Chapter 119 The Mine Maze - 4 Tang Bufan had considered coming here...
Tang Bufan had considered that the person who came was Lu Yi, or Pei Zhishu with his men, but he never expected it to be Anderson.
The man still looked as annoying as Tang Bufan remembered. After being shocked, Tang Bufan was so angry that he couldn't help but pick up a stone from the ground and throw it at him.
"What are you doing?" Anderson dodged aside, clicked his tongue, and asked Tang Bufan in an annoyed tone.
"Why did I ask you that!" Tang Bufan glared at him through gritted teeth. "Didn't you see I was about to board that aircraft?"
He wandered around the mine for days, finally managing to find the aircraft, only to be scared away by Anderson's single shot!
"Are you stupid? You think you can come back after you climb up?" Anderson rolled his eyes.
"How am I supposed to find Zero if I don't get on it?" Tang Bufan asked him in a deep voice, turning to walk towards the passage where the aircraft had left, but after a few steps he turned back and picked up the flashlight and pistol from the muddy ground.
Anderson caught up with him, his slightly narrow eyes scrutinizing Tang Bufan again, before he grinned mischievously, "You've had a good six months in Taicheng, haven't you?"
Although Tang Bufan was in a sorry state, his beauty was still evident even with his face covered in mud. He was several levels more handsome than when Anderson left.
Tang Bufan was angry, so he ignored him and focused on walking forward with his flashlight in hand.
"What, you're so eager to find that Zero?" Anderson said slowly and sarcastically. "This mine is like a maze, that aircraft has long since disappeared to who knows where."
The two walked out of the passage and entered a mine pit with several entrances. Tang Bufan shone his flashlight on the dark entrances and was so angry that he lost his temper.
He finally turned to look at Anderson again, and asked helplessly, "What are you doing here?"
"Little Louis contacted me crying the other day, so I came over." Anderson said to Tang Bufan with a grin, "That 18-year-old brat is useless. He cried and begged me to come and secretly protect you after Zero attacked Taicheng. Sigh, although I really dislike him, what can I do? I'm just too soft-hearted."
Tang Bufan frowned as he listened to his nonsense: "Is Lu Yi also in the mine now?"
“They might have gotten in,” Anderson said uncertainly. “That aircraft can evade signals. I shut down Anthony in order to get close to him. The last time I contacted Louis was yesterday morning.”
"So Pei Zhishu has already told us our entire plan?" Tang Bufan asked.
“The Eastern Federation suffered heavy losses this year. To complete the deal with the Underground City, we have to rely on the Western Federation. As soon as Louis put pressure on him, that man said it.” Anderson finished speaking and looked at Tang Bufan with the eyes of someone looking at an idiot: “How could you be so stupid? Do you really think you can find Zero and send back the location of the Rebooters?”
"What else can we do besides this method?" Tang Bufan thought of the two attacks and felt very heavy-hearted: "The enemy is in the dark, and we are in the light. We have no way to strike back if we don't find their location."
“That’s true.” Anderson became a little more serious. He didn’t care about the Eastern Federation, but he did care about the Western Federation. He knew the principle of mutual dependence.
Tang Bufan looked at him, who had become more serious, and suddenly had an idea. So he softened his voice and said, "Anderson, how about we make a deal?"
Anderson looked at him suspiciously, who had suddenly become friendly: "What?"
“You hit that aircraft. It probably can’t go far. Help me find it, and then…” Tang Bufan looked at his bracelet: “Lend me Anthony. Once I get to the Rebooter base, I can immediately activate Anthony and send out the location.”
Anderson scoffed, "You wish. You want me to give you my son?"
“Anderson, you are a man of great benevolence and righteousness,” Tang Bufan coaxed him gently, “Aren’t you kind-hearted? And you don’t want the orcs to always be in a passive position, do you?”
Anderson fell silent, and seeing that he was beginning to waver, Tang Bufan quickly continued to coax him, "Good brother, think about our year-long friendship..."
"Alright, stop calling me 'good brother'." Anderson sneered. Tang Bufan had called him 'good brother' last time just to trick him. "Friendship, my foot! What about the sweater you promised me? Did you even knit it?"
Tang Bufan choked, feeling somewhat embarrassed: "Isn't it summer now? I'll definitely finish knitting it for you when it gets cold."
Anderson sneered, "As if I really want it."
Despite saying that, Anderson still made a decision: "But you're right, the orcs can't stay on the defensive forever. I'll go with you to find Zero."
Tang Bufan was taken aback, then frowned in disapproval: "The Rebooters want to eliminate the orcs. Aren't you just asking for death if you come with me?"
“I’m not Louis the Younger who needs to inherit the Federation. I’m just a madman. So what if I die?” Anderson said dismissively.
Tang Bufan was about to say something when Anderson interrupted him impatiently: "Stop dawdling, are we still looking for that aircraft or not?"
Tang Bufan had no choice but to decide to find the aircraft first.
He shone his flashlight again on the dark mine tunnels around him: "Can you guess which direction it's going?"
“The one on the left.” Anderson pointed to a mine tunnel on the left.
Tang Bufan was surprised: "How did you figure that out?"
"The smell of blood." Anderson took a step forward and said sarcastically to Tang Bufan, "I didn't expect you to secretly seduce an orc while little Louis was away."
"Don't talk nonsense." Tang Bufan then realized that Anderson had been secretly following them for some time. The thought of Xiao Hei committing suicide made him feel melancholy, and he never expected that the blood splattered on the aircraft by Xiao Hei would become their guide.
He didn't even know his real name.
