Ensuring Mission Completion

Fletcher hadn't expected Alice to entrust such a heavy responsibility to him. He immediately responded solemnly and even saluted, "I promise to complete the mission."

After giving the instructions, Alice retreated into the vehicle, closing the curtains. Feeling sticky all over, she decided to take a shower first.She took out the water bucket again. If it weren't for the interruption by that man, she would have finished washing earlier. Nevertheless, it saved her from having to wash a second time.After the shower, Alice lay down to rest.

...

The next day, the group had a simple breakfast before setting out to repair the road.

After comparing the two large pits, they chose the one that was easier to fill. Since there was no nearby soil, they had to drive to gather dirt, which was another time-consuming task.

Of course, Alice and Hurley were only in charge of commanding; it was Fletcher and the others who did the physical work.

Later, Alice returned to the original site to guard the weapons on the three trucks.

Keller had already awakened. His face was bruised and battered from last night's beating, looking quite miserable.

Alice removed the cloth from his mouth and sat down on a nearby rock, "I have a question for you."

Keller snorted and turned his head away.

The next moment, his head was forcibly turned back by Hurley, who threatened ominously, "Still want your head intact? I can twist it off for you."

Keller glared at them with an unpleasant expression, "What do you want to ask?"

"You R country people are capable of producing weapons yourselves, so why set up an ambush here, so far away?" Alice had been pondering this question last night, deciding to ask today.

Keller's gaze flickered, "You'll come to attack us once you have weapons, isn't destroying your weapons the right move? Why ask such a simple question?"

"That can't be the only reason," Alice stared at him expressionlessly. "Your country experiences frequent natural disasters. If I'm not mistaken, your military factories have been destroyed, and you have few weapons left, right?"

Keller's heart skipped a beat. She had actually guessed it.This was a secret of R country that couldn't be admitted. Keller kept a calm facade on his face. "That's impossible. R country will defeat you sooner or later. We have plenty of weapons, and the army is already assembling. You'd better release me, or the Emperor won't spare you."

"Heh, it seems I guessed right," Alice's lips curled into a smile. "Only someone with a guilty conscience would use such secrets as leverage."

Keller remained silent, closing his eyes. Alice wasn't someone easily fooled; the more he said, the more he revealed.

Alice didn't mind; she had received the answers she wanted. An hour later, Fletcher returned with his men.

"Miss Alice, the large pit over there has been filled," he reported.

Seeing them exhausted, Alice rarely showed kindness and didn't rush them to continue the journey. Even though they were living like cattle and horses these days, they weren't actually animals and deserved a rest.

Hurley took out a bag of pastries and distributed them, "Have some food before we go."

Each person got a pastry, even Emory, who looked a bit bewildered. As they ate the pastries, they suddenly felt their bodies relax, no longer feeling stiff and sore. They felt energized.

Hurley opened a can of eight-treasure porridge and leisurely ate.

Keller watched them eat, his stomach growling with hunger. "Give me some food."

"Prisoners don't qualify for food," Hurley replied indifferently.

Of course, they wouldn't let Keller starve to death, but he would only get one meal a day. One day without food wouldn't harm him; they would consider giving him something to eat in the evening.

Keller could avert his eyes, but he couldn't block his ears, nor could he ignore the tempting aroma of the food. The torment of food deprivation was unbearable, especially for someone accustomed to lavish meals.No one paid attention to him. After finishing the pancake, he rested for a while, and then everyone began to get on the bus. As they passed the big pit, the first car went up to test it, fortunately only collapsing a bit. The second car followed, sinking a bit deeper this time. They filled it with soil, and the third car passed smoothly. Apart from Keller's incident, the return journey was very smooth.

On the third day at noon, they returned to the base. When they saw them back, someone immediately went to inform Ignatius. Alice noticed something was wrong after getting off the car. Usually, there were people moving around the base, but today it was eerily quiet, with people guarding the roadside, all prepared.

Ignatius arrived quickly, first sizing them up, relieved to see them unharmed. "Base Commander, what's happened?" Alice frowned, "Why is the base so quiet?"

"Pirates suddenly attacked us, we've had several skirmishes with them," Ignatius explained briefly, "Currently, we're at a standstill. We're a bit short on weapons, but we have electric fences and various traps. They won't break in for a while."

At this point, Ignatius eagerly asked, "Have you found the armory?"

Hurley raised an eyebrow. "Of course, it's all in the car."

"Excellent," Ignatius exclaimed, "Hurry up and get them down, don't let them rust away."

Fletcher pushed Keller forward, and Ignatius, puzzled, asked, "Who is this person?" Obviously, he wasn't one he had sent out.

"He's from R country, Herschel is his inside man. They set traps halfway to rob us, but we managed to overpower them," Alice explained succinctly.

The "we" in her words referred to herself and Hurley. Dozens of deceived men hung their heads, afraid to speak.

Ignatius didn't pay attention to them. His face changed color at the news, and after examining Keller's face, he nodded solemnly in agreement, "This face does look like someone from R country." Even though they were all from the same continent, people from R country were still easily identifiable.Keller felt humiliated, turning his face away, refusing to look at them. Ignatius didn't have time to deal with him at the moment, hastily ordering people to unload the weapons.

"Be careful, if you break anything, you can forget about this month's wages," Ignatius warned.

Upon hearing this, the people handling the crates became even more cautious, lifting and placing them down almost gingerly. Keller's eyes flashed with mockery; there were no weapons in those crates. Were they all just deluding themselves?

Ignatius walked over, opening one of the crates and pulling out a submachine gun, unable to contain his smile. Meanwhile, Keller stood there dumbfounded. How was this possible? He had inspected those crates himself; there were definitely no weapons inside.

And it didn't end there. As he watched the crates being unloaded from the truck, they quickly piled up into a small mountain on the ground. Keller stared in disbelief. When did so many crates mysteriously appear on the truck?

The three trucks were clearly two-thirds empty, yet these crates seemed to have materialized out of thin air.