Miss Wang Weina, even your cousin won't do!

As time moved into the modern era, Rembiton had become a de facto puppet mine, playing a somewhat indispensable role in the Victoria-dominated world order. There was no war here, yet clashes between major powers were commonplace. There was no army, yet it was one of the safest regions in the world; it never pursued the liberation of the Infected, yet it was one of the regions on Earth where the persecution of the Infected was least severe.

Amidst the open and covert clashes of several major powers, the nation of Rembiton utterly lost any possibility of becoming a modern, developed country. Correspondingly, it enjoyed peace. No schemer dared to seize this land, no warlord dared to swagger about, and no organization dared to extend its reach into the region, unless they wanted to experience the consequences of offending the entire Terra. At least, that was true until the vast, sprawling mining region was fully developed.

Rabbit Mine is a tiny fraction of Rembitox's more than one hundred mining districts across the country. It gets its name from the fact that the main inhabitants of the mining towns near the mine are the Cartes—a race with long, fluffy ears, small pom-pom-like tails, large eyes, and a lively, endearing personality. They are commonly known as rabbits, or by their nickname, Bunny. The exact reason for this name is lost to history, but it's likely something that has existed since ancient times.

Among the people Wayne knows are several Cartesians. One is Kong, whom he met once at the Penguin Logistics bar; another is Ansuo, whom he took in and is now studying at a church school in New Wales and receiving treatment for Oripathy. If you include those from his previous life who saw his "portrait," the number is much greater. Amiya, one of the main heroines of Arknights and the one most extensively featured—the inheritor of Theresia, the leader of Rhodes Island, the young Demon Lord, and the source of the midnight donkey braying (just kidding)—is a Cartesian who once lived in Rembiton.

Therefore, when Rembiton is mentioned, Wayne's first thought is to go to the Rabbit Mine, and when he goes to the Rabbit Mine, his first thought is to find Amiya.

Who can resist an adorable bunny?

That being said, actually doing it is many times more difficult than it sounds. Theresa and Kal'tsit's main purpose in going to Rembito was to excavate the ruins recorded in the ancient books, namely—Rhodes Island. Excavating Rhodes Island first requires preliminary exploration, analyzing the approximate location of Rhodes Island based on the ancient records, conducting in-depth investigations to find a specific excavation range and depth, and finally, excavating this pre-civilization landship without attracting too much attention. This is no easy task.

If Victoria were to intervene, her first instinct would undoubtedly be to completely uproot the Rabbit Mine. However, the key issue is that Victoria cannot easily get involved. This is because Rhodes Island's ultimate purpose is to be handed over to Babel Tower—if the flag of the Victoria excavation team were allowed to fly directly over the Rhodes Island excavation site, and Babel Tower were to sail out on that landship in the future, who wouldn't know that Babel Tower is part of Victoria?

This is inconsistent with Wayne and Theresa's goal of forming an organization of their own.

Therefore, Victoria's excavation equipment and technical staff can be borrowed, but the flag and name cannot. If these two things are not borrowed, and a large mining area is to be mined, it will inevitably attract attention. If someone discovers that this unaffiliated mining team is mining an undiscovered ancient site, it will attract some ill-intentioned attention. In the end, it is still a rather troublesome matter.

At this moment, Wayne really wanted to ask, "Kal'tsit, how did you manage to dig up Rhodes Island without anyone noticing, and even transport it all the way to the border of Kazdel while it was covered with a white sheet?"

Unfortunately, you can't ask, because Kal'tsit will most likely think you're an idiot.

To deal with these troubles, Kal'tsit had hired a newly formed mercenary group in advance to scout out the Rembito Rabbit Mine area. Today was the day she would meet with the mercenary group's leader. Out of curiosity about the mercenary group Kal'tsit had chosen, Wayne decided to accompany Kal'tsit to the rendezvous point for meetings and discussions.

"Who would choose a meeting place like this?"

Wayne looked around at the desolate surroundings and complained.

They were currently in a board game club, which was clearly not doing very well. There weren't a single customer, not even the owner. To put it succinctly, it was all about reputation; building trust is a recipe for disaster. To put it bluntly, it was so poor it only had board game toys left that even thieves wouldn't bother with it.

Normally, people would choose a teahouse, a restaurant, or at least a karaoke room or a bar to meet. Wayne had seen all sorts of fancy things before. For example, Urbino and he met at a spicy hot pot restaurant, and even the characters in Infernal Affairs would meet on a rooftop. But meeting at a board game cafe... well, that's pretty unique.

However, the atmosphere here is cold and has a somewhat desolate feel.

