Awareness

Shortly after leaving the supply point, the expedition's positioning system experienced signal interference.

The impact of the geomagnetic storm on precision instruments was beyond Ivy's initial expectations. Long-distance communicators were completely unusable, and even nearby expedition cars could not communicate normally with each other. Those communication tools became dead objects at this moment, and people could only communicate with each other in the most primitive way. This made Song Xu, who was accustomed to technological life, unable to adapt.

Ivy had made up her mind long ago. Before setting off, she told them to follow her scouting car closely and to communicate using flashing lights or Morse code if they had any questions.

Qingkong was extremely surprised: "How did you come up with this idea?"

Ivy paused: "The teacher taught me."

--teacher?

——Which teacher?

It's Lorraine.

He added some survival courses for them, which were out of place with the other practical training courses. They did not teach them to use emerging weapons and electronic equipment, but these "ancient" things.

Qingkong continued to ask, which teacher is it?

Dangdang answered for Ivy: "Hector."

"...As expected, he is a soldier with rich combat experience in the wasteland," Qingkong sighed with admiration, "We didn't learn this in our class. The teacher even said directly that in the wasteland, if any technological means are useless, we can just wait for death quietly..."

Ivy didn't say anything. She packed up the flashlight, gave it to Qingkong, and told them to get back to their car quickly.

Clear Sky was clearly impressed by the level of detail in the knowledge that Admiral Hector taught him. For the warriors, Hector's achievements were truly impressive. He wanted to continue his praises, but Ivy couldn't listen any more.

When Lorraine first taught these things, many classmates secretly complained that he was "old-fashioned" and thought that what he taught was "outdated."

Ivy didn't know what those classmates felt now, but she did follow Professor Lorraine's knowledge and calmly instructed Qingkong and Yuyun.

Xin Lan's blue eyes looked at Ivy softly. He pulled his hoodie open a little, looked at him sadly, then turned to look at Ivy and let out a heavy breath from his chest.

Xin Lan turned her head away, the blue crystal chip in her pupils like a pool of quiet tropical water: "Why are you looking at me?"

Dangdang pulled off his hood, covering his face completely.

His voice was muffled: "You seem to be good at recording."

Just this one sentence, nothing else.

Xin Lan slowly turned her head and stared ahead calmly. The crystals in her eyes objectively and faithfully recorded everything, but because the signal was blocked, she was unable to upload everything she observed to the cloud and transmit it to Lorraine in real time.

The powerful database was running slowly at this moment, and all the images recorded by the eyes were compared in detail with the database. The moment before the answer appeared in his mind, he heard Ivy's quiet voice.

"Song Xu, use the laser to send a Morse code to Qingkong and the others. The content is as follows: There is a smart mechanical cluster pothole one thousand meters ahead. Stop the car immediately and act with caution."

Ivy's analysis speed exceeded the intelligent database comparison and was even three seconds faster than his - Xin Lan was stunned.

It was a familiar scene, Ivy's back overlapped with the image stored in his memory, and for a moment, he thought he saw Lorraine who had just joined the army.

Lorraine at that time was just like Ivy now, a novice who did not rely on big data analysis and intelligent electronic networks. She only relied on human eyes and powerful knowledge storage to detect something wrong faster than data processing.

Song Xu followed Ivy's instructions completely and sent the Morse code using the frequency and interval of the laser flashing. After sending it, he carefully read the laser message sent back by Qingkong and the others and wrote it down carefully.

Ivy asked, "What did they say?"

Song Xu replied: "Received the order, please proceed with the next instructions."

"Stand by," Ivy stopped the car, put on a signal-shielding combat uniform, checked the flying claws and guns, stuck a cold knife in her pants, stared at the mechanical pit in front of her that was shining with blue light, and said, "Wait here for me, I'll go down."

Supply point.

After Alice finished her envious words, Team Green's captain Wei Xi and vice-captain Cong Cong both showed expressions of "I see."

