Seeing the other party sign so readily, Pei Guang beamed with a bright smile.
What? Faking it? As a Trailblazer, Pei Guang would never engage in dishonest activities.
Right now, he had only one goal: make money. And how? By using Earth's time manipulation tech to create an accelerated space.
Since there were so many captured Legion mooks now, he could use the excess energy to create a time-accelerated zone.
Then, just toss the contract in there for a few thousand years and voilà—astronomical figures.
To Pei Guang, this was just a ten-million-credit side quest. But as a proper player, of course he had to find a way to grind even more credits.
His experiences with the company in Belobog taught him one thing: as long as the company was in this universe, contracts could be enforced.
Ten million, 5% annual interest, compounded: just a few keywords could turn the debt into a cosmic-level figure.
As for whether they'd honor it? That wasn't even a concern. When has a player's grind money not been honored?
What? Refuse to pay? Blasphemy! How dare anyone ignore a player's account?
Just imagining that ten million ballooning into an astronomical debt like Belobog's old one made Pei Guang feel euphoric.
"Brother, you're like my own blood brother!"
Pei Guang's expression turned genuinely friendly as he accepted the contract. He swore he'd absolutely help this guy complete his task—and then cash out again when it was done.
Amos: "Brother! From now on, we're family! Come! I'll personally lead this operation!"
Pei Guang was curious to see how Amos would stir up trouble. But when he actually saw it, his face turned serious.
Amos's crew all held a few spray cans each. Under his lead, they arrived at the old site of the Alchemy Commission.
The place had already been wrecked due to the Apothecary King's secrets. All the valuable or important stuff had long been taken. What remained were ruins and some abundant spirit beasts left behind.
Their method of causing trouble was absurdly simple: just graffiting the place with spray paint. Some wrote, "Give me the truth!" others, "Give me justice."
Amos? He was just spraying the Annihilation Gang's logo everywhere, making it clear who was behind this.
While his crew did their thing, Amos explained to Pei Guang: "Just start by spraying graffiti. This site's huge and it'll take a while even with our numbers. Once we finish painting, we begin the destruction! Just go wild. But brother, remember: if you run into the Cloud Knights, go hard on them. If you're not ruthless, they won't take us seriously."
Pei Guang: "No problem! I'll show the Cloud Knights what real cruelty looks like! I'll go lead a team now!"
Seeing how gullibly Pei Guang believed he'd actually be paid, Amos felt incredibly satisfied. He couldn't believe he'd found someone so naïve and easy to manipulate halfway through the operation.
Best part? This guy actually managed to rally over three hundred people. Many wore similar outfits, but from their looks, they were clearly outworlders. Amos guessed Pei Guang had some kind of group chat and lured them in with promises of money. These were the easiest kind of people to use.
As Pei Guang turned away from him, Amos's face twisted into a cruel smile.
In contrast, Pei Guang's smile was dazzling. If this NPC had shown a decent attitude and wasn't trying to scam him, Pei Guang would've just played along and completed the quest. Wrecking the old Alchemy Commission site wasn't a big deal: he'd report it and go demolish the place however he liked.
But it was obvious now that this guy was trying to screw him. If nothing else, the line "be ruthless with the Cloud Knights" was proof enough that something was wrong with him.
Since that was the case, Pei Guang had no qualms anymore. He glanced at his minimap and saw the mark he'd placed on Sampo in the crowd. Cheerfully, he walked over.
Sampo also noticed Pei Guang approaching and immediately got excited: "Hey, long time no see~ Ahem! Don't get the wrong idea—good ol' Sampo's here to support you through official channels."
Pei Guang: "No worries! You showing up is a pleasant surprise, actually. Sampo, you're a capable guy, right~?"
Sampo: "Hehe~ I don't know what you're talking about."
Pei Guang: "Oh, drop the act. Sure, we've had our differences, but today I want to loot your corpse—because I've got something more important to do. Sampo, I've got a job for you. You in?"
