◎I am Yun Sheng, a prisoner.◎
“I’m not!” Ruo Zhu sprang to his feet almost instantly, his face flushed with anger. “I didn’t! Don’t talk nonsense!”
He stood up so abruptly that he nearly overturned the square table. Nangong Yu managed to hold it down just in time.
Chewing on a pastry, she mumbled indistinctly, “If you didn’t, then you didn’t. Why are you getting so worked up?”
Ruo Zhu’s expression slowly settled. He sat back down and said, “Remember what I told you. Don’t mention it to anyone. Understand?”
“Mhm, mhm.” Nangong Yu nodded as she swallowed. “Brother Ruo Zhu, you didn’t secretly hide the honey and scales, or you didn’t want to save someone?”
She brought it up again, and Ruo Zhu nearly jumped to his feet a second time. This time, he managed to hold himself back.
The vein at his temple throbbed. Clenching his fist, he placed it on the table. “I didn’t! I didn’t do any of it!”
Damn this little brat!
Ruo Zhu was beginning to regret bringing her along to gather the scales.
But he couldn’t afford to worry about that now. Little Yun’s life was hanging by a thread. He needed spirit stones and a magical treasure.
He needed an accomplice.
“Forget what happened today! Did you hear me?” He put on a stern expression to frighten the little girl.
Nangong Yu nodded obediently. “All right, all right. Brother Ruo Zhu, where are we going tomorrow to make our fortune?”
The spirit-beast garden was enormous. Were honey and scales the only things worth money?
She blinked, her expression sly and expectant, like a little fox that had only recently taken human form.
The fierce look on Ruo Zhu’s face gradually relaxed. After hesitating for a moment, he glanced outside and listened carefully for any movement before asking in a low voice, “Where did you hide the things?”
“I hid them, obviously.” Nangong Yu lowered her head and took another bite of her pastry. “Brother Ruo Zhu, I’m not telling you.”
Ruo Zhu opened and closed his mouth several times. After struggling for a while, he put on a fierce expression and said, “You think I care about you? Little fox, make sure you hide your ‘tail’ well!”
Nangong Yu merely nodded and hummed in agreement.
“I have something to do tomorrow, so I won’t be gathering anything.” Ruo Zhu composed himself. “You’ll have to work a little harder and do whatever you can.”
Nangong Yu had no objections. “Okay.”
He shoveled dung by himself in the middle of the night, and took her out to make money during the day. What could she possibly complain about?
Seeing how agreeable she was only made Ruo Zhu’s feelings more complicated. He stood up and picked up the plate. “Go eat in your room. Do you have any idea how late it is? I’m going to rest.”
Nangong Yu didn’t take the plate. Instead, she grabbed the pastries from it and stood up. “Thank you for bringing me back, Brother Ruo Zhu.”
How could there be such a foolish little fox? What if someone deceived her?
Ruo Zhu couldn’t stop worrying, but he truly had no attention to spare for it. “Get a good night’s sleep. Understand? Remember what I told you. Just do your own job.”
“Mhm, mhm.” Nangong Yu answered and hopped out of the room.
When she returned to her room, Nangong Yu turned on her optical computer. It was 9:50 p.m. She nibbled on the remaining pastry, her lashes fluttering.
She had finished working in the spirit-beast garden that morning and left around noon—one o’clock at the latest.
Then that shady NPC had summoned her to the secret chamber, where she had cleaned for a while and fed Pretty Boy a bowl of porridge. So how had it suddenly become night?
“Creak.”
The sound was extremely faint, coming from next door. Nangong Yu opened her eyes where she lay on the bed, her pupils gleaming brightly, not the slightest bit sleepy.
She quietly sat up, stuck a lightness talisman to herself, and opened the door.
In the darkness, a figure as pale as ink diluted by smoke, almost blending into the night, was drifting toward the entrance of the spirit-beast garden.
Concealing her presence, she followed.
