It was past eleven o'clock in the evening.

Molten Outpost 2nd Floor, Stationmaster's Office.

With a cigar in his mouth, Bard paced back and forth in the room with his hands in his hands, his eyes scanning the various furnishings and ornaments in the room, and a faint look of complexity appeared on his face.

It's just that the subtle change in his expression was well covered by him, and outsiders couldn't notice anything unusual at all.

"Dongdong Dong"

There was a knock on the door, and Eddie walked in with a look of exhaustion on his face.

"Mayor, you've packed your valuables, is there anything else you need to pack and take away?"

More than half an hour ago, Eddie, at Bard's request, began to prepare for the evacuation.

Said to be preparing,

In fact, there's not much to sort out either.

For this incident, Bard has been planning for a long time, including some fixed assets in his living quarters, which have actually been transferred long ago.

That is, in the office where people come and go every day, there are some valuables,

Usually, because I avoid arousing suspicion, I didn't take it away first.

Everything is left to the last minute.

"Take the painting off the wall and put it in a separate storage box to take it away."

Bad raised his head and sighed:

"This is the work of the abstract master Kazatt, and if it is auctioned, it will be worth at least four or five hundred thousand marks!

I paid a lot of money to win it. ”

Eddie nodded, but there was some scoffing in his heart.

He didn't see anything worth admiring about these abstract paintings, but most of the rich liked to be elegant.

I don't know what to think of these garbage that are no different from graffiti all over the street.

Eddie was very conscious, turned around and brought in a white storage box from outside the house, then stepped forward, carefully picked off a painting hanging on the wall, and gently put it into the box.

"By the way, there is also this piece of sea jasmine tea cake, remember to bring it later."

Bard pointed to a ceramic jar in the corner of the filing cabinet and said:

"Now that the waterway in the deep zone has been completely blocked, until the group of guys in the organization reopen the waterway, it will be difficult to buy sea jasmine tea with money.

This thing is a treasure now, and it can't be left here to be buried with the site. ”

After speaking, Bud looked around and suddenly said with some sighs:

"I don't usually think there's anything, but I'm about to leave and find out that I have a lot of collections in this house!"

Eddie smiled in response, without saying much.

As Bud's personal secretary, the wealth that Bard has accumulated over the years, Eddie is almost the same, not to mention a treasure.

The fact that the head of a small outpost can make millions of dollars is enough to see how corrupt the alliance has been.

This is why Eddie chose to join the separatist group and promote the establishment of a new democratic regime.

After packing most of the valuable things in the office, Bard looked at Eddie and asked:

"How's the egg collection going? When to go? ”

Eddie took a breath and said:

"The first batches of eggs have been packed and shipped to the ship, and now there is only the last batch left, and we will be on the road as soon as we have packed them."

Bud nodded in satisfaction, the fat on his face piling up, squeezing his eyes into a slit.

"Not bad!"

He stepped forward and patted Eddie on the shoulder and smiled:

"Eddie, I've worked hard for you lately, and after this incident has passed, we'll be in a safe place and give you a few days off to relax and unwind."

Eddie smiled and shook his head:

"That's what I'm supposed to do, and it's an honor for me to work for the mayor."

Bard waved his hand and said, "After today, I won't be the mayor anymore, just call me boss outside in the future." ”

"Yes, boss!"

Eddie nodded heavily, then pointed to a few boxes on the ground, and said, "Then I'll hand these things over to the security officer to take out first, you prepare first, and we'll leave at any time." ”

"Well, go ahead!"

Bard waved his hand.

Eddie himself held the box where the famous painting was kept, turned and walked out.

However, just as he walked to the door of the office and was about to raise his hand to open the door.

Suddenly, from the direction of the lower area, there was a violent explosion.

Immediately, the municipal building shook slightly.

A slight tremor was transmitted from the ground, and the entire cavity of the mountain began to tremble slightly.

