The sky was already completely dark, and in the surrounding darkness, only the roar of the Death Dealer and the light from the headlights broke the silence.
The fires and explosions in the town of Hudik had disappeared three hours earlier, and there were no pursuers coming up, but all the people in the car were tense.
Because the troops who retreated first, including two MF1s and dozens of soldiers and everyone else, had been out of contact for almost three hours.
"It's reasonable to say that there aren't any intercepting forces on this route." Borg kept staring at the display in front of him, "There's no troop station, no research institute, and no military installations of any kind.... What exactly did Hartmann and the others encounter?"
"Could it be that other forces were drawn in advance to ambush them up ahead?" Kristin curiously said, "If I'm not mistaken, the Alliance forces are not generally interested in your squad."
Borg thought for a moment, but finally shook his head in the negative, "There's no way they could have predicted this route, we've been advancing by the route with the greatest possibility of avoiding the crisis up until now, the alliance army definitely couldn't have predicted it, even if they were to extrapolate based on our previous routes, the time it would take to marshal their troops to get here would still be too late!"
Kristin clasped her hands in front of her chest with a curious look on her face, "I wanted to ask just now, what is the reason why you guys have been so confident? What makes you think that the alliance forces will never be able to intercept you?"
"There are two reasons. One is me, my hometown is Las Vegas, although the business there is not as good as it was a few decades ago, it's still substantial in North America, but I've been in the casinos there for sixteen years, so I'm still a bit confident when it comes to calculating people's hearts and probabilities." Borg pointed at himself and introduced a few sentences, then pointed his finger at Zhao Yu, "The other reason is of course our old man - he has the ability of 'premonition'."
"Premonition?" Kristin looked back at Zhao Yu, "Wait, I remember ... the awakened people of the old century, that's right! It's because you guys appeared with special powers that those lords in power remembered to research mutants!"
"It's this world's fault." Zhao Yu rolled his eyes and said.
"So how do you feel now?" Kristin's interest instantly rose, "You can be considered a prototype body of a mutant oh?"
"I don't feel anything at all." Jo Yu said, looking at the other person next to him, "And I don't think this is the time to discuss mutants."
"I don't mind." The person being looked at by Cho-woo was Gabriel, the white-haired man just kept his face expressionless as usual and sat in a makeshift chair, "Technically there's a difference between me and the mutants you guys remember."
Kristin immediately pressed, "What difference?"
"Confidentiality matters."
"Thank you for your answer." Disappointed, Kristin sat back down in her original position, "You really are all a mystery, Pvt. Gabriel Bradley ... or do you prefer the name T19?"
"You don't have to be wary of me, Private Kristin." Gabrielle gave her a look and said calmly, "It's true that there are a lot of secrets about me that I can't tell you, but I assure you that there's no conflict with your operation - we're supposed to be comrades in arms, not enemies."
Zhao Yu deeply agreed, "I agree with his words, Kristin ... if he is the enemy, there will be no living person in this cockpit."
"Your words could have been less blunt." Borg sighed beside him.
Gabriel Bradley, or T19, had already demonstrated his terrifying prowess in front of the crowd: a fantastically accurate shot even without the use of aids, just as tough in close-quarters combat, and pointed out to be the sole finished product of some secret program - no matter how you looked at it, it was far more cost-effective to have him as a companion than as a Boss.
"Guys, sorry to interrupt your tea party time." Hunter interjected suddenly, "We're five minutes away from reaching the target location ... where Sgt. Hartman and the others lost contact."
Everyone's attention turned to the display together.
"According to the map, the last point of contact was here," Hunter circled an area on the screen, "Adjacent to Upper Klamath Lake, not an area suitable for MF1 operations, frankly."
"It's a dead lake anyway." Borg grunted, "It's been filled in, hasn't it? Is there anything left in Oregon that can be called scenic?"
"Uh, it's not that bad, sir." Hunter reminded, "Everything west of Burns City is basically intact ..."
"Well, we won't pursue the details." Borg thought for a moment and gave the order, "Stop the advance and then figure out what to do."
Kristin asked, "Isn't it saving people?"
Zhao Yu shrugged, "Three hours have passed since the end of Sergeant Hartman's battle with them, I'm afraid that we can only clean up the battlefield if we rush over now, or have worse luck ..."
"With worse luck, the enemy that attacked them hasn't left yet and is waiting for us to run headlong into it, right?" Kristin picked up with a grimace.
"Theoretically, we're not that stupid," Borg spread his hands, "but we've got even less time to tarry here, and at first light, the Hudic Town side will be on us like madmen, and we've already seen the unmanned recon plane twice along the way, and I'm betting that it's spotted us. "
Hunter couldn't help but cough, "Sergeant, I'd also like to remind you of the MF1's ability to operate at night ..."
"I know, as good as none." Borg replied, "What's worse, the other team took care of two of Sergeant Hartman's and their MF1's during the day."
