and threw it aside, unscrewed the key, started the car, and drove towards the outside of the camp.

Looking at the camp that was gradually moving away in the rearview mirror, Zhao Xiao suddenly spoke.

"That's right...... One more thing. ”

Zheng Hao, who was driving, replied casually.

"What's the matter?"

Chen Yutong ...... I was seriously injured before, and I felt that I couldn't survive, so I gave up the hibernation capsule to Lao Wu, who could still rescue him. ”

This is the story he just made up.

On the premise of not revealing that she is still alive, she can barely justify herself.

After a moment of silence, Zhao Xiao continued.

"She asked me to say thank you to you...... Thank you for taking care of you all the time. ”

Zheng Hao nodded. #仅供内部交

The expression seemed to have guessed something, and it didn't seem to think much about it.

"yes, I see." Zhao Xiao breathed a sigh of relief.

Some words are uncomfortable to hold in my heart.

It feels so much better to say it.

The truck drove about five or six kilometers and stopped next to a mountain road.

Several members of the Beacon Squad surrounded them with rifles, and when they saw that it was the captain and the sniper sitting in the driver's seat, they breathed a sigh of relief and pressed down the muzzle of their guns.

"The deal was successful."

Jumping out of the car, Zheng Hao glanced behind him, and there were no headlights to follow.

It seems that those people did let themselves go.

Perhaps, as the old white said, they are still looking forward to the next collaboration with them...... Although he didn't want to encounter those monsters at all.

Deputy Captain Song Changfeng stepped forward and asked.

"What do we do now? Without communication equipment, we would not have been able to report our situation to the Academy.

"That's just right. When I went back, I said that we had been attacked by the alliance and corporate reinforcements, and the follow-up operation failed. ”

After a pause, Zheng Hao continued.

"But there is no end to it, and at the cost of a vehicle, we not only succeeded in rescuing the captured team members, but also succeeded in obtaining tissue samples from the mother."

Although they lost a tracked vehicle, it was not their own, and it would be nice to be able to exchange the captured teammates with the academy's equipment.

They had already communicated this before, and everyone agreed, and the team's engineers helped format the AI cores of the two android team members.

One of the team members climbed into the back of the truck, and suddenly found that there were two boxes in addition to a sleeping pod, so he shouted and asked.

"What are the two boxes on the truck?"

Zhao Xiao heard the answer.

"Oh, that's it, it's the supplies they sent us, and they said they wouldn't be able to finish it anyway, so they left it for us to eat on the way......"

The medic pouted.

"Who will eat the enemy's stuff."

He had unloaded supplies from the tracked truck, including freeze-dried food, energy bars, and fresh water enough for the squad to consume for thirty days.

Zhao Xiao scratched the back of his head.

"That being said, those things taste good......

Several team members looked at each other with strange expressions.

This guy can't be stupid.

Song Changfeng looked at Zheng Hao, and his expression obviously wanted to ask his opinion.

Zheng Hao didn't say anything, nodded and said casually.

"Keep it."

He had already heard Zhao Xiao talk about the two boxes in the car, although he was very puzzled why the other party wanted to do such a superfluous thing, but he didn't think that those people would poison or anything. 30

With their skills, there is no need for this.

This kind of trivial matter is good, he doesn't bother to worry about it at all.

What he was thinking about now was which professor he would contact when he returned to the college.

You only get one chance.

He had to think of a way to get the most out of the test tube in his hand......

At the same time, the north side of Oasis 8.

After nearly a week of long travel, Lao Bai and his party finally succeeded in joining up with the large army that rushed to support.

Looking at Sun Ze, who was walking towards him, several pilots from the company walked forward with a smile and patted him on the shoulder and arm.

"Haha, brother, I heard in the back that you fell badly."

Sun Ze sighed.

"That's not it, the ghost knows what kind of medicine the crows in the swamp have taken, and when they meet, they will kill Lao Tzu with a missile!

