Volume 6: Mecha Contest Chapter 310 New Headquarters
"I will definitely find that person..." said the young woman. She took out a bottle of painkillers from the pocket of her overalls, poured out a pill from it, and put it into her mouth. "Then, kill him..."
"Why do you insist on holding on to hatred?" The man the woman called Major stopped. "He may have died a long time ago. You tortured yourself for ten years just to avenge a ghost. Why bother?"
“He may still be alive... Don’t you want to give an explanation to the 141 people who died ?” The woman clenched her fists, and the joints of her mechanical prosthesis creaked.
He bent down, picked up a crushed cigarette butt on the ground, pinched it into his palm, and said, "They are dead, but you are still alive... You should live for yourself, not for the dead... Living well is the best explanation to the dead."
He sighed and continued, "So, I can't just watch you die."
“…”
"I heard that Harmony Pharmaceuticals' new drug will be on the market soon. That drug may allow you to fall asleep without taking painkillers every night... But I don't think it will be cheap." The middle-aged man walked to the skeleton of the mecha and inserted an oversized hydraulic wrench into the gap of the skeleton's ankle joint. "I can only help you up to this point. Whether you can earn enough money to pay for the medicine depends on you, Valentina."
…
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After returning to his residence, Ke Lan called Leighton. Leighton was so excited when he heard the news that he couldn't even utter a complete sentence... Fortunately, the communication terminal used was a landline phone. If it was a mobile phone, it would have been crushed by him.
But when Ke Lan asked Layton if he wanted to participate in the competition himself , he calmed down a lot and refused repeatedly: "Forget it, forget it. I am still very self-aware. For a competition of this level, I can just be a spectator... Those pilots who can make it to the elimination round are all monsters... I might be able to handle being a maintenance engineer, but in terms of operating technology, compared with those professional players, I can only be considered a third-rate guy."
"Really?" Ke Lan was a little surprised. "It's just for fun anyway. You don't have to get any ranking..."
"If you just want to have fun, then that's fine," Layton said. "But... if you can find an ace pilot, then we might be a dark horse in the competition..."
"Ace pilot?" Ke Lan couldn't help but think of Manstein's youngest son, 29-year-old Andrew von Manstein. His best result was the top four in the 19th Ark Competition Individual Comprehensive Competition. He should be worthy of the title of "Ace Pilot", but because of his father's greed, he died at the hands of a heretic sect. It was really a pity.
"Hey, I was just joking." Layton changed the subject. "Ace pilots with that kind of ability are either those who have been trained and educated by professional clubs since childhood, or they are elite pilots who retired from armored forces... It's hard to find the former, and the transfer period has passed now. As for the latter... The lucky ones who can live to the end of their lives are basically over the age limit. As for those who retire early... Tsk... I'm afraid they may not even be able to take care of themselves."
Layton continued, "The only retired pilots who are of the right age, have enough combat experience, and are in good health are the ones like Lao Gou's old subordinates, who were collectively expelled from the army due to disciplinary issues. But Lao Gou's original unit was almost entirely infantry, and the few armored soldiers were all tank drivers, with no mecha pilots at all... It's almost like looking for a needle in a haystack to find a suitable contestant."
Layton said a lot of things, and it was obvious that he was eager to participate in this competition...but the reality was that with the current resources of the God Hunters, it was almost a luxury to appear in the group stage.
It's not difficult to get a mecha. As long as you have money, you can buy one at any time. What's more, the organizers of the competition have strict restrictions on the specifications of the participating mechas. It is impossible for a modified model that is piled up with a lot of money to appear...
But the difficult part is the person operating the mecha.
The same basic model of competitive mecha, when driven by an ace pilot and a newbie who just passed the driving test, the performance can definitely be described as a world of difference - one is still trembling even when walking, while the other has already started parkour...
"In fact, for the Ye Group, the content of the competition is secondary." Layton added, "The most important thing is that we can see many new concept machines that have never been released in this competition... Generally speaking, these next-generation machines and corresponding enhanced accessories will be put on the market after the competition, and this competition can be regarded as a large-scale launch conference for these new products. These things are what I am most interested in."
"I see. You are planning to use your VIP status to grab the first-hand supply, right?"
"Hehe... How can we let go of such a good opportunity? If we wait until it is officially released, there will be a lot of people rushing to buy it, and then we will have to queue up and then draw lots... For an organization like ours with only a few people, it is impossible to get a chance." Layton said.
"The problem is that this kind of large mecha can't play a big role in the exploration of ruins... The most common four-meter and six-meter humanoid mechas can't even pass through the corridors inside the ruins. What's the point of buying them?" Ke Lan couldn't help but ask.
"...There will always be a time when they can come in handy. It's better to be prepared, right? Besides, when the hunting group expands, we'll need a few big guys to keep things under control, right? Even if we don't use them, it would be impressive to put them at the entrance of the headquarters as guards!" Layton argued quickly, acting like a naughty child who makes up all kinds of reasons to try to convince his parents to buy a toy he's longed for.
"Oh, by the way, speaking of the hunting group's headquarters...how are Lao Gou and his team going in finding a house?" Ke Lan said to the other end of the phone.
"I've already found one, and I'm just waiting for you to finalize the contract. I was just about to tell you about this." Layton replied, "East Fourth District, Shengtang Commercial District, a six-story, 1,200-square-meter, finely decorated office building, with a large enough underground warehouse that can be converted into my workshop."
"Sheng Tang Commercial District? Don't they say to look for it in the newly built development zones? Land in such a prosperous old district is extremely expensive, and the rents of those buildings must be terrifying." Ke Lan was puzzled. Although the old commercial district located in the center of the block has more advantages than the remote new district from all angles, the cost-effectiveness alone is enough for Ke Lan to "pass" this option.
"Although the location is within the commercial district under the name of Shengtang Consortium, this building actually belongs to the assets of 'Thor Heavy Industries'. They took the initiative to find Lao Gou, and wanted to rent this office building to us at a low price on the grounds of business changes... The price they offered was even lower than the rent in the new development zone. At first I thought there was some trap, but after Lao Gou talked , they directly drafted the contract and waited for you to sign it."
"Thor Heavy Industries?" Ke Lan was stunned, then immediately realized that Thor Heavy Industries was quite famous in the vehicle manufacturing field, and behind them was the Ye Group of Ye Yan's family... It seemed that the gift that the fat man gave her was far more than the VIP viewing card in her pocket.
"I understand." Ke Lan said to Layton, "I'll go over and sign the contract right away. You tell everyone else to prepare to move everything to the new headquarters."
