An Outsider

City of Athena

Lucio was so embarrassed that he stopped talking and followed Nola Franks into the café. Nola Franks smiled and took Lucio, who was a bit uncomfortable, to a seat in the corner, where they ordered coffee from the waiter and chatted casually.

The party marched through the primeval jungle, and as far as the eye could see, all it could see was a yellow-green color. These were plants that Lucio mostly didn't recognize anymore, mutated plants that had found their way to survive in the scarce sunlight, murky atmosphere, and omnipresent radiation. Plants were always the most resilient creatures, and humans, perhaps in a sense, were not as good as them.

Thanks to such a special fear, the amount of work required for the construction of the building was drastically reduced, saving a great deal of material, money and manpower, which enabled such magnificent walls and huge towers to be built in half a century's time. The great Federal Marshal Rudolph once said: "The assimilation of the diamond is evidence that the gods have not abandoned mankind. It is because of this gift that we have been able to gain a precious respite from existence."

Lucio opened his eyes in a daze and raised his eyes to the distance, a shocked and overwhelmed expression slowly spreading across his face under his visor. He couldn't help but rise from the open jeep, holding onto the guardrail on the body of the vehicle, nearly unable to close his mouth.

After about two hours of casually wandering the streets, Lucio felt a little thirsty, and as it happened they were in the busiest commercial part of the city, Nola Franks pointed to a very upscale looking cafe in the distance and said.

Nola Franks addressed Lucio as he began to eat.

Lucio was nearly dumb for a long time before he murmured out with a sigh.

Lucio, who had been in this world for two days, had finally seen the tip of the iceberg of the seven city-states, and had finally been placed in a dangerous situation for the time being. From the moment he entered the city, he was finally going to start trying to integrate into this brand new society, and there were still many, many things that he didn't understand and wasn't familiar with that he needed to slowly get to grips with. Caution was not to be forgotten at any time.

Pellew snorted out a laugh and said, "How is it that one of the Seven-Manifold Great Generals, Grand Admiral Frisman, is so unpleasant in your mouth?"

Whitney nodded.

"Acme? Can we go out tomorrow?" Lucio wondered.

This is war, and perhaps in Lucio's time, certain wars could have been avoided and resolved diplomatically. In those days it was all about humanity's own civil war, and the soldiers fought against the same people. Nowadays, in this era, the target of the battle has changed to monsters, and it's a battle of races where you die and I live, and the soldier's target of the battle has shifted 180 degrees. But no matter who the target is, the cruelty of war will never change.

"Ensign! We can see the walls, we're finally home!"

Trevino didn't reveal who this new instructor was, and no one seemed to care very much about it. There were many instructors sent from the military academy to guide the training every year, and everyone had been used to it for a long time.

The battered, bruised and unlucky Third Squadron staggered off again, Lucio praying secretly that there would be no more surprises on the journey afterwards.

Rogue's voice over the headset dripped with undisguised joy.

Nola Franks snickered and said, "You're so funny, we're officers, we buy everything for half price, maybe they see you're good looking and it's free."

Lucio had killed many people, and now he was about to start killing monsters again, yet he felt as if it wasn't easy for his inside, no matter which one he killed. Lucio was fortunate that in all his years as a soldier, he hadn't encountered the death of any of his comrades, only once had a comrade been seriously wounded and gone into the CPU, but only seriously, not dead. And now, death was often around, but he couldn't feel the real pain because he wasn't familiar with these warriors yet. But he knew that sooner or later he was going to hurt, and he was prepared for it.

It seemed that the campfire from earlier was probably left by a small group of adventurers, and it was understandable that adventurers were generally reluctant to deal with the military.

The sight in front of his was so spectacular that it made his feel his mind widen and his entire being drift away. Feeling the magnificence of this heaven and earth, as well as his own insignificance.

"Let's go inside and have a cup of coffee."

The woman sitting across from his had a face of mixed Eurasian descent, his black hair coiled up, his face gentle and clear, his eyes moist and moist, looking particularly gentle. Seeing his best bestie show such an expression, he couldn't help but follow his line of sight and look back, then asked in confusion

"Whitney, what happened to the two officers?"

