Among all the security companies on Terra, Blacksteel Worldwide was considered very humane.
At least in terms of treating its own mercenaries and its integrity, it was an absolute industry benchmark.
Not only was the commission split for completed contracts nearly the highest in the industry, but they also provided various types of insurance for their mercenaries for free. Even after a successful retirement, they would provide a small monthly pension sufficient to keep one from starving. If a mercenary was disabled due to a contract, Blacksteel Worldwide would cover all medical expenses and re-hire the disabled mercenary into a logistical support position within the company.
Perhaps the cafeteria lady or the cook at Blacksteel Worldwide was a former veteran mercenary injured on a mission.
It was precisely because of this.
That Blacksteel Worldwide had grown so large. Although not on the same level as Raythean Industries or Rhine Lab, it could be considered number one among security companies.
Jessica walked quickly, her small frame moving with a sense of purpose. She rushed anxiously towards the Blacksteel Worldwide office building. Along the way, she encountered many mercenaries she knew who greeted her, but she had no time to respond.
Reaching the top floor of the office building, she pushed open the innermost door. In her haste, Jessica burst in without even announcing herself.
"Hello! Please, what's happened to Senior Franka and Senior Liskarm??"
Sitting at the main desk in the office was the current CEO of Blacksteel Worldwide.
In the past.
Jessica would have been very careful in greeting him. After all, he was a giant in the Columbian corporate world.
But now, the situation was too urgent, and Jessica was extremely anxious.
Before Lucas Reeve appeared, Franka and Liskarm were not only Jessica's only two good friends but also the two seniors she respected the most. It was because she knew the dangers of being a mercenary that she knew even with their strength, accidents could happen.
That's why Jessica had extended an olive branch to Franka and Liskarm after founding her company. She was afraid something would happen to her two seniors...
When she had just learned that Franka and Liskarm might be in trouble, Jessica felt as if her world was collapsing. If it weren't for Lucas Reeve being by her side, her past self would have been at a complete loss.
"Miss Jessica, please don't worry."
The CEO of Blacksteel Worldwide didn't put on the airs of a corporate giant upon seeing Jessica. After all, compared to the Raythean Industries that Jessica represented, his own giant status was somewhat lacking. He wouldn't give much face to the children of ordinary giants.
But Jessica was different.
As the most doted-on daughter of the chairman of Raythean Industries, and the likely successor, she was not someone to be trifled with.
"As soon as we received the distress code sent back by Operator Franka, we immediately dispatched a search and rescue team to provide support."
As the CEO of Blacksteel Worldwide, speaking to Jessica in such a gentle tone was already giving her a lot of face.
In theory.
Although elite operator teams were not numerous at Blacksteel Worldwide, there were still some. For a security company like Blacksteel Worldwide, accidents were a common occurrence. Even if an elite operator was in trouble, it wouldn't normally alarm him, the chairman. But this time was different.
Franka and Liskarm were Jessica's former seniors and had a close relationship. If something happened to them, who knew if Jessica would blame Blacksteel Worldwide for not informing her immediately.
"Boss, I'd like to know what mission Senior Franka was on."
Under Lucas Reeve's comfort, Jessica tried her best to calm down.
Due to the confidentiality of the mission.
Franka naturally couldn't disclose the mission details to Jessica beforehand.
The CEO of Blacksteel Worldwide waved his hand.
A secretary, who was already prepared, stepped forward and explained Franka's mission to Jessica in detail.
Besides her status as an elite operator, Franka was also a member of Blacksteel Worldwide's Biochemical Protection Response Personnel (B.P.R.S). This department was specifically created by Blacksteel Worldwide to deal with Infected crises caused by Oripathy. Any issue related to Oripathy fell under this department's jurisdiction.
And Franka and Liskarm's mission this time was related to Oripathy contamination.
In addition to Franka and Liskarm, another two-person elite operator team and several other B.P.R.S members were assigned to handle this mission.
In theory.
With so many people, nothing should have gone wrong.
And this kind of emergency distress code would only be sent when the situation was extremely critical, possibly when their lives were in grave danger.
