The first mission of the smoke and sword mercenary group was only 4,000 credit points, and they had to stay on the Musu planet for seven days miserably. The new star gate has established a perfect node. There are thousands of breeding planets here. It belongs to the wasteland between the stars.
Originally, it would take three cosmic years before the Musu Galaxy could decide its true ownership. At that time, the Republic would make an administrative plan. However, the property owners who bought these planets couldn’t wait any longer, and began to send a large number of robots to reclaim them.
It is very cold here, the temperature difference between day and night is close to the 40-degree cosmic temperature scale, most places are desolate, but the land is very fertile, phosphorus, iron and ammonia are rich in trace elements. The area is planted with Musu flowers.
Raymond negotiated with the employer, expecting some additional task rewards, but the employer was very stingy and didn't take it at all.
"I bought the right to use it for 20 years." The employer shouted, pulling his neck. "It only cost 18 million! You want me 4,000?!"
Raymond was helpless and had to come back depressed. The two squatted on the edge of the farm and acted as scarecrows to guard the greenhouse.
The greenhouse covers an area of hundreds of square kilometers, and it is necessary to drive from one end to the other.
The coefficient of gravity is only 0.7. Opal couldn't help but jump around in the flower fields and feel the thrill of flying into the air.
"Yo he-" Opal's long legs jumped five meters between the fields of the greenhouse like a hurdle, and he touched the roof of the greenhouse.
"Stop playing!" Raymond said angrily.
The opal jumped up and down like an unrestrained spring, and then disappeared without a trace.
At night, Opal came back with his snot, and Raymond borrowed a portable atomic furnace from his employer. The two built a simple nest and kept vigil beside the greenhouse. Even if there was a greenhouse, the overwhelming wind at night still blew from nowhere. Come, the temperature plummeted to minus ten degrees.
"Eat." Raymond shared some meat, sprinkled with sunshine pepper, and poured Opal a small glass of Sagittarius Volcanic Spirit.
Opal said: "How do you work at night?"
Raymond sat cross-legged on the ground and said to himself, "You sleep, I'll be on duty at night."
Opal was eating barbecue meat, looking up at the house outside the greenhouse in the distance. It was brightly lit and glowing bright yellow. The owner's family was eating - it was a cozy and warm nest.
Opal glanced at Raymond, and Raymond said, "What?"
Opal waved his hand, raising an evil curiosity, turned his head sideways, exuding the power of belief, first retreated at a touch, and then secretly spy on Raymond's thinking. What is Raymond thinking? It's okay to read minds once in a while.
Opal's mind reading is very, very little, not as much as hypnotism. This is the first time he has used it seriously. He read Raymond's thinking and felt a strange fluctuation. It was a few bits and pieces, glowing in the dark, advancing... clearer, clearer.
two moons? The scene that Raymond was thinking about was a dark blue sky with two moons on it, the ground was gray, and there were many corpses buried on the ground, like a ruin.
Opal couldn't help looking up, and across the greenhouse roof, he saw three moons in the sky.
Raymond looked up and said, "The moonlight is beautiful."
Opal hummed, analyzing the scene Raymond was thinking, that should be the place he stayed in the past. He didn't dare to ask, and after a while, Raymond's thoughts changed again - it was a warm place with a burning fireplace, just like the employer's house, Raymond was lying on the sofa, opal Sit on the rug and read a book.
Hey? I actually appeared in his mind, and Opal was a little funny.
After dinner, Raymond packed his things and said, "Let's go to sleep first."
Outside the greenhouse, the night wind was bleak, like a wild animal roaring uneasy in the dark. Opal and Raymond leaned against the glowing atomic furnace, leaning and dozing off, Raymond squinted, and Opal looked at the fire in the furnace and looked at the gem in his hand.
"Don't look at it." Raymond said: "Even if it is worth two hundred thousand, you can still sell it?"
"Yes." Opal said: "Each regiment has a souvenir, I don't know what Azeroth gave Wrench to their regiment."
Raymond said: "I have heard that some groups are a cup, and when the twelve star groups are established, they get a sword."
Opal said: "Or when our group grows and recruits more comrades, this gem can also become a family heirloom."
Raymond said, "Forget it, that's enough for now."
Opal put away the gemstone, shrugged, and found one thing, he had never seen Raymond sleeping... Or, he had never seen him fall asleep.
