The person who had just arrived was Li Mingzhou, one of the new professional players the company had hired. He had met Wang Qianduo once before, and things between them had not gone well.
Hearing him, Wang Qianduo gave a smile and said nothing, simply continuing to sweep the ground.
That was it? That was his level? And he was a professional player?
While Wang Qianduo had been cleaning the plaza just now, several professional players had already come over to talk to him.
Normally, it was NPC soldiers in uniform who cleaned the plaza. Wang Qianduo's appearance was proof that he could get missions from the military, wasn't it?
That was a channel they could only dream of accessing. Yet the first thing one of their company's professional players did was say something like that. It seemed Mountains and Seas' standards were...
rather worrying.
But some people were born to be toads. They might not bite, but they still managed to disgust you.
Li Mingzhou saw that Wang Qianduo wasn't paying him any attention, and that only encouraged him. He went straight to Wang Qianduo's Street Sweeper and blocked his way.
Then he looked at Wang Qianduo with a mocking expression, clearly intending to get under his skin.
That was the thing about toads: they were good at getting under people's skin. He didn't know where they got their innate sense of superiority.
They always thought the world revolved around them. Some even believed that bothering you was a sign of respect.
Wang Qianduo had ignored him because he wanted to avoid this kind of trouble, but he hadn't expected Li Mingzhou to latch onto him anyway.
Wang Qianduo figured that the best way to deal with this sort of person was to teach him a lesson so unforgettable that he'd stay far away from you afterward.
But he didn't have any good way to do that right now, so he'd better deal with the trouble in front of him first!
He glanced around and quickly spotted a squad of NPC soldiers passing by. Wang Qianduo waved them over.
As a Sergeant First Class, he had a certain level of authority. At the very least, ordinary NPC soldiers had to greet him first when they saw him.
The squad quickly ran over at Wang Qianduo's summons. The leading soldier glanced at the insignia on his uniform that denoted his rank, straightened up, and said:
"Sergeant First Class, what are your orders?"
Wang Qianduo said, "This man is interfering with official business. Make him leave."
"If he's interfering with official business, we can detain him for up to two hours. Would you like to—?"
"Oh! Give him the maximum!" Wang Qianduo hadn't expected this to be an option. Of course he wasn't going to let Li Mingzhou off.
He hadn't realized military rank carried this much weight. Looks like he'd chosen the right path.
Li Mingzhou was already dumbstruck. He instinctively tried to run, but the NPC soldiers pinned him down on the spot.
"Great. He tried to run, so we can detain him for up to four hours!" said the squad leader. He'd already noticed how much Wang Qianduo disliked Li Mingzhou.
"Maximum! Give him the maximum!"
"Understood. Take him away!"
And when they said they'd take him away, they meant it. Li Mingzhou had just started to say something when a special muzzle device clamped tightly over his mouth.
At the same time, he realized that his communication system wasn't working at all. He was completely stunned.
They dragged him away as he struggled.
"May I ask your esteemed name?"
Since the other man had shown him so much respect, Wang Qianduo wasn't about to brush him off. Asking his name and making a friend cost nothing.
Besides, more friends meant more options. Who knew when he might need the man's help again?
"Chi Xu, corporal in the Alliance Starfleet."
"Thousand King, sergeant in the fleet!"
"Nice to meet you! Nice to meet you..."
"..."
After chatting for a while and getting acquainted, Wang Qianduo continued cleaning the plaza, while Chi Xu resumed his patrol.
Once he had finished cleaning the plaza and turned in the mission to Old Huang, he had completed one full cycle of missions.
In addition to the mission rewards, he had earned an extra 3,000 experience, 15 Gold Crystals, a Fine Grade alloy steel, and a treasure chest.
It was equivalent to completing one and a half extra missions, so the rewards were quite generous.
He could complete two rounds of missions like this in a day. His leveling speed would leave everyone else in the dust.
Wang Qianduo decided to wait until he had two treasure chests before opening them. He picked up another round of missions and was already on his way.
The first stage of the mission was still collecting ore, the second was killing Star Beasts, the third was transportation, and the fourth was a dungeon. The missions hadn't changed overall; only some details had.
For instance, the types of ore and Star Beasts, the transportation destination, and the materials required for the dungeon mission.
None of that affected Wang Qianduo's ability to complete the missions. When he reached the dungeon stage, he contacted the Yu Sisters again and arranged to run the dungeon together.
This time, he planned to finish all four of his remaining dungeon runs in one go, rather than go through the hassle of organizing them one at a time.
