"Newcomers from back home," Wang Hu answered casually in response to Liu Peiqiang's question.
At that moment, his attention was entirely focused on searching his memory for the terrorists. Wang Hu wasn't in the mood to deal with Liu Peiqiang.
"Newcomers from back home?" Little did he know that Wang Hu's words made the heart of Liu Peiqiang, who was holding a bouquet, sink.
He still remembered the scene when he first reported to the base, when protestors against the Wandering Earth Project tried to storm the facility.
Even now, though Liu Peiqiang spent most of his time training at the base, seemingly isolated from the outside world, he still knew that society was filled with many dissenters who constantly protested and tried to disrupt the project's execution.
They had even attempted to sabotage this very experimental site!
Keeping his suspicions off his face, Liu Peiqiang clutched the bouquet and walked toward Wang Hu as if nothing was wrong.
Love hadn't clouded his mind; the vigilance and responsibility of a soldier still churned in his chest.
As he got closer, Liu Peiqiang noticed that this colleague from his own cohort was staring into the crowd, seemingly looking for something.
Was he looking for some kind of device? Or a person?
Liu Peiqiang observed and pondered silently, wondering if he should suddenly strike right here and now.
Clutching the flowers, Liu Peiqiang was on the verge of making a move!
But then he had another thought: what if the other party had accomplices hidden in the crowd?
And there was no telling if enemies had infiltrated the base.
Would making a move now alert the enemy?
Or should he go find a superior officer and report the matter?
But to be able to infiltrate such a heavily guarded base, it would be impossible without inside help. Could he still trust his own superior officer?
Sometimes, it was better not to overthink things. The more one thought, the more one hesitated.
Even when the woman he admired, Han Duoduo, appeared in his line of sight, he still hadn't made up his mind about what to do.
Watching the charmingly smiling woman he adored walk over, he was supposed to have met her in the Elevator Pod.
Because of Wang Hu's appearance, Liu Peiqiang, who was still standing at the entrance, watched with a heart full of anxiety.
He would swear on his deceased parents that something was definitely going to happen today, and this Elevator Pod would surely be the center of the vortex!
"What are you doing standing here?"
Unaware of what Liu Peiqiang was worried about, and not paying any mind to the few unfamiliar faces Wang Hu had brought with him, Han Duoduo's gaze was fixed on Liu Peiqiang, the man in front of her who she knew had feelings for her, and for whom she felt the same.
Especially when her eyes fell on the flowers in Liu Peiqiang's hands.
A flutter of delight instinctively rose in her heart, and the smile on her face grew even more radiant.
Is this blockhead going to give me flowers today?
Han Duoduo couldn't help but feel a flicker of anticipation.
"This? That?"
Liu Peiqiang was a straightforward guy by nature, and the fact that he was interested in Han Duoduo was practically common knowledge.
Even Han Duoduo was waiting for him to confess, yet Liu Peiqiang was still hemming and hawing.
Faced with Han Duoduo's question, Liu Peiqiang reacted as he always did, except now he was even more conflicted than ever.
On one side was the woman he loved; on the other, his duty to his country and the world.
If he pretended nothing was wrong, gave her the flowers, and pulled her away, there was a high probability they could escape the coming storm.
But doing so would mean Liu Peiqiang was abandoning the responsibility on his shoulders, becoming a shameful deserter.
After all, the purpose of the people Wang Hu brought was unknown; they were very likely here to cause destruction!
Wouldn't running away be tantamount to letting a terrible event happen, making him an unwitting accomplice?
But... Liu Peiqiang's head was splitting. Staring at the sweetly smiling girl before him, he truly didn't know what to do.
Should I really drag this girl into this?
Fortunately, Wang Hu didn't leave Liu Peiqiang torn for too long, because the people he was looking for had appeared!
In his memory, the terrorists from the Digital Life Faction arrived right after Han Duoduo.
It was the same now!
Not far behind Han Duoduo, Wang Hu saw a very alluring woman of Korean descent, a bald Caucasian man, and two or three others approaching.
"It's them! Move!"
To Liu Peiqiang's utter shock, Wang Hu was the first to draw his gun, instantly emptying his clip into the Caucasians in front of him.
"A gun?" Eyes wide with disbelief, the moment Wang Hu pulled out his gun, Liu Peiqiang dropped the flowers and shielded Han Duoduo.
Huddled to the side, Liu Peiqiang couldn't fathom how Wang Hu had gotten a gun.
He knew the base had an armory, yes, but it was usually under extremely strict control.
How could an ordinary person just stroll around the base with a gun? Or had the base already been infiltrated so thoroughly it was like a sieve?
Han Duoduo was also stunned at the sight of the gun. Although she was a medic, the "soldier" part of her title meant she was not a conventional woman.
The roar of gunfire echoed in her ears, and the corpse of the Caucasian man lay on the ground before her.
She watched as Wang Hu and his two companions walked up to the Korean woman with their guns drawn, saying something to her.
Turning her head, Han Duoduo calmly asked Liu Peiqiang beside her, "Peiqiang, what's going on? Why is there killing?"
"I don't know," Liu Peiqiang replied, his face twisting into his signature wry smile, astonished by the courage of the woman beside him.
He thought he could be the hero saving the damsel in distress. That was out the window now.
However, the only silver lining was that it seemed Wang Hu wasn't a terrorist.
If he were a real terrorist, he wouldn't have acted so brazenly before achieving his goal.
After all, now that a gun had been fired, the base's guards wouldn't just stand by and do nothing.
And sure enough, their colleagues in the Elevator Pod were already rushing out because of the gunshots.
