127. Nimotin's Fantasy Adventure (Two-in-One)
"Achoo—"
Nimotin suddenly sneezed loudly, the cold of the outside world quickly robbing her of body heat.
Even though she had many prosthetic implants and was an Alpha-tier [Assassin], a biological being is still vulnerable to the cold of nature.
She shrugged her shoulders quickly, shivering all over, and muttered:
"How much longer do we have to walk? If this continues, I'll turn into an ice sculpture..."
Compared to Nimotin's shivering, Yavanna's reaction was much calmer. As a [Medium] who often dealt with ghosts, she was accustomed to these eerie cold infiltrations, making her more resistant to the cold than others.
Supporting Nimotin with one hand, she rummaged through her waist pouch and took out a compressed biscuit:
"Captain Nimotin, if you're hungry, I have some food here."
Nimotin gratefully looked at the rookie she once considered a vase, tore open the compressed biscuit, and took a big bite.
Crunch!
Although chewing the hard compressed biscuit in the snow was both shabby and painful, with its rough texture not pleasant, and the coarse grains scratching her mouth, the feeling of her body gradually gaining energy made Nimotin incredibly grateful.
After three days in the outside world, Yavanna had cured her mental exhaustion.
This young lady was both attentive and obedient, a college student indeed, capable of many things, restoring Nimotin's dignity as a leader.
While chewing, she said:
"Thanks, young lady—but, wait, we've been wandering outside for two days, how do you still have food?"
"Oh, this."
Yavanna responded and explained:
"I almost starved to death when I was a child, so I'm particularly afraid of hunger. I always carry at least a month's worth of emergency food when I go out."
Nimotin raised an eyebrow:
"Huh? How could someone of your background almost starve to death? What did you go through as a child?"
Yavanna remained silent. Just as the atmosphere was about to become awkward, a sudden loud noise came from the wind and snow.
Thud, thud, thud, thud...
"Hey, the bureau's support has finally arrived."
Nimotin breathed a sigh of relief:
"We can finally leave this hellhole."
Yavanna looked up, seeing the red and green signal lights flashing. The propellers stirred up a storm, tearing through the blizzard, and the helicopter hovered steadily in midair.
Landing in such harsh conditions of the outside world is very dangerous, with the red and black sky obscuring visibility. The violent storm and snow sand could easily cause a crash if not careful.
The rotorcraft's loud roar cut through the night sky. Yavanna noticed it was a jet-black V-07 'Pelican' heavy transport helicopter, which clearly indicated that those arriving weren't just rescue personnel.
The helicopter dropped a tow rope, and a cold, low female voice came through the communicator:
"Nimotin, leader of the Law IV elite agents, Agent Yavanna, thank you for waiting."
"That voice—" Nimotin's pupils shrank. She pressed her earpiece and trembled as she spoke: "Governor... Governor Laeriel?"
"Laeriel Nanhue, the highest official of the Law IV agency?!"
Yavanna's eyes briefly flashed with a cold light, she clenched her fists, then immediately smiled and said excitedly:
"The governor herself has come to rescue us—what an honor!"
"You're too kind. Come aboard, your mission isn't over yet."
"Mission?"
Nimotin was stunned for a moment, but she and Yavanna were already hooked onto the tow rope, stepping on the pedals, holding onto the handles, and being quickly pulled up into the air, boarding the helicopter smoothly.
Just as Nimotin set foot on the deck, someone handed her a set of prosthetic legs. Two female agents of Law IV pinned her down and swiftly replaced her prosthetics.
"Hey, hey, I haven't taken the inhibitor and interface rejection test yet—what the hell? This is Laif Light Industries' 'Diderot 1008' prosthetic! Worth 250,000 Derbys!"
Nimotin was bewildered as she equipped Frost-Plated's most advanced military-grade prosthetic. Her previously dull mind immediately calmed down.
Something's wrong.
Though she wasn't very bright, she knew from her many years inside the Law IV agency how corrupt the government was.
In Frost-Plated's civil service system, the treatment of Law IV's grassroots female agents was the worst, often involving:
Health insurance payments delayed for six months, and no salary for months.
Working to exhaustion, even having to pay for overtime electricity.
Dining out and filing expense claims, only for finance to reject them.
Performance evaluations sky-high, while equipment budgets are meager.
Facing front-line danger with a salary comparable to child labor.
Always short on manpower, constantly lacking funding for operations.
Of course, while officially their treatment was worse than a bank guard, the gray income of Law IV female agents was significantly more.
