Chapter 94: Plan

Listening to Feng Yan's words, Chen Hao nodded helplessly and replied, "Currently, we only have this one method to defeat them."

Jin Meng didn't want to accept this fact; the situation before them had brought miraculous peril to the two countries, adventurers, so he still asked: "Impossible, you must have a way, you definitely must!"

Feng Yan shook his head, his words full of helplessness and unwillingness, yet he still spoke to dash Jin Meng's hope, saying: "We are also human; although we bear the title of adventurer, we are still humans, not the gods you speak of. We have brought miracles before, but the other side also has adventurers; what I have in my hand, they also have, only the usage differs."

Hearing Feng Yan's helpless words, Jin Meng felt helpless too; he clearly understood that he, too, had been taken from the hands of the bounty hunters, firmly believing his abilities were far inferior to those of adventurers; they were also the heroes prophesied by the dwarf wizards who could save the dwarves!

However, reality is that no matter how strong a hero, there will come a day when they feel powerless.

Feng Yan deeply felt his own helplessness, looking at the yellow sand before him, then gazing at the distant World Tree, and finally made a decision.

He turned back, looked at Jin Meng, then took out a lot of gold again—this time directly pulling out half of the gold he carried on his person and handed it straight to Jin Meng.

"No, uh... what is this?" Jin Meng looked doubtfully as Feng Yan placed the gold in his hand, then asked.

"I ask you, can you really bring yourself to strike against your own country's people?" Feng Yan handed the gold to Jin Meng, then asked.

"I don't love this country; to call it a nation or my homeland is, in my view, merely the place where I was born. Here everything can be done with gold and silver, and the standard for measuring strength is naturally this thing. We poor people live for these things, while the rich, the money in their hands, aim only to take our lives." Jin Meng answered Feng Yan's question, speaking excitedly, his eyes full of resentment.

Feng Yan stopped speaking, looking at Jin Meng's eyes, he pondered in his heart just how much suffering and hardship that person had endured to end up in the bounty hunters' ranks.

Feng Yan didn't know exactly what he had gone through; perhaps it was an extremely painful memory.

Jin Meng's goal is clear: money; obtaining money is enough.

As for Feng Yan, he only needed to handle the payments; at the same time, after arriving in Profit State, he also began to ponder a question.

Is it money that controls people, or people that control money?

This question lingered in Feng Yan's mind, refusing to fade, and he could not get an answer. Before Jin Meng appeared, he himself had obtained treasures in other countries; upon first entering Profit State, he too had been attacked by the bounty hunters.

Feng Yan and Chen Hao, curious for this reason, finally chose to join the Bounty Hunter Organization.

Jin Meng was very lucky; having just joined the bounty hunters, he ran into an exceptionally generous benefactor.

Feng Yan and his companions did not, like other patrons, give a small bottle of poison before the mission that would cause death if not returned in time; this, too, counted as Jin Meng's luck.

The heavy gold lay cradled in Jin Meng's hands; he felt its weight and knew how solemn this matter was.

Feng Yan earnestly instructed Jin Meng: "Give all this gold to the boss of the bounty hunters; I believe they will surely find a way to help us. Of course, our goal is not to ask for their help, but to make them refrain from attacking."

Feng Yan spoke each word clearly; Jin Meng understood the earlier part, but upon hearing the latter, he became confused and asked: "What do you mean by 'the bounty hunters not attacking'? Isn't our goal to ask for their help?"

"Not at all!" Chen Hao walked over, then took out the adventurer's map, and pointed at this part of the Profit State map, saying: "Don't speak yet, come over and look—I've discovered a very interesting phenomenon!"

"What?" Upon hearing this, Feng Yan became interested and walked to Chen Hao's side. Chen Hao opened the map, pointing toward Profit State and said: "Earlier, when we came to Profit State, our map showed only this side's golden paulownia forest, a cave, Profit State's own city, and the distribution of various buildings within the city."

Chen Hao spoke while pointing at those places with his hand, but Feng Yan grew increasingly uneasy, feeling something was wrong, and asked: "We know all this, yet the map's territory hasn't changed; moreover, the golden paulownia forest is now a desert, and even outside Profit State's city there is still greenery and water sources, while here water is hard to come by—how can the map still be the same as before?"

Chen Hao nodded and replied: "This is the crux of the problem. That huge tree, known to the dwarves as the World Tree, is not marked on the map. According to this map, it is essentially a game map; when we previously arrived at those two countries, nearly every usable location was marked, but after we walked out of that cave, the tree's appearance caused the map to never be updated again."

