"If that's true... then this commission is not as simple as it seems." Ke Lan nodded to himself. He didn't believe that the other party could offer such an outrageous price simply to win him over. The reward for the task must be proportional to its difficulty, there is no doubt about that.

"But there is still too little information at hand..." Ke Lan repeatedly browsed the relevant intelligence sent by the Soma Group. If he analyzed it based on these clues alone, he would not be able to analyze anything.

…

A week passed quickly, and when Ke Lan and his team arrived at the assembly point fifteen kilometers due north of the Ark, the Soma Group's convoy was already waiting for them there.

What surprised Ke Lan a little was that the leader of the convoy was actually Yui, the full-time secretary whom she had met in the hospital that day and who was "ruthlessly abandoned" by her.

At this time, she had changed out of her OL-style professional skirt and put on a black combat uniform made of high-density polymer. The extremely tight clothing perfectly outlined her proud figure, especially in the chest, abdomen, and thighs. The parts covered by the protective armor plates that fit the body curves made it difficult to look away.

"Who is this woman... This, this is a bit erotic." Lao Gou stared at You Yi and secretly nudged Ke Lan beside him with his elbow.

"According to her herself, she is the secretary assigned to me by the foundation." Ke Lan said expressionlessly. If possible, he would rather the other party be replaced by a man - of course, this has nothing to do with his own sexual orientation. He simply thinks that women are troublesome... very troublesome.

"Damn! There is such a good thing? Why didn't you mention it to us? ... As the saying goes, if there is something to do, the secretary will do it, if there is nothing to do..."

"Come on." Ke Lan bumped Lao Gou's arm, then snapped his fingers in front of him, "Be careful of the sugar-coated bullets of the bourgeoisie. Maybe this woman is a spy sent by the other side to gather intelligence."

"That makes sense." The old dog suddenly said seriously, "Then do you know what some old sayings in ancient China are?"

"Um?"

"One line goes, 'A hero can't resist the temptation of a beautiful woman', and another line goes, 'To die under a peony flower, even as a ghost is still romantic~" When it came to the word 'romantic', Lao Gou even made a gesture with his fingers clenched in a very serious manner.

"Come on, first of all, you are a bear, not a hero. Secondly, let alone death, even if you are alive now, you are not romantic at all, just vulgar." Ke Lan rolled her eyes at him and complained.

"Okay, I'm not the only one who's been seduced by beauty. Look at the big guy..." The old dog pointed at Layton, who was squeezed in the back seat of the SUV. The latter was excitedly clenching his fists, his neck stretched straight forward, his cheeks puffed up, and his eyes were wide open without blinking...

"So beautiful, so beautiful, I feel like I'm falling in love with her..." After holding it in for a long time, Layton finally uttered these words, and his tone was simply infatuated...

"See? Confucius once said, food and sex..." Before the old dog could finish his words, he was suddenly interrupted by Layton.

"Did you see that, old dog? That's the most 'Wolf Spider' all-terrain tactical mecha! It was just unveiled at the new product launch of 'Thor Heavy Industries' last month, and they actually got it! Ah... She's so beautiful, I'm going to die!" As Layton spoke, even his breathing became rapid. "Look at those eight slender and strong legs! Titanium alloy Ganino alloy composite armor, replaceable diamond claws, the maximum speed can reach three times that of the 'Junius' off-road vehicle, and it can also crawl on nearly vertical cliffs... And that large-caliber rapid-fire railgun, the projectile can even penetrate the chitinous carapace on the front of the Thunder Beast--"

"Shut up." The old dog's face turned pale.

"No, no, no, do you know what she's using? Brand new! The sixth generation small crystal engine! The energy conversion rate can reach 96.5 percent! This means..."

"I told you to shut up!" The old dog suddenly jumped up from his seat and stuffed the half-eaten compressed biscuit in his hand directly into Layton's mouth.

"Stupid cyber-sexual, there's no hope." After doing all this, he sighed and shook his head at Ke Lan.

