Damn it! Let’s smash the darkness together!
Chapter 204 - 22 New Teammates and Old Acquaintances (First Update, Requesting Monthly Pass)

Chapter 204: Chapter 22 New Teammates and Old Acquaintances (First Update, Requesting Monthly Pass)

"Lord Gu Lishi, Xiao Lin has checked for you, and now, according to your needs, these three teams are more suitable for you to join."

"This group has four people: a Martial Artist, a Boatman, a Rascal, and a Doctor; it lacks two people."

"This group has five people: a Doctor, a Rascal, a Scout, an Orphan, and a Monk."

"The last group also has five people: it now has a Corpse Driver, a Nun, a Rascal, a Shepherd, and a Nun. By the way, this group took the initiative to tell Xiao Lin that they hope you can join."

"All three groups lack a Warrior profession, making it suitable for you to join.

"When setting off, the Judgement Department will send a Patrol Team to accompany and act as drivers."

Officer Xiao Lin was quite competent, delivering the information she learned in her notebook, item by item, to Xu Shu for his reference.

Her voice was gentle and soft, but her regulations were clear, clearly having undergone professional training.

"It turned out that in college, they would study the recognition and differentiation of various professions..."

Xu Shu first sighed about how he couldn’t afford college and had to resort to demon-slaying, then began scanning the three lists.

He noticed a commonality.

First, the ’caregiver’ profession: "Doctor," "Nun," "Witch" — these three were naturally essential.

Of course, the profession of a witch from the Mother Goddess path wasn’t very popular, whether going to the ruins or pioneering. Unless there were strict conditions that required their presence, it was generally difficult to organize a group with strangers; they had to rely on acquaintances.

As for the others, there were pretty much all professions. Xu Shu noticed that most pioneering teams had six people and found a minor oversight.

"Rascal"—the three teams recommended by Xiao Lin all had a Rascal profession included.

"Is Rascal one the three pathways of Martial Arts, and this profession is in high demand in the wilderness?"

Xu Shu asked her to get information from other teams that were waiting in the plaza, and Xiao Lin obediently did so.

After a while, Xu Shu confirmed his guess.

In other teams, there was also at least one Rascal, even one team had three Rascals.

"Is there something special about this profession?" Xu Shu directly inquired without any shame.

Xiao Lin replied, "Ah, this... Lord, I’m sorry, Xiao Lin doesn’t know the specific reason, but indeed, in all pioneering teams, a Rascal is essential. Maybe you could ask your Transcendent friends?"

"Is that so?"

Xu Shu thought for a moment, then bypassed others and sneakily sent a private message to Xie Xiaochan on his phone.

"Are you awake? Start practicing. Also, do you know why Rascal is an essential profession for pioneering?"—Gu Pan.

After a while.

"I don’t know, don’t bother me, I’ve turned on Do Not Disturb."—Xie Xiaochan, Second Order Seven-Colored Taoist.

Xu Shu frowned, visibly displeased.

Still sleeping? This bride is a bit too lazy, should I replace her?

[Xie Xiaochan has sent you a photo]

"..."

Opening the photo, he saw her wrapped in a pink blanket lying on the bed like a maggot, a hint of her fragrant shoulder visible, no shoulder strap in sight, and from the outline shaped by the blanket, one could guess she was probably sleeping naked.

Xu Shu: ...

"Forget it, for now, Wang Teng can’t progress any further, just waiting for me to provide the Bloodline Curse Seal, I suppose I can let her rest for a few days."

Looking through his not-so-many friends on the list, Xu Shu pondered for a moment then chose to bother Pure Sword Heart:

"Brother Song! Do you know why all pioneering teams need a Rascal?"

In less than half a minute, the other party replied: "You finally decided to pioneer? Very good, very good. Rascal, so called for their assault and killing, have special abilities on the wastelands, capable of detecting residues of murderous intent from monsters, allowing them to avoid large and powerful groups of monsters, and can also track down isolated small monsters by their scent. Thus, they are essential when venturing beyond the borders; otherwise, you might unknowingly crash into the belly of a fourth-tier monster."

