Chapter 186.2: Spoils of War
Another teammate hoisted a rocket launcher onto his shoulder and weighed it in his hands with satisfaction. He, too, took the opportunity to teach Bo Huan a few basic lessons about battlefield life.
“The same goes for weapons you find lying around without an owner. Whoever picks them up gets to keep them. That’s why, when we’re on the battlefield, we need to keep our eyes peeled and our ears open. You never know—there might be a priceless treasure buried beneath some pile of rubble.”
“Exactly! And sometimes, if you’re lucky, you’ll run into an enemy who’s carrying ridiculously powerful weapons but isn’t all that strong themselves. Hey, look! That guy over there is a perfect example!”
Following the direction of her finger, Bo Huan turned to look and spotted what appeared to be a high-ranking [Zephyr] executive. The man was repeatedly throwing gravity bombs at another [Ota] squad.
That [Ota] squad took him down with ease and walked away with roughly three bags’ worth of gravity bombs.
“Whoa!”
“I’m so jealous!”
Watching the scene, the teammates all voiced their envy.
They looked just like anglers watching someone else casually reel in a forty-pound fish without breaking a sweat.
Meanwhile, a weapons price list from Kadan’er Safe City automatically surfaced in Bo Huan’s mind.
—Moon Silk gravity bomb: 1,000 nuclear crystals each.
How many nuclear crystals would three whole bags be worth?
And even if he didn’t exchange them for nuclear crystals, gravity bombs were incredibly powerful treasures that could come in handy in all sorts of worlds. Just how many times could they save his life?
“Oh, right.”
The squad leader suddenly remembered something else and asked, “You know how battlefield merit is calculated, right?”
Bo Huan shook his head in confusion. “No. Aren’t all the electronic signals here down? Can the merit system still work?”
“Of course! For example, if you take down a high-ranking [Zephyr] executive, all we have to do is witness it. Each [Zephyr] executive is worth a reward of 3,000 energy crystals.”
Bo Huan wondered if he’d misheard. “You just have to witness it? No recording? No evidence required?”
“Right. As long as we see it happen.”
Bo Huan wasn’t entirely convinced. “Then how does [Ota] distinguish genuine achievements from fake ones?”
The squad leader smiled mysteriously. “You don’t need to worry about that. The [Company] naturally has its own way of handling things.”
Thinking of the rumors about the [Company] circulating across Moon Silk Star, Bo Huan wondered whether every employee had some kind of listening device or surveillance equipment implanted in their body.
Judging by the squad leader’s attitude, though, he didn’t seem bothered by the possibility at all.
“If your actions affect the course of the war—for example, if you successfully stop the enemy from activating a large-scale weapon—the reward is even greater. You can ask for energy crystals, supplies, or weapons. Whatever you want, they’ll give it to you.”
Bo Huan finally understood why the squad leader didn’t mind having surveillance equipment inside his body.
If [Ota] really did reward soldiers for their achievements on the battlefield, and those rewards were substantial—with whatever they wanted provided to them—then even Bo Huan would be eager to have a surveillance device installed inside himself!
Weapons, nuclear crystals, vast quantities of resources—
When Bo Huan looked at the enormous battlefield again, the expression in his eyes slowly began to change.
It no longer represented chaos, danger, and the constant threat of death.
It represented opportunity.
Bang, bang, bang!!
Another intense burst of gunfire erupted to the left.
This time, when Bo Huan heard the sound, he didn’t react with the same wary expression he’d worn at the beginning. In fact, his eyes lit up.
Gunfire meant there were enemies in that direction.
Enemies meant they were carrying Moon Silk weapons.
And if he took them down, those weapons would belong to him!
The more Bo Huan thought about it, the brighter his eyes shone. Hoisting his ice cannon onto his shoulder, he rushed toward the front of the squad, practically unable to contain his eagerness.
If someone had looked down upon this enormous battlefield from above, they would have seen that the many residents from other Safe Cities deployed here had undergone almost exactly the same transformation as Bo Huan in an astonishingly short time.
First came resistance and a halfhearted attitude toward doing their duty. Then came bewilderment at discovering that [Ota]’s soldiers fought like tigers. Next was the shock of learning that all the spoils of war belonged to them. Finally, they became so excited that, like every other [Ota soldier,] they charged straight to the front lines with the most ferocious attacks they could muster.
