Immediately after visiting the league, I ordered a taxi, took off my glasses and baseball cap, and drove back to the military base. I returned only in the evening and immediately headed to the barracks. Xu Zhao Tin was already lying on the bed there.
"Hi, how was your trip to Xiamen?" he asked when I came closer.
"Normal, I did everything I wanted, bought two reusable vessels, I hope after tomorrow's sortie there will be two more souls to sell," I said, climbing up to my bunk. "I would also advise you to buy soul vessels; souls are very expensive now; you can easily make a couple of million from them."
"Maybe I'll buy them someday. I wanted to ask you, will we extend our contract with the military, or will we go somewhere else?" Xu Zhao Tin asked.
"I don't think we should; let's go to Huzhou and hunt alligators there; their skins fetch quite a solid price. And we'll see what missions there are," I said, climbing into my spot. If this new hunter team is not connected to the "Guardians," then we can extend it, but if they are connected, we need to get out of here, because even if I can handle this one, others will likely come.
"I'd stay; Jiaxing Yun, why don't you want to stay?" asked a slightly upset Zhao Tin.
"I just think that here we are not getting the necessary resources and opportunities to hone our skills; I think we will succeed elsewhere," I replied, stretching on the bed.
"I don't know; it's not bad here for me either," Xu Zhao Tin shrugged.
"Alright, let's talk after the sortie," I suggested, and he agreed, not very happily.
That night, I didn't go beyond the base and didn't practice magic; I needed to give myself a break before venturing deep into monster lands. The next day, we went to Luo Dong's office again; he was in charge again. I also heard that Se Lei, Zhou Suiyin, and Yan De were also participating. However, Zhang Xiao Hou and He Yu were not participating; I knew that for sure. Entering the already familiar office, besides Luo Dong himself, I saw four other people.
"Meet your colleagues, the hunter team Bao Qing Che," Luo Dong said, pointing to the four strangers, and then, as last time, sat in his place and started doing something.
"Nice to meet you, I am the commander of the team, Jiaxing Shan, a high-rank hunter, a mid-level mage in two elements. Water has reached the second stage, and light is at the first," a man in his thirties, with dark, tanned skin and black hair, said proudly, stepping forward. His face literally shone with benevolence.
"My name is Jiaxing Yun, there are only two of us, so a captain is not needed," I replied, extending my hand and watching Jiaxing Shan's eyes; they briefly stopped on my chest, where my tooth usually hung, but today I had removed it, hiding it in my backpack.
"Nice to meet you, brother Yun," he smiled, looking me in the eyes. Of course, his gaze was not proof, but caution is definitely worth exercising towards them.
"And my name is Xu Zhao Tin, a third-stage novice-level lightning mage," Zhao Tin said with a carefree smile, reminding me of Xiao Hou, did I want to make a monkey out of him like Mo Fan? No, what nonsense?
"My name is Jiaxing Ju, deputy commander and, by the way, his wife," a girl of about twenty-five to thirty smiled, approaching and hugging Jiaxing Shan.
"Well, why such details, you can't tell everyone you meet about it," Jiaxing Shan said shyly, hugging the girl.
"Oh, come on, I want everyone to know how cool my husband is," she smiled innocently, although I didn't quite understand what she meant. "I am a high-rank hunter, a mid-level ice mage, and a novice-level plant mage."
"I'm Jiaxing Yang," said a young guy, about twenty-three, approaching us. "I'm Jiaxing Shan's brother, a novice-level fire mage. Please don't pay too much attention to the antics of his wife, my brother; she sometimes gets carried away."
"Oh, it's nothing," Xu Zhao Tin smiled back. "And who is the last member of your team?" he asked, pointing to a young guy, about eighteen years old.
"This is the son of our father's friend; I took him into my team to prepare him for university," Jiaxing Shan said friendly, scratching his head. "Come introduce yourself."
