Chapter 185: Chapter 161: The New Member Is an Honest Person?

The only lead came from Master Ma. The Capitalist had used the information about a Tier Four Martial Artist to acquire some intelligence.

"Since our new member is about to be rescued, let’s get the process started."

"Old Liu, according to our Mercenary Corps’ rules, each member must choose a codename for themselves, and also tell us your name, gender, age, Extraordinary Profession, and exact home address. This is how you’ll earn the trust of the veteran members."

King Arthur began her performance. She recalled trying to pull the same stunt on Lin Qi.

Unfortunately, Lin Qi was too savvy to fall for such tricks; he hadn’t even fully trusted Guang Ling.

In the end, King Arthur had to give up in disappointment and ended up giving Lin Qi a general overview of the Mercenary Corps, following the actual procedure.

Faced with King Arthur’s attempt to fool him, would the new member still be so earnest?

Obviously not!

The new member’s earlier attitude was purely an act of survival. After getting help from the Capitalist, he returned to his usual self.

After surviving in the lowest levels of Alliance City for so long, there was no way a creature like an "honest person" could exist there.

The new member looked directly at the Capitalist.

Even though they were obscured by shadows, the Capitalist understood what the new member meant.

He had practically sold his life to the Capitalist. At a time like this, the Capitalist had to be the one to step up and say something.

"After joining the Mercenary Corps, you’ll choose a codename for yourself. There’s no need to reveal your true identity."

"Also, you need to understand one thing: ’Highest Level’ is just the name of the Mercenary Corps. Based on our current rating on the Black Market, we’re at most..."

Before the Capitalist could finish, Guang Ling jumped in to add to his statement.

"T2. We’re a T2-tier Mercenary Corps now. We earned a significant number of Black Market points from the Greenfield City mission. The Highest-Level Mercenary Corps now has considerable influence in the Asian Administrative Region."

The Capitalist paused for a moment, apparently syncing up with intelligence from the Big Business Alliance.

A moment later, the Capitalist continued, "Yes, we are now a T2-tier Mercenary Corps. We’re certainly not nobodies anymore."

Listening to the two leaders talk, the new member instantly gathered a wealth of information.

’The Highest-Level Mercenary Corps made a huge score in Greenfield City?’

He sucked in a sharp breath. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

’That mission was rumored to have involved even a T0 Mercenary Corps! The mysterious Mercenary Corps I just joined seems unbelievably powerful!’

Amid his shock, the new member also realized that King Arthur had just been trying to mess with him.

But he couldn’t muster any resentment.

It was just a harmless prank from the higher-ups.

’Joining a Mercenary Corps like this is my chance! A chance to escape the bottom rung of society!’

"Understood. Then my codename will be... Jingang."

The new member, or Jingang, as he was now called, quickly adapted to the group’s way of communicating and confirmed his codename.

"Jingang? That’s actually very fitting. If your Talent is genuine, you really do have the potential for an X-Class Prosthetic Body. An Implanter with a full-body X-Class Prosthetic Body is called a Jingang."

The Capitalist’s offhand comment once again provided Lin Qi with new information.

’So that’s the title for an X-Class Prosthetic Body Implanter.’

After the Capitalist finished, Guang Ling finally spoke up again.

"Welcome, Jingang, the sixth member of the Highest-Level Mercenary Corps. Following our tradition for new members, let’s all go around and introduce ourselves in numerical order. The new guy should at least know your codenames."

"First off, I’m Number One, and the leader of the Highest-Level Mercenary Corps. Codename: Guang Ling. I specialize in cyber offense and defense."

Guang Ling started things off with his introduction.

The others didn’t object and began introducing themselves to the new member one by one.

Although the new member seemed weak and was already under the Capitalist’s thumb, history had proven that everyone Guang Ling brought into the Mercenary Corps had their own unique strengths.

King Arthur, who was the weakest member back in the day, was now on the verge of becoming a Tier Four Knight.

The Wizard, who had always maintained a low profile in his information-gathering role, had somehow managed to instantly kill a Tier Three Knight in Greenfield City. For all they knew, he could be a Tier Four Wizard.