Meanwhile, some supernatural ability users from other Safe Cities developed new ideas of their own after hearing about [Ota]’s reward system.
One Tier 4 ability user whose ability was [Teleportation] could barely contain his excitement.
He had already been on this battlefield for four or five days, wearing a counterfeit [Ota] uniform and blending in with a squad of [Ota] soldiers.
After all, he was a Tier 4 ability user. His own city lord hadn’t sent him out as cannon fodder. Rather, he personally believed that if he wanted to live a long and prosperous life, he needed to constantly hone himself through combat.
Besides, with his [Teleportation] ability, he could simply teleport away whenever things went south. That only made him even bolder.
He didn’t care whether his own Safe City could obtain the rewards for the world mission.
He didn’t care about the chaotic free-for-all between the [Companies] on Moon Silk Star, either.
All he cared about was what he could get out of the situation.
Originally, this ability user from another Safe City had simply intended to take advantage of the chaos to secretly carry off some Moon Silk weapons from the battlefield. Finding a warehouse belonging to the [Zephyr Company] would have been ideal.
With his [Teleportation] ability, he could easily transport all the supplies inside the warehouse somewhere else.
Now that would be a fortune beyond his wildest dreams!
But after actually arriving on the battlefield, he discovered that the situation was rather different from what he’d imagined.
First of all, the area had already been thrown into complete chaos by the mantle weapons. He couldn’t even find a single warehouse.
Second, there was no need to steal weapons at all. As long as he took down an enemy, the [Ota] soldiers would all accept that the enemy’s weapons now belonged to him.
And now, there was even better news.
[Ota]’s utterly outrageous reward system.
His powerful [Teleportation] ability allowed him to escape at any moment, no matter what situation he found himself in. That gave him tremendous confidence.
It was just like playing a video game as a human, knowing you couldn’t die. When there were no consequences, you dared to do absolutely anything.
The ability user turned directly to the squad of [Ota] soldiers he’d joined and said:
“I have a particularly unusual variant ability. I can remotely teleport objects to other locations. Isn’t [Norn] planning to attack us?”
“I have a plan. I can teleport the mantle-piercing Liuli directly into the area where [Norn]’s army is currently stationed and catch them completely off guard. This could save [Ota] a tremendous amount of weapons and manpower.”
He had already anticipated how the other side would react. They might initially refuse to believe him, then be stunned and report the matter to [Ota]’s higher-ups after witnessing his ability.
[Ota]’s leadership might believe him and let him carry out the plan.
They might also believe him, then decide to dissect him and study his body’s structure.
Or they might refuse to believe him and dissect him anyway.
It didn’t matter. Any of those outcomes would be fine.
The ability user with [Teleportation] remained utterly unruffled.
If [Ota] believed him, he’d simply reap the benefits before leaving.
If [Ota] didn’t believe him, he’d teleport away.
After all, nobody could stop him.
What surprised him, however, was that these [Ota] soldiers didn’t follow his imagined script at all.
The squad leader merely asked, “What do you want in return?”
Cheng Qisheng’s attention also shifted toward him.
Blue Sea had anticipated this possibility long ago.
Otherwise, once Old Eighth reached the battlefield, he’d be far too busy enjoying himself in the heat of battle to spare a thought for anything else. How could every squad possibly take the time to explain Blue Sea’s reward policy to each new recruit?
They were doing this deliberately to see whether they could use the offer of rewards to draw out ability users whose powers could influence the course of the war.
Fortunes favor the bold when the rewards are great. That principle held true regardless of civilization or world.
And it didn’t even have to be an ability user. An ordinary strategist who could offer [Ota] advice and help it achieve victory faster would be just as valuable!
Perhaps [Norn] still believed that its strength and [Ota]’s were evenly matched.
But Cheng Qisheng knew very well that Blue Sea was confident it could defeat [Norn].
Setting aside the mantle weapons Blue Sea currently possessed, the [Zephyr Company] was already just one push away from defeat. If the battle truly turned against them, Blue Sea could simply launch another round of bombardment, completely annihilate [Zephyr], and claim [Heaven’s Punishment].
