"I don't understand why you're so determined," Song Xu handed the largest and most fragrant piece of bread to Ivy. "Being a collector isn't bad, is it? You can still go to the wastelands, and it's safer."
Ivy replied, "I might not pass the collector's test—there's too much to memorize."
The driving compartment of the supply vehicle was relatively spacious. It was currently a break in the march, and Song Xu, using his cousin's connections, had prepared an extra set of military uniform, mask, and helmet for Ivy, who had hidden in the vehicle earlier. This allowed her to move around outside and conceal her identity.
Ivy and Song Xu had rehearsed their story: if anyone from the Iris team asked, they would say Ivy was a reserve trainee; if they encountered reserve trainees, they would claim Ivy was an Iris member.
It was all about exploiting the information gap.
Looking out through the transparent vehicle window, the scenery wasn't the vast wilderness Ivy had dreamed of.
Zone One was naturally abundant in resources, and the nearby wasteland was the ruins of a former megacity. After humans left, plants and small animals had reclaimed the area. Grass grew on the cracked roads, and towering skyscrapers were covered in vines with tiny purple flowers. The sign of a small abandoned convenience store by the roadside had shattered, its lettering long gone, while a robust banyan tree thrived nearby, its branches hanging with countless long aerial roots. An elegant oriental white stork, with white feathers and a black skirt-like tail, strolled leisurely by a shallow lake, preening its feathers.
Song Xu nibbled on a dry piece of bread. He wasn't wearing his helmet, and his golden hair was a mess, the hair gel he had carefully applied in the morning completely flattened by the helmet. He glanced at the mirror beside him and realized he looked worse than a high school student after a late-night study session.
But he hadn't brought any hair gel.
This expedition was set to last at least a week.
He shook his head unnaturally, but it didn't help tame his unruly hair.
Ivy didn't seem to notice.
She used to compliment him, saying his hair was as radiant as sunlight and that it brightened her mood whenever she saw it.
Song Xu said, "What about next year? That teacher, Lorin, is indeed strict... but these military officers are always busy. The government only assigns them to teach one class. You could apply for the next training camp—by then, I might even be your senior and already part of Iris."
He added proudly, "When that time comes, I'll volunteer to select team members during the training camp. Just say a nice word to me, and I'll vote for you to join the team."
Ivy finished her bread quietly and quickly, her attention focused on the birds outside the window. The creatures of the wasteland rarely encountered humans; their most frequent interactions were with robots or androids.
Research showed that neither robots nor androids hunted or harmed these birds and animals; their hostility was reserved for humans.
The birds here were unafraid of people or vehicles, tilting their heads curiously as they observed.
"So, you don't need to feel so pressured, and there's no need to sneak here... although I'd definitely help you. But won't your mysterious partner get angry? Is he treating you poorly?" Song Xu finally brought up Hector, slowly chewing his bread as he asked.
Ivy sighed, "What does my life have to do with him?"
Song Xu was taken aback. "You're right. You never really see men as people anyway."
"You mentioned my genetic rating is D," Ivy said. "Do you remember the rules of genetic evaluation?"
Song Xu did.
Everyone carried disease-causing genes, but the number and probability varied, and this was a key factor in genetic ratings. Additionally, there were aesthetic considerations, like healthy, clear skin—also part of the criteria.
Most people fell into the B and C categories, while those rated D and E were often unhealthy, suffering from various incurable conditions.
Ivy was a D.
She appeared perfectly healthy, with no intellectual deficiencies, clear skin, good looks, and excellent physical fitness—even outperforming Song Xu, who was rated A, due to her hard work.
Song Xu would bet that if it weren't for that unfortunate "D," the number of boys chasing Ivy at school would circle the entire campus. Even someone as picky as him couldn't stop thinking about her.
"I've seen many cases like this—rated 'D' but seemingly healthy," Ivy said. "Then, without warning, they fall ill with some strange disease and die quickly."
