Chapter 58: So It Was You
Knock knock, knock knock, knock knock.
Yan Qing pulled up the blanket over his head, determined to ignore the knocking outside.
It took him a full three seconds to realize that he wasn’t living in a city rental apartment with nine rooms on each floor, where drunks, landlords, and deliverymen could appear at the door at any time, but in the Thieves’ House!
He was the only one living in this place—who would be so blind as to dare knock on his door?
Just as he was about to open the door, Yan Qing suddenly remembered something.
He first put on the jacket gifted by Ye Si, then put on pants and shoes, and donned the Yellow Dog Mask.
He glanced at the mirror to ensure he didn’t look like he had just woken up.
Then, he brought the Bingzi Pepper Forest in his left hand.
Before opening the door, he hung the door chain and only opened a narrow slit.
His right arm propped against the door frame, palm loosely gripping the hilt of the Bingzi Pepper Forest.
“Red Snake?”
The early-morning intruder who disturbed his dreams was, unexpectedly, a girl wearing a Red Snake scarf.
Though one would call her a girl, her entire face was covered with a scarf and a hat, only a pair of bright, sparkling eyes were visible—so energetic in the morning, it felt a bit perverse.
“So you really were here.”
Shang Xinlei was a bit surprised; she hadn’t been certain if Yan Qing was here—she had simply come out of frustration to try her luck.
“Was traveling outside. Came here for a night’s rest,” Yan Qing casually deflected to avoid revealing his actual movements.
“The next theft meeting is in two days, 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 at each other. Yan Qing tried to shut the door with a push of his arm, but Shang Xinlei immediately used her meaty thigh to block the gap.
“Fine. I just wanted to ask you one question—why didn’t you save An Wu?”
Yan Qing was slightly stunned.
His rusted brain took a few seconds to recall: “An Wu… oh, you mean him.”
“You forgot him?”
Shang Xinlei was dumbfounded, her face filled with disbelief.
“He self-harmed and set himself on fire for your sake, even gave his life, died obscure and forgotten… don’t you care at all?”
“Do you remember how many clothes you’ve lost?”
Yan Qing sounded a bit impatient.
“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.
“You clearly didn’t need him to die in the final step. Even burning Anguo Temple wasn’t necessary—”
“He was useless.”
Yan Qing’s words were brutal.
“No potential. Not strong enough. His stat allocation… his training path was also wrong.
Keeping him would’ve been a waste of space.
Even if he survived, I would have disposed of him.”
At first, Yan Qing had thought a Vital-Energy-and-Blood-focused alternate character was similar to an Agility-focused one, but he discovered a huge issue upon playing—
Stamina and vitality were directly linked!
High Vital-Energy characters could attack more, train longer, and run farther.
Agility-focused characters had none of these advantages.
Apart from dodging, they were inferior in survival, output, and training in every metric.
But after switching to the Martial Messenger class, Yan Qing had become a skilled player.
Even without the speed boost from agility, he could still dodge perfectly.
So for him, starting with full agility was entirely disadvantageous.
Agility’s real advantage was in ‘high burst in short time’, which only worked with dagger or short-sword-type tokens.
Long blades currently offered better Vital-Energy bonuses.
Yan Qing wasn’t lying.
Character slots were limited.
Just like only games worth replaying were kept in one’s game library, his character slots were only reserved for valuable alternates.
“Useless ones are discarded…”
Shang Xinlei murmured, lowering her head.
She looked at Yan Qing.
“Then what counts as useful?”
“Those who can become stronger. Those who can survive.”
Yan Qing paused, then added, “Those who can be put to use.”
“Sounds more like weapons than people,”
Shang Xinlei seemed to sneer.
“Do you even remember the names of the death soldiers who died at Anguo Temple?”
“I remember. An Wu, An Liu, An Qi, An Ba, An Jiu.”
Yan Qing answered irritably.
“If there’s nothing else, see you at noon two days later.”
After hearing Red Snake return to her room—seemingly having left the Thieves’ House—Yan Qing finally went to brush his teeth and wash his face.
Ever since “Jiang Ten” started hanging out with Qian Gongyu and the others, Yan Qing’s life had gotten sweeter.
He even had toothpaste, toothbrush, and face wash now.
After drying his face, Yan Qing looked into the bathroom mirror.
His just-awakened brain gradually started functioning.
“Did what I said earlier… sound a bit like the cold-blooded leader of an evil organization?”
…
…
At the clearing near the Mansu Woodland entrance, Jie Yuanshao glanced at the crowd and softly introduced to Qian Gongyu and Jiang Ten:
“That is Elder Zhou of the Zhou Family, ‘Flame Blade’ Zhou Ye.”
Contrary to his nickname, Zhou Ye was a middle-aged man with a kind expression.
He looked just like a shopkeeper welcoming customers.
He was chatting with Jie Zilong, and upon noticing Qian Gongyu and the others’ gaze, he smiled and nodded slightly—an action that left a good impression.
“Five of the Seven Great Clans have come, and over half of the fifty-six noble families are here...” Jie Yuanshao murmured, “Feels like they’re not here with good intentions...”
“This is just the beginning,” Shang Xinlei walked over and said. “They’re only here to see what items we’ll get from our personal treasure chests, to determine the true value of Mansu Woodland. The real clash of blades won’t begin until it’s decided who Jiang Ten ends up with.”