Nimotin had been working for the Frost-Plated government for over a decade and was well aware of the agency's internal corruption and fund embezzlement.
Now the governor personally coming and generously giving her an expensive prosthetic—could it be a transformation?
Transformation, my ass. For something significant enough to alarm the governor, only giving 250,000 Derbys means it might even be less.
"The governor... isn't sending me to my death, right?"
Having been fooled by Li Aozi before, Nimotin had become more astute. She glanced at Agent Yavanna—this young lady had already changed into a brand new, clean outfit and was sitting primly in the opposite seat.
Nimotin squinted, noticing that Yavanna's new uniform was no longer that of a grassroots agent—black and white base with golden trim at the collar, and her epaulets had changed to the design of frozen olive branches.
Additionally, a special device was handed to her by a nearby central agent, resembling a silver-framed glasses without lenses, fitting snugly against her skin and temple, extending two silver antennas forward.
'Elite combatant... and equipped with a neural wave amplifier.'
This is bad. Headquarters has thoroughly understood their backgrounds and situations, knowing exactly what they lack and excel at.
Nimotin swallowed hard. At nearly two meters tall, she had to duck her head in the cabin to avoid bumping it, cautiously observing her surroundings.
Women.
The entire cabin, from the fully armed agents to the technical hacker experts, including the pilots, were all women.
Although it might sound ironic, it was rare to see so many elite women even within the Law IV agency.
Click—click—
The central female agents walked busily, not saying a word, engrossed in various tasks, making the two idle ones feel extremely uneasy.
This was also a typical tactic of agents—idling people to create anxiety, getting busy themselves, deliberately giving them nothing to do to instill guilt.
All these signs made Nimotin pessimistic, not knowing what was happening, but fearing that nothing good was coming.
The Pelican rotorcraft quickly took off, heading forward. Nimotin could clearly feel it wasn't heading toward Frost-Plated, but she dared not ask.
Yavanna was much more composed, her face still smiling. Watching this young girl gracefully accept the lunch handed to her by someone else and naively thanking them—Nimotin felt conflicted.
By now, her attitude toward Yavanna had changed from initial disdain and contempt. This young lady was humble, hardworking, and remembered to send a tracking signal when held hostage by Li Aozi. After Nimotin broke her leg, she tirelessly supported her along the way.
Sigh...
Nimotin sighed secretly.
But nothing would help now. The superiors were so 'kind' to them just to placate their emotions.
"Captain Nimotin, would you like some pork chops?"
Yavanna, seemingly carefree, smiled and showed her pork chop meal.
Nimotin bitterly shook her head.
"The central agents are treating me so well. I'm just a grassroots agent, and they gave me such a nice uniform and equipment."
Yavanna seemed very happy—anyone would be moved by warmth and good food after crawling out of the snow.
So naive, young people, too naive.
Nimotin thought:
'They'll come back to interrogate us soon.'
Sure enough, after Nimotin and Yavanna had been idle for about ten minutes, the previously busy agents suddenly stopped their work, stood straight in unison, and turned to the aisle. An agent leader immediately shouted:
"One, two—salute!"
"Good day, Governor!"
"Good day, Governor!"
Nimotin quickly pulled Yavanna to stand up. With her height, she could easily see the appearance of the newcomer—
Wearing a white hat and Frost-Plated's senior official uniform, her sharp features were those of an ordinary middle-aged woman, but her gaze was more fierce than that of a man. Her thin face looked as if someone had hacked off her cheekbones with an axe. Her mean lips were like knives, and her hooked nose made her look like a cold executioner.
Nimotin originally thought her own appearance was enough to stop children from crying at night, but she didn't expect the Governor's look to be even more terrifying, as if she had crawled out of a mountain of corpses and sea of blood.
Her skin was tanned dark, clearly enjoying the sun as an upper-class person. Her dreadful green eyes were filled with chilling coldness, making it impossible to meet her gaze.
Moreover, the Governor was not tall, only slightly over one and a half meters—but Nimotin believed that anyone who commented on her height would find themselves losing the extra height in a fight.
Yavanna still had a naive expression, saluting while looking at the Governor with 'admiration.'
Laeriel Nanhue nodded, and the disciplined female agents immediately returned to their busy state, clearing a path for the Governor to reach Nimotin and Yavanna.
"Thank you for your hard work, you dedicated heroes of our country."
Laeriel's chest was adorned with rows of ribbons, the red, orange, blue, green, gold, black, and white colors making Nimotin dizzy. Among them, one ribbon stood out—the design was simple, two women holding a snowflake, all in silver.
