The mercenaries complained one after another, and every time they brought up Xuan Yu, they ground their teeth in hatred.
At first, although Xuan Yu had the Pay-to-Win System, his attribute points were limited, so he hadn't had much of an impact on the other mercenaries.
But as time went on, Xuan Yu took on missions to earn bounties while also swindling, tricking, and stealing other mercenaries' targets. He kept turning them in at the Bounty Exchange for cash to spend on his stats, and things changed dramatically.
Xuan Yu's four core attributes kept climbing, and the threat he posed to the other mercenaries grew by the day.
Fortunately, Kakuzu's arrival took some of the heat off everyone else.
After Xuan Yu went off to torment Kakuzu, he no longer had time to mess with the others.
But no one had expected things to go wrong on Kakuzu's end recently, leaving Xuan Yu free to torment these poor, wandering shinobi again.
As the wandering shinobi denounced Xuan Yu, wishing they could give him a "purely physical critique," he was currently at the Bounty Exchange in the Empty District.
Thud!
With the muffled sound of a heavy object hitting the ground, Xuan Yu tossed down a corpse worth a bounty of one million ryō.
He held out a hand toward the Black Market manager and said coolly, "Pay up!"
The Black Market administrator glanced at the corpse, then asked, "I heard you've started stealing other mercenaries' bounty targets in the Empty District Black Market again. Is that true?"
The Black Market manager was named Yoshino Yujin, and he had run the Empty District Bounty Exchange for a long time.
In theory, the Bounty Exchange only needed to issue missions and pay out bounties.
But maintaining a healthy ecosystem at the Bounty Exchange required considering many other things.
For example, they had to train new mercenaries to ensure a steady stream of fresh recruits to take over and complete the various bounty missions.
Xuan Yu's habit of stealing other mercenaries' bounty targets would undoubtedly do considerable damage to the Bounty Exchange's ecosystem.
If Xuan Yu had only done it once or twice, that would have been one thing. But according to the information Yoshino Yujin had gathered, Xuan Yu had hardly been taking missions himself lately. He was relying entirely on stealing targets other people had hunted.
In Yoshino's view, Xuan Yu's approach of exhausting the pond to catch all the fish was practically a challenge to the Empty District Bounty Exchange's rules. He felt he needed to teach the man a lesson.
But Xuan Yu didn't take Yoshino Yujin's warning seriously at all.
A cold smile tugged at Xuan Yu's lips. He gave Yoshino a sidelong glance and said, "Forget where the corpses I turn in came from for a moment. Just tell me this: have the Bounty Exchange's missions been completed? Have its numbers gone up?"
"Well..." Yoshino Yujin faltered, momentarily at a loss for words.
After all, although Xuan Yu played dirty and stole other people's targets, the Bounty Exchange's missions had indeed been completed, and its numbers were indeed continuing to rise.
Even so, he kept a stern expression and said, "That still doesn't make your stealing other mercenaries' prey acceptable."
Xuan Yu waved a hand impatiently. "I didn't steal anything. I took it. When a mercenary takes a target another mercenary hunted, that doesn't count as stealing! Can you really call it stealing when it's mercenaries doing it? I acquired it through wisdom!"
Xuan Yu's shameless argument made Yoshino Yujin see red.
Yoshino Yujin snorted and said sternly, "If you're going to put it that way, then you can't put it that way!"
Xuan Yu: (O_O)???
Xuan Yu frowned, wondering if Yoshino's head was shaped like a point.
But he couldn't be bothered to argue with Yoshino about it right now.
He simply waved a hand and said, "Mr. Yoshino, don't worry. I treat all wandering shinobi equally! I'll treat wandering shinobi from other places the same way I treat the ones in the Empty District."
"Besides, when I turn in missions at other Bounty Exchanges, they don't even ask where the corpses came from. Not only that, they're willing to negotiate discounts on the fees, and they're willing to help me keep an eye out for ninjutsu to collect."
Yoshino Yujin could no longer sit still after hearing that.
He hurriedly declared, "I can negotiate too! I can help you collect ninjutsu too! No matter how you obtained the corpses you bring in, the Empty District Bounty Exchange guarantees you the best deal. We'll always work with you for mutual benefit!"
The Empty District Bounty Exchange wasn't supposed to support Xuan Yu's habit of stealing other people's prey, but Xuan Yu held all the cards right now, so they had no choice but to show their support.
After all, Xuan Yu stole bounty targets not only from mercenaries in the Empty District Black Market, but from mercenaries in Black Markets elsewhere, too. None of them had escaped his clutches.
In that case, as long as they could get Xuan Yu to turn in as many missions as possible at the Empty District Bounty Exchange, it was a win for them no matter how they looked at it.
As for the fate of the Empty District's mercenaries?
Alas, for the sake of the Bounty Exchange's growth, the mercenaries of the Empty District would just have to suffer a little longer.
Yoshino Yujin didn't dare waste another second. He immediately filled out a check for 1.01 million ryō.
The bounty target Xuan Yu had brought in had originally been worth one million ryō.
But that one million was already the net amount after the issuing party and the recipient had each had a fee deducted.
When a client posted a bounty at the Bounty Exchange, they had to pay a fee. The Bounty Exchange also deducted another fee when paying out the bounty to a mercenary.
Since Xuan Yu exhausted the pond to catch all the fish among all the Black Market mercenaries without discrimination, Yoshino had deliberately given up one percentage point to encourage him to bring more missions to the Empty District Bounty Exchange in the future.
It was only an extra ten thousand ryō, but Xuan Yu was still delighted.
A one-percent profit wasn't much, but little things added up.
Besides, it was a free bonus. As long as he made an effort to turn in his missions at the Empty District Bounty Exchange from now on, he could pocket a little extra each time.
What's more, if he put that ten thousand ryō into the Pay-to-Win System, it would turn into a full attribute point.
When it came to attribute points, the more the better.
Once quantity gave way to quality, he'd have strength on par with One-Punch Man and speed to match The Flash.
At that level, when he faced those extraterrestrials from the Otsutsuki Clan, he'd beat them so badly they wouldn't dare make a peep.
After taking the check from Yoshino, Xuan Yu waved cheerfully to Mr. Yoshino and left the Bounty Exchange.
Yoshino Yujin was in a great mood too. As long as Xuan Yu brought more missions to his Bounty Exchange, the Empty District's operation would surely grow faster.
What Yoshino didn't know was that after getting a taste of the benefits here, Xuan Yu had decided to get the most out of every deal and use the same pitch at Bounty Exchanges elsewhere.
After leaving the Bounty Exchange, Xuan Yu wasted no time in depositing the check into the Pay-to-Win System.
[Ping! Deposit successful! Current balance: 15,073,600 ryō!]
Looking at the balance in the Pay-to-Win System, Xuan Yu couldn't help sighing.
"The other mercenaries in the Black Market aren't worth much. I stole from Kakuzi three times and got over sixty million ryō. Kakuzi hasn't been doing missions nearby these past few days, so I've robbed all the other mercenaries, and I've only gotten fifteen million."
"But how should I spend all this cash on stats?"
Before you continue