Chapter 94 Weight

The arrival of winter always comes unexpectedly. The city in the early morning seems to be immersed in a cold gray fog, and the wind is damp and cold.

Chen Luan's car stopped at a red light. There was a breakfast stall in front of the middle school at the intersection. Students in school uniforms walked in pairs of three or two, with their backpacks hanging loosely on their shoulders. The white mist they exhaled while chatting and laughing with their friends was quickly blown away by the cold wind. A pair of twins jumped out of the car, waved goodbye to their families with bright smiles, and ran into the school gate.

The car window was half open, and the light golden morning light filled in the car, reflecting a bright color on the dial on his wrist. Chen Luan came back to his senses, lowered his eyes to look at the deep blue, and a softness appeared in his eyes.

Before he knew it, this watch and the necklace hanging on his chest had been with him year after year.

He had lost his family, he had lost everything, but now the touch of his wrist and chest made up for the missing weight in his soul, and built a harbor called home for him in this new world. It seemed that from now on, year after year, he would no longer be alone.

The green light is on.

Chen Luan drove the car into the traffic flow. At the end of the road was the undulating outline of a steel forest. Brilliant golden sunlight was rising from there, coating the passing vehicles and pedestrians with a layer of golden glow, which was reflected in a light gray lake.

Then the lake began to ripple slightly and curved upward in a soft arc.

Our efforts are all worth it, and those who come after us are also working hard to make the world a better place.

...Sister, if you could see all this, you would be very relieved, right?

After arriving at the school smoothly, Chen Luan changed into his combat uniform and arrived at the assembly point, ready to set off.

The destination of this training is the contaminated area of ​​urban ruins No. f6141, where the pollution level is medium to low risk. There are a total of 36 trainees and 6 instructors including Chen Luan, who is the main instructor.

Huo Lin stood at the edge of the airport, watching the students board the plane one by one, until Chen Luan, who was walking at the back, stood in front of her.

She raised her hand and patted Chen Luan's shoulder: "Be safe, I'll wait for you to come back."

"Don't worry, Sister Lin, I've been there at least five times, and I'm almost familiar with the route."

There have been dangerous situations during the training sessions led by Chen Luan, but there have never been any actual casualties.

Chen Luan’s principle has always been that since he brought the children in, he has the responsibility to bring them out safely.

This time will be no exception.

Everyone thinks so.

It was two days later when Jiang Xun and Jiang Ling returned.

The first snow fell in Qiwei City.

Chen Luan has not yet come out of the contaminated area.

They went to Wu Ning's club and successfully exchanged the newly acquired gun of the same model for the one with inscriptions on display in the lobby, which was of special significance to Chen Luan. They temporarily hid it in the warehouse, planning to give Chen Luan a surprise on his birthday.

Fine snow flakes fell from the light gray sky like salt grains, and the air with a cold smell rushed into the living room through the half-open window.

It's a bit cold.

Jiang Ling dropped the game in her hand, turned off the window, picked up the pillow beside the sofa and threw it towards Jiang Xun who was holding a tablet on the other side: "He hasn't come out yet?"

"No."

Jiang Xun raised his hand to catch the pillow and hugged it in his arms. A bright red "No Signal" appeared on the screen in his hand.

According to the original training plan, Chen Luan should come out of the contaminated area this afternoon to report to them that he is safe.

It's almost dark.

Chen Luan has led his team into contaminated areas countless times over the years, and this situation has never occurred before.

This makes Gemini a little anxious and even feels vaguely uneasy.

This uneasiness continued until the early morning of the next day and gradually turned into anxiety.

There is still no news about Chen Luan.

Jiang Ling began to pace around the living room restlessly, trying to comfort herself by thinking that maybe she was just delayed by something.

Jiang Xun sat on the sofa, his knuckles turning white from the force he exerted on the tablet, and the pheromones in the air began to stir unsteadily.

Until Jiang Ling's cell phone rang rapidly.

Both alphas' hearts couldn't help but beat violently.

The caller ID shows Qiao Zhile.

Jiang Ling held the phone, praying that it was some irrelevant matter.

The call was connected.

"...Jiang Ling, Jiang Xun."

The voice on the other end of the phone was a little hoarse, and seemed to be hesitant to speak.

Jiang Ling's heart began to beat wildly uncontrollably. She subconsciously looked at Jiang Xun, only to find that her twin brother's fingers had also been tightly clenched into his palm.

...Isn't it possible?

Suddenly there was a muffled "bang" sound outside the window.

Jiang Ling's fingers trembled.

Amid the deafening sound of heartbeats, they saw a lost sparrow hit the glass head-on, flapping its wings and falling into the increasingly strong snowstorm.

Jiang Ling's Adam's apple rolled with difficulty, and he found that his voice was almost trembling: "You say."

"Brother Luan..."

The moment Qiao Zhile's voice sounded again, his heart almost stopped.

"What happened to him?"

