Long-term salvation

"A big brown-eyed brother asked me to tell you something. He said, 'Mobius hates people chasing his friends like wild dogs.'" The girl stepped back, cleared her throat, and screamed at the same time as she set off the buzzer alarm:

“Ah~~~~There’s someone here with a gun!!!”

The girl's voice was extremely high-pitched. An old man rushed out and carried the girl back to the back of a private car. He shouted at the police who were running over:

"Gun! There's a gun in their car. They must be accomplices of the robbers!!!"

What the hell? !

"Hands up! Damn it, he's wearing a bulletproof vest! There's another guy in the passenger seat... and he actually has a gun!"

Adler, who hadn't figured out what was going on, looked up and saw several policemen running down the street with their guns raised. The sound of fireworks exploding on the street had not stopped, causing almost all the private cars to beep noisily. The chaotic crowds of people, either fleeing or fighting over US dollars, were hindering the police's advance and investigation. All of this made the already nervous Chicago police even more anxious!

No one knows who fired the first shot. Cornered by police automatic fire, with no time to even identify himself, Adler took a few deep breaths and wanted to say only one thing:

"Fvck."

[Important] I've seen some people say it's best to change the title, and I think that makes sense. I'm going to change it now while the word count is low, but I won't change the cover. My current title is "Zero-Starting Army Without Borders." Does anyone have any new ideas or suggestions? Please help me with my child; I really don't know how to name him...

Chapter 58: Towards Florida (Part 1 of 2)

The black RV, playing Vocal Jazz, was wobbling along the state highway. On both sides of the road were fields where the ice and snow had melted. Occasionally, there were traces of human activities or sparsely populated towns, but these were left behind by the RV, which was heading straight towards Florida, where it almost never snowed.

After watching the snow for so long, it’s time to enjoy the sunshine, the beach, and the fresh coconut water there.

But it's not impossible now - Little Red Riding Hood was lying in a sea of ​​piled up US dollars. She casually reached out and picked up a pile, pressed her fingers and made the US dollars make a rubbing sound, over and over again, and she never got tired of it.

"Stop playing, I haven't finished counting yet."

Yuka angrily took the US dollars from Little Red Riding Hood and placed them aside on the table. Noah sat next to her, head propped up in his hand, quietly watching his best friend calculate her income and expenses, occasionally glancing at Rod who was driving.

Abigail was flipping through a Florida travel brochure, writing down the names of highly-rated restaurants and dessert shops, while Baizi was squatting in the aisle fiddling with his new road bike, an irrepressible smile on his face.

Marian fiddled with the tea set, preparing to serve hot tea to Rhode and Perseus, who were sitting in the passenger seat. Nikki listened to the soothing music and the sounds of her companions chatting. Her fingers ran over the rim of the glass, the warmth and the imminent thanks from Rhode making her squint slightly.

"I haven't felt this relaxed in a long time, even in the Soviet Union," Perseus said. He half-recline in the passenger seat, his gaze fixed on the gradually dispersing clouds in the distance—it had just rained—and a glimpse of the blue sky had already appeared. "And I never imagined I'd be robbing a bank with someone on US soil, and then throwing some CIA stray dogs into an FBI cell."

"That's nothing. Didn't Comrade Steel also rely on robbing trains to provide funds for the Party organization? Oh, thank you, Marianne. How about eating the remaining half of the pumpkin tonight?"

"Make it into pumpkin pie? Add some honey and glutinous rice flour."

"Abigail will be very happy," Rod replied with a smile. He held the steering wheel with his left hand and took a sip of the tea in the large cup with his right hand before lighting a cigarette. "We'll be in Florida in seven or eight hours. You can think about where to go."

"Beach!" / "Seaside Boulevard." / "Anything is fine..." / "Commander, have you decided where to stay?"

"I will definitely live in the RV first, and I guess I will need to live on the boat for a while. You can stay in a luxury hotel and then come to my side to take over," Rhodes said, but he felt the atmosphere in the RV stagnate, with only the melodious music and the clattering sound of the bicycle wheels spinning idly.

Rhode realized he had spoken out of turn and quickly changed the subject. He turned his head slightly to Perseus beside him and asked:

"Mr. Andre, what are you going to do next? Meet up with Irons and leave the United States?"

Indeed, it was unknown how long this guy would stay here - two or three months wouldn't be a big deal, but once Adler and his group came out and dealt with the mess they had, they would probably frantically track down Perseus.