Frost-Plated Heroine Medal.
The highest honor in Frost-Plated, representing a person's great contribution to the country, enough to be written into history.
"Not hard at all, not hard at all. It's our duty as Law IV agents to share the worries of the President and the Governor!"
Nimotin's intelligence wasn't high, and her emotional intelligence was poor. If the leader's face fell, saying 'I say you work hard, and you say not hard, do you think I'm blind?'—she might be fired the next day for stepping in with her left foot first.
Fortunately, the Governor didn't dwell on it. She waved her hand and got straight to the point:
"I already know about Li Aozi. Whether it's an action of the Red Arrow Empire or not, this person has caused great damage to our national defense."
These words left Nimotin confused:
"Uh, what did he do?"
The Governor glanced at her, and her secretary promptly explained in a flat tone:
"The Abyss Humanitarian Research Institute, funded by Law III, was destroyed by Li Aozi. The former head professor and the current head Anna were killed, and the entire institute was looted. All members were killed. This is an unprecedented massacre. He also captured a Beta-tier [Mechanist] and is currently escaping on the Metro Brotherhood's armored train."
Nimotin was stunned.
The Abyss Humanitarian Relief... was funded by Frost-Plated?
Then, the Cannibal I fought before—he was the professor of the Abyss Humanitarian Relief?
I was manipulated by Li Aozi, fought desperately, even lost a leg, only to end up fighting my own people?
Wait, I personally let Li Aozi go before, hoping to catch a bigger fish, but who knew he would turn around and wipe out the Abyss Humanitarian Relief!
No, thinking about it, how much loss did I cause Frost-Plated...
The research funding of a biological research institute, plus fuel rods, confidentiality work, transportation materials, human resources, daily maintenance, communication contacts...
Now that I think about it, if I hadn't intercepted the Cannibal, Li Aozi wouldn't have had the confidence to tear him apart, and wouldn't have turned to massacre the Abyss Humanitarian Relief.
Nimotin's heart sank.
Damn, am I going to become Frost-Plated's national criminal?
'I just wanted to catch a Rose Army informant, how did it come to this?'
Damn you, Li Aozi, you deserve to die!
"How did he do it? He wasn't even an Alpha-tier before. This person is mentally unstable, and you want me to put a bounty on him? How could he slaughter the entire Abyss Humanitarian Relief..."
Nimotin was so nervous that her tongue twisted, not realizing that she had just revealed her contact with Li Aozi.
"How he did it doesn't matter. What matters is that there's no Li Aozi for me now—besides, the Empire's villains have never stopped trying to destroy Frost-Plated. Targeted sabotage is normal."
Governor Laeriel said indifferently:
"I'm now taking people to seize the Abyss Humanitarian Relief's assets, to prevent them from being looted by the Empire and outsiders. I can't leave—now, I have a task for you: to pursue Li Aozi."
"Governor, I'd love to say I'll fulfill the mission, ready to die for you and Frost-Plated, but..."
Nimotin hinted frantically:
"I'm just an Alpha-tier, and Agent Yavanna even more so..."
"It doesn't matter. You just need to handle the aftermath."
The Governor's secretary adjusted her glasses, her gaze sweeping outside. Nimotin immediately understood and quickly looked outside.
There was a flash of electricity.
A fierce silver dragon lightning tore through the night. Nimotin then noticed that besides the heavy rotorcraft they were on, there were also two jet transports, using electromagnets to tow a huge, hideous black figure.
"Mobile armor?!"
Nimotin almost suffocated.
This isn't just simple revenge; deploying mobile armor means preparation for war.
"142 kilometers to the target, approaching the target airspace. Deploy mobile armor and drone swarms to intercept the Youth." The Governor's secretary said.
Yavanna's pupils contracted, and she immediately said:
"But the armored train is considered the territory of the Metro Brotherhood. Doing this could provoke the Brotherhood, and even invite retaliation from the outside world—"
"The Four Nations never care about the outside world's temperament."
Governor Laeriel said lightly:
"Even if one day we decide to destroy the outside world, what does it matter to the people of the outside world?"
This chapter is a transitional one, so I thought it would be better not to split it.
Thanks to every friend who recently rewarded me and the subscribers, thank you for supporting Crimson's creation.
By the way, since Crimson is a genuine feminist, writing female characters without pandering to otakus (kowtow) please understand.
No one would think the female characters from the Abyss of Stars are 'male gaze', right, no way...
It's a pity that the chapter comments and character cards aren't open yet, otherwise, I could have posted the prepared images of Du Zexin and Qiu Ran.