Keiko looked around the place to find more clues.
'Was it another platoon that was on the mission?'
Keiko shook her head immediately. This was the road that solely connected the Secret Zone 1 and Valhalla City. Aside from the Mecha Brigade, no other platoon should have been assigned at this particular time.
Looking at the remains of the bonfire, Keiko could guess that the group that had been camping here before didn't have a large number of members. Furthermore, Keiko could see that the fire was extinguished in a hurry. It seemed that upon sensing the battle nearby, the group decisively decided to leave so that they wouldn't get entangled in it.
If the people who were camping here were soldiers, when encountering friendly troops fighting, even if they didn't help, at least they must have approached to check the situation.
This is not in line with the style of soldiers. Moreover, Keiko's radar did not indicate any friendly troops nearby.
If it weren't for other soldiers, then who left the bonfire?
'Could it be that in this world, there are people other than soldiers who have the ability to explore outside the city?'
With doubts lingering in her mind, Keiko returned to the team and continued their journey. Keiko secretly prayed that there would be no more accidents in the future, at least not until they could get to the city safely.
Sitting in the backseat, Keiko recalled what she had found just now and took the opportunity to check the information via the network.
It turned out, apart from the federal armies, there were indeed groups of people who had the ability to leave the seven major city-states and roam the dangerous outer domain. They were commonly known by the names of adventurers, mercenaries, hunters, or so alike.
Keiko's eyebrows raised slightly as she scanned through the information. She had heard the term was mentioned many times in the anime or novels in her time. Was it also influenced by popular work?
Most of the so-called adventurers or hunters were soldiers who had been discharged due to injury or because of a change of faction.
They joined together, forming mercenary groups, and became hired arms to go out collecting various resources in the jungle, escorting goods and their employers, or acting independently to be bounty hunters or hunting zergs and predators on a small scale.
Their traces could be seen all around the seven main city-states, but among the seven city-states was the city of Ydalir, located in the southeast of the seven city-states of the inverted triangle, with a vast area comparable to the city of Valhalla. This was their home base. The prosperous city was also known as the "Adventurer's City".
It seems that the bonfire just now was probably left by a small group of adventurers. It was understandable that adventurers were generally reluctant to deal with the army.
The team moved forward in the virgin jungle, and when they looked up, they could only see faint sunlight dispersed by the dense crown of the jungle trees.
While moving at a slow pace, Keiko was observing the foliages around them silently. These mutated plants, even with scarce sunlight, a turbid atmosphere, and ubiquitous radiation, still found their own way of survival.
Plants are always the most tenacious creatures, and humans, perhaps in a sense, are not as good as them, Keiko quietly mused.
The soldiers were silent, and their morale was low; they were just suffocating and rushing on their way. Looking back on this mission, the series of setbacks and accidents made everyone's heart feel heavy.
In the team, there are experienced soldiers and also new recruits who are on the mission for the first time. The veteran was used to seeing life and death; with a numb expression on their face but a deep sadness in their eyes. The recruits wept bitterly. The comrades who had just been alive beside him would turn into corpses in the next second, but they had no time to grieve, no right to howl because they were all soldiers.
This was war.
Perhaps, in Keiko's time, some wars could be avoided and resolved through diplomatic means. It was all human beings' own civil war, and the targets of soldiers' battles were also human beings.
In today's era, the target of the battle has become a monster. How could you have reasonable communication with a monster? You'll only get slapped to death. Your flesh will become their food, and your blood will be used to satisfy their thirst.
This is a life-and-death racial battle. The target of the soldier's battle has undergone a 180-degree change. But no matter who was fighting, the cruelty of war would never change.
She has killed many humans in the past, and in the future, she would kill again, despite the fact that this time her blade would be pointed at monsters and creatures.
However, she felt that no matter which one she had to kill, she would not feel relieved. Killing humans or killing monsters was nothing to her, but the pain caused by the departure of familiar people is irreversible.
Keiko is fortunate. During her many years as a soldier, she had never encountered a sacrifice by a comrade-in-arms. She remembered once a time when there was a comrade-in-arms that was seriously injured and admitted to the ICU, but their injury didn't pose a threat to their life.
But now, death is always around. For now, because she was still not familiar with these warriors, she couldn't feel the real pain of losing them. But she knew that sooner or later she would face it.
Keiko, who was deep in thought, didn't even have time to change her clothes, and unknowingly fell asleep in the car. She didn't dream of anything in her sleep, and when she woke up again by Antonio's call, she found that she had slept for more than five hours and was still soaked with the blood of the earth dragon. Her combat uniform was so rigid that she wore it like a cardboard box, making her uncomfortable.
Suddenly, Antonio's voice in the earphones appeared, revealing unconcealed joy, "Second Lieutenant! We can see the city wall. We are finally home!"
Keiko opened his eyes in a daze and looked into the distance. The face under the mask slowly showed a shocking expression. She involuntarily stood up from the convertible jeep, holding on to the guardrail on the car body, her mouth almost wide open.