Chapter 43: Equipment of the Dead
Pathless Origin was as cold as before, “Oh, you got hurt. I thought you little brat finally stopped bothering me. What do you want to ask me this time?”
Han anxiously asked, “I do have a lot of questions, can’t help it because I’m young and inexperienced. But I really want to thank you, from my last battle I finally understood, you taught me that the most important thing isn’t skills, nor how to train, but the battle spirit! That’s the foundation of a soldier!”
“For the lifetime, everyone will keep on running into challenges and obstacles, and enemies will always show up, but for a warrior with the true spirit and will of battle, he will be able to hack his way through difficulties and accomplish more in life! Thank you for teaching me something that important!”
Pathless rarely shows emotions but he start laughing on the other end of dark net, seems like Han’s pretty savvy and finally understood the underlying lesson he was trying to teach.
But Han also did well himself, seeing how Han yelled his famous words in front of a group of stronger opponents, “I don’t have anything else, but I still have a few tough bones!”, Pathless was really proud.
At least the time spent on Han was not wasted, this little guy really showed some good fighting spirit, and he’s like a true warrior now.
“Don’t kiss my ass.” Pathless was happy but he doesn’t want to show it, so he said in a strict tone, “You are still a long way to becoming a true soldier. Killing a few robbers doesn’t meet anything, a true warrior need to not display emotion even when facing an entire army.”
“Also, did you do an assessment on your body? Did the injury leave behind any sequela?”
Han typed, “The doctor checked, he said I recovered really well and there weren’t any sequela. In addition, my natural growth rate was increased a little from before.”
Pathless Origin frowned a little, “Be clear, how much is a little? 1 unit? 1.5 unit?”
Han replied honestly, “The system said, my natural daily growth rate is at around 5 units.”
First, Pathless was astonished, then excited, then that changed right into anguish, “You little bastard! From 2.1 to 5, that’s called increased by a little by?! That’s more than doubled! How did it grow by that much?!”
Han thought for a bit and replied, “I don’t know, maybe it was the medicine given to me by teacher Night Walker.”
Pathless sneered, “If that Old Black has that ability, I will write my name in reverse.” Pathless said to himself on the other end of the dark net.
He’s very familiar with Night Walker’s background, so he was sure that it had nothing to do with Night Walker’s medicine but with Han himself.
To be honest, Han’s natural growth rate increasing to 5 units per day really shocked Pathless, but on the outside he still have to play it cool and emotionless, “That’s just okay, this kind of speed in Milky Way isn’t that impressive, you can’t be arrogant because of this.”
“But now that you have recovered, you must not slack off. Let’s dial the training progress back a notch, starting from -20 degrees Celsius, and slowly increase to the -50 degrees Celsius you were at before the fight. You must be patient with this.”
“Do you have any other questions?”
Han anxiously asked, “Teacher, I noticed that of among all the stores that sell equipment and skill scrolls on dark net, you charge the lowest price. Now my Earth’s United Government wants to form an esper legion, but we are really poor and can’t afford too much. Don’t know if teacher has any ways of helping us get some cheap skill scrolls?”
“All the things here are second handed, you know that?”
“Yep, but that’s okay, as long as they are cheap.” Han didn’t mind at all, because with the current financial ability of Earth, being able to give every soldier some second hand equipment is already good enough.
“The equipment sold on dark net, they are usually acquired from illegal channels, you don’t care about that either?”
“That’s no problem, whether it’s stolen or robbed. Right now we just need something that’s cheap but also decent, we can’t afford to care about where it’s from.”
Pathless hesitated for a second and said, “I will be honest, the things I sold were all from stripping the dead. Many great battles took place in Milky Way, and those large scale wars involved over millions and millions of espers killing. After the war, dead bodies were left everywhere. Some of the equipment I sold still have bloodstains, and that’s why.”
“In the Milky Way Alliance, it is illegal to strip and sells the stuffs of the dead. But there’s someone called the Skinner, that’s all he does. How about this, let’s book a time and I will take you to see the Skinner. If you want some good equipment but don’t want to spend too much money, then that’s the only way.”
Han didn’t even hesitate to agree. So what if it’s taken from the dead? Right now 90% of the esper soldiers don’t have any equipment. Last time, Han was able to survive in that fight mainly because of his Black Celestial Python. Without the protection from armor, even one blow from the enemy might end Han’s life.
Han booked a time with Pathless, and reported everything to Li Yu on the second day on their way to the South Pole base.
Li Yu couldn’t help but frown a bit, “Han, what kind of friends do you have? He suggested taking the equipment from the dead soldiers? Is that even illegal?”
Han wanted to say, he met both Night Walker and Pathless Origin on dark net, and if the business are legal then that would be strange.”
But of course, Han wouldn’t tell Li Yu the secret about dark net, so he replied in a deep tone, “Chief, I was there at the fight at Shanghai. Before the soldiers from Esper Administration arrived, the ordinary citizen espers didn’t have any equipment. They couldn’t even protect themselves and they had to risk their lives to protect the civilians? I never want to see that kind of sacrifice again!”
“Even if the equipment is second handed, stripped from the dead, illegal, so what?! In my opinion, the equipment that can arm our brothers and minimize avoidable sacrifices, are the best equipment!”
“As for the Milky Way Law, fuck that law! When did that fucking law protect us? Why should we respect it if it wasn’t there when we are suffering?!”
Li Yu was deeply convinced. Not just the fight at Shanghai, the fight at South Pole was the same. If the equipment were better, maybe a couple more brothers could live.
Even if it can help one more brother live!
Earth has about 150 thousand espers, not counting the minors, low levels, non-combats, only about half of that number can actually go to war. Every esper’s strength is very important, we can’t let our brothers’ blood drip in vain!
Thinking about that, Li Yu said in a deep voice, “Okay, do what you said! Let your friend get us a bunch of illegal equipment and arm our brothers first! I will handle the headquarter side of negotiation.
Shua~
The plane landed in South Pole. Li Yu and Han exited the plan, and walked towards that extinction domain that’s hidden under the base.
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Thanks for Mighty Sugar Daddy for sponsoring this chapter! Anyways, since Black Beans Sauce is going to be dead for the next few days, I will be proof reading my own translations to see if it works out or not.