Chapter 482.1: HOW THE FUCK DID YOU LOSE A PLANE?!

At the border between the Wandering Swamp and the Sunset Province, pale sunlight filtered through the mist, casting a dim glow over the grayish-yellow wasteland.

A crow, pecking at a corpse, lifted its head. Reflected in its amber eyes was a silver-gray cross-shaped object that didn’t belong in the surroundings.

"... This is Torch-1. The Seagull has reached the coordinates... Let me check, are you sure these are the right ones?"

In the cabin of the Orca transport aircraft, the co-pilot sat in the front seat chewing gum and poking at his tablet with his index finger.

His name was Xiao Hua, a pilot affiliated with the Enterprise Aerospace Division. He belonged to a company called the Search and Salvage Company, which was owned by the Health Luxury Corporate Group.

Although the name sounded casual, their company was known for its reliability and professionalism. That’s exactly why the insurance company responsible for the crashed aircraft handed them the lucrative salvage contract.

They had been extremely cautious ever since taking over the job. From the moment they entered the Sunset Province, they hadn’t let down their guard.

Even though this area was far from the active combat zones, just a week ago, the Aerospace Division had lost a plane nearby. He didn’t dare take anything lightly.

Those reclusive, eccentric, and mentally unstable swamp-dwellers couldn’t be understood with normal logic. Who knew why they launched missiles at their old friends on the East Coast?

But since the Highest Council didn’t want to escalate things, they had no choice but to avoid conflict as much as possible.

That was why they kept the Orca hovering 100 kilometers above the area. First, they sent a drone to scout the situation, confirm the location, and then decide what to do next.

If the Academy pulled the same old trick again, they would be able to glide south into the desert even if they were hit.

The comms channel crackled with static. Maybe the sandstorm had finally passed, and the unstable signal was beginning to recover.

“Wrong coordinates?! That’s impossible!”

“You think I’m joking?” the pilot said while swiping the tablet with his index finger. Taking advantage of the stable signal, he compressed and sent over some aerial shots.”

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the channel.

After looking at the photos, the pilot on the other end, Sun Ze, seemed to fall into a state of self-doubt and confusion.

“That can’t be right... The impact craters are still on the ground.”

“Are you sure those are craters?” the pilot in the captain’s seat leaned over and asked cautiously, “We didn’t find any corpses on the ground... no sign of the Slime Mold you mentioned. There’s not even a single drone.”

“That’s right... Maybe the Academy cleaned it up for us. Maybe they realized after hitting it that they’d picked the wrong fight and helped clean it up.”

“Sounds plausible. Hah!”

There was no response from the comms channel to the two pilots’ banter.

Only the crackle of static remained.

Perhaps Sun Ze was questioning his life, but they didn’t want to wait around any longer. Their remaining battery life wouldn’t allow it either.

“Anyway, we didn’t see anything... Battery’s running low, let’s wrap this up.” The pilot in the captain’s seat glanced at Xiao Hua, who was operating the drone.

Xiao Hua looked up at the captain and asked, “So what should we write in the report?”

“Whatever. Just stick a few photos from around the coordinates into it.”

“Copy that.” Xiao Hua nodded and, not wanting to complicate things, extended a finger and tapped the return button.

Receiving the return command, the silver-gray drone ended its orbit and flew back toward the Orca hovering over the southern mountains.

Inside the cabin, the two crew members retrieved the drone. Xiao Hua continued swiping through the screen, selecting which photos to include in the report.

But then he suddenly let out a quiet gasp before sitting up straight in his seat.

“What is it?” The captain beside him glanced at the tablet, but all he saw was a mountain range, nothing unusual.

Xiao Hua didn’t respond. He tapped the tools menu twice and switched to thermal imaging mode.

As the screen turned black and white, several bright silver-white dots suddenly appeared in the pitch-black mountain hollow.

The captain raised an eyebrow in surprise. “What’s that?”

“Not sure... but looks like quite a few people,” Xiao Hua muttered with a puzzled expression. “The drone caught them in a hollow about 30 kilometers away while returning.”

The captain didn’t care too much. “Let’s just leave it alone.”

Xiao Hua shrugged and swiped the screen lightly with his finger. “Whatever you say.”

At that very moment, in a hollow 30 kilometers away, a ragtag group of scavengers was pushing carts both large and small through the mountains.

The Enterprise pilots returning to base had no idea that the Orca’s wreckage they’d spent so long searching for was actually right beneath their noses.

It had even almost been captured on their drone footage!

But even if these wastelanders had strutted right past them with the parts in tow, the pilots likely wouldn’t have recognized that those components had come from their plane.

Tempted by the bounty of 1,000,000 silver coins, these scavengers were like ants relocating a nest.

