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"We didn't intend to discuss this at this time - what are you waiting for here?"
Kong Dan said painfully.
"The longer we delay, the more people underground will starve... I've explored the surroundings, and the rift hasn't spread over here. We can use this place as a safe passage for at least a month or so."
As if she realized that she had mistaken the "protagonist" of the team, she immediately glanced at the silver-haired girl who was theoretically supposed to lead the team but was always two or three steps behind.
"...Are you the leader of the Iron Guard?"
"I am Bronya Rand, the deputy of the Great Guardian."
Bronya was neither humble nor arrogant.
This was her normal state when she was "working" in the past - apart from her coordination ability, she was also a destiny traveler and a warrior. The first impression she gave to Xier was that she was quite capable and not easily surprised by fame or disgrace.
"May I ask you are?"
"Xi'er, the contact person for Dihuo."
After introducing herself insincerely, she raised her chin to the side.
"Come on out, guys—get the supplies down first."
Fifteen or sixteen burly men suddenly emerged from the snow and surrounded Bronya's fifty men.
But before the Iron Guards could be alert, five of them carried the supplies on the sled that the Iron Guards were pulling and quickly moved them onto the cable car.
"...I don't want to argue, just follow me - this cableway may be a little shaky, but it's fast. Oh, I forgot to mention that your people can hang on the cableway or slide down directly, but the supplies must be transported down by cable car."
The ground firemen acted quickly and half-snatched the box onto the makeshift "cable car". It was called a cable car, but in fact, Kong felt that if the cargo itself did not have the ability to adjust its posture in the air, then the safety factor of this thing would be basically zero. The moment the straps were detached, the supplies would roll all the way to the bottom along the slope of the pipe.
As for the cable car... excuse me for being frank, but the cloth safety belts and slide that are limited to two people at a time will not only tie the two passengers up like dumplings and force them together, but it is also the only way to go straight to the underworld.
If it were before, Bronya would probably have looked stern because of the rudeness of the Earth and Fire cadres and the overly simple equipment, but she had already accepted Sora's advice and was ready to "compromise", so she just frowned slightly and followed Seele without saying a word.
"Two people in a group. You should be in a group with me, so that I can protect you."
It seemed that it was because Bronya did not show the arrogance of an upper-class person. Although she was a little worried when using the cable car she prepared, the calmness of her eyebrows corrected some of Seele's cognition, and she no longer spoke to her in such an aggressive tone.
"Please let me team up with Mr. Kong. He will protect me."
"……Um?"
When Seele heard that Bronya was going to be in a group with Sora, she immediately shook her head and glanced back and forth between her and Sora with a rather ferocious look:
"You... let a man be your personal bodyguard—?"
"...Ms. Bronya, you can trust Ms. Seele. She is the one who least wants you to get into trouble."
Kong almost couldn't hold it in, and he forced himself to suppress the urge to complain - the fate between these two is basically at the cross-world level, and they can be brought together in the other world, but could you please not take me with you in everything?
Although Seele's tone was still unfriendly, Sora keenly noticed that her aggression towards Bronya decreased very quickly.
...Is this the bond between you that transcends time and space?
"it is good."
Bronya's reaction was unexpectedly obedient, which made the guards following her stare in amazement.
Kong was afraid that Bronya would be too obedient to him - although she herself did not mean that, this would likely make the Iron Guards and Earth Fire look down on her... so he quickly sent her a private message asking her not to ask for his opinion on everything.
"Although I'd love to ride a zipline with you... But Bronya, this is a great opportunity for you to demonstrate your leadership and autonomy. Next time, don't ask for my opinion in public!! It's not appropriate!"
"As expected of a teacher, you've got another one!"
Asuna, eager to stir up trouble, added fuel to the fire in this delicate atmosphere. If it weren't for Karin covering her mouth from behind, the Iron Guards and the members of the Earthfire would have looked at Sora with even more awe.
After being tied to the cable car by Seele, Bronya discovered that this damn safety belt not only had to go around the lower chest, wrap around the waist, but also around the hips. It was simply the epitome of some kind of rope bondage art.
It was not until her pantyhose were squeezed so tight that her flesh was almost overflowing that she realized something was wrong. Her face turned slightly red and she glanced towards Sora frequently, as if she didn't want him to look, but also as if she was afraid that he wouldn't look - if Seele hadn't glared at Sora fiercely and told him not to look so obscenely, and if she hadn't leaned against Bronya and covered the girl's back with her body, Sora would have performed a blood-spurting show for both of them.
...Actually, looking from the front...Xier's figure is pretty good.
207. The Fate of a Bubble Across the World
"You are so defenseless that it is easy for someone to take advantage of you."
After leaving the cable car, Seele muttered about "untying" Bronya, but the silver-haired girl kept her gun in her hand from beginning to end. It can be said that her defense against the opposite sex was far weaker than her vigilance against other unexpected factors.
The stuffy heat from underground hit Bronya in the face, causing her to squint slightly. However, what was scary was not the heat wave, but the extremely penetrating smell that could penetrate into her nose more effectively than the cold wind.
The "natural light" emitted by the earth's marrow made the passage as bright as day. The large amount of garbage piled up at the entrance emitted an indescribable yellow mist, which once produced a Tyndall effect. While being disgusting, it actually created a kind of industrial wasteland beauty.
Bronya had seen many corpses and had walked through messy military camps, but the mountain-like garbage dump was still a bit beyond her tolerance. Her cheeks bulged for a moment, and although she forced herself to hold back her dry heaves, Seele still saw her eyes suddenly widen.
This made Xier laugh mercilessly: "Miss from the upper class, now you know how miserable the living conditions of the lower class are? We can only choose such a dirty pile as a smuggling channel... Tsk."
