In the hall, Reno's passionate words still lingered in the air when Nora's voice came again.
"Fantastic speech, but I'm sorry to interrupt," Nora said.
"What's wrong?" Reno asked.
"A new force is rushing over, likely armed with heavy weapons. If we don't retreat quickly, the fortress may be breached," Nora replied.
"No!" Then came Stark's furious voice, "The Iron Wall will always stand, the fortress will never fall! Rest assured, Commander, I will hold it!"
Accompanying his roar were the whooshing sounds of flamethrowers and the booming explosions of bombs.
Rubbing his slightly numb ears from the shock, Reno looked at everyone. "Looks like we need to pick up the pace. Everyone, prepare to retreat. I'll send the destination and the next plan to your terminals now. Take a look, and ask me if you have any questions." Reno sent the prepared information to everyone present.
Due to the need for information collection for the experiment, the soldiers' terminals had always been on them, just locked from external communication. After Reno released everyone, the terminals were unlocked and able to receive messages.
"What about her, Commander?" a soldier pointed at Sarah.
Reno glanced at Sarah, thought for a moment, and said, "Take her with us."
"No! You can't take me!" Sarah exclaimed in surprise.
"Sorry, ma'am, looks like you have to come with us." A officer came over, grabbed Sarah's arm, and dragged her away.
After everyone reviewed the plan, Reno asked, "Any questions?"
Everyone shouted in unison, "No questions!"
Reno nodded. "Then execute the order."
He turned around and quickly walked outside.
A fierce battle was unfolding on the ground.
Two companies and a reinforced platoon of Orkwei infantry had set up defenses on the spot, firing wildly at a distant red-painted Hellfire II Improved Mech.
The fiery mech resembled a majestic war god, charging across the battlefield recklessly.
Compared to Reno's Type III mech, the Type II Improved had removed the multi-barrel cannons that could launch steel storms and replaced them with ion flamethrowers. The flames it spewed could turn an entire building to ashes, making it a typical close combat mech.
It's worth noting that in interstellar warfare, close combat doesn't only refer to melee combat using ion swords but also includes means with a range within a hundred meters, such as ion flamethrowers. This made the Hellfire II Improved a close combat mech, but its performance on the ground was more like 'shoot wherever you point.'
The Orkwei infantry belonged to the standard light infantry in the federal army sequence, lacking heavy firepower. Faced with the mech, they were almost completely suppressed. The artillery they fired was almost useless against the red mech, only some special types of missiles could cause limited damage to it.
If it weren't for Reno's command to intercept as much as possible without killing, Stark could have killed them all.
"Hey, turtles, come on up!" Stark shouted as if in a deserted field.
The two flamethrowers kept swaying, and one after another, flames burned on the ground, turning the nearby area into a sea of fire.
A Predator missile flew low, but before it got close, it was shot down by a laser from afar.
"Hey, Nora, that was mine!" Stark grumbled.
"Give it up, buddy. With the way you've modified the Hellfire, what do you have against Predators?" Nora replied.
"Just watch!" Another Predator missile flew over.
Stark's Hellfire jumped up, and a fierce flame spewed from the flamethrower, forming a huge fist that punched the missile down from the sky.
"Oh my God!" The battalion commander watching from afar was completely dumbfounded.
Even Nora was stunned for a moment. "How did you do that?"
"Hehe, didn't expect that, did you? I never thought my flame control could combine with the flames from the flamethrower. See that, Nora, it's amazing!" Stark laughed heartily. "I always said when I was a kid that I was born to play with fire, but Mom never believed it."
"That can't be your excuse for burning down houses, Stark," Nora replied.
"It's not a big deal." The fiery mech shrugged, and a flame shot up into the sky, creating a spectacular red cloud.
"Compared to the scene now, it's really not a big deal," a voice came in.
It was Reno.
Behind him, a large number of soldiers followed.
"Thank heavens you finally came out!" Nora said in surprise.
"Hopefully, it's not too late!" Reno replied. "Hold on for thirty minutes. We need to give others time to retreat. Stark, any issues?"
"Piece of cake!" Stark roared, flames suddenly surging higher from the flamethrowers, engulfing a large area of the front line.
At the same time, soldiers emerged from the hospital, forming teams and rushing to various parts of the hospital. There were enough vehicles in the hospital for them to use, and soon, one after another, cars drove out of the hospital and flew to various locations.
"Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!" Standing at the corner of a building, Tychus shouted loudly.
This was a life-and-death retreat. After knowing about the mass exodus from Edward Hospital, the federal government would never let them go. More pursuers would arrive soon.