Following this pattern, maybe this new member really could become an X-Class Jingang in the future, just like his codename suggested.

"Number Two, Master Ma. Extraordinary Profession: Martial Artist."

"Number Three, Capitalist."

"I’m Number Four, codename King Arthur. My Extraordinary Profession is Knight, and I’m about to hit Tier Four."

"Number Five, Wizard."

Jingang listened intently to each member’s introduction, and the neural signals made his full-body Prosthetic Body tremble even more violently.

’Tier Four?’

The moment he heard the words "Tier Four," Jingang knew this Mercenary Corps was anything but ordinary.

A Tier Four Extraordinary Professional was far rarer than an S-Class Implanter. The members of the Highest-Level Mercenary Corps were in a league he had never before encountered.

’And now these people were his teammates?’

Guang Ling didn’t give Jingang much time to reel from the shock. Once the new-member initiation was over, Guang Ling started the regular weekly meeting.

Normally, if there were no Mercenary Corps missions, Guang Ling would take the initiative to share some sensitive intelligence.

But in today’s meeting, Guang Ling had a new mission for the Mercenary Corps.

"The Mercenary Corps has accepted a new mission. The location is Alliance City. As of now, the only members who can carry it out are likely the Capitalist and Jingang."

Lin Qi listened in as Guang Ling described the mission.

This was the norm for most of the Mercenary Corps’ missions. Missions like the one in Greenfield City, where all members could participate, were rare.

Most of the time, missions for the Highest-Level Mercenary Corps were handled by teams of three or fewer.

Or, a mission would be broken down, with multiple members coordinating from different locations and at different times.

The way the Highest-Level Mercenary Corps executed its missions was completely different from that of a conventional mercenary corps.

Guang Ling continued his explanation. "The target of this mission is Ninghang Technology and a brand-new prosthetic product. This product was originally intended exclusively for high-level cyber hackers, but according to my intel, its technical details may be revolutionary."

"It could even lead to the birth of a new intercontinental megacorporation..."

The target was formidable, and the mission would require breaching a major corporation’s top-tier security.

But for now, this had little to do with Lin Qi.

Alliance City was too far from Red Fruit City. In his capacity as a company employee, Lin Qi was simply unable to participate.

His lack of free time was the main constraint preventing Lin Qi from participating in long-distance missions.

The Capitalist and the new member, Jingang, were very interested in the mission—especially Jingang.

If Guang Ling’s description was accurate, then the culprit that had caused Jingang’s full-body Prosthetic Body to short-circuit was very likely this new product from Ninghang Technology.

Someone in Alliance City was using people from the lower rungs of society for experiments with weaponized prosthetics!

After Guang Ling finished describing the mission, the meeting moved into its final phase.

"Finally, I have one important piece of intelligence to share. This concerns the safety and lives of everyone present."

Guang Ling’s words immediately captured everyone’s attention.

’It concerns the safety and lives of everyone present?’

’That sounds like an exaggeration.’

’The mysterious Capitalist, the Tier Four Master Ma, the soon-to-be Tier Four King Arthur... even they would be in danger?’

"Trouble is brewing in the Asian Administrative Region. A large amount of intelligence is no longer being passed on to the Big Business Alliance."

"Several major corporations, led by the Si Clan, have had their interests severely damaged due to the ’Big Business Alliance Successor Bill’."

"Furthermore, the Big Business Alliances in the European and American Administrative Regions have recently made moves to interfere."

"I ran a simulation through a large virtual model. The probability of a large-scale corporate war breaking out in the Asian Administrative Region within two months is over eighty percent."

"Moreover, the new Prosthetic Body being researched by Ninghang Technology could completely rewrite the landscape of corporate warfare."

Hearing this, Lin Qi’s heart suddenly grew heavy.

Corporate war. In the Cyber World, this was an extremely sensitive topic.

It was said that the first corporate war directly halved the world’s population and nearly triggered a global, extinction-level catastrophe.

If a corporate war broke out, his current strength would be nowhere near enough to guarantee his own survival.