Bard's face changed, and he asked with a frown:

"What's the situation? Isn't the battle in the lower districts over? Where did the explosion take place?! ”

Eddie stood in place holding the box, also at a loss.

"I ...... I don't know, the city has been completely wiped out of the painted skin parasite, and the battle can't continue until now. ”

After a pause, Eddie added:

"And it's not like a grenade or a grenade can cause it, it's too big.

Could it be...... The reactor in the energy zone exploded? ”

At this point, Eddie and Bud's faces became extremely ugly at the same time.

The explosion was so strange that if the reactor was really malfunctioning, they would be in big trouble!

At that moment, Bard immediately yelled at Eddie:

"Let's go down below and see what's going on!

Also, remember to bring a set of radiation protection diving suits from the Security Office, hurry up! ”

The voice fell, and before Eddie could respond.

In the next second, another dull explosion sounded, the earth trembled, and the cavity structure of the entire second-floor administrative area began to hum.

In a hurry, Eddie didn't care so much at the moment, so he casually threw down the box containing the expensive paintings and ran out of the office.

Bud turned around and walked quickly to the window, and saw the crowd gathered at the door of the town hall, all of whom were in a panic at the moment.

In fact, the explosion came so suddenly, and it was even more intense than the sound of the battle in the city just now, and it was hard not to think of it in a bad place.

For the next two minutes or so, explosions from the lower zone continued to be heard.

It was as if the entire Molten Outpost was going to be completely destroyed.

A slight tremor is transmitted in all directions through the rock formations, as if an earthquake had occurred, and it is heartwarming.

Bard paced back and forth in the command room, anxious like an ant on a hot pan.

Seeing that the plan is about to be completed, you can immediately withdraw from it.

But at this juncture, there are unknown changes, and this feeling is quite bad.

However, this series of explosions ruled out the possibility of reactor failure.

This made Bard feel a little more at ease.

In his opinion, as long as there are no problems with the reactors in the energy zone, the situation should not be too bad.

Time, in a suffocating restlessness, passes slowly.

After about ten minutes, the office door was pushed open again, and Eddie rushed in with a miserable face.

Without waiting for Bard to ask, he shouted first:

"Mayor, it's not good, something is wrong, something is wrong! We can't leave! ”

Hearing this, Bard was suddenly shocked and hurriedly asked:

"Slowly, what's going on? What happened to the explosion just now? ”

Eddie's face turned pale at the moment, and the whole person was extremely flustered, and said in a panic:

"Enemy attack! It's an enemy attack!

The security officer, who was collecting the eggs in the lower area, said that the shaft passage was under heavy artillery fire, and someone attacked from the outside and blew up the shaft passage! ”

"What?!"

Hearing this, Bard was immediately stunned, and Tong Kong suddenly magnified.

"Who did it?! Who the hell did it?! Could it be that the alliance fleet has already fought? How is this possible?! ”

Dazed!

Astound!

With a deep sense of disbelief, Bard locked his gaze on Eddie's body, completely panicked.

He never imagined that such a thing would happen when he was only one step away from the final kick from his retirement.

"I don't know, I don't know, Mayor!"

Eddie's face was so miserable that he almost cried.

"Before the shaft access was damaged, an explosion was heard in the ocean outside the city.

Then the answering personnel found that the communication connection between the transport ship and the transport ship was inexplicably disconnected, and they realized that something was wrong at that time, and quickly sent someone into the water to check.

But none of the first to go out came back alive.

Finally, the second group of personnel who launched reported that the transport ship had been sunk by someone for no apparent reason.

Before they could report the news, the shaft passage was bombarded by enemy fire!

The intelligence officers who stayed in the airlock chamber were killed on the spot, and soon even the hatch of the elevator shaft was deformed in the explosion, and the structure of the entire airlock chamber collapsed in a large area, and the entire airlock chamber was completely blocked by rubble and seawater!

We can't get out! ”

Eddie cried with a hint of despair in his eyes.

Things have developed to this point, and there is no way back.

