Sitting inside the cabin, Lin Yu gathered the corpses and took photos to upload to the Hunters' Association—this time using his Old Yao identity. The combined bounties of the remaining three Marauders members didn't even match Red Fuji's alone, but altogether it still amounted to around two hundred thousand.
Lin Yu sat in the cabin wearing Red Fuji's appearance, feeling somewhat surreal. "I've become a millionaire now..." He rubbed his chin and muttered. There was no denying that robbery and murder really brought fast money. Of course, these funds hadn't been transferred yet—they weren't safely in his pocket.
But after eliminating these people, Lin Yu hadn't just obtained the Hunters' Association bounties—he'd directly acquired five items. Two from Red Fuji and one each from the remaining three. After checking them, Lin Yu found nothing particularly useful for himself. He'd sell them later for additional income.
After waiting quietly in the cabin for an hour until False Face's cooldown ended, Lin Yu transformed back into Old Yao's appearance. He left the cabin and entered the wheelhouse, where the captain and first mate nodded in acknowledgment upon seeing him.
"Mission accomplished?"
Lin Yu smiled as he spoke. These two were peripheral members of Jiang'an Hall, assigned to him by the Tycoon. Since the Tycoon didn't fully trust "Old Yao," he hadn't sent any core Jiang'an Hall members for this operation—after all, Lin Yu had told the Tycoon that all he needed was a boat to completely eliminate the Marauders. This naturally made the Tycoon suspicious.
Fortunately, Lin Yu didn't actually want the Tycoon to send powerful assistants either—that would have made executing his plans much more inconvenient.
"Shall we dock now?" asked the peripheral member steering the boat. Lin Yu shook his head.
"Hello? Old Yao, already finished?" came the Tycoon's lazy voice.
"Yeah, except for Heavenly Artisan escaping by jumping into the river... the rest are confirmed eliminated. Three corpses in the cabin, and the First-Tier Red Fuji fell into the water after death—if they dredge the river, they should find his body." Lin Yu deliberately adopted a somewhat frivolous, boastful tone to match Old Yao's character.
The Tycoon laughed. "You've really got some skills, kid—though I didn't ask beforehand, how exactly did you pull this off? You couldn't have done it alone, right?"
Lin Yu chuckled awkwardly. "I did get some help... given your information network, boss, you probably already know Heavenly Artisan suffered losses in Zheng City before chasing targets to our Jiangcheng."
The Tycoon nodded. "Right, I heard he was injured by some Doctor from Jiangcheng, which is why he gathered people here—negotiating with the Master Thief was just one aspect."
"I happened to know that Doctor," Lin Yu said without blinking. "Along with a Veterinarian I recruited... the three of us boarded secretly after them and took them out one by one. They've already left after finishing the job."
The Tycoon sounded surprised. "You actually know someone stronger than Heavenly Artisan? What's that Doctor's background? Any chance of recruiting him to Jiang'an Hall? If you can bring him in, I'll give you top-tier point rewards!"
His tone grew enthusiastic—Jiang'an Hall's internal rules clearly stated that recruiting capable players with potential earned point rewards.
Lin Yu gave a bitter laugh. "Boss, I'd love to... but since he advanced tiers without joining any organization, he's got pretty high standards..."
"Apparently his goal is to join Order! Besides, I only teamed up with him once for a dungeon."
Hearing this, the Tycoon sounded disappointed. "Ah, forget it then—what about that Veterinarian you mentioned? Since you brought her up separately, she must be quite capable too?"
Lin Yu's tone adopted appropriate wariness for his character. "That one... I don't have confidence persuading her either. Honestly, she looks fragile but has a pretty sinister personality." He spoke seriously, then lowered his voice. "No proof, but I suspect... she might join the Free Alliance!"
"The Free Alliance?!" The Tycoon sounded startled, then cautiously advised, "Then keep your distance. Free Alliance members are crazier than even the Psychological Society!"
Lin Yu adopted a solemn expression. "Understood..." Then he smoothly shifted topics with obvious flattery. "But I'm not afraid—just a small organization with few members. In Jiangcheng territory, there's only the so-called Master Thief... how could they compare to our Jiang'an Hall?"
"Especially when our leader ranks twenty-seventh on the forum's top 100 list! With your protection, why wouldn't they fear me?"
Lin Yu's serious delivery actually made the Tycoon somewhat embarrassed. "You kid... well, you're not wrong! But still be careful of the Free Alliance. They might not appear on the rankings, but rumor says most of the top fifty anonymous users are theirs."
"There's even talk that three of the top ten anonymous spots belong to Free Alliance members!" the Tycoon added.
Lin Yu mentally noted this information. "The Free Alliance is that powerful? Though it makes sense—if a small organization is so famous, they must focus on elite members with exceptional skills!" he thought. "If I really join, I'll need to verify this thoroughly!"
Aloud, he said, "Boss, anyway, aside from Heavenly Artisan escaping, I confirmed the deaths of the other four who boarded—the Veterinarian took the Hunters' bounty for the First-Tier kill, left me the other three, and the Doctor kept all the items... that arrangement works, right?"
The Tycoon was magnanimous. "No problem, keep the small change. As someone called 'Tycoon,' I've got considerable assets—this amount means nothing. More importantly, you took out four intercity Marauders—this achievement will be credited to Jiang'an Hall... that benefit outweighs any monetary gain for me."
"After docking, go claim your Hunters' bounty without worry—I'll handle the cleanup."