◎【Recover the NPC’s Lost Items】
◎
The moment Nangong Yu heard this, she knew he had been cheated after leaving the estate.
She let out a soft sigh and grasped his wrist. “Who bullied you?”
Ruo Zhu’s entire body trembled uncontrollably. His eyes were filled with both regret and fury. “I went to the Myriad Treasures Exchange because I wanted to trade the things I’d saved for spirit stones…”
He needed to gather spirit stones to buy a magical treasure and save Little Yun.
But the other party had taken his things without giving him a single spirit stone, saying repeatedly, “You’re just a mortal. Where did you get all these valuable materials? You must have stolen them! If you know what’s good for you, get lost, or we’ll send you to see the city lord!”
When Ruo Zhu tried to demand his belongings back, the other party merely waved a sleeve and sent him flying out of the exchange. He tried to go back in, only to be thrown out again and again.
By the time night fell and the Myriad Treasures Exchange closed, he had nowhere to go. He returned to the estate in a daze.
“I must be dreaming.” Shaking his head, he staggered to his bamboo bed.
He lay down and closed his eyes. “Once I wake up, everything will be fine. I must be dreaming…”
He had spent a long time saving those things. There was no way he could gather them all a second time. Take those scales, for instance. Ever since he began raising dragon-patterned koi, he had secretly kept most of them, relying on the Lin Family cultivators’ disdain for going into the water. Every time, he handed over only a small portion.
There was also the honey, the crocodile dragon’s shell, the fire crow’s feathers, the spirit rhino’s tears, the venomous spider’s silk, the shed shells of the six-winged golden cicadas…
He had spent more than a decade saving everything, only for it to vanish in a single day. “I really deserve to die…”
Tears slipped from the tightly shut eyes of the pale young man. Seeing this, Nangong Yu’s anger flared. “Hmph! I’m going to smash up that crooked shop!”
She turned around and stormed toward the door. The young man, who had been crying so hard that his whole body was cold, reacted as though struck by lightning.
“Little Yu! Stop!”
He hurriedly sat up and called out in alarm, “Come back! Don’t go!”
There was no way Nangong Yu would stop. Her brows were knitted together, and her face was fierce. “They actually dared to cheat you! They deserve to die!”
She had never cheated him!
With so many treasures stored in her space, they would probably take up half a slot!
“You can’t go!” Ruo Zhu climbed out of bed in a panic and grabbed her. “You can’t, Little Yu!”
His heart was full of remorse and regret—because of his carelessness, and because of his own helplessness, he had been robbed of the fruits of his labor and lost his chance to save Little Yun.
But… “If we make too much trouble, neither of us will survive.”
The reason Ruo Zhu didn’t dare make a scene, and the reason the other party had dared to be so brazen, was that the origins of those things were not exactly aboveboard.
Even if the Myriad Treasures Exchange returned them, they would return them to the Lin Family—not to the two of them.
“All right.” Nangong Yu thought for a moment. “Write me a list. If we can’t get them back today, I’ll demand them back another day!”
Ruo Zhu nodded reluctantly. “All right.”
For now, he would placate her.
Besides, Ruo Zhu was afraid that if too much time passed, his memory would become hazy and he might leave out one or two items.
He couldn’t let those scoundrels profit. He might be unable to reclaim his things today, but he had to remember this grudge.
He brought out an inkstone, brush, paper, and ink, and began writing as he recited the items aloud. “Honey from the Thousand-Eyed Bees, six hundred and eighty bottles…”
Nangong Yu took out a notebook and a ballpoint pen. Her eyes blazed with fury. “Honey from the Thousand-Eyed Bees, six thousand eight hundred bottles…”
The moment she clenched her teeth and wrote down the lost items belonging to Ruo Zhu, his expression froze. He turned his head in astonishment.
“Brother Ruo Zhu,” Nangong Yu reminded him, “keep going!”
Ruo Zhu hesitated. “Little Yu, you heard wrong. It’s six hundred and eighty bottles.”
Not six thousand eight hundred bottles.
“Don’t worry about it!” Nangong Yu snapped angrily. “Shouldn’t people pay a price for doing bad things?”