Thoughts drifted away, Opal thought of what Rosen said when he handed him the gem, and the first commission Azeroth received when he became a quasi-F-rank mercenary.
What is the spirit and feelings of a mercenary
Money seems to have become a secondary factor. Opal vaguely senses something. The concept of mercenaries is actually similar to that of the Star Knights. They are busy in the vast universe, ostensibly to earn the employer's remuneration, but in fact when The moment when the commission is completed, there is more than money as a reward for hard work...
Opal fell asleep in a daze, feeling that Raymond put his coat under his head, told him to lie down, and got up to patrol the flower field.
Raymond was smoking a cigarette, wearing a white vest and mercenary trousers. His boots stepped through the wet mud, and a red dot loomed in the darkness. The Musu flower exudes phosphorous spots, and Raymond laughed while thinking about it. He ran a few steps, jumped up silently, leaped a few meters, flew to the top of the greenhouse, and touched the ceiling.
Opal snored and suddenly suffocated in the quiet night, feeling something approaching the center of the flower field from all directions.
He opened his eyes and was underground!
"Raymond?" Opal raised his hand and pressed the silver button on the auricle, and said.
Raymond fell to the ground, stopped, pressed his ear, and said, "What?"
The two of them were silent for a while at the same time, Xixi Suosuo's voice gradually became clear, and Opal said: "There are enemies!"
Raymond turned around and started running, Opal grabbed the weapons they were leaning against the wall, got up and ran towards Raymond! A roar sounded under the moon, and an earthworm-like giant alien creature suddenly emerged from the ground and swirled to devour Raymond!
Raymond jumped, and Opal passed by in mid-air. Opal threw the long-handled axe, and Raymond held it. The two of them spun and landed simultaneously.
Opal: "You support, I stand in the front!"
Raymond: "I am a heavy weapon, in front of me!"
Opal: "I am a shield-type fighting force, I am in front!"
Raymond: "Don't be long-winded! Come here!"
The two were still vying for the forward position, and the giant earthworm let out a piercing roar and plunged forward.
"Get out of the way!"
Raymond pushed the opal away, and the two swept out separately. The earthworm was hitting their previous foothold and burrowing into the mud.
Opal said: "The teacher taught it! The sword can be attacked and defended! You are responsible for support!"
Raymond said frantically: "What are you talking about later! Come here again!"
With two loud bangs, Opal leaped, rolled in the mud, stood up, and cut down the raised ground with a sword, followed by the sound of sharp teeth rubbing, and there was a burrowing ground more than ten meters long. The worm spasmed painfully, slapped on the ground, spilling fluorescent-colored mucus, and the Opal was hit and swept away. It was pitch black all around, and there was another man shouting angrily at the entrance of the greenhouse, and the employer came out.
Several light bullets flew around, and Raymond shouted: "Don't shoot!"
There was an explosion, a loud noise, and the sound of the greenhouse shattering, and Opal struggled to get up, with gold stars in his eyes.
Raymond picked up Opal: "It's okay."
The lights in the greenhouse were turned on, and the wind was blowing in. Opal saw that Raymond's arm was wiped by the light bullet, and it exploded in an instant, and shouted: "What are you out for!"
He rushed over and grabbed his employer by the collar, pushing him to the ground, and Raymond looked around, retrieved the axe, screamed women, and chaos outside the greenhouse.
Raymond said: "Don't hit your employer! Calm down!"
Opal was still furious, pointed at the employer with a gun, and said coldly, "Remember it for me."
"I'm sorry." The employer's daughter said, "My dad didn't mean it... Let me see, are you hurt? We have a radiotherapy device."
The employer's wife came out with a first aid kit, and Raymond waved his hand to indicate that it was okay, simply wrapped it up, took the coat and put it on. Standing in the middle of the flower field with Opal, looking at the tail of the earthworm cut by the axe.
The nearly two-meter-long worm tail wriggled on the ground, and Opal said: "There are no eyes, and the digestive juice is corrosive. This kind of creature should rely on ground vibration sensing to determine the enemy's position."
Raymond nodded and said, "Think of a way to catch this thing."
In the middle of the night, the two were shivering from the cold and huddled together in the messy flower field.
