Chapter 123: Go home

"Wait! Put down what you have in your hand-"

The mercenary's face suddenly became gloomy. He knew very well the powerful power of this modified high-explosion grenade. Once it was detonated, there would be no survivors in the entire office. The flexible pull-up ring bit Elena's teeth, and the thunder-held wrist was tightly stretched. Even if he had more than twice the speed of an ordinary person, he was not sure to grab the terrible explosive.

He glanced at the girl who was hunched behind him from the corner of his eyes. Elena's beautiful face had a charming smile, but tears flowed out of her shiny and pure eyes.

She didn't want to die, nor did she want to be a plaything for these men in front of her.

But she had to make the most difficult and necessary choice between the two.

In the hazy tears, I seemed to see Lin Xiang's face with jade-colored skin and his dark eyes that were as bright as gems.

“…Goodbye in the next life—”

"Bang--"

Just as she suddenly closed her eyes and was about to pull it hard until she could no longer tighten the grenade's ring. A crisp sound of bone cracking clearly penetrated into her hearing range.

A fist that was extremely stunningly thick appeared from the chest of the mercenary incredibly strangely. He shook it hard on both sides, slowly retracting like a snake that succeeded in one blow, leaving a terrible wound with a diameter of more than thirty centimeters.

The mercenary facing Elena suddenly felt that the pressure on his chest was incredibly great. An indescribable feeling suddenly spread from his chest to his back, and all the strength in his body disappeared instantly. He staggered back, lowered his head, and looked at the huge wound on his chest in disbelief. He barely lifted his weak and weak trembling arms, trying to cover the blood mist that spewed out like a waterfall... Finally, he couldn't hold on and fell down with a bang.

A tall and thin middle-aged Asian man stood behind the mercenary corpse with a cold expression. He slowly twisted his right arm with a muscle bulging, clasped his bent fingers into a fist, and slowly dripped a thread of blood as thin as silk.

The change was so sudden. No one could see clearly where he came from. No, it should be said that his movements were too fast, far beyond the limits that the mercenaries could withstand visual observation.

"Who the hell are you?"

Another mercenary standing next to him roared furiously, pulled out the sharp fighting dagger from his waist, and stabbed the man with his backhand. The half-rotating blade had just swung out, and suddenly turned in an extremely strange direction, as if controlled by a powerful external force. With a slight "chi" sound, he stabbed hard into the position between the mercenary's eyes and directly penetrated into the skull.

Outside the window, a heavy rain shot sounded, screaming...

With the rapid sound of military boots hitting the ground, the angry face of Quinnier and a group of armed civilians with live ammunition rushed into the room. Countless cold muzzles were aimed at the panicked mercenaries.

The middle-aged man wiped the blood from his body and strode toward Elena who was almost exhausted. He stretched out his hand and said in a kind and calm tone: "Hello, my name is Yang Hua."

In the special care unit on the top floor of Emma Central Building, Otilia, dressed in black, still with her hands on her back, looking down at the chaotic city under her feet expressionlessly.

On the hospital bed behind him, the drug supply was interrupted for two days. Locke, who had resumed treatment, was not dead yet and still showed an extremely tenacious vitality. Despite this, the interruption of treatment also caused irreparable huge damage to his body. His eyes were staring at the sky without any attention, his lips kept opening up, and he was breathing hard and heavy. Judging from the data displayed by the monitoring instruments in front of the bed, his heart rate was weak to the verge of nearly exhaustion.

"He...Hojo. Girl, I, I know...you, you are a good, good girl..." Although he was so angry that he spit out intermittently, and he didn't even have the strength to say a complete sentence. Locke was still joking as usual.

"If it weren't for that bastard McGee who stopped your medicine, I wouldn't have let the people of Yinyue Town and Quinnier control the city. You should understand that I am the protector of the Luton family after all. Even if McGee kills all the residents of this city, it has nothing to do with me." Ottilia's voice was as cold as ever.

"Actually... He, you, you don't have to... you don't have to stick to that... that damn ghost vow." Locke shook his head weakly, then grinned again: "Girl, do you... have smoke?"

"There will be a lot of damage to your body. Although the treatment has been restored, your internal organ failure is quite serious. Conservatively, you will have a week at most."

Otilia turned around and walked to the bed with a light pace. She looked at him coldly: "If you want to die now, I can help you with the best cigar."

"...you, you are still that, like that... a little, a little fun... no..." Locke, whose face turned pale, gasped and shook his head helplessly.

Otilia snorted unanimously. A faint worry suddenly appeared on her face as cold as a sculpture: "It's only seven days. Can that person really save you? You know, your situation is very serious. Even the Joint Doctors Association is not 100% sure that it can be cured."