There was silence in the cockpit.
There was no way in or out. Behind them was a large army that would come after them at any moment, and in front of them was an ambush that easily broke the two MF1s.
"Old man, how do you feel now?" Borg broke the silence with an expression of "You're quick to say it's fine".
But Zhao Yu could only sigh again.
The premonition was certainly there, and it certainly wasn't good either. It was like some kind of beast was lurking in the woods ahead of him, causing instinctive fear and a nasty chill to roll down his back.
"Sounds like we can prepare the suicide note now." Booger said, "Try a little harder, old man, and see if you can sense a little break in the enemy?"
"Captain, do you really think I know prophecy?"
At this time, Gabriel stood up.
"I'll go ahead and scout the road." His tone was like going on an excursion, "Although I don't know what kind of enemy it is, I'll find a way to expose them."
"Just you?" Borg looked at him, "I know you're good, but the opposite side took care of Sgt. Hartman and the others in ten minutes."
"I doubt my mission had anything to do with them." Gabriel replied, "I have to go and confirm this ... Also, Cho-woo, I want you to come with me."
Zao Yu opened his mouth wide and pointed to himself, "Me? Are you sure?"
"With your premonition ability, I think it should help me." Gabrielle said, "Of course, there are risks involved in going out into the field, so I'm just making this request to you, but it's up to you to decide if you want to come with me or not."
Jo-woo looked at the others a little bemused and Bogie made a gesture, "He's right, it's your decision."
Everyone waited for Zhao Yu to make a decision and it only took a few seconds for Zhao Yu to give his answer, "I'll go with you."
"Old man, you're just an ordinary person." Hunter couldn't help but say, "Even with that premonition ability, you're still an ordinary person ... and now that there are no combat suits, all it takes to solve you is a single bullet."
"I've thought this through." Zhao Yu grinned, "Staying in this cockpit may not be much safer, think about Sergeant Hartman and the others."
It's so hard to find a place where I can help, why should I shrink back and be a coward?
The night was low, not any different from those nights Jo Yu had seen before.
He lightly leapt out of the cockpit, and Gabriel was already waiting for him outside the Deathbringer.
The chariot's lights still shone ahead, pointing them in a forward direction. It was the only source of light in the dark wilderness, and Zao Yu could hear some movement around them - this was some distance away from the worst of the outbreak's hazards, and it was understandable that there were still some animals surviving in the wilderness.
"Deathbringer, turn off the light source." Zhao Yu confirmed the situation around him and then issued an order to his comrade in the headset; right now, his equipment was very simple: a pistol, a rifle, a pair of earpieces, and a piece of night vision that Kristin had temporarily repaired. There wasn't even an extra clip, and according to Borg, "You weren't expected to hit anything anyway."
"Stay safe, old man." Hunter's voice came from the headset, and then the two headlights went out together, completely leaving him in the dark world.
Because he had been mentally prepared, Zhao Yu did not panic, but quickly activated his night vision device, so a world that was still clear despite the distorted colors reappeared in front of his eyes.
Gabriel was standing just a few meters in front of him looking at him, "Ready?"
He was still dressed in black tights with his rifle in his hand and two magazine pouches hanging from his body, however, he was not equipped with anything that would help enhance his night vision, and he was looking at Zhao Yu as if it was broad daylight.
"Yes, let's go!" Zhao Yu was already immune to this companion's various supernatural abilities.
This place was about five hundred meters away from Sergeant Hartman's last contact location, it would take a little while to get there, Zhao Yu didn't dare to be careless, following Gabriel in a cautious and careful posture forward, this comrade in arms was very considerate, always moving at a speed that Zhao Yu could keep up with, Zhao Yu had no doubt that if Gabriel was willing to do so, it would only take him a maximum of thirty seconds to completely disappear from his field of vision, after all, in Houdiniq Town itself had seen his speed.
This time, however, he didn't even make it to five hundred meters, advancing only a hundred meters at most, before Gabriel stopped and crouched down.
In front of him fell a completely breathless man, which Zhao Yu recognized from the uniform markings as one of the soldiers from Base 47.
"Two bullets in the chest." Gabriel whispered, "Nice shot."
Zhao Yu shrugged, "Whoever was ambushed here must not have been affected by the EMP, and with the aid of power armor, an accurate hit isn't that hard, is it?"
"Fair enough, but I'm afraid it's not that simple." Gabrielle bent forward a few steps and crouched down again next to another body, "Take this victim for example ..."
Zhao Yu's face didn't look too good, "Had his throat slit by some sharp instrument."
"The average mech infantryman wouldn't resort to this kind of close combat, let alone when they have the upper hand." Gabrielle muttered, "So there should be types in the enemy that are very used to close combat ..."
"A wood saw?" Zhao Yu bitterly uttered the word.