Chapter 58: So It Was You

Tap, tap, tap.

Yan Qing pulled the quilt up to cover his head, determined to ignore the knocking at the door.

After a full three seconds, he suddenly realized that he wasn't living in a village-in-the-city rental room with nine rooms on a single floor, where a drunkard, a landlord, or a delivery driver could spawn outside his door at any moment. He was in the House of Thieves!

This place was inhabited only by him. Which blind ghost dared to come knocking?

Just as he was about to open the door directly, Yan Qing suddenly remembered something. First, he threw on a coat bestowed by Night Four, put on his pants and shoes, and donned the Yellow Dog mask. He checked himself in the mirror to make sure he didn't look like he had just woken up, then readied the Bingzi Jiaolin blade in his left hand. Before opening the door, he engaged the safety chain, leaving only a narrow gap, and propped his right arm against the door frame with his palm loosely gripping the hilt of the Bingzi Jiaolin.

"Crimson Snake?"

The uninvited caller who had disturbed his sweet sleep early in the morning turned out to be a young girl wearing a crimson snake scarf. That being said, her entire face was covered by the scarf and hat, leaving only a pair of sparkling, bright eyes exposed—being this energetic early in the morning made her seem a bit of a freak.

"You really are here," Shang Xinlei said, somewhat surprised. In truth, she hadn't been entirely sure whether Yan Qing was here; feeling vexed and restless, she had simply come to try her luck.

"I was traveling on the road and came here to rough it out for the night," Yan Qing muttered perfunctorily to avoid leaking his specific itinerary. "The next thieving meeting is in two days, and it's at noon. You've come early."

"I'm here to look for you," Shang Xinlei pointed inside the room. "Aren't you going to invite me in for a sit-down?"

"No."

The two stared at each other eye to eye. Yan Qing pushed with his arm, intending to close the door, but Shang Xinlei immediately wedged her plump thigh into the gap. "Fine, I just came to ask you a question—why didn't you save An Wu?"

Yan Qing was slightly taken aback. It took his rusted brain a few seconds to recall: "An Wu... Oh, you mean him."

"You forgot about him?" Shang Xinlei froze, disbelief written all over her face. "He mutilated and burned himself for you, and even lost his life, dying in utter obscurity... Do you not care at all?"

"Do you keep track of how many pieces of clothing you've discarded?" Yan Qing said impatiently. "He wasn't the first, nor will he be the last."

"But he was so loyal. Why didn't you save him?" Shang Xinlei pressed on. "It was clear that the final step didn't require his sacrifice, and even the burning of the Anguo Temple wasn't strictly necessary—"

"He was useless."

Yan Qing's words were extremely cruel: "Without potential and lacking in strength, his stat distribution... his training direction was also wrong. Keeping him around would just be a waste of space. Even if he had survived, I would have disposed of him."

Originally, Yan Qing thought that an alt character with all-vitality allocation and an alt character with all-agility allocation were roughly the same, but after getting hands-on experience, he discovered a huge problem between them—stamina and vitality were directly proportional! A high-vitality character could deliver more attacks, train longer, and run longer. A high-agility character possessed none of these advantages; aside from evasion, they fell short of high-vitality characters in every dimension of survival, output, and training.

However, after class-advancing into a Martial Dao Courier, Yan Qing was already a gaming veteran. Even without the speed boost brought by agility, he could still execute perfect evasions. Therefore, for him, starting with full agility was a disadvantage. The true advantage of high agility was 'high burst damage in a short time,' which required daggers or short swords to unleash, whereas long sabers currently still benefited more from vitality bonuses.

Yan Qing wasn't lying either. Character slots were limited. Just like a game library where only games worth replaying could be kept, his character slots could only retain valuable alts.

"Useless, so he gets disposed of..." Shang Xinlei lowered her head, murmuring. She looked up at Yan Qing. "Then what is considered useful?"

