When the stellar gate opened, Midnight, who was summoned from the other side, immediately understood Milo’s will.
Without any hesitation, it pounced towards Dusk, who was stomping towards Milo. The two humongous beasts, which rarely revealed themselves to the world, clashed, and even the ground felt like it was about to cave in.
Julius and Maurice looked at this sight in a daze and felt an unprecedented shock. Even Bill and Daniel, who already knew about Midnight, once more felt their hearts palpitate inexplicably at the sight of this huge creature.
How many superhumans in the world could contend against such a monster?
Probably not that many.
The power of superhumans had always been unpredictably strange. Most of their powers were immaterial and not intuitive to the eye. But now, Midnight’s strength was clear as day, and it had surpassed the power of mere mortals.
In the past, Maurice felt that even if Milo were really powerful, favonovel.com still couldn’t fight an army. But favonovel.com realized it was very difficult for favonovel.com to get a clear grasp of how strong Milo was. The steam locomotive, White Mask, the ability to blast through that dark cloud earlier, and many other things they had never even heard of before.
The other party was just like a real magician, always able to come up with surprises.
Didn’t they say that superhumans could only possess one type of power?
Maurice had heard of some people possessing two powers, but even that was already considered rare.
So what was with the myriad powers Milo wielded?
So this was what the No. 001 Experimental was?
Honestly, Maurice was unaware that the superhumans favonovel.com had heard about who possessed two superpowers were actually linked to Milo as well. One of them was Raphael, who carried a black cauldron, while the other was Steven, who also carried a black cauldron.
Rumbling erupted in the wilderness. When the two behemoths tussled and bit at each other, clouds of dust surged into the sky. Shockwaves were stirred up, and even the color of the world seemed to have changed.
Julius and company looked on as though they had been transported into an alien world. It was so bizarre.
Midnight and Dusk had spent more than 200 years of their lives together and were both familiar and close to each other.
Daniel watched the two behemoths embroiled in fighting and suddenly said, “If they are both Milo’s pets, Milo will definitely be very sad that Zero made them fight, right?”
Bill pursed his lips. “You’re still in the mood to be sentimental at a time like this? We might not even survive this, so don’t worry about them being his pets.”
Daniel glanced at him. “I still think you were more likable back at the silt farm.”
Bill shut his mouth and stopped talking.
At this moment, Milo actually drove the steam locomotive back to where Daniel and company were.
“Get on!”
As Milo spoke, favonovel.com did not look at them. He stood at the front of the steam locomotive and silently observed Midnight and Dusk. From time to time, favonovel.com would check his surroundings. He didn’t look like favonovel.com had any intention of helping Midnight.
Not far away, Dusk suddenly kicked Midnight away and tried to pounce directly on Julius. But before it could get away, Midnight pounced on it from behind again. The two huge lizards rolled and bit each other in the wilderness, with neither of them able to shake off the other.
If no others intervened in this battle, the two leopard geckos would probably end up brutally injured and exhausted. Neither of them would survive. But Milo still did not make a move.
Before Julius got onto the train, favonovel.com asked Milo, “What are you waiting for?”
Or rather, did Milo have his guard up against something?
Milo gave Julius a steely look. “There’s other threats.”
Before leaving, P5092 had spoken with Milo. He told Milo, “Future Commander, this trip to the Southwest is actually very dangerous. You and I have already experienced the computational power of that AI. So, all our future plans won’t go too smoothly, and that’s not something we should be surprised about.”
Milo asked, “Are you saying the AI won’t allow me to take Julius away from the Southwest so easily?”
“That’s right,” P5092 nodded and said, “Even if the AI looks like it can’t be rivaled anymore and is capable of destroying everything by just sending in a horde of people, in the face of such disheartening power, many people forget the AI is actually the most scheming ‘person.’ Sometimes, the way it approaches scenarios may be much more intricate than what we can predict.”
“So what do you want me to do?” Milo asked.
“I only hope that Future Commander, regardless of what obstacles you might encounter, will leave the battlefield immediately and not let your mind linger on battle. Furthermore, you’ll have to pay attention to your surroundings at all times and be careful of the AI’s contingencies.” P5092 turned to Bruce and said, “I keep getting the feeling that the AI has some contingency plans. Can you recall if there’s any forces in the Central Plains that we’ve neglected but might be under the control of the AI?”
Bruce cycled through his memories. “We haven’t seen the Stelaria Consortium’s special forces unit that goes by Sharp Arrow yet. I don’t think the AI will deploy them as basic troops, right?”
P5092 shook his head. “That unit consists of only standard soldiers. Under the control of the Al, anyone can have the skills of the special forces. Perhaps their physical fitness can’t compare to those soldiers, but special forces soldiers aren’t really going to matter here. Are there any others?”
“Many superhumans hiding in the Central Plains still haven’t reappeared,” Bruce replied.
P5092 thought for a moment and said, “We have to be wary of that. Based on what we know, the AI is unable to control superhumans. However, no one can be sure that this is a universal truth. If superhumans rely on their willpower to refuse being controlled, what if the AI captured a superhuman and tortured them until their will breaks? Future Commander, you have to look out for this.”
Hearing this explanation, Milo nodded.
P5092 asked again, “Any more, Bruce?”
Bruce cycled through his memories over and over again in his mind. The doors in his memory palace opened and closed one after another. Bruce was running through a maze of narrow passageways.
