The man who spoke had a face as flat as a pancake and was much shorter than a dwarf, lacking any semblance of authority; clearly, he was not cut out to be a colonel. No.0 didn't respond immediately, instead she looked around the crowd of soldiers and sighed in relief.
Fortunately, she had indeed found a colonel's insignia among the patrolling Government Army.
The Kapa Military District Army was one of the first government forces to enter the Prehistoric Society. Their commander was named Colonel Barton. Upon seeing Colonel Barton, No.0's mouth twitched suspiciously, her thin eyebrows knitting together, and her tongue chewing in her mouth. At first glance, her expression seemed quite odd.
Little Eight thought No.0 was surprised because she received that special "welcome" phrase.
Little Eight did not realize that a burst of laughter had already exploded inside No.0's belly.
Schwarzenegger, that figure, those muscles, particularly those terminator glasses. The developers of "Military Road" had crazily copied various movie characters. When Schwarzenegger comes up against Tomb Raider, one really wouldn't know what to expect.
"Farmer Soldier No.0, you left your post without permission and failed to contact headquarters on your own. Now you're receiving a verbal warning and a deduction of 10 Military Merit Points," the short man who had spoken earlier, climbed down from the patrol vehicle with effort and erased 10 Military Merit Points from No.0 in just two sentences.
The Military Merit Points dropped to 60, and No.0 immediately broke free from Schwarzenegger's shadow.
Farmer soldiers? No.0 found out that in the few days she had spent in 'Military Road', she had suddenly acquired quite a few codenames. She had heard of migrant workers but never of farmer soldiers.
The Kapa Military District's H1 military vehicle drove smoothly over the mountainous terrain, with No.0 seated inside, alongside several Kapa Soldiers whose facial muscles were atrophied.
To ensure species diversity, the Kapa Military District encouraged immigration not just of Schwarzeneggers and Lauras, but also of expert types like NPC Maggie's mother. A mere Private with a Physical Strength of only 100 and no special skills would have rightfully been placed at the very end of the government's immigration line.
Little Eight sluggishly recited the identity system had arranged for No.0: "I racked my brains and went through a lot of trouble to arrange a government army identity for you, one that was reasonable and free from discrimination."
"So you're telling me, I'm specifically in charge of raising pigs for the military region? Simply put, a pig farmer," No.0 forced her spirits up, asking the accompanying soldiers beside her with a friendly tone.
"Yes, the only ornamental breed of pig in the military region is under your care," the accompanying soldier stated matter-of-factly, while vigilantly monitoring the surroundings.
"What an honor," mumbled No.0 in response, cursing Little Eight thoroughly in her heart.
"Attention, attention, the heat-sensing radar indicates the presence of a suspicious creature ahead," as the vehicle abruptly stopped, No.0 heard the soldiers beside her simultaneously stand up, and she quickly followed suit, finding herself amidst several burly men.
"Sit down," the voice had just fallen when No.0 felt someone push her shoulder down forcing her unsteady legs to collapse back into the rear seat.
The patrol vehicles all came to a halt. "All troops prepare to engage, non-combatants stay where you are," the Colonel was the first to jump out of the vehicle, laser gun in hand aiming in the direction indicated by the radar.
On the rear seat of the vehicle, the space became suddenly more spacious, and No.0 noticed a machine gun resting at her left hand side, her hand immediately reaching for it. The Colonel led a dozen soldiers running towards the front, leaving two soldiers to patrol the vicinity.
The only two non-combatants in the patrol fleet sat in the vehicles respectively. With gunshots sounding ahead, the two soldiers exchanged glances, seeing that the area around them was still relatively quiet, they hurried forward.
The gun was lighter than she had imagined, about 2 or 3 kilograms. Private 0 quickly grasped the gun in her hand.
"Private 0, watch your back," the reminder from Little Eight and the panic-stricken screams from the dwarf man made Private 0 leave no time to study the newly acquired weapon. She swung the muzzle towards the rear of the vehicle. Leaves and branches shook down in clumps.
Private 0 couldn't find the target for a moment, her gaze gradually moved upward, stopping at a position dozens of meters away. Thunder Dragon, Physical Strength 1000, spiritual power 5, a docile herbivorous dinosaur, not aggressive.
Luckily it was just a non-aggressive big fellow. Private 0 breathed a sigh of relief and was about to lower the gun in her hand. "Private 0, fire the gun, it's coming towards us," said the first clerk of the Kapa Military District, who looked nervously fragile as he tumbled down from the vehicle and ran towards another direction where Colonel and others were.
"Thunder Dragons are not aggressive," Private 0 tried to make this annoying person understand that herbivorous dinosaurs do not threaten human life.
"A soldier's duty is to obey, I am your only superior at the moment, I'm ordering you to fire, or I will mark you with another warning," the clerk was not willing to admit his own inability to recognize prehistoric creatures was not even as good as that of Farmer Soldier No.0. He slowed his pace a bit and arrogantly commanded, relying on his military rank as Junior Sergeant. However, this foolish clerk had forgotten one very important thing.
From Private 0's angle, just standing there, the Thunder Dragon was very threatening – a whole moving Roushan. With the machine gun in Private 0's hands, at most, it could only tickle the thick-skinned Thunder Dragon.
Private 0's hand rested on the gun, debating to shoot or not. "Fire," the rescuer appeared, Private 0 heard the authoritative command from behind. Colonel and the rest had circled back.
Her finger was on the trigger once again.
After a while, the Thunder Dragon paid little attention to the humans and leisurely began to eat the leaves high up.
Sweat broke out in her palm. Private 0 clenched her teeth, exerting all her strength, and yet stillness reigned beneath her hand; there was no heating gun barrel, no continuous firing. The machine gun, which looked quite imposing, turned into a piece of decoration the moment it reached her hands.
"Private 0, your courage is commendable," Colonel chuckled twice, came over, and took the "scrap gun" from Private 0's hands.
A series of shots stirred up a lot of dust on the ground, and the previous stoic soldiers all laughed their heads off, and the clerk showed a face of disdain, whispering, "Almost forgot, you're just a Private."
"How could a Browning machine gun be handled by a rookie like you." Within Military Road, aside from the inherent weight of firearms that restricts the range of users, the most important treatment lies in the position of the gun's trigger.
"Work hard, once you've accumulated a certain amount of Military Merit Points, you can choose to transition from Specialized Soldier to Armed Soldier, then you can take part in the Physical Ability training and officially handle a gun. Before that, I will have the arsenal find you a suitable self-defense rifle. Moreover, you must remember another thing; never pull the trigger lightly," Hard Man Colonel encouraged, patting Private 0's shoulder with his hand.
What seemed to be a casual gesture caused the bones in Private 0's shoulder to groan in pain. "Thank you, Colonel," Private 0 cast her eyes down, a sense of humiliation fermenting inside. On the way back, she did not speak again, just watching the Thunder Dragon's silhouette that was gradually blurring in the distance.
The clerk from the neighboring vehicle continued to mockingly chatter about Private 0's overestimation of their abilities.
Ahead, a neat row of log barriers appeared, with several Patrol Army members standing on the watchtower. When the Colonel's patrol vehicle emerged, several Kapa Soldiers ran out from Kapa Military District.
Private 0 stood on the patrol vehicle, scanning the crowd for a familiar face but found none. NPC Maggie's mother was not among the crowd.
"System Task One: Complete the 'Escape from Dinosaur Forest' mission, reward Military Merit 100. System Task Two: Increase pork production per unit within one month." Private 0 heard this just as she was about to step off the vehicle, missed her footing, and banged her head against the door with a deafening thud.
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