Colonia Storm Tour

The officer led the mercenaries over, and AC-058 and MG-049 remembered the grenades in their backpacks. If they detonated them, they could take a whole squad of Lethbridge Industries mercenaries with them—why not? But just as their hands reached for their waists, they were suddenly kicked hard from behind by a mercenary.

The officer walked over and bent down to look at the human figures on the ground, observing with interest the blue eyes blazing with anger. He then ordered the mercenary beside him, "Take them to see the commander."

"Yes," the mercenary replied reluctantly.

At this moment, the commander of Lethbridge Industries was pacing anxiously back and forth in his underground command post. A few tens of minutes earlier, the command post had lost contact with the troops guarding the drone factory. He had sent out two groups of reinforcements, but they had all vanished without a trace, neither alive nor dead.

This commander was one of the few command experts in Lethbridge Industries, with extensive experience fighting the Sangvis Ferri. He immediately realized that a Sangvis Ferri unit was likely trying to infiltrate the drone factory to cause sabotage. Having encountered similar situations before, he quickly dispatched a special forces unit from headquarters to investigate.

Unexpectedly, they brought him a "gift"—three androids. The commander of Lethbridge Industries was very adaptable; he knew battlefield intelligence was crucial, especially when he couldn't receive reinforcements and was outnumbered. Unfortunately, the androids he had captured earlier were too stubborn, and he couldn't extract any valuable information. Now, he could only try to extract potentially useful information from these traitorous androids.

The battered AC-058 and MG-049 were escorted to the command table by two heavily armored soldiers, each with a restraint on their wrist. This restraint, while harmless, tightly bound their hands together. They sat side-by-side, their feet also bound, rendering them immobile.

There was another person sitting opposite them, whose face was covered in grime, as if she had been beaten up.

"IMC-104?!" Suddenly, AC-058 and MG-049 seemed to recognize the newcomers and called out softly, "IMC-104, is that you?"

IMC-104 slowly raised her head and looked at them. When IMC-104 was thrown from the vehicle, they thought she was dead. They never expected to see her here again. She whispered, "I almost thought you were dead..."

IMC-104 gave a wry smile, then uttered his first words since being captured: "Are you cursing me or congratulating me?"

At that moment, the commander strode over, and his voice rang out.

"Ladies, welcome to my base."

Despite the brutal violence inflicted upon him, IMC-104 stood tall and cursed, "This is not your base, you Lethbridge bastard!"

"It seems this young lady has some issues with my hospitality." The commander slightly raised a finger, and the soldier standing behind IMC-104 gave him a hard slap.

With a "thud," IMC-104's head slammed into the table, its face embedding itself in the table.

The commander gestured to stop the soldiers who were about to attack, then paced back and forth between the three men, whispering, "The reason I invited you here is very simple. If any of you can tell me where your remaining comrades are, I will let you go."

Upon hearing this, MG-049 couldn't help but laugh, followed by AC-058 and IMC-104. Not only did they not believe it, but even the Commander didn't believe what he had said. It seems that when dealing with complex androids, one really needs to carefully consider what to say.

Seeing his words turn into a "joke," the commander, embarrassed and enraged, snatched a pistol from a nearby soldier, pointed it at MG-049's head, and threatened, "You have five seconds to think, or I'll kill this stupid humanoid!"

“5???4???3???”

The commander started counting down, but it was clearly not using standard time; the whole process was quite lengthy.

Despite their extreme anxiety, AC-058 and IMC-104 had to follow the rules. For traitorous androids like them, being captured meant they couldn't utter a single word, as that would endanger even more of their comrades.

As they counted to two, they once again saw that disdainful look in MG-049's eyes, and that slight smile. Then, just as they were about to count to one, MG-049 suddenly spoke: "Don't worry, I'm just preparing to return to that world without light..."

No sooner had he finished speaking than a bullet pierced through MG-049's head, and his body slammed onto the table.

"You bastard!!!" IMC-104 roared as he stood up.

Watching her friend die before her eyes, she roared with unbearable rage, "You'll remember this! I will kill you all, I will kill every single one of you!!!"

AC-058 glared back at them, concealing all his anger and pain. Then, the commander repeated his tactic, this time pointing his pistol at IMC-104. IMC-104 sat back down in his chair, looking at the commander with disdain, and shouted at AC-058, "Say nothing!"

