Chapter : 73

Free City.

A territory belonging to bounty hunters and the vast majority of people and other races who walk in the gray areas. It is located on the southwestern side of the Ailman Continent, bordering the desert, and its people are relatively fierce.

The headquarters of the Bounty Hunter's Association is also established here, forming a tripartite balance of power in the Free City with the underground casino Mantiper and various guilds (Mage's Guild, Swordsman's Guild, etc.).

However, because of this, the Free City has no official forces to govern it on the surface, so the crime rate here is only high, not low, and it is also known as the City of Sin.

The people who can live here are not simple.

Yan Yunqing compressed all his travel time. By the time he arrived at the Free City, it had taken him half a month.

He looked at the city walls of the Free City from a distance. After long-term erosion by wind and sand, the walls here were already somewhat dilapidated.

As far as the eye could see, it was all earthy yellow. The sun here was very dazzling. In November, approaching December, it was still scorching hot, roasting the earth until it sizzled and smoked.

A wave of heat rolled over, bringing with it a sky full of yellow sand, making it almost impossible to open one's eyes.

Yan Yunqing put down the light veil on his hat again. He had bought it on the way when he was replenishing supplies in a previous city. The yellow sand on this journey was really annoying.

He walked towards the city gate. In this kind of unguarded area, there was no such thing as a city guard. If it weren't for the worry that a demonic beast might pop out and attack people at any time during a sandstorm, perhaps the Free City wouldn't even have city walls.

He entered the city with great ease. The Free City was filled with an exotic atmosphere everywhere. Everyone was dressed in revealing, sexy, and hot clothing. Their skin was tanned from long-term sun exposure.

Most of their weapons were worn in the most conspicuous places on their bodies, as if they would start a fight at the slightest disagreement—

In fact, that was indeed the case.

Just as Yan Yunqing walked into the city, he ran into two men who were fighting inextricably. The way their fists met flesh, it was as if they couldn't wait to beat each other to death on the spot.

However, the passers-by were not surprised at all. Some of the more meddlesome ones even stopped to watch the show on the side.

When their interest was piqued, they would even cheer loudly, looking like they were enjoying the chaos.

The people here are indeed very fierce!

Yan Yunqing sighed with emotion.

He observed the people in the city and knew that there must be people observing him around. It wasn't that someone had malicious intentions towards him, but just by looking at his attire, one could see that he was out of place in this Free City.

Among a group of dusty mercenaries and bounty hunters, a person who was tightly wrapped up and wearing a veiled hat, with a completely obscured face, suddenly appeared. Anyone would be curious and take a few more glances.

Yan Yunqing didn't care. He walked casually along the roadside. Just by looking at the shops lining the street, he could feel the local customs.

For example, the shops outside Sigret Academy sold all kinds of magic potions and alchemical items, while here, the streets were full of weapon shops.

The outside was lined with scimitars and greatswords, which could be described as 'simple and honest folk customs'.

As Yan Yunqing looked at those shops, he keenly sensed a gaze on him. He glanced around without a trace.

"Hey, don't run away, give me back my spear!"

"Lalalala, catch me if you can!"

Not far away, two small figures, one in front of the other, were running straight towards Yan Yunqing. The child in front was holding a wooden spear high in his hand.

The workmanship was not exquisite, but it looked quite decent, a weapon specially made for children to play with.

Yan Yunqing stepped aside to avoid the two children bumping into him. The child holding the spear high ran past in a hurry, but the one chasing behind him accidentally stepped on a stone on the ground, his body tilted, and he was about to fall forward.

With quick eyes and hands, Yan Yunqing reached out and grabbed the back of this child's collar, directly lifting him up and preventing the child from being thrown forward by stepping on the stone.

The little boy was thin and small. He was a little embarrassed to be held by Yan Yunqing and hurriedly said to him: "Thank you, big brother."

He wanted to run after he finished speaking, but Yan Yunqing never let go of his grip on the back of his collar.

The little boy looked back in a daze: "Big brother?"

He looked at the other little boy who had already run far ahead, with an anxious look on his face: "Big brother, let me go quickly, Fudi is running away!"

Yan Yunqing glanced at the anxious little boy through his veiled hat and chuckled lightly:

"Child, I kindly helped you up, but you stole my money pouch. That's not right, is it?"

The little boy was stunned and looked at Yan Yunqing blankly.

Yan Yunqing held out his other hand, "Hand it over, my money pouch."

The little boy gradually shed his innocent and dazed expression, glared fiercely at Yan Yunqing, and suddenly struggled hard, trying to break free from Yan Yunqing's grasp.

How could Yan Yunqing give him this opportunity? He directly grabbed his arms, buckled them behind his back, and pressed the little boy to the ground in a standard criminal-restraining posture.

After all, there was a big difference in size between an adult and a child. Yan Yunqing's fluid movements were not met with any resistance at all.

Easily retrieving the money pouch that had been swiped by the child at some unknown time, Yan Yunqing tossed it up and down a few times before putting it back in his pocket.

Don't ask him why he was so sharp. In fact, the child's movements were already hidden enough that even he didn't notice at all.

It was just that Yan Yunqing, who had read countless film and television works, novels, and comics, was too familiar with this kind of plot where a child deliberately approaches to steal a money pouch.

He had even done it himself, swiping the money pouches of many red-named players. So when these two children ran close, Yan Yunqing had already secretly become vigilant.

