In the Pacific Ocean, near the northern part of the Philippine Islands, a cruiser floats alone in the endless ocean.

The Traxton-class cruiser was part of the seventeen offshore fleets that the Clock Tower had trained after the war, and was part of the fleet of ships of Fitlis II.

The so-called offshore formations are subordinate to the second-rate formations under the intelligence department, and are mainly used for patrolling, gathering and non-mainstream battlefield support and supply delivery.

Most of the equipment imitates or repairs scrapped ships of the old era. These epoch-making nuclear-powered ships, which once made great achievements on the oceans, can now only play a supporting role. At the beginning of that groundbreaking war, when the terrifying suspended figure that exceeded everyone's expectations appeared in the sky, under the overwhelming barrage, the unbelievable idea of a crane beating an aircraft carrier formation was still vivid. Times have changed, the world has changed, and since that day, the guy named [Yajin Hell] has begun. Everything that was proud of the old times was reduced to scrap metal.

The essential significance of the retention of these ships, which can only be reduced to cannon fodder on the main battlefields, lies in the vastness of the sea area that requires these conventional patrols to be vigilant and to carry out general combat missions. The most important thing is that it is cheap to maintain. Yes, you heard it right, compared with those big killers in the new era, the maintenance of such old nuclear-powered ships is as cheap as giving away for nothing, because of the progress of science and technology, the technical barriers that could not be broken through before or were expensive were easily crossed, and the maintenance cost dropped geometrically. Now, such ships can be maintained and upheld by a private shipyard.

On the deck, in the sea mist, a little spark flickered and dimmed. Paulson pressed half of his cigar against the railing, a smoky black left on the snow-white railing. As he stretched his cigar butt across a parabola into the dark sea, the tactical panel in his pocket flashing red signals.

Someone came from the deck cabin.

Paulson smiled wryly, "I guess it must be that old stubborn texting us, damn it, these bureaucrats." He took out the tactical panel and glanced at it, and let out a loud whistle, apparently he had guessed correctly.

"The other party has restricted us to get to our destination at 7:40 tomorrow morning, damn, the sea conditions are so bad." Paulson said to a man and a woman walking by.

"The employer is God, after all, they paid for it, and they were very kind to give an extra 10 percent commission." The young man who came shrugged his shoulders and didn't care.

"Anyway, the last task has been completed, and this money is not earned in vain." The young man said, "William W. Harris. The Habsburgs' most talented and promising rookie at the moment. Building a good relationship with the future family is also a potential dividend of this transaction. ”

"It's said that this up-and-comer is very arrogant." The woman hugged her arms and spoke coldly.

"Good people are always arrogant, like Charlemagne." The young man smiled, "But that doesn't stop them from doing great things." ”

The woman spread her hands and did not continue.

The young man looked at the time and clapped his hands, "Alright, let's go, boys, cheer up." Although this trip is more like a New Year's Eve Christmas party according to the analysis of the intelligence book. I'd love to say that you had a lot of fun. But unfortunately, I can't say that, or some brainless guys will play too far and get caught by the old man with the pumpkin hat. ”

There was a burst of laughter around them. On deck, an Apache gunship and a Corsair II gyrocopter, fifty-two heavily armed warriors sat in unison, their light-hearted laughter coming from the open hatch.

The propeller began to slide slowly. Paulson and the young men and women were seated in the Apache and the Pirate II, respectively. A few minutes later, the two helicopters swayed upwards and flew into the boundless darkness in the distance.

..........

At night, Ruined City resembles a large, bloated monster, coldly staring at all creatures that want to move inside its body, especially some of the most arrogant creatures.

The three main combat vehicles were lined up, and the headlights of each vehicle were bright, like a spear piercing the night, enveloping the silent city in front of them.

Having lost its self-propelled fire, two metal wagons were towed behind the chariot and lay quietly on the desolate land. The soldiers got out of their cars and set up simple defensive positions. Everyone knows that it will not be long before dawn that this place will be completely reduced to a battlefield.

The signal for help had spread, and Cartlett promised to send two hundred veterans into the battle, while a large number of hired mercenaries from nearby settlements arrived.

Harris actually has prejudices about such a move. In his opinion, this behavior not only damaged the majesty of the clock tower, but also made the soldiers useless. It only slows them down and the military operations they perform, but Dante feels it is necessary.

