Volume 4, Chapter 32 – They Probably Thought They’d Survive

The ship Marco Nord used to transport supplies was nothing more than an ordinary cargo vessel.

Ordinary both inside and out.

So there were not many people on board at all.

Even the people responsible for transporting the goods did not know what exactly they were carrying or who it was meant for. They were simply doing their jobs dutifully as transport workers.

Not long after the crate Anran was hiding in was moved into the hold, all the cargo had been loaded.

Then the transport ship set off.

Lake Neiya had a maximum radius of about sixty kilometers, a circumference of more than four hundred kilometers, and a total area of 5,396 square kilometers.

On sunny days, the lake water was a deep blue.

When they departed, however, the weather was somewhat gloomy.

There were only a dozen or so people keeping watch on the whole ship, and none of them knew there were now two extra people on board.

Crash—

In the darkness, Anran accidentally bumped her backpack, and the bombs piled on top of it immediately rolled.

“…”

Thank goodness they were not the kind that exploded on contact.

Otherwise it would have been hilarious. Lock yourself inside a crate, then accidentally detonate your own bombs and blow yourself up. A death like that could make the list of the one thousand weirdest ways to die.

Anran took out her phone. She had already switched it to airplane mode. Using the faint light from the screen, she examined her surroundings.

“Anran, Anran, my eyes can actually glow.”

At that moment, Aila, who was sitting in the corner of the crate, suddenly spoke.

Huh.

Anran looked at Aila in surprise.

Just half an hour earlier, Aila had still been in a dazed, muddled state. How had she suddenly recovered now?

Anran quickly used Scout on her.

A panel appeared—

Name: Aila

Race: == (?)

Gender: Female

Level: 19 (……)

……

Emmm…

Why had her race suddenly turned into “==”?

It had changed from X to ==, but it was still a meaningless symbol.

Puzzled, Anran tapped the question mark—

Loading new template: 60%.

Huh?

To Anran’s surprise, there was now actually a progress bar attached to it.

In other words, once the remaining forty percent was done, would she get to see a brand-new Aila?

Anran was filled with anticipation.

There was another change on the panel as well.

The “…” after her level had become “……”.

“…”

It really felt like nothing more than loading dots on a progress bar.

Which meant all her earlier guesses had just been reading comprehension exercises.

While Anran was still spacing out, Aila’s eyes suddenly lit up, casting a soft glow that illuminated the pitch-black crate.

“That’s amazing, Aila!”

Anran praised her in a low voice.

It was a little weird, but the function was undeniably convenient.

The crate was not very large. Otherwise Anran would not have been able to move it around in the first place.

Once all the luggage and two people were stuffed inside, there was not much room left to move.

Anran felt around for the opening of the crate.

It was a latch-fastened crate. Anran took an extremely hard engraving knife out of her toolbox and started jabbing at the clasp.

“Hm? What was that sound?”

Someone outside the crate suddenly spoke.

“A rat?”

“How would there be rats here?”

Creak—

“The ship’s rocking, the ship’s rocking.”

“Damn, did we hit rough water at a time like this?”

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“Go outside and take a look.”

Very soon, Anran realized the voices had moved away.

Inside the crate, she hugged Aila tightly to stop the two of them from being thrown against the sides and making odd noises that might attract attention.

Luckily, the relatively mild swaying did not make Anran seasick.

Once the movement eased up, she took advantage of the cover provided by the rocking noises and continued trying to open the crate.

Ting!

After a small metallic sound, the clasp came loose.

Anran’s face brightened. She gave the door a light push.

“…”

The door shook, then bounced back.

She pushed again.

It bounced back again.

“It’s blocked.” Anran immediately realized that a computer outside was obstructing the door.

“…”

All that work for nothing.

But Anran did not give up. She immediately changed direction and started cutting downward.

After prying up a metal sheet, she saw the top of another crate underneath.

She kept working for a while longer.

Once the rough water had passed, the entire crate below came into view.

It was a container with quite a large amount of space. The goods only filled the bottom layer, leaving plenty of room to step around.