Section 5: The Passing of the Spark (Part 3) - From the Backfire

“I know!” AC-058 answered very readily.

"boom!"

Just as the commander raised his gun to count down, a violent explosion suddenly came from above.

To facilitate command, the commander specifically located his command post in the base's core control room. The explosion was extremely powerful; even those dozens of meters underground could clearly feel it. The base's internal rock mass collapsed, and rubble and armor plates rained down.

The commander interrupted the "game" and walked to the command platform, asking, "What happened up there?"

"Commander, the Ironblood forces have breached the outer defenses and are attacking the factory's ground facilities. Among them is an elite unit."

"You!" The commander turned and ordered, "Take your troops and stop them immediately!"

"Yes, Your Excellency."

Seeing the officer lead the special forces away, the commander's adjutant glanced at the two humanoid prisoners and asked in a low voice, "Commander, what should we do with these two humanoids?"

At this moment, the commander's mind was entirely focused on directing the battle, and he waved his hand impatiently. The adjutant understood and nodded to the guards, saying, "Take them upstairs, and don't make a mess of this place."

"Yes, sir." The two soldiers, upon receiving the order, rudely escorted IMC-104 and AC-058 out.

A few minutes later, IMC-104 and AC-058 stood on the platform at the top of the factory's heat dissipation tower, with a hundred meters below them a battlefield in complete disarray.

"Go! Move forward!!!" The mercenary behind him shouted, holding a rifle.

"I really didn't expect Lethbridge to come up with such a novel way to execute us." IMC-104 glanced at his feet and suddenly felt a little panicked and weak in the knees.

Seeing her nervous expression, AC-058 chuckled and asked, "What?! Are you afraid of heights?"

“Yes…” IMC-104 replied with a hint of regret. Then, she turned to look at AC-058 and smiled, “But at least we won’t die alone, and we won’t suffer too much.”

“At this height, we would be dead before the pain even reaches us upon impact,” AC-058 calmly analyzed. “There would be absolutely no pain.”

"Hearing you say that puts my mind at ease." IMC-104 smiled and introduced himself again: "IMC-104, the traitorous android."

"AC-058, the traitorous humanoid."

"It's nice to see you again, 058." IMC-104 addressed AC-058 by his nickname.

AC-058 smiled, not seeming to mind, and said, "Me too."

"enough!"

A mercenary in heavy armor interrupted their conversation, pressing his rifle against AC-058's back, and said, "Humanoid, you have two choices. One, you jump down yourselves. Two, we throw you down. The choice is yours!"

At this moment, AC-058 noticed a red dot on his right hand. The red dot then flashed on and off, like some kind of code.

Morse code! AC-058 deciphered it and began to decode: "Ready to obey your command."

Seeing that the two men hadn't responded for a while, the other mercenary grew impatient and urged, "Hurry up and take care of them. Our duty is to protect the commander, don't waste any more time."

"Shut up!" the mercenary muttered. He had seen the commander having so much fun, so he wanted to join in the game too. He whispered, "These traitorous androids aren't worthy of our personal attention. I want to watch them end their own lives."

"Alright," the mercenary shook his head helplessly.

"Alright, which one do you want to choose?" came the mercenary's voice from behind. To be honest, he was getting a little impatient. There were fewer and fewer of their own drones in the sky, and the sky was full of Ironblood's drones. He didn't want to be targeted by one of them.

The two mercenaries nodded to each other without saying a word, and simultaneously raised their rifles.

"104, do you know what it feels like to be shrouded in darkness? I'm on a plain, the sky has split open, and this devastated world is empty except for me and the boiling shadows surrounding me. It wants me to witness it all. This world is collapsing, and I am collapsing too..."

Suddenly, AC-058 spoke. IMC-104, unaware of the reason, turned to look and saw that AC-058's right hand was counting down from 5 seconds, already down to 3, while its left hand was making a crouching gesture. IMC-104 nodded in understanding.

On a building outside the base, LBI-031 was ready to snipe. Staring at AC-058's finger, LBI-031 prayed: "God, I trust you... Don't bring shame upon me, don't let the enemy defeat me..."

As the last finger tightened, he pulled the trigger twice with perfect precision. AC-058 and IMC-104 simultaneously crouched down, and two armor-piercing rounds whistled through the air, striking the two mercenaries standing behind them.