"Yu Qi," the guy replied gloomily, looking at me with slight disgust, searching with his eyes, most likely, for the tooth on my chest. "Novice-level wind mage, third stage."
"Wow, not bad!" Zhao Tin exclaimed in surprise. "You're about eighteen, right?"
"Yes, I just turned eighteen recently; my father is a representative of a large clan in the north."
"I see, Yu Qi, you're not from China, are you?" I asked. The whole team had European features mixed with Asian ones, but he was still more European than Chinese. He had short light brown hair, white skin, and his eyes were only slightly narrower than those of ordinary Europeans.
"Yes, I'm from a clan settlement located on the border with Primorsky Krai, Russia. Many Russian emigrants live there, among them there are quite strong mages," Yu Qi shrugged, only confirming my suspicions. Firstly, this whole group, at first glance, was looking for something on my chest. Secondly, they all have European, Russian features, and I know for sure that the Guardians are from Russia. Thirdly, one of them is from a settlement on the border with Russia and has distinctly European features. Of course, these are all indirect proofs, but based on them, I should behave more cautiously with them.
"Hello everyone!" Se Lei said, entering the office. "Hello guys, are you going to get in the way again?" he teased us and Zhao Tin, approaching our group. "And are you new hunters? Somehow so many of you have shown up lately, two whole teams! Ha. I am Lieutenant Se Lei, a mid-level lightning mage of the second stage and a peak novice-level shadow mage," he greeted the hunters standing next to us. He wasn't lying about being a lieutenant; after the raid, he was promoted at Luo Dong's request; now he is on equal footing with him in this campaign.
"It's nice to meet you, I'm also a mid-level mage of the second stage, and this is..." Jiaxing Xia began, but was interrupted by Se Lei.
"No need to say, I've read information about you. Until you prove your effectiveness in battle, you'll be no more useful than those two who thought they could help me fight the leader," he said arrogantly. It wasn't that Se Lei hadn't noticed our merits with Zhao Ting in that victory, but he still continued to provoke us. Although upon returning to the military base, he himself admitted aloud that we were, quote: "Quite useful, perhaps even saved us all from death." I don't know why he continues to do this, perhaps he finds it amusing.
"Believe me, my team has killed more than one three-eyed wolf, so you don't need to worry," Jiaxing Xia said confidently, almost hitting his chest.
"We'll see who killed more wolves," Se Lei said dismissively, shrugging.
"Lieutenant Se Lei, take your seat and stop teasing the young hunters, they helped us a lot last time," Luo Dong intervened, unable to stand the conversation.
"Yeah, whatever, everyone knows I'm joking, but I'll only trust the newcomers when they kill a three-eyed wolf in front of me," Se Lei said indifferently, sitting down at the table and putting his legs on it.
"Mr. Lieutenant Luo Dong, can I know the purpose of our new raid?" Zhao Ting asked, approaching him.
"Yes, of course, our goal is again the lair of the three-eyed wolves, seventy kilometers from here. According to preliminary reconnaissance, there are approximately a hundred one-eyed wolves and three three-eyed wolves living there," Luo Dong reported sadly, then added, "For this mission, besides me and Se Lei, junior lieutenants Yan Dei and Zhou Suiyin, two teams of hunters, and twenty peak mages of the initial level are being sent."
"Thank you very much," Zhao Ting smiled. "It seems this time it will be a difficult bat..." He didn't finish speaking before Yan Dei and Zhou Suiyin, who were talking, entered the door, as they say, speak of the devil... ahem, you understand.
"Try not to put too much pressure on the new hunters like those two boys," Zhou Suiyin's voice was heard.
"Yes, I saw the information about their team, there should be some capable mages," Yan Dei replied, entering the doorway. "Ah, here they are, I told you, this is what a real hunter should look like, a mid-level mage, not these weaklings who just crawled out of school," he grumbled, pointing first at Jiaxing Xia, then at me. This absolutely did not change his opinion of us, well, to hell with him.