"Aren't you going to Florida?" Perseus replied with a smile. "I have helpers in there. We'll sail directly to Cuba and then return to Europe from Cuba. We might also go to South America first to throw off the CIA's pursuit."

This is indeed a good idea. Rhode shrugged and did not continue to ask questions. Instead, he turned his head to think about his recent gains.

Solving the otherworldly incident in Warehouse 36 gave over 2000 otherworldly points. The overall difficulty of the enemies was not high, but their regeneration and mobility were more difficult than that of the monster in the Salem Town Hospital, which was why the latter had not yet reached its complete form.

The system didn't give the character any exchange vouchers for this mission. Instead, it expanded Rhode's personal storage space, doubling its original size and adding a system exchange item recycling function:

Only items redeemed from the system, such as weapons and vehicles, can be recycled, based on the degree of damage and condition, with a maximum of 90%.

While thinking about future development plans, Rhodes suddenly heard Marian's voice:

"Commander, Mr. Irons is calling the satellite phone!"

Irons?

Come to think of it, it seemed like he hadn't spoken to him for a while, and he hadn't seen any Atlas agents following him recently... Rhodes had long forgotten Irons' instructions.

"Marian, you take over driving," Rhodes slowed down the car to make it easier for Nikki to come over. When he passed by Perseus, the latter nodded slightly to him.

He reached out to pick up the satellite phone, but Rhode did not start talking directly. Instead, he took a sip of the hot tea that Marian had prepared long ago, and then he said:

"I'm Rod."

"..." There was a burst of electrical noise from the other end of the phone receiver. After a few seconds, Ains's voice came out:

"Where are you now?"

"I'm planning to stay in Florida for a few days, and then I plan to return to Arkham and buy a house to live in permanently."

"…Where's Perseus? Have him answer my call."

"Right next to me," Rhodes raised his eyebrows and looked at Perseus who was sticking his head out of the co-pilot seat. Perseus made a face in return... This disrespectful old man withdrew his gaze and continued, "He doesn't want to answer the phone, and how do you know he's here?"

"Because six waves of fucking CIA agents have already applied for jobs at Atlas and are causing trouble. They can't do anything other than spy. They can only type with two fingers, grumble while writing documents, and often steal cookies from the employee lounge! In just over half a month, my employee complaint office has already received seven or eight hundred complaints, and they're all different!"

"The head of the HR department is so guilty that he's about to resign!"

It can be seen that Irons is indeed a little overwhelmed. He must be regretting now that he gave Perseus a backdoor, allowing the latter to enter the United States smoothly - Perseus was indeed a bit rough in his work, and he should have visited other countries first to shake off his influence.

"Um... I'll tell Perseus," Rhodes said, feeling a little embarrassed and guilty. "Anything else?"

"After Perseus dumped the Atlas agent, I thought he would come looking for you, and indeed that's what happened," Irons sneered. He was currently in his private office at the Atlas headquarters. After glancing at the report on Rhodes's actions, he continued,

"Also, you two didn't do anything together, did you?"

"You care?"

"Just don't let me deal with the aftermath of this incident," Irons said, picking up the teacup beside him. Inside was the Tieguanyin tea Dr. Peng had brought from Aurora. The tea was rich and mellow, slightly astringent with a hint of sweetness, just to his taste. "One more thing, I've already informed my subordinates that you can freely access Atlas Company weapons from now on. Just go directly to the weapon sales stations and the tellers will serve you."

Sure, you finally agreed to give me gold coins!

"I understand." Rhodes suppressed his joy, but remained calm and asked, "Is there anything else you need me to convey to Perseus? Or do you have any other instructions for me?"

"It's true. A friend of mine got into some trouble recently and he needs help."

"Even the famous Mr. Irons can't solve it?" Rhode raised his eyebrows slightly. "An incident in the other world?"

"No, it's something from reality. You can consider this a test from me. If you want to become a leader, you need to do more than just handle the affairs of the other world. And once you succeed, my friends will definitely help you."

"…Tell me about it."

"He's a friend I met when I was serving in the United States Army. Calling him a 'brother' isn't an exaggeration," Irons said. He closed his eyes, memories of the Vietnam War coming to mind. "We survived the swamps and jungles. I chose to retire, and he continued to serve in the Marine Corps—"

"Brigadier General Francis Hammer, I was hoping you could help him."

