Absolute Gate

Chapter 102 I want it all
Everyone rubbed their hands together, their faces showing a relaxed expression.

The ability of Yangchun Sand is very convenient. The only drawback is that it is relatively slow in terms of propulsion, only slightly faster than before, at about six kilometers per hour.

So they walked underground until late at night, around 2 a.m., before finally arriving at their target area.

Going any further won't work; the margin of error is still quite large. You'll need to search for it yourself.

Yang Chunsha made a small opening, and Wu Zhongxian went up to check the situation.

As expected, there was nothing to be found; the surrounding area was all forest and snowfield.

No rush, it's definitely in the vicinity.

Wu Zhong leaped onto a large tree, grabbed the treetop, and peered out from the branches. Despite the wind and snow, his eyesight was excellent. After scanning the area, he quickly spotted a wooden cabin in the snow more than a thousand meters away.

The wooden house was completely covered by snow, but hot smoke kept billowing from the chimney, which allowed Wu Zhong to spot it at a glance.

"Found them, they should be living here..."

Wu Zhong decided to go back first and discuss with everyone how to divide the tasks for the encirclement and suppression.

Suddenly, he caught sight of several dark figures approaching the cabin from another direction.

"What? Someone actually found the target before me?" Wu Zhong frowned deeply.

Although Edelweiss and his teammates said that they might encounter other mercenaries who would steal the mission, Wu Zhong felt that he was already fast enough.

Should we give up?

Edelweiss said that if a mercenary group also finds its target, then it should give up decisively.

This was indeed a prudent choice, but Wu was unwilling to give up. He had already found it and could see it with his own eyes, so why should he leave?

Wu Zhong stood silently on the treetop, unmoved by the wind and snow, letting the heavy snow cover him.

This made him look like the tip of a snow-covered tree, completely obscuring his human form.

"One, two, three, only three people?"

Wu Zhong observed silently, and when the three people arrived at the wooden house, they actually knocked on the door.

This surprised Wu Zhong. Wasn't this supposed to be an attack? Why did it alert the enemy?
They then realized that these three people might not be from a mercenary group, and even if they were, they might not be sure that the person inside the house was the target of their mission.

"To be honest, I'm not sure either. Divination can only vaguely confirm that it's in this area."

"Even though this is the only wooden house in the area, the target may not actually be living alone; perhaps he has teammates?"

"Perhaps, Sedo is actually one of the three people outside?"

Wu Zhong frowned. If there was only one person in this wretched place, then it would undoubtedly be Sai Duo. But now that there were multiple people, they had to determine who the target was.

He used his light-footed skill, lightly touching the treetops with his feet, and drifted far away like a falling leaf.

It landed on another tree, the faint sound completely masked by the wind and snow. Wu continued this process repeatedly, gradually approaching the wooden house.

The entire process was as light as a drifting catkin, without disturbing anyone.

When he arrived at a distance of 20 meters from the cabin, the three of them had already entered the cabin.

"They actually let them in directly? Do they know each other?"

Wu Zhong carefully landed on the chimney, maximizing his hearing. He already had strong hearing, and the Longevity Technique also enhanced it, so even in a blizzard, he could hear sounds from inside the house.

He could hear the crackling sound of burning firewood and vaguely make out the conversation inside.

"Hans, what are you doing running around like this? What if the mercenary group finds you?" A deep male voice spoke in heavily accented British English.

The burly man named Hans brushed the snow off his body and replied casually, "Aba, we can't live off hunting all the time in this godforsaken place, can we?"

"We went to buy supplies. Look, these things are enough for us for a while, and we also have a signal receiver so we can watch the game, haha."

A slightly anxious voice rang out: "Hans, you're wanted for 200 million, and you still dare to come here..."

“This place is small, it’s safest for me to hide alone. Why did you bring all the guys here to look for me? Are you so sure you’re not being followed? You’re too conspicuous, what if you attract a powerful enemy…”

The conversation inside the room drifted intermittently into Wu Zhong's ears, causing him to look strange.

These people were calling each other by their first names, speaking in a familiar tone, sounding like... friends?
The mission objective was supposed to be one person? So, which of these four people is the target?

And... 200 million? One of them is wanted for 200 million?

