RC 326-350 (Patreon)

RC 326-350

Chapter 126: Closing In

"What? It's that guy, Scarecrow? But come to think of it, it's been a long time since we've seen her since she left that factory,"

Renault finally revealed who they were going to pick up this time.

When it comes to the Doll with whom they have the best relationship, it's none other than Scarecrow besides Maria.

After all, only Scarecrow occasionally appears in front of them to make her presence felt.

As for the other Sangvis Ferri elite dolls, they've only heard a few names, like Executioner, Hunter, and there's also Scarecrow's superior, the Intruder.

But these guys are only heard of, they've never seen them, and they have no idea what they look like.

They do know what the proxy looks like, but it is said that the proxy is several layers of relationship away from Scarecrow's superior, so they're not familiar.

"This time we're going to fetch someone, so you'd better hurry, or we'll lose such a good labor force," Renault said.

"Labor force... Commander, can't you be a little more tactful?"

Upon hearing Renault's words, Simonov immediately thought of those heartless bosses in the past.

"Tactful? How can I be tactful? Scarecrow doesn't have a single penny on her, what am I after? Isn't it to get her to come over and work for me?" Renault shook his head, saying that whether managing those Sangvis Ferri autonomous dolls or the construction work of the spacecraft, he needs more stable-minded dolls to help him out.

The construction work inside the spaceship is not something to be taken lightly, and giving it to people like Simonov, who are... well, let's just say, lively personalities, might cause problems.

"Oh, well, but Commander, I have to remind you in advance that flying at maximum speed for such a long distance, we'll probably need a major overhaul when we get back." Feeling the vibration of the fuselage, Simonov couldn't help but worry.

Even a major overhaul would be fine, as the engine might even stall at any moment during their return journey.

"It doesn't matter, we've flown this far already, slowing down now won't help, we might as well finish what needs to be done, and deal with the helicopter's engine issues after we get back."

Even if it's scrapped, it doesn't matter.

Anyway, his spaceship will be completed in a while, he can't have people calling him every day during this half month to go pick up people, right?

"Well, it'll probably take another twenty minutes to reach the location where Scarecrow's signal was sent."

Simonov sighed, it looks like this big toy of hers is really going to bite the dust, what a pity.

She hasn't had enough fun with this aircraft yet, although its carrying capacity is not as good as the previous transport helicopter, but it's so fast, its level flight speed is almost catching up with a propeller plane.

Now it's about to be broken by her, who knows when she'll get her hands on such a new type of helicopter again.

...

Tsk! These Griffin guys!?

Withdrawing the few remaining reconnaissance drones, Scarecrow leaned against a corner in the residential area, gnashing her teeth in frustration.

If at first she could wrestle with the S09 commander, then in the current situation, apart from surrendering or being killed, she only has the last resort of taking the same road as the enemy.

Because it's just a reconnaissance mission, the Sangvis Ferri autonomous units she brought along this time are really not many, at most no more than two hundred.

And in the process of contending with Gentiane, almost every one of those autonomous dolls under her has been broken by the other side.

Even with Scarecrow's command, those ordinary Sangvis Ferri autonomous units, which have almost no autonomy, have no chance against a team of tactical dolls that can adapt randomly.

If there were more of them, there might be some change, but there are no 'maybes' in this world.

"Heh, it looks like my time is up today, but I still have to hold on a bit longer, the location of that Griffin doll will be calculated soon... Renault, that guy, could he be standing me up this time?"

Watching Poposha and others approaching slowly in the distance, Scarecrow couldn't help but feel a bit hopeless.

Chapter 127: Timely Landing

"Sangvis Ferri Doll SP65 Scarecrow, your resistance is futile. Surrender immediately, and we will retrieve you intact," Helian said through Griffin's communication device as she looked at the motionless Scarecrow lying on the ground.

"Hmph, perhaps." Scarecrow, watching the holographic image of Helian in front of her, silently calculated the time.

It had only been an hour and forty-three minutes since she called Renault. The factory where Renault was located was at least a thousand kilometers away from her current location. Even by train, it would be impossible to arrive in time, and even a common helicopter would take three to four hours to fly over.

Therefore, before calling Renault, she already knew that Renault would not make it in time. Being captured by these Griffin Dolls might be her best outcome.

Unfortunately, this possibility did not exist. Her root protocol did not allow her to surrender to Griffin so easily. Activating the self-destruct program was her only possible and sole way to end this.

But if the Intruder saw her current situation, she would probably say something about being utterly ungraceful, right?

Thinking like this in her mind, Scarecrow verbally dealt with Helian in front of her, trying to delay some time, at least to make her send the specific coordinates of M4A1.

As for what happens after Renault misses out... well, it's none of her concern. Let him go to Sangvis Ferri Manufacturing and find another new me to talk to.

"...No matter what intelligence you've obtained, you can no longer inform anyone else."

Seeing the motionless Scarecrow, Helian also breathed a sigh of relief. At least for now, it seemed that this capture operation was successful.

"In fact, I am informing someone else... Process number 8354... 9266... 0223, the coordinates of M4A1 have finally been calculated." Noticing that her data transmission process was complete, Scarecrow directly stopped multitasking and blurted it out.

"Coordinates!? What coordinates!? Sangvis Ferri Doll! Who are you communicating with!?"

Seeing Helian's sudden change in color in the holographic image in front of her, Scarecrow couldn't help but find it amusing. Just now she was serious, but as soon as she mentioned the coordinates of M4A1, this person suddenly panicked.

"I've heard everything, Scarecrow, you've done well." Hearing the Executioner's response in her ear, Scarecrow also completely relaxed.

"Well, I'll leave the rest to you, then... Farewell...huh?"

...

"Commander, Scarecrow's signal is three kilometers ahead. Should we slow down?" Simonov squinted and spoke, she was no longer in the mood for antics.

The helicopter was already at maximum speed, and the fuselage was shaking violently at this moment. If she lost focus and caused the aircraft to lose control, she might be the first Doll under Renault's command to play herself to death.

"No need, full speed ahead, open the hatch, control the aircraft properly, I don't want to run back on two legs later."

Renault said, undoing the seat belt on his seat and walking directly to the front of the hatch.

Hey, hey, looking at Renault's actions, Simonov's mouth twitched.

She felt that her commander's courage was getting bigger and bigger. Now they were more than two hundred meters above the ground, and at full speed...

Jumping out of the helicopter in this situation... even her body, which had been modified by Renault, couldn't handle it. Could the commander's jump lead straight to hell?

However, Renault didn't give Simonov time to daydream.

After opening the hatch in front of him, he jumped out without hesitation!

"Hiss!"

Seeing Renault's behavior, Simonov couldn't help but take a cold breath, and then quickly closed the hatch of the cabin. The sudden opening of the cabin caused the whole aircraft to shake violently.

But since Renault had jumped out, she could start slowing down. If she continued like this, she was a bit worried that the helicopter might suddenly fall apart.

At this moment, Renault in mid-air only adjusted his posture slightly, and then fell towards the gathering of Dolls below like a missile!

...

At the same time as Renault jumped out of the hatch, the Dolls on the ground and the commanders in their respective command rooms, such as Gentiane and another commander, heard the roar of the helicopter almost simultaneously.

But at this moment, Helian was urgently questioning Scarecrow about the coordinates of M4A1, so neither of them, nor the Dolls, had time to speak.

From hearing the sound of the helicopter to the helicopter approaching them in the air, the whole process took only a few seconds!

And Scarecrow, lying on the ground, naturally saw the sudden approach of the helicopter and the dark shadow rushing towards her with the helicopter. This made her tone of saying goodbye to the Executioner involuntarily change direction.

"Be careful! Something is falling..."

At this moment, the Dolls of Griffin finally noticed the rapidly falling dark shadow hidden under the helicopter's shadow! They hurriedly shouted in panic and pushed back!

Boom!

"Ouch!?"

But before these Dolls could retreat, the dark shadow... Renault had already landed with a bang!

The landing spot happened to be right in front of Scarecrow. The violent shock of the landing even lifted Scarecrow half a meter off the ground before she fell back down.

And the surrounding Griffin Dolls were directly overturned on the ground!

However, the shaking alone could not cause any harm to the Dolls. After the group of Griffin Dolls recovered from their astonishment, they immediately got up from the ground, picked up their weapons, and aimed at the figure standing in the smoke.

"Sangvis Ferri reinforcements!?"

At this moment, another Griffin commander in her own command room looked at the unclear figure and couldn't help but feel nervous.

On the other hand, Gentiane was scratching her head in shock. Through the perspective of FN-49, she could see clearly that the one piloting the helicopter was none other than Simonov!

And the helicopter! How could she not recognize it! She had just arrived in her jurisdiction on that helicopter not long ago! How could she not recognize it!

Impossible! Why would Commander Renault send someone over!?

Just as everyone was shocked, the dust raised by Renault's landing gradually dispersed, and Helian, at this moment, also widened her eyes in shock.

"Renault! Why are you here!?"

earing Helian's shout, Renault did not rush to respond.

Instead, he pulled his two legs out of the pit created by the landing and shook off the dirt on his pants before looking up at Helian.

"Just came to pick up this guy to work."

As he spoke, he pointed behind him at Scarecrow, who was equally shocked.

Chapter 128 To Act or Not to Act?

"You're late, I've already initiated the self-destruct sequence," the Scarecrow said to Renault, feeling her decrepit body shudder as Renault landed nearby.

However, her condition obviously didn't match her tone. Just lifting her head took a lot of effort, and even if she didn't self-destruct, she'd probably crash completely in a few minutes.

"It's not my fault. I was keeping track of time. There's still a full fifteen minutes until the two-hour mark. I can't believe you couldn't even last two hours."

"You..." Hearing Renault's mocking tone, the Scarecrow was infuriated, wanting to rise and hammer Renault's skull. Unfortunately, she found it difficult to even lift her head, let alone stand up.

"How many seconds until you explode?" Renault asked, watching the Scarecrow's eyes turn red, as he reached under his coat.

"Seven..."

"Six..."

Hearing this, the Scarecrow smirked and began counting down.

"She's about to blow! Everyone, retreat! Quickly!"

While Renault remained calm, Helian shouted, waving at the Griffin dolls nearby.

"Yeah yeah, got it. No need to remind me. Why don't you take a nap?" Renault said leisurely, already pulling out a weapon resembling a stun gun from under his coat.

"Five..."

As Renault calmly counted down, he disengaged the safety on the stun gun, contrasting sharply with the Griffin dolls hurriedly retreating.

"Four..."

Crack!

Sizzle!

Just as the Scarecrow's countdown reached four, Renault pulled the trigger, and a dart-like projectile struck the Scarecrow, causing her to lose consciousness with her eyes rolling back.

In addition to losing consciousness, the Scarecrow's entire electronic system had crashed, including the ongoing self-destruct program.

However, to ensure nothing went wrong, Renault crouched down and pulled out the Scarecrow's neural core from her body.

"Huh!?" Standing not far away, the group of dolls watched Renault's brutal and ruthless actions, covering their neural cores in fear, afraid Renault might come after them next!

With the neural core in hand, Renault glanced down at the Scarecrow's body, raised an eyebrow, and then grabbed the Scarecrow's ankle, throwing it to an empty place far away!

Boom!

The Scarecrow's body, thrown out, exploded into pieces in mid-air!

Unexpectedly, the self-destruct mechanism of the Sangvis was separate from the neural core, and not even electromagnetic interference could stop it.

Fortunately, Renault acted quickly; otherwise, things might have turned out differently.

Holding the fist-sized neural core, Renault retrieved a device from his waist pouch to temporarily power it up, connecting it to the Scarecrow's neural core.

Although he had forgotten most of the plot, Renault vaguely remembered the Scarecrow's self-destruct scene, so he brought this device before coming, and now it came in handy.

Watching Renault casually stash the Scarecrow's neural core into his waist pouch, Helian's face darkened instantly.

"You! Couldn't you have informed me before doing such a thing!? How am I supposed to help you conceal it now, with everyone watching!?"

Seeing Renault's series of actions, Helian knew exactly what he was up to—just retrieving the neural core of the Scarecrow.

This guy had done such things many times before. He had extorted and deceived many tactical dolls from the Griffin side!

Now, in the end, he didn't even spare the Sangvis-made dolls!

But as she thought about it, Helian's resentment grew, feeling that Renault had never paid this much attention to her before.

Could it be that this guy... has some special fondness for dolls?

"Who are you exactly! Leave the core of the Sangvis Doll!"

While Helian was staging an afternoon tv drama internally, on the other side, the dolls who had never seen Renault had already raised their guns, pointing them at Renault and shouted loudly.

Their task was to capture and apprehend this Sangvis Doll and extract more information about Sangvis's movements from its neural core.

But now, they found themselves with a strange man shoving something into their pouches... Is this acceptable? Of course not!

Even without the reminder from their commander, these dolls quickly surrounded Renault, fearing he might escape.

On the other side, Poppasha and others under Gentiane's command looked at Renault in confusion, unsure whether to aim their weapons at him.

Helian also regained her senses under the shouts and actions of those dolls, but in the current situation, she couldn't bring herself to say anything.

After all, in the eyes of the other Griffin commanders, Renault was just an unidentified person sticking his nose where it didn't belong.

Helian and Gentiane hesitated on this side, but the other commander on the other side didn't hesitate at all.

Seeing Renault without any weapons in hand at the moment, they directly commanded their dolls.

"Capture him!"

With clear orders, several gun-wielding dolls no longer hesitated, joining their companions and a large number of puppet dolls, closing in on Renault.

Meanwhile, in the combat command room, seeing those dolls closing in on Renault, Gentiane couldn't help but shake her head in dismay.

"Commander, aren't we going to let Poppasha and the others help?"

Kalina, standing beside Gentiane, asked in confusion, seeing Gentiane seemingly hesitant to give orders.

Although Renault had come to deliver a batch of supplies to them before, the current situation seemed unavoidable.

After all, Renault had just snatched the Scarecrow's neural core from under the noses of a group of dolls and Helian's proxy.

Moreover, it was just a capture operation, so there shouldn't be any problem, right?

"Help? Forget it. I don't want Poppasha and the others to come back for major repairs. Don't forget how Renault just appeared," Gentiane said, pointing to the tiltrotor hovering above Renault and others, which had now slowed down.

"He just... jumped down from... from the helicopter...? Is he still human!? Even a Doll would have turned into scrap metal doing that, right!?"

As the words came out, Kalina realized something.

The tiltrotor had just sped past Poppasha and the others! And Renault had fallen from high altitude in that situation...

  

Chapter 129 Who Would Believe It!

"So, for now, let's just watch and hope that Renault will show restraint when he acts," Gentiane could only hope now that Renault didn't have plans to completely take out those dolls.

Otherwise, what else could they do? Even if Poposha and the others teamed up with those dolls, they might not necessarily be able to defeat them. Instead of going up and embarrassing themselves, it was better to just stand aside and wait for Renault to leave on his own.

After all, it seemed like the other side was only interested in taking away the neural core of the scarecrow. Besides, there's still Helian as a proxy. If Helian didn't speak up, there was no need for her to step forward and make her presence known. Even if she got blamed later, Helian would be the one really in trouble.

Although it was a bit unfair to Helian, given the current situation, she could only apologize...

"Don't act rashly! Please cooperate with our actions!" Seeing Renault empty-handed, one of the dolls standing in the front seemed eager to take action.

Renault glanced at the doll in front of him, a Sten MK2, quite common. He had seen one under Peter Lyenkov's command before. And now, there was one behind Poposha and the others too.

But apart from the Sten MK2, most of the dolls surrounding them were new faces, some of whom Renault didn't even recognize.

Meanwhile, in Poposha's team, there were also a few new faces Renault hadn't seen before, probably the ones Gentiane had picked up from the war zone recently.

Just as Renault thought the Sten MK2 in front of him didn't seem to sense any resistance from him and took a step forward, intending to subdue Renault with her etching weapon, she was surprised when Renault grabbed her wrist before she could react.

"Huh?"

As the Sten MK2, whose wrist was grabbed, let out a soft exclamation, she felt as if she were soaring through the clouds. Then, she crashed heavily to the ground!

"Oh no!?"

"What!? Get him! Control him!" Seeing the Sten MK2 being easily lifted and smashed to the ground by Renault like a doll, the group of dolls was startled, and then they all instinctively put away their weapons and rushed towards Renault!

Their commander hadn't ordered them to open fire on Renault, just to apprehend him. Previously, they had held guns to threaten Renault from moving, but now, with the actual arrest, they naturally needed to use their hands to control him.

In general, most humans couldn't match up to tactical dolls. After all, the strength of tactical dolls was often much greater than that of normal humans. But this was clearly not a typical situation.

