Chapter 120: Secret Operation

“So they decided not to raid dungeons anymore?” James scowled as Ryan finished the report. The recruits had taken money for doing nothing, and when the actual work came calling, they backed out. Admirable—true leeches. James wasn’t the model employee, but he never backed down from a job.

“Yes. They’d rather guard the city against the upcoming red dungeons.”

“If they don’t want to raid dungeons, get them off the payroll,” James said.

“Alright. They’ll be dismissed from the supermarket post-haste.” Ryan nodded—he wasn’t fond of paying them either. “So, which dungeon will we clear today?”

“About that… I’m thinking of raiding a medium dungeon next time. I can’t join the recruits for a novice run.” James frowned.

“That’s troubling, sir. Without you, they don’t think their chances are high.”

“Hm… as long as they can get their weapon skills to level five…” James started, then shut his mouth. He realized another consequence of not diving into dungeons: the recruits might earn coins but wouldn’t learn weapon skills without a proper weapon from the system. They might not earn a starter gear either. Kaina hadn’t gotten one either when she raided—either she already had starter gear, or the system treated her differently because of her status.

“Are medium floors full of tough monsters? Do our recruits stand a chance?” Ryan asked.

“There are powerful monsters, sure, but there are plenty of weaker ones from novice dungeons as well too. It’s fine, even they can contribute even if their level is low. In Andrew’s team, a quarter of the team were non-combatants—brought for unique skills, not raw damage,” James answered. He paused, realizing where Ryan was heading.

“Good. There are at least ten people willing to follow you, Mr. James—some of them would go even into a medium dungeon. Not all of them are cowards. As long as the survival odds aren’t zero, they’ll follow. Will you take them?”

“Sure. Put them on the list. Let’s see how many we can bring.” James nodded.

“Thank you, sir.” Ryan smiled and started typing into his tablet.

James watched him for a moment, folding and refolding his hands. Recruiting volunteers was the easy part. Training them, equipping them, and keeping them alive—that would be the work.

James lounged on the couch when Andrew messaged him, saying he was already on the plane with Dehlia and several others for the organ transfer.

As the days passed, red dungeons began emerging one after another. News Channel reported daily occurrences of red dungeons popping all over the world. After James donated his legs to Andrew’s crew, two more red dungeons were spotted within a week.

“Hm… these red dungeons are popping up one after another. If there are no more novice dungeons, rookies are going to have a hard time if they jump straight into medium dungeons. Moreover, they won’t even have beginner weapons with them, right?” James muttered as he dined at the open-air restaurant with Andrew and Silas.

“It’s fine. As long as they have useful skills, we can make it work. Medium dungeons are beatable even if you’re level 1. I almost cleared one before, right after I finished a trial dungeon. If I’d had dungeon cores back then, that medium dungeon would have fallen.”

“That’s different. You’d already beaten a dungeon before—and look at the casualties.” James frowned. “How can anyone fight without weapon skills, weapons, or magic? Some unique skills need coins to upgrade too. Level one and level ten are different—in equipment, skills, and coins. Magic is also important. Take the previous dungeon, for example—if you didn’t have fire magic, it became incredibly hard.”

“...Yeah, you’re right. Sorry, I was just being optimistic. The chance of winning isn’t zero, but it’s not high either.”

“From the previous dungeon break, I gathered several people with unique skills. I believe Ryan messaged your guild about it. Will you bring them? How many?”

“Yes. I’ll bring all of them.”

“All?” James raised an eyebrow.

“The next medium dungeon has a seventy-person limit. We can bring everyone. I went through the list—we’ll take thirty survivors and forty others.”

“Really? Hm… why pick that one, though? Sounds dangerous if we have to cap the limit.”

“The more people, the easier it will become. We can all help each other.”

Andrew thought that more people meant more unique skills, and they could help each other. Humanity began when people worked together toward the same goal, so the more people he could bring, the happier and more secure he felt. James didn’t agree with Andrew’s view. To him, these people would be a nuisance, weighing him down.

Nevertheless, James still joined the expedition. It was not a deal-breaker for him. He knew the limits of being a solo diver—it would be faster if he brought people like Andrew and the others.

A thought crept into his mind. Shouldn’t he conquer dungeons alone? Did he even need these guys? In the previous dungeon, all they had done was get in the way. What if he had gone through it alone? Could he do it?

But before such thoughts could take root, Andrew changed the topic.

