Roman Raiders (Part 1)

"Damn!" the Bearded Commander cursed, flicking a cigar at the 'battered and bruised' Gu Xiechen.

Taking a deep drag, Gu Xiechen, exhaling smoke, mumbled, "A Realm Master, a Sacred Unicorn dispatched a Realm Master. My brothers and I couldn't resist at all."

"I know!" The Bearded Commander stood up and walked over to Gu Xiechen, clapping him hard on the shoulder. "Rest up for a few days, don't overthink it. Mission failure is normal; as mercenaries, you have to get used to it."

Taking a deep breath, the Bearded Commander sneered, "I received intel the day before you got back. The Sacred Unicorn actually has a Realm Master, and they dared to send him to retaliate against us? I've already reported this to the military and the Special Administrative Committee of the Federal Congress. This is going to be a long legal battle!"

Gu Xiechen finished the cigar in a few quick puffs and rubbed his hands together, crushing the butt into powder. Frowning, he said coldly, "I wasn't the only one who escaped."

The Bearded Commander nodded, a hint of schadenfreude in his expression. "An important member of the Asian Dao Alliance also escaped. We couldn't silence the witness, so let them take the blame! The Asian Dao Alliance is already holding the Sacred Unicorn accountable for this. However, since they possess a Realm Master, and Realm Masters have legal immunity, so..."

Shrugging, the Bearded Commander sighed, looking at Gu Xiechen. "If only you were a Realm Master! That black crystal ball, what a waste!"

Gu Xiechen ignored the question. He did need Zakla Crystals to awaken his own Realm, but he didn't want outsiders to know he possessed one. Although he had successfully escaped Zurich, Gu Juechen knew he was still alive, and keeping a few trump cards was necessary. Looking at the Bearded Commander's thick beard, Gu Xiechen could only shake his head helplessly before getting up and leaving his office.

The following days were calm and uneventful. The Bearded Commander colluded with the Nine Nether Dao to pressure the Sacred Unicorn, and the case had reached the Special Administrative Committee of the Federal Congress—commonly known to the public as the Non-Human Management Committee, an official body dedicated to managing, coordinating, and communicating with the various superpowered individuals on Earth.

The legal proceedings had nothing to do with Gu Xiechen. This was a power struggle between mercenary groups using their backgrounds and connections. Gu Xiechen didn't have the strength to get involved yet.

Lying in the medical pod, enjoying the sensation of his deliberately injured body slowly recovering, Gu Xiechen squinted, contemplating other matters.

"Jack, don't disappoint me! I'm giving you three years; let's see how much you can develop!"

Jack hadn't returned to the ice cap base. Gu Xiechen had dropped him off halfway. Gu Xiechen needed to gradually build his own influence, and Jack was his first pawn. "Hmm, this guy is shrewd, cunning, and skilled. Although his combat power is a bit lacking, he should do a decent job."

"It's just a first attempt; it wouldn't be a pity even if he died." With his arms crossed, a sinister glint flashed in Gu Xiechen's eyes.

The viscous recovery fluid in the medical pod suddenly drained with a hissing sound. The pod's hatch was roughly opened, and the beautiful physician Maria glared down at Gu Xiechen, roaring, "You lazy bum! You've been holed up in the medical center for five days with just a few scratches! Get out now! Your brothers are out there bleeding their hearts out, and you're here lounging around comfortably. Do you even deserve the sponge between your legs?"

"You!" Gu Xiechen, completely naked, pointed at Maria in exasperation.

Maria smirked wickedly at Gu Xiechen. "What about me? Either get out, or I have a thousand ways to make you cry! I've just concocted a special aphrodisiac, specifically for elephants. Want to give it a try?" With a flick of her right hand, a slender high-pressure injection gun spun nimbly between Maria's fingers, its sharp needle cutting through the air with a cold glint.

"This is your territory!" Gu Xiechen scrambled out of the medical pod in a fluster, hastily putting on his clothes. Gu Xiechen gave Maria the middle finger before fleeing the medical center as if escaping a predator. It wasn't until Gu Xiechen returned to his quarters that he realized with surprise why he hadn't encountered anyone along the way.

Checking the base's internal network on the computer by his bed, Gu Xiechen discovered that the entire Hell Angels Mercenary Group had mobilized in just a few days. Several star mining companies had reported beast swarms near their mining sites, and their own security forces had suffered heavy casualties. Consequently, all ten legions of the Hell Angels Mercenary Group, nearly a hundred thousand mercenaries, had been urgently hired by the wealthy mining companies. However, Gu Xiechen had been 'recovering' in the medical center these past few days, so he hadn't received the notification!

"They really have money!" Gu Xiechen stared blankly at the prices offered by the mining companies on the screen. Each mercenary earned five thousand Federal Currency per day, with a substantial insurance policy. If they killed a beast that attacked a mine, there was a bonus of one million. The offers from these mining companies were truly astonishing.

