Speaking of which.
It had been a while since Lucas had been to the Reunion Movement.
Mainly because he had been really busy lately.
On top of that.
The Reunion Movement was now on the right track. It could develop steadily without much of his intervention. Moreover, the [Black Serpent] also hadn't caused any trouble. It had been many months since the Black Serpent's last harassment. This peaceful life was what the people of Reunion wanted.
Lucas would at most go to the Reunion Movement every few days, or once a week, to chat with FrostNova and Alina, share what he had seen and heard these past few days, and what other things he had done, and that was it.
The addition of a new squad.
Lucas was also a bit confused. Due to its location, apart from the Mudrock squad that Lucas had actively recruited earlier, the others who joined the Reunion Movement were basically just scattered Infected.
A squad?
Lucas returned to his room from the reception room, and his consciousness immediately descended to Alina's side.
"Ah! Mr. Reeve, you're here!"
When Lucas emerged from the necklace, Alina's pleasantly surprised and sweet voice chimed in.
"Long time no see, Alina. Although it was just four days ago. I've been tinkering with something these past few days. If you hadn't called me this time, I probably would have come tomorrow or the day after anyway. I was preparing to bring you all some good news."
Lucas joked.
Alina smiled sweetly.
"What squad specifically?"
Lucas asked the main question.
Alina explained: "I'm not too sure either. It seems to be a squad from Kazdel, claiming to have once belonged to Babel, under a certain Kazdel Highness. Senior Patriot seems to know the Highness they speak of."
"They heard about our Reunion Movement from other places and wanted to come and join us. Most of this squad is made up of Infected. There are quite a few people in this squad, over a hundred. They're outside right now, being watched by Mr. Shieldguard's men and Miss Mudrock's squad. Although they don't know the members of Miss Mudrock's squad, they seem to be from the same homeland."
"The four leaders of the squad are currently in the reception room, talking with Little Talu and Senior Patriot. Senior Patriot asked me to call Mr. Reeve over as well."
Kazdel....
Babel.....
Lucas frowned slightly.
If it were in the past, this term would be very unfamiliar to Lucas. But now, ever since coming to Rhodes Island, and especially after receiving the power of the 'Rule', some scattered fragments seemed to have appeared in Lucas's memory.
And Babel was precisely Rhodes Island's predecessor, the place where he worked as the 'Doctor'. As for the Highness...
Theresa?
In Lucas's mind, a Sarkaz woman whose smile was brighter than the sun flashed by. But the final image was frozen on the scene of her death.
Since they were from Babel.
Kal'tsit would definitely know them.
But Kal'tsit had never mentioned them.
And Rhodes Island currently had quite a few Operators from the Babel period. Why weren't these three with Rhodes Island? With Lucas's understanding of Kal'tsit, although that Old Lynx had a cold cat-faced bastard expression all day, her words were sharper than the sharpest knife, and she'd spout riddles starting with 'This land...' at the drop of a hat, it was undeniable that Kal'tsit was cold on the outside but warm on the inside.
She would never abandon any comrade.
There was no way that after Babel was gone, Kal'tsit led Rhodes Island and just abandoned the old Babel team members and ran.
Although Lucas didn't really like Kal'tsit, he trusted her character.
The situation now most likely meant.
It's likely these four aren't former Babel people.
This wouldn't do.
He had to find Kal'tsit immediately and ask. Kal'tsit would know best if they were from Babel.
As for how they found the Reunion Movement?
That was a big problem, one that needed to be investigated thoroughly.
Although the Reunion Movement needed to expand, it didn't need people with impure intentions.
Lucas occupied Alina's body and walked into the reception room in Alina's identity.
He pushed open the door.
The wooden reception room wasn't very large. The wooden table in the center was already surrounded by people.
The burly Patriot, as massive as a small mountain; Talulah, who seemed a bit more mature than before; and FrostNova.
When the three of them heard the door, they all turned their heads.
"Alina?"
Talulah called out habitually.
Lucas nodded, his deep eyes indicating that Alina was currently being 'piloted' by someone else.
Talulah nodded at Lucas, and a faint smile appeared on FrostNova's cold face as she also nodded at Lucas.
Patriot inclined his head slightly at Lucas.
Lucas sat down next to Patriot and faced the three people opposite. According to Alina's introduction...
The leader was a red-haired Sarkaz man named Hedley. He was quite handsome, and could be described with the word 'dashing'. His face was sharp, and his eyes revealed a chilling coldness. He seemed to have killed many people. Only a cold-blooded executioner who had long since disregarded his own life and death could have such eyes. He wore heavy-duty combat fatigues. He was a tough guy.
On his left was a beautiful woman with black hair and golden eyes, wearing a black dress and over-the-knee leather boots, named Ines.
The most eye-catching thing wasn't her eyes, which were as sharp as a sword, but the pair of slightly meaty thighs under the short dress. And the skirt was very short, the hemline only reached the base of her thighs. It seemed to be skin-tight, perfectly accentuating the curve of her waist and hips.
This reminded Lucas of Franka and Liskarm.
Lucas had once asked Franka in confusion.
As a mercenary.
Is it really appropriate to fight in a thigh-high miniskirt and black tights? And the proper, good student Liskarm, too, miniskirt and black tights. And Jessica's other colleague, code-named Vanilla, also wore a hip-hugging leather skirt and black tights.
This made Lucas suspect for a time if Blacksteel Worldwide should just change its name to Black Tights International. Wouldn't that be more fitting?
