Darkstone Code

Chapter 1333: Chapter 1332: 3A

Comfortable living makes people content with the status quo.

Comfort doesn’t necessarily mean luxury; as long as the environment makes one feel at ease, it’s a comfortable life.

It’s like... a warm bed in winter, or a cold drink in summer.

A comfortable life doesn’t necessarily require living in a villa estate, enjoying the service of many people, or eating food others can’t afford in a lifetime to be called comfortable.

Comfort could also be just lounging on the sofa, eating junk food that makes you gain weight, and laughing foolishly at the TV—that’s also a form of comfort.

As long as one is comfortable, inertia will breed, and so will a fear of leaving such a comfortable environment.

Austin hasn’t considered updating her will for the past two years.

At the frontier outpost, combating smugglers, often engaging in armed battles with those armed smugglers, no one knows when a bullet that they didn’t notice might take them away from this world.

So back then, she, along with other members of the anti-smuggling team, had the habit of preparing a will in advance.

How to arrange the flowers at home, the books, the cat, the dog, the money...

In different periods, different thoughts arise, and maybe when one returns home, a lot has already changed.

So every time a vacation ends, it’s time for them to reconsider how to write their will.

In case of an unfortunate death, at least it wouldn’t be so "sudden."

But now, she doesn’t need to consider these.

A safe life has made her lazy and fearful of leaving such a life.

The elevator doors slowly closed, and she snapped back to reality, pressing the elevator button several times, and the doors that were about to close reopened.

There were two layers of doors, after all, things weren’t so advanced at this time.

Lynch’s words left her mind a bit chaotic.

Entering the elevator, she kept pondering this issue.

Ultimately, she had no answers.

If a war really broke out and she was needed on the front line... the chances were high that she wouldn’t come back.

Many people have a less direct impression of war and death; we find in some reports and statistics, on average, how many bullets are needed to eliminate an enemy.

Maybe hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands, giving people the erroneous impression that "even if hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of bullets are shot at me, it might be fine."

This way of statistical analysis is inherently flawed.

One should look at each battle, each war, and see how many people died.

In a conflict where both sides have forces numbering in the thousands, with a commander of sound mind, it’s easy to leave behind hundreds of lives (on both sides).

Every ordinary skirmish results in about three to ten percent, or even more, never leaving the battlefield.

This isn’t a small number; this ratio is actually terrifying, and no one can guarantee they’ll never be part of that seemingly small crowd.

At this time, counting how many bullets were consumed is evidently meaningless, because to kill someone else or be killed, only one bullet is enough!

The battlefield is very dangerous, and Austin is well aware of this.

If she participated in the war, and was sent to the front line, the likelihood is high that she wouldn’t come back.

The elevator slowly stopped at the top floor, Lynch stepped out first, and she followed closely.

She spent the whole afternoon pondering this question—if the Military really required her to return and participate in the war, would she go?

She believed this was highly likely to happen because she was very "experienced."

For the current Federation, the lack of experience is most lethal; that’s why they sent people to Darkstone Security, and why they engaged in exchanges with Gafura in this area.

After the outbreak of war, assigning experienced people to some mid to low-level commander positions is the Ministry of Defense’s plan.

In fact, it’s not just her; once war broke out, many in Darkstone Security could also be "called back" by the Ministry of Defense.

It wasn’t until the evening when she sat in the car on the way home that Austin somewhat bewilderedly answered Lynch’s question.

"I don’t know."

"What?" Lynch asked her.

Austin didn’t hide it, "The question you asked earlier, am I scared."

Lynch slightly raised his eyebrow, "I just casually mentioned it, it wasn’t even really a question."

"But I seriously thought about it, and I don’t know!" Austin shook her head.

"In the past, I hadn’t considered this question, but today you asked, and I truly don’t know."

After Austin finished speaking, she fell silent again, until a few minutes later, the car’s movement awoke her from her thoughts.

Evening rush hour in Bupen was very congested, the car would stop for a while, then move a little.

"Do you think a war will really break out?" she asked again.

Lynch nodded, not impatiently, "The Federation wants to prove it’s the strongest, the only way is to fight with other countries."

"If they win, until the next war breaks out, the Federation gets to call the shots."

