Long-term salvation

"Why is there no sound?"

Koko HekMatyar (from "Queen of Arms"), who was only thirteen years old, frowned as she twisted the buttons of the radio, trying to find something interesting from the harsh rustling sound.

But after trying several times, the girl could only sit back on the sofa dejectedly and said to her brother Kasper HekMatyar who was sitting opposite her:

"We're near the Maldives, and why isn't the satellite TV working?"

"Try again, you will definitely succeed."

Casper said perfunctorily as he flipped the pages of the book in his hand - the boy was reading a story collection called "Weird Tales", which collected works from many science fiction and fantasy writers... The most were written by a guy named Randolph Carter. The stories written by this guy were very interesting, but Casper and Coco would have nightmares after reading them at night.

But even so, the brother and sister still can't let it go.

"If you're really bored, you can go to the bridge."

"...Did anyone tell me your suggestions were always bad?" Koko glared at her brother in dissatisfaction. She shook her hair and turned to look at the bodyguard sitting in the corner of the room. "Lem, let's go to the bridge and ask what's going on."

"Yes, yes, my lady."

Hearing this, Lime Brick had no choice but to nod in agreement. He stood up, put on his chest mount again, and picked up the rifle leaning against the table - a precision-made M4A1 produced by Atlas, with perfect feel, perfect workmanship, perfect accuracy, and a not-so-perfect price.

Feeling the weight of the rifle in his hand, Lime had little confidence in his eldest daughter's family business's idea of ​​transforming into the arms trade... at most, they could just pick up some leftovers.

"Do I really need to arm myself like this? A bulletproof vest will be enough," Koko said, her eyes half closed as she reached out to fiddle with the grenade hanging from Lime's chest. "Could we encounter pirates here? This isn't the Caribbean! Ahhh, I get angry just talking about this... Damn Triple God Entertainment Group, can't they release more movie discs?!"

"Let's buy it after we get off the ship," Lime sighed, looking helplessly at his daughter who was starting to throw a tantrum. "You're going to the bridge, but there are a lot of tactless mercenaries there, so you have to prepare more."

"Then whatever's your thing, Rhyme—come with me to Jurassic World sometime. I hear there are real dinosaurs there."

"It's not finished yet, miss."

Leaving the room, Koko walked along the corridor of the large container ship "Dark Blue Moon" towards the bridge. The afterglow of the setting sun sprinkled on the girl's long hair, giving it a layer of non-shiny gold.

Among the fleet of seven container ships of various sizes, the Dark Blue Moon is the largest one, with the best facilities and the tallest bridge - but for the girl, she doesn't like going there.

It wasn't just that the work was dull, there was one guy there who was just plain annoying.

But now there seems to be no choice.

Although she was a little resistant, the young Coco still walked happily in the afterglow of the sunset, complaining to Lime about her lazy brother as she walked, but she never mentioned her father Freud - neither the brother nor the sister did so.

As she passed a porthole, the girl stopped and turned to look out the window. After staring silently for a few seconds, she turned back to look at the bodyguard following behind her and asked in confusion:

"Rhyme, isn't it noon now?"

"Yes, it's dusk now and the sun is about to set."

"I see."

Hearing the reply from the veteran who had been with her for over a year, Koko nodded slightly. She looked out the window again and continued to ask:

"Then...why is the sun so bright? And getting closer?"

Dazzling? Getting closer?

Lime was stunned, but before he could say anything, he heard a muffled sound - flames exploded on one of the freighters in the fleet, and ugly smoke billowed up - the shadow of an armed helicopter passed over the sea, leaving behind a roar and destruction!

"Attack helicopters?! Where did these come from in the Maldives... Sri Lanka, or India?!"

Lime spoke instinctively, leaping forward, shielding Koko behind him. At the end of the corridor, gunshots and panicked shouts rang out. The wailing of alarm bells, the stuttering words of comfort on the radio, even the clatter of footsteps—all the tranquility was instantly shattered, disrupted by the sudden attack.

Lime gritted his teeth, unable to extract any useful information from his brain, picked up Koko and ran quickly in the original direction. He planned to reunite with Casper's bodyguard team first, and then make plans:

"Damn it, who else here could deploy attack helicopters?! Atlas... they're too far away. It can't be the United States Navy's Fifth Fleet (originally reorganized in 1995)?"

"Maybe not them," Koko said calmly. "Lem, prepare to fight—He is coming."

Who?

Rhyme got the answer in a matter of seconds:

Ahead. The metal bulkhead melted in a golden flame, the molten metal swaying left and right along the rocking hull. Every contact with the corridor and bulkhead was accompanied by an unpleasant hissing sound, but this sound was far less terrifying than the clanging sound of combat boots stepping into the place!

The melt solidifies and twists into steps.

"Oh yeah? There's an unexpected bonus... Baizi, go find the other one."

