Dongdong sneered, dismissively saying, "Don't make excuses when you lose. A fight is a fight. What do you think this is, a kid playing a ga? Who cares about rules?"
"Combat is about risking your life. As long as you win, does it matter where you hit? If you love rules so much, don't be a rcenary; a boxing match suits you better."
Wang Wei felt his vision go black from the retort.
But he wasn't the type to take a loss bitterly, so he cupped his fist towards Dongdong: "This round is yours, I admit it."
Dongdong also cupped her fist in return, playfully saying, "Let's spar again soti~"
Wang Wei quickly shook his head: "No, no, no, sparring isn't necessary. I don't want to go through that again, it was too terrifying."
The Thunderclap rcenaries laughed heartily.
Sun Min nodded appreciatively: "Director Su's people really have skills, I'm sure everyone is convinced now."
Su Mo smiled, "You're too kind."
Sun Min glanced at his phone and said, "Just in ti, our guest is arriving soon. He will be the accompanying supervisor for this mission, following us throughout our actions."
Su Mo frowned.
An accompanying supervisor?
The influence of a world line change again.
In the original plot, this mission [Into the Ruins] didn't have any accompanying supervision; it was entirely Ou Chenyu leading the Tiger Teeth rcenaries on an independent action.
Su Mo: "Who is this accompanying supervisor?"
Sun Min: "Soone from the Iron Blood Alliance, a special officer."
Su Mo thought: Ah, with soone from Iron Blood, trying to get weapons from TL730 this ti will likely add a lot of variables.
The group chatted and drank while waiting for about ten minutes.
"Knock knock knock." The sound of knocking ca.
The "Iron Blood Alliance special officer" arrived.
The person entering was a short middle-aged man, balding in the center of his head, obviously working overti often.
He didn't have the arrogance one might expect from a mber of a massive corporation, smiling kindly and greeting everyone: "Hello, I'm Dorne, the special officer for the TL730 mission. Please take care of ."
Sun Min explained to everyone: "Mr. Dorne is the supervisor for this mission, accompanying us throughout to ensure we don't harm the interests of the Iron Blood Alliance."
The rcenaries nodded, indicating their understanding.
Exploring the Ancient Era Ruins is much like buying a lottery ticket; you might find nothing, or you might find invaluable technological relics.
Because there are simply too many areas to explore, and the mbers of the massive corporation are not enough, they sotis outsource the exploration work to rcenaries.
To prevent rcenaries from embezzling or selling technical relics, corporations will send out officers to accompany teams they don't trust highly, ensuring their interests are protected.
In the original plot of the "Dawn" ga, Ou Chenyu executed this mission without any special officers following him.
Because in a normal course, at that ti, Ou Chenyu had already perfectly completed the [Wild Sand] mission, earning imnse recognition from the Iron Blood Alliance, establishing a trust relationship long ago.
As for Sun Min's Thunderclap rcenary Corps and Su Mo's Edge rcenary Corps, both were newly ford teams established only in recent months, receiving their first outsourcing commission from Iron Blood and naturally didn't get such a level of trust.
The Thunderclap rcenaries were eting a corporate giant mber up close for the first ti, appearing extrely polite, even sowhat timid.
Dorne, however, smiled humbly: "No need to be nervous, everyone. I won't give you a hard ti, and if there's anything you need help with during the mission, just let know. I'll do my best to coordinate."
"What's that term they use online? The divine client side! Haha, I'll definitely represent Iron Blood Alliance as the divine client side, ensuring we have a delightful cooperation."
Dorne's words lightened the atmosphere.
Seeing the special officer being so amiable, everyone's mood relaxed.
At this point, Dorne noticed Dongdong and, sowhat surprised, praised, "Is this one of yours too? Looks like just a child, becoming a rcenary at such a young age, how promising! Hello, hello."
Dorne proactively extended his hand to Dongdong.
Without responding, Dongdong sat on the sofa eating sunflower seeds, side-eyeing Dorne, and spat the shell into the trash with a "tui."
