Calamity Messenger-Chapter 71 - 58: So It Was You
Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, knock.
Yan Qing pulled up the quilt to cover his head, determined not to pay attention to the knocking at the door outside.
After a full three seconds, he suddenly realized that he wasn’t staying in a city village rental with nine rooms on one floor, where drunks, landlords, or deliverymen might show up at the door at any time, but was in the Thief’s House!
This place had only him living in it, which oblivious ghost dared to knock on his door?
Just about to open the door directly, Yan Qing suddenly remembered something, first put on a coat offered by Ye Si, wore pants and shoes, donned the Yellow Dog mask, checked himself in the mirror to ensure he didn’t look like he had just woken up, then took the Bingzi Pepper Forest in his left hand, hung the door chain before opening the door, opened it only a crack, and braced his right arm against the door frame, with his hand loosely gripping the hilt of the Bingzi Pepper Forest.
"Red Snake?"
The unexpected guest disrupting his early morning dreams was, shockingly, a young girl wearing a red snake scarf. Though spoken of this way, her entire face was covered by the scarf and hat, leaving only a pair of bright, crystal-clear big eyes exposed—being so spirited in the morning made this person seem a bit abnormal.
"You really are here." Shang Xinlei was somewhat surprised too, as she actually wasn’t sure if Yan Qing was there, but in her restless state, she simply came to try her luck.
"Traveling outside, just happened to stay here for a night." Yan Qing casually made an excuse to avoid revealing his exact whereabouts, saying, "The next theft meeting is two days later, and it’s at noon, you’re early."
"I came to find you." Shang Xinlei pointed inside the room, "Won’t you invite me in to sit?"
"No."
The two stared wide-eyed at each other. Yan Qing was about to push the door to close it, but Shang Xinlei immediately blocked the crack with her pudgy thigh: "Fine, I just wanted to ask you one question—why didn’t you save An Wu?"
Yan Qing was slightly taken aback, his rusty brain taking a few seconds to remember: "An Wu... oh, are you talking about him."
"You forgot him?" Shang Xinlei was shocked, with a look of disbelief: "He harmed himself and burned himself to death for you, even losing his life, dying without a sound... do you not care at all?"
"Would you remember how many clothes you’ve discarded?" Yan Qing replied somewhat impatiently: "He wasn’t the first, and he won’t be the last."
"But he was so loyal, why didn’t you save him?" Shang Xinlei pressed on: "Obviously, the final step didn’t necessarily require his sacrifice, and burning An Guo Temple wasn’t essential either—"
"He was of no use."
Yan Qing’s words were harsh: "No potential, insufficient strength, his attribute choices... his development direction was wrong. Keeping him would be a waste of space, even if he survived, I would have dealt with him."
Initially, Yan Qing thought that a high Qi Blood build was similar to a high Dexterity build, but upon experiencing them, he found a huge problem between the two—the stamina and Qi Blood are positively correlated! High Qi Blood characters can launch more attacks, train longer, run further, while high Dexterity characters don’t have these advantages, except for dodging, in survival, output, and training dimensions, they can’t compare to high Qi Blood characters.
But after Yan Qing transitioned to a Martial Arts Messenger, he was already a master gamer, even without the speed increase brought by dexterity, he could still dodge perfectly, so to him, starting with full dexterity was a drawback. The real advantage of high dexterity is ’high burst in a short time’, which requires dagger or short sword type emblems to exploit, currently, long sabers still have higher Qi Blood bonuses.
Yan Qing wasn’t lying, character slots are limited, just like only replayable games can remain in a game library, his character slots can only retain valuable small accounts.
"Being of no use will get you removed..." Shang Xinlei muttered with her head down, she looked at Yan Qing, "Then what is useful?"
"Those who can grow stronger, those who can survive." Yan Qing paused and added: "Those who can be utilized."
"That sounds less like people and more like weapons." Shang Xinlei seemed to sneer: "Do you remember the names of the death warriors who died at An Guo Temple?"
"I remember, An Wu, An Liu, An Qi, An Ba, An Jiu." Yan Qing replied irritably: "If there’s nothing else, see you at noon in two days."
Hearing the Red Snake return to her own room, seeming to leave the Thief’s House, Yan Qing then went to brush his teeth and wash his face. Ever since "Jiang Shi" started hanging out with Qian Gongyu and the others, Yan Qing’s life has grown increasingly sweet, he even possessed toothpaste, a toothbrush, and facial cleanser.
After drying the water stains off his face, Yan Qing looked at himself in the bathroom mirror, his recently awakened mind slowly started to operate.
"Did my remarks just now... seem a bit like the cold-blooded leader of an evil organization?"
...
...
At the clearing at the entrance of Mansu Forest Land, Jie Yuan Shao glanced at the crowd and softly introduced Qian Gongyu and Jiang Shi: "That’s the elder of the Zhou Family, ’Fire Saber’ Zhou Ye."
Contrary to the nickname, Zhou Ye was a kind-faced middle-aged man, appearing like the shopkeeper welcoming guests in a store. He was currently chatting with Jie Zilong and, upon noticing the attention from Qian Gongyu and the others, smiled and nodded, winning favor effortlessly.
"Five out of the Seven Noble Families are here, and more than half of the Fifty-Six Prominent Clans have come..." Jie Yuan Shao murmured, "It seems they do not come with friendly intentions..."
"This is just the beginning." Shang Xinlei approached and said: "They are simply here to see what items our personal treasure boxes yield, to determine the true worth of Mansu Forest Land. The real clashes of swords and sabers will begin once Jiang Shi finds a place for himself."
