Without Alona, ​​I can only use the airdrop system.

Less than 10 seconds after Cecil ended the communication, two men and two women entered the base lobby.

The man leading the group had spiky gray hair, light blue eyes, and wore a cool-toned military uniform that was completely different from Zhang Ziling and John's. His appearance was similar to Zhang Ziling's, but slightly more effeminate.

Beside him was a woman with black hair in pigtails, dressed and equipped in all black, with crimson pupils like jewels.

Another man had blond hair and blue eyes, and appeared to be dressed in casual blue clothing. A woman had pink eyes, silver hair, a pink headdress, and wore a white, plaid nurse's dress.

"!!!" Dorothy's gaze focused on the four people, and she murmured softly, "There are two more unfamiliar Nikis..."

"Greetings, everyone from Eden." The gray-haired man in military uniform stepped forward. "I am Kahn, the commander of the Gray Raven Squad. The members behind me are Lucia, Li, and Liv."

"Zhang Ziling, commander of the counterattack force."

“William, commander of the Heirs Force.”

The two men came up and shook hands with Kahn.

After everyone spent some time introducing themselves, William began to speak: "Gentlemen, for the sake of convenience, the three of us commanders will discuss the plan for this campaign against Nihilista separately. The rest of you are free to do as you please, and your commanders will inform you of the plan later."

William turned to Zhang Ziling and Kahn: "You two don't have any objections, do you?"

"No x2."

After completing the plan, William, Zhang Ziling, and Kahn left the hall and went to a conference room inside to discuss it.

Upon seeing this, Dorothy left the hall.

Upon seeing this, the other members of the Inheritors' Squad, including Niki, gave instructions to their teacher Hina and the others before leaving to rest.

"Phew..." Anis breathed a sigh of relief. "Narabi, Nien, shall we go for a walk?"

“No.” Labi shook his head. “We will be fighting alongside everyone here tomorrow, so it would be best if we could get to know each of you.”

After saying that, the three of them, including Lapi, came to the three members of the Gray Raven Squad.

"Miss Labi, is there anything I can help you with?" Lucia asked, puzzled.

"Where did you come from?" Labi asked, revealing his thoughts, "because your weapons look very different from ours."

“Um, this is our unique equipment…” Lucia replied after a moment of silence. “By the way, we come from the Hanging Gardens.”

"The Hanging Gardens?" Labi's eyes gleamed.

If I'm not mistaken, they must be from a different world, just like their teacher, Hina.

With that in mind, Labi extended an invitation to Lucia: "Miss Lucia, may we go somewhere to discuss this in detail?"

"!!!" Lucia was stunned for a moment, and could only nod with a wry smile.

Li and Liv, standing behind Lucia, became wary.

"Don't worry."

At this point, the teacher joined the conversation: "Hina and I are in the same situation as you. Rabi and the others are trustworthy."

"......"

The three members of the Gray Raven Squad exchanged glances, and although the teacher's sincere gaze did not dispel their doubts, they finally agreed to the teacher's suggestion: "Okay, let's talk somewhere else."

After a short while, the eight of them arrived at a vast grassland.

“As you said, we are not residents of this world,” Lucia said frankly. “We only learned after we came to this world that the ‘Constructs’ of this world are called Niki, and that Niki are only female.”

"A construct?" Labi asked doubtfully. "Could this Mr. Li also be...?"

“That’s right. Constructs are different from Niki. They don’t distinguish between male and female. As long as they are adaptable, they can be modified.” Li nodded. “However, some of the mechanical structures in Eden have also opened my eyes. Although they look similar to those in the Hanging Gardens, the principles of their construction and operation are completely different from those in our world.”

"Wait, what about your structure...?"

“Our structure is entirely mechanical, and we also have circulating fluid as an internal circulation system,” Liv explained. “Moreover, the method of replacing the body is different from Niki’s method of preserving the human brain; it involves uploading consciousness from the sea of ​​consciousness.”

"Circulating fluid for internal circulation, and it even uploads consciousness to the sea of ​​consciousness?!" Anis exclaimed, his mouth agape in shock. "That sounds incredibly advanced!!"

"Then, in your world, are the troubles you face even greater than those of Lecher?!" Nien asked curiously.

“To be precise, our troubles don’t come from large, slowly evolving machine life forms like Lecher,” Lucia said, “but from a virus called Punishing.”

Punishing?

