Disaster Simulator, global collapse begins.

The four of them drove off once again on a journey of wilderness survival in search of water.

……

The Sky Fortress was very fast. Once it left the city, Hoshiguma could speed to her heart's content in the vast sky.

"To assist our investigation, I hired a private armed group called Rhodes Island to accompany us."

Chen Jie tilted his head: "Why didn't you invite our family?"

“It’s best to avoid that,” Hoshiguma replied seriously. “Secondly, these local companies on the outer perimeter understand the local landscape better than companies in the city.”

“Rhodes Island has a veteran supporting it, and their weapons and combat capabilities are no worse than the four major security companies.”

"Sounds like a formidable rival," Chen Jie sighed, eager to complain.

Surprisingly, their armed security business is more well-known than their pharmaceutical business.

I wonder if there's a Doctor on Rhodes Island.

Upon arriving at the meeting point, a small town with a Sargon-like atmosphere.

It is said that the local chieftain decided to develop tourism and built the place. It was popular for a while, but with the economic downturn, people no longer had the spare money to indulge in such bourgeois pleasures as tourism.

As the tide receded, only a ghost town, almost uninhabited, remained.

The Rhodes Island squad consists of four members: Black, Ranger, Franka, and Liskarm.

Hoshiguma and Kuro made some contact.

Rhodes Island will be responsible for the security and translation of the three of them. This place is too remote, and some tribes still use their local languages ​​instead of Terra Common.

But the squad won't provide constant close protection; they have other work to do here—Hoshiguma signed a defense cooperation agreement to save money.

The Black and the Rangers ensured that they spent more than four hours a day with the Guard Bureau, and also rested together in the evening.

They spent the rest of their time on their own things, but they would ensure that they could respond and provide support at any time if Hoshiguma and the other two encountered danger or battle, within a certain range.

It's a bit like taking a ride-sharing service, or like playing a game where you accumulate tasks from a certain location and do them all at once.

Besides exploring the origin of that mysterious medicinal herb, they also took on a commission from the Guard Bureau.

"Sister Xiong, we hired people from Rhodes Island, right?" Melantha suddenly asked.

"Then why are two people wearing black steel clothes?"

“Who knows, maybe they retired from Blacksteel and went to Rhodes Island for re-employment,” Hoshiguma replied casually.

Melantha looked at Karin: "Does your family send you equipment when they retire?"

“My family doesn’t offer delivery, maybe Black Steel offers better treatment,” Chen Jie said.

"Who cares?" Hoshiguma casually got into the car. "Anyway, I only paid Rhodes Island. If I actually manage to hire two Blacksteel mercenaries, that would be a huge profit!"

Rhodes Island is cheaper than Blacksteel, and that's their core competitive advantage.

Two flying cars drove one after the other toward the malfunctioning black tower. Coincidentally, the thieves who stole the Soul Steel also sent people to retrieve the boxes from the truck.

Upon seeing the aerospace fortress, their first thought was that their plan had been exposed and that the military would send people. Chen Jie and her two companions would not let go of such an opportunity to catch them in the act.

Battle is imminent.

"Assaulting a police officer, damaging public property..."

Once the other party is confirmed to be a criminal, the special terminal access granted to the Royal Guard can be used.

Chen Jie pointed at them: "Place the order for me!"

It didn't work!

"The other party doesn't seem to be human... There's no information about them on the terminal," Hoshiguma warned. "They might be something like an android."

Melantha gripped her sword tightly and sighed, "So, the only option is to fight?"

"Prepare for battle!" The old man, who was hundreds of years old, had no concept of shyness. Although he had just stepped forward and performed a freezing spell, which failed, Chen Jie immediately adjusted his state.

He spoke to his four Rhodes Island allies via his terminal: "The Guard Bureau's authority is useless against them. They must be modified individuals or suicide agents who deliberately destroyed their personal terminals."

The previous team was wiped out by the Rainbow Squad. The firepower configuration of the Sakota mercenaries was transmitted back via personal terminals and virtual Terra. This time, the Black Tower Destroyer Squad is even better equipped.