The bounty I was tracking on Sedo was only 90 million. Who is this guy with a 200 million bounty?

Suddenly, Wu realized that these were other wanted criminals who had fled after the 'rebel incident'. They were not scattered and running away on their own, but rather they had banded together.

He was searching for Sedo, whose bounty was 90 million, but ended up finding other wanted criminals along the way...

Among them are individuals with a bounty of 200 million; aren't those the Gold Mercenaries?
Hans continued, "Hey, Aba, what are you afraid of? It's safer when we're all together."

"You think you can hide in the no-man's-land and survive alone without anyone finding you? All the major mercenary groups have methods for finding people. In the past two months, have you used any of them?"

Aba said, "No, I wouldn't dare use it at all, I'm worried someone will sense it..."

“I don’t even dare to go to nearby villages and towns to buy supplies. When it gets cold, I chop firewood to make a stove for warmth.”

"Damn it, this place is minus fifty or sixty degrees Celsius at night. I can't even get a full night's sleep. I have to get up every two hours to add firewood, otherwise the house will freeze to death..."

At this moment, a sharp voice said, "You don't need to use multi-dimensional magic. Only your aura is completely public and recorded. As long as you are not tracked by sensing-type multi-dimensional magic, only the catastrophic object's ability to lock onto us out of thin air can know us."

"But not many mercenary groups possess such useful calamity artifacts. We'll see if someone comes looking for them."

“I have set up many traps nearby, and I also have many small animals to keep watch for me. If any other strangers approach, they will mutilate themselves and emit blood, which I can sense.”

Upon hearing this, Wu Zhong's heart stirred; so there were these arrangements in mind.

Animal sentinels? Blood-sensing?
Although he was cautious enough to use underground digging to get closer, intending to approach covertly, he hadn't really thought that far ahead. In fact, it was mostly because the blizzard was too cold.

However, the underground digging approach was truly brilliant, completely ignoring the traps and animal sentinels deployed on the surface...

They started going underground from fifty kilometers away, so their vigilance range was obviously not that large.

A fourth, deep voice said, "Alright, with the sentries deployed by Sedo, no one can get close to this place without being detected. We can stay here in peace."

“Let’s stay with him for two or three months. Once Long Qi and Michelle kill President Gangu and the arrest warrant is lifted, we’ll be fine.” As they chatted, Wu Zhong was suddenly struck by a thought.

“Seddo!” He nodded to himself. The target was indeed here, and one of the three people who came in from outside the door.

Judging from the conversation, there used to be only one mercenary named 'Aba' living in this wooden house.

The other three were looking for him, so they banded together and hid.

They had already arrived when I divined the location of the four wanted criminals, so I found them all at once.

The conversation also mentioned Michelle, and Wu Zhong realized that this was another target of his.

He received two arrest warrants, one for Ceddo with a value of 90 million and the other for Michelle with a value of 80 million, both in the Pacific Ocean.

That guy even planned to assassinate President Gangu in order to have the arrest warrant revoked?
Wu Zhong thought, "Aren't we overthinking this?" Even if President Gangu might really be weak, many mercenary groups accepted the missions he issued, and who wouldn't want the huge bounties?
The patron is dead, the mission is canceled—isn't this blocking the mercenary group's path to wealth? They'll definitely be wary of this and send members to protect President Gangu.

It's better not to attempt the assassination; going is like walking into a trap.

Of course, Michelle might have some kind of long-range curse-killing method, but she's definitely not a catastrophic object.

The mission information provided by the sponsor clearly stated that there were no calamities, which is credible. Otherwise, the 'rebel incident' would have been intervened by many forces long ago, and it wouldn't have turned into just a group of mercenaries exchanging magical attacks and spells.

"He just mentioned that there's a dragon unicorn on Michelle's side. Could it be that the Pacific region I divined isn't just about Michelle, but also involves multiple fugitives banding together?"

Wu Zhong thought to himself, somewhat speechless.

He received two wanted notices, both for members of two different fugitive squads. If he were to take action, he'd have to take them all down at once!
That being the case...

"Edelweiss, help me check the abilities of mercenaries like Aba, Hans, and Longqi. Their codenames are unclear, but they are definitely mercenaries who participated in the rebel incident."

Wu Zhong decisively asked Edelweiss to help investigate the information he had obtained.

