Reborn in 2010, the AI ​​in my mind is too powerful.

In the Spree Forest, Germany, under a large tree, Lieutenant Colonel Bernardi reluctantly took out the last piece of chewing gum and began to chew.

Chewing gum sales have been declining in modern society where material goods are becoming increasingly abundant, but it is still included in the rations of most soldiers.

After all, chewing gum also has a formidable reputation in the military field.

During World War II, Coca-Cola traveled the world with the US military.

Wrigley's chewing gum, on the other hand, proved to be an effective means of relieving soldiers' stress. During marches and battles, chewing gum could greatly alleviate soldiers' tension and improve their combat focus.

Drinking water is inconvenient on the battlefield, which can easily lead to dry mouth. Chewing gum can stimulate saliva and even help with dental health. It is a cheap and convenient supply that can greatly improve the happiness of soldiers.

After confirming its effectiveness, the U.S. military placed a massive order with Wrigley. Due to the war-induced shortage of gum arabic, Wrigley shut down its civilian production lines to supply the U.S. military.

In order to keep the public from forgetting them, they continued to ship goods to the US military while also engaging in bottling at the general public level, even though people could no longer buy their products.

These efforts were effective. After the war, the people did not abandon them. Wrigley became a national brand, and even directly led to the inclusion of chewing gum in the food rations of most countries afterward.

In peacetime, soldiers didn't really like to eat it and mostly threw it away. Bernardi used to think the idea that chewing gum relieved stress was a bit strange.

But recently, he realized that he had been too naive before; having chewing gum during wartime was such a blessing.

Thanks to his swift and skillful response, he successfully evacuated Berlin with his troops when disaster struck, but the journey that followed was not so smooth.

The Ministry of National Defense Guard Battalion has a total of 2,000 men. When leaving the city, they were constantly harassed, and he had no choice but to constantly divert troops to cover their rear.

He knew that those five hundred people were most likely doomed.

Then he led his men south to the newly built homeland defense division headquarters in Sedin.

But the place is now deserted; the Homeland Defense Division has disappeared and taken refuge somewhere.

However, they didn't come away empty-handed. The Winsdorf area was the former headquarters of the Soviet Army Group in Germany, with underground bunkers and many old warehouses, where they successfully obtained a supply. Many of the military rations here were decades old; although the jam inside was no longer edible, the canned water and biscuits were well preserved.

The Ministry of National Defense guard battalion also received a considerable amount of supplies from here and left a note. Perhaps fearing interception by the enemy, they didn't leave any useful information, only a few words of encouragement.

After carefully studying the map, Lieutenant Colonel Bernardi chose to find a way to rendezvous with the main force rather than seek refuge in the wilderness.

He chose a very circuitous route, heading southeast, bypassing towns such as Berlin, Potsdam, Cottbus, Lukenwald, and Königswesthausen.

It bypassed the Cottbus and Lausitz lignite mining areas.

It also bypasses the Eisenhtendstadt steel plant and major substations and railway marshalling yards.

Despite this, they still frequently encountered sporadic attacks from robots.

Most of them are early Google robots, products from several years ago. But for them, who lack heavy weaponry, they are already a formidable weapon.

Each time they encounter them, dozens of people are hunted down to their deaths until the robots run out of fuel, at which point they slowly retreat.

When they finally arrived at their final destination, the Spree Forest, he had only a little over 7 soldiers left.

However, they encountered a group of over a thousand civilians in the forest, eventually forming a refugee group of nearly two thousand people.

They continued deeper into the forest; their ultimate destination was the village of Sob, nestled deep within the woods.

The Sorbs are one of the four officially recognized minority groups in Germany. They are actually Slavs, related to the Czechs (West Slavs), and share a nearly identical language.

They were the first inhabitants of the area east of the Elbe River. After the Germans moved eastward, the Sorbs were gradually surrounded and assimilated, and were suppressed for a long time.

Forced assimilation was implemented in Prussia in the 19th century and during the Nazi era in the 20th century. The Sorb language was banned, Sorb organizations were disbanded, and activists were suppressed.

After World War II, the government finally recognized their unique ethnicity, established Sorb schools and newspapers, and incorporated them into the socialist system, but they still did not develop their own traditional culture.

