Saiyan stowaways on the Ark

"I'm sorry, I'm not the kind of puppy who's good at reading people and wagging its tail~"

W arrived at Talulah's steps with her usual flamboyant gait, casually explaining the battle she had experienced.

—When everything was going well, Talulah's men appeared and ruined his plans. A lot of his men died, and he only managed to escape by "luck".

"I'm sorry that after Captain Garsen's 'accidental' death, you, as the 'Captain of the Sarkaz Mercenaries Expeditioned to Kazdel,' suffered such a setback in your first battle. However, you, known for your strength, failed to fulfill your contract to the end and instead returned directly to your employer, which has indeed disappointed me." This time, Talulah was not angry at W's report, which was full of sarcastic slang from various countries. Instead, she was quite calm. "Oh, forgive me, perhaps my expectations were too high from the beginning."

“We are just mercenaries under the Regent. As long as he agrees and your price is right, I won’t mind my lads—or the guys who used to be under Garson—fighting for the Reunion Movement, even if the opponent is that monster who wiped out thousands of your men.”

With a nonchalant smile, W raised the corners of his mouth, put one hand on his hip, and spoke eloquently about his "professionalism."

Of course, she didn't want to fight someone like that.

If her opponent is Tomat, she will retreat even faster than when she fought Frostnova.

After all, there was a living example right in front of her—surviving in that state was nothing to be happy about. W couldn't possibly act as the monarch and leader of the organization under such circumstances, because before that, there would be Sarkaz mercenaries who wanted to overthrow her and take her place.

“But this time it was your little rabbit who bit us, the one who was supposed to ‘assist in the fight as an allied force’ in the contract,” W continued, even revealing his true thoughts bluntly. “Being bitten by the employer’s own subordinate is enough for me to conclude that this is an outside situation, and then terminate the contract on my own initiative.”

"After all, taking my lads to do something different from what I originally promised them is putting me in a difficult position. I don't want my knife to be stained with my comrades' blood."

W expressed her desire not to be made difficult, but her expression—a half-closed smile—already revealed her intention to mock. Moreover, several of W's personal swords had already been corroded by the blood of her own kind.

"Or like you, you got bitten by the rabbit you raised."

W added his own words, saying that what was supposed to be a battle report had now turned into an undisguised provocation.

Sacrificing subordinates, using one's own people as expendable pawns and bait, taking the target's life without mercy, and carrying out missions by any means necessary.

Such things are commonplace among mercenaries, and no one would condemn or doubt them for doing these things; even among their own people, it's taken for granted.

But when this kind of behavior is carried out by an organization that claims to be righteous and noble, everyone who notices or witnesses it will only say, "Why would they do this? Didn't they agree to it?"

W understands this well. She also knows that Reunion is not a mercenary organization, but the latter. No matter what has changed Talulah, her current hypocrisy will only lead Reunion to destruction. Reunion is also a means for her to achieve a certain goal.

She had always known this, but she chose to use the "abandoned contract" as an excuse today to pierce this veil.

Of course, W wasn't doing this to educate or warn Talulah.

I just wanted to do it.

She wanted to thoroughly mock this once arrogant tyrant, just as she mocked all her adversaries.

After all, Talulah was already wary of her, and speaking like that would likely only result in her being burned to ashes by Talulah's invisible flames.

"Thank you for your report." Talulah didn't seem angry. In fact, knowing W's intentions perfectly well, she replied politely, "So you've said all this just to end the cooperation?"

W smiled and took out her remote-controlled staff from behind her back.

She was determined to finish off the wounded dragon.

"What I want to end is not just the cooperation, but also your life, you little princess playing house."

Talulah also slowly rose from her throne.

She wanted to purge the demons of betrayal.

"I will remember your lesson as my last words."

The mercenary captain dispatched by the regent died in Chernobog.

The Rhodes Island doctor, who was the target of the mission, was let go by her.

The Battle of Lungmen resulted in heavy losses of Sarkaz warriors.

Perhaps the nominal leader of the Sarkaz—Regent Theresis—did not care about such minor losses and wanted the new Sarkaz captain, W, to return with his head.

Rather, even her Sarkaz mercenaries didn't really respect the Regent. They just wanted a battlefield for killing, a space for "people who had nowhere else to go but the battlefield" to survive.

However, she still needed a sufficient excuse to ensure that these things would not become a further nuisance.

So, the mind of a "Reunion Movement leader who fooled the Regent into sending troops to support him, and then allowed his traitorous subordinates to kill Sarkaz soldiers" seems very suitable as this "excuse".

Normally, Talulah would proceed with her next move after the successful conclusion of the Lungmen operation, but W hopes she will never be able to do so.

The employer's death is the fastest way to terminate the contract.

"You and I both know what it means for that weirdo to join Rhodes Island. After dealing with you, I will refocus on the great cause of integration."

