Chapter 59: The Only Marvel · Portrait of Heroes
"Don’t deny it. The moment you drew your White Iron Straight Blade, I guessed you were connected to ‘that organization’."
Shang Xinlei looked around, as if worried Yan Qing would suddenly jump out of the grass to snatch the woman away from her.
"And your name has a numeric codename—just confirmed my suspicion."
So it was exposed this easily...
Yan Qing felt rather helpless.
He hadn’t expected that in such a vast world of Messengers, with so many people, he would actually run into Red Snake by coincidence.
The name was whatever, but the White Iron Straight Blade was the only thing he could hand over to an alternate character without issue.
There’s no way he would let the alternate character fight barehanded just to conceal his identity, right?
Shang Xinlei continued, "‘That organization’ sent you here for the treasure chest in Mansu Woodland, right?"
"No guidance, no support—just throwing you in here to charge blindly."
"If you succeed, they take it all; if you die, you’re discarded like a used rag..."
"You should recognize how cruel that organization is by now."
"If you join the Shang Family, I can guarantee your safety."
"A dark organization skulking behind the scenes in filthy dealings—has no right to challenge the Shang Family of Great Liang."
"Joining the Jie Family is also fine—just don’t pledge loyalty to that leader again."
"He’s despicable, shameless, lecherous, and vile—not someone worth following."
Slander. Naked slander!
You were the one who shoved your thigh through the door, and I just glanced once—how does that make me lecherous?
Before you pushed it in, I had zero interest in thighs!
Though he very much wanted to shout back, Yan Qing didn’t want to reveal more information, nor did he have any interest in acting out a play with Shang Xinlei.
So he replied, "Time is tight. I’m not interested in discussing this with you."
"Is it that he has something on you?"
"Or are your family members being held hostage by that scum?"
In just a few words, Shang Xinlei had upgraded her term for the leader from ‘that leader’ to ‘scum’.
"If that’s the case, you all the more shouldn’t submit."
"The fate of obeying orders in that organization is to be sucked dry and tossed away like a rag!"
"Only saving yourself can break your miserable fate!"
"If you can’t do it, then leave it to me!"
She placed her hand on her chest, her bright eyes locking onto ‘Jiang Ten’.
"You might think I’m just trying to recruit you."
"I won’t deny I have that intention."
"But the reason I want to help you goes beyond that—because you’re worth it."
"You should be soaring, not lying in the mud."
Even I’m getting fired up watching this.
Next should be the two forming a bond beyond friendship, facing countless dangers and life-or-death moments, defeating the Four Heavenly Kings of the dark organization, with a few redemption flashbacks from villains in between.
Then, they kill the mastermind together, finally collapsing into each other’s arms amidst the rubble, sobbing...
If only I weren’t the mastermind she’s talking about.
That would’ve been perfect, Yan Qing thought.
Still, he had no intention to explain.
He knew well that his emotional intelligence and scheming ability were probably at the bottom of this world’s food chain.
After all, before transmigrating, he was holed up at home playing games.
And after transmigrating, he stayed inside the Thieves’ House playing games.
The common trait being—zero socializing all day.
If one day his language ability degraded to babbling nonsense, he wouldn’t be surprised either.
He understood that the more he said, the more he would expose.
What others thought was their business—as long as he didn’t say more, he wouldn’t be seen through.
"You’ve already wasted a tea’s time, Shang Xinlei."
"Why won’t you leave that organization?"
"Gratitude? Hostages? Or is it—"
"Shang Xinlei, unlike you, I have no one to rely on."
"And I don’t need to rely on anyone."
With that, ‘Jiang Ten’ shook off Shang Xinlei’s hand and walked deeper into the forest, leaving just one line behind:
"Go gather resources quickly."
It seemed she had given up—Shang Xinlei didn’t follow.
Yan Qing replayed everything in his head and felt confident he hadn’t let anything slip, so he peacefully went to scavenge resources.
