"Yes, I have a video of the five of them right here," Wang Damao said, immediately producing a memory card.
Before he returned, he'd paid a visit to Black Rat, a well-known hacker in the Lower Level District.
For a certain price, Wang Damao had Black Rat pull the footage from the street cameras, which is how he obtained the video of Liu Miaomiao and the other four.
Huai Feifu tapped the wrist-mounted computer on his right arm. A beam of laser light scanned the memory card, quickly reading its data.
He activated the computer's built-in holographic projector, and a video segment soon appeared in the air.
It showed Liu Miaomiao and her group just after they had entered the Shelter. They were recorded as they followed the main crowd along a thoroughfare toward their living quarters.
In the video, the women were either looking around in amazement or playfully teasing one another. Every expression, whether a frown or a smile, held a captivating allure.
The moment he saw the holographic projection, Huai Feifu's eyes lit up. His gaze lingered for quite a while, especially on Liu Miaomiao and Wang Yao. His eyes glinted as he seemed to be scheming.
"After a long moment, Huai Feifu asked, 'What's that 'White Pig's' name? Which Mercenary Corps is he in? How strong is he? Did you look into all that?'"
Asking such questions made it obvious that he was already interested.
"'His name is Lin Xinghai. He was recruited by the Heaven-Sundering Mercenary Corps upon his return. His Genetic Optimization Level should be around 25%,' Wang Damao said hurriedly. He even went on to describe every detail of his fight with Lin Xinghai."
After listening, Huai Feifu gently tapped his fingers on his chair. A full minute passed before he spoke. "Relay my order: have the Four Great Vajra come see me tonight."
"'Understood.' Wang Damao nodded quickly, but after a moment's hesitation, he asked, 'Boss, shouldn't we inform the Wild Wolf Mercenary Corps?'"
"'Do I need you to teach me how to do my job?' Huai Feifu said coldly."
"'N-no... I wouldn't dare. I'll go inform them right away.' Wang Damao bowed repeatedly and scrambled out of the room."
Once the door was closed, Huai Feifu sank back into contemplation. He had no intention of offering Liu Miaomiao and her friends to the Wild Wolf Mercenary Corps.
While doing so might please certain individuals within the Wild Wolf Mercenary Corps, there was very little tangible benefit in it for him.
After all, the Wild Wolf Mercenary Corps was only a Second Level Mercenary Corps. They might be able to throw their weight around in the Lower City District, but in the context of the entire Star Shield Shelter, they were nothing special.
That was why, for years, he had been trying to find a different path for himself. After several years of effort, he finally had an avenue to make contact with the true bigwigs in the Shelter.
But it was merely contact, nothing more.
If he really wanted to please those powerful figures, let alone latch onto their coattails, it would be no easy feat.
The appearance of Liu Miaomiao and her friends was a golden opportunity. If he played his cards right, he might just be able to leap up the social ladder.
Of course, he would still have to notify the Wild Wolf Mercenary Corps, but he would do it in a different way.
Lin Xinghai was preventing them from collecting protection fees. While this was a loss for the Axe Gang, it was an even bigger loss for the Wild Wolf Mercenary Corps.
This was because every month, they had to hand over seventy percent of their total income to the Wild Wolf Mercenary Corps.
As the saying goes, getting in the way of someone's income is a mortal offense.
A reason like that was more than enough to get the Wild Wolf Mercenary Corps to make a move.
Then, he would capture the five beautiful women to present to the powerful figures in the Shelter, while the Wild Wolf Mercenary Corps would be left to face the wrath of the Heaven-Sundering Mercenary Corps.
'Then everything would be perfect!'
Of course, this plan came with great risk. If the Wild Wolf Mercenary Corps were to discover the truth, his fate was easy to imagine.
'But fortune favors the bold.' Huai Feifu's expression grew increasingly determined.
...
Lin Xinghai, of course, had no idea that a conspiracy against him was brewing.
He spent the entire afternoon wandering through the Lower Level District, feeling like a country bumpkin in the big city. Everything seemed so novel.
Take, for example, the logistics drone hovering overhead, which had been following him.
It was following him because he had ordered six High Level Nutritional Meals and selected the on-site preparation service.
Basically, the thing could function as a cooking robot. The metal box suspended beneath it contained fresh ingredients, cutlery, and so on.
According to the service attendant, it would even clean everything up after the meal was finished before leaving.
The service was excellent, but a package like this certainly wasn't cheap.
He returned to Room 301 in high spirits just before the sky completely darkened.
Of course, here in the Shelter, the 'sky' was merely an illusion created by centrally controlled sun-lamps.
When he opened the door, he found Liu Miaomiao and the others had already returned, though their faces were etched with worry.
"'Ooh! What's that? Let me guess... is it a cooking robot?' Seeing Lin Xinghai enter with the logistics drone, Liu Miaomiao's worried expression instantly vanished, replaced by one of pure curiosity."
"'Yep! I'm treating you all to a feast tonight!' Lin Xinghai said with a smile."
The logistics drone flew into their dorm room, retracted its rotors, extended four limbs, and rapidly transformed into a humanoid robot.
It then opened the large metal box, took out the ingredients and utensils inside, and promptly began to cook.
In the spare time before the meal was ready, Lin Xinghai asked the women how their job search was going.
Just as he'd expected, none of them had any luck. Forget about the official institutions run by the Shelter; even the jobs at partner organizations were in extremely high demand.
Without connections or a network, it was impossible to get a foot in the door for those jobs.
Lin Xinghai fell silent upon hearing this, but for the time being, he didn't have any solutions either.
Fortunately, Liu Miaomiao and the others knew how to lift the mood. The conversation soon shifted from jobs to interesting anecdotes about their experiences in the Shelter, and everyone began chatting happily again.
Twenty minutes later, six steaming High Level Nutritional Meals were served. Lin Xinghai took a bite and couldn't help but marvel, 'Technology really does change your life.'
'Even a random robot like this can make food that's nearly as good as a meal from a five-star hotel in my past life.'
After dinner, the women, with their spirits restored, began discussing where to look for work the next day. Lin Xinghai chimed in half-heartedly as they talked.
Time passed quickly, and at 8 p.m., Room 301 received its first visitor.
"'Captain Roger! Does the Mercenary Corps have a mission for us?' Lin Xinghai's eyes lit up the moment he saw Roger walk in."
The thing he was most looking forward to right now was accumulating 100 points of Blood Qi Power to awaken his Superpower.
"'Ha, you guessed it. You're the first newcomer I've ever seen so eager to take on a mission,' Roger chuckled."
Many missions for Mercenaries are confidential, so it wasn't appropriate to discuss them in the dorm room.
The two of them left the residence and went to an automated café, where they got a private booth to talk.
"After a service robot delivered their two cups of coffee, Roger activated the scanning function on his wrist-mounted computer. Once he confirmed the room was free of listening devices, he spoke. 'This mission is important and extremely dangerous. The pay is high, but speaking personally, I'd rather you not participate.'"
Roger's very first sentence took Lin Xinghai completely by surprise.