Chapter 258: Escape

PS: I was unlucky and got hit by a ginkgo nut on my way home. It stank so badly that I had to shower and do laundry, which delayed my writing. I’ll be posting the second chapter shortly.

This move by the mercenaries was brilliant. If you have a lot of money to sit in an Alliance prison, it’s better than staying in a five-star hotel.

Most Alliance prisons are privately owned. If you’re rich, you can live comfortably there for your entire life, enjoying everything imaginable. In fact, things you can’t enjoy outside might be possible inside.

Yang Bo had a feeling this wasn’t as simple as it seemed. The Grey Ash Organization, a long-standing social entity, had a highly intricate structure with complex personnel, layered for security purposes.

Yang Bo quickly applied an elimination method with his sharp thinking and identified a potential issue: the freelance mercenaries.

Now, within the entire submarine, there were only three factions: the freelance mercenaries, Target One, and the enemy.

If the Grey Ash Organization had a hidden trap, it was most likely they planted someone within the freelance mercenaries.

This gave Yang Bo a headache because he, as an imposter, might be one of the Grey Ash Organization’s planted agents.

Of course, given the current situation, even if the Ashes agents were present, they might not make a move easily. On the other hand, those still alive might be their most trustworthy people.

Yang Bo carefully observed the others without getting involved in the mercenary captain’s dealings with Target One. He didn’t know much about this.

The freelance mercenaries had two people controlling the submarine and two others watching over the Grey Ash Organization members. Meanwhile, the mercenary captain was discussing with the kidnapped Target One about issuing the designated task and how to handle the payment.

That left only Yang Bo. Any of the five people there could be the hidden hand from the Grey Ash Organization—or perhaps even himself.

Yang Bo remained calm as usual but was alert inside. Whether the mercenaries lived or died wasn’t his problem.

“So, who else is on your mission list?” After negotiations with the mercenary captain, Target One asked.

“You can ask them.”

“Surface the submarine and let our mission issuer connect to the network,” the mercenary captain ordered the two controlling the submarine.

These freelance mercenaries had quickly seized control of the submarine. They were veterans, clearly aware of the first steps to take.

Yang Bo heightened his vigilance while thinking about how to escape and how to get the money. After all, he would be receiving 2 billion from this.

“But I don’t have a registered account with the Mercenary Guild. How am I going to get the money?” Yang Bo mumbled, waiting to see what the mercenary captain would say.

The submarine surfaced smoothly. They opened the hatch, but the restraint collar around Target One’s neck hadn’t been removed.

Target One pulled out a communicator and made a call. Less than a minute later, two warplanes hovered above the sea, glaring at the submarine below.

A few minutes later, dozens of warplanes arrived, watching like hawks.

The mercenary captain, seeing them issue the designated task, grinned from ear to ear. With this kind of money, the mission had been rated S-class. Completing this task would push his mercenary rank to the top.

“Alright, let’s split the money. The guild takes 2%, Nine gets half—19.6 billion. The remaining 19.6 billion will be split evenly among the rest of us. I won’t take my 10% this time since the mission had significant discrepancies,” the captain announced.

Yang Bo noticed that the payment was given in the form of a key, which could be used to transfer money to any account. The Mercenary Guild even issued its own financial cards, classified by colors representing different amounts: 100,000, 1 million, 10 million, and a billion.

These anonymous cards could be used throughout the Federation without restriction.

From this, one could see how bizarre the Federation’s internal financial control system really was.

“Could it be that the Grey Ash Organization doesn’t have a backup plan?” With the transaction complete, Yang Bo wondered if he had been overthinking it.

The female captain’s restraint collar was removed. The mercenary captain himself took it off, as he was the one who had put it on.

“Thank you, esteemed boss.” The mercenary captain personally thanked Target One, his heart flooded with glee. Unexpectedly, this mission had brought him enormous gains. The 40 billion made from this task would significantly boost his status as a captain.

Along the way, he had also met an ancient and incredibly powerful mercenary and pocketed several billion credits.

“Hmm,” Target One nodded, as they prepared to leave the submarine and board the hovering warplanes.

At that moment, mercenary J suddenly darted into the sea.

“Run!” Yang Bo recognized his chance and shouted before leaping into the water.

Before Yang Bo could react, a silhouette from the warplanes snatched Target One onboard in an instant, and the warplanes ascended rapidly.

The next second, the submarine exploded with a loud boom. But at that moment, drones started descending from the sky, resembling dolphins.

Several drones dropped countless detection buoys, sealing off several hundred kilometers of sea.