He told Harris that they were likely to face not three or two lost dogs, but an entire group of people. Although the guy hiding behind the scenes is not quite clear, but from the random mobilization of hundreds of armed and artillery positions, it can be seen that the other party should be a large-scale organization, although it is not clear what kind of agreement has been reached between the beast of the wasteland and this local organization, but looking at the other party's handwriting, it should be a lot of money.

Conventional warfare should be solved by conventional warfare. Dante was convinced of this.

In the eyes of the clock tower, this kind of organization that gathers thousands or tens of thousands of armed people is like an ant. Keep in mind, however, that this is too far away from the clock tower headquarters to be beyond the reach of many armed supporters. Now they can only resist this huge local organization with the resources at hand, and the chance of victory is still two years.

Harris sneered, he didn't expect that in this rural place, there would be an organization that dared to challenge the authority of the clock tower, whether it was because the countryside was too closed and the information level was blocked, or because it was too arrogant. He'll see.

In the shadows in the distance, two figures emerged and walked towards the camp, and the patrolling soldiers raised their rifles, "Stop, password." ”

"It's me," replied coldly, and the person had instantly crossed a distance of dozens of meters to the gate of the camp, and it was the Maybach driver, who led a hunter in the team to track the traces of his opponent, and only then did he come back with a white belly in the sky.

The intense tracking makes the hunter tired enough. As soon as I entered the door, I sat down on the ground.

"How?" Harris rushed over and asked eagerly.

"They're inside, and there's no sign of leaving, and there's every indication that they're going to have another hard fight with us in this intricate city." The hunter said.

Harris looked at the rising sun and was fascinated by the silver-gray outline of the city.

"After inquiring, the local group that attacked us was an armed religious group that called itself the Waste Pickers' Rescue Society. There are about 10,000 people, but most of them are civilians, armed people are about 1,700 to 2,000, and the level of science and technology is not high, but they have a large number of heavy firepower left over from the old era. ”

"There are currently seven large organizations and 19 small organizations in the whole city. Some have made it clear that they will not fight, while providing some basic information about the scavengers. Aha, they have a good abacus, and they do not rule out the possibility of fishing in troubled waters in the future. The scavengers are the city's talkers and giants, monopolizing a lot of the city's resources, and their leader is mysterious and no one has ever seen it, and it is a woman named Laura who manages the daily affairs and external affairs of the entire guild. With their headquarters located in the West Block, they hollowed out the entire subway space and built a dungeon called Nesting. At present, the area is heavily guarded, and Lord Rao is not able to penetrate the opponent's defense network and probe for more information. ”

The Maybach driver, named Gis, nodded. "There were a lot of people, densely packed, all patrols, and in order to avoid startling the snakes, I didn't force my way in."

"That's right, there are three wolves on the other side, and you can't deal with it alone." Harris nodded and did not comment.

"Gotta watch out for those on both ends of the snake." The hunter spoke, "None of the people here can be trusted. Although they would love to see us defeat the Relief Society so that we can expand more living space and absorb the territory of the vanquished. But I guess they don't mind fishing in troubled waters while we're at war with each other. ”

"There are so many of them that it is conservatively estimated that the coalition forces can casually pull out a team of 5,000 to 8,000 people. Urban street fighting is not conducive to our superiority in technology and heavy firepower, and if we get bogged down in the mud of war, we will suffer serious losses if we fail to keep it. ”

"Fishing in troubled waters, hehe, you have to see your own level. If you don't keep it, it will be a ferocious man-eating crocodile. Harris spoke coldly, and after saying that, he turned and walked towards the headquarters. He needs to discuss some of the details with Dante.

...........

Skaya was led by two shabbyly dressed maids through the long dark corridor. There is already a high degree of martial law here, with one post in ten steps and one sentry in five steps. Soldiers dressed in hazmat suits and gas masks stared silently at the newly arrived guest with grim or pale faces. Most of them had a cold and indifferent gaze, looking at death as if they were at home, and they were wearing a brown cloak with a hole in it. This brown cloak is the emblem of the scavengers.

The unique sound of the hydraulic machinery echoed in the deep underground space, and then a large cloud of steam poured out from the exhaust duct behind the rock wall, and the gear-shaped gate with a diameter of three meters and shining with the cyan light of high-strength alloy steel slowly sunk into the sides, and on the pitch-black special gate, the original three-dimensional bare pattern was being cut and split in two. It is a large black sun pattern, with a wavy sun logo on the outside, and a large circle in the center, hollowed out, connected by a regular five lightning bolt symbols inside.

