Transcendent Gene
Chapter 79: Vehicle Delivery [3]

Chapter 79: Vehicle Delivery [3]

Raymond was curious about Gio’s challenge, but it had to wait. They were in an active period now, which meant that any time they spent outside of missions was spent traveling to new mission areas.

They were landed now, but the zephyr had just been refueled. They needed to take off soon so they could get moving again.

Their current agenda was very fast-paced. They had to fuel up too often, meaning they were making long-distance journeys often. If they had to make those journeys but still needed to reach their destinations so fast that Raymond couldn’t even spare a few minutes...

’They still have the element of surprise. Whoever they’re attacking still doesn’t know who’s attacking them or why. In a more impossible scenario, maybe they don’t even know they’re being attacked yet.’

It only made Gio more curious.

Just who was in the Wilds and why did they need to be handled so immediately?

Gio had no choice but to leave the zephyr without getting what he wanted.

And after that, several months went by again.

Gio spent all that time with Garrison’s team. He hauled with them, cleaned toilets with them, and did anything they did.

They weren’t always doing unimportant things. They were the ones who supplied emergency equipment to the ground team members in case of an emergency. Gio had seen members of the team leave several times to take on that job, but he was never invited along.

The closest he ever got to the battlefield was during a vehicle delivery, but even then, they only approached within a couple tens of kilometers and dropped off vehicles before leaving. At most, if Gio looked hard enough, he could see the flashes of battle in the distance.

This time was a vehicle delivery as well.

He really did think it was going to be the same as every other time. They’d go in the zephyr’s hold or rendezvous with another team to pick up what they needed before leaving to drop it off.

Sure, they’d get close to the battlefield, but there wasn’t any real risk involved.

That was how he thought it would go.

The ground team put in an urgent request for an armored vehicle.

The Service Crew wasn’t privy to the "why" of the situation. It wasn’t their job to care about it.

They only needed to know their deadline and what they needed to do.

In that case, they needed to deliver the armored truck within ten minutes.

It sounded impossible. Gio wondered how such a request could even be made. He knew what vehicles were available at the moment, and an armored one able to fit seven people was not among them.

He frowned, but Garrison and the rest weren’t fazed in the slightest.

"Gio, come with me."

Garrison pulled him along. They separated from the rest of the team, who stayed in the cargo hauler they usually used for transport, and found a place in the desert relatively far from the plane.

"I need your help this time since you’re someone good with analytics. Usually, the other guys take care of it, but the Captain told me that you would be most suited for these kinds of jobs."

As Garrison spoke, he raised his hand into the air in front of him. When he did so, the black stone adorning the ring he wore on his middle finger vibrated slightly. It let off a pulse of energy, and all of a sudden–

Whoosh!

With a slight movement, a common wooden door appeared in the middle of the desert.

"Come with me."

Garrison spoke as if it was normal and opened it, walking inside.

Strangely enough, he didn’t come out the other side.

’Raymond never told me he was rich.’

Gio’s eyes already widened slightly when he saw the ring on Garrison’s finger. When he walked up to the door and opened it, his surprise intensified.

It was just as he thought.

’This is a Storage Hole.’

The true term was Treasury Unit. Treasury Units were also products of Nightreign created far later than the black market. Their nickname was also quite straightforward.

They were, in essence, storage units that could be summoned at any time. Using the same principle that created the doors to the Night Market, Nightreign created a separate system for personal use.

These storage units didn’t exist anywhere as far as anyone was concerned. Even if one could pay the more than substantial fees required to own one, seeing what was beyond the walls of one’s own unit was impossible.

Nobody knew where the units were located, ensuring their privacy and security. They could be accessed from anywhere, and as long as one had enough money, one could even buy enough storage to constitute a city or more.

The space Gio entered with Garrison wasn’t that big, but it was at least the size of a hangar. There were shelves filled with miscellaneous items at the back of the hangar. Bikes were kept at the front so they could be used to reach the back fast if needed.

Past the bikes were coupes and sedans, past them were larger cars, SUVs, and trucks, and beyond even them were the military vehicles.

’There are only ground vehicles here, so they probably have more than one hole.’

Thinking such miscellaneous thoughts, Gio slowed his steps and reached Garrison.

"Get in."

The older man didn’t talk much. He chose a truck that looked more like a tank. Gio would have thought it was one if it didn’t have four doors.

He got in the passenger seat while Garrison started the car, listening to the explanation he finally decided to give.

"The delivery location is 50 kilometers away. We’ll reach in 8 minutes. The pickup vehicle is already on route; a blue R450 with white stripes..."

He spoke the information as concisely as possible. It seemed to be both for Gio and for the sake of recording his actions.

"Gio, you see the panel in front of you?"

"I do."

Garrison hit the gas and moved the truck to the front of the hangar. When they reached the door, it expanded until it was big enough for the truck to fit through.

"Use the code on this paper to log in."

Garrison held his hand out and passed the paper over without taking his eyes off the desert in front of him once. They were already racing over the sand.

Gio took the paper and did as he was told. In the process, he felt Garrison hold his hand out again, giving Gio a button-shaped object the size of his palm.

"That has the ground team’s locations. Connect it to the system, establish tracking, and lead me to them. You’ll be able to see any life signs nearby. Warn me about those as well."

Gio nodded. He didn’t understand how his analytical ability would help here, but that was beside the point. He focused on connecting the tracker to the truck’s systems.

"I have their locations."

The ground team was currently scattered around the city. They appeared as blips on a map that showed the general area around them, but there was enough distance between them for it to be obvious that they were separated.

’Is this why?’

It was called a vehicle delivery, but to actually deliver the vehicle was a monumental task.

It was a task that required people who didn’t have the means to fight to enter the battlefield and risk their lives.

Gio understood why he was chosen the moment he saw those blips.

’I’m the one deciding the route.’

Which meant he was the one in charge of their lives.

It seemed Raymond decided that before they did anything like a duel, he wanted to see how Gio would do when he actually felt the pressure of a real battlefield.