Chapter 288 Interstellar Journey Returns to Sorenson
Mercenary Star Station.
An ordinary-looking spaceship slowly ascended into the sky.
After noticing this, the mercenary groups responsible for surveillance quickly checked the ship's owner.
The C-rank mercenary group Red Maple has been active on Mercenary Star for seven or eight years, and there have been no new members joining recently.
After reviewing the information, the surveillance personnel immediately lost interest and allowed the spaceship to leave the mercenary planet, instead continuing to keep an eye on people who resembled Lu Xuan or his spaceship.
At the same time, inside the spaceship's lounge.
Seven or eight casually dressed, tall mercenaries sat scattered on the sofa, their relaxed postures exuding a sense of nonchalance.
The blond-haired, blue-eyed leader, Finn, looked out the window at the mercenary star that was gradually disappearing into the distance and said, "Do what you can with what you have. We are just a C-level mercenary group. We don't have the ability to intercept level eight ability users, and we can't afford to provoke them. It's more practical to make money steadily."
The others nodded in agreement, "That's right. Look at the other mercenary groups, including those A-level mercenary groups, they've been messing around for days, what have they gained? They've been working themselves to the bone and still can't see the truth."
"After all, they are an A-level group. Their strength is much greater than ours, and their ambitions are naturally greater as well. If we can win them over, our strength will leap to a new level. It is indeed not easy to get them to give up."
"Whatever, we've already given up anyway, let's focus on this mission."
"That's right."
Speaking of the mission, the group's gazes involuntarily turned to their employer, who was sitting alone on the side, calmly browsing the StarNet.
The other party didn't seem to be paying attention to their conversation. Finn coughed and quickly winked at the others, saying, "Before we arrive at our destination, let's discuss our action plan."
The group of people's expressions turned serious when they thought about the reward for this mission.
They usually borrow only one or two million in commissions, but this time it's at least three million.
If the job is done exceptionally well, the employer said the pay could be doubled or even have no upper limit.
If most mercenary groups hadn't been focused on finding Lu Xuan lately, they might not have gotten such a good mission.
However, the task does indeed carry considerable risks, and if we don't want to lose too many people, we really need to plan it carefully.
...
Over the next few days, the mercenary group spent their time training for two or three hours each day, and the rest of the time going online in the holographic world, or drinking and chatting in the leisure and entertainment area. They would also occasionally contact their acquaintances on Mercenary Star to see if there were any new developments there.
When their spaceship had already made two jumps and was just one more jump away from reaching its destination.
A mercenary who was drinking synthetic liquor at the bar in the rest area suddenly exclaimed, "Holy crap!"
His companions, sitting on the sofa not far away, frowned. "What are you yelling about?"
The man exclaimed excitedly, "Lu Xuan's live stream has released a new announcement, revealing the planet he's going to next!"
"What!?" The others' expressions changed drastically, and Finn immediately opened his personal computer to check the information on the StarNet.
Others pressed, "Where is he going?"
The first mercenary to speak said, "Sorenson Natural Star! It's the same destination as us!"
"What a coincidence!?"
"The internal signal in Sorenson is down, so the mercenaries there definitely don't know this news. We've already covered most of the distance, and no one else can beat us. We can definitely seize the initiative!"
“That’s right. We’ll buy a few bottles of gene evolution fluid from Lu Xuan and some more mutated fruits. It’ll be worth it even if it costs more star coins.”
While evolution fluid occasionally appears on the black market of Mercenary Star, most of them are counterfeit. Who would want to spend a lot of money on a fake product with serious side effects when there is a genuine one available?
Although they knew in their hearts that the probability of meeting Lu Xuan was not high, this was the closest they had ever come to him, and they couldn't help but be excited.
Fein noticed that one of the employers, who was also browsing the StarNet in the rest area, looked up at them. His heart skipped a beat, and he quickly stopped the others, saying, "Alright, enough with the nonsense! Don't forget our purpose for this trip."
