Chapter 1 A Short and Perilous Ambush

The brief and dangerous ambush was over. The enemy had not been completely wiped out, but had chosen to retreat upon realizing they had lost their advantage. Hao Ren returned to the mercenaries and saw Nolan jumping down from the weapon station on the truck roof. The girl, who looked only to be in her teens, still wore a wooden expression on her face, as if what had just happened was only a phantom, without a trace of panic or anger.

"Heaton betrayed us and defected to the Rangers," Nolan explained the situation in the car to her team with a calm expression. "It was my oversight."

Hao Ren recalled the scene of her retaliating with a rotary cannon on the truck roof amidst the surrounding gunfire. It could almost be described as exposing herself to a hail of bullets. Although the tactic was courageous, it was even more reckless. As an outsider, he did not feel comfortable making any comments, so he could only nod with a dry smile. "You were quite impressive just now."

Ulanov said in a muffled voice, "The boss completely disregards her own life when she fights, but she always manages to survive to the end. That's the Grey Fox's luck."

Nolan shook her head. "There have been unlucky times as well, but you just don't remember them... Let's not talk about that. You, are you really a civilian?"

Her last sentence was naturally directed at Hao Ren. As soon as she said this, the other mercenaries around them also turned their suspicious gazes over. Although Hao Ren hadn't used any superhuman powers just now, it was still surreal, like something enhanced with special effects, for a civilian to be able to take out several gun emplacements with his bare hands under the noses of professional soldiers. Ulanov nodded to Nolan. "He knows how to fight. His movements when seeking cover and maneuvering are also very professional. This is definitely not his first time on the battlefield."

"If you really want me to explain... I can make up a few excuses," Hao Ren said, unconcerned about the consequences. His attitude was that if things didn't work out, he could just go it alone. Therefore, he spoke very bluntly, "Anyway, I don't know how to explain this phenomenon to you."

"Forget it, I'm not interested in your skills," Nolan said, shaking her head nonchalantly after looking at Hao Ren for a while. She casually handed something over. "Thank you for your help just now. This is your gold. You can take it back now. We believe in fair trade."

Hao Ren was not polite and took back his gold bar. Then Nolan took out another gold bar and handed it over. "Also, this is the gold you threw out just now... I'm very curious as to how rich you actually are. Do you usually use gold to hit people?"

Hao Ren finally realized what the hidden weapon he had casually pulled out of his personal space was...

The surrounding mercenaries looked at Hao Ren as if he were an alien: wandering around the No-Man's Land unarmed, carrying half a kilogram of gold as travel expenses, having no awareness of protecting himself, casually throwing gold to hit people, and then when everyone thought he was a rich idiot, he took down several professional soldiers with his bare hands... Where the hell did this freak come from? Is his main problem his brain, his brain, or his brain?

Hao Ren knew that the more he explained, the more trouble he would cause, so he simply said nothing. He just smiled harmlessly and bent down to pick up the blonde girl: the data terminal's temporary shell. "Let's get out of here quickly. This place is not suitable for a long stay."

"You're still carrying her?" Ulanov asked in surprise.

Hao Ren nodded with a wry smile. "Of course. If I left this guy behind, I'd be annoyed to death."

Nolan opened her mouth, but swallowed the words "She's already dead" that had already reached her throat. The other mercenaries also exchanged glances, and then came up with their own explanations for Hao Ren's series of abnormal actions: this man must be crazy.

The mercenaries got into the truck and left this place of trouble, with Nolan driving in the front. The interior of the vehicle had been modified. The entire carriage was a mobile military station. Since the weapon station platform had been raised to the top of the carriage, the interior space seemed very spacious. Hao Ren saw a corpse with its head blown off lying on the floor in the middle of the carriage. That was the traitor "Heaton" Nolan had mentioned. This soldier was originally responsible for driving and picking up everyone, but somehow he had colluded with the enemy.

It seemed that the situation in this place called the No-Man's Land was even more chaotic than he had imagined.

