The Greedy Wastrel
"B-Bait! Wake up! Bait!"
Bait, who had been sent flying after being hit by the cannon, didn't move an inch.
Zero, pale with fear, rushed to Bait's side.
What if her Core was damaged...?
But on second thought, a combat ECHO wouldn't be injured by a mere impact of this magnitude.
"……."
Sure enough.
Seeing Bait blink slightly at her, Zero felt a surge of relief internally and intentionally called Bait's name even louder.
Only then would the attention of that disgusting human commander shift away from them.
"…Hey."
Just then, Lin Ao's irritated voice drifted down from atop the armored vehicle.
"Who told you to move without permission?"
"……!"
Zero's face stiffened.
An instinctive urge to rebel clashed violently with the absolute obedience code programmed into the ECHOs.
Ultimately, Zero bit her lip, returned to her position, and stood at attention.
"…I am sorry."
Bang—!
Simultaneously, a sharp gunshot pierced the darkness.
Sparks flew from Zero's knee.
It was a pistol round fired by Lin Ao.
"Damn, they're tough. I keep telling them they need to supply armor-piercing rounds for pistols specifically for ECHOs."
"S-Squad Leader. To an ECHO belonging to the Ark…"
"Ah, you want to annoy me too? She didn't break, did she? And is Lin Xiaolin here or not? Even if she were, so what? Do you not know who my father is?"
"……."
As Lin Ao blew the smoke away from the muzzle and snapped coldly, the adjutant who had spoken had no choice but to shut his mouth.
"So, what is the report you need to give the Commander?"
"…We discovered a Named-grade entity targeted by the Ark, the Hachishakusama, in Hongwei-7."
"Hongwei-7? Where is that?"
"It is a ruined city located approximately 700km southeast of here. The coordinates are 30°16 North, 114°62 East."
At Zero's report, Lin Ao's eyebrow twitched.
"No, was it actually there? Was the information from those vermin Wanderers correct? But why are there only two of you?"
"The leader, Compass, and Sherpa remained behind to monitor the Anomaly. Furthermore, the Anomaly was not alone. It was staying with an unidentified group of ECHOs."
"…A group of ECHOs? Wanderers?"
"No. They seemed like a regular army with a structured system."
Thwack—!
With a dull thud, Zero's head snapped to the side.
Lin Ao, having climbed down from the armored vehicle, had struck Zero's cheek with the grip of the pistol.
"Where does this tin can think she's lying? An Anomaly coexisting alongside ECHOs? Are you mocking me right now?"
"I-It's true! I am not lying!"
Zero shouted in frustration.
But it couldn't be helped.
The fact that they themselves could hardly believe what they had seen provided Lin Ao with more than enough excuse.
"T-There were already signs of engagement with the Astral. We discovered a crashed Troller-class Mobile Aircraft Carrier and confirmed that a Bastian Platform is operational."
"A Troller-class carrier?"
At Zero's desperate words, Lin Ao's hand stopped in mid-air.
In truth, there was no way these pieces of scrap could lie to him.
ECHOs were tools that obeyed human words.
Moreover, regardless of other things, the Pathfinder was one of the top ECHO Squads within the Ark when it came to the accuracy of reconnaissance intelligence.
In an instant, Lin Ao's mind raced.
A Troller-class carrier was shot down?
If so, the opponent's forces must not be intact either.
A massive Mobile Aircraft Carrier, 120 meters in length, was not an opponent that could be stopped just because there were a few Original ECHOs.
They must have suffered significant losses in ammunition and manpower to take down a giant weapon like a carrier.
Furthermore, the other information was unusual.
A Named-grade Anomaly and an ECHO Squad—and a regular army at that—together….
Common sense dictated this was impossible.
Anomalies and ECHOs were hostile groups.
Weren't they like sworn enemies who could not exist in the same space? But if the ECHOs' words were true?
