Chapter 61 Teammates

Fifty minutes after the mine was attacked;

76 Fortress Secret Meeting.

Zhou Zhengde pushed open the conference room door, and the other seven attendees looked over at the same time. He nodded slightly and hurried to the end of the conference table.

At the center of the long table sat the Archon of Fortress 76, a middle-aged man with gray hair, a burly build, and a kind face.

That’s the one Kong angrily called “soft and clumsy.”

The governor is flanked by two women. The slender, intellectual-looking lady on the left, who looks like Zhou Zhengde’s older sister, is Zhou Zhengde’s mother, the Minister of the Interior, Zhou Meiying.

The new Minister of Biology was not there; instead, there were two middle-aged men in military uniforms.

“Captain Zhou is here,” the governor said in a deep voice. “Let’s have a meeting. There are only two small matters.”

Zhou Meiying spoke first:

“The fortress was suddenly attacked by blade beasts. After investigation, it was found that this small group of blade beasts was roaming underground. There were no traces of general-level or deputy general-level blade beasts. The front-line command has determined it to be an accidental event and is strengthening the terrain survey around the fortress.”

“Thanks to the fact that Major Ling Tong, a half-human mecha, was recuperating in the fortress, the attack by the Blade Beasts was quickly quelled.”

“Sixty-two of our mine workers died, and two soldiers were injured while traveling through the tunnel. We are already going through the process of comforting the families of the deceased.”

The governor said in a very serious tone:

“We first express our condolences to the deceased.”

“Then, this attack has been properly resolved. Since more than one hundred Blade Beasts were involved, should we conduct a public announcement inside the fortress? Everyone, please speak briefly.”

The attendees spoke in turn:

“I think it would cause unnecessary panic if we don’t use it for the time being.”

“Our position is located behind the Middle Ancient Basin war zone, so being attacked by Blade Beasts is a low-probability event and there is no need to publicize it.”

“There’s no sign of a large-scale mobilization of Blade Beasts, right?”

“No, this bladed beast has been active underground, so it must have sensed the human gathering point.”

“No need for advertising, right?”

The governor nodded: “A consensus has been reached: no publicity. The second matter: the 13th Institute requests to conduct an investigation in the outward expansion area C. Do you agree?”

“Refuse!” Zhou Zhengde immediately raised his hand.

The delegates exchanged glances, nodded in agreement, and the Minister of the Interior, Chew Mei Ying, abstained.

“The meeting is over,” the governor gestured. “Zhou Zhengde will stay, and the ministers can return to their offices to work.”

The group got up and left.

Before leaving, Zhou Meiying patted Zhou Zhengde on the shoulder and whispered, “Want to have dinner together later, baby?”

“It’s not like we’ll eat just because you cook.”

“Then you eat it yourself!”

Zhou Meiying slapped Zhou Zhengde on the head hard, then turned and walked away quickly.

Zhou Zhengde looked at the governor and asked, puzzled, “What’s wrong?”

“There’s a rather tricky problem,” the governor said, taking off his glasses and rubbing his forehead. “Let Colonel Dongfang speak.”

“good!”

Dongfang Zhenghong, the current supreme commander of the 76 Fortresses Joint Defense Force, is responsible for the defense of the 76 Fortresses. He is forty-six years old this year and has a square face and an upright demeanor… He was the former bodyguard of the commander-in-chief.

His left arm was severed in half, and he now uses a regular prosthesis, which does not affect his command work.

Dongfang Zhenghong smiled at Zhou Zhengde and pushed the disc-shaped 3D projector in front of him over, where several photos appeared.

The photo shows the remains of two bladed beasts.

The kind that has been opened.

Zhou Zhengde frowned deeply.

“Isn’t that interesting?”

Dongfang Zhenghong said in a deep voice:

“A mysterious psionicist hunted eight low-level basic blade beasts. Their causes of death were varied and bizarre, but without exception, their exoskeletons were ripped open, and there were obvious signs of an attempt to burn them. However, it was clear that the hunter was ultimately unable to burn them.”

