Chapter 477: When Good Jobs Are Rare
We left the weapons store several million Credits poorer but it wasn't even enough to make a dent in the amount of money we currently have on hand.
I'm staring at my Codex and the amount of money displayed there barely even moved after what we have bought so far.
You know… After I did that self reflection and came to terms that this was now real life and no longer a game… I'm also coming to terms with the fact that I literally earned this much money in such a short time when I might have needed at least a few years to earn the same amount in my old life…
This is pretty scary…
I think it's a little too late to realise this but… I believe my value of Credits has already been destroyed… Especially when there's this thing on my finger that was capable of spitting out several hundred thousand Credits worth of Psionic Crystals a day… With the only thing holding us back from actually earning that money easily being the fact that we can only sell them to specific merchants and also the fact that Mara and Amber want to use them as well.
I turned to look at the girls, right now the pair being Amber and Mara clinging to my arms while Lea and Ries followed behind me.
Ries still looked a little out of sorts which I wasn't sure was because of the head pats I gave her earlier or because she was still basking in the gun shopping spree she just went through earlier.
The shop would be delivering all her purchases directly to the ship so we didn't need to worry about lugging them around ourselves but I just want to say… That was so many guns… Is she really going to use them all for the power armour? How are they all going to fit?
Guess I'll see it when she's done with it.
"Where are we heading next?" I asked the girls.
Before any of them could answer however, my Codex and each of their personal terminals suddenly let out notification beeps.
I raised my arm and tapped on my Codex, revealing a single message on the screen.
'Ongoing Robbery at Trixha's Funhouse. Probable gang involvement. Open Hustle.'
My eyes then shifted towards the top where the rewards were and saw that a hundred thousand Credits had been placed as a reward for this hustle.
I looked at the girls and they all showed me a discontent face.
"Well… I'm sure someone else can handle it since we're busy," I decided.
If this was the previous me, I would have definitely seen this as a new quest that I needed to take and probably just accepted it before rushing off to wherever this was to deal with it.
But right now I was on a date with the girls so I'm not working right now~ Someone else can deal with this instead.
The girls broke out into smiles and both Mara and Amber hugged my arms even tighter.
"How about we get something to eat? It's already past lunch time," Amber suggested.
Mara turned to give her a look, "I'm assuming that you're suggesting that we return back to the ship to eat and not find a place somewhere on the station to eat some nobody's cooking?"
Amber grinned, "Believe it or not… I'm actually suggesting the latter?"
Mara narrowed her eyes at her, "You're not serious?"
"Oh I am~ We can go to one of the better food stores or restaurants in the upper level instead~ Surely there might be something that we might like up there right?"
Mara opened her mouth to speak but then suddenly stopped and looked to the side and frowned.
All of us quickly stopped to watch her as we all realised that she must have read someone's mind and found what she was hearing was important for her to react like that.
"Someone there is a pirate… Hold on… Raiding… They're raiding a place somewhere and they're compromised… They're thinking of leaving and probably trying to take their boss's… Secret item… That is part of some kind of map… Pre-AI rebellion tech?"
My eyes widened, "That sounds like the group we are looking for…"
Mara nodded and continued, "Some regrets… Their brothers and sisters are currently raiding a casino… Trixha's Funhouse… Ah…"
I let out a groan.
Looks like for some reason, fate really just wanted us to take the job anyway…
"Do we know who that pirate is?"
Mara shook her head, "My apologies, I can't pinpoint who exactly has those thoughts in that crowd."
I sighed, "Is there anything else that I should know about?"
Mara narrowed her eyes slightly in the direction of where she was reading the thoughts before turning to shake her head at me, "I believe that is all, Captan… All I'm picking up on from his jumbled thoughts after this was the fact that he was thinking about just leaving the group and… Starting his own crew instead."
I guess that really means that we have to go and participate in that open hustle at that funhouse…
I turned to the girls, "In that case, I suppose we would be helping that err… Funhouse place… Right?"
Amber turned to me, "Technically… We only need to find out if these people attacking that place will lead us to their hideout so we don't really need to help them as long as we grab one of those pirates and interrogate them."
I lifted my personal terminal and gestured at the reward, "I mean… We might as well just go for the reward since we're already there right?"
Amber shrugged, "Hard to argue with that. But I think--"
Right then, we were interrupted by the sound of gunfire and things crashing from up ahead.
I turned in the direction of the noise, thinking that we might be closer to that funhouse or whatever it was called so they were already fighting nearby.
Instead, what greeted me was two Mercs engaging in a fight with both their fists and their weapons just a short distance away from us for some reason.
The only reason why I even knew they were Mercs and not the pirates in question was because of the things they were shouting at each other.
"That hustle is mine you bastard! Get lost!!"
"You think you can just go there and claim the rewards yourself?! Over my dead body!"
"That's exactly what I'm going to do if you don't get lost you idiot!"
They started firing at each other and I noticed that the store owners closest to them simply pulled down their shutters and hid in their stores as if this was something that happened on a regular enough basis that they didn't seem surprised by it anymore.
The first Merc peeked around his cover and fired several shots from his pistol at the other Merc, his shots ricocheting off the cover the other Merc was hiding behind harmlessly.
The other Merc didn't hesitate to fire back at him, his shots barely missing the first Merc by a few inches to hit his cover instead.
Looks like these two were serious about this…
"Are they really killing each other for a job?" I asked.
Ries shrugged, "Wouldn't be the first time I saw something like this, Boss… In some places, well paying jobs are rarer than people so when one comes up, there's people who wouldn't hesitate to kill others just to ensure that they are the only one who can get that job."
Wow… Ok… I would like to say that I'm surprised but I guess after all the things I've seen so far, I guess I wasn't really that surprised…
"Doesn't that mean that while we're doing this job, we also need to worry about other Mercs shooting us in the back as well?"
Amber nodded, "In a way, yes."
"Then doesn't that mean that we'll be in danger if we go and take up this job then?"
Amber grinned, "That's why I'm suggesting we just hide somewhere and let someone else go play that game while we just watch at the sidelines and wait for the pirates to scatter before following after one of them at a distance since I'm sure there's going to be some deserters at some point~"
"And what if they all get surrounded and killed?"
Mara raised her hand, "It would be no problem, Captain. I should be able to glean their affiliation and hideout from their minds while the fight is happening."
Ah, I guess that might work…
I looked back at the two Mercs that were still shooting each other, making me figure out that they might still be fighting even after this job is done so let's just ignore them and go do our own thing…
If there were other Mercs who might try to kill or attack us during our time near that mission place… I will not hesitate to kill them either.
Even if I fail to do so… I'm pretty sure the girls will make short work of them.
Right… Now where's the place again?
What do you think?
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