Chapter 59: The Singular Marvel – The Heroic Portrait

"Do not deny it. The moment you pulled out that white iron straight sword, I guessed you were connected to 'that organization'." Shang Xinlei looked around, acting as if Yan Qing might suddenly leap out from the bushes to rob her of a woman. "Combined with your numeric codename, it only confirms my suspicion."

To think I would be exposed so easily...

Yan Qing felt quite helpless. He never expected the Messenger world to be so vast and populated, yet he would actually bump into Red Snake by such a coincidence. The name aside, the white iron straight sword was simply the only weapon he could casually lend to his alt character. Was he supposed to let his alt punch things barehanded just to hide his identity?

Shang Xinlei continued, "Did 'that organization' send you here for the treasure chest in the Reverie Woodlands? No guidance, no assistance, just sent here to charge blindly—if you succeed, it belongs to him; if you die, you are discarded like trash... Surely you must realize the cruelty of that organization by now? If you join the Shang family, I can guarantee your safety. A dark organization cowering in the shadows is hardly qualified to challenge the Liang Kingdom's Shang family."

"Joining the Jie family is fine too. Just stop pledging allegiance to that leader. He is so despicable, shameless, and lewd that he is not worth your loyalty."

Slander! Naked, unadulterated slander! It was clearly you who wedged your thigh into the door crack, causing me to glance at it for a split second, and you call me lewd? Before you shoved your leg in, I had zero interest in thighs!

Although he desperately wanted to shout back and refute her, Yan Qing had no desire to leak any more intelligence, nor did he care to play along with Shang Xinlei's act. He simply replied, "Time is tight. I have no interest in discussing this with you."

"Do you have leverage held over you by that scumbag? Or are your family members being held hostage by him?"

In the span of just a few sentences, Shang Xinlei's title for Yan Qing had escalated from "that leader" to "scumbag."

"If that is the case, you must resist even more. Taking orders from that organization means being bled dry and then tossed aside like a dirty rag! Only by saving yourself can you possibly break your tragic destiny!"

"If you cannot do it yourself, then leave it to me!" She placed a hand over her chest, her mesmerizing eyes fixed intently on "Jiang Shi." "You probably think I am merely trying to recruit you, and I won't deny I have that in mind. But the reason I want to help you so much is, above all, because you are worth it."

"You belong in the sky, not rotting in the mud."

This is getting me fired up just watching, Yan Qing thought. Next should be the part where the two of them forge a bond surpassing friendship, endure countless adventures through brushes with death, and defeat the Four Heavenly Kings of the dark organization, interspersed with a few redemption flashbacks for the villains. Finally, they slay the mastermind together and weep in each other's arms amidst the rubble...

It would be even better if I weren't the mastermind she keeps talking about, Yan Qing mused.

However, he had no intention of offering any explanations. He was well aware that his emotional intelligence and worldly sophistication were probably at the bottom of the food chain in this world. After all, before transmigrating he stayed cooped up at home playing video games, and after transmigrating he stayed cooped up in the Thieves' Haven playing video games. Their common thread was spending entire days entirely devoid of socialization. He wouldn't even be surprised if his language skills regressed to caveman grunts one day. He knew that the more he said, the more he would expose himself. What other people chose to believe was their own business; as long as he kept his mouth shut, he wouldn't be found out.

"You have already wasted a cup of tea's worth of time, Shang Xinlei."

"Why are you so unwilling to break away from that organization? Is it gratitude? Hostages? Or perhaps—"

"Shang Xinlei, unlike you, I have no one to rely on."

"I don't need to rely on anyone either."

With that, "Jiang Shi" shook off Shang Xinlei's hand and strode deep into the jungle, leaving behind a single sentence: "Go gather your resources."

Seeming to have given up, Shang Xinlei did not chase after him. Reassessing and confirming that he hadn't revealed any flaws, Yan Qing calmly set off to scavenge for resources.

Along the way, he chopped down every tree and smashed every stone in his path, sprinting at top speed toward the second resource zone. The terrain of the second resource zone varied every time, and the landscape Yan Qing currently faced was a snowfield. As far as the eye could see stretched a vast expanse of white. As he ventured deeper, the accumulated snow grew waist-high, making even Jiang Shi's advanced movement techniques laborious to execute in the deep snow.

