After walking through the dark corridor and passing two squares of similar size, the four of them finally stopped in front of a metal gate.
"This is it. It's a bit messy inside. I hope you two don't mind."
Bai Donggu smiled and reached out to hold the wheel of the metal door.
The door didn't seem to be locked, it was simply locked. With the slight rotation of the wheel, it made a soft click.
Before Bai Donggu could fully open the door, thick smoke rushed out from inside the door, accompanied by a pungent smell of smoke that made 659 and 173 frown.
"Are the people here having an indoor barbecue? Why is there so much smoke..."
"Ahem..."
Bai Donggu seemed to be choked, coughed twice, and cast an apologetic look at 659 and 173 behind him.
"Lao Bai, you're back. How are Xiao Xiao and Shui Han?"
The questioning voice, like a low roar of a tiger, passed through the swirling smoke and reached the ears of the people at the door.
There was actually a living person in this smoke-filled room.
"They are fine. I asked Xiao Xiao to take Shui Han to rest. A civilian was affected by the mental shock and died on the spot."
Bai Donggu stood by the door, as if he wanted to wait for the smoke in the house to dissipate, but the ventilation underground was obviously not as good as he thought, so after a few seconds, he walked into the house with a slight frown.
"A civilian died? Damn..."
With a click, a small cluster of orange-yellow firelight lit up in the room, dispelling the darkness in the room and revealing a fat, unshaven face.
In the firelight, the fat-faced owner did not cast his gaze towards the door, but concentrated on lighting the cigarette in his mouth with the lighter in his hand.
"Smoke less, this tobacco is very harmful to the body..."
As Bai Donggu spoke, he walked towards the house. For him, the presence or absence of light did not seem to be an important matter. Even in a completely dark place, his movements would not be restricted at all.
The fire light was like a frightened turtle, which quickly retracted its head, and the room, which was not spacious, fell into darkness again, with only an orange-red light spot flickering in front of everyone.
"I'm just smoking, don't give a fuck about me, chirping like a bitch..."
The person in the room seemed to have a very bad temper. Although it was not "dirty", his words still made people who were not familiar with him feel very uncomfortable.
It's like a mountain king who burns, kills, and robs. If you let him go a little bit wrong, your head and your body will say goodbye forever.
"Xia Feng, the 22nd Corps is gone."
The clicking sound came from the darkness again, but this time it was not the lighter used by the people in the room to light cigarettes, but Bai Donggu lighting the oil lamp placed on the corner of the table.
The blue-yellow light gradually brightened, soon reflecting everything in the room.
Naturally, 659 and 173 immediately turned their attention to the location where the fat face had appeared before. Under the illumination of the oil lamp, a fat man with stubble all over his face was leaning on a chair, his eyes looking at the ceiling blankly. , smoking the cigarette in his hand one puff after another.
After hearing the news that the Corps was gone, the fat man did not sigh or show sadness. Instead, he cursed and asked.
"Damn it, why not?"
"Shadowworm."
Just three words made the sturdy fat man in the room stop smoking.
"Shadowworm? Damn it, how did you meet this ghost thing? No
Isn't the sergeant major of the 22nd Corps Hu Teng? Although he is only a fourth-level ability user, his military rank is a real gold level. With Xiao Gu’s two human-faced lizards, he should be able to withdraw..."
The fat man with unshaven beard seemed very angry and asked in a bad tone.
"The 22nd Corps encountered a swarm of shadow insects with king-like branches. In order to buy time for the two World Splitters to evacuate, all members were killed."
Bai Donggu added that Xiao was a mid-level general like him who was used to seeing life and death. When he told the news, there was inevitably a tremor in his tone.
"King of Shadow Insects, hum!"
A flash of divine light flashed in the fat man's empty eyes, followed by a killing intent like a sword.
But before it lasted long, the man seemed to have thought of something, and the murderous intent in his eyes dissipated along with the divine light. The cigarette in his hand was still burning, but the smoker had stopped talking.
As if he didn't want to see Bai Donggu and the others, the fat man turned his head and looked at the mottled wall in silence.
"Sit wherever you like."
Bai Donggu seemed to understand the fat man's temper very well. Instead of saying anything, he pulled out a chair from under the table and sat on it.
He poured out two glasses of water from the kettle on the side. Bai Donggu paused in his movements, thought for a moment, then took out a third cup and poured half a cup into it.
While Bai Donggu was pouring water, 659 took a closer look at the fat man sitting on the chair.
Although the man's body looks very bloated at first glance, his exposed arms are not pampered and tender. The scars of varying thicknesses on them seem to be silent stories, silently telling the fat man. past deeds.
The fat man's knees were covered with a not-so-thick blanket, which was covered with a thin layer of cigarette ash. The surface of the burgundy blanket was also riddled with holes from the sparks of cigarettes, making it look slovenly and dilapidated.
