Chapter 241
Their formidable strength ensures a high mission success rate, repeatedly rescuing the Crimson Squad from perilous situations. The fact that only one member was killed in five battles is already the Miracle.
In a world where manpower is scarce, even a captain has to personally serve tea and water, Yuki's value is beyond question.
"Are we going back?" he asked.
"Warriors aren't machines; they need to be rotated. This old bone of mine needs a rest too." Felix chuckled, then asked in a low voice, "Haven't you killed enough?"
"Yes, I can still fight, I can still kill."
Upon hearing this, Felix was not afraid but pleased. Here, nothing was more respectable than killing insects; if there was, it was because not enough insects had been killed.
"You are truly different from most reinforcements; even Captain Kudus has changed his attitude somewhat." He clapped lightly and said sincerely, "You are as strong as a monster, have no interest in doing anything unnecessary, and possess exceptional command abilities."
Yuki remained silent, only revealing a smile. He knew these people had been watching him all along, and his performance was impeccable.
There were no fancy tests or inquiries about secrets; he simply stood shoulder to shoulder with them, killing insects and using his knife to earn their trust.
Humans are emotional beings after all, and after one battle after another, the attitudes of the people on the Goshawk changed.
When he was first refueled, he was locked in the compartment and couldn't see anything, but now he can stand in the very core of the cockpit and enjoy the view.
"Some people are born with a love for killing, especially when that killing comes with rewards."
"Hahaha, I know! I'll definitely put in a good word for you when we get back!" Felix laughed heartily. He liked this kind of frankness; wasn't this exactly the Command Headquarters reinforcement the command wanted?
"Okay, I'll go back to my room and get ready. Call me when we get there." Yuki nodded, turned and left, glancing at the man in the red military uniform sitting by the door.
The captain remained expressionless, but noticing Yuki's gaze, he nodded slightly in acknowledgment.
The most difficult people to deal with have changed their attitudes.
Yuki remained silent, and once the automatic door opened, he left the cockpit, having anticipated this situation several days prior.
'With my emotional intelligence and methods, fooling these warriors who are obsessed with killing insects is a piece of cake. So, the first step of the strategy is complete.'
At the cost of thousands of insect lives, the Defense Force's reputation was boosted to 'Friendly', while the swarm's reputation plummeted to 'Indifferent', a clearly odd ratio.
This leads to tip #5: As a member of the Zerg faction, killing them slows down my reputation loss, but the Zerg in neutral positions never hold back either. What's the point?
Yuki wasn't sure, but the first step of the plan went smoothly. He couldn't rush the intelligence gathering; for example, he hadn't really thought about finding a breakthrough in the past few days.
First, grind reputation. There will be plenty of opportunities later. Grinding reputation is also very easy. He is good at both killing people and killing insects.
'And gaining reputation is a side effect; the key is the reward.'
Yuki glanced at the panel and couldn't help but smile.
The gains came from two aspects. One was that he accumulated 5 enhancement points, Yuki also figured out the reward rules for blocking wormholes.
That depends on the scale and extent of the wormhole formation. If it's suppressed as soon as it emerges, there will be no reward. If he wasn't afraid of being exposed, Yuki would really like to use the Defense Force to raise worms and farm points.
On the other hand is the Demon Heart. This thing went through three dungeons, with ups and downs, and finally upgraded from 'normal' to 'full'.
They've made a fortune.
In previous dungeons, Yuki was just lucky if he wasn't targeted by the entire game; he never had the chance to utilize the power of the dungeon or have so many reliable teammates.
He was brimming with energy and wished he could spend the entire thirty days on the battlefield.
"This is my Big Bird Bank. No wonder players are so enthusiastic. Faction quests can be used to their advantage."
As he turned the corner of the corridor, a blonde girl walked towards him, still wearing a gray-green military uniform. Her eyes lit up when she saw Yuki, and she jogged over.
"Are you going to rest?"
"Yeah, I haven't slept for almost three days." Yuki nodded slightly, secretly chuckling to himself.
Chris's favorability is so easy to raise; you don't need to think. Just surrender your back amidst the bloodshed.
