"I'm Gunnery Sergeant Ashley Williams of Team 212. Hello, sir."
Ashley and the other soldiers who could still stand, plus the reluctant Xie Yuan, began to stand upright and pay attention to Colonel Anderson.
"Attention!" After asking Ashley about the general situation of the battlefield, Colonel Anderson stood at the door of the cargo bay, with the commando team preparing to attack behind him. "Which of you still has the physical strength to fight? Can you help lead the commando team to the beacon site? ?”
Everyone in Team 212 looked at Xie Yuan who looked tired.
"What's your name? Second Lieutenant?" Anderson asked in a pleasant tone, "Why are you standing behind Team 212?"
"Second Lieutenant Xie Yuan, the company-level staff officer of the Yin Dian Prime Security Force, salutes you." Xie Yuan said his name quietly but clearly, and also explained the reason, "I am not their direct superior. "
"Xie Yuan... Xie Yuan... you are Xie Yuan!" Anderson said the name several times and suddenly showed a surprised look, "I didn't expect you to be here!"
"Yes! Colonel."
"Then please serve as Lieutenant Colonel Shepard's guide to guide them to the beacon site, can you?" Colonel Anderson requested.
Xie Yuan was very surprised that Colonel Anderson treated him with such courtesy.
Yes, the ground forces can theoretically replace the Marines, but this is only theoretical - according to unwritten rules, a Marine corporal can make demands on a dead captain.
When you are polite to others, you must ask for something... Old Anderson is not a simple soldier.
but……
"Colonel, I think Sergeant Ashley Williams is more suitable as this guide. She has rich experience and a sophisticated style." After introducing Ashley, Xie Yuan also put forward a strong argument, "She was also ordered to arrange The last ones to capture the beacon.”
Anderson raised his eyebrows, a little stunned, while others like Shepard, Ashley herself, and even Corporal Jenkins looked at Xie Yuan who refused with confusion and shock.
Only Kaiden looked at Xie Yuan helplessly. He knew very well what his colleague from a few years ago was thinking - he wanted a more dangerous mission.
Yes, Xie Yuancheng was a favor, but he didn’t want to be a tour guide because the job was too simple—so simple that it was purely to give himself credit.
But do I still need credit? Is he an existence that can be promoted normally by simply discussing merit?
Rather than wasting it on one's own hands, it would be better to give it to Ashley who urgently needs to get out of the security force system - in a time of great strife, capable people should stay in higher positions in order to better carry out their careers. good.
Colonel Anderson's surprise only lasted for a blink of an eye, because time was of the essence, so he immediately agreed calmly: "Okay, Sergeant Williams, you lead Lieutenant Colonel Shepard and his commando team to the archaeological site to seize the beacon.
Everyone else, carry your injured colleagues into the cargo hold immediately. We need to take cover immediately, so hurry up! ! "
Xie Yuan and the other 212 people immediately helped up the injured guy on the ground and brought him into the cargo hold. Although Ashley wanted to argue with Xie Yuan, under the latter's stern eyes, she quickly gathered up her weapons and followed Shepard. Let's rush towards the beacon site together.
Just wait until Colonel Anderson gathered the wounded and started again - Good guy! This Xie Yuan disappeared again.
But the radar at this moment showed that there was no one there at all... So where did the people go?
"Hey, I've heard that the Fifth Fleet once had a thorn-head named Xie Yuan. He often liked to act alone during large force operations, playing the role of a sneak attack dagger."
Colonel Anderson fell into lamenting the past and showed a dumbfounded smile: "I didn't expect that even today, I still haven't given up on this shadow man-like behavior habit... Should I say you are showing off, or you are stupid? Alas! "
…
On the other side, the commando's actions were not too smooth.
Shepard, who had just walked through a corner and noticed something was wrong in the atmosphere, immediately used a gesture to stop the commando team, and then asked Jenkins to conduct a close reconnaissance.
But as soon as the corporal appeared around the corner, two floating turrets from the geth took off and aimed at Jenkins and opened fire.
In this emergency state, a hand wearing pink armor suddenly pressed Jenkins' shoulder and pulled him back - the extremely fast bullet hit the empty space.
Jenkins, who was left in shock, was calming down in the corner. Ashley was very calm and showed a small body next to the bunker, and then easily destroyed the floating turret with a few shots.
"Well done, Sergeant Williams." After the emergency ended, Shepard walked out of the bunker and praised Ashley's outstanding performance. "Your calmness saved Jenkins, and your shooting skills are also very good. No wonder you were able to lead the team out of such a difficult situation."
With that said, he went to the side and stretched out his hand to Corporal Jenkins who was lying on the ground: "Welcome to the real battlefield, Corporal.
How do you feel now? "
"Phew! My heart is about to jump out. I almost died!" A frightened Jenkins took several deep breaths before officially holding Shepard's hand and helping him stand up.
"Thank you! Sergeant Williams, I owe you my life." Jenkins thanked Ashley sincerely.
"It's nothing," Ashley shook her head indifferently, looking in the direction of the beacon with an ugly expression on her face, "The road there will be more difficult. When we escaped from the beacon site, I even felt that the overwhelming Geth were about to rush over. "
"In this case, you can also bring the team out, which is really valuable."
Shepard admired this female soldier even more.
But after hearing this comment, Ashley's face turned red in a rare way. She hesitated but firmly denied: "No, the reason why the remaining colleagues of Team 212 were able to successfully break out of the encirclement was entirely due to Yuan second lieutenant."
