Sky-cracking Rider

Chen Fei wouldn't tread on the rhythm set by the other party and spoke in an unequivocal tone, "I'm only in charge of the combat personnel, as for the distribution of logistical benefits, that is for you all to discuss internally; I won't interfere!"

Imagine, if only one combat person comes followed by ninety-nine logistical staff, only one being useful and the rest just freeloaders, even if you want to be a big fool, that's not the way to do it.

The mercenary leaders exchanged glances once more, and finally, they all nodded in agreement.

Using the number of combat personnel as a standard is also one of the common criteria for calculating costs, and it does not matter whether it's a small team or a large team.

Teams with less than a hundred mercenaries generally don't have many logistical personnel, or even none at all, like the "Yellow Sparrow" squad, comprising entirely of combat personnel. Logistical support tasks are often undertaken by the combat personnel themselves or on a rotational basis, if not outsourced specifically.

In teams of more than a hundred, combat personnel and logistical personnel have a fixed ratio as, after all, combat personnel are the guarantee for generating profits. Excessive logistical personnel would affect the collective's net income.

The sole female mercenary leader, Ballerina, asked again, "May I ask, how many combat personnel can you accept at most?"

Chen Fei thought for a moment and gave an estimated number.

"Temporarily, the upper limit is ten thousand. Inform more people for me; they might be needed at any moment."

He would control the number of mercenaries according to actual needs, as too few would easily leave gaps, and too many would be a waste of money, considering even big shots don't have money blowing in with the wind.

The daily fee for ten thousand mercenaries was fifty million Star Yuan, amounting to one billion in two days; if the conflict lasted ten days or half a month, it would amount to over ten billion in expenses, truly a major expenditure.

So many mercenaries would be adequate even to forcefully confront a main battle legion in active service.

If it weren't for the fact that most mercenaries from Zhai Liuzhou are locals, with an unknown number sympathetic to the rebel forces, the Silan Dynasty might have also chosen to spend money to eliminate disaster by hiring these civilian combatants for their own battles.

In fact, such actions had already been taken by the rebel side; the mercenaries in the southern part of the continent were more active mainly because the Tessa Empire Restoration Army in the Southern War Zone had spent money to recruit quite a number of mercenaries for their cause, to counter the Silan Dynasty's suppression forces.

"Understood!"

No longer harboring any doubts, Ballerina walked towards the long table filled with pastries.

The employer's strength, financial capability and background, as well as the standard offers for hiring, and the acceptable number of hires had all been clarified; what remained were the details of the contract, and besides, the meeting was just for acquaintance, to save time for future hiring cooperation.

The mercenaries from Sun Domain City didn't stay in the farmhouse for long, having nibbled a bit, they drove back to the city area.

Suddenly, every mercenary in Sun Domain City received a message—there was a big spender offering a daily rate of five thousand Star Yuan per combatant, with an upper limit of ten thousand hires, an exceptionally big deal, even higher than the rate offered by the Southern War Zone Command.

An upper limit of ten thousand mercenaries was definitely not something one or two mercenary corps would be able to handle; even if it was through the "Yellow Sparrow" squad inviting those several small and medium-sized mercenary corps together, they would still not meet the requirement; moreover, they were the ones spreading this news, there is money to be made and meals to be shared, why not do it?

On the third day of the farm consultation, the big guild from Sun Domain City, "Sunset Guild," published a hiring commission, gathering three thousand mercenaries to assemble outside the city and board several transport airships styled like those from Blue Star, soaring into the sky, heading for the distance.

A series of cracking sounds erupted from the core office of the "Holy Blood Guild."

"Why? Why? Why would this commission be handled by the 'Sunset Guild'!"

A one-time project for three thousand mercenaries, while the take is small, the real profit lies in the basic supplies before departure, effortlessly earning a sum for the "Sunset Guild" handling the commission.

Although Chen Fei's "Spatial Branding" had a large reserve of supplies, in terms of variety and specifics, they ultimately couldn't compare with real large supermarkets, which supply rich logistical materials that large guilds excel in providing.

"Does the Southern War Zone Command really have no reaction at all?"

Standing inside the bridge of the central flagship, Baron, the captain of the "Yellow Sparrow" squad, stood beside the floor-to-ceiling window looking out intensely, barely discerning the large camp of the Tessa Empire Restoration Army outside Sun Domain City.

Yet, the opponent seemed oblivious to the massive fleet fleeting far across the nearby sky, suggesting that "Yellow Sparrow's" employer's stated backers, including the Tessa Empire Restoration Army, could indeed be true.

"Who said there was no reaction, look, what is that?"