Moreover, while resource density was high here, the resources were buried beneath the snow and difficult to spot until one drew close, which further reduced Yan Qing's scavenging efficiency.

Before long, Yan Qing spotted a lighthouse half-buried in the wind and snow. Approaching it, he found a wooden sign nearby indicating that ten spirit jades needed to be inserted to activate the lighthouse. Once the spirit jades were deposited, the very top of the lighthouse projected a golden beam of light. The beam rotated along with the lighthouse, showering golden rain across the snowy field.

When these golden rays landed on the snow, they clung to resources or special structures, making them clearly visible even from thousands of meters away. Yan Qing surveyed his surroundings and discovered that resources were most densely concentrated to the northeast, where the outline of a special structure was also faintly discernible.

Yet that trek took a full half-hour. The golden light had long since dissipated midway, leaving Yan Qing to press forward in a straight line purely by instinct. He even had to skip past numerous resource piles along the way, terrified that stopping to pick them up would throw off his trajectory. If players could fly, they could completely clear out this zone, but without the ability to fly, one had to lock onto the largest objective and charge straight for it.

Standing at the finish line was a temple buried beneath the wind and snow.

Inside the temple, however, there was not a trace of wind or snow—only three altars. Different scrolls rested upon the altars, resource icons were depicted beneath them, and empty slots lay below the icons.

Yan Qing had originally expected these altars to dispense resources, but upon a closer look at the adjacent instructions, he realized he needed to invest resources in order to claim the rewards here.

"Fighter Monument"
"Unlock Resources: 25 Crystals"
"Construction Resources: 100 Stone, 80 Crystals, 80 Gems"
"Unique Wonder: Only one building with this trait may exist at a time."
"Endless Combat: All non-statue facilities in the sanctuary gain +100 HP, 300% increased lethality, and -50% building capacity consumption. Upon destruction, they will fully recover after 60 seconds. This building can be upgraded."

A wonder building capable of fundamentally altering architectural strategy!

Yan Qing had previously sensed a faint incongruity because the statues were so overwhelmingly practical that the cost-effectiveness of other non-statue minions was abysmal. Unless facing a critical battle, Yan Qing was generally reluctant to build minions to fill the lines. If minions were merely meant for early-game transition, the sanctuary upgrades later unlocked many new minion recipes, giving Yan Qing the lingering impression that "someone must play a minion build in the late game."

The Fighter Monument was undoubtedly the key building for a minion build: boosting health and damage, doubling the building capacity limit, and even enabling resurrection on the battlefield... Yan Qing was somewhat tempted. With the Fighter Monument to transition into a minion build, surviving the tenth wave shouldn't be too difficult!

"Rainbow Bridge"
"Unlock Resources: 50 Gems"
"Construction Resources: 100 Wood, 100 Crystals, 100 Mercury, 100 Sulfur"
"Unique Wonder: Only one building with this trait may exist at a time."
"Rainbow Radiance: All sanctuary members emit a rainbow-colored halo with a 25-meter radius. Resource piles and resource nodes illuminated by the halo are automatically gathered into the sanctuary warehouse. This building can be upgraded."

Holy crap!

At a single glance, Yan Qing knew this was a late-game wonder. Anyone aiming to push through thirty or fifty waves would definitely want to secure this. With the Rainbow Bridge, players could simply charge around recklessly to collect resources, boosting collection speed to at least three or four times the normal rate.

This wonder held even greater significance for Qian Gongyu and the others, as they lacked personal inventories and possessed a scavenging efficiency less than one-tenth of a normal player's. If they had the Rainbow Bridge, they could also scavenge everywhere like normal players, making a push to the twentieth or thirtieth wave a distinct possibility!

Although the construction requirements for the Rainbow Bridge were harsher than those of the Fighter Monument, saving up resources over a few grueling rounds made gathering them entirely feasible...

Yan Qing felt heavily torn. He felt the Fighter Monument was safer, yet believed the Rainbow Bridge held more potential. However, the moment he laid eyes on the third scroll, all his hesitation vanished into thin air.

