Bounty!

Inside the shelter.

Lin Ye drove along the road for a while before arriving at a base entrance surrounded by iron fencing.

This was the defense center of the entire shelter.

Guarding the community gate were two rows of soldiers armed with loaded rifles.

When they saw Lin Ye, they immediately saluted and opened the gate.

Entering the community, Lin Ye drove a few more minutes before finally stopping in front of a six-story building.

This was his destination for the day.

Standing beneath a large tree, Lin Ye quietly chewed his gum.

An autumn breeze swept through, carrying a yellowed leaf down from above to drift toward the ground.

Thump, thump, thump...

Footsteps sounded, and Lin Ye looked up.

He saw two columns of soldiers, rifles in hand, marching in perfect unison, clearly well-trained.

From their muscular builds and sharp, gleaming eyes, Lin Ye could tell at a glance that these guards were all Junior Warriors.

And between the two columns of soldiers was a woman.

Lin Ye narrowed his eyes slightly.

The woman appeared to be in her twenties, dressed in a black business suit, with a fair, delicate oval face framed by gold-rimmed glasses, giving off an air of intellect and maturity.

She clearly worked in secretarial or clerical roles.

When the two columns of soldiers and the woman reached him, Lin Ye spit out his gum residue, wrapped it up, stepped forward, and took the initiative to speak: "Secretary Xu, I've completed my mission of guarding the shelter this time and also collected some monster materials."

"The off-road vehicle behind me holds the monster materials I killed. Please inspect them." As he spoke, Lin Ye handed over the recorder he had been carrying.

This thumb-sized camera recorder contained the count of monsters Lin Ye had killed this time, so the military could issue the bounty.

"Welcome back. You've worked hard, Mr. Lin Ye!"

The woman, Secretary Xu, nodded slightly. She glanced at Lin Ye first, then at the off-road vehicle piled high with monster materials, and couldn't help but smile.

She reached out, took the recorder from Lin Ye's hand, and plugged it into a tablet to start processing.

At the same time, the woman gave an order, and the soldiers behind her walked over to begin tallying the monster materials.

Soon, the materials on the off-road vehicle were fully counted.

"Count complete!" A soldier jogged over to the woman and reported the numbers.

"Mm." The woman nodded, her gaze pausing on Lin Ye's face for a moment before she continued operating the tablet.

"Beep, analysis complete!"

Three minutes later, lines of data appeared on the tablet--

"155 ordinary monsters killed."

"40 Primary Beast Soldier monsters killed."

"29 Intermediate Beast Soldier monsters killed."

"12 High-level Beast Soldier monsters killed."

When these numbers came through the tablet, not only was Secretary Xu stunned on the spot, but even the two rows of guard warriors wore expressions of deep shock.

"He killed... this many monsters!!" one of the soldiers couldn't help blurting out.

"And it's not over yet. There's more," Secretary Xu said, her pretty face full of astonishment.

When she saw this result, she truly couldn't believe that the young High-level Warrior before her had fought one-on-one and killed a Beast General-level monster.

Even if it was only a newly advanced Beast General, it was far beyond what an ordinary warrior could contend with.

Beast Soldier and Beast General—though separated by a single word, the gap in reality was enormous.

"One Primary Beast General-level monster killed."

When that announcement fell, all the guards were shaken.

Shwoosh!!

In an instant, the looks they gave Lin Ye were filled with excitement and awe.

A mere warrior, yet he had killed a Beast General-level monster—so his strength...

"Mm!"

Secretary Xu looked at Lin Ye, her slender fingertip pushing up her glasses on the bridge of her nose, and said, "Mr. Lin Ye, most of the materials you brought back this time are from low- to mid-level Beast Soldiers. The quantity is decent, but the value isn't much."

"Mr. Lin Ye, would you be willing to sell the materials you kept aside to the military? We'd be happy to buy them at a high price."

"Next time for sure!" Lin Ye smiled faintly, saying nothing more.

"Alright, it's a deal!" Secretary Xu nodded, looking at Lin Ye.

The two exchanged a smile.

"Now, please calculate the bounty for the monsters I killed and the hire fee." Lin Ye looked at the young secretary and said.

Secretary Xu: "I was just about to tell you!"

"According to the military's valuation, it's about four hundred thousand, plus the beast soldiers you killed, the breakdown is as follows:"

"The bounty for ordinary monsters is five hundred each, totaling seventy-seven thousand; the bounty for Primary Beast Soldiers is two thousand each, totaling eighty thousand;"

"The bounty for Intermediate Beast Soldiers is five thousand each, totaling one hundred forty-five thousand; the bounty for High-level Beast Soldiers is fifteen thousand each, totaling one hundred eighty thousand;"

"Finally, this Primary Beast General has a bounty of one million, with materials priced separately."

"The total above is one million eight hundred seventy-seven thousand."

"Adding in your hire fee of nine hundred thousand this time, the grand total is two million seven hundred eighty thousand!"

"Good!"

Lin Ye nodded and pulled a bank card from his pocket.

A palm-sized card, square and neat.

Black silk trim exuded prestige—it was a martial artist's exclusive bank card.

Secretary Xu took the card, swiped it on the POS machine, and handed it back to Lin Ye.

"Thank you, Secretary Xu. Let's work together again if anything comes up!" Lin Ye nodded, taking the card with a smile.

Soon, the transaction message arrived.

[Your card ending in 6848 received a deposit of 2,780,000 yuan on October 17 at 6:48. Balance: 10,826,374.37 yuan.]

"Mm, pleasure doing business!"

Lin Ye looked at the balance, a hint of a smile flickering across his brow.

But when he thought of his sick sister, his gaze suddenly dimmed a little.

This shift in expression was keenly caught by Secretary Xu. "Mr. Lin, if you were willing to join our military, your income would be far more than this."

"After all, the highest authority in this shelter has high expectations for you!" Secretary Xu said, staring at Lin Ye with solemnity.

"The highest authority?"

"Is that General Xu Yong?" Lin Ye glanced at the bright-eyed young secretary and asked.

"Of course it's General Xu! He's not only in charge of this shelter but also the supreme commander of Shan City!"

"The supreme commander of Shan City?"

Lin Ye was momentarily taken aback, unable to help sizing up the young secretary.

"Mm!" Secretary Xu nodded, neither confirming nor denying.

"Then can you let me know if the military has any big operations coming up that I could take part in?" Lin Ye asked, a little curious.

Big operations meant hire missions, which meant earning extra money from the military—a good thing.

"Recently... there are operations, but they're all classified missions."

"Unless you join us, I won't be disclosing anything!"

Secretary Xu smiled faintly, politely declining Lin Ye's inquiry.

"Oh." Hearing this, Lin Ye shrugged and replied, "I haven't decided yet."

"If I ever get the idea, I'll contact you first!" Lin Ye said with a cheerful expression.

"Good!" The woman across from him smiled back.

Lin Ye turned and was about to leave.

Suddenly, Secretary Xu called out to him.

"Mr. Lin Ye, wait a moment!"

At that, he turned his head back. "Something else?"

"Please come with me. I have something very important to tell you first!"

"Mm."

After a moment's thought, he finally agreed. "Let's go."

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