Four Split Personalities

"Three hundred thousand Gold Coins should be enough to hire two large Mercenary Corps of average strength."

Standing beside Iron Bolt, Sergei shook his head leisurely with a smile, "These funds would indeed be laughable for recruiting merely over two hundred Common Orcs, but you are buying slaves, and not just any slaves. These are the kind that need to be ’processed’ in an extremely inhumane way to become living bombs. We have no intention of guessing what you plan to use them for, but the price is what it is."

Rex was no fool and could certainly read between the lines, so after a brief silence, he spoke gravely, "I need you to ’process’ one on-site. If it’s truly as Mr. ..."

"I’m called Iron Bolt."

"Hmm, if it’s truly as Mr. Iron Bolt claims, then I will buy them."

"That’s possible."

Iron Bolt carelessly nodded his head, then casually snapped his fingers, shrugging at Sergei, "Go fetch another one, and this time there’s no need to break their legs."

And so, with the imminent promotion of Iron Bolt, Sergei, who hadn’t got on well with him before, became very timely in his actions, running over to the carriage to fetch someone.

...

"What are they saying?"

Huddled behind the bushes, Ji Xiaoge frowned, muttering softly while staring at the imposing Rex Hawke Wood, "Is that the buyer?"

Since the others had been conversing in a low volume, those hiding weren’t capable of hearing Rex and his company’s conversation clearly.

"I don’t know..."

Motan imperceptibly inched forward a half-meter, eyes following Sergei and the slave he grabbed, shaking his head slightly, "I have a bad feeling."

A few minutes later, the bad feeling became reality. Iron Bolt repeated the procedure just like before, fitting the helmet onto the struggling slave’s head, and after fiddling with the mechanical device in his hand, a circle of Crystals around the helmet began to emit a Red glow. Then the struggling Orc woman suddenly quieted down, standing motionless and confused.

"An intense restraint field formed by the Inhibition Magic Crystal and an interference Crystal!"

Drawing from her previous knowledge acquired at Sky Pillar Mountain, Ji Xiaoge quickly came to a conclusion, biting her silver teeth and angrily saying, "That damn goblin must be insane. He’s compacted the mental waves intended for wide-area attacks right around the wearer’s head, breaking down that person’s mind. What’s the point of this terrible device that only works on ordinary people!"

Motan was utterly surprised that she could deduce such a detailed conclusion from such minimal clues. He glanced at her, astonished, then whispered, "Is there any hope for rescue?"

"No hope."

Ji Xiaoge clenched her fists tightly, her face pale as she shook her head, "When I realized what was happening, it was already too late. That helmet has already turned the person wearing it into nothing more than a husk, maintaining only a minimal level of consciousness and instinct, practically no different from being dead. Damn it, why didn’t I see it sooner..."

Jadka sighed lightly, speaking in a solemn tone, "Calm down. Even if you had realized sooner, what could you have done? Rushing in to save them now would be no different from committing suicide."

"I want to bite them to death."

Ya Ya looked equally upset. Although her temper was a bit violent in her current state, she was still a girl with decent morals, so she felt particularly heartbroken upon hearing Ji Xiaoge’s words and especially restless.

Meanwhile, Iron Bolt had taken out what seemed to be referred to as ’Black magic drug’ and put it into the mouth of the slave whose spirit had been thoroughly broken.

Seconds later, that thin little female Orc had shot up to nearly two meters tall, and her entire body eerily ’swelled’, bursting through the previously too-loose shirt.

"No need."

Motan casually grabbed Ji Xiaoge’s hand that was reflexively covering her eyes, shaking his head, saying, "The system has pixelated it; I can’t see anything clearly now."

Though he remained outwardly calm, his fury was palpable; he no longer bothered to avoid sensitive terms like ’system’ that should have mattered to NPCs and just watched coldly as Rex Hawke Wood and the two from the Viper Chamber of Commerce stood there.

Seventeen minutes left until the reinforcements Jadka mentioned were due to arrive...