However, they encountered three members of the Guard Bureau.

Hoshiguma spent a fortune, even taking on a loan of over a decade, to upgrade the Space Fortress—it's certainly capable of firing a damn shot.

Chen Jie also donned the full set of Thor Industries' cutting-edge exoskeleton, which his family had bought for him; while Melantha, whose family seemed to disapprove of her becoming a member of the Guard Bureau and wanted to sever ties with her, secretly donated money to the Guard Bureau with a touch of arrogance, so she always got to use the latest equipment.

Ancient warfare was about numbers and morale; modern warfare is about technology and wealth.

This is the power of money!

Even the vehicle-mounted shields couldn't withstand the bombardment of the main gun, and the advantage in numbers was completely wiped out by the barrage of honeycomb multiple rockets.

Melanie still showed traces of her past timidity and lack of self-confidence.

In combat, this manifests as follows: because he was so afraid of dying, he first used high-vibration particle blades to chop all the enemies into pieces.

Franka used her sword to remove the armor of one of the mercenaries, then kicked him in the waist. The mercenary instantly collapsed to the ground in pain, losing his fighting ability.

At that moment, she slipped behind Razer and poked him in the waist:

"Don't you feel that the amount of ammunition they just fired was more than the cost of hiring us?"

"But they were laughing happily." Even though they came from Blacksteel International, Razer had never fought such a lucrative battle. "It's unethical to interrupt the employer's enjoyment. We just need to do our job and provide support."

"For example... protect these mercenaries from being killed by the Guard Bureau's violent elements, and leave a few alive."

……

PS: I tested positive; I got infected.

My headache started last night, and I tossed and turned all night around 3 a.m., unable to sleep. I felt terrible all over, but I couldn't sweat at all.

I had a cough this morning with thick phlegm streaked with blood. I felt weak and had the same symptoms as someone who had been standing in the sun for a long time in the middle of summer and was about to get heatstroke. I was also feeling dazed.

I took some fever reducer and spent an hour writing before managing to squeeze out 2000 words. I'll try to update again. If my condition gets worse, I might have to take a break for the next couple of days.

Chapter 145 Encounter

After the battle, the four Rhodes Island members showed Hoshiguma and the others the survivors they had rescued.

The three members of the Guard Bureau said they were so caught up in the battle that they almost forgot about this.

Hei and the forest ranger wanted to question Chen Jie and his team's professionalism, but since they were paid clients, they decided to keep their thoughts to themselves.

Hoshiguma had a bit of a headache:

"How to deal with them is a big problem."

"Generally speaking, these kinds of suicide soldiers carry some kind of self-destruct device. For example, if we catch them, their brains and bodies will explode in a flash."

"But these people didn't explode. There are a few possibilities. Either they are some kind of mass-produced cannon fodder that isn't even worth installing a self-destruct device on, or... the other side is confident that they will ambush us on the way back, preventing us from sending these important pieces of evidence back to Night City!"

Melantha gripped her sword tightly; whenever she felt tense, she would think of cutting something:

"How to do?"

"How about I request permission from Rhodes Island headquarters to hire more escorts?" the ranger suggested to the three, leaving the rest of his sentence unsaid—

It's definitely cheaper than fighting it yourself.

"If that doesn't work, we'll ask the military for an escort!" Chen Jie suggested.

She still harbored a sliver of fantasy about the great Holy Roman Empire that some future version of herself would establish.

"What if they have people in the military or inside Rhodes Island?" Hoshiguma asked the group.

"I'll request remote technical support; we'll dissect them right here!"

Remote technical support.

With special privileges, technicians were temporarily allowed to remotely take over their bodies via virtual Terra to conduct basic examinations and experiments on the mercenaries.

A missile streaked across the sky and landed not far from the group.

There was no explosion; the internal Soul Steel components began to self-assemble, forming a small laboratory.

The seven men carried the captured mercenaries, along with several corpses, inside.

Hoshiguma demonstrated her decisive side:

"You keep watch around, I'll lend my body to the technician."

"it is good."