I know you all want to make deals with Lu Xuan, but the employer is still here. Can't you talk about these things in private?
You don't want the payment anymore?
Even if they are only a C-level mercenary group, their reputation is still very important. If the employer goes back and tells others that they are unprofessional, it will delay their ability to take on future missions.
The others realized what was happening and exchanged awkward glances.
Fein reassured his employer, "Don't worry, boss, we will definitely prioritize the task and will not let it interfere with our work."
Others quickly followed suit and expressed their opinions.
"That's right, boss, don't worry. We're professionals. We make ten or eight trips to Sorenson Natural Star every year. We know it very well and will definitely be able to complete your task quickly."
They would need a lot of Star Coins to buy the Evolution Fluid.
Mercenaries are mostly hedonistic and spend money as much as they can, so they don't have much savings.
Without the employer's payment for this mission, they might not be able to come up with much star coins, so the client still needs to take this seriously.
The young employer, who looked to be in his early twenties, nodded calmly: "I trust your professional ethics."
That being said, during the last few days of their journey, the mercenaries were noticeably more restless and motivated than before.
Three days later, the Red Maple Mercenary Group's spaceship finally arrived at Planet Sorenson.
As the spaceship passed through the atmosphere and entered the airspace above Sorenson, the computer signals of everyone in the mercenary group were gradually disconnected.
People were used to this and didn't think much of it.
The spaceship passed through the atmosphere and entered the airspace above Sorensen, landing on a relatively safe wasteland.
Finn left a small group of people to guard the spaceship, and disembarked with more than twenty members, along with their employer, Mr. Ray.
The mercenaries quickly produced more than a dozen hovermobiles, with the rest of the group riding in pairs on one, and the employer driving a separate hovermobile.
After counting the number of people, Fein waved to everyone and said, "Let's go!"
More than a dozen cool hover motorcycles took off and sped towards the largest mutated forest in Sorensen.
Two hours later, the group arrived at the entrance to the mutated forest.
The hoverbikes were put away, and everyone checked their equipment and supplies.
Taking advantage of this moment, Fein reiterated their mission objectives and operational route.
"Our goal this time is to help Mr. Lei, who is a high-level wood-type ability user, find a suitable mutated plant contract. The first choice is an adult plant. If we really can't tame it, we'll find a way to obtain the seed."
As agreed when accepting the mission, if the contract is successfully signed, the adult advanced mutated plant will be rewarded with ten million star coins.
If only seeds are available, then the variety and quantity should be given as three to five million.
With a price difference of half, they naturally wanted to get ten million more.
Fein looked at his subordinates with a serious expression.
"Advanced mutant plants can only be encountered in the central part of the forest. We have explored the outer areas many times and are quite familiar with them, but the behavior patterns of mutant creatures can never be judged based on experience."
Previously, a B-rank mercenary group suffered a setback on the outskirts and was almost wiped out. Our strength is no match for that B-rank group, so everyone better be on your guard, you hear me!
"Don't worry, boss!"
"We value our lives, so we certainly won't be careless."
Finn knew that his men were usually not very serious, but they could still distinguish between what was important and what was not when they were on a mission.
Therefore, I only reminded him once and didn't repeat it again.
“Then let’s do it the old way.” Finn pointed to a few people, “You guys go ahead and scout ahead.”
He then pointed to the two mech pilots in the group and the two brothers with the most powerful abilities besides his, "You are responsible for protecting Mr. Lei. If there is any danger, take him out immediately."
The combat power of wood-type ability users in the Star Alliance who do not have contracted mutated plants is basically negligible. A level 5 user might not even be as good as a level 3 combat-type ability user. Since their remuneration is at stake, they cannot afford to let their employers make a mistake.
The people who were called on nodded. "Don't worry, boss, we know what to do."
Finn: "Now, let's go inside!"
Throughout the entire process, the employer, Mr. Lei, or rather Lu Xuan, remained silent and did not express any opinion.