"Off-world colonies? Mining sites?" Gu Xiechen's eyes darted around. "These mining companies must have Zakla Crystal mines, right? If..."

Zakla Energy Crystals were strategic materials under the jurisdiction of the Federal Military. Ordinary people couldn't access them. If Gu Xiechen didn't want to raid the Hell Angels Mercenary Group's supply depot, he'd have to find other ways.

While he was pondering this, the screen on his computer suddenly changed, and a dark-skinned Lieutenant General in a Federal Army uniform appeared. The Lieutenant General coldly and ruthlessly ordered, "The Greenland Aurora Power Station has been attacked. According to the Earth Federation Mutual Defense Act, the Hell Angels Mercenary Group is to immediately mobilize all forces for rescue! Those who disobey will be executed."

Piercing alarms blared throughout the ice cap base. The Bearded Commander's curses flooded over the broadcast.

"I'll go screw your mother! I only have an internal guard regiment left, and it's not even at full strength! Mobilize all forces? Where am I supposed to find people?"

After spewing a torrent of curses expressing his longing for the mother of a certain black Lieutenant General, the Bearded Commander roared, "Evil Dragon, you're the only fighter left in the base right now. I'm leading the team personally. You and I are going to the Aurora Power Station to see what's going on! Damn it, that's a large-scale thermonuclear fusion power station; it can't have any problems!"

Within a minute, Gu Xiechen had donned his Stalker III combat suit, strapping on as much weaponry and ammunition as he could without hindering his mobility. Five minutes later, Gu Xiechen, resembling a mobile arsenal, arrived at the base's largest landing field. Dozens of heavy twin-rotor helicopters had their engines running, their dull roars painfully loud, and the gusting wind almost knocked Gu Xiechen off his feet.

The equally heavily armed Bearded Commander was hopping around the landing field, cursing. He energetically herded teams of the ice cap base's internal guard regiment onto the helicopters, simultaneously ordering the base's main control room to activate all of the ice cap base's defenses. Seeing Gu Xiechen, laden with a mountain of ammunition, run over, the Bearded Commander gave him a thumbs-up with approval before kicking him into a helicopter.

Dozens of helicopters roared into the sky, the massive rotor wash kicking up a silver-white vortex of air on the polar ice cap. The vortex headed directly south, flying towards the Aurora Power Station, located at the northernmost tip of Greenland, deep within the Arctic Circle.

Crouching beside the Bearded Commander, Gu Xiechen frowned as he looked at the structural diagram spread out on the floor.

The Aurora Power Station was one of the six largest nuclear fusion power stations in the Northern Hemisphere of the Earth Federation. The nuclear fuel in its reactors, converted into nuclear bombs, would be equivalent to at least twenty megaton hydrogen bombs. If the Aurora Power Station were damaged, let alone the reactor being maliciously detonated, the leakage of nuclear material alone would be a catastrophe.

"The Aurora Power Station has a defense force of at least fifteen hundred people! Although they are the weakest C-class defense legions in the Federal Army, but..."

The Bearded Commander punched the helicopter's floor. The entire helicopter jolted violently, nearly falling. The pilot cursed in extreme anger, while the Bearded Commander shrugged and made a face at the pale passengers inside the cabin.

Gu Xiechen looked at the complex structural diagram of the Aurora Nuclear Power Station and nodded. "That's right, no one within the Earth Federation would destroy a nuclear power station. It must be a raiding party from the Roman families. But for a Lieutenant General to disregard his reputation and order us to rescue them, this raiding party can't be weak!"

Family raiding parties were a characteristic of the Roman people. The Roman nation was composed of numerous families, large and small, with a complex and precise evaluation system. Military achievements and various accomplishments determined the importance and resources allocated to these families within the national structure.

To gain more military achievements and improve their social standing, or for the scions of major families to enhance their own status, Roman family raiding parties frequently infiltrated Earth to launch attacks.

Major families formed their own teams, while smaller families joined forces to form theirs. In essence, they harassed the Earth Federation like wolves, causing endless headaches. Annually, the losses caused solely by the Roman family raiding parties amounted to hundreds of billions.

"It only took twenty minutes for the Aurora Power Station's defenses to be overwhelmed, forcing the Earth Federation Military Command to issue a direct order to us mercenaries. This mission won't be easy!" Gu Xiechen held a large cigar, exhaling two streams of smoke. He lightly pointed at several red dots marked on the Aurora Power Station's structural diagram.

The Bearded Commander's gaze followed, and he forcefully tapped the map, then cursed again. "I hate the Federal Mutual Defense Act! There's no compensation at all, just risking our lives for free!"

The twin-rotor helicopters were extremely fast. Over two thousand seven hundred Hell Angels Mercenary Group mercenaries arrived near the Aurora Power Station forty minutes later.