Chapter 26: Hard Work
It really wasn’t surprising at all.
Yan Qing sighed inwardly.
When he saw that the task reward was only a Bingzi Pepper Grove, he already knew this would happen—but he couldn’t even blame anyone, because all the settings of the Thieves’ House were designed by him.
Fighting over task rewards, scheming and backstabbing among teammates: that was always part of the fun in the Thieves’ House.
When he designed this instance, he drew on elements from table games like Werewolf, striving to ensure that even in a low-level dungeon, players could experience tense and thrilling gameplay.
But running into teammates who start scheming before finishing the task in real life—that was just too intense.
“Wow, the standardized rare token of Qi—the Brave General Sword.
They say it can only be reforged five times a year.
Every Qi noble warrior takes pride in wielding the Brave General Sword.
I didn’t expect White Fox, you actually have such a precious token!”
Shang Xinlei remarked sharply from the side.
“Although an ascended rare token is generally stronger than a reforged one, in the past General Wu of Qi wielded the Brave General Sword to dominate all under Heaven; Black Wolf, your Bright King Armor leans toward defense—”
Hearing Shang Xinlei’s words, Ying Ru Shi thought: I’m doomed.
Black Wolf clearly came from Zhou military merit lineage; he absolutely couldn’t stand hearing the fame of Qi’s Brave General Sword!
Red Snake almost said the exact words guaranteed to anger Black Wolf every time!
Clang! Clang! Clang!
As expected, after hearing Shang Xinlei’s words, Medicine Master Wen’s offensive grew more intense, forcing Ying Ru Shi to respond.
But the more Ying Ru Shi fought back, the stronger the pale-gold radiance around Medicine Master Wen became.
Ying Ru Shi knew once that pale-gold glow accumulated to a certain point, Medicine Master Wen would unleash a terrifying counterattack.
So she had only two choices—surrender, or now smash through the Bright King Armor with even stronger attack!
She had to choose the latter!
Since entering the Thieves’ House, Ying Ru Shi had always played the smooth role of peacemaker.
But even mud retains some fire—especially for her, a Qi imperial relative county lord!
Her relatives had no qualms about killing and torturing in the streets.
She didn’t act earlier only because she understood propriety and shame—not because she couldn’t!
The Brave General Sword shimmered with a faint cyan light.
So sharp it felt as if even the wind would be slashed.
Medicine Master Wen saw the spiritual glow of the Brave General Sword and her eyes lit up, her qi and blood surging.
Her desire to obtain the Thieves’ House token wasn’t just to restore Zhou’s former glory, but also to fight strong opponents from all corners of the world!
“Let’s see whether my Bright King Armor stands firm as a mountain, or your Brave General Sword cleaves the heavens!”
“Enough.”
A white-steel straight blade inserted itself between them.
In the eyes of both Medicine Master Wen and Ying Ru Shi, a flash of precision passed—they both tensed and struck with all their might, the Brave General Sword and the tempered steel spear launched together!
Clang!
With an explosive clash, the three weapons interlocked.
Yet the expressions on Medicine Master Wen and Ying Ru Shi turned grave.
They could sense spiritual energy rippling from their own weapons, evidence that they had both activated their token powers and infused them into their arms.
But that white-steel straight blade standing between them—had no spiritual energy ripple at all!
No token-aided weapon essence means it was no different from an ordinary object!
They had unleashed their full-power strikes—enough to dent a gold chest’s door.
Yet that white-steel straight blade, which took the brunt of both attacks, didn’t even have a notch.
How was this possible?!
Yan Qing hadn’t even activated a token, yet handled it with ease, like separating two quarrelling animals.
How exactly did he do it?
Medicine Master Wen and Ying Ru Shi couldn’t understand, couldn’t accept it—because the result proved only one thing—
The gap between Yellow Dog and them was so huge they couldn’t even recognize his method!
Third stage? Fourth stage?
“Are you done making a scene?”
Yan Qing swept them coldly and tightened his hold on the blade, lifting it to sweep aside their weapons.
He exerted little force, but Medicine Master Wen and Ying Ru Shi, intimidated by his presence, didn’t dare resist and obediently sheathed their arms.
“And you, Red Snake!”
Yan Qing raised his blade and pointed at Shang Xinlei.
“If you can’t speak properly, then don’t open your mouth.”
Shang Xinlei immediately clutched her throat.
Her mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out—
It was as if Yan Qing’s command had silenced her vocal function.
Her face turned pale with fear, as though she suddenly found herself mute, imploring Yan Qing pathetically for forgiveness.