The moment he grabbed the child, he subconsciously checked the money pouch in his clothes. Sure enough, it had mysteriously disappeared. He didn't even know how it disappeared.

But he was sure that his money pouch was stolen by this child who had suddenly run over.

Sure enough, he found his money pouch with a casual touch.

The child he had pressed to the ground turned his head sideways. His eyes were cold as he looked at him, no longer the innocent and romantic look from before. After Yan Yunqing let go, he jumped up and ran away in a flash.

Yan Yunqing snorted with a laugh. His gaze swept past the onlookers and landed on several other small figures hidden in the crowd, also paying attention to his direction vaguely.

Hmm, so it's a gang crime?

It seems this Free City is truly free.

Yan Yunqing ignored the gazes of those children. He was not to be trifled with. On his journey here, he had killed quite a few demonic beasts.

The high-intensity monster killing, and even killing monsters above his level several times, had caused Yan Yunqing's level to soar to forty-four.

You have to know that when he was only in his teens in terms of level, he dared to kill Dean. In his thirties, he caused trouble in the royal palace of Bartovita, facing a group of level 70 or 80 powerhouses without fear. What could these few children do to him?

Even if they could really do something, he had already set up a portable anchor point outside the Free City in advance. If any accident happened, he would directly activate [Unyielding Will] and read the scroll to run away.

Yan Yunqing still cherished his little life very much and had already arranged his escape route early on. It was a pity that this portable anchor point could only exist for seven days, and he had to replace it every seven days.

But it didn't matter. Before he left Sigret Academy, he had already bought enough alchemy materials. On his journey, when he wasn't killing monsters, he was making props.

Now his backpack was completely full. He had stacked everything that could be stacked, and he had also cleared out a wave of things that couldn't be stacked.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have put the money pouch he had just swiped on his person!

The game backpack was much safer than carrying it on his person. However, compared to the more valuable things in his backpack, this tattered money pouch with only a few copper coins was obviously not very important.

Yan Yunqing looked around and found a shop that looked like a restaurant. He walked in.

The few children who had been staring at Yan Yunqing from afar gathered together, whispering to each other.

"What do we do? He went into Uncle Buck's noodle shop. Should we continue to follow him?"

"Tsk, this person is not to be trifled with. He's too vigilant."

The tallest and strongest among them, and also the one who was holding the wooden spear at the beginning, Fudi, said angrily: "But he looks like a golden nugget.

Although I've never seen that piece of clothing he's wearing, I can tell at a glance that it costs a lot of money! Do we really have no chance to make a move on him?"

"But his strength is unknown." The little girl in the middle,mused, "Rocco, didn't you just try to steal that guy's money pouch? How did he see through your movements?"

The thin and weak little boy, Rocco, had a gloomy face. Hearing this, he shook his head: "I don't know. I'm sure he definitely didn't discover my skill.

He didn't even know where I put the money pouch at that moment, otherwise he wouldn't have searched my body."

But it was precisely someone who knew nothing who had discovered his little trick.

Rocco couldn't figure out where the problem was.

[Theft] was Rocco's innate skill. There were very few people in this world who could learn magic, and people with innate skills were even rarer than people with magic talent.

And among these few children, there were actually two with innate skills. Besides Rocco's [Theft], the other was the little girl Nika's [Observation].

This small group of children could survive in the Free City, besides relying on the occasional kindness of adults, was by relying on Nika's [Observation] to collect information on outsiders, formulate a plan, and then have the other friends and Rocco's [Theft] implement it.

Nika frowned. Her figure was even more slender and weak than Rocco's, and her face was pale with a sickly look. She didn't want to give up on this obvious golden nugget either.

Although many people came and went in the Free City every day, there were not many targets they could make a move on.

They couldn't steal from the permanent residents of the city, because these people all knew where their base was. If they stole from a resident of the Free City, not to mention whether they could get money, their base might even be turned upside down.

And they couldn't steal from those with high strength either. If they were caught, the child implementing the plan might get injured. In the Free City, suffering a serious injury was equivalent to a slow death—they didn't have that much money to buy healing potions for their companions.

They could only look for people who looked rich, had moderate strength, and preferably had a certain degree of tolerance for children.

Even if they were discovered, perhaps they would be let go since they were just children.

And the golden nugget they met today perfectly matched all the above conditions.

His strength was not particularly strong, at least in Nika's [Observation], this man with a veiled hat did not have that terrifying aura. Generally speaking, the strength of such people was average.

And after the other party discovered that Rocco had stolen his money pouch, he only took the money pouch back and didn't even beat Rocco up.

God knows how fast Nika's heart was beating when she saw Rocco being pressed to the ground by the other party in the crowd.

She almost thought that Rocco would be beaten up badly today. She was even ready to rush over and play pitiful to that person to save Rocco, and then compensate him with the few copper coins she had on her. She didn't expect that person to let Rocco go so lightly.

He had no intention of pursuing the matter at all.

Soft-hearted, average strength, and very rich.

Nika had no chance to convince herself to give up on this target.

"Let me think, let me think..." Nika closed her eyes and began to think.

The other few children who were still chattering immediately fell silent, quietly watching Nika think.

Nika struggled for a long time, then took a deep breath: "Then let's try again. We can't be so reckless this time. Let's follow him and observe for two days first."

The other children had no objections.