After two battles, the initial aversion had vanished. In the third battle, he led them out of the encirclement, and his vigilance was relaxed. In the fifth battle, he successfully took over command and launched a brilliant assault. His personal reputation had probably reached the level of "respect".
Everything is gradual, like a wise man appearing foolish; a true cunning old fox should appear utterly sincere.
"You've worked hard. I never expected that no one would die during the wormhole assault."
"It's just hard work? No other recognition?"
"Ah, well, I... I didn't study much in academic classes, so I don't know how to express myself." The girl was a little embarrassed, so she stood up straight and gave a military salute. "On behalf of the Crimson Squad, I thank you for your support."
Seeing her honest appearance, Yuki couldn't bear to tease her anymore and leaned against the wall next to her, "Don't you guys have academic classes?"
"Some people take even more courses in this area. They are grouped at the age of eight, and those with physical disabilities are assigned to clerical positions. They take even more courses in this area, and I've heard there's even something called diplomacy."
Chris felt there was nothing to hide about her personal experiences, since they didn't involve any secrets.
"And what about you? You don't even have the opportunity to study?" Yuki asked with concern, like an older brother.
"Yes, but not many. I was assigned to a military academy and started learning how to use various weapons. At the age of ten, I passed the selection process to become Psychic Warrior. After undergoing surgery, I trained until I graduated at sixteen." Chris paused, secretly glancing at Yuki, and seeing that he still looked concerned, she continued:
"The commander-in-chief said that only those who survive are qualified to inherit things like art and literature; at this stage, they are of no use."
Surgery? Do you need surgery to become Psychic Warrior?
Yuki astutely grasped the key words: who says intelligence gathering requires being a hacker or a secret agent? He preferred quiet observation and mundane conversations.
But he didn't ask about the surgery at all, as if he hadn't heard the girl's mistake.
"Are you very interested in this?"
"No, I just need to study squad command and hone my psionic skills." Chris quickly shook her head.
"Of course you would! After the third battle, you were staring blankly at the night sky, wondering how to describe its magnificence?"
Huh? They found out?
The girl was taken aback, not expecting Yuki to be so observant. As an honest soldier, she didn't know how to answer.
"We'll be parting ways once we get there, right?"
"Yes, I'll follow the orders of the Command Headquarters." Chris's expression darkened. She wasn't overthinking anything; it was just that the low casualty rate during this period had finally allowed her to get a good night's sleep.
Yuki patted her on the shoulder. Actually, he had a good impression of her after spending these days together. A teammate who was both strong and overly naive was never a bad thing.
He brushed past her, took a few steps, then turned back, opened his hand, took something out of his storage space, and handed it to the girl.
This is a fashion magazine that my senior left here. It doesn't involve any secrets of the Reincarnation Game; it's just a small experiment I did on the side.
"What is this?" Chris was bewildered. Emerald Star's technology had long since moved beyond paper, but the brightly colored cover still made her want to flip through it.
"A little parting gift. By the way, can you understand it?"
"I don't understand them, but these pictures are quite beautiful." Chris had never seen such pretty dresses before. In her mind, there were only military uniforms, and even civilian clothes were mainly designed for combat.
As expected, the translation system in the Reincarnation Game is one-sided.
"Want to try it on once?" Yuki asked casually, judging by his appearance, this lieutenant was quite well-endowed.
"Please don't tease me. In war, there's no need for clothing that offers no protection and is utterly inconvenient." But Chris didn't appreciate the compliment and explained seriously:
"Unless the war ends, this kind of civilian clothing will never be seen again..."
"Then why not just end this war?" Yuki blurted out, only to see the lieutenant staring at him with a cold look as if he were an idiot.
Some things are not to be joked about, even if he wasn't speaking in a joking tone.
He shrugged, said nothing, and quickly retreated into his room.
"You think you can end the war?"
Chris stood frozen in the corridor for several seconds after his figure disappeared before lowering her head in a daze.
The beautiful dress, the exquisite attire, and the various accessories and jewelry I'd never seen before seemed to trigger an instinct; seeing no one around, I quickly hid them in my arms.
Thump.
The Goshawk landed on the huge airport, its tail door opening to let the dry wind blow onto Yuki's face.
