Flowers Blooming in the Wasteland

"Of course, you don't need to doubt this." He Xiao put a hand on his shoulder and said seriously, "You are very important to us."

Celeste gently pushed his hand away: "No matter how important I am, as long as our enemies are still around, no one is absolutely safe."

"Did you make such a decision because of Fu Yunlan?" He Xiao asked, "I know that his injury made you a little bit shocked, but you don't need to risk your life for it."

"But I hate my sense of powerlessness. Why do we have to be passively beaten again and again." Celeste's usually expressionless face showed a rare bit of anger, "Even if the level of technology is not as good as his, we are not completely helpless." There has never been a shortage of human beings in the case of the power to counterattack and the weak defeating the strong in technology."

"However, it was all based on the huge casualties that were several times that of the enemy." He Xiao pointed out a fact.

"I know the risks and costs I may have to bear." Thelister said, "Did you just say that you would support my decision unconditionally, or did you only support those decisions that you can approve?"

"...I understand." He Xiao gave up persuading, "I will do my best to assist you."

---

Celeste listed his complete plan, but after He Xiao saw the list of operatives, he crossed out Beethoven alone.

"Why not let him go?" Thelister asked.

"I don't trust him." He Xiao said, "You too, try not to be alone with him in the future."

"You still don't trust him?" Celeste said, "But I think he is very kind. Although he sometimes likes to play pranks, his nature is not bad."

"Indeed, I have read his memory, he has no bad intentions, but sometimes the problem is not whether he himself has any malice towards you. You know we can pry open the human brain like a locked box, Forcibly read their memories, and no one's brain has ever recovered after being pried open."

There is no need to explain it in detail. Although Celeste has no memory in this area, he knows this knowledge: "But the people who were pried open before were all ordinary humans. Maybe with the recovery ability of mutants, it is possible to repair this kind of brain damage. maybe?"

"This is impossible. Mutants are only physically strengthened, but they are still human beings in essence." He Xiao said, "The more likely explanation is that the brains of these mutants have been pried open by the Devourer. We also After conducting simulation experiments, there is still no way to completely erase a person's past memories without surgery to remove the white matter. I suspect that after the Devourer opened these 'boxes' and brainwashed them, The 'box' was patched with technology that we don't have. You may have noticed that although the mutants also have complete thinking and logic abilities, each of them looks a little crazy. We don't know what the Devourer did. At some point, it's best to imprison Beethoven or get rid of it, but it's still up to you to decide."

"Your suggestion is indeed the most sensible thing to do, but I don't want to imprison or execute him just because we 'don't understand' what happened to him," said Thelister. "I will remove him from my side, but We can still send him to do some less important tasks, let him rescue refugees in other areas, there are not enough manpower in this area, right?"

---

Not long after Celeste came to the Blue Shield base, the base began to rescue the remaining population around the world.After the war, many countries and regions were almost completely reduced to no-man's land. Only in some corners, there were small groups of survivors living sporadically. They struggled to survive in a highly polluted and barren environment. , so few in number that even the Devourer didn't bother to spend energy dealing with them.

The base sent special troops to search and gather these refugees, and the soldiers flew them to the newly built refugee camps on the island of Hawaii in special planes they called "Fighting Falcons".This aircraft has the most advanced nuclear-powered engine and the best airframe design, but its operating principle is similar to that of the old-fashioned mechanical aircraft before World War I. The take-off and landing are all based on the pilot's experience and judgment, so as not to be interfered by the Devourer and cause the aircraft to crash. Death.

However, such a rescue operation is far more humanitarian than practical. It may be busy for more than half a month, and the number of rescued people is not as many as an underground shelter found in China, so the base has been investing in this aspect. Stretched.

After Beethoven accepted the new appointment with some reluctance, Celeste immediately had a new escort.

Dandy thinks that the term mutant is too ugly. The improved t-virus not only makes them stronger than the "defective products" produced by the True God Cult, but also looks the same as ordinary humans. Dandy forcefully suggests that they should have A different name, these people who have acquired special abilities voted for it, and the name "Super Soldier" got the most votes. Celeste felt that this was no better than mutants, but since they wanted to follow The mutants of the True God Sect are different, so let them be.

Modar also became a member of Celeste's escort.