"Got it, Old Song, I’ll pay you back when I return."—Gu Pan.

"Hey, little money, no worries, by the way, has Li Fengtian contacted you?"—Song Nianhui, Second Order Weapon Master.

"What does he want with me?"—Gu Pan.

"Don’t know, he contacted me, asking if I knew where you were after you deleted him from your friends list; lol, I said I didn’t know, but I saw you yesterday. You’re quite something, even managed to woo Gu Yue Ming, that’s the widow type, many in the Hunter Association have pursued her, be careful man."—Song Nianhui.

"You misunderstood... you saw me, you work for the Judgement Department?"—Gu Pan.

"Yeah, not saying more, I’ve got to go busy, message me privately if you need anything. I got assigned some dirty work by the family elder after coming back from the last ruins, damn it."—Pure Sword Heart.

"Uh... okay."—Gu Pan.

—

"I feel like him working overtime might have something to do with me... But I didn’t expect that he and I are from the same hometown, well, it makes sense."

"He knows Gu Yue Ming, from his tone, could he also be a member of the Hunter Association?"

"Li Fengtian is looking for me? Lol, seems like my previous guess was right, this person definitely is up to no good."

Xu Shu cast these thoughts aside.

Rascal, so it’s that kind of Rascal, I thought it was the Huang Mao type of hooligan.

Xu Shu became somewhat curious about this profession; being one of the Three Martial Arts, it must have some unique aspects.

"Lord, would you like to join any of these groups, or would you rather start a new team and recruit people?" Xiao Lin asked.

"Speaking of which, they are all First Rank partners," Xu Shu suddenly said, stroking his chin.

"Ah? Oh, you mean you want to travel with Second Order Transcendents? For that, you would probably have to organize a team yourself on the promotion network, over here in the team formation plaza, it’s usually led by those who just reached level 12 not long ago." Xiao Lin, fearing that the newly-promoted Transcendent might be dissatisfied, hurriedly explained.

"That’s not it, I was just saying."

This also made sense. When forming teams to go out, people usually teamed up with those of the same or higher rank.

After all, once you leave the wilderness, you’re practically staking your life on it—unless you share a close bond, who would want to bring a newcomer?

Not to mention, a newcomer wouldn’t just be unhelpful in tough situations but would also require extra care.

However, for Xu Shu, this actually suited his preferences.

As everyone was of the same rank, and he being a level 15 notorious foe, his initiative greatly increased.

He guessed that this group was mainly between levels 12-16.

"Sir, do you have a preferred team? If these aren’t to your liking, Xiao Lin can help you find..."

"No need, let’s go with the third group," Xu Shu said.

The reason, of course, was what Xiao Lin mentioned—the other party happened to need a warrior and had also extended an olive branch to him.

Compared to actively blending into another group and asking for care,

Xu Shu much preferred others to ask favors of him.

That was the reason!

Among them, there were three females.

One was a cute, shy nun in a uniform, holding a law hoop;

one had a cold expression, a curvy figure, and carried a long barrel, embodying a contrastingly big sister vibe;

and another had a calm demeanor with a single ponytail, equipped with a small dust brush Daoist nun.

All of the above, absolutely, had nothing to do with it.

After all, I am a gentleman—Xu Shu.

"Alright, Sir, please wait a moment."

Xiao Lin hastily went to contact the five people sitting a little further away, naturally accompanied by a young, beautiful policewoman acting as the servant.

These days, the ’Police’ without the mark of a Transcendent is obviously safer handling clerical work.

Before long, in the introduction by the servants of both sides, Xu Shu and the others entered the nearby lounge, and a ’User’ sign was immediately placed on the door.

Xiao Lin and the other female police officer, one taking care of serving tea, and the other holding their registration form, headed towards the military hall on the other side of the Judgement Department to arrange for a Patrol Team.

The team originally comprised two men and three women. Xu Shu joining in balanced the male to female ratio perfectly.