Armor-piercing rounds pierced the head of one of the mercenaries, causing his rifle to fall to the ground. IMC-104 turned to look at the other mercenary; his chest had been pierced, and blood was gushing from the gaping hole in his armor. He staggered a few steps, clutching his wound, before dying.

AC-058 ran to the mercenaries' corpses, threw their rifles to IMC-104, and then picked up a pistol from the ground for himself.

"104, are you ready to go back and fight?"

IMC-104 smiled slightly and murmured, "Of course!"

AC-058 and IMC-104 fought their way back underground. For all units, the most daunting task was combat in confined spaces, where well-prepared enemies and various other dangers lurked. Add to that the fact that they were only two people, and it was highly likely to be a one-way mission from which they would not return.

IMC-104 and AC-058 had experience with CQB tactics, so there were no problems with their tactical coordination.

The path to the control room was fraught with danger and numerous turns. The two men, hugging the wall on the right side of the corridor, took turns turning to provide cover. AC-058 turned to the left, effectively covering the left and rear. IMC-104 would advance to the next corner, stop, and turn to provide cover for AC-058's advance. Each person's aiming area was small, for a simple reason: the smaller the angle, the faster the reaction time, and the greater the chance of striking first. However, one crucial point was that when one person advanced, the other was always protecting their rear.

As the two methodically approached the control room, the explosions grew louder and closer. Along the way, they took down several lone mercenaries and acquired a few grenades. Finally, they reached the control room door, finding it open and hearing voices coming from inside.

AC-058探出头朝里面瞄了瞄，看见1个军官正在指挥雇佣兵搬运货物。接着缩回来，对着IMC-104低声道：“1个军官和5个雇佣兵。”

“Without someone in command, those mercenaries will panic.” IMC-104 pointed to the flashbang on AC-058’s waist and said, “058, throw the flashbang in front of that officer, and I’ll finish him off from behind.”

"Understood." After saying that, AC-058 took out a flashbang.

"Count to 3 and then rush in."

IMC-104, holding an assault rifle and a grenade, nodded.

“3....2....”

“1!” AC-058 whispered.

AC-058 sidestepped and threw a flashbang in front of the officer, while IMC-104 threw a grenade into the group of mercenaries.

Before the officer could even raise his rifle, a flashbang blinded him, rendering him unable to open his eyes for a moment. The IMC-104 seized the opportunity, pulling the trigger of its assault rifle, and a bullet flew towards the officer's head. His helmeted head was instantly pierced, half his skull blown off, blood and flesh splattering onto the wall.

"It's simply poetic and picturesque," IMC-104 thought.

Then, the fragmentation grenade thrown into the group of mercenaries exploded, killing the five mercenaries instantly.

IMC-104 covered his nose and looked at the corpse in the control room, not entirely satisfied with his handiwork, saying, "Ugh... disgusting."

The two searched the entire core control room and found that the commander had already left. Their weapons, as well as MG-049's "remains," were still in their original places. IMC-104 carefully examined her "remains." "The core is okay; it's not too badly damaged. If we can find an advanced medical facility, there's still a chance of survival."

IMC-104 carefully hoisted MG-049 onto his back, picked up his weapon, and said, "058, we have to leave."

Suddenly, hurried footsteps echoed down the corridor, growing ever closer. The two women jumped to their feet, their first thought being that Lethbridge's reinforcements were coming. They quickly spread out, taking positions on either side of the door.

IMC-104 was about to throw a punch at the "enemy's" face.

"IMC-104, stop!" AC-058 reached out to stop her, saying, "She's a friendly unit, LBI-031."

"Oh, it's you, LBI-031. You should have sent us a message."

"The entire base was just jammed, I couldn't contact you at all." "Also, I found a new troop transport vehicle, enough to get us out of here safely."

"Time is running out, follow me!" LBI-031 sped through the tunnel.

AC-058 and IMC-104 exchanged a glance and then ran off after LBI-031.

A few minutes later, the three of them finally ran into the troop carrier.

AC-058 and IMC-104 plopped down in the uncomfortable seats of the troop carrier and let out a long sigh.

"We finally escaped!"

"yes..."

"So, 058, where are we going next?" LBI-031 asked.

"Let's try our luck at that place. 'Extinction Point' seems to be looking for unclaimed humanoids. They've even marked them. If there are any difficulties, they'll do their best to help."

"I have already uploaded the coordinates to you, 031."

“Unknown territory…” LBI-031 frowned, feeling that this was very likely a trap.