"The Medical Department just received news that a magnetic field disturbance broke out in contaminated area F6164 yesterday, causing an abnormal increase in the regional pollution index. The command center detected the presence of a suspected high-risk desolate beast in the area and urgently recalled all trainees. However, some students and instructors were still injured. We are now rushing to F6164."

"One group of students mistakenly entered a magnetic storm zone on their way back and were surrounded by a group of desolate beasts. Brother Luan turned back to rescue them."

"Temporarily...lost contact."

The wind outside the window suddenly became stronger, and the snowflakes hit the window glass with a popping sound.

Jiang Ling seemed to hear a sharp buzzing sound in his ears, swallowing up everything around him, including the sound and the air.

The dry throat seemed to be blocked by something, and I was choking and unable to make any sound.

In the vast silence, Jiang Ling heard his own hoarse and struggling voice:

"What did you say"

At the same time, in the contaminated area f6164, Chen Luan had just finished a fierce battle.

Four hours ago, he found six students and an instructor surrounded by nearly thirty wild beasts in the ruins of a shopping mall covered with corrosive wild plants.

Three of the trainees' mechas were severely damaged, and one even lost its ability to move.

Chen Luan used the mecha to block several attacks for the student who had lost his ability to move, and he fought his way out of the encirclement for them, letting the instructor take the students away first while he covered their rear.

Now he had just shaken off the growing group of desolate beasts and hid in a triangular hidden area formed by a collapsed residential building and the ground.

A series of red warning pop-ups kept popping up on the control panel in front of me.

[Warning: Magnetic field abnormality, communication system temporarily unresponsive! ]

[Warning: Environmental pollution index: 6992.59, has exceeded the safety value, there is a risk of intrusion into the cockpit, please disengage as soon as possible!]

[Warning: Energy is less than 20%, the aircraft is 57% damaged, and the cockpit airtightness is 81% damaged...]

[Warning: Abnormal concentration of contaminated crystal dust in the cockpit! Abnormal concentration of contaminated spores! Please check the cabin's airtightness immediately! Please check the cabin's airtightness immediately!]

【warn! 】

【warn! 】

Outside the window was a dilapidated building covered in a blue glow and rusty red vines with warts, and a few unyielding wild beasts were roaming nearby.

Chen Luan temporarily shut down all systems except the ventilation system to save energy, and the cockpit fell into darkness and silence.

Chen Luan felt some sharp and dense pain in his lungs, and leaned against the back of the driver's seat somewhat weakly. He felt dizzy for a short time and coughed uncontrollably several times.

The palms covering my mouth and nose felt a little wet.

Chen Luan opened his hands and his gaze fell calmly on the dark red dots mixed with strange blue light.

There was a problem with the airtightness of the cabin, and the pollution index of the external environment had exceeded the limit that a Class B mecha could withstand.

He was infected.

If he didn't get out quickly, he would be swallowed up by the increasingly dense polluted crystal dust and spores in the air.

He has to go out too.

Earlier, during his breakout, he saw a fleeting shadow appear on the top floor of a distant building.

Even if that shadow turned into ashes and chaos, it would be impossible to mistake it.

It's a wild beast.

Yes, it is not a desolate beast, not a desolate species, but the culprit that humans once believed had been completely driven out of the earth and caused all this now.

It was a primitive wild beast.

It is the primitive species of wild beasts that can drive large-scale waves of wild beasts.

The source of the signal received by the command center, which was suspected to be from a highly dangerous desertified species, was probably from here.

He had to get the message out.

The gradually increasing pollution concentration in the cabin made Chen Luan feel dizzy, and a blue glare spread at the edge of his vision.

A chaotic picture gradually appeared before my eyes.

One moment, the faces of teammates were covered in blood.

One moment, I saw the backs of my parents leaving the warm base dormitory.

In the blink of an eye, they turned into fireworks blooming in the snowy night sky, two pairs of identical light amber eyes.

Some people called him "Brother", and some people called him "Chen Luan".

His consciousness blurred for a moment, but the heavy weight on his wrist and the cool touch of metal on his chest pulled Chen Luan back from the chaos.

He clenched his palms and bit the tip of his tongue hard, and the taste of rust spread in his mouth.

no.

Can't stop here.

There are still people waiting for him to come home.

There was a sound of labored breathing in the cabin, and Chen Luan propped himself up and sat up again.

The hum of the mecha engine could be heard again in the silent darkness, stirring up a cloud of dirty blue dust.

The desolate beasts cruising nearby quickly gathered here like sharks smelling blood.

The black mecha dragged a brilliant stream of light, constantly flashing and leaping among the growing number of beasts.

Wherever they passed, the desolate beasts fell one after another, and the red warning light in the cabin became brighter and brighter.

Chen Luan didn't know how many desolate beasts he had killed or how far he had walked.

Until his energy dropped to less than 5%, his breathing became difficult, his lungs felt a tearing pain, and his consciousness was on the verge of collapse.

