Central Tower
Yang Guang was woken up by hunger. He then realized that he had already passed his usual wake-up time. This is common when you have too much free time.
He rubbed his stomach and got out of bed, then brushed his teeth in the kitchen sink.
His own handwritten calendar hung loosely on the cabinet. He needed something decent to remind himself roughly what season it was.
Now was not the time to think about the season. He calculated the time and realized today was the day he regularly corresponded with Jiang Ping. Feeling a little irritated, he ran a few clumps of his hair and simply rinsed it with hot water.
Some things you just can't avoid, and that's what happens when you have to report on your work every month.
Although they had only been apart for a few days, their brief, chaotic meeting did not allow for much communication.
He drinks coffee when he wants to be alert, and vodka when he wants to go to work. He fills the cup with ice and half a cup with vodka, which is just right.
Back at the table, everything was laid out just like yesterday. This base hadn't been this deserted in a long time.
He hadn't touched the communicator since they set off for the camp, and it took him a while to finally pull it out from the crevice of the sofa.
"Did I just throw this here...?" He rubbed his neck, yawned, and plopped down on the sofa to turn on the computer.
The interface is a bit sluggish; I don't know if it's running out of battery, but it should still be usable one or two more times.
Just as I feared, the miniature LCD screen flashed a red light, signaling that it was completely out of commission.
He scoffed, tossed the phone onto the charging dock, and took two more sips of vodka.
The news is nothing new, the entertainment scene is stagnant, and every channel is just gambling.
He randomly picked a background noise, sprawled out, and finished his drink first.
I'd finally had enough of slacking off when the startup notification beeped twice at just the right moment.
He sat up lazily and waited for iris verification.
Authentication failed, please try again.
Yang Guang touched the bristles on his chin. Was his posture wrong?
Authentication failed, please try again.
Absolutely impossible.
He wouldn't be foolish enough to try a third time; that's something only a novice would do. Someone tricked him; the question is, who was it?
——————
After the two passed through the southwest corner of the central area, Ella Zero did not choose to continue along the path of the Mist Outpost, but instead headed straight for the central tower.
"Are there other routes besides the outpost?" The sunlight was a bit dazzling, and Gu Yan squinted to confirm how far it was to the central tower.
"No. If I had, I would have said so from the beginning."
"That……"
"I'll have it after I go once."
Ella Zero led him down a side path, and the two of them turned due west, getting further and further away from the central tower.
After Ella turned around for the third time to confirm his location, Gu Yan could no longer contain himself.
Is there a problem?
Ella Zero turned her face away: "No."
The market was ahead, and taking a detour would take too much time, so Ella Zero gestured for him to follow.
In no time, a mechanical bull carrying heavy loads slowly separated him and Ella Zero from each other. Gu Yan tried to stand on tiptoe to pinpoint Ella Zero's location, but could only see her receding figure.
He moved forward slightly, his front blouse scraping against the cargo, and a strange device on the mechanical bull's back sounded an alarm.
A listless face emerged from behind the cargo. The man looked chronically malnourished; his hair was so oily it could be used to fry sesame cakes.
"Don't block my way. This is supplies for the guard team; you can't afford to take on that responsibility."
Gu Yan cut in from behind the oxcart to take a detour. Suddenly, the mechanical ox's hooves lifted backward, and he reacted just in time to avoid it.
"you……"
The slick-haired man turned his back to him and raised his hand in a friendly gesture.
Now is not the time to delve into this. Gu Yan quickly moved toward the place where Ella Zero had disappeared.
"Faster than I expected." Ella Zero sensed someone approaching from behind.
"Are you so sure it was me?" Gu Yan had been concealing his presence, and now he relaxed. The long run had made his breathing a little erratic, and he was slightly out of breath.
"Your backpack's left shoulder strap has slipped down, your center of gravity is shifting to the right, and your footsteps sound uneven, with one foot heavier than the other."
Gu Yan belatedly nodded: "Wow."
Ella Zero suddenly leaned back, almost bumping into Gu Yan who hadn't stopped in time.
"Don't move."
Gu Yan stood frozen in place.
A commotion erupted, and the slick-haired man, sitting listlessly on the back of the mechanical ox, passed by them. He wished he could just collapse onto the ox's back and take a nap.
"It was him?"
Ella Zero's glare swept over him: "You know her?"
"He was the one who blocked me just now."
Ella Zero stared silently in the direction of the mechanical bull for a long time, then frowned, a rare occurrence for her.
"Continue with the original plan."
That slicked-back hair seemed a bit odd. Gu Yan glanced one last time at the mechanical bull's leisurely pace, unable to understand what this sense of incongruity was.
Ella Zero held tightly to the Siphus Ring on her back, watching Gu Yan for as long as he followed.
"You mean he's key, very important?" he asked.
"What?"
"The key point. What you said when I asked you before. Because you're friends?" He reminded her, thinking she had forgotten.
