Planet of Sand and Oasis of Iron

Chapter 505 504. This shouldn’t be a fateful reunion, right? Maybe…

Cypher heard the transmission but was unable to respond, as his pod's communication module had limited power.

Moreover, the situation at the mission point was a little more tricky - he encountered an enemy who had just dismantled something. The machine, which was painted in moon white with fiery red embellishments, suddenly turned around when it saw Cypher.

"In a hurricane like this, you can always encounter many surprising things, don't you think?"

The machine showed no sign of leaving. It slowly brought its weapon online. "I've heard there's a rising star in the desert, named Red Crossbow. It's a nice codename, isn't it? It was used in a small fragment-level anomaly."

Cypher spoke slowly, "This is a codename based on a great female pilot, a heroic figure who fearlessly soared through the skies."

"Oh... you know quite a lot. Could it be that you've also been to that anomaly? But that's beside the point. Times have changed. Now that this codename has fallen into your hands, it's quite good."

The machine finished warming up, and the protective head armor buckled onto its rocket-like head. "A nice name should be paired with formidable strength. Your predecessor, Red Crossbow, fell in the desert because he lacked sufficient strength."

"Let me see your strength, Red Crossbow."

There was silence for a few seconds. Amidst the howling wind, the two machines stared at each other silently. The other party did not give his name, but this information was enough for Cypher to know who the other party was.

So why did it happen to be in this position to meet Cypher?

There was probably only one answer, which was that it deliberately leaked its information and attacked this outpost in order to attract independent mercenaries. This meant...

The entire camp's communications might even be being monitored by something, but it's unknown how much has been leaked, as Cypher hasn't accessed the independent mercenary support system for quite some time.

The opponent didn't give Cypher too long to think. It suddenly took action, firing the two pistols in its hands at the same time while closing the distance. Its bipedal structure made it agile and looked like a gunslinger gliding on ice.

Seifer sprinted on all fours. The stability and speed provided by his four legs allowed him to maintain enough distance to circle around his opponent.

After the two machines tested each other for a moment in the damaged outpost, Cypher launched the first attack - all the rocket magazines mounted on the four-legged machine ignited, and the whistling rockets pulled out columns of smoke and rushed towards the enemy swiftly.

The rockets scattered all over the sky were just the first round of greetings. The advantage of having more equipment than conventional machines was that Cypher could choose his weapons more freely.

The long-range firepower is at full capacity, you can use it however you want. The opponent's two pistols are really not enough... although it is very fast.

The huge impact brought by the pistol's ammunition sometimes makes the body slightly unbalanced. The two sides fought for a while. Seifer had already preheated the spear, and suddenly gave up the long-range attack and switched to close combat mode.

The opponent switched between its two pistols and the shoulder-mounted weapon, revealing a pair of particle beam weapons in its hands—the threat scan showed that the weapon could spew out particle streams from both its front and rear ends.

A double-headed dagger, right?

Seifer ran on the ground on all four legs, occasionally turning suddenly. The two sides fought in close range for a moment. He suddenly shook his spear back, exposing the energy sword contained in it.

"What a great weapon...it's only been a short time, and the machine has become so advanced?"

With a sweeping blow, the opponent's body was slightly staggered by a few millimeters, and then it approached, and two daggers emitting light were handed over -

Apparently, it underestimated the Centaur's mobility. As soon as the two daggers were swung, Cypher was already dozens of meters away, and even had time to reverse and land.

After a brief exchange of blows, Cypher immediately continued to use his weapons to bombard the opponent, forcing him to move while preparing for the next charge... Apparently, the opponent had the same idea, but its machine might be slightly inferior.

The two sides approached each other again. This time, Sefer did not use a powerful swing, but held the long sword and spun from bottom to top at a distance that was almost touching his face. Even at the moment when his opponent's pair of nimble daggers were about to swing at him without hesitation!
A human arm wouldn't be able to do this, but a mechanical arm, with its much more flexible wrist, could certainly do it. This unexpected maneuver caused the longsword to slash through the opponent's arm and a portion of its core body with a swish, severing it instantly.

Then he raised his front foot and kicked directly at the machine. After moving a little distance away, he prepared the rocket: "Why are you here, and why did you destroy the outpost?"

"...That's great! If I were still alive, I'd really like to meet an independent mercenary like you. It would be great to work on commissions with you."

Sparks shone from the opponent's body. After a pause, it raised the dagger in its hand again: "This machine can still continue to fight. My mission is to snipe any mercenaries that may come here."

"Eliminate me and complete the mission, or be eliminated for being lenient. Red crossbow arrows, this is the rule among mercenaries..."

Rushing towards the opponent along with the rockets, the machine dodged nimbly, its movements remaining steady even as its engine's energy was leaking.

There was a loud explosion and a long sword was swung down, and the machine was instantly cut into pieces and finally fell to the ground.

"...Really, quite impressive combat power. I'll leave this beautiful name to you..."

Cypher slowly stopped and said, "So you're still not going to tell me what your situation is right now—Leica is still worried about you."

"That's a good girl... treat her well. And if you see someone like me again, don't hold back. Under that thing's control, mercenaries like us are just combat units..."

The constantly flowing crimson energy even dyed the wind with this color. Seifer paused for a long time, connected to the outpost's database, copied its contents, and flipped through it at the same time.

There's nothing special to note, except that after this machine came over, it didn't attack immediately, but waited until all the people at the outpost had run away before starting to cause damage.

Even while wreaking havoc, they maintained normal communications at the outpost, as if they were sending signals, waiting for someone to come and attack them.

Considering its previous behavior, which was clearly aimed at seeking death... What the hell is the independent mercenary support system doing?

After the data was copied, the original was destroyed. Cypher took another look at the machine that was still burning. With a mixed feeling, he returned to the camp and handed the data to Feldrich first.

Then I asked her if the things in this outpost were important and why she was in such a hurry to recycle them?

"Since I asked you to do it, it means it's very important... Mercenary, where do you think the enemy's movement routes in the storm, as well as the intelligence about the front lines, came from?"

After answering this unpleasantly, Feldrich told Sefer to go wherever she wanted, as she was very busy.

...Well, I should tell Leica what happened just now. At least she has the right to know.

Walking into the main control room, Seifer didn't see Sanae still conducting research, and simply assumed that she and Dr. Mei should have gathered enough information to leave - then he took a chair and sat down next to Laika.

"I have some bad news to tell you. How about you prepare yourself mentally?"

"what news?"

"I met the former Red Bolt."

Leica's originally calm face suddenly became surprised, and for a moment she didn't even understand the meaning of this sentence.

(End of this chapter)