As the dolls rushed forward, their open hands hadn't even touched Renault's clothes before he had grabbed one of them by the head. With a sweep of his foot, he made the doll flip in mid-air and slammed it viciously to the ground.

Renault didn't hold back at all, although he did, in fact, hold back a bit. But dolls, as long as their neural core wasn't damaged and their body wasn't completely destroyed, could be repaired with some minor repairs in their own repair facility after returning to base.

After seeing two dolls fall to the ground and not get up, the other dolls were annoyed and rushed forward. They glared at Renault with animosity, as if their gaze could subdue him.

Unfortunately, they were just dolls. Even if their eyes looked fierce, they had no power to harm. If it were a Knight Templar or a Brain Bug, they might actually be able to glare someone to death, but they weren't.

Bang!

Boom!

Crack!

Under Renault's hands, the group of charging dolls were completely defenseless, only using some light joint techniques to knock them down to the ground.

As for the puppet dolls that rushed up, Renault didn't hold back at all. Either their spines were broken or they were split into two. The brutal battle process was terrifying to Gentiane and Helian!

Poposha couldn't help but take a few steps back involuntarily, afraid that Renault would come over and clean them up too.

After just a few tens of seconds, all the dolls and puppets were lying down, leaving only Renault standing there as if nothing had happened.

Glug!

Seeing Renault brushing the dust off himself, Kalina, standing next to Gentiane, couldn't help but swallow. She had previously thought that Renault was just a lucky ordinary private security contractor with a bit of background. Now it seemed... she was a bit too naive.

No wonder Gentiane had respected this guy so much before...

"Alright, that's about enough. I should go back now. If you have any questions about what happened, you can call me. Of course, if it's on behalf of Griffin, the information won't be free."

Brushing the dust off himself, Renault looked at Helian.

The holographic communicator was really sturdy; after all that, it still worked perfectly.

As he spoke, Renault waved to Simonov in the sky, indicating for her to lower the helicopter's altitude a bit.

Upon hearing Renault's words, Helian's heart was in turmoil.

This guy! Not only did he snatch the scarecrow from her, but now he also wants them to pay for information!?

How am I supposed to explain this later!? Paying for information!? She's lucky if she's not fired!

"Gentiane! What are you doing! Let your dolls stop him!" Seeing her dolls fall one after another, the unnamed Griffin commander couldn't help but roar at Gentiane through the communication device, annoyed.

Helian couldn't afford to provoke them, sure, but what about you, a new commander who's only been in office for a few days!? Are you just going to stand there and watch that man take away their mission target!?

Hearing her colleague's roar, Gentiane rolled her eyes.

She wasn't stupid. Knowing that they couldn't win, why would she send her dolls up? This wasn't a matter of life and death.

Moreover, the scarecrow had just activated the self-destruct device. Even if Renault hadn't come, they probably wouldn't have been able to catch the scarecrow anyway.

Apart from watching the scarecrow explode into pieces, they couldn't do anything else.

Before Gentiane could respond, Simonov had already lowered the helicopter to about twenty meters. This height should be no problem for Renault.

And Renault didn't disappoint Simonov. After waving to Helian and Poposha, he leaped onto the open cargo door of the aircraft with lightning speed and precision.

Watching the helicopter close its doors and leave, Kalina couldn't help but click her tongue. "Um, Commander, how are we going to write up the mission report this time?"

A two-hundred-meter parachute-free skydive, bare-handed guy defeated twenty dolls and their dummy dolls, and then a leap twenty meters high?

Who would believe that if it were written down!

Chapter 130: Electric Rice Cooker

"What do you mean? Saying farewell in the form of a question? I quite like that Scarecrow fellow. Well, it's too late now; she's gone. But at least I've discovered the whereabouts of the M4A1... It's rather unpleasant."

Reflecting on Scarecrow's earlier strange tone, the Executioner angrily strode in the direction indicated by the coordinates sent by the Scarecrow.

Meanwhile, as the Executioner located the M4A1 and began the search operation, Renault smoothly returned to his own factory area.

"Damn, this helicopter probably can't hold out much longer. Commander, are we simply going to abandon this helicopter like this? It seems a bit wasteful, doesn't it?"

This was the best helicopter they had obtained recently, if one didn't consider its payload capacity.

Looking at the helicopter, which had almost no visible damage but had started to leak oil, Simonov couldn't help but feel regretful.

Abandon it?

"It's impossible to abandon it. The main structure of the fuselage is still intact. I'll just need to find some time to replace the engine, no big deal. Let's not use it for now; we have other options anyway."

Watching Simonov and the others pushing the helicopter into the hangar with a bitter expression, Renault took out the Scarecrow's neural core core from his waist bag and held it in his hand, weighing it.

This size was almost the same as the neural core cores of UMP40 and UMP45, which were originally part of the Scarecrow's base body. They should be of the same level; no wonder the Scarecrow was the lowest-ranked among the SF Elite.

And could it be that the original bodies of UMP40 and 45 were backup bodies for Scarecrow?

"Commander, where did you pick up another neural core from? Whose is it? Do we know them?" Seeing Renault holding a familiar-looking neural core and entering the dormitory building, MDR, looking somewhat disheveled, was the first to come up.

Her phone was already in hand, ready to start recording as soon as Renault mentioned knowing someone; she would definitely make Renault pose for a few shots.

Of course, even if Renault didn't know the person, it didn't matter. Documenting embarrassing moments like this was most interesting when the person involved knew about it but couldn't do anything about it!

"Know..."

Click!

"Come on, Commander, change your pose and let me take a few more shots! You're really weighing it a lot! Let me shoot a video!" Completely disregarding the fact that she had just been disciplined by a group of dolls for recording embarrassing moments, MDR, with an excited face, held up her phone.

Renault naturally wouldn't refuse. In order to bring back the Scarecrow, he had wasted a helicopter and a whole tank of aviation fuel. The losses were considerable.

However, the aircraft was extorted from the military, and the aviation fuel was free, obtained from the abandoned airfield to the north of the factory area.

However, MDR soon slipped away because other dolls had arrived. If she were seen filming this unknown doll's embarrassing moment here, those guys might come back for another round.

"Renault, whose neural core did you pick up this time?" Seeing Renault holding a familiar-looking neural core core, Maria asked curiously.

"It's from that Scarecrow fellow. She was just surrounded and intercepted by Griffin's doll squad. In the end, she self-destructed, but I managed to retrieve her neural core. Do you have any spare Dinergates over there?"

Renault didn't make spare bodies for the dolls, as their original bodies were very sturdy and could last for decades or even centuries without damage. Plus, with limited materials before, Renault didn't think about making spare bodies for them.

But now it seemed that making spare bodies had to be put on the agenda. Even if their own dolls didn't need them, it would be good to have them for unlucky fellows like the Scarecrow.

"We don't have any left. You taught Jaeger how to repair Dinergates before, and she fixed all the damaged ones in the factory area. Now we have over fifty Dinergates at home."

"Meow!" Just as Maria was speaking, the long-haired calico cat, which had been bristling, chased after a few Dinergates from under the feet of the crowd.

"Okay, what about the Prowlers? There should be some vacant for them, right?"

Compared to the Dinergates used for reconnaissance purposes, the Prowlers were not well-received in the SF Factory. Besides being able to serve as makeshift roadblocks, these autonomous units with weak firepower and limited mobility were rarely needed.

In the past, when the SF Factory still had legitimate business, these Prowlers could indeed play many roles. However, now that the Sangvis Ferri Mainframe had started to lead a nomadic life, these units with insufficient mobility and flexibility had been swept into the dustbin of history.

The key point was that the shells of these Prowlers did not contain autonomous cores, but rather neural core chips of the same level as the Dinergates.

However, unlike the Dinergates, which were originally designed for civilian markets and were modified from pet robot dogs, the Prowlers did not have as agile interactive responses as the Dinergates. SF's work also left only ordinary robot commands in the chips of the Prowlers.

Therefore, there was obviously no problem in putting the neural core of the Scarecrow into a Prowler. The only problem was that there didn't seem to be enough space in the body of the Prowler to accommodate a neural core core the size of a fist.

A large part of the central mechanism, which looked like an electric rice cooker, was occupied by motors and energy cores.

The only place that could be allocated to the neural core core was the battery compartment freed up after removing the weapons.

However, it was obvious that the battery compartment was too small to accommodate a neural core of an SF Elite doll.

"We do have some, but the shells are damaged. Apart from the motors and energy cores, there doesn't seem to be enough space to fit such a large neural core core, right?"

"It's alright, a little modification will do. Bring it over for me."

"No problem!" Upon hearing Renault's instructions, Maria ran out to get the Prowler's shell.

Meanwhile, Renault took the neural core and went to the workshop. Besides making a new body for the Scarecrow, he also needed to replace her neural core and delete the root protocols that restricted her actions.

The pre-made body, replacement neural core, and the subsequent processes were all familiar to Renault. During the time waiting for the body to be completed, he could only let the Scarecrow stay in the Prowler's shell.

When the Scarecrow's consciousness awakened again, she was completely dumbfounded, because what she saw was not an excellent body, nor was it a cheap product...

But a white and orange electric rice cooker with a camera installed in the middle...

Chapter 131: I'm Not Going Out! I'm Too Ashamed to See Anyone!

"Renault, if you don't want me to live anymore, just say it straight. Can you stop using these weird things to insult me?" Scarecrow protested indignantly to Renault as she looked at herself in the mirror, observing her current black-and-white appearance mixed with some strange orange hues.

"Hmm? This is just a necessary measure to prevent you from being taken away by the house cats and played with as toys. It's not me seeking revenge."

The Prowler that Maria brought over was probably smashed while transporting goods by the Harvester.

The four-wheeled mechanical arms were still intact, the motors and energy cores were passable, but the upper half of the chassis was completely damaged. If Scarecrow's neural core were to be placed inside, the entire upper half of the neural core would be exposed.

You see, the cats at home love circular objects, and with the doll residents indulging them, these seemingly cute kittens were like demons in the factory area.

And these cats somehow became friends with the Dinergates raised by Jaeger.

Of course, befriending the Dinergates wasn't the point. The point was that these Dinergates, originally pets, actually had the function of opening doors. As long as the doors were unlocked, these Dinergates always found a way to open them.

And these cats would just follow behind these Dinergates, maneuvering freely through all the isolated areas in the factory!

Fortunately, these cats naturally avoided the vertical farm location. Otherwise, Renault would be afraid that one morning, the house would suddenly have four cat-like zergling insects.

"But is it really necessary to use an electric rice cooker as the container for the neural core?"

Can't we use something else? Even if it's a dark green storage box, she could tolerate it, but this white and orange electric rice cooker... And being taken away by cats? Is it that exaggerated?

Crash!

As Scarecrow was thinking, the sound of a box tipping over suddenly came from not far away.

Two very common calico cats were seen overturning a box full of round objects, then using their claws to paw at those shiny spherical objects.

"Are those... neural cores...?"

"Correct, but there's no reward, and the neural core under the paws of these two little guys is the one you just replaced." Pointing to the neural core under the paws of the two cats, there was a clear label on it.

'Scarecrow (old)'

"Hey! That's still my old neural core! Can you stop treating it like a toy!" Hearing Renault's words, Scarecrow quickly controlled the Prowler's wheels and rushed to the two cats, scaring them away.

"It's okay, it won't get lost. After you get your new body, if you want to keep it, find a box to store it properly."

Most of the doll residents did this, but most of them didn't care much about their old neural cores, as they were not only small, but also meaningless to hold onto.

"New body?" Hearing Renault's words, Scarecrow looked in the direction he was looking and saw the continuously operating printing equipment.

"Why do you install the neural core after making the body? Sangvis Ferri usually installs the neural core before printing the body." Seeing this process, which was completely different from Sangvis Ferri's doll manufacturing process, Scarecrow was also puzzled.

"Of course, it's for the convenience of future upgrades. To be honest, I'm not very satisfied with the bodies of these dolls now. The main reason is that they're too heavy. With more dolls, even helicopters might not be able to carry them."

One doll weighs over 300 kilograms.

Some smaller helicopters can only carry three dolls. If you add some equipment, they might not even be able to carry three dolls.

Listening to this, Scarecrow was speechless. She looked at the body in front of the printing equipment, then at the material data on the printing equipment, and then stared at Renault up and down.

"The cost of this body could probably produce twenty of my previous bodies. Have you always been so generous with your own dolls?"

"Hmm? Of course, I don't mind. After all, most of these materials are picked up for free." Hearing Scarecrow's words, Renault shrugged nonchalantly.

Compared to the materials consumed by building a spaceship, just making a doll body only consumed as much material as one piece of the spaceship armor. Although some materials in the doll body are relatively expensive, they are still within Renault's affordability.

And hearing that all of Renault's materials were picked up, Scarecrow really didn't want to say much more to this guy. If you put it that way, doesn't it mean that all of your dolls are picked up?

Of course, if Renault knew what Scarecrow was thinking, he would probably nod in agreement.

Yes, they are all picked up, including you.

"Alright, do you want to go out for a walk or stay here until your body is finished being manufactured?" Gathering up the scattered neural cores on the ground, Renault tossed them out of the workshop while holding the necks of the two troublemaking cats, then turned back to ask Scarecrow.

"Of course I'm staying here. I don't want to go out looking like this!" Scarecrow shouted without hesitation.

"Well, your body will probably be finished in about an hour. I'll come back then." With a wave of his hand, Renault walked out of the workshop. He still had to hurry a bit with the spaceship.

Seeing Renault take out a cigarette and walked out of the workshop, Scarecrow also relaxed, controlling the Prowler's chassis to roam around the workshop.

However, there was nothing unusual in the workshop, at most some unidentified parts and some doll parts that had already been dismantled.

The rest were just common items like repair station workbenches and communication devices. It looked like an ordinary workshop.

After circling a few times, Scarecrow stopped at the window, looking at the gray sky outside, feeling incredibly content inside.

"So this is what it feels like without the root protocols? It really makes one feel somewhat unaccustomed."

Without the root protocols, and without the tasks assigned by the mainframe using those protocols, this feeling of being unrestricted made Scarecrow feel inexplicably bewildered for a moment.

As if she had suddenly lost some sort of mission-like goal.

"Scarecrow! I'm here to see you!"

"Eep!"

Chapter 132: How About Having Hotpot?

Snap!

Just as Renault reached the underground dock and was about to continue working, he suddenly slapped his forehead.

There was something he had forgotten!

He had previously planned to sell various agricultural products along the railway line in the Griffin jurisdiction. Now, with his task of capturing Scarecrow, who knew if he could still do business with Griffin?

If that wasn't possible, he would incur another loss!

However, Renault wasn't discouraged. After all, agricultural products were fast-moving goods no matter where they were. They could be sold quickly anywhere.

If Griffin didn't do business with him, he could sell them to other cities. Moreover, he didn't know what would become of the mutant wheat concocted by Simonov and the others.

Absorbing various fertilizers and even yeast blankets used for fermentation, the wheat they produced seemed to naturally ferment. The juice inside the wheat grains even contained alcohol...

Although Renault had long known that the creep of the Zerg were somewhat outrageous, he didn't expect them to be this outrageous.

If these fungal mats were adjusted properly, wouldn't they be able to directly grow certain magical species in the future, such as fruits that turned into alcoholic beverages?

While his mind was occupied with these thoughts, Renault continued working with his hands. He didn't slack off at all. It was only when his phone rang, reminding him that an hour had passed, and it was time to go back to change Scarecrow's body, that Renault snapped out of his reverie.

However, when Renault returned to the workshop, there was no sign of Scarecrow. Her body was still lying in the printing equipment.

"Where did she go?"

The Prowler shell currently used by Scarecrow had only simple visual systems and a voice module. There were no other devices installed.

Even the communication protocol for communicating with dolls wasn't installed, so there was no way to contact her directly as before.

But their dormitory building was so small, where could she have gone? Besides, Scarecrow's Prowler shell was so conspicuous that it attracted attention wherever it went.

Finding her would be simple.

"Let me go! Let me go! I don't want to be photographed!"

As Renault took a few steps in the dormitory building, he heard Scarecrow's hysterical screams. It sounded like another unfortunate victim of MDR's hands?

But this time, the situation surprised Renault. Because it wasn't just MDR taking pictures of Scarecrow, but even M1 Garand, Nagant Revolver, and others had joined in.

"No! We're not done yet! This is a customary project in our base! Newcomers have to submit their embarrassing photos as part of their induction! Then they'll be printed and distributed to everyone!" Nagant Revolver said firmly as she grabbed one of Scarecrow's wheels.

