Enforcer Manual
Chapter 402: Mysterious Merchant Ge Fu_1

Chapter 402: Chapter 402: Mysterious Merchant Ge Fu_1

Amid the idle chatter of the three, the bus arrived at the small town.

Big Radish Head was familiar with this town; as a former member of the Rebel Clan, they had considered relocating to this town when things got too hot outside. Unfortunately, before they could put their plan into action, the town was raided by the Law Enforcers.

The town, which had been a peaceful haven for criminals, was completely abandoned, and all its residents scattered.

But now the town looked very different from the sample photos their boss had found.

Mist shrouded the town, and the buildings were much more dilapidated than they appeared in the pictures. What was even more eerie was that there was a notice board at the entrance of the town, with a power source that was unclear, and on it was written in red letters:

"Livability: One Star"

"No Automatic Defense System"

"Recommended Settlement Population: Under 10 People"

"Occasional Appearances of Void Creatures"

This was a complete No-Go town, which looked gloomy under the cloak of mist. The three stood at the entrance of the town, none of them willing to take the first step inside.

"How about..."

Spicy Chicken looked around, certain that the lodging in the town couldn’t possibly be better than his apartment. He had originally come out of curiosity and thus was naturally the least resolute of the three.

He had traveled back and forth on the trade routes for so many years, picking up a life spared by countless criminal groups; he didn’t want to retire only to die at the hands of some inexplicable Void creatures.

Such a large town with only the three of them living in it would make for an eerie atmosphere come nightfall, even without any monsters.

However, the Sheep Village headman ignored his hint. Staring at the notice board for a while, he said, "This livability score should be able to be improved."

"What?"

Spicy Chicken gave him a look of shock. Surely this man wasn’t seriously considering moving into this godforsaken place?

"Those are probably hints. As long as we establish a good automatic defense system here, attract more people to live here, and drive out the aggressive Void creatures roaming around the town, the livability of this place would improve."

This time, even Big Radish Head, who had remained silent, was stunned.

This man not only planned to move in but had also come up with ways to build up the town.

Could this guy really be village head material?

"What are you afraid of? Didn’t the report mention that the Bureau had arranged for two experienced adventurers to come and help us?"

With that, the Sheep Village headman became the first to set an example, slinging his backpack on and stepping into the town; he also shouted, "Hello, we are the volunteers here to report!"

Soon, a response came from the depths of the mist; two people dressed in heavy protective gear, wearing gas masks, quickly appeared in front of them.

The male among them spoke up, "I’ll take you to the stronghold first."

The stronghold was a hostel in the town, one of the few tall buildings left. After the gang took over the town, the previous owner fled with the money, and once the gang members left, the hostel emptied out.

Big Radish Head and Spicy Chicken headed to their dormitory first; the three decided to stay on the same floor for mutual support. The Sheep Village headman, however, stayed behind. He found Song Lan in private and asked, "We saw the notice board when we came in. What does it mean by ’automatic defense system’?"

Although his understanding of Void creatures was limited to what he read on the website, since the adventurers mentioned the automatic defense system, that meant the Void creatures could be killed or repelled.

In other words, as long as they set up sufficient firepower in the stronghold, it would be the Void creatures who would be afraid of them then.

"Like these robots, for example."

Song Lan clapped his hands, and suddenly there was a commotion at the entrance of the inn. Three guard robots, each wrapped in fleshy tendrils and with their arms transformed into rotating machine guns, jogged in.

The robots were only waist-high to them and looked somewhat comical as they ran.

In mechanical, synthesized voices they said, "’Infectious Defense Unit Model I’ reporting for duty, no threats detected at the moment."

The Chief of Sheep Village was startled but quickly recognized the model of these robots—they were the most common type of security robots on the market, cheap, with lower-level artificial intelligence, only capable of performing some mechanized patrol tasks. They cost between 50,000 and 70,000 watts each, and he had bought one when he had a store before.

These gadgets could scare the street thugs alright, but anyone slightly upping the firepower could render them scraps.

As for the fleshy growths on the robots’ bodies, he didn’t know how they got there; it was the first time in his life he discovered that even robots could be infected.

He soon chalked up these fleshy tendrils as a feature of the Void, and rather than getting hung up on the composition and origin of the flesh, he focused on more practical concerns, "How did these robots get here?"

This was currently the villager’s biggest worry—they didn’t have the experience to build robots, and if they had to make their own, the outpost might never achieve a two-star rating in their lifetime.

"You can buy them from a mystery merchant, though his goods are always random, so it’s down to luck whether you can get them."

"Mystery merchant? I haven’t seen any information about him on the website."

"They’re one of the few friendly creatures in the Void. We have limited information on them but know that they always manage to locate Adventurer settlements and appear promptly near the base... He should be in the grocery store next door right now. We checked earlier, and he didn’t have much of anything good today."

"Thanks."

With this important information, the Chief of Sheep Village hurriedly went upstairs, organized the items he brought, and called out Big Radish Head and Spicy Chicken to tell them about the mystery merchant.

The trio rushed downstairs and found the merchant named Ge Fu in a shop close to the inn in no time.

Ge Fu looked no different from humans on the outside, but his tone and speed of speech were incredibly weird, giving off a vibe that he was a bit mad.

He was very friendly. Seeing guests visit, he enthusiastically recommended today’s product—a powerful sleep aid called the HugBug.

In the minds of the three, it was a great product that served as a sleep aid, massager, and alarm clock, all in one, and easy to feed too, thriving on unwanted garbage fed to it daily.

Thus, it could function normally even in environments lacking charging facilities or the like.

Such a powerful product was priced at only 19,999 watts.

That’s right, you heard it, only 19,999 watts!

After listening to Ge Fu’s brainwashing pitch, Big Radish Head and Spicy Chicken exchanged glances. Calming down, they tried to total up the prices of sleeping pills, massage chairs, alarm clocks, and the like.

watts.

And with a bit of haggling with the seller, it might not even cost 100 watts.

Yet this mystery merchant was asking for 19,999 watts right off the bat.

The two caught the suspicion in each other’s eyes, and two strangers, unfamiliar with each other, had an epiphany at the same moment.

The dark skies, the fog enveloping the town, the three of them isolated and desperate, and a mystery merchant demanding a sky-high price upon their first meeting.

Recently, the internet was rife with rumors of people being lured into a dark room and sucked of all their money.

All these elements combined...

My God!

Could these people be part of a pyramid scheme!?