Chapter 284: Bribery

Translator: Atlas Studios  Editor: Atlas Studios

Lin Jie had already researched on the detailed information on the Tower of Plague before he had decided to make a move. It was split into two levels, the lower level was the huge Plague Cauldron. It simmered unrotten corpses to be converted to bared, exposed bones, which could be used to create Undead Warriors or forge equipment. Sometimes it may even mutate and produce even higher leveled Undead Elites, and so on.

The upper level, on the other hand, was where Deathbringer lived.

Due to the cooking by the huge Plague Cauldron, the fog within the Tower of Plague was even denser than that of the outside. The effects of Fog Concealment were unleashed to the maximum, and Lin Jie’s movement became even more covert, harder for others to discover him.

“Big Brother, how long more before it finishes?”

Lin Jie’s pupils constricted, there actually were people around! He hurriedly held his breath to reduce his movement as much as possible and strained his ears to listen to what they were saying.

“There is another half an hour before this batch of Undead is created. After this last batch of Undead is successfully created, we can also get paid and then have a good meal. Nevertheless, this boss is a little stingy…”

“Shhh! Don’t speak carelessly! Although we joined Brotherhood, we aren’t even counted as the lowest grade mercenary, so it’s already not bad to be able to accept employment missions. The boss gave two Silver items for the last batch of Undead we created. Although the attributes were quite bad, that batch can be sold for tens of silver coins at the Sky Provisions Shop.”

“Yes, yes, it’s all thanks to the Provisions shop that is extremely generous and also takes special care for us new players. Only the Sky Provisions Shop would buy such trashy equipment, right? Or else, these Silver items wouldn’t even be exchanged for a few silver coins. Anyway, that Sky Provisions Shop is really a big shop… It would be great if we could also open such a shop.”

“Open a Provisions shop? Wait until we expand! Then we will snatch the City of Light Central Auction House!”

“What Big Brother says is right.”

After listening to that conversation, Lin Jie could not help but laugh as it looked like there were quite numerous people that were envious, jealous of him, and hated him. However, from their conversation, Lin Jie could easily distinguish that the level of their equipment was not high, or else they would not have been deluded by just some “silver equipment which could be sold for tens of silver coins”. Their so-called employer must be quite stingy too, and from what Lin Jie heard from their conversation, they seemed to not be very satisfied with their employer. Thus, there was a chance for Lin Jie to hoodwink those two guys, right?

Lin Jie pulled his body back and looked around. He waited until he confirmed that there was no one else within the Tower of Plague before he could withdraw his concealment without worries. He shouted, “Is there anybody here?”

For a while, it was silent without any sound! Only the “gurgling” sounds from the Plague Cauldron could be heard…

Lin Jie sneered and then walked towards the upper level, step by step, and instantly discovered the three players, who had curled up into a ball. Lin Jie tapped the table and shouted, “Hey, I can see the three of you.”

The three players took a look at each other before standing up successively. Without hesitation, they stripped!

The drop-rate of equipment within backpacks was over 30% lower than when being worn! Now, some shrewd players, or one, would say they had self-awareness. Usually, they would have been trained to be proficient in taking off all their equipment.

Lin Jie’s jaws dropped as he looked at the three players. They even took off their helmets and placed them into their backpacks before removing their wrist guards to put them into their backpacks too… In the end, they were left with only shirts and pants on them. Then, they fearlessly looked at Lin Jie in the eyes—it looked like they did not fear death and were prepared to die anytime.

One of them that looked like the leader walked up and asked, “Brother, what is the matter?”

Lin Jie directly asked, “Where is Deathbringer?”

“What Deathbringer?” The man called “Big Brother” looked at Lin Jie with a blank face, and the two underlings behind him also hurriedly shook their heads to show that they did not know of Deathbringer.

Lin Jie curved up his lips and threw a Fire Gun on the ground. That Fire Gun was the equipment obtained from killing the pirates when out in the sea. As a level 35 Silver equipment, it would become mainstream in the future since not every person would be able to obtain Gold equipment suitable for one’s level. Hence, quite a number were still wearing level 30 or even level 25 equipment when they were already at level 40.

One of the underlings’ eyes lit up. He timidly stretched out his hand and grabbed it into his hand. Then, he ran back as fast as his legs could take him and hid behind Big Brother, estimating it was the safest place to hide. Thus, he checked the attributes. After that, the underling stretched his hand out to Big Brother and said in an excited tone, “Big Brother, Big Brother! Silver grade! Level 35! Weapon!”

“Zip it!” Big Brother glared at his underling and instantly grabbed the Fire Gun. “Level 35 Silver equipment! This person is too generous!” he exclaimed happily.

“Brother, thank you for your generosity, the three of us are members of Brotherhood. Although our levels are low and equipment is bad, we still follow the rules of the mercenary rules. We will not sell out any of our employer’s information.”

Lin Jie raised his chin and then threw another Silver item on the ground; it was still another level 35 item!

