Evil of all ages

Chapter 112 More wolves and less meat
Yunzhou
Of the thirteen provinces in the land, banditry was the most serious problem.

Due to the division of the Guanshan Mountains and the passage of the Feilong Canal, the nine prefectures of Yunzhou are divided into heavily bandit areas, medium-bandit areas, and light-bandit areas.

The bandit-infested areas are Shangyun County, Baigu County, and Jiushui County. The military supplies were lost through these three counties. Di Qingtian is currently investigating the case in Shangyun County.

The bandit-infested areas, Gu County and Qi County, can be considered the starting areas for newbies in the game.

Huang Yunyou is currently in Gujun.

Within the jurisdiction of the ancient prefecture
Huang Yunyou accepted a mission, which was entrusted by the escort team because they were short of manpower: to safely escort goods from Kaishui County to Ancai County.

Ghostwriters do more than just hunt down criminals. Like bounty hunters, they're willing to do anything as long as the profit is right.

Originally, the escorts didn't intend to hire Huang Yunyou because he was just an apprentice swordsman, but Huang Yunyou revealed that he was a first-rate martial artist.

Furthermore, the head镖师 (bodyguard/escort leader) saw that Huang Yunyou had a horse, and that a swordsman with a horse is different from one without a horse, so he agreed to let Huang Yunyou join the escort team.

During the escort, Huang Yunyou encountered three groups of bandits who wanted to steal goods.

The first bandit gang was small, so they could only watch the caravan leave from afar.

The second bandit gang was the same size as the escort team, so the escort leader went up to negotiate, paid the toll, and the bandit gang let them pass.

The third bandit gang outnumbered the escort team; they didn't want tolls, they just wanted the goods.

The escort agency made its living by escorting goods, so how could the head escort possibly hand over the goods? As a result, the escort team started fighting with the bandits.

Huang Yunyou was self-aware. Although he was a third-rate martial artist, he had no combat experience, so he always stayed at the back of the group.

Because there were too many bandits, he couldn't avoid them, so he had to find an ordinary bandit to practice against.

Although he could kill an ordinary bandit with a single blow, he had never actually killed anyone. In addition, killing an ordinary bandit would attract the attention of second-rate and third-rate bandits, so he was constantly entangled with ordinary bandits.

While pulling and tugging, he kept an eye on the situation. This was his first mission, and he didn't want it to end in failure.

Of course, if things go wrong, his priority is still survival; he'll run away first.

Due to the large number of bandits, unfavorable circumstances arose. Just as Huang Yunyou was considering whether to escape, the head镖师 (bodyguard/escort) erupted.

The镖头 (镖头 is a nickname for a镖师, meaning "镖头 is a skilled镖师"). He is not a second-rate martial artist; his true strength is that of a first-rate martial artist. He is just hiding his true abilities.

When the bandit leader saw that the镖头 (bodyguard/escort) had gone from a second-rate martial artist to a first-rate one, he didn't hesitate and led his men away.

When Huang Yunyou saw this scene, he realized that his sister was right: those who know how to hide their talents live longer.

The goods were safely delivered to Ancai County, and the escort agency gave him three taels of silver and a note to prove that the mission was completed.

The commission fee was originally one tael of silver. However, when the other swordsmiths faced the bandits, they all fled, leaving only a few swordsmiths who held their ground.

The escort agency then gave Huang Yunyou an extra two taels of silver on top of that.

"Completing this task only earns one point, while advancing to the Iron-Rank Ghostwriter level requires ten points. Should I take on more difficult tasks, or play it safe and accumulate points slowly?"

After hesitating for a while, Huang Yunyou decided to go to the quest commission room to take a look.

Each county has a branch of the Zhenwu Division, and right next to the Zhenwu Division branch is the mission commissioning room.

I asked a passerby for directions, but the streets were crowded, so I didn't dare ride fast and could only slowly ride my horse toward the Zhenwu Division branch.

As he approached the quest-assigning shop, many ghostwriters glanced at him.

Judging from the waist tag on Huang Yunyou's waist, everyone knew that Huang Yunyou was an apprentice ghostwriter.

It's quite rare to see a trainee swordsman riding a horse.

Huang Yunyou ignored the stares of others, dismounted, handed the horse over to the horse handler, paid a small fee for feeding and guarding the horse, and then went into the mission commission room.

Inside the mission commission room, there are three areas, each with a mission wall displaying wanted criminals' bounties and various commissioned missions.

The further in you go, the higher the bounty and points become, and the more difficult it is to complete.

Huang Yunyou wasn't in a hurry to find a mission. He first took the certificate slip given to him by the escort agency to register. Only after the registration was completed did his personal profile show that he had accumulated one point.

As he was an apprentice ghostwriter, he couldn't enter the innermost two areas and could only find suitable tasks in the outermost area.

However, on the task wall in the outer area, all the good tasks had been picked up, and the remaining tasks not only had low bounties but also no points.

