Chapter 219: The President’s Methods

The president of the Bounty Hunter Guild listened over the communication channel as his commander and the others all chimed in with their reports.

“President, this person definitely has the strength of an A-rank Gene Evolver.”

“You didn’t see this guy—he grabbed an energy weapon and tried to seize our warplane! That mark on the front of the warplane? His doing.”

“Plus, his superpower is bizarre. Check out this video.” With anti-gravity, Yang Bo lifted over 100 stones, flinging eight men in energy suits into the air. The video played once more.

The president of the March Planet Bounty Hunter Guild looked at Yang Bo differently after that.

“President, way too many freaks in March Planet. Last time, I met one at the base, and now there’s another one on this desolate planet!”

“President, I feel like this guy looks oddly familiar. His outfit must be in our intel system.”

“He’s probably a high-level wanted criminal.”

“So what if he is? We’re an illegal organization in the Alliance, aren’t we?”

“A wanted man is even better! If he weren’t wanted, would we even have met him?”

“And this guy doesn’t seem that bad. Otherwise, wouldn’t we already be dead?”

“According to our intel, no other spacecraft has landed here. How did he get here?”

“Sure, A-rank Gene Evolvers can survive in space, but they can’t fly this far in space, can they?”

“Stop speculating—I just remembered who this guy is. Don’t you recall the bounty issued for a pirate gang leader from March Planet?” The president thought hard, then finally pieced it together and spoke over the communication channel.

Since the armor had energy protection, the sound could leak or not, depending on the armor’s owner’s control.

“President, now that you mention it, I also remember. I’ve been thinking our guild didn’t have any info on this guy, especially someone as strong as him.”

“What’s this guy doing here of all places?”

“This pirate leader was ruthless before. Wouldn’t taking him in bring us trouble?”

“What trouble? We’re already illegal in the Alliance. Just be a little cautious around him.”

Listening to his guild members’ chatter, the president said, “As long as the Alliance hasn’t convicted him, he’s only a suspect. And besides, our guild is still growing.”

The president had one more thing in mind. The guild operated a commission-based model, mainly taking a cut. Having powerful individuals complete bounties was crucial for the guild’s growth.

How does the guild’s reputation grow? By piling up completed missions.

The Bounty Hunter Guild struggled to survive in the Alliance; being illegal, naturally, it drew in some illicit members.

After all, the guild was illegal in the Alliance. Recruiting members without criminal backgrounds was nearly impossible.

“But that pirate gang has a bad reputation. No one who crossed paths with them came back.”

“We can’t just judge people by reputation. Look at the big families in the Alliance—don’t they have plenty of skeletons in their closets?”

“Look at Four Seas Company—they covered up the specifics. Four Seas experimented on ordinary people with gene injections. How many died?”

“And what about the rebellion on Pado Planet? How many people really died there?”

“In this world, if someone has power, there are no absolute good or evil people.”

The guild was internally united, and many opinions were exchanged regarding the situation.

The Bounty Hunter Guild couldn’t adopt a formal structure like other nations, so it operated more like an underground organization.

“My suggestion is to recruit him and report it. If headquarters disapproves, we won’t assign him contracts.” The president wanted to bring Yang Bo in. With someone as strong as him, they could tackle more high-tier missions and expand their influence.

“We have no objections!” The other members of the guild had no complaints. After all, having a powerful member would only strengthen their cause.

The president stepped out from the warplane cockpit and approached Yang Bo. “In our Bounty Hunter Guild, there are no absolute good or bad people. Plus, we’re illegal in the Alliance. Welcome to the guild.”

Yang Bo didn’t dwell on it and nodded. “Alright, then.”

“Welcome aboard.” The president then opened a locked storage unit and took out a virtual communicator.

This device, similar to a watch, projected varying-sized 3D holograms for browsing the internet, calling, and more.

“This is the exclusive terminal of our Bounty Hunter Guild. It has multiple security systems and encryption. Even if we discuss missions, no one will find out. You can also choose a codename. We don’t require real names, nor does the guild. Earnings from missions can be freely transferred to any account.” The president explained the mission handling process.

“Each device has a unique terminal number. Remember it. If the device is lost, you can replace it at any guild branch.” The president added.

Yang Bo took the device and nodded. The president continued, “You’ll need to manually change your mission area; the default is set to headquarters.”

Yang Bo tucked the mission terminal into his armor, not bothering to inspect it on the spot.

“Now I can start farming skills.” Yang Bo planned to establish himself in the guild as a scourge of evildoers, targeting criminals with skills similar to his in order to take them down.

Having been a law-abiding man on Earth his whole life, Yang Bo couldn’t just kill the innocent to power up.

But as for criminals, Yang Bo had no qualms. He could gain rewards, skills, and complete missions. What more could he ask for?

After that, Yang Bo left the rest to the president, while the guild coordinated with the other commander.