Along the way, he chopped every tree he saw and struck every rock, rushing to the second resource zone as fast as possible.
The terrain for the second zone changed every time.
This time, Yan Qing arrived at a snowy field.
Looking out, it was a blanket of white.
As he moved deeper, the snow reached up to half a man’s height.
Even with Advanced Footwork, ‘Jiang Ten’ struggled to move through it.
Although the resource density here was high, all resources were buried under the snow, making them hard to discover unless very close.
This further reduced Yan Qing’s scavenging efficiency.
Soon, Yan Qing spotted a snow-covered lighthouse.
Getting closer, he saw a wooden sign beside it indicating that inserting ten pieces of Spirit Jade would activate the lighthouse.
After he inserted the Spirit Jade, the top of the lighthouse emitted a golden beam of light.
The beam rotated with the lighthouse, scattering golden rain across the snowfield.
These golden rays adhered to resources or special structures, making them clearly visible even from hundreds of meters away.
Yan Qing looked around and saw that the northeast had the densest resources.
He could even see the silhouette of a special structure there.
But that walk took half an hour.
By then, the golden light had long faded.
Yan Qing could only keep walking in a straight line by instinct, missing many resource piles in between, afraid that picking them up would throw off his direction.
If players could fly, they could easily clear all the resources here.
But if not, they had to lock onto the largest target and head straight for it.
What stood at the end was a snow-covered temple.
Inside the temple, there wasn’t a trace of wind or snow.
Only three altars stood there.
Each altar held a different scroll.
Beneath the altars were images of different resources, and beneath those were slots.
Yan Qing had originally thought the altar would spit out resources.
But on closer inspection of the nearby instructions, he realized—he had to put in resources to receive the rewards here.
"Warrior Monument"
"Unlock Cost: 25 Crystals"
"Construction Cost: 100 Stone, 80 Crystals, 80 Gems"
"Unique Marvel: Only one building with this trait may exist at a time."
"Endless Combat: All non-statue facilities in the shelter gain +100 HP, +300% damage, -50% building capacity usage, and will fully recover 60 seconds after destruction. This building can be upgraded."
A marvel that could completely change building strategies!
Yan Qing had already faintly sensed a dissonance—because statues were too practical, other non-statue minions had extremely low cost-performance ratios.
Unless facing a critical battle, Yan Qing was unwilling to build minions for lane filling.
If minions were merely for early-game transition, then why did shelter upgrades unlock so many new minion formulas?
It always gave Yan Qing the feeling that "minion builds" were still viable in the late game.
The Warrior Monument was clearly the key building for a minion-focused strategy—HP boost, damage boost, doubled construction cap, and even battlefield resurrection...
Yan Qing was a bit tempted.
With the Warrior Monument, switching to minion build, clearing Stage Ten shouldn’t be hard!
"Rainbow Bridge"
"Unlock Cost: 50 Gems"
"Construction Cost: 100 Wood, 100 Crystals, 100 Mercury, 100 Sulfur"
"Unique Marvel: Only one building with this trait may exist at a time."
"Rainbow Illumination: Shelter members emit a 25-meter radius of rainbow light; resource piles and nodes within this radius are automatically collected into the shelter’s warehouse. This building can be upgraded."
Whoa!
Yan Qing immediately recognized this as a late-game marvel.
Anyone aiming to break through Stage Thirty or Fifty would definitely want this.
With Rainbow Bridge, players could charge through zones while automatically gathering resources—at least three to four times faster than normal.
For people like Qian Gongyu and the others, this marvel had even greater meaning.
They didn’t have personal storage, and their collection efficiency was barely one-tenth of normal players.
If they had Rainbow Bridge, they could scavenge freely like normal players—reaching Stage Twenty or Thirty wouldn’t be impossible!
Although Rainbow Bridge had a higher construction requirement than the Warrior Monument, if they endured a few rounds to save up, it wasn’t out of reach...
