Xizhou ShizhouZuo Cheng'an endured the faint smell of rabbit odor in his nostrils and waited a while, anticipating what 'Red Eyes' would say next.
With so many underlings watching, shouldn't we give them some kind of reward according to procedure?
Set up an admirable role model so that others will work even harder.
But aside from patting it twice and leaving a lingering smell, 'Red Eye' didn't do anything else.
"Alright, I have something important to do. Everyone, keep working hard. If you do a good job, you'll get a lot of Ladder Coins and status!"
After saying that, it left, leaning on its cane.
"..."
For the first time, Zuo Cheng'an realized he was overthinking things; many unspoken rules didn't apply to monsters like 'Red Eyes'.
It's unclear whether 'Red Eyes' truly doesn't understand the principles of managing subordinates, or is merely feigning ignorance.
No, you don't draw big promises like that, do you?
Just drawing a pie in the sky!?
What happened to setting a goal that would make people envious and jealous?
He was mentally prepared to become the target of public criticism!
The other monsters were used to 'Red Eye's' actions and didn't find anything wrong with it.
They all seemed genuinely inspired by 'Red Eye's' few words, vowing to mend their ways and learn from Mo Cheng.
'Red Eyes' was indeed pleased with everyone's performance: "Hmm~ Not bad, everyone, let's disperse."
As soon as 'Red Eyes' left, the monsters surrounded Zuo Cheng'an, exchanging barbs.
Most of them were former workers from the 'red-eye' era, and hadn't seen much of the world, making them much easier to fool than the monsters who worked as waiters in the upper decks of the cruise ship.
That's why they don't know the disguised identity that Zuo Cheng'an gave him on the other side of the game, and think that he is also one of the followers of 'Red Eye'.
"My God, buddy, what race are you? You're not afraid of the 'tall jumping spider's' venom!"
"Brother, you're really brave. You're going to such lengths to get to the Central Third District."
"Sigh, if I didn't have 217 eggs to nurture, I would have gritted my teeth and gone for it just now. I really have things on my mind."
"Brother, don't forget us when you become successful!"
...
Amidst the cacophony of voices, Zuo Cheng'an occasionally offered a few perfunctory replies.
He finally understood why, even without any substantial rewards, Red Eye's subordinates who worked for it for free remained loyal.
Because there's a giant family bucket version of a pie hanging in front of you.
It promised to smuggle the best-performing monsters to Central Region 3 after the cruise ship returned!
As for whether those who illegally cross the border can stay in the Central Three District for a long time to be influenced and increase their strength.
Whether they can survive, or even bring their families over, depends on their own abilities.
The mere existence of a nameless, unregistered smuggling quota was enough to drive these monsters from the lower strata mad.
Regardless of whether this pie actually exists or not, just hearing its name is enough to make monsters drool for ages.
Therefore, it's only natural that 'Red Eyes' would assume that Zuo Cheng'an would also be tempted.
But in reality, it would be more satisfying to just give him some ladder coins.
The cost of living on the ship is too high, and you have to use Ladder Coins to bribe people everywhere. Unfortunately, Zuo Cheng'an's character is someone who doesn't lack money, so he has been spending money very hard these past two days.
Sometimes Zuo Cheng'an even felt a pang of envy and wanted to quickly uncover his identity so he could tear off the mask and start the zero-dollar shopping spree right there on the ship.
Of course, that was a last resort, done out of sheer desperation.
The other monsters didn't care about Zuo Cheng'an; they had their own work to do, and a few casual words of conversation were all they could manage.
They quickly dispersed and returned to their workstations.
Zuo Cheng'an didn't rush back to his room, but instead followed the direction Tao Cheng had left in.
Actually, there were Xiaoyue's common codes left behind by Tao Cheng along the way, but strictly speaking, he wasn't one of Xiaoyue's people; they only had some cooperation.
Naturally, they couldn't understand those codes.
But it's okay, he still has...
"Woof!"
Modou successfully completed his mission and returned triumphantly, reuniting with Zuo Cheng'an.
"Where nearby can you smell human blood? Go find it."
"Aww!"
This time, before Kadelina could translate, Modou understood the meaning of "person" and "bloodstains" and confidently turned to lead the way.
Vocabulary is the foundation of a foreign language.
When countless grains of sand accumulate into a tower, the course "Human Language" will naturally follow.
...
...
Mo Dou led Zuo Cheng'an through the ship's cabin, eventually arriving at the lower cargo hold.
Finally, it stopped in front of a closed door with a potted plant placed at the entrance.
There was probably another machine running nearby, the purpose of which was unknown, which was why there was a constant, piercing buzzing noise in the vicinity.
Staying in this environment for too long would make both humans and monsters feel uncomfortable.
No wonder there were no monsters or human figures seen nearby.
Before Zuo Cheng'an could even knock on the door, Tao Cheng opened it and stepped aside to let him and Mo Dou in quickly.
"Come in without worry. I've placed some props nearby so outsiders won't see you enter. They'll just think you passed by the door and kept walking."
Upon hearing this, Zuo Cheng'an glanced again at the prop that resembled a small light bulb, hidden under the leaves of a potted plant by the door.
It turns out that wasn't a gift from nature after all; luckily, I didn't have time to reach out.
Tao Cheng was unaware that his precious 'Illusion Machine' had almost been stolen. After Zuo Cheng'an and Mo Dou entered the room, he quickly closed the door tightly.
Besides Hu Jin, who had facial injuries, Zhou Longmao and a female player named Li Lian were also inside the room.
They reacted strongly to Zuo Cheng'an's sudden visit, thinking that their temporary hideout had been discovered by monsters, and almost attacked him with their weapons.
Fortunately, Tao Cheng explained in time, thus averting a tragedy.
With the ink line as a living identifier, Zhou Longmao calmed down and immediately guessed: "You're Brother Zuo!? I knew it was you I saw at the banquet!"
He had previously worked as a waiter at banquets and had seen many monsters enter with canine pets. Among them, the most memorable were Inkstone and another giant wolf.
Trusting Zuo Cheng'an's abilities, Zhou Longmao began to proactively exchange intelligence with him.
"Our results were so-so; we only found two side quests: 'Red Handkerchief' and 'Abandoned Baby at the Dining Table.' We don't know the specific rewards because of the poor game signal."
As for the props, I'm even more ashamed to say that I only found a pearl placed in the tank at the aquarium restaurant. However, after trying to get my hands on it, I discovered that it was just a white prop with lighting capabilities...
They gathered a large group of people, but their exploration of the dungeon was so pitifully little that Zhou Longmao was almost embarrassed to admit it.
"And you? You must have found far more clues than we have, right?"
Having conquered level 4 dungeons, Zhou Longmao had clearly placed Zuo Cheng'an on the same level as team leaders like Gan Ran and Zhuang Jicheng.
Even Tao Cheng looked over, ready to listen quietly to Zuo Cheng'an's speech.
Zuo Cheng'an, who had been busy running around with rabbits and hadn't even triggered a single side quest: "..."
"Well, I didn't find the side quest, but I did find other clues that seem to be related to the main storyline of the dungeon."
Hearing the first half of the sentence, everyone was slightly disappointed, but when they heard the second half, they couldn't help but feel their hearts tighten again.
"What clue!? Is it related to the debuff that deducts one point of mental energy from me every hour?"
Hu Jin, who had been lying down, struggled to sit up and asked anxiously.