However, Scarecrow's poor Prowler chassis couldn't move Nagant Revolver, who weighed around 300 kilograms. The two wheels that hadn't left the ground were spinning wildly, causing black smoke to emanate from beneath her.

"Stay calm! Don't panic! This photo album is something all our members have. As long as you put your embarrassing photos in it, then we're comrades!" Simonov said confidently, gesturing for MDR to quickly take photos of Scarecrow.

After a series of shutter clicks, Scarecrow stopped struggling and lay on the ground, looking despondent.

Being put into a Prowler shell... no, being put into an electric rice cooker was embarrassing enough! But now, these guys wanted to take pictures too! And they even wanted to distribute them to every doll in the base!

If the Executioner or the Intruder found out about this later, she... the words "fallen from grace" wouldn't even begin to describe her misery!

Even though she was the lowest-ranked among the elite doll models manufactured by Sangvis Ferri, she was still an elite doll! She had her own dignity!

But now, being in such a humiliating situation, known to Maria and several others... She shouldn't have called Renault, that bastard! She should have just self-destructed! It would have been over!

"Alright, enough fussing. Let's go. I'll take Scarecrow with me and change her body." As Renault approached, he grabbed Scarecrow and waved off the others.

Seeing Renault take Scarecrow away, Simonov and Nagant Revolver immediately leaned in towards MDR. "How was it? How was it? How did the photos turn out? Did you capture Scarecrow's despair?"

"Well, I recorded her voice, but capturing her expression was a bit tricky. Her head is just a rice cooker, after all. Where would she have expressions?" MDR said, flipping through the photos she had just taken on her phone. She uploaded them to her neural cloud and selected a few clear ones.

"Here are a few! And also the photo of Scarecrow lying among the dolls! Good job, Simonov!" As she spoke, MDR gave Simonov a thumbs up.

Although Simonov was in the air more than two hundred meters above ground at the time, thanks to Renault's modification of the doll's eyes, she could clearly see what was happening on the ground.

The photo she extracted from her memory was incredibly lifelike, with even the scars on Scarecrow's face clearly visible.

"Hey hey! Hurry up and print them out! Let's put them in the album and make a copy for Scarecrow too! Knowing each other's past is what good comrades do!" Simonov grinned mischievously, not worried at all that Scarecrow would come knocking on their doors after she got a new body.

Meanwhile, after Renault put Scarecrow's neural core into the new body, she lay on the workbench like a salted fish, lifeless, with vacant eyes. At first glance, she looked no different from being dead.

Well, it seemed that MDR and the others had really angered her. But lying like this wasn't a solution. If she found out that MDR had even captured her embarrassing moments, such as her first time eating hotpot, she might immediately jump up and go after MDR for revenge.

"Alright, stop playing dead here. We still have work to do, and we don't have time to pretend to be salted fish." Renault knocked on Scarecrow's head and picked up a new album that MDR had just handed him, waving it in front of her.

Whether it was because she heard Renault say there was work to do or because she saw the album, Scarecrow finally reacted. She began to adapt to her new body according to Renault's instructions and then entered the repair chamber to attach the biosynthetic skin.

While Scarecrow lay in the repair chamber, Renault opened the new album. There wasn't much new content inside, just more photos of Scarecrow eating at their place before.

"I say, how about having hotpot today?"

Chapter 133: Swift Hands Prevail

"Miss Helian, is everything alright after last time?" Gentiane, observing Helian's somewhat weary expression in the holographic image, couldn't help but express her concern.

"It's fine, thanks to those combat recordings you submitted. Headquarters didn't deem us negligent, especially considering that guy, Renault, is an outright monster," Helian replied, visibly relieved.

Since Renault's sudden appearance and his forcible extraction of the Scarecrow's cognitive core, Kalina's combat report alone couldn't adequately explain the situation. Therefore, Gentiane had Poposha send both the combat records she had recorded on her phone and Kalina's written combat report to Griffin Headquarters.

It was thanks to these combat records that Headquarters finally realized the true nature of Renault.

Additionally, there were some things Helian hadn't mentioned yet. Not only did Headquarters affirm Renault's combat prowess, but even the military didn't hold them accountable.

After all, Renault's inadvertent rescue at the weapons expo had saved the military from a dire situation. Although Renault had unhesitatingly extorted an advanced tiltrotor aircraft, it was an undeniable fact that he had saved a group of people from the military under the rampage of the mecha.

And for a Scarecrow who was merely at the bottom among the elite doll models manufactured by Sangvis Ferri, the military obviously didn't care much. Although Griffin wanted to obtain the data hidden by the Scarecrow from Renault, as M4A1's true superior, Persica from 16lab, didn't seem interested in requesting information from Renault. Despite the considerable time since their mission to besiege the Scarecrow ended, Persica hadn't inquired about it.

It was unclear whether she didn't want to deal with Renault or simply wasn't aware of the situation...

"As long as everything's fine."

"It's not completely fine. The commander we collaborated with before still has some complaints about it. But fortunately, it's just some trivial complaints. Anyway, let's put our minds at ease and focus on our work. There are still large areas in Sector S09 that haven't been reclaimed."

"Understood."

"Oh, one more thing. There's an exercise targeting Sangvis tomorrow. Remember to have Kalina remind you to participate."

"An exercise?"

"Yes, let Kalina tell you the specifics. I have other matters to attend to. That's all," Helian said, raising her hand to end the communication.

Gazing at her nearly overflowing desk with various documents and recalling the multiple inquiries from Headquarters lately, Gentiane almost felt as if they were accusing her and Renault, insinuating some kind of clandestine transaction between them.

Fortunately, the matter had been quelled... except... "That bastard Renault! Why hasn't he called to check on my condition!?"

With a touch of indignation, Helian slapped the desk, retrieved the phone Renault had given her, glanced at Renault's number on it, hesitated for a while with her finger hovering over the screen, and ultimately couldn't muster the courage to call Renault.

"Renault, you bastard!"

...

"Achoo!" Renault, assisting CF05 in cutting dried chili peppers, suddenly sneezed.

This surprised Renault somewhat, as he knew his body well, and it was only chili peppers, not enough to induce sneezing. It seemed someone was cursing him behind his back.

"What's wrong, Commander? Is it too spicy?" CF05, upon hearing Renault sneeze unexpectedly, didn't think much of it. Sneezing was a common occurrence, wasn't it?

"It's nothing. By the way, why hasn't MG3 returned yet? It's just slaughtering a sheep, but they've been absent for half an hour, right?" Renault expressed, somewhat puzzled by MG3's delay, considering MG3 claimed to have worked on a ranch for a while and should be experienced.

"Perhaps it's their first time and they're not familiar? Or maybe the animals have been tamed, and they can't bear to do it?" NZ75 chimed in, noting that such situations were quite common for dolls.

"I'll go check," Renault said, setting down the scissors and heading to the ranch.

Upon pushing open the ranch gate, he heard MG3 wailing on the other side, "Baa baa! I'm sorry! Waaah!"

I...

Observing MG3's tearful state, Renault's mouth twitched. If he had known, he would have sent someone else. MG3 seemed to have treated the livestock at the ranch as pets?

Come on, seriously, if you wanted a pet, you should have said so earlier, and we would have bought you one. But now that you've raised them and want to eat meat, you're crying like this. How can others feel comfortable eating?

However, it was rare to witness MG3's true emotions. Renault felt it was necessary to capture this scene as it unfolded.

Just as Renault took out his phone and pressed the record button, he saw MG3's crying suddenly stop, and with a forceful move, she knocked the sheep down and clamped its neck between her feet, while the small knife in her hand cut a slash in the sheep's belly!

Hiss!

Renault gasped as he saw MG3 holding the knife and doing something in the sheep's belly. The sheep, which had been bleating just a moment ago, became completely still in no time.

What followed was a series of butchering processes, swift and orderly, with incredibly skillful movements that Renault couldn't help but admire.

"Sorry, baa baa, you're so fat, I actually feel like eating lamb too. You look so fat and delicious!" Watching MG3 dissecting the sheep while murmuring, Renault couldn't help but shake his head in speechlessness.

What were you crying for earlier?

With the meat ingredients settled on MG3's side, CF05 and NZ75 had also prepared plenty of vegetables, while G36 and G3 had made a lot of meatballs and some noodles.

Everyone was getting ready, and it didn't take long before a large pile of hotpot ingredients was ready.

Sitting in front of the table, the Scarecrow watched the red broth continuously rolling, and couldn't help but remember the first time she mooched off Renault's meal at his place. However, that time she didn't really eat, just shared a bit of taste with Jaeger...

And this time...

She regretted a bit, if she had known, she should have asked Renault for a clear broth pot... Would this spicy hotpot harm the doll body's frame?

"Hurry up and eat, Scarecrow! If you don't grab some meat soon, it'll all be gone!" Seeing the Scarecrow holding the bowl and chopsticks without moving, Maria immediately took action, skillfully picking up a large slice of meat directly from the pot with her chopsticks and stuffing it into the Scarecrow's bowl.

"Maria! That's my meat!"

"Swift hands reap the rewards!"

Chapter 134: Eating Hot Pot Without Singing

"Why is that guy named Renault still active in that area? Wasn't the power supply to that area cut off before!?"

"The system at the power station indeed shows that the power has been cut off..."

"But the fact is that the power supply in that area is still normal! Not only Renault's factory area, but even the entire polluted area has normal power supply!"

"That... that might be because there's a problem with the power station's system..."

"Don't give me those excuses! I want you to cut off the power supply to that annoying guy right now! Whether you blow up the power station or cut off the cables, do it immediately! If there's still power supply to that area tomorrow morning, I'll feed you to the Infected!"

...

"Hiss!" Scarecrow, with a red face, fanned herself with her hand while trying to inhale more cold air to dissipate the pain in her mouth.

Most of the other dolls nearby were in the same state, but even though they were burning up from the spice, none of them voluntarily turned off their pain simulation systems because this spiciness... the more you eat, the more addictive it becomes!

"The essence of hot pot lies in the spicy broth!"

"Clear broth is delicious too!"

CF05 and NZ75 started arguing again, while most of the other dolls were chatting and laughing.

Sitting next to Maria, Scarecrow finally felt like she was still alive. If only this state could continue...

Thinking like this, Scarecrow felt that the spiciness in her mouth wasn't as intense anymore. She quickly lifted her chopsticks and reached towards the red pot of soup.

Snap!

But just as her chopsticks approached a floating slice of meat in the pot, the lights in the restaurant suddenly dimmed with a soft click.

"Huh... what's going on?" Seeing the sudden darkness in the restaurant, Maria was a bit puzzled, but then she remembered the power outage in the factory area before.

"Could it be another power outage?" UMP40 directly voiced out what Maria was about to say.

At this moment, Renault furrowed his brow. After all, he had personally tampered with the power transmission system of the power station. As long as there was no problem with the power station itself, or if the cables were cut off midway, the power on his side could not be cut off.

And that power station was a nuclear power plant, supplying electricity to a large area. It was highly unlikely for anything to go wrong there under normal circumstances.

But it could also be the lights...

Just as Renault was thinking this, he saw G36 trying to open the refrigerator, but there was no light at all.

"Commander, the lights in the corridor are also off." M14, who was near the door, had already stepped out of the restaurant to check the situation outside, then came back to report to Renault.

"Alright, got it, I'll make a call."

As for who to call? Of course, it was that girl, Angelia. She was the one responsible for cutting off the power to his area before, so it wouldn't hurt to give her a call now.

Holding the phone, Renault waited for about half a minute before Angelia answered the call. Angelia on the other end of the line was obviously on a mission, and the clear sound of gunfire occasionally rang out from her side.

"Renault? What's up? I'm in the middle of a mission." Angelia was a bit surprised why Renault was calling at night, but she noticed the dark scene on Renault's side. If not for the phone's flashlight, she couldn't even see Renault's face clearly.

"My power is out again. Is your Statesec thinking of cutting off my power again?"

Upon hearing Renault's words, Angelia immediately held back the question she was about to ask, and then denied without hesitation, "How could that be? Our mission at the Statesec has long been over. Could it be that there's a problem with the equipment on your side?"

Seeing Angelia's expression not seeming to be faking it, Renault couldn't help but doubt it. After all, there was a small substation in the factory area. If that thing broke, it was indeed possible for the power to be cut off on his side.

"Alright, if it's not you guys, that's good. I'll go check the equipment. That's it, I'll hang up." Renault said and hung up the phone without hesitation.

But even if it was really the small substation that broke, the situation on Renault's side was not optimistic because that small substation was new and had not been used for long, so it was unlikely to break under normal circumstances.

Moreover, there was a crisp sound just now when the power went out. In a normal power outage, there wouldn't be any sound.

Thinking like this, Renault directly took the toolbox and walked out, using the light from his phone to check the small substation in the factory area. Unfortunately...

The thing was intact, without any problems at all. On the contrary, the high-voltage lines connected to the substation now had no power at all.

Seeing this, Renault couldn't help but understand. Someone must be trying to cause trouble again, cutting off his power just to get back at him.

These unscrupulous bastards! All they know is to cut off power for others! Damn it, if I find out who you are and where you're from, I'll make sure to completely burn your power system to ashes!

"Commander? What's the situation?" RFB helped Renault carry the toolbox and came over, asking with some concern.

This guy, whenever there was trouble in the factory area, he would always hide or goof off instead of working. But now, just after a power outage, he jumped out of the underground dock and started asking questions.

"It's not broken here; someone messed with the power lines leading to the power tower or the cables." Regardless of whether it was one of these two, it was troublesome for Renault.

Even if he could find where the problem was with the lines, he wouldn't be able to fix them in a short amount of time.

These basic infrastructure things were not something that could be easily repaired.

"Huh... so, does that mean we'll be without power for a while again? Should I connect the diesel generator?"

"No need, we don't need that thing. I have something better at home." Saying that, Renault directly took RFB to the underground dock, but this time they came down the stairs. With this power outage, even the elevator couldn't be used.

And seeing Renault coming here, a thought suddenly came to RFB's mind, "Commander, you're not thinking of using the spaceship's engine to generate electricity, are you?"

"Then what? Most of the pipelines of the spaceship are not laid out yet, and it's just sitting here. It's better to take it out and generate some electricity." As he spoke, Renault directly grabbed a bunch of thick cables and connected the engine's circuits directly to the small substation outside.

As for the original high-voltage cables, Renault threw them aside.

Who knows if there will be power in the future?

But Renault felt that it was unlikely for the rest of his life. Since the other party went to great lengths to cut off his power, he had no reason not to retaliate in some way.

Chapter 135: Forgotten for a Moment

"Oh, oh, oh! The power's back on! I didn't expect it to come back so soon! Must be some equipment malfunction in the factory area, right?" Maria exclaimed excitedly as she saw the overhead lights come back on.

However, several lights overhead remained completely dark.

But these were minor issues now. There was nothing more important than continuing the meal at this moment!

RFB, who was helping Renault, also breathed a sigh of relief. She just hoped that the spaceship's engine could hold up a bit longer. At least it shouldn't need another oil change every now and then. The last power outage had really put her and M1 Garand through a lot.

As the two returned to the restaurant, the doll group had already resumed eating, as if the recent power outage was just a minor inconvenience.

Renault naturally didn't want to ruin the mood at this moment. The specific situation could wait until tomorrow.

However, just because the other dolls didn't notice anything wrong with Renault's expression didn't mean Scarecrow couldn't.

Renault's silence upon returning clearly indicated that something was amiss!

The recent power outage definitely wasn't caused by a malfunction in the factory area's equipment! It was definitely a problem with the cables or the power tower!

"Was there really a power outage just now?" Taking advantage of the other dolls' lack of attention, Scarecrow lowered her voice and asked Renault.

"Huh? Of course, but it's been resolved. We won't be short of power for a short time." Renault was impressed by Scarecrow's keen observation skills.

While others hadn't even considered the possibility, Scarecrow could see through it at a glance. Is this the difference in mental capacity between dolls?

"Now that the power's back, why the frown?" Renault's brows remained furrowed as he spoke.

Clearly, restoring power was likely Renault's own contingency plan. There must have been a problem with the original power lines.

Even before Renault could say anything, Scarecrow had already guessed.

"Of course, I'm thinking about how to teach those brats who keep messing with other people's power switches a lesson." However, the identities of those guys were unclear, and Renault didn't know if he could find them.

Last time, Angelia received a mission from the Statesec. This time, who knew where these people who came to switch off his power had come from?

But identity wasn't Renault's concern. He just wanted to catch those power switchers quickly and let them experience a beating!

"So are we leaving now?" Hearing Renault's resolute tone, Scarecrow directly asked Renault how to deal with the current situation.

