"Wow, I don't even need to look for them, they are just recruiting people so blatantly."
Looking at the "Recruiting Strong Workers" banner hanging high not far ahead, she couldn't help but laugh out loud.
In the lower left corner of the banner, the words "Order of St. Hydra" were printed in bold and unrestrained strokes.
There were a few young men in simple but well-fitting clothes with a small wooden table in front of them, shouting under a banner. A lot of onlookers gathered around them, and it looked quite lively with so many people around.
And in a land not too far away in the east, a dark mountain rises from the ground, piercing straight into the smoky sky, with the top out of sight.
Only the thin morning light seeped out stubbornly from the cracks in the clouds, gently covering the low and simple buildings and the bustling pedestrians, like the descending glory of God's kingdom.
"Our merchant group will enter the shallow layer of the End Mountains to hunt alien species and collect magical medicines. We are in urgent need of strong men. We are now recruiting strong workers to carry food, building materials and supplies for the accompanying mercenary team!
"Requires hard work, obedience to instructions, honesty and ability, generous remuneration, settlement on the same day!"
"..."
The young men kept repeating these words at the top of their lungs, their throats becoming hoarse, which really was difficult for them.
However, the remuneration they offer is indeed very attractive, and they also guarantee that if you are injured, you will be provided with comprehensive medical services and monetary compensation, so many people are eager to try.
"To be honest, the Saint Hydra Society seems quite legitimate on the surface. If I hadn't eavesdropped and found enough clear evidence, I would have thought it was a legitimate business group."
Now they are temporarily recruiting people in public under the pretext of "recruiting coolies for the merchant group entering the mountains", and there is indeed no problem at all.
Qi Ji is currently located in a small town less than five kilometers away from the foot of the mountain. It has a population of more than two thousand, which is quite developed by the standards of this era.
But there is no official name, everyone calls it "the town at the foot of the mountain."
There would be no ambiguity in calling it this, because there is no human settlement large enough to be called a "town" within the hundreds of kilometers in this area.
Any organization or individual who wants to enter the Mountains of End will basically choose to settle down and rest here.
So after Qi Ji left the Iron City, the capital of the Star Confederation, he came here as soon as possible, wanting to find out some information about the Saint Xudela Society.
As soon as I stepped into the town, I heard the shouting of those young men.
Seeing that these guys were not shy about it, Qi Ji didn't beat around the bush and simply took advantage of the situation. He walked straight towards the crowd, moving sideways and flexibly between people, and squeezed to the front row without bumping into anyone.
"There is still one spot left! Only one left! First come, first served, if you miss it, there will be no waiting!..."
Less than an hour had passed since the stall was set up, but most of the ten recruitment spots had already been taken.
It can be seen that people are quite enthusiastic about this job, and the residents here are not unfamiliar with this type of work and have no resistance to it.
"Me! Me! I want to join!"
At this moment, a male voice suddenly came out from the crowd, and then a thin middle-aged man squeezed through the others and came under the banner.
"No, I'll do it!"
Before he finished speaking, a rough voice came from the opposite side.
Then a sturdy man with broad shoulders, strong limbs and a right triangle body shape squeezed in from the other direction of the crowd and stopped the thin man.
"Hey, I was there first, don't cut in line."
The thin man frowned, his tone slightly dissatisfied, but he stood firmly on his heels, showing no intention of backing down.
"I said it's me, and you have a problem with it?!"
The sturdy man spat in annoyance and took a step forward with his tall body. His strong arms almost caught up with the opponent's thighs. In comparison, the man looked like a powerless little boy.
The young man from the Order of Saint Hydra who was in charge of recruiting people looked back and forth between the two applicants who were confronting each other, and soon stopped at the burly man who was much taller than the man in both stature and aura:
"It's just you..."
"Wait, I'm a warrior, in the middle stage of tempering skills!"
Seeing that the host was about to make a decision, the lean man hurriedly reported his capital, which made the latter slightly stunned.