After a full week, he finally arrived at the human city. The airport covered hundreds of hectares, with machinery filling the tarmac, and several 'Ravager' armed helicopters parked in the distance.
It wasn't mentioned in the documents, but Yuki had seen it on the battlefield. In that situation, there were no secrets to speak of, and the information was easily obtained.
"Not in ruins, but desolate."
As expected, the huge airport was full of machinery but few people. The maintenance workers were all gray-haired or had prosthetic limbs.
Human resources have been pushed to their Limit; it's truly a slow death.
He looked up at the city in the distance, which was surrounded by metal walls resembling guard posts, but several times larger. Some high-tech buildings peeked out from behind the walls, and their sheer size was evident just by looking at them.
Which city is this?
Yuki. However, he wasn't standing in the cockpit admiring the scenery; he could figure it out using some basic geographical knowledge:
It is located near the eastern mountains, about 50 kilometers away.
"Mr. Yuki, you have twelve hours of free time. Meet here afterwards, and I will take you to Command Headquarters." A deep male voice came from behind; it was Captain Kudus.
"Have I handed it over to your Interior Ministry department now?"
Kudus's eyes sharpened slightly, and he said coldly, "You shouldn't know about the 'Ministry of the Interior Ministry.' Who told you?"
"I'll find out sooner or later." Yuki was too lazy to waste words with him and had no intention of getting involved in the power struggle within the instance. He looked around and asked, "What's the 'freedom of movement' rule?"
"I'll send a car to Blue Jade City. Do not approach military facilities or have excessive contact with civilians. Otherwise, please feel free to do as you please."
This is hardly free activity.
Yuki has a keen sense of smell and immediately noticed something was off, but as before, he didn't ask any questions. He just watched as Kudus took something out of his briefcase.
"This is an identification tag. With it, you can move freely throughout the city."
It resembled a metal badge, its main structure being the emblem of the Defense Force.
An image of someone holding a shield.
"Built-in location services?"
"Yes, it also offers some protection." The captain remained direct, instructing, "You've killed quite a few insects, which will attract the attention of Lurkers, Puppet Bug, and Hunter Bug. With this, the garrison will come to protect you."
"Don't worry, it's a new product from the research department. The special signal it sends can't be detected by the swarm."
See? We've obtained important intelligence.
Yuki remembered hint five and connected it to the role of reputation. Did this mean that if his Zerg reputation was too low, he'd be targeted for special attention?
Luckily, I was an 'Infiltrator', so my reputation dropped relatively slowly.
He thanked them and pinned the badge to his left breast. At that moment, he felt a subtle gaze. Turning his head, he saw only the gray-haired staff members.
Illusion?
Yuki frowned, looking at the captain's expressionless face.
"You're not hiding something from me, are you?"
Kudus thought for a moment before replying, "I do indeed have many things I'm hiding from you."
Grass.
Yuki ignored him and waited a few minutes. A car hovering in the air drove up. He glanced at it curiously and found that it was driverless.
"No driver?"
"Hmm, we can only travel along the fixed route. Go on." The captain was a little impatient, as if he couldn't keep this person any longer.
Yuki was very perceptive. Since Chris hadn't come out yet, there must be some secret matter. He quickly got into the back seat and, as soon as he settled in, felt a strong push-back sensation.
Swish--
It takes only two seconds to accelerate from a standstill to 100 km/h. The hovercar is speeding along, and the front seat has an electronic screen that shows the driving route.
Unfortunately, I don't have hacking skills, so I can't hack into the system.
Since there was no tech to Yuki in this area, I decided to enjoy the scenery along the way.
Leaving the airport, you find yourself on a wide, eight-lane road with damaged guardrails on both sides, clearly showing signs of age. Despite its width, there are hardly any cars on the road, allowing you to speed along freely. Beyond the guardrails are vast fields of crops resembling wheat, where huge machines are harvesting them.
They're all unmanned machines. Since artificial intelligence is so powerful, why not build more drones or something?
Yuki didn't understand technology very well, and he just found it very strange that no one had thought of using something else to replace manpower when it was exhausted.
During this break, he carefully examined the badge on his left breast.
[Loyal Guardian Medal]
[Function: Emits special electromagnetic waves for positioning]