"If everything goes smoothly from here to the starting point, it will take about 14 days. Can I charge you 20 gold coins?" asked the middle-aged businessman.
"It's too tiring to shout like this," Qian Hai turned around and asked Lao Bai, "Is it okay if I ask them to come over or I can go over?"
Lao Bai smiled and said, "They probably don't dare."
"Okay then," Qian Hai continued to shout to the other party: "This is our first time joining the fleet, are there any rules?"
"Master, if you are interested, I can go to your ship and explain in detail." The businessman on the other side responded.
Qian Hai turned his head and smiled at Lao Bai: "It seems you guessed wrong."
Lao Bai nodded slightly: "Well, this businessman is a little different."
"Okay!" Qian Hai shouted to the other side: "Welcome to our ship."
After a while, a middle-aged businessman in a blue robe who didn't look wealthy boarded the Qianhai speedboat with a guard. "Hello, my name is Bi Ziyan. Nice to meet you."
"Hello, my name is Qian Hai. Please sit down, Mr. Bi." Qian Hai asked An Xiu to move a chair for him.
"Thank you, Master Qianhai." Bi Ziyan said directly: "Because everyone is waiting for us, I will briefly introduce the situation of our fleet."
"Including me, our fleet has a total of five ships, one of which is a maritime mercenary, and the other four are free traders. During the voyage, everyone did not disturb each other and followed the mercenary ship to the starting point. Set off from the neutral dock in the land."
Bi Ziyan continued: "If you plan to join us, you need to pay us 4 gold coins for each ship, which is 20 gold coins."
'It's only 20 gold coins in total, which is really cheap. Qian Hai nodded, "I can accept the price, but if the fleet is attacked by pirates, who will the maritime mercenaries protect first?"
Bi Ziyan smiled and said: "After discovering pirates, the maritime mercenaries will come forward to negotiate or fight. They will not give priority to protecting any ship."
"Oh," before Qian Hai finished speaking, he heard another boat coming from a distance, and someone on it shouted impatiently: "Hey! Bi Ziyan, don't waste time with them! Just use a small speedboat. I just want to go to the starting point, but they can’t afford the commission!”
Bi Ziyan smiled apologetically at Qian Hai and said, "Please forgive me, there are always some people on the sea who are not very friendly."
"It's okay, I'll pay for the commission." Qian Hai readily took out 20 gold coins, "Just treat it like making friends."
"Great, you are very welcome to join!" Bi Ziyan hurriedly collected Qianhai's gold coins and said happily: "To be honest, we free merchants doing trade on the sea can only get meager returns every time compared with the risks. Thank you so much for sharing our costs!”
"Hey!! Bi Ziyan!!" The boat in the distance shouted again.
"Let's leave now!!" Bi Ziyan responded in the distance, turned to Qian Hai and said: "Then, we will go back first, and your boat can follow the team."
"Okay, Mr. Bi, we will follow your boat." Qian Hai watched Bi Ziyan leave, then looked back at Sister Nuo, "Sister Nuo, follow them."
Qian Hai stood at the bow of the ship, looking at Bi Ziyan's merchant ship in front of him, and asked: "Lao Bai, do you have to pay commission in advance when hiring maritime mercenaries?"
"Usually, when hiring maritime mercenaries, only a small deposit will be paid in advance, and the entire commission will not be paid in advance."
Qian Hai nodded and said, "Well, as I know, is Bi Ziyan lying?"
Lao Bai shook his head slightly, "From the state and tone when he spoke, I felt that he was not lying. So I speculate that there is another possibility, that is, the price of hiring maritime mercenaries is very cheap, but the condition is that they must pay in advance. All commissions.”
"Even if the other party says he's not lying, you can feel the subtle changes in him. It's really amazing." Qian Hai asked with a smile: "Then you mean that if there is really danger, these maritime mercenaries may not be able to Don’t you care about these merchant ships?”
"It's also possible that these maritime mercenaries were originally colluding with pirates." Lao Bai said in a deep voice.
"Is there such a thing?? In other words, these maritime mercenaries may be fake?" Seeing Lao Bai nodding, Qian Hai smiled even more happily, "Haha, I originally wanted to cause less trouble, then Isn’t that interesting?”
In the next three days, Qian Hai and his small speedboat followed the fleet. Not only did other merchant ships not come close to communicate, but even the hired maritime mercenaries did not send anyone over to have any communication.
In order not to attract the attention of other people in the fleet, Qian Hai no longer allowed Lao Bai to go into the sea to grab food. After all, it is too abnormal for a blind man to go into the sea to catch sea beasts.
Taking advantage of this period, Lao Bai, who had been hanging out in the Starting Land for many years when he was young, introduced everyone to the general situation of the Starting Land, especially the neutral dock that their fleet is currently heading to.
The Neutral Wharf was built by the four neutral cities mentioned by Sister Nuo. It belongs to the sphere of influence of each neutral city. It is specially built for challengers, tourists and businessmen from all over the world to the starting point.
Each neutral dock has a variety of exclusive passages. As long as you pay the corresponding fee, you can go directly to the corresponding neutral city.
In fact, hundreds of years ago, the neutral city was just a transit point for all challengers before entering the chaotic forest. It was not until the King of Light was mysteriously destroyed that the four neutral cities: Weichuang City, Gono City, Silver City, and Bamboo Wind City, rapidly developed to their current scale.
Although on the surface, the four neutral cities are recognized as neutral by all forces in the world and are controlled by mercenary groups independent of each civilization. But in fact, these four cities are a kind of penetration of land civilization into the starting place.
Weichuang City, which is close to the Arcane Continent in the west, is controlled by the mercenary group from the Magical Civilization. Bamboo Wind City, which is close to the Qingyuan Continent in the east, belongs to the mercenary group from the Hongwu Civilization. Silver City, which is located in the northwest corner of the starting point, is controlled by the mercenary group. Mercenary control of the Holy Spirit civilization.
Only the Gonuo City that Qianhai and the others are heading to is special. Since Gono City is close to the southern continent, and the three civilizations on the southern continent: Wanyao, Behemoth, and Elves are relatively weak, Gono City is composed of five branches. Mercenary groups from Wanyao, Beamon, Elf, Magic, and Hongwu jointly control it.
In addition to the docks corresponding to the neutral cities, the seven continental civilizations have established their own exclusive docks on the starting point, specifically for outstanding challengers selected by their own civilization to go to the underground palace trial entrance located at the core of the Chaotic Forest.
Lao Bai said that he was uniformly transported from the Qingyuan Continent by the Taixi Alliance to the dedicated dock of Hongwu Civilization, and then escorted to the entrance of the underground palace by the experts of the Taixi Alliance.
"There are six entrances to the underground palace trial, and they are now divided into six major cities located in the Republican Alliance——"