Because of the rain, the mine tunnel was difficult to walk through, and Tang Bufan was getting muddy with every step. Anderson was a little annoyed by his speed, so he squatted down in front of him: "Get on my back, if you keep dragging, the smell of blood will be washed away."
Tang Bufan hesitated for a moment, feeling that it was not quite right, but thinking of the vanished aircraft, he finally bent down and climbed onto Anderson's back.
Anderson shivered: "Wow, how come your body is so limp?"
Tang Bufan thought he was being criticized for being fat, and blushed: "I've been eating like crazy for the past six months... That's not fat, it's muscle. I have a few abs now."
He runs every day and has also learned a little bit of fighting from Lu Yi and Wan Yiming. He is in good health. It's just that the muscle density of the sub-beastman is not as good as that of the beastman, so he appears soft.
Anderson stopped teasing him and started running at high speed through the mine tunnels with Tang Bufan on his back.
He had snow leopard genes, and leopards are known for their speed and agility. Tang Bufan could only feel the wind whistling against his face, and he couldn't even see his surroundings clearly while lying on Anderson's back.
Anderson carried him around the mine at a very fast pace, following the lingering smell of blood in the air. Tang Bufan felt like he was on a roller coaster. After running like this for more than ten minutes, the two successfully found the aircraft.
Anderson's shot hit the control panel of the aircraft, probably damaging the mainboard as well. The aircraft was no longer hovering in the air, but fell onto the gravel ground. Its round glass body was covered in dust and rolled on the ground from time to time as if struggling.
Anderson put Tang Bufan down from his back and kicked it into a corner of the mine. The aircraft tried to come out, but he kicked it back like a ball. Despite being tossed around like this, the glass on the surface of the aircraft was not damaged, which made Tang Bufan secretly marvel at its material.
The aircraft finally stopped making a fuss and curled up in a corner, looking aggrieved.
Perhaps because Anderson was there, the aircraft did not open its hatch. Tang Bufan tried to pry it open by force by feeling along its incredibly smooth outer shell, but the gap in the hatch was so small that even Tang Bufan's fingernail could not be inserted.
"Are you a pig? You think you can just pry open the hatch?" Anderson mocked him.
Tang Bufan gave up and put his hand down, looking at Anderson with annoyance: "If you're so good, you do it."
Anderson, in his beast form, punched the glass hatch with a loud "crack," leaving a tiny crack on the glass surface. Anderson continued to pound the hatch with his fist, causing Tang Bufan to retreat several steps in fear.
Finally, with a "bang," the glass hatch shattered.
Anderson broke the glass shards and was the first to crawl inside.
Tang Bufan quickly followed and climbed inside, where he saw Anderson using brute force to dismantle the control panel.
"Can this still fly to find Zero?" Tang Bufan wondered, sensing that Anderson had damaged the aircraft quite badly.
"I think so." Anderson wasn't sure either. The aircraft was very small. Even Tang Bufan, who was 1.93 meters tall, had to bend down. He could only squat down. He then activated his bracelet.
The bracelet screen lit up, and a little boy's sweet, childlike voice rang out: "Daddy~ I missed you~ Daddy~"
As far as artificial intelligence is concerned, Anthony was programmed by Anderson to be very individualistic, and Tang Bufan would never hear this kind of coquettish tone from Kai Ge and Evelyn.
"Son, help me modify this aircraft." Anderson squatted in front of the control panel, pulled out a thin data cable from the side of the bracelet, and connected it to the motherboard.
Tang Bufan watched enviously from the sidelines, never expecting that Anderson was just as skilled in mechanical repair as Lu Yi...
"No! Dad doesn't use that interface!"
"Which one is that?" Anderson asked, confused.
"The one down there!"
"..." Tang Bufan fell silent. Well, he had overestimated Anderson's abilities.
Anderson's mechanics were unreliable, but the AI boy was. Tang Bufan stood by and watched, and his son basically taught his father how to operate the machine the whole time.
Under Anthony's command, it finally succeeded in hacking into the aircraft and became its second chip.
"OK, all done." Anderson breathed a sigh of relief and sat down in the driver's seat, which was a bit small for him.
"Can it still take us to the Rebooter base?" Tang Bufan wondered.
“No problem, Uncle Tang. Dad’s shot caused a short circuit in the system circuit, but most of the functions are still intact.” Anthony said in a childish voice, “And I didn’t hack into the core area. Sister Evelyn told me before that hacking might lead to me being hacked back, so I have to wait for the spacecraft to start before I can get its destination.”
Tang Bufan recalled that they had previously obtained a Rebooter's beacon chip from the desert mothership. Lu Yi connected Evelyn to it, which resulted in Evelyn being infected with a virus and forced to shut down.
The name "Rebooter" was the information Evelyn obtained at the time.
“Whether it works or not, it’s like this.” Anderson held out his hand to Tang Bufan: “Anyway, let’s start it up and try to fly.”
Tang Bufan looked at his hand, puzzled. Anderson explained impatiently, "The hatch is broken. I'm holding you so you won't be sucked out by the air pressure."
Tang Bufan understood, and then placed his hand on Anderson's hand.
The two sat side by side in the aircraft, both becoming tense.
Anderson gave the order: "Son, you can fly now."
“Yes, Dad!” Anthony replied, his childish voice becoming more formal.
"Starting up the aircraft system... Activation successful."
Anthony's voice disappeared, and then a gentle electronic female voice sounded from inside the aircraft:
"P103 aircraft started, initiating self-check... Self-check skipped. Target person Tang Bufan has been detected boarding, initiating return route calculation."
The aircraft hovered, and Tang Bufan felt the power of being suspended in mid-air. His heart pounded wildly.
Five years have passed, and he's finally going to see Zero... finally!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com