After he finished listening to the conversation between the two cousins, Lin Fan just remained silent as he sat there.
He had taken the girls to another restaurant and they were currently eating while he had been spying on the two cousins.
After thinking about this situation, he decided not to act and wait for more information.
After all, the cousins were already planning on getting the information that he wanted in the first place. Since they were going to do this for him, there was no reason for him not to use them like this.
However, that didn’t mean that he would just leave them alone.
He knew that the fake ‘Mu Bao Bao’ was staying at the inn that the cousin ran, so he would send some puppets to watch over the cousin. He wouldn’t send any puppets close to ‘Mu Bao Bao’ since he didn’t know what kind of defenses she had prepared.
But he was certain that she would have some kind of defenses prepared since that was the minimum that should be done in this situation.
He would let the cousin take all the risk while he gained all the benefits.
However, this would take time.
The cousin wouldn’t make any risky moves since he knew that it would be his life in danger if he did this. So he would definitely take it slow to get the information that the bearded man wanted.
That meant that they would be here for a while.
So Lin Fan allowed himself to relax and he ordered some food for himself.
But when he saw the amount of plates that were already on the table, he couldn’t help revealing a bitter smile.
They weren’t supposed to be attracting attention, but it was hard not to attract attention with how much Senior Sister Bing ate.
Still, no one did anything to them since they were scared off by Senior Sister Bing’s aura in the first place.
So with this, they were able to spend a few days in peace.
This place was right beside an oasis, so it was actually quite a beautiful place.
There were many tourist attractions which this town relied on to make most of their money, so they were able to enjoy themselves while waiting for the information that they wanted.
A few days later, the cousin finally arranged another meeting with the bearded man.
They once again went to the same place as before and they even got the same booth as before.
When the bearded man arrived, he looked at the cousin with an annoyed look.
𝑶𝐯𝓁xt.𝗰𝚘𝚖
That was because he never thought that his cousin would actually take this long just to get this basic information.
His mercenary group had started getting anxious because of this and they had wasted quite a bit of time and money staying at this oasis. If they knew that it would take this long, they would have gotten a mission in this area to create a cover and earn some extra cash.
It was just too bad that there was no Mercenary Guild branch in this oasis town, so they couldn’t do anything.
The cousin could clearly see the annoyed look that the bearded man had, but he acted like he didn’t see a thing as he just sat there waiting for him to sit down.
After the bearded man sat down, he asked, “So?”
It was one simple word, but the meaning behind it was clear enough that it grated on the nerves of the cousin.
Still, he kept calm and pulled out a packet of papers that he placed on the table. He didn’t even bother saying a word as he slid it over to the bearded man.
The bearded man took it and looked it over before giving a nod.
At the very least, he had gotten the information that he had asked for, so now they could start doing something instead of sitting around doing nothing.
But all that did was feed the cousin’s ego as he said, “Well, now are you going to do your job?”
He deliberately provoked the bearded man because of the way that he had looked at him earlier.
However, the bearded man didn’t answer back when he heard this.
He just calmly looked at the cousin and said, “How much do you want?”
The cousin was taken aback when he heard this, but he quickly revealed a serious look and said, “Half.”
The bearded man immediately shook his head and said, “A tenth.”
The cousin’s face twisted when he heard this and he glared at the bearded man, but the bearded man showed no emotions on his face as he looked right back at the cousin.
Finally, the cousin said, “That’s nowhere near enough for the amount of risk that I’m taking. Unless it’s half, it isn’t even worth my time.”
The bearded man suddenly stood up after hearing this before saying, “Alright, then you can take care of the rest on your own.”
When the cousin heard this, his face once again twisted. However, this time, it didn’t twist in rage, but rather in fear.
What he had said just now was actually a bluff since there was no one else that he would be able to work with other than the bearded man. After all, something like this required absolute secrecy and unless they were related, it was impossible for him to trust the other side.
So if he tried to do this with anyone else, then there was no doubt that he would eventually end up with a dagger in his back.
The bearded man also knew this, which was why he had reacted as such.
After a slight moment of hesitation, the cousin still called out to the bearded man and said, “Wait, let’s talk about this!”
Hearing this, the bearded man revealed a smile and sat back down again.
The two of them sat there discussing the division of the bounty and eventually they reached an agreement of giving the cousin 20%.
When they left, the bearded man had a smile on his face while the cousin had a bitter look.
But none of that mattered.
The only thing that actually mattered was that the bearded man was finally going to take action with his mercenary group to search for clues proving the identity of ‘Mu Bao Bao’.
Lin Fan knew that this ‘Mu Bao Bao’ was a fake even without having seen her once, but he knew that they were related to their enemies. So he wanted to use this bearded man’s mercenary group to draw them out.
When the bearded man returned to his inn, he gathered up everyone in his mercenary group for a meeting.
As soon as they all gathered, the bearded man said, “It’s time.”
Hearing this, all of them revealed wide smiles since this was what they had been waiting for.
The rogue was the first one to speak as he said, “So what is the plan?”
The bearded man said with a nod, “Nothing complicated, we’ll just do simple surveillance and look for a chance to provoke them. Once we do, we should be able to get what we need.”
But the rogue didn’t seem like he agreed with this based on the expression on his face.
The bearded man could naturally see this, so he asked, “What do you have planned then?”
The rogue calmly said, “Let’s do the bait and switch. It should be much easier to get the evidence if we do that.”
The bearded man and the rest of the group all knitted their brows when they heard this.
The bait and switch that the rogue mentioned as a plan that they had used before.
It was simply engaging the target on the street and then switching out their bag for a duplicate. But of course, they knew that the target was a powerful cultivator, so to do this smoothly, it would depend on having a distraction as well.
But this was much more dangerous than the plan that their leader had suggested.
After all, it was actively engaging the target, so there were many things that could go wrong.
All of them looked at the rogue, as if they were waiting for him to say something.
The rogue revealed an awkward look before finally saying, “I received word that my little sister needs an operation. Unless I can get the money soon, she won’t make it.”
When they heard this, they all revealed an understanding look.
In the end, it was money that made him rush.
But this was a group that had been together for a long time, so it wasn’t as if the bond between them was light.
The bearded man looked at the other two members of the group and waited for their opinion.
The other two hesitated a bit before finally nodding in agreement.
Seeing this, the bearded man also gave a nod in response.
With this, their plan had been set and now all that was left was to fine tune the small details of the plan. They needed to find the right place to set it in action and the right method of doing this.
What they didn’t know was that there was someone who was listening in on everything that they discussed.
While they listened to the mercenary group scheme, that person also decided that they would help them put their plan into motion.
After all, the more that this mercenary group provoked ‘Mu Bao Bao’, the more information that this person would be able to obtain.
So the scheming went deep into the night.