After that night, Xiao Ran didn't see Cornelia for several days. It wasn't that Xiao Ran was avoiding Cornelia. For Xiao Ran, this wasn't a big deal. It wasn't something that he couldn't accept and handle. Instead, it was Cornelia who was deliberately avoiding any contact with Xiao Ran, including meeting him.
As for the reason, although Xiao Ran wasn't considered a veteran, he was at least a person who knew how to travel alone. He was also very clear about Cornelia's current thoughts. She didn't know how to accept the special relationship between her and Xiao Ran. First, it was due to Xiao Ran instilling the idea that she needed to be loyal to him. Second, it was because of the indescribable story that happened between them.
After all that happened, it was normal for Cornelia to have mixed feelings. She didn't know how to handle her relationship with Xiao Ran and chose to avoid meeting him. But it was also possible that Cornelia was too headstrong and didn't want to appear in front of the person who completely conquered her, be it physically or spiritually. It was also possible that she revealed her fragile side.
Since Cornelia was determined to avoid meeting Xiao Ran, Xiao Ran naturally didn't have the intention to stick his face close to her. He also didn't have the intention to reason with her and Cornelia didn't need anyone to do that.
After that night, Charles personally made a video call to show that he valued Xiao Ran's ability to drive the Soul Slayer. He also used words to encourage Xiao Ran and recorded the reward.
He single-handedly destroyed part of the enemy's defense line and destroyed an important supply base for the resistance, which severely affected that part of the defense line. It would relieve a lot of pressure on the 19th and also bring a lot of opportunities. These were all reasons why Charles rewarded Xiao Ran. However, he didn't know whether Xiao Ran didn't care about his rewards, but Xiao Ran himself knew it very well. He also completely conquered the most powerful person in the 19th and started the second key step of the plan to overthrow Charles. If Charles knew about this, he might even want to eat Xiao Ran alive.
After that, Xiao Ran didn't continue to drive the Soul Slayer. For the 19th, Xiao Ran's existence and the destruction of the supply base was a huge opportunity to solve the current predicament and gain more advantages. However, Xiao Ran didn't have the slightest intention to do anything. He just wandered around the base every day, either in his room or in the hangar where the Soul Slayer was parked. Before the investigation team got the results they wanted, Xiao Ran could only maintain his current state and stay in this place.
Many people saw that Xiao Ran was doing nothing every day. Even though they acknowledged Xiao Ran's strength, they thought that Xiao Ran didn't participate in the battle and lead them to victory. They thought that Xiao Ran was not doing his job properly. However, the other two Knights of the Round Table, who in fact came with Xiao Ran to assist him, were forcibly recruited by Cornelia and temporarily rushed to the frontline. At this time, of the three Knights of the Round Table, only Xiao Ran remained in the base.
Xiao Ran didn't want to drive the Soul Slayer into battle, and no one could force him to do so. Not to mention that even Cornelia, as the highest commander, was afraid of meeting Xiao Ran. Who else was qualified to stand in front of Xiao Ran and ask him to drive? Even Cornelia, the highest commander of the 19th Section, didn't express her hope that Xiao Ran would go to the frontline to help the 19th Section gain a greater advantage.
Xiao Ran had his own reasons for not wanting to go, and Cornelia also had other reasons for not wanting Xiao Ran to go. Most of their reasons were exactly the same, but not everyone in the base understood this reason.
In Cornelia's view, the current situation was better than before. With the help of the two Knights of the Round Table on the frontline, they had survived more difficult times. Now that the situation had begun to change, they needed to take things one step at a time and slowly expand outward.
Furthermore, the news of Xiao Ran piloting the Soul Slayer to attack the enemy's supply base should have spread throughout the surrounding areas. In EU, there was a huge difference in opinion among the Resistance Army. Since Xiao Ran was able to rely on a large force to attack the enemy's supply base, the enemy could also gather a large force to attack the enemy's supply base.
But as long as Xiao Ran stayed here, the enemy would never consider attacking this base that controlled the political and military affairs of the 19th Section. Even if other places were attacked, the consequences wouldn't be as severe as the main base, and the impact wouldn't be as great.
What's more, if the enemy didn't send enough troops, with the current strength of the 19th Section, the two Knights of the Round Table and the Scarlet Knights, they could still fight back. They might even be able to eat the enemy's attack. But if the enemy really sent out their top combat power, Xiao Ran could also defeat the enemy. In this base, they wouldn't be entangled with troublesome battles and could provide reinforcements at any time. Therefore, the benefits of Xiao Ran staying here were far greater than if Xiao Ran actually stepped into the battlefield and appeared on the frontline. At the same time, he was also a stabilizing force that the enemy wouldn't dare to act rashly.
That was what Cornelia thought. That was why she wouldn't allow Xiao Ran, a nuclear weapon that could threaten the enemy, to leave. The reason why a threat was a threat was because if Xiao Ran didn't make a move, the enemy would have scruples. And once Xiao Ran made a move, the enemy might not stop until one of them was dead. The current situation might not necessarily be a positive one.
Xiao Ran also had the same idea, but compared to Cornelia, he wasn't as cautious. Apart from the previous thoughts, he didn't think that the EU or the resistance could resist him. Even if he attacked the enemy's base, the enemy could only swallow their anger. But he simply didn't want to attack those who couldn't resist him. He also felt that even if he could bring some changes to the 19th District, it wouldn't be a long-term change. Only when the ruler of Britannia changed and the mech upgraded could he truly defend himself. More importantly, he didn't need to use his identity as the Knight of Lelouch to attract the enemy's attention. After all, once the ruler of Britannia changed, their attitude towards the outside world would also need to change. When that time came, he wouldn't hesitate to lead the army forward.