The figure moved very quickly. If Nangong Yu hadn’t used a lightness talisman, she would never have been able to keep up.
But keeping up wasn’t all that important. She recognized the route. It led to the secret chamber.
Not long ago, Ruo Zhu had taken her back along this same path.
She followed the figure at a hurried pace for more than ten minutes and, as expected, arrived at the familiar courtyard.
Ruo Zhu pushed open the gate. Nangong Yu pressed herself against his shadow and swiftly slipped inside.
Huh?
Ruo Zhu’s footsteps stopped. He turned and looked behind him.
For some reason, he vaguely sensed a presence, as if someone were following him.
“Little Yu?” he called out calmly. “Come out. I saw you.”
Nangong Yu didn’t move. She even held her breath, lowering her gaze to the ground at his feet.
Some NPCs were sensitive to people watching them. It was best to avoid their notice whenever possible.
Ruo Zhu tried to draw out the little girl who seemed to be a fox cub, but when she didn’t reveal herself, he decided he must have been imagining things. He activated the mechanism to the secret chamber.
With a rumble, the chamber opened. A faint light spilled out, becoming a beacon in the darkness.
Nangong Yu moved at once and darted inside.
A gust of wind brushed past his cheek. Ruo Zhu frowned again.
The night was windy. Threads of cool air blew through the gap in the door and skimmed his face. There was no one there—only the sound of the wind.
Suppressing his unease, he hurried inside.
Huang Hu never came here normally. Besides, the location was well hidden, and no one else knew about it.
The silent secret chamber contained only Ruo Zhu’s faint breathing and the sticky sounds of hurried footsteps trampling through bloody mud.
Nangong Yu followed behind him without making a sound.
Ruo Zhu had a clear destination in mind. He headed straight into the depths of the darkness and vanished in the blink of an eye.
Nangong Yu saw it clearly. He hadn’t gradually faded from sight—he had simply disappeared.
Without giving it a second thought, she followed him.
The passage was pitch-black. Nangong Yu didn’t take out a night-luminescent pearl, and neither did Ruo Zhu.
But she could hear his footsteps striking the empty, unyielding floor, producing solid echoes.
Gradually, light appeared ahead.
It was a hazy white glow, as though it came from a luminous body. A white robe billowed without wind, creating an almost floating, otherworldly effect.
“Little Yun.” Ruo Zhu approached and knelt before the man. “Wake up.”
At his call, the man slowly raised his head.
“Drink this.” A plump jade bottle appeared in Ruo Zhu’s hand. He pulled out the stopper and brought it to the man’s lips.
The man reacted a moment too slowly. Ruo Zhu immediately supported his chin and pressed the bottle to his mouth.
He practically poured it down his throat. In the silent space, the rapid sound of swallowing rang out.
When one bottle was empty, Ruo Zhu put it away, took out another, pulled out the stopper, and fed it to the man.
He fed him more than ten bottles in succession, leaving Nangong Yu, hidden in the darkness, staring in shock.
Good grief. The family head only got three bottles, and even those had to be brewed into tea or diluted with water. This Little Yun had just downed more than ten bottles in one go!
“Are you feeling better?” Ruo Zhu asked tearfully after finishing the honey.
The man looked at him, his voice calm and gentle. “Didn’t I tell you not to come here again?”
“I will save you. I absolutely will!” Ruo Zhu’s voice was filled with fury.
Once he sold the scales of the dragon-marked koi and took out all the savings he had accumulated over the years, he would definitely buy a powerful magical weapon. Then he would never let anyone hurt him again.
The man gazed silently at him. “Don’t come here again!”
Then his voice suddenly dropped, carrying the majesty of an emperor and a noble dignity that compelled all who heard it to submit.
As he spoke, the collar of his windless, billowing robe loosened slightly, revealing a faint mark.
Ruo Zhu instinctively began to sink to his knees. Then he caught sight of it, and instantly went berserk.
“They all deserve to die! Every last one of them!”