"There are too many wolves and not enough meat, what should we do now?"

"Should we ask those ghostwriting gangs if they need to hire more people?"

Huang Yunyou looked at the two innermost areas. The tasks there were difficult and most of them required teams to recruit people to complete. He considered whether he should look for those ghostwriting groups.

"Snapped"

Suddenly someone tapped him on the shoulder.

Huang Yunyou turned around and saw a ghostwriter with a pockmarked face. He glanced at the waist tag and confirmed that the other party was also a trainee ghostwriter.

"Hey bro, my older brother took on a mission inside that requires three people. I wonder if you'd be interested?"

The man with a pockmarked face, who was holding a knife, asked.

"What mission?"

How much of the bounty will be awarded?

Can the bounty be exchanged entirely for points?

As Huang Yunyou was considering this question, a group extended an invitation to him. However, to avoid being used as a sacrificial lamb, he first asked what the mission was.

He wouldn't accept a mission that was certain to kill him or that was extremely dangerous. Hearing Huang Yunyou suggest exchanging the bounty for points, the ghostwriter's smile widened even more.

"Go and hunt down three bandits who roam around. Only one of the three bandits is a mid-level martial artist; the other two are ordinary people."

“My eldest brother is a third-rate martial artist. There are four of us in the team, and one of us is a first-rate martial artist. There is practically no risk in our team capturing these three bandits.”

"Moreover, we have already tracked their movements and are preparing to arrest them."

"We need three trainee ghostwriters because we don't like moving corpses."

"You only need to move the corpses, so we won't give you too much of the reward money; we'll only give each of you two taels of silver."

“Points are harder to obtain than silver, so in principle we shouldn’t give them to you. However, if you give us ten taels of silver, we can give you one point.”

The man with a pockmarked face answered.

"Can points be bought and sold?"

Huang Yunyou asked.

“The Zhenwu Division does not allow buying and selling, but people must learn to be flexible. We have formed a team, so we are a group. We will complete tasks as a group and get points. Who cares how we divide them?”

The man with a pockmarked face, who was holding a knife, laughed.

"One point isn't enough; I want more points."

Huang Yunyou thought for a moment and then said.

“I can’t make that decision myself; you’ll have to talk to my older brother.”

The man with a pockmarked face, who was holding a knife, laughed.

Seeing this, Huang Yunyou agreed, left the mission office with the other party, led his horse and followed, heading to the city gate to meet.

On the way, through conversation, Huang Yunyou learned the other party's name and basic information about the group; the person who invited him was named Chen Xiaohei.

His eldest brother is named Lin Zhan, a martial artist named Guan Jiafeng, and another is named Da Jiao.

County town gate
When Huang Yunyou saw Chen Xiaohei's group, they were all on horseback, as were the two other invited swordsmen.

This surprised Huang Yunyou. There were very few apprentice swordsmen who could afford to buy horses, yet this group had managed to find three apprentice swordsmen who were all on horseback.

"Fifty taels, and I'll give you a maximum of five points."

After listening to Chen Xiaohei's words, Lin Zhan said he would give Huang Yunyou a maximum of five points.

"Can"

Huang Yunyou nodded.

After everything was agreed upon, Huang Yunyou joined the group and set off.

An hour later, Lin Zhan told everyone to stop, find a place to hide the horses, and then led everyone to keep an eye on a small path.

How can we be sure they'll take this path?

Huang Yunyou asked Chen Xiaohei, who was standing next to him, out of curiosity.

"It seems you're new. Remember, rivals are enemies. Don't ask other ghostwriters for their sources."

Chen Xiaohei said with a cold face.

Upon hearing this, Huang Yunyou realized he had said too much.

After waiting for an unknown amount of time, three figures appeared on the path.

"Block their way out."

As Lin Zhan and the other two bandits entered the encirclement, he immediately ordered everyone to appear and surround the three bandits.

Huang Yunyou and two other invited trainee ghostwriters were also among them, simply because Lin Zhan told them that they only needed to pretend and didn't need to do anything.

That's why they stepped forward to cooperate.

"Hands on"

At Lin Zhan's command, weapons moved in unison, blades slicing through the air.

Huang Yunyou sensed danger and immediately dodged to the side.

“Pu”

“Pu”

Apart from Huang Yunyou, the other two trainee ghostwriters who were invited were all killed.

Huang Yunyou looked closely and realized that the person who had ambushed him was Chen Xiaohei. At this moment, he was surrounded by Lin Zhan and the other three bandits.

"you……"

At this moment, Huang Yunyou knew perfectly well that Lin Zhan and his three companions were in cahoots with the three bandits.

"Oh ho, I thought you were just an ordinary person. I didn't expect you to be a mid-level martial artist. No wonder you're so eager for points."

When Chen Xiaohei saw that Huang Yunyou's sword missed its mark, he assumed that Huang Yunyou was a mid-level martial artist.

(End of this chapter)