【12 hours remaining before the System expires. Please enter a battlefield and claim it as soon as possible.】
The teacher was still lecturing at a leisurely pace.
But Adrian Mercer, sitting below the podium, could barely wait any longer.
"I finally got transmigrated and acquired a cheat. It can't expire on me like this."
Adrian had been in the middle of military training when, in the blink of an eye, he had somehow been transported into this world.
For a transmigrator, a cheat was practically his lifeline.
Yet the teacher at the front showed no sign of ending class.
"Everyone, tomorrow you'll enter the Battlefield World. As you all know, the peaceful lives you enjoy today were bought with the sacrifice of soldiers in the occupied zones."
"Every nation is fighting for territory in the Battlefield World. All the resources in our world—food, water, rare minerals—must be obtained from there."
"And tomorrow, you will be entering the Battlefield World yourselves. So everything we cover today is important."
Hearing that, Adrian felt his mind go blank.
"God, I have to wait until tomorrow to enter a battlefield? Doesn't that mean my beginner's gift pack will expire?"
It was eight in the morning. If he failed to enter the Battlefield World by eight that evening, his cheat would be gone.
"Do I really have no choice but to do that?"
Besides entering the battlefield through official channels as a soldier, there was another option: enter as a mercenary.
But mercenaries had no teammates, and dying in the Battlefield World meant actual death.
Still, with his cheat about to expire, Adrian had to take the risk.
Lunch break.
"Adrian, this afternoon's lessons are important. If you can manage it, you should really stay and finish them."
"I really can't manage it, Ms. Ellis. I need to go to the hospital this afternoon."
Adrian stood before his homeroom teacher, clutching his stomach.
His teacher, Hannah Ellis, was only twenty-one, yet she carried herself like an exhausted mother of two.
Her long hair was tied into a high ponytail, and she wore black-rimmed glasses.
"All right. If it turns out to be nothing serious, try to come back for class this afternoon."
Ms. Ellis opened a drawer, pulled out a leave slip, and signed it.
"Thank you, Ms. Ellis."
After thanking her, Adrian sprinted out through the school gates.
"It's noon. I need to register as a mercenary fast."
There were no requirements to become a mercenary. Some people could not obtain soldier status through regular channels, while others simply preferred working alone rather than being bound by rules.
But mercenaries received no protection whatsoever. It was one of the most dangerous professions in the world.
The Mercenary Depot.
This was a mercenary outpost in Grayhaven, the city where Adrian lived.
The outer perimeter was made from rapidly assembled blast walls, while the structures inside were all temporary tents.
The moment he reached the perimeter, Adrian saw a crowd of mercenaries dressed in all sorts of outfits.
Some were completely wrapped in cloaks. Others wore camouflage uniforms stripped from enemies in the Battlefield World.
A few female mercenaries wore modified outfits of their own design, drawing plenty of looks from the people nearby.
But Adrian, in his blue-and-white school uniform, looked completely out of place amid the crowd.
He walked into the largest tent.
"Hello. I'm here to register as a mercenary."
He spoke as he approached the counter.
The receptionist was a young woman wearing a tight camouflage tank top and a military cap.
"All right. Please fill out this form."
Mercenaries were like adventurers. No one needed to know their real identity. As long as they could complete assignments, nothing else mattered.
Adrian quickly filled out the form.
"This is your mercenary ID card. Use it to turn in assignments."
He took the card and slipped it into his pocket. He did not want to waste even a second, and immediately turned toward the battlefield entrance.
"Kid, you're still wet behind the ears, and you're trying to be a mercenary?"
A shrill voice rang out, unpleasantly affected.
Adrian ignored it. A mercenary depot was the kind of place where all sorts gathered.
Besides, getting into the battlefield and claiming his System was what mattered right now.
Entering the Battlefield World required passing through a portal.
It was the only thing here that seemed completely out of place.
A massive, high-tech doorframe stood before him, its center filled with a translucent curtain of light.
If Adrian had not known this was a technology-based world, he would have thought someone had dropped a fantasy portal into the wrong setting.
"So this is the portal they talked about in class?"
Adrian had learned about these things long ago, so he did not show much surprise as he walked toward it.
"Entry denied. Mercenaries must enter as part of a squad."
"You are not carrying a weapon. Please equip a weapon before entry."
