After Natasha took the lead, things became much smoother. More and more girls chose to come out and see the situation, immediately trying to grab the weapons from the corpses.
But Dotti and Anya, being older and with Dotti seemingly quite intimidating usually, still clung tightly to their submachine guns.
"Actually, the guards have whistles on them. We were trained to unlock the handcuffs but not to leave the room. We can only come out when we hear the whistle sound."
Natasha found a small silver whistle on the corpse and held it in her hand.
"I guessed there would be such an item, but I won't blow it—it's too dirty." Su Ming casually pushed the whistle back, looking at the corridor crowded with people: "If you want, keep it as a souvenir."
Maybe Natasha previously had such an idea, but after hearing Su Ming say this, she felt like the whistle seemed wet and gross.
So she threw the whistle away. The silver whistle rolled far, with many young girls' eyes following its movement.
This was once a symbol of authority, but today it was overthrown. They did not know how to express their feelings.
"That's right, humans are creatures that communicate with language. Using sharp signals to communicate and give orders is anti-human."
Su Ming nodded, took off his helmet, and lit a cigarette.
Chattering, chattering, the young girls were whispering all along, but after Su Ming took off his helmet, they all fell silent.
While the Black and Yellow Armor instilled fear and intimidation, seeing the human face provided much more information.
"What does anti-human mean?"
Natasha asked, not too scared now, with part of her trust in Logan shifting to Su Ming.
"Hehe, it just means doing things that make humans hate you." Su Ming invented an explanation.
The girl who previously impersonated Natasha was named Eva, Natasha's roommate and good friend. She approached as well: "Everyone has come out, but what should we do next?"
As taking orders was something they were used to, the sudden absence of someone telling them what to do left them bewildered for a moment.
Su Ming smiled, exhaled a smoke ring, utterly unconcerned about Dotti and Anya seemingly aiming at him from afar.
"What do you want to do now?"
"Usually, after waking up, we wash up, put on makeup, then line up for meals, and then attend language classes..." The little girl tilted her head, responding as though she were reciting.
"Tsk, I'm asking you, what do you plan to do yourself? Don't think about those past rules. From the moment I appeared, you all have been free."
"Well... I don't want to put on makeup. Can I go eat directly after washing up?" Eva timidly asked.
"Of course you can. Although the cooks in the cafeteria are dead, you all can cook, right?" Su Ming stepped aside from the staircase, indicating the girls could do whatever they wanted.
He had already confirmed one hundred percent that there were no hostile creatures left in the building. Strangulation could ensure even if a cockroach harbored malice towards the host, it would drag it out and crush it.
The reason it had not killed Dotti, Anya, or the little girls who previously attacked the host was because the host had consistently ordered it not to act.
Eva turned her head, her timid expression completely gone, secretly giving Natasha a signal that they could explore upstairs to check the situation.
But Natasha chose to stay and wait. Things worth knowing would eventually come to light. Appearing too smart could lead to a quicker death, a lesson she learned in the Red House.
Knowing things did not mean she should speak them, nor show them.
She certainly hoped to leave here, but she could not go back to find Ivan.
That would only lead to his ruin. It would be better to let Leviathan think she had died, so that Ivan might live peacefully.
She had no other choice but to follow this Black and Yellow Armored man and see what he intended to do with her.
In fact, the young girls here are very clever. Those not smart enough had long died.
After Su Ming cleared the way, none of them left. Instead, they all watched him silently, awaiting his orders.
Su Ming frowned. He was not looking for robots. If he wanted mere puppets who only knew to follow orders, he did not even need to go to Cybertron; he could contact Batman and make a batch.
That was not usable people, just assembly line robots from a factory.
"I will wait for you at the exit on the top floor. The underground facility is completely safe. You are free to move around." Su Ming calculated the time: "But I will only wait for you three days. At most three days later, a supply team will arrive here, and we will all be discovered. Girls, you are all very smart, think it over yourselves."
After speaking, Su Ming hoisted the two bags by the staircase and left.
"Nate, what should we do?" Eva asked Natasha, having just grabbed a pistol from the corpse.
"Dotti, what should we do?" Almost simultaneously, Anya asked Dotti, both wielding submachine guns and grenades, the most fully armed of them all.
"We follow." X2.
Although separated by the crowd, both Natasha and Dotti gave the same response. Only by following up could they see more and decide what to do next.
But when they went up the stairs, they found that the person was already gone, and the instructors' dorm area upstairs was deathly silent.
