Eh? You want to try the humanoid girl's iron fist too?

Raphael took two bites and exclaimed, "Delicious! It smells amazing!"

This was the first time she had ever put beef jerky in, and the sticky tortilla instantly became incredibly chewy. The effect was outstanding, a truly five-star combination that could make a diner's soul leave their body.

Do electronic androids have souls? Probably... yes.

Raphael has never truly entered a dormant state since it was manufactured. However, there is a concept in psychology that during dormancy, the personality enters a deeper level of rest.

Maybe that's "sleep," and perhaps you can even have "dreams."

Raphael took out the last small package from his lunch bag, which was originally...

The cherry and blueberry jam that was served with the cookies. Now that there's only jam left and no cookies, it's become a dessert.

On the battlefield, this stuff is more precious than gold.

To avoid the beef ravioli tasting too much with the cherry and blueberry sauce, she licked the spoon clean before slowly enjoying it.

Watching the fierce battle below, with attacks, counterattacks, and advances, Raphael suddenly felt that this thing wasn't so terrible after all.

Looking up into the distance, the city resembles a maze.

Countless streets converge, branch off, and intersect, and on these streets today, the fates of countless people will take different directions because of their choices.

Raphael threw away the MRE lunch bag and stood up from the ground.

There was no need to participate in the dogfight downstairs. The special agent team's firepower had clearly weakened, and their opponents were showing signs of running out of steam, meaning that the battle between technology and manpower was about to end.

She exhaled a deep breath of hot air. When the electronic warfare module was operating at full capacity, the energy it consumed and the temperature it generated were equally astonishing.

As for the effect, you can tell by the fact that the support forces from both sides have been slow to arrive.

Book 1: The World Before the Great War: Chapter 19 Exhausted

On the other side of the city center, Captain Laurent Noah's second-in-command quickly approached in the dim light.

"The battalion commander's men from the East District have arrived," he said, his voice proving he had run there breathlessly.

"Where are they?" Noah asked simply.

“Stay with me, Noah,” the company sergeant shouted.

Two tall figures, indistinguishable in the darkness, appeared beside him.

"Have you found out?" Noah continued to ask.

“Yes,” one of the taller men replied, “Preliminary range measurements have been completed, and Lieutenant Colonel Bliss has ordered me to report to you.”

“Okay,” Noah said, letting out a relaxed, deep sigh, and pushing back his chair as he stood up.

The problem that had been causing him, the company sergeant, and everyone around him so much anxiety in the past few hours was now resolved.

"The lieutenant colonel hasn't returned yet?" he asked the sergeant major.

"No."

Early the next morning, Laurent Noah led his men to meet the troops that Battalion Commander Bliss had withdrawn from the contaminated area.

Before Noah even left the controlled area, he saw the soldiers who were withdrawing from it.

The first person to speak to him happened to be a platoon leader who was walking at the very front.

He asked the lieutenant for the unit number and learned from him that the battalion commander was still far behind. He then quickly got into the Hummer that was ready to depart.

“Captain Noah,” the exhausted lieutenant said to Noah, glancing at his face with weary eyes, “I don’t need to explain further, but this city is definitely doomed.”

"What's over?"

Without saying a word, he dragged his weary body toward the camp's decontamination area. He wasn't the only one doing this; the soldiers who followed him did the same.

As the group marched over, their formation was disorganized and somewhat elongated, much like after a tiring march.

Noah continued driving forward until he saw his Battalion Commander Bliss at the very end of the marching column.

Bliss glanced at the parked car, waved his hand, and declined to get in.

So Noah opened the beautiful cigarette case, which contained Cuban cigars that he had somehow gotten his hands on, and offered him a smoke.

The lieutenant colonel glanced at him, looking at his subordinates strangely—so extravagant?

Noah nodded and asked if he wanted it.

How can I not want it?

However, Noah noticed that the battalion commander, who was usually warm and generous to his colleagues and subordinates, became very cautious when taking a cigar. Bliss tried to avoid touching Noah's hand.

"Okay, how's it going over there?" Noah tilted his head in the direction the marching troops had come from and asked.

“Difficult, smash it all,” the lieutenant colonel replied. “Difficult…” he repeated in a low voice for the third time, “Difficult!”

It seems that this word contains all the meaning, and there is nothing more to add.

If the first "difficult" means ordinary difficulty, and the second "difficult" means very difficult, then the third "difficult" spoken in a low voice means exceptionally difficult, extremely difficult.

Noah silently glanced at the spire of the Empire State Building.

It is there—tall and magnificent, a symbol of the marvels of the American construction industry.

Noah's eternal misfortune during this special deployment was that they, as the regular army, turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to the suffering of the civilians.

He was eager to know what had happened and where those arrogant special forces had gone.

If they all escape, perhaps the Rangers' mission could shift to maintaining order in parts of the city and then serving as a bridgehead for restoring urban functions.

He had countless possibilities in his mind...

But at this moment, Lieutenant Colonel Bliss didn't want to say anything. He just wanted to get back to the New York Public Library as soon as possible and then sleep to shake off the fatigue that had accumulated over the past few days.

