Claire Chapman sighed. "You’ve got one thing wrong. We’re not ordinary civilians right now. We’re rcenaries for the Governnt, and we have to follow their orders."
Connor Grant’s face flushed. "The Power Corps clearly has no respect for the Governnt! If we keep letting them do whatever they want, we’ll be the next ones to die!"
Claire Chapman stared at him but didn’t say a word.
Paige Sumrs tilted her head toward him and asked in Claire Chapman’s place, "Then what do you propose we do?"
Connor Grant froze, apparently not expecting her to speak, but his surprise quickly turned to excitent. He had seen Paige Sumrs before at the Sumrs Armants shop. He’d assud she was the quiet, techy type and hadn’t tried to strike up a conversation. But now she was speaking to him first, and she seed interested. This was more than he could have hoped for!
From what he knew, many Hunting Parties swore by the weapons Paige Sumrs crafted. If she were to join his side, it would undoubtedly give his cause a significant boost!
"Boss Sumrs, even you can’t stand to watch this happen, right? Here’s what I’m thinking. We need to teach The Power Corps a lesson, show them they can’t look down on us! Today’s no good. After what just happened, they’ll be on high alert. But tomorrow night, when we make camp, we..."
Paige Sumrs listened to his entire plan, then thought for a mont before asking, "And you think we’ll be able to continue the mission after that?"
Connor Grant scoffed. "The Power Corps wants to complete this mission even more than we do. They’ll be the ones coming to us for help!"
"And what if they don’t? What if they just pull out their guns..." As Paige Sumrs spoke, she pressed her long, steady fingers to his temple. "BANG," she mouthed. "You saw how powerful those guns are. Are you sure any of us would survive?"
Connor Grant’s expression faltered. After a long, awkward mont, he said, "Well... resistance naturally ans casualties... That’s unavoidable."
Paige Sumrs smiled and pulled her hand away.
"Sorry, Bloodfall can’t get involved. I trust that Captain Chapman values the life of every single one of our mbers. She would never bet our lives on such a reckless gamble." She paused, then added, "In other words, she won’t trade her team’s lives in retaliation for The Power Corps killing rcenaries. So, you’ll have to find soone else."
The corner of Connor Grant’s mouth twitched. "You did that on purpose!" he gritted out. ’You deliberately led on, getting to say all that, when you had no intention of joining from the very beginning!’
But Paige Sumrs just said casually, "What was that? I didn’t quite catch it."
Connor Grant opened his mouth, but ultimately said nothing.
By afternoon, he had gone to the Governnt officials to request a vehicle change, stating he didn’t want to ride with the people from Bloodfall. Perhaps he didn’t want to face Paige Sumrs again, or perhaps he went off to persuade others. In any case, since his Hunting Party was down to five mbers, the people in charge granted his request and squeezed them into another vehicle. No new mbers were assigned to Paige’s truck.
As they set off again, Paige Sumrs stretched contentedly. "Finally gone."
A small smile played on Claire Chapman’s lips. "More like he was afraid you’d be the death of him."
Paige Sumrs grinned. "I think he’s gone to recruit others."
"Mm. Do you think they’ll actually do sothing?"
"They won’t. But The Power Corps still has the ultimate authority. In fact, you have to admit, their thods, while brutal, are certainly effective. Most of the rcenaries won’t dare to openly oppose them now."
’Still, I don’t like these kinds of tactics.’
Claire Chapman was silent for a mont before saying, "The Power Corps’ approach will create a lot of long-term problems. Discontent might be suppressed for now, but not forever. We still have a long way to go, and if this blows back on us, it won’t be good for anyone."
"Yeah. Like you said, this journey won’t be a peaceful one. Everyone needs to be extra vigilant."
Over the next few days, just as Paige Sumrs had predicted, although relations between the two factions were frosty, no one dared to make a move.
Connor Grant’s talk of "teaching The Power Corps a lesson" seed more like a fever dream than a plan.
But Paige Sumrs knew he wouldn’t give up that easily.
’He, or rather, the people behind him, are definitely plotting sothing in the shadows.’
The whole situation was getting on her nerves.
So she started doing things to amuse herself.
For instance, whenever they encountered Mutant Beasts, she would offer tily assistance to other Superpower Users in the heat of battle.
She never acted overly enthusiastic about it and was completely indifferent to whether they were grateful or not. It all seed like sothing she did casually, without a second thought.
In reality, however, she was categorizing each person in her mind based on whether or not she felt a warm current in her chest after helping them.
After doing this a few tis each day, she began to get a rough idea of the character of most of the rcenaries.
Of course, this thod wasn’t necessarily foolproof.
But at the very least, she could be certain about who bore her ill will.
People like Connor Grant, and the few others he frequently associated with.
Four of the newer mbers of Bloodfall, who had been on fewer missions with her, were completely baffled by her actions.
As for everyone else, they were used to it.
’Vice-Captain Sumrs had a habit of playing the saint whenever the mood struck her. Was that sothing they were just going to gossip about?’
Besides, it wasn’t like there were no benefits.
Hadn’t they seen how many forrly distant Hunting Party mbers had gradually started to gravitate toward them after Paige’s actions? Even if they were suspicious, most people would still find ways to show goodwill in return for help that asked for nothing.
Of course, Bloodfall’s strength and Paige Sumrs’s reputation were also major factors.
In short, by the eve of their arrival in Norgate, Bloodfall had faintly begun to take on the mantle of the leading faction among the rcenaries.
Claire Chapman privately thought that Paige Sumrs’s ability to win people over was simply masterful.
’Since Sidney Warren’s grip on the rcenaries is weak, we might as well fill the void. That way, we might be able to stop the extremists from acting out when the ti cos.’
’And it would give us a bargaining chip when dealing with The Power Corps!’
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