Chapter 179: Recruitment Notice

Chapter 179: Recruitment Notice

Form a team?!

Devil City had no guns, no abilities, not even a few strong men capable of fighting. The idea of forming a team was akin to a madman's dream. Anyone who thought of it must have been either foolish, delusional, or outright insane!

Lu Yan also believed the system had gone mad. After returning home, he locked himself in the bathroom, his frustration causing him to run his hands through his hair repeatedly. He gritted his teeth and whispered fiercely, "You're crazy! Devil City has nothing right now. You want me to lead them in forming a team? Are you pushing them to their deaths?!"

Lu Yan's declaration about forming a team at the entrance of Sky City might have been partly due to his anger, but more so because the system had forced his hand. Just as he had thrown Xiao Shian to the ground, a dark red heart appeared overhead, emitting a "ding" sound followed by a notification:

"Ding! Congratulations, host, for triggering the main quest - City of Hope!"

"Side Quest One: Please form a self-defense team of no less than twenty people in Devil City. Reward for success: 100 Merit Points. Penalty for failure: Deduction of 100 Merit Points."

"Considering the multitude of side quests, they will not be displayed all at once. Others await your trigger."

Lu Yan had never heard of such a reward as "Merit Points," and he frowned. "What use are Merit Points? I'm not becoming a monk; what do I need so much merit for?"

The system silently floated before Lu Yan. Its originally black-red body had somehow turned dark red, finally resembling a normal heart. This change slightly reduced the cold, mechanical quality of its voice, making its speech more natural:

"Merit Points are certainly useful, and they are hard to come by. They can be crucial in times of need."

Lu Yan was skeptical. "For example?"

System: "I cannot provide an example. I can only tell you that if too many Merit Points are deducted, you may not reincarnate as a human in your next life, instead being reborn into the animal realm as a pig, sheep, cat, or dog."

"?!?!?"

Lu Yan was shocked. "Isn't this just like forcing someone to buy something they don't want?!"

System: "Quests are randomly triggered. Did you just realize today that there's such a thing as being coerced into purchases?"

Lu Yan: "But I have no supplies or weapons. I can't possibly let them fight with bare hands, can I?"

The system felt that Lu Yan was worrying unnecessarily. "The quest is to form a team, not to find them weapons. Take it one step at a time. Why think so much?"

Lu Yan felt the system was talking nonsense. "Who would join a team without weapons? They're not fools!"

After saying this, he glanced at the time and realized he had been in the bathroom for over half an hour. Finally, he pushed the door open and walked out. Lu Xiaozhao had been waiting on the sofa the whole time. Seeing Lu Yan emerge, he hurriedly approached, lowering his voice in anxiety. "Brother, why did you take so long to come out!"

Lu Yan had rushed into the bathroom upon returning home, and Lu Xiaozhao didn't know what he was doing. He had been anxiously waiting outside.

Lu Yan glanced at him, assuming he was in a hurry to use the restroom. "There's a bathroom in the guest room. What are you rushing for? I'll give you the spot."

Lu Xiaozhao stomped his foot. "I don't need to use the restroom!"

After saying this, he suddenly realized he had spoken too loudly, quickly covering his mouth and glancing into the bedroom, fearful of waking Xing Yuan who was sleeping. Lowering his voice again, he said, "Brother, do you know that Xing Yuan is a Wanderer! And a high-level one at that!"

Lu Yan thought he was going to say something important, but it was this. "Yes, I know. So what?"

Lu Xiaozhao stared. "You know? Then why aren't you breaking up with him immediately? He's a Wanderer, he eats people!"

Lu Yan glanced at him. "You're also a Wanderer. Should I sever our brotherly ties while I'm at it?"

Lu Xiaozhao was taken aback. "I-I-I... I'm different from him."

Lu Yan asked, "How are you different?"

Lu Xiaozhao held his hand, emphasizing, "Brother, we're blood brothers. I won't eat you!"