Lucio sat in the armored vehicle, thinking out loud about what he had just discovered, and took the opportunity to look up the information, finally understanding that there was indeed a class of people other than the Federation soldiers who had the ability to leave the seven city-states and walk in the dangerous Outlands. They were called adventurers, mostly soldiers who had been discharged due to injuries or because of a change of camp, and formed themselves into mercenary teams, hired to go out and collect various resources in the jungle, or to escort goods or employers, living a life of blood on the sword. Among the seven city-states, there is the city of Artemis, located in the southeast of the inverted triangle of the seven city-states, with a vast area, comparable to the city of Athena. It was also known as the "City of Adventurers", and it was the place where these people lived. I heard that it was also nicknamed the "City of Freedom", and it was a very prosperous place, and a favorite place for merchants.

"Leigh, you haven't had a good look at Alta, have you, how does it feel?"

Earlier in the Griffinan bunker, Lucio had seen a female soldier fiddling with a machine that looked like a radio, that, in fact, was the instrument that received the signal from the Tower of Heaven.

The two millennials were having a good conversation, and Lucio and Nola Franks on the other end were also having a good time.

Lucio recalled in his head and said.

Lucio chose Chinese food, ordered two dishes and a big bowl of rice, and went to the table in the corner and sat down to gobble it up. As he was eating, a man sat in front of his with a plate and greeted his with a smile.

With such doubts, Lucio returned to the group. Their armored vehicle had been destroyed. To stay safe and alert at all times, Lucio got into an open jeep. Rog, who had replaced his oxygen tank, happened to be the driver, and at the moment he was back to normal.

Whitney took a sip of his coffee and said, "The one with the long hair, saved my life four years ago." He sounded faint, not at all like he was mentioning a lifesaver.

Lucio lay in bed this day huffing and puffing until after five in the evening, when he woke up because he was so hungry. After a brief wash, he opened his wardrobe, looking for something to wear. Of course, there were only military uniforms in the closet, and Lucio found his military uniform and changed into it, standing in front of the mirror and looking at it, smiling with satisfaction.

The third squadron sped northwest through the military settlement, gradually losing sight of the high-rise buildings and seeing more low-rise buildings, and seeing many factory buildings or gymnasiums covering a very large area, with towering high-voltage barbed wire fences around the perimeter, where the troops were stationed.

This is the power of humanity, the fire will not die, it will surely rise! Lucio felt an overwhelming shock to the soul.

Lucio didn't object, if it was feasible he would certainly be happy to hang out, relax and see the city of Alta in the process.

When it comes to the Babel Theocracy, it is important to briefly mention the beliefs of the  of the Federation people today. Since the Confederates are strictly divided into nine camps, each camp, has its own gods and goddesses, a total of nine gods and goddesses, the only nine supreme gods in the Babel Theocracy - God of Orderly Goodness, God of Orderly Neutrality, God of Orderly Evil, God of Neutral Goodness, God of Absolute Neutrality, God of Neutral Evil, God of Chaotic Goodness, God of Chaotic God of Neutrality, God of Chaos and God of Chaos and Evil.

"I guess my father knows about this, and the two head faggots are bound to be in collusion." Pellew covered his mouth and laughed.

The city of Alta is located in the westernmost part of the middle section of the City of Athena, directly bordering the outer district of Ares, and is a city with a western Arabian flavor. This is because when it was first built, it had a large population of Muslims from West Asia and the Middle East living here. Although the residents here have now converted and Islam has been completely abolished, the Islamic-inspired buildings and streets have remained.

As it turned out, by the next day, as Nola Franks had said, Trevino had announced during the morning's general meeting that the three squadrons would have a collective two days off to recuperate on August 22 and 23.On the 24th, the three squadrons would have a new round of mecha training.Trevino reflected on the weaknesses of the three squadrons' synergy from the loss of this mission, and emphasized that from the highest military school in Central Main, there would have a very powerful instructor to assist in guiding everyone's mecha training. This round of intensive training would last from the end of August to mid-October.

At the far end of the procession, a wall so high that it intercepted the horizon, and could not be seen from east to west, so magnificent that Lucio forgot to breathe. It was late in the evening, the sun was squeezing a thin glow from the thick, dirty clouds, and the sky and earth were dimly lit, the wall was tinted with a halo of yellow, towering in the distance. lucio calculated the distance, they were now two or three kilometers away from the wall, yet they could see it so clearly, the height of the wall, it was appalling.

Who left this bonfire if not a Federation soldier? Was there anyone in this world, other than a soldier, capable of walking outside of the dangerous city-state?