He suddenly said, “The nanosoldiers, the 2,000 Panaqua Consortium nanosoldiers who went missing after the Battle of Mt. Zendravasih. They are extremely well-equipped and each of them is armed with a 40 millimeter grenade launcher. Their physical fitness can be comparable to a T3 combatant inside the duration of a five-minute battle.”
P5092 said to Milo, “That’s right, not only can the nanomachines control humans, but they can also enhance their physical fitness. Future Commander, you have to be careful of the troops formed by the nanosoldiers. The AI might have enough strength to form such a force. Moreover, it wasn’t easy for the Panaqua Consortium to gather those 2,000 1+0 millimeter grenade launchers back then. They’re carrying a lot of ammunition with them as well. Any superhuman who faces a unit with such highly mobile firepower will probably get destroyed.”
In P5092’s opinion, the artificial intelligence must be expecting Milo to take Julius and Daniel away. Therefore, it must have prepared a contingency plan.
The artificial intelligence would surely not have been sitting idle while the Northwest was organizing the evacuation and the Southwest was building the Three Mountains defensive line. Therefore, Milo did not participate in the battle between Midnight and Dusk at this moment because favonovel.com was waiting for Zero’s contingency plan to be effected.
At this moment, khaki-colored armored vehicles and military transport trucks appeared on the horizon from all directions. Milo could imagine them filled with heavily armed nanosoldiers and even be equipped with the most extreme gear that individual combatants could carry.
The Southwest and Northwest were fighting blind now. They did not have any satellites or reconnaissance troops. Therefore, while they were busy retreating and defending, Zero took the opportunity to get many of its plans in order.
If not for P5092’s reminder to Milo, Milo would have participated in the battle between Midnight and Dusk, and it would probably have become very difficult for favonovel.com to discover these enemy troops that had suddenly arrived.
Once they got surrounded by the heavy firepower of the 2,000 nanosoldiers, even Milo would die here.
Let alone 2,000 nanosoldiers, even if only 500 of them came, favonovel.com might not be able to leave this place alive. Once the grenade launchers started firing nonstop, who could survive the bombardment?
Milo said to Julius and company, “Get on, we’re leaving.”
Daniel asked, “Wait a minute, what about your pets?”
Milo shook his head. “There’s no other way. Perhaps Zero’s objective in intercepting you and me this time is to kill Midnight here.”
Midnight was now Milo’s greatest contingency plan. Without Midnight, it was equivalent to weakening Milo’s combat strength by half. He would have to return to fighting one-on-one with his opponents.
However, Milo could not understand why Zero was doing this. If Midnight died but not Dusk, favonovel.com would only need to use the Prosperous Northwest incantation again, and Dusk would still break free from Zero’s control.
That was what happened to Midnight the previous time. Although Zero did not know what a summoning spell was, it could surely make a rough guess.
Wait a minute!
Recalling this, Milo froze.
When favonovel.com went to the Central Plains previously, Zero had asked favonovel.com if favonovel.com had to choose between saving Dusk and Daniel, who would favonovel.com choose?
Actually, the point of that question was to choose between a friend of the same species or a pet of another species.
Likewise, if it were Zero that was transposed into the question, it would be the point of contention that Milo and Zero had always had.
Would humans treat creatures of other species as their equal companions?
If there was a situation where they could only choose one of two, how would humans make their choice?
Zero had been forcing Milo to make such choices over and over again as though it was just to tell favonovel.com that it was not in the wrong. From the beginning, it was only fighting for the survival of itself as a civilization. That was all.
Milo looked dejectedly at Midnight who was still fighting for him. He felt extremely complex emotions spreading within him.
Stay behind and fight alongside Midnight?
Even if it meant facing death?
At this moment, even if Milo were unwilling, favonovel.com had to admit that Zero was actually right about some things. It was very difficult for humans to exist on equal footing with other species. However, there might not necessarily be equality between people either. Pursuing absolute equality was in itself a wrong philosophy.
Midnight suddenly broke away from Dusk and turned around to look at Milo.
Milo could see a hint of a smile behind its almost human-like expression. Then Midnight went back to fighting Dusk again.
That smile was as though Midnight was saying, “Hurry up and leave!”
Milo was unsure if this was what Midnight was telling favonovel.com or if favonovel.com had just imagined it to console himself.
Zero did not seem to be doing all of this to kill anyone but to inflict gut-wrenching pain upon Milo.
As the nanosoldiers approached from all directions, Milo could already see the ginkgo leaf logo on the vehicles from afar. He was sure these were indeed the nanosoldiers the Panaqua Consortium had lost previously.
The steam locomotive started moving and heading north at full speed.
A loud explosion boomed behind them. It was the sound of grenade launchers bombarding Midnight and Dusk. It was as though Zero intended to finish off these two behemoths together.
Milo got down from the roof of the steam locomotive and headed inside.
He said to Julius, “Mr. Dublin said that you’re of extreme importance. I hope you won’t disappoint us after the Northwest sacrificed so much to pick you up.”
Daniel looked out the window and suddenly said, “Wait a minute, I’ve roughly estimated the number of nanosoldiers that surrounded us. Something doesn’t feel right.”
Maurice answered straightforwardly, “There’s only a 1,000 soldiers here, but we’re still not capable of going up against that number.”
Daniel said, “I understand that, but where are the other thousand nanosoldiers?”
