Infinite Horror: The Strongest Zhongzhou Team

Goodbye may mean never seeing each other again, but seeing each other again still offers hope.

In fact, Li Xiao was also curious: after losing Wendy as their leader, all the remaining cyborgs on Earth would inevitably become the Agnostics.

After witnessing their existence, which embodies immense power.

What will become of the Ghibli nation in the end?

With this doubt.

The Betty's engines left a fiery red trail as it hurtled into the darkness.

Earth.

A terrifying tornado, blotting out the sky, formed on the ground.

The grayish-brown sand scraped away layer after layer of ice.

The city, frozen two hundred meters underground, slowly began to reveal itself.
-
After the events on Earth have concluded.

Everyone felt that something was very strange about it, and if this was the case, it was a hundred percent.

What people know so far is less than ten percent.

Moreover, this "ten" is pieced together from various sources and is not coherent.

The central image disappeared, replaced by a map of the surrounding galaxies.

At this moment, several mercenaries exchanged glances, and Wells's lips twitched under the pressure of certain gazes.

Then, feeling helpless, after finishing his ideological work, he looked at Zhao Yingkong and Li Xiao with a fawning expression.

"Gentlemen, where would you like to go next?"

"We can act as free tour guides."

Li Xiao turned around and asked:

"Military spacecraft have the capability to enter jump portals. What about yours?"

"It's impossible to fly for decades using only a hibernation pod, right?"

"How will you get to a place that's very far away?"

Reeves really wanted to say, why don't you understand such common sense?

But after thinking about it, I patiently explained:
"It's a star gate!"

"A public facility specifically designed to serve our old and outdated little spaceships."

"The closest point to the solar system is the Fusa Gate, which is like a transit station."

Li Xiao nodded: "What about Earth?"

"With current human technology, exploring an existence like Earth should be quite simple, right?"

"Why did you all seem unaware or unclear about this before?"

At this point, Christie's answer was perfectly reasonable:
"Actually, if the fortress warship's destination hadn't been Earth before..."

We've almost forgotten those two words, let alone this planet.

"As the cradle of humankind, after so many generations of colonization, there is no relevant information left."

"Our next generation or younger generation may never have heard of it."

"The legends about Earth were something we came up with after racking our brains."

"After all, there are just too many different kinds of legends among mercenaries."

After hearing this concept, Li Xiao thought for a moment:

"So now, in your understanding, what is the capital of the federal government?"

Wells looked at him strangely, as if he were looking at an alien.

However, the answer was still: "The capital city is naturally the capital planet."

"Among the star system, there are three terraformed colony planets around the capital star. This area should be the most prosperous stage for humanity."

"As for Earth, well, how should I put it?"

"In our minds, they've almost become legends, or beings from stories."

"So even if the Earth were to be destroyed and disappear, I don't think anyone would care, let alone the current state of the planet."

"Of course, I'm referring to ordinary people. We now know that Earth has been used as a prison. The federal high command must know this, but they may have forgotten about it."

Actually, it was long after these mercenaries showed expressions of surprise.

Li Xiao and Zhao Yingkong suddenly understood something.

Hearing this now, he gave a bitter laugh.

(Is this what interstellar civilization is?)

(The scope of the alien world is probably greater than we initially thought.)
(A piece of gold placed in a flowerpot is naturally very conspicuous, but when it falls in a desert, it is well concealed.)
"Let's go to the nearest stargate. As for what happens next, you can take on some missions, and we can help you complete them as payment."

"Just consider us as temporarily joining your team."

Upon hearing Li Xiao's first words, Wells's face fell, but after he finished speaking, the tough guy smiled shyly, like a timid wife.

Following his leader's gesture, Reeves also anchored at the coordinates and began to move forward.

Meanwhile, the burly white man was already considering what mission to take on. With the abilities of the two newcomers, some S-level legendary missions would probably be a piece of cake.
-
Time is the least valuable thing during interstellar travel.

The most distant thing on a star map recorded in light-years is distance.

Time flies, and a month has passed in the blink of an eye.

Activity room.

Reeves frantically followed behind Li Xiao, gesturing wildly.

