Chapter 93
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Chapter 93: Northern Continent Base
The wind howled past Xue Zheng’s ears as fluffy clouds rushed by around her. The damaged wings wrapped around her body, and the feathers brushed against her neck, feeling soft and comfortable.
This wing suit was equipped with an emergency parachute and a real-time detection device. If the damage exceeded limits or if the user lost consciousness, the parachute would automatically deploy at a suitable height.
She saw the fighter jet they had just hijacked quickly change direction and descend towards her. As she fell out of the thick cloud layer, she spotted two other fighter jets, who were likely the ones that had just attacked them through the clouds.
She disabled the automatic parachute countdown, watching as the jets engaged in a mid-air dogfight. Calculating that her falling distance had surpassed the attack range above, she reached behind her to pull the parachute cord.
Once the parachute opened, it instantly propelled her upwards. Just then, the jets above continued their battle but began to lose altitude.
Feeling a sense of dread, she tried to adjust the parachute’s direction, but suddenly, she heard a loud “bang” as a shell struck her parachute.
Cursing under her breath, she started to plummet at great speed, getting closer and closer to the ground. Struggling, she turned her head to look down, revealing the dark purple surface of the sea.
The jets above were still entangled in their fight, but her descent accelerated, causing her to lose sight of the battle above. As the pressure in her eyes rapidly increased from the fall, she closed her eyes, her mind flashing back to moments in the Ponsuo Tribe.
“Only a fool would go back.”
“Am I crazy? Why would I abandon a good life to go back with her?”
“In ten years, I plan to return.”
As those scenes replayed in her mind, the sound of the ripped parachute filled her ears. Her head began to feel heavy from the continuous descent.
At that moment, she vaguely heard loud explosions above and the roar of planes accelerating, but she couldn’t open her eyes.
“Wing Suit Damage 33%.”
After shooting down the two enemy planes, Wen Jing quickly turned her plane downwards. Spotting Xue Zheng now less than a hundred meters from the water’s surface, she realized she couldn’t fly over to rescue her, so she unbuckled her seatbelt and jumped out of the plane. The wing suit detection device emitted a damage alert as her wings deployed.
She frowned, almost forgetting that she had also taken a hit when they hijacked the plane, but fortunately, it was less than 40% damage. Seeing Xue Zheng getting closer to the sea, she accelerated her dive.
“Wing Suit Damage 36%.”
The rapid dive aggravated the existing damage, prompting another alert from the wing suit detection device.
As the sea approached, Xue Zheng could smell a bitter, salty scent even through her helmet. She began to fantasize about a possibility: what if at the moment she hit the surface, she miraculously traveled back thirty thousand years?
While she fervently prayed, suddenly someone above her grabbed her collar and slowed her descent.
She opened her eyes and saw a matching black helmet and wings—it was Wen Jing.
“Wing Suit Damage 39%.”
Hearing another alert, Wen Jing looked around and spotted a small island ahead. Grabbing Xue Zheng by the collar, she flew towards the island, slowing down gradually. Just before the wing suit reached its limit, she lowered their altitude, and together they fell into the sea about fifty meters from the island.
After swimming for a while, they reached the rocks surrounding the island. Holding their helmets, they walked towards the island, shaking their heads dry.
Their clothing and outdoor boots, taken from the Ponsuo Tribe, automatically activated their internal waterproofing upon hitting the water. Now, as they walked towards the island, the fabric began to dry quickly, and by the time they reached a little hill, only their hair and faces remained damp with droplets.
Seeing no immediate danger around, they both plopped down on the rocks. Xue Zheng noticed a fruit tree beside them, bearing yellow fruit. She reached out and pulled one down. “What a rarity! We can still find wild fruit trees in our world.”
After wiping it off with a cleaning cloth, she added, “Do you know what I want to eat the most right now?”
Wen Jing glanced at her, surprised that someone who had just nearly died was thinking about food. “What?”
“Peaches.” Xue Zheng gestured enthusiastically. “You know, the peaches Monkey Sister gave me when we went to Qingqiu Mountain last time. You have no idea how delicious those peaches are! So soft and tender, sweet and juicy, oh…” She reminisced, feeling her mouth water, and absentmindedly touched the corner of her mouth.
Wen Jing showed a puzzled expression after hearing this. Xue Zheng waved her hand dismissively. “Forget it; you folks who have never tasted good peaches wouldn’t understand. Next time we get the chance to go back, I’ll treat Monkey Sister and ask her to let you try one. Worst case, you can let her slap you once.”
“But I don’t want to get slapped by a monkey just for a peach!”
“Actually, it’s not too bad, it doesn’t hurt much.”
As soon as she finished speaking, Wen Jing’s communication device on her wrist beeped. She looked up to see a message from Ying Zhao: “The time channel from thirty thousand years ago has been confirmed closed after the latest scan.”
She extended her hand to show Xue Zheng as well. Although she knew this day would come, Xue Zheng still let out a long sigh.
After a moment’s thought, Wen Jing asked her, “Did you regret coming back with me when you fell?”
Xue Zheng bit into the wild fruit in her hand, grimacing at the sourness, and after spitting out the bits, she stood up, turned around, and brushed off her pants, nonchalantly tossing the fruit behind her. As she walked, she said, “A real woman never regrets.”
Wen Jing, holding her head, exclaimed, “Could you please be careful when you show off? You almost hit me!”
