Chapter 139: Bring the Comrades Home! (With Changes)

The Great Master Flower did not destroy the small building or the underground structure, but instead completely wrapped the underground portion with its dense root system.

At this moment, in the basement.

Xu Xiaofeng stood beside Liu Mu, watching worriedly as the latter placed the crystal helmet onto her head.

The red and blue circuits lit up for a moment, and immediately after, the host's monitor projected a holographic figure.

It was a tall man dressed in a black tailcoat; his handsome face and superior body proportions were without a single flaw—so perfect that one could tell at a glance he was not a real person.

"Heitao A at your service, Host. This host's core computing power and storage space are limited. Are you sure you want to run a portion of my program on this device?"

"Run it," Liu Mu said, then took off the helmet and, amidst Xu Xiaofeng's confused and shocked gaze, issued the next order: "Import all biological data of the Victory Resource Recycling Group, import terrain and geological analysis data, and activate signal reception."

Through decades of living together across two lifetimes, Liu Mu had only just begun to understand the system, but it was still far from enough.

Fearing these orders might be incomplete, she also gave Heitao A partial autonomous decision-making power; of course, the premise was that these events must be actively reported to her, and all information from the substations outside the system was to be transparent to her.

From the system going online to the completion of testing, it took a total of three hours.

By the time she came to her senses, Xu Xiaofeng was actually still there, her eyes full of thirst for knowledge. "Xiao Mu, is this that cutting-edge smart butler system from before the disaster?"

"……That's not wrong to say," Liu Mu naturally would not expose the fact that she had a recovery system. "It's about the same as a company management system. It's also one of the gains from this mission, and it was started through my biological information identification. Big Sister, do you want to input your own biological information too? It will be convenient for you to use later."

"Me, can I?" After synchronizing with the Great Master Flower, besides being able to easily control nearby plants, Xu Xiaofeng felt she hadn't changed much herself, so she didn't think about hiding anything from Liu Mu.

"You can join as a system-protected organism," Liu Mu thought for a moment and decided to provide a precaution. "This system is very advanced. Within a certain distance, you can talk to me directly. Oh right, you can also communicate with Niu Boyi without any obstacles."

"So magical? I want to join," Xu Xiaofeng said with almost no hesitation. "What should I do?"

Liu Mu pressed her to sit in the position where she had just performed the Brain-Machine Link, then placed the crystal helmet on her head. "You just need to relax. Some permission questions will appear in your mind. Read them carefully, and you can choose to agree to the parts that are okay."

Modern society had a high degree of civilian technology, and Xu Xiaofeng still had some understanding of artificial intelligence systems.

In her perception, she instinctively thought that opening these permissions was the same as using apps on a smartphone in the past, and it wouldn't have much impact on her personally.

Immediately, she said, "Open all permissions. Xiao Mu, this way we can talk directly if we have things to say, just like making phone calls before, right?"

Liu Mu, who had originally been warning Heitao A not to read too much of Xu Xiaofeng's information, was so startled by the words "open all permissions" that she nearly jumped up; by the time she wanted to stop it, it was already too late.

This damn system read Xu Xiaofeng's biological and consciousness information at nearly light speed, even generating a specialized file.

In the Recovery Space—System Protected Organisms column, Xu Xiaofeng's file was already placed together with Niu Boyi's.

"Big Sister, this……" Liu Mu thought to herself that she was afraid she would never meet anyone in this life who trusted her more than Xu Xiaofeng. Of course, as long as no event occurred that required betraying all of humanity, she would not harm Xu Xiaofeng either.

"In the context of big data, it's still better to be careful."

"Isn't this our own family's system? It's fine," Xu Xiaofeng misunderstood Liu Mu's worry. "As long as our Scrap Station isn't snatched away by others, I am safe."

The main root of the Great Master Flower was right beneath the Scrap Station; if the Scrap Station were ever snatched away by someone, that would mean Xu Xiaofeng had already died in battle first.

But this was the apocalypse. Liu Mu shook her head slightly, only able to say that as long as she was there for a day, she would not let anything happen to the family again.

Early the next morning, dozens of gunshots awakened the curtain of rain.

The Headquarters of the 'Victory Resource Recycling Group' officially broke ground for construction. Taking advantage of everyone being present, amidst the sound of gunfire, they even held a red ribbon-cutting ceremony.

As the Group's Finance Department Manager and concurrently Vice Chairman of the Group's Energy Department, Li Fugui gave a speech, emphasizing the following points.

"First, the group's name has been changed. See these big characters 'Victory Resource Recycling Group'? Eh, right, from now on, you are not allowed to call it the Scrap Station anymore; it makes us look unprofessional!"

"Second, our Boss fights on the front line of human safety year-round, wishing she could split one day into two, and has no time to manage miscellaneous affairs. Therefore, every department and every colleague must cooperate sincerely, be considerate of each other, compete with each other, and discuss things well."