You don't know how exciting it must have been, I was so close to being finished! Fortunately, Lao Tzu's driving skills are awesome, and he was rescued!"

"What about the plane," the other pilot asked curiously.

Sun Ze waved his hand absently.

"Scrapped! I marked the wreckage on the map, so let's wait for the Aviation Section to send someone to deal with it...... What's the matter, I'm worth it anyway! Haha!"

As he spoke, Sun Ze talked eloquently about what happened to him and the Burning Corps after they landed.

In particular, he focused on how he relied on his wit, courage and decisiveness, and led a group of soldiers to fight his way out of the encirclement under the siege of the academy, completely forgetting that he was almost scared to pee.

A few young players stood by and watched dumbfounded, staring at the subtitles on the VM while talking to each other in Mandarin.

"Damn, this is too good to blow."

"+1, I'm afraid this cheek is thicker than the walls of Boulder City......"

The two rescued corporate pilots will take a direct flight back to Ideal City to be interviewed by a group of media and clear up some misunderstandings.

However, before going back, the pilot's commander seemed to have something to say to the two lucky ones who were rescued, so he pulled Sun Ze, who was bragging about his head, aside.

As for Luo Yu and Xiao Yu, they will return to Dawn City on the company's plane with the samples previously recovered from the Eagle fighter.

The business is not particularly interested in Xiao Yu.

Or, to put it more accurately, those interested in it do not have enough say and influence in the Supreme Council.

In contrast, it is the android named "Xuanfeng" that may arouse the interest of Kangmao Group, but that is something that managers have to worry about.

Lao Bai confirms the update task on the VM.

After joining up with the large forces of the Burning Corps, they will return to the front-line airfield with the reindeer heavy tracked vehicles that were "captured" from the academy and wait for the next instructions.

I heard that the battle situation on the front line was going very smoothly, and under the joint attack of the Skeleton Corps, the Storm Corps, and the Lion Kingdom Army, two of the nine 10,000-strong teams that retreated were defeated.

If this trend continues, less than half of the 10,000-strong team will be able to successfully withdraw to Oasis 2. The scales of victory are almost in the hands of the Union.

It is estimated that it will not be before the end of the year for the alliance to meet the old friends on the Trailblazer.

At this time, the wind operating the drone suddenly raised his head and looked at Lao Bai, who was pondering the route of the march later.

"Somebody from the north is coming."

A look of surprise appeared on Lao Bai's face.

Isn't that group of nerds in the north still dead?

"Several."

Tempest touched the bridge of his nose and said.

"I saw one."

"I'll meet him!"

Ye Shi jumped out of the truck excitedly, and was about to try the weapon accessories he had just captured, but was stopped by Lao Bai's outstretched hand.

"It's not necessarily that you're here to trouble us, I'll take a look."

With that, Lao Bai walked out of the camp alone.

After about ten minutes, a figure soon appeared on the sand dunes in the distance.

She came alone, unarmed.

Looking at Chen Yutong who walked in front of him, Lao Bai asked with a smile.

"Did Anything Fall Here?"

Chen Yutong shook his head, but after a while, he nodded lightly.

"I want to follow you...... Check out the place you said the wastelanders had come up to keep warm. ”

Lao Bai looked at the girl in front of him in surprise.

Seeing that the expression didn't look like a joke, he didn't ask any more questions, and smiled and stretched out his right hand.

"It seems that you have been thinking about it for a long time, and since you have decided, then I will not advise you...... Welcome to join us. ”

"Thank you, if you don't take me in, I'm afraid I'll be homeless."

Stretching out his hand and shaking it with him, Chen Yutong's expression relaxed slightly and made a joke, "After making this decision, I should have gone from being a missing person to a dead person on the academy's side."

Lao Bai also made a joke jokingly.

"Congratulations on starting a new life, do you want a new name?"

Chen Yutong said dryly.

"No need, I don't plan to forget the past, and there are so many people with the same name and surname, presumably no one cares about the life or death of an E-class explorer."

