133: Chapter 133 Exchange

As the battle concluded, the massive [Cloud Top Fortress] slowly descended, hovering steadily over the flat ground of the island.

Meanwhile, the a70 fighter piloted by Zhou An landed straight onto the fortress's landing pad.

The canopy opened, and Zhou An leaped down from the fighter.

Shen Xingyue, Li Muzi, and the others quickly walked forward to meet him.

"Boss, you aren't hurt, are you?"

Even though they knew their boss's strength was monstrous, seeing the world-destroying cannon fire exchange in the sky earlier still made their hearts flutter with anxiety.

"Boss, those orcs outside..."

"Don't worry, it's fine."

Zhou An casually took off his bloody black coat and handed it to the housekeeping robot nearby.

"They were just a bunch of small fry delivering packages."

"Phew, that's good. The commotion from the fortress's main cannon firing just now was too loud."

Muzi patted her chest and let out a long sigh of relief.

While everyone was exchanging pleasantries, the roar of light engines echoed from midair.

A few flat engineering tow ships slowly landed on the landing pad.

With a hiss, the pressurized cabin door opened, and over a dozen shivering figures appeared on the open ground.

There were only a dozen or so of these rescued Winged race girls.

Most of them bore horrific wounds. Some had their originally pristine white wings brutally snapped, leaving only bloody bone splinters, while others had backs covered in terrifying bloody holes where their feathers had been plucked out alive.

"Woohoo... Don't hit me, don't touch me..."

A younger Winged girl curled up on the grass, tightly hugging her knees. Her eyes were hollow and unfocused, clearly suffering from severe mental trauma; even her crying had become extremely faint.

More of the Winged girls huddled together like startled birds, staring in terror at the cold mechanical guards and Zhou An's group. Their eyes were filled with numbness and despair. Going from the orcs' warship to a human base seemed to them like merely changing to an even more terrifying purgatory.

*Whoosh—*

Just then, two sounds of breaking air came from above.

Ivy and Sheila landed heavily on the ground. Disregarding disarming themselves, they abruptly retracted their wings and stumbled toward their shivering compatriots.

"Mia! Wendy! You're alive... That's wonderful!"

Sheila recognized several familiar faces in the crowd at a glance. Her tears instantly burst like a broken dam as she rushed forward to hug them tightly.

"Sheila... Captain Ivy..."

Seeing her familiar kin, the Winged girl named Mia finally found some focus in her numb eyes, which then burst into heart-wrenching wails.

Seeing her brutally disfigured clanswomen, Ivy felt a twist of pain in her heart. Forcing back her tears, she squatted down and gently gathered the most severely injured girls under her relatively broad wings, trying to offer them a sliver of warmth.

"Captain..."

An older Winged woman weakly grabbed Ivy's arm and looked around in terror.

"Where is this? Where are the werewolves? Have... have we been captured and brought to human territory?"

Sheila quickly lowered her voice to explain, "The werewolves are all dead... It was the master of this island, a powerful human, who saved us. It's temporarily safe here, don't be afraid..."

However, such an explanation seemed extremely hollow to her heavily injured and terrified clanswomen.

Several of the critically injured girls even began to show symptoms of infectious shock, their lips turning purple and their bodies twitching uncontrollably.

Watching her compatriots' vital signs rapidly fading in her arms, Ivy abruptly turned her head to look at Zhou An.

She have not the slightest hesitation and quickly walked over to him.

*Thud!*

Ivy fell heavily to her knees. Immediately after, Sheila ran over and knelt down side-by-side with her captain.

"Mr. Zhou An!"

"I know we have no right to ask for more from you. But I beg of you... show mercy and save my people! If you are willing to help, I will serve you like a beast of burden for generations, with absolute loyalty!"

Sheila wept even more hysterically, her forehead pressed hard against the ground. "Please... they are dying..."

Zhou An looked down at the two foreign girls kneeling at his feet, then looked past them at the horribly mangled survivors.

"Since we've already brought them back, I can't very well let them die on my landing pad."

Zhou An sighed softly, withdrew his gaze, and turned to Shen Xingyue.

"Xingyue, get ready to work. Move the medical equipment down from the fortress and set up a temporary treatment area on the open ground."