During the observation process, 659 noticed that the areas under the fat man's blanket where his calves should be were empty, as if they had all disappeared from the knees.
"Are you a veteran..."
659 muttered to himself in an inaudible voice. In timeline 659, humans fought a protracted battle with the other two races.
There are bound to be casualties in wars. Compared with the dead human heroes, there are more soldiers injured and disabled in the war.
Most wounds can be healed, and with the assistance of mechanical prostheses, these soldiers can still return to normal lives.
However, a small number of wounds never heal due to various reasons.
Like the toxin of some kind of alien beast, although the soldiers can save their lives after the battle, the toxin in the wound can never be completely removed.
Injured warriors will repeatedly experience the torture of wounds for the rest of their lives, but the physique of the strengthened ones does not allow them to die to escape. This way of living is simply more uncomfortable than death.
Seemingly noticing 659's gaze on the fat man, Bai Donggu had an expression on his face and spoke.
"Let me introduce, this person's military rank is Diamond First Class, he is the guard of underground city ZJ, Xu Xiafeng..."
Before Bai Donggu could finish speaking, the fat man interrupted dullly.
"Oh, what Wei? I'm just a useless disabled person. You guys are talking about your own affairs. Don't get involved with me. I'm going to bed."
As he said that, the fat man pinched the thumb and index finger of his right hand and put out the still burning cigarette butt. After throwing it on the ground, he really lay down on the chair and fell asleep.
Seeing Xu Xiafeng's appearance, Bai Donggu's mouth opened.
Zhang, but in the end he said nothing.
Seeing that the atmosphere was silent again, 659 spoke.
"Let me also introduce myself. Both of us are world breakers who came from across the world. Since we both look the same and have the same name, to make it easier to distinguish, we can use the timeline we come from as a replacement for our names. "
As he spoke, 659 pointed at 173 and then at himself.
"He is 173 from timeline 173, and I am 659 from timeline 659."
"173 and 659, I wrote them down."
Bai Donggu nodded, indicating that he had written down their code names, and spoke.
"Before we chat, I would like to check 173's body first. Is it okay?"
As if he didn't expect Bai Donggu to suddenly request such a request, 659 also froze on the spot and glanced blankly at 173 aside.
"Physical examination? What kind of examination method? Did you take off your clothes and let you touch me?"
173 scratched his head. Ever since the previous incident, his nerves had been in a state of tension. The high degree of tension and the mental shock made him appear numb and somewhat unable to turn around.
"Oh, that's not necessary. I just need you to put your palm on my hand."
As he spoke, Bai Donggu took off the white glove on his left hand, spread his fingers flat, and placed them in front of 173.
"Oh, I understand, General Bai...Mid-level general...I guess General Bai is a third-level or above brain-enhancement system user, right?"
173 reached out his left hand to Bai Donggu's palm in cooperation, pressed down and said at the same time.
"That's right, a fourth-level brain-enhancement system user, currently serving as a mid-level general in Dungeon ZJ, with a military rank of Extraordinary Level Three."
Looking at Bai Donggu with his eyes slowly closing, 659 silently recited "Guo Ran" in his heart.
Military rank is a new system officially established after the disaster to measure the strength of soldiers.
In the 659 timeline, military ranks are divided into seven levels: bronze, silver, gold, platinum, diamond, extraordinary and king.
Except for the lowest bronze and the highest king, which have no ranks, the other five ranks are divided into three levels, with third level being the lowest and first level being the highest.
The lowest level, that is, soldiers who have just joined the army or ordinary people who are still in reserve, has a military rank of bronze.
As long as one has killed secondary infected bodies or made military exploits for the army, bronze can be successfully promoted to the third level of silver.
Above, there are second-grade silver and even first-grade silver.
When silver-level warriors once again achieve outstanding military exploits, they can continue to be promoted to the gold level and obtain a higher military rank rating.
Each level of military rank has different requirements, such as the number of combat achievements or the number of kills. Only when all requirements are met can one be promoted smoothly.
Among them, for levels above Extraordinary, in addition to meeting the necessary promotion conditions, there is also a very strict point.
That is, this military rank rating can only be held by those with brain enhancement system abilities.
After all, war is not a fight, and the victory that can be achieved by relying on brute force alone is really pitiful. Unless the disparity in strength is too much, without wise men behind to make suggestions, no matter how strong a warrior is, he can only perform less than what he can on the battlefield. Fifty percent combat power.
However, due to the scarcity of people with brain enhancement system abilities, there are only a handful of people who can become generals in the 659 timeline.
And the silver-haired Bai Donggu in front of him is a genuine fourth-level brain enhancement system user...