"Ah. That's not what I meant. I used to think so, but now that I think about it carefully, we can't really be considered friends."
"Why."
Ella Zero tilted her head slightly, as if she was thinking.
"Only someone like Yang Guang can be considered a friend."
It's clear that Ella Zero has a clearer standard for measuring the definition of friendship.
"What about David?" Gu Yan thought of the person who had claimed to him that Ella Zero was a friend, even though she was an android. "Why did you consider David from the research center a friend? Do you still think so now?"
This time, Ella took even longer to think. She said softly:
"Because we are just like you."
The path chosen by Ella Zero led to the high ground north of the central tower, which was directly opposite the tenth floor of the central tower. Ella Zero carefully checked and confirmed the mark she had left last time.
"What is this?" He knew the answer in the next second, because Ella Zero also took out nylon rope and metal tools from the backpack containing Sivers.
"etc!"
Gu Yan pressed down on Ella Ling's head, and the two of them fell to the ground together. Gu Yan peeked out from the cliff edge to check the situation.
It was that mechanical bull, slowly emerging from the mist, exuding a leisurely and composed air unlike anything seen in the entire Federation royal family.
"It was that person from earlier. He did say the goods were for the guard team," Gu Yan said in a low voice.
Ella Zero cautiously raised her upper body, taking in the entire scene of the guards inspecting the mechanical bull.
"I wonder what's in there," Gu Yan murmured.
“Gunpowder,” Ella Zero said.
"……What?"
"Gunpowder? The guards couldn't detect it because they're useless. If it were the latest type of android, that person would have been killed by now."
"That is..."
Gu Yan's pupils dilated as he saw the slick-haired man raise his head, seemingly looking in the direction where Gu Yan was hiding, and smile indifferently.
"Go in." The guard finished his cursory inspection, holding the procurement order from the archives management office in his hand, and waved his hand impatiently.
No one would be foolish enough to make a move in the central tower; they wouldn't dare provoke the royal family here even if they had a thousand lives...
【boom--】
The loud explosions continued, likely paralyzing electronic devices as well.
"Now's the time—"
Ella Zero decisively tied the nylon rope, and threw one of the hooks to Gu Yan.
"But—" Gu Yan felt a strong sense of unease and couldn't help but look again at the entrance that had been burned to a crisp. The fallen guard's fate was unknown, and the alarm device had been blown far away. The guard did not try to get up; such a close-range impact must have meant he was likely in grave danger.
“No time to lose, but this is the perfect opportunity.” Ella Zero threw the nylon rope with all her might, and it hooked onto something in mid-air.
“Invisible, simple sliding rail.” She gave Gu Yan a push and followed immediately. The two landed steadily on the eaves of the eighth-floor exterior wall.
Gu Yan was still lying on the ground when he saw Ella Zero reaching out her hand to him. She took the nylon rope hanging on her backpack and handed it to him.
Ella Zero didn't take it: "Hand."
Gu Yan was stunned for a moment before reaching out and standing up with the help of Ella Zero.
"That person just now looks familiar."
"You don't recognize the way the rebels behave?" Ella Zero concluded quickly.
Gu Yan slowly shook his head.
"Thanks to him, it was much easier to sneak in."
Ella Zero measured the circumference of the outer wall step by step according to the distance of her own footsteps, stood outside a certain white wall, and kicked the outer wall open.
"Is this also a backup plan you left behind?"
"We were initially worried that it might be too easy to be exposed, but now that they're going to build an entrance anyway, building one more place won't be a big problem."
Gu Yan was speechless.
On the surveillance footage, Ella Zero and Gu Yan swaggered one after the other across the damaged outer wall into the central tower.
A209 quietly observed everything.
"Tsk, if you're so capable, why bother having me forge the pass..."
A David-like figure knocked respectfully on the door.
"General, targets have been identified; they've both headed towards the eighteenth floor. Shall we proceed with the arrest?"
“No need,” A209 said, her red lips parting slightly as she inhaled the scent of her newly acquired rosemary. “No one is allowed to disturb them. Let them have their fun. I will personally greet them later.”
She gently touched the delicate petals.
"The flowers smell so good. Put more flowers in my room tomorrow."
"Yes, General."
——————
"I got my memory card here too? But I clearly heard it was on the basement level."
Ella Zero turned around abruptly, her chin slightly raised: "Are you questioning what I said?"
"No……"
"Then why ask that?"
Gu Yan was speechless for a moment. If she hadn't suddenly asked, she probably would have thought that there was no problem with what she said.
"I'm not very good at communicating with people."
Ella Zero looked away: "I think so too."
They passed piles of memory cards, and found a package identical to the one Gu Yan had found, except for the code in the bottom right corner.
Ella Zero only listened to it once but remembered it. Even though she could have stayed out of it, she still found the card for him.
"Also..." Gu Yan twirled the corner of the card, "I haven't thanked you yet."
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