“Why are you so late today?” Jie Yuanshao glanced at her. “Overslept?”
“I’ve gotten up early two days in a row—sleeping in just once is normal, right?” Shang Xinlei yawned. “At home, I sleep until noon.”
“Without self-discipline, how can one cultivate body and mind?” Jie Yuanshao looked at her disdainfully. “Jie family descendants rise at sunrise and rest at sunset, train in the cold of winter and the heat of summer, practice martial arts to discipline the body, study literature to cultivate the mind—this is the demeanor of a noble house. Disordered routines and seeking pleasure are the habits of a wastrel.”
Shang Xinlei winked at Jiang Ten. “Jiang Ten, look how many rules the Jie Family has. You should join the Shang Family. In our family, you can sleep in.”
“You...”
Seeing they were about to start arguing again, Qian Gongyu quickly interrupted, “I looked all around but didn’t see Luo Weijin. Did he leave early? I wanted to show off a bit when opening the treasure chest.”
“Who would want to see their enemy enjoying the spring breeze?” Shang Xinlei laughed. “Especially since he and you both get your chests settled today. But based on past records, ordinary people only score about 15 points over three days, and a 15-point chest only gives one Healing Pill.”
“And we already have...” She glanced at the scoreboards in the distance. “Even the lowest-scoring Miss Jie has 1,565 points.”
“You’re only a few dozen points ahead of me.” Jie Yuanshao said seriously. “I’ll surpass you today.”
“What good is surpassing us? Talk to us again once you surpass Jiang Ten’s 4,600 points.”
“If I get the chance next year, I’ll try.”
“Alright, alright, everyone can surpass,” Qian Gongyu pushed them into Mansu Woodland. “Time’s about up. Let’s head in.”
As they disappeared into the Dense Fog, the other noble family scions also entered in groups of three or four. Some whispered in secret, others discussed loudly, clearly forming cliques. Three young men looked around, realizing a companion was missing, and decided to go search for them together.
“How wonderful,” Zhou Ye suddenly said. “Seeing this group of young people reminds me of when I first participated in Mansu Woodland—nervous and excited. Old Lu, do you remember?”
“Remember you wet your pants the first day?” Lu Wangji said.
“You remembered wrong. The one who wet his pants was Chen Zaiyuan,” Zhou Ye said solemnly. “He wore plain white pants that day—super obvious.”
“Don’t sling mud at my second brother just because he’s not here,” Chen Linchuan couldn’t help laughing. “I’ll write and tell him.”
“Fine, let him come to Jiangnan City to find me. He hasn’t caught up with me in years.” Zhou Ye grumbled. “Over ten years ago, we agreed to betroth our children, but then he had a daughter and pretended those past words meant nothing. I’ve been meaning to settle this with him!”
“Who has time like you do?” Lu Wangji said flatly. “Everyone’s busy.”
“You guys all joined Mansu Woodland together?” Qun Yushu asked from the side.
“Yeah, I was only First-Stage back then. Nearly scared me to death,” Zhou Ye shrugged. “But that’s the point of Mansu Woodland—throw four people into an extremely dangerous environment, survive three days, and even total strangers can form bonds as strong as steel. If there’s someone of the opposite sex, even better. Just propose marriage after, and you’re all set.”
“Makes me regret not coming before,” Qun Yushu sighed. “Looks like I’ve forever missed three potential lifelong friends—or maybe three wives I never met.”
“They say among noble families it’s hard to find true friends, and in grand estates there’s no real affection,” Zhou Ye said. “But seeing the three young ladies of the Jie, Qian, and Shang Families chat so casually, they must have already forged unbreakable friendship in Mansu Woodland.”
At these words, the atmosphere subtly shifted.
The biggest issue regarding Jiang Ten was that the Jie and Shang Families had proximity and first access. Her allegiance would likely be decided between those two families—even the Court would find it hard to interfere. Everyone glanced at Jie Zilong with envy in their eyes.
But it was impossible for them to walk away empty-handed. The Liang Kingdom was no northern barbarian—hogging benefits wasn’t its way.
Everyone was waiting—waiting for the treasure chest results to determine how large the "meat" was. Then they’d unleash their tricks.
Their imagined rivals were always the Jie and Shang Families. As for Jiang Ten...
Who would treat a piece of meat as an opponent?
...
...
After entering Mansu Woodland, they naturally split up to scavenge for materials. Whether they could break through the tenth trial today would depend on how well they could scour heaven and earth.
But just after Yan Qing casually chopped down a tree, he heard footsteps behind him. He turned to see Shang Xinlei.
“Jiang Ten, I want to tell you something.”
Shang Xinlei walked up and grabbed ‘Jiang Ten’ by the arms, speaking seriously:
“Your leader is not worth your loyalty.”
“No matter what promises he made to you, at heart he’s someone who treats your lives as disposable. Once you lose value, he’ll abandon you without hesitation.”
“Whatever treasure chest you get, keep it for yourself! Never hand it over to such a heartless, inhuman scum!”
Yan Qing looked at the dialogue box on the screen.
If he wasn’t mistaken, Shang Xinlei probably, maybe, possibly, perhaps, with a one-in-ten-thousand chance... was scolding him?
But why scold me?
Or rather, how did she know the man behind Jiang Ten was me—
Yan Qing looked down and saw the plump thighs beneath a slim waist.
So it was you—the Red Snake who disturbed my dreams early this morning!