Finally, after German reunification, the Sorbs were protected by the constitution and began a language revival, but their population continued to decline and their language and culture became somewhat endangered.

This is the chosen refuge that Lieutenant Colonel Bernardi selected; the Spree Forest itself is a natural fortress. There are hundreds of miles of waterways nearby, but they are all small rivers, far too small for large ships to navigate.

Everywhere you look there are alder swamps and reeds, visibility is extremely poor, there is no concept of roads, and armored units will all get stuck in the mud.

Moreover, due to economic issues, digitalization is very low here. It's not that we're immune to technology, but things like robots adjusting people are completely absent here.

September is the season for mushroom and potato harvesting, and fish can be caught in the surrounding streams. There are also quite a few wild boars, and plenty of berries such as blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries.

Lieutenant Colonel Bernardi believed that they would completely solve their food problem here, at least enough to get through the winter safely. He was even considering starting to look for wild beehives to collect honey next year, and storing some salt bricks that were everywhere in the forest.

We must strive to build this place into a survivor's stronghold, like those in apocalyptic movies.

But despite all his calculations, he overlooked one crucial point.

That is, the Sorbs completely refused to shelter them. They encountered the Sorbs on the outskirts of the forest, and they bluntly stated that anyone who dared to steal food from their village would die.

The Sorbs from several nearby villages have united and gathered together. In the face of the end times, they will only follow their blood ties and will not share their food with unrelated outsiders.

After being reminded by the Sobs, Lieutenant Colonel Bernardi realized that robbery was also an option.

However, after sending out three reconnaissance teams of twelve men each, and then having them all wiped out without a single member returning, he abandoned the idea.

The forest is full of traps, and the Sorbs in the mist will attack them from all sorts of dark angles.

Moreover, even if they successfully reached the village, it might be useless, as the surrounding Sob villages seem to have already collected their grain and united together, with an estimated size of 10,000 people.

Lieutenant Colonel Bernardi had no choice but to consider changing course, chewing gum as he looked at the map beside him.

At that moment, a soldier, frowning, led a man wearing an Arabic checkered turban over.

The man wearing an Arabic checkered turban asked very rudely, "When exactly will we be able to enter the village? Can your soldiers even protect us?"

The man who came was named Youssef Halabi. He was a refugee who fled Syria in 2015 and was settled in Cottbus, Brandenburg.

Cottbus is the largest city on the southern edge of the Spree Forest. In 2015, it received a number of refugees and has formed small Arab and Turkish communities.

These refugees have a stronger will to survive and a greater ability to escape than native Germans.

The more than 1,000 people in the forest all fled together from the refugee community.

Since there were already a large number of them, after living there for a week and finding that these German soldiers were as disciplined as the former German government officials, they felt reassured and began to demand various benefits as before.

They even started organizing elections in a seemingly legitimate manner, as if they were going to formally seize command of the team.

Lieutenant Colonel Bernardi frowned and said, "We definitely can't get into the village. I'm thinking we should head southeast of Brandenburg. That's the Liberose Wasteland, which used to be a Prussian training ground. Later, the Soviet army also built a huge training ground there."

That area is a restricted zone; it contains remnants of bunkers, trenches, and watchtowers. It should also have abundant natural resources, including wild boar and deer.

Harabi frowned and said, "Wait a minute, you can't just make this decision. It has to be decided by our newly formed people's representatives. I'll organize a meeting in a bit."

Lieutenant Colonel Bernardi watched Harabi's departing figure and whispered to the young soldier beside him, "We can't get into the village; we don't have enough food left."

"Send the order secretly: we'll leave tonight, ahead of schedule."

"Battalion Commander, some people are losing their unity. They're actually starting to listen to those people. I've already compiled a list."

Lieutenant Colonel Bernardi scoffed and said, "Damn refugee policy! Go find some reliable people and tie up all the disloyal ones today. They can leave, but the weapons and supplies must remain!"

"Understood, Battalion Commander."

Lieutenant Colonel Bernardi continued looking at the map and chewing his gum. He knew he had changed; in just one month, he had gone from a professional officer to a selfish man.

But he felt he couldn't care less about that now; all he wanted was to survive with the few remaining comrades he had.