Planet of Sand and Oasis of Iron

Chapter 184 183. Bidding is the time to pick and choose
On Leica's side, the progress is a little faster. She said that there have been some minor problems with the central control of the United Academy's node city recently, and the temperature in the entire node city is a little low.

Then the school took this opportunity to say, "Let's go into winter," and started giving them winter uniforms. Not only that, they even lowered the overall temperature in the school.

As for where the concept of winter came from, it all started with a story about a long-lasting phenomenon that occurred in a certain node city, where countless mercenaries endured a bitterly cold winter for over seven months.

That long, cold winter caused many mercenaries to suffer from PTSD related to the color white, and they felt that enemies would jump out at any time.

Today was an unexpected surprise. She was sleeping soundly, but for some reason, the girl who was dumped by her boyfriend suddenly came over and said that it was cold sleeping alone.

"I see... I don't really understand girls' dormitories, but since it's already like this, just get used to it. You wouldn't be resistant to interacting with others, would you?"

When Seifer asked this, Leica just replied calmly: "No, I just can't adapt... After listening to your advice and changing recently, I'm fine now..."

"That's good, keep it up. It's good, you have a good relationship with them now. Now it's time to take the next step... which is to destroy the relationship in this girls' dormitory."

"Wait a little longer. I don't think the current situation is stable..."

Leica hesitated for some reason. Considering that this was her first time doing something like this and she was quite unfamiliar with it, she decided to wait a little longer.

Then she quickly changed the subject: "By the way, what do you mean by cake?"

This level of understanding was enough. Seifer leisurely changed the posture of crossing his legs and said, "I'll send you a picture."

As a communicator, Leica is very efficient and she can quickly find information that only communicators have.

"This situation is quite common, but it's a bit complicated to explain... Let me sort it out."

"First of all, Red Crossbow, do you know the indicator of node city control?"

Saifu was quite puzzled: "I don't know, I've never heard of it."

"To put it bluntly, a node city is an underground city. It's an asset of the company that built it, but that asset doesn't necessarily belong to that company forever."

"Just like the owners of mines, production bases, and various other facilities outside can annex or purchase them through commercial operations or military means, node cities can also be traded."

Now I understand, but what is the degree of control?
"In rare cases, due to anomalies or when fighting breaks out where someone in a node city attempts to seize control of the node city, the company's jurisdiction over the node city will be weakened."

When Leica said this, Sefer understood. It was just like a gang occupying a territory, but the gang here could be any force. As long as the control was not strong enough, they would be eroded.

As for how many companies are behind this, and whether these companies will eventually sell their "territory" through commercial activities, it is no longer under the control of the original company.

Just like the Edge Node City, although Seifer knew that a guy named 'Feldrich' was behind it, he couldn't produce any evidence.

The military company 'Anaheim' that attacked Node City had been deregistered long ago, and the people involved dispersed in a hurry. Some even became pirates on the spot, clearing themselves of all ties in an instant.

This has been mentioned before, so the current control of the transformation agency over the node city is actually only...

Seifer looked up at the square area. From the ceiling to the ground, which was related to the huge task acceptance, in the huge holographic outline of the node city, only a small part of the area had the mark of the transformation agency.

In other words... they only have so much control.

"I understand what you're trying to say. So before the first round of negotiations officially begins, the three companies and the transformation agency must take action first to seize more resources...right?" "Yes, this will increase their bargaining chips at the negotiating table."

The three companies will use the "lack of control over the city by the transformation agencies" as their entry point for attack. During this period, as long as they occupy a large enough share, they will be able to get a larger proportion of the giant anomaly.

To be honest, it was a bit too gentle for the transformation agency not to overturn the table. Sefer felt that if it were him, he would definitely drive everyone to the desert first and then immediately reclaim the node city.

"That would cause the company to start targeting other areas. The resources we have are not as abundant as you think, Red Crossbow."

Leica had probably decided to just get up like that. As she calmly analyzed the situation, she reminded him, "By the way... at this point, you don't have to stick to just doing tasks for the transformation agency. You can take on tasks from other companies as appropriate."

"Because now is a good time to bid. For mercenaries, they will help whoever offers the highest bid and the best treatment."

That made sense, so Seifer took a short break, and after watching the ammunition replenishment, he first went to Abian's temporary house.

Why it? Of course it’s because Abian arrived the earliest, and they certainly don’t want to spit out the share they have already put in their mouths.

After confirming that the mission here paid more and included investigations of the upper, middle, and lower levels where there was no access, as well as the remuneration, Seifer headed to the lobby of I/O Enterprise with confidence.

The pay here is not bad, and it's obvious that these companies have... well, various intelligence exchanges, and the prices are relatively close, and are proportional to the difficulty of the mission to a certain extent.

And it also comes with the company's contribution value, which is very attractive.

Before he confirmed the information and prepared to leave, Seifer was suddenly stopped by someone: "Red Crossbow, hey, Red Crossbow, you are here after all!"

Looking over blankly, Sefer had no impression of this person at all.

The man ran over and greeted enthusiastically, ready to shake hands but then pulled back: "It's me, the Pier Squad, remember?"

"...Corporate mercenaries?"

"Yes, yes, we're just about to go down and work. Since you've been here, you must have done a lot of missions before. Do you want to work with us?"

Cypher shrugged, a look of disinterest crossing his seemingly emotionless face. "I'm usually on the middle level now. You're heading to the unexplored areas on the upper level, right?"

"Uh... not entirely. There are places to share a room on the middle floor too, right?"

That being said, it's quite troublesome. Seifer crossed his arms and said, "We'll talk about it later when we have the chance to team up. You guys didn't leave in just one day after coming here. There's always a chance."

"That's right..." The mercenary was a little disappointed, but then he cheered up, "There are so many things in this node city, there must be a chance!"

He left in a hurry, but Seifer thought seriously, which member of the Pier team was this?

Forget it. Corporate mercenaries usually have a long list of numbers, and their workload is much heavier than that of ordinary mercenaries. He might be removed from the list in a few days.

You have to know about the self-discipline stuff below. Don’t think that Cypher is relaxed and carefree, that’s because he is bulletproof.

If a mercenary who is not fully prepared were to go down, he might end up being a guest in the smelting furnace.

(End of this chapter)