"You're from Saril, aren't you?" Saril was the northwestern-most urn of the Seven City-States, a secondary city district linking the City of Athena to the Ice City of Dinty, equal in status to Krimu.

Today's seven major city-states were also all relying on the tall walls built with assimilated diamond to protect the lives of over 500 million Federation citizens. From the hundred-meter walls to the defensive bunkers fifty meters underground, from the towering sky towers to the ordinary homes, even the material used to make the id bracelets was assimilated diamond. So far, neither the insects nor the predators had been able to break through such man-made rift valleys.

After lunch and a short break, Lucio followed Nola Franks and set off. They were dressed in their military uniforms and armed, and Lucio wore his long hair in a sharp ponytail and his military cap in a handsome manner.

"Acquaintances? Are those two officers?" The woman across the table asked again.

Lucio didn't stay in Kremlin Prime, entering the city from Kremlin's Outer Urn (commonly known as Kremlin Outer), they headed straight northwest through Kremlin Prime, preparing to enter Athena's City from Athena's Outer 2, the Urn where Athena's City borders Kremlin.

The party had emerged from the primeval jungle, and the long army-green line ran above the rolling plains. A spacious pressed dirt road in the center, the plains on either side covered with waist-high weeds, and buried in them, faintly visible were moss-crawling cars that had been abandoned for who knows how many years, and reinforced concrete buildings that had collapsed and been covered with vines. Just to Lucio's right side, he had just passed a sign that was crookedly educated in the weeds, a green sign on the highway indicating the Sichuan-Shaanxi Expressway.

Grabbing his military cap, Lucio headed out the door, the dorm doors were fully automated and locked, scanning the logged in bracelet id to open them. Once outside, Lucio checked where the mess hall was, and headed straight for it. The camp wasn't exactly bustling at the moment, with three or two soldiers sparse, Lucio entered the mess hall and did see many soldiers coming to eat here. The place where he was eating was the officers' mess, not with the soldiers.

"Leigh, tomorrow afternoon, let's go out of camp and shop."

The Tower of Babel, commonly referred to as the "Tower of the Sky", stands at the intersection of Hera, the City of Nobles, Athena, the City of War, Artemis, the City of Adventurers, and the Kremlin, a city in the extreme south, and is a super-high structure overlooking the entire seven city-states. According to the information, the tower is 1,027 meters high, ten times higher than the walls, which are 100 meters high. The tower was built in 2 A.H. and completed in 29 A.H., a full 11 years after the completion of the entire city wall. Immediately after its completion, it was hailed as a "miracle of the mortal world", a symbol of the united power of all mankind, using unlimited human and material resources.

At 10:30 am on August 21, 149, the Third Squadron, which had been traveling all night, finally arrived at the destination of their trip - the city of Athena, the city of Arta in the Epirus Region. This was where the 1st Brigade of the Western Bloc Mech Division was stationed, in other words, it was the home base of their 3rd Squadron.

"Yes, the climate in Saril is pole dry and cold, a far cry from here, but the streets have a similar feel. I haven't been home in six years and whenever I get homesick, I come to wander the streets and feel relieved of homesickness." Nola Franks said with a sense of nervousness.

The real function of the Tower of Babel is actually a signal tower, covering the entire territory of the Federation, and even spreading to many surrounding field bases. It was the cornerstone of the Fran system, without it, the Fran network would not be able to cover the entire Federation, and communication between armies would not be as unimpeded as it is now.

Whitney shrugged and said, "Who made him my father."

"Aren't you going to go up and say hello?" The woman across the room asked when he saw how calm Whitney was.

And even more appallingly, just behind the walls, Lucio saw a towering structure that shocked his beyond belief. It was a minaret, with an upward spiraling appearance, as sacred and elegant as a work of art carved by a master artist, yet imposing and lofty, like a spiral sword straight up into the sky, higher than the walls of the city, the tip of which was indistinguishable from the clouds.

Lucio, who was in a mess, didn't even have time to change his clothes and just sat slowly asleep in the car with his thoughts on his mind. The sleep was so dark that he dreamed of nothing, and when he woke up again to the sound of Rogue's call, he found that he had actually slept in the car for over five hours with his head covered, and his combat uniform, which had been stained veiled with the blood of the Earth Dragon, had slabbed hard as if it were a hard cardboard box, uncomfortable to wear.