Standing beside the floor-to-ceiling windows, the tomboy Lulisa pointed toward the distance, where two faintly visible Constructed Aircraft, blinking with signal lights, were accompanying each other from afar, but with no intention to approach.

"Hmm?" Baron immediately pulled out his binoculars, extending his line of sight instantly.

"Two 'Sky Falcons', they're on routine alert!"

A voice came from behind the two of them.

Chen Fei was seated at the core of the airship's bridge, his gaze constantly shifting. The artificial intelligence AI "Adam" generated hundreds of visual screens for him, monitoring the real-time state of the entire battle group.

There was also the Special Ability Tech "Basic Optical Observer" with its "Macroscopic Perspective," overlooking the entire fleet from the sky.

One 80-meter flagship, twelve 30-meter Cooperative Ships, and four large Transport Airships were covered with an "Energy Gathering Shell" that continuously attracted active elemental energies from the atmosphere, radiating with a luminescent and iridescent glow.

Above and below the fleet at various heights, six groups totaling 72 small Aircraft, their tails flickering with blue Light Flames, were guarding the fleet in flight. The distinctive tail flames and the extreme aerodynamic design were clearly the main features of the Crystal Jets, causing the pilots of the two distant Constructed Combat Aircraft "Sky Falcons" almost to wet themselves in fear.

So many Crystal Jets launching simultaneously could surely give the entire Southern War Zone a tough time.

However, Chen Fei had yet to receive the latest version of the Crystal Jet design plan he tasked others with; thus, they were still using the old scheme, albeit slightly upgraded. But compared to Crystal Jets piloted by Sky Knights, these were just prototypes that hadn't completed full design and testing, merely mechanical shells lacking even Aerial Combat Skills, and their combat effectiveness was only slightly better than unmanned combat aircraft driven by combat AI. They could not be compared to mature Crystal Jets merged with Sky Knights.

"Chen Fei, are you controlling so many airships? Is this also a Special Ability?"

Lulisa looked at Chen Fei, who was seated stably at the command console of the bridge. If a Grade B supernatural power user possessed such a capability, could they possibly contend even with an S-grade supernatural power user?

"It's not me, it's AI!"

Chen Fei glanced at the upper right corner of his field of vision, where a battery icon had appeared, wrapped by an outline of a brain.

Upon obtaining his blood sugar index, artificial intelligence AI "Adam" had developed a cerebral consumption data metric to remind him to replenish nutrients, although this data had always fluctuated around 0.01%.

The human brain holds enormous potential, but what can be utilized is often just the tip of the iceberg.

Abilities like photographic memory, high-speed thinking, and supercomputing are accessible even to ordinary people without special abilities. Some gifted supernatural power users can also perform multi-thread parallel operations like "Adam," effortlessly multi-tasking, literally acting like human supercomputers, and in some areas of logical computation, they could even outperform AI.

"AI? Is a derivative of 'Cybertrom' that powerful?"

It wasn't just Lulisa, even Baron and other "Yellow Sparrow" team members gathered in the flagship bridge were puzzled.

The artificial intelligence mainly used on Cangqiong Star was also a derivative of "Cybertrom," similar to Blue Star. The digital intelligence construct "Cybertrom" is a naturally neutral entity that can be used with confidence. Moreover, to date, no AI of higher intelligence than "Cybertrom" has been developed.

"It's not 'Cybertrom'; it's another type of specialized war AI."

The response from Chen Fei made the "Yellow Sparrow" squad collectively gasp in astonishment. Even a war AI had appeared, which was terrifyingly friendless.

From its inception, "Adam" was purely for warfare, an authentically purebred war AI, there's no doubt about that. Forcing it to do the work of "Cybertrom" would be too much for comrade Fat Tiger.

Although "Adam" and "Cybertrom" originate from the same source, they display as two completely distinct AIs, even their AI communication structure involving multiple entities differs—the former uses a ring topology, while the latter combines star and tree topologies, also better adapting to the currently prevalent cloud technology.

"We'll reach the combat area in half an hour. Everyone, get ready!"

In Chen Fei's view, the electronic map inside, the battle group had almost reached its destination. Artificial intelligence AI "Adam" released multiple reconnaissance drones to start pre-combat scouting operations.

The combat targets and related intelligence were all from within the Rock Palace at the Southern War Zone Command, provided by the Parasitic Species "Taga" dwelling inside the Mystic Fog Specter, as part of the trade agreement between the two parties.

For Chen Fei, even if not part of a trade agreement, the moment he discovered an enemy target, he would annihilate it entirely, preferring to err in killing than to let enemies go, indifferent even to acting as the slaughter knife among fighting Parasitic Species.