Chapter 5 Joining the Resistance

In his fifth hour in this script world, Feng Bujue finally completed the quest [Join the Resistance].

The next step of the main quest then refreshed: [Attack the Central Hub of City A0007].

This quest was actually quite intriguing… because the quest description only said “attack,” but not “attack with the Resistance”; meaning, in theory, he could go by himself.

Feng Bujue considered this carefully…

Going alone would certainly be more convenient and require less looking back, but after all, he wasn’t from this universe and wasn’t very familiar with the various situations, so he could encounter unexpected dangers.

But inciting the Resistance’s main force to launch an all-out attack on the city with him… that involved another “hustle” issue; even Conrad didn’t have the authority to send out all the troops in this base without asking the commander; no matter how well Jue-ge could hustle, he might not be able to get the colonel to help with this.

Fortunately, Feng Bujue finally thought of a compromise, which was…

…

Squeak, squeak, squeak…

Glug, glug, glug…

Accompanied by the sound of metal rods rubbing back and forth and the sound of metal axles rolling over the rails, a hand-cranked railcar was heading towards the city at a speed not much faster than a bicycle.

At this moment, a five-person team, including Feng Bujue, was on this car, approaching City A0007 through the subway…

“Savior, want a chew?” The big-bearded man who had just been replaced from the cranking position asked Jue-ge while putting a wad of compressed tobacco leaves in his mouth.

“I appreciate the thought.” Feng Bujue waved his hand. “I’m not used to chewing that. Also, you can call me Mr. Feng, or Feng Bujue, you don’t have to call me Savior every time.”

“Heh…” The big-bearded man smiled. “Alright, Mr. Feng…” He chewed on the extremely strong, low-quality tobacco in his mouth, spraying saliva as he spoke, “…if you insist.”

This big-bearded man was the oldest member of the five, serving as a point man; at the same time, he was also the only “non-Zhiyue Zhe” (Knowledge Awakened) in this team.

In the early stages of the war, the big-bearded man’s daughter—a Zhiyue Zhe who was only twelve years old—was arrested and killed by the Bita army without putting up any resistance (the earlier the Zhiyue Zhe awakened, the clearer the information in their minds, and the greater the perceived threat); not long after that, the big-bearded man joined the Resistance.

He was a rough man, he didn’t understand complicated things. He participated in this war for a single, simple motive—damn robots, I’m going to kill you all to avenge my daughter!

“Speaking of… Mr. Feng.” A few seconds later, the one-eyed dragon sitting next to the big-bearded man looked at Jue-ge again and opened his mouth. “Is what they say true?”

“What did they say?” Jue-ge asked back.

“The whole base is talking about it…” the one-eyed dragon continued, “They say the Savior can fly, and can tear metal without using weapons…”

The one-eyed dragon was the team’s sniper, a Zhiyue Zhe who awakened at the age of nineteen; his left eye was poked blind by a Roundtable Spider in a battle, and since then he could only use firearms with scopes (it was difficult to judge distances with one eye, and shooting with weapons without scopes would be an obstacle), so he naturally became a sniper.

And what the one-eyed dragon said at this time, “the whole base is talking about,” was indeed true.

Previously, in order to convince the colonel to agree to this operation, Feng Bujue had “slightly” demonstrated several of his skills; doing so… on the one hand, could confirm his identity as the “Savior”, and on the other hand, gave the colonel some confidence. If Jue-ge didn’t show some strength, Conrad would never have approved such a suicidal operation.

“I can’t fly.” Two seconds later, Feng Bujue answered the one-eyed dragon in a calm tone. “That’s walking in the air, which is a different concept from ‘flying.’” He paused. “As for tearing metal without weapons… I can do it, but if you want me to demonstrate it now, I think I’ll pass.”

“Hmm…” The one-eyed dragon groaned. “They also say… you can ‘end the war,’ is that true?”

“You ask too many questions.” Before Jue-ge could answer, the lightning-head cranking the metal rod next to him interrupted. “Don’t ask things you don’t need to consider. If you think you’re too free, come over and crank the car.”