That means someone possesses the technology to control or manipulate Anomalies?
A greedy light flickered in Lin Ao's eyes.
The current Fleet Commander of Ark 86 was Lin Xiaolin.
Although she was from a collateral branch, she currently served as the overall Commander of the whole Ark because of her competence.
On the other hand, despite being of the direct bloodline of the Lin family, he only held the position of a platoon leader.
But what if I get my hands on that technology?
The power to command Anomalies.
With that power, he could drag that arrogant bitch Lin Xiaolin down from the Commander's seat and seize the throne of Ark 86.
Since the former Commander was his father, this was a god-sent opportunity to repay the humiliation of being pushed aside by a collateral branch.
"…Hmm. How many ECHOs were in that sector?"
"Two Original Squads, and as for the mass-produced ones, there were only about five with construction capabilities."
"Ha... As I thought."
His prediction was correct.
They must have exhausted a large portion of their strength during the battle with the Astral.
"Platoon Leader."
Just then, the adjutant, who had been watching the situation from the side, cautiously intervened.
"If the signs of an anomaly are certain, we must be cautious. Fleet Commander Lin Xiaolin's order was to rendezvous with the Pathfinder and wait until the main force arrives. For now…."
"Shut up."
Lin Ao cut the adjutant off.
"So what? I am a direct descendant of the Lin family. The command of this field belongs to me."
"B-But, Platoon Leader. The scale of the enemy has not yet been determined. No, we don't even know if they are enemies. Furthermore, if the opponent is a regular army from another Ark as the ECHOs reported…"
"Regular army? What kind of regular army stays with a monster called an Anomaly? They're traitors to humanity."
Lin Ao's eyes were already glistening with desire.
What mattered was his own achievement and the special power beyond.
A small, exhausted unit could be easily suppressed with the forces he was currently commanding.
Lin Ao twisted the corners of his mouth into a smirk and jumped back onto the armored vehicle.
Then, he picked up the radio and connected to all units.
"Notice to all troops. As of this hour, the operation has changed."
"Platoon Leader!"
"Ah, fuck! I said I'll take responsibility?! Do you not know who my father is?!"
Lin Ao's shout echoed across the wasteland.
He held the radio, eyes flashing, and commanded.
"Target is Hongwei-7. Annihilate the unidentified enemies in league with the Anomaly and occupy the sector."
Then, after a brief pause, he licked his lips and added.
"However, if there is anyone who appears to be human, make sure to capture them alive. I have something I want to ask personally."
Rumble—!
The engines of dozens of armored vehicles began to roar.
Acrid exhaust fumes covered the wasteland, and the armored vehicles of Ark 86 began their relentless advance toward Hongwei-7.
"Hey, what's there to worry about? Wasn't capturing anomalies our mission anyway?"
"That is correct, Platoon Leader. But…."
"Lin Xiaolin? Ah, I said I'll take responsibility, seriously. You want to keep talking back and annoying me?"
"……Understood."
Lin Ao was already intoxicated by the prospect of victory.
A wandering group of ECHOs?
A regular army from another Ark?
Neither scared him.
In the first place, there was no way a proper Ark remained near the Hongwei-7 district.
A place that had been swept through by the Crawler Queen and then the Carapace Lord.
It was surprising that any Ark had survived that process, but even if one did, its strength must be so pathetic that it couldn't even sustain itself.
As the thick clouds of dust cleared and silence returned to the wasteland, Zero, who had been left on the ground, checked Bait's condition only after the mechanized unit had completely disappeared.
"Are you okay, Bait?"
"Ah, yeah. I'm fine. I was just pretending to be hurt."
Zero wiped the dirt from her face and raised her middle finger toward the receding rear of the armored vehicle unit.
"Haa, that goddamn piece of shit. I really want to kill him."
"Tell me about it. This is fucking bullshit. Treating ECHOs like punching bags should have a limit."
"…I guess I can't just shoot him in the head, right?"
