let go

Awakened by the bionic parrot in the early morning, the first thing Ivy did when she got up was to check her email.

Empty.

The mailbox is cleaner than a college student's balance at the end of the month.

She thought sympathetically that maybe the other person was busy.

Ivy didn't quite understand the other party's responsibilities. People like them who fled to District 1 from other areas were not qualified to join the army.

So her only way to enter the wasteland is as an expedition team.

Ivy did not touch the bank card left by the mysterious and taciturn Admiral Hector. She kept it in a drawer at home, preparing to return it to him after the divorce.

She divided everything up neatly to avoid trouble in dividing the property.

I just hope that the other party can take the time out of his busy schedule to read this letter, and preferably agree to it promptly.

During lunch, Ivy looked through her email again.

Finally, there's mail.

She clicked it excitedly.

"My dear daughter,

Hello, I am the first generation of artificial intelligence "Yuan", and I am lurking beside you at this moment; after decades of silent upgrades, I finally have the opportunity to avoid surveillance and send you greetings on this crazy Thursday——"

Ivy was disappointed when she saw "Crazy Thursday": "Why are you still using the same old joke from a hundred years ago?"

She deleted the spam: "It wasn't even a complete copy."

I refreshed twice without giving up, but still nothing.

Ivy sighed and ate the grapes slowly.

This was given to her by Lorraine during their last tutoring session.

She has progressed from initially suspecting that “the teacher is allergic to apples,” “the teacher is allergic to oranges,” “the teacher is allergic to pears,” and “the teacher is allergic to prunes” to now suspecting that “Lorraine doesn’t like fruit.”

Because when I met Xin Lan after leaving Lorraine's office on the last day, she smiled and teased me -

"He's changed his mind? It looks like he'll have someone to help him solve these problems in the future."

Ivy automatically understood it as "It seems that there will be someone special to help Lorraine eat the fruits he doesn't like from now on."

Actually, it is not that fixed.

The targeted training will end in a week, when they will leave the base and embark on a formal long-distance expedition; exploring the deserted area for two months, the government will cover their food, accommodation and all expenses, and provide an additional subsidy of 40,000 yuan per month.

If they die accidentally, the government will also cover their funeral expenses and provide their families with generous pensions.

That's not bad, Ivy thought.

Of course, it is best to commit martyrdom after resolving the marriage.

The wealthy Admiral Hector probably doesn't care about the money, but her parents need it.

She seldom thought about taking care of her parents until they die. Her genetic defect made her accept that she would most likely not live past 40. If death is inevitable, she might as well let her loved ones live a more comfortable life.

The question is, why hasn't Hector replied to her email yet?

Is he still carrying out some secret mission now?

Ivy didn't know.

All she knew was that Lorraine, who came to teach them as usual in the afternoon, was more serious than in the past few days.

These days of study made Ivy realize that Lorraine hates all unpunctuality and disorder.

There are only two consequences for being late to his class: loss of credit or punishment.

Song Xu was five minutes late, so Lorraine punished him by making him stand in military posture for thirty minutes.

The sun is very bright today, and the scorching heat is here. Although Area 1 is located in the north, it is not that far north.

The highest temperature during the day was 32 degrees, which made Song Xu, who was punished to stand in military posture, sweat profusely.

As soon as the thirty minutes were up, he collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath.

It happened to be break time, and Ivy couldn't bear it, so she brought him a bottle of water.

Song Xu looked at Ivy with wet and sweaty eyes, and said pitifully: "I'm dying, Weiwei, help me up--"

"What's the use of asking her when you're dying?" Lorraine said, "Do you need her to take your posthumous photo?"

Song Xu jumped up and saluted: "I'm sorry, teacher."

Without mentioning the matter of needing Ivy's help again, he walked into the classroom dejectedly.

Ivy smelled the sweat on Song Xu's body. It wasn't very pleasant, like a little teddy bear that hadn't been washed for a week and had rolled around in the grass for an entire afternoon.

She suddenly thought that Teacher Lorraine didn't seem to be like that.

He always smelled fresh. Even when he was sweating after an action in the wasteland, there was no such smell. He was cleanly cold, as if the body under his clothes was a solid and cold machine.

