Planet of Sand and Oasis of Iron

Chapter 20: 20. Achieving a friendly strategy, then start working immediately
He carried a big bag of food back to the car, but he didn't find Lin Shenxue in the control room, which made him a little confused... The door was locked tightly, and there were no windows in the car. Did she go out?

After searching around, Seifer found the target in the cramped environment of the engine room.

Lin Shenxue was sitting leisurely leaning against the wall. She was wearing the headphones that had appeared with her outside the vision, with her eyes slightly closed, as if using music to relieve her mental stress.

After knocking on the wall to indicate that he was back, Lin Shenxue immediately opened his eyes, took off his headphones, and searched with his eyes - until Seifer handed him the tablet.

She was just like when she was doing her homework in frustration after her parents confiscated her tablet, and her kind uncle suddenly came over to play with her and handed her a handheld game console. She was so happy.

After tapping on the tablet that could be used, Lin Shenxue quickly took out a pen after finding that it was indeed usable.

"I thought about it for a while, and just now that I've calmed down, I'm thinking, I have to find a job here, right?"

"Indeed, I never thought that the spoils of the vision would be people who need to eat, drink, and communicate. Since they are human, they must have various needs. And your identity is special. If I just let you go like this, you might not be able to survive for a few days..."

'Will I die quietly in this city?'

Seeing how much she enjoyed interrupting, Seifer crossed his arms and said, "The best outcome is going outside without any protection and becoming fresh dried meat."

"The worst-case scenario is probably 'alive'."

Lin Shenxue shuddered. She did not ask why Seifer knew so much, but changed the subject and asked him why his voice sounded a little different.

"My contact gave me a voice changer, and at least a good appearance, which can give me a certain advantage in negotiations. Putting that aside, you must be hungry, I bought you a lot of food."

The two returned to the cockpit, and Cypher piled various meals, which were simply packaged but contained a variety of food and drinks, on a table.

Then he took off his helmet, revealing his carefully crafted (and expensive) appearance to Lin Shenxue.

"As a mercenary, anyone can judge which one is less threatening, a strange iron robot or a woman who looks like she could have a relationship with you."

'...'

Lin Shenxue tapped on the tablet and decided to eat something before she starved to death.

Although the Edge Node City sounds so pitiful, as a pioneering settlement, the material supply here is quite abundant - this kind of thing can probably only be experienced by Seifer after he visits the vicinity of other cities.

"I've only just started working as a mercenary, so there are many things I'm not sure about. The good news is that this place doesn't discriminate against anyone. As long as you can work, no one cares where you come from."

While she was busy eating, Cypher took off his protective suit... To be honest, if it weren't for its mechanical body, this thing would be a bit heavy and not very convenient to move around in.

After all, the purpose is to allow limited activities in the sun without turning it into equipment for drying meat, so trade-offs are made for heat insulation.

When they sat down to find a topic to talk about their future plans, Lin Shenxue, who was chewing the mysterious and chewy meat, looked up and instantly spat out everything in his mouth.

She wiped her mouth almost frantically, then wrote with the momentum of wanting to poke a hole in the tablet.

'Why aren't you wearing clothes!!!'

Under the ample lighting, Cypher crossed his arms in confusion. "That's strange of you to say. Have you forgotten? Before I left, I showed you that the machine beneath this skin is the real me."

"Hmm... that's a bit imprecise. Strictly speaking, 'this one I'm using' is me. The others are just cosmetic gear to me."

Lin Shenxue covered her face and turned the board around.

"Then please at least dress as you imagine normal."

So that's why. Are you feeling low about your body?

I went to the maintenance room and found a T-shirt that was easy to move around in, and put on shorts and a belt for hanging. These clothes were meaningless for the machine body, but they were really good for the skin.

"So, back to the point. We're both unlucky souls in the same boat. I'm a mercenary who works for money and is still in debt, and you're a mechanic with no status and no ability to do dirty work, right?"

Lin Shenxue pondered for a moment and tapped the board with his knuckles. It said "Senior Mechanic" on it.

"I'm a veteran. Besides, I can't always be driving around with a tractor-trailer like this. The job of a mechanic is very important. I saw you were in the engine room just now. Do those things look familiar?"

'Very strange, yet very original.'

A train that can pull a long string of trains like giant fortresses through the snow naturally would look down on such a small gadget... right?

Seifer didn't care. He casually picked up a plate with a sticky mass that looked like it was sprinkled with chopped vegetables and observed it for a while. He then made a decision to let Lin Shenxue temporarily serve as the ship's engine room operator.

When necessary, he can also be a driver, observer, signalman, loader... Oh, forget about that.

Other vehicles are at least equipped with some large and small cannons, but this vehicle's front has no main weapon, which highlights its kindness.