Lock listened quietly without any expression. It took him a long time to breathe heavily.

"No more hope except him...I...

For some reason, when Lin Xiang saw the outline of the Crescent City appear on the horizon, he felt a slight urge mixed with sadness.

Claude is dead.

He completely overturned Lin Xiang's previous understanding of the Skeleton Knights. Although Lieutenant Colonel is not a great hero, the significance of human morality is interpreted in him - those who can take the initiative to give their lives for others are originally worthy of respect.

Lin Xiang has never felt so confused now.

Captain Soke's office was as crowded as usual. Lin Xiang suddenly appeared surprised him. When Lin Xiang took out the necklace left by the lieutenant colonel from his outer pocket and gently placed it on the desk, the captain's surprised eyes turned red like blood.

"Lt. Col. Claude... Let me give you this." Lin Xiang's voice was still calm, but his heart was heavy, as if it was filled with countless burdens.

Captain Soke grabbed the necklace tightly, and on the back of his broad hand, blood vessels that looked like earthworms opened. The instant pale face was in sharp contrast to the anger and frenzy in his eyes. Sitting opposite the desk, Lin Xiang could clearly hear the violent heartbeat in his chest, the heavy breathing between his mouth and nose, and the harsh teeth grinding sounds from his tightly closed lips.

"Get out-get out--get out--"

Suddenly, the captain who was on the verge of rage suddenly burst out with a hysterical scream. He waved his hands nervously, grabbed the piles of documents placed on the table and smashed them around: "Get out - everyone, get out of the way for me to get out of the way-"

A beast-like roar rolled in his throat, and his completely bloodshot eyes shot out a terrifying dark red light. Under the pressure of such a terrifying fury as hurricane, the person who stayed in the room quickly retreated and closed the door. Only Lin Xiang was left alone, sitting there alone, looking at him quietly.

"Bang--"

The captain widened his eyes and punched hard on the table. He took a deep breath. His pupils contained a pressing anger. He stared at Lin Xiang and roared in a hoarse voice: "Claude, how did he... die?"

"The mutated creatures in the ruins surrounded us. He gave me the opportunity to survive." Lin Xiang said lightly for a moment of silence.

The captain with a pale face stared at him like a knife, as if he was about to see something from it... After a long time, he finally opened the drawer and grabbed several approved and signed material transfer orders in almost rude movements, and threw them heavily on the cracked table. He roared incoherently: "Take what you want, get out of my sight from afar-"

The dark brown door closed with a "bang" as Lin Xiang left. Through the thick solid door panel, Lin Xiang clearly heard: From Captain Soke's office, a cry of pain like a child came...

The weather under the hot sun is extremely hot. The green buds on the branches of the plant have been roasted and withered by the scorching sun before they even opened. There is no wind in the vast wilderness, and the smooth rock surface is as hot as a boiling pot. Occasionally, a small insect that has just left the mother nest accidentally lands on it, and immediately curls and twists back and forth, screams, jumping far away to the depths of the dense shrubs, and never dares to reveal it easily again.

A team of m939 standard trucks, guarded by six light chariots and two auxiliary vehicles carrying armed soldiers, drove slowly towards the southwest of the wilderness along the broken highway left over from the old era.

The convoy's travel speed is not fast. The complex and rugged road conditions make vehicles of this era basically unable to meet the normal design speed requirements. Even when driving on old roads with good preservation, you must pay attention to hidden traps. Mobs, radiation ghosts, and large groups of living zombies wandering in the wilderness... They all have the possibility of launching sudden attacks on passing vehicles.

The vehicle keeps moving forward at a constant speed. Compared with the amazingly powerful large-caliber machine gun on the roof, the skeleton logo painted on the surface of the car body with eye-catching white paint is easier to attract attention, and it also allows those snoops with ulterior motives to dispel the greed and evil thoughts as soon as possible. Although the actual control of the Skeleton Knights is not as common as Sosbia and Ferdinand, no one dares to deny it-in this desolate wilderness and all surrounding human settlements, these guys wearing expensive and high-energy combat suits and are marked by the bones of dead people, do have unimaginable terrible and powerful things.

Lin Xiang got the urgently needed supplies as he wished - a total of 800 tons of food of various types, four ordinary models of "Screte" light armored vehicles, and a set of small nuclear power generation equipment.

The sexy and cold female quartermaster did not ask any questions about the material allocation order recognized by the senior supervisor and signed and stamped. With mechanical rigidity and meticulous prudence, she retried various materials listed on the list from the warehouse. Not much at all, but a lot.

