Chapter 436

Honestly, even Captain Juno, who looked so stern and serious, had already extorted a few cigarettes from him.

"Phew—"

Captain Juno exhaled a cloud of smoke:

"It can be considered a good thing; after all, this world looks abnormal no matter how you look at it. In case it's some kind of self-replicating nanovirus, we really do have to stay here a while longer."

"'Prometheus'?" Devonshire asked.

That kind of self-proliferating, omnipresent black powder left a deep impression on him.

"Yes."

Captain Juno looked at Karl, who was organizing his backpack, and nodded.

It wasn't that they were bullying him, it was just that this young man didn't like smoking, and liked the smell of smoke even less, so he took the initiative to take on a task and hid upwind.

Just then.

Underwood leaned over to Captain Juno's side.

He smiled and asked in a voice only the two of them could hear:

"Captain, is our pension a large sum?"

Captain Juno held his breath for a long time, finally getting choked by the thick smoke, and began to cough violently:

"Don't say such depressing things here, Captain Luo Yi will be coming over soon too."

"You're the boss, I'll listen to you."

Underwood raised his hand and ran to the side, enjoying this moment of peace by himself.

Captain Juno's lips moved, and he muttered in an inaudible voice.

"Pension... that is indeed a large sum."

Meanwhile.

The audience outside the screen also sensed the anomaly through the performance of these few, knowing the predicament they were facing.

The Foundation's attitude toward containment objects is nothing if not cautious.

Even in daily work and research, all staff must strictly adhere to rules to avoid falling into danger.

Even to the point that.

Once a staff member violates regulations and comes into contact with certain prohibited containment objects, they are directly purged.

For example, "Containment-091-ARC."

Since that is the case.

Then, the members of Mobile Task Force Epsilon-13 "Manifest Destiny."

In the process of executing their mission, they could come into contact with such containment objects at any time.

The outcome also goes without saying.

But such sacrifice is unavoidable.

I'm afraid that even as they watch the files, in some unknown corners of the Foundation.

Such sacrifices are still taking place.

For the sake of some site, for the sake of some planet, or for the survival of the entire universe.

"We who have seen the files know that what connects behind that cave is a parallel space-time, and everything inside is dead, but the Foundation and the team in the story don't know this... They can only take the safest approach—even if it means requiring these people to stay there forever, never to return."

"Let's change our perspective, switch back to the Foundation and the residents of the original world; if someone enters a world where an unknown disaster has occurred, and then they want to return... shouldn't they first determine if there's any problem with them or something?"

"But if the Foundation really needs to sacrifice many high-level agents for every exploration, can the investigation work on anomalies continue normally?"

"At least it's better than another apocalypse happening—although there have already been many apocalypses, and the world has been restarted many times. But even if it's one less time, it has its significance."

"The restart thing, it's hard to say... after all, there were no signs of the 'Deus Ex Machina' starting in that world."

The audience discussed among themselves.

And on the Xianzhou "Luo Fu," inside the Divine Strategy Mansion.

Jing Yuan lay under a tree, raised his wine cup to the sky, paused for a moment, and poured the wine in the cup onto the green grass beside him.

Paying tribute to the distant warriors, and also paying respects to all the fallen Cloud Knights.

They might not have had great ambitions, nor did they have any powerful strength, just a page of yellow paper carrying history, and not even their names would be remembered by the world.

Yet, with millions and tens of millions of like-minded comrades, they jointly forged a bastion of protection, allowing civilization to continue.

"This fine wine, I invite you all to drink together."

Just at this moment, Yanqing walked through the corridor, entered the courtyard, and bowed to Jing Yuan.

"General, did you call for me?"

Jing Yuan put down the wine cup, slowly sat up, and leaned against the tree.

He clapped his hands, dusted off his clothes, and knocked the grass leaves off his body.

"Yes."

"In a few days, you will accompany me to meet someone."

"..." Yanqing was slightly puzzled, but didn't ask directly, simply bowed and replied:

"Yes, General."

Jarilo-VI, Underworld.

In a deserted alley, a point of light appeared out of thin air, suddenly brightening, rotating and expanding outward, tearing the void.

A space channel connecting to the distance was thus established.

Bai Xuan and his group, while conversing, passed through the channel and once again stepped onto the land of the Underworld.

"... So, was that Dr. Bright inviting us to the Foundation?"

March 7th hopped and skipped, her heart full of joy.

Seeing Dan Heng corrected:

"To be precise, it was Dr. Bright inviting Bai Xuan to the Foundation; we were just invited along."

"That still counts as an invitation! Hey, Seeing Dan Heng, think about it, how many people are there in the entire universe, and how many can receive an invitation from the Foundation..."

March 7th's heart was still on that conversation from a short while ago, and the adventure journey down to the side of the "Old Man of the Turbid Sea."

"... That's enough, right? Little White being invited, rounding it up, means the 'Astral Express' was invited too; this definitely includes me."

After speaking, she looked at Bai Xuan, smiling happily: "Right?"

"Right, right, right."

Bai Xuan raised his hand and rubbed March 7th's pink hair.

"Stelle" stood to the side, observing everything around her.

"I didn't notice yesterday... but the gap between the Underworld and the Overworld is really huge..."

She naturally knew.

The Underworld suffered from the "Stellaron erosion," and since the communication between the Overworld and Underworld was severed, resources were even more scarce.

Not to mention rebuilding the city, just daily maintenance and repairs were already things the residents of the Underworld could only wish for but never obtain.

Seeing Dan Heng looked at Bai Xuan and asked:

"How should we find Bronya?"

"Although the area of the Underworld isn't as large as the Overworld, we aren't familiar with this place either."

"That's simple." Bai Xuan raised his right hand, gripped the void in front of him, and made a motion of turning a doorknob.

The next moment, another space channel was formed.

"It's right behind the door, shall we go now?"

"..." March 7th blinked her eyes.

She had a lot of things she wanted to say now, but didn't know where to start.

Meanwhile, on the light screen.

Captain Juno sat quietly on the gravel ground, picked up a stone, and threw it at the selected target.

"Whoosh—"

Precision hit, all thanks to this Shadow Elf.

The arrival of support was faster than Juno had imagined.

Not long after, footsteps came from the cave. ===== CHAPTER 438 =====