Li Ying said nothing. He watched Liu Menglong quietly, waiting for him to give a clear answer—whether or not he would take the job.
"This person is an Exotic Beast Hunter registered with the Exotic Beast Hunter Guild. If I just break his arms and legs, he can report it to the relevant authorities afterward. That would be a huge problem for me..." Liu Menglong said in a low voice.
"Mr. Liu, what you’re saying is...?" Li Ying asked with a smile.
"The way I see it, to avoid any future trouble, we might as well go all the way and just..." Liu Menglong narrowed his eyes as he spoke.
Although he didn’t finish his sentence, Li Ying already knew what he meant.
"Heh heh... Mr. Liu, you’re as decisive as the rumors say. If you can take him out, that’s fine too," Li Ying said.
Just then, a scantily clad, beautiful woman handed him a glass of red wine. Liu Menglong took it, drank about half, and then said to Li Ying,
"Taking out an Exotic Beast Hunter registered with the Exotic Beast Hunter Guild is no small feat... As for the price, if you offer too little, I can’t take this job."
When Li Ying heard his demand, he nodded slightly, his expression showing that he understood perfectly.
Then, he opened the black plastic bag, took out twenty sparkling, translucent Spirit Stones, and placed them on the coffee table.
"Here are twenty Spirit Stones as a down payment. You’ll get another forty when the job is done."
The current market price for a single Spirit Stone was 50,000 yuan. If this deal went through, he would receive a total of sixty Spirit Stones, which amounted to three million yuan.
That was no small price! For Liu Menglong, who was short on cash, this was a huge deal.
Li Ying saw the look of pleasant surprise on Liu Menglong’s face. He knew the deal was sealed.
"Mr. Huang, if I may ask, why do you want to deal with this target?" Liu Menglong tore his gaze away from the Spirit Stones on the table and looked at Li Ying.
Li Ying just smiled without speaking. The meaning was obvious: ’I pay, you do the work. You don’t need to know anything else.’
Liu Menglong was a sharp man. He had only asked casually, having already guessed that the man hiring him wouldn’t reveal his reasons.
"Mr. Huang, is there a deadline for this?" Liu Menglong asked.
Li Ying thought about how his superior wasn’t pushing him, so he wasn’t in a particular hurry either. He gave a relatively generous timeframe. "As for a deadline, I’ll give you one month. Can you handle it?"
Liu Menglong hadn’t expected the man to give him so much time. He smiled, nodded, and gave his assurance.
"No problem. He’s just a Tier One Peak rookie Exotic Beast Hunter, right? I’ll take care of this guy for you as soon as possible."
With the business settled, Li Ying had no intention of staying longer. The two exchanged a few pleasantries, then Li Ying stood up to leave. Liu Menglong quickly escorted his big client to the door.
"See? I told you there’s always a way. Look! I was just short on cash, and then this huge deal falls into my lap..." Liu Menglong said to the scantily clad, beautiful woman beside him, watching as Li Ying walked away.
"Old Liu, how are you planning to deal with the target?" the scantily clad, beautiful woman asked.
"How else? There are so many cameras on the streets now. No matter how careful you are, there’s always a chance you’ll be caught on one. So making a move in the city is impossible," Liu Menglong said.
The scantily clad, beautiful woman thought for a moment after hearing this. "You mean you plan to make your move on the target in the wilderness?"
"Yes. Isn’t the target an Exotic Beast Hunter? Since that’s the case, he has to go out into the wilderness to hunt Mutant Beasts. When the time comes, I’ll just take him out there.
"Plenty of rookies become Exotic Beast Hunters every year, and a certain portion of them are always ’eliminated’ in the wilderness. If the target dies out there, it’ll seem perfectly reasonable. No one will suspect a thing," Liu Menglong said.
The scantily clad, beautiful woman seemed to think of something. She frowned and said, "Even though he’s a rookie, he’s been an Exotic Beast Hunter for a month or two now. He’s definitely teamed up with other Exotic Beast Hunters by this point.
"When he goes into the wilderness to hunt Mutant Beasts, he’s bound to have teammates with him. That makes things a bit tricky. You can’t just wipe out his entire team of Exotic Beast Hunters, can you?!"
"HAHAHA..." Liu Menglong burst out laughing when he heard the scantily clad, beautiful woman’s concerns. A faint golden Spiritual Light then flickered in his eyes, and he released the Spiritual Energy Wave of a Second Order Middle Stage expert.
"And why not? It’s not like entire squads of Exotic Beast Hunters haven’t been wiped out in the wilderness before.
"Of course, I’ll try not to kill the whole squad. With my power, ambushing a Tier One Peak rookie and then getting away clean will be a piece of cake."
The scantily clad, beautiful woman nodded, then sighed. "We can’t let the organization find out we’re taking this kind of job on the side. We’ll be in big trouble if they do."
"Damn it, don’t even get me started. The casino makes so much money, but the organization takes almost all of it, leaving me with just scraps...
"With this tiny bit of operating funds, I’m supposed to stay hidden in this city without blowing my cover, and I’m also supposed to keep the casino running so my guys don’t scatter.
"Now, because of this special operation by the authorities, the casino’s income has been almost completely cut off. The organization won’t give me any more funds. If I don’t go out and earn some extra cash, how am I supposed to keep my crew together?"