Chapter 941 |
There are many theories about the origin of Kappa in Island Nation, and one of the most popular ones is that Kappa is actually a deity, or many of the Island Nation's monsters were originally deities. However, due to various reasons, their cultivation declined, and they eventually fell into becoming ghostly monsters.
The Cthulhu Role-Playing Game Hall also adopted this theory, so Kappa still possesses some divinity. Therefore, Kappa's base stats are much higher than those of Ghouls and Deep Ones. Of course, compared to Ghouls and Deep Ones, Kappa also has an additional fatal weakness: if the water on its head dries up, its power will rapidly decrease.
Initially, Liu Xing thought that Li Hanxing and Sun Huiwen would target the water on Kappa's head, but unexpectedly, they directly beheaded Kappa.
Li Hanxing and Sun Huiwen then took out a large black bag from under the cashier's counter and placed the beheaded Kappa inside. They also brought out a pile of bottles and jars to clean up the scene.
Soon, the convenience store returned to normal, as if nothing had happened.
After cleaning up the scene, Li Hanxing walked over and said, "You see, this is the strength of me and Sun Huiwen. If you ever need to deal with mythical creatures in the future, remember to call me. As long as it's not Formless Offspring or those gigantic mythical creatures, Sun Huiwen and I can handle it. However, when it comes to dealing with NPCs, please allow us to refuse. The guns in the hands of NPCs are no joke. It's not just about fighting them; even getting close to them is very troublesome."
"What kind of missions did you accept when you were mercenaries in the Middle East? I thought it was all about guns and even rocket launchers over there," Liu Xing asked curiously.
Li Hanxing nodded helplessly and said, "Yes, when Sun Huiwen and I were mercenaries there, we had a tough time. Since our shooting skills are average, we often had to fight with several guns pointed at us. Only with luck could we engage in close combat with the enemy. Although Sun Huiwen and I passed a series of exam modules provided by the Cthulhu Role-Playing Game Hall, our final evaluation wasn't very high."
Sun Huiwen, standing beside them, nodded and said with a hint of fear, "Yes, if Sun Huiwen and I hadn't met a good teammate, we probably wouldn't be standing here talking to you."
First, if a player wants to become a mercenary, they must obtain a notification letter, which can only be acquired through a Hidden Quest called the Rendezvous Mission, common to all modules.
As the name suggests, the Rendezvous Mission requires players to complete all the requirements on the notification letter and then rendezvous with the local contact.
However, finding this contact is not easy, as they could be a middle-aged man, a young girl, or even a dog, and these contacts are constantly moving.
For example, the contact that Li Hanxing and Sun Huiwen needed to find was named Mao Zhuang, but they had to search their entire city upside down before they found Mao Zhuang—a postmodern sculpture with two sculptors, one surnamed Mao and the other surnamed Zhuang.
After finding the contact, Li Hanxing and Sun Huiwen received a contract. The mercenary companies on the contract were basically industry leaders in this parallel world. So, after signing the contract, Li Hanxing and Sun Huiwen were standing on the land of the Middle East the next day.
Upon arriving in the Middle East, Li Hanxing and Sun Huiwen were assigned to a rookie squad, which was usually a ten-person team, and all the team members were players participating in the exam.
The pass rate of the exam was not fixed, as the Cthulhu Role-Playing Game Hall would evaluate the squad based on their mission completion rate and then determine the number of players who could pass the exam accordingly.
Once the number of passers was determined, the player squad would start to intensively accept and execute missions until the squad's size matched the number of passers... Most importantly, to prevent malicious backstabbing among teammates, the Cthulhu Role-Playing Game Hall ensured that if a player deliberately harmed a teammate, the victim would not tear up their card under any circumstances. Instead, they would be sent to the hospital for recuperation after the current module ended.
If the backstabbing player became the final exam passer, they would tear up their card due to various accidents, and the injured player would be added to the list of exam passers as a substitute. If the backstabbing player was eliminated early, the injured player would quickly recover and become active again.
Therefore, no player would dare to backstab their teammates in the exam modules anymore, as it was a futile and thankless task that only benefited others.
Although Li Hanxing and Sun Huiwen's gunfighting abilities were relatively low, their exceptional close-combat abilities allowed them to confidently take on the "rear" positions and survive until the end.
At this point, Sun Huiwen spoke seriously, "If there are no surprises, you must have established a plot connection with the Shimazu Family, right? So, do you want to hire us to accompany you to the airport? Although we can't win against so many Shimazu Family guards, covering your retreat from the airport in case of necessity is not a problem."
As Sun Huiwen spoke, he took out a mobile phone, which displayed a floor plan of Kagoshima City Airport.
"These floor plans of Kagoshima City Airport are hard to find, and we have already scouted various locations in the airport and confirmed multiple escape routes to meet various needs. For example, if you want to observe the situation around the airport, we suggest this location."
Sun Huiwen swiped the mobile phone to switch the floor plan to a photo, which seemed to be taken in a VIP lounge at Kagoshima City Airport.
"Through the floor-to-ceiling windows of this VIP lounge, we can have a clear view of the open space outside the airport. Most importantly, this VIP lounge is accessible with money. If you need it, I can contact the relevant personnel right now." Sun Huiwen said seriously.
Liu Xing glanced at the time and realized that there were only about ten minutes left before the Ii Family members arrived in Kagoshima City, and it would only take five minutes to get from this convenience store to Kagoshima City Airport, so there was still plenty of time.