Two mechanical prompts sounded in succession.
"Damn it. I need a team too?"
Adrian cursed under his breath.
He looked around. Many mercenaries were gathered in groups, clearly organized into squads.
But he looked at his school uniform, then at their strange assortment of gear.
There was no way he could blend in with them.
"What if I hire a mercenary squad?"
He dismissed the thought almost immediately.
In this life, Adrian was an orphan. Every cent of his living expenses came from Federation welfare.
Hiring a four-man mercenary squad would cost at least two hundred thousand.
For Adrian, whose monthly allowance was only one thousand, it was an astronomical amount.
"Looking for rabbits! Anyone want to be a rabbit?"
Just when Adrian thought he was about to miss his chance at the System, a rough shout came from the entrance.
"Looking for rabbits! Fifty thousand per person!"
"Instance Four, Ammunition Depot. Need three rabbits!"
The man shouting was a bald brute with a thick beard covering his jaw. He wore a tactical vest and held an AK-47 rifle in his hands.
A rabbit, put simply, was someone responsible for drawing enemy aggro.
But unlike in a game, the Battlefield World did not contain monsters. The enemies were NPC soldiers within the instances.
Unlike these casually dressed mercenaries, the NPCs in the Battlefield World were soldiers equipped with body armor.
Still, these NPCs were not especially intelligent, and their marksmanship was mediocre.
With coordination, mercenaries could eliminate them.
But every instance had a limited entry capacity, so someone had to lure those NPCs away.
Like the bald man had said: Ammunition Depot No. 4.
It was an old instance.
The supplies inside were abundant. Anyone who made it out alive could sell what they carried for several million.
Of course, the odds of dying inside were high as well.
No one answered. People who worked as rabbits either desperately needed money or were drowning in debt with nowhere else to turn.
"Nobody?"
The bald man muttered to himself and prepared to leave.
"Wait."
An effeminate voice stopped him.
"I'll be a rabbit."
Adrian immediately recognized the voice. It belonged to the man who had spoken to him earlier.
A lean middle-aged man stepped out of the crowd.
He was missing an arm and had only one eye.
There were many people like him here. If someone was injured in the Battlefield World and did not receive treatment in time, amputation was the only option.
"Fine. Black Rabbit makes one."
Judging by the man's callsign, he was probably a professional rabbit.
"Anyone else?"
"I'll do it."
The bald man turned around and saw a clean-cut teenager in a blue-and-white school uniform walking toward him.
Everyone's eyes shifted to Adrian.
"Poor kid. He probably needs the money badly."
Seeing his school uniform, they began making guesses.
But Adrian paid them no attention. He walked up to the bald man, his gaze unwavering.
"Kid, think this through. The Ammunition Depot No. 4 has more than two hundred guards, and every one of them carries a rifle. You could get killed the moment you make contact."
The bald man pointed his rifle at Adrian, trying to scare the boy off.
It was not out of kindness. He was afraid that a rookie like Adrian would get them all killed.
"It won't be a problem. I can handle it."
With the muzzle pointed at him, Adrian felt a needle-like prickle between his brows.
But he forced himself to remain calm.
This was his only chance to enter the Battlefield World.
"You've got guts, kid."
The bald man held his rifle one-handed and studied Adrian with interest.
"Count him in. Anyone else?"
"Count me in."
A young woman approached, around Adrian's age.
She had shoulder-length hair, a light tank top, and skin-tight denim shorts.
At a glance, she did not look dressed for a battlefield at all.
The only things linking her to combat were the tactical belt around her waist and the pistol strapped to her thigh.
Weapons were valuable in this world. They could only be brought back from the Battlefield World, and pistols in particular were rare, obtainable only through scavenging.
"Good. That's everyone."
The bald man headed outside the depot, with the three recruits following behind him.
Only then did Adrian get a clear look at the mercenary team, which was completely different from the disorganized rabble around them.
They wore neat camouflage uniforms, with scarves concealing their faces.
Their identical AK-47s reminded Adrian of the local militia outfits from his previous life.
When they saw Adrian emerge, surprise flashed through their eyes before their expressions settled.
They had seen this kind of thing too many times.
People with nowhere else to go became rabbits, only to fail to draw enemy fire and get cut down by stray bullets instead.
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