“I- I really cannot betray my employer,” said Big Brother as he gritted his teeth. His body trembled, and he shut his eyes tightly.

Lin Jie smiled before walking beside him slowly and patting his shoulders.

“You- you stop tempting me! We the mercenaries of Brotherhood are determined to abide by the mercenary rules…” Big Brother slowly opened his tightly shut eyes. Suddenly, a gold ray of light surrounded him, nearly blinding his eyes! The pair of big hands in front of him was actually grabbing onto a gold coin pouch, which had around 20 to 30 coins! Golden light shone brightly, and light rays radiated. He grabbed the gold coins instantly and said, while stuffing them into his pocket, “I don’t know what a Deathbringer is, but I know that our employer is a player and the weapon in his hand is called Seven Style Spear. Originally, we planned to steal his weapon, but we were caught and forced to do labor. Our mission is to guard the Tower of Plague, and every time we create a batch of Undead, we will be rewarded with a few Silver items.”

Lin Jie’s eyes gleamed. ‘Seven Style Spear! Eighteen Massacres! You stole my first clear, and you have a piece of my Broken Blade in your hands. I have been wanting to find you for a long time! Who would have thought that you were actually here!’

Lin Jie stretched out his hand. “Let me take a look at the equipment he gave you.”

Big Brother timidly took out a Mage robe.

[The Tenacious’ Cloth Armor] (Silver)

Requires: Level 10

Defense: 10 – 16

Endurance: +4

Strength: +2

Additional effect: You will receive an additional 6 points of Defense Enhancement when close-ranged attacks are received.

“Haha…” Lin Jie laughed as he nearly threw that trashy thing onto the ground. It was a mere Level 10 Mage Robe with all the stat points added in Strength and Endurance. Also, the additional attribute was to increase Defense—this kind belonged to the typical “Fake Equipment”. Although its grade and attributes were up to standard, the attributes were just foolish! For example, if what Lin Jie’s Broken Blade enhanced was magic attacks, then its value would drop at least by ten times!

This equipment would at most be able to be sold for 5 silver coins. However, to gain the favor of people, Lin Jie had implemented the steady purchase of new players’ equipment. Thus, no matter how trashy the Silver equipment was, once it was sold to Sky Provisions Shop, one would obtain at least the price of above 10 silver coins. This method made countless of players be wholeheartedly loyal to Sky Provisions Shop and be willing to farm gold coins for it. Sky Provisions Shop’s influence and connections were also pervasive, which was also one of the reasons why it continued flourishing.

Lin Jie looked at Big Brother with a face full of doubt. “This is your reward?”

“Yes, yes…”

Lin Jie thought for a while, ‘Nobodies also have their usefulness.’ Eighteen Massacres’ idea must have been to use those three players, who did not know anything, to help him do the mission since it was hard for ordinary people to even enter such a place as the Tower of Plague. Even the Undead outside were all planned by Earth Elemental Wrist Guard. Those Undead were enough to stop a 40-people team, especially those 400 Undead rushing up together. Ordinary people would not be able to endure that at all. Lin Jie took out a Gold wrist guard that radiated gold light. That was the gold item, which the Earth Elemental Wrist Guard had substituted. Although that item was already lagging behind the mainstream, its worth was over 20 of such trashy pieces of equipment.

“This… What do you mean?” Big Brother took a look at the attributes, and then his whole body trembled. ‘This item can be sold for at least 30 gold coins!’

“Very simple, from now on, you are going to work for me. On the surface, the three of you are still his mercenaries, but in reality, you are already my mercenaries, understand?” asked Lin Jie with a superior tone.

Big Brother stored the wrist guard into his backpack and asked respectfully,” What do you want me to do?”

“Do what the three of you should be doing, and also, tell me all you know about the mission about the Tower of Plague. Tell me everything!”

“Understood, two days ago…”

As the three people explained, Lin Jie gradually understood what had happened. Eighteen Massacres’ Job-Changing Mission was the complete opposite of Lin Jie’s as the contents of the mission was to protect a Primordial Secret Scroll, which was sealed. Within the secret scroll was recorded the clue of an Epic Skill, which could be obtained after unsealing it! If the scroll wasn’t stolen by Lin Jie, then in three days, this Primordial Secret Scroll would become Eighteen Massacres’ item. Meanwhile, Lin Jie’s mission was to snatch that Primordial Secret Scroll.

Eighteen Massacres was the believer of Dark Shrine, so the mission location was even within the Tower of Plague. Thus, of course, it would be like a duck swimming in water for Eighteen Massacres. He had made use of the Plague Cauldron to create batches of Undead and then used plague medicine to make the Undead enter berserk mode and gather them outside the Tower of Plague to stop all players. While Eighteen Massacres himself would spend all his effort in gathering the materials needed to create Deathbringer. He would come every three days to check the mission progress, and at the same time, throw in the materials into the Plague Cauldron.

