"Just wearing a gas mask? Hey hey, Commander, are you trying to get yourself killed? The radiation levels here are about to reach the danger zone! You'd better put on the full protective suit from the box!"
Watching Reno playfully put on that old-fashioned M38 gas mask, MDR's eyes twitched. What era relic is this? And that gas filter must have expired ages ago!
"The air here just stings the eyes a bit, whether I wear it or not doesn't matter." Seeing the walled compound with the research institute sign in the distance, Reno immediately hit the brakes and stopped the truck.
Simonov behind him did the same, parking the car behind.
"Check yourselves, see if the radiation here affects your bodies' operations. If it does, put on the protective suits we got earlier. Even without helmets, they'll still provide some protection."
The protective suits Reno mentioned were naturally taken from those guys who attacked G&K a while back. They had decent protective effects. Even without helmets, they could protect the doll's power core and neural core from being affected. After all, the doll's head only housed computing equipment, sensory devices, and some auxiliary functions. The truly important parts of the doll were all hidden in the torso.
"But Commander, are you really okay now? The radiation here, even us T-dolls have been affected to some extent. What about you?" While putting on the protective suit, M1 Garand couldn't help but worry.
"Don't worry, if I say I'm fine, then I'm fine." Reno waved his hand. As he spoke, the lenses of the M38 gas mask suddenly lit up red!
"Wow! Commander! How did you do that!? Did you modify that relic gas mask!?" MDR dragged her feet, approached, and reached out to touch the gas mask on Reno's face.
Smack!
"Don't fool around, put on the protective suit quickly, get what we need, and leave. This isn't a good place."
To be honest, Reno still felt that the guy named Nicholas was a bit untrustworthy. It was better to get this done sooner and get back. If the other party could really handle their identities and paperwork properly, then this deal wouldn't be a loss.
After entering the city, he would have the chance to buy materials from the black market and reinforce his girls.
At the very least, he could give them proper combat gear and bulletproof vests. What they were wearing now were all scavenged from dead bodies. If it weren't for necessity, he wouldn't even consider it, feeling sick in his heart.
"Alright! Understood! Commander, come on, let me take a photo with this! Hey! Just one photo!" MDR responded while holding the protective suit and climbing onto the truck bed. She pulled out an M35 helmet from inside and tried to put it on Reno's head without hesitation.
Seeing MDR in front of him trying to put the helmet on him, Reno rolled his eyes speechlessly, reached out, and took it, putting it on his head.
"Oh! It's perfect!"
Click! Click!
As she chattered, MDR immediately took multiple photos with her phone. Simonenov also approached, standing by with her gun, marveling at the scene.
"That's enough, hurry up and check the floor plan, grab what we need, and let's go."
Reno, with his eyes hidden behind the lenses, gave MDR a glance, but unfortunately, the lenses were all lit up red, so his eyes couldn't be seen at all.
"Got it."
The main structure of the research institute was not complicated; it was a plain three-story building, apparently from decades ago. It seemed that the institute didn't have the funds to build a dedicated research facility.
The server storing the data was in the laboratory on the right side of the third floor of the institute. On the rooftop was a radar-like instrument used to detect radiation levels in the port. The significance of this research institute here relied on that instrument to ensure they had enough time to evacuate when the radiation levels rose.
It was more accurate to call it a monitoring station than a research institute.
There were no defense facilities here, nor were there any traces of military personnel stationed here. The path to the laboratory was also unobstructed.
It really was just as Nicholas said. They couldn't enter the place without protective equipment for a short period of time. Otherwise, this easy task wouldn't fall to him, a mercenary.
But there was probably something fishy about it. Reno didn't believe that Statesec couldn't provide three sets of protective suits.
Even if they couldn't transport them, they could borrow a couple from the local defense department. What was the use of thinking about it now? If worse came to worst, they could handle it. As long as the National Security Bureau didn't mobilize mechanized troops, he was confident they could escape from the encirclement.
The instruments in the laboratory had stopped working due to power outage. Next to the computers in the room was a box that hadn't been taken away, specifically used to store hard drives, a type of rugged sized box.
It seemed that the staff here did intend to take the data with them. Perhaps the situation at the time was urgent, so they didn't have time to act and had to evacuate.
"This job is so simple! Commander, did that guy mention how much we'll be paid for retrieving this data?" Simonov, holding the box, looked at MDR dismantling the hard drives from the servers one by one and asked Reno.
If they made good money from this mission, they could buy some good liquor in the city again.
"Five hundred thousand, plus helping us sort out our identity problem."
"Huh? Only five hundred thousand? That's too little..."
Upon hearing the amount of the reward, MDR immediately scoffed and complained, obviously not very satisfied with the mission's pay.
That amount of money would only be enough for her to buy a few phones. It sounded like a lot, but it was actually pitifully little.
"Hey, the main reward is helping sort out our identity problem. That's worth much more than five hundred thousand rubles."
Simonov scratched her chin. Only after they entered the city could they buy alcohol. Otherwise, who knew what those unscrupulous merchants in the outskirts would add to the water.
"But how did Statesec know about Commander Renault? We never had any dealings with them before, did we?" M1 Garand was curious about how that guy named Nicholas found them.
"Griffin is a sieve." Reno stood by the window, surveying the buildings in the port city. Without turning his head, he spoke.
"Um... a sieve..." M1911 awkwardly chuckled. Upon closer inspection, that statement seemed quite accurate. Griffin nowadays was more like a sieve.