Feng Yan carefully recalled the situation when he first entered the game, but back then only night allowed entry into the game, whereas now it is precisely another situation—they have been trapped inside the game.

Feng Yan wasn't entirely sure, but he said: "It might be because of the World Tree, but it might not be; before, we could only enter the game at night, and we would appear during the day until the sun set, returning to reality and disappearing from here. Now we are missing a period of time; this could be the cause of the problem."

Chen Hao nodded and analyzed: "That's right, so after being trapped here, has the map update been delayed as well? But this is also a problem: we appear here in daytime, then disappear at night and return to our world, but now we are missing a step; thus, this is where the problem lies."

Feng Yan nodded, indicating agreement, then continued: "This might be one of the problems, but if this is the World Tree spoken of by the dwarves, it shouldn't be so evil; yet the problem is precisely here—the tree's appearance has turned this place directly into a desert, so we can only be certain of one thing: what we see before us is definitely not the World Tree!"

Chen Hao agreed with Feng Yan's statement, then analyzed the situation and said: "The dwarves are gravely weakened; organizing them to launch an attack now is likely impossible, so our goal is to have the bounty hunters join forces with us; the worst outcome is that they do not intervene, otherwise our chances of victory are very low, nearly zero."

Jin Meng silently listened to Chen Hao's analysis, he expressed agreement, and also knew that the dwarves suffered heavy losses, their morale low; for now, Chen Hao's suggestion is the best method.

Feng Yan and Chen Hao nodded, then poured the remaining gold out of the backpack and handed the backpack to Jin Meng.

Feng Yan placed the gold Jin Meng held into the backpack, then instructed: "When you go to Profit State, along the way gather some news; we are also preparing to devise the final plan—don't be afraid, we still have a final trump card."

Jin Meng nodded, then bowed to the two, shouldered the backpack, and left.

Along the way, Jin Meng looked at the surrounding desert; the lake that had once been clear had become a large pit, and he couldn't help feeling some resentment, shouldering his backpack and continuing forward.

Although Profit State's earlier offensive had been fierce, thanks to Zhang Xiaobo's presence there were no major problems; Jin Meng merely handled rearguard duties and other matters, so he rarely showed up. Consequently, the soldiers of Profit State had only heard of Jin Meng through the bounty hunters.

Jin Meng walked to the city gate, saw the arrogant soldiers looking down their noses at him, and found it amusing.

When the soldier saw Feng Yan's smile on Jin Meng's face and was about to curse, Jin Meng's hand suddenly had two gold coins!

The gold coin flashed in the sunlight, and the soldier's eyes went wide, staring fixedly at the coin like a dog.

Jin Meng tossed the gold coin to the soldier, who caught it immediately, laughing and spouting a bunch of pleasantries. Jin Meng didn't care about that, merely asking a few questions.

The soldier answered Jin Meng's questions one by one, then opened the gate and let Jin Meng enter Profit State's city.

The city remained the same—illusory yet not real, appearing beautiful with blossoms like brocade, but beneath its splendid façade lay how much filth?

Jin Meng, while walking, gazed at the city's scenery and soon arrived at the bounty hunters' headquarters.

His reception was a petty lackey; until Jin Meng took a gold brick from his backpack, the lackey took it and hurried to the bounty hunters' leader's headquarters, presenting the brick for him to see.

The bounty hunter leader initially didn't believe it, but once the gold brick was in his hand, he understood—this was a big fat mark coming!

The leader, heart full of joy, came to the reception room, saw Jin Meng, already understood roughly in his mind, yet still put on an act and asked: "What are you coming back to do?"

Jin Meng also clearly understood; he briefly explained Feng Yan's affairs, then produced a large sack of gold from behind his back and said: "This is the deposit!"

The leader opened the sack and saw that its contents were much like the gold the errand runner had brought earlier; he ordered his subordinates, then made an awkward expression and said: "Is this what your employer means?"

Jin Meng nodded, counting it as an answer.

The leader waved his hand, signaling his subordinates to take all the gold in hand, then said: "Whether I send people to help you is not up to me, but there is one thing I can guarantee: we will not lift a hand!"

Having received an affirmative answer, Jin Meng felt the stone in his heart drop; he could now return to Feng Yan with confidence and give an affirmative reply, saying: "Then thank you, chief; I will first thank you on behalf of my employer."

Jin Meng slowly walked away, watching his own retreating back, gradually falling into thought, while the leader's attendant behind him gazed at the leader's eyes and tentatively asked: "Chief, then should we...?"

The leader shook his head and said: "You still don't understand; this is what we ought to do!"