In the driver's seat, James Lane wore a serious expression, his brows tightly knit, eyes focused. The coordination of his hands, eyes, and legs was swift and precise.

At the same time, deep down, he couldn't help but worry: It's only been a few days, and yet, near 752, something's happening again. This kind of situation had almost never occurred in previous years, and this time...

The call he had just received came from a nearby covert supply station. There had been a sudden landing incident involving spindle-shaped aircraft near the station, and it was suspected that there might be two of them together.

Because of this, the other side had no choice but to send out their own stationed squad while simultaneously calling for reinforcements from all nearby areas at the first possible moment.

If it really was two spindle-shaped aircraft against a single squad... James Lane could easily imagine how brutal the battle would be. And there was a supply station there, too.

The problem was, the coordinates provided by the supply station were actually a bit far from the 752 squad's base.

The area around Fenglong'ao was already at the edge of the 752 defense zone, and the coordinates were even farther out. With no prior warning, only James Lane happened to be close enough to make it in time.

"764 should be able to make it."

He thought this to himself, offering a bit of self-comfort, but he didn't relax in the slightest. He continued driving the seemingly ordinary, but actually military-grade jeep equipped with a Mitri advanced engine, rapidly closing in to provide support.

About twenty minutes later, the jeep screeched to a sudden halt at a spot by the mountainside that appeared to have no distinguishing features at all.

As he stopped, James Lane quickly turned the wheel and, to Henry Clark's startled confusion, drove straight into a broad-leaved forest.

"Get out. Up the mountain."

With one hand holding the equipment and the other pulling along the dazed and muddle-headed Henry Clark, he dashed up the mountain at top speed.

Then, taking a path from halfway up the slope, they circled around to the back of the mountain and entered a valley surrounded by steep hills.

The journey was actually rather difficult, but James Lane never put on the equipment.

"If you ask me—cough, cough—wouldn't it be better if you just put that thing on and went by yourself? Bringing me along is just slowing you down." Henry Clark was feeling a bit nauseous and couldn't be bothered about his tone.

He was struggling, just like last time. In any case, nothing good ever happened to him when he ran into James Lane.

"Once the device is activated, it can't last that long." James Lane replied succinctly, then dragged Henry Clark as he continued to sprint through the valley.

After running along the valley for another ten minutes or so—

"This should be it... just about right." James Lane surveyed the surrounding terrain, stopped, estimated the distance and how long the device could last, then glanced at the utterly exhausted Henry Clark lying on the ground. With a serious look, he said, "Now, I need you to do me a favor."

Looks like I don't have to go to the scene. Henry Clark secretly breathed a sigh of relief and looked up at him.

James Lane got to work, first slinging the metal case diagonally across his back and inserting four metal straps into their ports. Then, he undid the buttons on his shirt and pulled it open...

It turned out he was already wearing a set of military tactical harness-style metal straps.

At the front, over his heart, the straps connected to a round iron plate, which also had a port.

"I was injured a couple of days ago, you know that... I still haven't fully recovered," James Lane said.

Henry Clark: "So you're going to get yourself killed?" He thought, Is he going to blame me if something goes wrong?

"Not quite. Even though you saw me get smashed and sent flying that day, actually... I'm still pretty tough." James Lane couldn't help but give a wry smile. Time was tight, so he pointed at the heart port and continued, "Anyway, the situation is: the moment I connect and activate this core port, there's a good chance I'll pass out from the energy shock."

"..." So that's why he brought me, Henry Clark nodded.

"If I faint, don't panic. All you need to do is take this..." James Lane tugged at a metal strap below the metal case, then pointed to a port on his belt, indicating to Henry Clark, "Help me connect this port, and I'll wake up in a bit."

So, the brown belt was actually for connecting, just disguised as something ordinary.

The port on the belt was roughly at the left side of his waist. Henry Clark looked at it and said, "This spot... that's the kidney, right?"

"...Right." James Lane nodded, a bit helplessly.

"Oh," Henry Clark said, "that's it?"

"That's it." James Lane demonstrated once, then looked into Henry Clark's eyes. "Of course, you could also take this chance to kill me, but don't forget..."

"I know," Henry Clark said. "Just connect it."

He didn't bother asking why James Lane didn't just connect the strap to his back himself. It was easy enough to guess—activating a setup like this must have a fixed procedure.

"Yeah, remember, don't waste time. Be careful not to mess things up." After saying this, James Lane sat down, glanced at Henry Clark again, then turned away, focusing his attention. He pulled the metal strap from the left-center port to his chest, connected it, and then used his finger to rotate the round iron plate in a circle.

Throughout the entire process, he didn't show a hint of hesitation.

Henry Clark watched closely from the side.