Chapter 106: Departure

The female officer spoke while closely monitoring Yang Bo’s mental fluctuations. She noticed nothing unusual about him, which made her even more curious. Who exactly was he? Could he really be a Mutant?

No one knew how many Mutants were within the Alliance. Some Mutants appeared completely normal, without any animalistic traits, making them hard to detect.

Yang Bo piloted the mecha along the mountain range. Everything was peaceful. Occasionally, a Mutant would spot his mecha but chose not to approach. The sky was filled with Alliance fighter jets, and if a fight broke out, they’d arrive instantly.

But not everyone thought the same. Tiger-Faced King’s neighbor, from a tribe far from the outpost, had failed to loot anything on this trip. During the last attack, Tiger-Faced King had ambushed the outpost and taken all the supplies from the outer area, catching the outpost off guard.

When the neighbor, General Black Blade, arrived at the outpost for a second wave, it was fully prepared.

Had it not been for the support of the fighter jets and warships in the sky, General Black Blade could have easily overrun the outpost and seized enough supplies. Unfortunately, waves of fighter jets and warships launched assaults on the Mutants. His tribe was caught off guard, and by the time they realized it, the pirate warship had vanished without a trace.

The outpost had been built far from any Underground World entrances. To get to the nearest entrance, there was still quite a distance. During their retreat, General Black Blade suffered heavy losses as the fighter jets relentlessly pursued them.

They managed to find some cover within the grasslands, but despite that, the Mutants with biological mechas sustained significant losses. Their large mecha movements caused too much disturbance, making them easy targets for the jets’ indiscriminate firepower.

Left with no choice, General Black Blade ordered his subordinates to disperse and regroup in a designated area. ‘These pirates are utterly unreliable. When I can, I’ll seek them out for revenge, with interest!’ General Black Blade muttered as he waited in the tall grass. As his subordinates regrouped, the losses appeared to be less than expected, making him sigh in relief while cursing.

‘General, could it be that we were deceived this time? We gave those pirates so much, they wouldn’t have just fled, right? Someone might have withheld our share,’ one of his subordinates speculated.

‘It’s possible. Damn King Blackstone! Once we return, I’ll make sure to deal with this!’ General Black Blade was determined to make up for the losses. This time, not only had he failed to loot anything, but he also lost many soldiers and biological mechas.

‘General, we’ll need to buy more people from the Alliance again. Should we check with our partners?’ another subordinate suggested.

‘The main base will handle the manpower. Don’t worry about it.’

‘General, there’s an Escape Pod nearby. Should we check it out?’

‘Forget it. Let’s head back. I’ll settle the score with them. We gave them so many rare materials, and yet, we have nothing to show for it!’

Just then, a Mutant came running over in a hurry. ‘General, there’s a mecha coming from the mountain.’

‘What? Another fool dares to come to our territory?’ General Black Blade snarled angrily.

‘General, this time, the mecha is manned. Those unmanned mechas scattered everywhere are all stranded and currently out of contact. Should we capture this fool and question him?’

‘Exactly! Something’s clearly amiss. We know nothing about the pirates’ situation, and contacting King Blackstone will likely be a waste of time. The main base’s information takes forever to reach us, probably two or three years after all that’s transpired,’ another subordinate added.

‘Let’s check it out,’ General Black Blade nodded. What exactly was going on in space? Why had the pirate warship suddenly left? This time, he’d acted under orders from the main base, leading to huge losses.

From afar, General Black Blade spotted a mecha hopping from mountaintop to mountaintop, fueling his growing anger.

‘You fool, you’re still happily jumping around?’ General Black Blade grinded his teeth. This skirmish had cost him the most in all his years. Pursued like a dog by the fighter jets, he felt humiliated.

Seeing the mecha leap from one mountain to another only further enraged him, as though it had lit a fuse inside him.

But just then, several fighter jets roared overhead, forcing General Black Blade’s men to hide.

Meanwhile, Yang Bo had made it halfway along his route when the fighter jets appeared. He wasn’t sure which side they belonged to.

Four jets. Three were on patrol, while one hovered just a few meters above Yang Bo. After it opened up, the person inside waved, seemingly signaling something.

‘Officer?’ Yang Bo was confused.

‘They’re here for me,’ the female officer replied.

Upon hearing that, Yang Bo quickly opened his mecha’s cockpit. From a distance, the Drone Fighter pilot had intended to ask if Yang Bo had seen anyone, but when the cockpit opened, a familiar figure jumped out.

The Drone Fighter pilot was initially dumbfounded, then grew extremely excited, jumping out of the jet — a simple feat for a superpowered individual, despite the seven or eight-meter height.

‘Officer,’ the pilot saluted her promptly.

‘Can we bring one more person?’ the female officer asked the pilot.

‘That would violate protocol, officer. Our warship is regrouping as we speak,’ the pilot stammered. Members from different warships couldn’t mingle, and the warship she’d come from had endured a disaster, so it was risky to bring a stranger aboard.

Hearing that the female officer was about to leave, Yang Bo couldn’t contain his happiness, though the fact she offered to take him along made him silently curse her meddlesome nature, despite knowing she meant well.

‘Officer, you should go ahead. I’ll head to the outpost,’ Yang Bo called out, hurriedly sealing the mecha’s cockpit. He then activated his mecha’s jetpack, launching himself over a thousand meters in a single leap.

The Drone Fighter pilot was stunned. ‘Kid, do you realize what you just passed up?’

The female officer watched Yang Bo’s mecha disappear into the distance, becoming even more certain that something was off about this sergeant. But now that the warship had reassembled, as captain, she had numerous issues to deal with.

‘Let’s go.’ She leapt back onto the warship, deciding to notify Yang Bo’s fleet to retrieve him later.

At the same time, the female officer was still plagued by questions. Obtaining permissions just by repairing mechas — if the Mech Company found out about this, wouldn’t they lose their minds?