flounder
What appeared before everyone was a workshop converted from an abandoned military factory.
The vast central space was occupied by winding tracks, where a bald woman was adjusting them underground. Behind her sat a gaunt man on a hastily constructed workbench, welding something through a magnifying glass. People were scattered around, occasionally putting down their work to glance at them curiously before returning to their tasks with indifference.
"Right now, I can only be a toy. It all depends on how Hannah progresses. By the way, my name is Shura. Although everyone likes to call me 'Boss' because of the trend, I like the name Shura. Jiang Ping named me that. She said it's a cool name."
Shura grinned, revealing teeth that were larger than the average person's.
Liwen gripped Ella Zero's sleeve tightly, staring intently at her feet, as if everything before her was nothing more than children's trickery, utterly uninteresting to her.
There was a noise in the diagonal direction. She unconsciously looked up, and after seeing what it was, she gasped and trembled as she tugged at Ella Zero's sleeve.
“Jiang Ping has gone on a mission and will be back soon. You two haven’t seen each other in a long time, you can go and chat.” Xiu Luo casually mentioned to Gu Yan, then turned to Ella Ling, “She likes to be a hands-off manager, saying that missions make things much easier, so I’ll take care of things here.”
Ella Zero also turned her gaze away from the David-type machine, which was already seven or eight tenths complete, and spoke softly. Her voice was almost drowned out by the sounds of the machinery, but it was firm and resounding.
"So your people have already infiltrated the research center."
Gu Yan didn't even flinch at the implied meaning, but Xiu Luo laughed heartily: "Don't misunderstand, becoming an outstanding scholar has always been Gu Yan's dream since he was a child."
"I see. Our conversation hasn't gone that far yet."
“Is that so? I think this kid knows you quite well, after all, he’s spent so much time with your—” He waved his hands haphazardly, finally finding a more appropriate and less offensive word, “—the secondary entities.”
"They are not me, so how can I understand them?"
Shura seemed surprised to hear this answer, but that emotion quickly turned into delight: "Indeed, indeed, he still has a long way to go, hahahahaha..."
"Boss." A tall, thin woman was waiting for them downstairs. Her gaze lingered on Ella Zero for a few seconds before she handed the documents in her hand to Shura.
Shura scratched his head: "I don't understand this either. Let's wait for Jiang Ping to come back."
The woman said coldly, "Sister Ping instructed you to make all the decisions before she came back."
"I see."
Shura slowly took it without even glancing at it, and then invited the others to go inside for another look.
The woman stood still, her gaze towards Ella Zero like that of a venomous snake ensnaring its prey.
"I heard that the complete data that Gu Yan has never been able to obtain is about her?" She swept her gaze dismissively over Ella Zero. "It seems there's no difference between her and other models from the same period?"
What kind of difference do you want?
Liwen tried to lower her voice to suppress her gasp, but the people who had been focused on their work just moments before had already gathered around her.
"The David type has top-notch physical abilities, and is said to be able to single-handedly defeat an elite ten-man squad of our Natural Man Resistance Army. What about you? How many can you take on?"
Ella Zero remained standing quietly on the steps, as if analyzing the deeper meaning of those words.
After a long pause, he looked at Shura and asked, "Is this the reason you invited me here?"
"Shanon, don't do this." Shura awkwardly raised both hands to his chest. "I truly invited you sincerely. Ah... how about we speak privately?"
He led the way, and the people who had gathered silently made way for him, their eyes still glued to Ella Zero.
Ella Zero gently patted Livin on the back to signal her to follow, then slowly walked down the steps, gradually slowing her pace.
She stopped when she passed Shannon.
"Want to know just how good my data is?" Shannon swore she saw a slight smile play on Ella Zero's lips as she whispered in her ear, "Unfortunately, I wouldn't have set foot on your territory if I couldn't be sure I could leave here unscathed. If you're really curious, feel free to give it a try."
The spiky-haired man, who was installing parts on the pirated David, was startled by a loud bang beside him. He took off his headphones and looked at the somewhat crazed Shannon.
What's going on?
"Where are the documents? Where are the documents that Gu Yan sent back?"
The spiky-haired girl trembled as she reached for a drawer on the side, but she brushed it aside and started rummaging through it on her own.
"Why does the information Gu Yan sent back say that the Ella type is the most funded secret military research project of the Federal Royal Family, all for the purpose of actual combat, and does not have flexible electronics for facial expression simulation? Then what was that she just did?"
"What? What?" The hedgehog-haired man was stunned and asked dryly.
"Expressions! She can make expressions! Am I the only one who noticed this?"
The spiky-haired guy clearly wasn't surprised at all. He shrugged and spread his hands: "It's an upgrade."
Shura continued leading his people inside, stopping halfway to listen intently.
Ella Zero clearly sensed something and looked up at the ceiling.
"Good hearing!" Shura laughed and said to the group, pointing at Ella Zero, "Look at the David replica made by Biron, its sensitivity isn't this high."
Since entering, Yang Guang's presence had been reduced to the lowest level. He awkwardly touched his nose and asked, "Boss, what are you talking about?"
"Sorry, sorry, it's an occupational hazard. I used to specialize in repairing Laura-type machines."
Shura slowed his pace.
"Then you and Jiang Ping have known each other for a long time."
Why do you say that?
Ella Zero's steps became much lighter: "You just said that she named you. Of course, I'm being a bit presumptuous in saying that. Maybe you weren't called Shura when you were a tester. What was your name back then?"
Shura fell silent for a moment, his breathing barely perceptible.