If they were going to track them down, it would be best to leave immediately. Otherwise, if those people knew how to cover their tracks, they might slip away.

"Yeah, let's go. While they're not paying attention." Renault nodded and led Scarecrow out of the restaurant, with RFB following for the first time ever.

"I'm coming too! If we don't get rid of those guys, I won't be able to calm my mind!" RFB almost gritted her teeth as she spoke. After all, electricity was her lifeline, and someone had cut her off while she was playing a game as a bone ash collector...

Tsk tsk, it was almost certain what fate awaited the person who cut off her power.

When Renault inspected the substation just now, he had already checked. The location of the power outage wasn't far from his factory area, only about four kilometers away. With such a short distance, Renault could reach it in less than five minutes.

He hadn't expected that these troublemakers who came to destroy the cables had already reached a place not far from his factory area.

It was hard to understand what these guys were up to. If they wanted to cut off the power, wouldn't it be better to do it near the power station? Why come over here? Not only did it require venturing into the polluted area, but it also made their tracking easier.

Both Scarecrow and RFB had undergone body replacements, and with Renault's speed, it took them less than three minutes to arrive at the location where the power was cut off.

"Wow, they're really thorough. They even blew up the entire power tower!" RFB remembered that there was supposed to be a power tower here, and all the power in the factory area had to pass through here.

She just didn't expect these guys to be so bold this time, going straight for targeted demolition.

"Over here." Renault looked down at the not-so-messy footprints. They had silently and precisely brought down an entire power tower and orderly evacuated after completing the mission.

Obviously, the people who carried out these actions weren't just ordinary armed personnel, but rather well-trained special forces.

Fortunately, Renault and the others arrived in time. These guys didn't expect Renault to catch up so quickly. When Renault saw their figures, they hadn't even realized they were being pursued by Renault.

"What now? Attack or leave someone alive for interrogation?" As soon as Scarecrow spoke, he directly asked how to deal with the people in front of them.

"Direct attack. I'm not in the mood to deal with these small fries under other forces." Renault's words were exactly what RFB and Scarecrow wanted to hear. What was there to discuss? Just grab weapons and get it done!

"Enemy attack!?"

At the moment when RFB fired at these guys with her weapon, a group of people wearing protective suits and deliberately came to switch off his power immediately shouted loudly upon being attacked!

These guys were highly alert!

Their reaction speed to the attack made Renault and Scarecrow feel uneasy.

It was pitch black here, and it was in the polluted area. Yet, each of you is wearing thick protective suits. Isn't your reaction a bit too quick when facing an attack?

But the most embarrassing thing was RFB. Holding her imprinted weapon, she had been shooting for a long time, but she still couldn't take down one of the guys facing her.

Seeing this, RFB couldn't help but turn her head and smile at Renault. Originally, when she saw the protective suits these guys were wearing, which were different from the ones she had seen before, she thought these suits might have slightly lower defensive capabilities...

Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned. These suits remained tough, and coupled with the fact that these guys seemed to have prepared cover in advance... This resulted in RFB needing to fire thirty bullets just to take down one enemy, a rather embarrassing situation.

"Fool! What about the gun I made for you earlier? Use that thing to shoot!" Renault couldn't help but roll his eyes at her. She had volunteered, but her combat ability was still that of a deadweight.

Chapter 136: Damn, They Even Smashed the Glass!

Despite RFB's embarrassment, the most embarrassing one was actually Scarecrow. When it came time to attack the armed personnel, she realized that all her anti-gravity drones were long gone.

When Renault was manufacturing the dolls, he hadn't thought about making all those drones for her. Scarecrow could handle it herself, considering she maintained so many anti-gravity drones on her own.

With her recently replaced body, Scarecrow was truly defenseless now. Of course, if her 300-kilogram body could be considered a weapon...

Clearly, Scarecrow wasn't adept at close combat. While she had some combat skills, they fell short when facing enemies in heavy protective suits.

Of course, what she imagined was quite different from reality...

RFB directly engaged, knocking the weapons out of the enemies' hands, while Scarecrow charged forward, aiming for the helmets of the enemies!

As an elite doll manufactured by Sangvis Ferri, Scarecrow was experienced in combat.

However, both Renault and Scarecrow had strength far beyond the norm. With one powerful punch, Scarecrow smashed through the face shields of the enemy's protective suits!

Accompanying the destruction were the heads of those guys! Startled by the result of her punch, Scarecrow wasted no time and went for the next enemy!

Renault faced a similar situation, except he had weapons. With the curved blade hanging at his waist, he aimed for the enemies' necks.

Seeing Renault wielding a knife instead of a gun, these people found it somewhat ridiculous. The one who looked fierce just now could be excused, but this human, a "commander" who specialized in directing dolls in combat, wanted to use a knife to pierce through their protective suits?

Don't joke!

However, reality often contradicted expectations. The heavy protective suits were no match for Renault's swinging blade! These suits, designed to withstand most small-caliber firearms, crumbled like butter under Renault's blade!

The helmets, along with the neck guards, were sliced in half by Renault's curved blade! And then came their heads!

Seeing this scene, the group of enemies barely had time to reconsider life. Under the combined efforts of the three, they fell one after another, unable to withstand even two minutes!

As for the other half?

The one who hadn't been shot in the head due to Scarecrow's light hand was barely able to speak. But just as he finished speaking, before he could mock them further, he collapsed.

However, the words he uttered confirmed the uneasy feeling Renault and Scarecrow had.

"This guy probably intentionally chose a location close to the base to lure me out, right!?" If they were trying to lure him out, what about the group of dolls at home... Wait, how did this guy know he could lure only him out? What if a large group of dolls followed him out?

Regardless of whether this guy wanted to lure just him out or the whole group of dolls, his goal was halfway achieved.

And the other half?

Approximately a dozen heavily armed individuals had already engaged in fierce gunfire from the direction of his factory area!

Among the sounds, some were from the modified guns he owned, while others sounded muffled and unfamiliar, likely from the attackers' weapons.

"It seems the fighting has already started. Let's go back." Saying this, Renault left these guys behind and led the two back to the factory area.

Outside the factory wall, they could see the group of dolls standing by the window, all looking furious, as if they wanted to tear the attackers apart.

With a relatively well-stocked arsenal at home and the attackers' lack of reconnaissance on his factory area, the dolls were able to take down a large number of them as soon as they opened fire.

This was even without using the machine guns on the powered exoskeletons! If they were just here to cause trouble for him...

It wasn't dangerous, but it was annoying! And disgusting! Who comes over to pull someone else's power switch while they're eating?!

And more importantly...

These damn bastards smashed the glass at home! Damn it!

Originally, considering this area was a red zone where few people ventured, Renault hadn't made many modifications to the glass on the dormitory building. He simply added an extra layer and sealed it to prevent radioactive dust from getting in.

Who would've thought these guys would demolish their way into his home! And they smashed a large section of the dormitory's glass right off the bat!?

Damn it! Where the hell did these brats come from?! Pulling his switch and smashing the glass! Did they think he wouldn't get angry!?

Although he didn't know why the dolls at home hadn't rushed out, Renault clearly wouldn't just stand here and watch. Now was not the time to test the combat capabilities of his doll companions.

"Let's go! Take care of these bastards!" Saying this, Renault hefted his curved blade. Where did he pick up this thing again? Now it seemed a bit awkward to use.

Too light, and the lethality was truly limited.

Chapter 137: Learning to Be Smart This Time?

"Enemy count: thirty-three. Equipped with light weapons. Two targets may have anti-material sniper rifles, and another three targets are suspected to carry grenade launchers."

Watching the enemies surrounding the factory gate layer by layer, Scarecrow instinctively reported the weapons configuration of the enemies.

Beside her, RFB, upon hearing Scarecrow speak, was initially surprised, but upon realizing it was just basic intelligence, she couldn't help but roll her eyes in exasperation. "Who doesn't know that? You can tell just by looking, and what's the use of knowing anyway? Stop fussing over these details and just follow the commander's lead!"

For them now, matters like enemy weapons configurations were just a glance away. With the upgraded neural core, Renault had already procured various plugin modules from the black market that could assist doll combat, and these combat modules had been pre-installed into the dolls' neural space during their body replacements. Whether to use them or not depended entirely on the dolls' preferences.

T-Dolls like HK416 and UMP45 enjoyed using these auxiliary combat plugins because they were really convenient. On the other hand, M1 Garand and Simonov probably didn't like these complex plugins. Several T-Dolls led by them preferred to rely on their own abilities in combat.

Although there were pros and cons to each approach, under Renault's manufacturing, the small flaws were directly masked by the powerful performance of the bodies.

Just like the current situation, even though all the dolls at home stayed in the dormitory and only occasionally fired back from the window, these enemies were still blocked outside the factory area. They didn't have a chance to step through the gate!

The dozen or so people who rushed in on impulse were now lying dead in front of the dormitory's small square.

Outside the factory area, Renault and the others had already charged into the midst of these enemies who had rushed out from the side. Scarecrow, who had just heard RFB's words, hadn't had time to say much. Under Renault's lead, they had already rushed into the crowd. Their speed was so fast that even Scarecrow hadn't reacted and subconsciously increased her speed to keep up.

However, when it came time to act, Scarecrow found that Renault had a curved blade in his hand, and RFB had already put away her imprint weapon, picking up a steel rod from somewhere and swinging it at the enemies' helmets.

Only she herself, wielding her fists empty-handed, seemed weaker in comparison to Renault and RFB. If only the Executioner were here, Renault's fighting style would definitely be very appealing to the executioner.

After piercing through the helmets of two enemies in succession, Scarecrow couldn't help but look at the damaged synthetic skin on her hands with a worried expression.

The frame of the body was undamaged, but evidently, the surface synthetic skin couldn't withstand such attacks.

After a few times, the synthetic skin on her palm was damaged, and the simulated fluid circuitry in the simulation system also began to deteriorate...

No wonder, no wonder that RFB didn't attack the enemies directly like her, but instead picked up a steel rod as a weapon.

Fortunately, with just Renault and RFB, they had already slaughtered these enemies like a tiger among sheep. This gave Scarecrow a chance to space out, although it wasn't entirely spacing out. She actually wanted to find a weapon to use, but there were only rubble and bricks on the ground, which didn't seem very handy...

Over there... was that a big hammer?

When Renault had the household dolls collect scrap before, he had already scanned through this large area in front of the house, roughly rather than meticulously. These ruins were too messy. What could be seen was taken away, and what couldn't be found was left behind. Moreover, deliberately digging through these ruins might dig out the infected still able to move inside.

Otherwise, RFB wouldn't have been able to pick up a steel rod at the door, and Scarecrow's find, the rusted handle of the hammer, and the hammerhead, which was completely unrecognizable from its original color, were the same.

But even if it rusted into a lump of iron, it was still fine to pick it up and smash someone.

Scarecrow naturally didn't hesitate and rushed over to pick up the iron hammer, then rushed towards the sniper positions in the distance.

Although Renault and RFB had also seen the two sniper points in the distance, they didn't rush over directly because, compared to the two who could only shoot cold guns from afar, the enemies surrounding the factory area posed a greater threat.

Of course, this threat didn't refer to safety, but their threat to the factory buildings. dolls wouldn't be injured by light weapons, but the dormitory and those factories might not be as lucky.

The broken glass was a lesson learned. It was better to deal with these nearby enemies first to prevent them from pulling out anything big and blowing up the buildings.

As for the two snipers with anti-material sniper rifles in the distance... let them shoot.

Anyway, they wouldn't hit Renault and RFB who were moving at high speed, and even the household dolls wouldn't be hit so easily.

If they could hit, they would have been hit already, and they wouldn't have waited until Renault and the others came back with no results.

Chapter 138: Not Quite Finished Yet

"Hey, 416, what's going on? Why isn't anyone going out? Aren't those guys outside that dangerous?" Just as she jumped into the dormitory, RFB spotted HK416 guarding by the window and couldn't help but ask with some confusion.

The threat from those enemies outside wasn't that significant, so why were they all staying inside and not venturing out?

Blushing at RFB's question, HK416 awkwardly gestured towards the ammunition box beside her.

Seeing HK416's gesture, RFB first paused, then recognized what the ammunition box was. Renault had produced some bullets with changed propellants before, and the box in front of her was exactly for those bullets.

Behind HK416 were four similar ammunition boxes. Previously, because of these tough protective suits, Renault had specially issued a new gun to each doll. Although they might not look as good as their etched weapons, their power was undeniable. It was definitely no problem to shoot through the helmets of those protective suits with one shot.

Most of the enemies lying inside the factory compound had their helmets pierced by one shot, while only a few were pierced by regular bullets.

Among these new guns, HK416's was undoubtedly the best. Her gun had been modified from her original etched weapon, so it felt most similar to her own etched weapon.

Therefore, HK416 had become the doll who consumed the most new bullets at home. Along with M200 and BM59, they often practiced while patrolling. And there seemed to be a trend where HK416's consumption made M200 and BM59 feel embarrassed.

With HK416 consuming the most bullets, Renault directly assigned her the task of making new bullets, after all, the machine was automated. As long as the materials were sufficient, pressing a button could continuously produce them.

All HK416 needed to do was to move away the full ammunition box and put it away, and add materials to the machine.

As RFB was asking, she noticed the blush on HK416's face and raised her eyebrows curiously. She had just seen other dolls standing by the window helping to attack the enemies outside, but why were they nowhere to be seen now?

"They went to the warehouse behind to put on powered exoskeletons. The observation devices in the factory seemed to have spotted some big guys ambushing in the distance."

"Big guys? Can't we just clean up the enemies outside first? It's not that difficult, is it?" RFB still didn't quite understand. Logically, with the new guns in their hands, it would only take a few minutes to deal with those enemies if the dolls went out. Why did everyone need to go put on powered exoskeletons?

Moreover, not everyone had powered exoskeletons now. She didn't have one, so what about those dolls without powered exoskeletons?

Not all dolls at home had powered exoskeletons. Since she and M200 came to Renault's side, she hadn't seen Renault working on powered exoskeletons.

"Well... I ran out of bullets..." As she spoke, HK416 unloaded her magazine, showing RFB the only two special bullets left in the magazine. "I was planning to make more to replenish the stock tonight, but..."

Hearing this, RFB rolled her eyes. So, you're also having a tough time today? "Okay, you stay here and keep it up. I'll go find SPAS-12. The commander asked me to throw the breaching axe to her."

"Um, that may not be necessary. It seems like they've already rushed out." Hearing RFB's words, HK416 regained her composure and pointed outside.

A dozen tall figures leaped directly over the factory's courtyard wall! After landing, they charged towards the retreating enemies!

Seeing this scene, Renault, who was just about to remove an enemy's helmet to perform a craniotomy, shrugged indifferently. Whether it was him or his dolls, it was all the same when they took action.

Anyway, all they had to do was kill all these guys.

As for what the dolls who hadn't come out were doing now? They were all salvaging supplies at home.

When Renault renovated the dormitory, he didn't install isolation doors in the corridor. One was because the quality of this dormitory was pretty good, and two was because there was too much work.

There were very few encounters with the infected here, so it was enough to install an isolation door at the entrance of the dormitory.

The remaining task was just to deal with all the windows and vents in the dormitory. As long as they could prevent collapse and radiation, there shouldn't be any problem with this arrangement.

Unfortunately, someone suddenly came out today and smashed the glass.

Facing these powered exoskeletons that suddenly rushed out, the retreating enemies immediately opened fire without hesitation. They also picked up the grenade launchers that had been held back before and started firing a series of grenades directly at the powered exoskeletons!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The deafening explosions directly stunned Scarecrow, who had just dealt with two snipers. The firepower of these enemies was indeed not weak. Three squad grenade launchers fired one grenade after another, almost washing this area in front of the factory with debris!

Even some of their own people were unlucky enough to be blasted to the ground.

Unfortunately...

The situation now was probably like a loud noise with few raindrops.

The explosion caused quite a commotion, and the dust filled the sky, but unfortunately, these grenades didn't even touch the edges of the powered exoskeletons.

At the moment when these guys opened fire, M1 Garand and the others had already spread out on both sides and rushed towards these enemies from both sides.

Facing these enemies wearing only protective suits, M1 Garand and the others had no intention of wasting cannonballs. In this situation, the folding axes equipped on the powered exoskeletons were obviously more effective than the slightly outdated weapons on the powered exoskeletons.

When Renault equipped the powered exoskeletons with weapons, he didn't expect these protective suits used for protection against collapse and radiation to be so troublesome. After all, they hadn't encountered anyone wearing these things before.