Chapter 59: Florida doesn’t keep idle people! (2/2)

After hearing General Hammer's name, Rhode didn't immediately set out to help. Instead, he told Irons to hold steady for a while while he finished his own work. He couldn't just stand before the brigadier general with no money and use big words to get something for nothing, right? Only with sufficient funds could Rhode feel confident enough to act.

Furthermore, Rhode could more or less guess why Brigadier General Hammer still wanted to follow the original timeline's path to extinction, despite having such a close friend as Irons:

Disappointment, and the inability to swallow this breath.

This is indeed something that can be accomplished with military thinking.

If Brigadier General Hammer failed - and he would definitely fail - then Irons would definitely take action to protect the rebel soldiers and their families. This might be the reason why Brigadier General Hammer did not want to drag Irons into this. Irons, who was familiar with his friend's character, naturally understood that he could not persuade him.

But this is indeed a good opportunity. Rhodes has always been keen on poaching from the United States.

Just like the Soviet revisionists, what's the point of having such good soldiers not fight for the continuation of human civilization, but instead engage in doing those awful things?

But before that, it’s important to get down to business—

"Let me think about it, there doesn't seem to be anything else I need to buy."

Thinking about these messy things, Rhodes picked up two large bags and prepared to leave the supermarket.

This is Miami, Florida, the largest metropolitan area in the southeastern United States and the sixth largest metropolitan area, but it is also not the capital of Florida.

Rhode and his team had been here for nearly two weeks. They had initially held a farewell party for Perseus and watched him board a small boat before they hurriedly began registering a salvage company and purchasing a salvage vessel. Rhode had even taken the time to call Director Gomez Adams to inform him that he had officially begun the salvage operation.

As soon as he walked out of the supermarket, Rhodes saw a group of people across the street watching an old man catch a Burmese python with a trash can, but a few hot girls wearing only string bikinis walked by and immediately attracted most of the attention.

Several police officers were running wildly down the street, their eyes fixed on a naked black man fleeing for his life. He was clutching two police caps, his face brimming with innocent smiles, perhaps drugged or not. Perhaps because their primary target was a potential target of aggression, the officers didn't notice the Spider-Man cosplayer standing on the traffic light, shaking his butt.

Rod, who waited for the crowd to pass before crossing the street, saw a massive alligator slowly crawling across the crosswalk, with cars on both sides forced to stop honking their horns frantically. A few seconds later, a car owner came down with a baseball bat and hit the alligator hard on the head—this indeed solved the traffic jam. Hopefully, the brave man could keep his leg or some other part of his body intact.

It's fucking... wild out here.

Thanks to Florida's climate, there are hundreds of invasive species scattered throughout the state. It seems that every creature in the world can thrive here. Of course, humans are the species that live the most comfortably.

"Florida doesn't support idlers."

Rod sighed, preparing to hop on his bike—but the body had vanished without a trace, leaving only the front wheel. A few slovenly drunks, seeing the vacant expression on Rod's face, laughed a few times, and pointed him in a direction... "That's a fucking strip club. What the hell is that? Soothing a wounded soul after a theft?"

Is this Los Santos, San Andreas? Isn't that based on Los Angeles?! Wait, Vice City and Grand Theft Auto 6 seem to be based on Miami... I wonder if I can run into Trevor, Michael, and Franklin here.

After sighing, Rhodes carried his things and walked slowly towards the small port by the sea. He planned to call a taxi on the way and had made up his mind to take out his revolver and give the taxi driver a warning if he dared to take him around in circles.

"Why does it feel like this place is even more difficult than Chicago?" Rhodes muttered as he got into a red taxi. After getting in, he took out his pistol and began counting bullets. He counted to six bullets until the driver arrived at the small port at three times the usual speed.

After tipping the driver $100, Rhodes looked at the taxi that had begun to drift away and nodded, thinking that the driver was a promising talent, but the Miami police obviously didn't think so.

Almost as soon as the speeding taxi turned the corner, two police cars chased after it with sirens blaring.

Rhodes: "...Okay."

Carrying his belongings, Rhode walked towards the two-story building in the harbor. He first walked around the RV to check if anyone had stolen the tires or if some drunken fishermen had graffitied them, then slowly walked towards the building. Next to the rented white building was a large warehouse, originally used to store small yachts, but that yacht had been tied up at the dock and was used specifically for moving between the salvage ship and the dock.

