Apocalypse: I Have A Multiplier System - Chapter 439

Chapter 439: Chapter 439: Guards
“What do you mean?” Mei asked cautiously. Her eyes widened as she pointed at Su Jiyai and asked in a trembling voice,

“Are your wolf friends nearby?”

Kars became alert, too. And looked around warily.

Su Jiyai chuckled and said,

“Don’t worry, I am not talking about the Darkfang wolves. I have sent them away.”

Mei and Kars both looked confused.

“If not the wolves… then who are you talking about?” Kars asked, gripping his blade tighter.

Su Jiyai raised an eyebrow and smiled. “I’m talking about… the people who’ve been watching us since we entered this cave.”

Mei’s face went pale. “W-What people?”

“You didn’t notice?” Su Jiyai said with a teasing tone. “I guess being evil really made you both careless.”

Suddenly, the sound of boots echoed from deeper inside the cave.

More than ten figures stepped out of the shadows, each of them holding weapons and wearing cloaks that blended with the rocks.

Blaze gasped. “W-Who are they?”

Su Jiyai crossed her arms.

“They are your employers. Do you think you are the only one who is smart? Have you ever wondered why the mission wasn’t accepted by more experienced mercenaries?

It is more likely that they knew that the merchant who had requested the map wouldn’t let them off once they handed in the map.

In fact, they also knew that the merchant might dispatch some of his subordinates to keep an eye on your team so that no one tricks him.”

Juliet blinked in shock. “You mean… these guys were spying on us from the start?”

Su Jiyai nodded, still calm.

“Yup. From the moment we stepped into the forest. They were hiding and watching everything.”

One of the cloaked people stepped forward. He was tall, with a sharp face and cold eyes. He didn’t look friendly at all.

“You’re smarter than the rest,” he said to Su Jiyai.

“We were sent by the merchant to follow your group. His exact words were, ‘Make sure no one tries to cheat me.'”

Kars’s face twisted in anger. “You were spying on us?!”

The man shrugged.

“Of course. You thought you could steal the crystals, poison your team, and just walk away with billions? Tsk tsk… too greedy.”

Mei took a shaky step back. “No… that’s not possible. We—we planned everything!”

Su Jiyai rolled her eyes. “Yeah, and you planned it so well, you forgot people smarter than you exist.”

Kars growled. “Shut up!”

But the cloaked man held up a hand. “Enough. We’ve seen enough. Kars, Mei—you’re done. You’re under arrest.”

“Arrest?!” Mei shrieked. “You can’t arrest us! We’re mercenaries!”

The man’s eyes turned cold.

“You’re traitors. You betrayed your own team and tried to steal from your employer. That’s punishable by death.”

Two more people from the cloaked group stepped forward and grabbed Kars and Mei by their arms.

“Let go of me!” Kars shouted, struggling. “I’m stronger than all of you! Let me go!”

But they didn’t let go. One of them jabbed a needle into Kars’s neck, and he slumped forward, paralyzed.

“Sleepy time,” the cloaked man muttered.

Mei screamed and tried to run, but she was tackled and held down.

Juliet coughed again and looked up at Su Jiyai. “You… you knew all this?”

Su Jiyai nodded. “I had a feeling. I mean, come on. The mission smelled fishy from the start.”

Blaze finally managed to sit up with Su Jiyai’s help. “So… they’re not going to hurt us?”

Su Jiyai shook her head,

“They will. After all, they want the map for free. So they will most probably want to deal with you two and me.”

Juliet’s eyes widened. “Wait, what?! You said they were here to arrest them! Not us!”

Su Jiyai gave her a small, sad smile.

“Yeah, they were. But now that Kars and Mei are dealt with, we’re just… leftovers holding the map.”

Blaze’s face turned pale. “No way. Are you saying they’re going to kill us?”

The tall, cloaked man stepped forward again, this time with a sly smirk.

“We appreciate your help, boy,” he said to Su Jiyai, “but you’re too smart to leave alive. And the map? We’ll take it now.”

Juliet backed up quickly, dragging Blaze with her. “This is so unfair! We’re the good guys!”

“Yeah,” one of the cloaked people snorted, “and good guys don’t live long.”

Su Jiyai sighed and said,

“We can hand you over the map, but…in return, we want our portion of reward.”