"You are... a transcendent?"
The young man under the banner looked suspicious and clearly didn't believe it:
"Why would a superhuman come here to work as a handyman?"
His suspicion was justified. Although the gap between the combat power of a skilled warrior and an agile mortal was not as big as a chasm, a superhuman was a superhuman, and ordinary warriors could not compare to him in terms of ability.
No matter how poor and short of money you are, there is no need to apply for a job as a laborer, right? Wouldn't it be better to be a temporary bodyguard or join a mercenary team? In the End Mountains, there is still a market for adventurers.
"Well, it's a long story...but I didn't lie, you see."
The thin man hesitated for a moment, then took out a metal card from his pocket and handed it over.
The young man took it and saw that it was an adventurer's registration identity certificate, which indicated that the person was a mid-stage Tempering Technique Warrior.
However, the Adventurer's Guild that was developed was not a local one, but an unheard-of "Guild of the Fearless"... Judging from the production style, it should be an organization from the Templar State.
After carefully examining the voucher for a while, the young man raised his eyebrows, showing an "I understand" expression, and handed the card back.
"Then it's your turn. Go back and get ready. We'll leave early tomorrow morning. Come here then."
"what?"
The sturdy man stared with wide eyes, watching the guy who was a head shorter than him being recruited. He felt full of regret, but did not dare to express any opinion.
There was nothing he could do, because he was a superhuman. Even if his weight class was several levels higher than his, if they really fought, he would probably lose in a few rounds.
Extraordinary people and ordinary people compete for the same position...there is no need to think about the result.
After the quota was filled, several young men quickly recorded the personal information of the ten people, put away the banner and the small wooden table, carried them on their shoulders and left.
The crowds of onlookers who had come to watch the fun gradually dispersed, and the scene soon returned to calm.
The thin man who successfully secured the last spot stood there for a while, sighed deeply, and for some reason his figure and body looked a little lonely.
After being in a daze for a few minutes, he walked towards somewhere in the town, followed the compacted dirt road to a simple little hotel, and returned to his rented room.
"Alas... I hope this day will end soon..."
He pushed open the door with a bitter face and was about to pack up his equipment, but suddenly he saw a petite figure in the room.
A black-haired girl in a simple long cloak sat on a wooden chair at a small square table in front of the window, her slender and well-proportioned legs folded, swaying slightly out of boredom, her dark brown eyes moving smartly, revealing a faint smile.
The scene seemed familiar.
Thomas froze all over in an instant, and an extreme chill ran up his spine to his brain, freezing his lungs and heart in an instant.
The lovely and beautiful long-haired girl smiled and waved her hand at her:
"Hi, we meet again."
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A new week, please like it!
Chapter 438 Eyeliner
Thomas was an underground adventurer who was sent by Ghost Wolf to spy on the situation when Qi Ji spent his first night in Stio.
This guy and I had only met a few times, and a few days later, he hurriedly followed Frion's team and their caravan to leave Stio, apparently to avoid retaliation from various local forces.
There was no news of him in the following month...Qi Ji was not interested in finding out.
After all, he was just an insignificant pawn with a very low presence. He left a very faint impression on Qi Ji. At best, he was just a passerby NPC.
So when she stepped into the town this morning, although she had already sensed the spiritual fluctuations belonging to Thomas, she did not immediately connect him with the underground adventurer from Stio.
It was only when he showed up to compete for a position in the Order of Saint Xudela that Qi Ji remembered that there was such a person.
He actually came to the Star Confederation? It was thousands of kilometers away from Stio! It almost spanned the entire explored territory of the human world in the northern continent.
Is it that serious? Are you so scared? Are you really that scared of me?
To be honest, Qi Ji is not really interested in this guy.
But after so long, we met again thousands of miles away, and he came into my sight again just because of the Saint Xudela Society... There was always a feeling of fate.
So she decided to just meet him, since she had nothing to lose anyway.
However, Qi Ji's casual behavior was an extremely terrifying scene in Thomas's eyes.
