Chapter 29: Project Hope

In the forging room, Garen wanted to get Bob to stop, but Adams stopped him with a wave of his hand and motioned for him to quietly retreat.

“Don’t disturb him. Take me to see the others!” Adams whispered to Garen in the corridor.

“Okay!” Garen nodded and led Adams upstairs.

In a large lounge on the second floor, all the furniture had been removed aside from a table and a chair. The empty space was filled with paper materials and books.

A thin and tall young man was buried in front of the table, carefully going through all kinds of books. From his messy hair and stubble, one could tell that he had been neglecting sleep and food these past few days.

Garen gently pushed the door open, but he did not bring Adams into the room. Instead, he stood outside the door and whispered, “Colin is the only one among us who can read. He is also very passionate about the books in the base. He has not left this room in the past few days. Sometimes, when we deliver food to him, he will even reprimand us!”

Adams and Vivian exchanged glances with each other when they heard this and gave a slight nod for fear of making any sound that would affect Colin.

“Garen! Didn’t I tell you not to bother me? If I’m hungry, I’ll go downstairs to eat!”

However, Colin, who was in the room, still got disturbed by Garen’s voice. He impatiently turned his head around and shouted angrily towards the door.

When Colin saw Garen, Adams, and Vivian standing at the door, he immediately stood up in excitement and greeted them, “Big Brother, you’re back!”

Seeing that Colin’s attitude towards Adams was evidently different from his attitude towards others, Garen couldn’t help but roll his eyes. After all, he had been berated quite a fair bit in order to deliver food to Colin, so he felt very aggrieved.

Adams merely patted Garen’s shoulder with a smile and didn’t say anything else. He turned to Colin and said, “You rascal, even if you like to read, you have to take care of your body. Not only do you have to pay attention to your meals, but you also have to pay attention to your personal hygiene!”

For the past two weeks, Colin hadn’t left the room. One could imagine the odour on his body. Now that everyone was standing face to face, it wasn’t just Adams who smelled something strange. Even Vivian frowned and covered her nose.

Colin also realized that he had embarrassed himself. He scratched his head and said bashfully, “I’m really sorry. I grew up in an almshouse and it was there that I learned how to read. My greatest hobby is reading. When I see so many books, I can’t bear to leave!”

Looking around at the number of books in the room, Adams shook his head and said, “It’s a good thing that you like reading, but you have to pick out the key things to read. If you just read everything, you might not be able to remember anything in the end!”

Colin shook his head and said seriously, “Don’t worry, Big Brother! Since I was young, as long as I’ve read the words, they will all be imprinted in my mind. I won’t forget them in a short period of time!”

“Oh?”

Adams looked at Colin in surprise, and his curiosity was immediately piqued. He asked, “In that case, tell me, what is recorded in these books?”

Colin immediately answered, “There are a total of 216 books and 50 maps in the base. Among them, 20 of them are novels left behind by soldiers or officers. The remaining 196 books are all about the daily trifles that have happened since the base was built. The 50 maps are all records of the surrounding terrain. However, some of them are maps of the exploration done before the base was built, while others are maps of the development of the area after the base was built!”

Adams nodded. Just by looking at Colin’s confident expression, he was convinced of Colin’s abilities.

However, Colin had yet to finish his sentence. After pausing for a while, he said, “Big Brother, according to these books, the troops who were ordered to build the base here were one of the most elite troops in the military. Their military unit is known as the Dawn Army. They came to the Zerg Realm to carry out a mission called Project Hope.

“Project Hope is a special mission that was assigned by the upper echelons of the Empire to the elite troops thousands of years ago. The content is more or less about getting the elite troops to search the alien realms that have abundant resources and conduct experiments related to resource development and food cultivation. At the end of it, the goal was to complete the migration of the human race. In addition, there is no deadline for the duration of the mission!”

“Dawn Army, migration plan, mission with no deadline…” Adams muttered under his breath, as if he had thought of something.

Still a little confused, Vivian asked, “What does a mission with no deadline mean?”

Colin said, “No deadline means that once this mission is issued to the army, it cannot be canceled or interrupted. As long as the military unit is still around, they must continue until they succeed!

“In other words, although the Dawn Army, who had come to develop the Zerg Realm, had retreated due to some issues, as long as their military unit still exists, they will return sooner or later. Or perhaps, they had never stopped developing this alien territory all these years!”

Seeming to understand a little, Vivian turned to Adams.

Adams sighed softly and said, “It seems that Constantine is most likely the General of the Dawn Army! No wonder he had such a huge reaction when he heard that we had unlocked this base!”

Vivian nodded in agreement, and then said, “Adams, it seems that your team will grow very quickly. With Colin’s hobby, he’s very suitable for gathering intelligence. Also, if he likes to read books, he has the potential to become a Mage, because many spell books left behind from ancient times are very cryptic and difficult to understand. Unless it’s someone who loves to study meticulously, it’s hard to keep calm and cultivate!”

Upon hearing this, Colin said rather excitedly, “Really? Can I read many books after becoming a Mage? It’s a pity that I don’t have the ability to complete my missions. Otherwise, I would really want to broaden my horizons!”

Adams smiled and said, “Isn’t it just broadening your horizons? Since you all call me Big Brother, you can leave this small wish of yours to me!”

When they heard this, Colin and Garen were pleasantly surprised. In their hearts, Adams’ ability was comparable to that of a God. As long as he made a promise, their coming-of-age ceremony mission was pretty much in the bag!

Adams turned around and whispered something into Vivian’s ear. Then, he turned around and said, “Colin, inform Bob to meet us in the hall on the first floor. Garen, take me to see the others and we’ll get them along the way. I have a surprise for all of you!”

“Okay! Okay!” Garen and Colin immediately nodded and agreed in response.

At that moment, Angus, who had been following Adams and the others,leaned forward and asked, “What about me, Big Brother? Is there something I can do?”

Vivian turned to Angus and said, “Follow me downstairs. I need your help with something!”