Should he buy it? Of course not. Zheng Yichen had thought it over, and decided to sell the video through the Night Banquet Bar. The deposit was the price the bartender had just quoted. The bar would take its cut from the final sale price later, with any difference refunded or paid accordingly. The bartender was very professional and drew up a contract for Zheng Yichen.
"We'll have a result within three days. Usually, you can come back here the next day."
After finishing, the bartender changed the subject. "As a new hunter, you might be interested in some of these assignments."
"Of course. That's exactly why I came."
Zheng Yichen was very interested in this topic.
"Come with me."
He thought the bartender would take him to some impressive-looking secret room, but instead, they returned to the bar. After washing his hands, the bartender brought Zheng Yichen a "menu" listing some recent assignments, such as a weeklong inspection of a certain breeding farm, security work at a research institute, and so on.
The shortest assignments lasted at least three days, and the longest no more than half a month. Looking at them gave Zheng Yichen a strange sense of déjà vu. Were they hiring hunters for some major operation, or just looking for temporary workers called hunters?
"Just starting out." Seeing the doubt in Zheng Yichen's eyes, the bartender smiled. "These are all suitable for Novice Hunters."
"Are there... any more advanced ones?"
"For those, you'll have to go outside." The bartender didn't waste time explaining. He simply brought out another menu for Zheng Yichen to look over. Zheng Yichen glanced at it and skipped right past it. For now, he'd better stick to something simple. Everything on that list looked like something he couldn't afford to mess with.
Zheng Yichen also spotted an assignment to hunt down a Mysterious Dragon Beast. Wasn't that the kind of thing that would be a standard twenty-five-player raid in a game?
He decided to take things step by step: fight monsters, level up, and gather information before considering anything like that. Picking up the first menu again, he chose an assignment at a research institute. "I'll take this one."
He'd had enough of places like breeding farms. A research institute sounded better. He'd never been to one, so he was curious.
"About this one, I'd personally advise you not to get too attached once you're there. Give up when you need to." Seeing that Zheng Yichen had made his choice, the bartender said this outright, then brought out a tablet and pulled up the relevant information. "Scan your face or your card?"
"Card." Zheng Yichen took out the Hunter License he'd only just gotten and barely had time to warm in his pocket. After scanning it, the bartender nodded. "All set."
"Those research institutes should have their own private forces. Why do they need security personnel?" Seeing that the assignment had been registered, Zheng Yichen asked curiously.
The bartender smiled without answering. Zheng Yichen understood. "Another glass of what I had last time."
Only after serving him a drink did the bartender speak. "The security assignment is just the public explanation. In reality, they're looking for testers."
"So anyone who accepts the assignment is guaranteed to find something going out of control over there? Isn't that just making things complicated?"
The bartender shook his head. "Strictly speaking, it's a kind of live-fire exercise. Research institutes have their own Security Forces, but those guards are trained as a group, so they're different from independent hunters. The institutes want more real-world data. Their own security forces alone aren't enough."
"Oh." Zheng Yichen nodded to show he understood. It was probably like the difference between martial arts experts in the civilian world and soldiers trained in the military. Soldiers who had undergone rigorous training could fight, and so could civilian martial arts experts without military training. They were both capable fighters, but their strengths and combat habits were completely different.
"Then why not just say so on the assignment? Why make things so complicated?" Now that he understood the reason, Zheng Yichen clicked his tongue.
"The nature of it is different." The bartender didn't explain further. Hunters would encounter plenty of anomalies once they entered the profession. Even controlled anomaly research at a research institute could go wrong. That included the assignment Zheng Yichen had just taken. Since Zheng Yichen worked alone, he might think the whole process was a hassle, but for the research institutes, it was necessary.
"Your information's been registered. Just go to the Nefita Institute in Liuyun District in two days. You can come back here to pick up your money then, too." The bartender put away the tablet. "If you want to hang out here, I can recommend some good drinking buddies."
"Sounds expensive. Am I going to be broke by the end of the night?"
The bartender gave a noncommittal reply. "That depends on what you choose. Generally speaking, that won't happen."
"I'm really curious about that 'generally speaking' part!"
The usual option meant finding regular drinking buddies who just wanted to drink together and see who could hold their liquor. Whoever lost paid the bill. At least you could enjoy a good drink. The unusual option meant having a pretty girl keep you company in person. That was for veterans. For a novice, who knew which one of them would be keeping the other company?
"I'll just stick with this. Anything stronger would be too bitter." Zheng Yichen swirled the glass of fruit wine in his hand. "How many hunters are there here? If asking costs money, forget it."
"That's free." The bartender smiled. "Once you've been around the profession for a while, you'll be able to tell at a glance. But I don't mind telling you now: half the people here are hunters, and quite a few of the rest come here looking for thrills."
Zheng Yichen had been able to find out about the Night Banquet Bar, so of course other people could, too. But being able to find it didn't mean they wanted to risk their lives dealing with dangerous anomalies. They came here for the excitement. Even if they couldn't become hunters, they could still befriend one.
"Now that you have a Hunter License, it'll be easy to ask girls out." The bartender gave Zheng Yichen a look that any young man would understand, then gestured for him to move aside. He had a new customer to serve.
Two days later, Zheng Yichen returned to the Night Banquet Bar. The bartender was talking to someone, so he found a seat. There was more than one bartender at the Night Banquet Bar; he just didn't know the others.
As soon as the bartender's customer left, Zheng Yichen went over. The bartender smiled at him. "The same as last time?"
"...Sure." Another glass of the same fruit wine appeared in front of him.
The bartender continued, "Your recording included a conversation, so the final total comes to 120,000. After the service fee, that's 114,000. Taxes have already been paid."
"Those research institutes are that generous?" Zheng Yichen was stunned.
"How else would they attract people? Your recording didn't include much conversation, so if there'd been more, the price would probably have been quite a bit higher." The bartender said Zheng Yichen had lost out because of his inexperience.
Zheng Yichen thought about it...
"Making money is so easy."
Hearing him, the bartender chuckled. "That's because you got lucky. If you hadn't, this wouldn't have been the kind of conversation you had. You might even have been in danger. Making money isn't easy. You can't just focus on the people who made it."
Everyone only looked at those who'd made money. They rarely paid attention to those who'd gotten into trouble.
Before you continue