Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Beasts crawled out of the ground and bared their fangs, rampaging toward the defense line.
Dong! Dong!
The sound of firing from the guns of the Sunil soldiers sounded like cannons, with more than one meter of flames leaping out from their muzzles. It was like an invisible enormous hand had sent the burrowing beasts flying, falling onto the ground and getting focus fired, screaming in agony. Their carapace and flesh became mud, splattered across the ground, leaving slimy marks on the dry dirt.
“Hold your positions!”
Neville’s tone was harsh and cold, ordering the B12 Defense Team under his command from the communicator in his NCO Class armor. He had thirty soldiers under his command, and their crossfire had stopped the beasts in this area from stepping in.
During the gaps between firing, Neville looked around. This wave of burrowing beasts did not cause much trouble—some armor had been damaged, but no one had died or been injured.
Boom!
Two black burrowing beasts suddenly dashed out of the ground near B12 Defense Team. Their large mouths suddenly bit toward Neville and another soldier.
Before the other members of the defense team could turn their gun around, Neville had already reacted. He threw down his firearm, reached out his metal hands in a blink of an eye, and accurately grabbed onto the opened maw of the beast, not letting its fangs penetrate through his helmet. In an instant, a stream of gas shot out from the mechanical arm. All the joints became locked, stopping the strong biting power of the beast. The next second, a spinning saw bounced out from his wrist, cutting away half of the beast’s huge mouth.
Neville withstood the beast’s claw attacks out of agony, positioned himself, and tackled the beast, throwing it to the ground. He then stepped onto its throat with his huge metal feet, like a needle, pressing the struggling beast. From his wrists, he quickly drew out two electromagnetic handguns and shot through the beast’s skull.
Blood poured all over his armor, and a part of the tactical screen was blocked by slime.
This string of actions was quick and smooth, showing no signs of the bulkiness from wearing heavy armor.
The other soldier who was attacked was not as strong; his helmet was twisted and deformed, almost flattened, and blood splashed onto the ground from the gaps of the helmet as he fell to the ground.
This was the first death.
He had fired many shots into the beast’s belly before dying, fulfilling his duty till the last moment of his life. He had even worried about Neville, wanting to help the captain before he fell. His muzzle had already turned toward his captain, but he did not have the strength to pull the trigger anymore.
The Enlistee Class Sunil armor increased the combat capabilities of a normal soldier, enough for the soldiers to match up to strong beasts. Neville’s NCO Class Armor had even higher capabilities. Even if the wearer was not a Super, with the performance of the armor and his experience as a veteran, he would not lose to most Super mercenaries.
Neville picked up the machine gun, fired, and killed this beast with his comrades. He briefly looked at the corpse of his subordinate, and without any change to his voice, he yelled, “Leave him, don’t break the formation.”
After more than ten years in the army, he had already lost count of how many times he had donned this armor.
In his long military service career, he had taken part in the DarkStar disaster, experienced the planetary migration, and brought the scouting team to carry out the early stage exploration of Planet Sunil. With every Catastrophe that he went through, there were dead comrades, the number of veterans became fewer and fewer, and his old friends disappeared one after another.
Neville’s team had been refilled multiple times. His current subordinates were all new recruits that were only in the army for a few years. He always led the team to carry out dangerous missions, so the damage suffered was always heavy, including many friends that he had known for many years… Regret? This word was not in his vocabulary. Neville did not care about the death of his subordinates. In order to protect the entire race, sacrifices were unavoidable—this had always been his creed.
In the eyes of others, there was no doubt that Neville was a very cold-blooded commander.
After defeating this wave of beasts, the scouting team sent back a message saying that there would be a gap between the attacks. Neville immediately requested repairs. An equipment truck drove beside the camp, a group of maintenance men with all sorts of devices and metal plates started to repair the defense team’s armor. Neville was surrounded by a group of maintenance men with electric welding devices, and at this time, he saw Han Xiao walking over.
Because of Lerden, Neville had an impression of Han Xiao. He said in a low voice, “Mercenary, return to your position!”
“I want to request for the change of mission,” Han Xiao said.
“There’s no mission safer than what you’re doing now.” Neville’s tone was very harsh. He had seen many mercenaries requesting to change mission on the spot because they were terrified by the Catastrophe and did not want to stay in the dangerous front lines.
The Sunils would not force the mercenaries to take part in dangerous battles; they would only deduct a certain amount of credibility points and reward. Of course, Neville would usually get rid of them as soon as possible. He felt that even saying a single word to them was a waste of energy, so he would rather use that time to close his eyes, rest, and recover some energy.
However, the safest job that these mercenaries could request for was what Han Xiao was doing right now. Neville did not know what this Black Star’s issue was. Was he just too afraid of death and wanted an even safer job? No, he was Lerden’s friend; he did not look like such a person.
