304 Mastermind

In truth, when Water Rascal led his pirates to take action, Happy had received a few notifications for a chain quest. His first quest was to protect Xu Hong so that he was not injured. Once he defeated the group of pirates, he got his second quest—capture the pirate leader, Water Rascal. Then, he triggered his third quest, which was to figure out the mastermind!

"You've got two choices. Either tell me about the person who is commanding you, or die!"

Happy might not have run into similar quests before, but he had already accumulated enough experience. He instantly figured out the key to the situation, and he even manipulated Water Rascal's cowardly nature, which had showed at the very end.

Instead of wasting his breath for idle chit-chat, he used the most direct method to destroy the pirates' morale. When he spoke to Water Rascal, his voice was cold and emotionless, which immediately struck at the pirate leader's greatest weakness.

When Water Rascal looked at the blood dripping down Silver Wolf Emperor Breaker Sword, he shuddered and hastily confessed!

"It's the imperial court's navy, General Yang!"

"Huh?" Xu Hong shuddered, and his expression turned extremely sour. "You're lying!"

Naturally, Happy took note of Xu Hong and his group's reactions. His gaze turned cold, and the sword glare of his Silver Wolf Emperor Breaker Sword instantly brightened.

"Don't! It's true! I didn't lie. It's really the navy general of the imperial court. General Yang had someone come into contact with me, and I even have the token they gave me…"

Water Rascal was terrified, so he swiftly brought out a black iron plate with trembling hands. He also told everything he knew in one go because he was afraid that the sword would reach for his neck.

A cold breeze blew over from the river. The people on the deck were so taken aback by Water Rascal's words that they could not say anything for a long period of time.

He was telling the truth, after all.

Ever since the Murong Clan ventured into the salt business, General Yang had sent people multiple times to secretly come into contact with their fleet to show his willingness to escort them. However, the Murong Clan had always refused his offer by stating that they had enough power to protect themselves.

However, General Yang was an overlord when it came to the navy of the imperial court! He ventured into lawful businesses and organized crime at the same time!

Those who conducted businesses through regular means had to pay him protection money. Those who did not soon found bandits at their doorstep and ended up losing money and their lives!

General Yang had bandits or pirates take care of those who did not pay him money. Once they began to pay him every month, they were given an amulet from the navy that would allow them to move around in the area.

The Murong Clan did not know all that transpired behind the scenes, so once they began to trade, they offended General Yang!

However, the fact that the Murong Clan's strength was matchless in all of Gusu City and they had countless elites in their family made General Yang incredibly wary of them, so he did not dare to attack them carelessly.

Besides, the Murong Clan did indeed have the power to protect themselves and venture out!

Over the years, the business of the Murong Clan had become more successful. They would even sometimes take the initiative to protect other ships, which made General Yang and the pirates along Changjiang very displeased.

Recently, however, they had heard that the leader of the Murong Clan had brought a large group of elites away from Gusu City to Beijing. Not only did he take a part of the elites who protected the salt ships, but only a woman was left as the leader of the clan for the time being.

When General Yang learned of all that, the idea to attack the Murong Clan instantly bloomed in his mind, and he made preparations to have the most cunning pirate in Changjiang—Water Rascal—to rob them.

"Everything I said is the truth! It's real! I'm not lying to you!" Water Rascal knelt on the deck and swore as he pointed at heaven.

Happy frowned and looked at Xu Hong. "Officer Xu, what do you think?"

Xu Hong's face was red with rage. It looked as if there was a thundercloud hanging over his head when he sighed.

"I have wandered the rivers for years, and I have heard quite a number of merchants mention General Yang's deeds. But since nothing had ever happened to us, we didn't pay too much attention to it. I didn't expect that he would actually ignore the Murong Clan's prestige and attack our fleet! I must tell the clan leader about this."

"But we can't just believe in a pirate's words!" Happy cast a glance at Water Rascal.

Xu Hong nodded quietly as well. He felt regretful.

"That's right. The imperial court and the wanderers will definitely not believe in a pirate. Even if we tell the clan leader, we might still not be able to take down a high-ranking official in the imperial court. Besides…"

When he said that, he stopped. Happy looked at the indignant look on Xu Hong's face, and he understood what he was trying to say.

Even though the Murong Clan had great strength, they were only an aristocratic family that did not have any position in court. Since they were the descendants of the former dynasty, their status and position in the country was incredibly sensitive. If they went up against a high-ranking official in the imperial court recklessly, it would be the same as them bringing trouble to themselves.

At that moment, the system sent Happy a notification.

"Ding! Use Water Rascal as a hostage and draw General Yang out! Gather evidence that General Yang is working together with the pirates!"

Right when the system finished telling Happy about the quest, Water Rascal raised his head tentatively. "Mister Hero, I've told you everything I know. Could you release me now?"

"Release you?" Happy smiled. "If I release you, how am I supposed to know whether what you told me is true or false?"

When Xu Hong heard this, his expression instantly filled with surprise.

"Officer Happy, are you saying…"

"The pirates who fled just now should have already spread word of what happened. General Yang definitely knows that Water Rascal is in our hands." While he spoke, Happy grabbed the black plate in Water Rascal's hands and smiled coldly. "Say, do you think General Yang will still be able to sit by the docks and act like a fisherman waiting for the fish to come bite his bait?"

"You're thinking of luring him out?" Xu Hong's eyes brightened, and the worry left his face. "But I heard that General Yang is a powerful fighter. His guards also have outstanding abilities. They are at Life and Death Realm, so they won't be easy to deal with."

"What about General Yang?" Happy asked.

"Peak of Life and Death Realm!"

When he heard Xu Hong's answer, Happy instantly felt at ease. "Then there's no problem."

In his eyes, fighting against a group of fighters in Life and Death Realm was not too hard.

However, his guess was wrong, completely wrong!

When they traveled a few dozen miles forward, the river suddenly became narrower, and a large group of common reeds appeared in front of the ship fleet. The width of the river was less than two ships.

*****

"Move! Hurry up and move!"

At the entrance of Common Reed Town was a group of soldiers in armor. They came with an aggressive momentum and scattered the players at the town gate, then spread a piece of rice paper and stuck it at the most eye-catching spot on the gate!

[Recruiting Militia

[Below are the details:

[Hundreds of cunning pirates have apprehended an entire salt ship fleet, and they are about to pass by our town! I, General Yang, solemnly recruit the martial artists who have the heart to get rid of evil as militia. We will march to Common Reed Bank to subdue those pirates!

[All can join this operation!

[If the mission is successful, I will use a ship's salt worth of money as a reward, which will be worth one million taels of silver. The money will be given to all the martial artists who managed to kill a pirate. Once we split up the rewards, each person should be rewarded three thousand taels of silver per head.]

Notices like that were posted in a few more towns at the same time.

All the players in the towns in a circular area of around a dozen miles also received a system notification.

"Will you respond to General Yang's call to become militia and head to Common Reed Bank to subdue the pirates? With each pirate you kill, you will obtain three thousand taels of silver crumbs! If you kill a Life and Death Realm player, you will obtain ten thousand taels of silver crumbs."

The towns burst into commotion!