"Something that can grow stronger, something that can survive." Yan Qing paused, then added, "Something that can serve a purpose."

"That doesn't sound like you're talking about a human. It sounds more like weapons." Shang Xinlei seemed to sneer. "Do you even remember the names of the suicide squad members who died at the Anguo Temple?"

"I remember. An Wu, An Liu, An Qi, An Ba, An Jiu," Yan Qing said tartly. "If there's nothing else, see you at noon in two days."

Hearing Crimson Snake return to her room and seemingly depart the House of Thieves, Yan Qing finally 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 had grown increasingly sweet—he even had toothpaste, a toothbrush, and facial cleanser now.

Wiping the water droplets from his face, Yan Qing looked at the mirror in the bathroom, his freshly awakened brain gradually beginning to function.

"Did what I just say... sound a bit like the cold-blooded leader of an evil organization?"

...
...

At the clearing near the entrance of the Dream-Lodging Woodlands, Jie Yuanshao glanced at the crowd and whispered to Qian Gongyu and Jiang Shi, "That's the Zhou family elder, 'Fiery Saber' Zhou Ye."

Unlike his fierce moniker, Zhou Ye was a middle-aged man with a benign expression, looking rather like a shopkeeper welcoming guests at a store. At that moment, he was chatting idly with Jie Zilong. Noticing the gazes of Qian Gongyu and the others, he smiled and nodded, instantly winning people's good impressions.

"Five of the Seven Surnamed Great Clans are here, and well over half of the Fifty-Six Prominent Families..." Jie Yuanshao murmured. "I have a feeling they come with ill intentions..."

"Where are you even looking?" Shang Xinlei walked over and said, "They're just here to see what drops our personal treasure chests yield, to determine how much value the Dream-Lodging Woodlands truly holds. The real clash of blades won't begin until it's decided whose hands Jiang Shi falls into."

"Why are you so late today?" Jie Yuanshao glanced at her. "Sleeping in?"

"I've woken up early for two consecutive days. It's perfectly normal to sleep in for once, right?" Shang Xinlei yawned. "At home, I sleep until noon."

"Without self-discipline, how can one cultivate personal character?" Jie Yuanshao's gaze was disdainful. "Scions of the Jie family work at sunrise and rest at sunset, training through the bitterest days of winter and the swiftest heat of summer. Training the martial body, cultivating the mind through books—that is the true demeanor of a great family. A chaotic schedule and indulging in merrymaking—that is the behavior of a prodigal."

Shang Xinlei blinked at Jiang Shi. "Jiang Shi, look at how many rules the Jie family has. You'd better come to the Shang family instead. At the Shang family, you can sleep in all you want."

"You..."

Seeing that the two of them were about to bicker again, Qian Gongyu hurriedly cut in. "I looked all around and didn't see Luo Weijin. Could he have returned early? I was hoping to show off quite a bit when we open our chests later."

"Who would want to watch their enemy basking in glory?" Shang Xinlei smiled. "Especially since both he and you are settling your chests today. But based on past records, an ordinary person's score over three days totals only 15 points, and a 15-point chest can only yield a bottle of Blood-Replenishing Pills."

"Whereas we already have—" she looked up at the score board in the distance. "Even the lowest, Eldest Miss Jie, has 1,565 points."

"You only have a few dozen points more than me," Jie Yuanshao said earnestly. "Today, I will surpass you."

"Surpassing us is useless. Come talk to me after you surpass Jiang Shi, who has 4,600 points."

"If there's a chance next year, I'll try."

"Fine, fine, you can surpass anyone you like." Qian Gongyu pushed them toward the Dream-Lodging Woodlands. "Time is almost up, let's hurry inside."

As they vanished into the thick fog, the remaining scions of the prominent families also entered in groups of three or four. Some whispered among themselves while others talked grandly, naturally dividing into small cliques. Three young men looked around, and seeming to notice that a companion hadn't arrived, decided to go look for them together.

