"Mmm~~ Franka-oneechan!! Congratulations on your recovery and discharge!!!"
When Franka, Jessica, and Lucas Reeve returned to the villa together, the moment they opened the door, the sound of party poppers immediately went off. Colorful ribbons sprayed from the poppers and fell all over Franka.
However, only little Ceobe was left holding hers, struggling to open it. Even after everyone else's had already popped, she was still fumbling with it, trying to figure it out.
Then, with a *bang*,
the popper went off, but because she was holding it backward, the streamers shot onto her own head, causing everyone to burst into laughter.
To celebrate Franka's successful discharge from the hospital,
although nothing was organized, everyone had spontaneously gathered at Jessica's villa to celebrate with Franka.
Ceobe, Ifrit, Silence, Shining, Liz, Nearl, and even Magallan, who had rushed back from the ice fields north of Sami, were there.
The High Priest, Zumama, and the intelligent medical cart also came to Jessica's house as usual, ready to freeload a meal.
"Thank you, everyone~
Franka was overjoyed. There was nothing in this world that made her happier than knowing she was in people's thoughts.
Although at Blacksteel Worldwide, Franka was a social butterfly, familiar with almost everyone, able to greet them and exchange a few words, strictly speaking, her only truly close friend was Liskarm, and later, Jessica.
In fact, many people at Blacksteel Worldwide knew about her hospitalization. After all, this mission had resulted in the loss of a total of six B.P.R.S Operators and two elite Operators.
The number of elite Operators at Blacksteel Worldwide wasn't large.
Basically, the loss of each one was a significant blow to the company, not to mention this time they had lost two elite Operators and six B.P.R.S members.
The number of B.P.R.S members wasn't large either.
This was a rare loss of personnel in the history of Blacksteel Worldwide.
Since the details were classified by the Blacksteel CEO, no one knew the specifics. However, it was generally guessed that Liskarm and Franka's squad was lucky enough to hold out until the rescue team arrived. The news of Franka contracting Oripathy naturally spread throughout the company.
During her many days in the hospital,
not many people came to visit Franka.
Given Franka's usual social butterfly status in the company, the number of visitors was surprisingly low.
However.
That was fine.
At least it allowed her to see the true faces of some of her so-called 'friends' with whom she used to joke around.
Now...
This place was a new 'home' for Franka!
The entire dinner party lasted for a long time. Everyone talked and laughed, sharing a rare moment of happiness.
The next day,
Franka could have continued to rest, but with her personality, it was impossible for her to stay idle. Early the next morning, she returned to Blacksteel Worldwide, planning to resign on the grounds of seeking Oripathy treatment at Raythean Medica.
But to Franka's surprise,
her superior did not approve her resignation letter.
Instead, he amiably called her into his office and briefly explained the situation.
The gist was.
Blacksteel Worldwide was now preparing for a deep collaboration with Raythean Medica, and the head office was planning to station Franka and Liskarm at Raythean Medica as special dispatched Operators. From now on, they would no longer need to undertake commissions but could still remain with Blacksteel Worldwide, enjoying the benefits of being an Operator and receiving an additional travel allowance each month on top of their salary.
Business trip...
When Franka learned of this, she was stunned.
How could she not understand that the company was doing this entirely for Jessica's sake, coming up with this talk of collaboration.
As for the reason of a business trip...
The distance between Raythean Medica and Blacksteel Worldwide was only a fifteen-minute journey. Was that really considered a business trip?
However.
What surprised Franka the most was not this, but the importance Blacksteel Worldwide placed on Jessica. She was, after all, an ordinary person and naturally didn't understand the weight of Raythean Industries. To the outside world, Blacksteel Worldwide and Raythean Industries were often considered companies of the same tier.
Although Franka knew that Raythean Industries was much larger than Blacksteel Worldwide,
she was still shocked.
Was the identity of the Raythean Industries heiress really that influential, even in front of the CEO of a giant like Blacksteel?
In fact.
Franka didn't know.