"No wonder," Wei Xi said thoughtfully, "No wonder Dr. Yu came here..."

She felt from the beginning that there was something wrong with the way Dr. Yu Mo looked at Ivy. There was even a faint feeling of "blood thicker than water" in that intimate look, so thick that she could hardly see the love from other people. Apart from the love between parents and children, there was only love.

Everything could be explained now, and Wei Xi felt suddenly enlightened.

Lorraine was not relieved, let alone cheerful.

He asked Song Feng: "Yu Mo is missing?"

Song Feng nodded: "And Tiger from Team Green."

Before Song Feng could say anything, the boy next to him added, "Teacher, when we were at the base, Ivy was quite impulsive. I remember you gave her the comment 'impulsive personality'. Now she has made this mistake again——"

"What's the purpose of you saying this?" Lorraine asked Zaza calmly. He slowly took off his gloves. After the black leather gloves were removed, the distinct and deep scar on the back of his hand was exposed. "Zhaza... Really? You've taken my class."

As a classmate of Song Xu and Ivy, Zaza's academic performance is not that outstanding, but her family situation is good. Thanks to her hard-working attitude in the base, she is rarely scolded by Lorraine.

From Lorraine's extremely oppressive look, he understood why his roommate ran naked in the base crying after being scolded by the teacher.

Zaza spied on Lorraine's expression and guessed that he probably didn't like Ivy; after all, in the evaluation scores given to Ivy, Lorraine was the only one who emphasized the point of "impulsive personality".

What's more, Ivy is Lorraine's student.

She didn't "get rid of" this bad habit, and Lorraine's current depression may be due to this.

According to Mr. Lorraine's teaching style, he must have wanted to "kill the chicken to scare the monkey" and severely punish Ivy - Zha Zha still feels resentful about her refusal.

Zaza, who was good at reading people's expressions and thought she understood the teacher's thoughts, immediately said seriously: "Teacher, I am stating the facts."

He said: "After leaving the base, I always remembered your teachings and dared not make the same mistake again. It is obvious that Ivy has failed your expectations. She still wanted to be the center of attention at a critical moment. She was impulsive and complacent, relying on her own good skills, self-righteous, and competitive."

Lorraine squinted at him: "You seem to have a lot of opinions about her."

Zaza said: "I just told the truth and followed the teacher's instructions."

"Listen?" Lorraine repeated. He asked, "I told you that our teacher-student relationship would be terminated automatically after we left the base. Why didn't you listen?"

Zaza said: "I..."

"If you really remember my reminder, you should know that there is another sentence on it, 'talkative'," Lorraine held the black gloves with his scarred hands, patted the tattered face, and said, "Have you corrected it?"

A red mark from being whipped appeared on Zaza's cheek. The black leather gloves smelled of bullets and dust, and the whipping made his teeth hurt badly through the thin layer of skin on his cheek. He stood there, caught off guard by the lesson and speechless with embarrassment.

Lorraine asked the captain and deputy captain of the Green team: "Why did Yu Mo and Tiger disappear?"

Alice at the side said, "Sir, it's because Tiger's leg is injured. Doctor Yu Mo——"

"Shut up," Lorraine interrupted her, ruthlessly. "You need to be re-educated in etiquette, Alice."

Alice said awkwardly, "I'm sorry, sir."

Lorraine did not accept her apology, and was even too lazy to listen to her, and looked at Wei Xi.

Wei Xi did not delay and immediately explained the whole process, including how Iris took advantage of the large number of people in the team to take away all the medical resources in the supply station, Tiger's leg injury was getting worse, and Yu Mo stepped forward and decided to go out to find a certain herb he saw on the road...

Lorraine listened to everything calmly.

Song Feng said: "Sir, because——"

Snap——

The black glove in Lorraine's hand hit Songfeng's face hard, forcing him to turn away. The burning pain had not yet subsided, and he looked at Lorraine's solemn face with embarrassment, anger, shame and excitement.