Lu Yan pulled his hand away, barely restraining the urge to slap him, thinking that if it weren't for his abilities, he would have been devoured by this bastard Lu Xiaozhao countless times already. He enunciated each word through gritted teeth. "I don't need a DNA test to know we're not blood brothers. There are no cross-species blood brothers in this world, understand?"

Without regard for Lu Xiaozhao's pitiful calls from behind, he turned around and headed straight back to the bedroom.

After Xing Yuan advanced, his energy became unstable, and he spent most of the day in hibernation, slowly digesting the energy. He would only awaken at night.

As soon as Lu Yan lifted the covers to get into bed, the body beside him automatically entwined itself around him. He opened his eyes in resignation, staring at the dark ceiling above. He lightly kicked the tail under the blanket. "Change back."

Xing Yuan quietly approached his ear, his lips curling slightly, hiding a hint of mischief. "Why haven't you broken up with me?"

He had likely overheard Lu Xiaozhao's words.

Lu Yan couldn't help but smile. "If I wanted to break up, would you agree?"

A faint glint flashed in Xing Yuan's eyes in the darkness. Lazily lying on top of Lu Yan, his tone was slow, yet it was hard to conceal the danger lurking within. "Of course I would."

"After agreeing, I'd eat you."

It was either be lovers or food; there was no third option.

Hearing him say this, a story outline the system had once told him surfaced in Lu Yan's mind. In the predetermined fate, he would substitute for Lu Xiaozhao and meet his online love interest, leading to the truth being exposed. Eventually, he would be killed by a powerful individual, his existence utterly annihilated.

Who that powerful individual was was no longer important. Perhaps they had been affected by the butterfly effect, or perhaps they were waiting quietly in some corner to meet that idiotic Lu Xiaozhao.

What truly concerned Lu Yan was the outcome concerning the Wanderers.

It involved Xing Yuan and Lu Xiaozhao.

The system's response was somewhat cryptic, but upon closer examination, it wasn't difficult to grasp its meaning: "In the vast majority of novels, only the righteous and luminous protagonist can survive until the end. Evil antagonists always meet their end in annihilation."

Undoubtedly, the novel's protagonist was Lu Xiaozhao.

So what about the evil antagonist? Was it referring to Si Duo, those Wanderers, or Xing Yuan?

Under Lu Yan's persistent questioning, the system finally revealed Xing Yuan's original fate: "His identity was discovered by Sky City. As for the result, you can imagine it yourself."

To humans, Xing Yuan was a monster that ate people. To the Wanderers, he was a traitor. No matter how strong he was, it wouldn't make a difference. Neither side could tolerate him, and his fate would likely be no better than annihilation.

Thinking of this, Lu Yan subconsciously pressed his right hand against his lips, biting down hard on his knuckles. He knew that although he was helping to conceal Xing Yuan's identity, precautions were still necessary. He knew the true character of those people in Sky City all too well. They would discard you after crossing the river, and that was the lighter punishment. Although forming a team from Devil City sounded unrealistic, it would give him his own strength, far better than fighting alone with bare hands.

Xing Yuan wrapped his tail around him and swayed. "What are you thinking about?"

Lu Yan: "Change back."

Xing Yuan: "Are you thinking about the victims in Devil City?"

Lu Yan: "Change back."

Xing Yuan: "I advise you to mind your own business."

Lu Yan: "I advise you to change back."

Xing Yuan: "…"

Damn it, he was so angry. Which wanderer lived as aggrieved as he did? Xing Yuan turned over fiercely in the quilt. That icy cold tail finally transformed into familiar legs.

Seeing Xing Yuan facing away from him, Lu Yan guessed that the other party might be angry. He reached out to hold the person in his arms, resting his chin on his shoulder and whispering, "It's not early. Go to sleep. I still have to go to Devil City tomorrow."

Xing Yuan lifted an eyelid. "Why are you going to Devil City?"

Lu Yan was vague. "Nothing much, just volunteering."

The next morning, although the sky was still somewhat dark due to the red moon, it was much brighter than during the night. Gray clouds piled up overhead, looking like a harbinger of an impending thunderstorm, but it was rare good weather for this period.

