At this time, System Interface lit up again.
[Stressful events for important people: Li Xingke.]
[Long-term stress source: Legacy of Han Restoration/Long-term overload work.]
[Pressure critical: triggered.]
[Changes in special life characteristics.]
[Legacy of Han Restoration: Faith retained.]
[New social traits: Crouching Dragon Concealing Talent.]
[Characteristic description: Hidden skill is hidden in clumsiness, and you can win from defeat. Great skill is like clumsiness, great straightness is like submission.]
[Characters begin to actively limit the expansion of non-essential responsibilities, transfer professional tasks to corresponding agencies, and show appropriate incompetence when necessary.]
[Strategic coordination ability: reserved.]
[Personal willingness to take on non-essential work: significantly decreased.]
[Warning: Players will have difficulty continuing to automatically assign all new tasks on the grounds that only Li Xingke can complete them.]
Lin Cuo's smile slowly disappeared.
"Wait...Crouching Dragon Concealing Talent?"
Kallen was checking the retreat route on the east side when he heard him suddenly talking to himself and asked casually, "What Wolong?"
Lin Cuo looked at the last warning and was silent for a while.
"I seem to have lost a very important national strategic advantage. General Le seems to have learned to be lazy."
Kallen finally couldn't help laughing.
"Then I have to congratulate him."
"Kallen, you have no idea what this means to Human Common Defense!"
"Of course I do, it means General Li might finally get a good night's sleep."
Lin Cuo thought about it and found that this incident did not seem to be a bad thing. It was just that a huge loophole suddenly appeared in the original very efficient method of utilizing talents.
What's even more frightening is that this vulnerability may also spread to Secretariat. Just as he was about to seriously think about how to fix it, a tactical alert interrupted his thoughts.
"The third security area is requesting support! Princess's special machine is damaged, and there is an underground BETA breakthrough near Cockpit!"
Kallen immediately turned Guren to the west, and his attention finally returned to his eyes.
"Quick! Let's save people first!"
Cornelia was standing on the edge of a sinking road at this time. Her Gloucester left leg driving wheel was directly penetrated by Assault-class's forelimb. The right auxiliary thruster also failed in the continuous battle, and the body could no longer stand up again on its own strength.
Gilford had originally led several Gloucesters to come back to respond, but the road leading to Princess's location cracked open again, and a large number of Tank-classs poured out from the ground, separating the two sides.
"Your Highness, please eject immediately! We can recover Cockpit!"
"Eject now, and the life capsule will fall directly into the middle of those monsters!" Cornelia checked the weapons and raised the lance on the right arm of the machine body again, "Gilford, you protect the retreating troops first, I can still hold on!"
"But Your Highness, your body has been--"
"I know how much fighting power my body still has!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the external sensor sent out a piercing alarm. Three Assault-class were crawling out from under the road. One of them had already put its forelimbs on the wreckage of Gloucester. The huge force caused the entire Cockpit to tilt sharply to the left.
Cornelia clenched the joystick and was about to release all the power of the last lance, but suddenly a voice came over the communication that she was very unwilling to hear.
"Your Highness Princess, good afternoon! This is the Great Han Western Common Defense Executive Office special rescue formation. We have arrived. We recommend that you immediately stop any resistance that may affect the safety of the rescuers."
Cornelia was stunned.
"Lin Cuo?!"
"Correct! It seems that His Highness Princess still remembers my voice, which is really touching. In addition, His Highness Euphemia specifically asked me to bring you back safely, so I think this rescue has both military value and important humanitarian concern."
"Euphemia? What did you say to my sister again?!"
"We mainly discussed your safety and whether we should have some friendly Royal Family personal communication after the war."
Cornelia's eyes suddenly became extremely dangerous.
"Lin Cuo, listen clearly, now is not the time for you to make fun of Euphemia!"
"I completely agree, so please put down your rifle. That Assault-class has almost dismantled your Cockpit."
Guren suddenly lowered its altitude from above the valley, and the Radiation Fluctuation on its right arm directly hit the Assault-class closest to Gloucester. The huge BETA forelimbs violently spasmed, and then the internal tissues were destroyed by the high-energy impact. The whole body fell backwards, overwhelming a group of Tank-class that had just rushed onto the road.
The other two Assault-class tried to bypass Guren, and Lingyin Huang had already cut in from the other side.
"Can you two stop chatting for now?! There are a lot of monsters here!"
