Chapter 25 Mercenary Hall

In the Misty City Mercenary Hall, Jian Nan You and his group of seven were browsing through the tasks. They were looking for tasks posted by players, such as asking for help with PK, or killing and looting, which were of most interest to them.

Big deals like "loot the video mage's equipment" didn't come along often. Jian Nan You and his crew usually did some odd jobs to earn some pocket money, but more importantly, to build a customer base.

Jian Nan You's business strategy was to start with these small tasks, establish a certain degree of trust and connection with customers, so that when a big deal came along, they would naturally think of him. In the process of small business transactions, Jian Nan You would add each customer as a friend, and then carefully record each customer's business dealings with him in the form of notes. These were all his bargaining chips to ensure harmonious relations between the two parties.

Jian Nan You's killing and robbery were indeed hated, but don't forget that there was always someone behind the scenes manipulating every transaction he made. He was just a knife, and the hands wielding the knife behind the scenes were no better than him. Jian Nan You had sharpened himself into a double-edged sword, and he always maintained the possibility of backstabbing. His agreements with each customer were a reminder to them: you also have something I can use against you.

Jian Nan You's business network was gradually expanded on this basis. And the way to contact him for business was really simple: private chat. Jian Nan You never refused the requests of players in his friend list who were in the customer group. Because these people all had something Jian Nan You could use against them, and he believed that everyone might betray others, but they would never betray themselves.

These customers were Jian Nan You's main source of income. But if the business wanted to thrive, the customer group should be as large as possible. And Jian Nan You had two ways to do this: one was for large customers in the customer group to directly introduce new customers; the other was to find customers himself, like in the initial stage, and then develop from small customers into large customers, and finally enter the customer friend list. And this development process was, in fact, Jian Nan You's process of seizing people's weaknesses.

At this time, in the Mercenary Hall, they were looking for retail customers with the potential to become big customers. Their business was initially built on this method. They had naturally accumulated a set of experiences on how to identify potential retail customers. Vague task content, individual rather than group, and most importantly, having money. Poor players were not qualified to become Jian Nan You's customers.

The seven of them were searching separately at this time, occasionally communicating in the channel.

As a group, disagreements still occurred from time to time. At this time, among the seven, Jian Nan You, Huo Ran Yi, and Hei Shui preferred a task to find equipment; Jiao Shui and another priest favored a task to find someone to help with PK; Dao Xiang Mu and the knight Invincible Lucky Star favored a task that was ordinary, but had very generous rewards.

With these three targets identified, the seven were ready to leave after noting down their contact information. They didn't directly accept the tasks in the Mercenary Hall, because the seven of them were not a mercenary group and didn't have the authority.

The fog was still so thick. The seven stepped out of the Mercenary Hall, took a deep breath, and suddenly felt like they had been reborn.

"Then let's start!" Jian Nan You took out the list he had just copied, "Hei Shui, you and Ran Yi go contact this Mi Tao Duo; Dao Xiang and I will go find this Shou Fa Ruan; the three of you go find this... this... damn it, what is this word?"

"Haha, you're so uncultured!" Having finally escaped the pursuit, the few were in a good mood and started joking. Jiao Shui laughed at Jian Nan You, took the paper and looked at it, his face turned green, and passed it to the next person, whose face then turned green. Jian Nan You turned to look at Huo Ran Yi: "What did you write?" This name was selected and copied by Huo Ran Yi.

Huo Ran Yi said helplessly, "I just drew it as it looked. Martian language is like this, I don't recognize it either."

"What the hell is this word!" Hei Shui held up the note and squinted, as if hoping the sunlight could give him strength.

Finally, the seven shook their heads awkwardly. They didn't recognize the word, so there was no way to enter it into the search bar. If they couldn't enter it, they naturally couldn't find the player. Jian Nan You finally stuffed the note back to Huo Ran Yi: "Let the three of them go find Mi Tao Duo, and the two of you go find this Martian."

The other two groups watched Huo Ran Yi and Hei Shui with schadenfreude, while they each began to contact the people they were looking for. As a result, neither Mi Tao Duo nor Shou Fa Ruan had their friend function enabled. This was also common, so the two groups went to send letters by mail, leaving Hei Shui and Huo Ran Yi with the small note to continue studying.

"Let's not talk about recognizing it, even if we do, how can this kind of word be typed?" Huo Ran Yi asked.

"How would I know?" Hei Shui said unhappily.

"We have to find out!" Huo Ran Yi said.

"Look, there's a beauty over there." Hei Shui pointed to a certain direction.

Apart from engaging in robbery, Jian Nan You's group of seven were no different from ordinary players, and they also had hobbies. For example, flirting with girls, a very popular activity in online games, had enthusiasts among the seven of them.

