Chapter 124: Each Has Their Own Plans (Requesting double monthly votes)

Baron Brignard didn't answer Lu Mian's question immediately, put down the peach-wood pipe, and drank his coffee leisurely.

After a few seconds, he smiled and said:

"I am not an official person and have no obligation to help them catch wanted criminals."

"If we handed over every wanted person we saw, our Savages would lose a lot of excellent talent."

"The most important thing is that your bounty is not high and is far from enough to make me feel tempted. Of course, if you did something in the market district that was detrimental to us, I wouldn't mind tying you up and finding someone to send you to the police station entrance to exchange for a considerable bounty."

Baron Brignard's hidden meaning was: The Savages themselves have many wanted people. As long as you behave, kid, I can completely pretend I didn't see you.

"You sent someone to follow me just to confirm what I was planning to do?" Lu Mian "suddenly realized."

Baron Brignard nodded appreciatively:

"I'm glad you can understand my intention."

Lu Mian's gaze swept across the faces of those thugs and said calmly:

"Since you saw my wanted poster, you should have also seen the others."

"I only intend to do one thing in Trier, and that is to find them."

"Very good." Baron Brignard understood that Lu Mian saying this was to show an attitude of not being hostile to the Savages.

He then pointed to the chair opposite the booth:

"Would you like a cup of coffee?"

"No need." Lu Mian refused Baron Brignard's invitation, "I just want to find those people as soon as possible."

Immediately after, he spread his arms and said:

"Praise the Sun, let us all live in the light!"

After saying this, Lu Mian turned his body and walked step by step toward the stairs, completely unconcerned about exposing his back to the hidden gun muzzles of those thugs.

When his footsteps disappeared into the stairs, Baron Brignard looked at the restrained Micili and said in a gentle voice:

"Tell me in detail the process of how you were discovered by him and how you were forced by him. Don't miss any detail."

After giving the order, Baron Brignard bit on the peach-wood pipe, leaned back against the chair, and closed his eyes.

Micili told his encounter from beginning to end tremblingly.

After listening to his description, one of the thugs said indignantly:

"Baron, why didn't you teach that kid a lesson just now? You let him leave so easily?"

Baron Brignard tapped the table twice with his peach-wood pipe and asked with a smile:

"Teach him a lesson?"

"Do you know what sequence he is, what abilities he possesses, and what weapons he has?"

"I don't know." The thug answered honestly.

Baron Brignard stood up as the chair moved back, holding the peach-wood pipe in his right hand, and smashed it toward the thug's head.

In the sound of the bang, the thug's forehead split slightly, and bright red blood flowed down, yet he didn't dare to scream or dodge, just stood there in fear and trepidation.

Baron Brignard withdrew the pipe and looked at him with a cold expression:

"You dared to teach him a lesson without knowing any intelligence?"

"Come, I'll let you sit in my position and see how many days you can live!"

Without waiting for the thug to respond, Baron Brignard revealed a smile again.

While taking out the folded white handkerchief from his chest pocket to wipe the pipe, he said as if chatting:

"Didn't you notice that Lu Mian Lee's wanted poster is problematic?"

"The bounty for catching him and the bounty for providing clues are too close—one is only 3,000 Vergold, and one is 500."

"What does this mean? It means the authorities don't want us to deal with Lu Mian Lee directly, but to provide intelligence for them to do it themselves."

"I can only think of two reasons for doing this: First, Lu Mian Lee is very dangerous, and letting bounty hunters catch him will lead to large-scale casualties and cause unnecessary losses; second, Lu Mian Lee has something very precious on him, and the authorities don't want it to fall into the hands of bounty hunters."

"If I had taught Lu Mian Lee a lesson just now, it would be fine if it were the second case, but if it were the first possibility, how much hope do you think we have of surviving?"

The thug nodded repeatedly, not daring to argue.

Baron Brignard sat down again and picked up the coffee cup:

"Moreover, from his performance in dealing with Micili and his daring to come directly to me, it can be seen that he is a ruthless, decisive person with a certain confidence in his own strength."

"I bet that if I had mainly threatened him just now, wanting him to submit completely, he would have acted immediately. He really dares to kill."

"Hehe, this is his strength, but also his weakness. Without knowing my strength and how many ambushes are here, he dared to come over with the idea of killing to silence, and he will sooner or later suffer because of this."

Baron Brignard sipped his coffee and closed his eyes:

"Let's wait and see if we should give him some help and protection. This country boy who is wanted and ruthless is a very useful knife."

…………

Outside the Breeze Dance Hall.

Lu Mian looked back at the white spherical statue made of skulls and walked toward the nearest bus stop.

