Planet of Sand and Oasis of Iron

Chapter 185 184. This meeting won’t be so peaceful...

As soon as he stepped into the lobby of the Phantom Mist Group, before Seifer had time to appreciate the room with its white and black interior and gold trim, he was stopped.

The person who spoke was a clerk from the Phantom Mist Group. He was dressed neatly in a straight coat and a shawl wrapped around his shoulders, and had a gentle expression.

"Independent mercenary Red Crossbow, please wait a moment, we have a mission for you."

"Hmm? Is it a lot of money?"

The other party said calmly: "Compared to the other several companies, I think our price should be more affordable."

Is it really that affordable? Cypher was skeptical and asked him why he was stopping him - there were mercenaries everywhere, so what was the point of looking for him?

"It's like this. Due to a slight deviation in our arrangements, the defense force protecting the spokesperson for the negotiations is currently insufficient. We need to recruit reliable mercenaries."

"We've reviewed your mercenary record and past experience and believe you're qualified for this commission. Therefore, we'll offer you a commission of 20,000 per hour until the conclusion of this first informal meeting."

Twenty thousand per hour?
"After completing the commission, we will also calculate the attendance fee for you."

This treatment was honestly quite good, and Cypher was slightly tempted. Especially after seeing the mission rewards they gave to the mercenaries, after a moment's thought, Cypher turned to him and offered his hand.

The other party immediately extended a black-gloved hand and shook it. "Welcome! We have already distributed the relevant tasks to the independent mercenary support system. Please check it out."

It’s so formal, and it still uses a support system?

After accepting the mission, the clerk glanced at the multi-function communicator in his pocket and said, "Sunset is approaching. Please bring your aircraft to our station."

"Please understand that the salary calculation starts from the moment the ambassador enters the moving vehicle. This is the market regulation."

Should we also determine whether a temporary bridge was used to transfer the ambassadors? How should the responsibility be divided on the bridge? Having read a little about maritime law before, Seifer was quite familiar with this.

In terms of time, it's time to start preparing now. Sefer took the temporary pass handed to him and casually hung it together with the mercenary nameplate.

Quickly leaving here, Cypher boarded the repaired machine and contacted the car: "Tien, are you awake?"

"Not only am I awake, I'm enjoying my first glass of wine. So, planning on taking this thing of yours out for a spin?"

"...Not for now, I've accepted an escort mission."

Sharing the task with Tien, she said excitedly, "Not bad, kid, you've landed on such a lucrative job. Do you know what this means?"

"The company thinks I'm a newcomer with a clean background. Could they consider recruiting me as a corporate mercenary?"

"You can even answer questions quickly, kid... Of course, it's more than that. This means your name may have appeared on the desks of people at certain levels of the company."

Tien analyzed, "It's just like when I/O came to me with a box of sincerity. When you have unique characteristics and are memorable, the company's intelligence network will analyze your value as a person."

"It's the same with this mission I've given you. Perform well. Who knows, you and your group might be able to get a favorable contract from the company one day."

Sounding like the Enterprise's route, Cypher replied nonchalantly, "Then I'll be there now. The escort mission requires me to operate the mecha while outside, and to continue protecting the Node City once I've arrived."

"Then, you can go to the node city and be on standby. One more person means more strength." Tien laughed and said that she would come later, and then emphasized that she must tell her before Sever comes back from outside, otherwise she will not be able to get away from the medical station.

...What exactly this guy did at the medical station remains a mystery.

After getting on the repaired machine and making a simple inspection, Seifer left the maintenance bay, followed the instructions and left the node city. He quickly entered the cruise mode and headed for the parking spot of the Phantom Mist Group.

The sun had just set on the sandy beach, and the storm was still raging. The temperature outside was actually quite terrible... but it was still better than being under direct sunlight.

Following the direction of the storm, the radar occasionally picked up some moving units. None of them were worthy of attention, so Cypher only took a quick look and continued on his way.

Instead of observing these things, it is better to observe the load on the engine.

There is a saying that the running-in period for something like an aircraft body and an engine is about a 500-hour operating cycle, after which the aircraft body can be perfectly adapted.

But Sefer feels now...it hasn't been that long, and now it's already very much to his liking. Now he mainly hopes that there will be no problems with it and that it can be open for a while longer to make money.

While he was thinking, he received a call from Huanwu Group.

After sending his pass, the other party's alert immediately dropped. "Welcome, Red Arrow. Please drive your machine to the designated location. We will arrange the trip later."

The efficiency is very fast - by the way, the level of communication development in this world does not seem to match other things.

Is it because the daytime blocks the distance everyone can move, so this method of increasing contact is necessary? Or is there some other reason?

After entering the designated waiting berth, huge dust storms were still blowing endlessly, but the people in the fleet were making preparations slowly.

After waiting for a while, five armored vehicles with huge desert-adapted tires and an overall angular appearance slowly drove out from the largest car.

If a cannon were mounted on it, Cypher would find it familiar and appropriate—a wheeled tank, after all.

The team leader who had contacted him earlier answered the call: "Welcome, welcome. It's a good thing you accepted the mission. Otherwise, I wouldn't be at ease if I found a few bad guys. I'm afraid they might suddenly change their minds."

"Is this common?"

"Of course, mercenaries are like a bunch of idiots, so they'll listen to whoever pays the most. Okay, the guards for this informal meeting will be you, me, and two others, for a total of four machines."

Seeing that Seifer was ready, he exchanged a few words and began to assign tasks: "When we set off later, you and I will lead the way in the front row, and you just follow me."

"In addition to the five escort vehicles, we also have several armored vehicles as close escorts. Are you ready? It's going to be quite exciting."

After a few seconds of silence, Cypher asked curiously, "It doesn't take long to get to Node City from here. Are you so well prepared because you're sure someone's going to attack?"

"Haha, who knows. This place has attracted a lot of pirates lately. As for mercenaries... there are even more. Maybe someone just wants to give it a try?"

It is never in vain to prepare for a rainy day.

Half an hour later, as the convoy set off, Seifer felt helpless as he listened to the warnings coming from all directions.

No, are you really planning to do such a useless thing?!
(End of this chapter)