"Two of the new recruits are dead," Nolan's voice came from the driver's seat. "Heaton is also dead. The other teams have also suffered heavy losses recently. We need to find a way to replenish our manpower after we get back."

"Tsk, I quite liked those two rookies," the only female mercenary in the team besides Nolan spat on the ground. "They were both good men... I was even thinking of having some fun with them after we got back today."

Hao Ren coughed violently. This sister seemed to have a very open lifestyle.

Besides Nolan, who was driving in the front, there were only four mercenaries left in the carriage. The two young soldiers who had been called "rookies" and were responsible for collecting equipment on the battlefield had died, and because they had been directly hit by the enemy's large-caliber weapons, even their bodies were difficult to recover. In the end, only their dog tags were taken down as a memento. The mercenaries talked about their fallen comrades, their tone somewhat sad and forlorn, but there was nothing else to feel. These were people who were used to life and death. Death on the battlefield, especially in this chaotic No-Man's Land... was simply too common.

Hao Ren looked at Nolan, who was concentrating on driving, through the bulletproof window in front of the carriage. He suddenly remembered something and kicked Heaton's corpse lying in the carriage with his toe. "Speaking of which, since there's a machine gun on the car, why didn't this traitor just use the machine gun against us just now? He would have taken care of us long ago with that thing."

Nolan raised a hand and flipped her hair behind her head, answering without turning her head. "All the heavy weapons on this vehicle require my physical connection to activate."

Her long, grayish-white hair was lifted, revealing a patch of silver light on the back of her neck. Hao Ren saw that Nolan's neck was inlaid with a mirror-like metal object, and the edges of the metal object had grooves, as if they could be opened.

He remembered some of the knowledge he had heard about this world and asked hesitantly, "Are you a second-generation evolver?"

"Do the extremist naturalists schools not even teach this anymore?" Nolan's voice sounded a little helpless. "Only first-generation evolvers have these visible modifications. The electronic parts of second-generation evolvers are implanted in the body at birth. You can't see them from the outside at all."

Ulanov pointed at the blonde girl (corpse) next to Hao Ren. "Isn't your girlfriend a second-generation evolver? Hasn't she told you about this?"

"This really isn't my girlfriend..." Hao Ren said with a wry smile. "This is actually... Never mind, think what you want. I'm still confused myself."

The car gradually drove away from the dilapidated urban area and entered the even more dilapidated suburbs. Through the narrow bulletproof side window, Hao Ren saw a desolate land outside. There were almost no plants to be seen. The ground looked as if it had been soaked in concentrated acid, showing strange pits and corroded patterns. Looking at this miserable state, he couldn't help but guess the extent of the war in this world. According to the bits and pieces of information that the mercenaries had revealed in their conversations, it seemed that there was no peaceful paradise on this entire planet. Large and small battles had permeated the entire world. Even those "peaceful city-states" where civilians lived were actually just supply bases for some legion, eking out an existence under the protection of a large army.

Hao Ren felt his shoulder slump next to him. He turned his head and saw that it was the blonde girl who had fallen on him. Her completely lifeless body swayed with the bumps of the vehicle. He reached out and steadied this girl, whom he had never met before but was now mistakenly regarded as his lover, feeling somewhat emotional. At the same time, he began to guess what kind of person this girl, who was "parasitized" by the data terminal, was like when she was alive, where she came from, and why she appeared in this chaotic war and eventually died tragically.

Just some boring thoughts.

"How long have we been 'in the dream'?" Hao Ren asked casually in his mind. "Do my family know about the situation here?"

"It's been more than four hours. Vivian tried to wake you up just now, but this unit stopped her," the data terminal replied lazily, looking as if it was very bored being trapped in an unfamiliar body. "It's better for us to explore here more. And to be honest, you don't want to suddenly disappear in front of people, do you?"

When the data terminal's consciousness entered the dream plane, it could still control its body in the real world, so in this situation, it acted as a mouthpiece between the dream plane and the real world.

"Do you have any plans after this?" Ulanov's voice suddenly came, interrupting Hao Ren's thoughts.