Safe City Ch.159

Chapter 159: “Zephyr, may you rest in peace”

The airship group’s attack mode had many different configurations, but before trying out the others, the Blue Sea people first activated Capture Mode.

Cheng Qisheng: “Is this Capture Mode really that crude?”

The so-called Capture Mode was simply to lower a “cage,” then have the airships reveal their weapons from all directions, forcing the captives to walk into it themselves.

Once the “cage” closed, the capture was complete.

In an instant, these high-tech, magic-powered airships seemed to have returned to the primitive era—to the scene of Old Eighth hunting.

Back then, when Old Eighth and the others hunted prey, a whole group of people would charge forward carrying spears, shouting “Aaaahhh!” at the top of their lungs and relying entirely on intimidation.

And now, they were also raising their weapons and relying entirely on intimidation.

The whole scene had suddenly come full circle, returning to humanity’s roots.

But there was no denying that these airships were far more practical than Cheng Qisheng had expected.

Every single one was equipped with portable energy sources. If the energy channels were attacked and disabled, the magic energy supply could serve as a backup.

And it wasn’t just the energy systems. Their shields and weapons could all be compared against the data stripped from that abandoned airship.

The shells were enchanted.

Magic runes intertwined across the various components, forming force-field emitters.

And instead of relying on conventional propulsion systems, the engines were driven by a massive composite wind-element magic array formed by connecting countless runes together.

And now, Cheng Qisheng was watching the airships in the sky continuously combine into all sorts of shapes.

First came a huge sphere, with the airships clustered together like a swarm of bees. This configuration allowed them to attack and defend from every angle—above, below, left, right, everywhere.

Then they formed the shape of a local Moon Silk airship, complete with a front and a rear, with each position occupied by a smaller airship.

But as they kept experimenting, the Blue Sea residents got completely carried away.

They started forming triangles, pentagons, long straight lines, wavy shapes, and hexagonal honeycomb formations.

Then things gradually went completely off the rails.

There were flower shapes, giant trees, cups, bells…

Well, all right.

Now Old Eighth and the others had started using the Type-One Airships to assemble a statue of the Blue Sea Creator God.

While the Blue Sea residents were having the time of their lives, the mercenaries were undergoing a complete assault on their worldview.

Locked inside an equally enchanted iron prison, they could only stare helplessly through the gaps as they were hauled back toward those enormous, round flying objects with giant eyes.

“This is impossible! This cage is at least a dozen meters long! Those flying things aren’t even that big individually. How could they possibly fit all of us inside?”

The captain clutched his head.

With absolutely nothing he could do, he had even begun regretting that he hadn’t stopped his teammates earlier, back when they had one by one declared that after finishing this job, they would get rich, propose to their girlfriends, and go home.

Movies had indeed taught them that whenever someone in a group said things like that, they were definitely going to die.

But what was happening now was far more bizarre than death.

Mercenaries were all trained to be highly observant. Every single person present could clearly confirm that they had been individually placed inside a spherical flying object.

The vice-captain remained relatively calm.

“It could be dimensional extension technology.”

The other team members said nothing, nor did they show any particular shock, because they hadn’t understood a word of it.

The illiteracy rate among New Humans was definitely above ninety-nine percent.

So when New Human mercenaries encountered danger or something they couldn’t understand during an outside mission, the illiterate members would generally keep quiet and leave the decision-making to whoever on the team possessed at least some knowledge.

The captain lowered his hand. “Dimensional extension technology? Wasn’t that just a legend from the Old Era?”

He gave an example. “A lot of Old Era movies and other media liked to imagine things like dimensional extension technology. But it wasn’t real, was it? Even at the height of the Old Era, nobody could actually create it.”

“It’s like those monster legends from the New Era. Huge, grotesque creatures that can fly through the sky, burrow underground, and swim underwater. They can casually swallow several people in one bite, and before attacking, they’ll even lie in wait quietly. But those are just stories adults tell to scare children.”

There were indeed many enormous mutated animals on Moon Silk, but they weren’t shaped like monsters. They were based on their original animal forms, only considerably larger overall, and they possessed certain abilities.

But they were, without a doubt, still animals.

Compared with those of the Old Era, perhaps they were simply bigger, uglier, stronger, and a little more fond of eating people.

As a mercenary, the captain knew very well that actual monsters didn’t exist.

The “monsters” believed to exist in many remote areas were actually just some kind of abnormally mutated beast. They were still made of flesh and blood, and as long as you had enough firepower, you could kill them.

The vice-captain sat cross-legged on the floor. To be honest, for prisoners, their treatment was actually pretty decent. The cage was tall enough that they could stand up or sit down, and if they wanted to, there was even enough room to lie down.

“Other than dimensional extension technology, I can’t think of anything else.”

The captain said, “Uh… what if they’re actually aliens?”

The vice-captain said, “If aliens really existed, would they need us to monitor them? The employer definitely knows something.”

