Sky-cracking Rider

Chen Fei stayed in Han River City for two days, with Xiao Jiu accompanying Old Piao's daughter throughout.

Every six hours, a Second Rank Light Healing Spell "Light of Redemption" was cast. Although it didn't completely remedy the girl's congenital deficiencies, it significantly stimulated her vital potential, considerably improving her weak constitution. With proper care for about a year and a half, she might be able to run and jump like her peers, full of vitality, without frequently having to lie down or even be hospitalized.

Pu Aihua felt quite sentimental, having given away something he truly desired.

If only back then...

But at the crossroads of life, there are never that many ifs.

Upon returning to Mount Kumgang, the captain of Squad 04, Adrian, didn't ask where Chen Fei had been these past two days. The team packed up their gear and set out.

A week later, Squad 04 finally arrived in the Tunguska Region of Siberia.

The lodging arranged by the Bear Hunting Special Operations Division for them was a deserted farm. The constantly clattering tractor dropped them off after refueling from a large iron barrel and then clattered away again.

The nearest town was over a hundred kilometers away, requiring over two hours by tractor — truly a place that could cost you your life.

The piercing cold wind made it feel as if ice shards were clattering down into one's heart.

"Damn, what kind of godforsaken place is this?"

Ruan Tiankai, a Ninth Rank Earth Mage, shivered and hunched in his thick wool coat.

He felt he should add a dog-fur hat to his attire.

"This is our station."

Adrian Benjamin gazed into the distance. In the deep part of the rundown farm, a grand barn still stood conspicuously among some scattered residential buildings, most of which had turned into ruins.

According to the broken window theory, once the first pane of glass breaks, total collapse begins.

He touched the Space System Alchemy Storage Device in his hand and led the way into the farm.

At least this was still a farm and was much better than being surrounded by mutants in a dead volcano's lava cave.

"A place even ghosts would avoid, hey, Adrian, are we really going to live here?"

Susanna Jean Piault, a Grade-B Ice Ability User, was somewhat taken aback, staggering behind.

The tundra environment was her forte, indeed, but she had thought there would be some signs of life, only to find upon arrival that not even a ghost was in sight, as if Squad 04 had been abandoned.

"Not bad!"

Clan Leader Bassan, however, didn't care; he had reverted to his usual man of few words.

For the Neanderthal tribe, even the coldest hardship on Blue Star was much better than the exhausted resources of the Primordial Realm, where endless sandstorms blew without a trace of life, the whole world having fallen into dead silence.

"Are we supposed to farm?"

Chen Fei was unfazed; he had experience in this area during his time at the Aircrew Base.

With enough materials, a large greenhouse could be built to accommodate everyone.

"Heh heh, if it's farming, I'm quite the expert!"

A large black paw was placed on Chen Fei's shoulder, then quickly retracted as Xiao Jiu's fierce jab startled it back. Lao Hei Apu clapped his chest, exclaiming, "Oh boy, that was a close one!"

Xiao Jiu's fearsome reputation in Squad 04 was well known.

Those who didn't know were already out of the picture.

Chen Fei looked at the large black figure and thought, When you say this, do you even check your conscience?

Black people inherently lack the racial talent for farming; they are only good at "Hakuna Matata" (who knows what that even means?).

Despite this, Apu was not a bad person, but lacking the talent for farming means just that; it couldn't be obtained by merely bragging.

Twin Blades Sister Mouri Misono held up her little fists, full of energy, and cried out, "I can carry eight bags!"

This silly girl...

"Let's find a place to stay first, then wait for our supplies to arrive. Old Ruan, you'll have to work harder for the next few days."

Adrian's voice drifted from up ahead.

"Got it!"

Ruan Tiankai, who was a professional at doing the drudgery, responded wearily.

Handling construction work always fell to him, and every time it left him exhausted to death.

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As the tallest building on the farm, the three-story high barn was drafty on all sides, its interior littered with various kinds of trash and an old rust-streaked T-80 tank, probably broken and too cumbersome to remove, so it had simply been abandoned.

As a member of Squad 04, Chen Fei stepped forward and eagerly welcomed it - hello, good for you, good for me, good for all.

Ding! Energy Points +42!

Free energy points, whoa!

The "Physical Evolution Database" now included an item for a 125 smoothbore cannon and a 985 horsepower gas turbine with its transmission components.

With the T-80 gone, the interior of the barn finally became spacious.

Earth Mage Ruan Tiankai used spells to clean and reinforce the ground, while Captain Adrian brought out construction modules made of high-density polyurethane foam panel from the Space System Alchemy Storage Device.

Just like building blocks, everyone lent a hand. They glued the seams of the modules together, and even smeared a layer of mortar on the outside which looked quite amateur, appearing patchy, but nobody really minded.

The eleven-person structure boasted individual bedrooms, a kitchen, bathrooms, a meeting room, a living room, and a storage room—all fully equipped.

