Because of the impact from the anchor's fall earlier, the armory had become a complete mess.
And yet—somehow—its neatly arranged weapons were still hanging on the wall instead of being scattered across the floor like you'd expect.
Among them, Hao Fan even spotted Tide, the one-handed sword he'd just obtained.
But there was no sign of the armory engineer.
"…Weird. Where'd he go?"
Hao Fan walked up to the counter. Normally, that brown-haired middle-aged man would be here receiving other operators.
He turned toward the adjacent storeroom, where even more weapons were kept.
"…Let's check the storage room."
Under normal circumstances, nobody could just wander in—but this wasn't a normal circumstance.
After pushing aside some debris, Hao Fan went deeper inside… and found the armory engineer collapsed at the very back, unconscious.
He'd clearly been like that for a while.
"Uncle Xiemiao, you still alive?"
Hao Fan crouched, frowning as he examined him carefully.
No visible wounds. Breathing steady.
Probably just knocked out by the shock.
"…In that case, I should be able to wake him up directly, right?"
He debated for a moment, then decided he'd wake the guy first and ask about getting a handgun for self-defense.
As for taking gear while the man was unconscious and leaving?
Yeah, no. Hao Fan wasn't a thief.
So three minutes later—
Xiemiao regained consciousness and, through Hao Fan's brief explanation, roughly understood the current situation at the Hub Base.
"What? You're saying the anchor struck the base… wait—I remember now."
Holding his head, Xiemiao muttered with a pained expression.
"There was a huge bang, everything shook, and something hit my head… sigh. Doctor, thanks for saving me, but I need to get back to my post."
He stood up fully, now clear-headed—his first priority immediately returning to duty.
"Good thing the armory didn't take too much damage…"
Then he noticed the Tide sword at Hao Fan's waist.
He recognized it. It was the same one-handed sword he'd once given Andre for self-defense—only for Andre to never use it… and apparently pass it along.
"In that case… you want a handgun, right? I'll pick the best one for you."
So he selected a matching model—
Howling Sentinel.
A blue-and-white handgun, and like Tide, a mid-tier product from Meshko Industries.
Its design fused retro Laterano-style structure with modern industrial engineering. Blue-painted metal accents created a distinctive aesthetic, and it carried the special effect Suppression · Emergency Reinforcement, temporarily increasing ammunition power to better suppress a target.
"Thanks. I really like it."
Hao Fan accepted the Howling Sentinel, lowering his head to admire this handgun that looked just as slick as Tide. A smile tugged at his lips.
Seriously—compared to cold steel, firearms made him feel much safer.
As for the cost of buying ammo?
No problem.
He wasn't short on money.
"You like it, that's what matters. If it helps even a little, I can rest easy."
Xiemiao gestured around at the surrounding weapons.
"I still have some stock. If you need anything later, you can always come buy equipment."
Meaning: it wouldn't be free next time.
But the fact he was granting Hao Fan purchase access to the Hub Base armory meant something: they no longer considered him an outsider.
Because outsiders didn't get the right to buy weapons here.
"Really? That's great. I'll definitely be back—just make it cheaper for me next time, yeah?"
Hao Fan rubbed his fingers together in a money gesture.
Xiemiao chuckled, but then seemed to remember something and asked, unable to hide his concern:
"By the way… have you seen Doctor Miguel? He's the head of the base clinic. Is he still alive?"
"Miguel? He's fine."
Hao Fan shook his head.
Earlier, when he'd been helping guide people around, he'd seen that familiar figure in the cultivation room—the buckwheat-flower growing area.
"Not only that—during the attack, he protected a lot of the wounded. I saw it with my own eyes."
"…Whew. Good."
Xiemiao visibly relaxed. He was probably Miguel's friend.
"Don't let his slow-and-steady vibe fool you. When he gets impulsive, he's harder to restrain than even those Ursus guys in the Defense Department…"
Then his expression turned heavier.
"But with the base damage this severe, the clinic's reserves are probably bottoming out."
"Medical supplies? You mean buckwheat-flower powder?"
Hao Fan thought back: the cultivation room didn't have much buckwheat-flower left.
Those medicinal plots weren't large—barely enough for routine consumption. A disaster like an anchor strike would instantly make everything tight.
And back at the control tower earlier, he'd already heard medical operators saying the buckwheat-flower powder was basically used up.
Which meant the wounded were going to have a real problem recovering.
Hao Fan fell silent, thinking.
"…There should be buckwheat-flower growing wild out there, right?"
"That's right. Buckwheat-flower is one of the most common plants in Valley No. 4. It's not literally everywhere, but it's definitely not hard to find."
Xiemiao nodded, confirming it.
"I see… got it. I'll think of something too."
Hao Fan committed it to memory.
He actually liked the Hub Base. Sure, people treated him like a weirdo—but they were friendly.
So if he could help, he didn't mind doing his part.
And maybe it'd even make Miguel—who didn't think much of him—look at him differently.
But for now—
"I'm heading to the base entrance to assemble."
Meanwhile…
After leaving the underground lab, the Administrator first helped clear out the remaining angels inside the base.
Angels didn't have mercy. That was common knowledge on Talos-II.
So reducing their numbers as fast as possible—before survivors could be attacked—was absolutely the right call.
But Perlica seemed distracted, carrying something on her mind.
"Landbreakers… could it be they took advantage of the chaos caused by the anchor to loot?"
Thinking back on the Landbreakers they'd encountered in the lab, she murmured her guess—then quickly rejected it herself.
"But how long has it even been since the anchor fell? That timing is too perfect…"
Her eyes narrowed.
"This might be more complicated than we thought."
The Administrator—having just finished off another nearby angel—tilted her head in confusion.
In her amnesiac state, she still didn't fully understand the anchor or the Landbreakers, so she couldn't say whether there was a connection between them.
Perlica continued,
"According to the original plan, we were supposed to deploy and test the Protocol Core near the Hub Base…"
"I didn't expect the base to be hit this hard. We'll have to restore Hub Base operations first."
"Mm. Let's all work together."
The Administrator nodded.
She didn't dislike this busy feeling at all.
And as for what came next—
"We should head to the base entrance to assemble."
-------
My : pat*eon*com/RuneA
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