A merchant ship flying the flag with the character "Su" docked, and a middle-aged man who claimed to be the ship owner received Lin Ce.
"Could it be Chief Escort Lin of the Four Seas Escort Agency in person?"
The ship owner laughed heartily, "I received the message from the Falcon a long time ago. I thought it would take a few more days to arrive, but I didn't expect your escort agency to be even more efficient than I imagined. You arrived two days ahead of schedule."
Before his smile had faded, he casually asked another question.
"With such a young hero as Chief Escort Lin in charge, the journey should have been safe."
"It's not safe to say."
Lin Ce chuckled, "We did encounter some petty thieves. I happen to have some questions for the ship owner."
Lin Ce ordered Shang Shaofeng to bring up the captured Steward Wang, and stared at the ship owner in front of him with a scrutinizing gaze.
"I see a flag with the character 'Su' on it, so it must be a merchant ship belonging to the Su family. This man claims to be a steward of the Su family. I wonder if the ship owner recognizes him?"
"I spend a lot of time on ships, and I know some of the Su family's stewards, but not many. I've never seen this one before."
The ship owner looked at Manager Wang with a puzzled expression, then shook his head.
"What's wrong with this person? What happened?"
"It's alright, let's begin delivering the goods."
Lin Ce stared at the captain for a long time before waving his hand to let Shang Shaofeng take Manager Wang away.
"Oh, okay."
The ship owner glanced at Manager Wang, who was being taken away, with a puzzled look, and nodded.
Soon, the boatmen from the ship came over to unload the goods.
At the same time, a system notification sounded in Lin Ce's mind.
This escort mission can finally be considered a success.
However, Lin Ce was somewhat dissatisfied with the reward for successfully escorting the goods this time.
Just like last time, it's the same "United We Stand" effect that lasts for a month, plus one skill point.
"The value of the goods being escorted this time is dozens of times higher than last time, and the difficulty is also much greater. Why hasn't the reward been increased accordingly?"
With this question in mind, Lin Ce carefully explored the system.
He quickly figured out the reason.
Lin Ce felt that the two escort missions, which were very different in terms of danger, were actually about the same to the system.
As long as there are no robbery forces exceeding the acquired level, the system will treat them all as the same difficulty.
"This is outrageous! This 'King of Escorts' system thinks too highly of me. It seems I should be more careful with small escorts in the future and avoid large ones."
His thoughts were not without reason.
Although the rewards for escorting goods have not been increased, the "King of Escorts" effect has added a second attribute compared to the last time.
[King of Darts (Permanent)]
[Entry 2: When other镖师 (bodyguards/escorts) in the镖局 (escort agency) lead a team to complete a successful镖套 (escort mission), you will also receive a reward for a successful镖套 (escort mission). (Note: This entry is officially activated when the number of镖师 in the镖局 reaches three.)]
Seeing this message finally made Lin Ce feel less upset.
Although the reward levels for escorting goods have not been increased, it is clearly feasible to accumulate rewards based on the number of escorts by having several escorts set off at the same time, as long as this is done well.
Therefore, he remained relatively calm when he discovered that the fifth level of "Mountain-Breaking Fist" required two skill points to upgrade.
Other martial arts seem to follow the same pattern. For example, "Qingyan Robe" and "Flying Sand Step" can be upgraded by one skill point from the first to the fourth level, but from the fifth level onwards, they require two skill points.
Although I only have one skill point now, I'm sure I'll have more in the near future.
Lin Ce, who was deep in thought, looked very gloomy, making the atmosphere on the entire merchant ship very oppressive.
The ship owners and the sailors who were carrying the goods dared not utter a sound.
They finally breathed a sigh of relief after all the goods were moved and Lin Ce disembarked.
Once the caravan had gone far away, a falcon flew off the merchant ship and disappeared into the sky in an instant.
The caravan is currently retracing its steps.
After successfully delivering the goods, the entire caravan relaxed, and the young men laughed and joked, in high spirits.
It's no wonder they were relaxed.
With the goods delivered, the most dangerous moment for the caravan was over.
Who would want to offend a powerful escort team if there were no benefits to be gained?
After walking for about half an hour, they arrived at a sparsely populated area. Lin Ce suddenly turned around and waved to stop the caravan.