The next morning, when it was dawn, the workers came out to mend the holes in the greenhouse. The employer's eyes were full of red threads, and his face was very ugly. He came out and said, "Your mission is over."
"What?" Opal and Raymond said in unison.
The employer said: "Go back immediately, the commission is over."
Opal frowned, "What do you mean?"
Raymond motioned for Opal to calm down a bit, and said, "We had no choice but to do what happened last night... We will be able to solve this problem today."
The employer roared: "Hiring you here is not for nothing! I messed up my flower field, that thing has not been caught, and the greenhouse is broken like this! I want to complain to your superiors!"
Opal took a deep breath, thought about it, stared into his eyes, and said, "Are you sure?"
Employer: "… "
"Wait." Raymond said, "Let me negotiate."
He took out the mercenary diary and said to his employer: "Sir, you'd better look at this first. Regarding the task rating of this commission, it is a 'D', what does D stand for? It means that you don't need to hire too high-level mercenary groups, As long as you spend a small amount of 4,000 credit points, ask two people to watch the night in shifts, and you can leave when the time is up, so on the principle of delegation, you have concealed some facts from the union."
Opal said: "Don't talk to him, let me come."
"What do you want to do!" The employer said angrily, "Do you want to make money and kill yourself!"
"No no." Raymond pulled Opal aside and whispered in his ear, "Go and help them make up the greenhouse."
Opal said in disbelief, "Why would I do this?"
Raymond said: "Because I am the head of the regiment."
Opal: "You'd better think of some other reason, the second rule of the mercenary code, don't submit to the power, don't use the identity of the head to oppress me."
Raymond frowned and said, "Be obedient."
Opal glanced arrogantly at the employer in the distance, put the sword behind his back, and went to repair the greenhouse.
Raymond went back to negotiate with the employer, and Opal climbed up with a irritable face to help the workers.
Raymond said to the employer: "You fired us now, that big guy will come back in a few days, maybe more, you can't do anything about it. And when we go back, we will report the mission details to the union, you see, mercenary diary It's all written on this page. They will send someone to investigate, and finally deduct 50% of your commission fee as a penalty for breach of contract. Since then, you will be blacklisted in the capital of mercenaries, and no one will accept it again. Your mission is over, why bother?"
The employer said: "You don't have this ability at all! I..."
"Have this ability." Raymond said: "Last night was purely an accident of incomplete information collection, and you also have a certain responsibility. Because you didn't tell us what's going on here. Now that it's clear, we'll help you solve it."
"Look." Raymond said again: "My people have repaired your greenhouse. You can think for yourself, whether to fire us now and get on the blacklist of the mercenary country, or continue to cooperate."
The employer glanced at Opal in the distance and went home angrily.
Opal turned out of the greenhouse from the ladder, the sun came out, the earth was very warm, and the temperature in the greenhouse rose a lot. He looked at the wasteland in the distance with a thoughtful expression.
Raymond came over, the two exchanged glances, and they understood each other.
"What are you thinking?" Raymond asked.
Opal replied: "You can use the outside terrain to set up a trap."
Raymond said: "I want to dig a hole along the area where it came out yesterday and have a look."
Opal: "Oh forgive me, I really don't want to burrow anymore."
Raymond laughed and said, "Then you have the final say."
Opal carried the big sword, looked around, and said, "I need a lasso, like the one used by the little green people to control the giant bull beast on Kodo... What is it called?"
Raymond was confused: "What?"
Opal drew the shape of a rope on the ground, and in the next time, the two began to work, tying a noose with the long rope left from the tent. Time passed slowly, and this time the giant burrowers did not appear again.
Raymond asked, "Where did you learn this?"
Opal said: "The teacher taught me, he taught me before, when dealing with large and dangerous creatures without intelligence, you can try to weaken its combat effectiveness from control, fighting, trapping, etc., and finally end the battle with one blow."
Raymond nodded, and Opal said, "Where did you learn to negotiate with people?"
Raymond knotted the rope without lifting his head, and his fingers twisted the steel bars with such force that not even Opal could match him.
"If it is said that it is innate, do you believe it?" Raymond said.
"But when I saw you for the first time," Opal said, a little bewildered, "you're not like this at all."
Raymond said: "That's because I'm too unfamiliar with the environment. I have to be more careful. I don't know whether the people around me are friendly or malicious, and some planets are very dangerous."