Lorraine said briefly: "You disappoint me greatly."

Being slapped in the face by the admiral in this position in front of everyone, the humiliation was naturally stronger than the pain. The heat on Song Feng's cheeks was blown away by the cold wind, and he froze in place for a long time, unable to move. This was more uncomfortable than a neutron bomb, and he even had an embarrassing illusion that he would rather die than live.

Lorraine turned around, wearing a black windbreaker. He said to Wei Xi and Cong Cong, "If Ivy comes back first, let her have a good rest."

Wei Xi couldn't believe it: "Are you going to personally--"

"Too many people would just be a burden," Lorraine said, "You all should stay."

Looking around, his sight fell on Song Feng again, as sharp as a steel knife.

Song Feng's cheeks were burning with pain and he was ready for criticism, but Lorraine said nothing, as if even talking to him was a humiliation.

This made Song Feng feel more humiliated than death.

The surroundings were silent. He stood in front of the crowd, looking awkwardly at Lorraine riding a safari motorcycle alone and driving away in the darkness. The night wind blew Lorraine's military uniform, like a huge shadow of death.

Alice jumped up and asked Song Feng with concern: "Does it hurt? Oh my God, why is the admiral so fierce? It's obviously not your fault, why does he have to vent his anger on you? Is he targeting you..."

"It's okay," Song Feng said. He couldn't look at the people around him. Being humiliated in public was like a needle stabbing him. "It's okay."

In the midst of great humiliation, Alice's coconut milk breath soothed him like a warm palm. He took a step back, but couldn't help thinking.

——I wonder how Ivy is doing now.

Ivy's rescue operation went smoothly.

The geomagnetic storm and mechanical riot caused the ground to collapse and form a huge pit. Standing on the edge of the pit and looking down, you can see a mechanical underground city shining in dark blue.

She thought of the magazine she had read at the supply station, which mentioned that supply transport vehicles returning to and from the station often got stuck in mechanical potholes like this.

Ivy found one of Yu Mo's shoes at the edge of the pit, as well as the bracelet that Tiger often wore - it was made of fine cowhide and was a gift from Congcong. Tiger never took it off.

At this moment, there were wolf hair edges on the broken part of the bracelet. Ivy lifted it up, looked left and right, and confirmed that it was broken by stone.

It looked like they had lost their footing and fallen into a mechanical pit that suddenly collapsed.

Ivy asked Qingkong, Yuyun and Dangdang to stay up there, and went down with Songxu and Xinlan.

After hesitating for a long time, he approached Ivy and whispered something in her ear.

"...Do you know Xin Lan well?" Dangdang said quickly, "I smell the scent of solar power on him."

…the smell of solar power.

Ivy knew the hidden meaning of this sentence.

Only bionic people need solar power to power their bodies.

She froze and turned to look at Xin Lan.

Xin Lan was putting on protective clothing and chatting and laughing with Song Xu calmly, but no one knew what they were talking about.

His chip-implanted eyes were as blue as the sea, but now it seemed that it was just a deliberate cover-up.

There was a roar.

——Xin Lan is a bionic man?

——Lorraine asked him to come and protect her. Did she know his identity?

No.

In great shock, she suddenly remembered that when she first went to Lorraine's dormitory, the guard mentioned -

Xin Lan doesn't live in this dormitory.

That extremely high-security area would affect the operation of robots and androids, so Xin Lan couldn't live in the dormitory; Xin Lan and Lorraine had such a good relationship, it was impossible for Lorraine not to know Xin Lan's true identity.

Dangdang lowered his voice and reminded Ivy implicitly.

"I don't understand the relationship between you and Admiral Hector, but you seem to be very concerned about him--"

Ivy denied it immediately, her eyes widened: "How is that possible? It's your misunderstanding. I can't possibly pay attention to him. You have such a misunderstanding because I don't like his condescending attitude and accusatory tone!"

