The elevator rumbled upward.
Gu Ning leaned listlessly against the elevator’s transparent wall. Kloer was talking nonstop in her ear, but she barely heard a word.
The chanical voice of her in-ear translator sounded harsh and grating.
When the elevator reached the top, she followed Kloer out. A cold wind howled across the high wall, whipping past her and clearing her head a little.
"You haven’t been up on the wall in a while, have you? It’s no fun staying in the tunnels all day." Kloer looked back at Gu Ning, patting her shoulder and joking with her. "The wind’s a bit strong today. Careful you don’t get blown away."
Given Alex’s attitude toward the little Mixed Breed, and with the fortifications project now in its final handover phase, there was no essential work for Gu Ning to do. She was so small that her presence made no difference, so Kloer just treated it as if she were tagging along for fun.
The force of his large hand made Gu Ning stumble. She wanted to dodge aside, but the powerful winds on the high wall made her reconsider.
She was wearing the windbreaker Alex had given her. It was fine when working in the tunnels; she never felt cold running around with Kloer. But up here on the high wall, it was useless no matter how many layers she wore.
Even without the wind, the chill seed to bypass all her layers, piercing her bones like needles of ice.
Gu Ning shivered and wrapped her scarf tighter.
On the high wall’s platform, Beastman workers bustled back and forth. As Gu Ning’s gaze swept over them, she noticed they were no longer carrying construction materials like rebar and cent. Instead, they held rifles and small toolboxes.
She couldn’t help but look out beyond the wall. On the vast, snow-white expanse below, she could faintly make out scattered black dots.
Ever since it started snowing, she had barely heard the terrifying cries of the Mutant Species; they seed to have fallen silent.
This was the prelude to a massive offensive by the Mutant Species.
She had learned from Kloer and the others that Zone 19, as the city closest to the No Man’s Land, had a very mature protocol for dealing with the Mutant Species.
The high wall of Zone 19 was outfitted with devices to both repel and lure Mutant Species. The Beastn normally used these devices to confuse the Mutant Species swarms, thereby protecting Zone 19. From ti to ti, they would either use the weapons on the wall or dispatch small teams to attack, eliminating the smarter, minor leaders among the creatures that were not easily deceived.
Zone 19 was essentially a giant trap for Mutant Species. By thinning their numbers, the army and the crystal-harvesting teams could more easily acquire Crystal Stones from the No Man’s Land with fewer casualties.
The reason everyone had been rushing to finish the work these last few days was that once winter set in, the repellents and lures in the devices would weaken. At the sa ti, the Mutant Species’ natural defenses would grow stronger, and they would begin actively hunting in Zone 19.
Zone 19 and the Mutant Species had developed a mutually predatory relationship.
"Gu... Cook! What are you standing there for? Let’s go."
Kloer, who was walking ahead, noticed Gu Ning hadn’t followed. He looked back and saw she was still standing in the sa spot.
Hearing Kloer call her na, Gu Ning pulled her gaze from the distance and hurried over to him.
"Stop spacing out and stick with ," Kloer said. He suddenly reached out, put a hand on her back, and pulled her toward him, helping her avoid a hurrying Beastman and the risk of a collision.
He hadn’t held back his strength, and Gu Ning stumbled right into his chest.
This close, Kloer could clearly sll the little Mixed Breed’s scent.
Kloer lowered his head and sniffed at her, his expression strange. "You reek of the boss’s scent every day. If I couldn’t see you, I’d think he was walking right next to . It’s kinda creepy."
Gu Ning pushed his hand away and stepped to the side.
It wasn’t that she disliked Kloer; she had just suffered so much at the hands of Beastn that she now had an instinctive aversion to them.
Kloer, for his part, didn’t seem to mind her attitude.
As her foreman and direct superior, he was well aware of her basic situation.
Regarding the little Mixed Breed’s contract work, the boss had forbidden him from asking about it or even bringing it up, but he had managed to learn her real na anyway.
As for everything else, he could only turn a blind eye. Neither the boss nor the little Mixed Breed told him much, and it was useless to ask.
"Co on, let’s get this done. I’ll take you for a good al after we clock out," Kloer said, slinging an arm around Gu Ning’s shoulders.
With the fortifications project nearing completion, he wasn’t actually that busy. But as Alex’s second-in-command, his duties went beyond just being a foreman; he also had to handle all sorts of miscellaneous tasks.
The sa was true for Alex. He wasn’t just a technician but the manager in charge of the entire fortifications project. When he wasn’t busy, he could inspect and repair the defensive devices, providing enhanced technical support to Zone 19’s technicians. But when he was busy, he had to handle the integration and handover of the entire defense project for Zone 19. The army had also begun to garrison the zone, and he had to be the one to deal with them.
With Alex away, so of the inspection and repair jobs fell to him.
He didn’t have to check every defensive device himself; each one had a dedicated person responsible for it. He just had to make the rounds, inspect them, and discuss any problems with the people in charge.
This job was no easier than being a foreman.
Although Alex was quite affable socially, he was completely uncompromising when it ca to his job. He was ticulous to a fault, especially with anything related to his field of expertise.
Therefore, Kloer didn’t dare to slack off in this area. If anything went wrong, the boss would have his hide.
Once Kloer got into his work, he stopped paying much attention to Gu Ning. As long as the little Mixed Breed stayed with him and didn’t get lost, he was good.
But Gu Ning, who was usually the most diligent worker, was completely out of sorts. She clutched her work notebook but had barely jotted down a few words.
She hadn’t been following Kloer along the high wall for long before she felt exhausted. Her body was cold and heavy, and even breathing felt uncomfortable.
’It would be so much better in the tunnels.’
Gu Ning shook her groggy head. ’It’s just too cold on the wall,’ she thought. ’Even doing nothing, it’s torture just being up here.’
The thought that her contract would be up soon gave her a renewed burst of strength.
After forcing herself to work on the wall with Kloer for another two or three hours, Gu Ning felt like she was floating. Her body felt heavy, yet her feet felt as if they were treading on cotton.
The sky had already grown dark. There were no floodlights on the high wall, only ergency lights embedded in the ground at regular intervals. The light they cast wasn’t bright, but it was enough for the Beastn to see by.
Gu Ning rarely stayed on the wall after dark. By now, her mind was in a total fog, unable to focus, think, or observe. She couldn’t process any sounds, simply following numbly behind Kloer. In her eyes, the green ergency lights gradually blurred into a sky full of stars.
To make matters worse, a fine drizzle began to fall.
For Gu Ning, winter rain was a form of physical torture, especially at a ti like this.
Before long, her wind-resistant goggles had fogged over.
Gu Ning raised a cold, stiff hand to wipe her goggles. Distracted, she crashed right into a Beastman.
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