Chapter 18: Just You Call Yourself a Mercenary?

Feeling not bad? Then congratulations.

Let's talk about it in the evening; by then the results will also be out.

Ah right, David, you didn't know? In this world, the college entrance exam results come out super fast! They don't even give people any buffer time!

Buffer time—meaning after finishing the exam, totally relaxing and indulging for a good stretch before parents learn the scores; it's really like being chased by a debt collector's receipt.

In Bi Ze's original world, the college entrance exam had a buffer time; the few days after the exam when you still didn't know your scores were the happiest time, especially when you told your parents you felt steady, you could even relax their guard and ask for things you previously dared not mention.

——But in this world, such happiness no longer exists!

Only because the exam results are processed too quickly——that's the computing resources allocated by the Heart of Terra's sub-nodes, then processed at full power by various intelligent AIs.

Then, that enormous amount of information is further integrated by the Heart of Terra, resulting in a list that can be called massive.

That is the interstellar ranking that includes all simultaneous college entrance exam sites on Earth, as well as the exam results of the colonial cities on planets belonging to the Holy Terra Federation, all sorted out.

In such a ranking, Aomo could be thrown thousands of places away, let alone Bi Ze, who randomly filled in answers or even turned in a blank sheet.

They are all drowned in the list of names; one can only search by entering the exam number.

You can look forward to the network fluctuations when the results just come out, then let your family wait a bit longer—that's also a buffer time.

Aomo was drawing meaningless lines on a clean plate with a fork.

"That's not buffer time at all—that bit of time isn't even enough for a dream!" Bi Ze said indignantly, already giving off the vibe of 'How could someone like you understand our poor students' feelings,' 'Calling it fantasy time would be more appropriate.'

"What does it matter what you call it? Do you think David's world has a college entrance exam?" Aomo said, glancing up at David, who was just silently eating his meal.

Looks like he really likes the food in this new environment.

However, when the topic was directed straight at him, David also lifted his head, blinked his somewhat dazed eyes, swallowed the food in his mouth, and said: "There are similar important exams, but none that are unified across the entire planet in timing."

"Not even that it's planet-wide unified; there are several special zones whose times are offset..." Aomo habitually corrected.

Over the past few days, while chatting casually with David, he has already corrected many of the latter's misunderstandings about common knowledge; however, the time is still short, so his understanding of the world should still not match that of Bi Ze, who switches back and forth between alien and human states.

But Aomo can determine that his IQ is higher than Bi Ze's, integrating into this world won't take long, and he could find plenty of capable work, so he wouldn't end up on social welfare like Bi Ze——

——Though that's what was said, he's already in a mercenary unit, so those considerations are largely unnecessary.

As for the dangers inherent to being a mercenary... Aomo glanced at David's arm prosthetic, which had slightly different patterns from yesterday, and the clearly added faint green indicator light on the back of his neck, and felt that such considerations were really superfluous.

The other party seems already accustomed to being in danger; although advice given between true friends carries enough weight, how to exercise this authority is also a matter that true friends must especially consider carefully.

He naturally chose to stay silent.

After all, his foster father also works in a dangerous occupation.

And if we think about himself, his goal: the executive department of the Two Worlds Safety Bureau, and the armed department that has the most frequent contact with transmigrants, which among all occupations covered by civil servants is also listed as one of the most dangerous departments.

In the end, everyone is the same, with no real difference.

The only safe one is Bi Ze, who can't even voice his ideals—not because he actively chose stability, but because in his slacking state he still hasn't truly understood this world, and when asked about ideals, dreams, and the like, he can't say anything.

【Unable to say】 and 【nonexistent】 are two concepts; the former is unknown, the latter is void.

The unknown is far more interesting than the void; Aomo rather looks forward to the answer he will submit in the future.

As for now... let's shift our attention to David.

"There are also special zones developed on Earth's surface." Aomo said, pausing, recalling the welfare institute he once stayed in.

"Those special zones are mostly gathering places for special races unsuitable for direct mingling with surface residents, because the special zones themselves are like another world's excuse, and interfacing with this side's information also has a threshold, so evaluation timing and information exchange are deliberately offset."

"Generally, one probably wouldn't come into contact with them, right?" David listened quite seriously, even only having time to scoop a spoonful of rice.

"Being a mercenary isn't an ordinary profession, you say?"

"Uh... yeah." David felt a bit embarrassed when brought up, because in these days of contacting this world he also noticed that his group's style in Night City doesn't apply here, and even many people's daily lives don't involve the concept of 'mercenary' at all.

For this reason, this time he didn't even call Man En again; instead, other teammates like Rebecca, for example, were all embarrassedly refused by him.

Ordinary mercenaries would be fine, but Rebecca's freedom inherited from her older brother is, for the citizens of Border Gate District, an art that's premature.

Moreover, since both brothers are still bachelors, he didn't even dare invite Lucy.

Getting along with everyone in the team feels like returning to Night City, but interacting with these two people feels like understanding this world better.

In just a few days, he himself has undergone several changes, and the team currently hopes he continues to maintain this state.

David isn't sure whether this counts as everyone expressing dissatisfaction with his original self, but he also genuinely feels good; previously he always took others' goals as his own, this time no one gave him a goal, so he might need to find one himself.

But he really didn't expect Aomo to bring up the topic of mercenaries on his own.

Even more, he immediately turned to him and asked: "What is your understanding of mercenaries?"

"Undertaking commissioned work often involves using force, even..." David glanced at Bi Ze, then still said the most excessive part: "when killing people."

Bi Ze indeed had some reaction to this, but it wasn't the rejection, dislike, or fear he expected; rather, it was a subtle, hesitant reaction.

After such a complex change in expression, Bi Ze chose to pick up the water cup beside him and remain silent.

"He might be thinking, 'I didn't expect there to be more than one poor student like me.'" Aomo said softly.

Cough cough cough cough.

From that choking reaction, David sadly realized Aomo was right.

David, here's a piece of hot knowledge you need to know: although being a mercenary is a profession somewhat distant from civilians, it's not too far.

Aomo said, having already activated the terminal in his hand, he pulled up a webpage.

That's a video website; as he swiped through the categories and opened the live-streaming section, he saw a dense array of streamers' live broadcast thumbnails.

"These," Aomo pointed at those thumbnails, "are also mercenaries."

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