The Blacksteel CEO was purely shaken by the report from the rescue team. Several hundred fully armed enemies, just dead like that, many blown to smithereens. Among them were even the bodies of the 'wolves,' the assassins cultivated by Siracusa. And what shocked the CEO the most was not the number killed, but the weapons used to kill them.
By analyzing the shell casings left on the ground, Blacksteel Worldwide's experts could determine that they came from a bullet of an unrecorded caliber. Moreover, the craftsmanship of these casings was something these experts had never seen before, completely different from the manufacturing process of the Originium Rounds currently circulating on Terra.
How to put it...
It was more advanced.
And these casings were all very, very large.
Not something that could be carried by an ordinary pistol.
Furthermore, based on the time of death, many of the bodies died almost simultaneously.
In other words.
This extermination was almost a complete steamroll, resolved in less than thirty seconds, with hundreds losing their lives.
This was also what worried the CEO.
After seeing these casings, some experts speculated that Raythean Industries might have developed some terrifying new war machine internally. The only thing was, no one knew. This time, there wasn't even the slightest whisper. Their known weapons were already more than a decade ahead of Blacksteel Worldwide's, to say nothing of a war machine with no news at all.
In other words...
Raythean Industries was at least several decades ahead of them...
What did several decades mean?
Raythean Industries could basically launch a curbstomp attack on them.
This was why the Blacksteel CEO was worried.
And.
Jessica, as a junior, even if she was the chairman's daughter, could directly mobilize a confidential weapon of this level. It was clear just how high her status was.
So.
Even the CEO of Blacksteel Worldwide dared not be neglectful. He directly lowered himself to befriend a junior. Although it was a bit shameful, anyone who could reach the position of CEO understood that in this world, face was the most worthless thing.
People who value face as much as their life rarely achieve great things.
Franka never expected the company to give her such a huge surprise. For a moment, she was speechless. She had been worried about what would happen to Liskarm if she left, since Liskarm's dream was to start her own security company, which was why she was learning at Blacksteel. She couldn't possibly accompany her to Raythean Medica.
But this way, wouldn't it solve everything at once?
After thanking her superior, Jessica packed her things, terminated the lease on her rented apartment, and officially moved into Jessica's villa. When she arrived, she saw that Liskarm was already in the villa, unpacking.
"What... are you doing?! Liskarmy!"
"I'm living here too."
Liskarm said with a straight face.
"Fat Fox, your injuries haven't fully healed yet. I'm not entirely at ease, so I'll be staying here for a few days."
"Mmm~~ Liskarmy~~"
Franka threw her arms around Liskarm, snuggling against her chest.
Lucas Reeve hadn't been idle these days either.
Since the High Priest had secretly brought back the Active Originium Crystal, Lucas Reeve had simply attached himself to the High Priest's body, and they had been continuously studying it.
In a corner of Raythean Medica, there was a huge warehouse that Jessica had specially built for Lucas Reeve, for research and forging.
And this time, Lucas Reeve truly gained a new understanding of the High Priest's body.
This Active Originium Crystal, which could cause an ordinary person to contract Oripathy within thirty seconds at a distance of three kilometers, couldn't cause even the slightest harm to the High Priest. The High Priest even pressed his eye directly against the surface of the crystal, which was as dazzling as the sun, and was completely fine.
Of course.
It wasn't that the radiation had no effect on the High Priest, but that the damage it caused couldn't keep up with his recovery speed, so he naturally looked unharmed.
After a month of research,
Lucas Reeve created a brand-new engine that used this Active Originium Crystal as its power source. It could truly achieve operation without needing to refuel. After all, during testing, the engine, connected to an oversized thruster, ran continuously for three full days and nights before stopping, and it only stopped because the thruster overheated and was forced to shut down.
Although the High Priest really wanted Lucas Reeve to install it on the Titan,
but...
Giving such a powerful energy source to the Titan... was truly a bit of a waste, as High-Purity Originium was more than enough for it.
Lucas Reeve felt that this top-tier energy source could only display its best performance in a more meaningful mecha.