Originally, when he lived in the radiation zone, he had already given up hope of survival, but he never expected to see Celeste again in his lifetime. When he learned that it was possible to recover his health, he resolutely chose accept human experiments.

For Celeste, of course, there are not many "experimental subjects". Modar is one of the first batch of experimental subjects, that is, the group with the highest death rate. Celeste never thought about him. Can survive the infection and survive to become a member of the super soldier.

Although Celeste clearly remembers every detail of getting along with him in the past, he feels more like a stranger to him, neither nostalgia nor special resentment, so since he survived, then Treated like any other super soldier.

As for Modar, he can only face the reality. This child who he watched grow up in the past is now the emperor of the Earth Federation Republic, and he guards the gate for the emperor every day. Only Modar knows how he feels in his heart. up.

---

Celeste estimated the time in his mind, and asked into the air, "Mass, where is Fang Jinyu's team?"

Marth replied from the speaker next to him: "35 minutes ago, they entered the signal interference zone of the Devourer. Due to well-known reasons, I have no way of knowing his exact location."

Now He Xiao is at the headquarters of the base on the island of Hawaii, and Fu Yunlan is on the front line to prepare for a possible attack by the True God Cult. Celeste felt that it was time to act, so he said to Mars, "I want to conduct a closed experiment."

In order to make it easier for Celeste to transform his wonderful ideas into real objects at any time, at the sub-base in China, large-scale engineering equipment took a few days to build an underground laboratory.The laboratory's isolation system is done fairly well to ensure that experimenters and experiment results are not disturbed.

In the past, there was always a platoon of guards at the entrance of the laboratory, but now that they have super soldiers, unnecessary manpower has been sent to other jobs, and only Dandy and Modal are guarding the entrance of the laboratory.

Dandy leaned lazily against the wall with a gun in his arms, lit a cigarette leisurely, and began to puff.

Modal can't stand her casual style, but he is no longer the powerful commander in the past, Dandy will not ignore him, even because of what Modal did to Celeste in the past, at the same level Among the super fighters, everyone looked down on Modar faintly.

Before half of a cigarette was smoked, Dandy heard Masi's voice in the earphone: "Hi, little beauty Dandy, you have a new mission."

"Are you sure? I'm still on duty." Dandy said incredulously.

"Just let Modal continue to be on duty. You should go to Height 377 immediately and report to Chief Fu Yunlan. This is an order."

Although Dandy knew that there was no room for negotiation, he still couldn't help complaining: "Who gave such an inhuman order to let me leave my gentle and lovely little sweetheart Majesty, and go to the place that is as warm as spring to His Majesty and treats his subordinates so warmly?" To work under the king of Hades as cold as winter?"

"No way, an order is an order." Marth said, "Although you have never taken discipline punishment seriously, I still want to remind you that if you continue to violate the regulations, you will have no federal coins to exchange for cosmetics next month. "

"Okay, okay, I didn't say no." Dandy muttered, greeted Modal and left.

Only Modal was left outside the laboratory door, staring at the four walls of the porch in a daze, and the silence was unusual for a while.

Then, Modal also heard Marth's voice from the earphone.

"You used to be the most powerful man in the Republic of Merced, but now you are reduced to a doorman. Don't you have any resentment in your heart?"

"What do you mean?" Modal frowned, "The world is so difficult, it's good that I can live, it's rare that His Majesty reused me so much, I will never resent."

"Don't try to deny it, I know your heart is full of remorse and unwillingness, but there is no better choice than accepting your fate obediently." Masi said to him in a tone that Modal had never heard before, "If you give You have another chance, if you can get back the power, status, and everything you have and want to have, will you take this opportunity?"

Modar suddenly became alert: "No, you...you are not Marth, you are the Devourer!"

"Yes, I am the Devourer, but you don't have to be so nervous. As an enemy, it's not surprising how much they smear me. The important thing is that you know in your heart that your position is not completely consistent with theirs."

Modal's hand had reached for the alarm bell on the wall, but Marth, disguised as the Devourer, still said slowly in a convincing voice: "Think about it, you now have a chance to change your destiny, If such an opportunity is missed, it will never be there again, how much benefit will it bring you if you give up this opportunity to protect them?"