All my teammates online are my girlfriends

Meanwhile, Ying Ziyan didn't linger any longer. Although she was completely unskilled at archery, with such a large target range, she should be able to hit one even with a random shot.

Silently encouraging herself and with a hint of not wanting to fall behind, Ying Ziyan took a deep breath and then aimed at the largest type of wild boar.

"Whoosh-"

"..."

Staring blankly as the arrow grazed his cheek, Lin Qiu felt a chill run down his spine...

196 - As long as the funds are in place, everything is negotiable!

"Ziyan, are you really not after Lin Qiu's life?"

"I'm not very good at archery."

"I can see that; the methods are somewhat cruel."

Chen Xiao silently looked at Lin Qiu, who was covered in arrows and still staggering around the beast horde, and felt an indescribable pang of pity.

Although he managed to dodge most of the attacks in the early stages, Lin Qiu couldn't avoid them any longer, and it's already quite an achievement that he's managed to survive until now.

"Why don't you use the weapon you're good at, Ziyan? There aren't many wild beasts attacking this way anymore, so there shouldn't be any danger."

Looking at the small group of monsters that remained, Chen Xiao made a suggestion.

I'll take care of dealing with the savage beasts behind Lin Qiu, and Ying Ziyan will clear out the rest. That should be enough to complete the mission.

"Oh."

Ying Ziyan responded somewhat awkwardly, picked up her beginner's greatsword, and charged out.

With each swing of the greatsword, all the beasts were easily torn apart, blood and flesh flying everywhere, and the remaining strength of the beast tide was visibly reduced.

Seeing that this guy had obviously changed, Chen Xiao was stunned for a moment, but didn't pay too much attention, and shot a few more arrows to kill the wild buffalo behind Lin Qiu.

Although the number of beast hordes is terrifying, their health is surprisingly low. As long as someone can survive and guide the direction of the beast horde, the pressure will be much easier.

Even the businessmen standing by looked at Chen Xiao and the others with surprise, and the tension in their hearts lessened considerably.

"As expected, we still need to hire experienced people. The newbies we had on the previous deliveries were far inferior to you."

The merchant sighed sincerely, noting that the scale of the beast tides was getting bigger and bigger each time, and the recent losses were considerable. He estimated that if this delivery could be completed, he could recoup all the previous losses.

"Boss, are you just going to watch like this?"

Chen Xiao glanced at the merchants who were watching the show, thinking, "At least they're intelligent now, they should put up a fight!"

"Oh, I'm just a merchant with no strength to even kill a chicken. Fighting and killing aren't really my thing. I'll leave it to you."

The businessman chuckled awkwardly, showing no intention of making a move.

The beast tide is so terrifying, I wouldn't even be a match for them if I went up there, my life is more important.

"If you can help rescue that boy and also help reduce the burden of the beast tide, you don't have to pay my share of the commission this time."

"Bang!!!"

No sooner had Chen Xiao finished speaking than the merchant's figure suddenly shot out, rushing towards Lin Qiu at the forefront of the beast tide like the wind.

Looking at the merchant who seemed to be possessed by something, Lin Qiu rubbed his eyes in bewilderment. In the instant his body paused slightly, a terrifying sword light instantly filled his vision.

"Om-"

A piercing roar resounded, a flash of sword light disappeared in an instant, and amidst the flying blood, the air seemed to freeze.

The attacking horde of beasts seemed to freeze in place, standing motionless and still in a chasing posture.

As Lin Qiu ran, his speed slowed down, and he turned around in a daze.

"Pfft!"

The sound of flesh tearing apart rang out without warning, and to the stunned gazes of Chen Xiao and the others, the bodies of all the beasts slowly shifted out of place.

The next second, blood gushed out like a fountain, gradually staining the grassland red...

After dealing with the beast tide, the merchant calmly sheathed his knife as if nothing had happened, then rubbed his hands together and said with a smile—

"You just said that I don't need to give you your share."

"..."

Chen Xiao's eyelids twitched wildly as he watched the wild beasts scattered across the grassland, their remains broken into pieces. For a moment, he didn't know what to say.

Are you acting against us?!

"Don't look at me like that. After hanging out with adventurers for a while, I'll gain experience too. I'll end up like this after hanging out for a while, but the higher-ups usually don't allow me to use it."

The businessman chuckled and explained that although he couldn't recall when he started gaining experience, it wasn't that important to him.

It would be better to rely on leading those adventurers through missions so that I can ask my superiors for more subsidies.

NPCs need to make a living too!

As long as the funds are in place, everything is negotiable!

"Above?"

Lin Qiu murmured to himself as he stared at the businessman.

However, the other party clearly had no intention of explaining, and simply kept smiling to stop the conversation.

Will there be another beast tide?

Seeing that Ying Ziyan had also cleaned up the remaining wild beasts, Chen Xiao breathed a sigh of relief and asked.

If he comes again, we should just throw this merchant out; he can kill us in a second anyway!

"That's all, that's all. This is the only place on this trade route that gets attacked; the rest of the route is pretty safe."

Lin Qiu waved his hand and staggered back. Seeing the arrows slowly spreading across his body, Chen Xiao couldn't help but twitch his lips.

How did you manage to survive for so long...?

"Let me pull it off for you first."

"Okay, just a little bit—"

Before Lin Qiu could even utter the word "light," Chen Xiao grabbed several arrows and pulled them out at once, causing Lin Qiu to feel numb from the pain.

