Lying on the grass, looking at the sky in front of him through the glass cover, Fang Zheng yawned and breathed a sigh of relief.

It was not difficult for Fang Zheng to integrate into this group of kids. After all, they were just innocent children. Fang Zheng was quite experienced in taking care of children and it didn't take him long to establish friendly relations with them.

I have to say that the living environment of these children is really good. According to what I have seen on the Internet, this is to adjust the physical and mental environment of the drivers to the greatest extent possible. From a certain perspective, being able to maintain a comfortable natural environment in this doomsday-like world is a luxury in itself. And for those children, they probably can't understand how lucky they are...

But this is understandable, after all, they are driving mechas to fight monsters, and they are risking their lives. Considering this, it is understandable to give them extraordinary treatment... After all, there is no free lunch in the world... huh?

At this moment, Fang Zheng suddenly noticed that the fishing rod beside him moved, so he sat up and grabbed the fishing rod.

Are you hooked?

Thinking of this, Fang Zheng gripped the fishing rod tightly and pulled it upwards with force.

“Crash!!!”

Then, water splashed everywhere.

As the fishing rod was pulled up, a fish flew out of the water. However, right behind the fish was a young girl. She opened her mouth, biting the hooked fish, standing naked in the water, staring at Fang Zheng in front of her.

"That really gave me a fright."

Looking at the beautiful girl with long pink hair in front of him, Fang Zheng whistled.

"I didn't expect to catch a mermaid here."

Facing Fang Zheng, the girl didn't seem to be shy at all. She spat out the fish in her mouth, came closer, and sniffed Fang Zheng like a puppy.

“It tastes strange.”

The pink-haired girl whispered before sticking out her tongue and licking her arm.

"That's strange. Isn't it said that sea water is very salty?"

“This is not the sea.”

Fang Zheng shrugged helplessly and answered, while the latter glanced at him.

"Of course I know that, but this is the most sea-like place I know."

"This is a freshwater lake. It's completely different from the sea."

Fang Zheng didn't care at all about the pink-haired girl's lack of common sense, because during the time he had been in contact with these children, he had discovered that this group of people basically had no common sense of the outside world.

"Fresh water? Sea water?"

"Fresh water is water that humans can drink, but sea water is not."

“It’s all water, right?”

"That's right. Although they are both water, they are completely different. If you drink too much sea water, you may even die."

"Really? That's really interesting."

Hearing this, the pink-haired girl finally showed a look of interest.

"By the way, what is this mermaid you're talking about?"

"It's a species that comes from fairy tales. It lives in the ocean, with the upper body of a human and the lower body of a fish."

"The lower half of your body is a fish??"

Hearing this, the pink-haired girl picked up the fish that Fang Zheng had just caught and placed it below.

"so?"

“The part near the tail of the fish.”

Fang Zheng didn't care at all that the other person was posing naked in front of him. After all, he would never lose out by looking at a beautiful woman.

"How strange."

After understanding Fang Zheng's words, the pink-haired girl looked at the fish curiously, as if she was imagining what it would look like with a human body growing on it, and then she waved her hand and threw it away.

"I wonder if you can see mermaids in the sea, just like me?"

"It's just a fairy tale after all. I don't think you can see mermaids even if you go to the seaside."

Fang Zheng glanced at the terminal.

"It's almost time. I should go back. Goodbye, lovely lady with horns on her head."

As he spoke, Fang Zheng put away his fishing rod, waved at the pink-haired girl, and then turned and left.

Looking at Fang Zheng's back, the pink-haired girl muttered something in a low voice.

"Strange guy."

After saying this, she turned around and dived into the lake again.

For Fang Zheng, the encounter with the pink-haired girl was just a small incident, nothing worth his attention. The next day, he attended the launching ceremony with other children.

By the way, is that what an “adult” is?

Standing on the carpet, Fang Zheng narrowed his eyes as he looked at the people wearing masks and white robes sitting on the seats around him. He could feel that the soul consciousness of these people was extremely weak. If the soul light of the children standing next to him was as bright as an LED, then the soul light of those adults was at most the level of a 1-watt basement bulb.

Dim, blurry, almost non-existent dark yellow light.

It's like a lifeless puppet.

Come to think of it, I do remember that the humans who recorded this section on the Internet had completed the technology of immortality and gained the ability to be immortal. But the price was that they lost the ability to reproduce and become zombies without any desires and barely surviving... Is this considered living? In other words, are they still human?

"X, what are you thinking about?"

Mei's voice rang in Fang Zheng's ears. Fang Zheng turned around and saw the girl with short dark blue hair looking at him curiously.

"Are you okay? Not feeling well?"

"No, it's not that I feel physically uncomfortable, but rather that the gazes of those people make me uncomfortable..."

"Sight?"

"No, nothing, I was just saying."

Fang Zheng shook his head and changed the subject.

"By the way, you guys are still talking about that person?"

"yes……"

Hearing Fang Zheng's question, Mei lowered her head in disappointment. Now the group of children had finished their appearance and were on their way to the hangar. However, what they were talking about at the moment were the three people who left here because they failed the test.

Naomi, Hirokazu and Mitsuru.

Man was the driver codenamed 326 who was replaced by Fang Zheng. Because he and the glasses girl Yuno's synchronization values ​​were not well coordinated, Fang Zheng took advantage of the opportunity to replace him. As for Guang, according to intelligence, he had shown extraordinary adaptability when he was a child, and was therefore called a child prodigy. Unfortunately, although he was highly expected, he was removed from the list because he could not connect with others to control Franks, and could not reach an agreement with his partner.

And today is the day they leave here.

Although the children were very excited and thrilled to make a successful appearance and participate in the launch ceremony, those three people grew up with them. If they could all be here, then the 13th team would be able to gather together.

