Saiyan stowaways on the Ark

[Event] Originium Dust Operation: Chapter 3 - Relocation

Neither side intended to maintain a prolonged standoff.

Either side could launch an attack at any moment—for no other reason than that the injured cannot afford to linger and worsen their condition.

At the same time, they are unable to let their guard down with people they don't know well.

"Rhodes Island safe house? You're from Rhodes Island?"

The one who broke the brief standoff was the dark-skinned Reboba boy.

As a local, he naturally remembered the strange building on the outskirts of Changquan Town, and he also had a deep memory of the operative Okfen stationed there who had given him Oripathy treatment drugs.

"I am Miyaluo, the doctor from Changquan Town, and these people are not kidnappers! They were the ones who helped the townspeople drive away these thugs!"

Miyalo rushed between the fully armed men and Tomat, nervously explaining his and their identities to Tomat, while simultaneously pulling open the back of his collar and continuing:

“I am also infected. I have communicated with Mr. Okfen before. He also shared Rhodes Island’s special medicine with everyone.”

But Tomat remained silent in the face of Miarro's actions—knowing the danger yet still trying to reason and resolve the conflict.

The raised hand and the pointed gun barrel were still pointing at each other.

"Get out of the way."

The words came from Tomat's mouth, but it was the red-haired woman standing behind Miarro who helped him accomplish them.

She pulled Miarro away the instant she uttered those two words in Tomat and simultaneously turned her outstretched hand into a gun shape with her index finger extended.

Just as the sound of earth and rocks collapsing suddenly rang out from behind, a beam of light grazed Miarro's ear—it came from Tomat's fingertips.

Are we still going to fight?!

Miarro found it hard to believe that Thomas, who claimed to be a Rhodes Island agent, would still want to start a fight under these circumstances.

"Get cover!"

The remaining armed men on the other side also immediately responded to Tomat's attack.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!!!"

One of the blond men fired rapidly in Tomat's direction with his small gun to buy more time to distract him, and shouted warnings to those around him.

"Aa ...

However, before more people could dodge, a strange scream suddenly rang out, causing them to stop in their tracks and turn their attention to the direction from which the sound came.

The yellowish-brown creature, covered in lumps, howled and writhed in agony on the ground behind them, and nearby was a cave that looked like it had just been dug out.

A large, bowl-sized, penetrating wound on his body was continuously oozing murky blood.

That was the monster that attacked the townspeople before.

Clearly, the beam that Tomat fired earlier caused the wound.

"Alright, I can't sense anything else. Let's go." Tomat lowered his hand and said to the group who were still momentarily stunned by the anomaly, "Take the person to the safe house. Thank you, Doctor, and these...mercenaries. On behalf of Rhodes Island, I thank you for your help to the injured—although I'm not here on behalf of Rhodes Island, but we still need to use official language and follow procedures, don't we?"

The situation changed from an imminent battle to its current state in just over ten seconds, which is something most people cannot react to so quickly.

The same goes for Dr. Miarro.

However, after the red-haired woman patted him on the shoulder and nodded to the people behind her, she immediately reached an agreement with the remaining people, reorganized the shaken townspeople, and headed towards the Rhodes Island safe house.

Tomat, who was leading the way, did not choose to fly away directly, but instead traveled with them, both to guide them and to prevent them from believing that their claim of "rescuing the townspeople" was a lie.

"Oh right, that blond guy from earlier..."

Thomas seemed to be rubbing something in one hand, occasionally twisting his fingers together, then suddenly clenched his fist, turned his head, and spoke to the blond man without stopping.

"Hmm? Are you calling me? Oh, should I introduce myself?"

The blond man was clearly surprised when Tomat called out to him, but when he saw that the other man was indeed staring at him, he responded with some hesitation but also with agility.

"I am Tomat. Please feel free to tell me your names, as mercenaries shouldn't reveal their names in public." Tomat introduced himself as well, and then continued, "Here you go."

Tomat raised his clenched fist and tossed what he had been holding in his hand to the other person.

The blond man was also agile; even while carrying an injured person on his back, he still had the strength to free up one hand to grab the things thrown at him.

—Those were three somewhat rounded metal blocks.

There was still some residual heat and the smell of gunpowder on it.

"Oh, this is really... 'wow'."

The blond man who took these things immediately realized that they were the bullets from the shots he had fired at Thomas earlier.

And this scene was also witnessed by others.

Aside from the person involved, who responded with a wry smile and a "wow," the others mostly expressed their thoughts in a rather calm tone.

"...I thought I had seen enough bizarre things here."

The burly man carrying a machine gun spoke in a deep voice.

"Honestly, this is not good news."

The black-haired woman shook her head, her tone seemingly filled with weariness.

After all, the other party proved through their actions that the weapons they carried did not seem to pose much of a threat to them.

Even if others were armed with more powerful weapons, the opponent's reflexes and physical strength at this distance meant that the opponent could easily disable their combat capabilities if they wanted to.

In addition to the previously used unknown attack techniques, the opponent also possesses highly accurate long-range attack techniques.

What's more, Tomat brazenly took flight right in front of them.

Among the thugs we dealt with before, there was one with superhuman abilities who could wield a two-meter-long giant blade even after being shot more than a dozen times, but he was still at the level of being able to kill us if a vital point was hit.