After saying that, she lowered her head in shame: "We all escaped under his cover."
"What?" Jenkins looked in disbelief, "That guy who looks like he should be running around and trying to fish out is the one who rescued you?
Man, although he is your superior, there is no need to defend him, you know, he also delegates difficult tasks to you... And I seem to remember him saying that he is not your direct superior? "
"No, I, and all the survivors of Team 212 can testify that it was really Yuan who rescued us."
Ashley insisted on this fact.
Shepard glanced at Jenkins and educated him: "If it was Second Lieutenant Yuan who escorted them all the way out, then he does deserve a break. It's not easy to pull people out of hell."
But Caiden on the side directly reminded Shepard: "He can't be on the Normandy, Lieutenant Colonel, he should be nearby observing us."
"What?!" Shepard looked around with an alert look on his face, but found nothing, so he looked back at Kaiden, "Why do you think so?"
"Because I have been in the same army with him for four or five years, and I have almost figured out his habits."
Kaiden reluctantly explained to Shepard: "Yuan Xie doesn't want to go to the archaeological site with us because he thinks it's too easy, so he might as well let Sergeant Williams give it a try.
He must be nearby, observing and even looking for powerful opponents. If we encounter fatal trouble, he will appear to help us as much as possible. "
"Yes, he is indeed such a person." Ashley recalled how Xie Yuan saved them and couldn't help but nodded.
"Who is this Xie Yuan?" This was the first time Shepard had heard of such a strange person, and he couldn't help but ask Kaiden Information.
And Kaiden would not hide it from her: "Yuan Xie was once the best assaulter of the Fifth Fleet, but he was also a humanoid monster with strange powers.
Because of his skin color, his career has been difficult. He was one of the main contributors to the Akuze incident. It was through this world reward that he successfully obtained a place to attend a local military academy in Asia.
This is what I know about him. "
"So it is for this reason that all his information has been sealed or destroyed, right?" Shepard heard that it was clear that this Second Lieutenant Yuan turned out to be a Pan-Asian member with a different political stance from their Star Alliance.
Caiden nodded.
"You seem to be afraid of him?" Suddenly, Shepard noticed something from the details of his expression.
As soon as these words came out, everyone had different expressions. Jenkins thought that if Shepard hadn't said these words, it would be unreasonable - can that Asian man look so bad and be scary?
Ashley just felt that Kaiden's idea was a bit too subjective - Xie Yuan, apart from fishing in the office every day, was always playful and smiling.
To be honest, if this incident hadn't made her finally feel better about this man, her impression of him would not have been very good.
But is this scary?
Noticing that the two people were completely different, but they reached the same destination by different routes - the look of disapproval, Caiden didn't take it seriously, and just explained to Ashley: "The Xie Yuan you see is just the way he shows you, you can even say It's like losing the enthusiasm for military rank.
What you didn't see was that four or five years ago, in order to get promoted, he was able to fight alone in a pirate den with a knife.
But have you noticed that he can still lift a machine gun weighing hundreds of kilograms and move it quickly. His momentum even makes me feel more unfathomable than before. "
"Can you understand what I mean?" Kaiden looked at Shepard with an extremely worried look. "In the four or five years of fishing, not only did he not give up a good routine, but in a sense, he also Becoming stronger!
Is this a skill possessed by a person who only knows how to fish? "
"What do you mean?" Shepard began to have bad associations.
"I didn't mean anything else, sir." Kaiden immediately corrected him, "I just saw that my comrades who had been fighting together for four or five years were still so full of life when we met. I felt lucky and curious and worried at the same time.
There is no doubt that Xie Yuan is a lazy guy, as anyone who has known him for a long time knows, but a lazy guy never gives up training when he can be lazy... What drives him? This is what makes me curious and worried. "
"We'll find out about this problem later, Kayden." Shepard was still ready to get the topic back on track, "Now let's get the beacon! It shouldn't be far, right, Sergeant Williams?"
"Ah! Yes." Ashley also immediately dispelled the bad association. After all, the task still came first, "We'll be there in half a kilometer."
"Then don't waste time, march quickly, everyone!" Shepard immediately asked the whole team to speed up.
Kaiden also followed Shepard step by step, but his brows were still furrowed.
There was one thing that he really didn't want to offend anyone, so he didn't say anything.
That is, Xie Yuan is actually envious of Shepard, who is a peer of his age - especially after making great achievements, one can only live a secret life as a second lieutenant, while the other has been promoted to a training ground for elite officers - ICT College, thus becoming an N7 graduate respected by everyone.
As an old friend and someone who has had the same experience himself, Kaiden understands the passion-filled fire in Xie Yuan's eyes.
But today, the old friend I saw was just a "social animal" in the military with lazy eyes and full of impatience.
But will social animals continue to retain such keen combat capabilities?
He really hoped that his old friend would be peaceful after reading everything, instead of a villain who hated everything in his heart and concealed it well on the surface.
Because if it were the latter situation, once Xie Yuan heard the news that Shepard was about to become a Citadel ghost, he might be so angry that he would do irrational things.
And what kind of harm does a guy like Xie Yuan with super combat power want to do? The consequences are both unpredictable and even irreversible.
On one side is a comrade who has lived and died together for several years, on the other is an old boss, and on the other is a secret love that I have admired for many years... Ahem, stop it!
He decided that he must talk to his old friends when he came back from the mission.