The smile on Whitney's face widened as he playfully said.

"Oh, Acho." Lucio greeted with food in his mouth.

This was the base camp of the centuries-old resistance, a strategic base established when mankind first banded together. Named after the Greek peninsula of Crimea in the Old World, it means "the place of origin of the South".

The visitor was none other than Nola Franks, whom Lucio had sort of gotten to know well over the past two days, and thus addressed affectionately.

"Nice, very soothing and laid back in a sort of way." Lucio replied with a smile.

"Take it easy, Pellew. My time is for you today, and if I meet up with them, it will take up less of your time. But don't worry, I'll see his and I again soon." Whitney replied.

He carefully checked the construction materials and found that the walls, including the conspicuous Tower of Babel towering in the distance, were all built of a crystal material called "assimilated diamond". This kind of crystal stone was also a brand new material created after the earth's crust had changed drastically, and its structure was so dense and hard that it was very difficult to cut. However, it was relatively light in weight and easy to transport. The most bizarre thing is that this crystal has the special ability to recognize the assimilation of its kind. To explain it by analogy, if you cut a whole piece of assimilated diamond into two pieces and then put it together again, it does not take a few minutes, it will be connected as a whole again, as if it has never been cut.

The city wall was getting closer and closer, a hundred meters of wall, hundreds of thousands of kilometers, and the entire territory took 48 years to build. When they were still a hundred or so meters away from the entrance of the wall, it felt as terrifying as if it was about to collapse down. Humans standing under the hundred-meter city wall were worse than ants.

"I haven't treated you well acrostically, Miss Andres. Well, dinner is on me." Whitney laughed.

The Crimson Region was a subsidiary city of the Seven Great City States, and according to the classification, the Seven Great City States were first-class cities, and the Crimson Region was a second-class city. It was located at the southernmost point of the Seven Great City-States, and was fan-shaped as a whole. It was the largest urn city in the entire Federation, and served as a regional link between Athena, the City of War, and Artemis, the City of Adventurers, and was also an extremely important strategic point, heavily guarded with numerous military facilities. It is also one of the most important gates of the seven city-states, and is located on a highland hill, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack, and of great strategic value.

At the moment, they didn't notice that just at the dead end of their sight, at another table for two in the coffee shop, there were two beautiful women in beautiful dresses sitting. One of the women was cold and stunningly beautiful, with an extremely strong aura. He had long chestnut curly hair, his phoenix eyes were cold and unruffled, and the faint smile on his face, although charming, somehow smelled dangerous. His eyes happened to fall on Lucio's body, and his turquoise blue eyes were frozen for a moment, and the next moment, an intriguing smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

Trevino gave all the officers and men a day off to get some rest. The next morning there was a group assembly of the entire squadron scheduled to wrap up the mission and announce the plan for the rest of the day.

"Lai, coming to dinner without calling me ac."

Lucio, all rancid, as soon as he got back to camp and was declared dismissed, the first thing he did was head straight to his quarters to shower and change, then fall back to sleep. He was a second lieutenant, and when he reached the rank of lieutenant, his quarters were upgraded to a single room, with a matching bathroom and kitchenette, and still had all the amenities. The furnishings inside the house were simple, in line with the military feel, the original owner of this body had lived here for ten days or so, and looking at the layout of the house, the original Lucio was a club-clean and tidy girl, not fancy, with simple and minimalist taste, very similar to the current Lucio.

"And the bar in the second one, that has to be on you too." Pellew pouted.

Whitney teased, "How is it that Grand Admiral Andres, the Seventh Maneater in his prime, is a faggot head in your mouth?"

As a female officer in the Mecha Division, Lucio's uniform was the same classic military green, everything differing little from Captain Rodcliffe's and Major Whitney's uniforms. Because Lucio is a military officer, the armed belt that is fastened to the outside of his double-breasted suit uniform is required to be armed, with a left sword and a right gun. Of course, there was no need for a weapon in camp, only when out and about. Unlike Rodcliffe, since they were in an outfield base, weapons were fitted on them at all times.

"Eh!" Instead, the woman across the room was startled and looked back again, saying, "I know his, isn't he the legendary 'army assassin'? The name is . . lucio, I think, of Chinese descent."

