Volume 2, Chapter 41 – No Fighting in Twinmoon City (End of Volume 2)

“Boom!”

Another helicopter in the sky was hit by artillery fire and came wobbling down to the ground.

Anran and Aila had moved quickly, and by now they had already reached Eudora’s front door.

Fragile machinery might have extremely high firepower, but once it was hit, it became nothing more than a piece of scrap metal struggling in the evening wind.

Sure enough, it was better to have high HP… and high attack too.

Anran took in the scene, then brought Aila into the house.

The living room was empty, unlike the last time they came back. When Anran saw that the room from earlier was still lit up, she knew Eudora was giving Colin further treatment.

“Thanks for your hard work, Aila,” Anran said.

“It was no trouble.”

Aila sat on the sofa, staring blankly at the cups and saucers on the coffee table.

Anran suddenly felt a little worried that this sturdy-looking wooden sofa might collapse without warning. After all, Aila weighed 288 kg.

After thinking about it, Anran moved over to the smaller sofa beside it.

After running around for the entire day, Anran checked the time. It was already past two in the morning.

The sound of gunfire and shelling outside had finally died down a little.

No matter how the war ended, Twinmoon City would undergo enormous changes tomorrow.

Irritated, Anran ruffled her hair, set her backpack on her lap, and carefully took out the materials she had brought from Colin’s home.

Since she had nothing else to do anyway, she might as well upload all this information into the game system first. That way, she would not have to worry about it being lost or damaged.

From Aila’s point of view, Anran was simply flipping through the blueprints and books on the table at great speed.

Page after page…

Rustle, rustle.

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Absent-minded.

A phrase like that suddenly surfaced in Aila’s circuits.

It meant that a person’s mind was not here, that their thoughts were unfocused.

That was how the data defined the phrase.

Curious, she edged a little closer to Anran, placed both hands on her thighs, propped her cheeks up with her fists, and stared at Anran without blinking.

Rustle, rustle…

Anran flipped through the blueprints while Aila silently watched. The two of them in the living room slipped neatly into a tacit rhythm.

Although her face remained calm, Anran was already overjoyed inside.

These blueprints of Colin’s really were good stuff.

There were six or seven firearm blueprints alone.

“[High-Energy Explosive Round]. Good stuff. Turn it over to the system.”

“[Miniature Transmission System]. This could even be used to make little robots.”

“[Mechanical Switchblade]. A great tool for sneak attacks.”

“[Flashbang]. This one’s pretty good too.”

“[Inferior Exoskeleton Armor]. Such badass armor, and yet it comes with the prefix ‘inferior.’ Emmm…”

“[Ultra-Durable Pressure Cooker]. How did something this weird suddenly get mixed in here?”

“[Flat Robot Vacuum]. This suddenly makes everything feel so domestic.”

“…”

Only after going through all the blueprints did Anran realize that everything in the back was for household machinery.

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There were not as many weapon blueprints as she had imagined, but it was still better than nothing. After all, combining different blueprints might produce some unexpected surprises.

Anran did not mind suddenly mastering so many blueprints for household appliances. In any case, they did not take up any space.

What pleased Anran the most, however, were Colin’s two notebooks.

*Mechanical Notes* and *Materials Notes*.

The game had classified them as advancement knowledge books for a Basic Mechanic.

To advance from an Apprentice class to a Basic class, simply accumulating experience was not enough. One had to complete specific quests or obtain specific advancement knowledge books in order to level up.

Anran had originally planned to check the library after reaching level 10, but who could have expected that the library had already been reduced to ruins by the bombardment?

Fortunately, she had obtained advancement knowledge books from Colin after all, so one major obstacle had already been removed from Anran’s path to leveling up.

Smack.

Anran closed Colin’s notebook. This kind of Basic advancement knowledge book would only be useful once she reached level 10 anyway.

When she lifted her head, she saw that Aila was still watching her in the exact same pose as before.

“What is it? Do you need something?” Anran asked.

Aila quickly shook her head.

She promptly straightened up again.

Watching Anran’s every move felt extremely interesting to her.

Anran checked the time again. It was almost three in the morning, and Eudora still had not come out. Even though Anran had a home to return to, she did not dare go back now, afraid of being intercepted by Morningstar’s main force.

Her thoughts became somewhat muddled for a moment. Her gaze drifted through the window into the distance. Listening to the rumbling sounds and watching the flashes that appeared from time to time, Anran gradually grew sleepy.

Aila stood up. Looking at the sleeping Anran, who was leaning crookedly against the sofa, she lowered her head and thought for a moment. Then she walked over to the other sofa, picked up a blanket, and draped it over Anran rather haphazardly. Only after doing all that did Aila return, satisfied, to the sofa where she had been sitting.

“Your favorability with Aila +5.”

Half-asleep, Anran seemed to hear some kind of sound.

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Crisp, noisy, weary, clamorous, all kinds of sounds mixed together.

Even though it was chaotic, Anran slept deeply and peacefully, without dreaming.

…

When Anran opened her eyes again, the scorching sunlight streaming in through the window made her raise a hand to shield them.

She stretched lazily, and the blanket covering her slipped off just like that. The sound it made when it hit the floor made Anran blink.

She turned her head and saw that Aila was still sitting on the sofa, staring fixedly at her.

Emmm…

That look really did feel kind of strange.

Anran asked tentatively, “Did you stay awake all night?”

Aila gave a soft affirmative sound.

She still looked very energetic…

Anran suddenly smacked herself on the head. As a robot, Aila did not need sleep at all.

She had done something stupid again.

She looked up at the time and only then realized it was already nine-thirty in the morning.

Clang, clang.

At that moment, a noise came from the next room.

Anran turned and saw Eudora come out wearing a flower-patterned apron. She spotted Anran immediately. “You’re awake.”

“Mm.”

Having known her for less than a day, Anran only answered indifferently.

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“I’m making breakfast. Eat with us later.” After saying that, Eudora seemed to suddenly remember something. She turned back to Anran and added, “Right, the war is over.”

“It’s over?”

Anran cried out in surprise. Only then did she realize that the booming sound of artillery outside had long since disappeared, replaced only by the occasional siren.

Who won?

Eudora seemed to know what Anran wanted to ask. “Morningstar Resistance was forced back. They met stubborn resistance near City Hall and suffered heavy losses. In the end, they had no choice but to withdraw. It’s said that more than half of Morningstar Resistance’s forces were killed or wounded this time.”

“…”

Anran froze for a moment.

How was that possible?

The buildings around City Hall were relatively dense, but judging from the results of the earlier fighting, Morningstar’s combat strength had clearly been stronger.

Even if they ended up losing in the end, how could they have collapsed in just a few short hours?

Were these Resistance troops here just to be a joke?

Something was very wrong.

But Anran could not make sense of it. Who played things like this?

Morningstar Resistance was clearly one of the major factions on No. 1886 in the early game. If it had been crushed this easily by the Security Department, then wouldn’t this faction be a total trap?

An even bigger trap than she was!

…

News that the war in Twinmoon City had ended quickly spread through the player community. At first, it came from an official announcement issued by the imperial government on No. 1886, and players soon learned of it and posted it on the forums.

After half a day of coordination, transportation to Twinmoon City resumed operations.

Among the players who had been cut off outside the city, a large number of people unwilling to “rot away” in the starter village emerged. Each with their own thoughts, they set out on the journey to Twinmoon City.