"What is that sound? It sounds like it's coming from outside."
MP5 was playing cards with two Rippers in the dining room when vaguely heard a loud roar from outside. She stood up in confusion, pressed against the porthole, and looked out.
MP40 and several Rippers nearby were also curious and gathered around.
Their movement quickly attracted the attention of the other Dolls and Sangvis Dolls in the dining room, who crowded around to see what was going on outside.
A group of Dolls gathered at the porthole, tiptoeing to see what was so interesting outside.
"Here… uh, it's not very clear. It looks like a big, dark thing… Hey! Don't push, don't push! Let's go to the lounge on the lower floor! The view window there will surely show it!" MP5 shouted, squeezing out of the crowd and leading a group of people out of the dining room.
G36 watched, frowning as she walked to the porthole and looked at the situation below.
MDR had already run off, likely looking for a better filming spot.
But was there a problem with the mission? It was just about finding an air cargo box, yet it seemed to be taking too long.
Just as she was thinking, G36 saw a huge black shadow flash past the porthole…
Based on the ship's current altitude, the size of that shadow… It was no smaller than their ship!?
"Is Commander and the others really okay?"
"UMP45, you've been watching the situation below, right?"
"Yeah, I've been keeping an eye on it. Don't worry, everything is fine. That big guy below can't do much against the commander and the others. In fact, they don't even need the commander to take action. Nagant and the others can handle it just fine."
Although it started a bit slow, the battle shouldn't last long.
"Okay." Hearing UMP45's reassurance, G36 nodded and sat back down.
But she couldn't sit still for more than a few seconds and got up, heading to the bridge.
Instead of watching from the lounge windows, it was clearer to observe from the bridge through the ship's monitors.
Meanwhile, in the ship's simulation training room, G11 had jumped down from her throne, giving her seat to MG42, and was standing by the monitor, messaging UMP45 through the Doll communication channel.
"45, I want to see the situation with the commander and the others below. What was that sound just now?"
"Hmm? Sure, I'll transfer it to the training room's screen right now. Screen two, you can watch it yourself. Anyway, nothing major happened. I think the commander and the others will be back soon."
As UMP45 finished speaking, the second screen in the training room switched from MG42's repeated failures to the real-time battle situation of Renault and his team.
"This is…?" Springfield joined MG42 in the training room, worried that MG42 might be frustrated by her struggles in the novice training. Seeing the action on the screen, she was surprised at the sight of the tentacled mutant attacking aimlessly but failing to hit anything.
Though she didn't recognize the massive mutant, she knew the power armor being used by the dolls fighting it was the same kind Renault's team had used when they came to support Griffin's base.
While she didn't know the specific data, the appearance of the power armor was already recorded in G&K's database.
"Is Commander Renault fighting this mutant?" Springfield's brows furrowed as she saw Renault standing not far from the mutant in the highly polluted area.
Wasn't he being too bold? If he suddenly died here, what would become of the Dolls who had just switched sides and deleted all their lower-level protocols? They'd be unemployable, tied to the same fate.
"Yeah, but we didn't expect to encounter a mutant. This one looks big, but it's surprisingly weak." G11 commented, watching the executioner chop off a large section of tentacles with a single swing.
Weak… weak?
Springfield's worries were all blocked by G11's words. Such a massive mutant was considered weak?
For ordinary tactical Dolls, their weapons might not even penetrate the mutant's silicate armor!
"Well, its tentacles aren't very strong, only powerful when extending or retracting. Once Executioner got close, it can't even throw her off."
So, it was weak. G11 hadn't seen the mutant effectively attack Executioner who was rampaging on it.
"Then… why isn't the gunship attacking…?"
Springfield clearly saw the heavily armed gunship hovering in the air, occasionally circling within the mutant's attack range but not engaging it.
"The cargo box, the cargo box. The fragments inside that mutant are the wreckage of the crashed cargo plane." Shaking her head, G11 returned her attention to the other screens.
Instead of watching the mutant get beaten one-sidedly, it was more interesting to watch WA2000 and the others struggle in the training devices!
She also needed to record it. MDR said she would pay for the footage!
The commander mentioned that after completing this mission, they'd get passes to other big cities or something.
So, it was essential to save more money!
Seeing the red dots at the corners of the screens, Springfield's eyes twitched.
She was glad there were only five connected devices, she was worried that her embarrassing moments in training might be recorded by G11.
Fearing the worst, just as Springfield hesitated to slip away, WA2000 screamed.
"Ah! I can't take it anymore! What kind of training is this? How can humans survive this kind of battlefield!?"
Jumping up, WA2000 angrily handed the access device to Springfield, unaware that her miserable training session had been recorded by someone planning to sell it to MDR for money