This time I chose Paladin.

Chapter 216 Want to Work, Bro? Something Exciting Included

The young man in white frowned slightly, pulling at the edge of his snow-white hood with one hand, trying his best to block out the overly strong light.

He squinted, his pale irises almost transparent in the sunlight, clearly extremely sensitive to light. But his movements were not hindered; some deeper, more visual perception, like invisible threads, spread and probed towards the spot where Nie Weiyang had just stood.

He moved silently through the flow of people at the bridgehead, like a melting snow shadow.

All sorts of professionals—the porters carrying live goods, the merchants haggling loudly, the elemental mages with steady steps and elemental fluctuations, and even two low-level healers—passed by him, yet almost no one noticed his presence, as if he were just an insignificant breeze.

[Mind Concealment] is an advanced concealment technique based on mental attributes. It is not a simple optical camouflage, but a way to directly affect the perception of others and obscure their presence.

He has always been here, but those whose mental strength is far inferior to his will subconsciously ignore his presence.

Nie Weiyang recognized the skill and his heart stirred slightly.

In the previous playthrough, this was an ability that only appeared on top assassins in the mid-to-late game, and it was extremely difficult to obtain. The first person to get this skill was already level 51 at that time. Nie Weiyang himself only managed to get it by chance at level 54.

The course of events has indeed taken a significant turn... the growth rate of some elite professionals has increased dramatically.

At that moment, the young man in white seemed to detect a lingering, unusual aura. He suddenly lunged forward, his figure moving like lightning, instantly rounding the corner that obscured his view—

No one is empty.

Only the river breeze stirred up a few specks of dust on the ground, and the faint clamor of the distant market could be heard.

His snow-white brows furrowed even more tightly. Standing still, his transcendent perception swept over the surroundings again like a radar, but he still found nothing.

The target seemed to have vanished into thin air, leaving no trace to follow.

Meanwhile, under the sunshade at the guard post on the other side of the bridge.

Nie Weiyang stood in front of a soldier in charge of registration and said in a calm tone, "Hello, please register."

The soldier looked up and saw a man dressed in unassuming traveler's clothes, his face slightly obscured by the shadow of his hat brim. Apart from his pale skin and gray hair, he seemed to have nothing special about him.

"Name? Place of origin? Occupation? Purpose of crossing the river?" the soldier asked according to procedure, taking out a registration book.

“Nie Weiyang. Coming from the south. Paladin.” Nie Weiyang answered in turn, his voice not loud, but clearly reaching the soldiers’ ears, “Cross the river to Pingdu.”

The soldier had been looking down to take notes, but just as the pen was about to touch the paper, he suddenly stopped, as if he had been burned by something.

He suddenly raised his head, his eyes wide, staring intently at Nie Weiyang's face in the shadows, then quickly looked down to compare it with the description in a document next to him.

"...Nie Weiyang? That Nie Weiyang?" The soldier's voice was slightly too loud, drawing wary glances from his comrades nearby: "You're here?"

"If there's no duplicate name, it should be me." Nie Weiyang's tone remained calm. He showed his profile panel and smiled at the other party: "I'm here. I'm not late, am I?"

"No, not at all." The leading soldier had tried to regain his composure. He stood up and led the way for Nie Weiyang, his outstretched hand steady and firm, but his eyes couldn't help but glance at Nie Weiyang.

It should be noted that this name is practically a household name in the New World, although the vast majority of people have never actually met Nie Weiyang in person.

That long-standing reputation, those illustrious military achievements... Now, seeing him, although he doesn't have three heads and six arms, he is still tall and upright, handsome and dignified...

Thanks for the invitation. Martial arts people love to see this kind of fellow practitioners!

Nie Weiyang followed the soldier onto the bridge. Just then, the white figure behind him turned around, his gaze piercing through the crowd and precisely fixing on Nie Weiyang's back.

