A few minutes later, perhaps realizing the awkwardness of the situation, Claire let go of her hand.
She lowered her head and said, "The injuries have been controlled, you won't die, but there are still two bullets in your body. My energy can only repair wounds, it can't remove bullets. We'll have to take them out when we get back."
Reno stood up, trying to move around a bit, and found nothing wrong. "Feels great, Claire, you're truly an angel."
This praise made Claire feel extremely comfortable.
Nora also let go of her arm, looking behind Reno. "The mech's destroyed."
"Doesn't matter, won't need the mech in the research facility anyway," Reno replied.
He opened the rear compartment of the mech and retrieved the pair of silver pistols from inside, holstering them behind him. Then he took out a high-frequency vibroblade and sheathed it at his waist, finally picking up a Gauss rifle. "You two over there, stop standing there like fools, get out of the mechs and let's go."
Tychus turned his head to Wang Yile and asked, "Is he talking to us?"
Wang Yile rolled his eyes impatiently. "What do you think?"
The cockpit opened, and Wang Yile stepped out, retrieving a plasma rifle from behind. He used to use a laser gun regularly, but since acquiring the ability of energy acceleration, he switched to a plasma rifle.
A plasma rifle was a type of weapon that released compressed energy upon firing. It was characterized by its immense power and strong area damage. Its drawback was the slow energy acceleration, and there would be a flash of plasma before each shot, giving the target time to dodge. With energy acceleration, this disadvantage was greatly compensated for.
Tychus also emerged from the mech, carrying the large-sized Vulcan cannon from the mech's rear compartment, along with boxes of steel-core bullets. Tychus slung the heavy ammo box over his shoulder and adjusted the Vulcan cannon's firing speed before heaving it up in his hands, walking forward casually. "I just thought he'd lay down with those two beauties for a while."
"Shut up, Tychus, unless you want to get shot," Wang Yile said quietly.
Tychus paused, his steps faltering. "She's aiming at me?"
"Your right leg."
Tychus immediately shut up and continued walking forward without looking back.
Nora aimed at Tychus for a moment, then put down her sniper rifle. "Consider yourself lucky."
"Don't be like this, Nora," Claire intervened, also picking up an ion beam pistol and slinging an emergency medical kit.
"Just wanted to see if his thick skin could withstand a shot," Nora shrugged.
The five of them headed towards the research facility.
Before they reached the door, Reno waved his hand, and the door of the research facility opened automatically.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Several gunshots rang out, and several lasers flew out from behind the door, but none hit anything. Reno casually took out a high-explosive grenade from his body and threw it behind the door.
Boom!
After a blast, Reno entered.
Behind the door lay a corpse in military uniform, looking very young. His eyes were wide open in death, hands tightly gripping the gun.
Reno sighed and said, "There are still some soldiers inside, be careful."
Stepping over the body, Reno continued forward.
The research facility was large, with a wide range of research topics. In addition to relics, there was also a dark matter research center, an energy force field generator research center, and various types of particle accelerators, including large hadron colliders, and over a hundred high-energy laboratories.
As they walked, it was like entering a maze of science, with incomprehensible devices everywhere.
"These devices look pretty good, I really want to take them all back," Claire said.
"Yeah," Reno agreed.
"Why do we need these things?" Tychus was puzzled. "We don't need them."
"Quite the opposite, we need them very much," Reno replied.
"Why?" This time, not only Tychus seemed puzzled, even Wang Yile didn't quite understand.
Reno was about to answer when he suddenly turned and fired. A burst of electricity pierced through the light wall, and a soldier fell from behind the wall, his gun slipping from his hand.
Then he answered, "Don't forget, we're not federal soldiers anymore. Many things will have to rely on ourselves in the future. These things include money, resources, and also research equipment. We must have our own rear base..."
"That sounds a bit complicated," Tychus shook his head. "I mean, do we really need to develop on our own? If we need something, we can just take it, steal it, just like now."
"Any force that's just starting out will inevitably resort to some violent means. But as long as it wants to survive for a long time, it absolutely cannot rely on plundering development. We're not space pirates, Tychus, we're just a group of exiles fighting for survival and freedom. If we want to be different from pirates, having our own base is necessary."
"But this may give the federal government the opportunity to attack us," Nora said.
"That's true, but you can't let yourself become a rootless driftweed because of it. With roots, you may become an easier target, but if you don't even have roots, you won't have the chance to grow," Claire said. Obviously, she had already discussed this matter with Reno, so her tone was completely consistent with his.
"Laser conversion," Nora said, turning around and firing a shot. The beam of light from her sniper rifle knocked over a device, followed by the sound of heavy objects falling. Nora holstered her gun. "For a sniper, drifting isn't a problem."
