Chapter 10

The sun was tilting westward, still a while away from dusk.

A military truck without license plates kicked up dust as it sped down the long-neglected road. The rear compartment, covered with a tarp, had two curtains hanging from the back, blocking the view of the rear cargo area.

At this moment, Li Lan was sitting in the front seat. Despite the bumpy road, the truck's excellent shock absorption system did not make him feel uncomfortable at all.

Although every war tool in the military was not designed for comfort, as long as it did not affect performance, making the user as comfortable as possible was still a goal in the design of equipment.

This military truck was the first icon in the Red Alert base's large truck category. In this category, all were trucks, both military and civilian. There were small trucks with a carrying capacity of just a few tons, and heavy trucks with a carrying capacity of dozens of tons. Li Lan even saw the icon for a super truck.

Unlike the original Red Alert units, the descriptions for these non-original units were very simple. The truck Li Lan produced was just an ordinary military truck, with nothing special about it except for its strong carrying capacity.

In the cab, which could seat three people side by side, besides the driver Ahmed and Li Lan, there was also the Great General squatting on the seat.

An hour ago, a brief meeting had quickly ended. After getting to know each of them, Li Lan began preparing for the trip. Two boxes of rifle ammunition, totaling 8,000 rounds, had cost him 200 base funds, equivalent to the price of two conscripts.

However, Li Lan was not upset, as the landlord had no surplus grain. The African wild ass had sustained Li Lan and the Great General for three days, but now, with eleven people and three dogs to feed, they consumed a lot of food every day. Li Lan also needed other supplies, such as diesel. Therefore, he turned his attention to Muhammadi. This time, with his own guard, he had fewer safety concerns, so he brought 8,000 rounds of ammunition directly.

These 8,000 new rounds, if sold in the market in Bosaso, could fetch at least $10,000. However, with only ten armed men, Li Lan was not arrogant enough to safely enter and exit the city of Bosaso, which had a population of over a million and was a mix of various forces.

"Ahmed, why is your rank a corporal, while the others are just ordinary privates?" After an hour, Li Lan gradually noticed that the soldiers treated Ahmed as a superior officer and showed great respect to the Great General, even Ahmed himself respected the Great General.

At first, Li Lan thought Ahmed was a level two unit, like the Great General, who was a level three elite unit, and would be respected by lower-level units. However, no matter how he looked at it, Ahmed was just a level one conscript, with attributes identical to the other soldiers.

Ahmed: Level 1 Conscript, Basic Individual Weapon Proficiency, Basic Combat Skills, Expertise: Driving, Various Artillery Operations, Special Ability: Enhanced Individual Combat Capability.

The attributes of the other nine conscripts were similar to Ahmed's, with only slight differences in expertise.

"Because my training scores were higher than theirs, and I grasped and understood skills faster. So when I came out, I was immediately given the rank of corporal." If the Great General, a level three elite unit, was respected, then Li Lan was absolutely revered by Ahmed. Therefore, after Li Lan asked, he immediately answered, with a very respectful attitude.

"Could you have a talent for command, like the assistant said, a surprise, and you are that surprise?" Li Lan did not hide the existence of the base, as every soldier knew about it and understood how they came to this world. The base was not a secret to them; from the moment they emerged, the base's existence was already deeply ingrained in their memories.

"I am not sure, but the surprise the assistant mentioned is probably not me, as there are many people with similar abilities there."

"Oh, there!" The "there" in Ahmed's answer piqued Li Lan's curiosity. He also wanted to know what was in the memories of these people. "Where is 'there'?"

Faced with Li Lan's question, Ahmed suddenly paused, thinking for a moment before answering with a puzzled and apologetic look: "I'm sorry, Commander, I cannot answer your question. I have detailed memories of my training, but I have no memory of where we were trained."

Although Li Lan was somewhat disappointed, he did not blame Ahmed, "It's fine, if you can't remember, don't think about it. I was just curious."

"Thank you for your understanding, Commander. If you have any other questions, I will do my best to answer them."

"There are no other questions." Li Lan shook his head, seeing the somewhat frustrated Ahmed, he would not ask any more questions even if he had them.

However, if Ahmed couldn't answer, perhaps someone else could. Thinking of this, Li Lan took out a popular-looking phone from his pocket, did not make a call, but spoke directly into it: "Assistant, do you know about the 'there' Ahmed mentioned?"

This phone was transformed from the base control panel when Li Lan was about to set out, under the assistant's guidance. With this phone, no matter how far away Li Lan was, he could always contact the base assistant. If there were any situations around the base, the assistant could immediately contact Li Lan through the phone.

Currently, this phone, besides having the functions of other phones, could only contact the base and did not have many powerful features. In Somalia, the phone's main function might only be to contact the base.

"The 'there' does not exist in reality, and the training does not exist either. Everything is a memory implanted by the base. The assistant knows what they know. If it must be said to exist, the only explanation is the gene bank. They all originated from genes stored in the gene bank inside the base."

The assistant's voice did not reach anyone else's ears, not even Li Lan's question was heard by Ahmed beside him. This might be the most powerful feature of the phone, the ability to block others' hearing. As the saying goes, "eyes see all, ears hear all," but they could not hear Li Lan's voice alone.

"Where is the gene bank in the base? Can I go there?" Li Lan could勉强 accept the assistant's answer, but the mention of the gene bank made him feel as if he had glimpsed a corner of the base's iceberg.

"The gene bank is in the core of the base. To enter the gene bank, the base must be destroyed, but if the base is destroyed, everything inside it will be destroyed as well."

"You're just telling me I can't go there! Can you access it?" Li Lan pouted.

"I'm sorry, Commander, the assistant's permissions come entirely from the Commander. For any information within the Commander's permissions, the assistant will automatically know. For information outside the Commander's permissions, the assistant also does not know. The assistant is just a program, serving the Commander and the base, and cannot enter the core of the base."

"How can I enter the core of the base? Is the core directly below the base?" Li Lan already had some ideas about where the core of the base was, but he couldn't enter it.

"The core of the base is not in this space. To enter the core of the base, the Commander must work to elevate the permissions to the highest level. Then the entire base will have no secrets from the Commander."

A few black lines involuntarily appeared on Li Lan's head. He noticed a pattern: the more he asked, the more questions arose. However, he was still not giving up and continued, "How can I elevate to the highest permission?" At the same time, Li Lan thought to himself: This is the last question, I will definitely not ask any more, otherwise my brain won't be able to handle it.

"The assistant does not know how many levels of permissions there are or what conditions are needed to reach the next level. However, the assistant knows that as long as the Commander can become a 'King,' the highest permission of the base can be achieved."

Another term that Li Lan wanted to understand appeared. In the end, Li Lan convinced himself to ask one last time: "What does 'King' refer to?"

"I'm sorry, Commander, permission insufficient, the assistant cannot answer."

This answer completely drained Li Lan's motivation to ask further. He wished he hadn't asked.

However, the term "King" made Li Lan's imagination run wild.

PS: The conversation with the assistant in this chapter is a pit, some of which may or may not be filled in the future.

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