But to say that this system does not represent the physical limits of people in "this world" is just a way of telling them that their weapons are not very effective.

In this situation, weapon failure is definitely not a good thing.

"In any case, thank you for your assistance, Mr. Thomas. But may I ask what Rhodes Island is...?"

However, even after witnessing this scene, the red-haired woman, who appeared to be the leader of the group, thanked Tomat and inquired about his information.

"A neutral pharmaceutical company and organization that doesn't belong to any national power—is that alright?"

"...Okay, thank you for the explanation."

[Event] Originium Dust Operation: Chapter 4 You said "Earth"?

"Mr. Thomas, you're back..."

"Use 'you,' but please don't use such honorifics as 'you' with your colleagues."

Tomat and several members of "Polar Bear Logistics" brought dozens of infected and wounded people to Rhode Island's safe house—Watchtower 33.

As for Polar Bear Logistics, it was a name that "Blitzkrieg" and "Chariot" came up with on the spot after whispering among themselves for half a minute when Tomat questioned their background.

The fabrication was so obvious that even the two women next to them, named "Frostflower" and "Ashes," could hardly bear to watch anymore.

But Tomat cooperated by not pressing for details, just as Ash didn't ask why a pharmaceutical company had someone like Tomat.

However, their code names came out spontaneously, and didn't seem to be made up on the spot.

Blitzkrieg was the blond man who seemed quite cheerful and always had a confident smile on his face when he spoke.

The tank is a large man wearing heavy armor with a deep voice, yet he seems approachable.

Frostflower, like her codename, was somewhat unapproachable and always remained silent—which reminded Thomas of a colleague with a similar codename.

And finally, there's Ash, the red-haired woman with a long braid. As the leader, she naturally possesses a strong leadership quality, accurately assessing the battle situation and assigning tasks.

Through their interactions along the way, both sides gained a certain level of understanding of each other, though this was based on the premise that they had both kept some things from each other.

The Rainbow Squad claimed to have come from southern Sargon. They were unfamiliar with the area and knew nothing about Oripathy or anything like that. They didn't have any particular goals, so they settled down in an abandoned house near Longspring Town.

However, one of them, named Blitzkrieg, accidentally got caught up in the conflict between the local infected and the townspeople today. At the same time, many people who seemed to be hired thugs and monsters attacked them. After successfully repelling them, he encountered Tomat.

While listening to these stories, Thomas felt a sense of déjà vu for some reason.

If these people really came from very remote areas and had little knowledge of Oripathy, that would be fine. However, their equipment and the combat skills they displayed in the brief previous contact make it hard to believe that they came from a poor, remote place with no concept of Oripathy.

A bold guess popped into Tomat's mind, but he wasn't going to voice it yet.

The members of Rainbow Team, so far, only regard Tomat as a "native resident" who is beyond their expectations.

1:00 PM, Rhodes Island Safe House, Changquan Town [Watchtower 33]

For safety reasons, Tomat did not place the injured directly on the first floor of the safe house. Instead, he had Okfin open a secret door to the more spacious basement, which was used to store various medicines and supplies, as a place for them to take care of the townspeople.

Of course, Okfin would never agree to such an act of allowing outsiders to enter Rhodes Island's private premises under normal circumstances, but he chose to accept it under the promise of an elite operator—although even without Thomas's request, he would not stand idly by and watch the injured people die, even if it meant losing his own job, rather than letting others die in vain.

"This safe house looks much smaller inside than outside. Sure enough, there are many hidden spaces. The building is reinforced, and there are secret doors. It looks like a place specifically for mercenaries and other combat personnel to rest temporarily."

After helping to settle the wounded townspeople, Blitzkrieg looked around at the interior of the safe house, while the others did similar things.

"Good heavens, crates and crates of ammunition, and what looks like explosives—enough to arm a small squad. What are these? Crossbows? Machetes? I can't seem to see any firearms or other weapons..."

These projectiles, which look similar to those used by the Rainbow Squad members, were so well-recognized that even when sealed, they were still easy to identify for their purpose.

The tank lowered its weapons and went to the ammunition box, examining it but not touching it directly.

They are aware that these supplies do not belong to them.

"Since we have ammunition, why have we never seen anyone use firearms? Some people who see our weapons say things like 'gun,' which means that similar weapons still exist."

Shuanghua also began to examine the weapons displayed around them.

Bows and arrows, crossbows—from simple, old-fashioned models to modern versions equipped with various aiming aids—these weapons, which were exceptionally familiar to her as someone who had always been passionate about hunting, were all available here. However, the specific components differed somewhat from what she was used to.

There are even bomb-like things here, but no guns or anything like that.

"Perhaps the people here don't need to use firearms. We've seen people throw spears weighing tens of kilograms that pierce through rocks, or launch fireballs with their bare hands, and then there's that guy who claimed to be a pharmaceutical company agent, attacking like a laser..."

Ash looked at Tomat, who was talking to Okfin, but at the same moment his gaze fell on Tomat's back, Tomat turned around and met Ash's eyes.

He seemed to have finished his discussion with Oxfam and deliberately walked towards her.

Do you have any missions to complete?

Thomas asked without warning.