He looked up at Opal and smiled. Opal looked at his handsome eyebrows and found that compared to the first time they met, the guarded look in Raymond's eyes was gone, replaced by a familiar look.
It was as if he had seen it in Rector's eyes.
Raymond said: "I didn't like to deal with people before..."
Opal said, "What about now?"
Raymond said: "It's okay, just make it."
Both of them laughed, and the voice of the girl behind them said, "Two gentlemen."
Raymond turned his head, his smile was handsome and full of sunshine, the girl was stunned, handed them a basket full of food, and smiled: "I'm very sorry about my father."
Opal waved his hand and said, "It doesn't matter."
Raymond said: "None of us took it to heart."
Opal's noose was ready, he got up to try it out, ran out of the plain a few steps forward, leaped into the sky in the sun with a hoot, and when he turned around, he threw off the steel rope gracefully, shaking out a flash of rope. It fell from head to toe, and then flipped on the ground, bouncing back and forth like juggling.
Raymond laughed and sat down by the greenhouse.
The employer's daughter hugged her knees, tidied up her skirt and sat beside him, chatting with him with a smile, until her father rushed out to find someone and went home.
"You want to marry her?" Opal asked as he rolled up the tightrope and came back.
"Maybe." Raymond put a musu berry in his mouth, looked at him defiantly, and the juice splashed: "Why are you so concerned about this?"
Opal picked up a few berries at random, and suddenly tried desperately to stuff it into Raymond's mouth.
In the greenhouses, they pulled intricate threads like a spider's web over a flower field.
The sixth day passed, and everything was uneventful, the flower fields were repaired, and the earthworms did not appear again. Opal and Raymond were sitting in the corner of the greenhouse, with Opal holding a big sword, and Raymond bent one leg, with a long-handled axe on his shoulders, dozing off in the dim light of the new moon.
"Maybe not again." Raymond said.
"Wait, be patient," Opal said.
Raymond: "I don't think people who are impulsive like you would be patient."
Opal: "I have always been patient with battles, but only with people."
Raymond nodded, and Opal said, "Dude, what exactly did you do before?"
Raymond was silent, and Opal said casually: "It doesn't matter if you don't want to say it, I'm just curious."
While speaking, Opal did a very cheap thing. While saying it was okay, he released his mental power and secretly read Raymond's thoughts.
At the same time, in Opal's heart, he was still apologizing to the poor master Rector, who taught him this skill, but never used it where he should.
He read the same scene again—two moons, a barren and abandoned planetary factory, and the ground covered with corpses.
The faces of the corpses were all of Raymond's. One Raymond stood, with hundreds of his corpses strewn around his feet, looking like a big pit filled with corpses.
Nightmare? Opal narrowed his eyes, trying his best to explore Raymond's spiritual world in his thinking activities. What does this mean? He remembered what Lecter once said, the self in his soul has died, and after destroying countless self, he ushered in a new life...
"You'll find out later," Raymond said.
The scene that Opal read changed again, returning to the union in the country of mercenaries, that was Raymond's perspective - Opal stood in the noisy hall, turned his shoulders, and said something to him.
Opal began to recall what he said at that time, "I have a spaceship"
"Opal." Raymond said, "Did you hear that?"
There was a faint vibration on the ground, very weak, but they felt it at the same time. Opal immediately grabbed the noose and signaled Raymond to start. The two made a gesture. Raymond took the noose, jumped, and jumped on The rope net at the top of the greenhouse bounces from rope to rope.
Opal pressed the light switch, and the entire greenhouse lit up.
The ground shaking kept approaching, and Opal trotted towards the center of the flower field, each step was thick and heavy, he ran fast with the big sword on his back, until the giant earthworm drilled out of the mud!
The roar sounded in the quiet night, the burrowing worm rushed out of the ground and hit the rope net, and Opal shouted: "Be careful!"
The rope net stirred, and Raymond almost fell. Opal avoided the tube-shaped mouth that fell on his head and rolled to avoid it. Raymond chased after the rope net above his head. He hooked the rope firmly and twisted it, and threw the noose around in the air.
The arc flew away, the head of the giant earthworm was covered, and the mouthparts full of fangs were immediately bound tightly. The earthworms rolled all over the ground and crushed five or six flower stands sideways. Raymond said, "It's your turn!"