“Then, Zhengde, half an hour ago, you tried to destroy these photos on the military’s internal network.”

Zhou Zhengde whispered, “Is there a problem? This hunter helped us.”

“The cores of these bladed beasts are gone.”

The Righteous Way of the East:

“I have suppressed this matter and deliberately omitted these eight bladed beasts during the reporting to the front line, and had them burned to ashes in a high-temperature, high-pressure furnace.”

Zhou Zhengde nodded slowly, stroking his chin as he analyzed carefully: “Uncle, do you mean that the hunter took the crystal core?”

“Yes,” Dongfang Zhenghong asked, “I asked you here to ask this question: What do hunters need crystal cores for? Can they create psionicists? This question is very important. The Thirteen Institutes have become a cancer in our human camp. If there is a way to replace them, that would be ideal.”

“The hunter used it to make weapons, weapons to fight against the Blade Beasts.”

Zhou Zhengde explained:

“I’ll talk to this hunter and see if I can get him to share some alien technology… especially weapons-related stuff.”

Dongfang Zhenghong leaned back: “Is it really alien technology?”

“It is very likely that the civilization that coexisted with the Blade Beasts is helping us.”

Zhou Zhengde was talking nonsense with a straight face:

“Of course, none of these have been confirmed.”

“Uncle, what I mean is, try to maintain a good relationship with him before he takes the initiative to speak.”

“He’s helping us hunt Blade Beasts, he’s fighting the corrupt Thirteen, he’s punishing the evil deeds of the Downtown gangs, he’s done more than we’ve done in the last few years.”

“If we were to launch any large-scale investigation into him, it wouldn’t be able to escape the notice of the Thirteenth Institute.”

“Why don’t I dare to take him to see my maternal grandfather now? It’s simple, I don’t trust the environment there. The Thirteen Institute has already infiltrated every corner, especially around my maternal grandfather.”

“We all know why; they were afraid of my grandfather.”

“At this stage, we can only try to keep a low profile regarding this hunter matter, and we also need to guard against Qin Qin’s espionage and investigation. In fact, Qin Qin just caused trouble, and Ling Tong has already killed one of her subordinates, Lü Dongjie.”

“I know about this.”

Dongfang Zhenghong raised his hand to rub his temples, leaning back in his chair as he pondered deeply.

The governor asked with a smile, “Zhengde, how’s your downtown reform plan coming along?”

“Thirty percent,” Zhou Zhengde hurriedly said, “I will draft a few proposals for you to review as soon as possible.”

“come on.”

The governor stretched and stood up:

“I have a lot of work to do, you guys decide how this goes.”

“However, I, the local official, would like to add a few words.”

“This is an era lacking hope. If, and I mean if, our 76 Fortress can truly give birth to new hope, even if it only increases the overall war situation by one percent, one thousandth, or one ten-thousandth, it will be extremely precious.”

“Be decisive, my beloved soldiers, you are the main force protecting humanity.”

Dongfang Zhenghong and Zhou Zhengde nodded with smiles.

After the governor left, Zhou Zhengde took out a text exchange, typed a line of text, and sent it out.

【01: You really took down eight!】

【02: Yes.】

【01: Even a C-rank psionicist doesn’t have this kind of strength!】

【02: Yes.】

【01: Ling Tong is absolutely smitten with you! You’re so cool! By the way, are you sure you want the crystal cores to make weapons? Ling Tong messaged me about it before.】

Half a minute passed.

【02: Can you get more crystal cores over there?】

【01: No, according to the frontline regulations, all crystal cores must be handed over to the frontline command center and then transferred to the Psionic Capital. Otherwise, the Psionicists will explode. This is also a core interest of the Thirteenth Institute and the military. If this situation occurs again, please let me know in advance, and I will arrange for my people to destroy the bladed beasts without crystal cores when cleaning up the battlefield.】

【02: Okay.】

【01: Alright, I’ll get back to the follow-up matters. Qin Qin might come looking for trouble; her men were killed. I’ll warn Ling Tong. What are you doing? Are you injured?】

【02: Not injured, but unconscious.】

【01: Huh?】

【02: This is Ling Tong, taking care of him, when the text exchange suddenly rang. The power-on password couldn’t stop me.】

Zhou Zhengde’s forehead was covered in black lines, and he remained frozen in his seat.