In order to clean the airlock chamber of collapsed rock debris, the airlock chamber hatch must be opened.

Once the hatch is opened, the influx of seawater will rush out like a burst of the levee.

If the lower area is not completely filled, the flow of water will not be stopped, and people will not be able to approach it at all.

In this case, there is no contingency that can resolve the immediate dilemma.

"Damn! Who did it?! Haven't the outer seas been blocked? How could someone else break in?!

The point is, why did the other side attack the outpost?!

Could it be that our plans have been exposed?

Or is there a spy in the response personnel who want to swallow this batch of eggs alone!? ”

Bud roared angrily in the office, his face pale.

At this time, he didn't care about worrying about the exposure of his identity.

If the current predicament cannot be resolved as soon as possible, by the time the alliance's fleet arrives, his identity and actions will not stand up to investigation at all.

When the time comes, exposure is also inevitable.

"Mayor, what are we going to do now?!" Eddie asked eagerly, unable to stay calm any longer.

Bard took a deep breath, thought about it carefully, and then said:

"I can't do it so much, so I gathered all the explosives reserves of the Security Office and had people fix them outside the airlock cabin door with safety ropes.

In any case, it is necessary to put the explosives in against the current and blow a gap in the airlock! ”

"Okay, I'll arrange it."

Eddie nodded apprehensively.

Although he was still very uneasy, Bard at least offered a solution that gave him some hope.

For those in despair, any little hope, no matter how unrealistic, will be infinitely magnified.

Eddie didn't delay, turned and walked away quickly.

Twenty minutes later, the earth-shattering explosion was heard again in the lower area, stronger than before.

There was a five-minute interval between the two explosions, and finally everything was calm.

Not long after, Eddie returns with desperate news.

All the explosives were used up, and instead of being blown open, the airlock chamber collapsed even more.

Even the violent explosion caused the internal hatch to deform, and the rock structure collapsed to a certain extent.

A large amount of seawater seeped out of the cracks in the rock wall, gradually spreading to the entire underlayer.

Such a situation cannot be solved in a short period of time even when other submarines of the receiving fleet arrive in the outer blockade waters.

At this moment, Bud was finally helpless and felt discouraged.

He didn't expect that the whole plan would go extremely smoothly, but at the last moment when he was about to leave, all the work was lost.

The bloated body sat down in a chair, and his face was full of fat, revealing a deep sense of despair.

Bard muttered as if he had lost his mind:

"It's over...... It's all over ......."

…………

At the same time, it was more than thirty kilometers away from the molten outpost.

Unlike the depressed and desperate atmosphere in the mayor's office, the submarine of the Sea Locust was full of laughter at the moment.

Even if it is described as carnival, it is not an exaggeration.

"More than 2,000 eggs, more than 2,000! Oh my God, we're going to send it, we're going to send it! ”

"The Separatist Group frantically destroyed an entire outpost just to collect these eggs, but in the end, the plan completely failed, not only were we trapped in the city, but they also tried to make wedding dresses, which cheapened us for nothing! That's really ...... The world is impermanent! ”

"Hahaha, make a lot of money, make a lot of money!"

……

In the headphones, the shouts of the crowd were overwhelming, and they were all extremely excited.

The word crazy is no longer enough to describe the current situation.

Even after a long time, the excitement of the crowd still could not subside.

Even Meng Lei temporarily put down his identity and joined this verbal carnival.

It is enough to see how high the emotions of the crowd are.

More than an hour ago, when the mission assigned by the Alliance had been completed, and the shaft entrance to the molten outpost had been destroyed, it was time to leave.

Meng Lei suddenly realized that the enemy was staying on the receiving ship outside the city, and there might be painted skin worm eggs that had been packed and collected.

After all, in a city of thousands of people, it is impossible for the enemy to transport insect eggs in a centralized manner.

In the process of collection, it is necessary to carry it in batches.