The captain had actually already guessed the answer, but he didn’t want to say it.

However, when he looked at his teammates, their faces faintly illuminated in the dim, translucent surroundings, all of them looking at him with barely concealed fear, he finally sighed and said:

“Then… it can only be the [Companies].”

The expressions on the team members’ faces turned pale at exactly the same moment, as if someone had copy-pasted the same expression onto all of them.

“T-The… [Companies]? This place belongs to the [Companies]?”

That sounded far more terrifying than aliens.

The vice-captain remained relatively calm, but even his complexion was hardly reassuring.

“There may be a fourth [Company] in Broken River. They have new technology. If it’s a [Company] that developed dimensional extension technology, then it wouldn’t be surprising.”

After all, in the stereotypical view held by New Humans, the [Companies] could develop absolutely anything.

If someone claimed tomorrow that Night Beasts had been developed by the [Companies], nobody would be surprised.

The captain took a deep breath.

A [Company] capable of developing dimensional extension technology—something even Moon Silk’s technological peak had failed to produce.

No wonder the payment for this job had been so high.

It really was money paid in exchange for their lives.

The strange flying objects finally had an explanation, too. They were probably some kind of newer, more advanced airship technology.

But things had already come to this point. There was nothing left to complain about.

“Brothers, when you first joined, I told you that the people of the Lion-Serpent Mercenary Group never resign themselves to fate. That hasn’t changed!”

He reached toward the dagger hanging beside his leg.

Their firearms had already been thrown out under the threat of the cannons mounted on the spherical flying objects. The only weapons they still had in their possession were cold weapons.

“Everyone, come over here. Listen carefully. I’m going to lay out the plan for what happens next.”

Holding his dagger, the captain solemnly began making arrangements.

“Line up from left to right according to the order in which you joined the team. I’ll start killing from the left, and the vice-captain will start from the right. At the end, the vice-captain and I will kill each other. Any objections?”

One of the team members in the middle of the lineup trembled as he spoke.

“Captain… could you let me die first? I’m afraid I won’t be able to stop myself from struggling.”

The captain nodded sympathetically. “I understand what you mean. But I can’t order someone else to give up their position for you. How about this? Talk it over with everyone and see if anyone is willing to switch places with you.”

One of the team members who was usually close to him stepped forward and patted him on the shoulder.

“I’ll give you my spot. I’m second from the left. You’ll die quickly.”

“Thank you. Thank you, brother.”

After the two embraced, they switched positions.

The scene was deeply moving.

Watching all of this through Zhu Feifan’s perspective, Cheng Qisheng: “……”

Of course, Blue Sea had no dimensional extension technology.

The reason they had managed to create this bizarre situation where the outside was small while the inside was much larger was mainly because Lilith had cobbled together various spatial artifacts.

For example, the green spatial stone that Blue Sea’s residents had once salvaged from Green Billow Star was now embedded in the wall.

There were also spatial vertical runes from magic, which were currently sprawled across the floor.

The two were connected using the leaf-vein structures from the Long-Tendril Civilization—heaven only knew how Lilith had come up with the idea of using Long-Tendril leaves for something like this.

Together, they produced the current effect of extending the interior space.

There were only fifty Type-One Airships in total. Their storage compartments had been spatially expanded, allowing them to function as transport and storage airships.

Each airship could store roughly the equivalent of one medium-sized warehouse of supplies.

Fifty airships meant fifty medium-sized warehouses—more than enough to ensure that all the airship pilots traveling with the group had a plentiful supply of daily necessities.

Occasionally, they could also be used to store prisoners.

Like right now.

Cheng Qisheng was more than happy to let the mercenaries assume that the storage space, which had been cobbled together by intertwining all sorts of random elements, was the result of dimensional extension technology.

She couldn’t have asked for anything better than for them to keep discussing things like “How powerful this [Company]’s technology is” and “How incredible this [Company] is.”

After all, the resident Ming and Ye, who possessed the [X-Ray Vision] ability, had been able to see that every mercenary in this team had a monitoring chip implanted inside their body.

They probably didn’t know about it.

The so-called surveillance mission they had been hired for was, in reality, nothing more than throwing this team of mercenaries into the Broken River Wasteland like bait.

If they were discovered by [Ota], then before they died, the monitoring devices inside their bodies would be able to transmit some of the information they had obtained about [Ota] back to their employer.

The outer layer of these monitoring devices was wrapped in an anti-detection coating, making them extremely difficult to discover through a simple examination.

But who could blame Blue Sea for having cheats?

Instead, this team of mercenaries had become an indirect channel for Blue Sea to build up [Ota]’s reputation.

Sure, go ahead and praise the [Companies] all you want.

But don’t praise them so much that you start deciding to kill yourselves.

The team members were so decisive and utterly without hesitation—even voluntarily giving up their positions to be the first to die—that the others were looking at them with expressions of admiration, as if they were saying, You’re so noble.

