Chapter 4.3 – Trouble
Only now did the second-in-command become astonished. He knew how many battles this sniper participated in, and knew even more so how great his military accomplishments were. A veteran like this who climbed his way out out of the dead was most effective at this range. He was equipped with a Carter Roman RF1000 sniper rifle, while the one he was up against only had a modified rifle without a sighting device, yet in that brief encounter that didn’t last even a minute, he had already collapsed to this state? It seemed almost unexplainable.
There were too many unexplainable things in the new era, and this was just another one.
However, the secondary officer’s face still fell ashen, and he no longer dared to challenge Lizzy’s authority. However, this didn’t mean that he was scared of her. Within the company, his sponsor had an even higher position than Lizzy’s.
The fiery sun finally submerged itself within the clouds. Then, the entire sky grew dim, and the darkness covered every corner of the ruins. Another night without a moon or stars had arrived.
Within the darkness of night, Su was like a specter as he moved about. Sometimes, he would move quickly, and at other times, he would appear to be moving extremely slowly. He did not like to move through the night, but right now, he wanted to reach his destination as quickly as possible.
The distance between Base N11 and Su’s figure gradually grew. The moment he took a shower in the base, Su already knew the fate of Base N11. If the one that came wasn’t Roxland Company, then there would be other organizations. Other than himself, Su didn’t have the strength to save anyone else, and it was even less likely for him to try and resist an entire company for a base he only had one simple business deal with. He wasn’t an idiot.
The reason why he even paid a visit to Base N11 was not something that Su thought through. Taking advantage of a crisis for personal gain wasn’t his style, especially the conflict between a company and a base. Meddling in something like that would most likely only end up in trouble. Moving without reason was something that Su believed to belong to intuition.
The woman named Lizzy was precisely the main reason why Su wanted to leave as quickly as possible. The Lizzy standing on that command truck was completely different from the completely drunk woman from that night. Even when they were face-to-face, Su did not notice any type of ability from her body that day. However, someone without any abilities, especially a woman, would never be allowed to lead a company’s army, let alone a heavily armed troop. This meant that Lizzy either possessed more than three levels of ability, or unique abilities that lied outside the known scope of abilities. Both of those reasons were bad news for Su.
As long as Base N11’s people didn’t resist, Lizzy wouldn’t give the order to kill them. This was the information he received from her eyes. However, what did this count as? Was this some kind of promise to Su? Any kind of promise carried a price. What was the price that she wanted? Moreover, Su never considered himself a savior of any sort.
When he thought of Lizzy’s ridiculing, wild, yet prepared eyes that seemed to belong to a cat looking at a mouse, Su felt extremely uncomfortable. He did not like any situation he didn’t have control over, and he disliked being viewed as another’s possession even more.
Under the dim light of night, all types of creatures moved about through the darkness. Among them, there were a few whose senses were sharp enough to notice Su’s tracks. Those that moved at night all loved to move in secret until they were right next to their target. The most dangerous range of Su’s pistol was ten meters. Should the distance be any closer, he was quite adept at using his dagger as well.
After an entire day and night of travelling, a bustling town appeared within Su’s field of view. This town was completely different from the other messy and filthy habitats. Wire netting surrounding the town, and sandbags were piled at the entrance into the town. There were a few armed soldiers standing guard. At each corner of the town was a concrete sentry that was seven or eight meters tall, and inside the tower was a black gun that silently but carefully watched the vast and barren wastelands.
In the center of the small town was an extremely eye-catching ten floor building. It was so clean that there didn’t seem to be a single speck of dirt on the dark blue glass. At the top was an enormous billboard showing an eye-grabbing flame sign.
This was where Grace Company’s headquarters was located: Asmo.
Su did not hide himself and walked towards Asmo. It was obvious that the surrounding guards had deep impressions of Su, and after a routine inspection of his license, he was allowed into Asmo.
Asmo wasn’t large, and with the general headquarters inside, most of the local space belonged exclusively to Grace Company, with only company members allowed inside. The remaining area was divided respectively into an inn, bar, warehouse, parking lot, and other facilities for clients that did business with the company and other residents. After all, the company’s members would often come here for entertainment and to relax during leisure time.
Behind the restaurant was a line of factories. They manufactured cans, cement, steel, weapons, equipments, and things like these. The other side was a small power plant that supplied this place with power. The amount of production produced by this place was naturally not comparable to that of the olden era, and there wasn’t much of an economic scale. However, in this era of turmoil, there was no choice. Reconstructing within the ruins would often only produce enough for one person. Even though trade was omnipresent, no company would trade their most valuable goods to their enemy.
They were just like any company. Grace Company also had their own armed forces, one that was composed of 150 men. They were all armed with PE02 rifles developed by Grace Company themselves. Meanwhile, in Asmo Town, other than the three olden era high heavy artillery weapons, there were also two old model tanks for defense. With this type of power here, no refugees dared to provoke Asmo, to a point where they wouldn’t even dare to do so within fifty kilometers of it. Otherwise, they might unknowingly run across the company’s patrol. Whether they were deported or whether they were killed at that point was something that would be resigned to fate. The upper echelons of Grace Company clearly understood that safety was the best guarantee for profit, and as a result, they spared no effort in striking down the refugees that tried to seize any territories for themselves.
