Chapter 255: Freelance Mercenaries

“Where’s Target Two?” Yang Bo rushed to the rendezvous point, a wider section of the sewer. Upon arrival, someone immediately asked the question.

There were six people at the scene. One was carrying a bag over their shoulder.

“Rescued!” Yang Bo realized these people didn’t suspect him, so he decided to observe the situation further.

“As long as we have Target One, it’s fine. Lao Jiu, you lost Target Two. You’ll lose 5% of the commission.” The following words left Yang Bo confused, so he stayed silent.

“Let’s go. Time to meet the employer and get paid.” The man wearing a helmet with a large ‘A’ on it led the way. Yang Bo now noticed helmets marked with ‘J’, ‘Q’, and realized his own helmet had the number ‘9’.

“Could this be an illegal organization?”

Lao A led the front, with J carrying the bag behind him. Yang Bo recognized it as a shielding-resistant bag, the kind frequently used when doing janitorial work.

The rest stayed quiet, as if they didn’t know each other.

The group walked along the sewer, and soon came across an open manhole cover.

After climbing up, they found themselves in a greenhouse within a garden.

Being near the ocean, wealthy residents had parts of their gardens enclosed in glass structures like this one.

“You’re late. You’ve got ten minutes. These bags contain your new identities and Camouflage serums.”

“There’s a bathroom inside. Make sure your disguises are convincing. Toss all your current belongings in the trash.”

A middle-aged man pointed to a table in the greenhouse, cluttered with bags.

Lao A nodded and waved his hand, signaling everyone to follow.

“Leave two people to watch the targets. The rest, handle your disguises.” The leader commanded.

Yang Bo, alongside another person marked ‘8,’ stood in the living room guarding the bag. The person inside the bag seemed unconscious.

“Could this bag contain someone I know from Green Demon Planet?” Yang Bo wondered to himself.

Within three minutes, two people returned, now dressed in casual clothes. One was a young man, the other a middle-aged man, both with unremarkable appearances.

Yang Bo noticed a cartoon ‘A’ on the young man’s collar and spotted a different letter on the middle-aged man’s earring.

As Yang Bo and ‘8’ walked out, two more individuals emerged from the rooms. ‘8’ entered one of the just-vacated rooms, so Yang Bo entered the other.

Inside the room, Yang Bo opened the bag to find a wristwatch, photos for identification, a set of clothes, and a vial of serum.

Yang Bo skipped the serum, removing his armor and altering his appearance in the mirror to match the ID photo.

He discarded his combat armor in a nearby bin, following ‘8’s actions in disposing of his own armor.

Dressed in new clothes, the mirror reflected a slick-haired young man wearing a short-sleeved floral shirt, white silk-like trousers, and brown leather shoes.

“It seems these people don’t know each other.” Yang Bo mused while finishing up his Camouflage.

He put on a new wristwatch. His old one was discarded back at the dorms earlier.

“There are cars in the garage.” The middle-aged man who had given them orders earlier tossed out three car keys.

No one said anything. The leader silently nodded and picked up the keys.

“Remember your identities. This is our meeting point. If anything goes wrong, say nothing. I trust you all have experience.” The group found three cars in the garage.

The leader’s tone made Yang Bo realize these people had done this sort of thing before.

Yang Bo and ‘J’ got into one car. ‘J’ drove while Yang Bo slouched in the passenger seat, casually rolling down the window.

Yang Bo’s new identity was that of a somewhat dim-witted young man.

Not long after hitting the road, a police drone scanned their car.

“Damn it, hurry up, you idiots!” Someone in the car behind them cursed.

“Taxpayer money is wasted on you. Even a pig would perform better!” yelled another driver.

In another car, someone rolled down the window to join the cursing.

Yang Bo’s car was manually driven but still had to obey the prompts during the scan.

After scanning Yang Bo’s car, the drone gave them clearance.

“Damn, is my identity’s original owner dead?” Yang Bo couldn’t believe how easily they passed.

Traffic was light, but there were still some cars on the road. Journalists were actively reporting at the scene, their drones flying overhead capturing aerial footage from every angle as long as it was outside the police perimeter.

“They brought out this much attention just for us?”

“This Grey Ash Organization is pushing things too far.”

Yang Bo was surprised. Despite the chaos in the city, people were still lounging on the beach.

“These idiots are too free,” Yang Bo murmured, gaining a new perspective on society. While gangsters in the city shot down fighter jets, surfers lounged, tanning under the sun, some sipping drinks without a care.

The car arrived at the beach and parked in an underground lot, where both men disembarked.

Yang Bo noticed that his new identity had already made a reservation here.

The person accompanying Yang Bo stayed silent, and so did Yang Bo.

Following the directions, the two reached the dock and found a sizable yacht.

“These guys came well-prepared.”

On the yacht, Yang Bo found two others already there. Through the window, he saw the leader and another person pushing a cart with a large box— the type used for storing fish.

The box was loaded onto the back of the yacht and fixed in place.

Once the yacht sailed several kilometers out, ‘J’ cheered, “We’re rich! That two-billion-dollar bounty is ours!”

“Didn’t expect things to go this smoothly!”

“All thanks to the Grey Ash Organization’s intel.”

“The security in this Alliance city is awful. They’ve shot down fighter jets, and people are still sunbathing. Can you believe it?”

“People here are too liberal. It’s like they don’t care about anything outside their own lives.”

