Chapter 1 The Sound Behind

Hearing the sound from behind, Hao Ren could only shake his head and stand up. Then he saw a small squad of soldiers standing a dozen meters away, several small-caliber individual weapons pointing at him.

There were only seven soldiers in this squad, all wearing uniform gray-black combat suits, but their equipment was a motley collection. The only thing they had in common was that they were all armed to the teeth. And the soldier standing in front, seemingly the leader, was quite surprising: she was a girl who looked only sixteen or seventeen years old. It was hard to tell if her face was just too young or if she was really a child soldier. She was holding a light rifle, aiming at Hao Ren, with a striking head of gray hair tied into a single ponytail behind her head. The expression on her face was wooden—beyond the cautious attitude required of a soldier, there was no emotion to be seen.

Hao Ren was surprised that even such young children had to fight in this place, but then he thought that anything was possible in this vast world, so it wasn't so surprising. He opened his hands to show that he was not a threat: "Finally seeing some living people... Don't be so nervous, I'm just passing by."

"What are you doing there?" The voice of the data terminal sounded in his mind. "This unit sensed that you are nearby. Why aren't you coming over to help?"

"Can't you hear the noise around you?" Hao Ren asked in his mind, while observing the squad of soldiers in front of him.

"I don't know what's wrong, this unit's senses are very dull at the moment," the data terminal's voice was very frustrated. "There was probably a problem when I was transferred into the Dream Plane this time. Only a part of this unit's consciousness was transferred. Now I am trying to restart a few service programs."

Hao Ren said "oh," and at the same time saw the "child soldier" girl in front of him point the muzzle of her gun a few times. Several soldiers beside her approached from the left and right. The girl asked with a straight face, "State your identity. Are you a mercenary or a scavenger, a natural human or a second-generation evolved?"

Hao Ren didn't know any of this, but in order to learn more about the situation on this planet, he still wanted to try to communicate with these people: "I don't know what you mean—I'm just passing by here. I wouldn't have come if I had known there was a war going on."

"Could you even find a place that isn't at war?" A soldier wearing a full-coverage helmet laughed, his voice with a muffled echo. He scanned Hao Ren with some device mounted on his rifle, and turned to report to the gray-haired girl, "Nolan, looks like a civilian."

"A civilian?" The gray-haired girl, called Nolan, finally had an expression on her face. She frowned and came over to check in person. Hao Ren saw that there was a small black device on the other person's glove emitting a faint light. She used this device to shine on him from two meters away: it seemed to be a more advanced scanner. "No combat nerve response... Not even the most basic embedded chip?" Nolan looked at Hao Ren in surprise, and subconsciously tightened her grip on the rifle: "An extremely conservative natural human?"

Hao Ren quickly guessed what the various nouns the other party mentioned meant, while trying to reduce the other party's wariness: "Then if you say I'm a natural human, then I'm a natural human. But I don't think I'm an extremist..."

No matter which world you go to, extremists are unwelcome. At least that much is certain.

"Regardless of whether you're an extremist or not," Nolan stared into Hao Ren's eyes, "civilians shouldn't be here. But mercenaries don't care so much, knowing you're not a soldier is enough—this place is not safe, leave quickly. Since you were able to come in, you should also know how to get out."

As Nolan spoke, she prepared to leave with her people. Hao Ren quickly stopped them when he saw this: "Hey, wait! Can I go with you?"

A soldier raised his gun slightly and looked at Hao Ren suspiciously.

Each of them had an almost neurotic alertness. How long has this war been going on?

Hao Ren continued to spread his hands to show that he was not hostile, while fabricating an excuse to reasonably contact these mercenaries (based on Nolan's words, these people were mercenaries): "The people who came with me are all dead. I can't get out of this hellhole alone."

"We get paid for our work," Nolan pointed to a symbol on her chest, "The 'Gray Foxes' unit, honest and reliable. As long as the price is right, we deal with anyone. Since you dare to operate in Rift City, you should know the rules of our mercenary business."