The contact person hadn't arrived yet, so Wayne casually asked Kal'tsit beside him:

"Who did you hire? You just said it's a newly formed mercenary group, can you be more specific?"

Kal'tsit, who had been reading the newspaper, put down her newspaper and replied, "To be more specific, they shouldn't be considered mercenaries. Their boss isn't an ordinary businessman, nor is he a simple mercenary captain. He's probably just using the mercenary system to train his own army."

"Training an army?" Wayne was somewhat surprised, and at the same time wary. Training a private army within Victoria's borders—what was the intention? Was someone planning a rebellion?

But Kal'tsit shook her head and explained, "That young man's goal is not Victoria. He and his companions come from a remote, civilized wasteland, a country that, in some ways, surpasses Lateran and is the closest to the gods, without exception."

"They're so close to God... then why are they training an army? To become papal musketeers shooting blue flames like Laterano?"

Kal'tsit looked at Wayne and shook her head slightly: "In my opinion, they are rebelling."

Wayne leaned back slightly, thought for a long time, and finally frowned as he spoke:

"Isn't that still for the sake of rebellion?"

Kal'tsit stared blankly at Wayne, seemingly trying to figure out how he could interpret such a cool and imposing statement in this way. But no matter how hard she thought about it, she couldn't find a reason to refute Wayne's conclusion, so she could only nod in surrender and say, "...You're right."

"Squeak-"

As the door to the board game shop was gently pushed open, a familiar yet still somewhat immature voice rang out from the doorway:

"Sorry to keep you waiting. Classes have just ended."

"Let me introduce myself. I am the leader of the 'Mountain Snow Ghost' Free Mercenary Group. You two can call me Enciodes, or simply by my surname—SilverAsh."

Dressed in a thick black suit with a white undershirt and a fleece-lined black cloak, his face, which had just shed its youthful innocence, revealed a forced seriousness and maturity. His words were concise and to the point, and his swift, decisive steps suggested something was chasing after him. The silver-gray snow leopard, accompanied by his scholarly-looking friend Li Boli, strode to the opposite side of Wayne and Kal'tsit, extending his hand to them:

"The weather is nice today, sir and madam. It's a pleasure to meet you. I hope we can have a mutually beneficial collaboration. This is my deputy; you can call him Nosis."

"Please call me Edwiss. It is impolite to address me by my first name."

The man with short black hair highlighted with red and a scholarly air pushed up his glasses and coldly corrected her, showing no regard for his boss's feelings.

P.S.: I still have a 2,500-word paper to finish, sob sob sob.

Damn exam week, can it end soon? I've already written three papers, one calculus assignment, five group project presentations, and planned three scripts and annotations for a group project video shoot! I'm exhausted.

My sleep schedule is insane every day, I really can't take it anymore. I have a computer exam tomorrow, I'm so worried about failing, sob sob.

Chapter 75 Boss Yin developed a psychological trauma

"Mr. Yin, wanna play chess?"

Wayne asked with a subtle expression.

He was really naive. He knew most normal people wouldn't choose to do business in a board game cafe, but he never imagined SilverAsh was anything but normal. A warlord of Kjerag in the Snowlands, one of the leaders of the three races of Kjerag, and a pioneer of Kjerag's modernization and industrialization. SilverAsh has far too many labels. But if he had to pick the one label that left the deepest impression on Wayne, it would probably be the chess reference and the fencing reference.

There's no way around it; this is all the fault of a certain Bilibili UP (content creator) who used to be a stand-up comedian, now known for his peaches and has moved from Arknights to Genshin Impact. He single-handedly reversed the public perception of SilverAsh, one of the three god-tier characters at launch and a true man of the Snowlands, into a "friendship forged in a game of chess, inseparable through a night of fencing" ex-husband-like behavior. Although everyone knows this character is just a fan-made, persecution-themed secondary creation, it's so popular that even when Wayne first met SilverAsh in real life, he couldn't resist using the meme.

It's definitely not that I really want to hear that magnetic "my ally" and then compare my stats with SilverAsh.

SilverAsh glanced at Wayne with surprise, a slight relaxation appearing on his serious, tense face. He seemed unexpectedly pleased and replied:

"Are you speaking to me, sir? Do you also enjoy the game of chess?"

Listen to this, what a cultured person is, even playing chess can be described in such a sophisticated way.

"I quite like it, although it's probably not quite the same as the kind you like. I'm not very good at chess, so the Chinese chess from Yan is more to my liking."

Wayne said. To be fair, he does have some skill at chess; he's good enough to compete with the old men in the neighborhood and even win a district or county tournament. This is all thanks to his grandfather's teachings and the kind "polishing" he received from the older men in the neighborhood when he was young. However, as he said, the chess he plays is vastly different from the international chess that SilverAsh likes.

