There were several places in Black Rock City like the Black and White Bar. The Black and White Bar was not the most famous among them; the truly renowned and most trusted one was the Evolver Association.
The Evolver Association claimed to be a civilian organization, yet it had countless ties to the authorities. Under the banner of "serving every evolver," it had spread its influence across the entire Linhua Continent. It was the largest intermediary, earning astonishing wealth through commissions.
It would have been more convenient for Su Ze to find a reliable team through the Evolver Association, but he worried that people from the Zhao Family and the mysterious organization might also be keeping watch there. After weighing it over, he chose the less renowned but more discreet Black and White Bar.
The information on the Black Bar's large screen scrolled far too slowly. Su Ze watched it for a long time without finding a suitable team, so he asked the bartender directly, "Are there any teams planning to go deep into the Black Rock Mountain Range lately?"
"There are plenty. Ever since the major buyers stopped accepting Drill Mouse and Water Spray Frog extracts, there's basically nothing valuable to be found around the outskirts of the Black Rock Mountain Range. If you want to make money, you can only head deeper inside."
As the saying went, those who lived by the mountains ate from the mountains. The Black Rock Mountain Range supported a great many evolvers in Black Rock City, who often formed teams to hunt Exotic Beasts in the mountains. Exotic Beasts were valuable from head to toe. Their extracts were worth the most, while their corpses could also be used as pharmaceutical materials.
Sometimes, if they were lucky, they might find strange treasures in the mountains or discover spirit plants. Spirit plants were evolved plants, precious ingredients for making tonics, and were even more valuable than ordinary extracts.
These evolvers who made their living by hunting in the mountains were called Hunters.
In the Evolutionary Era, hunting was a high-risk, high-reward, high-barrier profession. Non-evolvers could not handle it.
The bartender handed Su Ze a tablet. "Take a look yourself. All the recent missions are on there."
Su Ze took the tablet and applied some filters, bringing up every mission recruiting team members to enter the Black Rock Mountain Range. After scrolling for a long time, he found that the weaker teams had no intention of going deep into the mountain range, while the stronger teams had high requirements for recruits. Su Ze's Pupal stage strength simply did not meet the threshold for joining them.
It was not that he had not considered posting a mission himself and hiring some powerful people to escort him. He could absolutely afford it, but that would be the same as telling everyone: Come kill me and loot my money!
When the time came, the people escorting him might well be the ones taking his life. The Black Rock Mountain Range was a desolate wilderness, the perfect place to kill someone and dump the body.
Therefore, the safest plan was still to quietly blend into a powerful team, follow them through the most dangerous areas, then find an opportunity to leave the team and head to the Luofan Kingdom on his own.
The Black Rock Mountain Range stretched from west to east like a natural barrier between the two countries, while Su Ze needed to cross that barrier from south to north.
The outer regions of the Black Rock Mountain Range were mostly inhabited by Tier 1 Exotic Beasts, so Su Ze still dared to venture through them. The main problem was the inner regions, where large numbers of Tier 2 Exotic Beasts roamed freely. If he was unlucky, he might even encounter a Tier 3 Exotic Beast. At the very least, Su Ze needed to find a team with several experienced Cocoon Breaking Stage experts to have any measure of safety.
After going through every mission, Su Ze still failed to find a team that met his requirements. The teams he liked did not want him, and the teams that wanted him were not to his liking.
Looks like I was thinking too simply... Su Ze sighed. If nothing else worked, he could only hire several reputable evolvers to escort him.
Just as Su Ze was about to return the tablet, an idea struck him. He directly searched for missions heading to the Luofan Kingdom.
He had gotten himself stuck in a rut. He had been focused entirely on joining a team going to hunt in the Black Rock Mountain Range, but if there was a team heading directly to the Luofan Kingdom, would that not be much easier?
And sure enough, he found one.
Su Ze carefully read through the mission's details and requirements, and his eyes lit up.
It was an escort mission. The objective was to escort the employer across the Black Rock Mountain Range to the Luofan Kingdom, and there were no restrictions on either the number or strength of those accepting the mission.
In Su Ze's eyes, this mission seemed tailor-made for him. His first thought was to wonder whether the Zhao Family or the mysterious organization had deliberately posted it to lure him out.
However, Su Ze soon noticed what was unusual about the mission. It had only been posted today, and the employer requested that they depart early tomorrow morning, as though she was in a great hurry.
Furthermore, the mission did not specify any reward, only stating that it was negotiable.
Most importantly, the employer had clearly written in the mission description that accepting it might put one's life in danger!
"No limits on strength or numbers, and it even says there may be danger to one's life. It feels like they're recruiting cannon fodder. Besides, everyone knows the dangers in the Black Rock Mountain Range. For this employer to specifically warn of danger to one's life, that means the danger isn't from the Black Rock Mountain Range, but from the employer herself. She's gotten herself into trouble!"
For a moment, Su Ze hesitated over whether to accept the mission. Taking it clearly felt like walking into a trap, but it also perfectly met his needs. He could follow a large group all the way to the Luofan Kingdom. It would be a shame to miss it.
I'll find out more first. Why overthink it?
If I lure over people from the Zhao Family or the mysterious organization, who knows who'll be trapping whom... Having made up his mind, Su Ze stood up, paid for his orange juice, then pulled out several red bills as a tip for the bartender before asking him about the escort mission.
The bartender put away the red bills, the corners of his eyes crinkling with crow's feet as he smiled. "If you're interested in this mission, I can introduce you directly to the employer. She's a sincere lady. You can ask her any questions you have, and I believe she'll answer truthfully. But before that, you need to tell me what commission you expect."
"What is the usual commission for a Pupal stage evolver?" Su Ze did not know much about this, so he asked another question.
"Depending on their strength, a Pupal stage evolver generally receives between five thousand and fifty thousand per day..."
"Then I'll take ten thousand."
The bartender nodded. "That's a fairly reasonable price for a newcomer who has just entered the Pupal stage. If you're confident in your strength, you could ask for a higher commission."
Su Ze shook his head. "No need. I know my own limits."
To Su Ze, five thousand or fifty thousand made no difference, but asking for nothing at all would be too strange. He might as well ask for ten thousand, which was reasonably in line with his strength as someone newly entering the Pupal stage.
If possible, Su Ze would even be willing to pay the other party fifty million, as long as they could guarantee his safe arrival in the Luofan Kingdom.
Judging from Su Ze's age alone, the bartender had also guessed that he had only recently entered the Pupal stage. He did not try to persuade him further, merely pointing toward a secluded corner of the bar. "You're in luck. The employer happens to be here. I'll take you to meet her."
Su Ze looked toward the table in the corner, where three people sat. He ignored the man among them, his gaze settling on the two women seated across from him.
One of them had delicate features and an elegant bearing. She was a gentle, intellectual sort of mature beauty, and the gold-rimmed glasses perched on her small nose added a touch of scholarly refinement.
The intellectual beauty looked around twenty-seven or twenty-eight. Su Ze felt that, at seventeen, calling her big sister was not inappropriate.
Beside the intellectual beauty sat an auntie around fifty years old. The instant Su Ze saw her, he understood that she was an expert!
She carried an aura similar to Zhang Fantie and the Stinky Old Man. Perhaps this was what people called the aura of an expert.
So this pair was... big sister and her Personal Expert?
Before you continue