Although the primary material of the wall panels was lightweight high-density polyurethane foam boards, the load-bearing components of the floors were uncompromised. Even if everyone stood on them, even if the number were ten times more, the solid wood flooring laid would show no signs of tremors or shakes, as reliable as reinforced concrete.

Besides the lack of continuous water supply, this small building used high-capacity crystalline blocks as its primary energy source. Each floor was equipped with electric underfloor heating, which could ward off the harsh Siberian tundra cold even without central heating or open flames.

On the evening of moving into the small building, the temperature outside the barn plummeted to several degrees below zero Celsius, and the howling wind was like the wail of ghosts and the howl of wolves.

The next morning, everyone dressed in bulky clothing and began searching the farm for usable items.

Although Adrian's space system alchemical storage artifact was full of daily necessities, more wood and coal were always beneficial to have, just in case.

After patching up the barn's drafty walls a bit, they took apart about a dozen glass windows on the spot and installed them, which immediately improved the lighting. The Earth Mage, Ruan Tiankai, covered the walls of the barn with a thick layer of earth which, when blown by the cold wind, froze solid.

Chen Fei repaired the roof, made noisy by the wind, by increasing the thickness of the thin layer of tin tenfold. With the overall strength and weight increased, it immediately withstood the assault of the strong winds, and a layer of asphalt membrane covered it, leaving no gaps.

The difference in temperature inside and outside the refurbished barn could reach more than 5 degrees Celsius. Once the door was shut, the effect was immediately apparent; even without turning on the underfloor heating, the indoor temperature did not drop enough to form ice, greatly reducing energy consumption.

After all, the power supply relied entirely on crystalline blocks; reducing energy consumption meant they could last longer in the frigid winds of Siberia without everyone freezing solid.

No sooner had they settled in than snowflakes began to drift from the sky.

The overcast sky indicated that a heavy snowfall was about to begin.

"Liaison Officer Rossi requests to communicate!"

The leader of Squad 04, Adrian Benjamin, glanced at his phone screen and let out a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, this call did not come in the first 24 hours after their arrival, or else he and everyone else would have been too busy to entertain this officer.

Just as they had a moment to themselves, the other party's call came through immediately.

"I'm Rossi, Adrian, have you all settled in?"

Through satellite positioning, Liaison Officer Rossi had confirmed the current location of Squad 04, estimated that they had settled down, and then called Adrian.

Adrian formally replied, "Yes, yes! Is there a new assignment?"

Rossi asked in surprise, "Huh? Do you have another channel for information?"

It turned out, indeed, there was a new task, and Adrian had guessed right.

"No, I guessed."

If Adrian really had another information channel, he certainly wouldn't have chosen such a quirky individual as the liaison officer for Squad 04.

Rossi did not press further but got straight to the point. "Your current location, 320 kilometers to the southeast, coordinates ******, has a suspicious target. Please head over as soon as possible."

There was indeed a mission, and the purpose was quite clear.

"But our next batch of supplies has not arrived yet..."

Before Adrian could finish, Rossi interrupted him.

"The transport airship will arrive in half an hour, with the things you need."

It seemed he really had timed this call, not giving Squad 04 much time to prepare.

"Okay, alright!"

Adrian breathed a sigh of relief.

The capacity of the space system alchemical storage artifact assigned to him was limited; it was packed to the brim only with necessary daily necessities and a whole set of modular house components.

Other supplies, especially the mobile base vehicle, had to be delivered by transport airship.

Without this vehicle, it would have been quite difficult for Squad 04 to reach the target location.

"Please depart as soon as possible, do not delay!"

Upon checking the weather data for the Tunguska region and chuckling, Liaison Officer Rossi clearly made a wise choice by not accompanying them on the trip.

While liaison officers could choose to accompany the team or not, not all were as cunning as Rossi, who stayed back in Habulav to remotely control operations; some responsible officers went with their teams to the stationing point, sharing some of the communication and support work.

Half an hour later, a hundred-meter-long transport airship descended from the sky and landed directly in the field near the barn.
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Due to the large size and heavy weight of Adrian's mobile base vehicle, a fifty-meter-long small transport airship would have been sufficient to undertake this resupply mission, but they had waited a few days to deploy the right transport vessel.

In addition to the mobile base vehicle and supplies, this transport airship seemed to have brought some unplanned items as well.

In a dozen large boxes were clearly a bunch of matching second-hand machines—though their sizes were not uniform, ranging from larger than a person to as small as a football, Adrian and Chen Fei confirmed repeatedly.

"Are these magnetic plasma engines what you wanted?"

Chen Fei pursed his lips and stated emphatically, "No!"

He touched each one, and the Dog System immediately identified these junk pieces—they were all scrapped parts that might work again with some fixing.

If the recipient had not been himself, he might have thought it was a prank.

Yet, looking at the sender, it was surprisingly Babylon.

Babylon was the shared name for a batch of experimental clone soldiers; it was unclear exactly which one, though it could have been the one initially responsible for Squad 04.

They say clone soldiers are emotionless humanoid weapons, but now it seems, well...

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