"Chief镖头?"
The teenagers were extremely surprised.
“Tell me the numbers.”
Lin Ce called out the two bodyguards from the caravan first, and then had the other teenagers report the number of people.
"One, two, three... seven."
Despite not understanding the meaning, the teenagers immediately began counting off.
After Shang Shaofeng became a bodyguard, there should only be six young escorts left in the escort team.
But at this moment, the count stopped at the number "seven".
The boys were a little confused, so they counted off again.
"One, two, three... seven."
Strangely, the number being counted remained at "seven".
The boys' faces were filled with confusion.
The two people who were summoned by Lin Ce looked grim.
Being outsiders, they understand even better where the problem lies.
While the boys were counting off, they stood to the side and could clearly see and hear that seven boys had indeed participated in the counting.
That's where the problem lies.
There should only be six boys in the "Tangzi" (a type of martial arts) group.
Shang Shaofeng, being relatively inexperienced, unconsciously rubbed his eyes and looked intently at the boys who were counting off.
"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven."
He quickly counted, and yes, there were seven people.
In other words, there was indeed one more person among the young scouts.
The question is, which one is extra?
He strained his eyes to look at them one by one.
However, they were all familiar faces, and none of them were the same; it was not that someone had disguised themselves as one of the boys.
But how is that possible?
There are seven familiar faces among the six people, none of which are the same. Who is the extra person?
A chill rose from the depths of Shang Shaofeng's heart.
Li Qingshan clearly saw the same thing as him.
However, as a disciple of a major sect, his knowledge was obviously broader.
"What kind of monster are you? I can tell you're not human at first glance. I'll expose your true form."
A bamboo flute appeared in his hand.
He brought the flute to his lips, ready to play a tune.
Clearly, he believed that some kind of demon had infiltrated the group of youths and that he would use the sound of the flute to make them reveal themselves.
His previous success in dealing with the demon fox on Black Mountain gave him great confidence in his flute playing.
"Woo~ woo-woo-woo-woo-woo~"
The sound of a flute began.
However, the seven boys looked at him with blank expressions, showing no sign of anything unusual.
When his plan failed, Li Qingshan's face immediately fell.
Lin Ce waved his hand and stood in front of the seven teenagers.
"Who exactly are you, and what is your purpose?"
He spoke indifferently, his gaze fixed coldly on the faces of the seven boys.
But all seven boys had similar expressions of panic, and none of them stepped forward voluntarily.
"You really think I can't find you? When I do, things won't be so easy to talk to."
Seeing that the seven teenagers still did not respond, Lin Ce's gaze turned cold, and he shouted at them:
"One by one, stand in front and punch!"
The punch to be used is, of course, the "Mountain-Breaking Fist".
This is the only martial art that Lin Ce, the chief镖头 (bodyguard/escort), taught to the young people.
The boys clearly knew that something was wrong, and they sensibly lined up and acted according to Lin Ce's orders.
Li Qingshan and Shang Shaofeng, who were standing nearby, suddenly realized what was going on.
Lin Ce's move was clearly vicious and effective.
Although it's unclear why they can't be identified by appearance, a true镖局 (bodyguard agency) escort would obviously know the "破山拳" (Mountain-Breaking Fist) martial art.
The imposters will inevitably be exposed very obviously.
With this in mind, they watched with great pleasure as the boys took turns going up to box.
Six boys in a row went up and practiced "Mountain-Breaking Fist" for a while. Li Qingshan looked at the last boy remaining and laughed triumphantly:
"It's you, haha, prepare to die."
The longsword was about to be thrust out.
But Lin Ce stopped him with his hand.
"Finished reading."
Amidst these words, the last boy, his face ashen, finished performing a set of "Mountain-Breaking Fist".
He clearly understood that if he didn't perform well in his boxing at this moment, it could lead to serious trouble.
"How is this possible? They all happen to know the 'Mountain-Breaking Fist'?"
Li Qingshan said he could not accept it.
"What's so surprising about it? This martial art is widely known, so it's normal for other martial artists to know it."
As he spoke, he waved to the fifth boy.
"Come on, try it again."
The words had barely left his mouth when the boy's expression changed drastically, and he suddenly knelt down with a "plop".
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