She's just a little person, and she doesn't deserve the attention of the high-ranking A- or B-class.

After a pause, she glanced around and continued.

"Didn't you get a tracked car from Zheng Hao? Why didn't I see it?"

Lao Bai said embarrassedly.

"Still on the way back...... My men have just taken over and are studying the instructions left by your captain, and they will be back in a few minutes. ”

Compared to the Union truck, that thing is a lot more troublesome to drive, and the 12-inch center console is eager to stuff more than 50 buttons.

That thing was not much easier to operate than the ornithopter that the company sold them.

Chen Yutong smiled.

"That's right, when your people come back, I can teach you how to open that thing."

A hint of surprise flashed in Lao Bai's eyes, and he said with a hearty smile.

"That's great, you can help us a lot"

The naturally drooping bangs blocked the view, and she shook it lightly and said nonchalantly.

"You're welcome, it's not a trivial matter, just invite me to a glass of that wine made from potatoes when I get back...... What's it called?"

"You mean vodka"

Lao Bai looked at this brave girl in surprise, and teased with a smile, "I heard that the people in the academy don't drink alcohol, and ethanol is only used as reagents and fuel...... Are you sure you can drink it."

The corners of Chen Yutong's mouth curled.

"I'm not from the academy anymore. And whether you can drink it, how do you know if you don't try it"

Maybe it's because of the different identities, or maybe it's because she wants to open up, Lao Bai always feels that she seems to have become different from yesterday.

That's not a bad thing, though.

Trying something new that you haven't tried a lot will help you settle into your new life.

"Well, I'm not going to stop you...... However, I recommend a noob way to drink it, which is to mix it with some Coke or Sprite. ”

Chen Yutong asked curiously.

"What's so good about that?"

"A drink...... I mean the life-loving creatures of the Vault, which is simply sugar water with a little carbonic acid. ”

"Carbonic acid? Does that stuff smell?" Chen Yutong frowned slightly.

Of course, the college also has sugar, caffeine and vitamin drinks.

But they never add carbonic acid to drinking water, but instead place them in labelled sample cabinets like ethanol.

Instead of replenishing nutrients or promoting dopamine production, these things can cause the body to lose minerals, just as alcohol can harm the brain.

Even if the harmful dose is manageable, there is no need to increase the risk of avoidance for the sake of something meaningless.

"No, there is no taste at all, but the feeling of bubbles exploding between your lips and teeth can bring a little different stimulation to mediocre sugar water, you will know if you try it......"

Lao Bai's answer was in line with her expectations.

But to her surprise, he had other insights into "meaning".

For her to be reborn, this is more interesting than delicious.

"I see, you can ...... Tell me about Sprite again, I'm a little curious. ”

Looking at the face full of curiosity, Lao Bai explained with some head.

"Hey, that's a very technical question, it's the same as cola in general, but we have citric acid instead of caffeine......"

"Citric acid instead of caffeine?! I see...... It's exciting. ”

I don't know when it started, and the two of them have begun to walk back.

Chen Yutong naturally followed him and asked a lot of questions that he was interested in before but didn't have time to ask.

The two are like old friends who have known each other for a long time, without a little barrier, and they have been gone for a long, long time unconsciously

On the sand dunes not far away, Yashi, who was holding a sniper rifle, put the gun away and patted the ash on his pants and got up.

"! didn't look at it, Lao Tzu was worried that something would happen to him, so he stuffed Lao Tzu with a mouthful of dog food. ”

Tempest, holding the binoculars, glanced at him.

"Which eye you can see that it's dog food, can't it be pure friendship?"

Night Ten complained.

"Come on, you forgot about Fang Chang's dog thing, at the beginning of the mission, the task was on his lips, and then his wife barked...... Vomiting. ”

No more.

He can't stand dog food, unless it's his own.

Tempest coughed.

"Fang Chang is Fang Chang, Lao Bai is Lao Bai----- it's different."

Night Ten rolled his eyes.

"I'm back."

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