When Reid returned to the Tekkadan base, the members had already packed up the shipping containers and their personal belongings.
Watching the Tekkadan members haul all sorts of "junk" into the containers, Reid could only surmise that they had lived truly impoverished lives before.
However, Reid didn't stop them. He clearly remembered how his own grandmother, when she moved, had insisted on taking a decades-old round tabletop with her. Besides, this was a one-way trip to another world for them; it was good to let them keep some mementos.
In any case, with the combined weight of this junk and the people, the Blade Angel, boosted by a GN Particle burst and the Lambda Driver, could lift it all with a single hand.
Due to his trip to the Martian capital, nearly six hours of the time agreed upon with Gaelio had already passed.
At Gaelio's urging, the Medical Pod Reid had requested had been transported to a city near Tekkadan's location.
Thus, Gaelio dispatched an unarmed Graze, which advanced toward the Tekkadan base holding a white flag.
This Mobile Suit's action had two purposes.
First, to scout a mine-free route from the ground.
Second, Gaelio certainly needed to confirm that McGillis was still alive and well before sending the goods over.
So, Reid simply returned to the Blade Angel and entered a combat-ready state, allowing the Graze to enter the Tekkadan headquarters. After all, this Mobile Suit was meant to fill his last capture slot; there was no need to turn it away.
As soon as the Graze entered the Tekkadan encampment, Reid piloted his unit right up to its feet, forcing it to a halt. He then broadcasted on an external speaker.
"Pilot, exit the Mobile Suit. I will allow you to confirm McGillis's condition up close."
The Graze's pilot had no choice but to open the cockpit and disembark.
Judging by his pilot suit, he appeared to be a high-ranking officer, and he clearly recognized McGillis. Reid could sense his palpable relief upon seeing McGillis.
However, the moment the officer left his Mobile Suit and approached McGillis, Reid had the system capture the Graze in a flash.
Even though this officer had seen footage of his opponent making Mobile Suits vanish into thin air, he was still utterly astonished. He stared intently at the Blade Angel, as if trying to commit every detail to memory.
In response to the officer's "glare," Reid said nonchalantly, "You won't need a Mobile Suit to deliver the message on your way back. Just take one of Tekkadan's cars."
With that, Reid turned to Norba Shino, who was still loading things into a container nearby.
"Norba, find a car for this Gjallarhorn officer."
Hearing this, Norba naturally put down what he was holding and replied, "Yes, Boss," then went to find a vehicle.
The Gjallarhorn officer knew that protesting now was useless. His Mobile Suit was gone; could he really expect this person, who seemed like an alien, to make it reappear?
So, the Gjallarhorn officer spoke to Reid.
"I don't know who you are, but remember this: Gjallarhorn's property is not so easily taken. Also, the surrounding terrain is too rugged. It would take a huge detour for the Medical Pod to arrive by land. Therefore, we hope to use a transport plane to deliver the Medical Pod directly to this airfield. Master Fareed can also leave directly on the transport plane. Is that acceptable to you?"
Hearing this, Reid didn't even have to guess to know that Gjallarhorn's transport plane would surely be carrying Mobile Suits. If he were to receive the goods, teleport away, and then kill the hostage, these Mobile Suits could serve to delay and obstruct him.
Furthermore, having McGillis switch to a Mobile Suit inside the transport plane would ensure that even if the plane were shot down, he wouldn't fall to his death.
However, Reid wasn't going to refuse. A transport plane was indeed faster, and he didn't want to wait several more hours for the Medical Pod to be delivered to the Tekkadan base by ground.
So Reid replied, "Fine, but I'll only release him after I've inspected the goods."
The Gjallarhorn officer was about to argue further, but McGillis, knowing that there was no way to hold onto his new "friend" this time, stopped the officer and said, "Agree to his terms. Go back and tell Gaelio. The enemy is more troublesome than we imagined. We must plan for the long term. Tell him not to act rashly."
Seeing that McGillis himself had said so, and that a Tekkadan member had driven an off-road vehicle over to signal it was time for him to leave, the Gjallarhorn officer could only get into the vehicle resentfully and speed off, leaving a cloud of dust in his wake.
Watching the Gjallarhorn officer disappear into the distance, Reid smiled and asked McGillis, "You, a hostage, are actually speaking up for me, your kidnapper. I've really seen it all now."
