This Game Is Too Realistic-Chapter 503.2: Why The Fuck Are You Here?!

Unfortunately, the New Alliance had only one mothership. Otherwise, Chu Guang would’ve bought a few more systems from Ideal City.

Just then, the Wislanders from the Adjudicator arrived.

Chu Guang noticed McClennan staring at the engineering vehicles. So was the captain standing beside him, Adelia. Both wore undisguised envy on their faces.

The Army wasn’t weak in industrial manufacturing or heavy equipment, but they struggled with precision engineering.

Even if they had equipment like that, it would never be assigned to an airship.

“Have you found the entrance to Shelter 0?” Adelia approached the representatives of the New Alliance and the Enterprise with a smile.

Wu Changnian answered, “We need to find the Pioneer’s crew first. Only they know the entrance’s location. If you’re in a rush, you can go back.”

Adelia, of course, had no intention of leaving. He smiled and followed up. “Didn’t one of your employees make it back? Doesn’t he know where the entrance is?”

“Unfortunately, he was chased off by a bunch of bastards before he could find it.”

Though Wu Changnian’s tone turned sour, Adelia remained unfazed. McClennan’s face also showed no emotion.

The order had come from Griffin.

McClennan was still furious about being sidelined by that man. If he hadn’t chased after that Enterprise employee, he wouldn’t have fallen to the wastelanders, and certainly wouldn’t have lost his airship.

“I’m sorry about the Pioneer. That was Griffin acting on his own. We’ll keep our people on a tighter leash. Something like that won’t happen again.” Adelia added, with fake concern, “By the way, I almost forgot to ask. Have you found the Pioneer yet? Are the crew okay?”

Wu Changnian locked eyes with him. “Our team is heading to the coordinates you gave. They better be alive.”

Adelia shrugged. “I sincerely hope they’re safe.”

The Pioneer had indeed been seized by the Army.

But the crew, including Lu Yang, hadn’t been captured. They fled before the takeover.

Other than Luo Hua, who went to request help from the New Alliance, the rest had hidden under Lu Yang’s lead and avoided detection by the Wislanders.

As war approached, Griffin didn’t have time to search the desert, so the task was subcontracted to the Blackstone Tribe.

According to Mutant Humans, those big-nosed humans offered one ten human females for one Enterprise employee.

But clearly, the Mutant Humans failed to find the missing employees, or they would have claimed the reward already.

The Army blamed Griffin entirely for the Pioneer debacle.

As for McClennan, he had already disclosed everything during his captivity. The Army didn’t care whether the Pioneer’s crew lived or died, only the location of Shelter 0.

The same went for the Academy.

Ignoring Adelia’s phony politeness, Wu Changnian turned and headed back to the Enterprise’s compound.

McClennan gave Chu Guang a vicious glare, but said nothing, turning to leave with Adelia.

Just then, a long-dart-shaped aircraft retracted its thruster arcs and slowly descended into the center of the camp.

Its name was Comet 300, a research vessel produced by the Academy based on blueprints from the Prosperity Era. Outfitted with an eco-cycling system and anti-gravity drive, it could, in theory, reach any corner of the planet, or even low orbit... Though space travel was far harsher than surface conditions, and usually not worth the effort unless absolutely required.

Just returning from battlefield cleanup, Old White glanced at the sci-fi-looking vessel and noticed it looked slightly different from the one that had landed in Falcon City before.

At that moment, a man and a woman stepped out of the open hatch.

Old White was surprised to recognize one of them.

The man noticed him too and walked over.

“We meet again.” Stopping in front of Old White, Zheng Hao eyed his exoframe and raised a brow. “Dragon Cavalry?”

“Not bad, you know your stuff.”

Zheng Hao smirked. “I’ve seen a lot of wrecks of that thing. There’s a whole crater full of them next to the Great Rift Valley.”

“Really? I’ll have to check that out sometime.” Old White chuckled. “And you? What brings you here?”

“Thanks to you. With that sample, my squad got transferred from the Investigation Department to the Research Department. Now we work under the Class-B Professor Yang Kai. He’s in charge of the Shelter 0 investigation... He’s in that research ship.”

As he spoke, Zheng Hao’s expression grew complex.

His Signal Squad had taken heavy losses in that operation. He had lost many brothers.

And because the battle wasn’t officially acknowledged, their families hadn’t even received full death benefits. Zheng Hao had used his own GP to buy supplies and deliver them himself.

Seeing the look on his face, Old White didn’t press further. He skipped the unpleasant part of the conversation. “So... will you be the one entering the shelter? Or that Class-B Researcher?”

To his surprise, Zheng Hao shook his head. “Neither.”

Zheng Hao turned to the girl beside him, who wore a cautious expression and had long black hair.

“This is Jiang Xuezhou, a Class-D Researcher... She used to be a member of my team. Now we’re the same rank. Yang Kai is her mentor. It was thanks to her connections that we were able to hand over that sample smoothly.”

Jiang Xuezhou stared warily at Old White and gave him a restrained nod. "Hello."

She had seen that man through drone footage. Many of her comrades had died at the hands of him and his team, including her close friend, Chen Yutong.

Even though she understood deep down that both sides were just fighting for their respective causes, with no simple right or wrong involved, she still couldn’t bring herself to trust the man in front of her. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Zheng Hao looked at Old White. “The New Alliance sent you for this, right? When we go down there, please help me look after her.”

Old White pulled a helpless face. “I’d love to help, but I’m not part of this operation.”

“Not you?” Zheng Hao looked at him in surprise.

Before disembarking from the research vessel, he heard the New Alliance would send a powerful awakener to accompany them into the shelter. He had assumed it would be the Old White he had met before.

Now... Old White mentioned he wasn’t the person going in.

Did the New Alliance have someone even stronger?

“Mhm, someone else...” Seeing Zheng Hao’s shocked expression, Old White chuckled. “But don’t worry, I’ll be sure to tell my good brother...”

“No need,” Jiang Xuezhou interrupted him, her tone alert. “I’ll take care of myself... there's no need for you to trouble yourself.”

With that, she politely nodded and turned to leave.

Watching his colleague’s retreating figure, Zheng Hao looked slightly embarrassed. He gave a light cough and said, “Sorry about that... She lost a close teammate that day.”

Old White shrugged.

“No problem. I understand. But don’t expect an apology from us, we exercised as much restraint as possible. You guys fired first.”

Zheng Hao nodded silently. “I know... I wasn’t saying it was your fault. It’s just that I...”

He trailed off, unsure of how to continue. After a long pause, all he could do was sigh.

Damn that secrecy protocol...

There were things he simply couldn’t say out loud.

Understanding his situation, Old White didn’t press further. He just gave him a supportive pat on the shoulder, then turned and walked away.

...