Hearing her boss's command, Shen Xingyue pushed up the glasses on the bridge of her nose and nodded crisply.

"Understood."

Shen Xingyue immediately raised her wrist, her fingertips rapidly tapping on the control panel of her tactical terminal.

*Beep—*

As the command was issued, the elevator hatch at the bottom of the fortress opened wide once more.

Dozens of nimble six-legged medical robots swarmed out. Their massive mechanical arms dragged rows of pristine white medical beds, sterile surgical pods, and canisters of recovery fluids, landing in an orderly fashion on the grass. In an instant, they set up a temporary field hospital in the open space.

The establishment of the temporary field hospital brought a glimmer of life to the injured.

"Medical robots, initiate scan mode. All patients with mild trauma or moderate blood loss are to be handled by mechanical arms one through five for suturing and basic fluid injections."

While methodically issuing commands, Shen Xingyue walked over to the most severely injured Winged girls herself.

Looking at the torn bases of their wings, Shen Xingyue frowned slightly. Her scalpel turned into a blur as she precisely excised the necrotic tissue, then injected highly precious cell regeneration serum into their veins.

On the other side, Zhou An didn't look much at the injured. Instead, he turned and called out to Zhang Ming, who was about to help out.

"Old Zhang, catch."

Zhou An casually tossed the [five-source power core] over.

Zhang Ming focused his eyes. "Boss, is this... the [five-source power core]?"

"It dropped just now. It's perfect for you to upgrade with."

Zhou An waved his hand, cutting him off. "Your vehicle has been stuck at LV4 for too long. Upgrade your vehicle first. Once you're done, go to the kitchen and prepare a feast. Make extra, and bring some rations for the injured down here while you're at it."

"You got it! Thanks, Boss! I'll get right on it!"

Watching their compatriots' breathing gradually stabilize under the care of Shen Xingyue and the robots—with even the faces of the dying girls regaining a healthy color—Ivy and Sheila felt an unspeakable wave of gratitude welling up in their hearts.

The younger Sheila covered her mouth, her tears dripping down like broken strings of pearls.

Ivy took a deep breath, turned around, and looked at Zhou An with an extremely complex gaze. She parted her lips, about to say something.

"Alright, alright, there's no need to get so emotional."

Zhou An seemed to have read her mind long ago. "Since they've been saved, what comes next isn't convenient to discuss down here. You two, follow me to the hall."

...

A moment later, in the hall on the second floor of the Cloud Top Fortress.

Zhou An leaned back comfortably on the leather sofa, gently swirling a glass of chilled fruit wine that exuded a rich fruity aroma.

Ivy and Sheila sat stiffly on the opposite sofa, breathing with utmost caution.

"Let's get straight to the point."

Zhou An took a sip of the fruit wine and looked at Ivy. "Although I saved them, as you can see, these injured people are of no practical use to me."

His words laid bare the brutal reality bit by bit:

"Their vehicles are completely destroyed, leaving them with no combat capability. Even more troublesome is that more than half of them have suffered severe, permanent trauma. Their wings were forcibly ripped out. To regrow such high-tier organs would require a massive amount of legendary-grade cell reconstruction medicine."

"I do have these medicines, but why should I waste them on a bunch of burdens?"

Zhou An placed his glass on the coffee table with a soft clink.

"The input and output are completely disproportionate. Furthermore, keeping so many traumatized foreigners in my core area is itself a major source of instability."

Although Zhou An's words were blunt, Ivy knew very well in her heart that in this dog-eat-dog game, this was the most normal and rational law of survival. No one would support a bunch of crippled foreigners for no reason.

Ivy's heart struggled violently. Her hands gripped the fabric of her knees so tightly that her nails even dug into her flesh.

"Mr. Zhou An... I know that if they stay, they will only be a burden to you."

Ivy abruptly lifted her head and slid right off the sofa to kneel on one knee beside the coffee table in front of Zhou An, her voice trembling slightly:

"I am willing to offer everything I have! My loyalty, my combat power, my body, and even my soul! As long as you find any of it useful, you can do whatever you want with me. Make me carry out the most dangerous suicide missions, or use me as Miss Luo Ning's lowest-tier living test subject... I will never resist!"