Dorne had to retract his hand, smiling awkwardly.
Su Mo stepped forward to ease the situation: "Ahahaha, my Dongzai is a bit introverted, please don't mind."
After speaking, he glanced surreptitiously at Dongdong, wondering: What's gotten into her?
Dorne didn't take it to heart at all, continuing to chat warmly with everyone, and after discussing work, they started chatting about ho affairs, with rcenaries' laughter ringing out frequently.
Then, Dongdong finished her sunflower seeds, brushed off the debris from her hands, and asked, "Mister, you're from the Iron Blood Alliance. Do you have a lot of augntations? Can you show us a trick~"
Dorne was taken aback, a hint of disappointnt in his eyes, and he awkwardly smiled: "Miss, sorry to let you down, but I'm all original..."
Su Mo was surprised at this, knowing from his understanding of the Dawn Realm that official Iron Blood Alliance employees more or less had augntations.
Even if they're not military-grade, they'd have civilian-grade ones.
After all, augntation technology is very mature now; bionic versions look and feel indistinguishable from the original and can enhance various physical functions. If you can augnt, why not?
Dorne, able to be a special officer for a rcenary mission, is a long-term employee despite being in a grassroots position.
Such employees, within Iron Blood, would typically be offered free augntations as a company benefit, so there's no issue of being unable to afford them.
Su Mo pondered.
Unless Dorne is a "purist," psychologically rejecting augntations and unwilling to accept any physical modifications.
Otherwise, there's only one possibility left...
Dorne sighed softly, saying with a touch of lancholy: "I'm utterly averse to augntations."
Upon hearing this, everyone expressed regret with sighs.
Being utterly averse to augntations is a term for a special group of people who, like Dongdong, are at the opposite end of being completely tolerant of them.
Those utterly averse have a tolerance level of zero to augntations, experiencing severe rejection during basic adaptability modifications, resulting in a lifelong inability to implant any augntation.
People like Dorne can only be considered... quite unlucky.
It has nothing to do with hard work.
But rather the simple pure fact of being born unfortunate.
From the mont they are born, the door to infinite possibilities through augntation is shut.
However, Dorne remained optimistic, breaking into a cheerful grin: "Don't feel sorry for , I'm long used to it. It's great using the original body!"
"Besides, being utterly averse to augntations isn't an illness, it doesn't affect health in any way. I'm much luckier than those truly ill."
Since Dorne wasn't bothered, everyone laughed it off, letting the awkward topic pass.
In the subsequent hours, everyone drank in the box, and once the drinks hit, they started karaoke, chatted about recent funny stories, and quickly bonded.
Su Mo, with moderate drinking capacity and little experience on the drinking table, found himself being coaxed by the seasoned Sun Min and others into drinking cup after cup. He started strong, but after half an hour, he was humming and groaning.
Dongdong had to step in to help him avoid drinking himself sick.
When it cos to drinking, street-smart Dongdong was far more reliable than Su Mo.
Not only could she hold her liquor, but she also knew strategy, refusing to take on multiple targets, instead focusing on drinking with the leading Sun Min, matching him cup for cup, until he was the one downed after several hours.
By the end, the Thunderclap rcenaries were wobbling, and only Dongdong and Dorne remained steady.
Having risen through the grassroots ranks of Iron Blood Alliance's drinking scene for years, Dorne was no stranger to these small gatherings.
After dispersing, Dongdong hoisted the drunk-as-a-skunk Su Mo onto her back, grumbling under her breath: "Big dummy... Can't drink and still so stubborn..."
Dorne lifted the unsteady Sun Min, smiling as he told Dongdong: "I'll arrange a ride for Lei Ming's crew, and Director Su is in your hands. When you get ho, make sure he drinks lots of water, gets a good sleep, and takes care for our departure the day after tomorrow."
Dongdong adjusted the limp Su Mo on her back and left without looking back: "Take care of yourself, mister, my boss doesn't need your worrying."
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