Shenlong's floating cannon deployed rapidly, forcing the enemy group to retreat with continuous firepower. Houki Shinonono piloted Akatsubaki and landed near the broken bridge on the west side, assisting the Imperial aircraft in maintaining the remaining retreat route. Chifuyu Orimura directly took over the temporary action coordination of the IS formation, constantly requiring each unit to report the location of friendly forces.
"The ground beneath Kallen, Princess's special machines is continuing to collapse. We only have a short approach time, so we give priority to recovering Driver."
"Understood!"
Kallen manipulated Guren to fall to the side of Gloucester, and deployed the auxiliary fixation device with his left arm to temporarily hold the body that was about to slide into the crack.
"Master Regent, is the rear rescue cabin ready?"
"Don't worry, the rest depends on whether His Highness Princess is willing to accept our country's advanced humanitarian rescue services."
"Stop talking nonsense! Hurry and help!"
Lin Cuo opened the rear emergency recovery hatch and sent the rescue fixed rope to the damaged Gloucester Cockpit. As soon as Cornelia unlocked the safety device, he saw the black-haired Regent leaning out his upper body from behind the hatch and extending his right hand to himself.
"Second Princess, long time no see."
"Are you still in the mood to laugh?!"
"If you don't want to shake hands, you can climb on your own. However, based on the current stability of the ground, I personally do not recommend continuing to maintain Royal Family etiquette."
Cornelia gritted his teeth and reached out to grab him.
Lin Cuo immediately activated the recovery mechanism and pulled her out of the damaged Cockpit.
The moment the two entered Guren, the ground beneath Gloucester completely collapsed. The machine body lost support and slid into the underground crack together with part of the highway guardrail.
Cornelia looked back and found that his special machine had disappeared, and the anger on his face stopped for a moment.
Lin Cuo seized this opportunity and closed the hatch very skillfully.
"Very good, the rescue was successful! Your Highness Princess, please cooperate with the security management of this machine for the time being and do not touch military terminals and unauthorized equipment at will."
Cornelia turned his head sharply.
"What did you say?"
"I said, welcome aboard the Great Han Eighth Generation Guren special rescue command aircraft. This rescue is provided by Great Han Western Common Defense Executive Office. Driver is General Kallen Kouzuki. I myself serve as the ship... vehicle and machine safety coordinator."
Kallen couldn't help but interrupt from the front, "When did you add a special rescue type to my body?"
"This is a temporary mission classification, General Kallen. It does not affect actual performance."
Cornelia had already noticed another thing. The external hatch of the rear rescue cabin had been locked. She tried to open the private communication and found that the communication application had first entered the security review process of Lin Cuo.
"Give me your communication rights back."
"Of course you can, but you have just experienced body damage and emergency transport. I suggest you complete the basic status confirmation first."
"Lin Cuo, I did not agree to let you restrict my communications!"
"You didn't formally sign the rescue agreement, but we just rescued you. Of course, special circumstances require special handling."
"That's because I had no other choice at the time!"
"I fully understand that our country has always adopted a very flexible interpretation of the de facto rescue relationship formed under such special circumstances."
Cornelia finally understood. She looked at Lin Cuo, and the expression on her face slowly changed from anger to one that was incredibly cold.
"Are you going to tell me that I have become your prisoner now?"
Lin Cuo immediately looked offended.
"Prisoner? Your Highness, this word is too unfriendly. You are a senior foreign military personnel under the temporary protection of Great Han Common Defense System. We will strictly ensure your life safety, basic medical needs and necessary diplomatic communication."
"So I want to leave, will you agree?"
"Of course, as long as the identity verification, medical evaluation, theater security review, and necessary military handover between the two sides are completed."
"Did you also say the same thing when you took Suzaku Kururugi away?"
Lin Cuo thought for a while.
"The specific wording varies, but we have been working to improve the uniformity of administrative procedures."
"You bastard!"
Cornelia finally couldn't bear it anymore and grabbed his collar directly, but Lin Cuo was very calm.
"Princess, you have just escaped from danger. It is best not to engage in strenuous activities now. Moreover, the rear space of this aircraft is limited. If you press me onto the console, General Kallen will be very unhappy."
"What I want to do most right now is to throw you out of this machine!"
"That may need to be discussed with His Highness Euphemia first. After all, she just specifically asked me not to get into trouble."
Cornelia's movements suddenly stopped.
"What exactly did Euphemia say to you?"
Lin Cuo took the opportunity to straighten his collar.
"She said that if I can bring you back safely, we can have a formal meeting after the war ends. By the way, she took the initiative."
"What?!"