In the port area next to the Panama Canal, dozens of trucks were parked beside a row of rusty wire fences.
Under the watch of armed USN soldiers, scavengers in orange prison uniforms carried plastic bags of different sizes and lined up beside the trucks. After they weighed the bags, the bundles of garbage were tossed onto the trucks, and their tasks for the day were then considered complete.
Before the outbreak of the World War in 2171, the Panama Canal was a shipping hub for the entire Americas, and the cargo throughput was several times higher than any other ports. Mountains of containers were stacked here and they stored everything from the most basic iron and aluminum ore to high-end large-scale electronic equipment. As long people were willing to spend the time, they could find whatever they desired.
In the second year after the Peace Treaty was signed, Panama was designated as a special zone by NATO. At the time, the Captain of the USS Obama was ordered by the NATO authorities to transfer a group of survivors from Washington, New York, Boston, and other places. This was the predecessor of the group that strived to revive the United States.
Later, when the space colonization ship lifted off, the World Government announced its dissolution, the officers of the USS Obama Aircraft Carrier decided to revive the United States. The ships of the entire Panama SAR were utilized and everyone in the area moved onto the fleet. This port full of containers had become their material supply base.
Of course, these Americans couldn’t pick garbage themselves.
Since they were reviving the United States, those Central American and South American survivors were their natural labor force. The situation got even better when Congress issued a combat order against the NAC. The three thousand Chinese colonists captured from Outpost Town and more than 30,000 West Coast residents directly expanded the workforce in Panama by ten times.
In order to manage the surplus labor force, they even added half a brigade. They also promised the North American prisoners at the time that as long as they were obedient, they could redeem themselves and become a glorious overseer.
After the trucks were filled, the trucks drove onto the highway and headed for the base ten kilometers away.
The slaves who had previously entered the port area were herded by soldiers in chemical protective suits to undergo radiation and virus inspections. After they passed the inspections, they were each given a nutrient supply. As for the amount of fluid in the nutrient supply, it depended on the mood of these Americans.
Herbert, with a rifle in front of his chest and equipped with desert-colored camouflage kinetic skeleton, couldn’t help but utter his tongue while he flipped through the statistics in his hand.
“Seventeen tons…Sh*t, these monkeys look thin, but they sure work very effectively.”
“Why didn’t those idiots in Congress do it sooner?” Jeff, who was next to him, grinned and cussed out. “Fu*k, if I knew they were so capable, we could definitely have gone to the other side of the Pacific Ocean to catch more slaves. I heard they have a lot of people anyway.”
“Haha, you can apply to Congress,” Herbert joked.
“I will once I get promoted to captain…what is that?” When he was halfway through the conversation, Jeff suddenly stopped talking and looked towards the horizon.
In the distant mouth of the canal, where the sea and sky intersected, a black spot suddenly appeared in their sight.
Jeff took two steps forward, squinted his eyes as he tried to get a clearer view. Herbert, next to him, also noticed the situation in the distance. He frowned and touched his chest, as he tried to grab his binoculars to take a closer look. However, only then did he realize that he had not brought his binoculars with him.
“Old Wu, do you think our General will come and save us?” Yu Buwei lifted his shirt up to wipe the sweat from his face, as a trace of sadness appeared in his brows.
Americans were giving them less and less nutrient supply. From the beginning, they were barely full, but now, they were only half full most of the time. With 500 kilograms to complete in the afternoon, he didn’t know how long he could survive if the situation continued.
“Do you need to ask that question?” The man called Old Wu replied without hesitation. He looked to the few USN soldiers scattered around the empty ground with hatred in his eyes, but as well as a stubborn pride. “When did our General accept losses? Not to mention in the hands of white foreigners.”
Wang Fucheng inserted the empty tube of the nutrient supply on the ground. As if he was holding a dagger, he grasped the tube tightly and seemed to be deep in thought. Unlike these colonists, he was a soldier in the colony.
Had it not been for the fact that the bullet, which penetrated the kinetic skeleton, got stuck in his ribs, he would have died in Outpost Town. The reason why he survived was all because of luck.
He had been thinking of revenging his dead comrades every single second. He thought about revolting with the Chinese survivors in Panama, but these Americans were well equipped. Last time, someone started a riot in the concentration camp, but before the riot spread, he was killed by a patrolling drone.
At this moment, he suddenly noticed the black spot that loomed on the horizon.
His brows furrowed slightly, and when he wanted to look more closely, his pupils suddenly dilated, and there was a hint of ecstasy.
A name suddenly came to his mind.
NAC Expeditionary Force!
The black spot was gradually approaching them, but for the people in the port area, it still looked blurry because of the distance.
The slaves that sat in the corner, biting on the nutrient supply also began to notice the situation on the horizon. They stretched their necks forward and looked to the horizon. They wanted to stand up, but because of the guns pointed at them, they were forced to remain seated.
“Sh*t, what’s the matter with that thing!” Jeff cursed out, turned around anxiously, and looked to Herbert, “We must report the situation to the base.”
“Calm down, my friend,” Herbert tried to reassure him, “If something really happened, the people at the base must already know. Don’t forget, the radar can see farther than our eyes!”
“Well, that does make sense… the person over there, what are you doing!”
Without any warning, a Chinese slave who had been squatting on the ground suddenly got up.
Taking advantage of the fact that the USN soldier next to him was distracted by the black dot on the horizon, Wang Fucheng hooked the soldier’s neck with one hand, and with his other hand, he grabbed the dagger on his shoulder and stabbed down.
“AHHHHHHH!”
The sound of the gushing blood drowned the tragic howl, and Wang Fucheng successfully snatched the rifle in his hand.
When Jeff saw the death of his comrade, he immediately grabbed his rifle and fired at the rebelling slave. But he didn’t manage to hit Wang Fucheng, instead, he killed and injured the slave next to Wang Fucheng.
When the slaves on the ground saw the murder take place. Some stood up and fled, some brave ones grabbed weapons from the soldiers’ hands. There were not only Chinese survivors that joined the riot, but also South American survivors.
Wang Fucheng hid behind cover, fired a few shots at the USN soldiers. When the situation turned more chaotic, he roared at the top of his lung in his broken English to the slaves.
“Chinese Brothers! Comrades from South America! All the enslaved people! The NAC Expeditionary Force is here, and within half an hour, these fools will be crushed by the soles of our power armors! Before being rescued, we must stand up and show our General that we still have the courage worthy to be saved!”