But now that he had shown his strength on the battlefield, it was still unknown whether Charles would let him continue to stay in the 19th District until the situation in the 19th District was completely resolved, or if he would take advantage of this opportunity to go to other districts. But one thing was certain, with Charles' foresight and overall vision, he would always stay in the 19th District for the time being to respond to the situation here. This was to prevent the EU and the resistance from taking the opportunity to launch a large-scale counterattack after he left. So there shouldn't be a chance for him to leave in a short period of time.
In the blink of an eye, a week had slipped through his fingers. Xiao Ran only felt that a week had passed inexplicably without doing anything. He had nothing to do every day, but the key was that there was no place in the base for Xiao Ran to waste his time. And even if there was such a place, it was not a place that he could casually visit with his current status in the Empire. Even if he wanted to bask in the sun, Xiao Ran didn't have the desire to stay outside for too long in the desert environment of the 19th District.
Cornelia still hadn't met Xiao Ran. She used all kinds of methods to avoid meeting him. Of course, Xiao Ran never took the initiative to look for Cornelia. Even if he did, there wasn't much to talk about. And since Cornelia wanted to avoid him, Xiao Ran wouldn't ask for a snub. He didn't want to use Cornelia to relieve his boredom either.
The only thing he could do every day was to pay attention to the situation at the frontline, and to the movements and intelligence of the EU and the resistance. He was a little bored, but the frontline was very lively every day. They fought the EU in the morning, the resistance in the afternoon, or both sides. Even if there were no major military conflicts every day, there were basically all kinds of small conflicts happening all the time. You shoot twice, I shoot twice, I stop you when you move, I stop you when you have ideas, you stop me when I have ideas. They fought back and forth on various levels, but neither side could be sure that they had the absolute upper hand, and neither side had the ability to completely overwhelm the other. It seemed like they were in a stalemate, and neither side dared to break this rare tacit understanding and balance, but they were always looking for an opportunity to decide the outcome of the battle.
Xiao Ran, as a true spectator, as well as a third party with a higher vision and vision than Cornelia, truly felt that it was meaningless to waste the empire's strength in this place. However, this was the reality. Even if Cornelia used all her strength to crush the EU's military strength and resistance army, and reclaim the territories that were gradually being occupied, she really couldn't guarantee that she would have enough military strength to defend the territories. Instead, she would only waste and dilute her military strength, which was truly meaningless to carry out such a war.
If it were Xiao Ran facing the current situation, he would have ordered the whole army to retreat long ago. He wouldn't be so stupid to defend the line that could be breached at any time. It would be a waste of resources and strength. In fact, with the current situation in the 19th District, they could withdraw to the edge of the battlefield, choose one or several places that were easy to defend and hard to attack, and re-establish the frontline. They could wait for the new aircraft to be developed and mass-produced. When they had the advantage in strength, they could counterattack. There was no need to nail themselves to this place.
This was only Xiao Ran's personal opinion. After all, Xiao Ran's vision and point of view were certainly very different from others. He didn't care about the gains and losses of one place. But for Cornelia, it wasn't the same at all. Once they withdrew, it would mean that their honor would be tarnished. Not only Cornelia, but the entire military wouldn't allow such a thing to happen.
However, a few days later, the situation in the 19th District finally changed. There were many situations on the frontline. Monica and Luciano were engaged in a battle together. Monica's aircraft was seriously damaged and she suffered some minor injuries. She was then rescued by Luciano and the Scarlet Knights. This finally meant that the counterattack of the EU and the Resistance had gradually begun. This was also the only real defeat that the Empire's army in the 19th District had suffered recently.
With such a situation, no matter how much Cornelia didn't want to see Xiao Ran, she still took the initiative to look for Xiao Ran. She then walked into Xiao Ran's room alone.
The meeting between the two was very calm. At least, Xiao Ran's side was quite calm. However, after seeing Xiao Ran, Cornelia's originally solemn expression gradually relaxed. She even took the initiative to pull Xiao Ran's collar and kissed him hard.
When everything was calm, Xiao Ran, who was topless, hugged Cornelia with one hand and stroked her messy hair with the other. He then asked softly, "Have you been under a lot of pressure recently? Are you using me as a tool to relieve your stress? Or is it because you haven't seen me for so long that you can't hold it in anymore? "
Xiao Ran's words sounded like teasing and ridicule to Cornelia. She raised her head and glared at Xiao Ran. However, she could only lay her head on Xiao Ran's chest and let Xiao Ran stroke her hair as if he was petting a puppy.
Feeling the warm hand on her body, Cornelia suppressed her sensitivity and said softly, "Yeah, I'm under a lot of pressure and I'm using you as a tool to relieve my stress. So what? Are you going to punish me?"
"I didn't say that," Xiao Ran smiled and shook his head and said, "Tell me, what happened?"
Cornelia said softly, "You know about Monica's body being damaged, right? That's because the EU and the resistance have teamed up to target Luziano and Monica, the two Knights of the Round Table, as well as the Scarlet Knights. Their goal might be to suppress our morale, or maybe they want to take the opportunity to eliminate a part of our main combat power."
"The entire border defense line has been under attack for a while now. Originally, it was just a small skirmish, but now, the scale of the skirmishes is slowly getting bigger and bigger, and the frequency is getting higher and higher. There are even some new mechs, but every time, the enemy will never go too deep. Once they reach the goal of exhausting our combat power, they will voluntarily retreat and exchange the destroyed strongholds back to us … I suspect that they are preparing for a general attack, or perhaps they have already set their sights on you."
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