Chapter 404: Natives (1)
"I'm sorry, brother," Zhang Qin Feng said while he gave the trusted team leader of his a big hug. The sight where Zhang Qin Feng gave Alex a big hug may seem odd to the bystanders, but only those who fought alongside them know how significant is his action right now.
Furthermore, Zhang Qin Feng did it the instant he stepped down from the vehicle carrying him into the base. This act of his shows how vital is Alex's presence in their boss' faction.
"I'm fine, Boss. You don't have to feel guilty or whatsoever," said Alex as he gave Zhang Qin Feng a tap on his back. He could have responded the same as Zhang Qin Feng, but at the same time, he felt that there was someone worthy of this much more.
Alex's sentence was like a rock mountain that was lifted off from Zhang Qin Feng's shoulder.
His return was also good for Zhang Qin Feng's mental health, burdened by an invisible weight he placed on himself.
Zhang Qin Feng knew that nothing he did right now could compensate for all the tormenting experience Alex suffered. But for the very least, he would feel a little less guilty as before.
Whenever the image of how Alex was maimed by the interrogator from West Strand Division appeared, it would dampen Zhang Qin Feng's mood. The four of them indeed suffered while they were in the hand of those bastards from West Strand Division.
Shaun was considered luckier out of the four, as he was the last and least experienced team leader in Wind Base Group. As for the other three, they had it worst.
Queenie was pronounced brain-dead when she was rescued by one of Zhang Qin Feng's soldiers in their attack last time, while Satella's life was merely hanging on a thin thread. As for Alex, he lost all his limbs, including his genitals, to the interrogators.
"Still…" Zhang Qin Feng was going to continue, but his words were stuck in his throat as the MCC Alex came from started to move on its own.
"What is this colossal thing doing in the base?" he couldn't help but ask. The three vehicles that took all of them here were considered tiny compared to this Mobile Command Center with a diameter of twelve meters width and fifty meters in length.
When all three cars move together, they're a tad longer than the Assailant-Class Patrol Ship with a length of 125 meters.
As this was his first time looking at this engine inland, Zhang Qin Feng couldn't help but be shocked.
"Well, Marvin made this the moment the shelter's power room and our carrier's energy module were replaced with a newer generator," said Alex while remembering Marvin's words.
Unlike Zhang Tianhuo, Alex's memory wasn't as good as the remodeled clone using Zhang Qin Feng's gene as the base.
Although this new body wouldn't be affected by the Blood Petrification Disease any longer, his brain function still remained pretty the same as before. As a clone created for military purposes, his only expertise would be leadership, firearms, tactics, and fighting.
Asking him to repeat those alien-like sentences from Marvin is like forcing Alex to cook dinner at night.
"Hmm… That's all I remember. He did mention something else, but knowing me, I already forgot about it before we sailed off from the Vermilion Empress." Alex said. Perhaps out of so many people here, only Alex could smile while saying he forgot what he was told.
"Nevermind. Like you, I can't remember them anyway. So… How's your new body doing for you?" Zhang Qin Feng laughed the embarrassment away while he walked with Alex further into the operation base.
To his surprise, the entire area was only left with some minor touch-up before they started erecting the barricade and forming a defensive layer around them.
This time, the wall they'll be making would be much taller than the temporary makeshift fence, about two to three meters tall. With the help of the MCC moving around the outside, they're confident that building a ten to twelve meters tall wall wouldn't be a problem at all.
That would be the idea for now, after multiple failed defensive attempts happened while trying to establish their influence inland.
But most importantly, there's a reason behind their willingness to invest in such a mega-construct. Even Zhang Qin Feng was going to reject the suggestion at first until he heard what can the wall do.
Although he's unsure if all the good news was the reason he could have a good sleep, this was so far the best night he had after coming inland.
The following day, a few additional APVs were moving out of the base as they slowly expanded their perimeters westward. It was still considered a risky attempt to explore their surrounding areas. Still, for the sake of rescuing as many crews as they could from the first fleet, this mission had to be done with haste.
Each night they delayed was a risk of something happening to the still surviving crews.
Furthermore, Zhang Qin Feng still needed them and the information they had to find out the whereabouts of the five Assailant-Class Patrol Ships.
A report from the exploration team quickly came half a day later.
But the content within the report was not a positive message Zhang Qin Feng was expecting.
"Operation Base, please reply." said the leader for the first APV. In total, twenty-five soldiers were dispatched to the West in five different APVs with five appointed team leaders.
"This is Big Boss. Continue." Zhang Qin Feng replied. With all the working signal tower around being under Zhang Qin Feng's control, he didn't even need to move a finger to respond to the message.
"We found the natives, over."
"And Boss, they're bad news." said the team leader for the first APV.
"Elaborate," Zhang Qin Feng quickly replied and left the comfortable bed he was lying on.
"Well, Boss… Can you imagine what would happen if a Tyrant knew how to use firearms?" the team leader continued.
"You're joking me." Zhang Qin Feng shook his head in reply.
"I jest you not, Boss. Right now, I'm looking at twenty-something Tyrants with an older version of Decimator Launcher on their shoulders. I won't believe it, even if you tell me it's just for decoration." the team leader added.
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