Yes, the lightning-head was also here, and she was the vice-captain of this assault team.

As one of the earliest batches of Zhiyue Zhe to awaken, she had already participated in the war at the very beginning of the Resistance’s establishment; it’s just that this tomboy had a bad temper and didn’t understand the middle ground when it came to dealing with people, so while her peers had become officers, she was still on the front lines, leading the charge.

“I just don’t want to die without knowing if my death is meaningful…” After being interrupted by the vice-captain, the one-eyed dragon shrugged unhappily and muttered.

“What did you say?” The lightning-head naturally heard it, and immediately glared at the other party.

“Alright.” At this time, Isaac, the captain of this assault team, spoke. “Everyone, say less…”

As he spoke, he gave the lightning-head, who was cranking the metal rod with him, a look; although he didn’t say anything, the lightning-head understood his meaning, so she stopped talking.

Then, Isaac looked at the one-eyed dragon again and said, “Our mission today is to send Mr. Feng to the Central Hub, and then retreat safely. Although the content of this mission sounds crazy, it’s not necessarily a death sentence. Don’t say things that don’t make sense and demoralize your teammates.”

“Yes… Captain.” The one-eyed dragon was still convinced by Isaac, after all… the latter could be said to be a legendary figure in the Resistance.

So, what exactly made Isaac so “legendary”?

Before talking about his achievements, let me first state a basic setting: Isaac, is black… is black… is… black.

I know that it may not be fair to link a person’s innate skin color and race with their acquired achievements, but I think we should face reality here… and say important things three times.

Just like how East Asians and Jews have an innate advantage in average intelligence, the innate advantage of blacks in athletic ability is undeniable.

If there really was a Batman in the world, then according to Batman’s setting that “all his athletic abilities have reached the level of Olympic champions of the same period,” most of the humans who could meet Batman’s physical fitness requirements would probably be black.

And Isaac… is like the Batman of the Resistance.

Although he doesn’t have various high-tech equipment, nor the bullshit setting of Bruce Wayne “obtaining doctoral degrees in more than a dozen professional disciplines,” Isaac has still accomplished many things that ordinary people think only superheroes can do…

He once broke into a Zhiyue Zhe prison single-handedly and successfully rescued more than ninety percent of the prisoners; he once completed the work of an entire class alone in an important distribution operation (an operation to distribute games to the public); he once killed thirty combat robots in a battle… at least; he also once took down a Roundtable Spider in a one-on-one close combat…

Such deeds… or rather… achievements, are well known among the Resistance; after so many years of war, it’s really impossible to find a warrior who can be on par with Isaac.

Therefore, in the minds of many soldiers, Isaac’s words may be more effective than the commander’s.

“Hehe… everyone, why make the atmosphere so heavy?” Feng Bujue also saw the worries of these NPCs, and he immediately showed a relaxed smile. “To be honest, I’m very confident that I can end this war within today. As for your safety… I didn’t intend to have you ‘escort’ me all the way to the Central Hub. That was just an order that Colonel Conrad insisted on giving; according to my idea… I only need you to take me into the city and point out where the Central Hub is, and then you can retreat directly.”

Jue-ge’s words were indeed out of good intentions. He naturally knew the gap between human and mechanical combat power, and he didn’t want to see these people die in vain.

However, after hearing this, Isaac replied in a serious manner, “An order is an order, Mr. Feng. We will not interfere with your actions, but we hope you will not interfere with us carrying out our mission either.”

“Oh…” Feng Bujue looked at the other party with a complicated look. “Alright… anyway, you’re the captain, you have the final say.”

…

After a journey of nearly three hours, the seemingly endless tunnel ahead finally came to an end.

At the end of the track, the five people were greeted by a brick wall, and on the other side of the wall… came the continuous sound of water flowing.

“Behind the wall is the sewer?” In fact, Feng Bujue had already seen through the data stream on the other side of the wall, but he still pretended to be not very clear and asked.