Upon hearing this word, the teacher suddenly realized something, and combining it with the names of the members of the Gray Raven Squad, he understood.

Isn't this exactly the world view from Punishing: Gray Raven?!

"Teacher, what's wrong?" Hina noticed the change in her teacher's expression and quickly asked.

"It's nothing, I just thought of something." The teacher smiled and said, "Keep listening to them, maybe it will inspire you too."

"Hmm." Hina nodded, continuing to focus her gaze on Labi and Lucia.

“The Punishing Virus can infect not only humans, but also machines,” Lucia explained to Laby and the others. “Infected machines and constructs will become berserk and will attack all normal humans and machines indiscriminately.”

“So…” Labi fell into deep thought, “We encountered scenes of the Rachel killing each other on the road. Could it be that some of the Rachel were infected with the Punishing Virus?!”

"Thank goodness the commander didn't order us to get close there!" Anis exclaimed, breaking out in a cold sweat. "Otherwise, we would have been infected with that Punishing virus too!"

“It seems your commander is very cautious,” Li unconsciously praised, then sighed, “However, even the Rachel of this world is finding it difficult to resist the attack of the Punishing Virus.”

“No,” Nien retorted, “what we saw were just ordinary Rachels. If they were more powerful Rachels, they might not be afraid of the Punishing Virus!”

“A more powerful Rachel?” Liv thought of something after hearing this. “That’s also possible. We have another enemy—the Ascended. They are a very small number of constructs who have broken through the erosion of the Punishing Virus and entered the Ascended Network that the Commander mentioned, and were reborn.”

"Then, if there are even more powerful Rachel or Niki in this world, they might be able to break through the limitations of the Punishing Virus and become an Ascended Being in this world."

Lucia breathed a sigh of relief: "Fortunately, the concentration of Punishing in this world is not high, and the rate of proliferation is not very fast. It can be confirmed that the only source is Gabriel."

“Miss Lucia, who is Gabriel?” Rabi asked.

“He is indeed an Ascended One. When we were chasing him, he escaped into a large hole in a black vortex. After we followed him in, we came to this world, but we can’t go back now,” Lucia replied. “So our current goal is to defeat Gabriel and stop him from continuing to spread the Punishing Virus in this world.”

"Is this one of the reasons why you took the initiative to help Eden?"

"That's right, that's exactly what our commander planned."

"By the way, we've been talking for so long, but we haven't asked Mr. Yang Keyue and Ms. Hina yet." Seeing that her own topic was almost over, Liv turned the conversation to her teacher and Hina, "Which world are you from?"

"Hina and I are from Kiwatos..."

The teacher then briefly explained the worldview and setting of Giwatos to everyone present.

To be precise, it was the members of the Gray Raven Squad who heard it.

“Academy, students, teachers…” Lucia fell into deep thought. “The structure of the world of Giwatos is truly incredible.”

"And they don't need to be transformed into Niki or a construct, and their physical bodies can withstand bullets and artillery fire without being severely damaged. The inhabitants of your world are terrifying." Li couldn't help but feel ashamed. "Besides, even Niki and constructs might not be able to withstand some heavy weapons."

“That’s right, that’s right!” Anies chimed in. “This world is like a fairy tale, but the students’ fighting power is ridiculously abnormal!”

“Um…” Hina was a little embarrassed at this moment, “Actually, not all students in Giwatos can withstand fierce firepower. If they are attacked too much, they will still lose consciousness, and death is also possible.”

“But this is still better than losing an arm or a leg!” Nien said angrily. “Besides, in your world, you probably wouldn’t see any scenes of death and sacrifice.”

“…” Hina paused for a moment before saying, “Actually, there are some.”

"Haha..." the teacher laughed awkwardly, "It's like this."

Seeing that the teacher and Hina were unwilling to continue, Anis and Liv changed the subject and started talking about missions and daily life.

The group quickly became engrossed in their conversation, developing a strong curiosity about each other's worlds, and their relationship grew even closer.

Especially Lucia and Lapi, both of whom are usually quiet and reserved, but once they started talking, they chatted non-stop, discussing everything from combat experience to personal feelings.

Anis and Nien kept asking Li and Liv about the Hanging Gardens and the ground, and Li and Liv learned about the Ark from Anis and Nien.

Both sides developed a strong curiosity about each other's world background and settings.

The teacher and Hina acted as listeners, holding hands and standing obediently to the side, only speaking when someone asked them a question.

