After boarding, the four of them walked straight to the very back and sat down.
Xu Youyou suddenly spoke up. “Brother An, you can contact the person who posted the bounty on Zhang Shenli now and ask him for the Contribution points.”
Zuo Lin'an had already planned to do so. Since the man was dead, he certainly couldn't forget about the Contribution points.
“Alright.”
He pulled out his work phone and found the bounty thread for Zhang Shenli on the forum.
He opened a private chat window, and after a brief exchange with the dungeon boss, the other party said they needed to confirm the matter with the principal of Lingyang First High School first.
Zuo Lin'an naturally had no objections.
After all, he didn't have any player corpse to hand over.
Verifying the news didn't take much time. In less than five minutes, Zuo Lin'an received 5 Contribution points.
His original thirty-eight Contribution points had now increased to forty-three.
“Not bad. I'm more than halfway to buying a Sin Hunter City Entry Application.”
Xu Youyou was green with envy.
“I'm still a long way off. Damn that An Mu! She cost me fifteen Contribution points!”
Zuo Lin'an said, “Alright, who told you to miss the opportunity? Since the person has already been snatched away, you should focus on preparing for your next dungeon.”
“From now on, you'll have to take in twenty players every single time. If you're not careful, you might end up slipping up.”
Xu Youyou said, “Don't worry, I know what I'm doing.”
“This time, I plan to have my living body play the role of an NPC to gather information on them, while my specter body lurks in the shadows. Then, I'll take them down one by one based on their strength.”
Zuo Lin'an knew this was the safest and most effective method. Just as he was about to say something, a person sitting in front of them suddenly turned around.
“Excuse me, you two.”
Zuo Lin'an was taken aback. He stared at the man's face for a long moment. It was a middle-aged man in his thirties or forties, and Zuo Lin'an was certain he had never seen him before.
“You are...”
The man smiled slightly. “That's right, you don't know me yet. Let me introduce myself first.”
“I am Liu Zhengzhang, the boss of a certain Three-Star Daily Dungeon.”
Zuo Lin'an thought for a moment before saying with some uncertainty, “I recall... you shouldn't have guest-starred at Lingyang First High School.”
Although he wasn't intimately familiar with all the dungeon bosses who had guest-starred, he had seen most of them, and this man definitely hadn't been among them.
Liu Zhengzhang nodded. “I indeed didn't go, but that's not what I wanted to talk about.”
He pointed at Feng Xingyun, who was sitting next to Zuo Lin'an.
“I am the dungeon boss who posted the bounty on Ming Ruofeng on the forum.”
“I heard that Lingyang First High School was hosting a National War Dungeon, so I came here to try my luck, wondering if Ming Ruofeng would be selected for it.”
“I didn't expect my luck to be this good. I actually ran into him. I wonder if you could trade him to me? I'll give you ten Contribution points, just as stated in the bounty.”
The corner of Zuo Lin'an's mouth curled up, and he shook his head decisively.
“No.”
Liu Zhengzhang was not at all surprised by his refusal.
After all, he had already asked some of his friends who had guest-starred and been assigned to the same dungeon line as Zuo Lin'an, so he had a general idea of what had happened inside.
“I know that the original Ming Ruofeng was just a young man in his twenties and a Houtian Rank martial artist.”
“But now, he has undergone a complete transformation. Although his actual age is over a hundred and forty, he has regained his youth and returned to the peak of the Xiantian Rank.”
“Even more incredible is that he is also a highly calculating person.”
“Asking you to trade him to me like this is indeed a bit much. How about this? I'll double it. Twenty Contribution points, what do you say?”
Zuo Lin'an remained silent, but Xu Youyou, sitting beside him, looked visibly tempted.
If someone were willing to pay twenty Contribution points for Xuan Jiu by his side, he wouldn't hesitate for a second.
Unfortunately, nobody wanted Xuan Jiu.
He felt a bit helpless.
The other Houtian Rank martial artists all had bounties on them, so why didn't Xuan Jiu? Did the Dark Dragon Guard have that little prestige?
Soon, Zuo Lin'an responded.
“Uncle, why don't you check the system's mall? How many Contribution points is someone like him actually worth?”
Of course, he didn't know the exact value either, but saying this was definitely the right move.
Sure enough, Liu Zhengzhang's expression shifted slightly.
He realized he had underestimated the newly promoted dungeon boss in front of him. Even though the youth had only been a dungeon boss for a month or two, he hadn't fallen for the trick.
Previously, he had assumed that the moment Zuo Lin'an heard twenty Contribution points, he would eagerly agree to the trade.
After all, to Zuo Lin'an, the commodity being traded was merely a player-turned-puppet whom the principal had casually gifted him after his guest appearance in the National War Dungeon.
However...
“I didn't expect that a dungeon boss who hasn't even arranged an NPC for his own dungeon yet would actually understand the value of an outstanding NPC.”
Liu Zhengzhang became highly serious and offered another number.
“Thirty-five Contribution points.”
“This price is my absolute limit. I can't offer any more. What do you say?”
Even Zuo Lin'an couldn't help but be stunned upon hearing this number.
Although Liu Zhengzhang was the boss of a Three-Star dungeon, wiping out a team of players in a Three-Star dungeon only yielded a base of ten Contribution points.
Offering thirty-five Contribution points meant he would have to wipe out players four times over to make it back.
This was a massive investment.
Zuo Lin'an calculated his own assets.
He currently had forty-three Contribution points. If he added these thirty-five, that would make seventy-eight.
If he used some extreme methods later to produce a few unsolvable specters, he might be able to gather a hundred Contribution points after the next dungeon run and head to Sin Hunter City once more.
Perhaps sensing Zuo Lin'an's hesitation, Feng Xingyun quietly cast his gaze toward him.
Feeling the other man's gaze, Zuo Lin'an suddenly felt a bit guilty.
Wait.
What was he hesitating for?
Although he highly valued Contribution points, the truth was that as long as no players cleared his dungeon, he could always keep earning them. It would just take a bit more time.
But where else could he find an NPC like Feng Xingyun?
Although it pained him to let it go, he ultimately shook his head.
“You don't need to say any more. I won't sell this NPC.”
Liu Zhengzhang let out a soft sigh.
“You certainly have good taste.”
His tone was laced with deep regret.
“Since you're so resolute, I won't force the issue. But since we've crossed paths, how about we add each other as friends?”
Zuo Lin'an gave it some thought. The man's attitude hadn't been bad, and he had not caused any trouble.
They were both dungeon bosses, and since there was no conflict between them, adding each other as friends seemed perfectly fine.
In the end, both he and Xu Youyou added him as a friend.
The specter bus picked up a few more passengers along the way before heading toward the various dungeon locations. Soon, the bustling noise of the city was shut out by the white mist.
Feng Xingyun looked out the window, feeling a trace of disappointment as the white mist obscured the city's scenery.
But it was fine.
Zuo Lin'an had mentioned earlier that he would arrange a formal identification for him in the future. Once that happened, he could take some time to wander around on his own.
Even though he didn't know how long he would have to wait.
He also knew that as a dungeon puppet, he would never die of natural causes, nor could he even be truly killed.
Rate on N.U.