And Franka's answer at the time was.
'You're overthinking it, Lucas. The advantage of a skirt is that it's convenient and flexible for movement. As an agility-based combat Operator, too much equipment just drags down my movement speed. As for the problem of being exposed, you can rest assured. I wear very long safety pants under my skirt. Do you want to see?'
Lucas still remembered the provocative expression Franka had as she lifted her skirt hem slightly at him.
And on the red-haired man's other side was a silver-haired Sarkaz girl, W. She had two tufts of red cowlicks on her head, drooping on both sides of her forehead like antennae, and orange eyes. Compared to the short-skirted woman on the left, this silver-haired Sarkaz girl's attire was finally normal. She wasn't wearing a skirt, but leather pants. However, her chest was truly... magnificent. It was hard to imagine how a girl who generally lacked nutritional intake could be so well-developed.
Talulah, Alina, and FrostNova combined weren't enough to challenge her.
Perhaps this was just talent, much like Ceobe.
As for the other unremarkable middle-aged man, that was the mercenary team's leader, Galson.
After Lucas arrived, he got straight to the point: "Before we begin, I have a question. How did you find this place? I remember that the Reunion Movement's location shouldn't be known to many."
Lucas's gaze was incredibly sharp, a faint golden light swirling in his deep, dark pupils.
After receiving the 'Rule', Lucas's divinity was starting to become impossible to hide.
And the pressure a god exerts on a mortal comes from the pressure of a higher life form.
Just by speaking.
It made the three battle-hardened warriors opposite him, who had climbed out of piles of corpses, feel a slight chill in their hearts.
This chill wasn't something they could control.
It was a fear stemming from their very life essence, the body's instinctive reaction, like a mouse meeting a cat. This instinctive fear from a higher life form.
The three of them were somewhat astonished.
When they arrived, finding the Sarkaz's only remaining pure-blooded Wendigo in the Reunion Movement was shocking enough. As for the leader named Talulah, they didn't think much of her. She was positive, full of energy, and longed for a better life.
Originally.
They thought the public leader of the Reunion Movement was this Talulah, but the real person in charge was probably the old man.
They never expected.
When this petite, slender Elafia lady, who was completely inept at combat, appeared, the three of them finally understood.
So.
The public face of the Reunion Movement was Talulah, and they thought the one behind the scenes was the Wendigo. They never expected it to be this smallest, most ordinary-looking girl. Moreover, the aura on this girl, completely mismatched with her body and strength, was something even Hedley had never encountered.
"The Reunion Movement's name is renowned in the outside world, so we found it based on the rumored location."
Hedley said slowly.
Next to him.
Ines's eyes flowed with a crimson glow. She tried to use her power to see through this Elafia woman, because this woman gave her a very strange, very dangerous feeling. However, what her eyes saw was just a hazy mist. In fact, if she stared too long, her entire soul felt like it was plunging into a bottomless lake, drowning her before she could react. Although Ines wanted to use her Originium Arts, she held back.
"Rumored?"
A lie.
Lucas could tell they were lying with a single glance. Mortals couldn't hide from his observation. No matter what training they had, it was impossible to hide it, unless they could deceive themselves, making themselves believe that what they were saying was the truth.
However, Lucas didn't expose them immediately. Instead, he smiled.
"Our Reunion Movement's name is indeed quite famous recently. It's normal to hear about it. Why do you want to join the Reunion Movement, and what can you bring us?"
Hedley said slowly: "We want a place where we can live stably. We've grown tired of this mercenary life over the years. We want to cooperate with the Reunion Movement. From now on, we will be a part of the Reunion Movement. When you need us to contribute or fight, we will follow the Reunion Movement's command..."
Lucas smiled slightly.
"No problem."
"In that case, welcome to the Reunion Movement. Our Reunion Movement is an organization that embraces all Infected."
Hedley was astonished.
That easily?
Originally, Hedley had already prepared to fight his way out. He never expected him to agree so simply...
"Oh, right. I see Miss W and Miss Ines seem to be Infected. Our Reunion Movement has a special medicine that has the function of suppressing Oripathy. Since you are cooperating with our Reunion Movement, we will also provide this medicine to you unconditionally..."
Lucas's words were like thunder, exploding in the minds of the four people opposite.
Their first reaction was disbelief.
How could there be a medicine in the world that suppressed Oripathy? How was that possible! They had never heard of it. Instead, W was the first to react from her shock, because when she was at Babel, that old woman Kal'tsit was indeed researching a medicine to suppress Oripathy. It was just that the effect wasn't great at the time, and it was only a prototype.
"Don't believe it?"
"You'll know after you try it in the future. Welcome."
The meeting ended. This mercenary squad from Kazdel officially joined the Reunion Movement. Over two hundred people, which meant over two hundred mouths to feed. This was a great test for the Reunion Movement's food production.
After leaving the meeting hall, Talulah immediately sought out Lucas, asking him why he had agreed so easily.
The current Talulah was much better than the 'Talu-dummy' of the past. At least she had grown more perceptive and wasn't as naive.
"This is called 'fishing'~"
Lucas smiled slightly.
"These people are clearly not Black Serpent's people, nor are they Ursus's. This means another external power has its eyes on us."
"However."
"As long as they have a purpose, they will definitely need to pass information to the outside world. We just need to keep an eye on them. When they pass information, we'll just follow the clues, and we'll naturally find the commander behind them."