The man with silver hair walked in from the gap in the bulkhead. He was wearing a gray-black stealth suit and an eyepatch, and beside him was a girl with the same silver hair—but her figure was even smaller than the thirteen-year-old Koko. After noticing the two extremely rude looks, Hina frowned and asked aloud:

"Sensei, can I give those two guys a punch?"

"Just bear with it for a while, Hinata."

As Rhodes spoke, he suddenly exerted force with his feet and pressed Lime against the bulkhead before he raised the gun!

So fast! A cyborg soldier?! Rhyme's breath hitched, and a hint of sweat broke out on his forehead. He had seen the strength and speed of ATC's cyborg soldiers before, but those "tools" were clearly nothing compared to the man before him.

"Former Captain Lime Black of Delta Force?" Rhodes raised his eyebrows. "I remember Irons should have sent you an invitation...your entire team, oh no, it was General Hammer."

"Are you from Atlas?!"

Feeling the coldness of the gun barrel against his chin, Lime made up his mind. He slowly loosened his grip on the rifle and raised his hands upwards, trying to remove the grenade hanging on his chest - take off the grenade and die together with this man who seemed to be a cyborg!

This is a really nice way to die. If I just buy a little more time... Wait, where's my grenade?

"negotiation!"

Koko shouted loudly.

The girl who got up from the ground raised the grenade high. She held the handle tightly, and the pull ring had been torn off when Lime threw it just now. Koko's heart was beating wildly, and she even felt a little dry in her mouth. After realizing that the other party did not kill Lime and herself immediately, her mind quickly became active:

The person who came had some ulterior motive. Whether it was kidnapping, taking me hostage, or something worse, as long as they didn't kill me, that was my chance!

A chance to survive and even regain freedom!

The girl thought so, and for the first time in her life she entrusted her fate to God.

"Refuse to negotiate," Rhodes shrugged, "Let go."

Koko: “???”

The gods refused... but wait, this plot development doesn't seem right! Shouldn't there be a tense negotiation between the two sides, with Liam seizing the opportunity to counterattack, a hasty exchange of fire, and ultimately a glimmer of hope, or perhaps Casper's bodyguards arriving from another direction to rescue them?

"Hey, Sensei, stop playing around. Is finding a strong psychic viewer enough to make you happy?"

Hinai sighed helplessly. She walked over to Koko and grabbed the grenade. Under the horrified eyes of Koko and Rem, the girl first smashed the bulkhead with a punch and then reached out with the grenade.

The sudden explosion, accompanied by dust and smoke, rushed into the cabin corridor, blowing up the beautiful silver hair. When the hair fell, Rhodes had already punched Lime in the abdomen, causing the latter to curl up like a shrimp and vomit some turbid gastric juice on the ground.

Lime tried to stand up, but was immediately knocked down by Hina with another punch. He could only watch helplessly as Rod pinched the cheek of the person he was protecting... and even said while pinching:

"What world serpent? What Jörmungandr? Do you still dare to block the sky? Do you still dare to seek world peace? How dare a mere arms dealer be so arrogant!"

"Eh?! What the hell are you talking about...Casper!"

Koko, whose face was being rubbed, was surprised to see Casper at the end of the corridor, who was still holding his book. But after walking a little further, the girl saw her brother having a gun pointed at his head.

"My bodyguards are all painted on the wall," Casper said, his face calm as he gently closed Weird Tales. "Today, I finally saw a 3,600-degree rotation of the human body. It was worth the trip."

Koko had a "you're useless" look on her face, but then she noticed the person pointing a gun at her brother:

A gray-haired girl, but those wolf ears on her head? It was only then that Koko noticed that the silver-haired girl in front of her had a strange halo above her head - not like an angel, but more like a demon - wait, she really had demonic bat wings!

This is so... so great!

“Cool!”

Koko nodded. She approached Hinata cautiously and asked her seriously:

"How did you do that? I want one too!"

For a moment, the entire corridor fell into awkward silence, with only the occasional sound of gunfire inside and outside, and the roar of explosions coming from other freighters.

"...You're more interesting than I thought, Koko Heikemedia," Rhodes shook his head amusedly and patted Koko's head. "I can't wait to talk to your father."

"Father? Our father is not on this ship," Koko responded coldly.

"Or rather, he's not even in the fleet," Kaspar added.

"?"

Chapter 491: What You See and Hear Is the Truth (3K)

The sun sets in the west, about to fall into the waves of the Indian Ocean.

The last ray of sunlight shone on Rhodes, causing his face to be faintly covered in shadow, making it impossible to see his expression.

The sticky darkness was growing in the corridor, climbing up the boy and girl's legs little by little - Koko and Caspar felt like they were suffocating - even though they had seen the darkness and bloodiness of many worlds, they were essentially just carefully protected children. If they wanted to become the ruthless arms dealers of the future, they would still have to train for many more years.

Of course, their fate will change. This is the decree from the Lord of Mankind!