This gaze, like that of a leaf or an animal, should blend into its surroundings and go unnoticed. But Nie Weiyang seemed to sense something, turned his head, and looked past the soldiers to meet the gaze of a pair of white eyes in the distance, slightly widened in astonishment.

Lang Benye laughed loudly and reached behind the white-clad figure, whispering something to him. Through the bustling crowd, Nie Weiyang could even sense a fleeting look of surprise and a barely perceptible hint of annoyance in the other's eyes, and the other's inner thoughts were even more intriguing—

'Such advanced counter-surveillance technology? Can I learn it?'

'He looks very strong... Can I learn from him?' 'Does he have connections with the authorities? If that's the case, he should be a good person, at least not doing anything bad? Should I talk to him?'

This is another pure soul, with a way of thinking similar to, yet different from, Han Jiangxue. If Han Jiangxue is a cruel winter, this person is a sharp, feather-like blade…

"Bai Yu, how was it? I won!" Lang Benye said with a smile, lowering his voice, "Did you see clearly? That's Nie Weiyang. Wandou and the others all think he's a good person, but they're too afraid to get close to him..."

Bai Yu stared intently at the patch of armor peeking out from under Nie Weiyang's coat, squinting from the dazzling reflection, his eyes stinging slightly.

In the sunlight, the man on the bridge smiled, looked up, and adjusted his hat.

"Hey, he's greeting us!" Lang Benye's eyes widened.

Bai Yu didn't follow his words, but stared intently at that ray of light—a figure beneath the clouds, as pure and captivating as sunlight.

He suddenly said, "I heard that he killed a lot of cultists in Zhongzhou."

"Yes, so what?" Lang Benye turned to look at him. "Didn't you always stay out of other people's business?"

Bai Yu strode towards the bridgehead.

“I’m going to ask him if I can come along,” he said firmly. “I want to get involved in this kind of thing.”

Lang Benye grabbed him: "Brother, there are so many people over there, they obviously have something to talk about. If you go over there, aren't you afraid they'll stab you to death and throw you into the river?"

……

...So easy?
Nie Weiyang was slightly surprised. He had expected his reputation to attract some attention, but he hadn't anticipated that the process of recruiting suitable personnel would be so... swift and direct.

Well, that's probably thanks to the Charm attribute.

His charm is indeed quite high, currently at 72 points, mainly for passive skills, and secondly to meet the usage requirements of certain high-level paladin skills—but Bai Yu's decisive reaction was indeed unexpected.

Even if a normal assassin is tempted, they should silently lurk and observe, waiting for him to finish negotiating with the authorities before choosing a dark and stormy night to suddenly appear behind him like a ghost and make their request in a calm and restrained voice...

Oh, that's something he would have done himself last week.

Forget it.

Fortunately, Lang Benye stopped Bai Yu in time, who was clearly planning to rush over. Otherwise, it might have been difficult to handle the situation at this bridge checkpoint in full view of everyone.

“Mr. Nie?” The soldier leading the way noticed his pause and glance back, and looked back warily as well, asking, “Is there a problem?”

“No, no.” Nie Wei withdrew his gaze, his tone remaining as steady as ever: “Let’s go.”

He continued walking towards the bridge with the soldier leading the way.

The magnificent steel structure of the bridge stretched out beneath my feet, and the river breeze grew stronger. As I reached the middle of the bridge, several professionals who had been patrolling the river and emanating noticeable energy fluctuations seemed to have received a notification. Almost simultaneously, they stopped what they were doing and turned around.

Their eyes all turned to Nie Weiyang as he walked over, their gazes a mixture of scrutiny, curiosity, and respect.

These men were well-equipped and had an aura far beyond that of ordinary soldiers. They were clearly elite personnel stationed here, and might even be the commanders responsible for the defense of the core area of ​​the bridge.

Among them were three people leading a group of young men...

Nie Weiyang's gaze swept across the room and landed on one of the middle-aged or elderly men.

"Hirato, even a colonel has been sent?" he exclaimed. "You must have come here for more than just me."

(End of this chapter)