They must leave here before then! The soldiers' disciplined training made this large retreat orderly and not chaotic. Under the leadership of their own officers, they quickly found usable vehicles and started them to leave.
Fortunately, there were no major problems during this phase, although occasional unexpected situations occurred, most of which were quickly resolved under the command of the officers.
Thirty minutes passed quickly, and most of the soldiers had already left underground, each going their separate ways.
Reno checked the time and shouted, "Opener, how many people haven't come out yet?"
A tall and thin officer replied loudly, "There are still over two hundred, Reno!"
He was Alec Davil, one of those who had lived in the sanatorium with Reno before. Like Reno, he held the rank of captain but willingly obeyed Reno's orders.
Reno glanced at the battlefield in the distance. Stark was still leisurely setting fires everywhere. Although the situation seemed to be under control, Reno frowned.
"We don't have much time left. Tell them to hurry up!" he said.
"It's a bit difficult. The remaining people are searching for the data you requested," Alec Davil replied.
The soldiers weren't just retreating; among the information Reno provided, some soldiers were tasked with searching the entire hospital before leaving to gather as much data as possible.
Soldier data, government data, and even the data of those beastified individuals—all the data Reno wanted.
"Stop searching and come out immediately," Reno ordered. "We don't have time anymore."
Alec Davil hesitated for a moment. "Is it necessary to be in such a hurry? I see those soldiers can't break through the fortress's defense."
"The problem isn't there." Reno pointed to the battlefield in the distance. "Have you seen the actions of those soldiers from the infantry? At first, they were desperately trying to attack, even though they knew it was futile. But look at them now; they're hardly moving, cowering behind the tank lines, shooting cold guns. What does that indicate?"
"Does it mean they've given up?" Alec Davil asked.
"No, it means their reinforcements are almost here," Reno replied.
Alec Davil was taken aback and finally cursed, "Damn it!"
He turned and ran towards the hospital building. "Everyone left, hurry out, abandon the search, and leave here!"
The soldiers who received the order quickly ran out of the building.
Reno scanned around but didn't see Claire's figure. He grabbed a soldier who rushed out and asked, "Where's Claire? Why hasn't she come out yet?"
Like these soldiers, Claire was also tasked with searching the hospital data. This was mainly because she was the chief medical officer of the starship and naturally couldn't be absent from searching the hospital data.
"I don't know, Commander!" The soldier hurriedly replied and ran away.
Reno raised his terminal and shouted, "Claire, come out now!"
No response.
This suddenly made Reno nervous.
A soldier hurried over. "Commander, I saw the doctor in that building over there. She seems to have found something!"
Reno turned his head and saw a building not far away.
Reno raised his hand, and a hoverboard landed at his feet.
Jumping onto the hoverboard, Reno flew towards the opposite building while activating the location search.
Soon, a red dot representing Claire's location appeared on the terminal. Reno flew towards the red dot until he reached a room on the top floor, finally seeing Claire.
She was standing in front of a metal door, tinkering with something.
"Claire! I ordered you to retreat immediately. Why are you disobeying orders?" Reno reprimanded her without hesitation.
Without raising her head, Claire replied, "I know, but I have to finish this first."
"What's so important?" Reno asked as he stepped off the hoverboard.
"A few days ago, I was brought to this hospital and saw Caru put a box behind this door."
"Caru?"
"Ibi Caru, the director of this hospital."
"I thought the director of this hospital was called Edward. Do you know what he put in this room?"
"I don't know, but I saw him personally escorted by Major McLaren... damn it, I can't open this door!" Claire kicked the safe in frustration.
"Let me try." Reno walked up, placed his hand on the door, and began to feel the internal structure.
The power of the mind infiltrated it, skipping all the steps, and gently moved the lock string.
Click!
The door opened.
Reno and Claire looked at each other.
Claire said casually, "I never heard that telekinesis could be used like this."
"That's because you've never seen telekinesis." Reno pushed the door open.
Behind the door were three boxes, with a black leather box on top.
"That's it." Claire pointed at the black leather box and shouted.
Reno rushed forward, grabbed the black leather box, threw it to Claire, and took the other two boxes along with it. "Since we're here, let's not be polite."
The two smiled at each other.
Just as they were about to open the boxes to take a look, the opener's voice came from the terminal: "Reinforcements! Their reinforcements are here! Retreat quickly!!"
Reno grabbed Claire and ran out. "Quick, quick, quick!"
Throwing out the hoverboard, the two flew downstairs.