Chapter 33 I won't retreat

Is it stressful to compete with experienced veterans in a contaminated area?

The answer is no.

Compared to the doomsday two hundred years ago when wild beasts were rampant and high-risk restricted areas were everywhere, the low-risk pollution area is not Chen Luan's comfort zone at all.

It is a ruling area.

On the way to the training base on a military plane, Chen Luan watched the prosperous city under the clouds getting farther and farther away, and gradually being replaced by ruins.

Humans have only been back on Earth for two hundred years, so there are still large uninhabited areas on Earth.

Nearly fifty years of wild beasts wreaking havoc on the planet ultimately left irreparable scars. The city ruins crawling on the horizon, gradually covered by alienated plants, became an unhealable wound on the land.

This is also the reason why Chen Luan is extremely strict when teaching.

Some of those students will eventually join the local garrisons and fleets in the future, and eventually be deployed in the battlefield of the contaminated area cleanup operation.

He hoped they would all survive intact.

Just as he expected when he sent off batches of children at the base training ground.

Finally, the plane arrived at the outskirts of the G4106 contaminated area. Chen Luan and Huo Lin passed through the layers of checkpoints of the garrison and officially entered the contaminated area.

Chen Luan thought that once he returned to the familiar environment, he could handle everything with ease.

But when he drove the mecha on the broken asphalt road covered with weeds, the past in his memory that had passed away long ago began to slowly overlap with reality.

Chen Luan looked up, seeing the dark blue polluted crystal dust covering the twisted steel skeleton of the building's wreckage, and the rusty red vines with sharp teeth entwined in the building's dark windows. He felt as if he was back on the battlefield of doomsday.

The low-risk pollution area before their eyes was quickly covered by the doomsday scene that pressed down from the void.

Wherever the wild beasts go, plants mutate and grow wildly, and animals become alienated and deformed...

A sharp buzzing sound suddenly exploded in Chen Luan's mind.

Then countless fragmented images and layers of sounds came crashing down on him like a tsunami.

In a trance, he saw seventeen-year-old Wang Xiaodou, stabbed in the chest under the tile-blue sky. His usually smiling eyes were dim and dull, and scarlet blood was gushing out of his black mouth.

Communicator An Yongnian had half of his body torn apart alive. He dragged his body towards the signal source that had been thrown several meters away and that he wanted to reactivate.

Team doctor Wu Tianxin had both legs chewed off and was being torn apart by three wild beasts. Before he was torn apart, he used up his last bit of strength to throw the only remaining first aid kit in his arms towards Chen Luan.

Her lover leaned against the window of the armored vehicle, crying and shouting at the top of his lungs, with a brand new wedding ring still on his stained finger...

Chen Luan, acquaintances and strangers,

Familiar, unfamiliar,

Countless images screamed and drilled into his temples.

Thousands and tens of thousands of familiar and unfamiliar voices were calling out to Chen Luan one after another.

Captain Chen, Captain Chen, I want to drink pineapple soda!

Brother Luan, hey, I’m getting married!

Instructor Chen! I can go to the front line tomorrow!

Xiaoluan, are you going on another mission? I'll save some fish soup for you when you come back!

…

Brother Luan, I want to...live, I don't want to die...

Captain Chen, my daughter is still waiting for me at home...

Instructor Chen, I'm sorry, I was so reckless... Did I disappoint you?

Chen Luan!! It's all your fault! It's all your fault—if you hadn't chosen this route and sent out the scouts, my wife wouldn't have died!!

…

Chen Luan...

Chen Luan Chen Luan Chen Luan——

Chen Luan!!!!!!!!!

All the sounds mixed together and overlapped, weaving into a dense, impenetrable black net. Layer upon layer, it collapsed towards Chen Luan, eventually twisting into a solid black rope, stretching into a sharp line, and transforming into a piercing tinnitus that pierced his eardrums.

explode,

splash,

Crying,

Scream,

Shout,

Eventually, everything collapses into a black hole-like singularity.

The center of the singularity is the back of his parents, who have not been seen for a long time, turning back to smile and wave at him as they leave.

Before Jiang Mingming went on the last mission with him, he raised his arm and bumped fists with him with a smile.

Then a gust of wind blew.

Chen Luan looked down.

There was only half a chocolate and two brand-name items in my hand.

His heart was beating almost crazily, making a booming sound, which made him dizzy.

"Chen Luan?"

"Chen Luan——"

Who is calling me?

"Chen Luan? What's wrong with you?"

"It's okay, you can back out now if you feel uncomfortable."

Exit...what?

Am I not on the battlefield?

It seems my mission is not over yet.

All dead...

Many people died.

Is the war over?

We finally...

Did you win?

Chen Luan was in chaos, as if his soul had floated into the air.

The black tide engulfed him.

I'm sorry I couldn't save you...

I'm sorry... maybe I didn't teach hard enough...

sorry,

sorry.

I'm really... sorry.

Black arms wrapped around Chen Luan one by one.

He closed his eyes and curled up into a small shell, letting those arms pull him down into the silent abyss.

But in the sticky black silence, a faint light shone through.

He heard someone calling his name again.

"Hello, Chen Luan."

"elder brother?"

"Chen Luan, you are clearly alive."

"Happy birthday, brother."

"Chen Luan, where is the necklace I gave you?"

"Brother, you promised me, you can't go back on your word."

who?

Whose brother?

Chen Luan suddenly woke up.

He felt something foreign poking his chest, and his wrist felt heavy and cold.

He lowered his head in confusion.

Blue watch, blue necklace.

Like an anchor that proves that he really exists here.

Ten million butterflies swarmed out of the quiet blue.