Dangdang said: "Your reaction doesn't look like you don't care..."

Under Ivy's threatening gaze, he changed his words again.

"In short," Dangdang said, "I believe the admiral has no ill will towards you. Even though he looks at you as if you were food, I can feel that he has no intention of hurting you - I can smell people's emotions."

Ivy didn't want to hear him say anything more embarrassing, so she asked, "What do you want to say?"

"I want to say," Dangdang told her, "If you trust the admiral, then you can trust Xin Lan; and vice versa."

"...Thanks for your reminder." Ivy lowered her head and adjusted the flying claws on her wrist. She felt terrible after being deceived, but now she was in no mood to investigate.

Lorraine doesn't hate androids as much as she appears to.

He even kept Xin Lan to work for him in secret and be his confidant——

Then, before that, why did Lorraine show such harshness, coldness and inhumanity when she suspected her "non-human identity"?

At the last moment of going down the mechanical mine, Ivy told Xin Lan: "You don't have to go down with me."

Xin Lan said: "The general asked me to protect you——"

Ivy suddenly raised her hand, and before Xin Lan could react, the dagger in her hand, still in its sheath, was already firmly placed on his neck.

One second slower than Lorraine now.

Two seconds faster than Lorraine at the same age.

The chip crystal in Xin Lan's eyes flickered, faithfully recording her exercise data.

Ivy looked into his azure eyes: "The chip will record everything that happens now, right, Xin Lan?"

Xin Lan nodded.

She asked, "You're going to pass on all the information to Lorraine, right?"

"Then tell Admiral Lorraine," Ivy read the answer from Xin Lan's face and said decisively, "I don't need any protection."

Xin Lan's eyes flashed for two seconds, and she stared at Ivy: "Sorry, I can't disobey the master's order."

Ivy put away the knife and said in disappointment: "It's up to you."

She did not communicate with Xin Lan anymore. The word "master" made Xin Lan officially reveal her identity and made Ivy fully aware of what Lorraine was really doing. She strode towards the pit and told Song Xu loudly: "Is the parachute ready? We are going down. Remember, follow me closely - don't run around."

With the help of a parachute, Ivy landed safely on the ground two minutes later.

Xin Lan, who was good at calculating all the data, followed closely behind. He obviously realized the problem and tried to communicate with Ivy: "The master didn't hide it from you on purpose, because..."

"Because he has double standards?" Ivy turned around, stung by the name. She questioned Xin Lan repeatedly, "He is only allowed to secretly contact the androids in private, but no one else is allowed to interact with the androids? You have independent consciousness, right? According to the law, you must also--"

She stopped talking, not having the heart to describe Xin Lan as "destroyed".

——Why?

——Why did Lorraine become so cold and mean when she realized she was a clone?

Ivy had been comforting herself with the fact that Lorraine hated androids and clones, until now, when she realized that was not the case.

He also treats the androids very well in private.

Even a bionic person who was more dangerous and easier to detect than her; Lorraine even allowed Xin Lan to join the army, follow him, go in and out of many government departments, and perform legitimate duties -

Just not her.

A feeling of grievance surged in Ivy's heart at this moment. Her hands were shaking with anger. She tried her best to calm herself down and reminded herself to stay calm.

In this dangerous situation, she must remain absolutely calm.

Emotions can seriously damage a person's ability to think.

Must remain calm.

Must remain calm.

Must remain calm.

At this moment, Ivy actually wished that she didn't have any human emotions. She wanted to strip them all away - if she didn't have any emotions, she wouldn't be so angry now.

Xin Lan's eyes lit up, and she was very sensitive to the weak signal coming from here: "I will be able to restore the communication function with my master soon. Do you have anything to say to him now?"

Ivy said expressionlessly: "I just want to know the exact date of the divorce. I can't wait any longer."

