Chapter 29: Zone 41 (2)

"Bad!" the soldier answered without hesitation. His expression immediately turned serious. "Since this is only a D-Rank polluted zone, not many high-ranking Sentinels are willing to take missions here!"

The main reason was obvious: money.

The base pay for missions depended heavily on the danger level. A D-Rank polluted zone naturally offered much less money than an A-Rank or S-Rank zone.

For high-ranking Sentinels, the reward simply wasn’t worth their time, unless the government forced them into it, which was rare.

"But the D-Rank Sentinels here can’t suppress the polluted creature population fast enough!" the soldier continued. "We kill them, more appear. We clear one area, another gets overrun!"

"It’s because the females have started giving birth after the mating season," the soldier explained. "Their numbers suddenly exploded. We’ve already asked the government to send several high-ranking Sentinels, but—"

"They won’t come." Ilya cut him off before he could finish.

"I heard the other polluted zones are dealing with the same problem," Ilya continued. "Some of them are in even worse condition. The government doesn’t have enough high-ranking Sentinels to send everywhere at once, so Zone 41 won’t be their priority for now."

The soldier frowned. "But Captain, this zone produces some of our most valuable energy crystals. Shouldn’t the government consider this place one of their top priorities?"

Before Ilya could answer, Summer spoke up. "Communication is important, but it would be useless if we ran out of ammunition or didn’t have enough fuel to travel."

Actually, it wasn’t that difficult to understand.

Zone 41 might produce the crystals needed to keep communication running, but other zones produced resources that were just as important.

If they lost communication, missions would become much harder.

But if they lost the materials needed to make ammunition? They wouldn’t even have enough bullets or plasma energy to fight.

And if they lost their main sources of fuel and energy, their vehicles wouldn’t be able to move in the first place.

You couldn’t communicate with soldiers who couldn’t even reach the battlefield.

"So the government has to choose which problem will kill more people first," Summer concluded.

The soldier fell silent. It sounded cold when she said it like that.

But unfortunately, that was how things worked when there weren’t enough people or resources to save everything at once.

"But we’re already here anyway," Ilya said. He opened his terminal and sent a message to several people. "Change of plans, Miss Beaumont. Instead of going from one polluted zone to another, your test will be to survive in this polluted zone and kill as many polluted creatures as you can."

Summer was about to reply to him, but the soldier had already spoken. "But isn’t she a Guide? I thought she was here to guide you, Captain."

"This is a physical test, so of course I have to see how long she can survive here," Ilya said with a smile. "Besides, I heard that the last time she was in a B-Rank Zone, she managed to kill several high-ranking polluted creatures."

The soldier swallowed hard when he remembered her livestream. "Y-Yeah... Miss Bun—Miss Beaumont was impressive."

"Once the test starts, I can not help you until I declare that it’s over," Ilya explained to Summer. "But I can stop your test midway if your physical condition drops below a certain percentage."

Summer tilted her head, looking interested. "How much percentage?"

Instead of answering her right away, Ilya simply smiled. "Wouldn’t it be more fun not to know?"

"..."

Summer stared at him for several seconds. She was beginning to understand why none of his trainees dared to slack off despite how friendly he normally was.

This man was evil.

He just happened to have a very pretty smile while being evil.

"Fine." Summer shrugged. "I’ll do it."

"Good."

Ilya immediately opened his terminal again. "We can provide weapons for the test. Guns, swords, combat knives, bows, and a few other options are available downstairs." He glanced at her. "Or you can use your own weapons. As long as you’re the one using them, I don’t care where they come from."

Summer’s eyes immediately lit up. Her own weapons? Now that sounded much better.

"No need. I’ll use mine," she said.

Ilya raised an eyebrow. "You brought weapons?"

"Kind of."

After saying that, Summer immediately opened the online shop on her terminal.

As far as she knew, they could buy almost anything through the shop, and the system would deliver it directly to her within minutes.

A notification immediately appeared on the screen.

[Would you like us to recommend weapons suitable for you?]

Summer clicked ’Not Interested’ without hesitation.

Recommendations? No, thank you. She would choose her own weapons.

Summer quickly scrolled through the weapon section, carefully looking for anything she thought would suit her fighting style.

She still had the Poison Gun Archer had given her. Maybe he had forgotten about it or maybe he had actually given it to her permanently.

Whatever the reason was, Summer didn’t have any intention of giving it back as long as he didn’t ask for it.

And since she already had a powerful gun, buying another one felt unnecessary. What she needed were weapons that could cover the things her Poison Gun couldn’t.

[Carbon Energy Blade: $38,000]

[Type: Lightweight close-range weapon.]

[Effect: Energy-coated edge capable of cutting through the shells and bones of most C-Rank polluted creatures.]

Summer clicked ’Buy’.

[Remaining Bank Balance: $703,387]

She then chose another weapon.

[Long-Range Plasma Rifle: $72,000]

[Type: Long-range weapon.]

[Effective Range: 1,500 meters.]

[Built-in target tracking and recoil compensator.]

[Compatible with standard Energy Cells.]

Without thinking any further, Summer clicked ’Buy’ again.

[Remaining Bank Balance: $631,387]

The Recoil Compensator would be very useful for someone like her who still didn’t have strong arm muscles.

There was a chance she would still feel the impact, but it definitely wouldn’t be as strong as using a gun without one.

"Interesting choice," Ilya said after Summer closed the online shop.

Summer looked at him. "Do you think they’re good enough?"

Ilya shrugged. "I don’t know. That’s your call. You’ll never learn if you never make mistakes."