138: Chapter 138 Handover Completed

Zhou An left the hall alone and took the internal elevator to the fortress's exclusive gym.

He stood in the center of the spacious training ground, his mind stirring.

Hum!

The [ranger armor] and [star-extinguishing blade] appeared instantly.

Because they had reached the "Corona" level, these two pieces of equipment already possessed preliminary spatial folding and nano-scale morphological transformation capabilities, so there was no need to store and retrieve them from the system space like low-tier equipment.

Zhou An guided them with his mind, and the matte black armor and pitch-black blade instantly turned into countless tiny black sand-like metal particles, spiraling up along his arm.

In the blink of an eye, these metal particles reorganized on his right arm, condensing into a black metal bracer.

"Not bad."

Zhou An looked at the bracer on his right arm with satisfaction.

He only needed a thought, and this bracer could extend in 0.01 seconds.

...

The morning light filtered through the one-way dome on the top floor of the fortress, spilling onto the large double bed.

Zhou An opened his eyes, feeling the warmth in his arms. Last night, in order to bind that [Miniature Arsenal], Luo Ning had excitedly stayed up for most of the night, transferring all her modules into the arsenal. At this moment, she was curled up in his arms like a lazy kitten, sleeping soundly.

Zhou An lowered his head and kissed her smooth forehead gently, then carefully pulled his arm out, put on a black casual jacket, and walked out of the room on tiptoe.

The corridor was quiet. Zhou An glanced at the tactical terminal integrated into his bracer; it was just past seven in the morning.

"EVA, report the current voyage."

Zhou An asked as he walked toward the elevator.

EVA's synthesized voice sounded in the corridor.

"There are four hundred kilometers left to the target coordinates. According to the current cruising speed, we are expected to arrive at the safe buffer airspace fifty kilometers outside the target in one hour."

"Hmm, maintain speed."

Zhou An came to the second-floor dining room, quickly finished a high-energy nutritional breakfast prepared by Zhang Ming, and then went directly to the temporary isolation dormitory on the edge of the living area.

In the dormitory, the Winged girls had already woken up early. They were helping each other organize their meager belongings and putting new bandages on the wounds where their wings were broken. Although their faces were still pale, hope for a new beginning flickered in everyone's eyes.

Seeing Zhou An walking over, Ivy immediately greeted him, her expression filled with irrepressible excitement and respect: "Mr. Zhou An, you are up."

"How is the situation? Have you contacted your headquarters?"

Zhou An asked straight to the point.

"We have already made contact!" Ivy nodded vigorously. "Our Great Elder has personally arranged a pickup ship, which is currently on standby at the edge of the target airspace. As soon as we arrive, we can complete the handover immediately; it will not take much of your time."

"Very good."

Zhou An glanced indifferently at the injured Winged people inside who were looking at him with gratitude.

"Let your people pack up and get ready. We will arrive at the designated location for the handover in an hour. I don't like waiting for people, and I especially don't like having my time wasted."

"Understood! We are all ready!"

Ivy bowed very solemnly.

After leaving the isolation dormitory, Zhou An went straight to the main control room of the fortress and stood in front of the huge holographic panoramic window.

Some of the battlefield from the previous event was still floating in the sky, gradually collapsing and falling below.

Zhou An looked out.

Below the purple-gray clouds, empty islands whose core arrays had been completely drained were collapsing.

And around these islands that were about to sink, a large number of spaceships and warships were scurrying around like startled flies.

Some were scrambling for the last scraps of debris that exploded before the islands sank, while others were anxious to escape this highly unstable collapsing airspace.

When the massive [Cloud Top Fortress] sailed into this chaotic route, it immediately caused great panic.

[Warning! Detected three LV3 frigates in the front route activating fire control radar, sending a forced expulsion warning to us!]

Looking at the red dots flashing on the radar screen, Zhou An gave the order:

"EVA, send a standard public channel broadcast, indicating that we are just passing through. If there are any blind idiots who dare to block the route, don't ask for instructions, just turn on the shields and crush them."

"Command received. Deflector shields are charging at full power, main cannons are entering standby mode."

However, Zhou An clearly overestimated the courage of those stragglers.

At this stage, most survivors and ordinary guild vehicles were at most at the LV3 to LV4 level. When they saw the LV5 heavy fortress emitting dark golden metallic luster through their detectors, those ships that had just lit up their fire control radar were instantly terrified.

There was no need for [Cloud Top Fortress] to show its cannons; on the route ahead, all the ships parted like Moses parting the sea, tacitly retreating wildly to both sides.

Zhou An looked at the warships retreating. In this vast region of ten thousand races where the weak are prey to the strong, extreme firepower and overwhelming tonnage are the best passes.