...

An hour later, everyone returned to the sanctuary on time. Aside from Shang Xinlei, who still wore a preoccupied expression, Qian Gongyu and Jie Yuanshao both beamed with smiles, evidently having each encountered their own fortuitous encounters.

According to the plan discussed the previous night, the next step should be constructing a level-five sanctuary to see what better facilities could be unlocked, or upgrading the statues otherwise.

Yet Jiang Shi neither upgraded the sanctuary nor upgraded the statues. With a flick of her finger, the majority of the resources in the courtyard transformed into streams of light that poured into the castle. To everyone's astonishment, the streams melted into the wall directly above the fireplace, morphing into an exquisite, oversized painting.

The painting depicted the four of them sitting around the fireplace chatting: Jie Yuanshao sitting upright and proper, Shang Xinlei lounging lazily, and Qian Gongyu clutching Jiang Shi's hand while snuggling on the sofa. The scene was so lifelike, it was as if a slice of their time yesterday had been cleanly clipped out and framed.

"It's so pretty..." Qian Gongyu murmured. "Can we take it with us?"

"Our resources," Jie Yuanshao gestured a large circle with both hands, asking in disbelief, "turned into a painting?"

"But it's pretty, isn't it!"

"This isn't a matter of whether it's pretty or not!"

"Jiang Shi is leaving." Shang Xinlei offered a reminder, prompting the other two to notice that Jiang Shi had already stepped outside, and the demon tide had already begun.

They assumed Jiang Shi was heading out to snatch demon kills, but upon stepping out, they saw Jiang Shi standing quietly atop the battlements rather than charging out to slaughter indiscriminately. Unlike Jiang Shi, they all relied on the city walls to defeat monsters; plunging directly into a horde of demons posed far too great a risk for them.

The first wave of monsters consisted of Thief Lizards and hundreds of skittering lizard beasts. As the monsters drew closer and closer, the statues unsealed and descended. At that exact moment, Shang Xinlei and the others sensed a massive anomaly—

Power was surging forth!

A torrential surge of life force raged violently within their bodies, spinning wildly, surging with immense momentum! Power multiplied by one fold, threefold, tenfold!

Qian Gongyu couldn't help letting out a wild roar, casually striking the battlements and reducing a section of the parapet to fine powder!

Startled by her own strength for a second, she then broke into a silly giggle: "Look, I'm so strong!"

"Jiang Shi!" Shang Xinlei immediately demanded, "Is this the power of that painting?"

Jiang Shi nodded, then shook her head.

She raised her Iron-Blood Longsword, gesturing vaguely toward the nearby Chaos Warrior and Narcissus Mermaid, and finally pointed at herself.

Upon closer inspection, everyone noticed that the red light flickering on the surfaces of the Chaos Warrior, Dragon-Breaker Warrior, and Blade Warrior, as well as the blue light shimmering on the Narcissus Mermaid and Undertaker Mermaid, were extending thin threads of light that flowed directly into their own bodies.

Red and blue radiances circulated through each of them, as though... they too had become part of the statues.

"Is this the bond effect you mentioned earlier?" Jie Yuanshao realized instantly. "We've been buffed by the bonds of the Lachrima Alliance and the Brotherhood?"

Jiang Shi nodded, leaping down from the battlements and charging alone into the army of Thief Lizards as she always did. This time, however, Shang Xinlei, Jie Yuanshao, and Qian Gongyu exchanged glances and immediately followed suit, charging forward to meet the hundreds of Thief Lizards in direct, head-on combat!

Boom!

The sea of Thief Lizards crashed against them as if smashing into four blood-red reefs, shattering their momentum and inflicting devastating casualties!

"Heroic Painting"
"Unlock Resources: 30 Mercury"
"Construction Resources: 100 Wood, 100 Stone, 50 Crystals, 40 Sulfur, 30 Gems"
"Unique Wonder: Only one building with this trait may exist at a time."
"Heroic Fellowship: When sanctuary statues form a bond, all sanctuary members can enjoy the bond's buffs. This effect can be upgraded."