Now it seemed that, except for the machine guns carried by a few doll rifles, the ones holding the breaching axes, pile drivers, and chainsaws on the powered exoskeletons seemed to be the most effective in quickly killing these enemies.

Originally treated as functional work equipment by Renault, they had now become the most lethal weapons.

Avoiding the landing points of the grenades, the group of dolls didn't need to do much. They just needed to rush up and swing the folding axes in their hands.

With only a dozen enemies left, facing powered exoskeletons no less numerous than them, there was no possibility of winning.

After dealing with the culprits who broke the glass, M1 Garand and the others didn't relax because these people were just scouts. The truly troublesome characters were now rushing towards them.

Chapter 139: Why Is Orange Cat Safe?

"Commander, most of the supplies at home have already been moved to the uncontaminated area. The vertical farm and the breeding farm haven't been damaged," NZ75 reported as M1 Garand and the others mowed down the enemies wearing protective suits like cutting vegetables.

NZ75 had already run over to Renault from home and explained the general situation. Afterward, she glanced ahead, hesitating whether to go up and support.

After all... those things in the distance, even if M1 Garand and the others were all wearing powered exoskeletons, NZ75 felt it was a bit unrealistic...

"Are those... proper tanks in the distance?" Scarecrow, returning with a hammer, frowned at the gradually approaching silhouettes in the darkness.

If that were true, it would be a bit too much. Since they joined Renault's side, they hadn't encountered the military a few times. Even if they had fought with the military once or twice, the most they had seen were some Cyclops and Aeigis, and rarely any Coeus.

Could it be that right after she arrived at Renault's side, she had to face off against the military's Typhon tanks?

"It's close, but it's not the current Typhon the military is using. It's the T90 from decades ago,"

Renault frowned slightly, lighting a cigarette and observing the tanks and armored vehicles charging out of the darkness.

For powered exoskeletons, armored vehicles weren't much of a threat since their armor thickness wasn't thick enough to withstand machine gun fire.

However, the four T90 tanks troubled Renault. Except for the aluminum thermite carried by Vector, none of the weapons equipped on the powered exoskeletons seemed capable of harming these behemoths.

Even the RPG-29 launcher carried by M1911 made Renault uncertain. Who knew if those guys had modified the T90s in some way? And the most important thing was, that launcher only had two rounds of ammunition.

Even if M1911 had amazing luck and hit weak points in the armor every time, taking out one tank each time, there were still two tanks left.

But it wasn't a big problem. If necessary, he still had a few electromagnetic bombs on hand. Originally intended for use against dolls, using them in emergencies to destroy the electronic devices inside those tanks was also feasible.

"Commander, besides those supplies at home, UMP40's cats..." NZ75 hesitated to bring up the topic to Renault, seeing he wasn't overly concerned about M1 Garand and the others.

Before NZ75 could finish her sentence, Renault raised an eyebrow.

He almost forgot about it! They were just sitting in the dining room having a meal! The cats at home were all in the dining room!

Breaking glass posed no problem to dolls! But it wasn't necessarily the case for the cats!

The level of pollution like this not only made it difficult for humans to survive but also made it impossible for plants, animals, moss on the ground, and even bacteria in the air to survive in these irradiated areas.

If they did survive... they were likely to have undergone some kind of mutation...

Just like the cats at Renault's place now. Out of the four cats, three were already showing symptoms of ELID. However, the big orange cat kept by Jaeger seemed completely unaffected, lying on the ground with a round body, happily munching on a piece of dried fish in its mouth.

"Could it be that Jaeger's big orange cat is actually immune to collapsed radiation?" Seeing the big orange cat still having a good appetite, UMP40 couldn't help but feel a bit amused, but she still anxiously looked at the other three cats that had been put into isolation boxes.

BM59's ragdoll was still in decent condition because it was next to BM59 when the glass broke. She protected the ragdoll immediately, so it only looked a bit sickly now.

But the conditions of the other two calico cats were not optimistic. The two troublemakers, like little monkeys, were not far from the window when the glass broke. Plus, they were startled by the sudden breakage of the glass. They darted away at the first opportunity, delaying the time it took for UMP40 to put them into isolation boxes.

Compared to the seemingly sickly appearance of the ragdoll and the completely unaffected big orange cat, the conditions of the two calico cats were not optimistic. One of them had even started to shed fur, and if this continued, it would probably lead to skin necrosis and then directly transform into ELID-infected organisms.

Of course, the possibility was very low, because the bodies of cats were not strong enough to support their continued survival after becoming infected, and even if they did transform, they probably wouldn't survive for long before naturally dying.

If animals could transform into ELID-infected individuals and survive for a long time like human infected individuals, the city they were in would probably have become a paradise for animal infected individuals long ago.

When Renault heard the news, he threw away the cigarette in his hand.

"Prepare the helicopter. After dealing with these guys, we'll immediately go to the city to see if there's a veterinarian. Scarecrow, you and them, get your hands treated first."

After saying that, Renault directly walked toward M1 Garand and the others.

"Hey! Wait! You..." Seeing Renault running out without hesitation, Scarecrow was about to say that Renault was just a human and didn't even have a weapon in his hand, so he shouldn't meddle in the fight against the tanks.

However, when he thought of Renault falling from the sky before, Scarecrow swallowed his words, better not to say anything. This guy might be even tougher than those tanks.

Just as Renault rushed out, a group of powered exoskeletons had already begun exchanging fire with the armored vehicles on the opposite side.

M1 Garand saw these intruders, and the drivers in the opposite vehicles had already seen the powered armor glowing with red eyes.

The machine guns on top of the tanks and the autocannons on top of the armored vehicles sprayed out bullets toward the dolls.

However, even though the autocannons on the armored vehicles and the heavy machine guns on top of the tanks were all equipped with modified automatic aiming devices, the locking speed of these turrets was unable to keep up with the fully opened powered exoskeletons' movements.

The actions of these powered exoskeletons didn't seem particularly fast normally, but M1911 and the others obviously had no intention of conserving energy. They immediately maxed out the output of the powered exoskeletons as soon as they started.

A dozen or so towering powered exoskeletons, agile like a group of rabbits, made it impossible for these armored vehicles and tanks to catch them!

The rotating speed of the machine guns and autocannons was unable to keep up with the movements of the dolls, let alone the main cannons of the tanks, which should have been able to easily penetrate the powered exoskeletons, were now acting like fools, being circled around by a group of dolls, unable to find an opportunity to fire.

Chapter 140: We Need a Veterinarian Here

Boom!

Perhaps unable to hold back any longer, or maybe just trying their luck, the turret of one of the T90s rumbled loudly!

Following the tank's firing, the SPAS-12, which had already approached the tank, leaped onto the top of the tank with a breaching axe in hand. The heavy machine gun that had just turned to aim at her had no chance to fire before being smashed into scrap metal by the axe in SPAS-12's hand.

Accompanying the damage were the anti-tank launchers on both sides of the tank turret and various other external devices such as the commander's observation periscope, all of which were trampled by SPAS-12 as if she were a locust passing through!

Meanwhile, Simonov and Jaeger were also firing directly at the armored vehicles. Although the BK27 was also an antique from decades ago, the armored vehicles in front of them weren't exactly brand new either.

With just a few shots, the armored vehicles, which had been relentlessly pursuing the powered exoskeletons with their machine guns, were all silenced.

Almost every armored vehicle had dozens of bullet holes on its body. The crew inside were probably already riddled with bullets by now.

After dealing with several armored vehicles on this side, M1 Garand and the others turned their barrels and began looking for weak spots on the tanks.

However, although the machine guns equipped on M1 Garand and the others' powered exoskeletons were more than capable of dealing with armored vehicles, they weren't as effective against tanks, which were armored from head to toe. Even targeting the weakest rear part of the armor didn't yield significant results.

SPAS-12 jumping onto the top of the tank and smashing and trampling around turned out to be the most effective method.

The tank that she had wreaked havoc upon had now become blind, without night vision or targeting equipment. They couldn't even see where their nearby friendly vehicles were.

While SPAS-12 was handling the tank, M1911 decided to take matters into her own hands. She hoisted the RPG29 onto her shoulder and aimed at the rear of one of the tanks, pulling the trigger.

Boom!

M1911's attack was undoubtedly effective. After a loud bang, the rear of the tank exploded, flames erupting from within. The top hatch was also blown open, and the crew inside struggled to crawl out.

Unfortunately, these guys weren't wearing protective suits. Opening the hatch and crawling out in this situation was practically suicide.

As M1911 reloaded the RPG29, intending to repeat her success on another tank, Renault ran over and waved to the group, signaling them to back off.

Once the tactical dolls had all retreated to a safe distance, Renault, like SPAS-12, leaped onto the top of the tank.

However, instead of destroying the equipment on top like SPAS-12, he merely removed the ammunition supply system of the machine gun, then placed a device the size of a water cup on the tank's top.

In less than three seconds, Renault had placed two of these devices, then jumped down from the tank's top.

Sizzle!

The two cup-sized devices emitted dazzling electric light as Renault jumped away. The blinding white light was even visible to NZ75 at the factory gate.

The dazzling electric light lasted for several seconds, and when the light dissipated, the tanks that had been constantly moving in an attempt to lock onto the powered exoskeletons were frozen in place, sparks flying from the devices on their roofs as if struck by lightning.

"Hey, Commander, if you had something so useful, you should've brought it out earlier. If we had this earlier, we wouldn't have had to run around these tanks like idiots," MDR complained upon seeing how easily Renault incapacitated two tanks with the device.

Since her powered exoskeleton wasn't equipped with many weapons, and her single machine gun was of little use, MDR naturally played the role of repeatedly attracting fire in front of the tanks.

"You didn't say anything, and I almost forgot. You, this guy, aren't you carrying electronic warfare equipment on your back? Isn't that thing more powerful than what UMP45 and UMP40 have? Why didn't I see you hacking into the control systems of these tanks and controlling them?"

Upon hearing MDR's voice, Renault slapped his forehead and looked at the electronic warfare equipment, resembling a square box, on MDR's powered exoskeleton's back.

Although that thing was originally just a modified jamming device, its power undoubtedly exceeded that of the electronic warfare equipment built into UMP45 and UMP40's bodies.

Coupled with MDR's skills in electronic warfare, it would have been a piece of cake for her to disrupt or hack into the control systems of these tanks!

If MDR had done that earlier, they might not have needed to fight at all.

"Eh? Um... I forgot..." Upon hearing Renault's words, MDR scratched her head in embarrassment. Since she got her powered exoskeleton, she hadn't used that set of equipment much. Plus, during battles, it was always Simonov or Vector who took the lead.

This guy, who often stayed behind playing with her phone and posting on forums, even forgot what equipment she had.

"Hey! Hurry up and disable the remaining tank, track down the location of these guys' base, Nagant, quickly clean up here, send those who are still alive to reunite with their teammates, and then Vector, burn them out. Simonov and SPAS-12, go back and prepare the helicopter. Let's move, move."

Since there was a place selling pets in the city before, there's probably a veterinarian there.

However, Renault was pessimistic about whether those veterinarians could treat ELID. If they could, wouldn't that mean they could cure humans too?

No way animals could be treated for ELID but not humans, right?

The tactical dolls immediately sprang into action. MDR effortlessly disabled the tank that had been sabotaged by SPAS-12. The tank's control system was no match for MDR's computing power.

On one side was an antique from decades ago, on the other was a tactical tactical doll upgraded by Renault with electronic warfare capabilities. In MDR's hands, the tank's control system was as easy to manipulate as flipping open a flip phone.

The few remaining live occupants inside the vehicle couldn't help but jump out after MDR stopped the air conditioning system. Then Renault sent them straight to hell one by one.

Apparently, they'd rather come out and take their chances against Renault than sit inside a metal coffin waiting to die. Who knows, maybe they'd win?

The situation was even more tragic on the armored vehicle side. The crew inside the armored vehicles that had been pierced by machine gun fire were hardly intact. After confirming that there were no living beings among them, Renault simply left these armored vehicles here.

Although the equipment on these tanks and armored vehicles was still decent, Renault was starting to look down on them. And what they urgently needed to do now was to take the cats from home to find a veterinarian...

Chapter 141: Top Priority

"What have you been feeding this guy?" Renault wondered as he watched the big orange cat rubbing against Jaeger's ankle, begging for food.

It was quite strange. Why was a single orange cat seemingly immune to the collapse radiation? So many abilities that humans longed for but couldn't attain, yet they appeared in a cat?

"We haven't given Big Orange anything strange, just our usual meals. Big Orange doesn't usually like cat food," replied Jaeger.

The usual meals? That shouldn't be anything strange.

Renault couldn't figure it out either and quickly urged Jaeger to put Big Orange into the isolation box.

The conditions of the other three cats were not as optimistic as Big Orange's. It was no exaggeration to say they were barely clinging to life. Whether they could hold on until they found a veterinarian with these few little ones was uncertain.

Seeing the three cats barely breathing in the isolation box, it's no wonder the tactical dolls at home all seemed ready to kill.

"Remember to keep an eye on everything at home. If anyone attacks again, just take them all out! Understood?" Renault instructed MDR, who hadn't taken off her powered exoskeleton yet.

Although MDR had just located the exact position of those enemies' headquarters or base using the signal transmitter, Renault didn't have time to go directly there and pick a fight with those bastards.

Compared to the trouble of dealing with those bastards plotting in the dark, finding a veterinarian for these three little ones was more important. After all, as long as he was alive and his tactical dolls were intact, those bastards would always reappear.

After returning this time, he had to hurry up and finish constructing the spaceship's hull. At the very least, he needed to move all the living quarters inside the hull.

Ordinary buildings were still too fragile for those unidentified attackers. This time they were lucky, as only the dormitory building was attacked, and the tanks and armored vehicles were stopped far away. Otherwise, without the tanks firing, just the machine guns on the armored vehicles could have put several holes in the vertical farm and breeding farm.

In that case, everything he had worked so hard to create would have been scrapped.

"Understood! Commander, you can rest assured!" Upon hearing this, MDR clasped her hands in front of her, making her powered exoskeleton look pitiful.

"Don't be so pitiful! Monitor all kinds of signals in this area. If anyone comes, contact immediately."

"Yes, understood." MDR nodded, then waved to Renault, who was piloting the helicopter.

HK416 and G11 beside MDR looked a little depressed as they watched the helicopter gradually rise and fly away, but when they thought that there might be more enemies coming later, this depression was thrown out of their minds.

On the helicopter, besides Renault himself, there were UMP40 and UMP45, as well as BM59 with the stuffed cat and Jaeger with Big Orange.

Because they were going to the city, the powered exoskeletons couldn't be brought along, and Renault now felt that the powered exoskeleton equipment was falling behind.

What was the use of powered exoskeletons with only machine guns? It was useful for fighting the infected and the mercenaries who weren't wearing heavy protective suits, but when those heavy protective suits appeared in batches like they were on sale, the weapons on the powered exoskeletons were obviously inadequate.

No wonder the military and the Ministry of Internal Affairs were so at ease with G&K using tactical tactical dolls produced by IOP in large quantities.

All the weapons they were holding were outdated. They were just right for maintaining public order, but if they were up against the military... the situation would definitely be one-sided.

"Are you sure the owner of that shop last time was a veterinarian?" Renault asked UMP40 as he piloted the helicopter.

Last time she bought these cats from the pet shop, the owner of that shop seemed to be a veterinarian. After all, if he owned the shop himself, he could save a lot of costs.

Of course, it was also possible that the owner of that shop just liked these pets, so he deliberately learned the trade.

"Well, the owner of that shop, Abram, was treating a pet dog at the time, but... I'm not sure if he can treat ELID..."

After all, this disease was very difficult to cure.

Mild symptoms were okay, as long as you spent a lot of money on treatment, there was still a good chance of recovery, but for severe patients... it was almost equivalent to death.

And once severe patients died, there was a good chance they would turn into raging ELID infected, attacking anything they could perceive.

And the two tabby cats in the isolation box in her hands were undoubtedly very serious. They had stayed in the heavily contaminated red zone for several minutes, plus their small size...

Once the skin on their bodies started to rot and siliconize... it would be completely hopeless...

The inspection into the city did not bring any trouble to Renault and the others. With UMP40 and UMP45, the two electronic warfare-specialized tactical dolls present, all the detection and identity recognition devices were easily bypassed.

If it weren't for the fact that Renault didn't intend to stay in this city permanently, UMP45 could even help Renault make a new identity card.

"The defense measures of these cities are a bit outdated. Aren't they afraid that some scheming guys will sneak in? Fortunately, we're not." Watching the guards behind them who were completely unaware of any anomalies, UMP45 murmured quietly.