"...I understand. Get out of here as soon as possible. The gas nearby seems to be poisonous."
"Don't worry, there are still dozens of people who haven't come down yet. As the commander-in-chief, you have to set an example, right? Be patient."
Although there was some malice and pleasure in Seele's tone, as if she had destroyed an exquisite vase named Bronya, and there was a subtle sense of pleasure in it, Bronya did not blame her.
The garbage dump is just a microcosm of the hardships of life. If conditions permit, who would be willing to let their partners take such a degrading path?
"You are a blessed person - you are not affected by the environment here... Why don't you provide gas masks to the guides and transporters?"
"The masks are all supplied to the miners. Working in the mines is much worse than working in the garbage dump... They need it more than we do."
Xier's eyebrows became sharp: "Don't tell us what to do, Miss, we have already tried everything you can think of."
"...You can call me Bronya, or Iron Guard, but please don't use insulting terms."
"……cut."
Xier felt that she was boring. The other party was not very cunning, but his patience was first-class. His reaction to provocation was too calm.
...Maybe I shouldn't be so harsh on her, but for some reason, when I saw her large, delicate earrings and thick, beautiful clothes...I just couldn't help it.
"Yahoo!!"
"Asuina, I've reached the top..."
"What's wrong with that? The last time I went to the playground with my teacher, we never had the chance to play together again!"
"The problem is that you are sitting in the wrong direction?"
Of course, Sora and Asuna would not follow the safety regulations when riding the ropeway. The big golden retriever pressed himself directly against Sora's back, piling all his fat on top. Although Sora did not blush like a fledgling due to the squeezing, the possibility of social death at any time still made him hope that the student would be more restrained.
"Ahahaha - I never get tired of seeing the teacher blushing!"
"Did I?"
"Eh, it seems not. Is it just a change in light?"
"You two...don't occupy the cableway. There are many people waiting behind!"
Xier, with veins bulging on his forehead, impatiently and violently pulled this teacher and the female student who was acting coquettishly towards him off the cable car.
Then, Hua Lin also slid down leisurely - it seemed that the guards took into consideration the special relationship between Sora and these two girls, and did not dare to ride with them...
But then Hua Lin's small shadow slid down, making them all stunned.
"Ling Ke...why did you follow me?"
Kong scratched his head. After handing the little girl over to Jeppard, he didn't care about her anymore. But the other party followed all the way. Not only was she hiding very well, but he also used some unknown reason to convince the Iron Guards and Dihuo to let her down.
"... Compared to my brother who never has time to talk to me... maybe my sister will have time to tell me what happened in Beloberg... Since he asked me to hide, I will hide for him."
Lingke awkwardly took off the hat on her head, revealing her round golden head: "Don't look at me like this, I can help you too. I'm an expert in snowfield adventures."
"... Unless you are an expert in underground adventures, it probably won't work..."
Sora scratched his head, childcare was not an option in his schedule.
"I can cook and make simple medicine, I'm sure I can help."
But Lingke did not use the usual coquettish tactics of girls of the same age to persuade him to take her with him, but simply listed her "value" in detail.
"So you're good at taking care of people... Your brother and sister are both in our communication band. Now that you're down there, let your sister decide where you're going."
Kong nodded between his brows and gave an affirmative answer:
"Shiluva wants to meet you at the Goethe Hotel...Okay, just come with us."
"My sister..."
"She's dealing with the problem of miners who couldn't return the carts they loaned out. She should be pretty busy now."
……
"Dr. Shiluwa, you are a miracle worker!"
When Kong and others arrived at the negotiation site, they saw that Shiluwa had set up a stall downstairs of the hotel. They had borrowed a small mobile furnace from somewhere and put up a sign that read "Perpetual Motion Mechanical House".
Even though the current conditions were just a shed at best - Sora was still happy that she had found a place underground that was needed for her.
"Haha, you can come to me if you have any problems with old mechas. I'll be here for nearly a week. Just consider it as compensation for the loss of your carts—"
While chatting politely with the workers, Shiluwa scratched her cheek and unconsciously smoothed the dust on the tip of her nose, which made her look less gorgeous like the eldest daughter of the Langdao family and more worldly.
"No way, you have helped to repair the robot, we can just make a few carts ourselves." The workers who seemed to have lost the carts not only did not pursue the matter of the carts, but also praised her craftsmanship.
"By the way, is there any underground channel to obtain these replacement parts? I thought they were discontinued a long time ago."
"These parts all came from the mechanical settlement. I heard that you opened a workshop here. The girl in the settlement sent a mechanical soldier to deliver a large box of replacement parts to Panyan Town."
The Earth and Fire cadres who were responsible for protecting and, to a certain extent, monitoring her had now become her fans and half-apprentices, and were fully aware of all her problems.
"Little girl...Oh, I think I know who you are talking about. I have greeted her before." Xiluwa thought of the girl who was like a red elf.
"Maybe when you greeted her...she saw you repairing those broken mechas, so she sent so many parts. But that girl's identity...is not suitable for us to contact directly."
The cadre's eyes narrowed as he noticed the team coming out from the corner of the street and the two - maybe three - tufts of bright golden hair: "Oh, the traveler is back - and he brought back some big shots from the upper echelons."
"Big shot? That little girl in charge wouldn't consider herself a big shot."
Shiluwa patted her oil-stained hands and stood up, only to see Lingke waving at her from afar, with the smile on her face growing wider.
"elder sister!"
"Ling Ke, that idiot Jeppard pissed you off again, didn't he—"
"……No la."
Since Ling Ke was the first one to run over, the Iron Guards' disciplining and powerful military posture did not immediately attract the attention of passers-by on the street.