Hearing Wayne's reply, SilverAsh nodded slightly disappointedly, but quickly perked up again: "You can call me SilverAsh or Ensiodis; 'SilverAsh' sounds a bit strange. I've heard of the chess type you mentioned, but I haven't played much of it. I'll try to learn it sometime, and I hope we'll have a chance to play a game together someday. I..."

SilverAsh clearly wanted to say something more, but Nosis frowned, adjusted his glasses, and rudely interrupted him:

"Let's stop with the small talk. It's time to get down to business."

Silver Gray's lips visibly twitched, a fleeting hint of displeasure crossing his face, but he quickly composed himself and nodded.

"Nosis is right, it's time to get down to business."

He extended his hand to Nosis, who immediately handed over the pre-prepared contracts. Two copies were placed in the hands of Wayne and Kal'tsit. Before the two could read them, Nosis suddenly spoke:

"You two must have official connections, right?"

His voice was firm, without the slightest hesitation. This piqued Wayne's curiosity slightly:

"Why are you so sure?"

“Because it’s not hard to guess, sir,” Nohis explained with his poker face devoid of any emotion. “Victoria has just experienced a great upheaval, and Londinium was the epicenter of this turmoil. Hundreds of renowned nobles were brutally murdered in an attack by the Deeppool forces, and the entire aristocratic families and landowners involved were wiped out. At this critical juncture, Londinium should have been under martial law. Yet, someone has released news that a group of mercenaries is being recruited in Londinium.”

Noxis chuckled, but there was no hint of a smile on his face. Neither the pride of seeing through a pretense nor the joy of uncovering a scheme existed. Instead, he was completely focused, as if walking on thin ice. His gaze was fixed on every movement and expression of Wayne and Kal'tsit. Seeing that Wayne and Kal'tsit showed no reaction to his analysis, he pursed his lips and uttered the conclusion everyone already knew:

"Those who can do this, and dare to do this, are either traitors who want to seize the opportunity to change the dynasty, or powerful officials who can turn the tide and manipulate events at will."

"Which one do you think we are, Mr. Edwis?" Wayne asked with a mischievous grin.

Nosis Edwis opened his mouth, his Adam's apple bobbing, the sound almost escaping his lips. But just then, SilverAsh, sitting beside him, suddenly pressed down on his shoulder and spoke in his place:

"I think you two are nothing special, just an ordinary merchant couple who saw a business opportunity during a time of turmoil and wanted to make a fortune by mining in Rembiton when Victoria was rebuilding and urgently needed large quantities of Originium and processed goods. Is that right?"

SilverAsh gave a convincing smile, as if he were speaking from the heart. If he hadn't been pressing Nosis firmly to the sofa, his words would have been even more persuasive.

Compared to Nosis, who possesses strong analytical skills and a sharp mind but extremely low emotional intelligence, SilverAsh is clearly more adept at navigating social situations. This is probably why his family is one of the three great families of the Snowfield, possessing vast territories, while the Edwis family is merely a family of historians in charge of records and documents.

SilverAsh knew very well that the biggest taboo in the mercenary business was knowing who you were working for. Asking about the employer's identity was something only newbies and clueless fools would do, and SilverAsh wasn't a "newbie." Before founding the Mountain Snow Ghost Mercenary Group, he had done relevant market research and understood the red lines that needed to be known when running a mercenary group. Among them, the most prominent was: "Never ask about the employer's identity or purpose."

Speak less, do more. You can guess the employer's identity, but never reveal it, and certainly don't try to verify it with the employer. Otherwise, you can only hope for the worst. Nosis is very smart; having him as a partner reduces SilverAsh's daily brain cell death by more than half. However, Nosis is sometimes too smart, to the point of being naive, which isn't a good thing. To clean up his messes, SilverAsh has to waste just as much breath as he does brain cells.

For example, right now, SilverAsh is all smiles on the surface, but his heart is gradually racing. In Victoria, if you offend a nobleman, it might not have been a fatal thing in the past, but now, if you offend a nobleman who is still alive after a mass extinction of nobles for unknown reasons, it would really be a fan service incident with a 99.9% fatality rate.

SilverAsh eagerly awaited Kal'tsit and Wayne's reply.

If the two were to turn against each other at this point, SilverAsh would probably have no choice but to lift his shirt and gamble on whether his indestructible body, honed in the frigid snowfields, could guarantee that he could carry Edwis back to Kjerag.

Wayne and Kal'tsit exchanged a glance. Wayne shrugged and gave Kal'tsit a look that said, "That's enough."

