[For a lone wolf like you, Yun You, you might not need to find other Apprentice Death Gods as teammates, but you must find hackers and mercenaries to form your own subordinate team]

[Because a loyal mercenary and hacker are your most trustworthy teammates and your most reliable supporters]

[Once you browse through the Death God forums, you'll realize that the vast majority of High-tier Apprentice Death Gods possess a robust mercenary squad. They themselves are the core of that squad, acting both as Commander and "Leader"]

[You don't have much money on hand, and sure you won't be able to recruit renowned mercenaries and hackers. But as the saying goes, a skyscraper rises from the ground up. Your Death God career has just begun, so why aim for established teams right away, which may cost money and might not guarantee loyalty]

[Trust me, it's better to take a look at the "Talent Market." Paint some big pictures, and you might just recruit a few talented prospects]

"Hmm, makes sense."

Listening to this suggestion, Yun You nodded gently.

What Master Zero said was indeed rational, as an Apprentice Death God is formidable but not omnipotent.

She needs other helpers, and mercenary hackers naturally fill that kind of void.

However, although that is said, finding reliable teammates is not an easy task.

Currently, Yun You only has a little over a hundred thousand Silver Cannon, most of which she earned previously from "Dueling Rewards" on the Ethernet.

Using this money to hire veteran mercenaries is clearly not enough.

After some thought, Yun You logged onto a mercenary website, intending to try her luck online first.

She uploaded a recruitment order to the webpage, giving a brief introduction of the mission and setting the mission reward at a solid 100,000.

Perhaps due to the Apprentice Death God's reputation, this recruitment order quickly attracted hundreds of mercenaries' attention.

Among them were indeed some with genuine skills, who added Yun You through the private chat interface, wishing to probe into the mission's details.

But when they learned that it was an Apprentice Death God's trial task, these mercenaries changed their attitudes and politely declined the little girl's invitation.

Half an hour passed, and not a single person dared to accept the mission.

This left Yun You somewhat puzzled.

So, she randomly picked a mercenary who had just rejected her, and curiously inquired.

The mercenary's response was both laughable and lamentable.

[You might not know this, dear Death God, our reason for coming was indeed for the sake of your Death God title...]

[Apprentice Death God's tasks are difficult, yet often come with rich rewards, and having an Apprentice Death God as a teammate improves our survival rates. Sometimes, if fortunate enough, we might even be absorbed into the Death God's core team, leaping into a higher class since then]

[But currently, you are just an Internship Period Apprentice Death God... To put it less pleasantly, you lack strength and cannot offer much reward, and the most troubling part is that the task itself isn't so simple. This kind of task, where the risk greatly exceeds the reward, is genuinely one we are unwilling to accept]

[You'd better find someone else]

The mercenary's words were blunt enough, leaving Yun You powerless to refute.

But thinking carefully, it makes sense.

The mercenaries picking jobs on official websites had all completed mercenary certifications and are "old hands" with ample experience.

Such people have access to simpler, easier, and lucrative tasks. Naturally, they wouldn't bother involving themselves in an Apprentice Death God's trial task for a 100,000 Silver Cannon reward.

[So, as I said, better try your luck offline]

Master Zero timely intervened.

[By the way, Yun You, do you know where the largest talent market in this area is?]

"The Talent Market in the Lower District..."

Hearing this term, Yun You paused momentarily, then gently nodded.

"I do know, but this place might be a bit different from the bustling mall you're imagining..."

...

9 PM, Street 1, Zone S, Nest City No. 3 Lower City.

Though called a street, actually, the entire S1 area is occupied by a massive closed integrated factory.

This place was once a super processing plant of the giant enterprise Federation Fruit Production, spanning over 10 square kilometers. It included factories, dormitories, and shopping streets, employing over a hundred thousand workers at its peak. The juice products processed here almost monopolized the beverage industry in Nest City No. 3.

But following the corporate war, Federation Fruit Industry suffered military defeats, went bankrupt, and naturally, this super processing plant became abandoned.

Later, people dismantled the factory equipment here, leveraging its immunity to satellite surveillance to conduct numerous shady underground transactions.

As trading numbers increased, naturally, a Black Market emerged.

Today, the S1 area has become the largest underground market in Nest City Lower City, trading a vast range of items— from weapons, armor, chips, and robots, to buying and renting of food, luxury goods, and artworks.

Naturally, the Talent Market is among them.

And the "talents" here can be not only hired but also "bought and sold" freely...

Yun You walked on the Black Market street, wearing a black hooded coat and a silver electronic mask, her body wrapped up tight, revealing only her mouth, nose, and eyes hidden behind black sunglasses.

The offline market isn't like the Ethernet, which can entirely alter one's appearance and voice.

To conceal her identity here, she had to cover her face and use height pads to alter her stature.

This attire of Yun You might draw attention elsewhere, but fortunately, the Black Market was crowded and bustling, with many people dressed in bizarre outfits, so no one particularly noticed this little figure.

"Phew... Haven't been here for a while, the smell is as bad as ever."

Yun You rubbed her nose and sighed lightly.

Just as she told Master Zero earlier, the environment of the Lower District's Black Market is quite awful.

On both sides of the concrete road were crowded stalls. While there were no visible garbage piles, the floor was stained with blood and runoff of deteriorated food, gathering into brown little rivers, and being trodden into every corner of the street.

The air was thick with the smell of rotting meat, muddy vegetables, greasy roasted meat... and some other undefined chemical smell, filling the entire space.

All of them blended to form an almost suffocating aroma.

The strongest scent among these peculiar odors was a strange stew scent, emanating from the large pots on gas stoves lining the street sides.

Inside, a brown and viscous broth was bubbling, occasionally tossing chunks of incomprehensible "meat," rolling with the boiling water.

Such stew pots were almost ubiquitous in every corner of the Black Market, usually tended by ragged vagrants stirring with a rusty steel rod, picked from who-knows-where.

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