Chen Jie went outside and saw Melantha talking to Franka. They probably saw someone who also used a sword and wanted to exchange sword techniques.

In fact, she can also do dissections. As a double-degree advanced biology PhD from both the Honkai world and this world, she is among the most professional even on the Terra continent.

But over the years, she has found a certain enjoyment in role-playing simulations—trying to avoid doing anything super-game-related.

"Super Game" is a term from role-playing games, specifically tabletop RPGs. For example, a player might be a character who knows nothing about a monster but can guess what it is based on experience; or a player might be completely ignorant of medicine but can immediately identify the chemical formula of a drug.

This would disrupt the game's balance, and similarly, Chen Jie didn't want to ruin the fun of the simulation.

Just now, Hoshiguma and Melantha were discussing Rhodes Island, and she clearly knew quite a bit about it.

But I just won't say it, hey.

Minimize your own interference in the event.

Of course, fun is fun, but business is business. Chen Jie did this on the premise that it would not affect the business he was supposed to do. Hoshiguma had already found a solution within the rules.

If everyone is at a loss and Terra doesn't have remote technical support, she'll still take on the role of a forensic pathologist.

After all, all that knowledge is learned is meant to be put to use in a simulation, to solve problems, and to show off in front of others (just scratch that last one).

A small intrusion using special privileges.

As you can see, Hoshiguma, this tall Oni woman, instantly transforms into a refined researcher and begins to conduct dissection experiments on several mercenaries.

They were indeed modified!

Virtual Terra is indeed impeccable in terms of software, but the people who modified these mercenaries used a trick that would frustrate any programmer—physical network disconnection.

Disrupt part of the neural network, thus putting these people in a semi-connected...emmm khaki disconnected state!

Simply put, it means weakening permissions, removing harmful parts, such as the Guard Bureau's ability to control criminals' bodies, leaving only the most basic communication functions.

They couldn't fully immerse themselves in the virtual Terra, play games, or enjoy food... The remaining parts of their personal terminals probably only retained the communication functions of a mobile phone.

These people's memories have also been manipulated.

It's probably because they've been implanted with some kind of fanatical belief similar to religious faith (otherwise, no one would willingly accept such a transformation that would deprive them of most forms of entertainment afterward), which allows these mercenaries to disregard life and death like terrorists.

In addition, there are minor modifications such as pain cut-off and limiter removal.

They transformed a person into a combat machine, a religious fanatic, or a fanatical cannon fodder.

There is no doubt that this violates the laws of the Empire.

Unfortunately, it was impossible to find out from the minds of these mercenaries which force had transformed them.

Hoshiguma stepped out of the temporary laboratory and shared her findings with everyone. They worked together to analyze the results. In addition to them, the Guard Bureau headquarters also formed a special task force to analyze and assess the situation, but it would take some time.

At this moment, Blackie, who was still on guard around, suddenly noticed an off-road vehicle similar in style to the mercenaries approaching from a distance.

"alert!"

The Rainbow Team members drove up from a distance.

Their luck was a bit bad. Because the administrative core of Terra had shrunk inward, the desert had become even more desolate and sparsely populated, so the four of them did not find the settlement of the local Sargon tribe as in the original story.

In recent days, they have tried many methods, such as digging a hole in the desert with plastic sheeting to collect moisture, and in the end they even had to drink their own urine.

Not to mention this water recycling method, their compressed food supply is also running out. If they can't find a new supply soon, they'll probably have to hunt those strange-looking (and even exploding) mutated snails.

Just then, they saw a missile streak across the sky.

Man-made!

The missile's launch site and target area were both unique and worth exploring. Considering the possibility of the missile changing course mid-flight, the four decided to head towards the target area the missile was pointing to.

Then they encountered the seven members of Rhodes Island and the Guard Bureau.

As a language expert, I can speak swiftly:

“They don’t seem to be those crazy mercenaries. They’re worth negotiating with. I’ll go try to talk to them. You guys be prepared to cover my retreat with fire if things get out of hand.”

He got out of the car, raised his hands, and indicated that he was not carrying any weapons and posed no threat.