Some of the detection buoys sank straight to the ocean floor, tightly sealing the entire area with sensors, both on the surface and underwater.

Warplanes roared above the sea, at least thirty of them hovering over the several hundred kilometers of ocean. One of the warplanes swooped down, dropping a massive bomb.

Seconds later, the sea churned violently, like boiling water.

Through the churning sea, several drones, like sharks, could be seen following the rising waters.

Then a figure could be seen floating on the surface…

Onboard the warplane, the female captain watched the footage. It was the escaping J. Several freelance mercenaries were also rescued by unmanned submarines.

The Grey Ash Organization members weren’t as lucky. Half of them had been killed by the explosion while still stuck inside the submarine, restrained by their collars. The other half were injured to varying degrees.

Fatty was hauled out of the water by one of the dolphin-like unmanned submarines. He spewed water and cursed, “Grey Ash Organization, damn you! You tried to kill us all!”

Half of Fatty’s body was drenched in blood.

The freelance mercenaries fared better. Some of them were still onboard the submarine, and the others had energy protection. Injured, but not severely.

“Strange…” Target One mused while looking at the footage of the 300-kilometer-wide ocean area, covered by thousands of sensors, yet no trace of Yang Bo.

Just when the explosion occurred, the planetary fleet had been ready. They dropped thousands of detection buoys within three seconds, sealing the 300-kilometer range.

Hundreds of unmanned submarines were deployed to search, and that’s how they had found J. A deep-sea tracking bomb was launched, shaking him to the surface.

They had assessed J’s strength and exploded the bomb at an appropriate distance, only stunning him without killing him.

“That’s strange,” Target One commented, feeling odd, but since he wasn’t in charge of the operation, he couldn’t interfere with the planet’s military command.

The fleet commander, after living through one of the most thrilling days of his life, recalled how March Planet had been raided by criminals. It hadn’t been a major event, only a small disturbance since the planet was newly developed, and the police handled it, unrelated to the military.

But then came the report of a certain up-and-coming female captain from the military who had been kidnapped…

The female captain had arrived on March Planet without the local planetary fleet commander knowing. Her name was well-known within the military.

She had previously encountered pirates at Green Demon Planet and successfully left two pirate groups behind using her excellent command skills.

Not only that, but when the fleet returned to the repair skyport, she happened to encounter the Pado Planet rebellion. A member of the Red Earl faction attempted to declare independence, but with just one warship and thousands of mechas, she quelled the uprising…

These achievements were enough to propel her to the rank of general, a mountain premier in the military.

“Commander,” the fleet commander saluted as he saw the woman disembark from the warplane and land on the warship. Instantly, the 90-year-old March Planet commander saluted.

She returned the salute and said, “Thank you.”

“You’re too kind, Commander,” the March Planet fleet commander quickly replied. He was already considered a genius, having reached the rank of major general at the age of ninety. Yet, here was someone not even forty and already on the verge of becoming a general. It was maddening how people compared.

The freelance mercenary captain and others were also brought aboard the warship. Soldiers in energy suits gave them hostile looks. At that moment, Target One spoke up: “Record their statements, then let them go. As for the others—those are Ashes members. The fat one is their supervisor. The one who was knocked out is probably from the Ashes…”

“Commander, one person is still missing. Should we expand the search area?” The March Planet fleet commander, having roughly understood the situation, asked after hearing his superior’s words.

“I personally suggest expanding it to 500 kilometers,” the female commander said after a moment’s thought. She phrased it as a personal suggestion.

This was important since military management authority is highly sensitive. Each unit has its own background.

Meanwhile, the moment Yang Bo hit the water, his energy surged, instantly tearing off his clothes as he became invisible at the bottom of the sea.

“Damn,” Yang Bo cursed as, within two seconds, an unmanned submarine, moving quickly like a dolphin, swam by.

He passively sensed dozens of drones searching the area.

Then, within three seconds, a massive shockwave hit. It seemed like something had exploded just a kilometer away.

“Tsk tsk, the Grey Ash Organization is probably in serious trouble now,” Yang Bo muttered as he kept walking, realizing that kidnapping high-ranking military personnel would undoubtedly invite severe retaliation.

“Damn it! If I ever get the chance to go to the Grey Ash Organization’s headquarters, I’m going to take down as many skills as possible. This is the third time they’ve provoked me. First at Green Demon Planet, then with their intelligence agents, and now they’ve hired freelance mercenaries directly. I’ll find out where their headquarters is and wipe them out,” Yang Bo grumbled, feeling that the Grey Ash Organization was mocking him.