"But fighting someone whose strength and cunning might surpass yours would be exhausting, wouldn't it? Let me, the slightly smarter one, end your suffering early~"

Talulah had no desire to continue the fight, because she had no idea what kind of annoying conspiracy the man, who had exceeded her expectations, was brewing at this moment.

He might find this place at any moment and destroy everything he has painstakingly built up.

Meanwhile, at the docking point between the Lungmen mobile city-state and the Rhodes Island main ship, after a not-so-grand victory celebration the night before, most of the Rhodes Island personnel returned to their posts. Although the great battle was over, the countless wounded and various other problems indicated that now was not the time to relax.

But the guy she was longing for, dressed in casual clothes like a Hawaiian shirt, walked up to a black luxury car with the Penguin Logistics logo, knocked on the window, and asked:

"I'm Tommat, an operator from Rhodes Island. You're my tour guides for my Lungmen vacation?"

[Main Text] Travelogue of Longmen: Chapter One - Old Street

Longmen, the pearl of Yan Kingdom, rose late but developed and prospered. On this Terra, which has been ravaged by natural disasters, their currency circulates all over the world. The giant shadow of prosperity travels to every corner of the land, giving those who are reviving civilizations unparalleled inspiration.

As a city of Yan Kingdom that has not waged war against foreign powers for a century, Longmen appears to outsiders as a peace-loving city-state. Of course, this does not mean that they are incapable of fighting. Whether it is their well-organized military forces, strict management strategies, or their most powerful weapon—the large city-protecting cannons that can paralyze other mobile city-states with a single blow—it all shows that they are not to be trifled with.

In this city-state that claims to be inclusive and free, all sorts of people naturally gather: ordinary people seeking a place to live, seekers pursuing opportunities, criminals plotting conspiracies, or infected people who are always marginalized wherever they go.

Black and white appear distinct in this city, yet they are secretly intertwined, becoming an invisible force driving the city's myriad phenomena.

The riots that had been raging for only a day had passed, but once the incident ended, it couldn't stop the people of Lungmen from getting back on track. People who had been cowering at home took to the streets, merchants who had stockpiled goods launched large-scale marketing campaigns, the Guard Bureau, which was maintaining order, was running around, and the ditch rats hiding in the sunlight were looking for opportunities.

Rather, it's more accurate to say that, aside from the fact that the Royal Guard didn't exist at that time, the Lungmen that the older generation in the city-state experienced was probably just like it is now.

"Oh, so you're the operator Amiya instructed? Lungmen is docked here, so even in December it's not very cold, but you're only wearing a Siesta shirt. Aren't you afraid of the cold?"

The black luxury sedan was moving from the edge of Lungmen towards the deeper parts of the city, and the one asking the question was a short-haired girl with red hair sitting in the front passenger seat—the halo around her head was more dazzling than the interior lighting.

"No, I've been to colder places before."

Compared to Froststar's spells, December in Lungmen is about the same as midsummer.

“That’s fine then. Although the employer is the medical director of Rhodes Island, since you’re also the target of the commission, I’ll just call you ‘boss’ as usual.” The red-haired girl with an aura tilted her head, which was covered by her side-swept bangs, and continued to introduce Tommat. “Although it’s just an easy tour guide job, let me introduce you to everyone first—the long-time employees of Rhodes Island all know us, but you probably don’t. I’m Exusiai, and I’m in charge of planning your travel itinerary for this vacation.”

Thomas had actually heard about the people in the car, since during the previous meeting, the attendees had mentioned Penguin Logistics and the personnel who had been commissioned to help Rhodes Island.

"The serious-looking Lupo driver next to you is Texas, who is in charge of driving and escorting you. And the person sitting next to you, Fengti, is Croissant. She will give you a shopping guide."

The wolf-like race is called Lupo, the horned race is Fenghoof, and the one with a halo is Sarkaz. The people of Terra don't have a clear concept of the animals themselves, but they do have proper nouns to refer to groups with similar characteristics.

The girl with several metal earrings on her animal ears was steering the wheel with one hand. She nodded silently as she was introduced, and took a chocolate biscuit from a red box placed in front of the windshield and put it in her mouth.

Meanwhile, another girl named Croissant sat in the back seat with great anticipation and excitement, taking out a mobile communication device with a screen, and swiping as she spoke:

"This time it's called a commission, but it's more like an extra reward. They gave us an easy task, and the commission fee is quite high. But I didn't expect that Rhodes Island would give its employees a day off, especially a new one. When I was a temporary employee, I was even investigated for setting up a stall there."

"Hey Croissant, don't underestimate this boss. He brought reinforcements in time during the Lungmen battle and used pre-planted explosives to blow up Integra. He also said it was his first time in a big city, so he gave him a vacation to get familiar with it."

There was no need for Tomat to explain anything; Exusiai, sitting in front, answered for him.

Although some details of the story have become distorted due to repeated transmissions, fortunately, they are not too outrageous, so Tomat tacitly accepted them.