Opal was smashed to pieces, and the alloy rope swept past in front of him. He subconsciously reached out and grabbed it. In an instant, he was taken flying into the air. The giant earthworms smashed around and slammed into the greenhouse. The transparent debris flying all over the sky rushed out of the greenhouse!
Opal roared: "Hurry up! This thing is harder to catch than you think!"
Opal put his left hand in front of him, bowed to block the debris and flower mud that came in front of him, and was taken out of the greenhouse like an arrow. When he was in the air, he grabbed the alloy rope with his backhand and shouted: "Where do you want to run! "And then kicked the giant earthworm on the head.
The roar was hysterical, the giant earthworm twitched and rolled, scrambling left and right on the plain, arching and rolling, trying to throw the opal off, like a mad beast, dashing its head to the ground several times, but the mouthparts were fastened by the noose. Trapped, unable to swallow the soil and dig a hole, nor spray the digestive juice to hurt the enemy.
It was too late, but Raymond chased him out of the greenhouse. His mechanical long-handled axe glowed with golden radiance in the moonlight, drew an arc, and slashed toward the ground.
When Opal lifted the reins, the giant earthworm turned, and Raymond cut its tail into two pieces.
"Good job!" Opal yelled.
The giant earthworm went crazy for a moment, and the broken part spurted out the digestive juice. Raymond and Opal shouted at the same time: "Be careful!"
It dragged the fluorescent green acid all the way, and every time Opal lifted the reins, a green acid trail was spilled. Raymond avoided the acid and swung the long-handled axe with one hand.
The nearly two-meter-long mechanical weapon flashed with electric lights, and the long handle gracefully circled between his fingers and fell off again.
With a single blow, Raymond pulled the axe to avoid it. The burrowing worm spasmed painfully in the acid solution, rampaged all the way, and rushed out of the wasteland blindly. The two axe had already chopped down nearly five meters in length.
"Chop... small pieces... point!" Opal shouted in the turbulence, grabbing the reins and kicking it again.
The burrowing worm rushed farther and farther, and slammed into the wireless tower on the edge of the farm. Opal slammed a big bag on the head, and was carried around in the fog. Raymond tried his best to run, The man raised the mechanical axe high in the air, and the roar was another fierce axe!
At that time, the burrowing worm was chopped off by another half of its length, and the head of the remaining two or three meters was completely exhausted. Opal took out the big sword behind him, leaped back and shot with a sword, pinning its remaining head to the ground.
At that moment, the bald head of the burrowing worm let out a terrifying roar that lasted for a full five seconds, spewing out countless digestive acids, and shriveled like a rag pocket.
Opal touched the big bag on his head, panted while leaning on the tower, and was turned around and vomited.
"Good job." Raymond said, "I wish you a long life—"
Opal clenched his fist and touched him, then turned to look at the greenhouse, which was full of mess again.
The next day, the employer was going crazy. Opal collected four neat worm carcasses, 2.5 meters, 2.5 meters, three meters, and two meters. They were neatly chopped into four pieces by Raymond's axe and placed in front of the greenhouse.
"This leather can be given to you." Raymond said.
The employer yelled angrily, "What's the use of me asking for this!"
"Don't be like this, man." Opal said regretfully, "Be kind and make money, right? Come and sign the bill with your fingerprints."
Raymond said: "You just commissioned us to drive away or kill all the local creatures that invaded the greenhouse, but you didn't ask us to keep the greenhouse as it was."
The employer stared at them fiercely and said, "You guys just wait and see!"
Opal smiled: "Pretty."
Raymond smiled modestly, closed the mercenary diary, and went back to the spaceship with Opal to hand over the task.
However, when they returned to the union, neither of them laughed.
"How many times have I told you not to offend the employer!" the trade union clerk said: "Otherwise, points will be deducted! Deductions!! We have already been sued! You are a disgrace to Sunlight City!"
Opal roared: "Can you figure it out, please!! This commission is inherently problematic..."
The clerk said: "Since there is a problem, why don't you apply for institutional arbitration first..."
Opal growled: "I've been frozen in that hell for six days and six nights! I almost died in the stomach of a coelenterate..."
Clerk: "It's none of our business! Deduct points!"