142: Chapter 142 Why isn't this kid playing by the rules?

“???”

David and Michelle froze on the spot, their expressions instantly stiffening.

The script wasn't supposed to go like this!

Why isn't this kid following the script?

Shouldn't a normal man get a rush of blood to the head after being mocked like that by a woman?

How could he just admit to it?

As long as I have no self-esteem, you can't kidnap me—this was a perfect portrayal of Chen Xi's current state of mind.

Seeing that the fat sheep was really about to walk away,

this time, it was David's turn to get completely anxious.

Their group had been squatting in the camp for several days, and they had finally encountered such a "Sucker Team" that had top-tier equipment and looked easy to deceive.

They couldn't let them leave no matter what!

“Wait! Little brother! Wait!”

David stopped caring about his image and hurriedly strode forward to catch up, his massive frame directly blocking Chen Xi's path.

“What? Is there something else?”

Chen Xi asked with an innocent face.

David wiped the sweat off his bald head and squeezed out a smile that looked worse than crying:

“Ahem... well, I see you guys are newcomers, and it's not easy for you.”

“How about this! To support the development of newcomers, I'll make the call!”

David held up a hand and said through gritted teeth:

“For your first certification, I'll give you a fifty percent discount!”

“Only half the certification fee! And... if you lose, I can personally refund twenty percent of your compensation! How about that? This is a level of discount that's never been seen before!”

In order to pull Chen Xi into the pit, David was really going all out.

Hearing the words "fifty percent discount," Chen Xi stopped in his tracks.

With his back to David, the corners of his mouth curled up.

He knew these people definitely wouldn't let him go easily.

Chen Xi turned around, his facial expression instantly switching:

“Fifty percent? Really?”

“Absolutely!”

David patted his chest and guaranteed:

“I, David, am a man of my word!”

“Then... what if we win?” Chen Xi suddenly asked.

David was stunned for a moment, then laughed wildly in his heart.

Win? With just you guys? You're dreaming!

But he said out loud:

“If you win, not only will you get the star-rated certificate, but you'll also receive... ahem, double the bet—I mean, double the reward return provided by our Holy Court Society!”

“Double?”

Chen Xi's eyes completely lit up.

This was exactly the sentence he was waiting for.

Although these people didn't look like good people,

the camp wasn't a lawless place, even if the management was relatively loose.

Scammers obviously couldn't exist here for so long.

According to Chen Xi's judgment, these people were likely tampering with the wooden stakes.

In terms of procedure and rules, it should still be legitimate.

In that case, as long as he could pass the certification,

then they would have to give him what they promised.

He was currently too short on military merit points.

Theoretically, with the strength of their group,

even if something was done to the wooden stakes, it shouldn't be too difficult for him.

Thinking of this, Chen Xi clapped his hands:

“Since Big Brother is looking out for us newcomers like this, it would be disrespectful of me to refuse again.”

“We'll do this certification!”

Seeing that Chen Xi finally agreed,

the bald hunk David's smile, unique to a dishonest merchant, became even more brilliant.

He cleared his throat and began his self-introduction:

“Since little brother is interested, then I must grandly introduce our background.”

David puffed out his chest and pointed to the inconspicuous silver badge on his chest:

“I belong to the [Holy Court Society] and am the captain of the squad stationed in the South District Adventurer Camp.”

“Holy Court Society?”

Chen Xi's eyebrows twitched slightly; he hadn't heard of this name before.

“That's right.”

A fanatical light flickered in David's eyes:

“The tenet of our Holy Court Society is simple—Equipment changes fate, Pay-to-Win creates miracles!”

“Most of our organization's members have average talent, and many are even non-combat Professionals with zero combat power. But! We firmly believe that as long as the equipment is good enough and the enhancement is high enough, even a pig can fly to the sky! They can even be stronger than those so-called combat geniuses!”

Speaking to this point, David pointed to the stalls around the camp with signs saying "Buying at High Prices":

“Therefore, we have set up [Markets] in various mercenary camps, sparing no expense to purchase various high-tier fierce beast materials to forge top-tier divine weapons and sharp tools.”

“And the so-called 'military merit points subsidy' is actually our Holy Court Society paying out of our own pockets to give extra bonuses to those strong individuals willing to provide us with top-quality materials!”

These words were spoken grandly, and the logic seemed to hold up.

After all, in this world, non-combat Professionals indeed often hired combat teams to obtain materials, and giving a bit of a subsidy was also industry practice.

Chen Xi nodded, seemingly somewhat moved:

“So that's how it is. It sounds very reasonable.”

Seeing Chen Xi fall into the trap, David struck while the iron was hot and threw out the specific certification rules:

“Seeing as it's little brother's first time here, and out of respect for being a newcomer we're focusing on supporting,”

“originally, the [One-Star Mercenary Certification] requires a deposit of four pieces of s-rank equipment. But I'll give you a discount; for just two pieces of s-rank equipment, you can start the certification challenge!”

“Once the one-star certification is successful, every time you take a mission in the future, as long as you bring back the corresponding tier of fierce beast materials in sufficient quantity to sell to us, we will give you an additional thirty percent subsidy on top of the official military merit points!”

“Thirty percent?”

Chen Xi quickly calculated in his heart. Although thirty percent wasn't small, it was still a drop in the bucket for that SS-Rank advancement material that cost as much as 1,500 points.

And...

“Brother David, let me ask a question.”

Chen Xi interrupted David's sales pitch:

“What difficulty does this one-star certification correspond to?”

David waved his hand dismissively:

“Oh, one-star is very simple. It's E-Rank mission difficulty, corresponding to First-Tier Fierce Beasts. For a team like yours... well, although your level isn't high, your equipment is excellent, so it's a piece of cake.”

“E-Rank? First-Tier?”

Chen Xi shook his head, clearly dissatisfied with both this difficulty and the returns.

His current goal was to accumulate a massive amount of military merit points in a short period of time.

He didn't care for the tiny scraps of meat from E-Rank missions at all.

Chen Xi looked up, his eyes burning as he looked at David, and said something startling:

“Then... what about the Three-Star Certification?”

“Since we're going to play, let's play bigger. Although our team's level is low, we have big ambitions.”

Hearing the words "Three-Star," David's heart skipped a beat.

Behind him, Michelle and that fat guy's eyes lit up even more.

Not only had the fish taken the bait, but it was also a gluttonous giant whale!

David suppressed the wild joy in his heart, feigned difficulty by rubbing his hands together, but his eyes uncontrollably drifted towards the shimmering equipment on Li Murou's body:

“Three-star... little brother, you've got guts!”

“Three-Star Certification corresponds to the strength of a Third-Tier Fierce Beast, which is C-Rank Mission difficulty! People can die from that!”

“And, because the risk is too great, in order to prevent someone from maliciously damaging our testing machines...”

David held up six fingers and said with increased emphasis:

“The deposit for Three-Star Certification requires a full six pieces of s-rank equipment!”