Why doesn’t this thing have an undo function?

Zhou Zhengde raised his hand to his forehead, put away the text exchange, looked up at Dongfang Zhenghong, and said solemnly, “He killed him. The crystal core was used to make weapons. I will contact his new weapons later.”

Dongfang Zhenghong nodded, looking at the remains of the bladed beasts, and muttered:

“Is he really an E-level psionicist?”

“The energy reaction is like this,” the adjutant beside him said softly.

“Incredible.”

…

C-zone surface camp, Ling Tong’s supply station, Wang Zheng’s room.

Master Wang lay fast asleep on his bed, a few beads of cold sweat constantly seeping from his forehead.

He’s having a nightmare.

If Ling Tong were a cultivator, she could probably tell that Wang Jixuan was suffering from the impact of the remaining power of those souls. This was the price he paid for using demonic arts and evil techniques, and he needed some time to digest it.

Unfortunately, she wasn’t.

Master Wang will naturally be able to pull through, and he can even give his soul a mini-training exercise.

Ling Tong couldn’t help but think of the previous scenes. Her mechanical arm slowly rose and touched her chest.

Yes, it should be soft; this is still the normal human tissue structure.

That’s good.

A knock came at the door. Ling Tong turned around and went out to talk quietly with Sister Wan.

“Is it all handled?”

“It’s all taken care of,” Sister Wan said gently. “All sources of information have been blocked. The miners who saw Xiao Wang make a move have been detained. I used the excuse of protecting their mental health to erase their memories of the past three months.”

“That’s good. We can’t let the Thirteenth Institute target him. I’ll get back to work as soon as possible and take him to the front lines, where it will be relatively safe.”

“Ling Tong, you’re someone Sister Wan watched grow up. Sister Wan wants to ask you… are you nice to him because it’s a mission, or do you genuinely want to try to get along with him?”

“Task.”

“No, no, no, you can’t fool me.”

“I don’t want to talk about this.”

“Oh, no,” Sister Wan laughed. “What I’m trying to say is that in this day and age, there’s no need to be particular about those extra things. If you like something, you should express it, because none of us can guarantee that we’ll see tomorrow’s sun. Cherishing every moment is the most important thing.”

Ling Tong murmured a few times, “Sister Wan, what happened to you?”

“This young man was willing to risk his life to support you.”

Sister Wan exclaimed in admiration:

“I saw genuine human emotion in his eyes, something that shines brighter than a laser cannon in this day and age.”

“Yeah?”

Lingtong whispered:

“I thought he was looking for an opportunity to fight the Blade Beast in order to train and improve himself on his own… Alright, keep an eye on the Thirteenth Institute’s reaction, and send a report to get the detection satellites to lock onto our area.”

“Yes, sir!”

Ling Tong turned and walked back to her room.

She sat down on the edge of the bed, picked up a romance novel, and began to read quietly.

Wang Jixuan was changed into a loose set of pajamas by Uncle Tai. His body was clean, except for a little sweat on his forehead.

“Junior sister, no…”

Um?

Ling Tong glanced at him and realized that he seemed to be talking in his sleep.

A while later…

Unable to hear Ling Tong’s inner thoughts, Master Wang was calling out continuously.

“I am truly not a demonic cultivator… I have explained it very clearly…”

“You celestial soldiers can’t be so unreasonable! We have to be reasonable!”

“This humble Taoist wishes to see the founder of the sect!”

He sat up abruptly, opened his eyes, his ears ringing, and saw a white light before him.

Ling Tong asked softly, “Are you alright?”

Wang Jixuan glared.

Did she find out what he just said?

What should I do? Kill him? Hmm, that seems unnecessary and I can’t win anyway… He seemed to be waking up just now, not just saying it out loud…

“Ling Tong, did you hear something just now?”