Chapter Eight: Rare Trust
The drone was broken, lying in the grass, emitting a plume of smoke that seemed destined never to be restarted.
The convoy of fallen insects roared past, leaving behind only a trail of exhaust fumes that seemed to mock them.
Zhao Bohan, in the car in front, was so shocked by the whistling sound that his eardrums throbbed with pain, his eyes became bloodshot, and his pollution level soared by 10%.
Su Qingran and Qi An surrounded him from the left and right, one checking his eardrums and brain, and the other performing a mild purification.
Yu Shuang punched the hood of the car, creating a large dent.
The red dot representing the locator flashed twice on her tablet and then quickly went out.
That's bad too!
Su Qingran glanced at it, her pretty face full of frost: "Didn't we check all the important equipment before we left? This spy drone was also test-flown, and there were no problems at the time!"
There was no problem then, but the fact that it can break so precisely now shows that someone has tampered with it.
Everyone remained silent and gloomy. Yu Shuang, having run out of cigarettes, became even more agitated.
"None of us understand these kinds of sophisticated electronic devices, so we're bound to suffer losses." As the team leader, she managed to control her emotions, took a deep breath, and said:
"Retrieve the broken drones and keep them safe. I will report this to the headquarters later."
"They're fucking filthy rotten-hearted bastards, their brains are on the soles of their feet, they don't do anything productive all day, all they do is form cliques and fight amongst themselves! This isn't the first time! If you piss me off, I'll snipe them!" Zhuang Xiao cursed, his baby face contorted with rage.
However, after venting his anger, he still cautiously glanced at the expressions of the two captains and asked, "So, what's next...?"
Qi An gained a new understanding of the team's dire situation.
She remained silent, but roughly understood that they now had three choices.
One option is to return to base and report the equipment damage, but the logistics department will most likely not admit that the equipment was originally broken.
Since they've already tampered with it, they must have had a backup plan to completely destroy the item, making it unrepairable.
If Team 2 returns, it will be considered a mission failure, and they may also be blamed for damaging valuable equipment and given a major demerit.
Secondly, the chemical detection and path calculation capabilities of the multi-functional reconnaissance drone were used to continue the tracking.
However, this thing is too big to get close to, as it risks being exposed, and there's also the issue of battery life.
Chemical detection and path correction are very power-consuming if they are always on. I wonder if the batteries they brought this time will last for 4 hours.
If the fallen insects stop and go around or take detours, it won't be enough for them to reach the first suspected stronghold in 4 hours. In that case, the team won't even be able to eliminate one of the two suspected strongholds.
Besides, we don't know if it will be windy in the afternoon.
Wind will cause the insect oil fumes to dissipate faster, making it difficult to continue tracking.
The last option was to go directly to the two suspected strongholds and investigate them one by one.
They simply lack spy drones, and their multi-functional reconnaissance drones don't have integrated aperture radar. They can still conduct reconnaissance using only optical and infrared cameras, but it's a lot of work and very dangerous.
The three options are basically a competition of who is worse, but the last one is slightly better.
Based on Qi An's understanding of Shuang, she will most likely choose the last one.
However, to Qi An's surprise, the captain didn't choose any of them!
Yu Shuang rummaged through the trunk of the car for a while and pulled out a broken box. When she opened it, she found yet another set of spy drone equipment!
However, this one was clearly worse than the previous one. The body was the size of a goose egg, the paint on it was mottled and hard to see, and the sensors on the matching neural control device were pitifully few.
Zhao Bohan was a little surprised: "What is this?"
“Xiao Zhou brought this back. His sister runs a shop selling second-hand electronic devices, right? This drone was assembled by his sister from old parts she collected. She gave it to him as a birthday present before the New Year,” Yu Shuang said.
Xiao Zhou was one of the team members who sacrificed their lives in the last mission. Yu Shuang's voice was a little low when she talked about him.
After everyone's initial surprise, they fell silent for a moment, and Qi An was somewhat amazed.
Spy drones are always rare items. The fact that this woman can collect parts and repair them demonstrates her sourcing channels and technical expertise!
Yu Shuang's tone was not relaxed: "This thing's stealth performance and battery life are much worse than the previous one, and it's also more difficult to operate. Moreover, there's a very small but fatal problem: the listening module on it is uncontrollable and might start randomly after startup!"
The group looked at each other in bewilderment.
This is truly deadly!
Because each fallen insect is a mobile source of pollution; the bumps and patterns on their skin, the foul smell of their excrement and blood, the terrifying sensation of their tentacles' suckers touching human skin... are all sources of deadly poison!
Of all these, the screams emitted by the Fallen Insects using their preserved human vocal organs are the king of kings! Absolutely deadly!
If the monitoring module is turned on haphazardly, and the Fallen Insects start making noises, the person remotely controlling the device could instantly mutate!
This is a high-stakes gamble, but not a bad one. Zhao Bohan said, "I'll take over. I'm much better now."
Yu Shuang scoffed, "Just rest now." She put the soft hat on her head.
Qi An hesitated in the corner, then said, "Should I do it?"
Everyone looked at her, and Yu Shuang flatly refused, "No, it's too dangerous..."
Her rejection was subconscious, but then she suddenly realized that the danger mainly came from pollution, and Qi An had the highest mental resistance here.
So what was the reason for this rejection? Was it due to distrust?
The atmosphere became awkward for a moment. Qi An was silent for a moment before saying, "I often participate in Professor Tang's experiments and am very familiar with the operation of the neural control device. This morning, when I was checking the equipment, I also test-flew the spy drone."
However, I can't guarantee there won't be any mistakes. If the captain decides to operate personally, I'll stay by his side, ready to purify at any time.
She spoke calmly and earnestly, without any sign of grievance on her face; she truly accepted both options.
But Yu Shuang was suddenly overcome with guilt.
This low-end drone controller has few sensors and requires a high level of mental strength. In addition, if she hears a scream, the mutation speed is too fast, which poses a considerable risk to the purifier.
Time waits for no one.
“Then let Xiao Qi handle it!” Yu Shuang decided.
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