"My name is Jiaxing Xia, I am a top-ranked hunter, a mid-level mage of the second stage of water and the first of light," Jiaxing Xia began to introduce himself. "You are clearly a sensible person. How can young novices, without the help of clans, become strong mages? It's some kind of delusion!"
"That's right, that's right, when I was their age..." After these words of Yan Dei, he and Jiaxing Xia moved to the first place and began to actively discuss their youth. I almost got a facepalm from this and hit my face with it. How! How can people be so stupid as to consider any talented youth who achieved strength through their own efforts as worthless trash!? If Mo Fan were here, there would be a duel with the junior lieutenant, ha.
"Hello, you must be Jiaxing Zhu, right?" Zhou Suiyin asked, looking at her chosen one with doubt, and most likely noting in her mind the need to thoroughly wash his brain.
"Yes, do you also think that youngsters have no place in battle with the pack leader?" Jiaxing Zhu replied, jumping towards the girl. "How can such a young mage, without clan support, achieve the strength to fight the leader?"
"I think they can achieve even more if they try," Zhou Suiyin replied briefly. "For example, my cousin studied with them and is also striving to break through to the middle level, although she has no support."
"Do you really think so?..." Jiaxing Zhu asked in surprise. After this, I completely stopped listening to them and paying any attention to them. Instead, I engaged in a truly important matter, namely, studying the instructions for reusable vessels, which were practically no different from disposable ones, except that they also indicated how to move souls from one such vessel to another.
After about ten minutes, the whole room was filled with people. This time, a really strong team was assembled. Out of twenty initial-level mages, two were wind mages, five fire, five ice, three water and earth mages each, and two lightning mages! As soon as everyone gathered, Luo Dong, as before, explained our goal, assigned roles, and the order of leading the group for the wind mages. I again got the last section of the path, which we were to travel only tomorrow, so today I had a whole day of rest, almost. When almost everything was finished and everyone gathered to disperse and take their belongings, Jiaxing Xia raised his hand.
"My team will go separately, we are used to moving through monster lands alone. We have all the necessary skills for this, and we are also well acquainted with this area. We would also like to carry out a small clean-up along the way to collect monster souls for sale. So, please, Lieutenant Luo Dong, allow us to go independently and meet at the assembly point before the clean-up?" he said his triad, showing a couple of reusable soul vessels, trying to get permission for self-activity. My suspicions reached their peak.
"You should know very well that you are obliged to follow military orders during your contract?" Luo Dong asked rhetorically. "You can let down the entire squad with your actions, but if the other lieutenants don't mind, I can allow it, given your good reputation, and also considering that you will clear part of the territory," he said and looked at Se Lei, who was still sitting with his legs on the table.
"I don't care at all. Until they prove their strength to me, I don't need them, and this method seems quite appropriate. I look forward to seeing how many souls you collect," he shrugged in response, and Luo Dong looked at Yan Dei and Zhou Suiyin.
"If you're interested in my opinion, Lieutenant Luo Dong, I'm all for this idea. We will only hold back such excellent hunters," Yan Dei spread his hands. Zhou Suiyin, I pity you, you still have a lot of work to do with him.
"I'm not against it either. We need any help in clearing the territory of wolves. We ourselves would be busy for another year," Zhou Suiyin sighed, glancing sideways at her beloved.
"Alright, then you can leave on your own, but you must be at the last stop by noon tomorrow. You take full personal responsibility for any unforeseen situations and possible attacks by leaders," Luo Dong said sternly.
"Thank you, of course, don't worry. We are professionals and know our business, we will be there even earlier than you," Jiaxing Xia replied briefly, then turned and left. Everyone else followed him. The last to leave were me and Se Lei.
"Listen, kid," he said, approaching me. "My gut tells me that nothing good will come of this team. You'll get into trouble. If anything, I'll be on your side. My gut immediately told me you were capable."
"Uh, what do you mean?" I tried to ask him, but only received a push in the back.