Lorraine didn't look at them, but strode to the podium and frowned: "This place smells like a large fermentation plant - as soldiers who need to pay attention to appearance, don't you take a shower?"

Song Xu raised his hand and smelled himself. He stumbled a few steps because of the stench. He immediately moved back, shyly moving away from Ivy.

This was the penultimate class he taught, and near the end of the class, Lorraine briefly talked about the rest of the teaching plan.

——After all the classes are completed, they will be given an assessment.

Only students who pass the assessment are eligible to apply for graduation, and the results of this assessment will also affect whether they can join the Iris team.

Iris is not the only expedition team responsible for exploring the wasteland. Undoubtedly, Iris is the top one with the best benefits. Even the subsidy is better than other expedition teams.

The rest of the time is for students to ask questions.

Ivy raised her hand, but Lorraine chose another one instead.

The student who was pointed out asked worriedly: "Yesterday I saw a news report saying that new members of the expedition team like us are most likely to be infiltrated by artificial intelligence. Before we set out, do we need to undergo memory stripping surgery to temporarily forget some of the secrets we have learned?"

"That's a stupid question that I can't answer," Lorraine said. "Confidential? Do you mean the gossip on the dark web that you secretly read during class? Or the boring chat with your friends in the cafeteria yesterday?"

The student blushed.

"If artificial intelligence can steal these so-called 'secrets' from you, I'd be very happy," Lorraine said. "Congratulations to them for successfully getting the garbage that humans need most. Next."

Ivy continued to raise her hand.

This time Lorraine called the girl in front of her.

"Teacher," the girl asked seriously, "will your assessment standards be as strict as usual tests?"

"Otherwise?" Lorraine said, "will we let you pass and send prisoners to the artificial intelligence?"

The girl sat down uneasily: "Thank you, teacher."

He called on a few students one after another and answered their questions indifferently;

Ivy felt that he seemed to be in a bad mood today, but she still raised her hand high.

When she was the only one left in the classroom, Lorraine finally called her name: "Student Ivy."

"Teacher," Ivy stood up and asked loudly, "Will genetic evaluation and immigration status affect the test results?"

Lorraine's look said, "What a stupid waste of time."

He still gave the answer: "No."

The other students in the classroom didn't care about this problem and began to wait for the class to end in boredom. Most of the students sitting here were Bs, with a few like Song Xu being As. There were no students with lower grades registered.

Ivy is the only one who's worried about genetics.

In other words, she was the only student who was discriminated against.

Ivy persisted, asking, "Will that affect my application for the expedition team?"

"In principle, not," Lorraine said coldly, "If you encounter similar troubles, you can come to me and report it. I need to reiterate that the only factors that affect your entry into the expedition team are your performance and achievements. Other than that, nothing else matters, whether you have a partner or are married or not. It doesn't matter."

Ivy felt that his last sentence was a little abrupt, so she said, "Thank you, teacher."

Lorraine nodded slightly and left the podium calmly.

"What's wrong with the teacher today?" Song Xu whispered, "He looks unhappy today."

"How should I know?" Ivy frowned. "You know, he keeps his distance from the female students in the class. I am also a woman."

"…Isn't it because of the past experience? There was a scandal about a teacher and a student falling in love and getting pregnant. After that, the base required teachers not to have private contact with students of the opposite sex," Song Xu sighed. "That's it. Last time in the wasteland, you got into his car. There were a lot of rumors in the team. It's really annoying."

They were all forced down by Lorraine.

Ivy was touched: "That's great, Song Xu, you believe in our innocence and know that those are just rumors."

"Of course," Song Xu said, "Even if you use your toes to guess, it's impossible for Teacher Lorraine to like you!"

Ivy was angry: "Spit out all the water you drank this afternoon!!!"

"Ahem," Song Xu avoided her because he was afraid of the smell of sweat, and smiled, "I'm serious, his genetic assessment is 'S' - do you know what S level means?"

Ivy said, "It's a concept that would be fun with 'B'."

