OLD-WORLD EXTRA

Chapter 358: Gateway Alliance

Chapter 358: Gateway Alliance

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The sight of them had the students almost salivating, their composure shattered as they turned into hormone-driven monkeys, despite their familiarity with beauty.

"Who the fuck is that?!"

"Amanda and Kiera, I heard about them."

"Holy shit they're hot!"

"Calm down, you idiots."

"You think one of them is with the professor?"

"Maybe, but I can't see him loving someone."

"True."

"Nah, it can happen even to our stone-hearted prof. I mean look at them!"

"Yeah, especially that Amanda, she can beat me up all day."

"I wouldn't mind being killed by her either."

"Shut! Have some respect."

A certain girl even grew jealous while another felt anger, and a third, a man, was envious, all three whispering their discontent:

"Eh... They don't look that good. I mean, I-I guess I'm prettier. Not that he deserves me or anything."

"That bastard has time to be playing around with women?! He's probably ruined their lives too! But don't worry, he'll face justice soon. I'll make sure of it!"

"Those chicks are ugly. I can get a hotter one if I... want... to."

Those who made their entrance next were Kiera's squad, as they left their cruisers, receiving a more lukewarm reaction compared to the two before them.

"Oh, that green-haired kid is cute~."

"Ouf, what the hell happened to her?"

"The scars, yeah? I bet she'd look real cute without them."

"That big one kinda looks like a teddy bear, no?"

"Hehe, yeah, but I prefer the blonde boy."

"The Japanese one for me~."

Leo, Sarah, Evan, Jack, and Hiro.

They joined their leaders and stomped hard on the ground, dominant hands on their second hearts.

"Awaiting orders!"

Emir smiled and waved at them, then turned his attention to the students as his voice echoed out of every speaker inside the three APCs.

"Those you see in front of you will protect you until we reach our destination. We'll be tagging along a Gateway convoy, but we won't depend on them; in fact, they'll depend on us, as we are their protection. If all goes to shit we'll make our way out of the fray and protect our own. Is that all understood?"

As if they weren't acting like uncontrollable monkeys a few seconds ago, they replied in unison, their voices serious:

"Yes Sir!"

"Good. Now give me a few minutes, I have to finalize a few things."

Stepping out of the APC, Emir joined his family and silently gestured for them to circle the APCs as he stepped closer to the shops.

"Nothing touches them."

"Understood!"

It took him moments to reach a small shop, which was at the end of the line, nearest to the border's outside.

The shop had no sign above displaying their name, and it showed no merchandise or advertisement. It looked to be in rough shape, especially when compared to those next to it.

No lights adorned it-not a window, not even a single poster-it was only reinforced concrete walls and a metal door.

Emir entered and was met with a long set of stairs heading down.

His steps resounded as he went, and during his descent, the decor started to change until it became starkly different.

So different that it sat at the opposite end of white-colored opulence. Filled with paintings, artifacts, bookshelves, and the like.

As he reached the bottom, a long hall stood between all of that, surrounded by offices on both sides, all leading to a main office at the hall's end.

And that was where he was headed.

Reaching the door, he knocked thrice and said:

"We've come to ask for transport."

""

After a short moment of silence, the door slid open with a hiss.

"Then you've come to the right place, Sir Emir! Welcome to the Gateway Alliance."

What greeted him was a man covered in scars from top to bottom; even his face didn't escape

such a fate.

There was a particular one that overshadowed the rest. A large scar ran from the top of his forehead down to his chin, crossing over one eye.

Despite its natural appearance, that eye was a prosthetic, and it wasn't the only robotic part of him.

Both his elbows were mechanical, the joints sharp beneath the pulled-up sleeves of his white shirt. There might have been more cyberware hidden under his clothes, but Emir didn't dwell on it, as the 'novel' hadn't mentioned much more about Darius, the very leader of one of the Big Three factions known as the Gateway Alliance.

Almost everything Emir knew about him came from his own research. That, combined with the man's hardened presence, gave each scar a story of its own-a visible history of the time he had spent on the front lines.