The only difference is that Li Xiao's every move looks pleasing to the eye and has a mysterious aura.

Reeves' actions, however, were somewhat worrying.

Revis had only recovered from paralysis a few months ago, and his hand-foot coordination was already poor.

The reason I was able to do this is because I persevered during this period.

After finishing a slow routine, Li Xiao sat down and began to adjust his breathing.

Reeves also pretended to sit down.

Wells, who was watching the show from the sidelines, took a swig of beer.

"A few days?"

John, a Black man:
"It's been fourteen days, and Revis has already broken the record."

Christie asked curiously, "Does it work?"

John and Wells both nodded at the same time:
"Yes, Reeves has been sleeping soundly these past two days."

"Normally I can just take off my shoes, but this morning I had to take off my socks before he woke up."

Christie looked at John and said meaningfully:

"You'd better be careful. Reeves said if you keep calling him that, he's going to kiss you awake."

Upon hearing this, John's expression changed.

When encountering an alien, he'd carry Reeves and run together, even if it meant dying together.

But if it came to kissing him, John would rather turn to the alien.

Li Xiao opened her eyes.

Looking at Reeves beside him, whose breathing had stabilized and who was about to fall asleep, he shook his head helplessly.

None of the mercenaries, including Reeves, had this talent at all.

Compared to O'Connor and Bruce Willis in The Mummy, these guys are like stinky, hard rocks in a latrine—they're stubborn and lack perseverance.

Li Xiao took a book out of his spatial bag and threw it over.

Reeves perked up instantly upon seeing this scene.

"Boss, what's this? A martial arts manual?"

Reeves looked at the heavenly book in his hand and asked excitedly.

Li laughed and said:
"One day of practice yields one day of progress; one day without practice is ten days wasted, understand?"

Reeves understood somewhat, but not entirely. He swallowed hard.
"Hey boss, how many days of practice do I need to become like a loli?"

Li Xiao looked you up and down seriously and said, "If it's you, you should be able to complete it in about 10,000 days."

After Li Xiao left.

Ripley walked in and looked at Reeves, who was kneeling on the ground with a gloomy expression: "What's wrong with him?"

Why am I so touched?

Christie covered her mouth and laughed:
"It's nothing, I just cried because I was so moved by myself." Wells immediately pulled Reeves into a hug.

"Let's go have a drink! Don't worry, Reeves, once we get a new spaceship, I'll let you fly it again, okay?"

And so, after fourteen days of hard work, Reeves once again joined forces with the others.

However, they didn't notice this as they left the activity room.

The martial arts manual lying on the ground was turned to its first page by a steel bar.

after a while.

Ding, ding...

Different sounds rang out from Wells and the others simultaneously.

They were all overjoyed.

John pulled open the LCD screen on the back of his hand, looked at the 3D projected logo with delight, and said:

"It's connected! It's connected!"

"Oh, my little baby is finally back."

Not to mention others, even Cole, the cyborg, got excited.

Upon witnessing this scene, both Li Xiao and Zhao Yingkong stood up.

"Is this a personal terminal?"

"You mean you've connected to the internet?"

"Interplanetary Network?"

Li Xiao reacted quickly as well.

He saw Wells and the others nod.

This person just came over and started peeping openly.

Li Xiao was quickly shocked.

"Super brain personal terminal, quantum communication network, signal relay stations throughout the starry sky."

"I almost forgot, this is the real interstellar civilization."

After learning about this situation, Li Xiao and Zhao Yingkong used their friendly connections to quickly borrow John and Christie's personal terminals.

Then he sat in the cockpit and started browsing through Moss.

However, Li Xiao quickly frowned:
"The information cocoons in the interplanetary network are too cumbersome; they can only be retrieved using keywords, but the problem is that we don't even know the keywords."

Zhao Yingkong turned to look at the expectant John and asked, "What about the mission?"

"You mercenaries don't accept missions through this interface, do you?"

Christie nodded and walked over to start operating the machine.

After several pages were switched, a simple black platform appeared in front of the two of them.