However, this is difficult because there is no code name; otherwise, Wu Zhong could have found out himself.

In this wanted notice, the only target he was tracking was named Sedo. It was definitely not his real name, but at least it was the name the rebels used to address each other.

Therefore, the only way to find out about Hans and Abba is to be someone who has received the corresponding arrest warrant.

The only solution is to use Edelweiss's connections to inquire about it.

Wu Zhong lay in wait for a while longer, listening in while secretly communicating with Yang Chunsha using the Yu Mu.

"De Biao, I've spotted the target, but the situation here is a bit complicated..."

"Don't rush to start. Dig slowly underground, come over to the cabin... Don't get spotted. Go deep, go slowly, the direction is..."

Wu finally notified his teammates to come over, while he himself endured the cold wind and snow, lying on the rooftop, completely covered by the heavy snow.

About two hours later, Yang Chunsha finally told him, "I've arrived. I should be about thirty meters below the wooden house."

Wu Zhong had been eavesdropping the whole time. The people inside were already asleep, their snoring never ceasing, clearly indicating they hadn't been discovered.

"Don't rush, stand by. They're confident they won't be discovered. There are animals around to help keep watch. We're in the shadows, so don't expose ourselves too soon."

Wu Zhong said, patiently waiting.

As it turned out, there was still no news from Edelweiss by dawn.

Wu sighed. Having an agent was certainly good, but his agent was clearly not very influential.

I reckon I won't be able to find out anything within a day or two.

So he called Edelweiss again: "Edelweiss, these are all mercenaries wanted in the rebellion. Just tell me who they are, and I'll take them all!"

Edelweiss exclaimed in surprise, "Huh? You accepted them all? These are all top-tier silver-level mercenaries, and there are several gold-level mercenaries too. You can't accept the gold-level ones."

Wu Zhong said in a deep voice, "It's alright, I'll take all the silver ones! After I've dealt with two, you can help me take the gold ones too."

"If there's something we can't handle, we can always turn back and abandon the mission."

Upon hearing this, Edelweiss hurriedly told him, "Abandoning a mission will result in a negative review record, which will affect your promotion. Every time you abandon a silver mission, you will have to complete one more silver mission to unlock a gold mission."

"You only need two more silver quests to unlock gold. If you give up seven or eight silver quests, it means you'll need to complete seven or eight more silver quests to unlock gold!"

Wu Zhong knew about this and asked, "Tell me about the rebel incident. How many arrest warrants were issued, and what were their respective levels of difficulty?"

Edelweiss sighed, “Ten, two of them are gold and eight are silver.”

“Alright, I’ll take all eight Silver-ranked positions,” Wu Zhong said firmly.

Edelweiss gasped. In his eyes, Wu Zhong had only recently been promoted to Silver rank.

They were just chasing a Silver-Rank wanted criminal, the mission wasn't even finished, but now they have to accept so many bounties at the same time.

But since her own mercenary had offered to take the offer, she couldn't refuse. Even if she did refuse, it wouldn't matter; Wu Zhong could have gone to accept it himself.

"You have several groups of people banding together, right? Actually, in this situation, you can ambush and kill your target, and then ignore the others and just run away... Forget it, have you thought this through... Are you confident?" Edelweiss asked seriously.

Wu firmly stated, "I will not joke with my own life."

"Since I'll be fighting a whole bunch of people every time I start, I don't want to work for nothing. All this bounty... I might as well take it all!"

He wasn't afraid at all, mainly because he wasn't a normal person either, being a humanoid calamity with multiple special abilities.

The vast majority of mercenaries do not possess any calamities or strange objects.

This mission has a clean background, and the intelligence did not involve any calamities, which is truly rare.

They were nothing more than a group of powerful enlightened beings. Wu Zhong felt that this was the simplest and most straightforward task!
Edelweiss hadn't expected her new mercenary to be so arrogant, completely unlike a typical newbie who takes their time.

Having just reached the Silver rank, I had to take on eight Silver missions in one go... and they were all high-stakes, high-stakes missions like wanted posters.

But since the person involved isn't afraid, she doesn't need to say anything more.

"Alright! I'll take all eight silver wanted posters for you, the total bounty is... 720 million!"

……

(End of this chapter)