"Ah, sorry, we're not blaming you..."

At this point, Mei seemed to realize that this was a bit like excluding Fang Zheng, and hurriedly apologized to him. The latter just laughed and waved his hand.

"It's okay. I came from outside anyway. It's not easy to adapt to a new environment. Just take it slow."

But then again, Mei is very similar to Haruna.

Looking at the girl in front of him, Fang Zheng raised his eyebrows curiously. Whether it was her hairstyle, appearance or the sense of responsibility in her personality, she was very similar to Sairenji Haruna.

Come to think of it, the girl named Mirai is actually a bit similar to Nana.

At this moment, the train slowly stopped and then the door opened.

The launch ceremony has begun.

"The launching ceremony will begin now."

The white hatch slowly opened, and everyone was ready to start the Franks mecha.

"From today on, you will become official drivers."

However, just as the hatch was about to open completely, it suddenly stopped.

"What's wrong?"

"What happened?"

Faced with this unexpected situation, the children were a little surprised. After all, this was a serious and important launching ceremony. How could there be a problem at this time?

At the same time, the thick fog began to spread. At this moment, Fang Zheng keenly caught sight of something moving quickly in the thick fog.

"Tsk, I found a good time...!"

As he spoke, Fang Zheng gripped the joystick tightly.

"I'm sorry, Yuno, please accompany me for a while."

"Why?"

The next moment, the white Franks mecha Chlorophytum suddenly lowered its head, crawled out of the hangar, and then rushed towards a round tank-shaped transport ship in the distance.

"Wait? What is he doing?"

Seeing the Chlorophytum suddenly dispatched, the other children were also shocked. Mei even directly connected the communication and started questioning.

"X, what are you doing? The launching ceremony hasn't started yet!"

"Never mind the ritual, Berry, prepare to fight, our enemies are coming!"

"Enemy?! Could it be that..."

Before Mei could react, the ground suddenly collapsed and swallowed up the Chlorophytum and the transport ship that was rushing towards it.

“That’s…!”

"Enemy attack?!"

The children were stunned and shocked when they saw the huge black monster emerging from the smoke and dust.

"Where's the Chlorophytum? Where are X and Yuno?"

"Phew—here we are."

Hearing Fang Zheng's calm voice, everyone turned their heads hurriedly and saw that on the other side of the smoke, the Chlorophytum was falling from the sky, grabbing the transport ship that was caught in the attack, and landed on the ground with a spin.

"That was a close call. I almost got eaten."

As it spoke, the Chlorophytum put the transport ship behind it, then raised its hands and drew out a big sword from its back - this was exactly the weapon that Fang Zheng asked the Chlorophytum to equip.

After all, a greatsword is more comfortable to use.

But then again…

"This thing looks really funny..."

Looking at the dragon in front of him, Fang Zheng couldn't help but start to mock. The fact was just as he said. The dragon looked like an exaggerated Q version of Tyrannosaurus Rex. The dark head was huge and hard, and the protruding chin was more like a battering ram. Not only that, it didn't have a neck at all. The huge head was just connected to the thin body, and on both sides of its body, there were two thin and skinny legs. Just looking at it, it gave people a feeling of being top-heavy and neckless.

Especially the way it ran away, it felt super funny. It didn't look like one of those particularly scary and disgusting monsters. Fang Zheng found it funny just by looking at it. No wonder Xin Tiaoqian strongly requested to catch one. This type of monster, even she had never seen it before.

Could this really be some mecha world for children? Otherwise, why are both the enemy and us so cute?

"roar--!!"

At this moment, the dragon also discovered the Chlorophytum. It opened its mouth and roared, then lowered its head and rushed towards the Chlorophytum.

"careful!!"

Seeing this, Mei screamed. The dragon was huge, three times as tall as the Chlorophytum. Facing such a huge monster, she had no idea how the other party would deal with it. However, a scene beyond Mei's imagination happened immediately - facing the dragon rushing towards her, the Chlorophytum did not retreat, but instead clenched the sword and rushed towards the dragon!

“Oh my God!”

"What is he thinking?!!"

Seeing this, the other children were also shocked and screamed.

However, just as the two sides were about to collide, the Chlorophytum suddenly rolled on the ground, avoiding the impact of Jiaolong. Then it turned around and stood up, and the sword in its hand swept across with an arc, directly slashing on Jiaolong's short legs!

“Ouch——!!”

With a scream, the dragon lost its balance and fell to the ground. Before it could stand up, Chlorophytum jumped up and swung the sword in its hand, cutting off its tail!

Cut off the tail!!

“——!!!”

After being knocked down twice in a row, Jiao Long became visibly angry. He turned around and aimed at Fang Zheng, then opened his mouth wide. Soon, a shining blue light emerged from it, ready to explode.

However, at this moment, the Chlorophytum did not retreat but advanced. It gripped the sword tightly and stabbed hard at the dragon's open mouth!

Air blade stab!

"boom--!!!"

The hard sharp blade pierced into the mouth of Jiaolong, and at the same time, a surging beam of light was released from Jiaolong's mouth and shot towards the Chlorophytum!

It happened in a flash. At the moment the light beam burst out, the Chlorophytum stepped on the head of the dragon, jumped up, and held the sword high with both hands.

"Take my move, Dragon Slash!"

The sword blade dropped from the sky with a flash of light, instantly splitting the huge black dragon in two. Then, the dragon's body turned into an exploding blue wave and sprayed out, scattering in all directions.

When the blue blood rain dissipated, the only thing that appeared there was the Chlorophytum, which had put away its greatsword.

"Um."

Fang Zheng held the joystick and nodded with satisfaction.

"This thing is much easier to deal with than Miemiezi."