"Wait a moment. I'll try to find two more people!" Wang Qianduo still wanted to give it a shot. It would be a big loss if they didn't fill all the slots.
"How about you don't recruit anyone? The two of us can charter the whole run and pay you the full-party rate," Yu Xiaoyu said.
Wang Qianduo said, "A rich lady, huh! Okay, let's do it. I won't let you take a loss, either. We'll run the Hard difficulty.
"Then we'll try Nightmare afterward. But I think I'll need you to help me with Nightmare. If we can clear it, the three of us can make money together."
Wang Qianduo already had a rough plan. Taking someone through Normal difficulty only earned him one Gold Crystal, while a full party earned four.
Charging each person ten Gold Crystals for a Nightmare Dungeon run shouldn't be unreasonable. Even if the three of them split the money evenly, each would still get 6.6 Gold Crystals.
And that didn't even include the rewards inside a Nightmare Dungeon, which were absolutely incomparable to those from a Hard-difficulty dungeon. Besides, they wouldn't be splitting everything evenly.
After the Yu Sisters discussed it, they agreed to Wang Qianduo's plan.
If the three of them ran Nightmare Dungeon carries together, Wang Qianduo would get half the earnings, and the sisters would split the other half.
They would also get first pick of any equipment they could use, as long as Wang Qianduo didn't need it.
The three of them quickly cleared a Hard-difficulty dungeon, then immediately went to challenge Nightmare.
Wang Qianduo could probably clear the Nightmare Dungeon by himself. After all, he had 30% full-restoration potions that no one else could even imagine.
Even dungeon monsters couldn't withstand him chugging potions.
But he didn't want to waste them. He didn't know if he'd be able to get more later.
Wasting such high-level potions here would be an enormous waste.
Even if he was a novice, he wasn't that much of a novice.
"Watch out for his slash. Just keep him busy. He's down to his last 10%, so wait for me to use one Lightning Chain!"
The final boss was right in front of them, and all of Wang Qianduo's skills were ready.
Yu Xiaoyu nodded, then put all her strength into charging up the heavy hammer in her hands. She slammed it hard into the ground, and a shockwave actually knocked the enormous boss backward.
This girl not only used a strength-type Mecha, but had also chosen a heavy hammer as her weapon. Seriously...
After Yu Xiaoyu attacked, Yu Xiaoxin followed right behind her. She held a spear in each hand and hurled them, pinning the boss's feet to the ground.
The boss had been staggering backward, but when the spears pinned its feet, it fell flat on the ground.
The boss's powerful resistance meant their skills could not control it for long, but the sisters' special skills had worked together to knock it down.
That gave them plenty of time to keep it down. A boss of that size would need at least a few seconds to get back up.
Their damage was a little pathetic, but they didn't need to deal the damage themselves.
"Fall back! Watch my Lightning Chain!"
Just as the boss was getting up, Wang Qianduo's Lightning Chain came off cooldown. A silver arc shot out and took away the last of its health.
Critical hit -2010
"Nice, we cleared it!"
"I want damage like yours, too!"
"Keep dreaming!"
As two rich ladies, the Yu Sisters' gear was already quite good compared to that of ordinary players. Their skills were also a little better than Wang Qianduo's.
At least when it came to working together, they were so good that Wang Qianduo couldn't help feeling inferior.
Wang Qianduo had also realized that he seemed to be below average. How else could everyone he met be better than him?
The three of them had still struggled a little to clear Nightmare, but they'd made it through without anything going seriously wrong.
All they lacked was teamwork, and that could be fixed with a couple of practice runs.
The only real scare had been the final boss. In the first half of the dungeon, Wang Qianduo had enough skills thanks to learning the basic Intelligence-based skills.
When they fought the Forest Wolves, he didn't give them a chance to call for reinforcements. And when they fought the first two bosses, his burst damage was high enough.
Even if he couldn't take them down in one go, the Yu Sisters' teamwork and damage were more than enough to finish them off perfectly. The three of them made a well-balanced team and could clear the dungeon smoothly.
Another factor was that without the hidden mission, the dungeon's final boss, the Woodcutter, was much easier. It also didn't have a second phase where it took to the skies.
All these factors combined meant the three of them could carry people through the dungeon.
"Nightmare Dungeon carries, 10 Gold Crystals per person! Only two slots available. Loot goes to the party leader. Limited slots, first come, first served—"
As soon as they left the dungeon, Wang Qianduo started advertising in the channel.
But before he could even finish his sentence, applications started flooding in.
Party applications kept popping up in front of him, one after another, unlike the first time.
Someone could carry people through Nightmare? Of course they had to check it out!
Before you continue