Yan Qing felt extremely conflicted.
The Warrior Monument felt safer, but Rainbow Bridge had greater potential.
But once he saw the third scroll, all his hesitation vanished like smoke.
...
...
An hour passed.
Everyone returned to the shelter on time.
Except Shang Xinlei, who still seemed troubled, Qian Gongyu and Jie Yuanshao wore smiles, clearly having had their own adventures.
According to last night’s plan, they were supposed to build a Level Five Shelter now to see if it unlocked better facilities.
If not, then upgrade statues.
However, Jiang Ten neither upgraded the shelter nor the statues.
She simply pointed a finger, and most of the courtyard’s resources turned into streams of light flowing into the castle.
Before everyone’s stunned eyes, the light fused into the wall above the fireplace, transforming into a massive, exquisitely detailed painting.
In the painting, the four of them were sitting in front of the fireplace chatting.
Jie Yuanshao sat upright.
Shang Xinlei lay lazily.
Qian Gongyu clung to Jiang Ten’s hand on the sofa.
The scene was so vividly lifelike—as if cut straight from their memory of yesterday.
"So beautiful..." Qian Gongyu murmured, "Can we take it with us?"
"Our resources," Jie Yuanshao drew a big circle with her hands, and asked in disbelief, "were turned into a painting?"
"But it’s really pretty!"
"That’s not the point!"
"Jiang Ten left," Shang Xinlei reminded.
Only then did they realize Jiang Ten had already stepped out.
The demon surge had already begun.
They thought Jiang Ten went out to steal demon kills.
But stepping outside, they saw Jiang Ten simply standing on the rampart—she wasn’t rushing out to slaughter.
Unlike Jiang Ten, they needed the walls to kill monsters—charging into the demon horde would be too dangerous for them.
The first wave of monsters were Thieving Lizard Demons and hundreds of Thieving Lizards.
As the horde closed in, the statues began to awaken and descend.
At that moment, Shang Xinlei and the others all sensed something strange—
Power surged forth!
Boiling blood and energy rampaged within their bodies—spiraling, rotating, intensifying!
Power emerged in multiples—double, triple, tenfold!
Qian Gongyu couldn’t help but let out a wild howl.
She casually slapped the parapet, smashing part of the merlons into powder!
She was first startled by her own strength, then giggled stupidly.
"Look at me, I’m so strong!"
"Jiang Ten!" Shang Xinlei immediately asked, "Is this the power of that painting?"
Jiang Ten nodded—then shook her head.
She raised her Blood-Iron Long Blade and gestured toward the Chaos Warrior and Narcissus Mermaid nearby, then pointed to herself.
Everyone looked and saw the Chaos Warrior, Dragon-Breaking Warrior, and Blade Warrior glowing red.
The Narcissus Mermaid and Funeral Mermaid glowed blue.
Thin threads extended from them into the girls’ bodies.
Each of them was wrapped in red and blue light—almost like...
They had become one with the statues.
"This is the bond effect you mentioned before?" Jie Yuanshao recalled.
"We’re strengthened by the bond between the Pearl Tear Alliance and Comrade Alliance?"
Jiang Ten nodded and leaped off the rampart as always, charging alone toward the horde of Thieving Lizards.
But this time, Shang Xinlei, Jie Yuanshao, and Qian Gongyu exchanged glances and followed her closely—charging head-on into hundreds of Thieving Lizards!
Boom!
The sea of Thieving Lizards crashed into four blood-colored reefs—smashed into pulp, suffering massive casualties!
"Portrait of Heroes"
"Unlock Cost: 30 Mercury"
"Construction Cost: 100 Wood, 100 Stone, 50 Crystals, 40 Sulfur, 30 Gems"
"Unique Marvel: Only one building with this trait may exist at a time."
"March of Heroes: When shelter statues form bonds, all shelter members gain the bond’s benefits. This effect can be upgraded."