The content of the mission was that a powerful mafia family in Siracusa had an accident while conducting an experiment with Originium. The experimental site completely exploded, and all the experimenters on site died instantly. Most of them were directly vaporized by the intense explosion.
After the explosion, the compressed, special Originium energy instantly contaminated a six-kilometer radius. Fortunately, it was some distance from the city; otherwise, such an accident would have been catastrophic. And that wasn't the worst part. At the center of the explosion was a high-concentration active Originium crystal.
Having lost its protective layer, this active Originium crystal, containing an unknown amount of radioactive energy, continuously radiated high-concentration Originium energy, polluting the surrounding three kilometers.
If an ordinary person stayed within the six-kilometer radius for more than five minutes, they would immediately contract Oripathy. For those who were already Oripathy patients, the growth of the disease would accelerate at an incredible rate.
And if it was within the three-kilometer core radioactive zone.
An unprotected ordinary person would become Infected in less than a minute!
Moreover.
These Infected were different from other Infected.
The infection level of those turned into Infected by this radioactive Originium would far exceed that of ordinary Infected.
It could be said to be extremely dangerous.
The mission entrusted to Blacksteel Worldwide's B.P.R.S department was to have them enter the core contaminated area, which was completely inaccessible to normal people, and place the active Originium crystal that caused this tragedy back into a specially made, radiation-proof container. That would be considered a successful completion.
That was all the mission content provided; only Franka and the others involved in the mission knew the specific details.
*Sigh....*
Lucas Reeve sighed.
Man-made again.
Of course...
Humanity's greatest talent is courting death... no matter which world.
This world has a wondrous thing like Originium, so they started researching Originium in all sorts of ways.
"According to the distress code sent back by Elite Operator Franka, out of the ten people on this mission, eight have already died in the line of duty. The only survivors are Operator Franka and Operator Liskarm. However, it seems they are currently facing a life-threatening crisis. Since the code was short and time was pressing, it wasn't very clear. We only know that their current location should be somewhere near the northwest of the mission site."
The secretary handed all the prepared documents to Jessica. After thanking the CEO of Blacksteel Worldwide again, Jessica immediately turned and left.
Meanwhile, Lucas Reeve had already dialed another number.
"Hello... High Priest, get ready to move out...."
Jessica did not take Blacksteel Worldwide's low-altitude shuttle but used her own.
Jessica's shuttle, under Lucas Reeve's modifications and optimizations, was considerably faster than before. When the two of them boarded the shuttle, the High Priest and Zumama were already waiting on board. The pilot was the medical cart, medical-10.
The medical cart originally only had medical functions.
But under Lucas Reeve's subsequent modifications, the computer inside the medical cart had absorbed an unknown amount of knowledge from other fields, including piloting a shuttle.
The shuttle took off.
Jessica was restless. She was incredibly worried about Franka and Liskarm's situation. The other eight operators had already died, which meant that Franka and Liskarm could lose their lives at any moment. The faster she arrived, the higher the chance of Franka and Liskarm's survival.
"Don't worry, they'll be fine."
Lucas Reeve floated out and gently patted Jessica's head. He understood her feelings very well.
For the Jessica of the past.
Franka and Liskarm were basically the seniors she respected the most, her absolute pillars of emotional support, and her only two true, close friends.
The possibility that her two friends might be in trouble weighed heavily on Jessica's heart.
If not for the fact that she had grown a lot in the past few months, her past self would have already broken down in tears, completely at a loss.
"If you can't hold it in, don't. I'm here, Jessica...."
Lucas Reeve gently stroked Jessica's soft hair.
This sentence from Lucas Reeve officially became the outlet for Jessica's emotions.
Instantly.
Large teardrops rolled down from Jessica's eyes. She finally broke down crying with a sob, throwing her arms around Lucas Reeve and burying her head in his chest. Lucas Reeve quickly materialized to hold her in his arms.
"Mr. Reeve!! I really don't want anything to happen to Franka and Liskarm!! I'm so scared... so worried....."
After all, she was just a timid girl a few months ago. How could she change completely in one go?