Song Xu bristled, "Don't say such depressing things! There's no research to prove that!"
Ivy smiled, "Who knows if I'll suddenly drop dead? I don't want to 'wait another year.' Time is precious and shouldn't be wasted."
Song Xu didn't like hearing her talk like this, but he couldn't think of anything to refute her. He silently sorted through the military ration biscuits, picking out the hazelnut cocoa ones and handing them to Ivy.
He chose a packet labeled "peanut-free," tore it open, and stuffed it into his mouth.
"So why did you rush into marriage last year?" Song Xu asked softly. "If you don't want to waste time, why marry a stranger? Even if you really wanted to get married, you should have considered someone closer to you—"
A loud explosion interrupted him, shaking the supply vehicle.
Ivy stopped eating, quickly stuffing the remaining biscuits into her pocket. She put on her mask, grabbed her gun, and jumped out of the vehicle without hesitation.
Song Xu was stunned. "Hey!!!"
He jumped down and chased after Ivy.
The explosion site was close. Ivy was the first to arrive and identified several small bombs.
It was the work of artificial intelligence.
They often used such methods, orchestrating small explosions to cut off human advance or retreat routes. The wastelands were now the stronghold of AI, which sought to kill, capture, or confine any humans who ventured in.
This meant there was an AI "eye" nearby. Ivy needed to find and destroy the central server as quickly as possible.
Following the techniques taught in class, Ivy traced the bomb's wiring within two minutes. Her small signal detector reacted strongly, and suppressing her excitement, she quickly followed the trail to a nearby abandoned skyscraper.
"Set up the signal jammer here," Ivy instructed Song Xu. "Stay and guide the others. When they arrive, tell them I'm inside dealing with the server."
Song Xu looked at her with a complicated expression. "You're still as headstrong as ever."
Ivy had already used her laser gun to cut through the vines blocking the entrance and rushed into the building.
This had once been the headquarters of an internet company. The logo on the wall was in tatters, and the posters hanging there had turned to dust. Only the desks and chairs left behind in the humans' hasty evacuation remained, covered in thick layers of dust. The building was dim, with no electricity—the AI controlled all power in the wastelands, and they didn't need light.
Vines covered the glass windows, and the elevators were useless. The server wasn't on the first floor—there were forty-five floors, and climbing the stairs would be exhausting.
Ivy stood in the atrium, looking up. The railings of each floor loomed above, and the glass skylight at the top was so dusty that no sunlight filtered through.
She turned on the headlamp on her helmet, took a deep breath, and activated the device on her wrist, aiming it upward.
Whoosh.
A sturdy steel wire shot out, wrapping around the railing on the third floor. Ivy pressed down slightly, and with a light step, the wire pulled her straight up.
She landed gracefully on the second floor, retracted the wire, and began her search.
Outside the building.
Lorin was the third to arrive at the scene.
He quickly realized there was more than one server here.
And more than one bomb.
When Song Xu mentioned, "There's a classmate still inside the building," Lorin frowned. "Who gave you permission to act on your own?"
Song Xu stood at attention. "Reporting, sir. It was an emergency."
"Disobeying orders. Report to my office for punishment after we return," Lorin said, turning away. "Song Feng, take three people and dismantle the remaining bombs. Bian Mu, the other server is in the white building at six o'clock. Take five trainees and shut it down..."
He methodically assigned tasks, then looked up at the towering skyscraper, the dense vines covering its exterior, and the rectangular hole cut by the laser gun.
Lorin asked Song Xu, "Can we contact the trainees inside?"
Song Xu replied, "Signal interference. No communication is possible."
As expected.
This building housed their servers, so it was only natural that signal-blocking measures were in place.
Song Feng noticed his gaze and said, "Sir, we can move further away and call in the air force to bomb it."
Lorin didn't respond immediately. "There are still trainees inside," he said.
Song Feng argued, "They entered the abandoned zone and acted without authorization. They should bear the consequences."
Lorin glanced at him sideways.