"I think it's good." Ke Lan held back her laughter, turned the steering wheel, stepped on the brakes, and stopped the SUV steadily in front of the convoy.

The Soma Consortium's convoy had a total of eleven vehicles: two tracked armored vehicles for clearing the way, three armed off-road vehicles equipped with anti-aircraft machine guns and rocket launchers, a command vehicle equipped with a reconnaissance drone, a wheeled personnel carrier, four heavy armored trucks full of supplies, and the "Wolf Spider" all-terrain tactical mecha that made Layton "fall in love". The firepower of this convoy is almost comparable to that of a battalion-level combat unit of a field force.

"Mr. Ke Lan, long time no see." You Yi walked to the SUV with a very standard catwalk and smiled at Ke Lan.

"Not long, just a few days."

Just as Ke Lan was about to open the car door, Youyi suddenly took out a black pistol from behind her, pointed it at Ke Lan's face, and then pulled the trigger without saying a word!

There was no gunshot, no smoke, and Ke Lan's head was not smashed to pieces by the bullet. A purple-blue laser shot out from the muzzle of the gun and swept across Ke Lan's face. "Name: Ke Lan; Position: First-level Special Consultant of the Consortium; Authority Level: L8, certification completed, and the transfer of convoy command authority has been completed."

Fortunately, Ke Lan recognized that it was a scanning gun the moment he saw the muzzle of the gun, otherwise, he would have subconsciously grabbed the submachine gun stuffed in the glove box and fired a burst of bullets at the other party.

"You are now the commander of the convoy." Yui glanced at the hound sitting in the passenger seat, "But, aren't you going to let me get in the car?"

"If you get in the car, who will drive it?" Ke Lan glanced at the mecha that was shaped like a giant steel spider not far away, and pointed at the helmet in Youyi's hand. This is a driver's helmet with powerful auxiliary functions. It is connected to the operating system of the fighter or mecha through external wiring. It can display various data of the body in detail on the screen inside the helmet. At the same time, the driver can also use the helmet to complete operations such as aiming and shooting, thereby freeing his hands.

A tactical mecha like the Wolf Spider, which has extremely complex operating claws, would require at least two or three operators to start if it were all operated manually. However, if it were equipped with this auxiliary helmet, only one person would be needed to bring out 80% of the performance of the mecha.

Although Ke Lan knew that the full-time secretary assigned to him would definitely not be a pretty face, he did not expect that the other party was actually a mecha pilot - a mecha pilot of the "Wolf Spider" level must have at least an M4 level mecha driver's license, and among Ke Lan and his group, only Layton had an M5 level driver's license.

As for Ke Lan himself, he only had an entry-level M1 license...

"I think Mr. Layton seems to be impatient..." Yui said. Ke Lan turned around and saw that, as expected, a certain big cyborg couldn't take his eyes off the all-terrain mecha.

"Layton, can you drive that thing?"

"Yes! Of course! 'Wolf Spider' inherits the operating system of the previous generation 'Thor Heavy Industries' flagship model 'Moa Dragon'. It is not difficult for me to get started... So, can I really drive this thing?" Layton looked at Yui with hope. His expression was like that of a child who was about to get a toy he had been dreaming about...

"Of course, as long as the commander agrees." Yui nodded.

"Go ahead, but be careful not to drive into the ditch." Before Ke Lan finished the second half of her sentence, Layton had already jumped out of the SUV, took the helmet from Youyi, and quickly ran towards the "Wolf Spider" mecha parked there.

"That helmet, can a big guy like Leighton fit his head into it?" Zhuo Ligetu, who was sitting in the third row, leaned over and asked in confusion.

"It should be fine. There's an adjustment module anyway. Even if he wears it upside down, the helmet will probably cover his butt." Lao Gou said nonchalantly, "Oh, by the way, Ke Lan, you sit in the back."

"Why?"

"Let me drive, and this lady can sit in the passenger seat." Lao Gou said righteously.