They had originally thought they would need to use some less-than-legal means to enter Hollow Zero, but to their surprise, Markus proved to be incredibly well-connected and actually secured an official investigation commission for the entire group. The four members of the Cunning Hares completed their inspection at one of the outposts leading into Hollow Zero and waited for the others to rendezvous.
"With an official Hollow investigation permit, yet we're not even going in to hunt for treasure…" Nicole looked at the documents in her hand and muttered softly, "Feels like a bit of a waste."
"Nicole, Ignis said this operation will be very dangerous. You don't necessarily have to come along," Anby said as she checked the chainsword in her hand. When she serviced her weapon yesterday, she had replaced the blade with a newly forged one made by Ignis.
"Just sit at home and wait for you all to come back, worrying myself sick?" Nicole sighed and pulled her adopted daughter into a hug. "I'd rather come with you. Sure, my combat ability is at the bottom of the Cunning Hares, but I can still take care of myself."
"I heard that weird-haired guy paid a huge sum. Nicole, do we get a cut?" Nekomata squeezed her way in as well.
"Yes, yes, everyone gets a share," Nicole said, freeing one arm to hug the Cunning Hares' officially designated pet cat.
"By the way, why isn't the big guy here yet?" Billy shaded his eyes with his hand and looked around. "Wasn't he over at Belobog Heavy Industries helping repair that giant robot? And what about the Jaxcalibur Squad? Don't tell me we're the only ones who showed up on time?"
Still in Nicole's arms, Anby pulled out her phone from her combat suit pocket and sent a message to Ignis. A reply came almost immediately.
"Ignis says they'll be here in a few minutes. Applying for the flight route took some time. Apparently, it conflicted with a Public Security route."
Almost as soon as Anby finished speaking, a truck drifted into the parking lot, then fishtailed to a stop beside the Cunning Hares' sedan. The dazzling maneuver left Nicole completely stunned. Billy drove wildly at times too, but seeing a medium-sized truck pulled off like this was a first.
Once the truck came to a stop, members of the Jaxcalibur Squad filed out of the cargo bay. In addition to personnel, they had also brought along two large transport drones.
"Sorry about the delay. Traffic was bad, so we took a detour," Jaxcalibur-01 said as he jumped down from the cab and reached out to catch the assault rifle tossed to him by Jax-02. "Jaxcalibur Squad is fully assembled and ready to deploy."
"No need to handle any procedures?" Nicole released her two female employees, cleared her throat, and tried to look more authoritative.
"Our boss already took care of it," Jaxcalibur-01 said, waving his hand. One of the drones rolled over and popped open its hatch. "He also prepared all necessary supplies—anti-corrosion agents, emergency rations, and medical supplies. And he asked me to pass along that your payment has already been transferred."
"Huh?" Nicole hurriedly opened her phone. Sure enough, a transfer notification had just come in. The long string of numbers made her dizzy, her heart pounding wildly.
"Looks like Markus really understands the Cunning Hares' level," Nicole said, forcing down the corners of her mouth so she wouldn't grin outright. "This price is… barely reasonable. Don't worry—we'll do the job properly if we're paid."
"Whoa, that gear looks awesome!" Billy had already rushed over, circling the Jaxcalibur Squad members like a moth to flame.
"Billy!" Seeing that he was one step away from touching the equipment, Nicole quickly called out to him—but someone had already engaged him in conversation.
"I knew you had good taste!" Jax-03, a notorious chatterbox, immediately jumped in. He shrugged off the precision marksman rifle from his shoulder. "Check out my baby. I've spent a long time maintaining and tuning her. She's in peak condition right now. If this mission weren't unsuitable, I'd definitely show you my big baby—way hotter than this one."
"Indeed. The barrel's been meticulously polished, and that's top-tier gun oil," Billy replied, then suddenly changed tone. With a flick of his hands, his two revolvers spun into place. "If we're talking love for firearms, I'm not inferior to you in the slightest!"
After declaring that, he even struck a classic Starlight Knight pose.
"You—" Jax-03 stared at Billy's revolvers. "That stance… isn't that the finisher from the latest Starlight Knight episode?!"
"What?!" Billy lit up with excitement. "Don't tell me you also—"
The two instantly became friends, slinging arms over each other's shoulders as they enthusiastically discussed Starlight Knight and firearm maintenance, as if they were brothers who'd known each other for a decade.
"Appropriate emotional exchange helps improve mission success rates," Jaxcalibur-01 said quickly when he saw Nicole's awkward expression, clearly trying to smooth things over.
"I recently bought a stage-play-used leather suit! Took a lot of connections to get an original!" Billy bragged to his new friend.
"Damn, impressive. Add me on Inter-Knot—show it to me sometime," Jax-03 played along.
"Enough—" Jaxcalibur-01 felt a nerve snap. "Zero-Four, rein him in."
