"I know what you need these for, but the destination of this batch is no longer mine to decide."
"This batch's buyer—I can't afford to cross him. Neither can you."
"Wait for the next shipment." Chau frowned.
Normally, when Stacker's crew made requests, he'd grumble but ultimately wouldn't refuse.
But this was different. This batch's buyer, Zachary Leiman, had backing from UN higher-ups and owned factories mass-producing unmanned Jaegers. He truly couldn't afford to cross him—and neither could Stacker with his handful of Jaegers.
That guy was the current rising star, his spotlight momentarily overshadowing even Marshal Stacker, who'd closed the Breach.
"Then what do we do?"
"We urgently need this batch." Newton still wouldn't give up.
To Drift with a Kaiju required a perfectly preserved secondary Kaiju brain.
The Kaiju they'd encountered last time were all emergency situations—no time to harvest brains. Plus, back then no one had thought they'd need to track down the last Traveler.
Right now, only Chau still had organs from those old Kaiju.
"What can you do? Deal with it!" Chau snapped impatiently.
The goods were already ordered, payment received. The buyer just needed to collect them.
Only one thing could make him sell this batch to Newton—if something happened to Zachary Leiman himself.
But was that even possible?
That guy was so cautious even Chau didn't know his location.
Unless the sky fell...
"...Good Lord." Suddenly Chau's peripheral vision caught something. His mouth dropped open slightly.
Ahead of them, a tall, lean figure was dragging what looked like an oversized caterpillar across the ruined road toward them.
What was being dragged wasn't actually a caterpillar, but a man wrapped round and round in rope—the buyer he couldn't afford to cross, Zachary Leiman.
Well. The sky really had fallen.
"Mr. Natsuki?"
"What brings you here?" Newton and Hermann both froze seeing Natsuki arrive. They remembered he was supposed to be negotiating with government higher-ups.
"I wasn't far from you. Heard you might have trouble, so I came to check." Natsuki said to them both.
The moment he arrived, both doctors seemed to find their anchor. The tension and urgency in their hearts instantly dissipated.
In their eyes, a man who'd torn through the other side of the Breach alongside Striker Eureka was far more formidable than any black market dealer.
"That... that's Leiman?" Chau stared at the man on the ground, mouth sealed, body bound, completely unable to believe the scene before him.
The man who'd been riding high this morning—how had he suddenly become a prisoner?
Damn.
This world had finally gone insane in ways he didn't recognize.
Leiman lay bound, head buried in the dirt, not daring to look up at Chau. He didn't move, as if he'd peacefully departed this world.
"The genuine article." Natsuki said.
Chau immediately showed solemn respect.
"Very pleased to cooperate with you, Mr. New... Newton." He immediately shook Newton's hand, even using honorifics, performing a lightning-fast face change.
"It's Newton." Newton froze, though his first reaction was that the man had gotten his name wrong.
"OK, Mr. Newton, this entire batch is yours now."
"Transporting it won't be convenient for you, right? I'll have my men deliver it with you." Chau's merchant instincts already told him that whatever came next was beyond his involvement.
His sudden enthusiasm left Newton somewhat uncomfortable.
But he still pulled out his phone. "That would be best... how should I pay?"
"No no no... Mr. Leiman has already paid for you." Chau waved his hand.
The current rising star backed by the UN—Leiman had been captured just like that. He couldn't afford to cross Leiman before, but now he definitely couldn't afford to cross these people.
He'd already caught the scent of a storm.
If he got swept into that vortex, one wrong step would mean total destruction.
Chau's reaction also surprised Natsuki somewhat.
Another sensible one.
But he had to admit, he liked sensible people. Saved a lot of talking.
"You two, follow Mr. Newton. Transport the goods to their aircraft." Chau said to his bodyguards.
This trip yielded rich rewards.
They'd dealt with Leiman behind the unmanned Jaegers and brought back the secondary Kaiju brain needed to obtain information about Quek.
When their transport landed at the Shatterdome, Albert came out to meet them. Seeing the bound Leiman, even he felt surprised.
Wasn't this a bit too efficient?
"Mr. Natsuki, how did you catch this guy?" Albert walked up to them against a strong wind, asking Natsuki.
He'd originally thought this would take at least a few days. Yet Mr. Natsuki had brought the man back that very afternoon.
"I went to find that Taylor fellow. He gave me Leiman's location directly." Natsuki said.
"That simple?"
"That simple."
Albert didn't believe it. He knew all too well how difficult those politicians could be. But with the facts before him, he could only accept it.
"What about the unmanned Jaegers?" He asked next.
"That Taylor fellow said they'll gradually recall them. As for those already absorbed by the military, they'll strengthen oversight." Natsuki said.
Without Leiman, the mastermind, those unmanned Jaegers basically wouldn't go rogue. This approach was already prudent.
Albert nodded after hearing this.
Including himself, this world had four Travelers total. Two were now dealt with. Only one remained.
Leiman was directly arranged into the base's holding cells to be detained here for now.
After Natsuki finished handling everything here, he'd contact Hikari to throw this guy into the cosmic prison.
The next priority was that last Traveler called Quek.
This one might be the most troublesome of all.
"You're sure you both want to go in together?" In the lab, Albert looked at Newton and Hermann, both eager to try, asking one more time.
"I'm sure!" Newton nodded, face full of anticipation.
"Me... too!" Hermann nodded along.
"Alright, having you two Drift together is indeed a good choice." Albert nodded.
He'd originally planned to have himself or Natsuki Drift with the Kaiju.
But his own head held too much intel, and he didn't know if information about the system being revealed during the Drift would result in punishment.
And Natsuki wouldn't work either. His nineteen thousand years of memories appearing in the Drift would directly explode this secondary Kaiju brain.
"OK... gentlemen."
"Remember, we must find information about a guy called 'Quek'."
With that, Albert fitted helmets on both doctors and pressed the Drift button.
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