"Nothing... Oh..." Whitney laughed lightly, his cool voice sounding like a fountain of incipient melting ice as he withdrew his gaze and picked up the coffee in front of his, "I think I saw an acquaintance."

Lucio sat in the car, silent and curious all the way as he observed the cityscape of the era. He noticed that almost all the buildings in the Kremlin Region were made of stone and looked somewhat grayish-blue in color, the exact same color as the city walls. The floors were lime stone walkways, the walls painted pink and white lime on the exterior, with wooden slats for diagonal bracing on the outside, very much in the architectural style of a German town.

"The holiday will definitely continue tomorrow morning after the meeting, you're right to trust me, I have reliable sources. It's hard to get back from being away, I'm going to have a good time and relax. You'll have to stay with me."

The Tower of Heaven's appalling height is even more deified by religion, representing the power to reach the heavens, and is seen as a bridge between humans and the gods. So nowadays, it serves one more function, being the home of the Federation's national religion, the Babel Theocracy, as its main altar.

"Here you go again, you really refuse to take a loss..." Pellew gave his a blank look, "On the rare occasion that I get to come to Alta for two days to spend time with you, you can't be nice to me?"

"That's... Babel's Giant Tower ......"

Lucio was uncomfortable when he read this from the information. Is it still not allowed to change people's minds? What is the purpose of controlling people's minds so rigidly?

They strolled casually through the streets, the citizens on the streets casting either kind or awe-inspiring glances when they saw them due to the military uniforms they wore. Soldiers, especially officers, had a very high social status in the Federation and received extreme respect, as everyone knew that their comfortable lives depended on the protection of these soldiers.

The City of Athena, also known as the "City of War", is the city-state with the largest number of soldiers, and is also the home base of the Orderly Neutral camp. Several of the Federation's elite divisions are stationed in this city, and most of the Western Army and a small part of the Central Army are concentrated here.

Pellew sniffed at that and said, "I said why you suddenly came to Athena, so you're training for the unit that saved your life this set."

Lucio hesitates a bit and asks, "Is it expensive?"

"It wasn't my choice to come to Athena this time, I was completely screwed by Master Yoko."

"Yes, I do love Alta, it gives me a feeling of home." Nola Franks said with a smile as he looked out the cafe window at the street and the people coming and going on the street.

The soldiers were silent and demoralized, just sulking and hurrying along. The mission had been a series of setbacks and accidents that had hit everyone hard. Among the team, there were soldiers who were trained by the YIANG, and there were also new recruits who were on their first mission. The soldiers were used to seeing life and death, their faces were numb, but deep in their eyes there was a heavy sadness. The new soldier cried in secrecy, the comrade who was alive beside him or his just now was turned into a dead body in the next second, but he or he had no time to grieve, no right to howl, just because they were all soldiers.

Each camp has its own gods and goddesses that they are loyal to, and a change of camp is seen as the greatest betrayal in this world and is not to be tolerated. Therefore, once an 18 year old is assessed as an adult and their camp is confirmed, the vast majority of people will never change camps for the rest of their lives. If a change occurs, there will be a permanent stain on their personal history, and the people of the new camp will not accept such a person, and their life will be ruined.

The third squadron entered the city from the southernmost of the seven city-states, the extreme southern urn of Krimu. The so-called "Urns" were strategic buffer zones at the entrances and exits of the city walls in ancient times, divided into several gates, with small mouths and large bellies to lure the enemy deeper, with rolling stones and logs and other mechanisms. In ancient times, when the city was attacked, the urn was often the best trap for the defenders to strangle the attacking army, as the so-called "catching a turtle in a jar", using such a very primitive but practical principle.

Once they passed through Athena Outer 2 and officially entered the southern end of the City of Athena, it was a different story. It had townhouse apartment buildings, all of which were ghettos. The ground was turned into a large asphalt road, the streets were spacious and straight, the areas were square and very regular, and the buildings were all symmetrical in style. The size of each settlement was so large that the commercial housing complexes of Lucio's time could not be compared. This was a military settlement, basically a place where the families of military personnel lived.

At the same time, Lucio noticed that there was no shortage of high tech looking skyscrapers in the city, and that in the Crimson Region, the skyscrapers were basically command centers for the military, or office buildings for munitions companies. But whichever building it was, it would never be taller than the city walls. In the entire Federation, the Tower of Heaven was the only building that surpassed the height of the city walls.