It was at this moment that Li Xiao and Zhao Yingkong's eyes instantly burned with passion.

Because they finally saw what they wanted.

The website's cover features a series of shimmering futuristic technologies, projected in a 360-degree, unobstructed view.

Model: StarShuttle S-2356

Dimensions: 32 meters in length, 8 meters in maximum diameter, and 45 tons empty weight.

Crew: Standard configuration includes 2 pilots + 4 research/exploration team members; hibernation pods can be expanded to accommodate up to 10 people.

Range: Interstellar, with a single jump radius of 10 light-years.

Model: Low-spec version of antimatter propulsion engine.

It has an energy utilization rate of 98.425% and is equipped with anti-tracking and anti-reconnaissance modules.

Powered by matter-antimatter annihilation and coupled with quantum entanglement thrusters, it achieves sub-light speed cruising, with a maximum speed of 0.3 times the speed of light.

Model: Emergency Nuclear Fusion Engine Low-Spec Version
Equipped with a helium-3 isotope fusion reactor, it can sustain basic navigation even when antimatter fuel is depleted.

Model: Adaptive Nano Armor.

Adaptive Nanoarmor:

The outer shell is made of self-healing nano-alloy (see materials 7 and 10 below), and the armor surface has a matte silver-gray tone and is covered with honeycomb texture.

When attacked, the damaged area will flow and repair itself like liquid metal (repair speed up to 1 cm/second).

Model: Optical camouflage coating.

It can be combined with equipment, vehicles, mechs, weapons, etc., to achieve a stealth effect.

【model…………】

Looking at the dazzling array of homepages.

Captain Wells walked over and said with a smile, "Don't bother looking, it's an old trick from mercenary websites."

"Putting the latest technologies, even those that haven't yet reached mass production, in the most prominent positions is just to make us spin like a top."

"Then they can finish those lousy, shitty mercenary missions."

"So, the mission of trafficking people and then transporting them to military warships is also handled through this?"

Li Xiao asked.

Wells and the others nodded.

"It's nothing, everyone knows that sticking to the old ways."

"These websites, which are half black and half white, are 100% officially endorsed."

"It's either the military or the federal government, or both."

"Otherwise, how do you think these classified technological weapons would appear on the homepage, especially with such close-up shots?"

"Furthermore, the last mission is the best evidence."

Christie added:
"At that time, Jin's task was to collect the goods and then transport them."

"The attack on those workers was carried out by a different group of mercenaries; we were just there to receive the goods."

"At the time, apart from Jin, we didn't know those were human hibernation pods."

"It's likely that the military split the mission in two, with neither side knowing what the other was doing, which is in line with the military's usual practice."

"Splitting a task into multiple parts is an old trick, and it's for mutual security. Of course, this is generally not a good thing."

Li Xiao smiled knowingly, because he wasn't very familiar with this operation.

but………

Li Xiao and Zhao Yingkong quickly exchanged glances and had other ideas.

Li laughed and asked, "How much longer until we reach that star gate you've been talking about?"

Reeves looked at the interstellar navigation map in front of him and said without turning his head:

"The solar system is too remote."

"Ten days left!"

"However, we need to resupply at the Stargate Port, since we haven't rested since we escaped from the warship."

“We can, of course, but this old guy beneath us can’t.”

Li Xiao was stunned for a moment before she understood.

The "old guy" he was referring to was the Betty beneath him.

This is an old ship that has been in service for over two hundred years beyond its service life.

It was at this moment that Li Xiao suddenly realized, based on the current situation...

Every time they come in after that, it will most likely be the Betty spaceship.

In that case, it seems this old ship will have to continue operating; we can't let them replace it with a new one.

Li Xiao stood up and looked at the group.

"So, mercenaries, are you interested in being the white glove?"

Upon hearing this, Reeves, who was piloting the spaceship, turned around.

Wells was taken aback: "White gloves? Whose are they?"

"Who exactly are you? Are you from the military? The government? Or some colony on another planet?"

Li Xiao raised his head and thought for a moment: "You can think of it as the military."

Li Xiao nodded seriously as he spoke. (End of Chapter)