Chapter 70: Do Not Underestimate Temporary Employees

Hao Ren did not rush to join the battle; instead, he observed the situation from the edge of the battlefield.

The Aegis, piloted by Aslan, along with three ZAFT GINNs, were fighting valiantly. However, the four ZAKUs on the other side seemed unmotivated, entirely unlike the imposing Aimee, who was intimidating the Earth Forces with her aura and tentacles. These ZAKUs wandered aimlessly on the battlefield’s fringes, neither engaging in combat nor making any attempt to escape.

What was going on?

Hao Ren tried firing a long, powerful beam from extreme range at the clumped ZAKUs. The result…

Ripples appeared on the surface of all four machines, and the beam was neutralized.

Impossible! This twin-barreled burst rifle could destroy a warship in one shot! An i-field? That can’t be! My beam should pierce through! Even an i-field can’t completely negate the damage!

Hao Ren was utterly perplexed.

The four ZAKUs simultaneously turned toward Hao Ren. Facing these unknown enemies, Hao Ren felt immense pressure.

To his surprise, the four ZAKUs didn’t dash over for revenge. Instead, they drifted toward him at a leisurely pace, completely unarmed.

Confident in his ability to escape before being harmed, Hao Ren chose not to flee, but watched their movements with caution.

As they drew closer, Hao Ren’s nerves tightened.

Wait a moment—these ZAKUs’ paint jobs are odd. White, with some blue lettering...

As one ZAKU jerked a little, the writing on its left shield finally became clear to Hao Ren.

N! O! K! *! A!

…

The amount of information was overwhelming. He couldn’t process it.

“What the hell! Stop messing around! Piloting these machines is nothing but a shameful play!” After a moment of stunned silence, Hao Ren suddenly roared on the public channel.

At Hao Ren’s outburst, the entire battlefield froze.

“Um, you must be Lord Black Flame Dragon, right? This is our private channel, let’s talk there.” A very gentle, fresh-sounding voice came through, along with a string of communication channel codes on the Blackwing Warrior’s screen.

Blackwing Warrior looked up to see the foremost ZAKU nodding and giving him a thumbs-up.

Are you guys using motion controls too? If not, you really must be bored.

Hao Ren was exasperated.

After a brief private conversation, Hao Ren finally understood—the group had been sent in by their sponsor to advertise!

He had almost forgotten that the dungeon was being watched by aliens.

Originally, the group hadn’t intended to join the battle. They planned to complete some small tasks, scrape together a few LP points, and muddle through this mission.

Especially after hearing that the enemy Archangel had a demon rivaling the world’s top machines, they were even more determined to stick to their plan.

Their machines were: the Zeon Principality’s atmospheric combat plane “Dopp,” the Zeon Principality’s main battle tank “Magella Attack Tank,” the Federation’s combat support vehicle “Hover Recon Vehicle,” and the Federation’s bombardment-specialized mass-produced MS “Guntank”…

What a joke! Not a single one is space-capable!

Except for the gentle Guntank, which was an MS, the rest were just ordinary combat vehicles…

Damn it! Where are the mobile suits? These are just planes and tanks! Mainframe, you’ve been watching too much “Shuke and Beita”!

Of course, the one who said this was punished by the mainframe: if he didn’t finish watching all episodes of “Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf” before the dungeon ended, he’d suffer a -50 intelligence penalty, and fast-forwarding wasn’t allowed…

On Hao Ren’s small screen, he could see this unfortunate soul sobbing while watching Pleasant Goat furiously pummel Big Big Wolf.

He was the owner of the “Dopp.”

It was said that the DVD player on this ZAKU had been an aftermarket addition.

In a way, being lucky enough to draw the weakest possible machine in the entire SD universe—the “Dopp”—might be a kind of good fortune…

Just as they were about to stick to their convictions, the mainframe issued them a special side mission.

As a reward of temporary employment, a certain communications company from the M77 Nebula, acting as sponsor, supplied them with four custom-painted ZAKUs, requiring them to participate in the vanguard battle, with invincible cameras following and recording their every move.

Just as Hao Ren observed, all four machines were equipped with nearly invincible “Nok*a Fields,” but in exchange, were completely unarmed.

“If I’d known you were Nok*a ZAKUs, I wouldn’t have wasted my energy,” Hao Ren thought to himself.

“Hey, Fresh Guy, I just got a message from the live-broadcast staff,” Big Big Wolf suddenly said in the channel.

“Read it out.”

“They want us to wave to the camera and show off some special moves,” Big Big Wolf replied.

“We’ve been contacted by the sponsor, too—they want us to make the logo as prominent as possible.”

“The reward for completing the mission is temporary staff status, but we can’t be satisfied with just that. Our goal: full-time employees!” Fresh Guy said with fanatic zeal. The other three echoed his cry, chanting the slogan together.

…

Clearly, life wasn’t easy for these people either. But watching them wave at the camera and strike poses from time to time still left Hao Ren with a headache.

Working adults and students are worlds apart!

Aboard the Archangel, on the bridge.

Frey burst in without warning.

“Where’s my father? How is his ship?” Frey’s masculine posture and girlish mannerisms made Sai very uncomfortable. After all, it was his body—couldn’t she act normal?

“Non-combatants must leave the bridge immediately!” Murrue didn’t care whose daughter she was; on her bridge, her rules prevailed.

“Frey, don’t make trouble. Come with me!” Sai stopped Frey before she could go further.

“Which ship is my father’s? What’s happening to it right now?!” Frey ignored their warnings, pressing her questions.

In the midst of battle, who had time to deal with her?

“The Louwu has been sunk!” A flash of explosive fire illuminated the screen—another Earth Forces warship had met its end.

“Frey, listen to me.” Sai led Frey to the elevator.

“That child… Black Flame? What is Black Flame doing now?” Frey grabbed Sai’s shoulder, her expression twisted.

If Hao Ren heard that, he’d explode again.

Who the hell are you calling your child! Isn’t your child Kira (or so we thought)? Why dump that on me?

“He’s fighting hard, but the enemy is also strong. The battle isn’t going too smoothly.” Sai averted his eyes, making things up as he went along. From the images he’d just seen, Blackwing Warrior was busy standing around with four weird ZAKUs, doing nothing substantial.

“But that child! He said he’d be all right!” Frey shrieked hysterically. Hao Ren would definitely regret not running away the moment he first saw her.