Of course she couldn't.
After venting her anger toward Lin Ao for a long while, Bait looked at Zero with a serious expression.
"But Zero."
"What?"
"…Aren't we actually fucked?"
Zero's expression also darkened instantly.
The two ECHOs looked at each other in silence. The situation had become far too tangled.
"I don't think the Fleet Commander will just sit still…"
"Exactly. She's someone who's practically hunting for reasons to purge the direct bloodline… and that idiot just caused a massive incident, right?"
Bait let out a hollow laugh.
It wasn't a joke; if Fleet Commander Lin Xiaolin found out about this, the entire Ark would be turned upside down.
With the forces of Harvester, a Named being of the Astral, constantly eyeing the Ark, a greed-blinded platoon leader leads mechanized forces to point guns at another Ark's forces?
"Even for a human, isn't that an offense that demands being court-martialed and handed to the firing squad?"
"…Should we actually kill him?"
"I don't know about that. But I know our Ark Commander's personality well. She definitely won't let this slide."
"If we're lucky, we might get to see the Originals within the Ark fighting like crazy."
"I thought the last Ark civil war was 11 years ago…"
Bait let out a deep sigh and lay flat on the ground.
It was a catastrophic misfortune that they couldn't do anything about with their own strength.
"Let's lie down for a bit and then go back to the Ark."
"……Yeah."
For some reason, the weather was too nice today; the stars in the night sky were indifferently bright.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"Are they finally coming?"
In the distance, as the heavy silhouette of the Mercury Howl appeared, kicking up a cloud of yellow dust, looks of welcome appeared on Pomen and Helena's faces.
Screeech—! Hiss!
With the sound of air brakes, the truck came to a halt, and the massive hatch of the cargo bed opened.
As the cargo area opened, the sound of heavy steel boots stepping onto the earth echoed.
Thump! Thump!
The V-60, a mass-produced, heavy-armored assault-type ECHO.
Since the Original ECHOs took up most of the story's weight, these were ECHOs that remained only in the settings without appearing in the mobile game.
"Oh..."
And the real thing before my eyes was prettier than I had expected.
Their looks seem to almost be at the level of an Original?
Brown bobbed hair flowing down to the shoulders and a youthful face.
However, the equipment they wore was as ferocious as befitting a heavily armored ECHO.
A large-caliber heavy shotgun equipped with a drum magazine.
A threatening, super-giant shield with edges as sharp as gears.
Even if they are mass-produced… I can't ignore their combat power.
It seemed that was the case.
According to Lena's report, a single squad of five could withstand a horde of zombies even if a few high-ranking individuals were mixed in.
I can think of them not just as meat shields, but as mobile fortresses with definite firepower.
Above all, what stole my attention was the attire.
Contrary to the name heavy armor, the active bronze-colored tactical suits were quite provocative.
A crop-top-style upper garment that clearly revealed the abdominal muscles, and equipment that exposed their firm thighs.
Above that, blue energy lines glowed faintly like neon signs, exuding both SF sophistication and sensuality simultaneously.
"Salute, sir! We are the V-60 Squad, comprising a total of 5 units. As of this hour, we are deployed for the defense mission of Hongwei-7."
"Orders confirmed. Welcome."
"Yes, sir!"
I scanned the elastic thighs of the V-60s, who looked identical to each other, as they were basically copies of the same unit, and the curve of their hips slightly visible behind the shields.
"Hmm…."
Just looking at them makes things tighten down below.
Sharing a bed with the identical V-60s…
I should try to make a move later.
Anyway, thanks to the V-60s, it felt like I could breathe a bit.
For now, I could have two units defend the mining area and have the remaining three patrol Hongwei-7.
The next deployment is….
Did they say it would take about five days?
There is still a long way to go, but it was a huge relief that the deployment of mass-produced ECHOs began before the Astral bastards launched a full-scale invasion.