You were told to search and attack, but you're supporting Asara?

Deep Blue appeared behind Chen Xiao, his deep eyes glancing at the reactor in his hand.

Chen smiled sheepishly: "Do I need to hand this in, instructor?"

Deep Blue shook his head in silence: "Although there is no rule that the proceeds of the operation must be handed over, it is more appropriate to give these things to the quartermaster department in exchange for corresponding supplies."

Chen Xiao breathed a heavy sigh of relief: "That's good."

He looked up into the distance and saw that Mai Xiaowen and Wang Yuhao were already searching for items in their respective return capsules. Only then did Chen Xiao belatedly realize what was happening.

He handed two electronic jammers, which he had pulled from the return capsule, to Alexei in front of him: "Just to get you a couple of bites?"

Shen Lan looked at the two objects in his hand with some confusion, shook her head hesitantly, and walked back.

Wang Yuhao and Mai Xiaowen also returned one after another, the latter playing with a rectangular silver-white USB flash drive in her hand.

Wang Yuhao weighed the multimeter in his hand, a look of delight on his face: "Hafk does indeed have quite a few good things."

"But Skynet was still destroyed..." Deep Blue gazed at the points of light in the sky.

The group looked up at the SkyNet satellite in the sky, which was almost completely destroyed. Suddenly, a worried and solemn female voice came through their earpieces:

"No...that's not right!!"

"Skynet has been completely upgraded!!"

Deep Blue, who was sitting on the large rock, suddenly stood up: "What?! Zoya!"

"Alexei!"

Meanwhile, inside the GTI control room, in front of Zoya, a woman with short, light blonde hair, one special operations operator after another had their communications disconnected from the communication system, with red English letters flashing continuously next to their portraits:

"NO SIGNAL!!"

"Damn it, our communication system has been destroyed!!" Zoya's fingers frantically tapped on the control panel, repeatedly sending out communication requests: "Everyone! Reply!!"

Her response was a series of dimmed profile pictures and huge red text:

"WARNING: HAAVK SKYNET DESTROYED GTI COMMUNICATION SYSTEM."

(WARNING: GTI's communication system has been destroyed by Hafk Skynet.)

"Bang!" Zoya slammed her hand weakly on the control panel, and all around was silent.

Suddenly, a soft "click" sound came from the large screen, the red warning text disappeared quietly, and a blue square with Hafk's distinctive blue diamond logo flashed in the upper right corner, sending her a communication request.

The requester's name was prominently displayed in three capital letters:

NOX

······

On the other side, the four checked their communication status and exchanged unpleasant glances.

"I think we should return to our respective bases and establish temporary relay nodes using drones or radios," Mai Xiaowen said. "With the communication system down, we're like blind people right now. This is enemy territory, and every minute we stay outside increases the danger."

"A wise and experienced opinion," Chen Xiao nodded in agreement.

"Let's go." Shen Lan and Wang Yuhao nodded to each other, agreed on the radio frequency signal, and said goodbye.

Watching the three depart, Chen Xiao pondered for a moment, then retraced his steps and found Lina van der Meier at the rescue station.

"We've lost communication with headquarters, so we need to use your small drones as temporary relay nodes to ensure we stay connected," Chen Xiao said bluntly.

Lina also knew the seriousness of the situation. The fact that Skynet could cut off GTI's communication system so accurately and quickly meant that GTI's every move had been exposed to the other side, and there was no guarantee that some kind of conspiracy was waiting for them.

"My small medical drone does have a built-in radio transceiver module, but due to battery life issues, I need to try connecting it to a ground power source."

"In this way, the maximum climbing height is about 200 meters, and the signal coverage range can reach up to 15-20 kilometers."

Lena quickly explained these matters, and at the end, she said in a slightly guilty voice, "If Mr. Terry were here, his sonic drones would be really amazing."

Chen smiled and casually touched her blonde hair: "It's already very good. I'm going back to test the radio now. Be careful."

Lina nodded, feeling a little dizzy, watching Chen Xiao drive away in his SUV and disappear from sight. She could still feel the warmth of his presence on her head.

······

Chen Xiao certainly wouldn't be tuning any radio; he just wanted to submit the miniature reactor in the car to the Special Operations Department's system as soon as possible to see what changes would occur.

As he stepped off the gradually coming to a stop in the elevator, the faces of the people in the Secret Service, who had been working mechanically, slowly regained their composure, and the cold-toned military base gradually became more human.

Chen Xiao struggled to carry the miniature reactor back to his room and eagerly turned on the control panel.

Welcome home, Officer Chen.

[A special energy-related item has been detected: a miniature reactor, with 38% fuel remaining]

[(Is it/No) for the construction of the Secret Service?]

Without thinking, Chen Xiao clicked "Yes," followed by a series of prompts.

[Neutron microreactor activated, unlimited energy supply.]

[Combat Department Production Function Unlocked, Current Level: LV1]

[Medical Department Production Function Enabled, Current Level: LV1]

[Logistics Department Production Function Enabled, Current Level: LV1]

[R&D Department: Currently Locked In]

[Estimated remaining energy for 91 days]

[Location of the Great World Entrance: Dam Zero]

[Great World's capacity: 360]

Chen Xiao stared intently at the last two lines.

"What does this mean? Is this the location where I can enter the Delta world?" He clicked on the second to last option, and a screen popped up showing a map selection interface from the game.

Longbow Valley, Bakshi, the Space Base, and Tidal Prison were all dim and lifeless.

"Impossible! Today's mission location is near Bakshi!" Chen Xiao frowned, then his eyes suddenly lit up: "Unless... I'm setting the initial landing point for other players when they arrive in the Delta World."

"Never mind." He patted his head. "Anyway, we can only do it near the dam for now. We can try other ones later after we've lit up the others."

"We should get a communications radio set up."

······

Inside the medical aid station, Lina piloted the "Butterfly" drone into the air, tapping several times on the terminal to switch to relay mode. A red countdown timer popped up next to the battery bar—2:58:31.

"Relay established, frequency F7," she said, pressing the earpiece.

Deep Blue was the first to respond. The radio screen on the side of his heavy protective suit lit up, displaying "RELAY MODE" and three flashing signal bars. He pressed the call button, and a steady voice came through: "Deep Blue is online."

A soft "click" sounded in Wang Yuhao's earphones, automatically switching frequencies. He glanced down at the radio station screen—

[Connected: Butterfly-03 | Nodes: Deep Blue, Dragon, Hacker Claw]

He smiled and said, "Dragon received."

Mai Xiaowen's voice followed closely behind, clear as if it were right next to her ear: "Haizhua Online, you three hurry up and get to work, I'm watching you."

Lina frowned as she stared at the words "Waiting: Prophet" on the terminal.

All Chen Xiao heard was the crackling of electricity.

"The Prophet?" she whispered.

A few seconds later, Chen Xiao's voice finally came through, accompanied by noticeable static: "...Received. The signal is not very good, I'm... underground."

"Keep in touch, goodnight."

Chen Xiao lay on the bed, gave a brief reply, and fell into a deep sleep.

"Goodnight~" Inside the medical aid station, Lina looked up at the "Butterfly" drone connected to the charging facility and spoke softly.

She took out a vital signs monitor from her waist, gently stroked the cold numbers on it, closed her eyes, and suppressed the glimmer of expectation and fantasy that had just stirred in her heart.

"693 DAY"