From cannon fodder to sweeping across thousands of stars.

Chapter 421: 'Old Friends' Reunion

This camouflaged tunnel buried deep underground is just one of the many camouflaged escape tunnels in the federal capital's underground network.

This disguised tunnel was used once before, during a Capitol 'riot' decades ago, by the Secretary of State, who was at the center of the 'riot'.

Today, after being closed for decades, this passage welcomes a new user after a long absence.

Van Fleet was holding the steering wheel of the military jeep somewhat unfamiliarly. He couldn't remember how many years had passed since he last drove at high speed while holding the steering wheel.

In order to prevent the vehicle's control system from being cracked by electronic attacks, all vehicles parked at the starting point of the camouflaged channel do not have autonomous driving functions.

However, except for some intersections, the route of the disguised escape tunnel is mostly straight, so this is not a big problem.

The vehicle's maintenance is done by a group of autonomous machines. Apart from the secret inspection once a year, no other humans will come here at other times.

Van Vliet drove the car forward along the tunnel. Although he basically kept going straight at high speed, he still felt that this long tunnel seemed to have no end.

He couldn't help but think of the attack he had just encountered. The military-industrial complex was bolder than he thought. It even dared to attack an active federal army lieutenant general directly in the core area of ​​the capital.

"No, they dared to attack me. Guterres' bar is more remote, there is no reason why they wouldn't attack me."

An ominous premonition flashed through Van Vleet's mind, and he began to worry about his only 'companion' on this road.

"That guy is so rich, the bar's defense should be good. At least it can hold out for a while, right?"

Van Vleet kept thinking in his mind, and many other messy things flashed through his mind at the same time. In the process, the journey that originally did not take much time also reached the last section.

Seeing that he was about to escape temporarily, Van Vleet always had an uneasy feeling in his heart, as if all this was very abnormal and came to an abrupt end.

But the speeding vehicles and the passing of time did not leave him much time to think, and soon the vehicle he was driving reached the end of the disguised passage.

Van Fleet operated the center console, and the appearance of the vehicle quickly changed from a tough military-style paint to a low-key black civilian home paint.

After all, if you continue to drive a military vehicle on the road, it won't be long before you are discovered by the military-industrial complex that has spies all over the capital.

Several closed heavy alloy gates in front of us quickly rose up after detecting the approach of authorized vehicles. When the outermost camouflaged gate was also raised, the sunlight from outside finally shone into the tunnel.

Van Vleet also saw the 'emergency response team' who were waiting for him at the door, and his wife and daughter who were being held captive beside them.

"scold!!!"

A sharp braking sound was heard in the passage, and the military jeep finally stopped less than 15 meters away from the gate under Van Fleet's heavy brakes.

No matter how reckless and stupid Van Fleet was, he had now realized that something was wrong, and quickly realized that he might have been betrayed by his most trusted adjutant.

"When did Lieutenant Colonel Modres surrender to you?"

"This matter is no longer important, is it? Lieutenant General Van Fleet."

A leader among the armed men spoke up:
"You should come over and reunite with your family first. Look, your daughter is almost terrified."

"What do you want? If you just want to get rid of me, you have countless ways to do it just now."

"It seems that you are not completely confused. As long as you follow us and meet a few guests who are interested in you, I can fully guarantee the safety of you and your family."

"What if I say no?"

As soon as Van Fleet said this, the atmosphere suddenly became tense, but the commander of the armed personnel seemed to have expected this, so he was not surprised.

“You can try it.”

"Boom!" A figure fell from the sky and stepped on the armed man to the ground, turning him into a pool of exploded meat, interrupting the second half of his sentence.
-
"The character's consciousness transmission is complete. Combat body B4776 'Folding Knife' is being activated. All subsystems are being adapted."

"The activation of combat body B4776 and the synchronous activation of the subordinate 'puppet' combat team has been completed."

"Transmitter, please synchronize your consciousness."

The familiar yet unfamiliar voice woke Baninger up, and he quickly realized that this was the standard voice of the combat support AI.

When he 'saw' the world clearly again, he found himself in a supply box that was about to be opened.

The combat body that he was "possessed" was now being folded and stored in a supply box along with the attached weapons, accessories, and ammunition.

"Captain, this is your first time transmitting your consciousness over long distances. How does it feel?" Lilith's voice

"It feels like I just had a good sleep. Not a very comfortable one, though." While feeling the new body, Baninger tried to undress it and stand up from the cargo box.

"You'll get used to it next time. Now let's do some serious work. The Federation lieutenant general that the Master is concerned about is about to fall into the enemy's trap, so we need to come forward to help him, otherwise all this surveillance will be in vain."

As Lilith spoke, she transmitted the relevant combat data over, and Baninger, who had been transformed into a digital life, read the data in an instant.

“What do you need from me? What support can I get?”

Baninger walked out of the supply box and while adjusting to his new body he looked around at the environment he was in. This seemed to be the inside of a building, probably on the fourth or fifth floor.

The large express delivery boxes painted in a style that they were responsible for loading were placed in the warehouse on this floor.

"There is a sewage treatment outlet at the south side of the building, close to the river. Or rather, at the exit of the disguised escape tunnel, there is a group of armed personnel from the military-industrial complex. They have held Van Fleet's wife and daughter hostage, waiting for him to fall into their trap."

After hearing the name 'Van Vleet', Baninger felt a strange feeling in his heart.

As the federal commander who commanded the troops that wiped out the teaching team, Baninger should have hated him to the core, but after becoming a digital life, he felt that he could no longer hate him.

But the scene of preparing to rescue this guy still made him feel a little awkward, but fortunately he didn't need to introduce himself at this time.

While these strange thoughts were coming to his mind, Lilith was explaining the situation at the same time.

"Since this operation is in the federal capital, we are unable to use heavy equipment. Your current 'body' was secretly transported in as a civilian robot.

Then it was secretly modified for combat by the worker bees, and only has relatively basic combat capabilities. But if it is controlled by you, it will not be able to resist the small fish below.

Oh, and there are five combat puppets, you can control them with the 'clone' ability you just learned~"

"Were these things brought in a long time ago?" Baninger asked curiously.

"It may be earlier than you think. The Master's layout here should have started before we released the two generals."

Lilith paused for a moment, then said seriously:

"Get ready for battle, our protagonist is about to appear."

The sound of screeching brakes, the angry Van Vliet, and the armed men who were confident of victory
When the armed personnel of the military-industrial complex began to demand that Van Fleet surrender and move closer, Baninger, who had already calculated the jumping distance, suddenly started to sprint with the combat puppet.

At this moment, the exterior glass on his floor had been removed in advance and replaced with a transparent polymer material for camouflage.

After completing the last step of acceleration and smashing through the disguise into mid-air, Baninger returned to this world in another form and entered combat mode as before.

"Immortals, act now."

(End of this chapter)