Chapter 2.4 - Night Assault
The seven committee members began to use the base’s way of assessing Su’s capabilities. As the questioning that seemed almost like idle chatting proceeded, all of the committee members, including Turner, would gaze towards the modified lengthened rifle at Su’s feet from time to time. Even without Tony’s expertise and knowledge in firearms, they could tell that the rifle was old-fashioned and primitive. The only benefit to it was that it was steady, reliable, and sturdy. Of course, its parts were also cheaper. However, when it was compared to the refined M3A series that came from the final period of the olden days, there was simply an entire grade of difference.
This rifle’s modifications were extremely eye-catching. Even if it was a heavy machine gun bullet or some kind of unique ammunition, to be able to reach 1,500 meters was still something worth smacking your lips at. There were many other questions as well, such as the accuracy and power of recoil. Something else that caught these people’s attention was the aiming device. This kind of simple and crude aiming lens could only be used on a medium range automatic rifle. It wasn’t suitable for the accuracy needed for a sniper rifle at all.
Of course, the more advanced sighting devices naturally carried heavier price tags, to a point where it might even be more expensive than a firearm of the same grade. However, this kind of price shouldn’t be something that a third level sniper couldn’t pay. Reaching the third level was equivalent to undergoing seven points of standard gene evolution. If that was converted to money, it would be enough to purchase three or four top quality optic sights. However, Su’s circumstances were a bit different. He chose to enhance his own body instead of investing in advanced firearms. This is a decision that not many people would make. After all, from the perspective of earning one’s livelihood, a good sniper rifle is capable of simply and directly improving a marksman’s power, which would result in a higher income. After all, the gun was what a soldier used to put food on the table.
From this perspective, Su’s choices did not seem to make economic sense.
As questioning continued, it became a bit more serious. The committee did not need to completely understand Su’s abilities. After all, missions usually involve great risk, and the employers did not need to hold any responsibility for their employee’s life. At the same time, Su definitely wouldn’t reveal all of his trump cards before an organization he only had a business relationship with. He merely complied with what the base’s regulations required. During the ten or so years following the war, Base N11 had unavoidably given birth to bureaucracy and many formalities.
Third level of Mental Domain’s sniping expertise, and first level of Perception Domain’s strengthened sight; this was what Su decided to disclose to the committee, but this was already enough to leave the seven-member committee shocked. The root of their shock was in the extra level in strengthened sight.
The enhancement of ‘sniping expertise’ is actually a synthesis of different enhancements. It included physical power, endurance, sight, control, coordination, and a series of other improvements. Then, through specialized training, the transformed individual would experiences changes that were suited for them. This kind of enhancement was extremely thorough. In addition, after enhancing up to the third level, adding a level of Perception Domain’s strengthened sight was still quite normal. After all, the fourth level of sniping expertise was still rather imperfect, and there was also the difficulty of improving the further you continued, so eight or maybe even more evolution points were needed. Comparatively, one would receive more benefits from the first level of strengthened sight instead.
However, one point of evolution was still equivalent to ten thousand yuan of wealth. On the contrary, for Su, who wasn’t even twenty years of age, this addition ten thousand yuan was definitely not a small amount. This implied that Su was quite good at making money, even though it seemed like he was even better at spending it. These seven members of the committee quickly converted this ten thousand to the wine, smoke, firearms, water, or women, whichever they respectively preferred, but when they looked at Su’s eyes, they felt that it was somewhat different.
Wrapped in bandages, it was already a body that should not belong to a human. It was a body that was worth close to a hundred thousand yuan in wealth.
The rather gloomy segment of questioning finally passed. What followed now were the contents of the mission. Su’s mental state that was becoming drowsy immediately became sober, and he began to listen to each and every word carefully.
The contents of the mission were both simple and complicated.
Out of worry for the base’s safety, the seven-member committee decided to investigate the cavern system outside the base’s back gate. In particular, they wanted to look into the subway passages that were as complex as spider webs to maybe find an escape route should the base ever face dire circumstances. This mission was also divided into two parts. If the investigation of the subway system directly lead to a dead end within the cavern, then the reward would only be five hundred yuan. If he was able to create a safe escape route within the subway system, then the reward would be a dose of primary gene modification medicine produced by Base N11.
After thinking it through briefly, Su understood that the mission’s risks and reward were quite fitting. Several dozen kilometers from Base N11 was an enormous city ruin with all types of sly, merciless, and strange creatures. Mutated people, living corpses, bandits, and all types of organizations with unclear intentions were illegally occupying this area. It was just like a labyrinth. It was divided into six layers, and it was much more dangerous than the surface.
The underground world was not suitable for a sniper. Instead, it was the vast city filled with many buildings that was truly the sniper's domain. As such, cleaning up the natural cave passages was the mission most suitable only for a third level sniper like him. In the past, the missions Su accepted were of a similar difficulty, with rewards ranging from three hundred to a thousand yuan.
However, the high reward that came with the following mission interested Su. He might not need the primary grade medicine, but it could be used to exchange for at least five thousand yuan’s worth of items. For Su who was practically impoverished, this kind of reward almost carried a type of irrefusable enticement.
Once he accepted the mission, he could withdraw a hundred yuan early as funds for preparation. Grace Company’s license was still worth at least this amount of advance payment.
When dusk fell, this hundred yuan became a box of bullets, ten rounds of special bullets, and two bottles of purified water that had already reached the fourth grade.
At nightfall, a fully equipped Su departed for the natural caves from the base’s emergency exit.
While leaving, he learned by chance that the girl named Lizzy had already left the base in the morning. She originally wasn’t a resident of this base, and lockpicking wasn’t a skill that was useful here, so staying here wouldn’t bring in any income. In less than a month, all of the money she had on her was used on her luxurious lifestyle. Since she wasn’t willing to sell herself like other women, she had no choice but to leave the base today. This was a rather regretful event, for there were many men who yearned to have their way with Lizzy in bed, and they were even willing to pay a generous price to do so. Now that she left the base, Lizzy’s life would definitely not be as great as it was in the base. At the very least, there was a sufficiently powerful system of order and law here, meaning that even if she was forcefully raped, the individual involved would still be forced to reimburse her. One’s personal conduct had to be be in accordance with the base’s laws. Meanwhile, chaos was the everlasting theme of the outside world. The ever-lurking males were filled with excessive lust and violence, and none of them had money.
Currently, Su didn’t care enough to think about Lizzy’s matters. His green eye swept through the deep and seemingly endless caves in front of him. Behind him, the base’s thick iron door had already firmly closed, locking him out.