Mo Wen didn't evade the gang leader's question and confird his speculation: "Correct."
Reviewing the earlier battle, if he had destroyed more enemy drones, perhaps the tire explosion could have been avoided, and they might not have nearly lost a mber. But if he hadn't seized the opportunity to counter-kill the hostile rcenary, that enemy might have ambushed them again later on the road.
Even though most of that hostile rcenary's combat equipnt couldn't be moved and had to be left behind, drastically reducing his combat capability, his personal skills alone still made him a significant threat.
This clearly wasn't a good choice for soone who had nearly died, but Mo Wen was willing to bear all consequences of his decision.
The gang leader nodded: "Well done. Given 'Spider's' habits, if enemies could easily escape his web, no matter how greedy he is, he'd never dare expose himself."
"According to corporate proxy combat rules, the opposing side should also have four rcenaries. Reducing their forces by one-fourth this ti significantly increases our odds."
"Next ti, if no one's infiltrated our team comms, you can directly state your tactics."
Mo Wen disagreed: "I doubt such tactics would remain effective once spoken aloud. Right now, that nearly sacrificed teammate would probably beco quite uncooperative if he knew the truth."
There are always those who sacrifice others while assuming the sacrificed will accept it, but Mo Wen himself strongly resisted being sacrificed.
Silently using allies as bait was beastly behavior that shouldn't be dressed up with lofty justifications about necessity or prioritizing the bigger picture.
The gang leader opened team comms and directly told the mber changing tires: "Earlier, we could have taken out those drones to reduce sniper fire. You might not have gotten a blown tire or been trapped, but to appear weaker and lure the enemy into exposing themselves, you indirectly beca sacrificial bait."
Hearing this, the gang mber chuckled bitterly over comms: "Should've said so earlier, boss. If I knew I was being strategically expended with purpose, I wouldn't have hesitated even facing death."
"Wait - you always tell us tactics directly. Was this the employer's decision?"
Mo Wen responded: "Yes."
The nearly sacrificed gang mber sincerely praised: "Well played. Though boss's rocket was truly brilliant."
"Heh, with boss's performance earlier and my bait contribution, we definitely deserve higher pay, right?"
Mo Wen remained silent. While he'd vaguely noticed locals' disregard for life, getting such a response still made him think these people were insane - though the feeling wasn't unpleasant.
"You do. Need help changing that tire?"
The gang mber laughed: "No need, just a tire change. Be done in a minute."
...
About six hours away in a ruined city, the three remaining Life Pharmaceuticals rcenaries analyzed Spider's final intelligence report.
One deduced: "One suspected military-grade counterasure implant user, one full cyborg, two heavily augnted cyborgs, plus nurous drones and anti-material weapons. Their total preparation budget was likely 80,000-100,000."
One sneered: "That idiot with his head up his ass got taken out by enemies at that price point? Serves him right for scouting alone - now there's one less to split paynt with."
One worried: "That military counterasure implant seems off. It's pure speculation - I suspect sothing's wrong."
Suddenly a voice intruded on their comms: "There is indeed a problem."
"Who?!" Though shocked at the comms breach, the three imdiately adopted defensive postures, mobilizing nearby drone swarms while attempting to block the intrusion and trace the hacker's location.
The intruder made no effort to hide. Before their trace began, a rapidly approaching yellow dot voluntarily appeared on their maps.
Its speed exceeded 200 ters per second! Unless riding a vehicle, only one possibility remained - a military-grade augnted soldier!
But they quickly dismissed this: "No, can't be military-grade. This is just proxy combat - why would those monsters get involved?"
The intruder calmly explained over comms: "When opponents break rules, we stop following them too."
The rcenaries rejected this: "Corp hasn't issued new orders! And if we abort, what about paynt? We invested heavily preparing for this - we won't accept leaving empty-handed!"
They watched the dot, which map showed should now be visible, yet they saw nothing.
Without corporate confirmation, this could just be enemy deception, especially with no physical presence. As the dot moved beside them and stopped, they almost laughed.
"Thwack!" A palm slamd down on two shoulders, the trendous force instantly buckling their knees.
The remaining rcenary watched breathlessly as a figure gradually "materialized" from thin air - the augnted soldier's slender obsidian form seeming to devour surrounding light, dimming the entire area.
The newcor said mildly: "Sotis corporations need certain people to act recklessly - without leaving recorded orders. As for compensation for aborting? You should be thinking how to survive scenarios requiring military-grade augnted soldiers."
"Cutting losses early is the wisest choice."
It released its grip.
The three rcenaries scrambled back several steps, studying the figure's head - its complex modifications had removed most unnecessary organs, leaving no muscles or eyes to read.
Still, one mustered courage: "Our mission is intercepting that convoy. Preventing delivery ans success - the corporation must pay."
The augnted soldier shrugged: "Suit yourselves. Take paynt disputes to the relevant parties - not my concern."
"But be warned - mission success isn't guaranteed."
What? With a military-grade monster here, what couldn't be completed? Unless... that "military implant" was actually a military-grade augnted soldier in deep cover, and their cargo truck was smuggling contraband as ordinary goods?!
Shit - would this escalate to regional conflict levels?!
Now thoroughly cowed, the three rcenaries fled without farewell, grabbing equipnt in their retreat.
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