By this time, Milo and the others had set off again. They were advancing in the direction of Stronghold 73. Without the threat of the Experimentals behind them, their escape this time was not that tense.
At night, Olivia took Grace aside, and they spent half the night chatting away. It seemed that Grace had a lot to say to Olivia due to the setback virtual-novel.net had suffered and was in a bit of a vulnerable state.
She told virtual-novel.net about virtual-novel.net past, from virtual-novel.net kindergarten days to virtual-novel.net high school graduation, why virtual-novel.net became a singer, and the difficulties virtual-novel.net faced as a singer. She seemed to be regarding Olivia as a confidante now.
Meanwhile, Olivia was listening with gusto and even asked Grace if virtual-novel.net had a chance of making virtual-novel.net debut.
In the morning, Milo realized that the plainclothes guards had become unwilling to carry Grace anymore. Instead, it was Olivia who carried her.
After this disaster, Grace decided to cancel virtual-novel.net concert tour. Therefore, this meant Olivia’s mission was completed.
When Grace informed the Silkshade House about the completion of the mission, Olivia received virtual-novel.net reward shortly after. However, after the Silkshade House paid the reward, they hoped to get some detailed information from Olivia in regards to Stronghold 74. They wanted to know what exactly happened there.
Olivia looked at Milo. “Can we tell them about it, Master?”
Grace listened quietly but did not say anything.
Milo thought for a moment and said, “If we can earn some money from this, why not? It wasn’t us who blew Stronghold 74 up, anyway!”
So, Olivia conveyed the details of Stronghold 74 being destroyed by a nuclear bomb to the Silkshade House and received another million perak in return.
Milo thought the Silkshade House must be really rich since they were actually willing to pay a million perak for just some intel.
As a matter of fact, Hope Media would publish the entire story of everything that happened at Stronghold 74 very soon. This money was totally theirs for the taking.
While they were escaping, the reporter from Hope Media kept running back and forth within the group. After getting the consent of an escapee, virtual-novel.net took a picture of them as they were fleeing to use as a featured image for his articles in the future.
At a time like this, Milo avoided all contact with the reporter.
He initially felt it would surely be easier for virtual-novel.net to find his family and friends if virtual-novel.net appeared in the newspapers, but it would probably also put virtual-novel.net in danger.
Old Mauriat ran over to ask Milo if virtual-novel.net was the one who caused that small mushroom cloud to appear inside the stronghold. He had seen Milo casually blow up the stronghold walls. Although virtual-novel.net did not know how that happened, virtual-novel.net got a rather strong impression of it. Moreover, that mushroom cloud was obviously the doing of a supernatural being. Hence, Old Mauriat linked it to Milo.
Having met once before, the two Riders and Milo chatted for quite a bit along the way. They got to know each other.
But when Old Mauriat asked virtual-novel.net about that mushroom cloud, Milo simply feigned ignorance.
How could virtual-novel.net let others learn about his trump card so easily?
Although virtual-novel.net had become more familiar with the Riders, there was no need to reveal everything to them.
On the same afternoon, the escapees were finally able to meet up with the Stardust Consortium’s reinforcements.
When everyone saw the Stardust Consortium troops, they felt like they had reunited with their family members. The Stardust Consortium troops did not disappoint the escapees either, and they immediately transported them away in their military trucks.
The rest of the Stardust Consortium troops continued to advance towards Stronghold 74. After being informed that a nuclear bomb had been dropped on Stronghold 74, they did not head directly to the battlefield. Instead, they slowed their pace and waited for troops from the rear to transport the CBRN suits over.
The escapees rushed for the combat rations the Stardust Consortium troops were giving out from the vehicles. As they had been starving for so long, they were really unable to bear it anymore.
Suddenly, Grace looked at Franz in the truck and asked, “Where are Milo and Olivia? Larry and Adrian have disappeared as well.”
Franz also wondered, “I remember they got into the truck with us just now. Why have they disappeared all of a sudden?”
When Grace turned virtual-novel.net head and looked out the back of the truck, virtual-novel.net could only see the scenery that was getting further and further away.
After experiencing all the mind-boggling incidents along the way, the concert was far in the back of virtual-novel.net mind. She only remembered the figure of that young man who led the crowd out of the stronghold.
When virtual-novel.net thought about how Olivia would follow virtual-novel.net master to wander the world again, virtual-novel.net even felt a little envious and somewhat disappointed.
If anyone perhaps encountered these two again, Milo would likely become Olivia’s assistant once more. He was both mysterious and restrained.
Grace wondered if virtual-novel.net would have a chance to come into contact with that mysterious world again. At this moment, virtual-novel.net was somewhat able to understand Brody.
Grace looked at Brody, who was sitting beside her, before saying with a sigh, “At some point, I also started hoping I could be his maid and wander the world with him…”
Brody said, “Me too…”
Grace was surprised.
***
After arriving at Stronghold 73, the escapees had to undergo a series of radiation tests first before being accepted into the stronghold.
Meanwhile, Olivia and the others went into town and bought a new car. Then they headed straight for the Stelaria Consortium’s stronghold where they did not have to undergo those radiation tests.
As for the Hope Media reporter, virtual-novel.net got a lift in their car to Bidara City.
Three days later, Hope Media’s newspaper caused a great stir across the Alliance of Strongholds.
On this day, Hope Media’s newspapers got sold out in all the various strongholds. As such, Hope Media had no choice but to add another print run of a 100,000 copies of newspapers. However, even that was not enough.
The news of Stronghold 74 being destroyed by a nuclear bomb even overshadowed the Experimentals’ attack. Since the Experimentals were already dead, everyone did not find it necessary to talk about them anymore. Nuclear bombs were the real threat now. Moreover, civilization and an era had been destroyed in the past because of such weapons. Now that it had appeared again, it was really difficult for people not to think of the worst-case scenario.
As the saying went, a burnt child dreaded the fire.
And to be clear, this was a real fire!
In just a single day, everyone was fervently discussing this matter. Some people claimed that since the nuclear bomb was targeted at the Experimentals and not humans, it was considered as ridding evil for the good of humanity.
But more people believed that something like that should not even be deployed as a military weapon anymore. Besides, what if there had still been survivors inside of Stronghold 74?
Then wouldn’t the strike have killed them together with the Experimentals?
Furthermore, with the nuclear strike, no humans could live in Stronghold 74 for the next 50 years. This was something that would still have a very significant impact.
As a result of the nuclear strike, everyone even neglected the Pyro Company issue. Before this, everyone had been denouncing the Pyro Company for creating those monsters.
Humans were simply too forgetful. They tended to forget past pains once the wounds were healed. At this moment, everyone was curious to know how the various consortiums would react. After all, something so threatening would surely be a great cause of concern for them.
While the other consortiums remained silent, the Stelaria Consortium suddenly held a press conference.
At this press conference, the Stelaria Consortium pinned the blame on the Panaqua Consortium.
On one hand, they protested against the Panaqua Consortium for the nuclear strike. On the other hand, they hoped the other consortiums would unite and hold discussions on this matter with the Panaqua Consortium. They hoped the Panaqua Consortium would willingly give up on the further research and development of nuclear weapons. Otherwise, sanctions would be imposed upon them.
Human beings needed to work together to protect the future of mankind, and the Panaqua Consortium should not turn themselves into a potential threat to humanity. The current Alliance of Strongholds that humanity had was already too fragile.