My health recovery is incredibly fast.

People who sell drug glands illegally may be motivated by money, but those who buy drug glands illegally are certainly not motivated by pure motives.

"What do we do now..." Jia Shi hesitated, glancing around at the dimly lit basement, his unease growing stronger.

The short-haired mercenary gritted his teeth and said, "I have a plan."

The other three looked at him.

"Let's take all the snakes and venom glands here, and tonight we'll go to the Warriors' Guild to confess our mistakes. Tomorrow, together with the other mercenaries in the guild, we'll capture that buyer!"

“I agree! I don’t want to go to jail!” a mercenary next to him shouted.

The mercenary who had smeared snake venom on his head suddenly clapped his hands. "I agree too!"

Jia Shi glanced at the venom glands in the barrel, then at the few remaining venomous snakes at his feet, and after a moment's thought, said:

"We'll hand over the venom glands and snakes to the Warriors' Guild, spend some money to compensate the Academy for its losses, and finally catch the buyer... That's it!"

The four of them quickly tidied up the basement, taking the buckets, snakes, and weapons with them, and returned to the surface.

Xia Zuo was dumbfounded, caught off guard by the plot twist before his eyes.

Wait, what the hell is going on?!

He quickly floated back to the ground, watching with a wry smile as the four mercenaries boarded the carriage and whipped it, heading towards the town.

Wait, wait, let's sort this out, let's sort this out...

Repentance + Double-crossing + Atonement through good deeds?

Xia Zuo transformed back into human form in the shadows of the trees, and helplessly pressed his forehead.

He thought there would be a conflict tonight, but he never expected it to end like this...

Xia Zuo activated the [Location] switch on his communication ring, located Mars's position, and sped towards West City.

Because most alchemical tools will be temporarily ineffective in the cloud-like form, and it is already late and visibility is poor.

He had to stop from time to time to use the [location] function to confirm his direction and avoid going the wrong way.

About half an hour later.

Xia Zuo found Mars, who was still tending to the herbs.

After listening to the other person's account of what happened, Mars clicked his tongue in amazement and said:

"I never expected that dealing with the anomaly in the snake pit a day or two late would lead to such a dramatic change."

Xia Zuo took out his pocket watch and glanced at it. He estimated that the four mercenaries would not arrive in the city for a while, so he helped Mars deal with the raw materials that had piled up in the backyard.

Later that day.

A letter floated down from the fifth floor of the castle and landed in Mars's hands.

He unfolded the letter, glanced at it, shook his head helplessly, and said, "Another job. Tomorrow I have to go with those mercenaries to catch the guy who's illegally buying drug glands. Do you want to come with me?"

Mars then added:

"You get 70% of the reward points. The condition is that you absolutely must catch that guy and not let him get away. Otherwise, we'll have to spend more time searching for her whereabouts."

Xia Zuo hesitated for a few seconds, calculated the return trip time, and said, "Okay, count me in."

Chapter 18 Covert Transactions

The following morning.

An old horse-drawn carriage wobbled along the rugged mountain road.

As the carriage approached the village, it slowed down and turned to head into the woods.

As the trees grew denser, the carriage struggled to move, and the mercenary driver pulled on the reins, stopping the carriage in the woods.

Four mercenaries got off the carriage and split up to search around it.

"Hello! Is anyone there?"

We've arrived!

"come out faster!"

"Hey guys, come quick!" The sharp-haired mercenary waved his arms toward the carriage.

Three companions walked toward him.

The short-haired mercenary pointed to the trunk of a tree. "Look, there's a line of writing here. Jia Shi, can you recognize what it says?"

The short and thin Jia Shi stepped forward, squatted down, and examined the crooked characters carved on the lower part of the tree trunk.

"Under the tree, leaves bury money, leave poison..." The last word is illegible. This person probably meant to say that money is buried in the leaves under the tree, and that we should leave our poison glands.

The last character was a haphazardly carved circle. Perhaps the person carving it didn't recognize it, so they hastily made a few random strokes.

Anyway, those who know, know; they know what to leave behind.

Jia Shi reached under the tree and brushed aside the fallen leaves, pulling out a bulging money bag from a damp, musty pile of leaves.

He tossed the money bag around, untied the rope, and glanced inside. "22 silver dollars, 60 copper coins. The amount is correct."

Jia Shi stood up, looked at his companion with a questioning look, and quietly asked:

"Should we leave the venom glands behind? But we didn't prepare that many. We still had many venomous snakes left to hand over to the Warriors' Guild..."

