Chapter 794.2: EXTERMINATE

“Hyrja?! That name again.” A distressed expression appeared on Karen’s face. She held her head in both hands, fingers sinking into her hair. “I told you, I don’t know her at all!”

Ample Time replied, “Enough complaining. She’s probably the only person who can help you right now.”

Karen looked at him cautiously and asked, “Didn’t you say you would help me?”

“I want to help you, but unfortunately, my understanding of biology is limited to what little I learned from textbooks.” Not wanting to listen to her ramble any longer, Ample Time gestured toward the cockpit. “Anyway, have a safe trip.”

The pilot gave him a thumbs-up, then started the engines.

“W-wait!” Karen still wanted to say something, but the turbulent airflow quickly shoved the words back into her mouth.

After seeing her off, Ample Time turned around and returned to the battlefield, where cleanup operations were still underway. Another transport aircraft had delivered a fresh airdrop earlier. The supply crates contained not only three times the standard ammunition load, but also boxed meals equal to three times the standard ration.

Awakeners already ate far more than ordinary people, let alone the players here who had just fought through a major battle. Many of them had been starving for quite some time. They quickly tore open the airdrop crates and squatted on the ground to wolf down their meals. Ample Time also collected a boxed meal.

Just as he snapped apart his chopsticks, he saw Old Six walking toward him while giving him a summary of what happened. “Our drones in the sky spotted a force approaching from the northwest. They’re only 10 kilometers away now and they number close to 1,000.”

Ample Time picked up a piece of roast chicken with his chopsticks and tossed it into his mouth before casually asking, “Enemy or friendly?”

Old Six replied, “The Army’s here.”

The Army?

Ample Time frowned slightly.

It seemed the commotion the night before had been too great. The unit had probably already been on the move for quite some time.

“Got it. Leave it to me.” With that, he raised the boxed meal and rapidly shoveled down the rest of the food. After finishing the entire serving in no time, he opened the map on his VM, located Old White, and headed toward him.

At that moment, Old White was among the nearby ruins. While clearing the battlefield earlier, they had discovered a dungeon deep within the Mutant Human positions. At first, the players had assumed that the Flame Cave Tribe had only recently relocated from Ten Peaks Mountain and therefore probably had not had enough time to capture any prisoners. Besides, the survivors of Ocean Edge Province had supposedly been slaughtered by the Torch Church already. There shouldn’t have been anyone left for the Mutant Humans to capture, so no one had expected to find a dungeon in the area.

However, when the players clearing the battlefield lifted the hatch, everyone was stunned by what they found inside. More than 10,000 people were crammed into the relatively confined space!

There were men, women, and children. The only thing was, no elderly people could be seen.

Most were sallow and emaciated, their eyes cloudy and dull. Their numb faces showed not the slightest trace of vitality, as though they had endured unimaginable torment. Judging from their condition, they had clearly been kept here for much longer than a day or two. At the very least, they had probably spent six months to a year.

Without a doubt, most of them were survivors of the Ocean Edge Province! Perhaps for experimental purposes, or perhaps to provide for the Mutant Humans, the Torch Church had not completely exterminated the local survivors after all. They had left some alive.

After learning about the dungeon, Old White immediately reported the discovery to the rear. He then reassigned players who had been clearing the battlefield to the dungeon, prioritizing the needs of the survivors.

There happened to be surplus supplies from the airdrop, so after transferring the survivors out of the dungeon in batches, they distributed some of the extra food among them.

Perhaps it had been too long since they had eaten normal human food. When the survivors received their boxed meals, many of them did not even know how to begin eating. Those who recovered first cautiously picked up their spoons, scooped up some food, and put it into their mouths.

Before long, tears welled in their eyes.

“Thank you, thank you so much. I truly don’t know how I can ever repay you.” Looking at the benefactors who had rescued him from the Mutant Humans and even given him food, the ragged man spoke incoherently, looking as though he wanted to drop to the ground and kowtow several times on the spot.

Peepo hurriedly caught him by the arms and smiled. “No need to thank us. Something like this is barely any trouble for us.”

“It may be barely any trouble to you, but you saved my life!” the man said emotionally. “My name is Li Junming. I’m a survivor from Willow Village nearby. If there is ever anything I can do for you in the future, please don’t hesitate to ask. Oh, right, I forgot to ask. May I know your name?”

“I’m... uh, just call me Peepo.” Not particularly eager to explain his ID, Peepo coughed awkwardly, deeply regretting that he had not chosen a more normal name back then. He quickly changed the subject. “Actually, you don’t need to thank me. We’re all soldiers of the New Alliance. If you want to thank someone, thank the New Alliance!”

“The New Alliance?” Confusion appeared in the man’s eyes as he repeated the name. Clearly, he had never heard the term before.