To this question, McGillis simply replied with a smile, "I just know that there's no way you can be kept here today, and I don't want the Gjallarhorn Mars forces to lose any more Mobile Suits. What, are all the Mobile Suits you've taken still not enough?"
Reid thought to himself that the system's eight capture slots for this battle were already full; he couldn't take any more even if they were given to him. But he said aloud, "Of course, the more Mobile Suits, the better. Although the Graze's performance is poor, a Mobile Suit this large would still be worth a lot sold as scrap metal."
McGillis didn't believe a word of it. You can casually teleport a small mountain of gold, and you're still interested in money from selling scrap metal?
McGillis was no fool. He had more or less guessed that his new "friend" was likely collecting Ahab Reactors. Although the manufacturing process for them was now relatively mature, very few organizations possessed the means to produce them.
This was because Ahab Reactors were made by extracting artificially generated vacuum elements in a near-stellar environment and inducing a phase transition, which would then allow the reactor to generate Ahab Particles.
It was difficult to simulate such an environment with current technology. Therefore, only a handful of powers had the ability to build Ahab Reactor factories near stars, and they would not sell them to outsiders.
In fact, many of the Ahab Reactors used by pirates and mercenaries on the market were dug up from the ground or salvaged from scrap heaps. After all, Ahab Reactors are incredibly difficult to destroy and highly resistant to corrosion. Since the last era, countless Mobile Suits had been destroyed, but their reactors were often still functional.
Even so, Ahab Reactors were priceless and unavailable on the black market; no one was selling. (After Chryse Guard Security unearthed Barbatos, they were so afraid that someone from the lower classes with the Alaya-Vijnana System would use it to rebel that they preferred to leave it underground as a power source rather than sell the Mobile Suit, which ordinary people couldn't pilot, at a high price.)
Therefore, even though McGillis knew his new "friend" possessed an engine that seemed superior to the Ahab Reactor in every way (he mistook the combined effect of the GN Drive and the Miniature Nuclear Fusion Reactor for a single engine's performance), he was not surprised that he would collect Ahab Reactors.
However, McGillis wasn't so tactless as to directly point out Reid's objective. He knew that Reid's last words were, in fact, a subtle warning for him to be mindful of his current status as a hostage.
Thus, McGillis decided to be a compliant hostage for now and slowly search for traces of his new "friend" after returning to Gjallarhorn.
Silence fell over the scene once more. After the Tekkadan members finished loading their belongings into the container, Reid had them close the doors and wait on standby.
Fortunately, Gaelio didn't keep Reid waiting long.
After the Gjallarhorn officer returned, he must have immediately ordered the transport plane to take off for the hostage exchange.
As the massive transport plane landed, Gaelio personally delivered the container with the packaged Medical Pod to the Blade Angel.
At that moment, seeing McGillis completely unharmed and in good spirits, he emotionally embraced him, recounting his torment over the past few hours. The scene was overflowing with such bromance that any fujoshi watching would probably be drooling.
Reid paid no mind to the two "bros" catching up. After all, McGillis had never truly seen Gaelio as a brother who would go through thick and thin with him.
Reid was currently having Nein scan and compare this Medical Pod to see if it was genuine. The archives in the capital actually had detailed video records of the Medical Pod's delivery, allowing for a comparison of details to verify its authenticity.
Nein quickly completed the scan and concluded that the Medical Pod was real, though it was unknown if there were any extra tracking devices.
But Reid wasn't afraid of trackers. Go ahead, try to pinpoint my location across time and space, he thought.
He then used the Lambda Driver, disguised as psychokinesis, to reseal the container out of thin air.
Then, using the anti-gravity effect of the GN Particles and the amplified strength from the Lambda Driver, he lifted the container, which was about the length of a 10-meter bus, and tucked it under the Blade Angel's right arm.
Next, the Mobile Suit flew directly over to the container holding Tekkadan and lifted it with its left hand.
Finally, like someone returning from a shopping spree with arms full of bags, he turned to McGillis and said, "McGillis, it was nice chatting with you. But I hope we never meet again. Cherish the people who truly care about you. Farewell."
After speaking, Reid directly chose to return. The Blade Angel, carrying two containers, vanished right before everyone's eyes.
McGillis watched this scene and murmured, "Heavens, he can actually teleport away with people. Isn't that invincible?"