Neville suppressed his impatience and asked, “What request do you have?”
“My team wants to join the scouting team.”
As soon as he said that, the resting soldiers and mercenaries looked over in surprise.
Neville thought that he had misheard. This was the most dangerous mission, one that mercenaries would practically avoid at all costs. This was the first time that someone had requested to take on the scouting mission.
Neville was a man of few words, but even so, he could not help but ask, “Why?”
“My members have some special abilities; they are most suitable to performing dangerous missions,” Han Xiao bluffed. “Also, Lerden is my friend… Even so, I still need to be paid; that’s my principle.”
“… I will request it to above.” Neville’s tone was not as cold anymore, and the surrounding soldiers showed their respect. No matter what reason they had, these mercenaries were willing to put themselves in danger for the Sunil race despite being strangers, and this action was more than enough for the people of Sunil to appreciate them.
The mercenaries chatted among themselves; they were curious about Han Xiao’s team.
“What Mercenary Group are they?”
“Think it’s called Black Star.”
“Never heard before, probably new. They sure are hardworking, but why? It’s not worth if they die anyway.”
Not long after, a new mission popped up on the interface—Scouting the Wild. The reward was 8,000 Enas, and since it was a mission given to the entire mercenary group, the other players triggered it as well.
The sight of the mission on the interface satisfied Han Xiao. Due to not having enough Credibility Points in the Mercenary Hall of Juberly Hub, they could not take on other missions. However, they could negotiate once they were on Planet Sunil. Although this type of private hire would not add on to the Credibility Points, it did not lack reward and could earn them renown.
Scouting the wild was indeed dangerous, so Han Xiao was not planning to go himself. Instead, he made the players carry it out. They would not die anyway, so they were most suitable to act as scouts, and he could still get the reward while the players did the mission.
The players were surprised. Although it was safe to stay in the camp, it was also boring. Now that they were motivated by the reward, they were looking forward to carrying it out—the players did not care about the danger of scouting the wild at all.
“One more request, I hope to join the Battlefield Repairs Team personally,” Han Xiao said. “I’m a Mechanic… quite a skilled one.”
“Battlefield Repairs?” Neville frowned.
“I feel that this job is more suitable for me.”
Repairs were considered as part of the logistics, all covered by the people of their own race. Letting mercenaries do it was a waste of resources, and it was equivalent to throwing their money away. However, Neville did not reject immediately. The Black Star Mercenary Group had just applied for the most dangerous mission, and their leader’s request did not cross the line.
Han Xiao picked up an Enlistee Class Armor and started repairing on the spot. Using all sorts of tools one after another, electric sparks were splashing. Before the others could even react, this armor was around 90% repaired. His Machinery Affinity was very high, and he had the boost from [Ordnance Engineer], so his repair speed was rapid.
“If your equipment is only repaired during breaks, it will be very dangerous if it is heavily damaged. However, I’m strong enough to protect myself in the battlefield and can carry out battlefield repairs, providing you guys with safety.”
Neville asked his superior and received a direct response. “Okay, it’s granted.”
Battlefield Repairs required one to be on the front lines of the battlefield. Han Xiao was actively giving up his safe position and taking a risk that he did not need to take. The Sunil people were deeply moved—his spirit was a model of honor and noble.
There are too few people like this left!
Seeing this, Maple Moon was reminded of Han Xiao’s aim of entering the galaxy and thought, Every main character has their own personality. Righteousness seems to flow through his veins, is this the hero personality?
After the mission changed, the players were all pulled to attend the lesson for scouting the wild. They had to head out before the next attack arrived, and they temporarily split up.
Han Xiao did not have to operate the cannon anymore, heading directly to the Battlefield Repairs Team to report. Naturally, this was all part of his plan.
The Mechanic class could reverse engineer the machinery blueprint from repairing and modifying, only that it required a lot of experience points. Han Xiao was not short of experience—as long as he had enough chances to make repairs, he could figure out the blueprint. He was most interested in the Enlistee Class and NCO Class Armors, and the performance of this type of mass-produced single unit armor was quite high, very suitable to sell to the players in large quantities. Not only could he earn a fortune from it, he could also increase the average strength of his mercenary group.
Over the next two days, the defense team went through contact battles continuously. Their equipment was frequently damaged, so Han Xiao ran around the defense circle and carried out his battlefield repairing job. His reverse engineering progress was gradually increasing as he came into contact with more and more armor.
Although his motive was not pure, his in-time battlefield repairs did indeed save the lives of many guarding soldiers—it was very clear and effective. Even Neville, who did not care much about the injuries and deaths of his subordinates, found Han Xiao to be a huge help.
