Captain Du Peng, known as One-Eye, was incredibly cool. After speaking, he didn't wait for Qin Zheng's response and turned to leave.
This left Qin Zheng and Zhu Fugui looking at each other in surprise.
After a moment, Zhu Fugui sighed, patted his belly, and said, "Too bad he didn't invite me. Having a squad leader watching your back has its perks—at least you don't have to worry about missing the transport ship."
Qin Zheng shrugged. "He was probably just expressing interest. He didn't even add me on comms, just said hello."
"That's already pretty good, Zheng Ge. For mercenaries like us, being able to establish a relationship with a squad leader is never a bad thing. Hey, why don't we add each other on comms first? We can let each other know if there's a good gig in the future."
Qin Zheng glanced at the chubby man with a smile. He could see through Zhu Fugui's thoughts; next time there was a mission with Du Peng's squad, this guy would definitely want to team up with him.
But he didn't mind. At least for now, the chubby man seemed decent, and his combat skills were reliable. Having a trustworthy teammate on a mission added a layer of safety.
Qin Zheng raised his wrist communicator, and the two quickly added each other as friends.
As they chatted, time flew by, and three hours passed quickly. Du Peng spoke over the comms channel:
Qianji QJ-05 (Commander): "Three hours are up. The YT-177-6528 Exploration Mission is entering its final stage. We will escort the data storage back to Balin Star. The transport ship is taking off. If you missed it, wait for the next one at this airfield. Another transport ship will arrive within 24 hours. Good luck."
As the message scrolled up, Qin Zheng felt a tremor underfoot as the transport ship retracted its landing gear and began to lift off.
He glanced around. Except for the Heavy Engineering Unit 04, everyone had returned within the allotted time, so there were no objections in the comms channel, and everyone remained silent.
The skinny guy piloting the Worker Ant WY-01, along with Engineering Unit 03, came over to add Qin Zheng on comms, expressing an interest in future cooperation. Qin Zheng accepted them without hesitation, but didn't place them in the same list as the chubby man.
The chubby man, on the other hand, didn't overthink it. He happily added everyone on comms, primarily to collect his gambling winnings.
Soon, Qin Zheng's communicator buzzed:
"Zhu Fugui has transferred 100 Star Coins to you."
"Zheng Ge, three bet you'd make it, three bet you wouldn't. I'm covering the money for that Unit 04 guy for now. The rest, you and the skinny guy each get a hundred."
Qin Zheng looked at the chubby man winking at him and asked, puzzled, "Can you get the money back from that Engineering Unit 04 guy?"
"Haha, I doubt it. That guy probably doesn't want to see me again. No worries, I set up the bet, and credibility is key. I'm not short of this 100."
Qin Zheng nodded, gaining a newfound respect for Zhu Fugui. Though it seemed like he was at a loss, everyone who participated in the mission heard about the bet. By handling it this way, he increased everyone's basic trust in him.
Spending 100 Star Coins to buy everyone's goodwill was a deal that couldn't go wrong.
After nearly two hours on the transport ship, they finally arrived at the spaceport on Balin Star. Visit g.com for the full chapter.
This was the mining center of the Barony of Balin, where all mining-related industries of the Balin Family were located.
The Third Legion, under the Balin Family's rule, was stationed on this planet year-round, responsible for securing the mining operations across the various planets.
At the spaceport's dedicated reception area, they completed the mission handover and then piloted their respective mechas back home.
Qin Zheng declined Zhu Fugui and the others' invitation to drink that night. He had been running around all day and was exhausted, in dire need of a good night's sleep.
As he exited the spaceport, a system task settlement popped up before his eyes:
[YT-117 Mining Planet Reconnaissance Mission - Completed]
[Reward: 3000 (D3 mission reward) + 520 (kill reward)]
[Active Training: Mission reward increased by 80%, totaling 6336 Martial Experience]
6336 Martial Experience!
Qin Zheng's eyes lit up with joy. This was quite a haul. He quickly pulled up his attribute panel and upgraded Grass Skimming Flight to level 2!
Instantly, his mind was filled with a deeper understanding of this light-footed technique, and combined with his memories of the long-distance sprint earlier, he quickly grasped the key points.
The PS-01 he was piloting paused mid-step with its mechanical left leg in the air, then slowly lowered it. As the right leg lifted, although it was still a simple movement, the rhythm became noticeably smoother.
Qin Zheng didn't waste the remaining Martial Experience, investing it into the Five Tigers Gate-Severing Saber, upgrading this saber technique to level 3.
The saber technique was his primary combat method at the moment, and the benefits of upgrading it by one level were immense. Now, Qin Zheng's attributes were:
Host: Qin Zheng, Tier 1
・Martial Experience: 2151
・Strength: 12
・Agility: 8
・Root Bone: 9
・Inner Art: Breathing Technique ★ (Level 3: 890/10000)
・Technique: Five Tigers Gate-Severing Saber ★ (Level 3: 0/10000)
・Lightfoot: Grass Skimming Flight ★ (Level 2: 0/4000)
Satisfied, Qin Zheng closed his attribute panel and piloted the PS-01 onto the mecha track leading to the outskirts, returning to his old apartment.
He parked the PS-01 in the underground mecha hangar opposite the apartment and finally returned home—a small apartment with just one room.
After a quick wash, he collapsed into bed and fell asleep.
The next morning, Qin Zheng was awakened by the vibration of his communicator. With his eyes closed, he groped for the communicator on the bedside table and pressed the answer button:
"Hello, this is the Balin Mecha Mission Center. Your YT-117 Mining Planet Reconnaissance Mission reward has been settled. Due to encountering Zerg, the mission was temporarily upgraded to D3 Rank, and the mission reward has been upgraded to D3 Rank.
3000 Star Coins have been deposited into your bank account, and 300 mission points have been added to your mercenary rank. You've met the conditions for promotion, and you are now upgraded from an E1 Mercenary to a D3-Rank Mercenary, with 100 mission points remaining.
Congratulations on your promotion to D-Rank Mercenary. The D-Rank Mercenary mission window is now open to you. Please check the D-Rank Mercenary Handbook in a timely manner. Thank you for your contributions to Balin."
Qin Zheng's eyes snapped open, and he sat up in bed.
He had been registered as a mecha mercenary for over three months, and finally reaching D-Rank Mercenary was indeed something worth celebrating.
This meant he could actively take on D-Rank missions. Besides higher rewards, the biggest difference between D-Rank and E-Rank missions was that D-Rank missions almost always involved combat, or were deemed highly likely to involve combat.
If every mission included kill settlements, his Martial Experience rewards would increase even faster.
Suppressing the joy in his heart, Qin Zheng opened his bank account:
"Current balance: 12,000 Star Coins."
Whew, finally a "ten-thousandaire." Hopefully, there won't be any more debt collectors knocking on the door.
Qin Zheng wasn't sure what his predecessor had done, but when he first crossed over, he often encountered people coming to collect debts.
Fortunately, he unlocked the system and gained a skill, barely paying off the debts by doing mecha missions.
Pushing past memories aside, Qin Zheng finished a simple breakfast and headed to the virtual pod in the center of the living room. He opened the pod door and sat inside.
This was left by his predecessor, a ZML-07 Dream Simulation Pod that allowed consciousness to connect to the entire Imperial Starsea!