But that was hardly surprising. When the Torch Church completely conquered the Ocean Edge Province, not only had the New Alliance not yet existed, even Dawn City had yet to be born. The entirety of Clearspring City was still Boulder Town’s territory.

Ocean Edge Province was a remote place. At most, it probably had some civilian contact with settlements in the southern part of the Brocade River Province. The people in the area might not even have known where Boulder Town was.

Peepo smiled. “That’s right, the New Alliance. An alliance formed by all survivors coming together. Our goal is to put an end to this damned wasteland... Anyway, you’re safe now. We’ll get you out of this hellhole as soon as possible.”

The Overlord transport aircraft did not have vertical takeoff and landing capabilities, so using aircraft to evacuate them was not particularly practical. However, the place was only a little over 100 kilometers from the coastline anyway. Now that they had already taken out the Torch Church’s main stronghold, they could simply wait for the ground forces to advance over and transport the survivors to the coast by truck.

Based on past precedent, the New Alliance would probably establish a new settlement near the coastline afterward to accommodate survivors who had been displaced by the Torch Church.

Standing at the edge of the crowd, Old White suddenly noticed a young boy staring at him. Or more precisely, staring at the blood-covered suit of exoframe he was wearing.

Sure enough, guns and mecha were a man’s romance, whether in reality or in games.

Seeing a trace of longing in the eyes of the child standing all alone, Old White walked over and crouched in front of him. He opened the faceplate of his helmet and smiled kindly. “My name is Old White. What’s yours?”

“Wang Rui.”

“Where are your parents?”

“Dead.”

Old White thought for a moment, but he had no idea how to comfort the child. Then suddenly, he remembered something. Smiling, he rubbed the boy’s head. “Wait here for me.”

With that, he stood and walked over to the area where the equipment of fallen teammates had been piled up. He selected an exoskeleton that had been damaged so badly that it was almost certainly beyond repair, then removed the Burning Corps insignia from its shattered ballistic chest plate.

Generally speaking, whenever players purchased standardized equipment, they would also add their own DIY markings to make themselves easier to identify. The Burning Corps emblem, for example, consisted of a flame-shaped banner and a suit of exoframe standing amid the flames. It symbolized that they were always prepared to burn themselves for the New Alliance and would forever appear on the most dangerous battlefields.

Returning to the boy, Old White placed the insignia into his hand. “I’m sorry about what happened to your parents, but all we can do is save those who are still alive... This is our emblem. I hope it can give you some courage in the life ahead.”

The boy receiving the insignia widened his eyes and stared in astonishment at the soldier who called himself Old White. His mouth opened and closed several times before he finally stammered, “Is it really okay to give this to me?”

He clearly loved the gift, but he also felt that it was too precious and was embarrassed to accept it.

“Why wouldn’t it be? Someday, when we’re no longer around, we’ll need people like you to carry it on.” Old White grinned and encouragingly patted the boy on the shoulder before gently nudging him forward. “Go on. Stay with your people and help us comfort those who still haven’t recovered from what they went through. You may have to remain here for two or three days. After that, we’ll send people to move you somewhere safe.”

The boy thanked him with a flushed face, tightly clutching the emblem symbolizing honor in his palm before turning and jogging away.

Watching the little fellow disappear into the crowd, Old White smiled, clapped his hands, and rose from the ground. For some reason, he felt that what he had just done was strangely reminiscent of something the administrator would do. Then again, perhaps that was only natural.

As the saying went, one would become what one usually interacted with. Humans were social creatures. When people spent enough time together, they inevitably learned from and influenced one another.

In the past, the administrator had personally led them to change the wasteland. Now it was their turn to do it themselves.

Just then, a familiar voice came from behind him.

“Getting an NPC to inherit the traditions of our corps might be a little difficult. After all, they only have one life, while we learned how to parachute by starting with falling to our deaths.”

Seeing Ample Time walking over from behind, Old White laughed heartily. “Haha, you’ve got a point. But I actually think that precisely because they only have one life, they’ll be better able to carry on our traditions.”

“Oh?”

Old White grinned. “To live and die is what makes someone human. Only stones remain unchanged forever. They’re the ones who truly belong to this world. In the end, we’re only passing travelers... At least, that’s how I feel.”

“Maybe. Though strangely enough, I feel exactly the opposite. I’m starting to feel more and more like someone who actually belongs to this world.” Ample Time ended the topic with that ambiguous remark rather than continuing the discussion.

Soon, he moved on and chuckled, “Anyway, back to business. The Army is here.”

Old White raised an eyebrow slightly. “That fast?”

“Yeah.” Ample Time nodded, his expression turning serious. “Most likely, they noticed us the moment we launched the operation.”

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