Dual Worlds: I Have a Doomsday World

Master Ma had handled the situation with more composure and ease than King Arthur.

Three veteran members of the Mercenary Corps had spoken, but Lin Qi remained silent. The situation in Red Fruit City was perhaps even more unique than elsewhere.

The tense atmosphere caused by the Liu Clan’s internal strife had made Ning Hao, a Bearer, act more radically than the others.

If Lin Qi revealed too much, someone as perceptive as Capitalist could easily lock onto key information and deduce his location.

Once his location was deduced, it wouldn’t be long before his identity was exposed.

Jingang, who was last in seniority, saw that even a veteran member like Lin Qi was quiet, so he naturally kept his mouth shut.

Jingang was very clear about his own role: he was Capitalist’s top enforcer.

If Capitalist said go east, he would never go west.

To him, Capitalist was the one who had given him a new life.

Closer even than his own parents.

Although neither of them spoke, their gazes were also locked on Guang Ling.

Guang Ling was in his usual state for these meetings, arms crossed, one hand tapping lightly on the opposite bicep.

Only after everyone had finished speaking did Guang Ling begin.

"This mission had a lot of unexpected developments."

His first sentence summarized what had transpired.

Guang Ling continued, "The client hid a great deal of key information, and I failed to detect the irregularities in time during my background investigation. The shadows of more than one Intercontinental Influence are involved."

His second sentence was an admission of his own mistake in selecting the mission.

While Guang Ling was indeed the one to take the fall, most mercenaries knew that if you kept taking jobs, it was impossible to never get screwed over by a client.

The Black Market was filled with countless missions that looked simple on the surface but were actually tied to major corporations or even the Big Business Alliance.

For the Highest-Level Mercenary Corps to have operated this long before being duped for the first time was, in itself, a stroke of incredible luck.

But whether such an explanation would be enough to earn the members’ trust, only they themselves truly knew.

After admitting his mistake, Guang Ling didn’t dwell on the matter, nor did he offer an apology.

Guang Ling went on to explain the phased solution for the mission. "After the Alliance City operation concluded, even though the Mercenary Corps is still technically on this assignment, I filed a formal inquiry about the mission with the Black Market."

"Progress was slow at first, but after the Eastern Alliance officially launched its operation yesterday, our inquiry gained the Black Market’s support."

"Through a three-way negotiation between myself, the Black Market, and the client, we’ve reached a resolution."

"First, the original mission is now considered partially complete. We will be paid fifty percent of the original bounty, which comes to 250 million Credit Points."

Everyone was listening to Guang Ling’s report. The moment he mentioned 250 million Credit Points, everyone’s heart—with the exception of Capitalist’s—skipped a beat.

’How much?’

’250 million?’

That was almost as much as the combined bounties from all the Mercenary Corps’ previous missions.

And that was only *half* the bounty for this single job.

In other words, the original bounty for this job was a whopping 500 million Credit Points!

’How on earth did Guang Ling land this mission?’

’Is this the kind of mission a T2-rated mercenary corps, which is all our score qualifies us for, should even be taking?’

’No wonder the mission was so damn hard.’

’A bounty that high comes with a price.’

King Arthur mulled over the 250 million figure, starting to suspect he might have misjudged Guang Ling...

As for Lin Qi, he was busy doing a rough calculation, comparing his own official net worth to that 250 million.

’I hold stock in United Pharmaceutical, and I’m a shoo-in to become an S-Class Pharmaceutical Researcher.’

’250 million?’

’It doesn’t seem like that much at first glance.’

’But then again, this is just half the bounty for a mission that’s taken less than a month.’

’From that angle, it’s not surprising at all that an Intercontinental Influence is involved.’

In the shadows, Lin Qi’s expression remained largely unchanged, and his doubts about Guang Ling hadn’t diminished in the slightest.

There was still a massive gap between Guang Ling’s performance on this mission and his usual standards.

Lin Qi even suspected that Guang Ling might have deliberately engineered the current situation.

Without revealing a hint of his thoughts, Lin Qi continued to listen to Guang Ling’s report.

