"You mean you're leaving Greenshade Spring?"
Listening to Ye Yunzhi, Firefly felt a bit puzzled. "Haven't you all been here for several years? Why the sudden departure?"
Ye Yunzhi sighed and pulled out her Terminal, pointing at a news headline. "Mainly because of that massive explosion... It turned most of the forest in southeastern Greenshade Spring into scorched earth. Forget exotic beasts—even the plants can't survive there now."
"The southeast relied on countless missions to exterminate mutant beasts to sustain the mercenaries living here. But with the forest destroyed, the mutant beasts are basically all dead. Any survivors are over a hundred kilometers away; we can't travel that far to hunt."
As she spoke, she gestured toward the South Gate in the distance. "Without mutant beasts, the mercenaries won't stay. You used to see crowds of them at the South Gate even at night, but now, in the middle of the day, there are only a scattered few."
Firefly looked where Ye Yunzhi was pointing and saw it was exactly as described. The South Gate, which previously looked like a crowded raid lobby, now only had a few people passing through—and she could tell they weren't mercenaries, but merely travelers.
Firefly felt a bit dejected. She had been quite happy that someone was coming to give Cipher money, but the situation had turned sour in the blink of an eye.
Should I have held back more? I accidentally smashed the rice bowls of every mercenary in the city.
"So where do you plan to go?"
"We're heading to Jade Spring City. It's a border city of the Empire of Europa, surrounded by forests. Unlike the flat woods of Greenshade Spring, the terrain there is mostly mountainous, so there are plenty of mutant beasts. Mercenaries love living there."
After hearing the description, Firefly pondered for a moment and said, "Then why don't you take me along to Jade Spring City? I'll treat it like a continuation of my travels. I'm not very familiar with this country anyway."
"Eh?" Ye Yunzhi was confused. "Weren't you looking to return to the United States of Pacific? Going to Jade Spring City will take you further away from there."
She hadn't forgotten that when Firefly first appeared, her first question was for directions and how far it was to the United States of Pacific...
"No need," Firefly shook her head. "I met an acquaintance yesterday who gave me something that allows for a quick return, so I'm in no hurry."
"Oh... then I'll book another ticket for you." After tapping on her Terminal for a bit, Ye Yunzhi looked up. "All set. It's for the 12:00 PM train tomorrow."
...
"I didn't expect that killing one monster would accidentally drive away all the mercenaries in Greenshade Spring."
Cipher sighed. Then, under Little Lin's adoring gaze and the stall owner's murderous glare, she casually tossed another ring and hit the "Grand Prize."
"Little Lin, let's go." Seeing that her plastic rings were all gone, Cipher stretched and spoke to Luo Lin.
"Eh? What about the reward?" Luo Lin asked, pointing to the grand prize where five rings had landed.
"I don't care about that small amount of Credits. If you want it, ask the owner. I'm going to browse elsewhere~" After saying that, Cipher turned and left the stall.
Luo Lin glanced back at the stall, then at Cipher's retreating figure, and quickly chased after her. "Sister Cipher, wait for me..."
As for the stall owner, seeing the two leave without claiming the reward, his miserable face instantly turned into a joyous grin.
...
After accompanying the trio through the market and playing some mini-games, the three girls and one cat returned to Lu Zhaoran's house to rest.
Since Firefly was set to leave Greenshade Spring, Cipher traveled back there via Bartholos's portal, intending to check out Scream Park.
Because Firefly already had experience and Cipher was significantly faster, she stunned the staff by smashing the record for the fastest completion of the Five-Star Illusion Labyrinth that Firefly had set just yesterday.
While Firefly had taken an hour and a half, Cipher emerged in about thirty minutes. The staff had to negotiate with Cipher to move her score to an "out-of-rank" record. They still paid the prize money—6,666 Credits—though it was lower since Cipher wasn't a VIP.
Time flew while she was playing. In a flash, it was past 9:00 PM, and the time for Cipher's appointment with the Countercurrent Alliance arrived...
Knock, knock, knock...
"Enter."
The door opened, and a smiling young man stepped aside to clear a path.
The Flame-Chaser walked in carrying a reluctant Pardofelis. After scanning the room, the Flame-Chaser asked the young man, "Changed locations?"
"Yes," the young man nodded. "Because of the incident where Cifera escaped, there was a bit of trouble at the last place. We moved to a new location for this transaction."
"How do I monitor her?" The Flame-Chaser ignored the change of venue and continued in a raspy voice.
"Follow me." The young man turned toward the basement. The Flame-Chaser followed, still carrying Pardofelis.
After passing through the basement, they soon reached a familiar alloy gate. This was the third time Cipher had seen one.
Unlike the previous lab filled with researchers, the people here were all Ability Users in combat gear, armed with rifles. Whenever they saw the smiling young man, they would bow slightly and say respectfully, "Greetings, Lord Xie."
So this is a combat base? It's so different from the experimental lab... Pardofelis, held by the Flame-Chaser, looked around. She had already studied the intelligence provided by Shen Yan and knew this was Combat Base 033.
Before long, the Flame-Chaser followed the young man into a room. The young man stopped and turned around. "We're here."
"My reward."
"Don't be in such a hurry." Hearing the Flame-Chaser ask for the reward again, the young man shook his head slightly. "We'll talk about the reward later."
He clapped his hands. With a loud bang, the entrance door slammed shut. A side door opened, and ten combat personnel in tactical gear marched in, staring the two down with rifles drawn.
"This is an Ability Suppression Room. It can seal everyone's superpowers; even S-rank abilities are severely weakened here."
"So, in this environment, I would like to ask: Mr. Mercenary, how is it that you can accurately capture the untraceable Cifera every single time? Is your intelligence network stronger than ours? If so, why do you need to come to us for rewards?"
The young man's smiling eyes suddenly snapped open, revealing a pair of crimson pupils. "Could it be... that you and Cifera were partners all along?!"