Xue Zheng turned back and laughed heartily, “Sorry, sorry! I didn’t do it on purpose.” After that, she walked up the slope and noticed what seemed to be a jet ski on the beach on the other side of the small island. She waved to Wen Jing, “Come look over here.”
Wen Jing got up and walked over, and they both squinted their eyes to take a closer look. It indeed was a large jet ski, and there seemed to be a small cargo ship nearby.
Suddenly, three men ran out from the island and started moving a box that looked like it contained alcohol onto the cargo ship, talking as they entered a nearby crevice between the rocks.
They both looked at each other in confusion. Wen Jing asked Xue Zheng, “How far are we from our destination now?”
Xue Zheng pulled out a locator and checked. “It’s a bit far. We’re still fifteen kilometers from the Northern Continent, and this is an independent small island.” She pointed to the map and showed Wen Jing, “It’s closest to land here, but after that, we’ll still have to travel over a hundred kilometers to reach the Northern Continent base.”
The base they were heading to was where the organization had helped complete the first personnel and equipment transfer for the asexual reproduction laboratory, and it was founded by a longtime friend of the Northern Continent Laboratory founder.
They were here, along with traveling to the Eastern Federation, thanks to Dr. Mei’er’s assistance in making contact. They were delivering supplies to these two locations while hoping to see the situation in both continents and provide some help to those who could survive.
Moreover, there was another important reason. Both bases were near crucial resources they needed to acquire.
In the next decade, the Space Administration’s Time Bureau research team was planning to expand their time exploration paths while the engineering maintenance team needed to upgrade the time capsules. The rare metals necessary for the capsule modifications had previously been supplied by the Federation. Those mines once belonged to the Euyun family and were located in the Eastern Federation.
On the other hand, the Northern Continent had several extremely important elemental mineral deposits essential for long-distance time travel as nuclear power materials.
Therefore, to ensure that they could still conduct time travel after the disaster and further validate their theories about the cycle of civilization, it was best if both bases could develop willing supporters and establish a capable operation for these resources.
After Wen Jing checked the map, she pondered and said, “Let’s land first. We might as well use that jet ski to see if we can gather some information from those men we just saw.”
After planning, they first ate the nutritional supplements they had brought along to regain strength, took a short break, then quietly made their way to the rocks where the men had gone.
As they arrived at the entrance of the mountain crevice, they faintly heard the sounds of conversation, along with some boozy air wafting towards them.
The dialect those men spoke had a strong Northern Continent accent. They found a hidden spot, and after listening carefully for a long time, they learned that a group of mercenaries had revolted in the past couple of days. Taking advantage of the chaos, they captured supplies and planned to leave the Northern Continent by boat. Today, they were using this small island as a rest stop to plot their escape plan.
They mentioned that the supplies were intercepted from outside a manor, which used to belong to the Euyun family. It was rumored to contain a massive underground shelter with abundant supplies. They were deliberating on whether they had enough supplies, considering going back to raid that manor for more.
“The Euyun family has collapsed now, but there are still people in that manor. It should be some relatives living there. I even heard the voice of a little girl. It shouldn’t be hard to handle.”
As Wen Jing and Xue Zheng listened to their enthusiastic discussion, they exchanged silent glances. After the fall of the Euyun family, their previously globally spread businesses were fought over and divided by various forces. However, some of the estate’s properties were still inhabited by distant relatives. From the conversation, they learned that this manor was not far from where they planned to land. It was called the Green Pasture Manor.
After hearing all this, the men started to speak about inconsequential matters as a few of them clearly drank enough to slur their words.
They patiently waited outside for a while, and then Wen Jing leaned forward, catching a glimpse of two old-fashioned submachine guns at the feet of two men sitting near the entrance. Seeing that the men were full and prepared to rest, she signaled Xue Zheng.
Xue Zheng retrieved the short-range laser gun she always carried and activated the transparent beam mode, shooting at the stone wall inside.
The group turned to look when a piece of stone suddenly fell from the wall. Seizing the opportunity, the two women dashed in, grabbed the two submachine guns on the ground, and opened fire on the group. In less than three minutes, their surroundings were filled with fallen bodies.
They searched around and found the keys to the jet ski and cargo ship on one of the men. They strode toward the beach.
Upon closer inspection, they discovered a large nuclear-powered jet ski parked by the shore, which had ample power and a hook for carrying cargo. They attached the cargo ship to the back and headed toward the Northern Continent.
Indeed, a war had broken out here, and smoke was billowing around the harbor. They found a secluded spot to land and hid the cargo ship deep among a pile of rocks.
Next, they planned to check on the Green Pasture Manor. If they could gather more supplies, they would return to retrieve the resources they had left behind to take to the Northern Continent base.
After finalizing their plan, they followed the locator towards the Green Pasture Manor. Upon arrival, they indeed saw a castle manor surrounded by high walls, with an ornate wooden sign lying on the ground, exuding an air of elegant decay. The sign read in fancy cursive: Green Pasture Manor.
They quietly approached the walls and observed the surroundings, finding all the entrance gates tightly shut.
At that moment, Wen Jing noticed a reflective object on the muddy ground. She bent down to pick it up and found it to be a pure gold personal badge bearing the Euyun family crest, with a name engraved in the center: Blanch.
She thought for a moment, realizing that this was one of the two girls born into the Euyun family in the last twenty years.
