Trust Established

In response to Li Nian's question, a man in plain clothes riding a tall horse stepped out from the head of the convoy that stood far away, cupped his hands and spoke loudly.

"We are indeed Guzhen Town to Willow Town. May I ask who you are, young lady?"

Li Nian stepped forward unhurriedly. "Jinfu Escort Agency and Willow Town Branch, on the orders of our boss, have come to meet our brothers."

Li Nian cupped his hands in greeting, then flipped his hand to reveal a small, gleaming, knife-shaped token.

Upon seeing the token, the man in plain clothes seemed to finally feel relieved.

"So it's the brothers from Willow Town," the man in plain clothes said loudly. "However, you've come a bit too far."

"We just happened to be delivering a shipment nearby," Li Nian said again. "The road to Willow Town has been difficult to travel lately, and we happened to hear that a brother from the same Escort Agency was delivering a shipment, so the boss sent us to provide backup."

"That's wonderful, thank you so much!"

The man in plain clothes also cupped his hands in greeting and reined in his horse to make way for them.

Li Nian turned around and gave Fei Dao and Lin Yu a smug look.

"See? I told you it would work!"

The three walked towards the convoy. Lin Yu lowered his voice and asked, "How did you figure out which Escort Agency these people belonged to, and where that token came from?"

"I can't tell," Li Nian said matter-of-factly. "I just stole that person's own token...it says 'Jinfu Escort Agency' on it."

She calmly uttered the words, and Lin Yu nodded in admiration.

"Then you're quite impressive."

However, Fei Dao seemed even more nervous. As they approached the convoy escorted by Jinfu Escort Agency, Fei Dao didn't dare to say a word and looked extremely tense.

The three men walked into the caravan, and the man in plain clothes gave them three horses.

Li Nian and Fei Dao were clearly not first-time riders, and they easily climbed onto the horse's back.

Although this was Lin Yu's first time experiencing this, his strong physique and coordination prevented Lin Yu from revealing any flaws or clues.

After the three men had mounted their horses, the man in plain clothes spoke again, "Even if you were just passing by, you've done us a great favor... Thank you so much, Captain Cai!"

Just as Li Nian was about to reply, Lin Yu suddenly interrupted him very loudly.

"What the hell? What nonsense are you spouting!"

Lin Yu instantly drew his Bone Blade and held it in front of him. "Are you Yaomo in disguise?!"

Seeing Lin Yu's reaction, Li Nian quickly followed suit—although she didn't know why Lin Yu did this, in Li Nian's opinion...

"Zhu Ming must have her reasons for doing this, so we followed her!"

Li Nian then pulled out a small knife and asked warily, "Indeed, what's wrong with you?"

As for the Fei Dao, although this guy is always suspicious, he actually knows what's important and what's urgent in this situation.

Seeing that his two teammates were showing hostility, he quickly pulled out his weapon, which was a folding chair, and held it in front of him, pretending to be united against the enemy.

Lin Yu did this, of course, because...

Strike first!

Although Li Nian hadn't noticed it earlier, Lin Yu could clearly sense from his observation of Microexpressions that the leader of the caravan didn't completely trust Li Nian's words.

Admittedly, Li Nian touched his token and then returned it... but the fact that even Li Nian could obtain the "token" so easily means that the credibility of this "token" is actually quite limited.

Therefore, when that remark, which sounded like it was just making conversation or deliberately trying to start a topic, was heard, Lin Yu immediately realized...

The other party is testing us.

As for which part was testing the waters, Lin Yu had no idea—his understanding of the Prison Mountain Realm was still too limited.

But as long as he knew the other party was testing him, Lin Yu had a way to deal with it.

All you need to do is turn the tables and blame someone else!

Sure enough, seeing Lin Yu's reaction, the other party felt relieved.

"My three brothers and sisters, I apologize for my earlier offense. I am Yue Zhenqiao, the head of the Jinfu Escort Agency Guzhen Town," the man in plain clothes said, bowing. "I am not Yaomo in disguise."

How can this be proven?

Lin Yu said coldly.

"Of course it's because I know that the Liuzhen escort chief's surname is not Cai, but Zhang Langzhi," Yue Zhenqiao said with a smile, "I just made the test just to be on guard against the three demons."

Seeing Yue Zhenqiao's sincere gaze this time, Lin Yu cupped his hands again and said, "My apologies, Biaotou Yue... but these days have been rather turbulent, so I can't help but be more vigilant."

"Yes, the Fire Hell is a mixed place, and now it's said that several Great Demons from the Sand Hell have appeared in the Nine Layered Mountain near Willow Town," Yue Zhenqiao sighed. "In addition, bandits are becoming increasingly rampant, so we really have to be on guard and careful."

"So, your help is truly a timely blessing!"

Yue Zhenqiao spoke, Lin Yu nodded in agreement. "That's for sure."

After this conversation, the three of them naturally blended into half of the caravan's inner circle and continued their journey with the caravan.

The target, naturally, was "Willow Town," which was set from the very beginning.

Fei Dao demonstrated his interpersonal skills to Li Nian and Lin Yu in turn, especially Lin Yu's final attempt to see through Yue Zhenqiao's probing, which made Fei Dao feel somewhat optimistic.

"Looks like the money was well spent!"

If things continue like this, considering the "Clearance Conditions" are simply reaching "Willow Town"...

That Fei Dao thought that this "level clear" was surprisingly easy to achieve.

However, Fei Dao's rare moment of optimism was short-lived, as Li Nian quickly reminded him again of the cruelty of the [Instance].

"As expected, my guess was right," Li Nian whispered to Lin Yu and Fei Dao, mingling among the group, "This [Instance] is indeed Confrontation Instance!"

"Our initial appearance at these rendezvous points was to allow us to infiltrate the escort team and, by using their identities, smoothly enter Willow Town."

"After all, if anyone could just enter a town from the wild, then all human settlements would have been wiped out long ago!"

"As for the remaining three Player in our [Instance], I reckon they've already infiltrated the 'caravan robbery' side."

As Li Nian analyzed the situation, Lin Yu understood what Li Nian meant.

"I understand... You mean, although the condition is 'reaching Willow Town,' the threats we'll encounter before getting there, besides the various chaotic aspects of this world itself, also include... other Player who are robbing the caravan?"

Li Nian nodded.

"That's right. Since the opposing team also has three members, their strength and Divine Rank are probably similar to ours..."

"But don't worry, we now have a unique advantage—we've established a very mature relationship of trust with the caravan."

"I don't believe those three Player have reached the point of mutual trust with the bandit NPCs who robbed the caravan!"