Brown-red cylindrical flower pots are neatly placed along the walls of the first floor. Some of the unknown flowers in them have already bloomed, but most of the pots contain only weeds, which are now swaying slightly in the warm sea breeze.

Rod, holding the bag in his hand, walked up the stairs. Halfway up, he looked out to sea. Although he couldn't see the salvage ship from here, there was a radio inside the building to communicate with the ship, and there was no bad weather for the next month.

It was Abigail who opened the door for Rhodes. She usually stayed on land and said that she didn't like the smell of sea water and the things in it, as if there was something in it... But Rhodes thought she just didn't like the feeling of seasickness. After all, this girl usually ate fish faster than anyone else.

"Is Marianne back? I really don't want to eat the dinner Little Red Riding Hood made. That can't be called food, it should be called 'human vital signs maintenance potion'." Rhodes walked into the house carrying a bag. The decoration inside was very ordinary, but there were many dehumidifiers. "Huh? Why are you here alone?"

"Little Red Riding Hood said they might find the exact location of the shipwreck. She called everyone over and it looked like she was planning to explore deeper," said Abigail, sitting on the sofa, watching TV with a potato chip tube in her hand. "Didn't they roughly determine the area yesterday?"

An advertisement is playing on TV - a new type of painkiller called "Anshenling" is rapidly taking over the market. It is said that its analgesic effect is 200 to 300 times more effective than morphine, but the required dosage is only one tenth of the former. You must know that fentanyl is only 50 to 100 times more effective than morphine... Of course, the low price is also a very attractive point of Anshenling.

Rod opened a can of beer and drank it while watching the painkiller commercial on TV, feeling instinctively uneasy.

After crushing the empty beer can and throwing it into the trash can in the corner of the living room, Rhodes sat down at the table with the radio and spread out the densely marked map. Each circle, large or small, represented an area that had been explored:

The two Nikkis didn't need to breathe, and their bodies were equipped with numerous detection devices. Combined with professional metal detectors, they could often stay underwater for extended periods of time. A few days ago, they were working in shifts, but now, as the unexplored area gradually shrank, everyone, including Rhode, became busy, even working at night.

Even Abigail dived a few times. She could only doggy-paddle in the shallow water, but she seemed to be going down there to have fun. Those who were not busy would stay with the girl, as a way to relax after work.

Sitting quietly at the table, Rod ate the apple Abigail had washed for him (she didn't know how to peel it), and drew circles on the map with a compass. He compared the route of the Spanish Golden Fleet in the data with the legends and continued his mapping work.

Ziz——ziz——ziz——

There was a burst of noise from the radio station in front of him. Rhode raised his hand, pressed the communication button, put on the headset, and asked:

"This is Rhodes."

"Sensei! Little Red Riding Hood found a Spanish gold coin! We found the treasure from the shipwreck of the Lady of Atocha!"

[Important] After reading a post and discussing it with my friends in the group, I came up with a few book titles. You can take a look and give me some suggestions. Thanks for saving me from naming problems (cry). I will wait and ask the editor tomorrow if he can change the title:

1. Long-term salvation

2. Their journey to salvation

3. Steel, Gunpowder, and the Otherworld (This one seems to be a copy of the X-point book, so it’s not recommended)

4. The savior really only wants to save the world.

5. Saving the world starts from Atlas (How about changing this to "Starting from Silent Hill"?)

Chapter 60 Daily Work at the Dock (1/2)

The warm and slightly salty sea breeze blew across Rhodes' face. He was standing at the small dock with a half-can of ice-cold beer in his hand, watching the crane on the salvage ship place the thick wooden boxes one by one on the solid and stable land. When the last box was placed, Nikki, with hair as red as fire, poked her head out of the boat and waved to him.

"The fifth batch of salvaged items has been shipped back. I haven't counted the contents in detail. Commander, please have Yuuka and Noah take inventory."

Little Red Riding Hood jumped directly from the boat, striking a superhero landing pose. She then rushed to Rhodes, snatched the beer from his hand, and drank the rest of the drink in one gulp.

"Phew—as expected, ice-cold beer tastes better. The small refrigerator on the salvage boat is broken, so I have to carry a can of Coke or beer every time I go into the water."

"Where's Marian?" Rhodes looked around but didn't see the black-haired Nikki.

"Miss your first wife?"

"You can't say that in front of other people," Rhode said helplessly. He picked up a can of beer and threw it to the smiling Little Red Riding Hood, saying unhappily, "She's the eldest wife, what are you?"