The Fat Boss watched as the president finished speaking with Yang Bo. He then approached the president, asking, “Mind if I ask if you found anyone else in the mine tunnels?”

The president, already knowing the Fat Boss’s identity, shook his head. “No, the mutated crawlers devoured most of the metal structures. Many tunnels collapsed, even part of the emergency channels.”

Hearing this, the Fat Boss felt a bit discouraged, with a tinge of regret, but still politely thanked him. “Thanks!”

“You’re looking for someone?” Hearing the Fat Boss’s earlier question, the president had a good guess why.

The Fat Boss nodded. The president immediately said, “You can submit a request to the guild. We can help you search.”

The Fat Boss was speechless. What kind of people was he dealing with?

“We’ve got numbers on our side, and we need to investigate the mine further anyway. Your money is still your money,” the president added, sounding almost persuasive.

The Fat Boss shook his head. “We have our own mission, no need to trouble you.”

The president smiled and said, “You’re in our warplane now, and your craft was destroyed. I sympathize, but it’d be safer to submit a request so we can bring you back to March Planet.”

His words frustrated the Fat Boss. They made it clear: without paying, he might not reach March Planet easily.

“I’ll put in a request.” The Fat Boss, seeing the situation for what it was, knew that if he didn’t put in a request now, they’d turn on him sooner or later.

When submitting the request, the Fat Boss saw the cost for four people was four million credits and was left speechless.

But there was no choice. Without the warplane, they had no way off this planet.

“You really aren’t searching for your lost teammates?” The president, pleased with the confirmed four million credits, still asked.

“His skills were the weakest. Wearing heavy-duty protective gear limits his survival chances.” The Fat Boss regretted not bringing Yang Bo along, wondering what might have happened to the talented pharmacist now.

“How about thirty thousand credits? If we find him, you pay—if not, it’s free.” Hearing this, the president said.

The Fat Boss was at a loss for words. The president of the Bounty Hunter Guild sounded more like a salesman. However, realizing they still needed to explore the mines, he finally agreed and submitted the request.

“If we find him and need to return to March Planet, that’ll be one hundred thousand credits now. If you delay, the price might go up later.”

Hearing this, the Fat Boss would’ve lashed out with an energy weapon if not for their numbers. Since his ves was the only option, he begrudgingly issued another request.

“I’ll have to investigate and try to get a reimbursement from the client after this.” The Fat Boss’s mood soured. What should have been a simple mission, bringing Yang Bo for experience, had turned into this mess.

The Fat Boss knew the mine’s immense value had sparked this situation.

“There’s a task here to find someone,” the president said, returning to Yang Bo.

Yang Bo looked at the task: it involved recovering people from the first downed warplane that entered the mine, which included finding a man in heavy-duty protective gear.

Seeing the details, Yang Bo understood: the Fat Boss had been cornered by the president.

But given the Fat Boss’s circumstances, he really had no choice. It’s not like they could leave without the warplane.

Yang Bo was grateful the Fat Boss had put up a reward for finding him.

Yang Bo took out his mission terminal and accepted the task. While they couldn’t connect to the outside, the warplane had its own local network.

Yang Bo examined the terminal interface. It was simple, separated into tasks, points exchange, and settings.

There were only three items in the point exchange: one was a healing injection to speed up recovery.

Another was the Camouflage Cloak, like the one Yang Bo saw at their base.

The last was a laser gun..

“Is the cloak in stock?” Yang Bo saw the point shop contained only three items and asked.

“We’ll gift you two of them,” the president said generously, grabbing two cloaks from the lockbox.

Yang Bo put on the Camouflage Cloak and left the warplane to complete his task. He could hardly believe he finally got his hands on the cloak he had longed for.

Meanwhile, the other guild members were occupied with unfinished tasks, meticulously studying the mine.

Yang Bo had also accepted the mission since he already knew what lay beneath the mine.

The other guild members received the task to find the missing people as well.

“This new identity makes things easier.” Yang Bo realized that with his new identity, he could claim rewards from the guild’s station without exposing himself.

With the Camouflage Cloak, detection by spacecraft in the sky would be much harder.

“Should I go up to space for a look?” Yang Bo set his sights on the enemy’s spacecraft’s location.

The president kept bargaining with the commander while the enemy commander was left stunned.

The president had requested the enemy commander submit a request through their platform before sending his own team to set up a diversion.

In other words, the guild would profit off commission even though the commander’s men did the work.

Not only that, the president even forced the commander’s men to join the Bounty Hunter Guild.

“Ten million credits—you might as well rob me!” When the commander saw the bounty listed by the president, he completely lost his temper.

“Well, it’s your men making the money. Of course, we’re not forcing you to submit the task.” The president’s words even made the Fat Boss sweat, seeing how some of the captured troops couldn’t wait to earn that ten million.