Chapter 27: An Outrageous Bounty Driven by Infatuation!

Luo Shan looked toward the direction of Qinhu Park and asked, "So, this park is 'spoken for' as well?"

Fan Hu nodded. As he led his group toward the park, he said in a calm, low voice, "You don't need to be too nervous, though."

"While our Letian Club doesn't rank high in all of Jiangcheng, we have quite a reputation here in the suburbs."

"The small factions in Qinhu Park are far from being a match for our club's influence."

"Brother Liao has already gone in to negotiate, and the local groups here are quite respectful toward our club."

Following behind Fan Hu, Luo Shan naturally felt his own presence overshadowed. He walked for a long while before it suddenly dawned on him.

"Wait, wasn't our mission just to find Zhou Yiming and bring him back? Why does this situation feel like..." He trailed off as he finally realized, "Don't tell me Zhou Yiming ran through the Qinhu Portal into the Beast World?!"

Fan Hu turned and gave him a sidelong glance. "Zhou Yiming is just a useless pretty boy; how could he possibly have the nerve to run into the Beast World on his own?"

"He was thrown in!"

"The Green Bay group from before has already been wiped out by Boss Liao."

"We've also gotten word about Zhou Yiming; he was beaten half to death by the Green Bay group and tossed into Qinhu."

As he spoke, Fan Hu led the team toward a patch of manicured grass inside the park. From a distance, Luo Shan could see several groups of people gathered on the lawn. In a corner further in, there were even several human corpses piled up. It was not hard to guess that these were the members of the Green Bay group.

Not far from the pile of bodies, Liao Yuanfeng stood with a dark expression, tapping away at his "smartphone."

When Luo Shan approached with Fan Hu, he proactively called out, "Brother Liao." However, Liao Yuanfeng ignored him completely.

After a long moment, Liao Yuanfeng suddenly clutched his phone and cursed, "What the hell kind of moronic, love-struck idiot is this?!"

The leaders of the other groups nearby looked on with strange expressions. "What do you mean? Don't tell me that Wang Xueyan still hasn't given up?"

"Given the state Zhou Yiming was in when he was thrown into the lake, there's no way he's still alive after entering the Beast World!"

"Exactly! Even for us official players, the survival rate for going through the Qinhu Portal to the Beast World isn't high, let alone for a waste of space like him!"

"Captain Liao, did you really explain the situation clearly to Wang Xueyan?"

Liao Yuanfeng took a deep breath, his face grim and his tone sharp. "How could I not have explained it? I laid out the stakes for her as clearly as I possibly could!"

"But that idiot is so love-struck that she's incapable of listening to reason!"

"Her current stance is extremely firm—she demands to see the person if he's alive, or the body if he's dead!"

"Even if Zhou Yiming's corpse has already been swallowed by a beast..."

"...she wants the beast hunted down and its belly cut open to retrieve the remains!"

Once this was said, the captains of the various factions on the lawn looked at each other in disbelief.

"You've got to be kidding me. Is it really that extreme? I heard about mindless fangirls before the apocalypse... but we're in the apocalypse now! How can anyone still be that brainless just for the sake of a celebrity?"

"Are there really people that dim-witted in this world? And she even founded a club? This is just too surreal!"

"She probably just got lucky! To think someone like that could become a powerhouse! It’s... speechless!"

Normal people simply could not comprehend Wang Xueyan's thought process. Even Liao Yuanfeng couldn't understand it, otherwise, he wouldn't have been so angry as to call her a fool.

He took another deep breath and swept his gaze over the crowd. "Wang Xueyan's logic is indeed hard for normal people to grasp."

"But she is genuinely obsessed with Zhou Yiming's matter, and she's willing to pay any price!"

"In our private chat just now, Wang Xueyan made it clear—she will never give up on finding him."

"Before long, members of the Blood Swallow Club will arrive to enter the Qinhu Portal and search the Beast World."

"I hope the three captains stationed here at Qinhu can be accommodating."

Qinhu was not a large area. The three teams stationed here were not particularly powerful; only the captains were official players, while the other members were essentially on par with the club's "suicide squad." Such teams could not afford to offend the Blood Swallow Club.

Wu Xu, the captain who seemed slightly more imposing than the others, asked Liao Yuanfeng with a dark face, "And what exactly does the Blood Swallow Club mean by that?"

Jiang Yi, following behind Luo Shan's team, kept his presence minimal but listened intently.

Liao Yuanfeng scanned the crowd and said slowly, "Wang Xueyan's proposal is this—"

"The people sent by the Blood Swallow Club will certainly be going through the Qinhu Portal to search the Beast World."

"As for those not in the Blood Swallow Club—namely the people sent by the Letian Club..." Liao glanced at Luo Shan and Fan Hu's squads, then at the three Qinhu captains. "...and the three captains already stationed here in the Qinhu area."

"Whether or not we enter the portal to search is entirely voluntary."

"Of course, behind this 'voluntary' offer is a bounty from Wang Xueyan—"

"She said that anyone willing to enter the Qinhu Portal to search for Zhou Yiming will be paid one white-quality Longevity Pill in advance as a reward."

As soon as these words were spoken, the eyes of the three Qinhu captains lit up. Even members of the suicide squad like Fan Hu couldn't hide their excitement!

The Beast World was indeed dangerous, but it was also full of opportunities!

There was no need to mention suicide squads like Fan Hu's. Their usual missions involved acting as the vanguard to explore the Beast World first. Generally, whenever a power planned to investigate a new Beast World sector, it required multiple exploratory missions. The first three were almost always assigned to the suicide squad.

The suicide squad was the equivalent of the first to eat the crab. Various factions would gather information from the survivors to gain a better understanding of the Beast World. Once enough information was collected, the factions would send official members to explore, minimizing their losses.

Fan Hu, as a member of the suicide squad, understood this process perfectly. In other words, they were already destined to be the first to explore the Beast World. And this time, not only were they doing their jobs, but they would also receive a white-quality Longevity Pill for it!

To the suicide squad, that pill was as good as a free windfall!

Fan Hu decided almost instantly—he was going into Qinhu! The other members of the suicide squad felt the same way. Only Luo Shan, who had just joined the squad and was unfamiliar with the standard procedures, felt a bit bewildered.

The three teams originally stationed at Qinhu Park were equally tempted by the bounty. After all, they were well aware that in this apocalyptic game, the best way to grow stronger quickly was to explore the Beast World!

They had previously considered entering the Qinhu Portal, but due to the danger and their own lack of strength, they had never dared to commit. Now, although the primary mission was to find someone, they could follow a major power into the Beast World! Plus, there was an extra reward! For small factions like theirs, this was an immense temptation.

Liao Yuanfeng was not surprised by the crowd's reaction. He added, "In addition to the white Longevity Pill for helping search for Zhou Yiming,"

"If anyone actually finds him, there will be an additional reward—"

"If anyone finds Zhou Yiming's corpse, they will be rewarded with one green-quality Longevity Pill! And it will be a green Longevity Pill produced from the Wheel!"