So, starting with this beauty, Huo Ran Yi and Hei Shui began to pitifully ask people along the way. As a result, not only did no one recognize it, but they also received scornful looks from many people. For the sake of their career, they endured everything. The two gritted their teeth, clenched their fists, and continued to pursue the mysteries of these Martian characters on the street.

The two walked the entire length of a long street, achieving nothing. The two were a little parched.

"Let's go to the tavern for a drink, there are a lot of people there, and we can ask around." Hei Shui suggested.

"Yes, and I think we should prescribe the right medicine. This kind of word is what non-mainstream people are good at, so we should ask more non-mainstream people. You see, the old man you asked just now was very unwise," Huo Ran Yi said.

"That old man pretended to know, even if he didn't recognize it, he insisted that it was oracle bone script," Hei Shui said.

"What input method can be used to input oracle bone script?" Huo Ran Yi asked.

"I don't know." Hei Shui shook his head.

The two walked and talked like this, and they would continue to ask any players they met who might know, continuing their fruitless efforts. Finally, they were almost at the tavern. They hadn't encountered anyone for a while, and the empty street was surrounded by thick fog. As foreigners, the two were a little uncomfortable with the scene and felt uneasy.

"It's been a long time since I've seen anyone," Hei Shui said.

"Yeah!" Huo Ran Yi looked around.

Finally, a dark mass of figures appeared in the mist ahead, making the two very happy.

"Look, someone's finally coming," Hei Shui said with emotion.

"I don't care who it is, let's go ask quickly," Huo Ran Yi said. The two hadn't talked to anyone for a long time, and they were lonely.

As they quickened their pace, the thick fog quickly became transparent, and the dark figures were clearly displayed in front of the two. Hei Shui held the note in his hand and couldn't wait to sprint up and make contact, but the two stopped at the moment their eyes met.

One side was surprised, and the other side was happy.

Gu Fei was really happy. He had just left the tavern and hadn't walked a few steps, so how could he have encountered them so quickly? Did Jian Nan You leave such a big trail after leaving the tavern? It's just that these two guys didn't seem to be the ones he wanted.

"Why are you here!!!" Huo Ran Yi and Hei Shui said in unison. They had been careful and cautious all the way, and Jiao Shui was so tired that his eyes were almost bleeding, completely convinced that no one was following them. After all, the telescope was something outside the players' cognition, and no one knew that there was such a prop in the game.

"Hehe, what a coincidence! Where's Jian Nan You?" Gu Fei said.

Huo Ran Yi and Hei Shui didn't say a word, and quickly sent a message to every member of the seven: that bastard is here again.

Jian Nan You, who received the message, felt like crying. In his opinion, he had never done anything to Gu Fei, so why was this guy so persistent?

"Can you two escape?" Jian Nan You said pessimistically, and directly used the word "escape."

"It's difficult..." Huo Ran Yi said.

Since admiring Gu Fei's 900-degree Double Flame Flash on the shore of Linshui City, they finally had a real understanding of Gu Fei's terror. Even if they fought seven against one, they felt that the odds of winning were slim. To win against this guy, they would definitely have to use some unorthodox tricks. It was under such consideration that Jian Nan You finally decided to give up the task of looting Gu Fei's equipment. Because looting equipment was a long and arduous task, and they didn't know how many times they would have to kill Gu Fei in the process.

Each time required careful arrangement and clever planning. Jian Nan You felt that he wasn't talented enough to come up with such a complicated and ever-changing formation of seven captures and seven releases. Weighing the pros and cons, he finally decided to give up. It was really because dealing with Gu Fei was too risky, and rashly entering the market would easily get him trapped, so he simply threw it out to get away clean. But now it seemed that they had already been trapped by Gu Fei long ago, and he had actually chased them to this place.

"What exactly do you want?" Huo Ran Yi roared.

Hei Shui shivered beside him. Huo Ran Yi actually used a common line from idol dramas in a moment of desperation. Although the enemy was at hand and his level was in danger, he still couldn't help but feel embarrassed.

Gu Fei didn't notice, and just said quietly, "I'm looking for Jian Nan You, where is he?"

"Oh, he went to the West Gate," Huo Ran Yi said casually.

"Is that so?" Gu Fei smiled, "Then is it convenient for him to come over?"

"Uh, I don't think it's very convenient," Huo Ran Yi said.

"Why?"

"Because he doesn't really want to see you."

"Does he want to see you at the resurrection point? I don't know if he's going to the Mage Academy or the Thief Guild?" Gu Fei threatened them with their levels.

Although the two didn't want to die either, they had no choice: "Whatever you want!"

Gu Fei drew his sword, but the two guys would never close their eyes and wait for death. Huo Ran Yi pushed Hei Shui, "You run, I'll hold him back."

After all, Hei Shui was a thief, and he still had a chance to escape Gu Fei's clutches by using Sprint. As for Huo Ran Yi... more on that in the next chapter.