After politely introducing themselves, a man with a dark glabella complimented, "I’ve long admired the name of the Muscle King from the Qingyun List 404, Gu Lishi. Let me add you and pull you into the team first. My name is Bi Chaoyang, and it seems I am the oldest here, so feel free to call me Brother Yang or Old Yang."

Then, Xu Shu received an invitation—

["Just Died Again, First-tier Corpse Driver" requests to add you as a friend.]

"..." Xu Shu looked at the big brother with a dark glabella.

Brother, aren’t you a corpse driver? What have you done now? Be careful of insulting corpse crime.

Because they were going to tackle a big job out of the city together, despite the relaxed atmosphere now, dangers lurk outside, necessitating caution.

So, after chatting briefly, they also communicated about their own professions.

"Nun" Lan Xin.

She seemed young, wearing a black and white nun’s outfit that looked very proper at first glance, but there seems to be a hint of spring in her eyes? Xu Shu had a stereotypical impression of the nun profession and wondered if he was mistaken.

"Rudy Wusi, First-order Shepherd." This male, much like a schoolteacher, wore a Dawn Church clergy robe with a big sun on the chest, holding a black leather book, blond-haired and blue-eyed.

The real name of Shepherd’s profession is "Preacher," but at some point, Lie Zhenzi changed their label to Shepherd, and as younger Transcendents increased, Shepherd became the mainstream term.

Now, only because those old bishops stubbornly argue, "Shepherding is shepherding, preaching is preaching—how could they possibly be confused?" that the name holds on. But even this might not last much longer, and the profession name is likely to change

— Originally, such as the Preacher, they should belong to the Holy Hall. However, the Holy Hall fell and was rebuilt and had weakened early on, so they could only temporarily settle in the Dawn Church, basically believing in the sun while incidentally believing in their own God.

The other two females, one called "Daoist Chen Nian," had an elegant and transcendent aura, giving a feeling of being above mundane concerns.

Thinking of this tranquil Daoist woman who would evolve into a "Seven-color Taoist" at the second-rank profession like Xie Xiaochan, developing a "lust unsatisfied," no matter how you looked at it, there was a taste of degeneration.

However, Xie Xiaochan has always proclaimed that she shuns the company of men, and indeed she’s alluring yet paradoxically leaves one unable to indulge in Qixing Entertainment—a real contradiction, and Xu Shu always found it challenging, only being able to describe it as a unique feature of the Seven-color Taoist.

The last one, named Hong Yan, a First Rank Rascal.

This person had a cold and murderous look, dressed in a white shirt, windcoat, and jeans, carrying a tubular unknown weapon thicker than her arm.

If judging only by appearances, Xu Shu believed, even if it was the initial impression of Gu Pan, her murderous aura is still three times weaker than this lady’s.

"Rascal" evolves into "Assassin," anciently known as "Killer!"

After everyone introduced themselves, it was finally Xu Shu’s turn. He stood up, surveyed the circle with a tall and imposing presence, and bowed with his fists, "Muscle King Xu Shu, also call me Gu Lishi!"

As he finished speaking, almost everyone’s eyes inadvertently fell on his robust and powerful thighs.

"Cough!"

Xu Shu coughed, slightly hitched up his shirt, revealing a muscular and strong arm, somewhat displeased, said, "Don’t look randomly, I was talking about this Muscle King!"

The steel-like muscular lines, as smooth as flowing water, and the intense masculine aura overwhelmed everyone, causing the Daoist and the nun to shift their gaze away somewhat unnaturally.

Hong Yan pondered for a moment as she looked at Xu Shu, nodded, and showed an approving expression, clearly a fellow seeker of strength.

Rudy Wusi touched his nose, feeling a bit awkward; standing next to Xu Shu, his stature around 1.7 meters tall and relatively slim, there was a significant gap.

Only Bi Chaoyang had an outgoing personality.

"No wonder they call you Muscle King; this is it!" He held up his thumb, "We’re going to rely on Gu Lishi to stand at the forefront when the time comes."

Xu Shu: "Will do."