But Kal'tsit shook her head and gave Wayne a firm look: "I can't let Theresa down again!"

So, just as SilverAsh was on the verge of snapping, Kal'tsit turned around and said righteously, "That's not right!"

"Hey!" As if a switch had been flipped, SilverAsh let out a roar. The next second, his clothes ripped apart, revealing his muscular upper body like the headmaster in Food Wars!

This is the robust physique that is strong enough to survive the harsh cold of the snowy landscape, a true embodiment of the survival rules of the snowy landscape!

SilverAsh scooped up the bewildered Nosis, carried her in a princess carry, gritted his teeth, took a deep breath, and shouted, "Let's charge!"

But then, Kal'tsit, stunned, uttered the second half of the sentence:

"He and I are not husband and wife..."

Wayne, in a very manly manner, raised his hand and stood in front of Kal'tsit, saying, "Don't look at what you shouldn't see, don't look at what you shouldn't see."

Seeing SilverAsh and Nosis frozen in place, Wayne waved his hand with a heavy heart and said, "It's alright, I don't discriminate against this. You two continue. Charge ahead, Mr. SilverAsh!"

Young Ensiodis Shivaesh was left with severe psychological trauma because of a certain man's repeated words.

Chapter 76 Because I Believe in You

Because conducting business shirtless in the freezing cold of Londinium would be rather indecent and inhumane, Wayne had SilverAsh temporarily change into a plaid shirt and black fitted sleeveless vest worn by a waiter at the board game cafe. Strangely enough, although there wasn't a single waiter in sight, the lounge had sets of changing clothes for waiters, a fire was burning in the fireplace, and even the coffee in the coffee machine was hot. Moreover, what was most astonishing was the wall covered with portraits of Vina: photos from her public speeches and addresses, oil paintings of her holding a sword and wearing a crown in a Western style, and even cute, cartoonish chibi figures—all clearly very valuable. One couldn't help but wonder who owned this board game cafe, daring to display such things so openly without fear of being raided by the Unicorn or Queen's Supporters Association? So extravagant?

However, the immediate priority wasn't to investigate the identity of the board game shop's owner. Wayne watched as SilverAsh, having changed his clothes, sat back down at the table, his entire demeanor seemingly transformed. The once domineering SilverAsh, clad in a fur coat and carrying a cane, softened considerably after changing into a waiter's uniform. While still appearing stern, his aura shifted from cold and domineering to unapproachable.

Hmm, it's a very subtle feeling, and it might be hard to understand when applied to a man. To put it another way, it's like going from a powerful woman to a ruthless killer.

Overall, the pressure of communicating seemed less. Although Wayne hadn't felt much pressure at the beginning.

"You can treat us as ordinary businessmen if you want, or as anything else. In fact, I don't care about revealing my identity. I'm only worried about whether my identity will affect our cooperation."

He returned to the table. Wayne shrugged nonchalantly, his carefree attitude easing the tension between Nosis and SilverAsh. SilverAsh shook his head:

"Of course not. As a mercenary company, our principle is to take the money, do the job, and not say, ask, or inquire too much. You can rest assured and entrust things to us. Our people will handle it properly for you."

SilverAsh was ostensibly answering Wayne, but in reality, he was warning his partner. They had narrowly escaped danger this time, but if Nosis continued to speak so recklessly, they might not be able to turn the tide a second time.

Kal'tsit was fairly satisfied with the answer. She'd already wasted enough time on trivial matters, so she stopped beating around the bush and directly stated her request:

"Our purpose in hiring you is simple and singular—to ensure our safety while we and our personnel are conducting excavation work at Rembiton."

Kal'tsit held up four fingers and counted them off one by one, saying:

"We guarantee that the exploration will be free from interference, the excavation will be free from interference, the excavation will be free from ambushes, and the transportation will be safe. Once these four guarantees are fulfilled, we will pay you the agreed-upon reward upon completion of the commission and your safe return to Londinium. Of course, as a gesture of good faith, we can offer up to one-fifth of the agreed-upon reward as an initial deposit. What do you think?"

SilverAsh listened patiently to Kelsey's account, then fell into a brief moment of thought. Both sides tacitly avoided looking at the so-called contract on the table. Everyone knew perfectly well that the contents of that contract were merely a facade. When Nosis bluntly almost tore through the veil of secrecy, the mission's content had already shifted from the written contract to a heated debate in reality.

The contract was merely for record-keeping purposes, to prove that such a transaction did indeed occur, but what was traded, who was involved, and what the outcome was had absolutely nothing to do with what was written in the contract.