The Undying Transmigrator

Chapter 11: Military-Grade Augmented Soldier

Mo Wen didn't evade the gang leader's question and confirmed his speculation: "Correct."

Reviewing the earlier battle, if he had destroyed more enemy drones, perhaps the tire explosion could have been avoided, and they might not have nearly lost a member. But if he hadn't seized the opportunity to counter-kill the hostile mercenary, that enemy might have ambushed them again later on the road.

Even though most of that hostile mercenary's combat equipment couldn't be moved and had to be left behind, drastically reducing his combat capability, his personal skills alone still made him a significant threat.

This clearly wasn't a good choice for someone who had nearly died, but Mo Wen was willing to bear all consequences of his decision.

The gang leader nodded: "Well done. Given 'Spider's' habits, if enemies could easily escape his web, no matter how greedy he is, he'd never dare expose himself."

"According to corporate proxy combat rules, the opposing side should also have four mercenaries. Reducing their forces by one-fourth this time significantly increases our odds."

"Next time, if no one's infiltrated our team comms, you can directly state your tactics."

Mo Wen disagreed: "I doubt such tactics would remain effective once spoken aloud. Right now, that nearly sacrificed teammate would probably become quite uncooperative if he knew the truth."

There are always those who sacrifice others while assuming the sacrificed will accept it, but Mo Wen himself strongly resisted being sacrificed.

Silently using allies as bait was beastly behavior that shouldn't be dressed up with lofty justifications about necessity or prioritizing the bigger picture.The gang leader opened team comms and directly told the member changing tires: "Earlier, we could have taken out those drones to reduce sniper fire. You might not have gotten a blown tire or been trapped, but to appear weaker and lure the enemy into exposing themselves, you indirectly became sacrificial bait."

Hearing this, the gang member chuckled bitterly over comms: "Should've said so earlier, boss. If I knew I was being strategically expended with purpose, I wouldn't have hesitated even facing death."

"Wait - you always tell us tactics directly. Was this the employer's decision?"

Mo Wen responded: "Yes."

The nearly sacrificed gang member sincerely praised: "Well played. Though boss's rocket was truly brilliant."

"Heh, with boss's performance earlier and my bait contribution, we definitely deserve higher pay, right?"

Mo Wen remained silent. While he'd vaguely noticed locals' disregard for life, getting such a response still made him think these people were insane - though the feeling wasn't unpleasant.

"You do. Need help changing that tire?"

The gang member laughed: "No need, just a tire change. Be done in a minute."

...

About six hours away in a ruined city, the three remaining Life Pharmaceuticals mercenaries analyzed Spider's final intelligence report.

One deduced: "One suspected military-grade countermeasure implant user, one full cyborg, two heavily augmented cyborgs, plus numerous drones and anti-material weapons. Their total preparation budget was likely 80,000-100,000."

One sneered: "That idiot with his head up his ass got taken out by enemies at that price point? Serves him right for scouting alone - now there's one less to split payment with."

One worried: "That military countermeasure implant seems off. It's pure speculation - I suspect something's wrong."

Suddenly a voice intruded on their comms: "There is indeed a problem."

"Who?!" Though shocked at the comms breach, the three immediately adopted defensive postures, mobilizing nearby drone swarms while attempting to block the intrusion and trace the hacker's location.

The intruder made no effort to hide. Before their trace began, a rapidly approaching yellow dot voluntarily appeared on their maps.

Its speed exceeded 200 meters per second! Unless riding a vehicle, only one possibility remained - a military-grade augmented soldier!

But they quickly dismissed this: "No, can't be military-grade. This is just proxy combat - why would those monsters get involved?"

The intruder calmly explained over comms: "When opponents break rules, we stop following them too."

The mercenaries rejected this: "Corp hasn't issued new orders! And if we abort, what about payment? We invested heavily preparing for this - we won't accept leaving empty-handed!"

They watched the dot, which map showed should now be visible, yet they saw nothing.

Without corporate confirmation, this could just be enemy deception, especially with no physical presence. As the dot moved beside them and stopped, they almost laughed.

"Thwack!" A palm slammed down on two shoulders, the tremendous force instantly buckling their knees.

The remaining mercenary watched breathlessly as a figure gradually "materialized" from thin air - the augmented soldier's slender obsidian form seeming to devour surrounding light, dimming the entire area.

The newcomer said mildly: "Sometimes corporations need certain people to act recklessly - without leaving recorded orders. As for compensation for aborting? You should be thinking how to survive scenarios requiring military-grade augmented soldiers."

"Cutting losses early is the wisest choice."

It released its grip.

The three mercenaries scrambled back several steps, studying the figure's head - its complex modifications had removed most unnecessary organs, leaving no muscles or eyes to read.

Still, one mustered courage: "Our mission is intercepting that convoy. Preventing delivery means success - the corporation must pay."

The augmented soldier shrugged: "Suit yourselves. Take payment disputes to the relevant parties - not my concern."

"But be warned - mission success isn't guaranteed."

What? With a military-grade monster here, what couldn't be completed? Unless... that "military implant" was actually a military-grade augmented soldier in deep cover, and their cargo truck was smuggling contraband as ordinary goods?!

Shit - would this escalate to regional conflict levels?!

Now thoroughly cowed, the three mercenaries fled without farewell, grabbing equipment in their retreat.