A week passed in the oasis city and not a single peep was heard.
All of the mercenaries who had been gathered here remained silent after what happened that day.
There were also more and more mercenaries that arrived from the various villages and towns, but to everyone's surprise, they didn't do anything after arriving.
It was as if everyone had silently agreed to not do anything while they were in town.
If they had to guess, they would have guessed that it was most likely the work of the cloaked figure in the shadows.
Since that day, no one had seen the cloaked figure, but…there were strange disappearances in the oasis town.
For example, one of the mercenaries who arrived from one of the surrounding villages disappeared.
This person was a very loud and prideful person who picked fights wherever they went.
The second day, they disappeared without a trace.
No one knew exactly what had happened to them, but they were certain that the cloaked figure was responsible to a certain extent.
But of course, it was impossible for this peace to last.
That was because while they had all gathered here for one reason, it wasn't as if they could stay in this place forever. They all had their own lives and their own finances, so it wasn't as if they could keep burning into their savings to stay here.
If they stayed any longer, they would run out of money.
So they had to do something even if there was the threat of the cloaked figure looming over them.
While this sentiment was brewing under the surface, there were those that already had a plan.
That was because the cloaked figure indeed hadn't been idle during this time.
He had already contacted several groups and offered them the same deal as the Triple Axis and Treasure Hunters group.
Tonight, they were gathering for the first time since they would be setting off tomorrow.
As for where they would be heading off to, no one really knew just yet.
The information that they had received was that 'Mu Bao Bao' was planning on leaving the town, different from what she normally did. This would be the one chance that they would have to get the information that they wanted about her, so they would work together to track her tomorrow.
When the Triple Axis and Treasure Hunters group arrived in the bar that this meeting was being held in, they found that it was completely empty other than two other groups that were sitting there.
They immediately recognized these two other groups because they were also famous mercenaries.
One was another C Rank group just like theirs, but the other one was the more important one.
That was because unlike them, this was a B Rank group.
They had a special B Ranker that was famous, even more famous than the Triple Axis group.
But they had all thought that this B Rank group had been out of the city during this time, so they wouldn't be participating in this mission.
It seemed like someone had found them and contacted them to bring them back.
It seemed like they couldn't underestimate the power of the cloaked figure and the people behind him.
After their group arrived, neither of the two groups that were already here did a thing.
They just looked at them before going back to their own thing.
After all, everyone was on guard right now and they wouldn't break that guard just to have some small talk.
They were all waiting for one thing…the arrival of the cloaked figure.
But even after the Triple Axis and Treasure Hunters group arrived, there was no sign of the cloaked figure.
They just sat there waiting for a bit before the door opened again.
Everyone was paying close attention to who it was since they all thought that it would be the cloaked figure, but they were wrong. It was a person that they didn't recognize at all that made their way in.
This person was alone and they didn't seem powerful at all.
After coming into the bar, they looked around before heading to one of the tables to sit down alone.
This person attracted more attention than the rest.
When everyone here was a famous person and you were the one person who wasn't famous, then naturally you would attract more attention. You were the one that stood out for being different from the rest.
But even with everyone staring at them, that person didn't seem that bothered.
One of the girls from the Treasure Hunters group looked carefully at this person before suddenly saying, "That's right, I knew I saw this person somewhere before."
When they heard this, all of them turned to look at her.
She looked at the other groups who were still looking at this person before leaning in to say, "He's a D Ranker."
"D Ranker?" The others couldn't help repeating before looking back at this person.
A D Ranker in a place that was filled with C Rankers and even a B Ranker, he really was out of place.
Why would the cloaked figure invite someone like this?
But that thought only existed in their mind for a single second before it was blown away.
After all, they knew just how powerful the cloaked figure was.
If this was a person that the cloaked figure had invited, then they wouldn't dare look down on this person.
Even if they were a D Ranker, they must have some kind of special ability that had attracted the attention of the cloaked figure.
So they all turned to the girl who had spoken before.
When she saw them all looking at her, she immediately understood what they were asking of her.
But after thinking about it for a bit, she shook her head before saying, "I can't remember. It was a long time ago when I was a D Ranker and I had to find a team for a mission. I went with him, but I don't think that he even showed off his power."
Hearing this, all of them slightly knitted their brows, but they still gave nods of acknowledgement in the end.
If she didn't know, then she didn't know.
It wasn't as if they could force her to give them the information.
They would just have to keep a close eye on this D Ranker just in case.
And judging by the looks on the faces of the other groups, it seemed like they were all thinking the same.
None of them dared to look down on this D Ranker since he must have been invited here for a reason.
The night dragged on until finally the last group arrived.
This was a group that was completely wrapped up in cloaks unlike the rest of them and they sat in a corner, watching over everything.
The people that were here tried to find out more about this cloaked group, but they weren't able to find a single thing different about them. It was as if there was something that was blocking their spiritual senses when they tried to investigate them.
It seemed that no one that was invited by the cloaked figure could be looked down on.
After this cloaked group arrived, all of them suddenly felt something.
They all turned to look at the center of the room where they found that there was an extra person there.
It was the cloaked figure who had just appeared out of thin air!
A few of them raised their guards, but they quickly released them.
They knew that if the cloaked figure had wanted to, he could have already taken care of them just now. After all, they hadn't sensed his presence at all and it was only when he made himself known that they sensed him.
Even if he did something, they wouldn't have noticed…
So they knew that there was nothing to gain from struggling and it was better to go along with this cloaked figure's designs.
After the cloaked figure appeared, he looked around the room and then gave a satisfied nod before saying, "It seems like everyone is here."
After he said this, everyone couldn't help looking around the room again.
These were the people that they would be working with, so of course they would be curious and cautious of each other.
It would take the slip up of one person to put their lives in danger, so they had to be careful.
The cloaked figure didn't care about any of that as he placed a piece of paper on the counter of this bar.
After he did that, he looked at them and said, "This is your mission. If you succeed, you'll have plenty of benefits to gain. If you fail, it is your life that you will forfeit."
Without giving them a chance to say anything, the cloaked figure started disappearing from their sight.
Even if they wanted to stop him, they couldn't since they had no idea what was happening.
Even though they were staring right at him, he was still disappearing.
Could it be that he was a ghost?
No, this was a powerful cultivation technique that they had no chance of matching…
So it was better to see what the piece of paper left behind by the cloaked figure was.
Each group sent a representative up since there was only so much space at the counter.
For now, it wasn't worth provoking each other since they had to work with each other tomorrow. So they had to at least put on the air of cooperation.
After they saw what was written, all of the representatives couldn't help revealing shocked looks.
This content is taken from (f)reewe(b)novel.𝗰𝗼𝐦