“Ah, Silas told me you opened a company. Nice! Let me in on that! I’ll be one of the investors. Geh, just a ten-million-dollar IPO? You should have reached out to more people, James. Instead of specializing in dungeon goods, how about food processing or software engineering? Food is in high demand all over the world.”

“I let Ryan handle that sort of thing.”

“Oh, wise decision. You’re lucky to have someone like that who knows his way around. First-timers in this sort of thing always end in disaster.” Andrew nodded. His smile broadened as he scrolled through the company’s profile. “I’ll call him, then.”

“When will we get to the dungeon?” James changed the topic. The company was more of a pet project to him. He didn’t want to talk much about it.

“When will you guys be ready? Three days? I’ve told everyone to meet in Australia.”

“What about the dungeon core?”

“Silas bought one from China a week ago. They also expressed their desire to conquer a medium dungeon, so we’re bringing them along.”

“Let’s go tomorrow. I’ll buy the plane tickets.” James sighed. If it were up to him, he would prefer to do everything by himself. But time was of the essence; that reactor might explode at any moment. Sensing something was off, James tilted his head and asked, “Why are you the one telling me? Silas is usually the one messaging me.”

“Well, Silas wasn’t fully on board with the idea of us diving into dungeons. He would rather let dungeon breaks happen. Since the core had already been bought, I decided to come here and ask you to join us.”

“Huh? Why is he against it? I thought he said he could convince the UN to let us dive into dungeons. He seemed fully on board with the idea just a week ago.”

“This is classified information, but a medium dungeon turned red yesterday.” Andrew’s voice dropped a pitch, as if he were whispering.

“Huh?” James widened his eyes.

“With that, my arguments for why we need to conquer higher-level dungeons vanished. So, he won’t be funding or preparing us for another raid. The government and UN would rather wait outside and attack the monsters with modern weapons instead.”

“I see. And you’re against that? Why? Isn’t that good? You don’t need to conquer dungeons anymore—it’s dangerous.”

“Are you sure you should be saying that?” Andrew chuckled. “You told me yesterday that we should raid dungeons. We need items, coins, and skills from them. There might be monsters modern weapons can’t handle. I fully agree with your line of thinking, James.”

“I see. Thanks. Well then, let’s go.”

Andrew didn’t change. He was still the same supportive boss James remembered. James felt encouraged by his words and nodded.

A week later, James and the others gathered near a desert oasis in Australia. Despite Andrew promising him a full roster, only thirty-five people actually showed up. James couldn’t bring all of his employees either—only five followed him. Everyone else had been recruited by the UN and assigned to guard the red dungeon. All in all, James brought five, Andrew brought ten, and the rest were foreigners from Australia and China.

“Kouki didn’t come either. Damn, we could use his sword skill.” Andrew spat. His plan was already falling apart. Hain had never planned to join from the start; he would rather hunt outside or in a novice dungeon where it was safer. He’d had enough of medium dungeons after losing half his body there. Kouki, on the other hand, dreamed of being a hero, so he preferred to defend the earth from the red dungeon’s invasion.

Andrew sighed. Not only did he have to lead low-level survivors, he also had to worry about foreigners he had never met. Fortunately, they were survivors, and survivors could understand each other’s language through the system.

“I am Xiaoming and this is Bernard. Nice to meet you, Andrew. I am sorry, but news from HQ and the UN says we no longer need to conquer dungeons. We just need to defend the Earth from their invasion, and we will be fine. Alas, I did not agree. We want to conquer dungeons, discover new lands and riches. I heard you have similar goals. So, are you ready?” The foreigner troops gave a military salute. Andrew nodded, but James interrupted.

“Wait a minute, Andrew. Who will get the loot if we discover a treasure chest? Without the guild, this will be a big problem.” James asked. A faction quickly formed; his question had addressed the elephant in the room. Before, it was just the guild and him. But now, there were Andrew’s team, James’s, Australia’s, and China’s.

James thought they had discussed this beforehand, but it became clear a lengthy debate was about to follow.

Unlike before, James didn’t want to give up dungeon loot this time. Back then, it had felt like he was donating for the greater good of mankind. The guild strove for world peace and security, but these people were just companies looking for profit. He felt no obligation to hand over treasures from the dungeon to them.

Now, what would they have to say about this? Apparently, James and the others still needed to jump through several hoops before diving into dungeons. James sat on his mechanical raptor as he watched the ensuing battle of words.