The Ruo Zhu Nangong Yu knew could be cold at times, tsundere at others, and occasionally rather long-winded. To see him acting so unhinged and frantic was truly beyond her expectations.
Curious about what he had seen, Nangong Yu took out her binoculars and set them on the bridge of her nose.
The lighting was poor.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t see a thing.
“You should go,” the man reminded him.
At his words, Ruo Zhu closed the man’s robe around him and hurriedly wiped away his tears. “I’ll get you out of here very soon.”
With that, he left in hurried steps, as though something were chasing him from behind.
Nangong Yu did not follow.
She removed her Invisibility Talisman, and her figure instantly appeared in the darkness.
The man did not seem surprised to see her. His gaze shifted toward her. “Who are you?”
Last time, Nangong Yu had been the one asking him that question. This time, it was his turn to ask hers.
“Me?” The obedient innocence vanished from Nangong Yu’s face. Her expression became proud and mysterious, her eyes lifting slightly as she looked down on all things. “I am the great Savior, the player whom gods are helpless against, devils can do nothing about, and who is omnipotent beneath the heavens and above the earth.”
“—The Scavenger!”
Silence.
The final note fell to the ground and was swallowed by something intangible.
After a moment, the man nodded. His gentle voice rang out. “I am Yun Sheng, a prisoner.”
“Why are you being kept here?” Nangong Yu asked curiously as she stepped forward and tugged at his robe.
She hadn’t been able to see clearly just now. With Ruo Zhu gone, however, her curiosity got the better of her, and she nearly stuck her head inside.
The next moment, she froze.
Endless fury began to swell in her chest, rushing to her head until she felt dizzy.
“Not a pretty sight,” the man said, shifting slightly backward. The movement tugged at his chains, producing a clattering sound.
Nangong Yu raised her eyes and stared into the man’s still-peaceful, gentle gaze. “Where are your bones?”
The white robe billowed without any wind, covering the man’s chest once more and concealing its secrets.
“They removed your bones? Why?”
Beneath the billowing white robe, the man’s chest had been hollowed out. Not a single rib remained. His internal organs hung empty inside him; his heart continued to beat, and his intestines writhed.
“You should go,” the man said instead of answering.
Nangong Yu shook her head and rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “What kind of person are you?”
Who was he? What had he done to deserve such treatment from the Lin family?
The man did not speak again. He merely lowered his head.
His long hair slid down, veiling his face. The tips trailed across the floor and, almost imperceptibly, curled and twisted, as though stirred by some unseen force.
His white robe billowed without wind, and his chains clattered noisily. Everything about him suggested that he was a particularly unusual NPC.
Nangong Yu even suspected that he might be a player too.
And one with a whole lot of titles.
“I make money whenever I want—”
The sudden sound of an alarm interrupted Nangong Yu’s thoughts.
She raised her wrist in shock. “What?!”
It was already nine in the morning?!
She watched in disbelief as the time on her photonic computer changed at lightning speed, the digits blurring into afterimages. She could barely make them out!
“Oh no, I’m going to be caught red-handed.”
Without worrying about anything else, Nangong Yu turned and ran.
Then the corner of her eye caught something behind her, and she stopped short.
The man’s lowered head had been raised at some point. A hint of curiosity showed on his face as he stared at her wrist.
Her photonic computer was there, and the alarm was coming from it.
“Here, you can have it.”
Nangong Yu swiftly took another photonic computer from her storage space, ran to the man’s side, and snapped it onto his wrist. “If you have any questions, just call Little AI.”
He might be a player.
Or he might not.
Nangong Yu leaned toward the latter possibility, but she had no time to confirm it. She had to leave. Before going, she would raise his favorability a little first!
As for what would happen if she were discovered? Who had stolen her photonic computer? Make them pay for it!
The petite figure plunged into the darkness and soon vanished.
The man’s attention fell on his right wrist. There was nothing there. He tried speaking.
“Little AI?”
