After all the mechs were scrapped, even though the TV station captured his embarrassing moment, Bringer immediately ordered his subordinates to retreat, and the encirclement of hundreds of people ended hastily.
Meanwhile, Cui Ji, who was kneeling on the ground in front, stretching her head forward as if engrossed in a movie, also realized that the battle was over.
“Honestly, it was really… quite cool,” Cui Ji said to Yao Ji as she stood up from the ground, walking over to the mech that had been cut in half to inspect the damage. After about a minute or two, Cui Ji frowned.
“Could it be that I used too much force and it’s unusable?” Yao Ji saw Cui Ji frown and subconsciously thought she had used too much force, causing the mech to be too severely scrapped.
“It is a bit severe, but it can still be used after repairs,” Cui Ji casually picked up the upper half of a military mech that had been cut in half. “However, I must make some simple modifications. Besides the Peacekeeper mech whose head you kicked off that day, the remaining mechs are not far from being scrapped. They should barely be enough to transport our spoils back.”
As she spoke, she pulled out the core chip of the Peacekeeper mech and performed an operation that only hackers could understand. Then, the Peacekeeper mech stood up. Since it was a mech that had fallen earlier, its spring joints were not damaged.
“Currently, I’ve only made this mech able to move; I haven’t unlocked its weapon system yet. But for just transporting spoils, it’s enough,” Cui Ji’s gaze remained on the tablet, and one hand kept sliding across its surface. “We need to find a good place to store these spoils, preferably a Hollow, because those small carts are made of anti-corrosion material, so keeping them for ten days to half a month won’t be a problem.”
Hearing this, Yao Ji once again tilted her head 45 degrees in thought, much like a certain fox.
“Theoretically, the first choice is Zero Hollow. Zero Hollow generally has a high-risk factor, and almost no one would be entrenched there. So, Zero Hollow is indeed a very good hiding spot,” Cui Ji pushed her non-existent glasses again. “I also plan to modify the mechs here.”
Yao Ji thought for a moment, recalling Zero Hollow from her memory, and immediately denied it: “Zero Hollow is indeed a very good hiding spot, but the risk factor is too high! What if we encounter a super-giant Eihai like Niniwei, who can wipe out an entire army?”
Cui Ji added, “Then the only remaining option is Dead End Hollow. Dead End Hollow belongs to the Old Capital’s fallen zone and also has high-risk Eihai lurking. And so much time has passed that anything worth scavenging has already been scavenged, resulting in very few activities from Tomb Raiders looking for valuables. Also, because Vision Heavy Industries doesn’t want to waste too much financial resources, they don’t fully manage Dead End Hollow, especially these areas with high-risk Eihai.”
“But my mech modifications…”
“Drag them back and secretly work on them in the Outer Ring. No one manages the Outer Ring; it’s a wild place,” Yao Ji replied. “Besides, once we return to the Outer Ring, we can look out for each other. With us two Jies together, how could there be an enemy we can’t defeat?”
Cui Ji nodded, tacitly agreeing to the plan. She then quickly slid her hand across the tablet, and the Peacekeeper mech began to move, its two spring-loaded hands dragging the mountain-like pile of valuables behind it. Yao Ji stood on the other side, having picked up a rope from somewhere, tying the mech wrecks together and pulling them with one hand, occasionally making various clanging noises.
In an unknown corner, a beautiful woman closed the display screen in front of her, a secretive smile playing on her lips.
“Yesterday, they caught up to us again.”
——————
“Cui Ji, are our coordinates correct?” Yao Ji asked with some confusion after passing through the fourth spatial rift. “We’ve been walking for so long, and it seems we haven’t reached a Hollow yet?”
“Theoretically, there’s no mistake, but…” Cui Ji frowned, vigorously shaking the tablet in her hand. “Why are there always a bunch of life signals around here? Theoretically, all residents on this road have been evacuated. The only ones left should be guys like Tomb Raiders. But why is the density of Tomb Raiders so high? Rather than Tomb Raiders, this place ahead looks more like a residential area.”
Yao Ji held her head and said, “Logically, shouldn’t there be many Tomb Raiders in Dead End Hollow? Could it be that Vision Heavy Industries is a bunch of useless people?”
Wait, Vision Heavy Industries, why does that name sound so familiar?
Cui Ji was also clearly a bit confused. This time, she didn’t choose to detour again but directly took a path leading to a spatial rift with a dense population. Yao Ji was also somewhat puzzled, walking while recalling the plot of Vision Heavy Industries in her mind.
When the two first walked in, dragging the valuables and mechs behind them, they didn’t actually see anyone. After turning a corner, they saw countless people. This was clearly a residential area, mostly elderly, women, and children.
When the residents saw the two appear, their expressions first showed surprise, then they saw the pile of valuables, various scrapped mechs, and the headless mech helping them transport supplies behind the two.
The residents’ originally stunned eyes turned to panic, and a commotion instantly broke out among the crowd. A few young people in the crowd became flustered and blurted out, “Reb—reb—this must be reb—”
Yao Ji was quick-witted and immediately covered that person’s mouth, revealing a harmless smile, and quickly explained, “We are not rebels, please rest assured. We are responsible for transferring special supplies. The riot that occurred over there has been suppressed by us, and the previous Peacekeepers have all returned. We stumbled into here by mistake and caused trouble for your lives, please understand.”
Cui Ji immediately understood, seeing the situation, and ordered the headless mech to bring over some of the plundered goods.
“This batch of supplies is distributed by the Public Security Bureau for everyone, for your daily necessities.”
At this moment, Cui Ji was somewhat grateful for Yao Ji’s nature of taking everything she could, like a goose plucking feathers or a beast leaving its hide. She would always pick up a little of everything, and the usable resources were indeed quite abundant. Otherwise, there would be no way to explain it here. Could they really give the disaster victims trapped in the Hollow dini?
After hearing these two sentences, the residents clearly calmed down, but it was still those few young people who first voiced their doubts: “Didn’t you say you would take us away soon? Do we still have to wait?”
Hearing this, Yao Ji finally recalled the plot. Vision Heavy Industries had nominally evacuated all residents, but because relocating residents required relocation fees, Vision Heavy Industries, in order to save costs, planned to blow up the entire residential area.
Cui Ji quickly reacted after hearing this, but due to her identity, it was not appropriate to ask questions at the moment. After quickly distributing the supplies, the two turned and bypassed the residential area, directly entering Dead End Hollow.
“Do you think we’ll expose our whereabouts like this?” Cui Ji frowned. “Logically, our actions should be absolutely secret. If we encounter Tomb Raiders along the way, we should instantly kill… stun them, and even eliminate them if necessary.”
“Hmm… theoretically, it shouldn’t. Both of us wore cloaks to conceal our appearances during previous operations, and the Public Security Bureau doesn’t have our information. But this headless mech behind us…” Yao Ji turned to look. “We must act quickly.”