The sharp roar in my ears was dispelled by butterflies.

Chen Luan blinked.

Like a drowning person suddenly floating to the surface.

Fresh air rushed towards him.

After a long time.

He opened his mouth.

The voice was so hoarse that it came out from the crack of the throat:

"Sister Lin."

Only then did Chen Luan realize that his hands were shaking uncontrollably.

"Are you okay? Why are you standing there so still? The vital signs analyzer just went off the alarm, telling you your heart is beating too fast."

Huo Lin's calm voice came from the communication channel.

"If you're not feeling well, we can go back now."

Do you want to go back?

Chen Luan looked at the cordon behind him.

As long as he took half a step back and returned to the cordon.

From now on, the roaring in his soul will have nothing to do with him.

He could return to the peaceful era he was accustomed to and had longed for, and be an ordinary teaching assistant in school, never stepping into the nightmare again as a beta.

if only,

Just take half a step back.

...Do you want to retreat?

Chen Luan shook his numb arms and raised his cold grey eyes which were now shining again.

No.

He would never compromise with those things.

no way.

If I can defeat you once, I can defeat you the second and third time.

He exhaled lightly.

A moment later, Chen Luan's casual and relaxed voice came through the headset on the communication channel:

"I'm fine. I'm just a little excited because I haven't been to a wild contaminated area in a while."

"Since we're here, there's no reason to go back empty-handed. A simulation is no match for the real thing."

Huo Lin's laughter came from the channel:

"I knew it."

"Come on, Chen Luan, show us your full strength."

"There are 151 desolate beasts here. Each one is worth 1 point. The time limit is 6 hours. The one with the highest score wins. When you win, I have good news for you."

"Really? Then I'm already looking forward to it."

As soon as he finished speaking, two B-class mechas flew towards the depths of the contaminated area like a stream of light.

at the same time.

A vote is taking place in the meeting room of the Federal Military Academy.

The giant screen in front of the conference room was split into two halves, and two mechas were flashing in the city ruins covered by alien creatures.

At the bottom of the screen, the numbers on the scoreboard kept jumping and changing.

The mecha belonging to Chen Luan was as agile as a light flying bird, turning and leaping in the complex terrain.

Below him, a crustacean arthropod had noticed Chen Luan and was raising its forelimbs, spraying dark green corrosive mucus from its mouthparts.

There was no clumsy jet retreat, nor was there any shield deployment to block.

I saw that B-class mecha, which was so ordinary that it couldn't be more ordinary, lightly stepped on the edge of the roof of the building and jumped down. The whole body dodged the attack lightly like a falling leaf, and then hovered in the air for a very short moment, which was against common sense!

The thrusters flashed a faint blue flame—

Accelerate your dive!

The silver double blades popped out from the back of the mecha, making a clanging sound, and then intertwined and flashed, leaving two bright trails under the fading red afterglow of the sunset.

In a flash, he approached the insect below, clinging to its raised forelimbs.

“Shhh——”

A brilliant light flashed, and two broken limbs flew out along with gushing blood, and the insect let out a sharp scream.

The huge elytra vibrated, as if trying to escape.

But the mecha turned around lightly, stepped on the insect's body again, leaped up as if floating on the wind, and then swooped down again like an eagle!

The silver blade pierced the air like piercing the clouds and the moon, and cut into the insect's mouthparts with precision.

The mecha held the hilt of the knife, used its waist and legs to drive its arms and swung its hand—

The insect body, which was more than four times larger than the mecha, was instantly flipped over by the mecha with its clever strength, revealing its fragile abdominal sac.

Amidst the shrill scream, the mecha did not leap again.

Instead, he took out a huge sniper cannon from behind, and after casually throwing a knife to nail the insect to the ground, he set up the cannon without taking any aim. The faint blue light gathered at the muzzle and burst out instantly, hitting the tiny dark spot under the insect's belly sac with incredible precision.

There was a loud bang.

Beneath the spot was the heart of the insect, which had been blown into pieces by the energy cannon.

"drop--"

The scoreboard ticked again.

The conference room was silent.

Only two bright red scores kept flashing on the scoreboard:

84:67

A cold and majestic voice sounded in the spacious conference room:

"According to the proposal of Huo Lin, the head instructor of the Mecha Control Department, Assistant Professor Chen Luan will be promoted to the head instructor of the Mecha Practical Course starting next school year. Who is in favor of this? Who is against this?"

On the other side, Chen Luan, who had already left the contaminated area, opened the hatch, jumped off the mecha easily, and bumped fists with Huo Lin who was coming towards him with a smile.

"You're quite capable. I didn't expect you to perform better in field combat than in the simulator!"

Huo Lin hit Chen Luan on the shoulder again: "While I was leading the team out some time ago, you secretly trained yourself?"

The young man opposite was still wearing his usual black and gray camouflage training uniform, and his dark gray eyes were tinged with a lingering light.

At that moment, it seemed as if he was still the high-spirited Captain Chen of the Cloud Ci Combat Team at Base S17.

Chen Luan took off his communication headset, glanced back at the contaminated area behind him, and raised his eyes with a relaxed smile: "Yeah. I let you beat me twice in a row in the simulation cabin before, so of course I want to win back. It seems that the extra training is effective."

"Now, can you tell me what the good news is?"

"Chen Luan. Do you want to be the head instructor of the mecha combat class?"

At this time, Chen Luan didn't know that far away in the Jiang residence in Qiwei City, the twins of the Jiang family had also entered a susceptible period different from the past.

The susceptible period, which was expected to arrive in two or three days, has been brought forward.

This is the first time that Jiang Xun and Jiang Ling will face a susceptible period without Chen Luan.