Chapter 81: Dividing the Spoils
On the seventh floor of the Twilight Palace.
Su Xiao, Yan Chen, the Fake Jester, Black Blood, the OL beauty, and others were all gathered together. With these people assembled, the scene was predictable.
Su Xiao was maintaining the Dragon-Slaying Flash, with various blade-care tools laid out before him.
Yan Chen held a piece of raw meat, teasing the Flame Tiger. The ferocious Flame Tiger behaved like a large cat in front of Yan Chen.
The Fake Jester held a hollowed dagger in one hand and a small mirror in the other. He seemed dissatisfied with his current appearance, occasionally cutting a longer gash on his face, blood dripping down the blade.
Black Blood held his breath, his face flushed red, looking as if he might suffocate at any moment.
The OL beauty sat stiffly to the side, extremely tense. She felt like a Husky that had accidentally wandered into a pack of wolves, about to be exposed at any moment. Her eyes seemed to scream: ‘Someone save me, I’m about to be found out.’
Leaving aside the psychological shadow area of the OL beauty among a group of madmen, it was time for everyone to divide the spoils.
“What about the others? We’ve earned a total of 1089 merit points. After deducting our shares, very little will be left to distribute among them.”
Su Xiao spoke, the Dragon-Slashing Flash now polished to a pristine shine.
“I’ll handle that.”
Yan Chen replied, his ambition evident. The reason he was called ambitious was that he planned to use this matter to win people over. There was another layer to it: he could accept a smaller share, but Su Xiao couldn’t stop him from doing something.
The situation was clear now. The hundred-plus madmen remaining in the Twilight Palace would obviously no longer be accepted by their respective adventure groups. Yan Chen had his eyes on these people.
“Oh? So you’ll also handle their shares?”
Su Xiao glanced at the Fake Jester, Black Blood, and the OL beauty.
“Of course. You get what you pay for. This is my initial investment in the new adventure group. I’ll cover their shares.”
Yan Chen cast an inquiring look at the Fake Jester and Black Blood, recruiting them.
“No problem with me. But Yan Chen, if following you ever becomes boring, I’ll leave anytime.”
The Fake Jester didn’t mind switching adventure groups. His original group had been completely wiped out.
“As for me…”
Black Blood yawned.
“I refuse.”
Black Blood rejected Yan Chen’s recruitment.
“Reason.”
Yan Chen’s expression remained unchanged.
“No reason.”
Black Blood shrugged, utterly unbothered, and looked at Yan Chen as if provoking him.
“You little brat, believe me, I’ll throw you into the pit below right now.”
Yan Chen ‘gently’ patted Black Blood’s shoulder.
“Really? I’ve always wanted to jump down, but I just feel like I’d really die, so I’ve been hesitating.”
As Black Blood finished speaking, the Flame Tiger beside Yan Chen lunged forward, clamping its jaws around Black Blood’s throat.
“Hahahaha.”
Black Blood suddenly burst into laughter, completely unfazed by the Flame Tiger biting his throat.
“I’ve changed my mind. Joining your side doesn’t seem so bad.”
“Let him go.”
Yan Chen had anticipated this scenario. Most people didn’t understand what Black Blood was thinking, but Yan Chen knew—this youth was savoring the sensation between life and death.
“You two, I won’t force you to do anything. Or rather, you don’t have to call me ‘boss’ or anything like that. A strictly hierarchical adventure group model—Xi has already proven with his life that such organizations are strong while the leader lives, but once the leader dies, they fall apart like scattered sand.
I have a pretty good idea. From now on, Mingmen won’t be my one-man show. The position of leader goes to whoever is capable. Anyone who doesn’t accept me can challenge me anytime. I, Yan Chen, welcome it. But if anyone tries to pull tricks behind my back, I’ll kill them immediately—not kick them out of the group, but outright kill them.”
With that, Yan Chen glanced at the Fake Jester, then at Black Blood, his gaze meaningful. Both were unruly and defiant. Unifying such people into one adventure group with a traditional model clearly wouldn’t work. Moreover, Yan Chen also planned to bring those hundred-plus madmen into the group.
“Interesting. If that’s the case, I definitely want to join.”
The Fake Jester laughed loudly, slapping his thigh as he did so.
“My intention to join is even stronger now. I’ll observe your adventure group for a while.”
Black Blood dropped his lazy demeanor.
“Alright then. The original Mingmen is officially disbanded. The new Mingmen is established today. First, we need to elect a leader. I nominate myself.”
The Demon Spear appeared in Yan Chen’s hand. It was clear he was very excited—an excitement he had never felt when he first founded Mingmen.
“What a coincidence. I also nominate myself.”
The dagger in the Fake Jester’s hand flipped.
“Too coincidental. I nominate myself too.”
Black Blood had bombs appear on his body.
The three faced off. The new Mingmen would be ruled by the strong, pushing survival of the fittest to its extreme.
“Um… I… this… I nominate, Boss Yan Chen.”
The OL beauty weakly raised her hand.
“Mm, not bad.”
Yan Chen patted the OL beauty’s shoulder.
“Why didn’t you nominate me?”
The Fake Jester’s eyes turned bloodshot, staring intently at the OL beauty.
“M-Mr. Jester, we’re not familiar with each other. As for who to nominate…”
The OL beauty was panicking. The Fake Jester and Black Blood both looked troublesome—one had bizarre abilities, the other was fearless of death. As a normal person, the OL beauty was terrified of these two.
“Stop the nonsense. Let’s just fight it out. Whoever wins becomes the leader.”
Yan Chen’s motives were clearly impure. In terms of combat strength, he was definitely top-tier. As for why he didn’t try to recruit Su Xiao, Yan Chen had never entertained that idea from the start—Su Xiao was too dangerous.
Facing the impending battle between the three, Su Xiao still had something to do.
“Yan Chen, I don’t want to get involved in your adventure group’s internal affairs. But before that, let’s settle the spoils division first. We’ve already formed an alliance, and I don’t have a habit of hogging everything.”
“Fine. How about a 70-30 split? After all, we have more people.”
Yan Chen made an outrageous demand, but as a negotiation, starting high was normal.
“60-40.”
Su Xiao meant he would take 60%, Yan Chen 40%. In negotiations, you always leave some bargaining chips.
“I’m a bit pressed for time. 60-40 is the maximum I can accept.”
“50-50. Because dealing with Xi, I paid some extra costs beyond the plan.”
Su Xiao’s words made Yan Chen hesitate. The fact was that Su Xiao had killed Xi, giving him leverage for a larger share. Plus, Su Xiao was the one who provided the high-power explosives. Furthermore, Yan Chen had another goal—using this opportunity to form a new adventure group. He was worried Su Xiao might interfere.
“50-50… fine. Sign a temporary contract. For the next four days, we won’t interfere with each other.”
“No problem.”
Su Xiao transferred 544 merit points to Yan Chen, and both parties signed a non-interference agreement.
On the surface, Yan Chen seemed to lose a lot with the 50-50 split, since his half had to be divided among the Fake Jester, Black Blood, the OL beauty, and the hundred-plus mad contractors.
Was that really the case? Not at all. Yan Chen would rather take a loss now to build an adventure group. The people in the Twilight Palace had formidable combat strength, and more importantly, they weren’t afraid to die. If asked to do something morally questionable, they wouldn’t hesitate.
There were many benefits, but also drawbacks. For instance, these people weren’t mentally stable and were mostly unruly. But then again, was Yan Chen mentally stable? Clearly not.
A mad leader + mad members. The future Mingmen would definitely be a terrifying existence.