The moment Thomas saw the familiar yet frightening black-haired girl appear in his room, the first emotion that came to his mind was not fear or terror.
Rather, it was a shock and disbelief so intense that it made my brain freeze.
He wondered if he was hallucinating or if he was still dreaming... Simply put, because the situation he faced was too unbelievable, his mind was stuck in a state of doubt and he was afraid to accept reality.
"Tsk, so pitiful..."
Seeing him looking dumbfounded, Qi Ji shrugged helplessly.
She stood up slowly from the chair, one hand supporting her slender waist, the other hand resting on the tabletop. She tilted her head slightly and stared at the man who seemed to be frozen like an ice sculpture.
"Sit down, let's have a quick chat."
"Yes……"
Thomas looked like a man who had lost his soul. His eyes were dull and his movements were clumsy. He walked to the single bed in the corner of the room and sat down like a robot that only followed instructions.
"Squeak!..."
The shabby wooden-framed bed shook for a while, making a harsh friction sound.
Thomas couldn't understand what value a small character like an ant like him had that made the other party willing to chase him to the literal "ends of the world".
I also couldn't figure out who those evil forces in Stio were, and their tentacles could extend to areas tens of thousands of kilometers away... Could an organization in a small border town have such great power? !
But the facts will not change because of his doubts.
The reality is: after fleeing for more than a month, I arrived at the border of the human world, and finally thought I was out of danger. I chose to find a place to stay temporarily and earn some extra money to fill the hole in my expenses...
The nightmare-like black-haired girl suddenly stood in front of him, haunting him.
So Thomas stopped thinking.
At this moment, his brain was completely in a state of Buddhahood, where he was completely empty and indifferent to life and death.
Facing Qi Ji who was so close, the expression on the face of this underground adventurer who had escaped from his homeland gradually calmed down. He spread his hands and looked like he had completely resigned himself to his fate:
"What's the matter?"
Qi Ji looked down at him cheerfully, thinking that he had completely given up.
However, she did not continue to scare or embarrass the other party. After all, he was just a poor creature who was trembling in fear and struggling to survive between the major conflicting forces.
She said bluntly:
"The Saint Xudra you work for has a grudge against me. I want to follow them into the mountains to see what this group of people are planning. I'm worried about being recognized, so I want you to help me."
"Well?"
Thomas was stunned, his spirit barely poking its head out from the ashes of despair.
He realized that this beautiful girl, with whom he had a deep fate but whose name was still unknown, did not come to him with the intention of killing him, but was more likely to be a spontaneous act under coincidence.
"That's right. Why would she need to travel thousands of miles to deal with an insignificant person like me..."
He couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, but the next second he became nervous again:
"May I ask, sir, how can I help you?"
He was a little worried that Qi Ji would say something like "borrow my fellow villager's head" and then directly use some spiritual secret technique to take over his body and soul, turning him into a puppet...
"It's actually very simple. I'll give you something. Just put it in your pocket and go with them."
Qi Ji said as he casually pulled out a small, round black object from under his cloak and threw it to Thomas:
"Just don't tell anyone about this... and my existence. For the rest, just behave as usual."
Thomas hurriedly took the thing, only to feel a heavy, hard, smooth, and cold touch in his hands.
Looking down, a round object similar to a pebble came into view.
This thing is about half the size of a fist, slippery and bare, pitch black with a hint of red, and emitting an extremely subtle, eerie dark red glow, its brightness rising and falling rhythmically like breathing.
"My lord, this is...?"
The two parties had basically reached a cooperative relationship, and Thomas no longer dared to treat Qi Ji with a perfunctory attitude. He quickly stood up from the bed, bent his body respectfully, and spoke in a humble tone.
"A spiritual object that has the ability to sense the surrounding environment."
Qiji briefly introduces:
"You can hide it anywhere on your body, and I can get the detailed information about your situation in real time... If necessary, I can even use this thing to land next to you in person."