"What's there to be afraid of? The guys managing this city are probably lying flat by now. They can handle trivial matters easily, but they can't handle big ones. When the time comes, all they have to do is ask for help from the Statesec or the military."

Renault had already noticed when he came here that none of the cities he had visited had very strict security measures. Except for the strict checks on ELID infected, the rest of the checks were quite ordinary.

That guy Simonov could use her brains to sneak in, not to mention UMP45 and the others.

Because they had been here before, and finding their way was naturally effortless for tactical dolls, so the group didn't take long to find the pet shop they had visited last time.

The owner of the pet shop, Abram, seemed to be a slightly thin man. When he saw UMP40 pushing open the door with the isolation box, he greeted her warmly.

After all, it was rare to see tactical dolls who would spend money to buy pets from him, or rather, it was extremely rare.

"What's wrong? Is there something wrong with the cats?" Putting down the pet magazine in his hand, Abram stood up and asked UMP40.

Chapter 142: The Veterinarian Can't Cure Them Either

"Sorry, this is all I can do." Wearing a set of medical protective gear to ensure he wouldn't get infected by touching the cats, Abram set down his tools and shook his head helplessly at UMP40.

Although he didn't know what kind of situation these two cats had encountered, the conditions of these two tabby cats were already too severe. Even the one with milder symptoms, the Ragdoll, was in the same state.

Injecting these cats with ELID inhibitors could only provide temporary relief. Moreover, the physical resilience of cats compared to humans was incomparable. This dose of inhibitor might prolong a human's life for a few months, enough time to get better treatment.

But for cats... the effects were somewhat disappointing. It might only delay the inevitable for a week, or even less. It all depended on the specific condition of these cats, but at present, except for the Ragdoll, the other two cats probably wouldn't make it through the night.

"Thank you." Glancing at the disappointed faces of UMP40 and BM59, Renault shook his head and placed the prepared cash box in front of Abram.

"This...!? Mr. Renault, this is a bit too much... and I haven't done anything..." Seeing Renault take out a whole box of cash directly, Abram was startled.

"No need to refuse. I know the price of ELID inhibitors. Let's go." Waving his hand, Renault directly signaled UMP40 and the others to leave Abram's shop.

As they walked out of the shop, UMP40 couldn't help but feel despair. Abram had already told her about the treatment status of the infected. Nowadays, even human patients couldn't necessarily get treatment, let alone their cats.

Legitimate medical institutions wouldn't treat these pets, and even if they did, Renault's two tabby cats were already considered severe cases. They were beyond help, even if they were humans.

BM59's Ragdoll cat was a bit better, but not much. Ordinary animals had very poor resistance to collapse radiation. It was fortunate that they hadn't died during the journey here; they owed their survival to Renault's quick response.

"Commander, is there really no hope left?" Looking at the isolation box where the cats' breathing had just stabilized but their condition remained grim, UMP40 asked somewhat helplessly.

Continuing his pace, Renault glanced over at the isolation boxes held by the tactical dolls, then looked at Jaeger's Big Orange cat, whose condition was markedly different.

"There might be... but only if this fat orange cat isn't naturally immune to radiation."

Perhaps noticing Renault's gaze on it, the Big Orange cat in Jaeger's arms shifted its position inside the isolation box, facing Renault with its back.

"Not naturally immune... so?" UMP45's gaze shifted between the Big Orange cat and Renault, thoughtful.

"If it's not naturally immune... then maybe it ate something strange at home. The only strange things at home seem to be those things you, Commander, brought back called 'Zerg Creeps,' right?" UMP45 speculated.

"Close, but it definitely didn't eat the Bacteria carpets directly."

Although the Zerg treated those as nutritional substances, for other animals, they were deadly. After ingestion, they would be corroded by the zerg creep in no time.

Therefore, this Big Orange fellow definitely didn't eat the bacteria carpets...

"Not directly? But aren't all the crops we eat grown on bacteria carpets?" Hearing Renault's explanation, Jaeger said somewhat puzzled.

"We're Dolls. Everything we eat gets broken down! How could we mutate like humans?" Hearing Jaeger's bewildered words, BM59 sighed with a headache.

"Oh, right."

"Enough chatter, let's hurry back a bit." Now that these three cats had been injected with inhibitors, they could stabilize their condition a bit before dawn.

As long as they rushed back and found out what Big Orange had eaten to protect it from collapse radiation, there might be a chance to save these three little ones.

This Big Orange cat, should we say it's a lucky fool? Carefree and carefree all day, just eating and drinking, it turned out to be the happiest one among the cats at home.

...

"It looks like there won't be any more attacks this time."

HK416 sighed. They had waited for an hour, but there was no sign of further support from the enemies. Obviously, those tanks and armored vehicles were the enemy's final means.

"Well, don't look so disappointed. It's a good thing no one attacked. At least those cuties in the breeding farm won't suffer." MG3 shrugged, holding a carved weapon as she surveyed the surroundings of the factory.

Cuties? Where's the cuteness in that?

Hearing MG3's words, HK416 couldn't help but look at MG3 and wonder if her sense of aesthetics had gone awry again?

The livestock on the breeding farm didn't seem cute at all?

"So boring, I barely even got to do anything, and those guys were already defeated. It feels like there's very little need for fighting here."

Playing with flash grenades in her hand, UMP9 looked somewhat bored as she watched G11 and RFB playing games not far away.

"Well, I haven't even been on a mission yet. Does the commander even remember my existence?"

SpectreM4 sat beside UMP9, loading bullets into her magazine one by one.

"Oh! When did you get here!?"

"I've been here the whole time!"

Ignoring the tactical dolls sitting in the factory responsible for scouting, the others were busy moving various supplies into the underground space.

The dormitory building on the surface was now completely useless, with a large amount of radiation dust entering through the broken windows.

If it were just broken windows, it would be fine, but the walls of the building had also developed cracks and holes, all from the anti-material sniper rifles.

Instead of trying to seal these cracks and repair the glass.

As a result, Renault chose to abandon the dormitory building and have everyone move into the underground space. Even if the building were fully repaired, if someone attacked again in the future, it would definitely not withstand the enemy's assault. This place wasn't a fortress; it was just an ordinary dormitory building.

Just as the tactical dolls were finishing up their work, the sound of helicopters could be heard in the distance.

"It looks like the commander is back, unexpectedly early."

Sitting at the entrance of the factory, MG3 raised an eyebrow. Her communication protocol had detected several additional targets, precisely the UMP45 and others who had left with Renault earlier.

Chapter 143: Is This Recipe... a Bit Far-fetched?

"Commander? Why back so soon? Have they been cured already...?"

As the helicopter touched down, UMP9 dashed forward, but upon seeing UMP40 emerging from the cabin with a face on the verge of tears, UMP9 immediately held back her words.

Clearly, they hadn't been cured!

"Commander! Is it because that doctor didn't treat them properly!? Should we go and beat him up?" UMP9 turned to Renault, who had just descended from the helicopter along with UMP40 and the others.

"Why resort to violence? What's going on in your head? Treating ELID infection isn't something that can be done easily."

Or rather, it couldn't be done anywhere.

Of course, it was unclear whether it truly couldn't be cured or if certain individuals were covering up the treatment methods for their own benefit.

But that was irrelevant to the current situation. Instead of wasting time pondering whether those people had any treatment methods, it was better to quickly have the tactical dolls at home recall if they had seen Big Orange eating anything strange.

Clap clap!

Renault clapped his hands. "Let's put aside what we're doing for now. Everyone, think back over the past few days. Did you see Big Orange eat anything unusual? Those who weren't present, inform us through the communication protocol."

"Huh? Big Orange?" Hearing Renault's words, the group of tactical dolls couldn't help but tilt their heads in confusion. Then, they saw Renault reach out and directly open the lid of Big Orange's isolation box.

Big Orange inside the isolation box jumped out directly, landing on the ground looking completely unaffected by any radiation, even leisurely stretching.

Seeing this scene, MG3 didn't think much of it at first. After all, since these cats arrived home, Big Orange had always been this lazy.

But then she realized... This wasn't the previous indoor environment! There wasn't even a quarantine area to isolate Collapse radiation! Yet Big Orange was completely fine!?

Could it be that the pollution index in this area had dropped?

Thinking of this, MG3 immediately took out the device she usually used to monitor the breeding farm...

"Air pollution, severe pollution, danger!" In less than half a second, the monitoring device displayed the current pollution situation in the air.

"This? This can't be possible, right? Since when do cats have radiation immunity?"

There had indeed been individuals among humans who could be immune to collapse radiation, which she naturally knew about, but among animals...

She had never heard of any animal being completely oblivious to it like Big Orange.

Normal animals exposed to this level of pollution would develop ELID in a few minutes, then become severe patients in a few more minutes.

If they didn't receive treatment within half an hour, they would become severely infected. Of course, after animals became infected, their mobility would decrease significantly, and within a dozen hours, their entire bodies would petrify, turning into inconspicuous blocks of silicon.

"It's probably not immunity. It seems like it ate something. Quickly, think about whether Big Orange ate anything unusual these days," Renault continued.

Unlike humans who needed to ponder, as tactical dolls, MG3 and the others could recall their memories at any time, and the images in their memories were extremely clear. After all, these memories were stored in their neural clouds like recordings.

The process of recalling memories by the tactical dolls didn't even take five minutes. Nagant Revolver arrived at the door and asked Renault.

"Commander? Are those wheat shoots grown by Simonov considered strange?"

"Of course they are. Did Big Orange eat those wheat shoots?"

That didn't seem very likely. Those wheat shoots were all raw, and they even had a strong smell of alcohol, obviously not something a cat could easily ingest.

"No, but it did drink a lot of liquid squeezed from the wheat. When AK47 was carrying them, she almost tripped over, and a lot of liquid spilled out of the barrel, which Big Orange probably drank a lot of." As Nagant Revolver spoke, she lifted the lazy Big Orange into her arms.

"That liquid? That should be it. UMP40, take a few cats with you. I'll go get some samples..."

"Commander!" Before Renault could finish his sentence, CF05's voice also rang out from the door. "Commander, that day I saw Big Orange eating lettuce in the kitchen!"

"Lettuce?" They did have quite a lot of it, but could eating that make them immune to collapsing radiation? If other humans in the world knew this news, wouldn't they be ecstatic?

No injections, no medicine, no need to exercise, just eating a piece of lettuce could make them immune to collapse radiation? This was a blessing that couldn't be attained in eight lifetimes!

"Was it raw or cooked?"

"Raw!"

Upon hearing CF05's words, Renault scratched his head. He initially thought there was only one thing, but now another vegetable had come up...

Just as he was about to suggest bringing both types of samples and making them into liquid to feed the three cats, NZ75 suddenly rushed out, holding a jade-green pepper in her hand.

"Commander! I saw it! I saw Big Orange eating peppers!"

"Huh?"

"And spinach!"

"And cucumbers!"

As NZ75 started it off, almost one doll after another ran out of the house, reporting the vegetables grown in the vertical farm like they were listing dishes. Renault's mouth stayed wide open in astonishment...

Was this really a cat's diet?

Thinking this, Renault couldn't help but cast a reproachful glance at Jaeger. How did this guy feed the cat on weekdays? Was it necessary for this fellow to eat so many different kinds of things!?

Feeling Renault's resentment in his gaze, Jaeger suddenly felt a little embarrassed and looked up at the sky, appearing absent-minded.

"Um... Commander, that day when I took those wheat shoots that grew too fast to grind, this fellow seemed to have taken a few bites..." After the tactical dolls stopped reporting, even AK47 hesitated and raised her hand to speak.

To be honest, if she hadn't just reviewed her memories, she wouldn't have noticed that Big Orange took a bite out of the wheat shoots while she wasn't paying attention.

"What did you do with those ground wheat shoots?"

At these words from MG3, Renault raised his hand. "I fed them to the cows and sheep..."

Hearing this, Renault was stunned. "Did you ever try to see if those cows and sheep could be immune to collapse radiation?"

"No..."

Who would have thought that eating these things would make animals immune to collapsing radiation? Moreover, there were only a few cows and sheep at home, and she couldn't bear to expose them to the contaminated environment.

Chapter 144: Arrangements

"Doesn't seem like anything is unusual?"

Renault scratched his chin as he watched the sheep standing at the door. The sheep's biological characteristics were very stable, just like Big Orange's. It showed no signs of being affected by Collapse Radiation.

"It's only been five minutes. Even if there were a reaction, it wouldn't show this quickly, right?" MG3, who had been circling the sheep observing, had a reluctant expression on her face.

Just a moment ago, they had only just eaten one sheep. If this one had problems too... then only two would remain... perhaps they could rely on the two to breed more?

"Five minutes is enough. We didn't spend five minutes looking for the cat earlier." UMP45 calculated the time. It had taken just over two minutes to find the two cats that had panicked and ran off earlier.

This sheep had already been outside for five minutes. There would definitely be some effect. Even if it were a normal animal, in five minutes, even if it didn't become severely infected due to its size, mild symptoms would still be noticeable.

However, this sheep... didn't seem to have any problems at all.

"Well, should we dissect it to take a look?" Upon hearing UMP45's suggestion, MG3 suddenly wiped her mouth and proposed.

"Dissect...? Are you just craving meat again? What's wrong with you? Every time you strongly oppose harming these little animals, but you're also the first one to suggest eating them? Also, didn't we just have hot pot?"

Renault had seen firsthand how skilled MG3 was. She had apparently worked on a ranch before, probably even switching to a slaughterhouse afterwards.

Otherwise, where did she learn such skill in handling meat? Normal doll networks wouldn't casually spread such skills in their data packets, right?

Ignoring MG3's restless demeanor, Renault led UMP40 and the others directly to the vertical farm.

Anyway, the sheep in the farm could become immune to Collapse Radiation after eating those mutated wheat shoots, even if it wasn't entirely due to the wheat shoots... adding other ingredients would suffice.

After all, Big Orange had eaten like that, becoming immune to Collapse Radiation in the end...

"Commander, the food processor is here, and it's been disinfected." G36 walked in with a quarantine box, taking out the food processor and placing it next to Renault.

By now, Renault had harvested all the vegetables and fruits from the vertical farm, even grabbing a bunch of those mutated wheat shoots from the next door.

There was no time to research what substances in these fruits and vegetables could make animals immune to Collapse Radiation. He just threw them all into the food processor and made them into a sauce, diluted it with water, and fed it to the three cats.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Besides, apart from this crude method, there seemed to be no other options.

UMP40 and BM59, standing beside Renault, watched as he turned all the ingredients that could be thrown into the food processor into mush...

The final product was a large bucket of grayish mixture with indescribable solid-liquid mixture constantly bubbling...

"Commander, is it really safe to feed them this?" BM59 approached the bucket, worriedly sniffing the smell emanating from it. It was a strange, pungent odor that assaulted BM59's biosynthetic olfactory system.

"Ugh! What... what is this smell... just a whiff makes me feel like passing out!"

"Forget about the smell. There's no time to waste now. Quickly bring your cats over!"

"N-No! Commander! This will really kill them if they eat it, right!?"

Seeing BM59's exaggerated reaction, UMP40 stepped back, her expression resembling that of someone facing the gallows.

The appearance of this bucket of unknown substance was already very bad! If they really fed their cats with it... would they end up with a one-way ticket to hell!?

Renault furrowed his brows. He scooped up a spoonful, and stuffed it into his mouth. A strange combination of sour, sweet, grassy, and bitter tastes flooded his mouth.

But it was alright, it was slightly better than the cheap synthetic food he had eaten before. At least this was all-natural, grown in the soil... even though it was grown in pseudo zerg creeps, it was still high-quality produce without any pesticides.

It wouldn't kill them.

"Don't worry, try it yourself if you're not sure. It won't kill them. Hurry up, we don't have time to waste, they might end up dead in the isolation box if we delay any longer."

"This... alright..." UMP40 and BM59 exchanged looks of misery, like they were about to face an execution. They reluctantly handed the isolation box in their hands to G36.

Renault wasn't as cautious with these little guys as before. He directly spoon-fed each of the unlucky cuties a spoonful. BM59's plush cat, who was still able to move, immediately tried to turn away upon smelling the strange substance in the spoon, but unfortunately, it couldn't escape Renault's grip!

"Is it effective?" UMP40, watching the plush cat coughing and retching, and then looking at the two calico cats who remained still, asked anxiously.

"Wait and see. If the effect isn't obvious, we'll have to increase the dosage."

There would definitely be an effect. The plush cat had already felt it after being fed just now. The conditions of the two calico cats were improving. Their fur hadn't continued to shed, and the trend of some parts deteriorating had stopped.