Little drama queen.
The same evaluation surfaced in the minds of Yan Qing and the other two.
Under the gaze of Ying Ru Shi and Medicine Master Wen, Yan Qing reached out and took the Bingzi Pepper Grove from the gold chest.
"I'll hold on to this blade," he paused, "until the mission is complete."
The two, already subdued by his presence, accepted this arrangement since he wasn’t keeping it for himself but merely holding it temporarily.
Seeing that everyone had quieted down and stopped causing trouble, Yan Qing felt relieved.
Originally, he didn’t dare intervene in the conflict between Black Wolf and White Fox—both were clearly over second-stage Messengers, and if they fought for real, he’d be no match.
But when he saw their weapons clash, Yan Qing suddenly remembered something—they could hurt each other, but in the game system, they were still considered teammates.
The Thieves’ House was ultimately a cooperative PVE instance, not PVP.
Though teammates could attack or even kill each other, death wouldn’t drop any gear or lose experience—it would just count as a mission failure.
Of course, in reality, there was no such thing as a “free death.”
Dead meant truly dead.
As everyone knows, game programs always call upon existing code whenever possible.
Planners don’t just add a new codebase whenever they come up with a feature—games get bigger over time, and piling on new code would just create a mess.
Planners followed the same logic.
Those who sprang “brilliant” ideas on a whim and demanded programmers write new systems on the spot would eventually get dragged outside and beaten by the devs.
A competent planner, when designing a new event, should draw from existing mechanics and have programmers rework old features into new gameplay.
To get his plan approved, Yan Qing made sure that every new mechanic in the Thieves’ House had a prototype in the game.
For example, the mechanic of teammates being able to attack and backstab each other in the Thieves’ House was based on the commonly seen “duel mode.”
In duel mode, teammates could fight each other freely without consequences, and death incurred no penalties.
Weapons and armor wouldn’t lose durability, and tokens couldn’t be destroyed by “break damage” (damage exceeding the durability threshold).
In short, teammates in the Thieves’ House could harm each other, but they couldn’t destroy each other's tokens.
If things went as he predicted, then even if Yan Qing lacked strength, he could still intervene in the battle between Black Wolf and White Fox!
Yan Qing admitted there was an element of risk, but he had bet correctly.
All Medicine Master Wen and the others saw was Yan Qing using a white iron straight blade to block their attacks.
Even if they suspected it was due to “divine rules,” they wouldn’t be able to figure out the truth right away.
Until they uncovered it, they could only overestimate Yan Qing’s strength.
When leaving the treasury, both Medicine Master Wen and Ying Ru Shi instinctively stepped back, while Yan Qing took the lead without hesitation.
He carried a large hemp sack in his right hand and held the Bingzi Pepper Grove in his left, leading everyone out of the inner sanctum.
Many people were waiting outside in the main hall.
They formed three layers around the exit—the outermost were monks, the middle layer nobles, and blocking the door at the very center was An Wu.
At this moment, An Wu’s left arm was nearly burned to ash, revealing scorched black bones, and the entire left side of his body was severely burned—no longer resembling a person.
When they saw Yan Qing’s group coming out, the monks recoiled in fear, backing away.
Even among them were martial monks and second-stage Messengers like Chengming level—but none dared approach Yan Qing’s group.
There were gaps even among Messengers.
The truly powerful ones rarely stayed in the main city unless they were constantly diving into secret realms.
Monks stationed at a place like Anguo Temple, with no real security threats—what spirit could they possibly have, even if they were second-stage?
“Shall we kill them?” Medicine Master Wen suddenly asked.
The monks instantly panicked, scrambling and crawling deeper into the temple.
“We’re thieves, not serial killers,” Yan Qing said calmly. “But if you want to kill me, I don’t mind.”
Medicine Master Wen thought it over but refrained—monks could flee too fast.
Killing them one by one was too inefficient.
She’d just wait until she got home and clean them up in the name of the Embroidered Guard’s Chief.
Though nobles like Xue Yan saw them loaded with bags, they all turned blind and mute, not daring to say a word.
Under everyone’s gaze, Yan Qing walked up to An Wu, who looked like a ghost, and patted him on the shoulder.
“Thirty.”
An Wu nodded and stopped blocking the door.
He began counting down: “Thirty, twenty-nine, twenty-eight…”
Yan Qing turned to the nobles and monks and said, “If you don’t want to die, leave Anguo Temple before he finishes the countdown.”
As he passed An Wu, Yan Qing paused for a moment and said softly—
“Good work.”