Pillar of Yita

”What’s up?” Fang Hong looked at the other party and asked. He certainly wasn’t someone who stubbornly insisted on his own ways; if the other party truly had useful advice, he’d be happy to adopt it. Actually, it didn’t have to be Luo Hao; even if Little Fatty or ZXC made this suggestion, it would be the same. Of course, the premise is that it’s feasible.

”We don’t necessarily have to kidnap Count Nulman. After all, excluding other factors, the stronger the target, the lower the chance of success.” Luo Hao replied, ”But the other party is a noble, right? Nobles surely aren’t alone, right? Perhaps we can choose another target, someone important to him. The effect would be the same, but the difficulty of the operation would significantly decrease.”

Fang Hong pondered for a moment before asking the others, ”Is it feasible? Do you know if there’s anyone important around Nulman?”

”I know he has a very beautiful daughter,” Little Fatty seemed to finally have found his area of expertise and quickly spoke up.

Seeing everyone’s strange expressions, he suddenly realized something and quickly coughed twice, ”Why are you all looking at me like that? I... I just happened to find out. After all, this Lord Earl dotes on his daughter, it’s well-known.”

”Really?” Luo Hao asked, ”Why didn’t I know that?”

Fang Hong also shook his head, indicating that he didn’t know either.

Little Fatty quickly looked at ZXC. The latter was stunned for a moment and looked at the chubby boy, asking, ”Wait, is this the kind of information you usually collect?”

Little Fatty’s face turned beet red, and he hastily defended, ”What’s wrong with that? It’s normal to understand information about a local ruler, right? He’s Bain’s Praetor. For someone of that level, of course, we’d find out everything.”

”So what level is the Earl?” Luo Hao asked.

”This... I don’t really know...”

Luo Hao gave this guy a disdainful look, strongly feeling that this guy had embarrassed those of larger build.

But Fang Hong quite understood, as the saying goes, ’An elegant lady, a gentleman’s desire.’ Little Fatty was also a young man with great potential and what’s wrong with knowing more about pretty girls? He waved his hand to bring everyone’s attention back from this ’scandalous news’ and asked, ”Actually, I didn’t rule out this possibility, but I think, no matter what, the other party’s family is innocent. Besides, is it not a bit much to target a little girl?”

”What’s the problem?” Luo Hao shook his head, ”It’s not like we really intend to harm anyone. Isn’t this just an act?”

”What if the other party insists on refusing?” ZXC asked at this point.

Fang Hong couldn’t help but glance at him, not expecting this swordsman brother to have quite a sense of justice. However, he thought for a moment, and if Count Nulman really steeled his heart not to care about his daughter, they couldn’t really ’tear the ticket,’ right? After all, they were just improvising, and not truly intending to change professions and become bandits.

He finally decided, ”If the other party really insists on refusing, we proceed with Plan B.”

The so-called Plan B is naturally the worst option.

After hearing this, ZXC also breathed a sigh of relief. He was an Invoker—although most Invokers were mercenary; after all, they came to this world to make money, which is understandable. But Invokers also have their own bottom line, and he would never do something that violated the ’Stargate Declaration.’

He then nodded and said, ”Alright, I agree.”

He then looked at Little Fatty.

Little Fatty said helplessly, ”Since you’ve all agreed, I can only agree as well, especially since I have no desire to stay in this place.”

”Then, leave the persuasion to the Shield of Lufu to you two,” Fang Hong replied.

”Don’t worry,” Little Fatty was confident in this area, ”Leave it to me, everyone is easy to talk to.”

”Then what do we need to do?” ZXC was apparently more clear-headed, understanding that executing this dangerous plan wasn’t as simple as shouting slogans. Fang Hong had previously mentioned that there were important tasks to assign to them, tasks that involved millions of Gold Coins in shares, which naturally wouldn’t be easy.

Fang Hong looked at him approvingly and nodded, ”Then let me lay out the detailed plan. In the past few combats, the opposing side should roughly know our location. If they’ve responded quickly, their pursuers might be on their way now. Even if they’re a bit slow, they’ll soon catch up to us—”

”Capturing the ship is just the final part of the plan for us, but right now we first have to rescue the remaining people. But dragging the pursuers while rescuing people is obviously unrealistic, the only way is to split up. You, including Luo Hao, will draw away the pursuers, and I’ll go rescue the remaining people. If all goes well, we’ll meet up at this location—”

He paused at this point, took out the notebook, and marked a spot on it.

The place is the closest to the Central District, and he anticipated that Gita should be held nearby, meaning it’s the last place they need to go. If all goes well, by that time, the pursuers won’t matter.

However, this matter obviously isn’t so simple, and Fang Hong was somewhat serious as he looked at the three. In truth, the job of leading away the pursuers would’ve been safer for him to complete than for the members of the Shield of Lufu. But the problem is, the other side doesn’t have the ability to save people singlehandedly either. Weighing the two sides, he could only choose to save people himself.

Thinking of this, he couldn’t help but sigh, if Xiangzi or Luo Yu were here, it would be better. Luo Hao hasn’t been with the Seven Seas Travel Group long enough, although reliable, his level is too low, not allowing for much distinction from the members of the Shield of Lufu.

Because of this, his tone became more solemn, ”To tell it straight, this task is extremely dangerous for you, saying it’s nine out of ten deaths would be light. I don’t expect you to just rely on luck to escape unharmed, which is why I’m discussing compensation with you ahead of time, regarding this money...”

Fang Hong gently patted those Gold Coins—

”Putting it bluntly, you can consider it as pre-paid compensation money, which is why I suggested a fifty-fifty split,” he added, ”but even so, I still want to first seek your opinion.”

And upon hearing this, Little Fatty and ZXC immediately nodded without hesitation.

Earlier, when Fang Hong wanted to split this money with them, both were almost opposed, but now it was different. After all, money taken as compensation wouldn’t burn the hand. And both of them knew that their compensation would certainly not be worth millions of Gold Coins. Honestly, Little Fatty himself would be willing to die once for ten thousand Gold Coins.

But this was different; he understood that Fang Hong was well aware of this too, which is why he’s giving them such generous rewards, merely out of the friendship forged from fighting side by side.

The other party didn’t look down on them as mere cannon-fodder due to their low level but saw them as fighting comrades.

Actually, just this point alone is enough for both of them to agree to this proposal, and they believed the others would certainly not object.

Fang Hong saw both of them nod, and only then did he say, ”Then gather everyone together. Although time is tight, there’s still time for this. Let’s split the money first, and the subsequent actions will be left to fate.”

...