【Recover the NPC’s Lost Items】
Players don’t have to do quests for free, do they?
“Little Yu…” Ruo Zhu was deeply moved by her righteous indignation. His heart, which had been brutally wounded by those humans, was now swept by a warm current. “Just write down the truth.”
This cub was clever, but far too young. She would get herself killed.
Nangong Yu waved a hand. “Brother Ruo Zhu, go on.”
Thinking of everything he had lost, Ruo Zhu’s heart bled, and his expression darkened once more. “Scales from dragon-patterned koi, nine thousand three hundred and seventy.”
He had saved quite a lot of scales. At first, he had planned to find an artifact refiner and have them made into a suit of armor.
But good artifact refiners were difficult to book, their fees were high, and their work took a long time. In the end, he had no choice but to sell the scales in haste and buy a ready-made magical treasure instead.
“Oh, really?” The moment Nangong Yu heard this, she lowered her head and wrote rapidly. “One true dragon reverse scale, one pair of dragon horns, three pairs of dragon fangs, five pairs of dragon whiskers, ten bottles of dragon blood…”
Ruo Zhu’s brush jerked, smearing the characters he had just written. “Little Yu!?”
Those were scales from dragon-patterned koi. Even though the name contained the character “dragon,” they had absolutely nothing to do with true dragons!
“What else?” Nangong Yu glared fiercely, her face full of menace.
Ruo Zhu’s mind went blank. He could barely keep hold of his brush. This fox cub had truly frightened him badly.
After a long while, he pressed his lips together and continued recording. “Poison sacs from ghost-faced vultures, thirty-two.”
“Poison sacs from ghost-faced vultures, three hundred and twenty,” Nangong Yu said as she rapidly wrote it down.
Ruo Zhu was no longer surprised by her doubling the numbers. Cubs were like this—naive and hot-blooded, with no idea of the depths of the world.
He sighed inwardly. In any case, if he could rescue Little Yun, he would bring Little Yu along afterward and teach her slowly.
“One hundred and twenty jin of gold-and-silver sand.”
“Twenty unhatched spirit beast eggs.”
Every time he wrote a line, his heart trembled. The humiliation he had suffered during the day was like a volley of returning arrows, piercing his flesh all over again.
He used nearly all his strength. He wiped away his tears again and again, and after filling a full ten sheets of paper, he finally finished recording the account.
Nangong Yu shook the list, which filled half a small notebook, and her heart surged with excitement.
Even the system’s inventory slots were trembling with anticipation!
“I wasn’t here today. Nothing happened at the spirit beast garden, did it?” Ruo Zhu asked, forcing himself to stay composed as he put the list away into an invisible place.
Nangong Yu shook her head. “I cleaned up the droppings and fed them. I did everything according to the instructions.”
Ruo Zhu nodded weakly. Somewhat distracted, he gazed out the pitch-black window. “It’s getting late. You should rest.”
“Oh.” Nangong Yu nodded and stood up to leave. Noticing a bamboo leaf on his head, she reached over and plucked it off. “Brother Ruo Zhu, you have something on your—”
“Hiss—”
Ruo Zhu scrunched up his face and inhaled sharply. He gave her a somewhat helpless look before touching the top of his head. “Thank you.”
This cub really had no sense of how much force to use.
“By the way…” Nangong Yu casually tossed the bamboo leaf aside and asked as though it were an afterthought, “Brother Ruo Zhu, where is the treasure vault?”
“I ran into Butler Huang today,” she explained. “He told me to go to the secret chamber every day at noon and feed that person.”
Ruo Zhu’s expression changed slightly. But before he could say anything, Nangong Yu continued, “I didn’t agree. Brother Ruo Zhu said that wasn’t a good place.”
She flashed a sly smile. “Unless he opens the treasure vault and takes out the spirit-testing array plate so I can test my spiritual roots, I’m not going.”
“So, Brother Ruo Zhu, where is the treasure vault? What if he leads me to some remote corner and I can’t recognize it? Then he might trick me.”
The twists and turns in her words left Ruo Zhu utterly stunned. He couldn’t help rubbing the spot where she had pulled off the bamboo leaf; it still hurt faintly.
