Chapter 120: Slowly Repay It Later
Right at that mont, the narration from the Thieves' House delivered an explosive piece of news:
「Due to insufficient completion of this mission, you are unable to conceal your criminal actions. Your deeds will now be widely known. The Divine Marquis Estate has discovered that you committed cris again during your wanted period and has decided to increase your bounty and extend the wanted duration to fifty days. If you commit another cri during this period, the Divine Marquis Estate will dispatch one Silver Badge Constable and three Bronze Badge Constables to hunt you down.」
「The next mission will be issued at noon fifteen days from now. At that ti, you will be forcibly transported to the Thieves' House. Please be aware.」
After a brief pause, a grand voice resounded in everyone’s ears:
「Divine Marquis Estate Proclamation: Four notorious criminals of the Thieves' House have committed another cri. They successfully stole the Legendary Token · Heaven-Reliant Sword in Jiangnan. The Divine Marquis Estate has updated the wanted posters of the thieves and will capture them during their next cri.」
The proclamation rang out three tis. But unlike last ti, now everyone knew what it ant. Moreover, it was nightti outside... The proclamation from the Divine Marquis Estate felt like being dragged from under the blankets and getting struck three tis with a loud gong.
More importantly, the proclamation contained a rather troubling ssage.
“Silver Badge Constable, Bronze Badge Constables…” Ying Ru Shi muttered, “Could they be demon entities from the Secret Realm of the Divine Marquis Estate?”
“I recall the Divine Marquis Estate is a Third-Stage Secret Realm…” Shang Xinlei’s voice was a little bitter: “Which ans they’re at least Third-Stage demon entities. The Silver Badge Constable is likely an elite demon.”
“They want to catch us?” dicine Master Wen could still laugh: “Let’s see who takes whom.”
“Those demon entities from the Divine Marquis Estate won’t reveal our identities, right?” Ying Ru Shi asked worriedly.
“They shouldn’t.” Yan Qing said, “But if we show our true faces in front of them, then who knows.”
Truth be told, Yan Qing didn’t fully understand the pursuit system. He had only casually ntioned in the planning draft: ‘Could add pursuit segnts to increase player pressure.’ He hadn’t expected the company to not only implent it but also link it with other instances. However, he was certain the pursuit system wouldn’t directly expose player identities. After all, the core fun of the Thieves' House lay in ‘appearing decent on the surface while secretly committing cris.’ Revealing players’ identities outright would destroy the whole point of the instance—unless players deliberately exposed themselves to gain fa.
Everyone made a few guesses but couldn’t co to a conclusion. After all, no one had entered the Secret Realm of the Divine Marquis Estate before. At this point, they were free to leave. After wreaking havoc in Jiangnan City for a full hour, they were all exhausted and bid each other farewell before logging off.
Yan Qing was exhausted. He took off his clothes and collapsed into bed, too lazy even to shower. However, he had barely lain down when soone knocked on the door.
I swear, I’ll never ss with won again, Yan Qing thought.
Even though he already knew who it was, Yan Qing still got dressed, put on his mask, equipped Bingzi Pepper Forest, and opened the door. He looked at Shang Xinlei standing outside and spoke with extre coldness: “Don’t think that—”
“Here.”
Yan Qing caught what Shang Xinlei had tossed over, and his drowsiness was nearly shaken off completely. The item in his hands was incredibly warm, even emitting a faint pulse. It didn’t feel like a dead object—it was as if a living fla resided within it.
Essence of the Red Furnace—what Shang Xinlei had spent 55 Thief Points to win in the auction—was just thrown to him like that.
“Your Bingzi Pepper Forest is still First-Stage, right? Using this will upgrade it to Second-Stage.”
“Why give it to ?”
“Because I already have a Third-Stage Legendary Throwing Ring. My next step is the Fourth-Stage, but I can’t even use Fourth-Stage Tokens yet. By the ti I’ve built my Foundation and use the Essence of the Red Furnace to upgrade, the timing might already be too late.” Shang Xinlei shrugged, “But if you use it, your combat power increases imdiately.”
What she said wasn’t wrong. Foundation Tokens were indeed far superior to Third-Stage Tokens, but in most cases, even if she obtained a Foundation Token, she couldn’t activate it. Not to ntion that she would never et the equipnt conditions. Even using it as a whiteboard weapon for basic attacks would severely underperform. The rarer a Token, the better—but a higher Stage wasn’t necessarily more suitable. Only Tokens matching one’s own realm could be wielded smoothly.