Aila lay at the edge of the opening, using the light from her eyes to illuminate the interior.

Anran gave it a rough glance and saw all kinds of equipment, large and small. They all looked like extremely precise instruments.

Maybe she could get something useful out of them.

With that thought, Anran lightly jumped down into the crate below.

“Aila, throw our things down first.”

“Okay!”

Having successfully completed the transfer of position, Anran spread her arms.

With a light jump,

Aila leaped down from above.

“Ugh—”

Anran’s legs bent under the impact. Fortunately, she had enough Strength. Otherwise, that landing might have broken her legs.

She had slightly misjudged the force of Aila jumping down from up there.

“Take a rest first. I’m going to look through this stuff.”

Aila squatted in the corner and watched as Anran inspected the equipment one by one.

“Ratio synthesis instrument.”

“Plant extraction concentration equipment.”

“Drying equipment.”

“Powder mixing equipment.”

“Grinding ultrafine pulverizer.”

“Doesn’t look like there’s too much useful here.”

Anran held up her chin with one hand, but she was not annoyed, because while inspecting them, she had discovered that this equipment was excellent.

Excellent in every sense!

Expensive!

And the metal quality was great!

Anran’s gaze landed on Aila.

Then she beckoned to her. “Aila, come here.”

“What is it, Anran?” Aila slowly walked over.

“Once I finish taking these apart, you can eat all of them.”

“Really!?”

Aila’s eyes immediately became even brighter.

Right now, she desperately needed high-quality metal to complete the most crucial stage of her evolution.

That intense light made Anran hurriedly turn her head away and cover her eyes with one hand. “Aila, don’t get so excited!”

“Anran, are you okay?” Aila quickly dimmed the light.

“I’m fine.”

Anran shook her head and began dismantling and analyzing the equipment.

Although it was not exactly her field, if she got lucky, she might be able to parse out some useful blueprints.

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And even if nothing useful came out of it, at the very least she could farm some Mechanical Analysis experience.

Besides, being generous with someone else’s property, letting Aila have a huge meal, and damaging Morningstar in the process was just too wonderful!

…

A crewman stood by the railing, looking toward the increasingly clear shoreline of the lake. “We’re about to dock.”

“I heard this is the last trip. Once I finish this transport run, I’m going to take a whole month off,” said another person.

“The waves just now were pretty rough.”

“Let’s go have a proper drink once we get off and calm our nerves, haha!”

The transport ship soon docked at a small pier.

This pier had been specially purchased by Nord Biotechnology Company for transporting goods.

It had every necessary facility.

The crew, clearly familiar with the process, began unloading cargo, stacking the crates on the pier.

Hearing the constant sounds outside, Anran knew it was time to get out.

Beep beep beep—

“Wait, I need to take this call!”

A shout came from outside.

The cargo handling temporarily stopped, and Anran heard a male voice say, “Hello, Supervisor He? What is it?”

“…”

“What?”

That voice shot upward abruptly, filled with disbelief.

“…”

“Even the laboratories got blown up?”

There was suppression, dejection, shock, and a trace of helpless confusion in his voice.

What happened?

Anran frowned.

“Then what about the cargo? The company’s gone, the boss is gone, only the client is left. What do we do? What exactly are we supposed to do?”

As though possessed, he kept muttering about what to do.

“Captain, what happened exactly?”

Someone asked immediately.

The captain hung up in a daze, completely ignoring the person on the other end who was still calling his name.

“The company…”

His face bitter, he said with difficulty, “I just got a call. The boss fell from the rooftop and died, and the company’s laboratories were attacked by a group of thugs and blown up!”

“What?”

“How could this happen?”

“It’s all gone? Everything?”

In an instant, the whole place descended into chaos.

All Anran could hear was people wailing nonstop, shouting over one another so loudly that she could not make out what they were saying.

But from what they had said at the beginning, she knew Marco Nord and his company were finished together.

Was this Morningstar’s doing, or the government forces’?