The four mercenaries exchanged glances, each with a worried expression on their face.

They came full of fighting spirit to round up the people who were buying the drug glands, but none of them expected that the other party was far more cautious than they had imagined.

When Jia Shi was negotiating the price with the other party, the other party was willing to show up. Why did he hide his face when it came to the actual transaction?

It seems feasible to lie in ambush and wait for the other party to come and collect the venom glands, but if you accidentally expose yourself, the other party may escape.

“We’ll leave the poison glands behind. Then we’ll hurry back and meet up with that mage,” the short-haired mercenary said, clapping his hands together.

The four mercenaries immediately sprang into action, carrying a waterproof cloth bag containing poison glands. They buried it under the tree trunk with inscriptions on it, then urged their packhorses to head back the way they came.

Xia Zuo had actually been watching from the tree trunk high above.

He transformed into a cloud of energy and hovered on a tree branch.

Xia Zuo wondered if he was overthinking things, but he felt that the person who bought the poison glands was not simple.

the first.

Leaving a money bag in advance for anyone to take seems rather reckless.

But it actually reveals a hidden threat.

The person who bought the venom glands probably already knew the identities of the four mercenaries. They weren't afraid the mercenaries would take the money and leave, but they wouldn't leave the goods behind.

The four mercenaries were at the center of the incident, their minds somewhat muddled by the series of events, and they probably didn't realize the threatening intent hidden behind the money bag.

But Xia Zuo, as an observer, thought about it for a moment and came up with an idea.

second.

If the person who bought the poison glands knew the seller's identity, could he already know what the mercenary confessed to the Warriors' Guild last night?

A sense of foreboding rose in Xia Zuo's heart.

The prey may be much more cunning than you think.

This time, coming here to wait for the rabbit to come to the tree stump has a certain chance of returning empty-handed, but it also has a chance of catching a big fish.

Xia Zuo quietly stood on the tree branch, remaining still and patiently waiting for the person who might come to pick up the goods.

It was noon.

When stationary, the Wind Walk spell consumes very little energy.

In the past two hours, only a few small animals have passed by. There has been no movement from the pile of leaves below.

Aside from feeling bored, Xia Zuo did not show any signs of exhaustion such as fatigue or drowsiness.

A rustling sound...

The bushes not far away rustled.

Xia Zuo turned his head to look over.

A brown squirrel perched on a branch at the edge of the bushes, looking around.

The squirrel's remarkably human-like gaze and expression immediately alerted Xia Zuo.

He hadn't forgotten Snake! That dark-skinned snake charmer could communicate with his little green snake and dance joyfully with it.

Could the person who came to pick up the goods be a breathing technique practitioner who can communicate with squirrels?

The brown squirrel leaped down from the branch, darted through the grass, and quickly arrived at the tree trunk with the inscription.

It used its short forelimbs to rustle aside the leaves on the ground, dragged out a waterproof cloth bag from under the pile of fallen leaves, and then used its mouth to hold the bag by the opening, laboriously dragging it into the bushes.

Xia Zuo quietly followed, gazing at the squirrel's movements from high above, his mind filled with thoughts.

If one wishes to cultivate breathing techniques and unlock their physical potential within the Starry Night Kingdom, the only apparent way is to exchange points from the Warrior Guild.

The members of the Warriors Guild are divided into four tiers: Apprentice Mercenaries, Regular Mercenaries, Intermediate Mercenaries, and Senior Mercenaries.

There are no strength requirements for a trainee mercenary to be promoted to a full mercenary.

Once you've spent three years in the Warriors' Guild and become familiar with the guild's procedures, you'll automatically be promoted to a full-fledged mercenary. If you choose to serve in the military during your probationary period, you'll have a chance to voluntarily retire after three years of service.

To be promoted from a formal mercenary to an intermediate mercenary, one must practice breathing techniques.

Xia Zuo is currently unaware of the requirements for promotion from intermediate to advanced levels.

All he knew was that the breathing technique practitioner who controlled the squirrel was at least a mid-level mercenary.

Or perhaps, this person found an illegal way to obtain the secret medicine needed to practice the breathing technique.

Regardless of the situation, Xia Zuo felt that things were spiraling out of control.

"Whoosh~" After the squirrel dragged the bag for more than ten minutes, a long whistle came from ahead.

Xia Zuo, who had transformed into a cloud of mist, hid behind a thick tree trunk and watched as the squirrel dropped the waterproof bag and hopped and skipped towards its master.

It was a man wearing a black cloak. From above, all that could be seen was his curly beard peeking out from his collar.