Sampo: "Lay it on me! But if it's about dealing with the Annihilation Gang~ ahem, it's gonna cost extra~"
Sampo was well aware of who those people were. As a Masked Fool, he wasn't afraid of the Annihilation Gang. They claimed to follow Nanook, but whether it was the Legion's soldiers or other factions, no one held them in any regard.
No one in the entire tavern took them seriously.
Pei Guang: "Two hundred million credits."
Sampo: "You do realize… that's the Annihilation Gang! Gotta raise the price."
Pei Guang: "Two billion."
Sampo: "How much?!"
Pei Guang: "Two billion credits."
Sampo immediately latched onto Pei Guang's leg: "Boss! Starting today, I'm your most loyal underling! Just the Annihilation Gang's goons? I'll show them the true power of Sampo!"
Did Sampo really need the money? No. But Pei Guang hiring him? That was prestige! Getting a Masked Fool to work for two billion: that was the kind of joke that could make the whole gang laugh for amber eras.
While recruiting Sampo on one end, Pei Guang also got in touch with Silver Wolf on the other.
Pei Guang: "Silver Wolf, can you locate the Annihilation Gang's funds?"
Silver Wolf: "Easy. They can spend whatever they want, but the company has a tight security system. If you just use a little, it's fine. Too much and they'll notice."
Pei Guang: "No worries. The Annihilation Gang owes me ten million credits today—compounded at five percent annual interest for a thousand years. Payment's due this month. I just need you to track their accounts so they can't move their assets. I'll give you twenty billion as spending money once we're done."
"?????"
A big question mark popped up in Silver Wolf's mind. What the hell? They owed ten million today, for a thousand years, and the payment's due this month? With compound interest?
Something's off here…
Silver Wolf: "Wait a sec. Don't tell me… you found a way to farm money off the Annihilation Gang?"
Pei Guang: "That's right! Relax, it's all legit~ I've even got a debt collector lined up."
Silver Wolf: "I'm dying—how did the Annihilation Gang manage to piss you off? Just don't crash the whole universe's economy. But seriously, only you would think of something like this. Even I wouldn't dare farm this much cash, and you're pulling off this insane haul in one go."
Pei Guang: "Relax~ Just a side quest that turned into a lucky money farm. And hey, if there's inflation, so be it: let future generations figure it out! That said, I doubt the Annihilation Gang has that much money. I'll take whatever I can get—should be worth several trillion, right?"
Silver Wolf: "Totally. Just the accounts I can find publicly already total an astronomical amount. If I dig up their hidden ones too, you're set."
Pei Guang: "Mind your words, we're set!"
Silver Wolf: "You're the best~ Everything that's happened since I met you… just amazing~"
For Silver Wolf, knowing a bug-abusing player like him was pure thrill.
As for Pei Guang? He never saw the money as just his. A player's cash always goes to boosting the whole party. When there's money, it's all about leveling up the crew.
Of course, aside from making money, Pei Guang also planned to arrest everyone in that group.
Over three hundred people! Just the thought made him drool. If even half of them dropped effects, he'd already be rolling in profit.
Not to mention, a few of them clearly looked like Annihilation Gang members from their status: members of a hostile faction like that had to drop more loot, right? Wait, not credits, he had more than enough of those.
What he needed now was gear drops!
But how to farm them? Pei Guang fell into thought. There were just too many of them: if he went full hack-and-slash mode, some might escape.
But then he remembered: he had numbers on his side too. Three hundred people, not much good in a fight, but Pei Guang had another method to kick them out—like using…
He looked at the overflowing stash of junk in his inventory: finally a perfect use for it! A bag of trash that caused mental damage, or another that could put someone into a near-death state if eaten. Absolute artifacts!
Just perfect. The people from the Realm-Keeping Commission could hold the front line, the Belobog crew could throw weapons from behind, and he'd dive in to go full rampage.
Perfect combo!