After some time, two men in military uniforms arrived at the place where the group was talking.

They were Zhang Ziling and Kahn.

"Looks like you're having a good chat." Zhang Ziling smiled knowingly as she looked at the harmonious scene.

"Have you finished discussing tomorrow's tactics?" the teacher asked.

"Okay." Kahn nodded. "Let's go eat first, it's getting late. We'll let you know tonight."

“Oh right, Brother Yang,” Zhang Ziling said with a smile, “After we finish discussing the tactical plan, let’s have a private chat with you, me, and Kahn.”

"No problem." The teacher nodded in agreement.

After all, for some reason, the teacher also felt an inexplicable sense of closeness to Kahn, besides Zhang Ziling.

Even now, the teacher doesn't know why this feeling of closeness exists.

After Kahn and Zhang Ziling told everyone about their plans for the next day, the teacher went with them to the open grassland outside.

"You two are actually time travelers, right?" Zhang Ziling brought up the topic first.

"Yes."

The teacher and Kahn nodded in agreement.

"What did you do before you traveled through time?" Zhang Ziling immediately explained his situation, "I was a special forces soldier in China before I was killed by a missile while on a mission."

“I was a doctoral student in Kyushu before I died,” Kahn said. “However, the plane I was on on my way back from studying in Onsa crashed.”

"You don't look very old, young Kahn," Zhang Ziling asked curiously. "Did you skip grades to get your doctorate?"

“That’s right.” Kahn said with great confidence, “I am one of the few geniuses in the entire Kyushu Kingdom. I was admitted to graduate school at the age of 16 and got my doctorate at the age of 18. My research interests span multiple disciplines, so the country is focusing on cultivating me.”

"Amazing!" Zhang Ziling then looked at her teacher, "Brother Yang, your profession before you died wasn't the same as Giovat's, was it?"

"It's like this, before I died I was a teacher in Huangxia Kingdom, and a car accident caused me to travel to Kivotos." The teacher said with a wry smile, "It seems that of the three people here, I am the most ordinary one."

“That’s not quite right,” Kahn said. “Everyone can play their part in a country. When you teach and educate, you are also nurturing the future of the country.”

"Haha, you flatter me."

“However, our three countries have different names, so why can we all understand each other’s conversations?” Zhang Ziling discovered a blind spot. “Hey, how about we compare the history of our respective countries in life?”

Afterwards, the three checked each other's work again and found that apart from the difference in names, the general historical trajectory was similar.

“I see. So the three of us are humans from different timelines within the same reality,” Kahn concluded. “That’s interesting.”

"By the way, after you all transmigrated, you all had your own special abilities, right?" Zhang Ziling was the first to demonstrate her ability, silvery-white particles appearing in her hand, which then formed a bullet. "This is my main ability—Zero Generation."

"The ability to convert surrounding energy into metal, and to give it shape and function, is terrifying," Kahn said. "It's very similar to the comic book 'Cosmic Escort' from my childhood."

The teacher was embarrassed, but in his real world, the corresponding comic book title was "Starship Troopers".

"My other ability... well, it's not convenient to reveal it right now," Zhang Ziling said with a smile.

"Teacher, what abilities do you have?" Kahn asked curiously.

"It's the ability of a character from a game called 'Arknights'," the teacher explained.

“The abilities of game characters…” Zhang Ziling smiled bitterly, “Unfortunately, before I joined the army, I only knew about the game ‘Girls’ Frontline,’ but it was this game that made me want to join the army.”

"The Arknights you mentioned, is it a mobile game where the female protagonist is a bunny-eared girl?" Kahn asked curiously. "Our world is called Future Ark, and the role that players play is called a mentor."

"Um, I'm called Doctor here," the teacher said with a wry smile.

"Alright, let me tell you about one of my abilities." At this moment, Kahn's entire body emitted a milky white light.

"What is this?" Zhang Ziling asked curiously.

"If this light continues, I will transform into a mecha approximately 3 meters tall."

"Without any tools or machinery, the human body can transform into a mecha?!" The teacher was shocked.

"Yes."

........

After discussing their respective abilities, the three had a lot to talk about due to the differences in the details of their worlds. They also found themselves inexplicably kindred spirits, and their conversation ranged from the differences in their worlds to their loved ones, the further arrangements for tomorrow's plan, information about the Garden of Eden, and so on. As a result, they talked until very late before going to bed.