The cloaked man sneered,

“Dream on. We could easily kill you three and…”

Su Jiyai waved a red button and said with a smile,

“Do you know what this is? A button. One that can command the explosion near the cave’s entrance and attract the attention of other beasts. Do you still think it is a good option to kill us?”

The cloaked man froze. His sneer faded a little as he stared at the red button in Su Jiyai’s hand.

“You’re bluffing,” he said, but his voice wasn’t as confident as before.

Su Jiyai tilted her head. “Wanna test it?”

Behind her, Juliet whispered, “Please don’t press it. Please don’t press it…”

The man looked around at his team. Some of them were starting to look nervous, too.

“If I press this,” Su Jiyai continued calmly, “the whole cave entrance will collapse, and a bunch of hungry monsters will come running. We’ll probably die, sure… but so will you.”

There was silence.

One of the cloaked guys muttered, “He might not be bluffing… this is the man who tamed Darkfang wolves.”

Another one gulped. “Those things tore up an entire scouting team last month…”

The leader cursed under his breath. “Fine. What do you want?”

Su Jiyai smiled sweetly. “Half the reward. And you let us go after.”

“Half?!” he barked. “That’s insane!”

Juliet cleared her throat. “Better than getting eaten by beast, right?”

Blaze nodded quickly. “Yeah! Also, uh, we didn’t do anything bad! We just wanna live!”

The leader gritted his teeth. He clearly didn’t like this deal, but he wasn’t dumb.

“Fine. Half the reward,” he said finally. “But give us the map. Now.”

Su Jiyai narrowed her eyes. “We’ll give it after we leave this cave safely.”

“What?! No! We don’t trust you!” the man snapped.

Su Jiyai held the button higher. “Then I guess we’re all gonna be monster food.”

Everyone tensed.

Juliet whispered, “I really wish he didn’t love bluffing this much…”

Blaze whispered back, “Is it even a bluff? I feel like he would blow us all up…”

The cloaked man cursed again. “Ugh! FINE! We’ll guide you out safely. But if you trick us—”

“I don’t trick people unless they try to stab me first,” Su Jiyai replied, giving him a cold look. “Let’s go.”

So, the three of them—Su Jiyai, Blaze, and Juliet—walked out of the cave with ten armed cloaked strangers around them. It felt like walking through a den of snakes.

But they made it out alive.

Outside the cave, the sun was setting, painting the sky orange and purple. It would’ve been pretty if the air wasn’t so tense.

The beast guarding the cave had long ago left.

“Alright,” the leader said. “We held up our end. The map?”

Su Jiyai took out a scroll from her pouch and tossed it to him. “You better not follow us again.”

The man caught it, checked it quickly, then gave a signal.

His group started walking away.

Juliet slumped to the ground in relief. “I can’t believe we lived.”

Blaze laughed weakly. “I can’t believe they bought it.”

Juliet blinked. “Wait… bought what?”

Blaze looked at Su Jiyai. “That button wasn’t real, was it?”

Su Jiyai grinned and opened her hand.

It was just a red candy wrapped in shiny plastic.

Juliet screamed, “WHAT?! You were gonna risk our lives on a piece of candy?!”

Su Jiyai popped it in her mouth. “Worked, didn’t it?”

Juliet stared at her like she was crazy.

Blaze just laughed and said, “Remind me to never bet against you.”

Su Jiyai stretched and said,

“Alright, let’s get out of here before someone else shows up. I’m hungry.”

The three of them soon started to get down the mountain.

Halfway through, Su Jiyai saw the Night Viper’s territory.

With careful steps, Su Jiyai, Blaze, and Juliet were about to leave when they heard a girl’s cry for help.

“Help me! Is anyone there? Please help me!”

Blaze and Juliet’s expression turned pale, while Su Jiyai decided to ignore the person.

Night Vipers were too dangerous, and there were a lot of them in the area.

Saving the girl would be foolishness.

Not to mention what a girl would be doing in Night Viper’s area during the evening.

Maybe it was some monster or beast mimicking a girl’s voice.

“Let’s ignore and leave the area.” Blaze proposed, his eyes shining with coldness.

After a betrayal he had become a lot more sober.

Su Jiyai was about to nod when the system suddenly interrupted,

[Host, that girl is your target!]