— Meanwhile – The Fringe —
In the Fringe, rumors were starting to spread. People were talking about the Red Vulture team, claiming they had lucked out by landing an idiot client with deep pockets. A million bucks of easy money like that? It was unheard of. Naturally, this drew a lot of attention to the Red Vulture group and drove them into hiding.
Several mercenary groups had already set their sights on them, especially those in desperate need of cash.
Many contacted the group, hoping to get a share of the payout, reasoning that Red Vulture couldn't possibly venture into the Wildland. Some of the information Maximilian had fed them suggested that Rebecca had been kidnapped and taken to a secret base in the Wildland by an independent military faction operating within the UEC.
However, all the mercenaries negotiated from a position of strength. They knew what Red Vulture truly was—a third-rate hacker group with no combat personnel under their contract.
