To be accused of wrongdoing requires no shortage of pretexts, and in "Military Road," military rank is supreme—a lesson Xia You would come to understand deeply in the days to follow.
After the fact, Little Eight kept thinking about how Xia You had really stumbled into dumb luck. Colonel Washington hadn't allowed any room for negotiation, yet in the end, he actually took Xia You's words to heart.
In the end, Colonel Washington spared the white woman's life. Assured repeatedly by NPC Maggie, she also refrained from locking Xia You back up in the Spider Vine Prison.
"Did Maggie say you're a Reconnaissance Soldier?" Colonel Washington was still half doubtful about Maggie's new discovery. Before, he'd claimed she was a low-class soldier without a designated military specialty, so how did she become a Reconnaissance Soldier overnight?
"I guess that's one way to put it. I learned a bit after coming here," Xia You noticed that her military specialty had changed to Reconnaissance Soldier after she had picked up a bit of Loli Reconnaissance Skill. Presumably, her lack of skills meant the system generously updated her specialty once she finally mastered an ability.
Even in the scarcity-stricken rebel army camp, despite NPC Maggie's earnest pleas, Colonel Washington wouldn't just let someone from the Government Army freeload around his base. However, now that it was established that Xia You was a Reconnaissance Soldier, it indicated she had strategic value and posed little threat. Reconnaissance Soldiers typically lacked substantial Attack Power and had weaker Physical Strength.
"Can you see the attributes on me?" Colonel Washington grudgingly allowed Xia You to get closer to her.
In "Military Road," Reconnaissance Soldiers are a unique presence, capable of scouting out the attributes of NPCs and players alike. Especially experienced Reconnaissance Soldiers can identify someone's weak points. Thus, within a team, a Reconnaissance Soldier either seeks to persuade others to defect or becomes the first target to eliminate.
Above Colonel Washington's shadow, in addition to her name and military rank, all that manifested in Xia You's mind were a string of "????".
"You're worse than Maggie. Those question marks are because your Reconnaissance Skill proficiency isn't high enough. Once you improve your proficiency, or if your spiritual power surpasses mine, then you'll be able to see clearly. However, the likelihood of that is almost zero." Colonel Washington was both disappointed and proud. To some extent, Maggie represented the strength of the rebel faction, and the less useful this low-class soldier from the Government Army was, the better.
How could Xia You, a low-class soldier who had just crossed the threshold into being a Reconnaissance Soldier, possibly compare to Maggie, who had been exposed to various prehistoric creatures in Prehistoric Society since childhood?
That said, sticking to the principle of utilizing waste, Colonel Washington still assigned Xia You to NPC Maggie's charge, responsible for accompanying and identifying various prehistoric creatures.
"This is an Investigation Manual; it will help you record various newly discovered species or any other data you wish to document," NPC Maggie was quite happy to have such an assistant. Her previous company on recon missions were those boring soldiers—stiff as wood, holding guns, merely standing guard at her side.
Xia You looked at the manual in her hands. This manual, similar in size to an iPad, made of titanium alloy and black in color, was an electronic handbook. Both its weight and size made it easily stowable in a standard military pack. Attached to the manual was a stylus, and in NPC Maggie's hands, she too held another Investigation Manual.
"First, enter your fingerprint on the manual, and then bind it inside your military pack. Items like manuals can be bound so as to avoid dropping them when attacked," NPC Maggie carefully instructed Xia You as she opened the manual. An electronic manual's boot screen appeared.
"Then, open the shared key," Maggie said, peeking cautiously behind, shrinking her tiny body out of the line of sight of those tracking them. Colonel Washington still didn't fully trust No. 0, so there were always people tracking her when she was alone with No. 0.
The moment the shared key was activated, Xia You felt all her nerves tense up, and streams of countless information flowed into her manual and brain at a stunning speed.
"Mutated pterosaur, physical ability 500, basic creature... Patrol Soldier, physical ability 500. Level, Private First Class." Hundreds of useful reconnaissance data points suddenly filled her investigation manual, and, even more astonishingly, as they were received, a vivid presence of that reconnaissance information appeared in her mind. The photos, images, and detailed data of each species were all engraved in her brain.
Little Eight's notification sound came through: "Received Maggie's share, trust level +10, Loli Reconnaissance Skill proficiency +50."
NPC Maggie had lived with the rebel army since she was young, and having inherited excellent genes from her parents, she was more precocious than her peers, resulting in a lack of playmates her age. In recent years, she could only accompany prehistoric creatures. The first time she met No. 0 and saw her risking her personal safety to save herself, she was deeply moved. Later, she even risked being executed by Colonel Washington to save Aunt Miss's life. NPC Maggie already considered No. 0 as her only friend, which is why she unreservedly passed on the knowledge she had accumulated over the years to No. 0.
"No. 0, you actually digested thousands of species information," NPC Xia You saw that the final piece of information had been transferred, and the soldiers monitoring from behind did not notice any anomalies here.
The manual that NPC Maggie gave to Xia You was secretly brought with her when she smuggled herself into prehistoric society. It was the highest technology of her birth era. It was not just a simple laptop like the era Xia You came from; it had a very impressive name, called "human brain hard drive."
How large is the capacity of a human brain? That cannot be said. Each human brain hard drive does not have a specific capacity, meaning its storage is indefinite. For a genius child like NPC Maggie carrying a human brain hard drive, it can transmit 2000 pieces of information at a time, and any excess must be transferred in multiple sessions. An average person can only store around 1000 pieces of information, yet just now, No.0 unexpectedly swallowed more than 3000 pieces at once.
Aside from the factor of age, another possibility is that No.0 has inherently superior intelligence.
Admiration was already sparkling in NPC Maggie's eyes, and Xia You spread her hands embarrassedly, "It's not that my IQ is that high; the reason I can remember or store so much information all at once is because my brain doesn't have many superfluous memories to store." Xia You, who had lost more than a decade of memories, had far fewer useless memories loaded in her brain compared to the average person, and so her brain was almost like a blank slate, naturally having a lot more room to fill up than others.
After hearing about No. 0's amnesia, NPC Maggie felt even more sympathy for her. Having no background, suffering from amnesia, and being a low-class soldier with low physical strength, No. 0 could indeed be regarded as the most tragic figure in the entire Prehistoric Society.
"Maggie, can you tell me some news from before the migration?" The "human brain hard drive" made Xia You realize that she and NPC Maggie and others were from different eras. Whether it was for her future life in "Military Road" or her reality after leaving "Military Road," she was very interested in knowing why humans from the future would return to the dinosaur era.