Ever since the heavy snowfall, the new territory lord enforced a strict rule that guards would not have to charge an entry fee so that they could improve the economic recovery within the territory.
The ideal lives of the guards were immediately shattered.
So much that now that they had fallen to the point of “active solicitation.”
“Sir, you should consider it. I charge a very cheap price…” The short guard was anxious as he saw the bearded man continue to advance on his own and the people following behind him, ignoring his self-recommendation.
According to the usual price, three days of service would generally be enough for one day of food in the Origin Territory.
It would be about 380 grams of rice or 400 grams of flour when converted into materials.
With the disasters, everyone had minimal supplies, and very few people were willing to hire.
The short guard gritted his teeth and quoted a price that was two-thirds of the usual price, breaking the useless market price.
“I can hire you for three days with three hundred grams of flour?”
Ultimately, the bearded man seemed interested and stopped after hearing the price.
Very uniformly, the 30-plus people behind him also stopped. They seemed to treat the leader as their ultimate order.
“Yes, I only need three hundred grams of flour or other equivalent supplies!”
Feeling a glimpse of hope, the short guard nodded repeatedly, and his eyes were filled with expectation.
The bearded man also did not disappoint him and lightly nodded as he uttered two words.
“Yang Jian!”
…
[There is a group of rich bandits in the gathering place. 32 people. They are currently residing in the San Yuan Hotel. They are armed with guns, plenty of guns!]
[Reliable sources said that they are seeking revenge for the missing Marshal Wang.]
[We can’t rule out the possibility that they might have news of Marshal Wang.]
Outside Origin Territory.
In a seemingly ordinary stone house, a man wearing a brown jacket sat in front of a charcoal fire brazier with a crumpled note in his hand.
Beside him were more than a dozen people surrounding another brazier as they played poker and shouted noisily.
The man turned a deaf ear to them and continued to fiddle repeatedly with the note in his hand as he pondered the information on it.
His name was Hou Tielong, a former lord of a small territory in the New World and currently a bounty hunter.
Bounty hunters were not uncommon in Origin Territory.
It was likely that nine out of ten people grabbed at random were so-called bounty hunters and were well-informed of the details of each wanted person on the bulletin board.
Most of them had their eyes on the wanted bounties’ rewards and could clearly recite the life history, appearance, and characteristics of each person on the list.
However, Hou Tielong thought himself to be different from these people, completely on another level.
The reason was simple.
One, he had claimed a reward from the new territory lord of Origin Territory…
More than once!
Second, he had a horrible reputation.
Just a week ago, he had used his keen sense of smell to detect the abnormality of nearly ten people in advance and captured them, sending them to the prison of the gathering place.
After they interrogated them in prison and confirmed their identities, the reward would be settled to him.
This was precisely why he had a bad reputation.
His reckless methods could get a good person captured, and he was shunned by people, making him a very unpopular figure in the gathering place. Everyone was afraid that Hou Tielong would randomly catch them and do the same to them.
Yet…
Who cared?
At least, Hou Tielong was quite satisfied with his lifestyle.
Most people probably could not even fill their stomachs after a day of lowly paid labor, so he could not be bothered with dignity.
Meanwhile, it would be too big of a risk to rob caravans outside as it posed too much danger.
Compared to this, the reward was ten times to a hundred times better by simply catching the traitors despised by the current territory lord of the gathering place.
A good reputation?
A bite of food was much more valuable than that!
However, Hou Tielong did have his fair share of failures as a bounty hunter.
Letting Marshal Wang easily slip away under his nose was the biggest disgrace on his resume!
Suddenly, footsteps could be heard from outside the door.
Hou Tielong put away the note in his hand, raised his head, and turned to the man who came through the door.
“How did it go? Did you see clearly?”
The man who came in nodded and began to report respectfully.
“Brother Long, we saw it very clearly!”
“According to our observations, they were armed with guns that were mainly standard pistols. They looked very new and powerful. Most likely obtained from ruins. Thus, we can’t be sure if they have other destructive weapons like rifles or machine guns. We have to be extremely careful if we want to take action against them.
“There are quite a few of them, about thirty-two in total. I’m confident that they’ve had a certain degree of training, judging by their formation. They’re not weaklings or refugees that were randomly grouped together. I’m afraid that if we can’t get them all in one shot, they’ll likely take terrifying revenge on us in the future.
“We didn’t rashly ask Huang Bing about the group’s pacific purpose to avoid alarming them. However, by the looks of it, they do seem to have a lot of valuable goods…
“I’ve already asked the hotel owner and found out that they’ll be staying for more than three days, so we don’t have to worry for the time being. We can wait until tomorrow morning and carefully monitor them…”
“…”
The man’s memory was incredible, and he could report more than five to six issues at once.
However, as soon as he reported the first matter, Hou Tielong, who sat opposite him, frowned with a gloomy expression.
“According to your report, this group of people seems to be tough.
“Continue monitoring them and try your best to gather information before others. Report whatever you find to me as soon as possible!”
After receiving two orders, the man pushed open the door and left.
Hou Tielong stretched out his hand and threw the note into the brazier. He watched as the flames rose and engulfed the note.
People unfamiliar with his past ways would think that he was scared and decided to give up such a risky mission.
However, those who knew him would understand that…
‘Guns, supplies, information about unknown ruins and the possible whereabouts of Marshal Wang.’
With great danger came great rewards.
‘They’re just a group of outsiders. What kind of tricks would they have up their sleeves?’
Hou Tielong became increasingly excited as he thought about it.
The only thing he began to worry about was the other bounty hunters in the gathering place getting to them before him.
‘I won’t have to worry about supplies for the next three or even six months if we take down this group!
‘I’m coming for them!’
…