Lu Xiaozhao followed behind Lu Yan with a pile of things. They walked from the exit of Sky City all the way to Cloud Road. The nearby patrol soldiers were staring at them. He looked left and right, acting as if he were a thief. "Brother, isn't this not quite right? Isn't this competing with Sky City?"

Lu Yan thought that competing was better than being reincarnated as an animal in the next life. He found a location by the roadside that was still decent in terms of terrain, confirmed that there was good foot traffic, and signaled Lu Xiaozhao to set up the foldable table they had brought. "Right here. Set up the recruitment office here."

The so-called recruitment office was a salvaged foldable table, plus two plastic stools. Lu Xiaozhao brought a cardboard box from home to use as an advertising sign. Squatting on the ground, he thought for a long time but didn't know how to start. "Brother, what should I write on the advertising sign?"

Lu Yan: "Have you never seen a recruitment notice before? Write it as others do."

Lu Xiaozhao said oh, lowered his head, and wrote the character "recruit" seriously with a black marker. Then he paused, looking blankly up. "Brother, how do you write the character 'mu' in 'recruit' again?"

Lu Yan originally wanted to show him the stroke order in the air, but suddenly realized that he had forgotten too. He retracted his hand without a trace and frowned. "Aren't you a college student? How can you not even write characters? Look it up on your phone yourself."

Lu Xiaozhao grumbled. "There's no school anymore. Where would there be any college students?"

"Now, because of the rampant wanderers, we are specially recruiting capable people from Devil City to form a defense corps to protect the city. We welcome enthusiastic applications... Brother, is this a bit monotonous? I think we should add something else."

Lu Yan was puzzled. "Add what?"

Lu Xiaozhao: "Salary and benefits, weapons, and such. Otherwise, who will team up with you."

Lu Yan: "…"

Lu Yan really wanted to offer some, but he indeed didn't have any. This was a critical time. Weapons were something that Sky City controlled particularly strictly. It was no longer the case that ammunition could be bought with time points. The masses didn't seem to lack supplies either. At most, he could issue some time points as wages, but he didn't know if anyone would care. After all, Devil City was about to be finished. Accumulating more would be in vain.

After pondering for a moment, Lu Yan finally asked Lu Xiaozhao to add the time point benefits. "If someone is willing to come, each person will receive 3,600 time points per month."

The average salary in Devil City was around 1,440 time points per month. Lu Yan directly doubled it. Anyway, he had killed so many wanderers that the time points on his wrist were already countless. Leaving them unused was leaving them unused.

He still had quite a few points in the system. Later, he would see if he could exchange them for some cultivation techniques that could help ordinary people awaken their abilities. This way, when the wanderers came, they would have a fighting chance.

Lu Xiaozhao sighed. "We might not even live through tomorrow. What's the use of giving so many time points?"

However, despite his complaints, he still honestly wrote down the benefits and treatment. Little did he know that this action was taken note of by the people of Sky City.

He Zhu had originally come down to inspect Devil City to prevent riots among the masses and report any news to the Chancellor in a timely manner. Standing on the defensive wall, he saw the recruitment notice hanging in front of Lu Yan's table through his binoculars and couldn't help but gasp. Wasn't Lu Yan competing with Sky City?

As luck would have it, the person in charge of patrolling today was Captain Nie Zhuguang of Team Three. He Zhu walked up to him and frowned, indicating the situation with Lu Yan. "Go deal with it quickly. What if the Chancellor sees it? Isn't this slapping Sky City in the face?"

Nie Zhuguang wondered if Sky City even had a face left. Although he was a rich young master, he also felt that the decision to seal the city this time was unfair. Hearing this, his tone was perfunctory. "I can't beat him. If you want to deal with it, go down and handle it yourself... Oh, if it doesn't work, find Xing Yuan. After all, they're family."

As Nie Zhuguang spoke, he pointed to the side. Not far away stood a black figure, which was none other than Xing Yuan. He had come over today to see what Lu Yan was doing. But from a distance, he discovered that the other party was sitting at a street corner with Lu Xiaozhao, setting up a stall. His eyelids couldn't help but twitch violently.