Chen Yue Zhi Yao Vol 1 Chapter 6

“Don’t forget your job even after capturing a moshou, sigh.” –Ling s.h.i.+
“So you accompanied him in the end…” –Luo s.h.i.+

After the carriages left the gates, it was up to Fan Tong’s group of manual laborers to scatter the crowds and clean the streets. It was about time for lunch when everything had been finished. After making sure he repaid seven strings of debt, Fan Tong wanted to head straight home and rest, but Mi Zhong said the state prepared meals for the workers to reward them for their work, so Fan Tong supposed that he might as well follow him.

Although what they got was no more than a less than large boxed meal, the dishes in it were actually normal and this meal had beaten the usual provisions manifold. So Fan Tong felt quite content. He took his food and sat down on the side with Mi Zhong to eat.

“Sigh- Lord Ling s.h.i.+ is as beautiful this year as he was last year. When can I finally climb up in rankings and see him–?”

After Mi Zhong saw Ling s.h.i.+, he felt his soul being comforted, yet became emptier. Speaking of which, Fan Tong never heard of how Mi Zhong’s training has been faring.

If he was also deemed a block of wood “with no chance this entire lifetime”, then Fan Tong might see him differently. After all, they’d be peas of the same pod.

“Fan Tong, you’ve finally seen the big shots. Any thoughts or feelings?”

It seemed Mi Zhong found this topic to be great for creating conversation, so he casually asked Fan Tong.

Thoughts or feelings? Do you seriously hope for me  to say, “Lord Ling s.h.i.+ is so beautiful. I’m going to join Lord Ling s.h.i.+’s fanclub now,” or something? That sort of thing? Do you think that’s possible? I’m still not mentally prepared to engage in activities with rabid fanboys.”

“Uhm… not really.”

“What? Nothing? Fan Tong, you’re such a boring person!”

Mi Zhong’s tone made is sound like he said a taboo. Was it so serious?

Forcing some thoughts out wouldn’t be impossible, as long as the words don’t flip on him again.

“The queen… her ta.s.sel is really such a color.”

He didn’t dare say black. It’d be disastrous if it turned out white.

“What such a color? Isn’t it just pure black? Kings are always really strong you know.”

“Oh? Then Luo Yue’s Emperor…?”

“Oh, that monster of an Emperor? Of course his is three gold threads.”

MI Zhong had explained to him the ranking system in The Western City. If he remembered correctly, the strongest would be three lines embroidered in gold… three threads gold is probably the abbreviation?

“Pervert?”

“Not pervert, but monster. But it’s about the same. Anyways, he’s someone no one wants to mess with.”

It sounded like there could be an inside story to this. Fan Tong became interested in listening.

“Why do you hear that?”

“You can’t tell the difference between say and hear? Whatever, since I’m feeling pretty good from seeing Lord Ling s.h.i.+ today, I’ll tell you about what happened in the past.”

Mi Zhong coughed then started storytelling.

“Five years ago, our Eastern City was at its peak of progress. The country was vast, the people strong. At that time, all five of the Attendants were there. Despite Lord Luo s.h.i.+ being a cute little child still, Lord Hui s.h.i.+ already possessed a good amount of skill, and Lord Ling s.h.i.+ was as beautiful and amazing as he is now. Lord Wei s.h.i.+ had the same irritable face…”

Looking only at the beginning, Fan Tong almost wanted to ask if he had a part-time job as a storyteller. By the time it got to the end though, he figured that probably wasn’t the case. He’s already run way off topic now, right? There probably wouldn’t be many people supporting this stylistic presentation.

“At that time, Luo Yue couldn’t even match up to us, no matter it be the worth of their people or the quality of the King’s subordinates. That year, Queen Xi Ying called war against Luo Yue and soldiers filled the cities. Sigh, to be frank with you, wars actually erupt every few years or so. I’ve even heard rumors saying that if we win, they’d let us choose between reviving back into our original world and getting certified as a Natural Resident.