On the way here, he had actually prepared a plan to kill to silence, but ultimately didn't implement it.

His expectation was that once Baron Brignard threatened him with the wanted poster or showed a certain hostility, he would pretend to be afraid and tell the other party that the reason he was wanted was because he had taken a very powerful Beyonder weapon from the ruins of Cordu Village and was willing to hand it over in exchange for protection.

If Baron Brignais is not weak and possesses strong self-confidence, and is willing to let Lu Mian approach with a weapon, then once Lu Mian is close, he will suddenly launch an attack, pretending to assassinate, but in reality, he will actively stuff the "Fallen Mercury" into the other party's hand.

In that way, Baron Brignard, who wasn't wearing gloves, would become a puppet of this evil short blade. After many days of getting along and occasional "communication," the "Fallen Mercury" to some extent already didn't dare to disobey Lu Mian's words. As long as it didn't conflict with its instinct to find a "blade wielder," it would act according to Lu Mian's instructions, even if it had been mastered by someone else.

By then, Baron Brignard would definitely change his attitude and turn enemies into friends. After a few days, when no one would suspect Lu Mian, he would take a few knowing subordinates and mysteriously disappear into the depths of underground Trier, never to appear again.

If Baron Brignard didn't let Lu Mian hold the "Fallen Mercury" to approach, but let one of the thugs take this silver-black short blade, then Lu Mian's strategy was to first turn that thug into a "blade wielder," then use words to cover up his abnormality, and give corresponding instructions to the "Fallen Mercury."

Afterward, he would let that puppet ambush Baron Brignard and exchange the fate of becoming a "blade wielder" to him.

Having completed this, Lu Mian could break out if he could, and surrender if he couldn't, waiting for the fate exchange to be completed—even if the original puppet died because he couldn't attack anymore, as long as the "Fallen Mercury" itself wasn't severely damaged, the fate exchange wouldn't stop.

As for the torture he might suffer after surrendering, Lu Mian didn't care at all. As long as he didn't die, by six o'clock the next morning, he would be completely restored.

As for the problem that Baron Brignard would become a "blade wielder" and show signs of decay after becoming a living corpse, making it easy for people to discover the abnormality, Lu Mian had also thought of a solution:

Baron Brignard himself had said that in Trier, it's very common for men to wear makeup, and he himself should be a loyal reader of "Men's Aesthetics."

Perfume can cover the smell of a corpse, and powder can cover the decaying skin!

Frankly speaking, in the café on the second floor of the Breeze Dance Hall, Lu Mian had struggled a bit, hesitating whether to act.

The reason he ultimately gave up was that Baron Brignard had shown a certain amount of goodwill toward him, a wanted criminal.

And the goodwill of such a villain often means he wants to use the other party.

"If Baron Brignard really wants to use me, he will definitely take the initiative to help me cover my identity and tell me about the movements of certain bounty hunters in advance..." As his thoughts drifted, Lu Mian smiled.

This is a good thing!

As for whether he would fall into a very dangerous situation because of being used later, Lu Mian already had an idea.

At that time, he and Baron Brignard should already be familiar.

Being familiar makes it easier to act!

When being used by the other party to do something very dangerous and something he wasn't willing to consider, Lu Mian's only choice was to kill Baron Brignard.

Hu... Lu Mian exhaled and considered how to further disguise himself.

He originally had a certain confidence in his disguise. As long as he didn't "reveal" his relationship with the parish priest and Lady Pualis like he did when looking for Anthony Reid, letting the other party make corresponding associations, he wouldn't be recognized directly.

But the Baron Brignard incident made him realize that he might have underestimated other Beyonders.

Since there are "Hunters" who are good at tracking, there might be other sequences that are better at recognizing people.

"Baron Brignard or one of his subordinates should have similar abilities..." Lu Mian nodded imperceptibly.

This corroborated with Aosta being found after moving several times.

Thinking of this, Lu Mian stopped at the bus stop, boarded a brown-painted two-story carriage, and spent 30 Koppes to pick a seat in the carriage—if he sat on the roof, which was the upper level, it would only cost 15 Koppes.

The carriage started slowly, driving toward the Observatory district.

Lu Mian looked out the window and saw hurried passersby in different clothes, saw bicycles ringing, saw rental carriages belonging to different companies, and saw a humanoid machine made of gears, valves, pipes, levers, etc. The metal backpack on its back was emitting white steam, driving it to move forward step by step.

"Praise the Sun!"

The scorching sunlight spilled onto the pedestrians on the street with their arms spread wide.

Dang, dang, dang, the nearby church bell rang; it was twelve o'clock noon.

PS: Requesting double monthly votes~

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 125 =====