On the other side

Rex circled around the half-naked female orc twice, bubbling with interest. He then whispered a few words to the Thief guard he had brought with him. After stroking his stubble and thinking for a moment, he asked Iron Bolt in a deep voice, "How can I make her obey my commands?"

"You just need a small bit of mental interference, and after establishing the master-servant relationship, completely destroy her cognition of things. Then she will be your loyal servant until death. Of course, as the price for their strength and loyalty, they won’t be able to carry out overly complex commands. Their understanding is probably about the same as that of a well-trained hunting dog."

Iron Bolt explained cheerfully to Rex, then walked over to him, grinning ear to ear, "If you are willing to buy this slave, I can make her recognize you as her master right now."

"No, I’m not planning to buy her."

Rex shook his head slightly. He then carelessly tore up the recently completed commercial draft note worth two hundred thousand Gold Coins and took out a new, blank draft. He smiled at Iron Bolt, winked, and laughed loudly, "Four hundred and eighty thousand Gold Coins, right? I’ll take them all!"

The two from Viper Chamber of Commerce didn’t show overt joy but simply said in unison, smiling, "Thank you for your generosity."

"So..."

Waving the coin draft certificate in his hand, Rex energetically slapped the orc woman’s chest beside him and excitedly said, "Now, turn all those slaves into this! I’ve already prepared weapons, armor, and other interesting toys for them. Come on, start now, I can’t wait to train these cuties, to cash in on Diesel Family’s Iron Cavalry!"

He wasn’t quiet when he said this, a stark contrast to his previously cagey demeanor. Not only were Iron Bolt and Sergei somewhat embarrassed, but also...

"What does he plan to do with the Iron Cavalry?"

Hiding in the bushes, Jadka took a deep breath, his fists crackling as he clenched them tightly and said in a low voice, "What exactly does the Hawkwood Family want to do?"

Ya Ya tugged at his sleeve, whispering, "Stay calm."

Jadka nodded slightly, his expression dark as he said, "Don’t worry, in another ten minutes or so it will be about time. Once those people come..."

At the same time, Sergei had already driven all the slaves off the carriages.

The next second, Iron Bolt cheerfully placed a helmet onto the head of a frantically struggling orc boy.

By the third second, Motan and Ji Xiaoge had burst from the concealing bushes, heading straight for the dirty, big-eared goblin.

Despite the reinforcements Old Jia mentioned being just ten minutes away...

Despite the overwhelming imbalance in strength on both sides...

Motan and Ji Xiaoge, who had already missed one chance and helplessly witnessed another, could no longer tolerate a third tragedy unfolding before them.

They had heard clearly what Rex just said—he wanted "all those slaves to become like this," and Iron Bolt and Sergei had already started bustling about after collecting the money.

[No more hesitation!]

[Must hold them back at all costs, until the people called by Jadka arrive!]

Without a moment’s communication, Ji Xiaoge and Motan charged out together.

[Air-to-Ground • Multishot • Fragmented Tea-leaf Egg]

The girl who skimmed past suddenly flapped her wings to gain height, scattering dozens of tea-colored oval objects from midair.

Almost at the same time, but not nearly as fast as Ji Xiaoge, Motan reached Iron Bolt at an inconceivable speed. If his actions were to be broken down, it would be...

Executing [Glory Jump] from a standstill, pulling out an unexpanded Self-Destruct Sheep from his bag mid-air, and using [Charge] the moment he lands. All while tossing the Self-Destruct Sheep forward, followed by a [Charging Heavy Strike] right behind the now deployed Self-Destruct Sheep. Mounting in an instant, he fired off the speed-boosting [Falcon Strike] and [Thorn Charge], activating [Tiger Spear] mid-charge. He dismounted half a meter in front of Iron Bolt, kicked the orc boy out of the effective blast radius of Ji Xiaoge’s Tea-leaf Egg, then drew his sword in a backhand strike —[Fury Red Lotus]!

Dozens of chilling red sword flashes exploded suddenly, complementing the dozens of Tea-leaf Eggs that detonated with a roar around them.

Chapter 488: The End