From the plasma engine hanging on the outside to the glass panel over the dashboard, they had completely dismantled the massive aircraft in less than half a day, stuffing every single piece into carts and wagons packed with bottles and jars.

They didn’t even leave a single screw behind!

And not just that. Even the Beehive drone pod previously deployed by the Signal Squad, along with the countless micro assault drones destroyed by EMP, had been entirely picked clean by the scavengers.

Just like that old man named Gust boasted... When it came to scavenging junk, they were the real professionals!

“Salvage company? What’s that?”

“There’s a company in Ideal City that specializes in recycling. We were gonna hire them for this job, but they only offer free shipping within the Among Cloud Province.”

“Free shipping?”

Hearing yet another strange phrase he didn’t understand, Gust, lounging on a twin-headed ox and puffing on a pipe, cast a curious look at the New Alliance soldier who called himself Old Six.

Old Six coughed and tried to explain in broken Human Union dialect. “Means they deliver it to your door... like right to your home.”

“Ohh,” the old man nodded, then chuckled. “Then we also ‘do free shipping.’ That’s nothing special.”

Old Six stared at him in surprise.

Most wastelanders spoke of the Enterprise and Ideal City with awe, just as they spoke of the Army with dread.

This was the first time he’d heard a wastelander speak of Ideal City in such a nonchalant tone.

“Nothing special? Working for the Enterprise isn’t impressive?”

“

Tch

, that’s nothing,” Gust snorted as he tapped his pipe. “Our ancestors worked for the Post-War Reconstruction Committee. Hard to say who’s picked up more junk.”

Old Six’s eyes widened further. He nodded instinctively. “Then yeah, you probably have us beat... especially if you count the junk picked in the old days.”

Though the old man had shown envy when talking about the good things from Ideal City, his face was full of unquestionable pride and authority when it came to his own trade.

Meanwhile, Lost Newbie, who was walking beside them, looked completely dumbfounded the whole time.

Just the day before, he had recorded a video of the scavengers dismantling the aircraft.

No matter how many times he watched it, he still couldn’t figure out how they’d managed it.

“... Damn, they really did take the whole thing apart,” Lost Newbie muttered to himself.

Glancing back at the massive convoy and the piles of salvaged scraps they were hauling, Free Sniper scratched his head and asked, “But how are we gonna put it all back together?”

Hearing his teammate’s question, Old Six strolled over with a chuckle, “Who knows! That’s a job for Lifestyle Profession players and NPCs! Our job’s just to haul it back first!”

...

𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

The massive convoy soon crested another mountain ridge.

While the players executed their ultimate maneuver of hiding in plain sight right under the noses of the Enterprise, Old White, who had just logged back in after a night offline, finally summoned the courage to come clean with his two buddies about what had happened the previous night...

“... So that’s what happened. I’ve been temporarily suspended by the administrator. Gotta stay in the city for three days.”

Looking awkwardly at Gale, Old White added with embarrassment, “I’ll be counting on you during the time I’m gone...”

He had thought that, even if his brothers didn’t sympathize, they’d at least express some understanding or regret.

But to his surprise, before he could finish his sentence, Night Ten burst out laughing. “HAHAHAHA! Serves you right!”

Gale didn’t laugh as loudly as Night Ten, but he too wore an odd expression after hearing Old White’s explanation. After a moment of organizing his thoughts, Gale attempted a summary. “So... You got suspended because you pleaded for Ms. Chen?”

“No! I told you, it’s because the administrator thought I was suspicious of him being suspicious,

ugh

, damn it, why is this so hard to explain?!”

Watching Old White nearly lose his mind, Gale didn’t reply. He simply shot him a shit-eating grin.

But whether they believed him or not didn’t matter,

The suspension notice on his interface was definitely real.

Gale sighed, rubbed his forehead, and suddenly thought of something. “By the way, is Ms. Chen heading back with you too?”

Old White paused, then nodded instinctively. “Of course. This is a war zone. No reason for a non-combatant like her to stay here...”

Just a second ago, Night Ten had been laughing his guts out, but now he stopped cold.

The juicy gossip had barely hit his lips before turning into lovey dovey nonsense. His joyous expression twisted into one of bitter anguish. “Damn it! That’s not fair!”

Old White stared at him, completely baffled. “What’s gotten into you now...”

Gale coughed once. “This time, I’m siding with Night Ten... You get to head to the rear and relax while we’re stuck on the front lines. This doesn’t feel right.”

Night Ten couldn’t help but shout, “Yeah! I’ve bled for the New Alliance too! I’ve earned merits! Where’s my reward?!”

Old White looked at the two of them like he was looking at monkeys. “???”

Dude, I’ve been suspended.

How is that a reward?!

...