Full-Time Magister: I can control you to death.

Chapter 23 Hot Spring

As evening approached, the sunset painted the sky red, and the Yangcheng Hunter Alliance welcomed its evening rush hour.

"How can this not be considered a true essence? It's only slightly flawed, why is it classified as a remnant essence?"

"Why are you changing our success rate! When we arrived, his brother had already been devoured by demons; that doesn't mean our rescue operation failed!"

"I contributed the most this time, so I'll take 30% of the total bounty. No objections, right?"

"You son of a bitch! How dare you spout such shameless nonsense?"

The hall was noisy and chaotic. The hunters and their employers were arguing and bickering loudly on the surface, but in reality, they were haggling back and forth over the price.

A group of people walked in, and upon seeing them, the hall suddenly fell silent, with people whispering amongst themselves as they watched them.

"It's the Fire Squad!"

"Is that the only demon-hunting team in the entire Yang City led by a mid-level fire mage?"

"Yes, the other mid-level mages either joined the army or were recruited by the various families."

"I really want to join too..."

"Forget it. Their minimum requirement for recruiting team members is Level 3 (Beginner Level). Do you even have that skill?"

Noticing the gazes directed at him from both sides, Ma Zhuang of the Fire Squad instinctively puffed out his chest. He felt a surge of pride, a feeling the Flying Tigers couldn't give him.

After Run joined the Fire Squad, although he could only do odd jobs like clearing out soldiers and saving the captain's magic energy, and was looked down upon and ostracized by his teammates, and the pay and benefits weren't as good as advertised... but he was free!

"My decision was right. If I had stayed in this small place like the Flying Tigers, my life would have been over!" Ma Zhuang thought to himself, straightening his back even more.

"Wow!"

"Holy crap..."

"That's awesome!"

A gasp rippled through the crowd. Ma Zhuang instinctively raised his head, only to quickly realize that people weren't looking at him at all, but rather—behind him.

Turning around, Ma Zhuang's expression froze.

His former teammates each carried a bulging backpack and dragged two climbing ropes, the other end of which was tied with the armor of a burrowing lizard.

The surprise and satisfaction on his face were like that of a seasoned investor who had just landed a big fish, passing by his home three times without going in, eager to show it off to everyone.

"Hold on, hold on a little bit. There's too much blood, it's made the floor dirty. There's nothing we can do about it, these armored pieces were all freshly peeled off. We'll clean it up later!"

Liu Xiao apologized everywhere, and everyone was internally cursing and feeling incredibly jealous.

"No, I can't carry it!" Fangfang exclaimed. "It's so heavy, the air conditioning system is completely unusable!"

Although the others weren't as flamboyant as these two, they also had smiles on their faces, including Ice Girl Qianqian.

"Hey, isn't this Ma Zhuang? Haven't seen you for a few days, how's it going?" Liu Xiao, with her sharp eyes, immediately spotted Ma Zhuang, whose face looked like he was constipated.

Ma Zhuang wanted to slip away, but someone called him out, so he forced a smile. He couldn't lose face, especially not in front of his former teammates!

"Every hunter mage in the entire Yang City knows the strength of the Fire Flame Squad. But you guys..." Ma Zhuang glanced at their loot: "You were lucky. You ran into demons fighting amongst themselves and picked up a bargain."

"Hey, what bargain are you talking about?" Liu Xiao laughed loudly. "It's just that we got a more reliable fire mage. Don't laugh it off."

Ma Zhuang: "..."

"Liu Xiao!" Zhu Wang called out from the front desk.

"Sorry, my captain doesn't allow me to talk to random people, so I'll be going now." Liu Xiao hurriedly followed, leaving Ma Zhuang in a state of helpless rage.

Front desk.

"Hahaha, you can't imagine how disgusted that bastard looked, like he'd just eaten shit. I felt so good!" Liu Xiao vividly described Ma Zhuang's expression to everyone.

Qianqian said calmly, "It has nothing to do with you. Zhang San killed all the demons."

"It's all the same. Zhang San is one of our team members, so if you look at it that way, I'm the one who killed him." Liu Xiao chuckled and said, "Qianqian, why don't you just take him down? He saved your life anyway, so Zhang San would really be one of our team members."

"Shut up!" Qianqian immediately lost her composure, her ears turning red beneath her hair.

Ma Zhuang, who witnessed all of this from afar, was even more heartbroken. He had pursued Qianqian before, but the girl never gave him a chance and always rejected him outright.

But that new fire mage doesn't seem that handsome either. With his hat and mask covering him up so tightly, he's probably an ugly guy too!

this side.

"Our reward this time is 3.2 million. The Zhang brothers contributed the most, so they will receive 1.6 million. The rest of us will split the rest equally," Zhu Wang said.

Liu Xiao was the first to speak: "I have no objection."

"Me neither, I just happened to be there," Fangfang said with a grin.

Wang Peng and Qianqian, both quiet types, nodded without saying a word.

Zhu Wang laughed and said, "Then it's settled. Brother Zhang, send me your bank card number and I'll transfer the money to you."

"Please keep this for me, and we'll settle the accounts together at the end." Xu Fang's card hasn't been replaced yet.

"That works too," Zhu Wang suggested. "We had a great harvest today, so I'll treat everyone tonight. Let's find a place to celebrate."

"Great! Long live the captain!" Fangfang exclaimed excitedly. "How about we go to the newly opened hot spring hotel in the north of the city? I heard their natural hot springs are good for beauty and skincare!"

Upon hearing about beauty and skincare benefits, even Qianqian's eyes lit up. What woman could resist such a temptation?

"It's too expensive there." Wang Peng shook his head: "Five thousand per person per night, not worth it."

Liu Xiao said, "Wang Peng, why are you being so honest? It's rare for our captain to treat us, so let's have one principle: order whatever's expensive, order whatever's good. Don't act like outsiders!"

Xu Fang, standing to the side, wholeheartedly agreed. He also adhered to this principle when dealing with Zhan Kong: "A fool wouldn't take advantage of a good deal."

"You little rascal," Zhu Wang said, both amused and exasperated, "Fine, a hot spring it is then. It's just a few tens of thousands of yuan, I'll pay for it all today!"

Of the 3.2 million, he would receive 320,000, and spending 30,000 to 40,000 to connect with his teammates and strengthen their bonds would be a very worthwhile investment.

Xu Fang asked curiously, "Yangcheng also has natural hot springs?"

Fangfang recalled, "It didn't exist before; it only appeared in the last month or two. Now, several big families in Yangcheng have fenced it off as their own property."

"I see." Xu Fang nodded, seemingly lost in thought.

The rampant growth of plants and the sudden appearance of the hot spring... there seems to be some connection...

······

"Dear guests, our signature natural hot spring experience is in an authentic Japanese style, divided into a dressing area and a nude area."

A waiter dressed in a yukata smiled and introduced the place with his hands folded in front of him.

"We want a nudity zone! We want to be completely naked!" Liu Xiao shouted, raising his arms. Qianqian and Fangfang glared at him.

The waiter, his smile unchanged, continued, "The dressing area is for both men and women, while the nude area is in separate pools."

Liu Xiao immediately fell silent.

Xu Fang, of course, didn't care. So what if he was in the nude area? His second brother was very capable. It was the others who should feel inferior.

It's just that I can't say those kinds of witty remarks now; I have to maintain my public image.

(End of this chapter)