‘F*ck! The system is, indeed, ruthless! I knew that it would not be so easy to obtain an Epic Skill. Hehe, on the bright side, I never thought it would be Eighteen Massacres. Just nicely, let’s pay back all the old and recent grudges, I’ll let you try the taste of ‘utter misery’ again…; Lin Jie could not help but let out a wicked laugh. However, in his heart, he was thinking about a particular item that he had obtained recently.

“This timing… Most likely, he’s about to come.” Big Brother looked at the time, and just as he finished, sounds of footsteps could be heard from outside the Tower of Plague!

Lin Jie’s pupils constricted, and he shouted, “Remember, do what you should do!”

Fog Concealment!

Seeing that Lin Jie had disappeared, Big Brother hurriedly picked up the trashy Silver equipment, which Lin Jie had thrown onto the ground. Although it was trashy, it was worth quite a few tens of silver coins, and that was quite the sum of money for normal players. Naturally, the reason why Lin Jie had done that was to deliver a message to them: Not only do I have more money than your boss, but I’m also much more generous. If you work for me, you will not be short of benefits!

Following a tycoon, one would not need to worry about money. Hence, the three men’s hearts were slowly inclined towards Lin Jie.

“Don’t give yourself away!” said Big Brother sternly as he looked at the two underlings.

The three of them instantly equipped back their Bronze equipment and restrained their expressions. Then, they walked beside the edge of the Plague Cauldron to check carefully—it looked as if they were doing their job seriously.

The footsteps suddenly stopped as a Knight wearing black armor walked in. The equipment on him had already been changed, and densely engraved metallic runes, which seemed like raw ores that had been created with rough mastery, could be seen from afar.

However, Lin Jie turned pale from shock as it was a Dark Gold fragment forged by Felomitz! This piece of equipment had extremely huge potential. Once the seven rare ores – Territorial Waters Magnet, Magma Fire Stone, Solidified Ancient Stone, Tripolar Magnet, Dimensional Golden Stone, and Light Dark Magic Stone – were gathered, with the aid of a high-level Blacksmith, it could be transformed into a complete Dark Gold item. Once it successfully became Dark Gold, then that item alone could provide 200 points of battling exclusive points for the owner, and the owner would be able to use them the instant he entered a battle. The owner would be able to enhance any of his stats with the 200 points. Thus, the Dark Gold item was efficient!

The person was Eighteen Massacres!

He looked at the three newbies coldly and asked, “How’s the mission I gave you? The work of creating my Undead should be almost done, right?”

Big Brother smiled and flattered Eighteen Massacres, “Of course, we’ve been putting in all our effort and have not slacked at all.”

“Yes, very good. From today onwards, your mission will be over. Of course, I will not forget about your rewards. This is level 25 Silver equipment, each of you can get one, take them!” Eighteen Massacres seemed to be quite satisfied with their performance, so he felt more generous. As such, with a wave of his hand, he gave three Silver pieces of equipment.

The three of them were elated with their gains. If their attributes were better, then it was even possible to sell them for gold coins! Unfortunately, those pieces of equipment were still trashy—all of them added together were not even worth 1/10 of the Gold wrist guard’s value, which Lin Jie had given them!

The three of them looked at each other, and a shred of seriousness and determination flashed in their eyes. ‘This kind of boss, it’s better not working for him!’

Eighteen Massacres took out his Seven Style Spear from his back and smiled coldly. “The first clear of Epidemic Pond is undoubtedly extraordinary. If the Seven Style Spear is continuously enhanced like this, sooner or later, it will become Sub-Legendary! As long as it swallows this blade, not only will its ability increase greatly, but it will also be an extremely heavy blow to Lone Wolf! In another month, the Gladiator Battlefield is going to be opened, by then, there’s no way he can win in a fight against me!”

Eighteen Massacres had actually obtained a super rare item from the first clear of Epidemic Pond—Nature’s Gem. He had used that item to increase the grade of his Seven Style Spear, but even so, it was impossible for Seven Style Spear to have Sub-Legendary potential. However, he possessed the blade, that of Broken Blade!

Just at that moment, Big Brother’s eyes gleamed, and he asked, “Boss, my brother seemed to have faced a problem when creating the Undead. I’m not sure if this cauldron of Plague Water is still effective, could you please help us check it?”

Eighteen Massacres took a look at the underling. Then, the Seven Style Spear immediately transformed into a giant axe and slashed down, instantly killing the underling. Eighteen Massacres just lifted that person’s body and directly threw it into the Plague Cauldron. He said coldly, “He can’t even complete such a simple task, he will be more useful if one more Undead soldier is created.”

Eighteen Massacres looked at the Plague Cauldron, which had dark green bubbles emerging from within, smiled, and then said, “The few of you, why don’t you all just jump down? Every time you die, I will be able to produce a few more Undead. Although your levels are not high, being a cannon fodder is not a bad idea. Die one time, and I’ll give you 50 silver coins. How’s that?”