And the one lying on the ground, retching, ragged, and missing a shoe, was... Strange?
"Ugh, God, I'm never doing that again, not even if you kill me." Strange waved his hand while retching, his face turning green. "This is ten thousand times worse than the worst roller coaster."
"Strange, Alice?" Banner snapped out of it and rushed over in a frenzy of joy. "You... you're still alive! My God, what happened just now? What about that pterodactyl?"
Hughes also stared blankly at this scene, as if he had seen a ghost.
Alice unhurriedly unbuckled the belt at her waist, loosening the heavy Omni-directional Mobility Gear slightly, then looked up, revealing a tired but victorious smile.
"The pterodactyl is taken care of. We can have an extra meal tonight, if we can drag it up here."
"Taken care of?"
Banner looked at the bloodstains on Alice that hadn't dried yet, then at her extremely sci-fi equipment, his mind unable to process it for a moment.
"Alice, where did you get this outfit and this equipment?"
As a scientist, Banner's focus was instantly drawn to those mechanical devices.
"High-pressure gas propulsion, steel cable traction—this level of craftsmanship doesn't look like a product of a modern industrial assembly line; it looks more like some kind of precision instrument built by hand. And this design philosophy is just too crazy; it's completely using a person like a cannonball."
"Dr. Banner, regarding this question."
Strange finally finished retching; he stood up shakily, shielding Alice from Banner's inquisitive gaze.
He patted Banner on the shoulder and began to spout nonsense with a serious face.
"This involves some trade secrets, or perhaps national secrets. Simply put, this is an airdropped supply that Alice found in that pterodactyl nest. You know, this sea area might be some kind of secret military experimental Base."
Although Strange usually had a sharp tongue, he was a smart man.
He knew everyone had secrets, and Alice had just saved his life.
He chose to help her cover her lie.
"Found it?"
Banner clearly didn't believe this nonsense.
Who would find such a set of clearly tailor-made tactical equipment in a pterodactyl nest?
But looking at Strange's meaningful gaze, and then at Alice's "don't ask, and if you do, I won't tell" expression, as a high-IQ adult, he wisely chose to shut up.
"Alright, as long as you're alive, that's what matters." Banner changed the subject a bit awkwardly.
Hughes, on the other hand, was looking at Alice, who appeared like a female warrior god, and the shame and shock in his heart made him afraid to even look her in the eye.
He had been begging for help like a coward just a moment ago, while this little girl had turned back to fight like a hero.
This huge contrast left him feeling mortified.
"What about the signal? Was it sent out?" Alice ignored everyone's Strange looks and got straight to the point.
"It's been sending continuously." Banner pointed to the radio transmitter. "But I don't know if anyone received it; there might be magnetic interference here, the signal is very unstable."
Just then.
The radio transmitter suddenly emitted a harsh noise.
"Static... static..."
Immediately after, a blurry, intermittent human voice came from the speaker, mixed in with the loud static noise.
"This is Mona, please respond if you receive... static... coordinates..."
The voice was very faint and carried a Strange accent, but to everyone's ears, it was practically the sound of heaven!
"Someone, someone received it!" Hughes jumped up in excitement, his previous listlessness completely wiped away.
Banner scrambled to grab the microphone and shouted loudly, "This is a distress signal. We are survivors of a crashed Boeing airliner. We are on an island, the coordinates are..."
He glanced at the GPS positioning data on the radio transmitter and quickly read out a string of numbers.
"Repeat, we need rescue. There are injured people here, and dinosaurs. Please answer if you hear this!"
However.
There was no response from the other side.
Only the continuous "static" sound was still ringing.
After several minutes, that voice never appeared again.
"Did it cut off?" Strange frowned.
"It might be the distance, or the thick cloud cover interfering with the signal." Banner was sweating profusely as he adjusted the knobs. "But at least someone heard it; this proves that our radio transmitter is working."
Although they hadn't established continuous communication, this was already a huge breakthrough.
"Mona—is it Mona Island, or the name of a ship, or..." Alice silently chewed on the word she had just heard.
Just as everyone was cheering and jumping for joy because of this glimmer of hope.
Alice's body suddenly swayed.
"Beep."
A system prompt sounded in her mind:
[Warning: The duration of the character card "Mikasa Ackerman" is about to end. Remaining time: 10 seconds.]
[Warning: Detected severe mental exhaustion of the host. After forced removal, you will enter a weakened state.]
"Damn it."
Alice bit the tip of her tongue, trying to stay awake.
The high-intensity aerial battle just now had not only consumed the gas for the Omni-directional Mobility Gear but also drained her mental energy.
The combat instincts of the Ackerman clan placed a huge load on the brain.
As the countdown hit zero.
That stylish Survey Corps uniform and the Omni-directional Mobility Gear slowly dissipated in a faint light.
Alice turned back into that little girl wearing a ragged dress.
An unprecedented sense of exhaustion washed over her like a tide; every muscle was screaming, every cell was wailing.
Her legs went soft, and she fell backward.
"Alice!"
Strange, who had been watching her the whole time, was quick to react and caught her.
"I'm fine, just a little tired." Alice leaned in Strange's arms, her voice as weak as a mosquito's. "Maybe the magic wore off; Cinderella is turning back to her original form."
She even had the mood to make a joke.
Strange looked at the pale, sweating little girl in his arms, and a surge of bitterness and respect welled up in his heart.
The decisive female warrior god from moments ago had vanished; what remained was a child who had overdrawn her vitality to protect them.
"Sleep," Strange gently patted her back, his tone becoming unprecedentedly gentle. "Leave the rest to us; this time, it's our turn to keep watch."
Night fell once again.
The wind on the mountaintop was cold, and the four of them huddled close together.
Although the future was uncertain, and heart-stopping beast roars still occasionally drifted up from the depths of the valley, the blinking signal light and the body heat of her companions made this night feel not quite so hopeless.
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