"If they lose... actually, it’s not much related to us ordinary people."

The Federation is a continental nation with sufficient strategic depth, as long as it’s not an all-out war of annihilation, even if they lose, it doesn’t matter to the Federation.

If worse comes to worst, just keep fighting, competing in productivity until the end, not necessarily being the first to fall!

So this war is bound to break out.

Austin fell silent again.

At night, while lying in bed, she was contemplating these issues, and suddenly, she asked Lynch, "Do you want to do it?"

"Sorry?" Lynch, who was lying on the bed in pajamas reading a book, turned his head to look at Austin lying on another bed, a bit puzzled if he misheard, "Did you just say..."

"Do I want to do it?"

Austin nodded slightly, "I think you’re right, the war will definitely break out, no matter the circumstances, I’m sure I’ll be at the front line."

"I don’t know if I’ll have a chance to come back, and if I just go like this, there’s some discontent."

Her voice was somewhat melancholic.

Actually, Austin wasn’t too old, around thirty, and her work and life in the anti-smuggling team kept her in good shape.

Except for some calluses on her hands and shoulders, everything else looked fine.

During her time in the anti-smuggling team, her interpersonal relationships weren’t chaotic. In such a military-backed place, a chaotic relationship often meant total ruin.

Those military men don’t see a female soldier being with someone as a problem; they just wonder if they can be with her.

Once people relax their standards in the secluded and dictatorial military environment, there’s no room for retreat.

Unless you resolutely guard that step from the start.

Some women indeed couldn’t hold their ground, and they became a point of criticism for the feminist movement against the military — recruiting female soldiers is actually for satisfying male soldiers’ emotional and physical needs.

Occasionally, some scandals do get exposed, making the military seem chaotic.

They often criticize the military this way, as if they’ve forgotten that allowing female soldiers to join was their own request — women should also have the right to enlist to defend the country!

The Federation Army generally isn’t well-educated, and when they encounter these issues, they don’t consider why you’re allowed, and I’m not.

They think if he can do it, then I should be able to do it too.

Unless there’s no opportunity from the start, many of the scandals people see are often caused by these "untouchable" women.

And within the Federation Army, they wouldn’t send a girl who could make everyone relax to the front line...

Austin’s life was relatively simple and monotonous, and now she had a slight desire to change her lifestyle.

Who knows if she’ll survive the war, so why not live a bit more freely while she’s still in control of her life?

Lynch hesitated a bit.

Austin stood up.

She was on a small bed by the window in Lynch’s bedroom; she needed to provide close protection to Lynch, so even at night, she would sleep in Lynch’s room.

Including when Lynch occasionally played friendly matches with some girls or women, she either watched on-site or stayed nearby.

At first, she thought those girls were self-indulgent, but at this moment, she felt a bit unexpectedly hungry.

She somewhat understood those girls’ thoughts.

Seeking pleasure anyway, why not find an attractive one?

She took off her bulletproof vest and underwear, walking over to Lynch’s bed.

Lynch admired her body, purely appreciating it.

He raised his hand, caressing a scar left by a bullet wound, asking, "Is this a gunshot wound?"

Austin nodded slightly, "...Spring, during patrol, we discovered someone smuggling; we only had four people, and the captain decided to intercept, which led to a firefight."

"They were just some teenagers, looked like they were living terribly, so I didn’t think they were dangerous."

"And then they shot me..."

The bullet hit the lower part of her right shoulder, with a through wound visible from the side of her chest.

Later, those few teenagers became necessary food for scavengers along the border.

Lynch was somewhat amazed; he had never looked at Austin’s body up close and was now a bit curious.

"What about this one?" His fingers continued moving, finding another scar, this time on her waist.

Clearly, this was also a gunshot wound.

"We were ambushed during a patrol; a bullet ricocheted in the car several times before hitting me..."

They were just on a regular patrol and happened to encounter a trade about to commence.

The smugglers thought they were discovered and launched an attack directly.

That time, seven anti-smuggling team members were killed, and more than thirty smugglers were captured or killed.

Even though Austin was injured, she persisted in returning fire at the enemies.

Every scar was an honor medal, a testament to defeating Death God!