Sitting in a spacious but not comfortable car, as the body of the car sways side by side, looking at the scenery sweeping back and forth quickly from the window, Lin Xiang's heart was like a helpless dust wrapped in airflow, rising and falling, floating intently.

The Skeleton Knights are the enemy. This is a trace that has been firmly portrayed as a brand in the depths of memory since the old era.

They released the deadly R12 viruses all over the world, turning cities into ghost domains with zombies. They wantonly fired nuclear missiles to destroy the original ecological environment of the earth, and forced humans to enter underground shelters. Nearly a hundred years later, there were fatal radiation and pollution at the scene. The human civilization system completely collapsed, and everything returned to a nearly primitive state.

No matter from any perspective, the Skeleton Knights stand on the opposite side of all humanity.

However, they are also a very sad group of people.

Hausen, Osvid, Cajetano, and Father Adal, who had spent a long time in the underground shelter. Although Lin Xiang had not experienced it personally, based on the situation described by each person, it was definitely a difficult and helpless day with despair for the future. He watched the person he loved died, but he died alone in the world alone. Mental collapse, mental disorder, suicide, madness... The dream of immortality did not bring the expected happiness. On the contrary, when he walked out of the shelter with the last glimmer of hope in his heart, the devastated world was enough to make the living lose his last reason and become a beast with a human body.

Claude is an alternative in the Knights and is also the only skeleton knight Lin Xiang has not had murderous intentions so far. His appearance seems to mean that there is a differentiation within the Knights.

He said: "Osved and Hausen are another type of people."

Like all parasites, the blood of the lieutenant colonel also had a supplementary and strengthening effect on Lin Xiang's physical fitness. He finally broke through the five-star level. The power he now has is even stronger, and various different types of abilities such as biological flames, frost, perception have been significantly improved. Especially the speed, which has reached or broken through the sound barrier. As for the actual power, it can only be truly known in battle.

Close his eyes and sit quietly in the bumpy carriage. All the movements and stills around him were within Lin Xiang's perception. At this moment, his heart was like an ice lake, calm without a trace of ripples.

Lin Xiang wore a light gray combat suit with light blue edging. Unlike the uniforms of ordinary skeleton soldiers sitting in the driver's seat of a vehicle, his combat suit is more compact, with more exquisite materials and tailoring, and has stronger functions. The smooth breathable cushion layer is very soft, and there is no impact or limitation on joint movement. The chest, waist, abdomen, vest and other key parts are specially equipped with sturdy ceramic bulletproof armor. This kind of clothing that reflects the superb technology of the Skeleton Knights is not qualified to obtain. In fact, except for members of the Knights at the lieutenant level, ordinary people cannot get it even if they spend more than ten times the amount of money to buy.

The material transfer form that Captain Soke threw to him was mixed with a certificate of approval from the mercenary commander and a special appointment letter from the captain officer.

"This is what Claude means. He has arranged all this before he set out. These things are part of the reward. From now on, you are the leader of the "Vulture" mercenary group. You are actually the rank of captain. However, this is not a regular rank of knights, but a warrior class with ordinary command functions. Even if you have achieved merit and become a general, you still have to salute him when facing the lowest level of knights."

This is Captain Sock's explanation to him. His tone was stiff and his attitude was cold, but his meaning was clear enough.

"Vulture Mercenary Group..."

The slender fingers flicked back and forth on the raised knees. Looking at the rear mirror of the shaking roof, a handsome face with jade-like skin was reflected. The newly shaved short hair was combed upside down on the top of the head, and the dark black eyes were as quiet as clear water. With the three-star overlapping captain logo on the shoulders and chest, it made people feel a little melancholy, and there was also an involuntary coldness.

Lin Xiang got everything he wanted. But he also understood that he must have lost something.

Faith? Interest? Friends?

No one can tell him the answer. The fog of time covers everything tightly. Before the sun can penetrate many obstacles and shines the light into the dark corners, he can only follow the path of survival that is most in line with the real interests.

The Skeleton Knights can temporarily rely on it, but it will never dominate his future destiny.

In this world, there are many ways to survive. You can live aloof and unscrupulous life, you can be ordinary and unremarkable, or you can be as humble as a dog, or even let others trample on it, like a dazed walking corpse.

War destroyed the old era and everything Lin Xiang once had.

He doesn't want to continue losing what he already has in this world. He will try his best to protect them. Because he knows how precious that is.

The sun is still hot, and the dispersed radiant clouds gather again, forming a lead-colored sky. Just in the distance where the convoy was moving far away, the eyes were unable to reach for the moment, the tall gray stone walls of Yinyue Town seemed to stand faintly at the end of the world. They were strong and tough, but they had an extremely safe, thick, warm... like home.
Chapter completed!