Chapter 11 Back at Base

Hao Ren returned to the Grey Fox mercenary outpost. His return didn't attract much attention; only a few mercenaries who had briefly met him nodded as they passed by. The scene at the outpost was the same as yesterday: soldiers wandering around lazily, the entire base lacking the rigorous atmosphere of a military facility.

"Mercenaries are all very undisciplined; you can't expect them to meet the standards of regular soldiers," Ulanov said, pointing to the mercenaries milling about. "Of course, there are teams trained to the standards of regular armies, but the Grey Fox doesn't do things that way. We don't have many people, but every one of them is a veteran who's survived the battlefield, and the battlefield is the best training ground. Those who are still standing here are all elite soldiers. Of course… they're also a bunch of troublemakers."

Saying that, Ulanov turned to look at Hao Ren. "Someone like you, who has both combat skills and regular army experience, would fit in perfectly here."

"Still thinking of recruiting me?" Hao Ren grinned. "Alright, I'll consider it—if I can't find any other way to make a living besides fighting in this place, I'll join up and become a mercenary."

He just said it casually. Ulanov couldn't tell if he was serious or not, but the old soldier still patted Hao Ren's shoulder. "I hope we have the chance to fight together. You seem to be very skilled, but I don't know how good you are with a gun."

Hao Ren smiled. Just then, he suddenly heard a commotion from a corner of the open space, sounding like a lot of people were cheering. He looked over and saw a group of mercenaries gathered there, watching the excitement. "What's going on over there?"

"Training ground… probably Nolan is teaching some new recruits a lesson," Ulanov said casually. "Aren't you interested in Nolan? This is a good opportunity to go take a look."

Hao Ren found that interesting. Since he had nothing else to do for the moment, he followed Ulanov to watch the excitement.

In one corner of the camp was a flat piece of land, surrounded by ropes and steel stakes. It was the place where the mercenaries usually practiced fighting or other skills—but although it was called a training ground, it was actually more of a place for the undisciplined mercenaries to kill time. Old soldiers teaching new recruits a lesson, or drunk guys getting into a fight, that was the real purpose of the training ground. Whenever something happened there, the mercenaries, lacking entertainment, would swarm to watch the excitement, and today's excitement was even more worth watching: Nolan was drilling a few new recruits who weren't very obedient yet.

Hao Ren and Ulanov squeezed through the crowd. As soon as they got to the front, they saw a dark figure fly towards them. The surrounding mercenaries roared and retreated, and a burly, bull-like, black-faced man rolled to Hao Ren's feet. He didn't seem to be injured, and it seemed like he had been knocked over with a clever move.

Nolan's clear voice came from the field. "Your stance isn't steady enough. You fell on your own again."

Hao Ren looked up and saw the seventeen-year-old mercenary leader standing in the center of the field, looking heroic and spirited. Nolan was wearing a dark green military vest today, and her gray hair was tied into a neat ponytail, swinging behind her head. She wasn't particularly strong, but she had a balanced and powerful physique, and a layer of fine sweat on her skin after exercising made her look even more vibrant. On the ground in front of Nolan were several strong-looking men, none of whom had any external injuries, but they all looked like they had been dealt with severely.

Nolan looked at the scene expressionlessly, seemingly a little bored. "Had enough? If you've had enough, go back to the brig."

A mercenary got up from the ground, seemingly still unconvinced. He shook his arms and legs and charged at Nolan again.

The gray-haired girl just watched the scene indifferently, until the other party rushed in front of her, when she slightly sidestepped and then used her fingers to instantly tap near the reckless man's joints with incredible precision. The latter immediately let out a strange scream, and then his whole body lost its balance, rushing out several meters with the momentum before falling to the ground.

The whole process was like an adult playing around with a child, and the biggest incongruity was that the one being played with was a strong man who looked to be about thirty, while Nolan was a girl who was only seventeen or eighteen years old.

"Skill-based," the data terminal muttered in Hao Ren's mind, seeing the scene through Hao Ren's eyes. "Her strikes are very precise, the timing and location are accurate to the millisecond and millimeter respectively. I don't know if it's the result of neural enhancement, but even with enhancement factors, her combat experience must be rich enough."