“Yes.” Isaac replied. “Next, we have to wade through the sewer for a while, then pass through an engineering pipeline and turn into the subway tunnel.”

“And then we can get into the subway station and then rush to the surface, right?” Feng Bujue continued the other party’s words.

“No, we have to hide in the subway tunnel and approach the destination on foot.” Isaac replied. “When we reach the station closest to the Central Hub, we will rush to the surface.”

“Phew… sounds like a lot of trouble.” Feng Bujue couldn’t help but let out a long breath.

“There’s no other way.” The one-eyed dragon interjected with a helpless tone. “Once we enter a monitored area… such as a subway station, we will be immediately discovered by the Bita, and then the other party will send troops to surround and arrest us; with just the five of us, wanting to approach the Central Hub under the siege of the city guards is simply a fool’s dream.”

“Then… what if we disguise ourselves?” Feng Bujue said. “For example, by pretending to be civilians and using transportation to approach the target.”

“Impossible.” Isaac replied. “Disguise is only effective for humans, it’s useless for AI… all the cameras in this city have facial recognition functions. Anyone whose identity is unknown, or is defined as a ‘threat,’ will attract the attention of the Bita as long as their face is scanned by any camera; within a minute, the law enforcement personnel closest to the target will be dispatched.”

“I see…” Feng Bujue responded. “Then… let’s stick to the plan.”

At this point, Jue-ge belatedly rejoiced that… he hadn’t rushed into the city alone.

If he had really done that, even if he could rely on his strength to break through the encirclement and kill his way to Bita, he would only have half his life left; moreover… Jue-ge didn’t know that if he used that kind of breakthrough method, Bita might self-destruct before contacting him.

But now, under the leadership of this Resistance assault team, although it will take more time to reach the destination, the risk of combat is indeed reduced. For “players,” the physical consumption brought by this journey is almost negligible; and the consumption of survival value, skills, items, etc. is completely zero. It can be seen that… this is the “correct method to clear the stage.”

Of course, in a normal difficulty script, players don’t have to follow the “right path.” As long as their strength is strong enough, even if they “make mistakes,” it may not lead to failure to clear the stage. Various violent methods can work.

But… Feng Bujue ultimately chose a more reasonable route to clear the stage; one of the reasons was that when he was making the decision, he had vaguely realized that the first main quest [Join the Resistance] itself was a kind of hint, implying that he should rely on the help of NPC forces to clear the stage; the second reason… he realized while playing games in the colonel’s office that—it was impossible for him to meet up with his teammates within two hours. Therefore, he was not in a hurry to clear this script, and simply followed the system’s arranged proper procedure slowly to feel the plot.

“Well, everyone, let’s wrap the equipment in cloth first, and be careful not to let the filth and water clog the equipment later.” Just as Jue-ge was thinking, Isaac had already begun to direct everyone to prepare for the “sewer tour.”

Feng Bujue didn’t need to prepare anything on his side. He had seen the equipment of the Resistance, most of which were of ordinary and broken quality. They were not of great value, and they could only be sold to the store after returning to the login space; and the act of “taking” would expose the fact that he had a “storage space,” so he didn’t take anything under the pretext that “the Savior doesn’t need these.”

In short…

Five minutes later, the other four members of the assault team were ready.

Then, under the leadership of Isaac, the group successively climbed into a pipeline next to the track that was seeping sewage outwards, and headed towards the sewer area on the other side of the wall.

…

At the same time, City A0007, Central Hub.

[Warning, code 964, intrusion event.]

[Signal source, undercover personnel… A8504]

[Personnel coordinates have been locked.]

At the same second when the five members of the assault team crossed the “wall” of the sewer and entered the city, Bita received such a piece of information.

“A8504, huh…” At this time, Bita muttered to himself like a human. “I haven’t given him any instructions recently, nor have I received any information from other undercover personnel that there will be an intrusion operation today…” In this instant, Bita’s real-time simulation program had already started running. “So… what’s going on?”