Chapter 317 Encounter

"Didn't I tell you? I'm here for tourism."

"this……"

Cheng Men's tone paused, and he didn't know what to say. He could only hold the steering wheel tightly and try his best to ensure the stability of the car.

Several cities in the south have been thrown into chaos because of the masked stranger. Countless strangers flock to those cities every day, and the situation inside the cities is full of dangers and unpredictable circumstances.

Traveling at this time is no different from seeking death.

but……

The thinking of big guys is probably different from that of ordinary people.

For them, the more dangerous the place is, the more exciting it may be.

After a while, Su Xia suddenly asked, "Haima City, has the current city lord not changed yet?"

Cheng Men quickly replied: "No, no, it has always been that person."

"oh."

Su Xia nodded slightly, confirming that the information she had collected was correct.

Seahorse City is a very special city. It is different from those cities that existed before the war. It was newly built after the war.

Initially, there was only one large makeshift refugee settlement in the area.

Later, when the war ended, the leaders elected by these refugees came up with a solution - they would not rely on other cities, but build a city directly on the original site.

This idea was supported by the mechanical clan.

As long as they can maintain stability, avoid chaos, and have a large enough population, there is nothing wrong with building another city.

In this way, the huge Seahorse City sprang up, absorbing refugees from the surrounding areas while it was being built, and absorbing all those who were homeless and displaced due to the war. It had a population of more than 100,000 when it was first established, and expanded rapidly in the following years.

Later facts proved that their original city-building strategy was very correct.

Just look at the refugees who are now dependent on various cities and you will know that many refugees still do not have enough food to eat. The refugees in Coral City are a typical example.

However, most residents of Seahorse City have escaped hunger. Relying on its superior geographical location and occupying important transportation routes, a large amount of money can be collected from tolls alone every year.

Whether it is seafood shipped from the southern coast to northern cities, or food and energy shipped from northern cities to the southern coast, many of them will pass through the giant transit station of Haima City. There is an endless stream of merchants coming and going from the south and the north, and the cultural exchanges and language communication make this city increasingly prosperous.

"Where are you from? Your accent doesn't sound local." Su Xia asked casually.

"Sir, I used to be from Hantie City in the north. Later I fled here and settled in Haima City." Cheng Men answered while driving.

"Hantie City?" Su Xia thought about the map. It was a city located in the northern part of the continent. "It's really quite far north, close to the border. It crosses most of the land area. It's not easy to escape."

"Oh, yes, all my relatives and friends died on the way to escape. In the end, I was the only one left. I didn't want to go back, so I just settled down here..."

Cheng Men thought of his past experiences and couldn't help but sigh. Born in a turbulent time, he had no control over his fate, and it was not easy to survive.

In fact, the war has never ended, it is just that the human race is temporarily weak, and there is no armistice agreement between the two sides.

The peace in recent years is just a random period among countless wars.

You never know when the fighting will resume until one side is completely destroyed.

"Is Kaiba City in chaos right now?"

"Sir, in fact, Kaiba Castle has always been in chaos."

Cheng Men answered seriously: "After all, this city is made up of countless refugees. It doesn't even have the most primitive foundation. It was extremely chaotic from the beginning. In addition, there are countless merchants coming and going every day. It's a mess, but all the chaos is covered up by the superficial economic prosperity."

"Yeah, that makes sense."

"Recently, I don't know who started the rumor that a masked monster had come to our city, and it made things even more chaotic."

"Is the masked man really here?"

"I don't know." Cheng Men shook his head and sighed, "But those people came all at once for the bounty, regardless of whether the news was true or not. The hotels and inns in the city are almost full."

"Isn't this a good thing?" Su Xia smiled, "It will boost the economic development of the whole city. What's wrong with making more money?"

"Sir, you have a good attitude. You are different from ordinary people like us. We just want to live a stable life."

Through communication, Su Xia learned that the number of homicides in Haima City has increased more than tenfold during this period.

Undercurrents surged in the city. Gunshots and explosions could be heard every night, and corpses could be seen on the streets every day. There was no time to clean up the blood on the streets, and even many professional killers in the Midnight Tavern died.

Cheng Men was not the petty bourgeois that he himself described himself as.

Those who can do his job and resell drugs between different cities are basically people with some ability.

"Don't you, the city lord, have any way to deal with the current chaos?" Su Xia asked.