With this thought, Liu Peiqiang stood up and shielded Han Duoduo. He watched Wang Hu and his two men, who had now started beating the Korean woman.
He silently calculated that the other side only had three guns. With so many people on their side, they could drown them in spit alone!
Greatly reassured, Liu Peiqiang turned around and began explaining what had happened to the other colleagues who had come running at the sound of the commotion.
Completely unaware of what Liu Peiqiang was thinking behind him, Wang Hu was desperate to know just how many people the Digital Life Faction had sent to infiltrate the base.
"Still not talking?"
Wang Hu asked with a hint of anxiety, coldly observing as the expert sent by the East Asian Alliance CE repeatedly struck the Korean woman.
The main problem was that, according to his memory, this group of Digital Life Faction terrorists was the easiest to recognize!
But taking them out didn't mean the crisis was averted.
For this operation, the Digital Life Faction, under the cover of MOSS, had managed to sneak in a considerable number of people.
Although his side had deployed personnel in most of the Elevator Pods, with matters like this, you couldn't afford even the slightest chance of failure.
"Rest assured, even if she doesn't talk, it won't affect the space station."
The man from the East Asian Alliance CE special operations department spoke coldly upon hearing this.
He had seen plenty of tough nuts like her and hadn't expected to get anything out of her in public, especially in such a short amount of time.
But once they took this woman back, the special ops agent swore that she would spill everything, right down to the last time she'd eaten a corn dog!
"There's no other way," Wang Hu said. He also knew that some things just couldn't be forced.
Staring at the black dots faintly appearing in the distant sky, he could only place his hopes on his other self.
"Wang Hu, what in the world is going on?"
By now, many astronauts who had heard the gunshots had rushed out. Liu Peiqiang led them over and asked.
"Who are they?"
They weren't idiots. Liu Peiqiang and the others had more or less realized that Wang Hu seemed to be catching traitors.
"Terrorists from the Digital Life Faction."
Pointing at the woman who was still being beaten, Wang Hu then guided their gaze toward the distance.
"They still succeeded after all. Now it's up to the others."
"Hopefully, they can hold the experimental site."
"What?"
First came the shock. Liu Peiqiang and the others hadn't expected that terrorists from the Digital Life Faction could infiltrate a base as heavily guarded as this.
Then, following Wang Hu's gaze, they looked out. The sky, clear just a moment ago, was now filled with a dense swarm of black, square-shaped Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.
The anti-aircraft defenses around the Orbital Elevator instantly opened fire in a massive barrage, flinging golden shells into the sky as if they were free.
"Wang Hu!"
Before Liu Peiqiang could grab the Wang Hu beside him and demand what was happening, the Elevator Pods above their heads also seemed to run into trouble. Right before their eyes, several pods suddenly began to ascend at a rapid pace.
This was completely against regulations!
"I'll explain the specifics later. The priority right now is to get to shelter," Wang Hu said with a light sigh, patting Liu Peiqiang's shoulder, having done all he could.
"Wang Hu!"
Liu Peiqiang roared in a low voice, but he knew that seeking shelter was the only thing they could do right now.
What else could they do?
Forget not having guns; even if they did, could they expect to shoot down the countless drones in the sky with rifles?
Follow all orders and commands. Don't try to be a hero and cause more trouble for the base's security officers.
Acting recklessly at a time like this might even get them mistaken for terrorists by the already jumpy security personnel.
As Liu Peiqiang and the others reluctantly prepared to head for shelter, they witnessed the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles being hacked and manipulated to attack the base.
In this moment of crisis, Zhang Peng and his old Russian friend next to him braved the storm of bullets, rushed to their fighter jets, and took off.
Zhang Peng, attempting to be the hero who turned the tide and protected the Orbital Elevator, had just taken to the sky when he yelled like an ant on a hot pan.
"Andrei, my fire control system can't lock onto those drones! Did the hackers take control of our jets too?"
"Mine too, my friend! Damn it, why does the fire control system still register these drones as friendlies?" the Russian pilot, Andrei, yelled from his jet next to Zhang Peng's.
He was in the same predicament as Zhang Peng, limited by the fire control system that had been tampered with by MOSS.
Andrei mashed the fire button several times, but the jet gave no response.
Watching the drones rapidly close in on the Orbital Elevator, the Russian pilot gritted his teeth, so impulsive he almost wanted to ram the drones with his jet.
"We can't let this continue. There are too many drones. The anti-aircraft fire near the Orbital Elevator won't hold out," Zhang Peng said to Andrei. Just as he finished, he was stunned to find that while he couldn't attack the UAVs, they seemed to have no problem attacking him.
Sure enough, several UAVs were now latched onto his tail. He was flying an advanced jet fighter, for crying out loud.
How could he not shake off these winged UAVs?
Zhang Peng performed all sorts of aerial maneuvers, but he still couldn't shake the UAVs.
"Quick, Zhang Peng, accelerate! Accelerate!"
Noticing his comrade's awkward situation, Andrei wanted to help, but unable to fire, all he could do was offer verbal encouragement.
"Accelerate my... I'm at maximum!"
The acceleration pedal was nearly stomped through the floor into the fuel tank as Zhang Peng yelled, his head covered in sweat.
Just as Zhang Peng, out of options, was about to attempt the same risky maneuver from the original timeline, a golden light suddenly flared up from somewhere within the base in the eyes of everyone looking up at the sky.
Then, a deep red beam torrent erupted from it, soaring into the air like a roaring dragon!
The silhouette of a giant humanoid robot, prominent enough to capture the attention of every camera scattered across the base, emerged.