Xin Lan's eyes sparkled, and she wanted to say something else, but the angry Ivy had already walked towards Song Xu who was landing not far away. Song Xu's landing was not smooth, his parachute was scratched by the rocks, and he fell to the ground in a panic. Ivy helped him up and helped him untie the ropes that were trapped on his body neatly.

Song Xu panted evenly, pointed in a direction with sharp eyes, and said in surprise: "...It's Brother Yu Mo!!!"

Ivy turned around and saw a familiar figure on the pile of mechanical garbage and tattered mesh not far away.

With silver hair and white clothes, Yu Mo was lying quietly on his side, with Tiger who was also unconscious next to him.

Apparently, the two of them accidentally fell from a great height, and the broken net in the middle caught them and alleviated most of the impact, thus preventing them from being smashed to pieces.

She hurried over and reached out to feel Yu Mo's breathing.

Still alive.

With a sigh of relief, Ivy used a laser to send a message to the people above, asking them to lower the steel cables that could pull people up. She carried Yu Mo on her back with difficulty, and directed Song Xu to carry Tiger - the latter was so heavy that Song Xu grimaced under the pressure, and he had to use all his strength to barely carry Tiger, who weighed nearly 200 pounds, and placed him with difficulty on the steel plate at the end of the cable, which could only carry three people at the same time.

After Song Xu helped the unconscious Tiger to ascend successfully, Xin Lan said, "You can go up first, and let me help Yu Mo—"

Ivy asked, "How can I be sure you won't take the opportunity to kill him?"

Xin Lan was in great embarrassment: "The master has never issued such an order."

Ivy said, "Oh, not yet—not yet, but he does have the idea, doesn't he?"

Xin Lan's expression was subtle, and she exclaimed inappropriately: "Your skills in making small talk are exactly the same as the master's."

"I'm not his daughter, don't say I look like him," Ivy said angrily. She refused Xin Lan's help and carried Yu Mo with difficulty. She straightened her back stubbornly and said coldly, "You go up first. I'm very angry now and don't want to see you at all."

Yu Mo was dying, his voice was extremely weak: "... Ai Wei, don't quarrel over me."

"Don't talk," Ivy yelled at him angrily, "I'm angry with you too."

Yu Mo was silent.

He was stunned by Ivy's yelling.

The communicator on her wrist beeped. The impact of the geomagnetic storm weakened. After the weak signal was restored, Lorraine tried to contact Ivy.

Ivy declined his invitation to contact her.

Lorraine did not try to call her again, but contacted Xin Lan.

After a moment, Xin Lan placed the communicator next to Ivy's ear.

No matter how much she resisted, she could still hear Lorraine's calm voice: "Come up first, I'll wait for you upstairs."

The more he calmed her, the angrier Ivy became.

"What am I going to do? Do I want to be threatened by your identity and manipulated by you?" Ivy asked him angrily, "Do you want me to be your slave like Xin Lan and call you master? You shameless bastard, shameless liar, double standards——"

Xin Lan's face fell: "...Even if you are a slave, you shouldn't shout so loudly. I have to save my face too."

"You shouldn't associate the nicknames in bed with reality. I thought it was just a little fun between us," Lorraine said in a low voice: "Ivy, I can explain it to you slowly-"

"Explain what?" Ivy asked loudly, "Explain why you don't set any restrictions on Xin Lan but are so strict with me? Or explain whether you have a reason for your double standards?"

She became angrier and angrier as she spoke, and couldn't help swearing.

"screw you!"

This was the first time Ivy had ever used foul language.

She knew that with Lorraine's cold and arrogant personality, his dignity of not allowing anyone to provoke him, he would definitely be angry and end the call immediately. Ivy didn't want to listen anymore.

Xin Lan, who was trying to survive in the gap, still held the communicator close to Ivy's ear.

Ivy heard Lorraine's breathing and her heavy gasps of excitement from the other end.

She knew Lorraine was listening, so she repeated the curse words even more viciously in his native language: "Fu*k you!"

Lorraine was extremely calm: "Now?"