So, Meng Lei had the attitude of giving it a try, concentrated his hands on weapons, infiltrated one of the sunken submarines, and after eliminating the armed personnel who were still alive inside, he opened the submarine warehouse to check it.

Sure enough, I really found a large number of storage boxes with uniform specifications.

The box is full of painted skin parasite eggs sealed in test tubes!

Inside each box are a standard fifty test tubes.

And the number of boxes that everyone finally salvaged from the two sunken submarines was as high as more than forty boxes in total!

It took several trips back and forth to finally salvage all the boxes in the wreck.

Eventually, the Locust's warehouse could barely fit up, so it had to throw away the corpses of the creepers that had been intended to be sold for money.

Then he made use of the space on the fourth floor of the submarine, which should have been used for shuttle boats, and barely salvaged all the storage boxes containing insect eggs.

Based on the market price of 1,000 marks per egg, more than 2,000 eggs are worth millions of marks!

With such a huge harvest, how can it not be exciting!

You know, it's all for nothing, and it's the same as the nature of the wind.

As the old saying goes, no one's money is blown by the wind, Meng Lei and others broke this theory this time, and these millions are really blown, pure white prostitution.

At that time, when the eggs were being transported, there were a large number of other materials in the two shipwrecks, but everyone did not look at them, and only focused on the salvage of the eggs.

No matter how valuable other materials are, they can't compare to the price of this box of 50,000 yuan.

With this experience, Meng Lei finally knew why there was such a profession as piracy.

The feeling of getting something for nothing is cool, it's just cool!

If it weren't for the limited space on the ship, Meng Lei would never even let go of those other supplies, and would definitely have to loot them all and pack them all away.

However, it is somewhat unrealistic to go back to the place where they were hiding before and drive the other three ships over to continue the salvage.

Meng Lei was afraid that the other submarines of the other side receiving the fleet would suddenly return to their homes and block them in place.

had no choice but to leave with a little regret in the end.

"I said Lao Huo, your shots just now were a little too hard! Otherwise, our harvest can be doubled! ”

In the headphones, Huo Ye's voice sounded, complaining about Hawke in a joking tone.

The reason why I say this is because the actual number of insect eggs in those two wrecks is more than the number of people who have salvaged!

However, most of the crates were destroyed by the railgun's explosion.

Even if there is only a little damage, as long as the overall sealing of the storage box is destroyed, the test tube containing the eggs will be crushed into powder by the seawater in an instant, and there is no possibility of leakage.

Therefore, Huo Ye complained bitterly and felt extremely regretful.

In this regard, Hawke did not explain anything, but Meng Lei said with a smile:

"Old Huo, you can be content, if it weren't for Hawke's accurate and ruthless fighting, we wouldn't be able to solve those two transport boats at all, and you wouldn't even be able to get these insect eggs at present.

You're embarrassed to complain about Hawke, and when you eat tomorrow, you'll punish yourself with a drink! ”

"Hehe, punishment will be punished, I'm just saying, it's a little regretful, but this time I still have to thank Hawke!"

Huo Ye smiled calmly, still excited.

At this time, Gina, who had never spoken in the communication headset, suddenly spoke:

"Oh, God, how could such a tragic thing be borne by Huo Ye alone?! Dear little captain, I will punish myself too, and I will too! ”

When Meng Lei heard her voice, he immediately had a headache.

However, this will make him feel good, and he is also wealthy, and he is rare and bold:

"Punishment! Let you be punished! When the time comes, you will be fined a bottle, drink it! ”

"My dear little captain, your words count!" Gina's voice was visibly excited, and she boldly said, "In view of your wise behavior, Dr. Gina has decided to give you a special reward, come to my room later, and we can have an in-depth exchange." ”

When the words fell, everyone who heard this sentence began to coax in the headphones.

Simon smirked:

"Captain, take out your courage when you killed all sides in the city, and in the face of the gracious invitation of beautiful women, it shouldn't be a man's choice to escape!"

