Volume 9: Molten Mine Chapter 418 Before departure
Just as Ke Lan expected, Aya's superior agreed to this seemingly outrageous request without much hesitation, and agreed to reduce his original exploration team of nearly a hundred people to a dozen people.
After this requirement was met, the rest of the things went much more smoothly, and after a brief meeting with the hunting group, the list of participants for this mission was finalized.
In addition to the original six-member team of Ke Lan, Hound, Layton, Asano Akira, Ivan, and Zhuoligetu, Valentina also participated in this operation. In order to give full play to her strength, Layton and the staff of the logistics team worked overtime to rush out a "Valkyrie 1 Molten Mine Ver" for her.
Although it still uses the Phoenix prototype skeleton developed by the Ye Group, this new mecha has completely abandoned the flashy humanoid appearance. After obtaining some of the prototype design drawings provided by Ye Yan, Layton made drastic changes to transform this mecha into a four-legged all-terrain mecha. The idea of the change was based on the beast-shaped mecha that he had encountered in the previous mecha competition.
For the sake of concealment, the original eye-catching black, white and orange paint scheme was changed to a mix of khaki and gray to create a desert camouflage. Not only that, Layton also added a lot of irregular black and red stripes on the outer armor, imitating the appearance of the magma flowing out of the cracks in the rocks.
From a distance, this mecha looks like a steel behemoth that has just crawled out of a lava river.
"In order to reduce weight and lower the chances of being discovered by detection devices, I replaced 80 percent of the alloy armor with shells made of reinforced carbon fiber. Except for the armor directly in front of the cockpit, do not use any part to withstand attacks with an equivalent vertical penetration depth of more than 30 millimeters." Layton warned Valkyrie.
"Got it." Valkyrie nodded. The equivalent penetration depth is 30 millimeters, which means that the external armor of this mecha cannot even defend against direct fire from a 0.5-inch caliber heavy machine gun. But the price paid is that the weight of the entire machine is reduced by a full half compared to the original, and the speed and flexibility are incomparable - as long as the enemy can't hit the target, the attack is meaningless.
As for Ze Luo, Ke Lan sent her to Zofia and asked Zofia to take care of her. In order to explain the origin of Ze Luo, Ke Lan spent a lot of time and effort to make Zofia believe that this seemingly "weird" girl was the descendant of the residents of the sick village, whose parents died shortly after she was born, and that she brought her back to the Ark out of pity for her.
"Her body has undergone some very special mutations, and she is naturally immune to radiation, so she has not been infected with those diseases. It is best not to let her be seen by outsiders, in case the institute comes to ask for her." Ke Lan said to Zofia, "Also, this girl has lived in a distorted environment since she was a child. She is quite withdrawn and cannot communicate normally with others. Her only hobby is reading books, all kinds of books are fine."
"Well, I will take good care of her." Zofia nodded. "This is the first time you've asked me for help. I certainly won't let you down."
"First time? I haven't--"
"Those previous times, in your opinion, were transactions, right?" Zofia narrowed her eyes slightly, rested her elbows on the desk, and looked at him with her head tilted.
"You can't say that... After all, after all... I always feel that I owe too many favors to others, and I'm afraid I won't be able to repay them in the future." Ke Lan scratched his hair and barely found an excuse.
"Do you like to calculate everything so clearly?" Zofia stood up and walked out from behind the desk. "Then why are you willing to beg me this time? Is she important to you?"
"How should I put it... She is indeed very important to me, but not as important as you think." Ke Lan explained quickly.
Zofia was very good at observing people's words and expressions. Ke Lan only occasionally glanced at Ze Luo who was sitting on the sofa next to him, and Zofia realized that this girl held a great importance in his heart. Her importance was even no less than those teammates who had been through life and death with Ke Lan many times.
"Which one is more important?" Zofia walked up to Ke Lan, stretched out her hands, and placed her white arms on Ke Lan's shoulders. She gently wrapped her arms around his neck, looked him straight in the eyes through the plain glasses, and said in a voice that only the two of them could hear: "If your explanation doesn't satisfy me, I will be jealous."
"She... is actually a very dangerous biological weapon." Ke Lan paused and said in a deep voice.
This time, he was telling the truth, but he did not explain clearly to Zofia what level of "danger" Ze Luo was.
"If it gets out of control, it could lead to a disaster, so I always keep her by my side," Ke Lan continued.
"Then you can rest assured that I will take care of her?"
"Because you are the most trustworthy among the people I know, I decided to entrust her to you. As far as the current situation is concerned, her safety is still very high. As long as she is not exposed to too strong external stimulation, she will remain in this state." Ke Lan originally wanted to say "Except for Hound and others, you are the most trustworthy among the rest", but then he thought that saying this seemed a bit too straight-maned, so he deleted the prefix.
"Then you must remember to come back alive and take her away. I don't like carrying a time bomb with me all the time, even if the chance of it exploding is almost zero." Zofia said with a smile.
"Don't set a flag for me. What you said gave me a bad feeling." Ke Lan couldn't help but smile bitterly.
"How about we get married when you come back? Anyway, as long as you are involved, even the smallest things will turn into big events. I'm used to it." Zofia said in a half-joking tone, "In fact, it's not just me. Your friends around you should feel the same way, right?"
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"But they are still willing to stay with you, which means they are willing to share the risk with you..." Zofia let go of Ke Lan and took a step back. "I am willing to do the same, so I will help you take good care of this child - even if you tell me that she is a dangerous item that may get out of control at any time."
"...Thank you." Ke Lan was stunned for a few seconds before he uttered a slightly stiff "thank you".
"That's too strange. Don't say 'thank you' to me anymore. I don't like it." Zofia pretended to be angry and said, "But if you come back alive, I will forgive you."
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