As soon as the rankings were announced, the Southern Continent Chamber of Commerce, who had been waiting for a long time, all brought large orders to their respective escort agencies. The higher up the rankings, the more attention they received.
In the past, in every South Continent's Escort Agency Grand Meet, the most popular escort agencies were always the few traditional tyrants. They ate the meat, while the rest of the escort agencies could only drink some watery soup. The smaller escort agencies that ranked at the bottom didn't even get any watery soup, and could only watch from the sidelines with envy.
Five years ago, the Heaven's Equal Escort Agency had always been in the thin soup ranks. Even though they had managed to become one of the Five Great Escort Agencies, they weren't as popular as the traditional powerhouses. This time, however, they had finally stepped into the meat ranks!
At this moment, Qi Wenhan was surrounded by a group of people. They were the shopkeepers and stewards of more than ten large and small Chamber of Commerce. Among them, Honest Chai's Hong Chamber of Commerce was the most dazzling. Whether it was in terms of quantity or quality, they could already stand on equal footing with the other traditional powerhouses.
Even the people from the Four Seas Escort Agency and the Divine Wind Escort Agency couldn't help but feel a little envious of such a lively scene, let alone the small escort agencies that were just trying to get their hands on some thin soup. Now that the Heaven's Equal Escort Agency had suddenly risen, they had gained another competitor to snatch the meat from …
As the head escort of the Heaven's Equal Escort Agency, Qi Mingyuan had originally felt a bit inferior when he sat with the heads of the other five escort agencies. Now, he straightened his back, and people like Boundless Sea and Zhao Bufan finally took the initiative to talk to Qi Mingyuan.
Strength determined the right to speak. Although the Heaven's Equal Escort Agency had been one of the Five Great Escort Agencies for five years, it was only now that they had truly begun to receive the acknowledgment of the other five escort agencies. Among them, Lin Yi, who was their Honorary Escort Head, could be said to have played a major role.
After two hours of rest, the escort agencies and the various Chamber of Commerce gathered together. After the first round of negotiations, the second round of the competition slowly began.
The various escort agencies began to rub their palms. The leader had to maintain his lead, while the laggards had to catch up. Although many of the Chamber of Commerce had already placed large orders, businessmen never put all their eggs in one basket. They still had a large number of orders in their hands. As long as they performed well in the following rounds, it was entirely possible for them to catch up. They would step into the meat ranks!
"The second round of the competition will also be closely related to your Darting skills. It will be Dangerous Navigation," Boundless Sea announced to everyone.
Everyone nodded when they heard this name. The escort agencies in other places might not need to go to sea for their entire lives because they were on land, but in the various seas of the South Continent, if one didn't have proficient sailing skills, it was impossible to become an escort. That was because any escort business here had to go out to sea.
"The rules of the competition are very simple. Each escort agency will send out a Golden Core stage escort to sail the ship alone through a section of the sea. There were miasma, hidden reefs, whirlpools, and some pirates. In any case, anything that you might encounter in a bounty hunt will appear in a match, "Boundless Sea explained the rules to everyone.
"Designated pirates?" Lin Yi was slightly taken aback. Everything else was understandable. But this "designated pirates" sounded a bit strange.
"Brother Ling, you might not know this, but the so-called designated pirates are often stationed in the same place. As long as a ship passes through their range of sight, they will chase after it and rob it. Normally speaking, most pirates are roaming about, but in the seas of the South Continent, because of the sea mist and the like as a cover, there are actually quite a few of these designated pirates. After all, it's more comfortable," Qi Wenhan explained.
"Then are the designated pirates in this competition real pirates?" Lin Yi couldn't help but ask curiously.
"That's impossible. Escort agencies can compromise with pirates during a bounty hunt, but this is the Southern Continent Escort Festival. No matter what kind of pirates they are, they will definitely kill as many as they come. And why would real pirates cooperate with us in a competition?" Qi Wenhan laughed and speculated, "If I'm not mistaken, these designated pirates should be people from the Five Great Escort Agency pretending to be them. There have been similar competitions in the past, and they've always done this."
"Since they know they're on the same side, then aren't these designated pirates just going through the motions? They can't really kill each other, right?" Lin Yi didn't think much of it.
"Haha, Brother Ling, you're wrong on this point. Look at the situation in the first round. Killing each other isn't common in other competitions, but here, it's a common occurrence. Even if these designated pirates are people from the Five Great Escort Agency pretending to be them, once they encounter them, they will definitely kill each other. When that time comes, it'll be at least five against one. If you meet them, you'll definitely die," Qi Wenhan sighed and shook his head.
"All of the escorts from the escort agencies will compete on a predetermined new sea route. No one has traveled this route before, so all of the reefs and whirlpools you encounter along the way, including the pirates, are completely random," Boundless Sea continued to explain the rules.
Everyone was silent. This type of competition seemed simple. You just needed to sail the ship out to sea. There was no need to risk your life like in the first round, but the true experts could already see the dangers.
A completely unfamiliar sea route was a huge challenge for any navigator. No matter how experienced they were, there was still the risk of capsizing in a ditch. Under the sea fog that covered the sky, any reef, any whirlpool could very well be fatal. And if you encountered a designated pirate, you wouldn't even have a chance to survive.
"I'll say one more thing. The designated pirates are sent by the Five Great Escort Agency. We, the five judges, will each choose a set of coordinates. After randomly shuffling the numbers, we'll come up with new random coordinates. In other words, including us five judges, no one will be able to predict the location of the pirates beforehand. We can guarantee absolute fairness. If you have any questions, you can raise them now," Boundless Sea said loudly.
Everyone looked at each other in dismay. No one said anything. Even though it was hard to say how it would be carried out, from the design of the rules, there wasn't much to nitpick about. Even the people from the Five Great Escort Agency would find it difficult to tamper with the rules.
Of course, because the designated pirates were made up of people from the Five Great Escort Agency, if they really encountered them, the participants from the Five Great Escort Agency would have a slight advantage over the other escort agencies. After all, the pirates had their own "people".
However, in this type of competition, if they encountered a designated pirate, they would naturally be eliminated!
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