Volume 3, Chapter 64 – What It Means to Beat Them at Their Own Game

“If she doesn’t eat metal, then after enough time passes, Aila will automatically fall into dormancy.”

“As Aila continues to evolve, no matter how much ordinary metal is refined, it eventually won’t do anything for her anymore. At most, it can only provide a little energy.”

“So later on, she’ll even need special high-grade metals.”

“That’s also why I said that keeping Aila by my side would only be wasting her time. She has growth potential so great that even I can’t see the ceiling of it.”

On the way back,

Anran thought again of the things Eudora had said to her.

Ummm…

Raising Aila would probably be hard even if your family owned mines.

An ordinary mine owner absolutely wouldn’t cut it. Only some super mining magnate whose operations spanned an entire major star sector would have any chance of raising Aila into a super soldier.

Still,

Anran thought of Anran’s profession from the trailer.

Space Pirate.

Her family might not own any mines, but she could always drop by other people’s mines from time to time.

That actually seemed more purposeful.

Could it be that she was going to return to her old trade?

The risk was way too high. Even if she wanted to become a boss, a major space pirate would be making an enemy of most of the forces in the entire universe.

But asking Anran to spend money buying metal…

Anran wanted to die.

She simply could not afford it.

No money. Really, absolutely no money left.

What she had saved up still had to pay for a ticket and for building exoskeleton armor. She had only just fallen out of the ten-thousand-plus bracket.

One step at a time.

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That was what Anran thought.

Aside from all that,

before leaving, Anran had also asked Eudora, “What do you plan to do if Aila isn’t by your side?”

“Plans? I don’t really have many.”

“First, I’ll recover from my injuries.”

“The war won’t end anytime soon. Once I’m healed, I’ll rely on my old savings and live in Twinmoon City for a while.”

“If Morningstar loses, then I’ll find a quiet place and live alone.”

“If Morningstar wins, then I’ll see whether I can leave No. 1886.”

She did not have much of a goal, but at least she could still live on properly.

“Eudora’s not in a very good mood?” Aila looked up at Anran.

Anran said, “Seeing that you’re doing well will make her feel better.”

Night fell.

By then, Anran had also received new information from Feilian.

Deputy Minister Lü Changming also concluded that this was a trap set by Morningstar, but for Nine Songs, it was also an opportunity.

Morningstar was eager to create even more trouble for Nine Songs, and Nine Songs had long wanted to teach those bugs a lesson.

Beat them at their own game.

That was Lü Changming’s decision.

The meeting he had called was also to explain this matter.

But according to Feilian, although the squad captains at the meeting had all agreed verbally, each of them was privately working their own angles.

In the end, it all came back to the squad rankings.

A single Nine Songs squad was very strong, but when several teams had to work together, that was another story.

What kind of chemistry would result was impossible to predict.

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Still, no matter what, everyone was on guard now.

It could be said that Morningstar’s ambush had already been crippled by more than half.

Since Anran’s goal was to kill Morningstar members, she naturally did not want to see Morningstar gain the upper hand.

What they were doing now might seem like small-scale tinkering in the context of the overall situation, but who could say it would not end up destroying some key link in one of Morningstar’s plans?

Only after feeding Aila quite a lot of titanium alloy did Anran go take a shower.

Eating better-quality metal could also help Aila level up faster.

So within what she could bear, Anran still hardened her heart and spent the money.

After that, Aila once again hugged Anran tightly and slept with her.

Anran did not resist either.

She could not really hold her very easily, but hugging soft, squishy Aila like this completely saved her the cost of buying a body pillow.

…

The operation was set for late afternoon, close to dusk.

But the assembly time was much earlier.

So Anran had no time to go to the Research Center to grind EXP again.

As long as she completed this raid mission, Anran would more or less be able to reach level 12.

Intelligence and Basic Analysis both affected Anran’s analysis progress on [Crude Exoskeleton Armor]. If she leveled up once more and then raised Basic Analysis a bit, she might be able to analyze a new blueprint.

Anran retightened the laces on her boots, then checked the equipment she was bringing. After confirming there were no mistakes, she began observing the others.

Li Zhuying was very calm. She seemed calm no matter what she was doing.

The same was true of Chu Yuan, still wearing a smile.

Daogu, who spent all day sprawled around, was carefully checking his firearms. As a ranged damage dealer, he could not afford to have the tools of his trade malfunction.

Anna was also eager to get started.

Feilian, on the other hand, displayed the steadiness a captain ought to have. He had long since finished preparing.

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“Deputy Minister Lü’s intention is to beat them at their own game, so when we move later, we do need to fight, but we can’t get trapped too deep. Aside from those decoys, the Morningstar people hidden in the dark are the real main force,” Feilian said.

“Oh.” Li Zhuying nodded.

“I did the math. It’ll be hard for us to return to the top five this month, but we can’t slack off. We need to earn enough points and strive to break through next month!”

“If you can lead our squad back into the top three, then I’ll reluctantly acknowledge you as our captain.”

Anna’s words made Feilian’s eyes light up at once. “You mean that?”

Anna curled her lip. “I wouldn’t throw away my credibility over something like this.”

“The moment you said that, I felt my motivation soar.”

“Don’t get cocky too soon,” Anna said.

“Just wait and see. I’ll definitely lead our squad back to glory.”

Another day in the base.

Anran rolled her eyes.

Feilian really was absurdly persistent about this. He could rattle off a whole string of death flags without even trying.

But then again, after all these months he was still alive and kicking. His resistance was truly impressive.

Everything was ready.

When it was time to set out, the group piled into the vehicle, and Feilian, acting as driver, started it up.

He drove steadily, without rushing.

At this point, it was not just their squad. There were four squads participating in the mission altogether, more than twenty people in total.

It was an extremely powerful lineup, though how well it would actually perform remained to be seen.

Screech.

After the light sound, Anran, who was sitting by the side, got out of the vehicle first.

“Where is everyone else?” Daogu asked.

The place they had parked was completely empty. There was no sign of the others at all.

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“Not here yet?” Chu Yuan muttered quietly.

Just then, the radio communication device on Feilian suddenly connected.

“Haha, Feilian, why’d your group get here so late?”

“Shichou?” Feilian called out. “Where are you now?”

“We’re already near the back entrance,” the man named Shichou replied.

“Really fits your squad’s ranking, doesn’t it? You’re this slow even on a mission. So real. Too real.”

A burst of mockery suddenly came from the other end of the communicator.

That voice…

Feilian’s expression changed immediately. “Yajin!”

“What, mad? If you don’t have the strength, then stay down and behave!” Yajin chuckled.

He had been at odds with Feilian for a long time, and whenever he found a chance, he would throw in some ridicule.

“Come on, we’re heading in first. Feilian, you can stay in the back and slowly eat dust with those useless teammates of yours.”

The transmission cut off there.

“Sure enough, with idiots like that around, carrying out orders smoothly is hard,” Li Zhuying said, finally understanding.

Feilian shook his head. “Yajin may be reckless, but he’s actually pretty strong.”

“Let’s not waste time either. We should hurry over first,” Anna suggested.

“All right, let’s go.”

The abandoned factory at dusk gave off a gloomy, eerie air.

As the team’s long-range sniper, Daogu did not enter with the others. Instead, he hid outside, set up his sniper rifle, and prepared to snipe targets at any moment.

Pushing the iron gate open gently, Anran stood behind Li Zhuying and walked in with a grave expression.

They still had not crossed into the perimeter, so Morningstar definitely would not make a move yet. But once they crossed a certain threshold, danger would come with it.