"This is the way to minimize risk," Song Feng added. "We can't afford to risk more lives."
Without a word, Lorin removed his military jacket, revealing the black uniform underneath.
His military jacket was specially designed to suppress his acute senses, but it was cumbersome in close combat.
Ivy wasn’t here.
None of the other scents could stimulate him.
"Thirty minutes," Lorin said curtly. "Notify the air force to bomb this building in thirty minutes."
Song Feng was shocked. "You're going in alone?"
"I'm their instructor," Lorin said. "Their safety is my responsibility."
Song Xu called out, "Instructor, I request to go with you."
"Denied," Lorin replied coldly as he walked away. "I don’t need another burden."
He stepped into the pitch-black building.
This wasn’t his first time dealing with such a situation. Over the years of fighting against artificial intelligence, he had encountered all sorts of bizarre things.
Lorin easily followed the traces on the ground, identifying the route the inexperienced trainee had taken.
It was clear that the trainee had a solid foundation of knowledge but severely lacked practical experience—under normal circumstances, an exploration team wouldn’t search such a tall building. The time required was too long, and the potential risks were too high. For safety, they would simply call in the air force to bomb it.
He hoped today would serve as a lesson, one the trainee would never forget.
When he reached the fifth floor, Lorin noticed a drop of blood on the railing.
The trainee had been injured while climbing.
But—
The scent of the blood.
Lorin leaned down slightly, frowning as he caught a familiar note in the blood.
A faint aroma of coconut.
He froze.
A sense of unease slowly crept over him.
Seventeenth floor.
Thank goodness.
Ivy finally found the location of the server.
But reinforcements hadn’t arrived yet.
Her communicator had no signal; the artificial intelligence knew better than humans how to block connections.
Ivy had no choice but to handle it herself.
Fortunately, the classes she had sneaked into had taught her how to deal with this.
She took out a USB drive, found the correct port, and inserted it. The dark screen in front of her suddenly lit up.
Ivy remained calm, steadying herself as she waited for the contents of the USB drive to transfer.
The program inside would help her lock down the server, after which she could cut off the power supply completely—and then detonate it.
It was a thorough, foolproof method to ensure it could never regenerate.
However, unlike what her instructor had taught her, the electronic screen slowly displayed a line of text. Against a serene blue background, the soft white font appeared in six languages, all conveying the same message:
**"Welcome back to our home, my daughter."**
Ivy frowned, confused. Suddenly, she heard heavy footsteps behind her. She turned around immediately, drawing her gun, but the person scooped her up before she could react—
Her cheek slammed into the hard chest of the man holding her. The silver iris badge on his uniform pressed painfully into her skin, and the familiar cold metallic scent enveloped her like a serpent.
The man in the black military uniform didn’t say a word, simply carrying her out.
It wasn’t a princess carry—he held her like a child, her entire body resting on his arm.
At 170 cm tall, Ivy had never imagined being carried like this in her life.
She exclaimed in shock, "Instructor Lorin, what are you doing here?"
"That’s what I should be asking you," Lorin replied, sounding even angrier than she was. "Are you a restless little bee?"
"I’m sorry, Instructor," Ivy said politely. "Could you put me down? I can walk on my own…"
He was holding her too tightly, too forcefully. Though he wore gloves and didn’t touch her skin directly, the strength in his arms felt like it might crush her bones.
It hurt. It was uncomfortable.
And his body temperature—it was abnormally high, frighteningly so.
Lorin didn’t respond.
In the darkness, Ivy could clearly hear his breathing—rapid, heavy, like a beast lurking in the shadows.
The way he had looked at her earlier was like a predator locking onto its prey.
The building was dim, with faint, flickering light.
A drop of sweat rolled down Lorin’s prominent Adam’s apple, soaking into the dark fabric of his uniform. The veins on his neck stood out starkly.
He was struggling to hold back.
Struggling not to tear her clothes apart.
Fifteen minutes remained.