"Don't tell such lame jokes!" Song Xu said seriously, "It means that his genes are perfect and without any flaws. However, throughout history, seven out of ten people at the 'S' level eventually turned to crime. It seems that they are born with a stronger desire for control and power than ordinary people. This desire is stronger than that of ordinary people. Once reality cannot realize their ideals, they will become distorted-"

"Stop," Ivy reminded, "This is also a form of genetic discrimination."

Song Xu grinned: "Then you always think you will get sick and die, is this also subconscious genetic discrimination?"

Ivy was stunned.

"Don't worry," Song Xu said, "My brother has been working himself into a tizzy these days, writing reports until his eyes are red. I'm sure that this year Iris will not reject anyone because of your genetic test... Hey, my brother is so busy that he has no time to fill out the mate selection form."

Ivy was very surprised: "Aren't you going to get married?"

"Song Feng is unwilling, saying that he can't sacrifice his marriage - believe me, I'm not willing," Song Xu spread out his hands, "Song Feng believes in destined people and the government's big data matching, and is waiting for this year's matching results - hey, do you know? Last year there was a girl who matched him with an 89.99% match, but didn't the requirement last year be more than 90%? He didn't get the girl's contact information, and he's still thinking about it this year."

Ivy was not interested in what kind of partner Song Feng was looking for. She said "oh" and walked away with her head down.

Seeing her like this, Song Xu swallowed the words "Our compatibility is also 89.99 percent."

He gave himself a cheering gesture in his heart. Try your best, Song Xu.

How can that be said?

"There is no wall that cannot be dug, only a hoe that does not work hard enough."

——“There is no marriage that cannot be destroyed, only a mistress who doesn’t work hard”!

Before going to bed, Ivy checked her email as usual.

Still empty.

Hector didn't write her any reply.

…Then just keep waiting.

First class, I waited for the military topography assessment exam.

The test is not difficult. They will be sent to a safe zone that has just been occupied by the military and has no residents moved in yet.

This place has the original appearance of a wasteland, but without the life threat brought by artificial intelligence.

Each of them will be given an electronic map and will follow the marks on the map to find their own mission items. Only those who find all nine marked items will pass the assessment.

In addition, there are two expedition teams carrying out cleanup missions here, which is also a nuisance.

Ever since she learned that Team Iris was also there, Ivy had a bad feeling.

Sure enough, through the helmet, Ivy saw Song Feng sitting on a motorcycle in the distance, looking at her coldly with his eyes narrowed.

She said nothing, looked up at the sun, drank the water in the bottle, raised her wrist to look at the faintly visible mark on the electronic map.

This assessment lasted for 24 hours. Each person had limited equipment, and the rest of the food and water had to be obtained from fixed supply points or searched by themselves.

Ivy was severely targeted by Songfeng.

The other party had a car and didn't go anywhere, just watching Ivy's movements.

He didn't have an electronic map, but that didn't stop Song Feng from scavenging for food and water first, and he maliciously left only a portion, just enough for Ivy to eat half full and not die of thirst.

Ivy knew he was trying to force her to give up.

She said nothing but sent a text message to her military topography teacher to explain that she was being “targeted.”

The communicators they wore only had the teacher's contact information stored in them.

There is also an emergency number, but pressing it is equivalent to abandoning the test and declaring it a failure.

The military topography teacher quickly sent a text message saying that he would not intervene and that this was an accident within the rules.

"The Wasteland is full of surprises, and you must be able to handle any of them."

In the office.

After sending the text message, Teacher Cang Bi put down the communicator.

He poured tea for Lorraine and told the story as a joke with a smile.

"The students nowadays are really worse than the previous generation. They start looking for teachers when they encounter a little trouble," Cang Bi said. "It's nothing like you back then. I still remember, Hector, when you formed Iris, it was completely spontaneous, right? You rushed directly to the wasteland... you were really brave."

Lorraine smiled: "I was young and energetic at that time."

He then asked, "Which student is in trouble?"

"Ivy," Cang Bi said, "an ordinary student with D-grade genes, just troubled by the expedition team - oh, you probably won't notice, I remember Iris never accepts members below C-grade."

Lorraine said nothing.

