"By the heavens!" Yue Yun inwardly cursed bitterly.
The promise of a united front, the plan to chase women together, to indulge in mischief together—how had they so easily abandoned him?
What Yue Yun didn't know was that after seeing the promised compensation, the two of them had betrayed their original vows.
Who cared about women when such resources were available? With this kind of power, who wouldn't be able to attract women in the future?
"You're the last one. Will you sign or not?" Xu Que asked, his face blank.
"Huh?"
Yue Yun was stunned. Was it really happening so quickly?
Seeing that everyone else had already signed, Yue Yun closed his eyes, steeled himself, and signed his name.
Xu Que collected the contracts and nodded in satisfaction. "Good. Congratulations to all of you for joining the upper echelons of Zha Tian Hunters. From here on, I expect each of you to remember what I say. Don't make any mistakes and then blame me for being ruthless."
Upon hearing Xu Que's serious tone, everyone perked up, all ears.
"Each of you has survived the trials of life and death and has undergone a baptism of blood. You are now the leaders of two teams. Your responsibility is to enhance the strength of these teams," Xu Que said, tossing three lists to Yue Qing and Yue Xiaoqin.
"I thought only two or three would agree to this contract, so I didn't prepare many members. For now, Yue Qing, Yue Xiaoqin, and Yue Gang will handle the distribution. As for the others, in the next few days, I'll recruit new members and assign the qualified ones to you."
"Xu Bro, can I act alone?" Yue Shan raised his hand and asked.
"Why do you want to go solo?" Xu Que inquired.
"I use my fists. If I work together with others, I fear I won't be of much help."
Before Xu Que could respond, Yue Yun stood up and said, "Xu Bro, I use a dagger, and I'd like to act alone too."
Xu Que looked at Yue Shan, then at Yue Yun, and said, "Honestly, I think you two are planning to team up, aren't you?"
Yue Yun, having his thoughts laid bare, didn't feel embarrassed and simply admitted, "You got me."
"Fine, I agree," Xu Que nodded.
What?
Not only Yue Yun and Yue Shan were stunned, but the others were equally bewildered.
Xu Que just smiled, offering no explanation for his decision.
In truth, in his previous life, fists and daggers were the perfect combination, even more powerful than shields and spears.
Returning to the matter at hand, Xu Que continued to go over various points of their mission, even bringing out forms to be filled out upon returning and the territorial ownership that needed to be submitted.
None of the group had objections. After all, the resources provided by the company far outweighed the resources they owned in their territories.
The resources Xu Que offered were indeed far greater, as he promised a return of one hundred and ten percent—more territories meant more accumulated resources.
To put it bluntly, if he could afford to give five times the reward, he was still making a huge profit. In fact, the total resources of all the people on Blue Star combined couldn't even rival a fraction of what he possessed.
Xu Que had inquired about the reward for seventh place from Kun Shao. While the additional 20% resources seemed nice, they were essentially insignificant...
From his calculations, the second-place reward would likely provide no more than twenty times the resources.
What Xu Que didn't realize was that if the second-place person heard his prediction, they would certainly demand an additional ten times more resources from him...
After assigning the tasks, the meeting finally concluded.
Just as Xu Que was preparing to spend more time with Shen Mengchu, she handed him two video clips.
"These are people we've been monitoring outside the company. You're right—we're being targeted."
Xu Que took the phone and smiled upon seeing the faces of those individuals.
Seeing this smile, Shen Mengchu was puzzled. Shouldn't he be angry, upset, or even furious? Why was he smiling?
What she didn't know was that Xu Que was indeed enjoying himself at that moment. He felt a strange urge to go down, clean up the scum, and then happily refine them into oil.
But for now, he refrained from acting on his thoughts. After all, he still had to track down Ji Bodan with these people.
"When did they arrive?" Xu Que asked with a smile.
"About 8:30 in the morning, and around 4:00 in the afternoon," Shen Mengchu answered.
Xu Que glanced at the clock and saw that there were still over two hours left. He handed the phone back to Shen Mengchu.
"I won't be going back to stay tonight. I have a few matters to attend to over the next couple of days," Xu Que said.
"Alright, take care," Shen Mengchu replied.
She didn't ask where he was going—her feelings for him were simple, and she trusted him completely.
After chatting with Shen Mengchu for a while, Xu Que handed her several items and reminded her to focus on improving her cultivation and to begin refining medicine.
Shen Mengchu took his advice to heart.
Leaving the top-floor office, Xu Que checked the group chat and saw that everyone had already set out. He returned to his own office.
Taking out his phone, Xu Que added the ten young people from the Yue family to the group.
"This time, I've stored the weapons and armor in the linked friends' warehouse. You'll be able to see everything once you open it," Xu Que said.
Kun Shao replied, "Wow, so many good items, but why are there no weapons above grade C?"
Qi Shan said, "This C-grade wrist guard is good. I'll take it."
Yue Yun commented, "Hey, I found the group! Greetings, seniors, I'm a new member!"
Yue Shan added, "Hello, seniors, bubble 1."
Huang Bo said, "From now on, we're all family. No need for senior-junior distinctions."
...
Watching them awkwardly chat, Xu Que turned off his phone and began examining the main spoils.
[Name: Mirror Water Blade B-grade (unique equipment)]
[Quality: Excellent (purple)]
[Active: When used, creates a water mirage that refracts and disappears. The effect ends after an attack. (Cooldown: 24 hours.)]
[Passive: Increases all attributes by 35% during attacks. When equipped, grants basic healing abilities.]
[Note: The saber of the water element Talim, with astonishing destructive power. Made from crystal ore, it was the last work of Milan Du.]
"Such a fine blade. If only I could have given it to Duan Jiude earlier, then he could have had an A-grade longsword."
Xu Que didn't consider giving it to Huang Bo, as the blade didn't suit his dual-wielding style. Furthermore, it was much more suited to Duan Jiude.
As for Yue Xiaoqin, Xu Que didn't consider her either—not because he was reluctant, but because her fighting style, like Zhao Xian's, favored larger or heavier blades.
[Name: Water Arrow Ring C-grade]
[Quality: Excellent (purple)]
[Active: Fires a water arrow at the target, with a chance to cause poison. (Cooldown: 180 minutes.)]
[Passive: Slightly increases the wearer's recovery ability. (Cooldown: 90 minutes.)]
After examining the two pieces from the "Dismal Cave," Xu Que turned his attention to the three items in the Anchor Point Space.
[Name: Water Crystal B-grade (224/500)]
[Quality: Excellent (purple)]
[Item Type: Collects spiritual energy within a radius of 800 meters.]
[Name: Water Vine Armor B-grade]
[Quality: Excellent (purple)]
[Passive: Increases some defense attributes and adds a small recovery bonus to the wearer.]
Xu Que liked these kinds of equipment that didn't affect movement speed or attack speed.
Putting on the Water Vine Armor, Xu Que's gaze shifted to the item that had puzzled him most.
[Name: Prophet Kamaran's Diary (Unopened)]
[Quality: Rough (gray)]
[Reading Item: The final diary of Prophet Kamaran.]