Jiang Ling couldn't hide the co-pilot's thoughts. While operating the dying machine beneath her, she also spared a little energy, as if to comfort a new soldier on the front line, and said, "Hey, brother, my car is still vibrating. Why are you so impatient to insert the catheter?"
"Um, don't worry, I'm pointing the gun outwards, it won't hit you." Gu Chen answered subconsciously.
"Don't give me that!" Jiang Ling narrowly avoided a pothole. "You're not a soldier, so I won't impose military regulations on you. But at least, no matter how anxious you are, you have to remove the magazine first. Have you heard the saying - no matter how many safety measures you take, they can't stop the scales of fate from tilting. So when you suspect there's something wrong, leaving the gambling table is the best option."
"Okay, I'll listen to you." Gu Chen pressed his trembling hands on the gun magazine, but his body was still surging with adrenaline due to tension.
The jeep continued forward, turning a smooth curve. The two people in the cab immediately spotted a gray-white concrete wall rising more than ten meters above the ground. The wall was as thick and solid as a reservoir's gravity dam. The gate blocking the road was flanked by equally spaced diagonal ribs, creating a sense of security just by looking at it. The ground beyond the wall was elevated and treated, leaving virtually no thriving vegetation and no chance of flooding.
That wall might be the end of the road, but in Gu Chen's opinion, it might also be the end of his life. In the process of scaring himself, he accidentally clicked the safety of his submachine gun to the bottom, but fortunately, he was not at the gambling table at that time.
Jiang Ling parked the car on the edge of the dividing line between life and death, and while telling others to keep their bodies low, he pressed the horn on the steering wheel.
The "evil spirits" on the other side of the wall were quickly startled by the long, sharp whistle and began to poke their heads out from the top. Their sun-tanned, dark skin didn't match the color of the wall at all, like mold growing on an old steamed bun.
Jiang Ling squinted her eyes and saw the quadcopter drones taking off from the wall. With the help of the exoskeleton database, she could identify the models of those small things, but she had no idea where they came from.
The drone flew over the jeep, turned a corner, and flew again at a different angle before returning and hovering in front of the windshield. Unexpectedly, the drone could speak, and in Chinese: "Who are you? Why are you driving our tank?"
"A traveling merchant. I picked it up on the roadside." Jiang Ling gave the left co-pilot a calming look and answered concisely.
The drone's rotors whirred, and after a moment, it replied, "Merchant, huh, do you have any weapons?"
"I don't have weapons to sell, but I can provide ammunition."
The drone moved closer, revealing crude explosives wrapped in tape beneath its belly. It then let out a few arrogant laughs: "Hahahaha, we don't need your ammunition, but we need you... everything you have."
"Oh—really?" Jiang Ling said calmly, "Some of my things are very expensive. Are you sure you can afford them?"
"Damn bitch!" the drone cursed. "Listen up, woman, I'm not bargaining! If you don't want to be blown to pieces, get your car through the door!"
Jiang Ling's mouth curled up beneath his exoskeleton. As he restarted the car, he said to everyone on the communication channel, "Remember this later. Once you get through the door, go find the best car. Don't worry about those people. Trust me, there's no need to waste bullets on those losers!"
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