Claire laughed.
As they spoke, they arrived at a hall.
The hall was filled with equipment and some containers, surrounded by a mezzanine piled with boxes.
"It's a perfect place for an ambush," Tychus said.
"Don't jinx it," Nora replied. "Just some rookies."
Just then, three soldiers and several drones suddenly rushed out from the opposite doorway.
Tychus stepped forward, his Vulcan cannon roaring to life, the violent bullets tearing through the bodies of the soldiers and mechanical police, ripping them apart, and causing sparks to fly from nearby equipment.
"Damn it, Tychus, you've wrecked the equipment," Nora said.
"It's not ours anyway," Tychus replied.
"Slow down the firing rate, you don't have a production factory, you can't afford the consumption," Reno added.
"It's already slowed down, any slower and it'll be single-shot," Tychus grumbled, but still lowered the Vulcan cannon's firing rate by three levels.
Just then, several soldiers rushed out from behind them.
Tychus was about to open fire when Wang Yile raised his gun. "Let me handle this."
With energy acceleration initiated, his plasma rifle shimmered briefly, and a large energy ball flew out, exploding amidst the group of soldiers, burning them to charcoal, while the resulting shockwave destroyed the surrounding equipment as well.
Before Reno could speak, Wang Yile shouted, "I know, I'll lower the energy intensity... Decrease energy intensity to twenty percent."
"Careful!" Reno suddenly yelled, pushing Wang Yile aside.
A beam of light grazed Wang Yile's body, while Nora aimed and fired at the mezzanine across from them.
But this time, the distant soldiers reacted quickly, already taking cover before Nora fired.
At the same time, numerous soldiers emerged from the mezzanine, aiming their weapons at the five of them.
There was no time to retaliate, and the five of them dispersed simultaneously as lasers grazed their bodies. Reno grunted as a laser pierced through his arm.
Claire hurriedly supported him, administering treatment.
Wang Yile sat behind a crate, shouting loudly, "They're gathering here!"
"I'll take them out!" Tychus yelled.
But as he charged out, a grenade flew towards him, exploding on impact and tearing his body apart, his abilities unable to withstand the blast, leaving a mess of flesh and blood in front of him.
"Don't charge out, they have heavy weapons!" Reno's voice finally came.
"You're a bit late," Tychus crawled back, Claire grabbing him and applying treatment to his chest.
"It seems we're surrounded," Reno looked around. "The commander is smart, we need to find a way to deal with them."
After thinking for a moment, he had an idea.
He shouted, "Nora!"
Nora, across from them, looked towards Reno, who gestured a few times.
Nora nodded in understanding.
She looked around and suddenly raised her hand, firing a shot into the distance. With a snap, the room darkened. Then another shot, hitting another area, plunging it into darkness again.
Wang Yile also fired several shots into the air, scattering energy, causing the entire hall to dim.
The gunfire ceased, and suddenly all the soldiers stopped shooting.
"They're veterans," Reno said quietly.
Only veterans would be so calm and experienced, knowing how dangerous it is to shoot in the dark and expose themselves.
Understanding how to set up ambushes and execute them perfectly requires a large number of experienced veterans.
Strange, why were there veterans in the Tianhe Four Research Institute?
Why didn't they appear earlier?
Reno was somewhat surprised, but there was no time for him to dwell on it.
As darkness fell, Nora's figure disappeared into the darkness.
The rich experience of the veterans gave her the opportunity. She emerged from cover and moved forward. She holstered her sniper rifle and headed straight into the darkness.
Suddenly.
A glow stick was thrown, landing not far from Nora.
Nora was covered by the light, her figure not revealed, but energy consumption suddenly increased.
At the same time, Reno raised his hand, and the glow stick flew towards the enemy. Before it reached the group, it was hit by a laser.
Precise marksmanship.
The person who hit the glow stick had quickly changed positions, and the hall fell back into darkness.
But after experiencing this, the situation once again fell into a stalemate.
Reno had just recovered a bit of energy, but it was already depleted, and the enemy hesitated to throw out another glow stick, fearing Reno's abilities.
Nora took the opportunity to charge forward, rolling and jumping behind cover, finally catching her breath.
Then she took a few steps forward and saw a soldier standing behind a crate, cautiously watching ahead.
He was the one who had thrown the glow stick just now.
Good adaptation, he must be an outstanding soldier.
Nora thought to herself, sighed, and slowly raised the dagger in her hand.
The soldier seemed to sense something, quickly turned his head and aimed his gun, but saw nothing.
Just as he relaxed.
Swish!
The blade grazed his neck, the soldier clutching his throat in disbelief before collapsing.
Even in death, he never saw who killed him.