The guards were dead in the hallway, the instructors all dead in their beds, their expressions very peaceful, as if they hadn't noticed anything.
Natasha even thought they were just asleep, but after Dotti checked the bodies, she found that all of their cervical vertebrae had turned to powder, with hearts long disconnected from brain control, already cold.
Just thinking about it made all four girls grimace.
If they clamped down on the neck with their thighs, they could indeed snap it, but to crush it directly? What kind of strength was this?
"I think we're really free now," Natasha was the first to relax. She kicked the trainer who had once hit her, but the corpse gave no response.
"Freedom, what does that mean?" Eva asked, looking puzzled. "That person kept talking about freedom, liberation, but I couldn't understand it at all."
Natasha was rummaging through the instructor's wardrobe for clothes to put on herself and Eva, knowing they'd need warmth once they left here, so wearing more layers wouldn't be wrong.
Hearing Eva's question, she thought she had a rough idea of what freedom meant, but she couldn't explain the feeling.
She thought for a while: "It means we can always be together from now on, and we can eat until we're full every day."
"That sounds great." Eva took the clothes Natasha handed her and quickly put them on.
In the room opposite, Dotti and Anya were doing the same thing, rummaging through the dead instructors' storage boxes and wardrobes, trying to collect supplies.
Hearing the conversation between Natasha and Eva, they were also very moved.
This way, neither of them would have to die, and they could live together.
"That's really nice." Anya remarked with some emotion as she put on a pair of stockings. Both she and Dotti were sixteen or seventeen, so they could fit into adult clothes. However, the instructors were too muscular, so the stockings felt like buckets.
But Anya opened a pillow and stuffed the feathers inside the stockings for warmth; they'd still need to find some pants to wear over them.
Dotti, on the other hand, was ripping sheets, planning to use them as leg wraps. She nodded: "I hope it's true, but can we really escape?"
Almost all the girls were doing similar things, but when they were wrapped up tightly and reached the canteen, they found there was no food, only the option to cook for themselves.
So everyone could only eat large pot-brewed potatoes, which saved time and was filling.
Then they swept layer by layer upwards, discovering that indeed those bad people were all dead, and other clothes were in abundant supply, so they upgraded their gear again, packing up quite a bit of canned food and bread.
The head instructor was found stark naked, dead in the chief scientist's room, but the girls felt no joy. On the contrary, they seemed to see their own future selves.
Would it be their fate to die naked in someone else's room in the future?
Finally, they arrived at the small house on the surface and found the black and yellow Armored Man warming himself by the iron stove, skewering some red strips of food and roasting them over the fire.
Not only did it smell delicious, but the red grease kept dripping down, causing the flames to flicker.
Many little girls swallowed, as they had never smelled such an aroma before.
"It took 37 minutes, no need to hurry. I said, there's no enemy here anymore."
Su Ming was turning the spicy strips in his hand. In fact, he didn't intend to eat them; he just wanted to show the girls what good stuff he had, assuring them they'd live luxuriously if they followed him.
Pulling out US dollars wouldn't make sense to them, so using food, which is more intuitive, was better.
Though tempting, if anyone wants to go home, Su Ming wouldn't stop them. It's a matter of principle.
"At the very least, Eva and I plan to leave with you. I don't want to stay here a second longer," Natasha approached the other side of the stove, feeling still a bit cold, as the extra clothing wasn't quite enough.
"Actually, you have another choice, which is to go home. There's a bag of Rubles here, which are paper notes used for trading. The numbers on them indicate purchasing power."
Su Ming handed the roasted spicy strips to Natasha, indicating she should try them, then he dragged over a big bag from the corner against the wall.
"If any of you remember your family or want to return home, I can take her to a safe train station. Remembering how many stops you need to take, you can buy tickets. These paper notes can also buy food and water to sustain your life."
However, the girls remained unmoved. While some of them might remember their homes, they all understood that if they returned, their families were surely doomed.
The small house and the corridor leading underground were silent.
"Alright, it seems no one can go home, so I'll take you to my school, where you can live comfortably and learn more useful knowledge."
Su Ming tossed the bag aside, spreading his hands.
"Learning to kill? That's all we know," Dotti asked the question, while Anya quietly tried to pull her back. Such probing was too rash, as they still didn't know what kind of person the stranger really was.
Su Ming shook his head with a smile, watching Natasha and Eva enjoy the gluten, panting as they ate.
"As I see it, anyone alive can kill. But my place is not the Red House. Before you figure out for what reason you kill, you won't touch any killing techniques again. If any of you is interested in cooking, you can sign up now..."