Chapter 4434 — You May Leave Now

Whether they were spectators with no stake in the game, the heads of the various escort agencies, or above all those escorts chosen at random to compete, everyone was intently focused on this one question.

Men die for wealth, birds die for food—as the old saying goes, there is no such thing as loyalty in this world; loyalty is merely a matter of the price of betrayal not being high enough. Just how much spirit jade was packed into those chests would directly determine the choice of every competing escort.

If it truly was an incalculable, astronomical sum, then all thirty-two agencies' escorts would probably be wiped out to the last man; but if it was only a paltry, trifling amount, then this test of human nature would be utterly meaningless. How to set that number—that was the true crux of this round.

"Everyone wants to know, do they? Then it is simple enough. Every one of these chests holds the same amount of spirit jade. All we need do is pull one out at random and count it before everyone's eyes—then we shall know!" Hai Wuliang laughed heartily, then summoned ten staff members from the side and instructed them, "To satisfy everyone's curiosity, count every last piece of spirit jade in this chest!"

"Yes, sir!" The staff set to work at once, gathering around the chest Hai Wuliang had casually dragged out and opening it on the spot—and instantly the whole hall erupted in an uproar. It was crammed to the brim; it truly was packed full of spirit jade!

The ten staff members began tallying the spirit jade in the chest all at once, while the entire crowd watched, swallowing their saliva again and again.

"The test has already begun. I fear this trial will not be so easy to pass." Watching the scene, Wei Zhao could not help shaking his head with a rueful laugh.

Counting the spirit jade in public—on the face of it, there was nothing remarkable about the trick, yet its impact on the crowd was truly beyond compare. The competing escorts especially: at first they might have been able to grit their teeth and hold out against temptation, but as time dragged on and they watched the counted spirit jade pile higher and higher, this temptation was truly not something ordinary people could withstand.

Throughout the entire process, anyone who harbored even the slightest selfish thought would ultimately, under the devil's relentless temptation and their own self-persuasion, move to the opposite side of loyalty. The longer it dragged on, the greater the likelihood of finally choosing betrayal!

"Brother Ling speaks truly. Carry on like this, and how many will be able to withstand the temptation in the end—it is really hard to say." Qi Wenmo nodded with a bitter smile. "Every round of the competition costs us manpower. By the time this Southern Continent Escort Agency Grand Gathering is over, who knows how many men these agencies will have lost..."

The first two rounds went without saying—every agency had pitted lives against lives. And now this third round seemed quiet and uneventful, with no danger to speak of, yet the manpower it ultimately cost would likely exceed the first two rounds combined.

After all, once these competing escorts could no longer resist the temptation and nodded in assent, it meant they would inevitably leave their agencies afterward. And for any escort agency, a man leaving and a man dying ultimately amounted to the same thing: a loss of fighting strength.

The ten men counted for a full half-incense stick's worth of time before they finally finished tallying all the spirit jade in one chest. Added together, no more, no less—exactly fifty thousand spirit jade!

To the vast majority of those present, this sum was already close to astronomical. Toil as they might for decades, they might never manage to save such an enormous fortune.

Many were already watching with dry mouths and parched tongues, wishing they themselves were among the competing escorts on the floor—one casual nod and they could walk away with a full fifty thousand spirit jade, with the promise of the five great agencies besides, and not a shred of risk to bear. Where in the world could one find such a windfall?

"Fifty thousand spirit jade, of all things..." Qi Wenmo was struck dumb on the spot, and the expressions of the other escorts nearby were, to varying degrees, rather subtle.

In the previous two rounds, every round had been a struggle for one's very life. The best outcome for a competitor was, even if they were lucky enough to survive, to be left at least half crippled—and even so, the bounty Qi Wenmo had offered was a mere fifty thousand spirit jade.

Yet now, for the same fifty thousand spirit jade, those escorts chosen at random need do nothing at all, bear no risk whatsoever—one nod and they could easily pocket it. If that did not move them, then one would truly have to be a ghost!

Even the other escorts off the floor felt a sudden pang of unfairness. A pie falling from the heavens—such a fine thing, why had it not come their way?

"Very well. Everyone now knows what they need to know. It is time to see how each competing escort makes his own choice." Hai Wuliang faced the crowd and announced in a clear, ringing voice, "By my command: any competing escort who wishes to take this fifty thousand spirit jade and live free and easy from now on, step forward three paces. Any competing escort who does not want this fifty thousand spirit jade and wishes to remain loyal to his agency, step back three paces. Begin now!"

As the words fell, the atmosphere in the hall turned abruptly tense. Every eye swept back and forth over those three hundred and twenty escorts; whoever made the slightest move would at once become the focus of the entire hall.

At this moment, the greatest pressure fell not on the competing escorts on the floor, but rather on Qi Wenmo and the other heads of the various agencies.

After all, faced with fifty thousand spirit jade, a competing escort need only weigh his own gain or loss, whether he took it or not—he had only to judge clearly whether this fifty thousand spirit jade was worth betraying his agency for, and then make his choice.

But Qi Wenmo and the other agency heads had to face the gain and loss of the entire agency. If this round went well and only a few escorts walked away, well and good—but once the number of escorts leaving grew large, the trouble would be enormous.

When that time came, the crisis they faced would by no means be merely a simple loss of fighting strength; the more thorny problem was that the reputation and standing of the whole agency would take a tremendous blow.

Reputation is the very foundation upon which an escort agency stands. For any agency—including the five great agencies with the deepest roots—losing the public's trust would be nothing short of a catastrophic disaster!

Staring fixedly at the movements of the competing escorts on the floor, especially the ten from his own agency, Qi Wenmo was so tense that cold sweat broke out. From what he knew of these ten, most of them should be no great problem, but those remaining few—it was truly hard to say. After all, the temptation of fifty thousand spirit jade was not to be underestimated.

At last, under the gaze of the entire hall, someone was the first to make a choice—a competing escort from a small agency, who stepped forward three paces.

"Good. You may leave now." Hai Wuliang at once had a staff member hand a chest of spirit jade to the man! (To be continued...)