This is better than Koko claiming in the future that "selling arms is for world peace", investing in quantum computers to control logistics networks, and completely blockading the sky to force peace on the world - Caspar, as her brother, sees it more clearly than her.

Even without the sky, mankind will never lack war.

The Lord of Hosts says so!

"That's quite interesting," Rhode said, stroking his chin. The atmosphere in the corridor relaxed as he spoke. "So it seems you don't even know where your father is... He's very cautious and good at hiding himself. He's truly worthy of being a ruthless shipping tycoon who fought his way through the business world and on the battlefield. It seems we underestimated him."

"We really don't know where Father is, sir."

Koko took a few deep breaths and stood with her brother. The latter quickly understood what his sister meant and agreed:

"We could be decoys, or we could be hostages. Theoretically, I think he might simply be spreading the risk, releasing the 'big shot of the Hecmedia family' as part of the decoy intelligence. If I'm not mistaken, your intelligence system must have found a lot of relevant intelligence and parsed it out to find the most valuable one... Well, the two of us are indeed very valuable. After all, we are the heirs of the family."

In the original "Arms Queen," the two Hecmedia children had a terrible relationship with their father, even more than a decade later. Koko refused to reveal her father's name and never mentioned him, while Casper was a bit better, but he also disagreed with his plans for the Hecmedia Group.

"Besides, even as a 'proton' trade, it's a little late. There are too many variables in using this method now," Koko added. She looked at Hina and Shiroko again, feigning sparkling interest. "But as a hostage, can I see your bio-modification technology?"

Looking at the brother and sister who sang the same tune and quickly pushed the blame on their father, Rhode, who had some more thoughts in his heart, bent down, patted their heads, and said with a smile:

"The heir to the Hecmedia family is of no value to me, and the same goes for your father's estate—indeed, it would be more appropriate without you."

"No, no, no, we are very valuable, just like the powerful psychics you just mentioned..."

"Yes, that's why."

Rhode pulled out two black and gold business cards from his pocket and stuffed them into the hands of the two children. Facing their bewildered expressions that had finally broken their composure, he gave a thumbs-up, his lips glistening.

"Welcome to Miskatonic University! Our school is located in the picturesque town of Arkham, known for its outstanding people. Our programs in archaeology, mysticism, history, geology, and other fields are at the forefront of the world. We have advanced teaching facilities and a strong faculty!"

"Eh?"

"If you enroll now, you can also get a free preview of the Demon/Evil Spirit Summoning process! If you don't enroll, you can also enjoy the home delivery service without any negative reviews!"

"Eh eh eh?!"

"Okay, let's go, we don't have time to waste."

Pushing the two bewildered children, Rhodes cheerfully walked towards the bridge. Mori and the mass-produced Nikkis had just sent a message that the bridge had been taken under control and that a search and suppression operation was underway for those inside. After seeing Rhodes raise his foot, Baizi and Hina each grabbed a still dazed Lime and hurried after him.

This place is not far from the bridge, and it doesn't take much time to walk there, but the journey is not safe:

Explosions were heard from other cargo ships from time to time, and the roar of helicopter rotors never stopped.

Even on this ship, the sound of intermittent gunfire could still be heard along the corridors and metal bulkheads. The mercenaries, who far outnumbered the crew members, were still resisting. They opened the containers marked as important supplies and took out more weapons.

Bullets flew in the narrow and complex passages, but for the mass-produced Nikkis performing the clearing operations, the biggest problem was not the enemy's firepower, but how to find them in these terrains.

Of course, they occasionally come to you on their own.

Near the bridge, Rhode stopped and raised his gun to knock over a mercenary who had cautiously poked his head out of the cabin. The bullet pierced the mercenary's head, and half of his skull spun and hit the ceiling. Before his companions behind him could react, they heard the sound of a small creature jumping around in the corridor.

A scream that seemed to be in Portuguese flashed by, but it was too late.

The crisp sound of several pairs of combat boots stepping on the metal stairs merged into the roar of the explosion. Dust and smoke rushed out together with the creaking sound of the hatch hanging down, and flew out from the half-open circular porthole on the other side of the corridor.

There was silence, with only the muffled sound of blood dripping into the dust.

"Umbrella mercenaries, tsk tsk tsk," Rhode shook his head, pushed aside the broken corpse with his foot, and continued walking forward. "Although they are numerous, they are not elite, and their backgrounds are mixed... Marian and the others need to hurry up and not cause any supernatural incidents related to the otherworld."

"Do you need me to take a look? I can't stay in the air for as long as Mika, but I can still fly and glide for a distance."

As Hinai spoke, the bat wings behind her suddenly opened up, instantly cutting through the metal bulkhead, causing the bodyguard Lime next to her to break out in cold sweat on his forehead.

Before Rhode could speak, Koko next to him had a flash of inspiration in her mind. She suddenly realized something:

"Wait, wait, wait, the 'other world', right? Another supernatural dimension filled with hostility towards humanity!"