So, should he hire Li Hanxing and Sun Huiwen?
Or could he trust Li Hanxing and Sun Huiwen?
Liu Xing looked at Li Hanxing and Sun Huiwen, who were standing tall with their chests out, eager to prove themselves... although it looked quite funny.
After a moment of thought, Liu Xing nodded and said, "Let's talk about your pricing now. My request is to go to Kagoshima City Airport to monitor the Shimazu Family's movements, and if there's any danger, we'll use the escape routes you've prepared to leave."
Li Hanxing and Sun Huiwen smiled at each other and took out a palm-sized blank piece of paper from their pockets.
"This piece of paper is the employment contract for us mercenary players. As long as you hold this piece of paper and silently think about your requirements, the Cthulhu Role-Playing Game Hall will determine the pricing based on your thoughts, fundamentally preventing us from overcharging."
After Liu Xing took the piece of paper from Li Hanxing, he found that the item's effect was exactly as Li Hanxing had described.
So, Liu Xing closed his eyes.
After a moment, Liu Xing's thoughts appeared on the piece of paper, along with the pricing provided by the Cthulhu Role-Playing Game Hall—if everything went smoothly, Liu Xing would only need to pay Li Hanxing and Sun Huiwen $10,000; if they needed to escape, Liu Xing would have to pay them 200 points.
Liu Xing thought the price was reasonable, but he hadn't expected to be able to pay in US dollars.
It's important to know that for ninety-nine percent of players, money is not a concern in the modules. For Liu Xing, this $10,000 was nothing, as he could easily get one billion US dollars from Matsui Yui, Alice, or Sawada Yinyin at any time.
So, this $10,000 price was like a super-conscience price for Liu Xing.
Therefore, Liu Xing immediately agreed to the employment contract.
Liu's fingerprint appeared on the paper.
After seeing Liu Xing's fingerprint on the employment contract, Li Hanxing and Sun Huiwen breathed a sigh of relief, smiled, and shook hands with Liu Xing. Then, they started preparing.
Li Hanxing put everything back in its place in the convenience store, while Sun Huiwen took the bag containing Kappa out of the store.
After Li Hanxing confirmed that there was nothing suspicious in the convenience store, he led Liu Xing out.
At this time, Sun Huiwen drove a Mercedes to pick up Liu Xing and Li Hanxing, and they set off for Kagoshima City Airport, which was not far away.
On the way, Liu Xing asked curiously, "Isn't $10,000 a bit of a loss for you? After all, money is not important to us players."
Li Hanxing, sitting next to Liu Xing, nodded and then shook his head, "Although this $10,000 has some value to us, and we can buy various weapons in the black markets around the world, these weapons don't significantly improve our combat power. The weapons in these black markets are mostly handguns, shotguns, or mini submachine guns, so they're not very expensive. $10,000 is enough for us to buy the most expensive package in most black markets two or three times."
"However, for us mercenary players, US dollars and points are just a bonus. Every time we complete an employment contract, our reputation will increase based on our performance. When our reputation reaches a certain level, we can participate in a lottery or draw a special contract. This contract has a moderate difficulty level but will definitely reward us with one item each, and these items are very useful."
As Li Hanxing spoke, he took out a half-meter-tall plastic canister from under his seat, with a black button and a small screen on top.
"This is the item we obtained after passing the exam—the Humanoid Scanner. After pressing this button, the canister will emit a special wave in all directions, and within a second, it can display the current positions of all humanoid beings within fifty meters. So, with this item, we don't have to worry about being ambushed. Unfortunately, this item has a twenty-minute recharge time after use and can only show the positions of humanoid beings at the time they come into contact with the wave." Li Hanxing explained to Liu Xing.
Liu Xing nodded; this item was indeed very useful, especially in combat, as it could predict the enemy's position in advance, or determine the location of trapped people during search and rescue operations.
No wonder the mercenary players in the Cthulhu Role-Playing Game Hall were so strong; they could obtain powerful items that were useful to them more easily than other players.
To be honest, although Liu Xing had obtained many powerful items, some of which could even be considered epic, these items didn't significantly improve his abilities, and some were even just for show.
So, Liu Xing was quite envious of Li Hanxing and Sun Huiwen at the moment.
At this time, Liu Xing and the other two arrived at Kagoshima City Airport.
As they entered the airport, they felt the tense atmosphere, as Shima Mitsuhiro and Shima Takeshi stood with their respective teams facing each other.
At a glance, Shima Mitsuhiro had only twenty to thirty Black-Clad Men, while Shima Takeshi had brought seventy to eighty men.
In terms of formation, Shima Mitsuhiro had clearly lost, but he didn't seem to care, and it was unclear if he was bluffing or had a backup plan.
Of course, Liu Xing was most concerned about whether Zhang Jingxu and the others were among the Black-Clad Men behind Shima Mitsuhiro.
The result was negative.
It seemed that Zhang Jingxu and the others had gone to carry out other missions, as Liu Xing didn't think Kitano Masakazu would keep them by his side.
After all, Zhang Jingxu and the others were considered Shima Mitsuhiro's "direct" subordinates.
"Let's go, Liu Xing. I've prepared the VIP lounge," Li Hanxing said, patting Liu Xing's shoulder. "Let's go upstairs and watch the show."
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