Chapter 108 - Entering The City
After that night Jin and the others have a fine rest at the outskirts of the city. The morning came and they began to organize their gears once again. And they started traveling towards the city, and when they reached the outskirts of the city they saw a couple of armed men that give them a hand signal to stop.
And Jin and the others stopped, and soon enough the armed men approached Jin's location. And one of the armed men said "This city is under the supervision of the High Lord Duan Tingguang. You must pay 4 Gold each for the safe passage at the entrance of the gates. So if you don't have the money you will not be able to get inside."
And the two armed men turned their back and Jin and the other looked at each other and they still continue to walk towards the gates of the city.
Because of the Ultima Change, a lot have changed even the regions and the cities were like became a feudal type system have been rampant to the other cities and other towns were desolate because of the lack of security and in cities there is lack of food and that is why some cities introduce to guard other small towns to increase food production.
Jin and the other have noticed that the walls that were surrounding the city of Maskara were well built same as the first cities that were occupied by N.D.A.M. And when they were about to enter the gate there was a checkpoint where travelers that want to enter the city was to pay 4 gold coins as passage. Gold became scarce if you are not a player or a user because the only thing you can earn Gold is by killing monsters or selling.
And when the 29th Squire Squad enters the City of Maskara they were shocked as they thought that city was not lively but they were wrong. The city was much lively when they enter different shops, people were bustling buying and selling stuff.
There were also flying couriers from the air. Han Zian whispered "Why are we here again?" and Jin whispered back to Han Zian "We are going to check out if they have a transportation vehicle being sold here and maybe we can hire a mercenary swordsman for our squad."
And after that, the group head towards one of the shops of motor vehicles. Some of the people were looking at them because of their different gears. Some of them thought that Jin and the others were secret police that were sent to kill other people.
Because that is mostly happening to people who have messed with the government inside the city. And when Jin and the others arrive at the motor selling part of the city, all of them began cleaning their shops.
And Jin tried to walk to one of the shop owners. And said "Excuse me?" and the shop owner raised his hand as if the man was surrendering his possessions. "Sir I am just asking if you are selling vehicles that are armored?" and the shop owner looked at Jin once again as he was wearing the mask and the special operation type of gear.
"Ah, Sorry we don't sell that type of vehicles here we only sell the type of vehicles that are to be armored. Would you mind looking inside my shop?" and Jin nodded and so all of them goes inside the shop. They were looking around and all they see were pictures of the models of cars. And most of the cars that are being sold are cars that are mostly used for bragging or just for show-off and not for traveling in a desolate world full of monsters.
"Thank you, for the models that you have shown me, good sir. But we thought that these kinds of models are not suitable for the line of work we have" Jin said a deep tone of voice. And the shop owner nodded and was sweaty because of nervousness.
As if he let monsters inside his shop. Soon enough Jin and the others left the shop and the shop owner sighed. And from the back door of the shop a man in a White robe walked towards the shop owner and said "Do you know those people?" and the shop owner replied "No-" and the shop owner turns around and he saw one of the police detectives of the city.
Jin and the others head to the food market and with the same treatment, they have they were being looked at by normal people as if they did not belong in that kind of place and soon enough they were halted by armored guards with a patch on their left chest. "Halt!" and Jin halted from walking and ask "Excuse me sir did we do something wrong?"
And the armored officer replied "Are you from N.D.A.M?" and Jin replied "We are not from the N.D.A.M" and the officer asked another question "Are you from the rebel cell faction?" and Jin replied quickly "Absolutely not we are not associated with Rebels" and from that moment the armored police officer steps inside and a man in a white robe and officer cap walked forward. The man has a sword that was sheathed on his waist. And as he looked at Jin he fixed his glasses as to realigned them.
Jin looked at the man and said "We are normal travelers we are here to find a suitable transport" and the Officer was quiet and was not even speaking. And then the officer touched his left ear and as he clicked something.
And then the officer said "Arrest them" and the armored police officer turned their view towards the group and Jin said "What did we do wrong sir?" with a calm and collected tone of voice and the officer did not respond to jin question rather repeat what he had ordered. "Arrest them!" now with an angry tone of voice.
Qi Meili whispered to Jin "Are we allowed to fight them I am sure if we fight them we are going to cause chaos in this place and if we are not to defend ourselves I am sure they will find that we are a part of the N.D.A.M"
and Jin nodded so he raised his FXR-Raven and aimed at the two armored police officer that was deployed beside the officer in a white robe. "Halt of I will click my weapon trigger and I am sure all of you don't want something like a disaster happens to this city" Jin shouted and then a camera drone goes down and a hologram of the face of the High Lord Duan Tingguang was revealed and then a speaker followed.
"Is the voice on?" Duan said, and then he looked straight "Welcome to my humble city mercenary? Or what are they? A military squad force?" Duan looked at the advisor in front of him and then turned back his view to the group.
"I am inviting you 4 to my office today and to speak for some business proposal we would like to ask. If you agree on my terms that all of your weapons will be surrendered but all of you can keep your gears. So what do you say? Are you interested? Because if not then I will order my people to arrest you because people like you are not welcome to my city"
And Jin was looked at the hologram and was disappointed with how they were treated so Jin replied "I will tell you this High Lord Duan Tingguang, we will accept your proposal but we must keep our weapons. This is your city but the weapons are our only safety from harm"
And the High Lord was not that pleased about the request but because of the proposal the High Lord replied "I will agree on that the officer on the ground will guide you to the city hall"
And the officer tone down their weapon and turns around after that the officer guide the group to the city hall. The city hall was one of the luxurious places in the city. Left and right picture of the High Lord was being shown grande view and the security in the area was very high. There is a lot of armored officer and even officers that is showing that they are users and players.
The white robe officer stops at the huge door that was in front of them. He then steps aside and said "beyond this room is you are to be escorted by the Black Knights, take care" and then the white armored officer walked away same as the white robe officer.
And soon enough the door opened and 5 Black knights appeared. The so-called Black knights were Armored swordsmen that have the heavier type of armor which is stronger than the armor of a tank. The knights also have a huge sword that they can use for both attack and defense. The Black Knight headgear was like a helmet that covered their whole head.
And their voice was like an Artificial intelligence. "You may come in the guests of the high Lord" the leader Black Knight stated and Jin and the other entered the city hall and when they enter they saw the pictures upon pictures of the High Lord.
And from the side, there is a bit of a party of women around and Fang Shirong was already looking around he doesn't know that Qi Meili was looking at him.
And because Fang Shirong was like a hungry dog for meat, Qi Meili slaps the back of his head. And said "Get a hold of yourself wild dog hmpf"