Anran turned to look. Aila was still happily munching away on the machinery and had already eaten clean through one corner’s worth of equipment.

The corner of Anran’s mouth twitched as she opened the game forum.

After searching for a while, she found what she wanted.

Nord Biotechnology Company had been blown up by Smiling Doge and his group.

Which meant it was Morningstar who had done it.

Were they trying to eliminate future trouble?

If the company itself had already been taken out, how could the people transporting the goods possibly be spared?

But the people outside had no idea they were in danger. Their conversation suddenly shifted from total confusion into a very strange direction.

The captain said, “Everyone who was in charge of the company is gone. Which means how this whole shipment gets handled now is entirely up to us!”

“This…”

“This shipment has to be worth at least several million Bilu.” The captain’s face darkened slightly as he began saying some very odd things.

“Sun Bo, if I remember right, your older sister just got divorced, didn’t she? And you’re still saving up to buy a house and get married.”

“Gaisen, your family’s situation is even worse. Both your parents are bedridden, and your monthly wages barely cover their medical bills. There’s no way to save anything at all.”

“And Eber…”

“Captain, I get what you mean!” someone interrupted him. “I’m in.”

“And the rest of you?”

“I, I…”

“I’m in too!”

“Count me in as well!”

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“Hey, hey, hey, what are you all talking about?” In an instant, the place became noisy again.

They wanted to embezzle the cargo?

Smart move!

Anran widened her eyes. These people really were sharp.

The outside fell quiet again. The captain in charge gave a light cough. “Since no one objects, then let’s hurry and move all the cargo back onto the ship!”

“Okay!”

“Let’s go, let’s go!”

At the very least, there had to be more than a million Bilu here. Everyone’s eyes were practically sparkling with Bilu signs.

Nord Biotechnology Company was completely finished. With no one left in charge, bankruptcy was only a matter of process. Times were so chaotic now that no one would be in the mood to investigate something like this. Only what you got into your own hands was real.

Outside, the crewmen all worked with great enthusiasm, spirits high. Anran was wondering whether she should go out now and pour some cold water on them.

But then another unexpected development occurred.

“There are cars coming?” That was the captain’s voice.

“It’s a convoy!”

“They’re not from our company.”

“A place like this would never normally have cars show up.”

“Could the buyers have come to pick up the goods?” The captain’s expression changed abruptly.

If that was really the case, then what were they supposed to do with the cargo?

The problem was, why would they come on their own? The arrangement before had clearly been water transport first, then land transport afterward, and Nord Company was supposed to be responsible for the entire process.

Looks like Morningstar’s people are here.

Realizing this, Anran did not dare go out rashly. She first needed to confirm their numbers.

“There are five vehicles in total.”

The captain, very helpfully, fed Anran the exact information she wanted through the crate wall.

What a great commentator.

Without drawing attention, Anran equipped both the mechanical armguard and the jetpack. She had dared to sneak onto this ship, but she certainly did not dare sneak into a Morningstar vehicle.

If she got transported into some base somewhere, she would be finished. Anran did not have the strength to fight one against ten thousand.

Exhaustion alone would kill her.

“You’re people from Nord Company, right?”

One of the vehicles stopped, and several people in military uniforms got out.

“Morningstar?”

The captain recognized the distinctive insignia on the uniforms at a glance. Damn it. He could not help taking a step back. How had they run into Morningstar people here?

“No answer?”

“Yes, yes, yes, we’re from Nord Company.”

“All right. Hurry up and move all the cargo down.” The man in front waved his hand.

“What?”

The captain froze for a moment.

The man said, “Do you still not understand what I mean? We’re here to pick up this shipment. Move it, quickly. Don’t waste everyone’s time.”

“Damn it, could it be the boss was really doing business with Morningstar all along?”

“No wonder every trip was so secretive!”

Two people stood not far from the crate Anran was hiding in.

“There have to be more than twenty of them, right? Damn it, there’s no way we can resist.”

“My house, my wife… If this shipment’s gone, won’t all of that be gone too?!”

“What the hell time do you think this is? You’re still thinking about your house and wife? Worry about keeping yourself alive first!”