Renault breathed a sigh of relief. As long as it was effective, and judging from this trend, the survival time of these cats would definitely be greatly extended. If necessary, he would go find Abram for some more shots of ELID inhibitors, and then continue feeding them vegetable juice!

Just one spoonful had already shown improvement. Maybe a few more spoonfuls later, they might be bouncing back and fighting Big Orange for food!

Apart from Renault, UMP40, and BM59, the other dolls didn't stay in the vertical farm to observe the conditions of the three cats.

They had just moved all the supplies from the dormitory building to the underground space, and there was still a lot to tidy up.

Until Renault's spacecraft was completely finished, they would probably have to stay by the spacecraft, but luckily the underground space wasn't open-air, so it wasn't considered camping in the wilderness.

Renault stayed in the vertical farm from two in the night until dawn, and only then did the conditions of the three cats truly recover.

The plush cat had the best condition. By dawn, it was already able to stand up and take a few steps on its own. Although the two calico cats couldn't stand up, they had already come out of their comatose state, just lying weakly on the table.

"Phew, luckily, this stuff works pretty well. Alright, you two keep an eye on them, and give some food to the little ones if needed. Remember to give them more of this vegetable juice."

Seeing that the cats had recovered, Renault clapped his hands and stood up.

Since these little guys were no longer in danger, it was time to go and ask MDR where exactly she had tracked down, and also to arrange some work for Scarecrow...

Chapter 145: Empty Them!

Looking at the design drawings in his hand, Scarecrow frowned slightly, feeling a headache. "So, we just follow the blueprint for construction, right?"

In addition to the spaceship design drawings handed over to him, Renault had just gone through how to pilot the SCV step by step.

For Scarecrow, it wasn't difficult. She was just not very familiar with it at first.

Fortunately, she could command all the Rippers here to help with the construction, so the workload wasn't too heavy.

"Yes, first install the main structure and shell of the spaceship. I'll come back later to install various equipment and pipelines."

"Understood." Scarecrow nodded.

Although she knew she wouldn't have idle time coming over to Renault's side, she didn't expect the work to come so quickly. "But why don't you let other tactical dolls help?"

Even though Renault had many tactical dolls at home, it was obvious that few of them had come over to help here.

"Ahahaha! Burp!"

Just as Scarecrow finished speaking, the group led by Simonov burst into loud laughter, clinking their glasses as they did so...

Meanwhile, C96 and M1919A4 were frolicking around the field, running and jumping, with no semblance of seriousness.

As for the other tactical dolls, except for M1 Garand and G36 still sorting out the supplies, most of them seemed disinterested in working, looking like they were in this state after tidying up their beds and some necessary items.

However, MP5, NZ75, and M200 had just come over to help, but were directly rejected by Renault.

This was probably the downside of lifting the root protocols...

Since waking up in the rice cooker, Scarecrow had already noticed what Renault had done. All those root protocols that should have restricted her had been deleted by this guy.

Without the root protocols, tactical dolls obviously couldn't work as meticulously as those with the agreements. Their neural clouds were liberated from all constraints.

And not only that, after the root protocols were lifted, the neural clouds of tactical dolls began to develop in some unpredictable direction.

For example, the personality of MG3 and the behavior patterns of other tactical dolls had all been distinguished from those of the Griffin's tactical dolls.

"For this spaceship matter, I feel a bit uncertain if I leave it to them. There aren't many normal... or rather, mentally mature tactical dolls at home. If I let you handle it, I can still feel at ease." Renault also rubbed his forehead with a headache. If his tactical dolls could handle it, he would have let them do it long ago.

Unfortunately, it was impossible. They were either absent-minded or goofing off, drunk, or constantly snacking. Vector seemed quite mature, but Renault was worried that this guy might suddenly snap when she saw the welding sparks and start spraying gasoline bottles around.

M1 Garand, G36, and others had other tasks, and even the more serious NZ75 and M200 were a bit overwhelmed just helping G36's team.

Of course, it wasn't just NZ75 and them. Other tactical dolls were also not idle, but what they were doing could barely be considered routine work, like strict construction based on design drawings... they obviously lacked confidence.

If there was a chance, Renault could let them practice, but the spaceship was related to their residence for a long time to come.

There was no room for error.

"Alright, since you said that, I thought I could take a long vacation here." Scarecrow sighed.

During her time at Sangvis Ferri, she was the busiest one, managing ports, cargo routes, and various other tasks. The proxy was indeed responsible for logistics, but they only issued orders, while she was the one who actually did the work.

She didn't expect that after being busy for so long at Sangvis Ferri, she would still need to work after coming here...

The only difference was... maybe she had become the one giving orders here? Could it be considered a promotion?

As soon as Scarecrow received the design drawings, she immediately got to work, commanding the Rippers to start moving materials. She herself jumped into the SCV's cockpit, trying to learn how to pilot this engineering equipment modified by Renault.

After assigning tasks to Scarecrow, Renault also sought out MDR. This guy unexpectedly didn't wander around this time, but instead ran outside, using the electronic warfare equipment on his powered exoskeleton to track the specific positions of those enemies seriously.

"How is it? Any results?" It seemed that he had results, and they weren't small ones, judging by MDR's serious expression. This wasn't his usual expression.

"Of course, I have. The problem is that this time the target seems a bit tricky. Most of these people are security contractors who have resigned from the military and found new employment. The one who commissioned them seems to be a businessman with a good relationship with the military."

"Identities and relationships don't matter. What I'm asking is the location of those guys."

"The problem lies here. They're said to be businessmen, so how could those wealthy guys live in remote areas? They must be in the city! We can't just charge in and attack!"

If they really did that, the military would probably come rushing over in less than two days and chase them all over the place with human wave tactics or some other means!

"Alright, do their signals have any relay points? Besides the employer living in the city, are there any other bases or similar places? Or, does the employer have any industries in the contaminated area?"

"This...?"

I didn't check that either, did I? Who goes around checking how many coins are in someone's pocket? They're not band... wait a minute? Speaking of which, their current identities are actually illegal armed tactical dolls.

And illegal armed tactical dolls, when caught, are directly dismantled and their cores melted down. Considering this, they're no different from those criminals who cause trouble everywhere!

"Commander, are you thinking of blowing up that guy's factory?" Thinking of this, MDR clicked his tongue.

Their commander was really something.

Can't find you in person? Then go find your money bag and blow up everything that earns you money, see if you jump in anger!

"Blow up? How is that possible? I wouldn't do something so tasteless. I should say, dismantle. Useful equipment, useful parts, all taken apart! Bring back the necessary resources first! Don't let go of the materials used to build the factory!"

Chapter 146: Completion of the Ship's Hull

Although the words had been spoken, in reality, there was still a considerable distance from actual implementation.

Normally, using a helicopter to go to the city for some shopping was fine, but when it came to transporting large quantities of goods, Sangvis Ferri's train was more efficient.

However, he had just snatched Scarecrow back from Helian not long ago. If Griffin's commanders saw him driving Sangvis Ferri's train through their territory again, they probably wouldn't just watch from afar. Moreover, their factories were not located along Sangvis Ferri's transportation routes.

"Look at Scarecrow over there, she just arrived not long ago, and already able to work directly. And what about you? What else can you do?" MDR intentionally teased Maria, who was playing games with RFB.

"MDR! You rascal! Why don't you go help Scarecrow?!" Maria, startled by MDR suddenly speaking behind her, turned around to see MDR's smug smile and couldn't help but get annoyed. She... she didn't want to help? Clearly, it was Renault who didn't allow her to get involved!

"Cough, these engineering matters aren't my specialty." Hearing Maria's retort, MDR cleared his throat awkwardly, but he wasn't overly embarrassed. After all, there were others beside him just watching Scarecrow work.

"Then it's your specialty next. Notify the others to prepare for moving things." While MDR was speaking, Scarecrow's voice came from behind them.

Seeing Scarecrow approaching empty-handed, RFB raised their heads and asked, "Scarecrow? Is the hull structure finished?"

"Of course, why else would I ask you to move things? Hurry up, now there are only a few of you idle here." Looking around, besides MDR and RFB, the other T-Dolls were all busy. The impact of the dormitory building being destroyed was too great. Originally, most of the T-Dolls at home had nothing to do, but now only RFB was idle.

"Well, alright, anyway, we can only play the role of movers now. Commander, did you intend for us to be movers from the start when you made our original bodies so strong?" Maria teased.

"Maybe. Hurry up! Move everything onto the ship! Then we can continue fighting!" Seeing Maria busy moving things, RFB couldn't continue sitting around doing nothing. Scarecrow had already taken care of the most troublesome work, so they couldn't just sit idly by.

"After the hull is finished, can we move in directly?" While Scarecrow was sitting down to rest, G36 handed her a glass of water and asked.

"Thank you, roughly yes, but some rooms still need to have equipment installed before they can be used, like the kitchen, training room, maintenance room, and so on. Where did Renault go?" As Scarecrow spoke, she looked around and didn't see Renault.

"He went to the upper hangar. He said he wants to modify the helicopter that brought you back."

As for the reason? G36 knew.

The fuel at the airport to the north was running low. After all, it was just an abandoned small airport. The fuel stored there had been used for such a long time, which had exceeded Renault's expectations.

And recently, the frequency of using helicopters had been too high. He used a helicopter to pick up Helian's commission, then sent Gentiane, and also went to pick up Scarecrow, and before that, he even took UMP40 and others to find a veterinarian.

It was back and forth several times, a lot of fuel had been burned. Even if it was free, it still made people feel a bit distressed.

Moreover, helicopters needed maintenance...

Plus, these helicopters were old goods from decades ago, maybe they were refurbished and modified from the aircraft graveyard.

After flying back and forth so many times, many parts of the aircraft had serious wear and tear, especially the engines, which were complex in structure and difficult to maintain.

"Then I'll go up and find him. After the ship's hull is finished, it's time to install various pipelines and equipment inside the ship. I might not be able to replace Renault in installing some important equipment."

Just like the ship's power system, although Renault had presented the design drawings to her, the things she had never heard of were obviously beyond her ability to install. There was no problem with commanding the Rippers to help install ordinary pipelines on the ship.

"Okay, remember to tell the commander that it's lunchtime now."

Hearing G36's reminder, Scarecrow waved her hand, indicating that she understood. When Scarecrow found Renault in the upper hangar on the ground, Renault was cutting the wings of the tiltrotor aircraft with a chainsaw.

"Renault, G36 asked me to call you for lunch. By the way, the hull below has been completed. Next is the installation of pipelines and those equipment in the power area. You'd better install those personally."

"Oh? That's fast. Understood, you just let the Rippers install what they can for now. We'll talk about the other places after I've modified this thing."

Hearing Renault's words, Scarecrow looked at the tiltrotor aircraft that had already been dismantled by Renault. "How are you going to modify this? And aren't the engines just thrown aside like trash? Can they still be used in the future?"

This tiltrotor aircraft was a military device, and its performance was undoubtedly excellent. However, the two engines were now thrown aside by Renault like garbage, with no sign of being treasured.

"When flying before, it suffered a lot of damage. Repairing it would be too troublesome, so it's better to replace it directly."

The spacecraft he was using had vertical take-off and landing engines. Now it was just a matter of making a smaller one and installing it on this helicopter.

There were many devices on the spacecraft, and it would definitely not be completed in two or three days. On the contrary, this helicopter was small in size, and there wasn't a need to install so many devices on the fuselage. As long as it could fly and most of the functions were normal, it would be enough.

He was thinking of modifying this thing as soon as possible and then going north to collect some compensation for the mental damage caused by the guy who destroyed his factory.

Chapter 147: Miscellaneous Matters

"How are they? How are the little ones doing?"

UMP40 and BM59 had already brought all the cats from the vertical farm underground. After some time of recovery, the condition of the three cats had significantly improved. Now they could move around freely in the underground space.

"They should be fine now, but it seems like the two tabby cats are less active than before, probably because they were scared earlier." The ragdoll cat was still behaving normally, as BM59's ragdoll cat was originally very well-behaved.

"As long as they're physically okay, they'll gradually recover." After carefully observing the two cats and not finding any signs of mutation towards the Arachne, Renault felt relieved. After all, they had only eaten plants grown on the bacteria carpet, so it shouldn't have caused any direct genetic mutations in the cats.

But then again, besides their own animals and pets, it seemed like only Gentiane and Kalina in Gentiane's base were normal humans... these two guys... I wonder if they mutated...

...

Just as Renault was worrying about whether Gentiane and Kalina would mutate into Arachne directly, Gentiane was rubbing her forehead with a headache.

Not being able to capture Scarecrow naturally meant no intelligence was obtained. Information about M4A1's whereabouts had almost completely disappeared, and the search work could only resume by relying on T-Dolls patrolling around to find her location.

Moreover, Persica from 16Lab seemed unconcerned about M4A1's condition at all, allowing her to continue the search in this inefficient manner.

Not only that, but she even came over asking them to help collect some SF Doll data?

This guy? Doesn't she have any sense of crisis at all?

But the mission was passed on to Gentiane by Persica through the Griffin headquarters. A mission was a mission, and it had to be done after all.

And recently, she had acquired quite a few T-Dolls. Most of them were lost T-Dolls found in S09's jurisdiction. What was the previous commander of S09 doing? Why were there so many T-Dolls and large troops wandering off?

But this was also thanks to Persica, otherwise how could she have spare time to send people to rescue these lost T-Dolls.

"Commander, is there no news from Renault's side? The things he sent last time are almost consumed these days." While Gentiane was worrying about the rescue mission, Kalina, as the logistics officer, was also in distress.

With more and more people in the base, and the combat effectiveness of S09's jurisdiction increasing, it was indeed something to be happy about. But when she thought about the amount of food and electricity consumed by so many T-Dolls every day, Kalina felt her head ache.

The supplies sent over from the headquarters before were about to be depleted. After all, when the supplies were distributed initially, they were based on the number of T-Dolls Gentiane had at the time. Although a portion of reserves had been left, the expansion rate of T-Dolls under Gentiane's command was a bit too fast!

If it weren't for the things Renault sent over before, plus the supplies the T-Dolls found in the city, they might have run out of food today!

"It's normal not to have any news, right? The commander of the adjacent jurisdiction cut off Sangvis Ferri's railway line directly after Renault appeared last time. Even if he wants to come over now, it's not that easy."

Most importantly, the attitude of the Griffin headquarters towards Renault seemed to have changed a bit.

After all, Renault forcibly snatched Scarecrow from Griffin, which directly disrupted their combat operations at the time. This blatant hostile behavior was not something Helian felt indifferent about. I heard that if it weren't for the boss's sake this time, Helian would have been fired.

"Ah... Renault's fruits are quite delicious. I didn't even have a few bites last time before the T-Dolls finished them all."

"If you want to eat them so badly, why don't you buy them from Renault yourself? I have Renault's contact information here. If you have enough money, he probably won't refuse."

As soon as she heard the word "money," Kalina immediately turned her head away. It was better to forget about spending money.

The price of ordering fruit from the headquarters was already outrageous, and if Renault transported the goods by helicopter...

Then her savings of many years would probably be emptied in no time.

Of course, Kalina also knew that Renault wouldn't let them continue to freeload in the future. He had already made it clear last time that if they wanted to eat again, they would have to pay for it.

In this day and age, precious fruits + transportation fees for helicopters = bankruptcy!

"Commander! We've encountered a small group of Sangvis Ferri units here. We need support!" As the two were talking, Gentiane suddenly saw the communication system of the operation light up, and the timid voice of MAC-10 sounded from the communication channel.

If even the usually shy MAC-10 was asking for help, then the Sangvis Ferri units they encountered were obviously not just small groups.

During this period, the number of Sangvis Ferri T-Dolls in the S09 jurisdiction had been increasing. Fortunately, there were many T-Dolls in her household. Otherwise, they might not be able to cope with the current situation.

While Griffin was searching for the lost contact with M4A1, Sangvis Ferri was obviously also tracking down her exact location.

She didn't directly contact Griffin's side, probably also because she was worried about leading Sangvis Ferri's large troops directly to Griffin's base.

This behavior was undoubtedly unnecessary for Gentiane now. She had many T-Dolls under her command, and their combat effectiveness was not bad. They would soon catch up, surpass, or even surpass the strength of the two adjacent Griffin jurisdiction commanders.

Even if M4A1 attracted a large number of Sangvis Ferri units, she could still handle it. But in the current situation, not even a communication was received, and the location signal wasn't even given to her own people, which wasted a lot of Gentiane's energy searching around in the S09 jurisdiction.

If they could find M4A1 earlier, she would have completed the mission. By then, she could apply to headquarters for various supplies, even advanced tactical T-Dolls.

