69novels Page 122
Page 122
Having probably gotten to know Payne better over the past few days and become less shy, Alpha hesitated for a moment before deciding to fully embrace its identity as a fierce dog:
"Because...I'm greedy...I'm greedy for you, Chief..."
"You just learned this new word and you're already using it like this, huh?!"
Payne sighed softly, then turned to Xiao En, "Tell me the truth."
Although the sheep trembled at first, she quickly realized that the two predators hadn't been harmed, and that even if they were to be punished, she would be punished along with them. She immediately felt much relieved and proactively confessed:
"Ah... well... what I mean is, we discussed it and felt that only two uses per beast isn't quite enough..."
"So...so, as a little compensation, the other two beasts can watch...watch while using...using your other..."
"Alright, alright, no need to say anymore." Payne slapped his forehead.
While it's true that animals (kemonomimi) are inferior to terrifying upright apes (humans) in terms of stamina and duration, it's still a bit too much to expect Payne to outrun three beasts at the same time.
Not to mention when all three of them attacked together, both his sense of shame and his stamina were lowered.
Ha, a beast is still a beast after all; it didn't feel the slightest bit embarrassed when they were dividing it up.
Of course, if you really want to blame it on the splitter, that's also a valid explanation...
This is one of the few things that Payne doesn't particularly like beast girls.
But then he thought again, they're all human, and those powerful and wealthy classes can throw huge parties for dozens of people, and suddenly he found the beast girl so adorable.
...So what's the point of me thinking about all this nonsense?
Feeling somewhat weary, Payne waved his hand, signaling Xiao En to leave quickly, before announcing a punishment that wasn't really a punishment:
"I'll feed you dog food after I'm done, so you won't waste your extra energy dealing with me."
Just as the two dogs were about to pounce on their trainer, one on each side, intending to express their gratitude for his magnanimity, Payne quickly caught one dog's head and said:
"Do it in order! Twice for each one!"
……
Two days later, Payne really felt he was about to give up.
Lacey and Alpha, those two like dogs, even though Payne had separated them, they seemed to be competing with each other, relentlessly tormenting their trainer.
It was as if by surpassing her in this aspect, she could leave a more capable impression on Payne, thus making Payne value her more...
Perhaps... genes and instincts also play a role.
However, they are infertile and reproductively isolated from humans...
For the first time, Payne felt that keeping the beast girl divergence device was unnecessary.
Of course, a more likely reason is that the Dexter Empire's technology was not yet mature enough to simply eliminate this part of the gene...
Compared to the programs written by humans in the 21st century, genes are more like a mountain of shit code, and a mountain of shit code that nature has unconsciously piled up for 35 billion years.
Most of the time, genes don't strive for "perfection," but rather for "good enough."
Paine vaguely remembered seeing something on his phone in his previous life: the connection between the human mouth and nasal cavity was left behind by the genes of fish when they came ashore, adhering to the principle of "if the code can still run, don't mess around," which resulted in everyone having the risk of choking on their own swallowed food...
Therefore, if a scientist came to him and said that they had only slightly modified the gene related to eye color, but it ultimately led to an extremely high stillbirth rate for all the beast girls produced, he would completely believe it.
Based on the literature he had read, the Dexter Empire's so-called "gene editing" technology was almost a complete black box; aside from knowing its rudimentary usage, he had no idea what the underlying principles were.
He even had to wonder if the Dexter Empire had found some relics from an ancient civilization or garbage left by aliens.
Otherwise, given his 21st-century knowledge and understanding, he could barely comprehend Fasford's rapid advancements in electrical and mechanical technology, but he would be completely unable to understand how Dexter had embarked on the wicked path of biotechnology.
Of course, thinking about these questions now is useless. As a college student who hasn't graduated, there's no way he could have access to things that might be top secrets of the Dexter Empire.
Moreover, he's not even a college student now; he's just a soldier doing so-called scientific research on the front lines.
When he thought about this, he even had to reasonably doubt whether he had really been driven crazy by the two dogs.
We're still on the battlefield! Shouldn't we be worried about the war first?!
What's going on with the company commander?! Have they forgotten about Company B?! Why aren't they back yet?!
Chapter 192 CXCI. Before the attack even began, Alpha was already finished.
This time, Payne successfully found Company Commander Belyink at the temporary command post in the rear, and also received a meeting gift package as a bonus.
As he sat among a group of platoon and squad leaders, listening to the company commander explain the upcoming battle plan, another question arose in his mind.
Although he and his colleagues in B Company were very close and treated each other like brothers, his situation was somewhat awkward in terms of organizational structure.
His role with the Beast Girl Squad is more like a cheat code for B Company—ready to be used immediately and deployed at any time.
Generally speaking, he was under the direct command of Company Commander Belyink and also participated in operational meetings with platoon leaders and squad leaders.
However, his rank was only one level higher than that of a private, making him a corporal, not even a junior corporal.
Therefore, during combat, the squad leader and platoon leader in the company can usually command him and give him more detailed combat tasks.
Ultimately, the main reason was that the work he did (referring to verifying the beast girls' abilities in frontline combat) was so novel that the old-fashioned people in the army hadn't figured out what kind of identity and role to give him before they just haphazardly stuffed him in.
As for why he was put into the army, Payne thought about it for a long time and felt that it might be because he talked too much.
In fact, he was well aware that his IQ was not very high; in his previous life on Earth, he barely managed to get into a good university.
