Chapter 452: Reunion
Translator: Oneshotwonder Editor: Hitesh_
The residents on the Ark watched the beautiful scenery with great antic.i.p.ation. If the s.p.a.ce city were truly as beautiful as the promotion video described, they would love to visit it.
Not only would Ark replenish its supply at Luolan, but Kaost would have to carry out the task given by the Confederation as well. The tour would have to wait until the negotiations were over.
w.a.n.g Tong"s workload had been reduced after he had finished that truckload of METAL yesterday, so he had time to gaze out of the window and enjoy the view of the floating city in the distance. He wagered that the people on Luolan must be living an affluent and peaceful life. Not only was the city situated at the key transportation node, but it also boasted an impenetrable defense.
The Mayor of Luolan appeared on the screen. Carmen had inherited over one-third of the property in the city, as well as the t.i.tle of mayor from his ancestors. Carmen started to introduce the City of Luolan in an enthusiastic voice. w.a.n.g Tong didn"t like his voice or look. Something about this man made w.a.n.g Tong"s stomach churn.
"Attention! The Ark will connect with Luolan in ten minutes."
w.a.n.g Tong knew it was time for him to get back to work, and it was when he saw Tee storm into the room with anger written all over her face.
"What"s going on, Tee?"
"d.a.m.n that old fool! He was trying to steal my crew. Luckily I noticed what he was up to. Otherwise, I would be so p.i.s.sed!"
Lao Jiu had handed in an application to the management, asking for more hands. He had splurged ink on his difficulties, but towards the end, he proposed only one candidate to be added to his team: w.a.n.g Tong. Luckily Tee saw the application before it got into the hands of the managers, and threw it right into the paper shredder. The managers knew nothing about w.a.n.g Tong"s talent, so they would most likely transfer him to Lao Jiu"s team in order to placate the latter. The squeaky wheel always got the grease after all.
w.a.n.g Tong smiled helplessly. As he was about to provide his consolation to Tee, they heard loud and urgent footsteps at the door.
"Tee, Tee… Get ready! The Three Tigers are here! Would it be that some of those METAL we had repairs had defects?"
"What are the three tigers…? Oh...you mean them?" Tee jumped out of her seat and turned to w.a.n.g Tong. "You stay here, w.a.n.g Tong. Zuoyan, follow me."
At the outer gate, Luo Sen threw his body at three large soldiers to stop them from entering the shop. All three soldiers" faces were knotted, and it seemed that fire was going to spout out of their mouths at any moment.
"What brings you three here?"
"Captain Tee, please hand him over to us."
Tee cast them an accusatory look and said, "He works for me, and I have checked his work. So, if there is any problem, I will be solely responsible for it!"
"I am afraid it is beyond your pay grade."
"Well, try me!"
"What a feisty woman! No wonder you are the right arm of Kaost. Well... we are not here to hurt that boy. In fact, we are here to say "thank you" to him, personally."
"Don"t you dare take him away from us."
"Hehe… You and Lao Jiu work for the same department, so you will still see him around. Technically, he will be still working with you. Lao Jiu is getting old and useless. We need help."
Tee Rolled her eyes and said coldly, "No."
Tee was never too charitable towards people who she didn"t like. The officers on the Ark had two cliques, one consisted of Kaost"s old subordinates while the other group consisted of fighters from all over the confederation. Tee was one of Kaost"s closest a.s.sistant while the three in front of Tee happened to be in the wrong league. In addition, the three brutes were well known for their ignorance and lack of care for their equipment. If they knew that w.a.n.g Tong could fix whatever they damaged, they would only grow more careless while handling their METAL.
"So, sounds like you won"t give us face."
"You had lost your face a long time ago! Walk over my dead body if you want to take him away from me!" Tee refuted.
"Perfect. I have heard about your fighting skills, and I can finally see it for myself today."
"Boss, let me do it for you." One of the brutes stepped forward. He wore an eye patch, which made his face look more menacing than the other two.
None of the maintenance workers dared to rise up to the insult. These soldiers wouldn"t give up until someone spilled blood.
"Hold on!"
w.a.n.g Tong appeared in the courtyard. He had been listening to the conversation, and could no longer sit in the room and let Tee to protect him.
"I told you to lay low!" Tee grunted.
w.a.n.g Tong didn"t mind Tee"s scathing remark, but he was shocked when he saw the faces of the three troublemakers.
"Jansining! Third and Big O!"
"AH-HA! I knew it was my bro, w.a.n.g Tong!"
The four hugged each other. Jansining patted w.a.n.g Tong"s shoulder and announced, "We had thought that it was you ever since we heard that there was a w.a.n.g Tong on the Ark."
"You are doing very well, w.a.n.g Tong. Much better than us! Haha!"
"No kidding! What are you now… Heir of the Blade Warrior? "
"You guys knew each other?" Tee was rendered speechless by the sudden turn of events.
"Captain, these three are my friends. Can I take a break and catch up with them?"
Tee nodded without much thinking.
"Haha, Tee, we were just pulling your leg. We don"t want to transfer w.a.n.g Tong to our team. We just wanted to see him."
"No worries." Tee shrugged.
The four filed into a bar Chugging down a large gla.s.s of beer, they were all absorbed in the joy of reunion.
"Captain, I can feel that you all have improved your strength. What happened?"
"Haha! We are not sure either. After the terrible thing on Norton, our combat skill and soul energy have been improving by leap and bounds. After the bigwigs noted our improvement, we were dispatched to this Ark expedition. We never thought that we would meet you here again! Haha! We can finally fight together now."
"Nah... I am just a maintenance guy, not a soldier."
"Are you kidding me? What the h.e.l.l is Kaost thinking? You should be at least a fire team leader!" Big O shouted. "Jansining, it seems like we are not the only ones that have been mistreated."
"Calm down, Big O. Although I"m not on combat duty, I have learned a lot at the maintenance crew here."
"Don"t worry, w.a.n.g Tong. I would talk to Kaost if I got a chance."
w.a.n.g Tong waved his hand and said, "It"s fine. Our Principle, the first mate of the s.h.i.+p, had already talked to him about it. The order is clear: he doesn"t want me to join any combat activities."
"Haha, doesn"t matter. You are the best wherever you go!" Third gave w.a.n.g Tong a thumb up. He was still amazed by w.a.n.g Tong"s repairing skills.
"Ah, by the way, come to visit us often. You can show my crew a thing or two about fighting."
"Haha… will do!"
…
Luolan was constructed in the shape of a giant wheel. The pa.s.sengers of the Ark were elated as they approached the s.p.a.ce city; the trip so far had been excellent.
In the city, everyone watched the gigantic s.h.i.+p with amazement, as they had never seen a s.h.i.+p this big before.
"Carmen is waiting for you at the entrance, Samantha. The rest is all up to you now."
"Rest a.s.sured, I will complete my mission." Samantha saluted to Kaost.
"Captain, do you think she will need more protection? Looks like she only has a small team with her." Hill suggested quietly.
Kaost shook his head and said, "We need to build trust with our friends in the city. Plus, they won"t do anything while our s.h.i.+p is so close to their city. But you have a point… Tell the security not to let their guard down."
"Yes, captain."
"And, can you show me the list again?"
"Yes captain, I will send it to you right away."
Kaost turned on his skynet and double-checked the list of persons who would enter the city. w.a.n.g Tong was not on the list.
…
"b.a.l.l.s! How come Patroclus got to go first?" Porten slammed the desk in anger. He thought he would be on the list, since he was the son of the chairman.