Gaelio, on the other hand, was fuming. The encirclement he had assembled his troops for was all for nothing. And just as he ordered his subordinates to thoroughly search the Tekkadan base for any clues about this mysterious person and to grab a couple of witnesses, his good brother McGillis informed him of a tragic fact: Tekkadan had disbanded on the spot nearly three hours ago. A small group of elites had been recruited, and the rest had fled.
As for Kudelia, she had been sent to the Martian capital an hour ago. Heaven only knew where she was hiding now.
Gaelio's impotent rage was none of Reid's concern.
After successfully returning to the Factory Module in Star Palace City, Reid found Nein's body standing perfectly fine behind him, just as it was when he left. It seemed he didn't have to worry about this trip destroying Nein's body and needing to buy a new one.
After setting down the container holding Tekkadan, Reid disembarked, patted the container, and said, "Alright, we've arrived. Everyone out."
Hearing his voice, the Tekkadan members filed out of the container. Gazing at the huge, enclosed space where the eight Mobile Suits Reid had captured were parked, they marveled at the fact that they had truly experienced teleportation.
At this point, Reid also introduced himself. "Alright, let me properly introduce myself now. My name is Reid Isaac. The place you are in now is the New Misurugi Kingdom, located in Australia on Earth. However, this Earth is no longer the Earth of your original world. Do you understand the concept of parallel universes?"
As Reid said this, most of the Tekkadan members looked bewildered. They clearly couldn't quite grasp the so-called concept of parallel universes.
As for the few who could understand, their jaws dropped wide enough to fit an ostrich egg, and for a moment, they were utterly speechless.
So, Reid could only say, "Forget it. It doesn't matter if you don't understand. When I brought you across worlds, an entity already forged your identities and experiences in this world. They've all been implanted in your brains. Now, all of you recall your new backstories. Tell them to me one by one when we get outside."
With that, Reid led the Tekkadan members out of the Factory Module.
Their loyalty levels were not high, so the secrets of the Factory Module had to be kept from them. Although they currently just thought of it as an underground Hangar, it was better to lead them away sooner rather than later.
After leaving the Factory Module and seeing the bustling Star Palace City outside, a look of longing appeared in most of their eyes.
After all, they were originally low-level personnel at Chryse Guard Security and wouldn't have been assigned to work in a major city.
As for their lives before joining Chryse Guard Security, most of them had lived in slums or similar low-class areas.
Reid led the Tekkadan members to a large reception room, told them to help themselves to the drinks and fruit in the room, and then contacted Elsa, Rosalie, and Chris to come and register Tekkadan's fabricated identities.
He had no choice. The Xia sisters had been sent by Reid to inspect the territories transferred to the New Misurugi Kingdom by various countries and wouldn't be back for a while.
As for Ange and Noin, one was unsuitable for reception work, and the other was swamped at the officer training camp. So naturally, the task of registering the Tekkadan members fell to Elsa, Rosalie, and Chris.
However, the men of Tekkadan truly hadn't been around beautiful women for a long time.
Rosalie and Chris had also learned to be gentle and kind during this period.
As a result, more than half of these straightforward Tekkadan men completed their registration with flushed faces and soft-spoken voices.
Once that was done, Reid had Elsa, who liked children, take the few kids and Biscuit's grandmother to purchase some daily necessities. Rosalie arranged for their accommodation, and Chris went to register their household status.
For the current New Misurugi Kingdom, giving someone an official identity was incredibly simple, because the country belonged to Reid's family.
Only then did Tekkadan realize they had been acquired by a "king" who could travel between worlds. They felt like they had truly latched onto a powerful patron. Those guys from the group who had taken the gold and run had really picked up a sesame seed and thrown away a watermelon.
Meanwhile, Reid, listening to the backstories the Tekkadan members recounted, figured that the Atlantic Federation could escape blame this time.
Those who hadn't undergone the Alaya-Vijnana System modification were fine; they were simply set up as Eurasian refugees whom the New Misurugi Kingdom had taken in on humanitarian grounds after a strict review.
As for those with the Alaya-Vijnana System, an underground human experimentation lab would naturally take the fall again. However, this time the lab was located in the Atlantic, near Europe, so the Eurasian Federation would have to take the blame.
Thank you to the decisive cat for the 100 Qidian coins donation.
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There's an issue with the author's assistant app; I only saw the donation records from early September today....
(End of Chapter)