He is called a "genius" in this world only because he brought knowledge from his previous life with him. The knowledge of university professors in this world is not much simpler than that of university professors on Earth.
Therefore, in this world, after he entered university, his "genius" aura gradually faded, and he became an ordinary college student again.
But in a world where only 1% of the population has received a university education, he is considered one in a hundred, and logically, he shouldn't have been sent to the front lines so hastily.
Payne believes that because of his past life experiences, he can view the beast girls with a detached, even appreciative, attitude, but the locals cannot do the same.
In their eyes, he, who has spoken out for the plight of beast girls for many years and is even rumored to have had a relationship with a beast girl, is no different from the "Third Brother" in the eyes of normal Earthlings who has a relationship with a lizard.
There are locals who share similar views with Pine, but they are a huge minority and are quite unpopular.
Payne's behavior undoubtedly made him an unpopular minority among ordinary people, and one of the most extreme ones at that.
Therefore, when the world war had been going on for some time and the military requested that the university send people to assist them in studying the role of beast girls in the war, the university submitted Payne's name.
Moreover, they embellished the section detailing their reasons for recommending Payne to the army with a great deal of extraneous information.
It is estimated that they include, but are not limited to, qualities such as "possessing military knowledge and exceptional combat capabilities," "fervent patriotism and support for war," and "highly motivated by the cause of artificial orcs," all in an effort to ensure that the military takes Payne away.
Otherwise, Payne simply couldn't explain why he, a top-performing college student, would be thrown to the front lines of the battle.
Fortunately, the brothers in B Company were quite open-minded. They didn't reject the beast girls from the beginning, and after Payne and the beast girls helped them a lot, they found the beast girls more and more pleasing to the eye. In the end, they even got used to the relationship between the beast girls and Payne.
After all, compared to one's own life, almost nothing else in this world is important.
Humans are creatures that can adapt to changes in their surroundings at an astonishing speed.
Somewhat sentimental, Payne shook his head and refocused his attention on the war council.
The most unexpected thing for him was that Company Commander Beljenk announced that the higher-ups were actually aware of the French's plans.
The higher-ups had already conducted extensive observations of the enemy's positions and learned that the French had been ostentatiously reinforcing their defenses in recent days, all in an attempt to draw their attention away from the enemy.
In reality, the number of their garrison troops has been decreasing for days.
When the company commander reported Payne's conjecture to the battalion command, the officers acknowledged the value of the information but also said that these minor details were actually completely insignificant.
Now that we have discovered that the French positions are weak, we must not let such a good opportunity slip away. Let's turn the tables and take them down in one fell swoop!
Once the artillery fires, any position lacking manpower will inevitably be torn apart.
After explaining the plan and B Company's role in this offensive mission, the company commander also had a private chat with them:
"These are things I heard from the battalion commanders, so don't spread them around."
"I know what you're thinking, worried that this might be another French tactic to lure us away from our base."
"This time, the higher-ups were finally more careful. They not only observed the decrease in the number of French troops on this front, but also the large-scale reinforcements on several other fronts."
"According to information gathered by spies, the higher-ups have made thorough preparations to feign falling into a French trap and launch an attack on this defensive line."
"When the French army launches surprise attacks on other fronts, we will pretend to retreat while luring the enemy deeper into our territory, and then advance all the way into this front, completely disrupting the entire situation and thus achieving the effect of fishing in troubled waters."
"These Frenchmen have so many new weapons, and the research institute hasn't brought us anything good, so we can only rely on tactical methods to find an advantage."
"But you don't need to be too nervous. The higher-ups said that we've been in the trenches long enough this time. As long as we pull off this job, no matter what happens afterward, we can go back and rest for two weeks!"
Only when they heard the last sentence did everyone's brows finally relax.
But then he frowned deeply and exclaimed, "Don't make any promises you can't keep!"
……
In any case, everything was clear now, and Payne was somewhat prepared for this arrangement. Therefore, as he embarked on his journey home, his mind was still preoccupied with how to deal with his two dogs.
With war seemingly imminent, Lacey and Alpha still looked incredibly excited...
Although the company commander had made it clear that B Company's mission wouldn't be very heavy, it was still a war, no matter what.
I need to find a way to persuade them to be more considerate and save their energy.
So when evening came, Payne told them about the upcoming battles and then sent Horse, Sheep, and Squirrel out to tutor Ella.
Today marks the start of a new three-day cycle that Lacey and Alpha agreed upon. Lacey thought Alpha would definitely take the opportunity to ask to be the first one there, and she was already prepared to go out with the other four.
Unexpectedly, Alpha sat on the bed awkwardly for a long time, and finally raised its head and said:
"That...that...leader...my...my divergence device...it seems...it's already gone..."
Chapter 193 CXCII. Lacey regains the upper hand.
Both the man and the dog (referring to Payne and Lacey) were quite surprised by this unexpected situation.
Payne counted on his fingers and asked incredulously, "It's only been six days since you started using the divergence device, and you're already finished?"
“Hmm…” Alpha nodded. For some reason, her tone sounded a little aggrieved.
Payne paused for a moment, then muttered to himself, "...So, your splitter only lasted for a total of 5 days."
"A dog's branching point usually develops in 5 to 14 days, and yours ended right at that minimum time..."
Although he felt it was wrong, Payne still showed a relieved smile after realizing that he didn't need to help Alpha today.
That's great... It's so good that Alpha's splitter is finished so early...