"The Lord Mayor remains the same. He maintains the basic rule and does not let the people below do anything else."

"He didn't interfere?"

"I don't know about this..."

The human lord of Seahorse City is much more capable than Qi Lang of Coral City. He holds the core power of the entire city firmly in his hands. He doesn't worry about the instability of his position like Qi Lang does.

Unlike the two major families in Yuling City, Seahorse City does not have any large families on the surface. It can be regarded as a centralized system under the city lord.

"Sir, are you the legendary level five creature?" Cheng Men suddenly asked.

"Why do you ask that?"

"I heard that two level 5 creatures from the north have come to Seahorse City." Cheng Men explained, "My lord, you must pay attention to those two while you are traveling in Seahorse City. They are high-level killers from the Zero Point Tavern. Don't get into conflict with them... Some local gangs had conflicts with them before, and the whole gang was wiped out as a result."

"Hmm, a level five creature, sounds pretty powerful."

Su Xia spoke in a relaxed tone and didn't care too much.

He was just going there to look for his father's team. If he couldn't find them, he would leave. It wouldn't take too much time.

As long as he doesn't reveal his identity, he won't have to fight the two high-level creatures in the tavern. Even if he really has to fight, he's not afraid.

For ordinary people, a level five creature is probably already considered to be god-level, and you may not even see one in your lifetime, let alone get into a conflict with one.

Those gangs were also unlucky.

According to Cheng Men, those gang members are all hooligans and vagrants who have no stable jobs. They often rob businessmen from other places and use this method to maintain their capital turnover.

It would have been fine if they had just robbed someone in the past, but during this chaotic period, they still refused to stop and soon robbed a level five creature.

As soon as the fifth-level creature released the psychic energy fluctuations, several gang leaders were frightened and knelt down on the spot.

"The Level 5 seemed to be in a good mood at the time. He didn't kill them. He let them go."

Cheng Men gripped the steering wheel tightly and continued, "Those gang members were also frightened and planned to restrain themselves for a while and continue robbing after the storm was over, but... maybe the money was not enough, so they decided to rob one last time before calling it quits."

As luck would have it, those gangs actually managed to rob another level five creature!

With this kind of luck, I can really buy a lottery ticket.

Because there are rumors that there are only two level five creatures coming to Seahorse City now.

Unfortunately, this time the level five creature was not so kind. In a rage, it destroyed those gangs and killed hundreds of people that night.

The next morning, when people in that area opened their doors, they saw corpses scattered all over the streets.

"After this happened, the city lord just sent someone to collect the body and said nothing." Cheng Men mentioned the situation at that time, "After all, it was the Zero Point Tavern, the city lord probably didn't want to provoke it... and the Zero Point Tavern had given the city lord a favor before."

"What face?"

"The mayor's child was caught by the people from the Zero Point Tavern not long ago because of causing trouble. Later, the Zero Point Tavern sent his child back intact, and the mayor gave some gifts in return to express his gratitude."

"make trouble?"

Su Xia was a little confused: "What's wrong with the city lord's child? The whole city belongs to his father."

Cheng Men replied: "This is a bit strange. The city lord's child actually admires that masked weirdo. He was arrested for pretending to be a masked weirdo before."

"Oh, I see."

Su Xia also found it strange that there was someone with such a high status among his fans.

Logically speaking, his supporters should be poor people. Why would a rich young man worship him? Aren't they afraid that he will chop off his father's head one day?

Thinking of this, Su Xia's heart moved slightly. He leaned back in his seat, looked out the window, and opened the task bar of the game system.

He has a long-term mission [Buried in a Foreign Land], which requires him to treat the families of the members of the Old North Wind Organization well.

This task was previously linked to the [Zhao Qin's Last Wish] task.

But Zhao Qin's last wish mission failed, and the entire [Bury Bones in a Foreign Land] mission turned gray, with no other prompts.

Su Xia just thought that there should be family members of the Old North Wind members in Kaiba City. Although the task is grayed out, the details can still be viewed.

He clicked on the mission and saw that there were indeed several mission target points on the map of Seahorse City.

If nothing goes wrong on this trip, I will go and see the families and leave some money before leaving.

"What do you think of the masked man?" Su Xia put away the task system and asked Cheng Men casually.

"He is a good man, and many people support him." Cheng Men answered seriously, "But his way of doing things is too violent, and he will not change or compromise. As a result, the current situation where he is being besieged by the whole world is ultimately unsustainable."