"It seems our relationship hasn't reached that point yet." Ella Zero didn't ask any more questions.
Yang Guang scoffed and, lagging behind, said to Gu Yan, "Your knife knows how to infuriate people."
“We’ll talk about that later. Our Goddess of War has returned, and she longs to see you.”
"Sure. But I have to leave for the Fog Outpost in three hours. Whether you come or not won't affect me."
Shura raised his two caterpillar-like eyebrows: "Of course—I haven't thanked you yet for providing such an important clue. You know, we've been unable to break through the central tower, but now it's different. You are our hope—"
Seemingly to prevent Shura from making any more slips of the tongue, Gu Yan began to quietly give directions to Ella.
Shura pursed his lips: "It's more fun for young people to talk to each other, even androids. I miss Lara a little."
They seemed to have shown Ella Zero the entire rebel underground base without reservation, without even mentioning anything about secrecy.
At the far end of the military factory, what looked like Shura's living quarters connected to a room with a huge round table. It was more like a conference room.
At the far end of the round table, instead of the giant screen or holographic projector often found in conference rooms, there was a huge canvas of stars. To the left, there was a touch of orange-pink, which gradually faded to a dim, lifeless color as it moved to the right, with the stars dotting the rest of the space.
A woman wearing a tank vest is looking up at the huge canvas.
Her wheat-colored skin and the strong lines of her arms made her look powerful. Her tightly pursed lips and high cheekbones showed her meticulousness. Only the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes showed the traces of time.
Shura was very happy to see her.
"Jiang Ping! You've been gone for three months. I thought you'd forgotten the way back."
"Is that possible? I send messages back every day, don't I?"
Shura clasped his hands together in fists, his thumbs twitching nervously: "After all, there are some things I can't decide alone, for example..."
“For example, this Misty Outpost?” Jiang Ping stared sharply at Ella Zero. “I want to know where this information came from.”
Ignoring the hostility in her words, Ella Zero answered every question: "Naturally, I learned it from the structural diagram of the central tower. You don't have such a diagram, so naturally you don't believe things can be so simple."
“That’s irrelevant.” Jiang Ping raised his chin. “I’ve been stationed at the Mist Outpost for thirty years and I’ve never seen an underground passage that connects to any other place.”
Yang Guang let out a belated "Ah," as if he had finally realized something, and his whole being lost its color.
"So you don't believe this information? Fine, Liwen, let's go."
Liwen looked around, bewildered and unsure why the conversation had turned out this way.
"She has to stay."
"What?"
Jiang Ping crossed her arms, her gray eyelashes casting a shadow: "I'm sorry, girl, we also want to go to the central tower. Open the entrance, we'll go in, and then she can leave."
Shura walked towards Jiang Ping, and the two of them looked at Ella Zero side by side. It was as if two mountains had arched up in front of Ella Zero.
Yang Guang stared in disbelief at the scene before him: "This..."
“That’s not right, madam.” Ella Zero met Jiang Ping’s stern gaze directly. “You changed your plans without authorization when we were infiltrating the central tower, using Krista to attack the nobles, which forced me to reveal this route to you. Even if you showed me your base without reservation, the matter should be even. There’s no reason for me to do your service again.”
The meaning is clear: let her take the risk alone, that's fine. But she needs to be offered enough incentives.
“I’m starting to understand why Dr. Lowry values you so much. We can’t wait to learn more about you…” Shura excitedly rubbed his palms together, as if he didn’t quite understand what was going on.
“I’ll go with her,” Gu Yan said.
"I'll go too," Yang Guang said, pursing his lips.
"Yang Guang?"
Yang Guang was furious: "You always change your minds halfway through. If this happens again, I will never come back in my life."
Jiang Ping tried to stop him: "Didn't you hear that? That outpost—"
"So what? I'd rather go to the place where my parents died than stay here!"
After the outrageous shouting, the entire space fell silent.
“I understand.” Jiang Ping nodded. “Let Gu Yan take charge of everything along the way. His adaptability is already better than mine.”
"Anything is fine, I don't care." This group of people seemed to have already planned out the entire task without asking the initiator's opinion.
The initiator, Ella Zero, sounded even more indifferent: "As for this girl, to be honest, you can do whatever you want with her. Humans are always so interesting, thinking they have enough leverage to start the game."
The three left one after another, and Liwen obediently stayed where she was, looking innocently at Jiang Ping.
In that short period of time, she had clearly identified who the real opinion leader was in this place.
"Can I have some water? I'm hungry."
Shannon reluctantly took Livin away, and the two could finally talk privately for a while.
"Shanon said you've been dragging all the decisions out until I get back to deal with them."
"I'm not good at this, you already knew that."
"I disagree."
Shura smiled indifferently, then remembered something: "Yang Guang is always so outspoken, don't take it to heart. He's very grateful to us for saving him, I know that even if he doesn't say it."
"It doesn't matter, we don't exactly operate in a very ethical manner anyway."
"Alright, it's your first day back, let's not talk about such depressing things, look at the sky."
Shura's massive body was squeezed onto a recliner that was somewhat cramped for him, the wooden structure barely hanging on. There was another one thoughtfully prepared for Jiang Ping next to him.
"You changed the star chart?"
"This is especially to welcome your triumphant return." Shura smiled and filled two goblets. "Come, I've heard that your ancestors in the old civilization always did this... uh... uh..."
"A toast? It's not like you don't know how to do it over there."
Jiang Ping raised his wine glass.
"A salute to this broken and dilapidated world."
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