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
Their demon race couldn’t have their spiritual roots tested.
Besides, “He won’t agree.”
Based on what he knew of Huang Hu, the man had no patience for this, nor would he listen to the conditions of a little demon.
“Oh.” Nangong Yu did not press the matter. “Then tell me where the treasure vault is. I heard there are formations over there and that it’s very dangerous, so I want to avoid it.”
“You can’t get there,” Ruo Zhu couldn’t help saying. How could the treasure vault possibly be built somewhere people came and went?
Most of the servants never went there.
Still, he eventually told her: “The vault is built in the east. There’s a lake in front and green hills behind it, and only one bridge leads there. You won’t stumble into it by accident.”
The cub was playful and lively, always eager to run around, so he added a warning: “There are layers upon layers of formations protecting it. Without a token, ordinary people can’t get inside.”
“A token?” Nangong Yu’s eyes shifted. “Brother Ruo Zhu, do you mean this?”
A token suddenly appeared in her palm. Ruo Zhu was shocked. He snatched it from her at once. “Where did you get this?!”
“It fell off Butler Huang.” Nangong Yu answered with complete honesty.
But Ruo Zhu frowned deeply as he examined the token. “He tricked you!”
“Huh?” Nangong Yu’s eyes widened. “There’s something wrong with it?”
“It only looks like one.” Ruo Zhu’s face filled with anger. He slammed his palm on the table and stood up. “I’m going to find him!”
Nangong Yu hurriedly grabbed him. “Brother Ruo Zhu, what’s wrong with it?”
“The material is wrong.” Held back by her grip, Ruo Zhu couldn’t move and had no choice but to explain. “It’s too light.”
Knowing that the little fox wouldn’t understand, he patiently explained, “Huang Hu can enter and leave the treasure vault because he has the family head’s trust. His token is one of a kind.”
“It’s engraved with countless formations. Ordinary materials wouldn’t be able to withstand them. The moment I touched yours, I knew it was fake.”
A 3D-printed token—it only looked convincing. The moment you touched it, you knew it was fake.
Nangong Yu’s face instantly fell. “Oh.”
How infuriating.
Did they really have to guard against players this carefully?
She slowly ground her toes against the floor, her competitive spirit roused.
“Maybe he was testing me.” Seeing that Ruo Zhu was about to go settle the score with Huang Hu, Nangong Yu could only hold him back. “I won’t fall for it.”
It took quite some coaxing before she finally managed to calm Ruo Zhu down.
“Brother Ruo Zhu, go deliver the meal for me tomorrow.” With one sentence, she dispelled his impulse to act. “It’s too late now. Brother Ruo Zhu, get some rest.”
Ruo Zhu stood there in a daze, forcing even the faintest expression onto his face.
“I saved some food for you.” Nangong Yu took a bowl of soup, a serving of rice, and a dish from her storage space. “Don’t dwell on it. I’ll definitely get justice for everything you’ve suffered!”
With that, she left and considerately closed the door behind her.
Ruo Zhu stood motionless in the room. Gradually, his gaze shifted to the table. As he watched the white steam rising from the food, his vision quickly blurred.
“Boo-hoo—”
Little Yu was such a good child.
Little Yun was such a good child, too.
It was this cultivation world that was at fault. All of it was this cultivation world’s fault!
Through his tears, he ate the meal one bite at a time, finding it as tasteless as wax.
Nangong Yu returned to her room and glanced at the time. It was already half past ten.
She quickly took out her substitute puppet and stuffed it beneath the covers. Then, smack, smack, smack—she began sticking talismans all over herself.
So the token was difficult to replicate, was it? Tonight, she was going to get her hands on the real thing!
That guy was obsessed with fooling around with women. He would definitely take off his clothes, which meant the token certainly wouldn’t be kept close to his body. She was going to find him right now!
Her first stop was Huang Hu’s courtyard.
Huang Hu loved fooling around with people. Wasn’t he afraid that someone with ulterior motives might steal the token?
If Nangong Yu were him, she wouldn’t carry anything on her that could prove her identity.