Suddenly, Captain Noah heard the voice of his direct superior.

"Be prepared, we're about to be abandoned."

"What?"

Laurent Noah habitually took out a cigarette from his pocket and put it in his mouth, pondering the meaning of Battalion Commander Bliss's words.

They've been abandoned. Hundreds of soldiers have been abandoned. Aren't those bastards in Washington worried about their own positions? That special forces unit that obeyed the Department of Defense's orders completely is now nowhere to be found.

Even though it was still morning, he felt that the sky was getting darker.

If those politicians completely abandon all pretense and don't care about appearances, they're capable of anything. Hoover was able to order MacArthur, Patton, Eisenhower, and others to run over veterans demanding back pay with treadmills; why would the White House and Pentagon do it again?

What truly cost Hoover his re-election was his failure to stem the economic downturn and widespread opposition to Prohibition.

In the Kent State massacre, the college students who were suppressed and killed were far more valuable than these Maruns, yet the military still opened fire as usual.

In the end, the farce was only concluded by providing $64000 in compensation to the deceased student.

If the Waller government can come up with a vaccine against the "greenback virus," it can portray the funeral of these hundreds of people as a "great and selfless sacrifice," thereby winning unprecedented political prestige for him and the federal government.

Noah spent almost two weeks in downtown New York City and quickly realized that the virus wasn't as terrible as the propaganda made it out to be.

The reason for the rapid increase in the mortality rate is actually quite simple: the sudden outbreak of new smallpox overwhelmed New York's medical system, leaving many patients unable to receive effective treatment.

The open-air clinics set up by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in many parts of the city are essentially a kind of shelter, taking in a large number of patients and reducing the rate of human-to-human transmission.

To the panicked people at the time, this was a terrible decision.

However, judging from the current situation, after the urban population density has decreased significantly, the number of newly diagnosed citizens has decreased substantially.

why?

Simply put, the surviving citizens reduced the number of times they went out and began to pay attention to personal protection and food safety.

According to incomplete statistics, the number of people who died in the conflict in recent days is likely to exceed the number of people who died from "normal illness".

Perhaps the situation outside New York City isn't much better, but it hasn't deteriorated to the point where the city and state governments have declared disintegration.

Step. Noah basically confirmed this conjecture through the supply airdrop schedules that occurred on average every two days and through radio interception.

Airdropping supplies sounds simple, but it actually requires the collaboration of a large number of professionals. Logistics, ground staff, flight crews, and airport personnel all work together to complete the task.

The preparation of supplies requires a systematic logistics system. If government agencies of all sizes, such as those in New York, cease operations, there will be no airdrops at fixed times and on a large scale.

In addition, dropping supplies into cities at low altitudes using transport aircraft also tests the flight skills of the crew and their control over the aircraft.

"Damn politicians."

Captain Noah glared hatefully at the large supply crates in the distance marked "US Army" and "SHD". Regardless of who the contents were originally intended for, now that they were in their hands, he would never give them up again.

Book 1: The World Before the Great War: Chapter 20 Declaration of Rebellion (Seeking votes and support)

The New York Public Library, the temporary base of the 2nd Ranger Battalion.

What a load of bullshit joint task force! A bunch of useless cowards who only know how to hold others back!

Laurent Noah, driving behind the trailer, turned to Schneider Daid, who was operating the M2HB heavy machine gun, and said:

"Open all the safety locks. Anyone who dares to come near, open fire!"

Schneider kicked Noah's chair first, then yelled at the top of his lungs, "Sir, are you serious?"

“You fucking do it!” Noah roared impatiently.

The past week had been filled with caffeine, sleep deprivation, boredom, and anticipation. For some, the battalion commander's words were an answer to their prayers.

For them, war has shifted from completing a mission to figuring out how to survive.

At approximately 4:00 AM, D Company's demolition experts successfully destroyed the container's security system. Charles Bliss and his deputy, the executive officer, stood on the perimeter, silently observing the situation.

"These aren't supplies!" shouted the soldier inspecting the container. "They're all special equipment issued to SHD!"

“See what’s available,” Bliss said.

"Uh……"

Robert Armitage, shining a flashlight on the inventory list, said:

"AR-integrated contact lenses and maintenance tools, 50 sets; tracking mines (consumables), 100 sets; reflective sticky bombs and launching guns, 50 sets; portable autonomous machine gun turrets, 50 sets..."

Bliss didn't want to listen anymore. They didn't lack combat equipment at all; what they really lacked was personal protective and disinfection equipment, as well as the very things that would allow them to continue to exist.

Besides, how much combat capability could New York possibly have?

For a moment, all that could be heard was the whistling of the wind blowing through the parking lot.

Forty-five minutes later, the Rangers began constructing fortifications using the materials at hand. Several men gathered around the bullet-riddled Humvee, laughing loudly at the battle of the previous days.

Their faces were covered in dust, sand, gun grease, tobacco stains, and sewage from the ground.