Grace Company’s military strength was much greater than Base N11’s, but it wouldn’t be able to capture Base N11 without paying a large price. This was also one of the reasons why the company did not take action against the base. Another reason was that there was an uncontaminated water reservoir below Asmo. Even though no one knew when this underground water source would be polluted with radiation, it was not a problem right now. There was no reason to lose large numbers of trained soldiers.
In Asmo, one could restock their supplies, purchase weapons, or even work for Grace Company. It was even possible to find beautiful females or males. Of course, the basal premise for all of this was money.
In the past three years, Su had already completed three missions for Grace Company and even delivered four new mutated species specimens. As a result, he was able to obtain the hunter as well as the mercenary licenses. Regardless of whether it was annihilating armed refugees or the clean up of a certain region, Su always completed his portion efficiently and meticulously. This allowed him to obtain a license faster than others and even become friends with the director of external work.
Even though the term friend was an extremely rare word used in this era, the near bald Berne still considered Su a friend. Moreover, each time Su returned to Asmo, he would always invite him for a drink.
Su’s return to Asmo this time was no exception to this. As soon as the curtain of night had just descended, he was dragged by Berne to the pub. The lighting within the pub was rather dim, and the air was suffused with the smell of alcohol and hormones. Woman wearing revealing clothes walked around in search of men that could pay for their services. On top of a stage that wasn’t too large, two women who were wearing practically nothing were frantically twisting their bodies about. Under the effects of hallucinogens and alcohol, they could crazily dance for almost two hours. When they became too weary to continue, they would be taken off the stage. There were even a few males who had desires for these girls who were exhausted to the extreme. Of course, the appearances of these dancers were quite good, and so their price would naturally match their faces and bodies.
Berne was particularly fond of this atmosphere that was full of dejectedness, desire, and extravagance. Each time he came, he would always order a large bottle of strong whiskey. Of course, this was not the same whiskey as the fine commodity of the olden era, and was instead alcohol produced by Asmo. This alcohol didn’t have the varied and rich fruit tree fragrance from the olden days, but at the very least, it was strong enough.
Su actually did not like this place. The dense aura that seemed impossible to scatter was just like being under the influence of hallucinogens or other drugs for many people. However, for Su whose senses were especially sharp, it was instead a type of torment. In addition, each time he saw Berne raise that 90 yuan bottle of whiskey, he couldn’t help but compare it to twenty rounds of custom bullets or two highly explosive grenades. In the wilderness, these types of ammunition could save Su’s life, while the whiskey couldn’t.
As soon as one glass went down, Berne would start talking non-stop. Half of it would be types of heroic achievements of his youth, and the other half would be all types of trifling events that happened recently in Asmo. Su was not interested in any of these topics, so he would remain silent for most of it and just listen. He knew that Berne only needed someone to listen to him.
In Asmo, Berne was not a small figure. This old man controlled all of Grace Company’s external work, so the fate of many mercenaries and hunters were in his hands. The first time Su went drinking with him, it was because he felt like he owed him a favor. The first he was receiving his reward, Berne gave Su exactly what he was commissioned without giving any excuses to deduct any. Under Su’s experiences, not deducting anything was a favor in itself.
After drinking with him once, Berne already proclaimed Su to be a friend. Their future drinking outings were inevitable and right, and the amount of favors Su owed only grew more and more numerous. These acts of kindness included no deducting anything from Su’s missions, and also giving him missions that were more suitable to his skills. Moreover, each time, once the missions concluded, through Grace Company’s regulations, he would give Su even more points. Points were signified the promotion of his license grade, as well as preferential treatment towards purchasing of Grace Company’s goods.
Berne had sufficient reason to act as such, and Su had already accepted these. He needed money, and a lot of it at that. Despite earning money several times faster than other hunters, Su did not have any savings and couldn’t even purchase a few better firearms. However, he still raised the jealousy of other hunters and mercenaries, and as a result, in a single month, he had been chased after or ambushed three times.
Su would always punctually return to Asmo based on the scheduled time, and those that pursued him would never again reappear.
Berne poured himself an entire glass and sighed with content. He said towards Su, “Hey, youngster, you said that you provoked Roxland Company? I’ve heard of it before. That’s a truly large one! Their industry relies on on steel and ore, and their troops number a hundred at the very least. The only good news is that it’s quite far from this place, so far that it’s impossible for their tanks to travel here. Meanwhile, not only do we have tanks, we also have artillery weaponry!”
Su laughed and softly shook the alcohol in his hand. Berne had already wiped out most of the bottle, while he was still on his first cup, and most of it was still there. Tanks were good, artillery were fine as well. Even if Grace Company were to possess an armed helicopter, it would still be unrelated to him. Grace Company would never clash against another company for the sake of an insignificant outside mercenary like him.
“Right, youngster! Just now, what did you say that Roxland Company girl’s name was?” Berne hiccuped from the alcohol while asking. Without waiting for Su to reply, he laughed loudly and smiled while saying, “Your luck can’t be that good to have provoked Roxland’s murderous dictator, right?”
“She said… her name was Lizzy.” Su calmly spoke.
“Li!!” Berne’s mouth suddenly widened to a point where it seemed like it could devour all of the alcohol in front of him.