Life Game In Other World
Chapter 263: Rescue (Major - Please Favorite, Subscribe, and Vote for Monthly Tickets)

Chapter 263: Chapter 263: Rescue (Major Chapter Please Favorite, Subscribe, and Vote for Monthly Tickets)

"A distress signal?"

In the captain’s quarters, He Ao looked at Yang De with confusion.

"This is the distress signal we just received."

Yang De gestured for the young man beside him to proceed.

Timely, the young man played the recording.

"Help... there are pirates... save us... our coordinates are..."

The words in the recording were in the Central Earth language, the voice filled with panic, accompanied by the shrill screams of women.

"We received this recording about twenty minutes ago, the coordinates mentioned were very fuzzy, hard to determine. We later managed to triangulate the positions via radio, and barely pinpointed their location," Yang De explained softly, "approximately twenty nautical miles to our northwest."

He Ao didn’t speak; he just continued to calmly watch Yang De, waiting for what he had to say next.

"We are preparing for the rescue," Yang De looked at He Ao,

"but we are not sure if it’s a trap set by pirates. So, the current plan is to get the cruise ship close to the distressed vessel, then send an elite team on a speedboat we confiscated from pirates today to do some scouting. We want to see what the situation really is."

"Do you need me to join the scouting?"

At that moment, He Ao also understood what Yang De meant.

"My plan is for you and Ye Feng," Yang De pointed to the young man, "to find a few more people and form a small team to go there, with you as the team leader. Of course,"

Yang De paused, "you are a Special Appointed Researcher, under no obligation to work for the Research Institute. I will post a mission for you on the intranet in the name of the overseas department later, worth five hundred points. Does that sound good to you?"

Points on the Research Institute’s intranet could be exchanged or rented for Transcendent items from the institute, or for various services from the institute.

Points could be converted to money, but money couldn’t be used to obtain points, the official exchange rate being one point for one thousand bucks.

Five hundred points roughly equaled two fairly good E-grade Transcendent items.

The mission was a reconnaissance one, not very dangerous, and he would also have teammates for support.

Of course, danger is relative. Beneath the calm surface of the sea might be the tranquility of the ocean or it could be roiling with turbulent undercurrents.

After pondering for a moment, He Ao nodded lightly, "Alright."

The price of this mission wasn’t just the apparent five hundred points, but also Yang De’s friendship.

Yang De seemed to have a not insignificant position within the overseas department. If He Ao refused him this time, Yang De probably wouldn’t seek him out for future missions, and essentially, they would have little to no contact.

Meanwhile, He Ao needed the help of the overseas department to find the person who might be a high-ranking member of Daybreak who had taken the central processor of the Relic Tower.

Reciprocation could lead to friendship.

More friends meant fewer enemies.

Of course, the precondition was that He Ao thought the friendship was worth it.

For example, people like Zhang from the Xidu Research Institute or Liu from the Xidu Police Department, who would certainly repay any help given to them and even reach out a hand in time of adversity.

So far, it seemed Yang De was that kind of person.

"Great!"

Yang De appeared to be pleasantly surprised by He Ao’s agreement, and then expressed his delight.

After that, he introduced the young man beside him.

The young man’s name was Ye Feng, codenamed ’Knight’, and he was D-grade.

Ye Feng enthusiastically introduced himself to He Ao, expressing his willingness to follow He Ao’s commands.

His ability was in weapon-based melee combat, but his marksmanship was also not bad, though not as good as He Ao’s. In addition, he knew a bit of Alano language and could act as an interpreter.

Afterward, Yang De found a few more people, and eventually, two more teammates were confirmed.

One was the Underpants Superman, whom He Ao had met a few times.

Underpants Superman was D-grade, with abilities leaning towards enhancing close combat. He had inherited the Golden Bell Shield martial arts technique, and by his own claim, was quite resilient.

Even though this guy always wore underwear on his head and seemed reticent and not quite serious, once you got to know him, he was actually a rather enthusiastic and cheerful person.

Especially when Yang De proposed the rescue mission, Underpants Superman agreed without a second thought.

From his name that included ’Superman,’ it was clear he was a person with a strong sense of justice.

The other person was a bit of a surprise, though.

Yang De had initially planned to choose someone from the official researchers, but one individual, somehow catching wind of the opportunity, volunteered themself.

Speech Master.

She declared herself D-grade as well and said her ability could unite the team’s opinions and strengthen their resolve. She also knew some basic battlefield medical care and could serve as a medic. Additionally, if there were crew members from the attacked ship, she could also calm and communicate with them.

In a nutshell, she was a support and healer, so she was chosen.

Eventually, she convinced Yang De and joined the four-person squad.

Among the four, He Ao, as the team leader, received five hundred points, Speech Master and Underpants Superman got three hundred points each, and Ye Feng, already a member of the overseas department, was engaged in mandatory labor, without a single point as his reward.

Among the four, excluding martial prowess and a variety of eccentric external enhancements, He Ao could be considered a Mage.

Mage, support, warrior, tank.

This team was now fully assembled.

A full D-grade lineup, basically the most elite few on the ship.

Of course, He Ao alone could cover the Mage, support, and warrior roles, perhaps even more.

Yang De steered the cruise ship slowly towards the target location.

From approximately a few kilometers away, everyone saw the distant flickering lights.

