If he abandoned them, they definitely wouldn’t be able to escape, and there was a high chance they’d be shot while fleeing or executed after being captured. There were many ways to execute them, but the most likely was that they’d be “executed” repeatedly by the Imperial soldiers. Judging by the situation at the base, the purpose of bringing these two female soldiers here was very obvious. This was a forward base of the Imperial Army, with no prisoner-of-war camp built at all—so why were two beautiful Federal female prisoners brought here? Big Guy only needed to think with his second brain to figure it out.

The soldiers escorting them had been killed. Whether or not it was done by the prisoners, they couldn’t escape responsibility. Moreover, Gacharin’s brutality toward prisoners was well known. Sometimes, if even one prisoner escaped, the Imperial Army would execute the entire group of prisoners that the escapee belonged to. Other atrocities, such as burying prisoners alive, burning them, using them for chemical experiments, or locking them in dilapidated civilian space transports as target ships—simply because they couldn’t be guarded or were considered a burden—were too numerous to count.

Just thinking about these two beautiful, flower-like female soldiers being ravaged by Imperial soldiers made Big Guy feel both uneasy and furious, and even a little jealous. This is a common flaw among men: if you can’t do something yourself, you don’t want anyone else to do it either. But escaping this jungle was one thing; trying to avoid enemy patrols and defensive lines, and then escaping across open ground where you could see for kilometers with two women in tow, was harder than reaching the sky.

“You two… um, I mean… how did you get captured?” Big Guy felt that the two female soldiers he had just rescued looked rather unfriendly. He glanced at himself and didn’t find anything out of place, and he had absolutely no sense of shame about stripping naked in front of them just now.

“The airport in the northeast part of the city was taken. I was captured there.” The beautiful pilot quickly recovered from the embarrassment caused by Big Guy’s striptease, pointed to the other female soldier beside her, and said, “Her too. She’s a medic from the Airborne Flight Battalion.”

“What about the city? How far have the enemy advanced?” Big Guy cautiously observed the surroundings, making sure there were no Imperial patrols about to stumble upon this unlucky trio of Federal soldiers.

“The first line of defense was breached last night. The enemy forced their way through the junction of our two divisions with nearly two hundred heavy mechs and five hundred medium mechs. By the time the reserves rushed up to try to retake the position, it was already too late. If their airborne troops hadn’t captured the airport, it would have taken them at least a week to break through the first line.” The beautiful female pilot clearly cared more about her appearance than her safety. She sat down wherever she was, let down her messy hair, bit a pink hair tie with her mouth, and tried to tidy her hair with her hands.

Her movements were very alluring, and Big Guy had to make a great effort to tear his gaze away from her soft, fair hands.

“But our situation isn’t too bad. The 6th Marine Airborne Division and the 9th Division, which was acting as the reserve, didn’t stop the Gacharin Empire’s armored division from breaking through, but they did hold them off for more than three hours, preventing them from immediately encircling and splitting our forces. Most of the troops from the first line managed to withdraw, so the losses weren’t too great.” After tying her hair into a ponytail with the hair tie, the beautiful pilot looked full of energy and sunshine.

“So now, between the first and second lines…” Big Guy seemed to see a glimmer of hope.

“It’s not looking good… Basically, the area has already been occupied by the Gacharin Empire. When we came through, only a few areas were still resisting. Most of the Federal troops have already withdrawn south of Supengman River. The enemy is now deploying their forces, preparing to attack our second line of defense.” The female pilot cupped her chin in her hands, her expression gloomy.

“It’s over. Just what I was afraid of.” Big Guy sighed inwardly. Although he had already deduced the general situation from the actions and deployments of the Imperial Army here, he still held onto a sliver of hope. Now the facts were clear: they were surrounded by Imperial troops. Either they played hide-and-seek in the woods with the enemy until the war ended, or they’d have to rely on their own strength to escape back to the second line of defense.

Big Guy’s expression shifted between hope and despair, his thoughts spinning endlessly. He was already in deep trouble himself—if he had to drag these two burdens along…

Just as he was thinking dark thoughts, he suddenly felt someone tug at his sleeve. Looking up, he saw the pure-faced female medic quietly holding onto his sleeve. Her half-smiling, half-knowing expression seemed to have guessed Big Guy’s thoughts. There was still a trace of embarrassment from earlier between her brows, but her clear eyes were full of trust. Big Guy surrendered instantly. To hell with it—if I die, I die! There’s strength in numbers; maybe they could use the old tricks to escape. But… where should they run?

He frowned, pondering which direction to flee. He definitely couldn’t go back to heavily guarded New Rome, and the cities or military bases near New Rome were almost all defended or occupied by the large-scale landing of Imperial troops—those were out of the question too. The only possibly safe place was the capital city of this planet, Galiparan.