One hour later, [Cloud Top Fortress] arrived steadily at the scheduled handover coordinates.

Outside the panoramic window, in the gray clouds, a small pickup ship with a streamlined shape and the unique totems of the Winged race painted on its hull was already hovering there. It was small in size but extremely flexible in the storm.

"Beep—External communication request received."

EVA's voice sounded.

Zhou An leaned on the captain's chair and casually pressed the connect button. An anxious-looking Winged man immediately popped up on the holographic screen.

Before the other party could exchange pleasantries or express gratitude, Zhou An interrupted directly: "Maintain your current safe distance and stop outside the fortress's shield. I will take the initiative to lay out the connecting bridge and let your people queue up to pass. During the handover, if anyone dares to cross the warning line, they will bear the consequences."

Having said that, Zhou An cut off the communication directly.

A fully enclosed metal connecting bridge slowly extended from the belly of [Cloud Top Fortress], like a tongue stuck out by a giant beast, docking precisely onto the side cabin door of the pickup ship.

The rescued Winged people supported each other, walking along the connecting bridge, stumbling yet full of hope, toward their own starship.

Ivy walked at the very end of the line.

The moment she was about to step onto the connecting bridge, she stopped and turned to look at Hila, who had been escorting her to the door. The two looked at each other in silence; the oppressive feeling of parting made the air feel a bit thick.

"Hila..."

Ivy's eyes were red, and her voice could not stop trembling.

Hila smiled and reached out, taking Ivy's hand.

"Me staying behind is better for everyone."

Hila took a deep breath, a complex emotion flashing in her eyes, and then her tone became extremely serious.

"Sister Ivy, after you go back, if other compatriots ask why I didn't come back with you..."

She paused, a flash of determination in her eyes: "Just tell them that I took a fancy to the comfortable life and endless supplies in this human fortress. Just pretend I'm a traitor who covets pleasure. Rather than letting them know the truth and feeling like they owe me a lifetime, it's better to let them scold me and despise me. That way, everyone won't be too sad, and they can completely cut off their thoughts."

"Hila!"

Ivy threw herself into Hila's arms, hugging her tightly, and her tears finally burst out.

Hila patted her back gently, letting her tears wet her clothes. Then, she hardened her heart and gently pushed Ivy toward the connecting bridge: "Go, don't look back."

Whoosh!

The airlock door slammed shut, and the connecting bridge slowly retracted.

Hila stood in front of the large panoramic window, quietly watching the small pickup ship spew light blue tail flames from its rear, change direction, and finally disappear completely into the vast gray fog.

Until the light spot representing her clansmen could no longer be found on the radar, her originally straight spine slumped slightly. She lowered her head, turned around silently, and walked alone toward the bottom hall of the fortress.

Zhou An leaned against the main console, quietly watching her back.

He did not speak, nor did he go up to say any superfluous words of comfort. He knew very well that at this moment of cutting off the past and bearing heavy shackles alone, any words were pale and could only be digested and adjusted by herself.

...

The scene pulled back, the sight piercing through the thick gray fog, coming to the inside of the returning Winged pickup ship.

As soon as they settled down, several familiar Winged compatriots immediately surrounded Ivy, who had just boarded the ship.

"Sister Ivy, where is Hila? Why didn't she come on board with you?"

A young Winged girl stretched her neck to look behind her, her face full of anxiety.

"Yeah! Did that human go back on his word and forcibly detain her?"

Listening to the questions from her compatriots, Ivy lowered her head, looking at her dusty toe tips.

She didn't know what to say, but she finally thought of the smile Hila had before parting.

Ivy took a deep breath, forcing down the heartache in her chest. She raised her head, trying to make her voice sound cold and disappointed: "Hila... she stayed behind voluntarily. She said there was endless food and an absolutely safe shield in that human fortress. She... she took a fancy to the superior life there and didn't want to go back to the clan to live that precarious life anymore."

As soon as these words came out, the whole cabin fell into a dead silence.

Immediately afterwards, a burst of incredulous indignation erupted from the crowd.

"How is that possible?! How could Hila be such a person!"

"We respected her so much before! We treated her like our own sister! It turns out that in the face of enjoyment, she can abandon her clansmen who lived and died together without hesitation!"

"I am so disappointed... Traitor! The God of Wind will despise her!"

Listening to the harsh scolding and accusations from the compatriots around her, Ivy kept her head down tightly. Her hands were clenched into fists inside her wide sleeves.

She wanted to shout out the truth regardless of everything, to tell them what Hila had borne for them.

But in the end, she bit her lip tightly, still not revealing a single word.