Huo Ye didn't think it was a big deal to see the excitement, and kept instigating:

"Commander, I'm here to watch tonight, you can rest assured and go boldly, I believe that Dr. Gina will definitely spend a wonderful night with you, don't be cowardly!"

Meng Lei pursed his lips and immediately decisively did not answer.

And immediately changed the subject, saying:

"You guys, don't be too happy too early, these painted skin parasite eggs are all new unknown species, and even the skin worms can't be killed, and it's a question of whether anyone dares to receive them!

In addition, it is unclear whether a large-scale outflow will cause other chaos.

If you're in the mood to laugh at me, you might as well think about how to make a move. ”

Hearing this, everyone was suddenly speechless, and there was a rare silence in the communication channel.

This question is what Meng Lei has been thinking about.

Although he harvested so many eggs, he did not have a clear idea of how to sell them.

Through normal channels, I am afraid that no one dares to collect this completely uncontrolled insect eggs at present, and once it gets out of control, it will inevitably cause great panic.

As for the alliance, before the development of new targeted drugs, it should not allow this kind of eggs to enter the market.

But this does not mean that this batch of eggs will be smashed in the hands, otherwise the separation organization would not have gone to great lengths to plan this incident.

On the contrary, the value of this kind of insect eggs is estimated to be higher than that of ordinary insect eggs!

The only problem is that they don't know how to open up sales and sell these hot treasures.

After a moment of silence, Ranny, the owner of the supply store, suddenly spoke:

"In the major gathering places under the jurisdiction of the Alliance, it may be difficult to open up a market for this kind of insect eggs in a short period of time.

However, in the black market of some independent colonies, there may be many people interested in it, even the Alliance's biological research institute, many times they will go to the black market to hunt for curiosities.

I even suspect that the eggs may have come from some black market deep in the shallow zone, bordering the flats.

If you think about it, it's not impossible. ”

When Meng Lei heard this, he immediately became interested, and hurriedly asked:

"Black market?! What is the situation with these black markets? Would the Coalition allow such a place to exist? ”

Meng Lei had heard from Salrod, the head of the Heman Firm, that there was such a place as a black market.

But he didn't think much of it at the time.

Now that he heard the word again, he was immediately curious.

Lenny says:

"The alliance will definitely not allow such an unstable factor as the black market to exist in its jurisdiction.

However, in some of the independent colonies that broke away from the Union, the black market was a key factor in promoting urban development.

In almost every independent colony, there is a black market that attracts bounty hunters and merchant ships.

On the black market, there are no restrictions on any trade, and you can buy all contraband prohibited by the alliance.

Sometimes, some technological blueprints in the leveling area will flow out, including the coordinates of alien relics that have not yet been discovered by the Alliance, and maps of unknown seas, which may appear!

Of course, due to the lack of official constraints, it is difficult to distinguish between the real and the fake of intelligence transactions, and it is easy to encounter scammers.

In the end, it is a trivial matter that the money is spent in vain, if you get the wrong information, mistakenly enter a dangerous place and lose your life, then there is no place to reason.

Overall, however, the black market in the independent colonies was a haven for most pirates and bounty hunters, with a wide range of trade and no restrictions.

While the Alliance provides security and stability, it also imposes a lot of restrictions on alien citizens.

This is the key reason for the emergence of the black market. ”

Hearing this, Meng Lei nodded thoughtfully, and had a relatively clear concept of this alien black market in his heart.

But just as he was about to ask something more and want to know more about it.

The hand-held tablet placed on the console in the command room suddenly made a slight vibration and humming sound.

At the same time, a new unread text message appears on the screen.

Meng Lei suddenly came back to his senses and realized that they had left the sea area of the signal blind zone and entered a place with signal coverage.

At this time, it was either Roger or Chen Yu who sent him a message.

Hurriedly opened the tablet and glanced at it.

Sure enough, the sender of the text message was none other than the head of the Security Office in Sil City, Roger.

The tablet information is clearly displayed:

"Captain Meng, how is the mission progressing?"