Yang De handed out binoculars to everyone.

He Ao raised the binoculars to look in that direction, seeing a cruise ship much wider than the one they were on, bright lights on board, with pirate speedboats circling below.

"Then I’ll leave it to you," Yang De said to the four, "be careful, and if you find it’s too dangerous, come back immediately. We’ll think of something else."

"Understood."

Everyone nodded.

A group of people climbed down the rope ladder onto the speedboat and headed towards the cruise ship in the night.

The Speech Master held up the binoculars, Ye Feng drove the speedboat, and the group got closer and closer to the cruise ship hijacked by pirates.

"It seems there are only two or three pirate ships, so this should be easy to handle."

After watching for a while with the binoculars, the Speech Master murmured softly.

He Ao didn’t respond to her comment, just gazing at the quiet cruise ship under the night sky, furrowing his brow slightly.

"Sigh, why did Commander Yang make you, a wooden block, the team leader?"

The Speech Master pursed her lips slightly.

"That you don’t know," Underpants Superman leaned in, "just look at our captain’s code name, ’Mercenary’, he must have rich experience! Super awesome!"

"You trust him that much?"

The Speech Master turned her head and started chatting with Underpants Superman.

At this moment, Ye Feng, who was driving the speedboat beside He Ao, leaned over and said softly,

"This Speech Master used to have an E-grade ’Sharer’ Talent, and her ability is, to put it simply, speaking. She has a strong desire to share, and those who interact with her feel the same urge to share, so as they chat, they end up divulging all their secrets, and she learns about their little private matters. She is a natural intelligence officer.

"Now she’s become stronger after leveling up in the Relic Tower."

On saying this, he paused, "So when you meet a Transcendent like her, try not to talk to her much, it’s too easy to inadvertently reveal things, which can be dangerous. Who doesn’t have some little secrets..."

"What are you guys talking about?" a little head suddenly popped up from the side, the Speech Master looked puzzledly at He Ao and then at Ye Feng, "You know speaking ill of others behind their back means you’ll wet the bed at night."

"It’s nothing,"

Ye Feng kept his mouth tightly shut, diligently driving the speedboat, giving off the vibe that he had no stories and didn’t want to talk.

"Oh," the Speech Master looked at Ye Feng skeptically, then curiously observed how stably he was driving the speedboat, "You’re really skilled at this, I’ve never seen a speedboat driver as good as you, how do you keep it so steady?"

"That’s because," Ye Feng laughed, "I learned it from Brother Yang for half a year. You don’t know, but when Brother Yang teaches people..."

While speaking, Ye Feng suddenly realized something seemed off...

"Prepare for battle."

At that moment, He Ao’s voice drew everyone’s attention.

The pirates in the distance had spotted them and opened fire, leading the group to immediately grab their guns and return fire.

He Ao raised the submachine gun hanging from his chest, holding the gun with one hand.

This gun had been ’picked up’ by Yang De from pirates they encountered in the morning. Although the pirates were dead, many weapons had been left behind.

He Ao fired three shots in succession, all missing.

The first shot was way off, the second was closer, and the third almost grazed the cheek of the lead pirate as it passed by.

The previous owner of this gun obviously didn’t know how to maintain it properly, as the sights were off, so He Ao was actually adjusting the aim.

Then he fired the fourth shot.

The pirate at the front, who was waving his gun wildly, fell to the ground at the sound.

Immediately after, a series of intense gunshots rang out.

Before the three people behind him had time to react, the pirates in front were mowed down like wheat.

The pirate on the last speedboat realized the situation was bad; using the cruise ship for cover, they created a trail of white waves and fled after leaving behind a few corpses.

The two speedboats in the front weren’t as lucky; almost all aboard fell, their blood seeping into the dark sea.

Watching this, the Speech Master was so stunned that it took her a while before she could blurt out two words,

"Damn, awesome."

"Awesome"

This was from Ye Feng.

Meanwhile, Underpants Superman was outright stupefied.

"Bring the boat closer, let’s go up and take a look."

Next to the two pirate vessels, a long rope ladder had been deployed from the side of the ship, and He Ao watched it and spoke softly.

"Okay."

Ye Feng immediately drove the speedboat closer to the rope ladder.

The whole cruise ship seemed bizarre at the moment, having just witnessed a fierce gunfight, but eerily silent on deck.

The speedboat pulled up alongside the cruise ship.

"Why is this ship so quiet, could it be..."

The Speech Master stared blankly at the huge cruise ship, mumbling softly.

"Can you drive a speedboat?"

He Ao looked at the Speech Master, cutting off her speech.

"A little."

The Speech Master nodded lightly.

"You stay here and watch; we’ll go up and have a look."

He Ao instructed quietly, then grabbed the rope ladder with one hand while holding a carrying case with the other.

From the situation on deck that morning, it appeared the Speech Master had a certain charm that kept the pirates from harming her; her combat ability wasn’t strong either, so it was best for her to stay and keep watch. Conveniently, their speedboat needed a secure guard.

He Ao had already considered this scenario when she came over wanting to join.

"Okay!"

The Speech Master nodded gently.

He Ao led the remaining two up the rope ladder, climbing over the ship’s side.

As the three of them climbed onto the deck, they were greeted by a clean, orderly deck and the quiet illumination of lights.