He simply opened the live stream as the mercenaries entered the mutated forest.
Countless viewers who received special notifications flocked in, including many mercenaries who had already set off from Mercenary Star.
[After being off-air for so many days, it's finally back on air!]
[For the past few years, I streamed every day without fail, rain or shine. But since joining Star Alliance, I've had to stop streaming all the time. I can't stand this injustice!]
[Huh? Has the streamer already left Mercenary Star? Could he have already arrived in Sorenson?]
[So fast! Could it be that they had already left Mercenary Planet by the time the announcement was released?]
[Haha, does that mean all that frantic interception of ships on Mercenary Star those past few days was for nothing? The people have already escaped.]
[I had guessed before that the streamer might go to Sorenson Nature Planet again, and I was right.]
Who are these people next to the streamer? Are they mercenaries?
Lu Xuan said, "It's the mercenary group I hired this time, the Red Maple Mercenary Group."
【？？？】
[Hired? So the streamer didn't come to Sorenson as a mercenary, but as an employer!?]
On the spaceships of numerous mercenary groups, large and small, heading towards Sorenson.
The mercenaries who had been keeping watch on the air station slapped their thighs and cursed, "Damn it! We've been tricked!"
"Red Maple Mercenary Group! I even saw their spaceship take off, but who would have thought that Lu Xuan didn't infiltrate some group as a mercenary, but instead transformed into an employer!"
The group was filled with anger and regret at the thought that the person had left right under their noses.
Inside the live stream room.
Did these mercenaries know the streamer's identity?
[Of course they wouldn't know. Didn't they see the streamer changed their face again? And they deliberately waited until they were already inside Sorensen before starting the broadcast. It's obvious they were trying to deliberately hide their identity.]
[But those who are chasing after us are definitely watching the live stream right now. Wouldn't it be easy for them to find the streamer then? Then there's no point in the streamer changing their identity.]
By the time the others arrive, the anchor will have already gone deeper into the area. Sorenson is so vast; without communication, it might take ten days to two weeks to catch up.
[The streamer is doing this on purpose, isn't he? He's streaming, but he doesn't want anyone to catch him.]
Lu Xuan smirked and said, "Even if I'm a streamer in other places, do you think anyone can catch me so easily?"
He doesn't want people to find him simply because he doesn't want to be disturbed by too many people and disrupt his own pace.
What excuse did the streamer use to hire the Red Maple Mercenary Group? Or is there really some mission they need to complete?
Lu Xuan said, "Actually, it's nothing. I just want to say that I am a high-level wood-type ability user and want to form a contract with a mutated plant."
[Vampire Ivy: Do you think I don't exist?]
[It was just an excuse to leave the mercenary planet smoothly after all!]
I don't think it's just an excuse. Maybe hiring Red Maple was just for convenience, but surely the streamer wouldn't come to Sorensen just to revisit a familiar place, right?
Under the protection of several mercenaries, Lu Xuan walked through the increasingly difficult primeval forest as if on flat ground, casually saying, "The types of mutated beast blood I collected last time were too few, and the beast transformation ability was not fully perfected. This time, I've gathered the rest."
The people in the live stream were immediately invigorated.
[Oh wow! So we'll get to see the streamer fight against a high-level mutated beast this time?]
[I can't wait! I love watching the streamer dominate!]
[What kind of beast blood is the streamer planning to get on this time? Don't they already have sea, land, and air blood?]
Just as Lu Xuan was about to answer, the scout ahead made a hand gesture to those behind them.
Fein gestured for a stop and said in a deep voice, "Be on high alert, a horde of mutated beasts is coming!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the expressions of the dozen or so mercenaries around him instantly turned fierce.
The superhumans' powers surged, and those without superpowers quickly drew their energy guns and other weapons, their fighting spirit ignited.
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Author's note: I haven't finished writing this week's list yet, there will be another update tomorrow.
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