It was easy to take out Black Skull in the outpost, to the point where NAC did not even need to get involved.
Problems that could be solved with money were not problems. Especially with canned food, which was completely worthless in the modern world. Jiang Chen gave the two Chinatown scavengers a week not to find the strongest mercenaries, but to release news in the two largest survivor settlements in California.
Santa Monica Airport needed mercenaries.
The runway of the airport was repaired, and the aerospace plane brought the second batch of supplies as scheduled. This time, the Aerospace G100 did not return to Pan-Asia but landed on the runway of the airport.
Communications in North America and Asia were still in a state of interruption. If an emergency did happen and they had to evacuate, it would take an hour before the plane arrived using communication with the interdimensional chip.
In the next week, Jiang Chen had not gone anywhere and waited patiently in the airport. On the third day after the two Chinese scavengers set off, mercenaries successively arrived at the airport, asking if they needed manpower.
In line with the principle of more is better, Jiang Chen welcomed everyone to stay but did not immediately offer a commission. Instead, he asked them to wait patiently until a week later, during which time NAC would follow the standard of three nutrient supplies per person per day for free. If they did not want to waste time here, it was okay to come back a week later.
And after a week, when the two scavengers returned to the airport with mercenary forces that met the requirements, the runway of Santa Monica Airport was already crowded with people.
Everyone, without exception, did not look too pleased when they saw so many fellow colleagues here.
If it weren’t for NAC’s free nutrient supplies, if it weren’t for NAC’s clear deadline, if it weren’t for the fact that NAC’s wealthy impression had been deeply rooted among the West Coast survivors. If there were not so many reasons, they would have already dispersed.
In front of the glass windows of the airport building, Jiang Chen counted them from a distance and concluded there were at least 2,000 people.
These mercenaries were poorly equipped. Some were carrying customized drone backpacks on their backs and composite body armors. Some of them couldn’t even afford to wear clothes and had a few pieces of rags with a .38 caliber iron barrel rifle on their shoulder.
“Do we need to continue to wait?” Walking to the side of Jiang Chen, Zheng Shanhe hesitantly said, “Those mercenaries have grown impatient. I’m worried that if we keep waiting, there may be problems.”
“Wait until noon.” Jiang Chen raised his hand and looked at his watch. “It’s only two hours anyway.”
Two hours passed quickly, both for the mercenaries on the runway and for NAC. Afterward, a few lone travelers who decided to try their luck came sporadically. Jiang Chen estimated that it was time, so he walked to the side of the airport runway and turned on the loudspeaker on the power armor.
“First of all, to all of you who have waited patiently until now, I would like to express my gratitude on behalf of NAC. In order to ensure that no information is leaked, we have not announced our mission. However, I am here to assure you, we will hire each of you because this is a big mission.”
In front of the countless mercenaries, Jiang Chen keenly noticed the impatient expressions of the few people in front of him. Therefore, he didn’t waste much time in the opening remarks and went straight to the point. “A month ago, we lost control of our outpost. After being ordered to land on the West Coast, I found a group of predators had occupied our outpost. The mission is to retake our outpost.”
Retake the outpost?
The mercenaries present suddenly had a commotion when they heard the mission.
A mercenary dressed as a cowboy in the front row stepped forward.
“Retake Outpost Town for you? If you are no match for Black Skull, how do you think we can win? This is all for us to be cannon fodder for you!”
Before the accident, there were 50 power armors stationed in Outpost Town, and countless kinetic skeletons, and this strong lineup was no match for Black Skull. The survivors on the West Coast started to take a different path when they heard the name Black Skull.
Many people agreed with this mercenary’s speech. Especially those mercenaries that were poorly equipped. After they heard the sentence they agreed with, they were debating if they should leave.
“I can tell you responsibly that the fall of Outpost Town had nothing to do with Black Skull. They got lucky, but I hope you can get some intelligence from them,” Jiang Chen said with certainty.
“How much do you plan to pay us?” Another mercenary asked the question that concerned everyone.
“It depends on how much you do,” Jiang Chen looked at the person in front of him, and then said, “I won’t pay you equal salary, because it’s very unfair to those who have real ability. I can guarantee that each of you will get at least one can of canned meat and I’ll add one can for every predator you kill. Whoever catches Black Skull, I will reward him with a whole box. You should know clearly how many bottle caps they are worth in Liberty City.”
The price offered by Jiang Chen made the mercenaries take a deep breath. Driven by their interests, those who were debating if they should leave, also abruptly stopped their feet mid-air.
“SH*T… thousands of cans… that is not a small sum,” A mercenary licked his dry lips, looked at Jiang Chen’s eyes with suspicion and greed, and said in an uncertain tone.” Before I start, I want to see our reward. Don’t tell me you plan to produce them from your pockets.”
“Of course, they’re not in my pockets. Your reward is in the pockets of Black Skull.” Jiang Chen looked at the mercenary in front of him and smiled, “Just two weeks ago, they ransacked the cargo ship we sent to North America. Although those things are nothing to us, they captured our citizens, which made us very angry. If you take down Outpost Town, I can divide up half of the goods based on how much you contribute.”
…
Wealth made people crazy. It even made those mercenaries selectively forget the tradition of paying the deposit first.
Although the mercenaries present knew that Outpost Town was now controlled by Black Skull Gang, they really did not know that they ransacked NAC’s cargo ship. If that was the case, the predators with NAC supplies must be filthy rich…
It was impossible for any mercenary group to take down Black Skull alone, and thus impossible to swallow all the supplies, especially when the predators were defending a fortified place.
But it was a different story if everyone fought together!
There were at least two thousand mercenaries standing here. It was no exaggeration to say that this force alone was enough to sweep the entire West Coast. The National Guards or Minutemen would have to weigh their decision carefully if they encountered this force.
After a simple dispatch, more than two thousand mercenaries were led by Zheng Shanhe. Jiang Chen returned to the airport lobby, then looked to the two Chinese from Chinatown.
“Did you gather any intelligence on the things I asked?”
Mike Wu and Zhao Fuxiang glanced at each other, and finally the former spoke first, “I couldn’t find anything from Steel City, except that the Power Armor Team of the National Guards have been patrolling a bit too frequently. Also, I didn’t hear anything about the rumors you have mentioned.”
Jiang Chen looked to Zhao Fuxiang, who replied immediately.
“The same is true in Liberty City. Minutemen’s ‘Rangers’ have been patrolling very frequently. These are all visible changes. In addition, I heard a scavenger in the tavern mentioned that recently the Liberty City Council has been discussing whether to expand the conscription. They are most likely preparing for war, but I don’t know who the opponent is.”
“In that case…” Jiang Chen rubbed his chin as he digested this information. Then he nodded slightly, “I see.”