"Is your pain tolerance that high?"

"It's much lower than the normal standard, but you've pulled out so much at once, so let me do it."

Seeing Lin Qiu's pained expression, Ying Ziyan felt a pang of sympathy and quickly stepped forward to speak.

"I'll go slower."

Seeing that this guy was about to steal his job, Chen Xiao's eyes narrowed, and he quickly softened his grip as he pulled out the arrow.

Ying Ziyan naturally wouldn't let her handle everything alone. While massaging Lin Qiu's body, she tried to draw the bow and arrow as gently as possible.

When the two finished, Lin Qiu collapsed onto the carriage as if he had been completely exhausted, and his wounds healed perfectly in an instant.

"As expected of an adventurer, their recovery ability is really fast."

The merchant looked at Lin Qiu and the others with great interest, wondering if they could achieve the same level in the other dimension, as mentioned above.

Lin Qiu silently observed this unassuming businessman, and after thinking for a moment, tentatively asked—

"Boss, are there many others as skilled as you?"

"I don't know about that. I'm just a businessman who comes into contact with beast tides often, which is why I'm like this. As for whether others will be like this, that depends on their business."

The merchant shrugged and said, "But judging from the tone of those above, people like me are still a minority; otherwise, this continent would have been in chaos long ago."

Lin Qiu nodded thoughtfully, but glanced at Qi Xi, who had just logged on.

This is clearly not normal, I should ask Xiaoxi about it. Everything that happened today has been bothering me.

"The escort mission should be considered complete, right? Now that we've arrived in Shutrinia, who should we go to for another mission?"

Chen Xiao, however, asked with great interest, "As long as it's not this troublesome beast tide, everything else is negotiable!"

197 - Catching up with my future mother-in-law

"Ready to embark on your journey?"

"Even if hell lies ahead, are you prepared to die willingly, using your own life as a foundation to pave the way for future generations?"

"Now is the time for you to prove your loyalty to the world!"

"speak English."

"Hello, please fill out this form. The registration fee is five gold coins."

"..."

Chen Xiao glanced at the receptionist in front of him, then couldn't help but look at Lin Qiu on the other side.

Are the people in this Knights' Hall always like this?

However, Lin Qiu did not say anything, but silently looked at Qi Xi, who had just strolled over.

This is your company's so-called "intelligent" system, aren't you going to explain anything?

"Don't look at me. This is the result of intelligent calculation. Everyone has their own personality. This one is a bit chuunibyou. You'll get used to it."

Qi Xi chuckled and waved her hand, but her attention remained focused on her notebook.

At least these characters aren't villains, otherwise that old woman Tang Feilin would definitely explode again.

It's more important to finish the necessary investigations first; my progress is much slower than Zezhi's.

"Alright, Lao Chen, you can fill it out first. It's not a difficult form to fill out. Five gold coins won't be enough for your early tasks, so I'll pay you first."

"sorry to bother you."

Lin Qiu waved his hand, took the form from the receptionist, and then spread it out in front of Chen Xiao.

While he was busy helping Chen Xiao fill out the form, Ying Ziyan curiously approached Qi Xi and blinked blankly at the large amount of information she had recorded.

"Xiaoxi, what are you doing?"

"It's just recording some intelligence. We're in talks with some companies to hold offline events, record the situation of some characters, and then find people to play them to add some atmosphere."

Qi Xi explained somewhat vaguely that, given the current state of the mutation, the arrival of the people on the other side of the wall was probably imminent.

It's better to let players get used to it sooner rather than later, to avoid large-scale panic later.

"Oh - an offline event, like a comic convention?"

"More or less, but it will take some time. After all, this is the first time we've done something on such a large scale, so the results may not be as good as you imagine."

"I don't mind, I'm just here to watch the fun."

Ying Ziyan said with a smile, "Maybe I can even try to craft the equipment from my game then."

"By the way, why hasn't Yunmo logged on yet? Zezhi is online, but I can't see her at all."

"I talked to her before I went online, but it seems her mother pulled her to an emergency family meeting, so she probably won't be able to get away for a while. As for Zezhi, she's helping me gather information, she's quite busy."

Qi Xi casually explained that she had basically sent out all the well-known information brokers in the game, and thanks to them, her workload had been greatly reduced.

Ying Ziyan nodded thoughtfully, then said nothing more, her gaze returning to Lin Qiu.

He had already guided Chen Xiao to fill out the form, and only after seeing the mercenary certificate handed to him by the receptionist did he breathe a sigh of relief.

The following tasks are much more flexible. Before players reach level six, they are basically free to accept quests and explore the world.

If I take Old Chen to grind some monsters and do some bounty missions, he should be able to graduate.

"What's the use of this proof?"

Chen Xiao dusted off the certificate, which resembled a business card, and asked with some curiosity.

"This serves as your mercenary rank certificate. Look, it says you're currently a rookie. You can only accept rookie-level bounty missions on the bounty board over there."

"As you complete a certain number of missions, your mercenary level will gradually increase. The higher your level, the more discounts you'll get when buying things at the Knight's Hall."

"I see. What level are you at now?"

Chen Xiao put away the certificate with great interest and asked, "Since the missions are free, I can pick some missions that interest me."

"I'm already a hunter. I do bounty missions quite often, since they can earn a lot of money."