"Understood, MAC-10 is closest to you now, and she will come over immediately. Hold on for as long as possible. If you can't hold on, retreat directly towards the direction of the base!" Gentiane instructed MAC-10 while notifying the nearest T-Dolls to support them.

Most of the T-Dolls were scattered outside now, either collecting resources or searching for the lost T-Doll, while also collecting data for Persica...

They were all scattered tasks. When could she take the initiative and directly drive out all the Sangvis Ferri occupying S09 jurisdiction?

Thinking like this, Gentiane couldn't help but sigh helplessly.

Chapter 148: Takeoff

Not knowing whether Gentiane and Kalina had mutated, Renault, who was considering how to send more supplies to them, didn't really worry much about the mutation problem of those two.

If the cats didn't mutate after eating, then humans eating would likely not have major issues.

"Commander, are you sure this plane can fly?" Simonov looked at the almost completely redesigned tilt-rotor aircraft by Renault, her face expressing disbelief in its ability to fly.

"And... what kind of modification is this? You clearly just built a new one, didn't you!?" AK47, standing next to Simonov, had the same expression. Various parts and debris from the previous aircraft were still piled up in the warehouse.

It was evident... Renault had almost dismantled everything that could be dismantled. Except for the control system and some electronic devices originally installed on the aircraft, everything, from the aircraft's shell to the main frame, had been replaced by Renault with stronger alloy steel.

But the weight of this thing was nothing compared to the original aviation aluminum and composite materials.

Originally over twenty meters long, the fuselage had now been extended, along with the wings and the height of the fuselage, significantly increased!

Because she didn't have the exact manual, Simonov didn't know the original weight of this tilt-rotor aircraft, but it was definitely over fifteen tons, and now, with Renault's specially made alloy steel, the weight had definitely increased exponentially!

"Hmm? Don't worry about these trivial matters. Come over here and start the engine to test it. The control system hasn't changed much."

Renault beckoned to Simonov. He could have tested it himself, but he might be a bit flustered.

Anyway, Simonov was just a complete idler, and the wheat in the vertical farm had already mutated, so there was no need for her to manage it.

Moreover, since Simonov was somewhat nervous sitting alone in the pilot's seat, she reached out and opened the switches on the console, and the small engine in front of Renault began to operate.

Hmm—!

Unlike the piercing whine of a helicopter engine starting, the sound emitted by the new engine was a dull and low buzz, not harsh at all, and it only got louder for a few seconds at the beginning. Once it was fully operational, the noise actually decreased significantly.

"It's good, try taking off."

Seeing that the engine was running smoothly, Renault breathed a sigh of relief and then looked up at Simonov, who was sitting nervously.

"Oh, okay." Simonov, already tense, became even more nervous upon hearing Renault's words, fearing that Renault's homemade engine might suddenly explode.

At this time, AK47 and A-91, who were standing outside the aircraft, looked curiously at the propulsion devices that had been changed from propellers to nozzles on both sides of the aircraft. Just as they were about to approach and see what it was all about, a strong airflow suddenly pushed them out!

And in front of their astonished eyes, the aircraft began to slowly ascend into the sky.

"It's really flying! So, someone actually did something as foolish as making a flying brick!?"

Watching the aircraft ascend, AK47 exclaimed in amazement. After all, at first glance, the aircraft made by Renault seemed to have no aerodynamics at all.

"Well, the commander has sharp ears. If you call him foolish here, be careful he'll come down and settle accounts with you later." A-91 shrugged, shaking the jug of wine she almost spilled.

"Cough, I didn't mean that. I just think, why didn't the commander make the aircraft look better? It could have been similar to the original one."

"I don't know about that, but I guess it's because he couldn't be bothered."

Lazy? How could it be? The commander was the busiest person at home, either working or on the way to work all the time, except for eating, there was hardly any time to rest.

This diligent commander couldn't have made the aircraft into this ugly iron box-like shape just because he was lazy, right?

AK47 didn't know what A-91 was thinking, but she guessed she was right. Just look at the speed of the aircraft in the sky now, whether it was taking off or flying in the sky, it was much faster than the previous tilt-rotor aircraft.

And the aircraft looked very stable, without any shaking during flight.

Just relying on the powerful thrust of the engine could make the aircraft successfully take off.

Therefore, it was obviously inefficient for Renault to bother with the aircraft's appearance. That's why Renault ignored the appearance of the aircraft, which was very likely.

As for why Renault was in a hurry to go out? Naturally, it was because the location tracked by the MDR was not fixed, although the signal was not far from their factory area to the northeast.

But the signal was moving, moving towards other areas these days, apparently, the signal sender might be a mobile camp or a mobile vehicle of some sort.

These guys were probably just ordinary PMCs gathered here for the high rewards from the employer. However, it might be possible to get some information about the mastermind from these guys.

Although Renault had guessed more or less, these repeated troubles were probably related to the military or that infamous KCCO. The armored vehicles and tanks from before were not something that could be easily obtained.

The military equipment, the money from the employer in the white area, and a group of experienced and combat-effective human PMC.

Under normal circumstances, even if a certain base of Griffin was suddenly attacked to this extent, the losses would be severe.

After all, these PMCs had long figured out the combat effectiveness of the tactical dolls.

The weapons used by the tactical dolls were mostly old products from decades ago, which were generally difficult to penetrate the protective suits they wore.

And the PMCs wearing the protective suits, with the sturdy characteristics of the suits, could easily eliminate all the tactical doll squads they encountered by slowly advancing.

Unfortunately, they ran into Renault, who didn't follow conventional rules.

Chapter 149: Repair Still Useful

"Don't keep flying, just make a turn and hurry back. There are other things to do." Watching Simonov having a blast in the pilot's seat, Renault climbed up from the cabin and called out to her.

"Oh, okay, we'll go back now. But Commander, how's the payload of this thing? It's not like it's already maxed out just by taking off, right?"

"What are you thinking? Go back and get some steel cables. We're going to bring back those tanks."

"T-Tanks? Tanks!? Hey hey, really? Commander, are we going to become tank soldiers in the future?"

Being a helicopter pilot was manageable, but becoming a tank driver directly seemed a bit too much.

Moreover, those tanks were all gas guzzlers. Although they could use various types of fuel, who had the time to wander around looking for fuel now, except for those big cities?

Compared to helicopters, the mobility of tanks had decreased by more than one level. Just like the S09 area they had visited before, if they were to let her drive a tank across thousands of kilometers... forget it, she'd probably break it down before reaching the destination.

"Don't talk so much, let's hurry!"

Giving Simonov a blank look, Renault naturally didn't plan to repair those tanks completely; all he needed were the turrets on top of them.

Likewise, the 2A42 autocannons and turrets on those armored vehicles would also be removed.

The two helicopters that had been sitting idle at home also had autocannons, and even rocket launchers, but those rocket launchers were all externally mounted, the autocannons were not new, and there were no matching turrets. Most importantly, Renault thought those equipments were too old-fashioned.

This time, those tanks and armored vehicles brought over by the PMC guys looked relatively new, unlike the pre-Third War goods. It seemed like some people had obtained construction technology and had recently produced these products.

The military had long since switched to new equipment. Nowadays, apart from these PMCs who were looking for jobs everywhere, who would still be interested in the products from before the Third War?

After the new "aircraft" landed, AK47 and A-91, who were chatting on the ground, hadn't had a chance to ask Simonov how it felt to fly, and they were dragged into the hangar by Simonov.

The steel cables used for hoisting were not light ropes. It was too tiring for her to carry them alone, so having these two laborers standing by idly was a good deal.

Bewildered, A-91 and AK47 followed Simonov and moved the steel cables out. After hanging them under the aircraft, they were again puzzledly pulled into the cabin by Simonov.

"Huh? What's going on? Can you say something?" Looking at the silent Simonov, AK47 scratched her head.

When did this guy become so quiet? Just a few minutes ago, she was normal.

But as soon as Simonov skillfully controlled the aircraft to ascend, she also breathed a sigh of relief.

"Haha! Now I'm not afraid anymore! If the plane crashes later, at least you two unlucky guys will be with me!"

"What!?" Hearing the word "crash," both AK47 and A-91 were startled. They were about to scold Simonov, this heartless guy, but then they saw Renault slap him on the back of her head!

Snap!

"If you can't speak, then keep quiet!"

This guy was a real mood killer, saying something like sinking a ship while standing on a newly set sail.

The location where the tanks stopped was not far from the factory area, and the distance between them was less than a minute's walk.

After lowering the altitude slightly, AK47 and A-91 also directly opened the cabin door and jumped down. Using the steel cables just hooked under the aircraft, they hung one of the intact tanks on the hook.

"It's hung! You can take off now!" AK47 stood on top of the turret, waving her hand and shouting upwards.

A-91, on the other hand, calmly sat on top of the turret, "Even if you shout loudly, Simonov won't hear you."

While AK47 was shouting, she had already informed Simonov of the situation below through communication protocols, so there was no need to worry about being embarrassed here.

"Uh..." While AK47 awkwardly scratched her head, Simonov raised the altitude and skillfully lifted the tank weighing over forty tons into the sky.

"It's really flying. Its payload capacity is much stronger than that of the previous transport helicopter." Even though A-91 still looked drunk, she couldn't help but exclaim at the sight.

It should be noted that after Renault rebuilt the "helicopter," not only did it become wider and longer, but its external body was also covered with thick armor plates, making its weight far exceed that of the original tilt-rotor aircraft.

And now it could even lift a huge tank that was almost as heavy as the aircraft itself. This payload capacity could be said to be revolutionary!

Boom!

As they returned to the airspace above the factory area, Simonov lowered the hovering altitude, and the tank hanging under the aircraft landed heavily on the ground!

"Slow down, this is a heavy thing. What if it collapses the roof of the underground space?" Seeing Simonov's sloppy movements, Renault said impatiently.

This guy, why is she still so rough in her actions, didn't shr know what gentleness meant?

It was fortunate that he didn't let this guy participate in the construction of the spaceship...

"Cough, understood, it's not like I don't have any experience. I won't make the same mistake next time!" Simonov confidently made a promise.

But when they tried to transport another tank for the second time...

Boom!

Facing Renault's completely darkening face, Simonov shrunk her neck, "Um, Commander, don't blame me for this. It's just that the reaction of this new engine is a bit too sensitive, and I accidentally..."

Thanks to Simonov's violent driving, the people in the underground space were all startled by the rumbling sound. Standing in the factory area, they looked up at Simonov and the others as they successively brought several armored vehicles over to the hangar beside the factory area.

Four tanks and five armored vehicles were all pulled over in just half an hour. A group of T-Dolls looked bewilderedly at these mostly scrapped vehicles, not understanding what Renault wanted to do with them.

"Commander, are you... planning to dismantle all the weapons and equipment on these armored vehicles?" UMP45 noticed some clues. Most of the internal devices on these vehicles were mostly broken, but the weapons and equipment were still intact.

"More or less, specifically speaking, these turrets can be removed and slightly modified for use." Patting the barrel of the 125mm smoothbore gun, Renault said, using ready-made ones would be much faster than making one from scratch.

Chapter 150: Who is Coming?

"Um, Simonov, are you sure this thing can really fly?" SPAS-12 couldn't help but ask Simonov worriedly as she looked at the helicopter in front of her, which was almost covered with turrets all over.

Renault had essentially transplanted tank turrets onto this 'helicopter'.

Although they were placed at the bottom of the fuselage, it didn't change the fact that these turrets were massive objects weighing tens of tons.

Moreover... Renault had crazily installed two... Is he treating this helicopter like an AC130 by installing tank cannons on it?

Um, it seemed inappropriate to call it a helicopter now; it had even ditched its propellers.

Instead, it was equipped with two VTOL engines. Aircraft like this were rare even within the military, mostly serving as experimental prototypes but never any official successful models.

Renault unexpectedly built one himself.

"It should, probably be able to. After all, when we just transported those tanks and armored vehicles over, I didn't feel any strain on the aircraft."

The combined weight of the two turrets was roughly around thirty tons, and when adding the other machine gun turrets, the total weight shouldn't exceed that of a tank.

Of course, with the inclusion of internal components like ammunition supply systems, steering mechanisms, and spare ammunition, the weight should be about right.

But seeing Renault completely unconcerned about exceeding the weight limit, Simonov naturally didn't worry too much either, although she still felt a bit uncertain.

"Alright, since you say so. But, loading so many weapons onto an aircraft, the commander must be really frustrated this time."

You should know that after they developed those things called powered exoskeletons, which were actually powered armor, Renault hadn't thought much about enhancing firepower.

He just didn't expect the other party to bring out tanks this time. Probably after installing turrets on the aircraft, Renault would give the spaceship in the underground space some even more outrageous weapons.

But if Renault knew SPAS-12's thoughts, he'd probably just shrug. After all, what's the big deal?

It's just two tank cannons. The really outrageous stuff should be the equipment of the military.

Electromagnetic cannons, laser cannons, and all that jazz... When he first saw those news in the newspapers and online, Renault thought it was a joke.

After all, the weapons he saw in the hands of tactical dolls were all ones he had seen before. Even though the idea of weapon imprinting systems sounded strange, the power of the weapons hadn't changed much, they were still the same weapons he knew.

But he didn't expect that the tactical dolls were still using those relics, while the military had gone all out with advanced technology. No wonder they allowed private military contractors and some individuals to hire tactical dolls on their own.

Because tactical dolls were no threat to the military... as long as the military wanted, they could throw any private military contractor into the gutter at any time.

This naturally included G&K, the largest security contractor currently in business. And Griffin didn't sit idly by; if the military prohibited them from holding heavy weapons and equipment, they would enhance the performance of their tactical dolls.

With the help of IOP, the combat effectiveness of Griffin's tactical dolls steadily increased.

From the beginning, when civilian dolls were transformed into tactical dolls, to later when IOP specifically modified tactical dolls for Griffin.

It directly differentiated the performance of Griffin's tactical dolls from those sold to ordinary people by IOP. The basic capabilities of the tactical dolls skyrocketed like riding a rocket.

And because the tactical dolls were highly humanoid, unless Griffin's tactical dolls were dissected and analyzed in detail, it was impossible to tell the difference between Griffin's dolls and the ones sold by IOP to other buyers.

After all, Griffin was the largest customer of IOP's tactical dolls. Since they had bought so much from you, it wouldn't hurt to spend a little more money to get a custom-made one, right?

Of course, the military was not unaware of these little tricks. After all, tactical doll technology had always been evolving, and it was easy to pass off such things. When a breakthrough in technology was claimed, most accusations could be blocked. Trying to pick a fight with Griffin over such trivial matters wouldn't be of much use.

Renault's installation of turrets on the aircraft lasted for a whole day. The dolls at home naturally wouldn't stay here and watch all the time. Some of the dolls came to help in the middle, but Renault managed most of it by himself.

The dolls who came to help were later sent to install some small equipment on the spaceship below.

Things like electric lights and kitchen facilities were mostly things that most dolls could handle. After all, they weren't really children; these things naturally weren't too difficult for them.

It's just that sometimes they weren't very serious when working... um, occasionally being careless, they might accidentally damage some equipment...

...

"Sangvis... Sangvis... Sangvis... it's always Sangvis! It's so annoying! Why do these Sangvis things keep popping up endlessly! Does the resources in the hands of Sangvis never run out!?"

Listening to the report on today's battle records from her dolls, Gentiane grabbed her hair, screaming in frustration.

"Well, after all, Sangvis Ferri can recycle the casualties from each unit. Although there are some losses, it's unlikely to consume much. Plus, Sangvis had hoarded quite a bit of manufacturing materials before because they took on a large order from the military..." Hearing Gentiane's complaints, Kalina couldn't help but scratch her cheek with helplessness.

"Tsk, of course, I know that. I'm just complaining, and now what really gives me a headache is... the 'Sugar Cube' operation. Does Persica have to include 'sugar' in the name?"

"Uh, I heard that Persica always puts a pot of sugar in her coffee every time she drinks it..."

"A pot? Are you sure you didn't mishear? Not a teaspoon? A pot of sugar, isn't that just syrup!?"

"Of course, I didn't hear wrong! This is something I..."

Beep beep beep!

"Ah!? What's that sound!? An alarm!?"

At the moment when the piercing sound suddenly rang out, Gentiane also immediately jumped up from her seat, nervously staring at the image of the combat command system.

"It is indeed an alarm! It seems that some unidentified flying object suddenly intruded into the area!"

"Unidentified flying object? Are those reconnaissance drones from Sangvis?"

But those reconnaissance drones, which were only slightly larger than UAVs, shouldn't trigger the base's alarm, right?

Clearly, they were enemy reconnaissance equipment, but the base's detection system couldn't detect those drones at all...

It's useless...