With [Heaven’s Punishment] in hand, [Norn] would stand absolutely no chance of winning.
But although Cheng Qisheng had considered this option, what she wanted to see was three [Heaven’s Punishment] weapons lined up side by side—not a situation where she used one up only to obtain another.
Of course, in a critical moment, she could certainly resort to that approach.
But if there was a faster, more cost-effective way to achieve victory, that would obviously be preferable.
Cheng Qisheng had considered all sorts of supernatural ability users who might be among the recruits. What she hadn’t expected was that she would actually manage to hook such a big fish.
By now, the ability user had begun to sense that something was off about the way these [Ota] soldiers weren’t reacting according to his script.
But as he’d thought before, he possessed [Teleportation]. Nobody could hold him captive.
So he had nothing to fear.
Ignoring the unsettling feeling, he quickly continued.
“I want two million energy crystals.”
“Pay me one million upfront, and give me the rest once the job is done.”
Advancing his [Teleportation] ability required enormous amounts of energy—far more nuclear crystals than other ability users needed to advance.
One million nuclear crystals would be just enough to take him from Tier 4 to Tier 5.
In truth, the reward he really wanted wasn’t two million nuclear crystals. All he wanted was that initial million.
Anyone who had spent enough time in the Safe City system understood this principle: just as a city lord considered the Safe City more important than anything else, they knew that nothing mattered more than improving their own supernatural abilities.
Once he reached the Tier 5, he would help [Ota] teleport the mantle weapon above the [Norn Company] and detonate it. Then he would immediately use [Teleportation] to escape.
That way, he could collect one million nuclear crystals from [Ota] and happily advance to the Tier 5.
Then, once he returned to his own Safe City, he could claim credit with his city lord by explaining the contribution he’d made to this corporate war.
Perfect!
Of course, that was the ideal scenario playing out in his imagination.
The most likely outcome was still that [Ota] would choose to study him. But the prospect of receiving one million nuclear crystals made the risk worthwhile.
The ability user stared intently at the [Ota] soldier standing before him, ready to flee at a moment’s notice.
But the [Ota] soldier simply smiled.
“Sure. Two million nuclear crystals. It’s a deal.”
…
The main force of the [Norn Company] was on its way to the battlefield, carrying a vast arsenal of weapons.
They were getting close. Almost there.
They had long since decided where to station their army to stay outside the attack range of the mantle-piercing Liuli.
The army of bionic soldiers, the mechanical bombs, and the enormous stockpile of weapons were all ready.
Until today—
The army was advancing as usual.
Before reaching this area, an advance unit had already scouted ahead and confirmed that everything was clear.
But then, many of the soldiers first heard a sharp whoosh, followed by a deafening rumble.
The commander inside one of the vehicles rolled down the window and looked up toward the sound.
And there, high above the army, mantle-piercing Liulis suddenly appeared out of thin air, one after another.
His pupils contracted sharply. He tried to shout a warning, but it was already too late.
BOOM!!!
The bombs drilled into the earth—
And then the ground itself began to roar.
“Success.”
The ability user, now a Tier 5 powerhouse, slowly opened his eyes.
The corner of his mouth curled upward, and he adopted the air of a sage who had attained enlightenment.
“You can verify the results yourselves. I’m done playing games with you.”
The ability user abruptly activated his power, intending to teleport out of [Ota]’s military zone.
In just half a second, he would be somewhere else—
Huh????
He opened his eyes in disbelief, only to discover that he was still inside [Ota]’s conference room.
…
Cheng Qisheng enveloped him in her spiritual power and clicked her tongue in amazement.
“Wrapping someone completely in spiritual power really can block their abilities, huh?”
Meanwhile, the ability user trapped within her spiritual power was already so panicked that he was on the verge of a complete breakdown.
“What’s going on?”
Why had his ability suddenly stopped working?
Oh, no! Oh, no!!
Did [Ota] have some way of dealing with ability users?
He was finished!
The ability user could practically see his future laid out before him: strapped to an operating table, about to be dissected.
Then the cleric sitting opposite him clapped his hands.
The doors opened, and several muscular clerics came marching in, each carrying a box filled with one million nuclear crystals.
“Don’t be in such a hurry to leave.”
“You haven’t collected the remaining one million crystals of your payment yet.”
