Chapter 88: Why am I so unlucky (V)

“Su Mengmeng! Over here!”

The moment we heard the enemy attack warning, Carter’s face darkened instantly.
But he didn’t seem intent on joining the fight.
Instead, he urged me to follow them to take cover for now.

Clearly, Carter and the others had no plans to get involved in this battle.
Their mission was to escort me safely away, and the train station had enough forces to handle the alien infiltrators.

Nico and Katherine escorted me as we followed Carter into the train station, finding a relatively safe spot to hunker down.
“While we’d love to leave right now, it looks like we’ll have to wait until this fight’s over…”

Carter glanced into the distance, speaking with a grim expression.
Rushing out during a battle wasn’t a smart move, so I nodded, showing I understood, and sat down, hugging my two egg babies.

I yawned, feeling exhausted—not just physically, but mentally.
Why am I so unlucky today?
I finally made it to the train station, thinking I could leave, and… still no luck.

I felt a wave of mental fatigue, but with things as they were, I had no other options.
I sat and waited for the battle to end.
In fact, the alien attack on the train station didn’t last long—less than half an hour before they were repelled.
It was clearly just a probing assault.

“Su Mengmeng, we can leave now.”
After confirming the area was secure, Carter returned and signaled to me.
I nodded, not wasting words, and followed the noble squad out.

Carter “borrowed” another truck, the same type of simple transport we’d used before.
Having any vehicle was better than nothing, so I didn’t complain and climbed aboard, leaving the train station with Carter and the others.

Katherine sat beside me again, looking like she wanted to ask me something.
But seeing me clutch my backpack and gaze out, scanning the passing scenery, she stayed quiet.
Like the others, she sat silently in the truck’s back, alert for any potential threats.

In theory, the further back we went, the safer it should be.
The alien infiltrators had plenty of targets to disrupt, so it was unlikely they’d have sizable squads everywhere.
Past the train station, the safety factor should increase significantly.

By that logic, things should be safer from here on—I didn’t need Carter to explain; I could figure it out myself.
“…Sigh, I should be able to smoothly get out of here now, right?”

I thought to myself.
We’d been traveling for a full twenty minutes since leaving the train station, and so far, it had been smooth sailing—

But just as I thought that, several sharp sounds rang out, and the truck suddenly started jolting violently!
“…Flat tire?!”

Carter tensed instantly, while Daniel and Nico in the cab hurriedly pulled the truck to a stop.
Once the truck was steady, everyone jumped out.
We quickly saw that all four tires had blown out.

“…Someone scattered caltrops?!”
Nico stared at the wheels in disbelief, then turned to look at the road behind us.

Sure enough, we spotted some inconspicuous caltrops on the road—
Those little things had punctured the truck’s tires.

“D*mn it, is this the aliens’ doing?”
Emil frowned tightly.

But then, I glanced into the distance and noticed something dark and indistinct landing in the nearby bushes.
“What’s that?”

I blinked, feeling a surge of confusion, and called out to the others.