CHAPTER 367: CHAPTER 12: HIT BY A GUN IN A ROMANTIC ENCOUNTER

The owner of the powdery scent was a plump female mercenary, quite attractive with her glamorous skin-tight leather armor and short skirt that accentuated her fiery figure, making it all the more eye-catching.

Yue Jinghua had already sensitively heard the male mercenaries beside her swallowing their saliva.

This female mercenary’s name was Angel, a two-star mercenary from the medium-sized Fengmang Mercenary Group.

Female mercenaries were rare on the continent, let alone beautiful ones, which were as scarce as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns. A female mercenary like Angel was very much in demand in the Xuan Beast Ridge area.

Not long ago, when Angel was on a mission across the continent, she caught a fleeting glimpse of Qin Dongting and was utterly smitten, hounding him relentlessly thereafter.

Such propositions thrown at one’s doorstep were not uncommon in the Mercenary World, and had it been any other mercenary, they would have surely taken full advantage of Angel by now. But Qin Dongting was impervious to such tactics; despite days of Angel’s obvious flirting and hinting, he did not even spare her a glance.

This infuriated the typically spoiled Angel. Knowing that Qin Dongting would make occasional returns to Helen, she made a point of intercepting him every now and then.

Qin Dongting preferred quiet, so upon entering the tavern, he picked a secluded corner not far from where Yue Jinghua was chatting with Boss Helen to sit down, just to the right of Yue Jinghua, with a slightly awkward single-seat space left in between.

Without any regard for Yue Jinghua, Angel barged in rudely.

After the precedent set by Lihua Xue, Yue Jinghua was once again dressed as a man, and with such female mercenaries, she preferred to avoid them if she could. She signaled to Shalman and the others to keep silent and ordered a glass of Jatte fruit wine to drink.

"Dongting, I’m thirsty, buy me a drink?" Angel turned to Qin Dongting, very blatantly licking her lips which were even more red and lush than pomegranate juice.

"No money," Qin Dongting muttered as he drank, picking up his cup, downing it in one go, staring at his cup and zoning out, not even sparing a stray glance for Angel.

Even drinking, the attractive man did it in such a charming way.

Angel gazed fixedly, her ears suspiciously flying up a shade of red.

Yue Jinghua could hardly stop herself from laughing, this man was such a top-grade character, she finally met someone even more icy than Qing Pu. At least, when Qing Pu was being sarcastically venomous, he would throw a soul-stirring glance, but this Qin Dongting was the epitome of a coffin face.

Angel seemed to have become immune to his coldness, the colder the man, the greater the sense of accomplishment when conquered. She snorted, pulled out a bunch of Gold Coins, and threw them to the chuckling bartender, "Dongting, are you short on cash? How about you join our Mercenary Group? We’ve got a mission, a Yellow Pearl Level task."

Angel was confident Qin Dongting would accept her invitation.

Though the Fengmang Mercenary Group wasn’t one of the top ten Mercenary Groups, it was still a notable one on the continent, far better than Qin Dongting’s some Second Generation Soldier squad with a bone-chilling name.

"Not interested," Qin Dongting’s words were like knives laced with wind and snow during the cold December, cold enough to freeze someone alive. Angel’s smile immediately stiffened at the corners of her mouth.

"Wow, someone’s here to poach," Yue Jinghua noticed something was off and then looked at Angel’s reaction.

Who would have thought this female mercenary would have such amazing frost resistance? Oblivious to Qin Dongting’s chilliness, she leaned closer with a seductive smile and blew a breath of warm air into Qin Dongting’s ear, "So, how about I keep you company tonight, any interest?"

Yue Jinghua felt goosebumps all over her arm. With such temptation, if Qin Dongting could still hold back, then he really wouldn’t be a man.

"Not appetizing," Qin Dongting sipped his drink and lightly spat out a sentence.

Angel paused, then gritted her teeth and said, "Are you insulting me, or do you have someone in your heart?"

"I do," Qin Dongting replied without lifting his head, casually pointing in a certain direction to his right.

"Pfft," amidst the noisy tavern, several people spontaneously spat out their drinks.

Shalman and Dongdong looked at each other.

Qin Dongting’s voice wasn’t loud, but there were quite a few mercenaries watching the spectacle of this woman chasing after a man, and everyone’s eyes naturally fell on a particular corner of the tavern.

Unfortunately for Qin Dongting, his dismissive point happened to be directed at an actual person.

Getting shot while lying down!

Yue Jinghua had a few black lines on her forehead, and she had no choice but to brace herself against the murderous glares Angel threw at her.

Yue Jinghua’s mind was racing, "This beautiful miss mercenary, I am innocent, this isn’t my cup of tea."

The corners of Qin Dongting’s thin lips tightened slightly.

"Dongting, don’t overdo it, I know that your low-grade mercenary team has been struggling to operate. Hand over your mercenary performance records to me, and I will definitely recommend you to the leader," Angel suppressed the anger in her heart and forced a smile.

She was not as much of a vase as she appeared on the surface. On one hand, she was quite fond of Qin Dongting’s looks. On the other hand, she heard that Qin Dongting’s team had accepted a major commission from a big guild earlier on.

In recent years, Fengmang Mercenary Group has been eager to join the ranks of the Great Mercenary Groups. With the Mercenary Assessment approaching this year, they were still a few hundred points short. The leader of Fengmang Mercenary Group had already made it clear: whoever earns those mercenary points will be made the vice-leader.

As long as she can persuade Qin Dongting to join their mercenary group, she will have the opportunity to transfer all the points earned by his team over the past year to Fengmang Mercenary Group.

She had already inquired that Qin Dongting had not received a mercenary mission for a long time, and without a new mission, his mercenary team would be disbanded.

As Angel spoke, her supple body clung to Qin Dongting like kudzu, her soft, boneless palm sliding up his chest.

Onlookers around them let out envious murmurs, seeing there was no drama to watch, and they turned to drink on their own.

Yue Jinghua’s eyes quickly caught a change; Qin Dongting’s hand, which had been resting on the bar counter, disappeared.

Before reacting, there was a clatter on the bar, and the sound of a scream, shattering bottles, and the bartender’s gasp all rang out at the same time.

With a whooshing explosion, Angel, who was whispering beside Qin Dongting’s ear a moment earlier, had no time to dodge and was flung away.

With her leather armor in disarray, her eyes full of disbelief, and her damp hair sticking to her cheeks, the moment she was swatted away like a fly, a man as burly as a hill jumped out, "Qin Dongting, you mutt, you dare hit my woman."

Yan Bao, true to his name, was a brash fellow in stark contrast to Qin Dongting’s pleasing movements. His body was muscular, and his voice boomed like a bell, shaking the whole tavern.

A fresh scene of a woman chasing a man suddenly turned into a melodramatic fight between two men over one woman.

Angel had always had a favorable impression of Qin Dongting. Coincidentally, Yan Bao, a fellow "Second Generation Soldier" member of the mercenary squad and smitten with Angel at first sight, started to distance himself from her after she met Qin Dongting.

Qin Dongting remained motionless, but his eyes, which had shown no change, shifted slightly when he caught a glimpse of Yue Jinghua’s beautiful evasive movement technique.

Yue Jinghua frowned as she watched, cursing internally - damn Compass, calling them a talent, they’re clearly two pig-headed teammates.

"Here to watch the show?" Qin Dongting stood by with his hands tied, lifting his elegantly curved jaw.

This question, however, was directed at Yue Jinghua.