After a pleasant dinner, the camp had entered the night.
Wang Jixuan leaned by the small window, gazing at the starry sky, wasting time on things other than meditation. His spiritual awareness was always active, ready to sense if any spirit user approached.
In just two or three hours, Ling Tong and Uncle Tai had upgraded the defense at this supply station, installing two automatic machine guns. The defense forces stationed in Area C had also set up two lookout posts nearby. Safety felt much more assured.
Buzz, buzz!
Wang Jixuan picked up the nearby communication device. It was Zhou Zhengde sending news from their side.
[01: What’s going on? You just arrived there and already there’s chaos? They’re targeting you?]
[02: Yes. Zhou, you should be careful too. The new Qin Qin has a good figure, but she’s a tough character.]
[01: Did she test you?]
[02: On the way here yesterday, we ran into them. The one who caused the chaos in the camp is the C-level telekinetic next to her. Can you get me a list of these spirit users? Send it directly to Ling Tong.]
Wang Jixuan thought for a moment and added a reminder.
[02: Zhou, I don’t want to interfere in your personal matters, but that new biology minister seems to be hiding something. You should pay more attention.]
[01: I noticed too. She claims to be a moderate, but… wow, when she came to meet me at the thirteenth floor security office today, she was wearing very sexy lace lingerie, and she made sure I saw it.]
[01: Tsk, what does she take me for? Is the spirit energy capital this chaotic? If I wanted to choose an open-minded girl, I could just be with Wei Na, right?]
[02: So how did you handle it?]
[01: Simple, I asked Wei Na to come help me pretend to be my girlfriend and sent her away. She's a tough woman, but Wei Na is good at dealing with these kinds of girls.]
[02: Tough girl?]
[01: Just a rude term, don’t learn it. Your soul is pure, little classmate Wang Zheng (〃'▽'〃).]
[02: Any news from Ye Zi?]
[01: None. The wanderer's camp is unpredictable. I’ll keep an eye on it. She’s probably been swallowed by the desert.]
[02: I’ll try to eliminate that spirit user hiding in the expanded C area and let you know in advance so you don’t panic later.]
[01: Huh? Are you going to do it yourself?]
[02: With Ling Tong around, I just need to keep her mechanical arm oiled. Talk later.]
[01: Don’t worry about me. I’ve seen all kinds of women… Do you need any contraceptives? Battle sisters can’t get pregnant, but the military encourages them to start families, which helps extend their service years.]
Wang Jixuan: …
These guys really!
Do they not understand how important Yuan Yang is to foundation-building cultivators?
It seems they really don’t.
Wang Jixuan stretched and pondered by the window. He meditated, formed hand seals, and quickly gathered his sword fingers, tapping himself a few times while pointing his hands at the sky.
Before long, faint strands of star power began to gather.
There really is radiation!
Cough, no, there really is starlight power!
Wang Jixuan felt a little excited.
However, he soon realized that this bit of starlight power wasn’t much, and the essence of the stars and moon wasn’t too abundant.
Overall, if he absorbed six hours of star and moon essence daily and meditated for sixteen hours, his cultivation efficiency would be slightly higher than that inside the fortress.
‘Now that I’ve left the fortress and am under Ling Tong’s protection, can I get some formula soil?’
‘Not really. The area of the Wanli Gold Gang’s greenhouse is vast, and they use a lot of formula soil to maintain a relatively high concentration of spiritual energy.’
‘Crystal cores are the priority. If not, I’ll study the blood and flesh of the Blade Beasts.’
‘I wonder if the new biology minister will notice that six crystal cores are missing. To them, this resource should be the most precious.’
Wang Daolong felt a bit worried.
Thus, the night passed without incident.
The next morning, Wang Jixuan was awakened by Wan Jie’s call for breakfast.
He changed his clothes, tousled his hair a bit, yawned a few times to moisten his eyes, and then opened the door.
Ling Tong and Uncle Tai’s family were already gathered around a square table in the corner, with a spot intentionally left empty next to Ling Tong.
Uncle Tai was thin, with deep wrinkles on his forehead, and he was already fifty-nine years old.
They had chatted warmly at last night’s welcome dinner, and Wang Jixuan had learned about Uncle Tai and Wan Jie’s love story.
Wan Jie was originally against marriage, opting for genetic matching, in vitro fertilization, and raising the child alone, leaving the child at the fortress’s nursery. Her original fortress had taken care of Wan Xiao Qi until she was six years old.