Hao Ren raised an eyebrow. "You can analyze fighting now?"

"This machine is well-read and wise, knowing astronomy, geography, yin and yang, and the eight trigrams. The knowledge of the mere human race…"

"Speak human language, or I'll cut you off."

"Lily used this machine to watch more than sixty kung fu movies a few days ago…"

While Hao Ren was chatting with the data terminal, Nolan knocked down another unwilling guy. At this time, mercenaries were cheering beside the field. "Do you know how powerful she is now? Ten of you can't beat the boss!" "Don't embarrass yourself up there; the second generation guys aren't her opponents either!" "Who here hasn't been beaten up by the boss…"

"Is she always this good?" Hao Ren turned to ask Ulanov.

"Anyway, I've never seen anyone win against her in hand-to-hand combat. And it's not just hand-to-hand combat… I've never seen Nolan lose in any field," Ulanov shook his head slightly. "Kung fu, gun skills, driving, and even programming knowledge and other miscellaneous skills, there's almost nothing she can't do. The automatic systems in this base were originally designed by her, the security AI was also written by her, and she was also the earliest doctor and mechanic here. Probably other than simply competing in strength, no one here can beat her."

Hao Ren frowned. "She's a protagonist."

Ulanov was stunned, but at this time Nolan also saw Hao Ren's figure. She waved her hand to let the crooked new recruits leave the field, and then came to Hao Ren. "You're back? I thought you died in the slums."

"Thanks for your kind words; I'm doing pretty well," Hao Ren rolled his eyes. Her way of speaking really didn't show any consideration. "I didn't expect you to be so powerful."

Nolan twitched the corner of her mouth slightly, as if trying to squeeze out a smile. "Do you want to experience it too?"

Hao Ren was stunned for a moment and wanted to politely refuse, because he knew his physical abnormalities couldn't be hidden once they came into contact. But as soon as Nolan spoke, the surrounding mercenaries began to cheer. This bunch of roughnecks always upheld the spirit of being a bastard if they didn't join in the fun. They didn't care who their boss was going to beat up—as long as someone was fighting, they'd have a good time. Nolan didn't stand on ceremony when she saw this situation. She patted Hao Ren's shoulder. "Alright, let's move around a bit. I remember you being pretty good."

Hao Ren didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Can't we not fight? I just came to say hello…"

Everyone around cheered even louder, and it seemed like he had no choice but to fight.

At this time, the data terminal suddenly chimed in, "Try fighting her."

"What's wrong?" Hao Ren didn't know what the data terminal was thinking again.

"Collect data," the data terminal said seriously. "Calculate the maximum strength that the 'evolved' in this world can reach, and by the way, test what's so special about this Nolan—according to the descriptions of others, Nolan's abilities have almost exceeded the limits of the human body. Considering her real age, it's hard to believe that it's purely the result of hard work, so she's either a hidden super-cyborg, or… has come into contact with supernatural forces."

Hao Ren's relaxed attitude suddenly disappeared. "You mean…"

"Think about Hiddon's diary. The diary mentioned that Nolan is the 'center of the conspiracy'; he probably discovered something. This little girl may have had contact with the Guardians, or may be a 'spokesperson'," the data terminal analyzed calmly. "In any case, aren't you curious about her?"

"What's wrong? Are you stunned?" Nolan noticed that Hao Ren was a little distracted and asked strangely.

Hao Ren woke up. He looked into Nolan's eyes, and from those indifferent, aloof eyes, he couldn't see any madness or fanaticism—and humans who had come into contact with the consciousness of the First Born or the Mind Reavers were basically unable to maintain their sanity. From this point of view, it was hard for him to believe that Nolan would be a follower of some crazy Guardian. But at the same time, those overly indifferent eyes didn't seem like what a normal seventeen or eighteen-year-old girl should have—the data terminal was right, this Nolan deserved attention.

"It's nothing… then let's just go easy on each other." Hao Ren smiled and walked into the field.