Arknights: Mobile City

Centaurea had to admit she felt completely dazed when she saw Pioneer walking straight toward her.

However, thanks to her professional training, she quickly regained composure and greeted him calmly:

"It's just the Red Wine Magazine, sir, if you're interested…"

"No, more interesting to me is why Lady Platinum would appear in a place like this."

Pioneer interrupted her smoothly, causing Centaurea to fall silent once again.

"I—"

"And why would Lady Platinum be following me?"

Centaurea stopped talking. Centaurea returned her gaze to the newspaper.

She felt a cold sweat forming at her temple.

Wait, hold on—how did he know?!

Am I that obvious? My skills aren't that poor, right? And when did he even walk over here?!

She struggled internally, unsure how to answer these sudden, pointed questions.

While Centaurea was lost in confusion, she felt Pioneer pat her shoulder lightly as he started to walk away.

"See you around, Miss Platinum. If the Darksteel Knight wishes to speak with me, let him know the City wouldn't mind engaging with the Armorless Union."

"And if you ever feel that the Union's pressures are too much to bear, the City welcomes you as a guest… Believe me, it'll be quite the extraordinary experience."

Hearing these blatant recruitment lines, Centaurea looked up quickly, only to realize Pioneer had already vanished. She stared blankly for a moment, finally muttering quietly in defeat before standing and heading in the opposite direction.

After ditching Platinum, Pioneer quickly located a company specializing in weaponry for competitive knights.

Following a prolonged negotiation, Pioneer secured a large batch of weapons at an acceptable price. He estimated both the First and Second Associations would each have roughly a hundred members. Accordingly, Pioneer ordered weapons sufficient for these numbers, plus backup sets.

As for independent Fixers outside the Associations, they could provide their own gear. The City had begun producing weapons locally, so this arrangement would conveniently stimulate the local economy a little.

After sorting this out, Pioneer immediately returned to his grueling routine of constant negotiation and meetings in Kazimierz.

For the next several days, he tirelessly discussed cooperation with various companies.

The City now possessed some influence, no longer a worthless backwater in the eyes of major corporations. Some businesses had already noticed the City, even offering tentative partnerships. After careful consideration, Pioneer selectively met with several companies—another key objective for his visit.

His goal was simple: strengthen the City's market ecosystem. Currently, the City lacked everything, including basic commercial infrastructure. Without adequate market presence, the currency, Eye, would remain difficult to circulate effectively.

Therefore, Pioneer selected several businesses that wouldn't destabilize the City's fragile economy, negotiating with them to establish branches there—such as the Red Wine Magazine and a convenience-store chain.

Compared to Pioneer's workload, Heal was having a much more leisurely time, enjoying daily meals at Yu Wei Restaurant while casually awaiting the True Lung's next summons.

Even K Corp's sales team was busier than Heal, traveling far and wide selling lower-grade ampoules to merchants, rapidly inflating K Corp's capital reserves. Heal herself couldn't be more relaxed.

But Pioneer, her fellow Executive, was practically working himself to death.

After concluding his numerous meetings, Pioneer immediately sought out knights willing to travel to the City and become Fixers. As these knights gradually arrived, the City's population steadily grew, now surpassing six thousand.

Faced with this sudden surge in population, Obsidian himself became increasingly occupied.

Recently, he'd become deeply involved in establishing the Fixer Associations, unable to extricate himself easily. Management and production matters were partially entrusted to Laurentina, while Texas assisted by overseeing daily operations.

Finally, one day, as Pioneer exhaustively continued negotiations in Kazimierz, Obsidian approached the [Well] with the solemn resolve of a man marching toward certain doom.

Sitting cross-legged before it, Obsidian stared silently at the [Well], finally speaking with deadpan seriousness:

"Today, I'm here to do gacha pulls."

"My goal is to pull a complete set of max-level gear."

"Any chance you could rig things in my favor and just hand it over?"

Facing the [Well], Obsidian nervously murmured, as if performing some obscure ritual.

Thinking about his requirements, he sighed anxiously.

Obsidian had recently been busy establishing the Associations. Naturally, he couldn't fully entrust such critical matters to the current inhabitants of the City.

Thus, several days earlier, Obsidian had selected a new body—one destined to become the president of the First Association.

His only requirement for this body was sheer, overwhelming strength.

Nothing else mattered; it simply had to possess the greatest individual combat potential he could currently produce. How else could it command respect as the First Association's leader?

He had specifically chosen the best embryo available, a result of countless generations of selective breeding. Its physical capabilities alone exceeded Heal's by at least threefold.

But sheer physical strength still wasn't enough.

Obsidian needed proper equipment to ensure its effectiveness in combat. Current weapon-manufacturing technology within the City wasn't sufficient. After some hesitation, he made a swift decision—

—Having fully resolved the Food Chain crisis and with a period of growth behind him, Obsidian had accumulated enough resources for thirty pulls.

The solution was simple enough…

Directly create a high-end combatant!

"Well, give me my gacha pulls—thirty at once!"

"Any golden glow?!"

As if responding directly to his command, the moment 3,900 [Lunacy] flowed into the [Well], brilliant golden light erupted before Obsidian's eyes…

A jackpot!