Chapter 246 - 99: Bizarre Cellmate (Part 2)

Words : 1359 Updated : Sep 27th, 2025

After Compass was locked up, every two hours, like a wound-up alarm clock, he would proclaim his innocence instead of telling the time. Seeing Fa Xiaoyun storm off furiously, Yue Jinghua knew that she had largely achieved her objective and couldn’t help but feel delighted. She casually picked up an unclaimed Mercenary Badge, and her eyebrows raised slightly when she saw the shiny two stars on it. "Kind big sister, please return my lifeline to me," a face rounder than the full moon on the fifteenth squeaked through the wooden bars, his eyes the size of mung beans. "You’re a mercenary? What did you do to be locked up in the Heavenly Prison," Yue Jinghua didn’t rush to throw the badge back. She also had a similar two-star badge. The sight of Compass’s badge reminded her of her experiences in Mercenary Town and also brought back memories of the deceased Zack. "Debt," Compass frowned painfully, his mung bean eyes glanced at the leftover white steamed buns in Yue Jinghua’s cell, "Our Mercenary Team couldn’t cover the debts, and as the team leader, I was locked up to account for it. My brothers and sisters said they would pool together money to bail me out, but it’s been several days, I’ve lost quite a bit of weight, and still no sign of them." Tossing a few steamed buns over, Compass immediately tore into a big smile. Mercenaries function in various forms; a single mercenary is known as a free mercenary, simply registered with the Mercenary Guild. A higher level is the Mercenary Team, which consists of at least three members and no more than ten. As a mercenary, Yue Jinghua has also encountered some destitute mercenaries. Some were sued by clients for failing to complete assigned tasks or losing the items, getting locked up, which is not unusual in the Mercenary World. But for a debt, a mercenary being locked up in Heavenly Prison was unheard of until now. "Hey, big sister, you seem quite knowledgeable about the market. Let me tell you secretly, we owe this amount," Compass stretched out his chubby fingers, first gestured a four then held up one finger. "Ten thousand Fourth-level Dark Pills?" Yue Jinghua was not unbelieving, but she didn’t understand, how much courage a client must have to entrust a task worth ten thousand Fourth-level Dark Pills to a rookie Mercenary Team. "Hey, you’re underestimating us. We’re the second generation of soldiers; any spiritual artifact we have could be sold for more than that amount. Don’t be scared, our task was indeed worth ten thousand Fourth-level Dark Pills at the Pearl level," Compass boasted proudly. "You, a Pearl-level Mercenary Task?" Yue Jinghua shook her head in disbelief, that seemed too far-fetched: "The Mercenary Manual states that tasks of Pearl Rank or higher can only be handled by free mercenaries of Four Stars or higher, or Mercenary Teams rated three stars or higher. Your team only has two stars, there’s no way you could take on such a high-level task." The mercenary system differentiates between individual and team assessments. Free mercenaries level up by accumulating tasks; in principle, a one-star mercenary completes 20 Stone Rank tasks, a two-star completes 30 Shell Rank tasks, a three-star completes 40 Pearl Rank tasks. But it’s different for Mercenary Teams, which must complete team tasks of the same grade to advance. A Stone Rank team task equates to five same-grade individual tasks. Therefore, Compass and his team, being at most one-star mercenaries, couldn’t possibly take on such a high-rank task. "Don’t doubt it, wait, you’re also a mercenary?" Compass finally realized. Yue Jinghua nodded and took out her two-star Mercenary Badge to show him. Seeing that the other party was also a mercenary, and significantly younger but already a two-star Mercenary, Luo Bin suddenly held him in high regard. "You’re right, but that’s the general situation. Every profession has its unwritten rules, and mercenaries are no exception." Yue Jinghua, who had been on Canglong Continent for a short time and had only been exposed to the Mercenary World for a month or so, had limited knowledge of the industry’s rules. In some cases, newly established Mercenary Teams, in order to rise quickly, can take on higher-ranked missions through certain means by providing a collateral. "As long as you provide the Mercenary Guild with collateral of equal value to the goods being transported, you could accept all tasks below the Unrivaled Rank. As long as the task is successfully completed, you can collect Mercenary Points rewards and reclaim your collateral," said Luo Bin and his fellow rookie mercenary friends, who, despite being novices, knew far more about mercenary rules than Yue Jinghua. Luo Bin’s team, consisting mostly of members in their teens and twenties, had been formed only two or three months ago, and apart from the fatty, all other members were one-star mercenaries. Like Luo Bin, their parents were powerful mercenaries; Luo Bin himself was the eldest son of a five-star Mercenary Strongman. But these people, after their parents retired from being mercenaries – some washing their hands of the gold basin and others turning to business or entering service in great nations – their children were born with silver and golden spoons in their mouths. They hadn’t even seen a few drops of blood, let alone become mercenaries. The formation of this "Second Generation Soldier" squad was mostly out of curiosity. After forming their team, they began looking for mercenary tasks everywhere. Like all rookie mercenaries, they first received trivial tasks that were tiring and offered few Mercenary Points. After much consideration, Luo Bin, the most "experienced" two-star mercenary of their team, stepped forward to apply for this cross-rank task from the Mercenary Guild and accordingly, they submitted a few Middle-grade Spirit Rank Spiritual Artifacts as collateral. These youngster’s families were not ordinary, and although they ventured out secretly without telling their families, they always had some valuable items with them. "How did you become a two-star mercenary?" The Mercenary Manual records that a Mercenary Team can only be formed if there is at least one two-star mercenary in the small team. But just now, the fatty Luo Bin mentioned that his toughest mission was helping a nearby farmer find a missing cow. "It was quite a coincidence that day; I went out of the city to help the farmer find the cow, and accidentally got lost. I had to spend the night in the woods, and I heard a dog barking in the middle of the night. Too lazy to get up, I just turned over and continued sleeping. Who knew that by dawn, I was lying on a beast that looked somewhat like a dog. I thought, since the beast is dead, I might as well carry it back and stew a pot of dog meat. Only when I got back did I find out it was a Fourth-tier Cat-headed Wolf, an evil beast listed on Mercenary Town’s wanted list. The people from the Mercenary Guild added it up, and I became a two-star mercenary." Luo Bin confessed honestly. Yue Jinghua and her companions were instantly dumbstruck, all staring at the fatty’s imposing frame, imagining the miserable state of the Cat-headed Wolf crushed to death. As they were talking, a prison guard came in, bringing breakfast; unknowingly, it had already gotten light. Upon seeing the prison guard, the fatty scrambled over, "Big brother, have my brothers come to bail me out yet?" This group of Second Generation Soldiers, even if they hadn’t completed the task, had gathered enough money to cover the losses of this Red Pearl Task. "Bail? What with? You just offended the Monarch, you’ll have to be locked up for at least another ten days. Also, the goods you were escorting have been revalued, said to have been undervalued, those twelve missing Dark Beast Eggs have been identified as High-level Dark Beast Eggs. Among them, there was even a Terrain Dragon Egg, valued at 500,000 Fifth-order Xuan Pills alone. Just get ready to rot in prison," the prison guard finished, Luo Bin collapsed with a thump to the ground, fainting.

Chapter 246 - 99: Bizarre Cellmate (Part 2)

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