—All for free.
Interestingly, the anonymous donor of the male reproductive cells at that time was Uncle Tai.
It seemed that the governing system of their birth fortress determined that the two of them could produce an excellent mechanic offspring.
Later, Wan Jie and Uncle Tai met, fell in love, and got married in the last batch of battle sisters. When they returned to their original fortress to register, the fortress’s system provided the genetic blueprint for their child.
It was quite a ‘coincidence.’
At this moment, Uncle Tai, sporting dark circles under his eyes, laughed heartily:
“Young Wang, your body is good! You didn’t even get up last night! Your kidneys must be well taken care of!”
Wan Xiao Qi giggled, “Hehe, last night we bet on whether we’d hear any noises, but nothing happened. So disappointing.”
“This kid, always talking nonsense.”
Wan Jie quickly said:
“Don’t listen to their jokes… What courses does young Wang plan to take? If you need textbooks, you can ask me.”
Ling Tong was leisurely eating breakfast, completely ignoring these topics.
Wang Jixuan sat beside her, looking at the two large plates of fried dough sticks and seven or eight fried eggs, he exclaimed, “Is the food here really this good?”
“Of course!”
Wan Xiao Qi said with a smile:
“My parents are both senior mechanics with over thirty years of experience! They’re already at the maximum level of a level five citizen! Plus, they have military rank bonuses! The supplies are abundant!”
Wang Jixuan clicked his tongue, “Then I should take advantage of the benefits here.”
Uncle Tai placed a fried dough stick on Wang Jixuan’s plate, “Eat more, look at how thin you are. Being a mechanic requires physical strength.”
“Thanks, Uncle Tai.”
Ling Tong simply said, “Zhou’s side sent some information, there’s a new list of spirit users. The one who tried to attack us yesterday is called Lu Dongjie. He’s come over and should be in the camp now.”
Wang Jixuan glanced at Uncle Tai and the others, quietly waiting for a few seconds.
Ling Tong spoke directly, proving that these matters could be discussed in front of their family.
Ling Tong asked, “What do you want to do?”
Wang Jixuan asked, “Can we get something that activates a shield when bullets hit?”
Uncle Tai immediately replied, “We have that here. I’ll get it for you later. Besides the individual trigger-type plasma shields, we also have large shields for mechs. These are defensive weapons that are not part of Ling Tong’s equipment, and our team can use them legally.”
“Just give me two for individual use,” Wang Jixuan took a bite of the fried dough stick.
Crispy and sweet, it was a delicious treat he hadn’t enjoyed in the fortress.
He asked, “Have there been any results from the investigation on those four people yesterday?”
“They seemed a bit dazed after waking up, as if their brains had been affected.”
Wan Jie quickly added:
“It’s been determined that a spirit user or a mimetic blade beast has acted against them. We’ll need to observe further. If they don’t show signs of agitation after twenty-four hours, we can conclude that a spirit user is causing trouble.”
Wang Jixuan was puzzled, “Can’t this kind of control from a spirit user last indefinitely?”
“They can only control individuals within a certain range of humans or animals. Once they leave that range, it doesn’t work anymore.”
Uncle Tai answered more professionally:
“From the information we currently have, if it’s a C-level spirit user, they can only control individuals who are weak-willed, distracted, or completely unguarded.
“Most military soldiers have relevant counter-training.
“If it’s a mimetic blade beast… records show that they can disguise themselves as humans and use some persuasive tactics, combined with their mental control skills.
“This kind of mimetic blade beast is the most troublesome. The spirit users causing trouble are usually just trash.”
Wang Jixuan nodded slowly, deep in thought.
Ling Tong said, “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of that Lu Dongjie later.”
“Not worried about that.”
Wang Jixuan didn’t elaborate, smiling as he changed the topic:
“Why do they all call you Battle Sister? That name doesn’t sound very nice.”
“It’s just a nickname,” Ling Tong shrugged, “It doesn’t matter.”
Wan Xiao Qi eagerly explained, “I know, I know! The name Battle Sister is actually a kind of joke! It’s to reduce ordinary people’s fear of the boss! This originated from an experiment over eighty years ago!”
“Stop talking so much! Just eat! I’ll explain.”