So, replacing the car also needs to be put on the agenda. The good news is that it will be sooner than Leica expected, and we can obtain a new mobile base. The bad news is that the replacement car requires a deal with the Mercenary Support System. If it does something bad... then I will be stuck here for who knows how many years.

By the time Lin Shenxue had finished explaining all the information and matters related to the 'living creatures' in the vision, she had already finished this rather...special dinner.

Because she didn't know what she had eaten, the taste was just salty, sweet, or tasteless, anyway, it was just a paste and solid.

"Even worse than what you had on the train?"

Lin Shenxue shook her head indifferently and told Seifer that in fact, the only time the train could be so busy selling meat, wine and other things was when it arrived at the station.

Once we are back on the road, everything in the car will seem tight, and even weapons and equipment have to be spent on one's fingers. Unless absolutely necessary, you will never be able to use them lavishly in the wilderness.

However, those were all settings in the vision. When Lin Shenxue arrived here, she was already fully prepared and was ready to start learning about new and unknown things!

——Then I heard an alarm coming from the car.

"Are there any enemies?"

"It's my doorbell. Please wait here for a moment. I'll see who's coming to visit."

With Lin Shenxue waving a sign saying "Who would use this kind of doorbell?", Seifer went to the maintenance room. When he opened the door, he saw a very cool (as long as she didn't speak) beauty standing at the door.

"The sun is about to set, good morning, little brother."

After calling out with a smile, Tien, the driver of the patrol car in Node City, opened his eyes, suddenly frowned, and took two steps back to make sure he had not parked in the wrong space.

"Who are you? Where's the guy I like?"

Cypher crossed his arms: "That's me."

The latter narrowed his eyes and stared at Seifer for a long while, and suddenly felt that young people really have diverse interests and have awakened to cross-dressing so early.

But this was just a minor incident. Tien shook the glass bottle in his hand and said, "Let's forget about that for now. Are you interested in taking an order?"

Seifer cautiously took a half step back. "I've never seen anyone place an order like this without going through the independent mercenary support system."

"Pretty cautious. Yes, this is a personal commission from me. Look, the mercenaries here are all eager to get some treasure from that new anomaly, right?"

That's what happened.

"As for you, you don't have any men, and it seems that even your car is not that complete. If you immediately throw yourself into the vision and compete with those people for resources, I guess you won't have any advantage."

"So why not take my order now, join the team, and let's do some big business."

Tien was good in all other aspects, but he always felt that what she did in the past was definitely not a serious business. In this regard, Sefer asked cautiously what kind of order she was going to give?
"Since you came back from the collapse, I won't explain any further. The collapse area is very large, enough to build another city district around the anomaly. But as for materials, apart from the stones that can be obtained locally, everything else will have to be sourced from next door."

"In other words, transportation..."

"That's right! Don't worry, we won't let you run your truck on the road this time!"

Tien took out a contract and handed it to him: "Take a look at it first. If you have any questions, ask me. If you think it's okay, sign it and upload it to your system. That's it."

"Since I can join the support system, why do you still want to... Never mind, you're planning to let me work for you, right?"

"Haha, that's good to know. Why would you be a mercenary at such a young age? It's better to follow my sister and get a civil service job. It's just that life will be a bit boring..."

The man who had been following Tien, dressed in a different color but looking more neat, uttered a few "hmm"s, reminding her that this was a public place and she should pay attention to the image of the city guards.

"...That's all. See you later."

In ancient times, there was a story about a man who visited the thatched cottage three times. This restless man...didn't she ever think about possible developments like "How can a real man be depressed and live under someone else's control for long"?
Flipping through the documents, he found a contract for commercial transport assistance and escort. Seifer had obtained a transport agreement, which stated that he would use his mobile base as a traction vehicle to tow container trucks to transport cargo...

It was very detailed. After contacting the mercenary support system, I reported the name and they immediately sent back an identical document... Damn, what was the point of having a paper document?
The communication suddenly rang twice, and Tien's communication portrait appeared before my eyes, followed by her usual loud voice:
"You seem curious about why I'm delivering paper documents to you. Of course I'm just here to let you loose. What are you thinking? You have to pay attention to the city's image in this crappy job, or I'll dock your salary!"

It made sense, very much so. Seifer picked up the bottle of wine she had left at the door and decided to buy some food for the journey.

After all, the basic salary in this contract is about the same as going to fight in the anomaly in the city, and with the convoy moving, ordinary pirates will not feel uncomfortable.

The most important thing is that there is really no large-scale weapons trading market in Node City. If you want to change cars or see the large equipment that the local wealthy mercenaries can buy, you have to go there.

By the way, Leica forgot to tell him that there is also a huge gap between mercenary equipment and mercenary equipment.

(End of this chapter)