Behind the open metal gate, a long straight corridor is revealed. It is surrounded by cliffs, with only a suspension bridge erected on it. The eighteen black metal pillars resemble eighteen towering trees, supporting the entire sky.

This ingenious shape does not look like a miracle created by human beings at all. The patterns on the murals are mostly gray and weird. The fire-breathing dragon, the gore of human sacrifice, the illusion of several ghosts dancing around the old man's hospital bed....... All of this is absurd and bizarre.

A huge black sun was carved at the end of the corridor, and eighteen tall staircases rose up, and the material of the staircase was actually scrawled and pressed from various scrap metal parts, which was very rough and rough. Some of the lines can be glimpsed in the metal shells of abandoned vehicles, the fuselage of old machine tools, and even the outlines of some aircraft and combat vehicle cannons.

Absurd, weird, and from the moment you enter, everything that comes into view looks very out of place.

At the end of the metal staircase stood a circular platform, in which a tall figure sat on a large metal throne. It was a huge and friendless robot, a body forged of metal, reflecting a ghostly light, and countless small flying machines were hovering around, constantly transporting metal parts or nutrients to it, and at the same time transporting some discarded pieces away.

The robot held its chin and stared down, its huge bulb eyes flickered a few times, and its cold face showed a hint of enthusiasm.

"Welcome to my fortress, Miss Skaya." The robot waved enthusiastically, "As a gentleman, please allow me to introduce myself in advance." First meeting, the president of the Despicable Scavengers Rescue Association, Connell Carrie. ”

On top of the huge brain, a transparent glass container, a series of bubbles emerged. Inside was a greenish-yellow nutrient solution, a slice of a human brain carefully placed in between, countless electronic veins and data matrices wrapped around him.

The bubbles representing oxygen bubbled even more jubilantly, and it was obvious that the other party was so happy that the oxygen consumption suddenly increased.

On the left hand side of the steel robot stood a man wearing a hood and making his face unclear. Noticing Skaya's gaze, the man bowed slightly. Behind him stood a shadow that seemed to be nothing, and two sharp short knives were stuck in the ribs of the pitch-black combat suit, and he was sideways, unable to see clearly.

Skaya didn't know the Cloaked Man, but she knew the shadow behind him. It's the shadow of yesterday's battle. His razor-sharp dual blades and ability to block all perceptions are impressive.

On the right-hand side are Griffin and Wally, one with his arms folded, the other strolling around as if he were visiting a museum.

"You're here, Skaya." As if he had just seen her, Griffin paused and walked over with a smile, "We're discussing a battle plan. Of course, I know that this kind of boring thing you don't like to participate in the most. Now, though, there's something you need to do. ”

Skaya frowned and didn't go crazy. She knew that the other party must have arranged some not-so-good tasks for herself, but at the moment when everyone was present, she couldn't shake her face or make trouble.

"Where did we just go?" Griffin looked back in disguise. "Harris." The cloaked man tacitly handed over the topic.

"Yes, Harris." Griffin said, "As a Habsburg famous outstanding young man. If this guy dies here, I'd like to think about it. He smiled, as if thinking of the funny episode that followed, "The old Habsburg men will go crazy." Haha, they will do whatever it takes to destroy us completely. It's not about value, it's about honor. Older generations of families tend to value honor more than anything else. ”

Griffin took a few steps forward, "As an old British family, the Habsburgs' wrath will destroy the world. And that's exactly what we want. The citizens of London will thank us, thank us for rescuing them from tyranny, and yes, the time for the uprising has come. The Habs, who poured out of the nest, could not have imagined that we would snatch London from the palm of their hand alive. ”

"London will be recaptured, regardless of the attitude of the Habs. But there is no doubt that the success of this operation will undoubtedly speed up the process of the recapture of London. The cloaked man nodded slightly in approval.

"Ha," Skaya chuckled softly, meeting Griffin's gaze, "your actions seem to be contrary to our purpose. ”

"No," Griffin smiled slightly, "it was because I knew how ambitious and difficult my goal was, that I chose this shortcut. Your brother's biggest failure was to fight alone, and now, we need allies. ”