“You know that’s not what I was asking,” Yan Qing looked at her. “This is your item—why are you giving it to ?”
“Even though we went in together, in the end, it was you who saved .” Shang Xinlei scratched her cheek and looked away: “As the saying goes, a life-saving favor is hard to repay… this is to repay your kindness.”
Her cheeks turned slightly red as she spoke. In the Inner Treasury, when she found out Yan Qing had a Return Token, she got so excited that she blurted out a bunch of thoughtless words. She had assud that from then on, they’d be moving together as a team and thus had fewer reservations. Who would’ve thought Yan Qing actually bought a key from the outside, and now they were back to only eting through the Thieves' House instance… Recalling how she’d even made a pact to beco a notorious criminal duo with him, Shang Xinlei couldn’t help but feel a bit ashad.
Yan Qing blinked, thinking she made a good point. “Alright, I’ll accept it. You can leave now.”
“That’s it?” Shang Xinlei stared at him. “Don’t you… have anything else to say?”
Yan Qing suddenly realized and pointed at the Grass Wristband on her arm: “You haven’t returned that to yet.”
“I’m not giving it back!” Shang Xinlei protectively covered her Grass Wristband: “Besides, you gave it to . How could you have the nerve to ask for it back?”
“I never said it was a gift. I only lent it to you.”
“I don’t care. It’s mine now!” Shang Xinlei was getting flustered: “Don’t you have anything else to say to ?”
Yan Qing thought for a mont: “Fine. You can repay the rest slowly. No rush.”
“Huh?”
“You said you can’t repay enough, right? One Essence of the Red Furnace surely isn’t enough. But you can pay back slowly. Just rember that you owe . And stop disturbing my rest in the future.”
As he spoke, Yan Qing was about to close the door. But Shang Xinlei thrust her soft, aty thigh into the door crack. The plush curve between her shorts and stockings nearly bounced the door back—it was completely unprotected. Yan Qing paused upon seeing this, suddenly recalling her Defensive Token had been destroyed.
Though she wore a mask, her eyes clearly conveyed her speechlessness: “I thought we had a decent friendship by now. Shouldn’t we interact a bit more openly in private? Like, you could take off your mask, invite in to hang out or sothing… Right now, only you know everything about . Isn’t that unfair!?”
Shang Xinlei was resigned. She thought this guy wasn’t so much a dog as just plain sly. A normal person being treated so nicely by her would try to bond with her more, right? Even if he wasn’t lecherous, he should at least try to win her over to gain influence in the Thieves' House. Besides, his eyes had nearly popped out looking at her thigh just now—who would believe he wasn’t lecherous?
And seriously, was she that scary?
But the Fourth Miss Shang wasn’t about to let it go. Earlier during the auction, Black Wolf and White Fox had seed at odds, but she could tell their interactions were quite sympathetic. Plus, they had once tead up to defeat Shang Xuanwen. Shang Xinlei realized the Thieves' House was already divided into two factions: Wolf-Fox and Snake-Dog.
If she couldn’t unite with Yellow Dog, then the next mission might be dominated by Wolf-Fox.
More importantly, seeing how Yan Qing cut ties with her after the mission as if nothing had happened really annoyed her. If Yan Qing had tried to take advantage of her afterward under the pretense of saving her, she’d have looked down on him. But the more he backed away, the more she wanted to find out what the heck he was hiding from.
“Sorry, these are not for sale. No matter how much you offer, I won’t sell them. Also, I never investigated your info—you were the one who exposed it yourself.”
“Alright, alright, let’s say I still owe you. How about I bring you so snacks tomorrow? How does custard buns, chive dumplings, shrimp dumplings, and beef balls sound?”
Yan Qing swallowed hard. Aside from the first day Rat Monk arrived in Jiangnan City, he hadn’t had a chance to buy any food. But he still firmly resisted the sugar-coated bait: “No thanks, goodbye—”
“Do you prefer giant shrimp dumplings or bite-sized ones?”
Yan Qing thought for a mont: “Bite-sized.”
“Great.” Shang Xinlei imdiately waved and left: “See you tomorrow then.”
Yan Qing opened his mouth but said nothing. After closing the door, he took off his clothes and lay down again. But before long, he got back up to look around the room for sothing to eat.
“She made hungry with all that talk… Might as well have a midnight snack…”
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