"But if he compromised, there wouldn't be so many people supporting him."

"yes……"

Cheng Men nodded and agreed with it deeply.

It is precisely because there are too many people who compromise that people like the masked man become so valuable. In the trend of the times, there are very few people who go against the trend.

Such a person is admirable. Even in the chaotic Kaiba City, there are people who dare to stand up and support him publicly.

"grown ups……"

"how?"

"Those undead warriors asked me to ask you if you have any plans to accept disciples?" Cheng Men pointed to his ear, where there was a communicator hanging, and the players were communicating with him through this communicator.

The players were very anxious. They had planned to talk more with Su Xia on the way back, but they didn't expect Su Xia to get directly on a separate off-road vehicle.

They had no choice but to ask Cheng Men for help.

Su Xia smiled and said, "They wanted to abandon your supplies before, don't you blame them?"

Cheng Men shook his head: "It is normal for them to give up when facing the Mercenary King. I can understand."

"Well, tell them that I don't accept disciples from the undead."

"OK."

Cheng Men immediately replied to the player behind him, relaying Su Xia's words in full.

Upon hearing the news, the players were immediately deflated, and even the joy of harvesting supplies just now was diluted a lot.

One member sighed, "Alas, it's the same reason again. Previously, several big guys publicly stated that they would not accept people like us."

"This is the chain of discrimination. The mechanical race discriminates against the human race, and the human race discriminates against us."

"What about the Zerg?"

"The Zerg discriminate against all races equally."

"Don't be discouraged!"

The leader of the player team said, "That boss is traveling alone, and Kaiba City is so big that it would be inconvenient for him to get things done. Maybe he will need someone to help him?"

Hearing this, the other members' eyes lit up.

"Boss is right, it's not time to give up yet!"

"That's right. Think about what Li Defu from the Bikini Bottom team said - when facing a high-level NPC, you have to do it like chasing a girl. You have to keep pestering her and never give up. You will always get something in the end!"

"Boss Li Defu is right!"

"What a wise saying! "

"No wonder the Bikini Bottom team has grown so fast..."

Everyone nodded, thinking that this was true and worth a try.

It was from this day that a phrase began to circulate in the game: Li Defu once said...

The night was dark, the cold wind was howling, and the convoy was like a long glowing dragon moving forward on the wilderness road.

According to calculations, they would arrive at Seahorse City around three in the morning.

Su Xia was bored, so she took out the thick book "Spaceship Operation: From Beginners to Ascension in 21 Days" and continued reading it to learn about spaceship driving knowledge.

Once you dig deeper, you’ll realize that the 21 days written on the cover are pure bullshit.

Just the classification of spacecraft gave Su Xia a headache.

There are hundreds of various names, such as exploration ships, transport ships, frigates, experimental ships, etc., of different sizes and specifications. Even if they have the same name and specifications, if they are produced by different companies, there will be differences in details.

"It's uncomfortable. I need a book of experience."

Su Xia rubbed his brows and closed the book. The things in it were too difficult for an ordinary college student.

If he really had to start learning from scratch, there's no telling how long it would take him to be able to fly the spaceship proficiently.

Even with the cooperation of the Oasis Camp's simulation training system, it might take a very long time, and what he lacks most now is time.

In the next stage reward column of the mission [Buried in a Foreign Land], there is a reward called "Battleship Driving Experience Book", which is similar to the "Pharmacist Experience Book". Unfortunately, this mission is grayed out, and I don’t know if it can be reactivated this time.

Time passed slowly, and it was four o'clock in the morning of the next day. The convoy was still on the road, longer than Su Xia had expected.

If he had flown directly there, he would have arrived long ago.

"Sir, we are almost there!" Cheng Men said respectfully.

"You've said that three times."

"This time it's really coming..."

Cheng Men slowed down the car. The road was bumpy and the car body was shaking constantly.

Scattered street lights began to appear on both sides of the road, like rare fireflies in the darkness, guiding those who go out on their way home.

Further ahead, the outline of a city gradually became clear in the darkness.

We have indeed arrived at Kaiba City.

In the back, the players in the convoy breathed a sigh of relief. Their mission rewards were secure and there wouldn't be any more problems.

But at this moment, a gunshot suddenly rang out in the darkness.

"Bang--"