At least there was still one clear-headed person.

“Aila, can you still fight right now?” Anran asked softly.

Putting down an iron leg she was holding, Aila nodded hard. “No problem, Anran!”

“That’s good!”

A little over twenty people was not that hard to deal with.

High-Energy Explosives and a flashbang appeared in Anran’s hands.

First, she had to get out of this crate.

The sounds of clanking and banging rang endlessly as the crewmen resumed moving cargo. Anran felt that the large crate she was in, together with the smaller crates stacked on top, was lifted into the air before finally being set down steadily on the ground.

“Sir, everything has been moved down,” the captain said to the Morningstar people.

“You lot, go take a look on the ship. See whether anything got left behind.”

The leader of the Morningstar group said this while giving a very subtle signal with his eyes.

The captain watched as four Morningstar soldiers walked past him. He gave the people in front an awkward smile, though inwardly he felt miserable.

Damn it. He had been just on the verge of getting rich and reaching the peak of life, only to find that the trading partner was Morningstar?

(╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻

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Table flip!

What were they supposed to do now? Morningstar’s reputation was abysmal these days, practically indistinguishable from terrorists.

If they decided to go ruthless, then…

Bang bang bang bang bang—

While that thought was still echoing in his head, a dense burst of gunfire suddenly rang out from both in front of and behind him at the same time.

The captain only felt a sharp pain in his waist. Just as he was about to groan, a bullet drilled into his head, and the whole world gradually drifted away.

Bang!

His corpse hit the ground.

“Ahhh!”

“My leg!”

“It hurts so bad!”

“Please, spare me!”

“I’ve always admired the ideals of the Morningstar Resistance. I want to join you. Please, you have to give me a chance to—ah!”

Bang bang!

In less than a minute, the crewmen who had just been working were all riddled with bullets.

Blood flooded the entire pier. Even hidden inside the crate, Anran could not help frowning at the pungent smell.

“Hahahaha…”

The Morningstar people burst into loud laughter.

“They probably thought they’d survive!”

“Capitalist lackeys deserve to die!”

“Hahahahaha…”

“Enough laughing. Move the stuff onto the vehicles first. The Director is still waiting for us.”

Hahahaha—

Emmm…

The exaggerated laughter left Anran speechless.

They probably thought they themselves would survive too.

The instant the small crate on top was removed, the Crimson Blade shot out.

Anran cut down the two men moving the crate in a single strike. Once their strength gave out, the crate immediately fell again.

“What are you idiots doing? Don’t you know this stuff is all valuable? If it gets damaged, your lives wouldn’t be enough to pay for it!” the team leader roared angrily.

He strode over, about to curse them out some more.

Then a girl suddenly appeared before his eyes, and pointed straight at him was an assault rifle.

Bang!

“Ugh—”

His body fell stiffly backward.

“Team Leader!” “Team Leader!”

“Enemy attack!”

Anran pulled the trigger again and again. Then, with a light leap, she dodged several bullets.

With only the base speed boost from her mechanical footgear, Anran became like a ghost, weaving and shifting among the stacked containers.

Suddenly, a High-Energy Explosive flew out, and several unlucky bastards were blasted sky-high.

“Damn!!!”

One of the Morningstar soldiers pressed his back against a container, his face vicious. The other side was too fast. His chances were few, but not completely nonexistent. With his marksmanship, as long as—

Boom!

A deafening blast rang out, and at the same time he felt as though a train had slammed into his back. His body was sent flying at once.

Crack!

That was the sound of bones breaking.

Blood sprayed through the air!

The final thought he retained was endless confusion. What exactly was behind him?

Boom!

After another violent explosion, Anran jumped out from behind the container.

Other than her and Aila, there was no one left standing in the surrounding area.

Anran grabbed one man who was still writhing on the ground, hauled him up, and slammed him against a container.

Crash—

“All right, I’m going to ask you a few questions now, and you’d better answer honestly!”

“I…”

Ssssh—

The ground suddenly became wet.