Wanted Poster

"All right, all right, Amelia, don't cry! Tell Luo De what happened. Luo De will stand up for you!" Luo De stroked Amelia's long silver hair, held her in his arms like a daughter, and gently patted her back as he spoke tenderly. A rare trace of warmth appeared on his face, which had only ever shown flippant indifference.

"Luo De! He bullied me and wouldn't let me eat!" Amelia pointed at Zhang Yao, who sat there without moving, looking as though she had suffered a bitter, grievous wrong.

"Hehe, it's only a meal. What's the big deal? Look what Luo De brought you! Your favorite little desserts and hot cakes!" As he spoke, Luo De lifted the basket he was carrying, set it before Amelia, and took out the food one piece at a time.

"Wow! These are Auntie Moni's desserts from Heart House!" At the sight of the food on the table, Amelia cheered and lunged toward it. Then, as though she had remembered something, she hurriedly packed everything back into the basket, held it protectively against her chest, and glared at Zhang Yao. "These are all mine! You're not getting any!" With that, she carried the basket back to her bedroom.

"Uh..." Zhang Yao rolled his eyes and thought, Do I look like someone who would fight a girl over food?

"Hehe, Zhang Yao, just give Amelia a little leeway! She only just turned eighteen. She's still a child!" Luo De sat down beside Zhang Yao and gently tried to persuade him.

"I'm eighteen too. I'm a child too!" Zhang Yao said irritably.

"Uh... no way! Are you serious?" Zhang Yao's words startled Luo De into jumping to his feet. He pointed at Zhang Yao, his face full of disbelief.

"I really am eighteen this year!" Zhang Yao confirmed once more.

"Impossible! How could you only be eighteen? You look young, sure, but I thought you had to be at least in your twenties, nearly thirty!" Luo De shook his head, still unwilling to believe it.

Zhang Yao said nothing. He merely reflected helplessly that anyone constantly driven to the brink of life and death would mature quickly too.

When Zhang Yao fell silent, Luo De had the sense not to keep pressing the matter and changed the subject instead.

"Here, Zhang Yao, look at these!" Luo De pulled a stack of papers from inside his clothes and placed it on the table.

"Are these... wanted posters?" Zhang Yao carefully examined the top sheet. A portrait occupied the center, with some descriptive text beneath it and a string of numbers at the bottom. It resembled the wanted posters he had seen in Westerns, so he asked with some uncertainty.

"That's right. I paid ten gold coins for these at the Bounty Hunters' Guild. Look, this one is for a leader in the Ironblood Brotherhood, and this one is for a constable at the Free Alliance's Andal Harbor." Luo De laid the wanted posters before Zhang Yao one after another, briefly explaining the backgrounds of the people depicted.

"What's the situation outside now?" Looking at the wanted posters, Zhang Yao frowned as he listened to Luo De's explanations. He could not help thinking, It looks even more chaotic out there than I imagined! The Free Alliance and the Ironblood Brotherhood haven't even gone to war yet, and they're already posting bounties on each other's important figures at the Bounty Hunters' Guild!

"On the surface, the wind is calm and the waves are still, but fierce currents are surging underneath. Both sides have stationed people at every street corner, tavern, inn, and even bathhouse. There are noticeably fewer people on the streets than before. I reckon Andal's civilians have sensed that something's wrong too! If this keeps up, I think they'll launch a citywide search of Andal. If that happens, life won't be easy for us!" Luo De said, worry showing on his face.

"A citywide search... should we move somewhere else?" Zhang Yao pondered for a moment, then looked at Luo De and asked.

The Free Alliance's target in this search would naturally be the Ironblood Brotherhood, but Zhang Yao and his companions bore the label of pirates! While rooting out the Ironblood Brotherhood's people, the Free Alliance would surely be more than happy to clear out the pirates within its territory as well! Even if Zhang Yao, the impostor, came through unscathed, Luo De, a genuine pirate, would have no escaping it.

"Hmm, let's watch things for another day or two. If anything looks wrong, we'll leave Andal immediately and lie low somewhere else, then come back once the storm has passed!" Luo De waved his hand, indicating there was no need to rush and that they should observe the situation first.

"All right, we'll do as you say!" On the question of whether to leave Andal, Zhang Yao humbly accepted Luo De's advice. After all, Luo De was the local snake here, and an extremely shrewd one at that. Following his lead would generally keep them out of trouble.

"Hehe, Zhang Yao! Can I discuss something with you?" Suddenly, Luo De looked at Zhang Yao and began chuckling.

"What is it?" Seeing Luo De's sly grin, Zhang Yao sensed that nothing good was coming, and his brows immediately drew together.

"Don't frown, Zhang Yao! I've got something good for you! Look, there's a huge business opportunity right before us, a chance to turn a tiny investment into a fortune. Shouldn't we..." As he spoke, Luo De pointed at the wanted posters on the table, his eyes practically turning into a pair of money signs.

"Uh, Luo De, money's nice, but you have to stay alive to spend it! The situation outside is already stretched as tight as a bowstring. The bow could snap and the string could break at any moment. Everyone else can't get away fast enough, yet you want to jump right into it! Go yourself if you want. I'm absolutely not taking that risk!" Zhang Yao stared speechlessly at Luo De. No one understood the situation outside better than Luo De did, yet he still wanted to complete the Bounty Hunters' Guild's wanted jobs and collect the rewards. Zhang Yao truly wondered whether the man even knew how to write the word "death."

"I know that! But this is a once-in-a-thousand-years opportunity! Look at this bounty. He's only a minor leader, and the reward is already over a hundred. And I know this guy. He has no real ability; all he does is bluster. If you took him down, you wouldn't even need the effort of blowing away a speck of dust! Then we'd collect the bounty and split it straight down the middle, half each. How about it?" Clearly unwilling to abandon his idea, Luo De picked up one of the wanted posters and tried to persuade Zhang Yao.

"I'm going to have breakfast!" Unfortunately, Zhang Yao rose and headed for the dining hall downstairs before Luo De could finish. The same principle still applied: money was nice, but you had to live to spend it! Besides, Zhang Yao's mind was not on any of this right now. He was wondering when he would be able to break through to the second level of the Nine Nether Art.

"If fifty-fifty won't do, we can split it forty-sixty! If that still doesn't work, I'll take a loss and we'll go thirty-seventy!" Luo De followed close behind Zhang Yao, still trying to persuade him without the slightest discouragement.