"In addition to the partial payout, the bounty for the remainder of the mission has been increased to 750 million. Combined with the 250 million already deposited into the Highest-Level Mercenary Corps’ account, the total bounty is now one billion Credit Points."

’A one-billion-Credit-Point bounty?’

That was nearly comparable to the annual profit of a smaller major corporation.

With the bounty raised that high, it was easy to imagine how much more difficult the new mission parameters would be.

Upon hearing the one-billion figure, King Arthur was the first to break his silence.

King Arthur’s tone was laced with suspicion. "A bounty this high... you’re not going to tell us we have to snatch someone from the Eastern Alliance, are you?"

"The mother sample’s Bearer is a Tier Four to begin with, and now the Eastern Alliance has sent two more. Snatching our target is completely unrealistic..."

It wasn’t just unrealistic. If the mission required Tier Four Extraordinaries to lay down their lives, a billion Credit Points would actually be on the low side.

Especially since more than one of the Mercenary Corps’ own Tier Four Extraordinaries was already embroiled in this.

Both King Arthur and Master Ma were caught up in it.

Hearing King Arthur’s comment, Guang Ling’s upper body finally shifted.

His head, cloaked in shadow, slowly shook. "No. We won’t need to confront the Eastern Alliance’s Tier Four Extraordinaries."

"On the contrary, we will be assisting the Eastern Alliance with their encirclement operation."

’No confrontation? We’re even helping the Eastern Alliance?’

’Wait, the Eastern Alliance needs help?’

Compared to the other members of the Mercenary Corps, Lin Qi had more information.

The Eastern Alliance did, in fact, need outside help.

For instance, with the massive outbreak of a new type of cyber psychosis in Red Fruit City, Baili Xueyuan had sought help from both United Pharmaceutical and Liu’s Heavy Industries, and had even tried to get Lin Qi himself involved.

But if the job was just to deal with the new strain of cyber psychosis, it wouldn’t require the Highest-Level Mercenary Corps, nor would it command a price of one billion Credit Points.

Guang Ling didn’t leave them hanging and continued, "According to the latest intel from the client, our previous operational approach was fundamentally flawed."

"The mother sample is being hosted within ordinary Implanters via the S-Artemis Neuro-Driven Storage Prosthetic Body, creating a group of individuals who possess Tier Four Extraordinary Power."

"But in essence, there is only one mother sample, and consequently, only one true source of its Extraordinary Power."

"Therefore, among the known Implanters of the S-Artemis Neuro-Driven Storage Prosthetic Body, there must be one true Bearer. This individual carries the complete mother sample and wields all of its Extraordinary Power."

"The Mercenary Corps’ mission has been amended: find the true mother sample Bearer and acquire the true mother sample."

In essence, the mission hadn’t actually changed.

At the very start, the mission required the Highest-Level Mercenary Corps to acquire a sample of Ninghang Technology’s new product.

But later, the "sample" was specified to be a "mother sample," as opposed to "sub-samples."

Then, all trace of the mother sample vanished, but these special individuals known as "Bearers" were discovered.

Based on Guang Ling’s assessment, the objective shifted to capturing a Bearer.

But in the end, they discovered that every single Bearer was suspected of being a Tier Four Extraordinary.

Expecting a single mercenary corps—the Highest-Level Mercenary Corps—to capture more than ten Tier Four Extraordinaries?

That was asking far too much of a T2-rated group like the Highest-Level Mercenary Corps.

But now, based on the latest intel from Guang Ling, they realized the mission’s core objective had never changed.

It had always been about the sample.

The only thing that had changed was the corps members’ understanding of what the "sample" actually was.

Listening to Guang Ling, Lin Qi rapidly processed the new intelligence, integrating it with what he already knew.

’So there’s a special one among the Bearers?’

’Which one is it?’

’Are there any distinguishing features?’

’Or maybe the S-Artemis Neuro-Driven Storage Prosthetic Body they use is different from the others?’

’I observed Ning Hao’s S-Artemis Neuro-Driven Storage Prosthetic Body. It was identical to the one I saw in Alliance City.’

’The one and only mother sample, the true Bearer... It’s unlikely they would appear in Red Fruit City.’