Chapter 382, Pirate Alliance
Emerald Sea, several pirate ships formed a massive fleet.
And among the ships in the center.
Flew pirate flags depicting a 'claw tearing open the ground.'
Devil's Hand, a large pirate group.
In the captain's cabin of the lead ship, three people sat.
Behind the desk, a man in a religious robe, holding a book, looked like a kindly priest.
The captain of Devil's Hand, Javier.
He smiled at the two men opposite and spoke softly, "What do you say? It's just a deputy steward; we'll split the bounty equally!"
Opposite him sat two men.
One was a bald man in iron armor, with folds of fat on his forehead forming a frown, looking fierce.
The other, with gaunt cheeks and a goatee, wore leather armor, had two swords at his waist, and looked just as stern.
"Even Devil's Hand is interested in these 500 gold coins?" the bald man asked curiously.
Javier, the captain of Devil's Hand, replied, "500 gold, not much, not little. Besides, killing a deputy steward is much easier than robbing a trade caravan."
The goateed man also said, "If it were that easy, would the bounty be set at 500 gold?"
The bald man added, "I heard Imiro values him highly. He barely leaves the island nowadays. How are you planning to kill him?"
Javier took a sip from his glass, "You don't need to worry about that, and it's not just the three of us pirate groups in on this; others will be joining too."
The bald man rubbed his head, "If more join, the bounty will be divided even further."
Javier glanced at him, "Who knows, maybe by then, the bounty will increase! Besides, he has a lot of valuable things on him; dividing the spoils might just give everyone a decent share."
The two men across from him fell silent again.
Killing a deputy steward of the guild wasn't something they normally feared.
But with Golden-Silver Island and the mysterious letters involved, they had to consider if it was worth it.
With 500 gold, if the participants increased, the individual share might not be much.
"How many people are you planning to involve?" The goateed man pushed up his captain's hat, staring directly into Javier's eyes.
Javier took another sip of his wine and answered, "I'll let you in on a bit; if you join, I'm planning to gather five Tier-Four professionals to kill him."
The two men opposite were stunned.
Their eyes revealed surprise.
They didn't expect that Javier valued this deputy steward even more than they did.
Tier-Four meant level 15 professionals; in other words, five major pirate groups joining forces to kill a deputy steward.
Quite the grand move.
"With that many people, there won't be much money left to split," the bald man said.
If there were too few, it could be risky; too many, and there'd be less profit.
Javier said directly, "For level 15 professionals, I guarantee at least 200 gold when we settle accounts. If there's not enough, Devil's Hand will cover the rest."
"Uh..." The bald man scratched his head again, "Money isn't that important. Since you asked, I'll join this time."
The goateed man also nodded, "I'm in as well. When do we start?"
Javier nodded with a smile and said, "No rush. I still need to talk to the others. Plus, with Imiro guarding Golden-Silver Island, we need a plan to lure that kid out."
"Alright, just give us a heads-up."
"Okay!"
...
Zombie World.
The convoy, escorted by the skeleton army, continued advancing toward the target point.
Wu Heng sat in the passenger seat, contemplating the matters concerning level 15 professionals once again.
When each profession reached level 15, there would be a unique transformation.
He was quite looking forward to what new abilities would be unlocked.
"Recently, the demand for food exchanges has increased significantly. It seems all the shelters are trying to stockpile food for the winter," said Qi Hancai, who was driving the vehicle.
For the shelters, winter would be a disaster.
Not only did they have to deal with increasingly stronger zombies, but also the bitter cold, with snow blocking the streets. Without food, they would simply starve to death.
Selling everything exchangeable for food was inevitable.
"I'll provide you with more when the time comes," Wu Heng said.
"The two trading markets have gathered about 10 kilograms of gold in the past few days, along with 19 corpse cores. I'll bring them to you when we return."
"Are all the corpse cores first-tier?"
"Yes, all first-tier. The quantity of corpse cores seems to be steadily increasing. Should we adjust the food exchange rate?" Qi Hancai asked again.
The exchange of gold was slowing down.
It would only continue to slow in the future.
However, the number of corpse cores was gradually increasing.
The reason was easy to analyze: the emergence of evolved zombies had increased the yield of first-tier corpse cores.
Qi Hancai wanted to know if they should reduce the amount of food required for corpse cores since they weren't as scarce anymore.
Wu Heng shook his head, "Keep it the same until winter is over. We'll discuss it again in spring."
"Alright!" Qi Hancai agreed with a smile.
She didn't want to change the rates either.
But the base wasn't hers, and the food didn't come from her own stock.
She worried that if they exchanged too much, the base might end up short on food.
She had to follow Wu Heng's lead.
Since he said not to adjust it, she was relieved.
Wu Heng thought for a moment, then said, "Next time Li Yanhong comes over, you should discuss the base's situation. Shut down any excess bases; we shouldn't spread the population too thin."
"Understood. We've been discussing that too. We'll report back once we reach a conclusion."
"Mm."
As they talked, the convoy approached their designated cleanup location.
...
Ahead.
It was an area without any notable landmarks.
It lay between two residential complexes, along a main road.
From a distance, zombies could be seen wandering the road.
Although their numbers weren't great.
There were enough for him to reach level 15.
Two specters flew back from the front, and Xiaoxiao said, "No mutated zombies detected."
Glenda also shook her head, "I didn't spot any special zombies either."
"Let's begin the battle then!" Wu Heng patted the skeletal hound beside him.
Whoosh!
The two skeletal hounds charged forward.
They quickly ran toward the zombie horde.
Halfway down the road.
They had already attracted the attention of the zombies. Growls spread along the road, and zombies poured out from both residential complexes.
The central road was soon filled with a dense horde, charging at them.
"Release the skeletal wyverns," Wu Heng ordered.
Whoosh!
The sound of air being cut echoed above, and five skeletal wyverns soared into the sky.
Once above the horde, they dropped solid iron bombs.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The earth shook, dust flew into the sky.
At the same time, a system notification appeared.
[Level increased to 15, Intelligence +2, Constitution +1, Perception +1.]
[Unlocked Feats: Master Caster, Unfatigued Focus, Breath of the Dead, Divine Descent.]
[Unlocked Ability: Divine Descent.]
Wu Heng's eyes widened.
He had leveled up.