Wan Jie shot a glare at Wan Xiao Qi, then continued in a gentle tone:
“Eighty years ago was the most dangerous time for humanity. The front lines kept collapsing. Although human military technology was advancing rapidly, the blade beasts were also evolving in response.
“Many plans with significant future implications were proposed at that time, including the formal recognition of spirit users and the battle-ready half-human mech program, allowing humans to merge with machines, which was then called mechanical evolution.
“Then, large-scale experiments began. We paid a heavy price but achieved brilliant results.
“Our D5 Integrated Combat Zone Commander is one of the first half-human mechs.”
Ling Tong was sipping her porridge, which was her exclusive food.
Wan Jie continued:
“Half-human mechs turned the tide of battle to some extent. The giant mechs developed around them became super weapons against king-level blade beasts, allowing humanity to finally catch its breath.
“Then this plan kept iterating.
“By the time of Ling Tong’s generation, her official code has become ‘Half-Human Mech AR600 Improved Type II,’ with one hundred fifty in the same batch, ninety-five have been lost to battle damage or organ failure, and now twenty-five remain in the D5 zone, becoming candidates for the next generation of terrifying mechs.
“The current situation is very dangerous. In this area, it’s the commander who is struggling to hold on.
“The commander is the only long-lived half-human mech. His longevity isn’t due to his organs not failing, but because after all his body modifications, his brain miraculously stabilized in an environment simulating body hormones, and his consciousness hasn’t collapsed.
“Half-human mechs are essentially inhumane, unfair to those modified, and their powerful combat strength always instills fear, making people worry about them losing control.
“Over time, the official side has allowed the use of nicknames like mechanical sister, battle sister, mech sister, and pilot sister.”
Wan Xiao Qi chirped in, “Male half-human mechs are usually called battle bases. The base part is intentionally meant to weaken the soldiers’ fear of them. Of course, such names can never be used for our commander… or you’ll be blown to the sky!”
Uncle Tai was in awe, “The commander is truly admirable. That’s willpower, willpower that exceeds human limits!”
Ling Tong looked at Wang Jixuan and quietly said, “This is also my life goal, to become a presence like the commander, piloting terrifying mechs and ultimately defeating the blade beasts.”
“Cheers to that,” Wang Jixuan clinked his fried dough stick against her bowl.
Ling Tong pressed her lips together, seemingly smiling, and lowered her head to drink porridge.
Uncle Tai glanced around and took out a communication device, quickly writing a line of text and secretly passing it to Wang Jixuan under the table.
It read:
[D5 Second Mechanic: Ling Tong only has three to five years to enjoy sweet love. Her organs won’t withstand the load and must gradually transition to a fully mechanical life form, ultimately retaining only her brain. Please help her create more beautiful memories; it will help her endure a few more years in the future.]
Ling Tong: “Don’t pass notes in front of me.”
“Where?”
Uncle Tai quickly grabbed the communication device back, smiling at Wang Jixuan.
Wang Daolong: …
He actually wanted to say that if he could smoothly reach the Golden Core stage and continuously use spiritual energy to massage Ling Tong, she should, possibly, maybe… not have to remove her organs and could even enhance her combat strength.
No joke.
Many children of old cultivators without talent can still be guided by these seniors to extend their lifespan, let alone just enhancing their physical strength.
For a battle sister, reaching the third stage of foundation building might be enough for her to maintain her current state.
But that’s a matter for the future.
Wang Daolong couldn’t boast about that now; he hadn’t even resolved his own cultivation issues completely.
“After breakfast, I’ll go out for a stroll. Will the commander accompany me?”
“Oh.”
Ling Tong replied without looking up.
Uncle Tai, Wan Jie, and Wan Xiao Qi immediately showed expressions of hope.
However, half an hour later.
The three of them raised their hands to their foreheads in unison.
Wang Jixuan had put on a bulletproof vest, installed protective shield patches, and a positioning device, and strapped on a large-caliber pistol with two magazines before stepping out of the supply station.
Ling Tong stood in front of a simple launch pad, holding her mechanical arm, already prepared for battle, ready to rush out and provide support at any moment.
Uncle Tai: “So they’re not going on a date?”
“What are they doing then?” Wan Xiao Qi tilted her head and mumbled.
“Fishing,” Ling Tong said softly, “Preparing to open the upper exit, load the flying backpack, and activate individual pinpoint kill equipment, trying not to involve civilians.”
“Understood!”
(End of Chapter)