“I heard distributing free food incurs a fine here, and you can even go to jail.” (A parallel with certain laws in the US.) “It’s regulated by different zones. Some areas prohibit food distribution.”

“If you donate to an official charity fund though, it’s fine.”

“This mission was nearly perfect. It’s the largest contract we’ve ever taken. When we get back to the Federation, our reputation will soar.”

“Alright, everyone. When this mission is over, we return to being freelance mercenaries. With this much money, we can enjoy life.”

“It’s great working with the Grey Ash Organization.”

“The Grey Ash Organization took heavy losses here in the Alliance.”

“Still, we should stay alert. I have a feeling we captured someone important.”

“No kidding. Do you think they’d call in mercenaries for just anyone?”

“This woman is tough. Even the electromagnetic pulse grenade barely knocked her out.”

“Right.”

“Whatever, we’re all getting 30 million each after this. I’m retiring from the mercenary life once I get back to the Federation.”

Yang Bo hadn’t said a word. He finally understood—these were freelance mercenaries from the Federation. They didn’t know each other because they were part of a temporary team.

The Federation had a Mercenary Guild, known for taking on all sorts of jobs. You could commission anything from delivering rare delicacies from other planets to high-stakes missions.

Life in the Federation was one of extremes. The rich lived lavishly in ultra-modern worlds, while the poor faced conditions similar to those in Yang Bo’s past life, with rampant crime and gangs.

Because there wasn’t enough tax revenue, the government couldn’t fund public welfare in the poorer regions.

Each Federation planet governed itself. A planet with a rich economy could afford welfare, while poorer planets suffered.

Still, the Federation remained one of the most popular places for interstellar travel. As long as you had money, you could live like royalty on many of its worlds.

Yang Bo didn’t know much about it firsthand, but he heard Wu Bing and the others discussing plans of heading to the Federation to enjoy life.

Now, he watched smoke rising from parts of the city, while the Grey Ash Organization wreaked havoc.

“We’re here,” said the leader as they arrived at a certain part of the ocean.

Meanwhile, the city was in chaos. Police headquarters was overwhelmed. Buildings were burning, cars were being attacked by laser cannons hidden within them, shooting down police drones one by one.

From a mountain in the distance, lasers occasionally fired, disabling the city’s defensive system. Efforts to retaliate revealed nothing but an empty cave, with only laser cannon remnants left behind.

Fortunately, only one person was reported missing—an employee of a cleaning company.

The cleaning company’s boss was the first to report the disturbance, and the conflict began from there.

Due to bad luck, the fat boss found himself detained.

“This is illegal! We’re the victims!” He complained while being held. Yang Bo had been kidnapped, leaving just his wristwatch behind.

“We only need you to cooperate with the investigation. Why did those thugs attack you?”

“If you want to find your missing employee quickly, being cooperative is the best way forward.”

“Who are these bandits and where did they get their weapons? This is serious business.”

“For your safety and that of your employees, it’s even more important for you to cooperate than whine about legality right now.”

“We’re the police. You think we’d do anything illegal?”

The investigating officer was also anxious. This situation had escalated rapidly, and they didn’t have the manpower or ability to search every single car and building meticulously.

Despite everything, people still swore loudly at police road checks, cursing them in public without consequence.

In the Alliance, as long as insults weren’t directed at specific people, nothing happened.

To be considered a proper citizen in a free society, people felt they had to complain about the government.

As a result, in any crisis, the ones who got blamed the most were the government officials.

The fat boss was at his wit’s end, but the police kept him detained under investigation.

“How am I supposed to know they’d attack me?”

“These extreme terrorist groups…” The boss had no idea who had targeted him.

The officer’s eyes gleamed, “You think it’s a terrorist group?”

“…!” The fat boss was speechless. He had only made an analogy.

“What’s the name of the group?” The officer pressed for more details.

“Officer, instead of going after the criminals, you’re detaining my client. That’s a poor choice,” said a lawyer who appeared, with Zhou Zheng standing behind him.

“We’re only asking your client to help with the investigation,” the officer shrugged, seeing the lawyer.

“Officer, you should be chasing criminals, not finding fault with my law-abiding, tax-paying client. This is unfair. I’m taking him.”

With the lawyer’s help, the fat boss was finally freed.

“Damn it, my armor!” He realized too late. The police had confiscated it as evidence.

“Boss, what’s going on?” Wu Bing asked once they got into the car.

“I think last time’s operation got leaked. They were after Yang Bo, and these guys were strong. Their methods don’t match the Alliance’s style,” the boss recalled.

“Could it be that Yang Bo’s unlocked abilities attracted attention?”

“Some people may have taken an interest in his tech, hoping to use it for bigger schemes.”

“Is it possible that the Trinity Corporation is behind it, taking revenge on us? But their target should be the Bounty Hunter Guild.”

Zhou Zheng and Wu Bing speculated. Meanwhile, the boss was contacting Zhou Rui, suspecting that the Bounty Hunter Guild had leaked their information to someone major.

Just as the boss sent out a message, his communicator rang.

“You think today’s attack was aimed at Yang Bo?” Zhou Rui asked with some confusion on the other end.

“That’s my guess. Why, do you sound like you knew something would happen?”

“I’ve heard some things. Where are you now? I’ll come find you,” Zhou Rui sounded worried.

Every night, the square dancers downstairs were so loud it made it impossible to work. Luckily, they only went on until a little after eight.