"Where are we going? I remember the city was badly damaged."

After all, it was Tomat who bombed it himself, so he must have known that there was nowhere worth going in the area that was the city center square, and the surrounding area.

“There’s more to see in Lungmen than just the city center. Even though Lungmen Square was bombed, it was originally a large city composed of multiple small mobile city-states, and it still has multiple central areas.” Exusiai, who was acting as our guide on this trip, began to introduce the general route. “Only the one closer to the administrative center was destroyed, because occupying that place basically means taking over the core city and the entire city-state—and we’re not going to go somewhere to make a fool of ourselves.”

“So the first thing we need to do is go to the shopping area in our current district and get you a more normal outfit. Nobody in Lungmen dresses like a Siesta.” Croissant continued, picking up where Exusiai left off.

"And the nearest place has a nice 'commercial street'."

Exusiai and Croissant sang in unison, while Texas, who hadn't uttered a word, knew what they were talking about without even hearing their destination. She then turned at a street corner where there were few pedestrians and continued in another direction.

Although they were located on the edge of Lungmen, there were still many tall buildings there, but in the direction from Texas, high-rise buildings were visibly scarce.

"A commercial street? This place isn't far from the Rhodes Island. Some Reunion members have been thinking about attacking this area directly. Even if there is a commercial street, it wouldn't be open for use so quickly, would it?" Tomat directly raised his question. "Besides, what looks like a commercial street up ahead doesn't seem like it."

"Boss, do you know which shops were among the first to resume operations after the war?"

Instead of answering Tomat's question, Exusiai posed a question in return.

"After the war? I don't know, after all, the battlefields I've been to often don't even leave behind the ruins of a single shop, let alone allow them to reopen."

"It seems the places the boss has visited before are quite special. Let me tell him this little-known fact—"

In areas lined with high-rise buildings, pedestrians are sparse, but in remote corners of Texas, one can see crowds of people in the distance.

"The destroyed shops in the city center are not in a hurry to open, because they need to find ways to obtain compensation from the government before that. But it's different here. Every shop here operates independently. There may be some doubts about the supply channels, but it is precisely because of these that they have been able to continue to operate tenaciously after the war."

The introduction of Exusiai came to an abrupt end, and Croissant's shouts immediately followed—

"Welcome to Lungmen Old Street, the hell for Lungmen tourists!"

[Main Text] Travelogue of Longmen: Chapter Two - The Street of Tourist Scams

Aside from the ordinary people with different clothes that Tomat saw at the beginning in Chernobog, in the places Tomat went afterward, whether it was Rhodes Island or the ruins of a branch city of Chernobog, even though the former had personalized clothing for some operators, most of the other people's clothing, especially the general operators and members of Reunion, was a relatively common and uniform style.

This visit to Longmen Old Street was Tomat's first time experiencing the local people's distinctive clothing and architectural style up close.

Similar to the ancient streets and alleys that stand out from the high-rise buildings in the interior of Lungmen, while there are some people in suits and ties, most of the people wandering around here are dressed in old-fashioned cloth clothing such as mandarin jackets or cloth robes. All kinds of ethnic groups are scattered in every corner, living in neighborhoods covered with old-fashioned building materials such as bricks and tiles. If it weren't for the neon signs and crisscrossing cables that are still visible everywhere, people who have seen the city of Lungmen would definitely feel like they have been transported to another world.

It is said that many people in Lungmen city also insist on wearing that style of dress, as it is considered one of their formal attire.

Before driving deeper into the more crowded neighborhood, Texas parked the car in a nearby parking lot—though it wasn't really a parking lot, there were no signs, it was just a place where many cars, especially large cargo trucks, were parked.

"The people who manage this area are quite nostalgic, and of course, the main reason is that these buildings are relatively inexpensive."

Exusiai indicated that they would need to walk next, and so they began their journey through the old streets according to their pre-arranged division of labor.

She walked a little ahead, responsible for assessing the road conditions ahead to avoid unnecessary backtracking or running into trouble.

Texas walked beside Tomat, taking care of the pickpockets, thugs, and drunks who approached.

Finally, Croissant walks at the back. She is said to be a shopping expert who needs to keep an eye out for shops nearby and also keep an eye out for things she wants to buy.

"I said..." Surrounded by people, Tomat asked in a puzzled tone, "I don't understand why the tour guides are all women, but why do they need bodyguards?"

As a Saiyan, the notions of gender differences or the inherent gender stereotypes he had as a human being had been shattered by common sense over the past decade or so, and have almost completely disappeared from his mind.

After all, there are many Saiyans who are exceptionally strong in both mind and body. What is deeper than the physiological barrier is the power barrier. Apart from someone he knows, almost all Saiyans choose their partners based on whether the other person's power is commensurate with their own.

—As a result, there are a lot of single men and women among the Saiyans, plus some same-sex couples who appreciate each other, so the population of the race can never increase.