Hao Ren felt relieved, feeling that his judgment was correct: mercenaries were the easiest group to contact in this world—as long as you offered a suitable price.

He had learned all this from dealing with Becky.

And Becky had specifically suggested in this regard: if you come to an unfamiliar world, as long as your words and actions don't seem too suspicious, then finding a group of mercenaries as a starting point is undoubtedly very clever. As long as the price is fair and you don't encounter dangers or temptations that are enough to make them betray you, mercenaries are the best bodyguards and guides. They won't ask too much about the employer's affairs, and as long as the employer doesn't hold them back, they are also willing to answer many things. Again, as long as the price is right.

Of course, the premise is that these mercenaries have some professional ethics.

Hao Ren spread his hands: "I don't have cash, will something else work?"

"Jewelry? Gold?" Nolan looked Hao Ren up and down with a strange expression, "A rich man who escaped? Okay, that works too, but those things are more troublesome to deal with, you have to give me a satisfactory amount."

Hao Ren immediately pretended to reach into his pocket, took a handful from his pants pocket and threw a gold brick over: this was picked up from the planet Tanagothus.

Nolan and her soldiers were stunned. A group of people stared at Hao Ren. The soldier who had completely hidden his face under the helmet couldn't help but say, "You... walking around with a half-jin gold brick in your pocket?!" (One jin is approximately 500 grams)

Hao Ren was reminded by the other party that his actions seemed a bit abnormal: going out without even carrying a wallet, but carrying a half-jin gold brick everywhere, this didn't seem like something a normal person would do...

But at this time, he couldn't explain it, so he could only grit his teeth and nod: "My situation is complicated, it's hard to explain to you. Just tell me if this amount is okay."

Nolan nodded, but then raised her gun: "I don't know if you really lack common sense or what... Don't you think it would be more appropriate for us to just kill you and take your gold?"

The surrounding mercenaries made various strange noises. Several people had already raised their guns.

Hao Ren had thought of this classic scene when he took out the gold, but he didn't expect things to develop so uncreatively: "Then pull the trigger, I guess after the gunshots, you'll discover the door to a new world. But I'll still say, you guys are so unoriginal."

"There are really people who aren't afraid?" Nolan stared, then curled her lips and put down the gun, "Tch, it's not even fun to tease. Let's go. I told you, we are the 'Gray Foxes,' honest and reliable. You and your gold are safe. But if you encounter other mercenaries, you won't be so lucky—you brainless tycoon."

This time it was Hao Ren's turn to be surprised, but it was lucky that these mercenaries maintained their principles in this situation, lucky for both Hao Ren and them.

Nolan then carefully checked the gold brick in her hand, because a normal person wouldn't carry such a gold brick as a travel expense, so her first reaction was that it was fake. But after checking it, she found that the gold was real, but the situation was a bit strange: "Why are there so many teeth marks on this?"

Hao Ren thought about it and felt that he couldn't admit that these were the marks left by his family's dog girl grinding her teeth...

Several mercenaries turned around and prepared to leave. Nolan gestured for her new employer to follow, but Hao Ren suddenly remembered something and quickly called out, "Wait a minute! I left something behind, it's nearby."

Nolan showed an impatient expression: "Hurry up, don't hold us back."

Hao Ren waved his hand and ran to a pile of ruins a dozen meters away, following the signal sent by the data terminal. The mercenaries also followed curiously.

Some collapsed building debris was piled haphazardly on the ground. Based on the warm shell craters nearby, it was recently bombed. Hao Ren felt that the signal from the data terminal was coming from below: that thing really found a good place to land.

Hao Ren bent down to move away the concrete fragments. Nolan asked from the side, "The thing you're looking for is buried under here?"

Hao Ren hummed, trying to maintain the strength and speed that a normal human should have while digging in the ruins. Two mercenaries next to him had kind hearts and also stepped forward to help. Soon, a large hole was cleared in the ruins, and the signal from the data terminal was right in front of him.

However, Hao Ren was stunned by the situation in the hole.

It wasn't his flying brick. (referring to the data terminal)

It was a person.