"Wonderful," Zhou Ye suddenly remarked. "Looking at this group of youngsters reminds me of when I first entered the Dream-Lodging Woodlands. I was just as nervous and expectant. Old Lu, do you remember?"

"You mean the day you wet your pants?" Lu Wangji said.

"You remember wrong, the one who wet his pants was Chen Zaiyuan," Zhou Ye said with a straight face. "He wore plain white trousers that day, which made it especially obvious."

"Don't go splashing dirty water just because my Second Brother isn't here," Chen Linchuan couldn't help laughing. "I'll write a letter to tell him."

"Come, I'll wait for him in Jiangnan City. It's been several years since he last came back to catch up with me," Zhou Ye complained. "A dozen years ago, we agreed to betroth our children to each other, but the moment he had a daughter, he treated our past words like passing wind! I've been meaning to settle accounts with him for a long time!"

"No one is as idle as you," Lu Wangji said flatly. "Everyone is busy."

"Did you guys all enter the Dream-Lodging Woodlands together back then?" Qun Yushu asked from the side.

"Yeah, I was only at the First Transition back then, scared out of my wits," Zhou Ye shrugged. "Still, that's the meaning of the Dream-Lodging Woodlands... throwing four people into that extremely dangerous environment and making them endure for three days. Even total strangers can forge a bond as unyielding as diamond. If there's someone of the opposite sex, even better—you go straight to their doorstep to propose marriage upon returning, taking care of life's major milestones all at once."

"You make me regret not coming here in the past," Qun Yushu sighed. "It seems I forever missed three potential bosom friends—or perhaps three wives I've never met."

"As the saying goes, it is hard to find a confidant among the great clans and prominent families, and true affection has never existed in the vermilion gates," Zhou Ye said. "I see that the three young misses of the Jie, Qian, and Shang families conversed without any barrier and in relaxed tones. It seems they have already forged an unbreakable friendship within the Dream-Lodging Woodlands."

At these words, the atmosphere in the arena shifted slightly. Regarding Jiang Shi, the biggest issue was that the Jie and Shang families had the advantage of proximity; Jiang Shi's allegiance would basically be decided solely between those two houses, making it difficult even for the imperial court to bypass them. Consequently, everyone glanced at Jie Zilong with rather envious gazes.

However, letting everyone return empty-handed was out of the question. The State of Liang was not some northern barbarian tribe; the barbaric practice of hogging all the spoils didn't exist here. Everyone was waiting—waiting for the treasure chests to be settled, to determine just how big this piece of meat was. Only then would everyone begin pulling out their true divine tricks.

Their hypothetical enemies had always been the Jie and Shang families. As for Jiang Shi...

Who would treat the piece of meat as an opponent?

...
...

Upon entering the Dream-Lodging Woodlands, the natural course of action was to immediately split up to scavenge materials. Whether they could push through the tenth stage today depended on whether they could scour the place down to the bedrock.

However, no sooner had Yan Qing casually chopped down a tree than he heard footsteps approaching from behind. Turning his head, he saw none other than Shang Xinlei.

[Jiang Shi, I want to tell you something.]

Shang Xinlei walked over, grabbed 'Jiang Shi' by both arms, and said earnestly:

[Your leader is not worth your allegiance.]

[No matter what promises your leader has made to you, in essence, he is just a scumbag who treats your lives as consumables and will immediately throw you away the moment you lose your utility.]

[You must keep your treasure chest for yourself. You must never hand it over to such a heartless, inhuman scumbag!]

Yan Qing looked at the dialogue popping up on his screen. If he wasn't mistaken, Shang Xinlei should, would, could, might, or had a one-in-ten-thousand probability of... scolding him?

But why was she scolding him? Or rather, how did she know the man behind Jiang Shi was him—

Yan Qing's gaze drifted downward, seeing a pair of plump thighs beneath a slender waist.

So it was you, Crimson Snake, who disturbed my sweet dream early in the morning!