Chapter 2: New Century (Epilogue)
Chapter 447: The Big Fish Takes the Bait
(Player Name) (M) had been in contact with the merchant Platyr for about three days.
During this time, Platyr had issued several missions to the Candy Super Sweet Mercenary Group.
These included escorting him to Linshui City to procure goods and escorting his merchant caravan to Sunset City to sell goods.
However, these missions were all very normal, and the transported goods were just ordinary items.
To avoid revealing any clues, (Player Name) (M) didn’t inquire about Platyr’s affairs. He simply listened to the conversations of the people around him while following the merchant caravan, but he didn’t discover any problems.
Yet, he was absolutely certain that this was the same person who had been selling Winter City’s standard equipment in Whirlwind Dunes. The system information would not lie.
What (Player Name) (M) didn’t know was that as the leader of the Candy Super Sweet Mercenary Group, his behavior of only taking missions and not asking about anything during this period had earned Platyr’s favor.
What Platyr wanted was a group of people who were tight-lipped, focused solely on missions, and possessed great strength.
Another two days passed.
On this day, when (Player Name) (M) and the Candy Super Sweet Mercenary Group returned to their base, they found Platyr waiting with a group of attendants they had never seen before.
“Lord Platyr, what is this?”
(Player Name) (M)’s nerves tensed.
He had an impression of every attendant in Platyr’s caravan, but these dozen or so people before him were strangers. Moreover, the aura emanating from them was incredibly fierce, and their strength was far greater than that of the previous caravan attendants. Most of them had brutal and sinister eyes, filled with unbridled destruction and greed, like madmen roaming outside the bounds of the law.
In a daze, (Player Name) (M) recalled seeing similar expressions on the faces of bandits and death row inmates in Winter City.
However, these people’s HP bars were green, meaning they were currently friendly and there was no need to worry about them suddenly drawing their swords to harm them.
” (Player Name) (M), how long have we known each other?”
Platyr sat on the only leather chair, dressed in a luxurious formal suit that bore some resemblance to modern Western suits, though with a longer hem. He held a cigar in his hand, crossed his legs, and a ferocious smile spread across his full-bearded face, his two gold teeth glinting in the indoor light.
“Lord, we have known each other for a week now,” (Player Name) (M) replied.
“Time flies…” Platyr exhaled a smoke ring. His eyelids drooped, and his wolf-like gaze locked onto (Player Name) (M)’s face before sweeping across the other members of the Candy Super Sweet Mercenary Group.
“Can I trust you?” he said.
“Lord?”
(Player Name) (M) rejoiced inwardly, knowing the main event was about to begin, but outwardly, he maintained an expression of confusion.
“I have a very dangerous mission that requires your help. I need you to transport a batch of goods from Pine City. You will come under attack from an unidentified military force during this process,” Platyr shifted his upper body forward, leaning slightly, his elbows resting on his knees. “After completing it, you will receive a reward of one thousand gold coins!”
One thousand gold coins was a substantial sum.
(Player Name) (M) was almost certain that he was about to get in touch with the core issue. At such a critical moment, he had to be extremely careful. How should a high-level mercenary group react to a mission worth one thousand gold coins?
Any wrong move at this point could cause Platyr to lose trust in the Candy Super Sweet Mercenary Group, and he might never be able to get involved in this matter again.
He lowered his head in thought.
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Platyr was not in a hurry. He took puffs of his cigar and waited quietly, his gaze fixed on his leather boots, each exquisite pattern exuding the scent of money.
After a while, (Player Name) (M) looked up.
He took a deep breath and said, “Lord, please forgive my presumption. I am very tempted by the thousand gold coins, but I want to know if the items being transported are dangerous, such as high-level monsters or high-level professionals… We do like money, but we can only spend money if we are alive.”
After he spoke, the air in the room grew quiet.
Behind Platyr, an attendant was idly playing with a butterfly knife. His HP bar flickered between yellow and green, like a traffic light, but no one knew when it would turn red.
(Player Name) (M) was mesmerized.
“Hahahaha…”
Suddenly, Platyr burst into laughter.
He clapped his hands as he laughed.
Estimating him from head to toe with admiration, he took a drag from his cigar and said through a puff of smoke, “I like people like you, pure but not reckless. Don’t worry, the items you’ll be transporting are just a batch of equipment, shields, armor, and the like. However, you might be ambushed by the army on your way back. That’s all.”
With these words spoken,
any fool would know that this batch of equipment was problematic; only the last veil remained to be lifted.
(Player Name) (M) knew the time was right.
He didn’t say anything more, merely placed one hand on his chest and bowed slightly:
“In that case, I am relieved. Please entrust the mission to our Candy Super Sweet Mercenary Group, Lord. Any ambushes encountered on the road will only be bandits. As for bandits, we will only exterminate them!”
“Excellent!” Platyr stood up and walked over to (Player Name) (M).
He patted (Player Name) (M)’s shoulder.
And said earnestly:
“If you can complete several missions excellently, perhaps I will have more important missions for you, and you will receive more rewards. Rest assured, by following me, you will achieve unprecedented glory. We are currently walking on a thorny path, but the end of it is… hehehe…”
Platyr didn’t finish his sentence.
He sidestepped past (Player Name) (M), slipped a folded sheepskin scroll into (Player Name) (M)’s pocket, then walked through the members of the Candy Super Sweet Mercenary Group.
He opened the door and gradually disappeared into the night.
After Platyr and his attendants had left,
(Player Name) (M) finally breathed a sigh of relief.
He took a towel from his backpack and meticulously wiped the leather chair that Platyr had sat on, a look of disgust on his face.
This was a place where he and Claudia had shared their sweat and affection, and he couldn’t let that old man dirty it. The game’s simulation of smell was very realistic; at least the strong mixture of perfume and body odor emanating from Platyr made him nearly gag.
After cleaning up, he recalled Platyr’s earlier words.
“What is at the end of the road?”
He murmured to himself:
“It couldn’t be *that person’s* throne… Heh, what a whimsical thought…”
