The middle-aged man was evidently still fearful of Lin Feng, pulling the pockmarked man aside and whispering, “We ran into him halfway, he’s a rich young man from a wealthy family, which does meet the basic requirements for entering the mountain set by our holy sect. I’m not asking for any recommendation rewards anymore, just let him in, will you? It’s not like you’ll lose anything!” The pockmarked man looked at him with surprise: “When did you start doing good deeds like Lei Feng? This is really strange!” Fearing that his voice might be heard by Lin Feng, the middle-aged man quickly pulled the pockmarked man closer and slipped him a pack of San Wu cigarettes. Having received the benefit, the pockmarked man ceased his objections. However, he felt something was odd and kept eyeing Lin Feng. Seeing Sun Laoliu, who was always stingy, suddenly change his ways, not only speaking well of a stranger but also willingly offering bribes, he naturally guessed that Sun Laoliu had gained some significant advantage from Lin Feng. Greed stirred in him, wanting to partake in some benefits too, but the cool-looking kid in front of him seemed not to care, completely ignoring him! Having benefited from Sun Laoliu, he couldn’t lose his temper, yet he was unwilling to miss out on the opportunity to make some money, so he thought of ways to make things difficult for Lin Feng. Currently, the pockmarked man’s official identity was a mountain patrol officer. Under the pretext of fire prevention, he insisted on thoroughly checking all of Lin Feng’s luggage and even the pockets of his clothes. Unfortunately, aside from a few clothes, some mountaineering supplies, and several bottles of mineral water, there wasn’t even a wallet to be found. Where was there any profit to be made? At that moment, the middle-aged man felt conflicted. On one hand, he hoped the pockmarked man would find something valuable in Lin Feng’s luggage—perhaps another seventy or eighty stacks of colorful dollar bills. On the other hand, he worried about not getting a share if something good was found. More importantly, he couldn’t shake off the inexplicable awe he felt towards Lin Feng. Ever since this kid heard him talk about the many beautiful and flirtatious girls holding group P parties in the mountains, there had always been an aura about him that made the middle-aged man’s heart race with fear—an intangible killing intent! This left him deeply unsettled. Thankfully, the pockmarked man found nothing. The middle-aged man breathed a sigh of relief. After rummaging through the luggage, the pockmarked man, with a grim look, wanted Lin Feng to remove his sunglasses and mask. Lin Feng took off his sunglasses, pointed to his mouth indicating discomfort, and as he had been speaking with a congested nose, he seemed like a genuine cold sufferer, which finally made the pockmarked man relent. After all this, the pockmarked man specifically warned Lin Feng not to wander off the mountain paths, or else he’d be on his own, and only then did he let him pass. However, he did not give Lin Feng the special pass token, treating him like an ordinary tourist. The middle-aged man, seeing this, opened his mouth to speak but then thought better of it. The pockmarked man not issuing the token was certainly following orders from their sect; if he spoke out of turn and revealed this, it could stir up trouble with these lunatics, which would be very bad. Thinking it was better this way, he figured that this kid would not find his way once in the mountains and might come back down soon. Then, when he returned to the city, he could drive him back and make another profit. The middle-aged man was quite pleased with himself and took the opportunity to step forward, saying, “Young man, I’ll be waiting for you at the foot of the mountain, and you can ride in my car!” Lin Feng gave a cold laugh but didn’t respond. This guy was clearly addicted to making money; his intentions were as clear as day. He was planning to extract another stack or two of dollar bills from Lin Feng. Such a risk-free, high-profit opportunity might never come again; missing it would be a lifelong regret. Therefore, his attitude towards Lin Feng was unusually good! However, the middle-aged man might realize later, when he went back to count his crazy dollar bills, that somehow, those two stacks of money had grown wings. He would never dream that Lin Feng could, without anyone noticing, pass the money to his accomplice, warning them about the intruder and advising them to be on guard. Lin Feng was quite surprised; he had only confirmed that Wang Xiaoyun and Li Xiangdong were hiding in the mountains but couldn’t determine the number and location of other bandits not listed in Niu Niu’s contacts. It was only when the pockmarked man searched his luggage that he saw this person added to Niu Niu’s new contacts. Lin Feng then understood that adding contacts required close physical contact. Once such contact occurred, Niu Niu’s system would automatically add a corresponding record to the contacts list. Additionally, this mysterious logic was also related to his emotional state when encountering the person. For regular contacts, the system used green font to record, while for enemies, it used black font. After adding the pockmarked man successfully, his name immediately turned to black, with a small skull icon similar to that of Li Xiangdong and other enemies appearing next to his avatar. Moreover, there was a numerical value next to the skull, which Lin Feng guessed represented his level of animosity towards the target. Currently, the highest values were for Li Xiangdong and Cao Lei. Correspondingly, Lin Feng found that the higher the skull value of a person, the more mental energy it would cost to eavesdrop on their communications. Conversely, the lower the value, the less the consumption. For instance, although he listened to the entire phone conversation of the pockmarked man, if Lin Feng’s mental energy was at full capacity of a hundred units, it only cost less than one unit. The same principle applied to people he cared about; their avatars had a heart icon and a set of numbers to distinguish them. Currently, the highest values were for Lin Feng’s mother and Wang Xiaoyun, indicating their safety was of utmost importance to him subconsciously. From this, Lin Feng roughly grasped the concept of Niu Niu’s surveillance function, meaning the more urgently he wanted to know something, the more mental energy it would consume. Considering the ruthless bandits with real weapons he was about to face, Lin Feng knew he had to be cautious and prudent, not recklessly letting others lead him by the nose like before. He had to use his strength wisely, learn to endure, and manage his mental and physical energy carefully. He could no longer just act on impulse, charging headlong into danger.
112. Solo Expedition to Yudian Mountain (4) “Hey, I want to decide where to take photos myself,” Lin Feng said. As he spoke, he pulled out some money from his pocket and tried to hand it over to the man blocking his way. The man’s eyes lit up when he saw Lin Feng taking out money, and he reached out to take it. However, at that moment, a loud shout rang out: “Old Qu, what the hell are you doing?” Thump, thump, thump… A tall, long-armed man emerged from behind a tree. This man had an eye-catching scar on his face; it was Scarface, whom Lin Feng had seen once in the bandits’ lair.