However, Lucas Reeve couldn't stand the High Priest's constant nagging.
He could only reach an agreement.
Until the new model of mecha was developed, this Active Originium Crystal would temporarily be placed on the Titan. As for the High Priest's 'wife,' Miss Intelligent Medical Cart, the High Priest also begged Lucas Reeve all day to continue modifying her.
Although Lucas Reeve didn't quite understand the High Priest's fetish.
Since the intelligent medical cart was his 'wife,' why did he like it so much when others tinkered with his 'wife's' body? It was like some kind of useless husband fetish from certain adult films.
Things have been very peaceful on the Reunion Movement's side these days.
The expected Army Group didn't appear, and the Black Serpent seemed to have quieted down during this period, not coming out to cause trouble.
Lucas Reeve was a little disappointed.
He clearly had a Titan now and really wanted to test its power against a real army. Testing it on the Siracusa mafia before was not very interesting, but if the Army Group didn't come, there was nothing Lucas Reeve could do.
Life in the Reunion Movement remained calm, and the group's life was orderly. They even absorbed some Infected who had fled from other places.
It seemed that the Prayer Power that the Reunion Movement could provide him was dwindling. Over the past few months, what was once 1,500 a week had now dropped to less than 1,000. The Prayer Power that Azazel could provide had also decreased significantly, down to about 2,000 a week.
The Eunectes Tribe's contribution had also decreased slightly, to about 10,000 a week. This was mainly because the tribe had a large population, more than the Reunion Movement and Azazel combined. Moreover, the tribe's faith was purer, so even after so long, it could still stably provide over 10,000 Prayer Power per week.
After all these days,
Lucas Reeve's total Prayer Power had also reached 600,000.
He had already completed one-third!!
And in the few months that Lucas Reeve was developing the Titan,
the number of researchers at Raythean Medica had increased considerably.
However, only a few core members specially selected by Silence were responsible for the Oripathy drug. The rest were responsible for researching other medical projects.
After all, Raythean Medica needed to be profitable. Jessica wasn't counting on the Oripathy drug to make a profit, so she needed to profit from other areas.
——————
Recently, the higher-ups in Siracusa haven't been very peaceful.
The main reason was that a powerful Siracusa mafia family called [Wolf Fang] had lost several hundred of its core members outside the country in one go, including the family's most mysterious.
The secret assassination unit, 'Wolf Pack,' which struck fear into the hearts of everyone in Siracusa, had also lost dozens of its members in the wilderness outside the city.
Such a blow to [Wolf Fang], although not enough to shake its foundations, was still a huge loss. The death of several hundred ordinary members was one thing, but the loss of dozens of the 'Wolf Pack' was incredibly painful.
Few people knew what exactly happened, but one thing the other families knew.
[Wolf Fang] had definitely offended an existence they couldn't afford to provoke.
Losing so many experts at once.
Many of the other ruling families were gradually eyeing [Wolf Fang] covetously. Even if they couldn't completely topple it, taking over a part of its assets while it was slightly weakened would be a huge gain.
And with the undercurrents swirling among the ruling families, the whole of Siracusa was like a murky fish tank. As it was stirred, all the water within couldn't help but swirl.
"Hehe! Boss, I caught her!! This is that woman's daughter!! I hope you can put in a good word for me with the big shots."
A sycophantic voice echoed in the small warehouse.
Lisa slowly opened her eyes, but just as she tried to move, she suddenly found her body was completely bound by ropes, unable to move. A white cloth was also stuffed in her mouth, preventing her from making any sound.
She didn't know where she was or how she got here.
Lisa only remembered that she seemed to be at home making dinner, waiting for her mom, who was working overtime, to come home to eat. Then... then... she seemed to hear a knock on the door, and after she opened it, she lost consciousness..
As Lisa tried to calm down and think.
She heard the *bang* of a pistol firing.
Then.
The man who was just speaking immediately became a lifeless corpse, collapsing in a pool of blood. His wide, unseeing eyes happened to meet Lisa's.
"Mmph!! Mmph!!! Mmph!!"