Cheng Qisheng: “……”

The [Companies]’ reputation really never failed to disappoint.

She sent out a divine oracle.

Zhu Feifan, who had been quietly lying beside the “cage” and playing a game with its tentacles, raised its sea-monster head.

Without making a sound, it simply extended two relatively small tentacles and, in an instant, snatched the suicide daggers from the captain and vice-captain.

“Ah!!”

“What the hell is that?!”

“It’s outside!”

“A monster! They have the legendary monsters too!”

“They actually domesticated a monster?!”

A priest dressed in a white robe, carrying the equipment used to remove monitoring chips, silently opened the door and walked inside.

The dozen or so mercenaries looked at his white clothes, then at the medical instruments in his hands, and let out piercing screams.

…

“AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!”

Amid the mercenaries’ screams, the monitoring chips showed that they had entered an inactive state.

Inside Hal City, the employee responsible for monitoring them took off his headset and turned to look at his grim-faced supervisor.

The supervisor nodded, quickly summarized the information they had obtained, and reported it up through the chain of command.

The company based in Hal City was [Zipa Company].

At that moment, several high-ranking Zipa executives were looking at the report in their hands, their expressions grim.

“[Ota] appears to have domesticated a mutated beast that those mercenaries identified as a monster. They also possess dimensional extension technology.”

Damn it.

The other side was frighteningly powerful.

They had all been frozen a hundred years ago. How was it that [Ota] had so many incredible technologies?

The executives of [Zipa Company] felt a suffocating pressure in their chests, as though a massive stone called [Ota] were weighing down on their heads, ready to come crashing down at any moment.

“[Ota] has sent out a large number of surveyors. They must be planning something behind the scenes.”

“Not only that. They also sent employees to ask us whether we know the location of [Ota]’s original shelter.”

The executives fell silent again.

Of course they knew.

Not only did they know—the incident had actually been carried out jointly by them and several other [Companies].

Fortunately, there was still some good news.

At present, [Ota]’s suspicions were focused on [Zephyr Company].

At least, that was what [Ota] had told them.

The bad news was that [Ota] was clearly forcing them to choose a side.

The person sitting in the central seat quickly made a decision.

“Since Ota wants to believe it was Zephyr, then give them evidence.”

Perhaps [Ota] had already guessed who was responsible.

Perhaps [Ota] simply wanted to use [Zephyr] as an example.

None of that mattered.

What mattered was that [Ota] hadn’t chosen to come after them.

The senior executives of [Zipa] had initially been somewhat hesitant, but the information that came back today—“Ota is suspected of possessing dimensional extension technology”—finally pushed them to make a decision.

The information could be false.

But if it was true, then perhaps [Zipa] was actually the party [Ota] suspected of having tampered with things.

Who could guarantee that [Ota] employees weren’t already inside [Zephyr Company] at this very moment?

The executives of the [Companies] might be extremely protective of their own lives, but they had always treated everyone else’s lives as worthless.

This time was no different.

“Send a message to Broken River. Tell them that our Zipa Company is willing to assist Ota in taking revenge against Zephyr.”

A triangle was the safest arrangement.

Now that four [Companies] had appeared, one of them would inevitably have to be eliminated. As long as it wasn’t them, that was all that mattered.

Besides, what could possibly be more profitable than wiping out another company and seizing its supplies and resources?

If [Ota] were weak, then they should cooperate with [Zephyr] or [Norn] and eliminate [Ota] together.

But judging from the current situation, [Ota] wasn’t weak at all.

In fact, it seemed considerably stronger than before.

That meant [Zephyr] could only be the one placed in the position of prey.

Once Zephyr was eliminated, [Zipa] would swallow up part of its resources and become even stronger than before.

That would allow them to approach, in a better state, the moment every executive of the [Companies] had dreamed of for so long:

Immortality.

The executive sitting in the central seat looked down at the newly prepared cooperation agreement in his hands.

His face had undergone numerous skin-grafting surgeries, yet they still couldn’t conceal the age in his eyes.

Greed and longing filled his expression.

Finally, he brought down the stamp in his hand with a heavy thud.

“Zephyr, may you rest in peace.”

…

The Blue Sea resident, perfectly embodying the demeanor of a [Company] employee, received Zipa’s cooperation agreement.

Two [Companies] would join forces and eliminate [Zephyr] in the name of revenge.

At the same time, Cheng Qisheng also saw the cooperation agreement through the perspective of a believer.

Blue Sea had spent nearly a year laying the groundwork and maintaining its disguise, making the entire Blue Sea puff itself up like a cat with its fur standing on end.

They had carefully calculated their outward image. Their residents weren’t even allowed to shout “woohoo!” during combat.

All of those efforts had finally paid off.

The plan to have [Companies] fight [Companies]…

Succeeded!!

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