It was midnight at the port of Planet Shanghai. A merchant group was about to leave the port so they were busy loading their goods.In one of the warehouses on the ships, a small mercenary team consisting of seven people gathered in a corner and chatted among themselves. The equipment on them was old, and the badly bruised old mecha models beside them proved that their journey here wasn"t easy.
The leader of this team was a skinny middle-aged man around 50 years old. His face showed many signs of old age. He drank the low-grade alcohol that the merchants gave them and looked at the team members around him. He sighed sadly. "I"m sorry, everyone. I"m too incapable. For the past ten years, our situation kept getting worse. Now, we even need to take missions that require so much time and effort, but don"t have good rewards so we can fill up our stomachs."
"Grandpa Leader, what are you talking about. If it wasn"t for you, I would have died from hunger when I was six years old." One of the young men who looked around 14 years old smiled. He didn"t mind the harsh times they were facing.
"Little Tao, it"s a waste of your talent if you remain in Shadow Cat." The leader looked at Little Tao and shook his head in pity. He was someone who didn"t have much ability and the Shadow Cat Mercenary Team would probably remain in this bad state. There was no future for them. With Little Tao"s ability and talent, he could go to a better mercenary team. He might even be able to enter an elite mercenary team too. However, this little fellow stubbornly remained here, so that he could repay the kindness of that one bowl of rice when he was young.
"I think that this life is pretty good." Little Tao smiled brightly. "We can take missions and earn money to feed ourselves. The grandfathers in the team take good care of me and treat me like their own grandson. If I go outside, I won"t be able to enjoy such treatment. I will probably be bullied by the older members. Plus, if that happens, your heart will ache."
"Little Tao is getting better at talking." The other old members of Shadow Cat smiled happily.
They were all ordinary people. They didn"t have many abilities so they were only low-level mercenaries. They just wanted to earn some money to keep themselves and their families alive. Mercenaries like them were like extras among all the huge mercenary teams. They were able to survive until now because their leader was a careful person, as he never took missions that exceeded their limits. However, this also meant that the level of their mercenary team would never increase. At the same time, their standard of living got worse. A low standard of living wouldn"t attract powerful mercenaries. A mercenary team that wasn"t powerful enough wouldn"t be able to accept the harder missions which had more rewards. Hence, as the cycle continued, the Shadow Cat Mercenary Team"s situation got worse over time. They couldn"t even feed themselves properly now.
This was why the leader of Shadow Cat decided to take this mission. They didn"t have any rice left back at home. He knew that this mission might be dangerous and the result was uncertain, but he could only take the risk.
While they were chatting, the door of the warehouse suddenly opened. The person-in-charge of this merchant team walked in with a few other people. There was a muscular man around 50 years old, a cultured young man around 30 years old, a smart-looking middle-aged man and an arrogant and wealthy young man.
The person-in-charge pointed at the leader of Shadow Cat and said, "This is the leader of the Shadow Cat Mercenary Team, Yuan Mulin. Leader Yuan is the first to arrive."
The person-in-charge pointed at the muscular man and introduced, "This is the leader of the Grey Bat Mercenary Team, Dibi Luya." Dibi Luya greeted everyone friendly.
"The leader of Red Maple Mercenary Team, Ye Shao." The cultured young man smiled and nodded at everyone.
"The leader of Poison Teeth Mercenary Team, Jiang Bizhi." The smart-looking middle-aged man nodded coldly. He didn"t look like a friendly person.
"The leader of Mighty Sky, Ma Yizhe." The wealthy man seemed to look down on these poor leaders so he just raised his head arrogantly and scoffed. He didn"t greet anyone.
The three leaders" expressions changed when they saw Ma Yizhe"s att.i.tude. Among all the three leaders, Ye Shao and Dibi Luya were more shrewd, so they immediately started smiling again. Jiang Bizhi, on the other hand, continued wearing his cold expression. He just glared at Ma Yizhe with a vicious gaze like the eyes of a poisonous snake.
"This will be your accommodation for the time being. I hope that everyone can work together for this mission and come back alive." The person-in-charge ignored the tension that was going on between the leaders. They only invited these mercenary teams to protect their merchant team, As for the relationship of the mercenary teams, it was not their concern.
The person-in-charge wanted to leave. Ye Shao suddenly thought of something and shouted, "President Tu, is everyone here?"
President Tu replied, "The Little Four Mercenary Team is still on their way."
"Haha, Little Four Mercenary Team? Who came up with such a weak name?" Ma Yizhe laughed loudly when he heard this.
President Tu didn"t say anything. He just smiled. Names were given by the leaders based on their own preferences. It had nothing to do with ability. Plus, he didn"t think that the name "Mighty Sky" was any good too.
Suddenly, his communicator vibrated. He looked down and smiled. "Speak of the devil, they"re here." He walked out of the warehouse. Around 10 minutes later, he came in with someone wearing a mask. This young person had a gentle aura. It was Ling Lan.
"This is the leader of Little Four Mercenary Team, Jiang Hui." President Tu"s smile was more sincere this time. For some reason, he had a good impression of Jiang Hui. President Tu thought that this must be because of fate.
After that, he introduced the other leaders to Jiang Hui. Jiang Hui"s presence was gentle so even Ma Yizhe, who laughed at the name of Ling Lan"s team, didn"t give her att.i.tude. He didn"t appear as arrogant and irritating as before.
The warehouse was segregated into six different sections naturally. Every section belonged to a respective mercenary team. Very soon, the five new teams moved their pieces of equipment and mechas into the warehouse.
Ling Lan"s team was situated between Shadow Cat and Poison Teeth. Soon, the 14 brand new mechas that belonged to them got transported into the warehouse.
Ling Lan was late because she was preparing the equipment for her team. Fortunately, Ling Lan had loads of money and Little Four knew many ways of getting things. Little Four found a secret black market and managed to get 14 modified mechas within two short days. Of course, a lot of money was spent on it. They even got some equipment for the mechas and spare parts.
The other leaders might have looked down on this young mercenary team but the moment their mechas entered the warehouse, they became serious. They decided that they wouldn"t provoke this mercenary team until they knew more about their background.