She eagerly looked up, staring into Zhou An's dark eyes as she voiced her ultimate request:

"I only ask one thing of you... Once their injuries stabilize, please lend us the most ordinary transport ship to send them away! Send them back to the White Feather Guild!"

"Our guild leader is still alive! Although they are still evading the pursuit of the Blood Moon, and the vice leader is fleeing toward the Winged King, I believe that as long as they can regroup with the main force, they will still have a hope of survival! They need to return to the clan!"

Zhou An didn't reply immediately, merely studying the kneeling Ivy in silence.

A suffocating silence fell over the hall, with only the soothing light music from the phonograph flowing through the air.

After a long while, Zhou An leaned back slightly and let out a long sigh, muttering to himself, "What a dilemma... To be honest, even if you offer me everything, you aren't of much use to me. Not even a speck of your warship is left. As a high-tier aerial combat unit who has lost her vehicle, your value is heavily discounted in my system. Work as a high-class maid? I have plenty of housekeeping robots for that."

These merciless words made Ivy's face turn a shade paler.

Zhou An's slender fingers lightly tapped the edge of the coffee table as his mind rapidly calculated.

Currently in the fortress, Muzi and Old Zhang were in charge of logistics, Xingyue was in charge of medical care, and the only combatants were himself and Luo Ning. He indeed lacked dedicated combat personnel.

At this thought, Zhou An's gaze drifted past Ivy on the floor and landed on Sheila, who was sitting on the edge of the sofa, too nervous to chime in.

"Sheila, is your vehicle core damaged?"

Suddenly having her name called, Sheila was startled. Like a frightened rabbit, she immediately stood up straight and reported truthfully:

"No, my vehicle is broken, but the vehicle core is still intact."

Zhou An picked up his fruit wine and asked seemingly casually, "As an individual pilot, what is your racial talent?"

"In... in response to your question, sir. My talent is [Wind Gods Sting]. Its effect is... to add a penetration effect to any weapon or vehicle weapon I use."

She swallowed hard and added, "I am currently only LV3, so the penetration effect is... 30%."

Hearing this number, Zhou An's hand holding the wine glass paused slightly, an undisguised look of amazement flashing in his eyes.

Thirty percent penetration!

This wasn't some armor shredding; it was true armor-ignoring penetration damage! If this talent were paired with a high-tier assassin-type vehicle in the future... it would simply be the ultimate nightmare for all heavily armored warships and high-tier shields!

Zhou An pondered for a moment, a decision already made in his mind.

He set his wine glass down.

"I can provide you with all the high-tier medical resources, and I can also personally pilot the fortress to escort you to find this so-called White Feather Guild main force."

Zhou An's voice echoed in the hall as he laid out his terms:

"But in exchange, I want her."

Zhou An pointed his finger, pointing directly at Sheila without hesitation. "She must sign a [Subordinate Contract] with me, completely sever all ties with the Winged race, and become an exclusive combatant under my command. That is my bottom line."

As soon as these words were spoken, the air in the hall seemed to instantly freeze.

A Subordinate Contract!

This represented absolute enslavement and control. Once signed, one's life, death, freedom, and even soul would be entirely placed in the master's hands. One would lose their freedom forever, and would never be able to return to the embrace of their clan for the rest of their life.

"No... no!"

Ivy trembled violently all over, almost instinctively wanting to object.

With her back to Sheila, her eyes were bloodshot, and her heart felt as if it had been thrown into a meat grinder and frantically minced.

She opened her mouth, wanting to scream, "Take me instead! I'm Tier 5! I'm more valuable than her!"

But the words got stuck in her throat, unable to be uttered. She knew her value couldn't compare to that monstrous talent with 30% true penetration, and her own vehicle had already been destroyed, leaving no potential for growth.

Ivy closed her eyes in pain, her fists clenched tightly. Her nails dug deep into her palms, and blood dripped onto the carpet through the gaps of her fingers.

"Okay, I agree!"

A crisp voice suddenly rang out from behind her.

Ivy whipped her head around, looking at Sheila in disbelief.

She saw the Winged girl, who usually hid behind her and cried, standing there with unusual calmness.

Sheila looked at Zhou An, the fear and weakness from before completely gone from her clear eyes:

"I'll sign the Subordinate Contract! As long as you can save the sisters down there and take them back... I'm willing to sign!"