On command, Jax-04 lunged forward. First, she drove a punch into Jax-03's abdomen, doubling him over like a shrimp, then followed up with a side kick that sent the embarrassment sprawling to the ground.
"Don't forget the mission," Jax-04 said, planting a foot on Jax-03's chest.
The sequence looked smooth and brutal, but Jax-03 knew she hadn't actually used any force—it was purely for show, meant for Jaxcalibur-01. He immediately apologized and begged for mercy, and his partner quickly helped pull him back up.
"Boss! That was cold!" Jax-03 complained the moment he stood up. "Building rapport with partners is also for the sake of mission success!"
That said, he didn't actually pull out his phone. The talk about adding contacts had just been polite chatter. People who did dirty work like them didn't casually form connections—those lines were just a way to comfort others, and themselves.
Jaxcalibur-01 ignored him. That guy was all attitude and no substance. Although relations between them had been tense for a while after the anesthetic factory incident, things had quickly smoothed over again. Years of life-and-death camaraderie weren't going to shatter over minor friction.
"Where's Ignis? And where's the heavy fire support he mentioned?" Jaxcalibur-01 changed the subject, clearly unwilling to deal with him any longer.
"He said he'll be here in a few minutes," Nicole sighed. "I'm docking his bonus."
Just as the boss of the Cunning Hares was about to blow up, the sound of helicopter rotors grew louder. Everyone looked up to see a heavy transport helicopter from Belobog Heavy Industries wobbling as it approached. On paper, this heavy-lift helicopter could carry a fully armed infantry fighting vehicle along with its crew—but hauling both the Salamander and the Leviathan Dreadnought at once was clearly pushing it. Fortunately, even if the cables were cut and they dropped in an emergency, neither of them would mind.
Grace was piloting, using superb flying skills to maintain balance as she carefully approached. Near the outpost, she found an open patch of ground and cut the cables, dropping the two payloads directly.
When the Leviathan Dreadnought hit the ground, it kicked up a violent dust storm, its immense weight smashing a crater into the earth. After confirming both had landed safely, Grace waggled the helicopter slightly and hurried off.
"That entrance was way too flashy!" Billy said with envy. "Boss, when can we jump straight out of a helicopter like that? I've already thought up my landing pose!"
Nicole smacked him on the head with her briefcase. "Putting aside whether we can even afford a helicopter—have you considered how much we'd have to pay for the damage to the ground?"
Accompanied by thunderous footsteps, Gotthardt advanced toward the group. For many of them, this was the first time they had ever seen—or properly seen—this giant move.
"This is incredible…" Nekomiya craned her neck, completely stunned. "Wait, why does it have reflective strips on it?"
"It's construction machinery. Warning markings are normal," Ignis said as he walked over, a gleaming autocannon slung at his waist. "See? There are warning labels too."
Gotthardt raised his right siege claw—Ignis and Grace had repaired it overnight. Although the power field generator was still offline, the claw itself was formidable, easily outperforming Belobog Heavy Industries' standard siege tools—and pointed to the warning label on his right-side armor.
"[DANGER: HEAVY MACHINERY. KEEP CLEAR]"
On the left-side armor, the black vertical stripes that once bore the Imperial Fists insignia had been modified. Now they displayed not only the Imperial Fists emblem, but also Belobog Heavy Industries' name and logo, and even a chibi-style avatar of Grace herself.
"Wow, looks perfectly fine. Definitely construction machinery," Anby said in her usual flat tone and poker face, delivering a deadpan joke.
The Terra's Wrath—Belobog Heavy Industries Edition didn't speak, merely waving its siege claw to indicate readiness. After all, publicly it was still an engineering machine with an intelligent core; appearances had to be maintained in front of outsiders.
"This is Belobog Heavy Industries' commission letter. We're assisting with operational testing under high Ether radiation conditions inside Hollow Zero," Ignis said as he handed over the document. He lowered his helmet's visor and winked at Nicole.
"Oh. Operational testing," Nicole replied with a look of utter resignation. She'd gone to see the test run yesterday—one squeeze of that massive claw had crushed a reinforced concrete load-bearing pillar thicker than several people hugging it.
"This… is engineering machinery?" Jax-03 circled the giant, incredulous. "What kind of construction project needs four thermal ray cannons?"
"For facilitating demolition work and dealing with potential Ethereal attacks," Ignis explained calmly. "You know Belobog Heavy Industries has several projects underway inside Hollows lately." He then turned to Jaxcalibur-01. "Personnel and equipment are all present. We're ready to move."
"Wait a second! Where's the guide?" Billy suddenly realized someone was missing.
The Leviathan Dreadnought pointed toward the empty phosphor missile launcher mount above its head. Eous was standing up there, waving enthusiastically down at everyone below.
===BREAK===
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