Lucas Reeve had known for a long time.
The composed and proper demeanor she displayed was something she forced upon herself. Only in front of Lucas Reeve could she shamelessly show her truest, former self.
"They'll be fine. Trust in Franka and the others. And... no matter who the enemy is, they will eventually pay the price for their actions."
On the way.
Lucas Reeve had already figured that the mission was definitely not as simple as the contract stated.
If it were just entering a radiation zone, such a mission would absolutely not take over a month. Besides, the worst that could happen in a radiation zone was that everyone would become infected; it was unlikely to result in death. After all, even after becoming Infected, the shortest time from infection to death from an Oripathy outbreak is several months. How could they die instantly?
There was only one possibility.
There was an enemy not mentioned in the mission briefing.
Beside them.
Zumama watched Jessica crying in Lucas Reeve's arms. She felt a little envious, then turned her head to look out the window. The High Priest, meanwhile, flapped its wings and took the documents from Lucas Reeve's hand. After a moment, the High Priest suddenly exclaimed.
"Whoa... this is serious."
"Hm?"
Lucas Reeve looked at the High Priest in confusion.
"Did you find something, High Priest?"
"Of course!"
"Do you know about active Originium crystals?"
"Not really, what's wrong?"
Lucas Reeve really didn't know much about it; this was the first time he had heard the concept of active Originium.
"Let me put it this way."
The High Priest began to explain: "Active Originium is an incredibly special type of Originium found in nature. As you know, natural Originium has many impurities and needs to be industrially refined to produce High-Purity Originium. But active Originium is an extremely rare, naturally pure Originium. Its purity even exceeds that of High-Purity Originium. Furthermore, due to a special power within it, it can continuously generate a large amount of Originium energy. The only drawback is its extreme radioactivity."
"This type of ore is very, very rare in nature, extremely scarce. Generally speaking, because this Originium is so rare."
"No one would be bored enough to use it as an energy source. Instead, it would be processed into various staff ornaments. These staff ornaments are imbued with special properties during the processing."
"Furthermore, because the energy of active Originium is inexhaustible, it can provide a continuous stream of power without a Caster needing to inject Originium energy. For example, a strength-enhancing active Originium necklace."
"And this active Originium crystal is a big deal."
"It is formed by concentrating countless active Originium stones through an extremely complex process. If this kind of Originium were used in Titan, Titan's energy supply would truly be of no concern... although that would be very wasteful."
——————
"Damn it! Liskarmy, I never thought we'd screw up like this one day."
Completely exhausted, her legs severely injured to the point where even standing was a problem, Franka sighed and sat on the ground. Beside her, Liskarm protected her fiercely from behind.
At this moment.
The two of them were in terrible shape, completely unlike their polished appearance in Columbia.
Their hair was disheveled, and due to a long lack of food, both had become noticeably thinner. Moreover, Franka's thigh was festering and deformed with a very obvious wound. Liskarm's injuries were better, but besides her legs, the clothes on Franka's chest were soaked through with blood. Although her clothes covered it, one could guess how serious the chest wound was.
Her voice was weak, with a hint of self-mockery.
"I promised Jessica I'd work for another year or two and then retire to be her bodyguard. I guess... you can never be sure about the future of a mercenary."
"Don't talk like that, Fat Fox!!"
"The distress signal has been sent out successfully! The company will send a rescue team. And Jessica, Jessica and Lucas Reeve will come too. Even if you don't trust the rescue team, you have to at least trust Mr. Reeve, right!! Didn't you tell me before that Mr. Reeve is omnipotent?! He'll definitely find a way to get here!!"
Franka lay on the ground and shrugged weakly.
"It's precisely because I believe in Mr. Reeve that I've held on this long without dying. A normal person would have died long ago from these injuries."
Franka said it casually, without any of the fear that usually accompanies impending death.
And surrounding Franka and Liskarm, a large group of people had already closed in.
"Meddlesome mercenaries!"
"If you hadn't stuck your noses into the feud between our two families, you wouldn't be in this mess...."
The leader sneered.