"Thanks for the warm welcome, Sir Darius."

"Mhm..."

Calmly nodding his head, he returned to his desk, leaning on it.

"Where will you be going?"

Emir pointed to the massive world map on the right, his finger directed just at Canada's north.

"The bunker nearest to Corp Plaza, Outpost Three."

Darius raised his brows, showing slight surprise.

"Ah... the second heart of our Earth, rivaling the academy in terms of protection."

His words weren't an exaggeration.

Sector 11-A was situated just outside Alaska's borders, many kilometers south of Yukon, one

of Canada's three northern territories, and the land where thousands of Celestials went to die.

The frontlines.

That fact already terrified most, but the Corp Plaza's location terrified them even more, as it was further north, closer to the steel, blood, and unending bombardments.

It was so close that it was smack dab in the middle of the UEF Army base, the heart of Earth's resistance against the Order.

This naturally gave the corporations a level of protection that Amon had to sacrifice an arm and a limb to achieve, giving in to many of their demands, something Emir had seen and

experienced firsthand.

It might be seen as favoritism, and it was.

Their proximity made perfect sense; after all, what place needed the corporations' services

more than the army itself?

A co-dependent people.

Truly, a perfect partnership.

"Yeah, that's the one; I'll have them work as Trauma Team respondents."

"Isn't that too much for them though? They didn't fight, they're still kids."

"They'll be fine. I taught them."

Darius grinned.

"And ain't that like nepotism? Sending your students to work for a company that your lot

owns?"

Emir shrugged his shoulders.

"Second Life isn't 'our' lot; they're Stellar Solution's. The principal pays for their services at

the Hub."

"Sure sure~."

Turning around for a moment, Darius grabbed a portable link point in the shape of a card.

"Take that. It shows all the convoys we've got, and it automatically updates tomorrow's

schedule at 20:00."

This time, it was Emir's turn to be surprised.

He never heard of them doing this in the 'novel,' only directly exchanging data by holding

each other's wrists or simply sending it from afar.

Darius noticed that reaction, prompting him to ask:

"You think that just because we're underbelly scum, we've got no class?"

Emir snickered.

"Don't say shit to me; you called yourself that."

"Fair, fair..."

Acknowledging his ability at conversation, Darius allowed him a few seconds of silence so

that he could check the link point.

Emir closed his eyes and accessed it, his inner eye scrolling through the list.

{Convoy From Sector 3-A To Sector 4-C}

{Convoy From Sector 4-C To Sector 5-A} {Convoy From Sector 7-B To Sector 7-D} {Convoy From Sector 8-A To Sector 9-A} {Convoy From Sector 2-A To Corp Plaza} {Convoy From Sector 10-B To Sector 10-E}

It didn't take him long to finish, choosing the nearest time, which was no more than thirty

minutes away, transporting ammo, mechanical components, and raw materials.

{Convoy From Sector 11-A To Corp Plaza}

Fluttering his eyes back open, he stared at Darius, asking a silent question.

The man, observant as always, caught on to what he wanted to know and answered:

"Moneywise we're no longer competing with Templar and the commies, more or less demoted out of the Big Three. Keep in mind one lives off donations and the other has a big pocket backing it. The demand for our services is decreasing by the day. Corpos are starting to get their own transport and our smuggling business isn't doing so well. The average man can barely pay us ten-k to get him and his family across the wasteland and into a higher-ranked sector. Imagine the costs, sure, we make a profit if there's a group of them but if it's a family or two we barely break even. The wealth in middle-class hands decreased by a lot, never mind the poor, and this'll continue to happen until the Elite hold ninety-nine percent of Earth's

credits." Emir tilted his head in confusion... not at what he was just told but at the fact that he was told such an important thing in the first place.

Their demotion was a surprise for sure but not something that he didn't expect, after all, he

didn't only rely on the 'novel,' he already had his people perform a background check on

anything of interest on Earth and their investigation didn't end to this day, so this simply confirmed what he already assumed.

Meanwhile, Darius picked up on Emir's reaction... again.

"Do you think that I'm stupid?"