"Still operating it!"
Due to He Kui's movements, little Aegis stumbled slightly on the flat ground.
"It's okay, Shihe is already quite skilled."
He Kui teased.
It wasn't an urgent situation, so they could relax a bit.
Compared to his own boredom here, having Shihe around allowed him to control and enhance abilities simultaneously, making their efficiency peak.
Of course, this was only when it wasn't dangerous; he couldn't possibly be controlling Aegis in a decisive battle while also farming with Shihe here.
That would be absurd.
As He Kui thought this, he leaned in and kissed Shihe, and at that moment, the two of them managed to control Aegis to the snake's head.
The snake's lair was located in a slum and was within a gang's organization.
It wasn't surprising for a gang to have such operations, and Aegis, being a robot developed by He Kui, was fully armed.
So, facing the few burly men in front of him, he felt no fear at all.
"Let's just walk in like this."
"There are a lot of people on the other side, eleven of them."
Shihe said, looking at the data scanned by Aegis.
"I've armed this Aegis with a lot of weaponry."
As he spoke, He Kui released his grip on Shihe's soft hand and tapped the screen with his fragrant fingers.
Immediately, Aegis's armament system popped up.
Two small machine guns integrated into the wrists, and powerful electric currents directly connected to the fingers.
Plus, the same alloy as GINNs.
As long as they didn't face an RPG directly, they would be fine.
"Very good!"
Seeing He Kui's armament, Shihe felt a surge of confidence and knocked on the large door in front of them.
"Kid, what are you doing here?"
Not long after, the door opened, revealing a burly man. Looking at little Aegis, the man chuckled, and soon the entire room was filled with laughter.
"I want to go to the Atlantic Federation."
"Then you need to go back and find the boss."
Before he could finish his sentence, the burly man was thrown onto the smooth floor tiles by Shihe with a shoulder throw, creating a loud 'bang' and a cloud of dust.
"That's amazing!"
Feeling the immense power within Aegis's small frame, Shihe's beautiful eyes lit up.
"Right?"
He Kui said, not wanting to disturb Shihe any further, feeling as if he was being watched and judged.
At that moment, everyone in front of the screen saw Aegis's power and quickly drew their handguns from their waists.
"I said, I want to go to the Atlantic Federation."
Shihe said seriously, opening the microphone.
As she spoke, Shihe boldly took out an anonymous card from her body.
"..."
The burly men looked at the little figure in front of them, exchanging glances.
The reminder to take Aegis seriously wasn't too small; at 155 cm and flat-chested, she appeared quite short here.
However, intimidated by Aegis's earlier actions, they hesitated to approach.
He Kui also grew serious.
If it weren't necessary, he didn't want to take lives, and although the security here was chaotic, killing gang members would complicate his smuggling journey.
"Alright, let him in."
Just as He Kui was contemplating whether to look for the next place, a voice suddenly came from the staircase on the second floor.
Standing above was a somewhat disheveled young man in a tattered Earth military uniform.
Unlike the others, this person was unarmed.
From the respectful and fearful expressions of the others, it was clear that this young man was the one in charge here.
"Come up."
"Okay."
As they spoke, they made their way to a small room on the second floor.
"Where do you want to go?"
The young man asked lazily as he sat on the sofa.
"Canada."
Canada, geographically, borders Montana.
"That place."
"Crossing the entire heart of the Atlantic Federation is too risky."
The young man didn't ask for reasons but simply looked up and said.
"The waters outside the Hawaiian Islands and the California base are now filled with the Atlantic Federation's Second Fleet; you can't go there. We can only drop you off in Mexico."
Taking a wrong route now could really get someone shot as a spy.
Especially with Aegis, which looked suspicious; if they saw a surrender, it might be fine, but any sign of resistance would definitely lead to being shot without discussion.
"That's fine."
"But they are gathering troops?"
"Perhaps, the situation in Alaska is chaotic, and Midway hasn't been reclaimed."
"Keep talking, and you'll have to pay."
The young man lazily raised his head.
"Then forget it."
He could get information from others just as easily.
"But your operations are quite extensive."
Aegis said, pulling out the card in his hand, which contained money fifty times the usual deposit for smugglers.
"Not bad."
The young man shrugged and took the card.
"According to the rules, you'll get the other half when you arrive."
"Deal."
"When do we leave?"
"The sooner, the better."
He Kui said.
"Then let's say tomorrow morning. Come to this location to wait for us."
Without any contracts or anything, after receiving an address, Shihe operated Aegis to leave the gang's hideout.
"Boss, should we just take them down?"
The burly man who had been silent all this time looked at the anonymous card being toyed with in the young man's hand, his eyes filled with greed.
Their smuggling operation charged a hundred thousand per head for civilians, while He Kui had given them two million five hundred thousand at once.
The implication was clear: he wanted a private team.
They usually took groups of twenty to thirty people at a time.
And they only set off once they had a full group, but two million five hundred thousand would allow them to earn even more.
However, directly defaulting on payment would yield much more profit.
"You guys aren't his match, and neither am I. Together, we still aren't his match."
The young man yawned as he spoke, his instincts were never wrong.
After hiding Aegis, Shihe exited the control, also letting out a sigh of relief.
If a fight had broken out just now, although she could have killed so many people, the aftermath would have been troublesome.
She couldn't just swim to Canada and then to Montana, could she?
"But how do you plan to get from Mexico to Montana?"
Shihe naturally asked He Kui while hugging him.
"Road trip?"
"That would be too inefficient~"
Shihe said helplessly.
According to He Kui, they needed to hurry to Great Falls, Montana, but the infrastructure within the Atlantic Federation hadn't kept up.
Most roads were still primitive asphalt, unlike the maglev highways inside PLANT.
Driving there would indeed be quite difficult.
"Just kidding, but we can try taking the maglev train."
Although it wasn't a road trip and required identity verification, the Atlantic Federation had set up stations in several major cities, which could be used for rapid troop movements during wartime, and there was also a civilian version.
Civilian train tickets were expensive, but fortunately, the Atlantic Federation was quite free; unless going to a military stronghold, it was relatively easy to create a fake identity for other places.
"Let's head back first."
After chatting for a while, He Kui took the girl's hand and walked outside.
(End of Chapter)