Suddenly, a sharp electric current sounded in the communication band, followed by a familiar steady voice:

[A097 calling B028, this is the Pioneer Fleet - Front Shadow Squadron, please reply.]

[A097 calling B028, Assistant Chen, this is Qin Yang. Please answer.]

Qin Yang?

Chen Luan, whose consciousness was already a little fuzzy, was stunned for a moment, shook his heavy head, and looked up.

In the distance, several fleet-standard A-class mechas flew over.

With a loud "boom", an energy cannon exploded not far away, knocking the desolate beast that was about to pounce on Chen Luan to the ground.

Chen Luan watched as the leading mecha, using the extremely familiar maneuvering mode that he had personally taught him, led the team to kill through the heavy beast hordes and rushed towards him.

Gray eyes, already slightly fogged, curved upwards, and Chen Luan's hoarse voice rang out over the communication band:

[Unit B028 received.]

The driver is currently in good condition and is not in immediate danger of death.

How are the students?

All 36 trainees and five teaching staff have returned to the command base, and four seriously injured are receiving treatment.

Chen Luan breathed a sigh of relief and turned on the headset.

【receive. 】

Six hours later, a cheer of surprise was heard in the command center of contaminated area F6164.

Several fleet-standard mechas returned to the command base with a Class B mecha that had run out of energy and shut down.

Chen Luan was helped out of the cabin. Before he could even stand firmly, he heard a cry of someone rolling and crawling.

"Brother Luan ahhhhhhhhhh!!!"

Suddenly, a figure in a white coat rushed into his arms, hugged his shoulders tightly, and cried with snot and tears all over his face.

Chen Luan was strangled to the point of being unable to breathe, and his vision was still dizzy. Before he could open his mouth to call out Qiao Zhile's name, a mouthful of sticky dark red liquid flowed out of his mouth and nose.

Qiao Zhile, whose eyes were swollen like walnuts, looked at the blue specks in the blood splattered on his white coat. He was stunned for two seconds and then made a sharper explosion.

Medical staff rushed over in a hurry.

Chen Luan lay on the stretcher, rubbing his aching eardrums. He pinched Qiao Zhilezi'er's screaming mouth and said, "...Stop screaming. You won't die."

This level of infection was commonplace in wartime. He estimated that if he took a year or two off and stopped coming into contact with the pollution source, the infection would be completely eliminated.

Qiao Zhile, whose microphone was manually muted, blinked and two large tears fell. He sobbed twice, and his peripheral vision caught sight of Chen Luan's wrist, and he paused.

"Brother Luan, your watch..."

"watch?"

What's wrong with the watch?

Chen Luan turned over his wrist and looked at it, and was stunned.

The crystal mirror covering the dark blue dial had cracked at some point, a crack running through it from left to right.

It must have been hit while breaking through.

"…It should be repairable."

Chen Luan pursed his lips, took off the watch he always wore, carefully wrapped it up and put it in his pocket to prevent it from being scratched again. A wave of guilt surged in his chest again.

He broke the first gift his brother gave him.

...Why did it break?

Without telling Jiang Xun that he had accidentally broken his watch, Chen Luan reported to his brothers that he was safe and was then pushed into the examination room.

As Chen Luan expected, his exposure time was not long, and he left the high-concentration pollution area in time. In addition, with the protection of the mecha cabin, the degree of infection was not fatal.

You just can't come into contact with any pollution sources or enter polluted areas for at least the next two years, and you need to take long-term medication until it is metabolized.

Among the doctors who came to f6164 this time was Yu Xiaotan.

Young Master Yu has worked diligently as a school doctor at the military academy for several years and was finally promoted to a full-time position last year.

——Although he still couldn't change his habit of moving closer to Chen Luan whenever he saw him, he never really did anything out of line.

When Chen Luan came out of the examination room, he ran into Yu Xiaotan who was dispensing medicine to the wounded. Seeing Chen Luan, he immediately came over with the medicine bottle in his hand and said stealthily, "Hey, are you okay?"

"Well, I won't die." Chen Luan found a chair and sat down tiredly. Suddenly, he thought of something and paused: "I remember you said you also have a Vesperis watch?"

"Not a single piece."

Yu Xiaotan slid over to sit next to Chen Luan, propping up his chin and looking at him with squinting eyes. "Yes, there are a lot. What's the matter? Have you come to terms with it? Do you think my financial situation can still give you a better life?"

"..." Chen Luan ignored the young master's nonsense and took out the watch with the broken glass from his clothes. "Do you know where I can get it repaired?"

"Eh? Broken?"

The other party looked at the watch, touched his chin and took it: "This kind of limited edition usually needs to be sent back to the Vesperis Manor-"

Halfway through his words, Yu Xiaotan suddenly frowned slightly:

"Wait a moment."

"?" Chen Luan raised his eyes: "What's wrong?"

Yu Xiaotan held the watch in his palm, weighed it, and frowned:

"Your watch..."

"The weight is wrong."