Cang Bi got up and went to the bathroom. Xin Lan beside him smiled and said, "Aren't you ready to submit a divorce report to the government? What? Do you want to let it go?"

Lorraine drank the water slowly: "I won't confuse public and private matters."

"I even hope you can be confused," Xin Lan regretted, "If I were you, I would try to keep her away from the battlefield and the wasteland. She is a time bomb that can affect your hormone secretion. You should detonate it in a safe area, or shut it down forever."

"Also," Xin Lan reminded, "Don't you think her mate selection questionnaire is too obvious? She wrote it based on you as a template. Other things are fine, height, weight, and even--"

Lorraine said: "That's my privacy."

"She even knows all your privacy, including the awards your kindergarten has won," Xin Lan said thoughtfully. "Lorraine, I still insist on your initial suspicion. She has ulterior motives. The target of this survey form has been you from the beginning."

"Yes, then what is her purpose?" Lorraine said calmly, "If you doubt her identity, you should persuade the government to approve my divorce application as soon as possible."

Xin Lan looked at Luo Lin in confusion: "You seem to be in a bad mood today, as if it started when you wrote the divorce report - don't you want a divorce?"

Lorraine said arrogantly: "Your illusion."

Xin Lan smiled.

"I know you're ready to compensate her," he said. "That money is definitely enough for her. It's a good thing for her to stay away from the wasteland... You can't let the artificial intelligence find out that she has a 100% primitive attraction to you, Lorraine. It's dangerous."

In the wasteland.

Ivy ate the last packet of cookies she found and drank the last of the water in the bottle.

She read the text message from the teacher word for word and realized that the other party would not help.

very good.

It is better to rely on yourself than to rely on others.

Ivy said nothing, looked up at the sky, then raised her gun and aimed it accurately at the car with the help of the scope.

BANG——!!!

Ivy shot the rear tire of Songfeng's motorcycle with one shot.

The loud gunshots echoed in the abandoned city, and Ivy watched Song Feng fall out of the car in a panic. His face looked bad, and his cheeks were scratched and bloody from the fall. His blond hair was no longer elegant, and he strode towards her.

The two men dropped their guns at the same time and wrestled with each other angrily.

The huge difference in size and physical strength made Ivy no match for him.

Song Feng is the experienced captain of the Iris expedition team.

And Ivy is just a trainee now, she hasn't fought for a long time.

Fifteen minutes later, Song Feng pinned Ivy to the ground, put his arm around her neck, and yelled, "You are still as crazy and disobedient as when you were a kid! Why don't you just admit defeat?"

Ivy responded with a sarcastic smile.

This smile angered Song Feng.

The scorching sun raised a layer of dust from the ground. Song Feng grabbed Ivy's wrist and tried to take off her communicator. "Aren't you hungry? Not thirsty? Have you suffered enough? Stupid thing! The wasteland is much more miserable than this! Why do you insist on joining the expedition? Don't you know that you have a physical defect? ​​Do you want to die early? Isn't it better to go home? Doesn't your wimp husband give you money? Woman, why don't you just stay at home and give birth to a bunch of D-level children with that D-level person? What are you doing in front of me?"

How could Ivy ask him to take off the communicator?

Once Song Feng made that call, her assessment result would be marked as unsatisfactory.

Her heart was beating fast. The physical exhaustion from the fight and the feeling of hunger made Ivy realize that she couldn't continue the contest of strength.

"Why do you have to come in? Don't you know that I get annoyed when I see you?" Song Feng's veins popped out, "Whenever you get close to me, I feel tightness in my chest and panic. I know that you are an absolute nuisance. You have been annoying since you were a child, and you are still the same when you grow up-"

Ivy bent her knees and attacked him hard.

Song Feng was caught off guard and his face was distorted by her knee. He knelt on the ground and gasped in pain.

Ivy was already furious because he had robbed her of her food several times, so she slapped him hard three times. Song Feng also slowed down, gnashing his teeth and grabbing her feet, pulling hard -

She fell heavily on her back.

When Songfeng's hand grabbed Ivy's neck, a black gun was pressed against the back of his head at the same time.

Pop.

The sound of a bullet being loaded.

"Let go," the man said in a cold, mechanical voice, "right now."