"Third, it's about this labor contract matter. Our Personnel Department is temporarily being held by me concurrently. Those who haven't signed a contract, hurry up and come find me……"

Taking advantage of Li Fugui enjoying his leadership speech, Liu Mu quietly exited the crowd, greeted Xu Xiaofeng, and drove toward the Haicheng Barrier alone.

Li Fugui could help negotiate subsequent matters, but she had to be the one to go for the first wave.

In case of any contingency, it would be easier for her to escape alone.

As for Niu Boyi, he was forcibly left behind by her to help Li Gang supervise the work and take on the heavy responsibility of the Security Section during the construction period.

After she left, the construction officially began.

Unlike what the laborers who came off the ship had expected, they didn't need to roll up their sleeves and dig the earth at all.

They were asked to stand far away, and after hearing a huge 'dog roar', the ground across the entire Food Street and its vicinity automatically turned over.

Just when they thought it was an earthquake and wanted to run away, those with sharp eyes saw huge roots moving in the soil, looking familiar.

"Oh my, I've lived half a lifetime, and I've truly seen the earth dragon turn over!"

"Rare to see in a lifetime, truly rare!"

"Quick, where are my blueprints? Let me calculate how many days of work this can save. I was worried there weren't enough excavators, this is great……"

Amidst the noisy sounds, Li Gang watched with some difficulty as large swaths of burned building debris were pushed together, and saw many underground rocks being turned out.

These were all completed by Xu Xiaofeng alone, who was in the Scrap Station—no, in the Group's small building.

She was even stewing a pot of braised pork and two large pots of 'dog food' in the kitchen.

Suddenly, Li Gang seemed to understand a little bit about what he was conflicted about in his heart. The grown man stared at the construction site, incredulous, "Could it be that I don't have a resistance to Mutation, but am afraid of being outdone by her? A man can't compare to a young woman in anything; how embarrassing."

No way, how come he hadn't noticed he had such a narrow-minded side before, his capacity was too small.

Heavens, if Xu Xiaofeng found out about this, wouldn't she laugh herself to death, and then kick him several kilometers away?

And then there's Liu Mu, that inhuman Boss, even more……

Can't say it, hold on, can't show anything.

It's also Mutation, that's right, it's also Mutation!

Why didn't he become more powerful? It's embarrassing; if he starts a family in the future, he's afraid he won't even have a say.

He was thinking chaotically about his smallness under his leather robe when his shoulder was suddenly patted heavily.

When he looked up, it turned out to be a vine covered in green leaves.

The vine bent into a '?' toward him. Only then did he realize he was thinking too much, and hurriedly flipped out the construction drawings to start saying where to move next.

Sigh, with his recent performance, the days of having a wife, children, and a warm bed are getting further and further away.

As construction started here, Liu Mu's car was also halfway there.

It wasn't that she wanted to stop, but her path was blocked by a squad of a hundred or so soldiers.

Uniform long green Raincoats, uniform gun-holding postures, and uniform...

Liu Mu turned off the engine, picked up the iron box placed in the passenger seat, pushed open the car door, and stepped into the water.

She did not put on a Raincoat; holding the iron box in both hands, she walked step by step through the rain.

She only stopped when she stood directly in front of the line of soldiers.

Before her were not only the uniform soldiers, but also the ten remaining members of the Special Operations Team, holding the portraits of their fallen comrades against their chests.

Just as Liu Mu stopped, a loud, clear bugle call erupted from the ranks, piercing the clouds.

It was a song that every Huaguo person, from the old to the young, knew by heart—"Huaguo Jungu".

The world is in catastrophe, homes are shattered, and families are incomplete.

But as long as the soldiers remain, and their iron-like will remains, the nation remains.

Those who have long lived in chaotic times felt at this moment that the Military Tag in their hands weighed a thousand catties.

This song is the hope of the nation, the will of heroes, and the unswerving determination of soldiers carrying heavy expectations as they rush to the battlefield.

"Listen, the wind is howling, the bugle is sounding!"

Liu Mu spoke with difficulty, singing along with the others the lyrics engraved into the soul of every Huaguo soldier during times of peace.

As the song finally came to an end, Zhuo Qing, dressed in her military uniform, held the portrait of her husband Tan Ziyan and marched forward with a goose-step.

"Lieutenant Colonel Zhuo Qing, surviving spouse of Captain Tan Ziyan of the Huaguo Military Region's directly subordinate Special Operations Team, has come to welcome our comrades home!"

"Welcome our comrades home!"

"Welcome our comrades home!"

One by one, the Military Tags were taken out of the iron box; every single one was damaged or worn, just like their Masters.

The emotions that had been suppressed in her heart for these past days erupted at this moment; Liu Mu shouted out the name on each Military Tag against the wind and rain, her voice hoarse, as if she wanted to scream out the sorrow and anger in her heart:

"Lin Xiaoyang, come home!"

"Ceng Sijie, come home!"

"Lv Ping, come home!"

"Tan Ziyan... come home!"

The Red Mist not only devours the living but also dissolves flesh and blood; Liu Mu could not even recover a single bone of theirs.

The designation of the Military Region's directly subordinate Special Operations Team will likely be gone from now on.