"Why are you so late today?" Jie Yuan Shao glanced at her, "Oversleeping?"
"I’ve been getting up early for two consecutive days, relaxing for one day occasionally is normal, right?" Shang Xinlei yawned, "At home, I sleep until noon."
"Lack of self-discipline, how can you cultivate your character?" Jie Yuan Shao showed disdain: "As a progeny of the Jie Family, you should rise with the sun, rest with its setting, train in the harshest winters and the hottest summers, practicing martial arts, cultivating oneself through study, that’s the way of a family of prominence. Chaotic schedules and revelry are the hallmarks of a playboy."
Shang Xinlei winked at Jiang Shi, "Jiang Shi, you see the Jie Family has so many rules, why not join the Shang Family? In our family, you can sleep in late."
"You..."
Seeing they were about to start arguing again, Qian Gongyu quickly interjected, "I’ve looked around and didn’t see Luo Weijin. Could he have gone back early? I wanted to brag a bit with the treasure box later."
"Who would want to see their enemy doing well?" Shang Xinlei laughed, "Especially when he and you are both settling your treasure boxes today. But according to past records, an ordinary person can only accumulate 15 points in three days, and a 15-point treasure box can only yield one Blood Replenishing Pill."
"And now we already have..." She glanced at the scoreboards in the distance, "Even the lowest, the Eldest Miss Jie, has 1565 points."
"You just have a few more points than me." Jie Yuan Shao said seriously, "Today, I’ll surpass you all."
"What’s the use of surpassing us? Surpass Jiang Shi’s 4600 points and then talk."
"If I get the chance next year, I’ll give it a shot."
"Alright, alright, surpass all you want." Qian Gongyu pushed them into the Mansu Forest Land, "It’s about time, let’s hurry in."
As they disappeared into the thick fog, other noble family members also grouped up in threes or fours, forming small teams to enter. Some whispered among themselves, while others spoke loudly, evidently splitting into distinct small groups. Three young men looked around, seemingly noticing a missing companion, decided to search for their friend together.
"That’s nice," Zhou Ye suddenly said, "Seeing this group of young people reminds me of when I participated in Mansu Forest Land. It was the same, nervous yet expectant. Old Lu, do you remember?"
"Remember your first day you peed your pants?" Lu Wangji said.
"You’re mistaken, it was Chen Zaiyuan who peed his pants." Zhou Ye said in all seriousness, "He wore plain white pants that day, very conspicuous."
"Don’t smear my second brother just because he’s not around," Chen Linchuan couldn’t help but laugh, "I’ll write to him about this."
"Bring it on, I’ll be in Jiangnan City waiting for him. He hasn’t visited in years." Zhou Ye complained, "More than a decade ago we agreed to betroth our children, but after having a daughter, he turned a blind eye to past words. I’ve long wanted to settle accounts with him!"
"Who has as much free time as you." Lu Wangji said calmly, "Everyone’s busy."
"Did you all participate in Mansu Forest Land together before?" Qunyu Book asked on the side.
"Yeah, I was merely a beginner back then, almost scared to death." Zhou Ye shrugged, "But that’s the essence of Mansu Forest Land... tossing four people into an extremely dangerous environment, surviving three days. Even total strangers can form friendships as strong as diamond. If there’s someone of the opposite sex, even better; propose marriage after returning, conveniently settling life’s major affairs."
"Hearing you, I regret not coming before," Qunyu Book sighed, "Seems I’ve missed three potential close friends forever — or perhaps three possible wives I’ve never met."
"Like they say about noble families, true friendships are rare. In aristocratic households, genuine affection is absent." Zhou Ye said, "When I see the Jie, Qian, and Shang ladies talking without barriers, speaking casually, it seems they’ve already formed unbreakable friendships in Mansu Forest Land."
Upon these words, the atmosphere subtly shifted. Concerning Jiang Shi, the biggest issue was that the Jie and Shang Families had the advantage of proximity, and the outcome of Jiang Shi’s allegiance would likely be decided between them. Even the Court found it hard to intervene, causing everyone to cast a sidelong glance at Jie Zilong, filled with envy.
However, leaving empty-handed was impossible, as the Liang Kingdom wasn’t like the Northern Barbarians, with their selfishness. Everyone was waiting for the treasure box settlement to see how big the gain was, and then they would start using their Divine Techniques.
Their hypothetical opponents were always the Jie and Shang Families, and as for Jiang Shi...
Who counts meat as an opponent?
...
...
After entering Mansu Forest Land, they naturally split up and searched for materials immediately. Whether they could clear the tenth level today depended on whether they could scrape to the sky and dig three feet deep.
However, just as Yan Qing casually cut down a tree, he heard footsteps from behind. Turning around, it turned out to be Shang Xinlei.
"Jiang Shi, I want to tell you something."
Shang Xinlei walked over, grabbing ’Jiang Shi’s’ arms, and said seriously:
"Your leader isn’t worth your loyalty."
"No matter what promises your leader makes, essentially, he’s someone who uses you as expendable, discarding you the moment you have no more value."
"You must keep your treasure box to yourself, never hand it over to such a heartless, inhumane scum!"
Yan Qing looked at the dialogue popping up on the screen. If he wasn’t mistaken, Shang Xinlei might, perhaps, possibly, could be, with a one-in-ten-thousand chance... was cursing him?
But why curse me, or rather, how did she know the man behind Jiang Shi was me—
Yan Qing lowered his gaze to see a pair of chubby legs below a slender waist.
So it’s you, Red Snake, disturbing my dreams early in the morning!