Whoa! That nice? When’s the next war? I quite want to revive. There’s that problem with me mysteriously dying. I’m really worried about my corpse, you know.

“As for whether or not the rumor is true, I don’t know, because we lost. The war before the last was about fifty years ago. I haven’t been here for that long, so I didn’t partic.i.p.ate. However, many people risked their lives for that award The Eastern City gives upon victory. It had to be an alluring one.”

Wait, weren’t you saying how strong the country was or something? How’d it end up losing? Was what you said in the beginning all junk and rubbish?

“That cynical look you’re giving me makes me want to beat you up, you know. That time, Her Majesty probably planned to obliterate Luo Yue once and for all. We were even at their doorsteps. Seeing how their soldiers won’t be able to fuss up a good defense strategy, we could break into their doors at any time, wiping Luo Yue from the face of this earth. Who knew something would happen at that point.”

The story seemed to have reached its key point. Fan Tong also put forth more concentration in listening.

“Luo Yue’s Emperor Englar appeared. Five years ago, from the shape of his body, he still looked like a young child you know! He hid his face so we couldn’t see him, and his body was bound with chains for some reason, but that four-stringed sword Tian Luo Yan was real. His ident.i.ty couldn’t be mistaken for another.”

Mi Zhong mentioned that Luo Yue’s Emperor often uses a double in public events even now, Fan Tong remembered. So the way they estimated the Emperor’s age was from that glance five years ago. He was still a child, huh?

“Then, everything was over.”

“Eh?”

That was too sudden. Fan Tong couldn’t react in time.

“There’s not much to say about the process. It was basically Englar waving his Tian Luo Yan, flying out like a guardian spirit for Luo Yue. He never touched the ground, just floated above the 300,000 soldiers, then everything was over. The people were all dead, so what more is there to say? Everyone had been wiped out, so of course The Eastern City lost.”

Fan Tong widened his eyes, his mouth hanging open.

“Three…”

You sure you didn’t accidentally add a zero to that number? Maybe even two zeros! 300,000! It’s 300,000, you know!

“Don’t doubt me, it’s 300,000. That monster used his G.o.dlike sword and wiped 300,000 of our people sparkling clean. Not even one person survived. He turned the tide around entirely on his own. Why do you think people call him a monster? Tian Luo Yan is the Emperor’s weapon. The quality had to be good, so of course it was a soul-purging weapon. Those 300,000 died for real, and The Eastern City suffered a great loss of its skilled warriors. That badly hurt the country’s vitality. Tragic, it is.”

“…Mi Zhong, why are you still alive?”

While Mi Zhong reiterated everything as though he was there himself, he also revealed how Luo Yue’s Emperor used a soul-purging weapon to kill everyone. It made no sense that Mi Zhong’s still here.

“I was only a pale green ta.s.sel back then, so I was backup. All of this I heard from those soldiers who were quick enough to run away. The accuracy’s really good you know.”

So you didn’t see it with your own eyes? That makes the story much less believable…

“At that point, Luo Yue’s Emperor was already three threads gold. He’s probably that much scarier now.”

He was already three threads gold back then! Wasn’t he just a kid?

But if he’s not three threads gold, it’d be really hard to kill off 300,000 people… wait! Have I already decided to accept this 300,000 figure?

“Seriously, how did Luo Yue foster a monster like him. Tch.”

“Where was the Queen back then?”

Now that you mention it, did the Queen and the Five Attendants not do anything?

“With her social status, why would the Queen join the battle? Lord Luo s.h.i.+ was too young, so he didn’t partic.i.p.ate. Lord Ling s.h.i.+’s main duties still revolved around the Queen’s side. Lord Yin s.h.i.+ loves lively events, but he doesn’t like killing people. Lord Wei s.h.i.+ always hated these bothersome things. Lord Hui s.h.i.+ could go, but Her Majesty didn’t give out the order, so he didn’t go. When she heard 300,000 people were wiped out, the Queen thought of going, but Luo Yue’s Emperor left right after ma.s.sacring the troops. He didn’t rush into The Eastern City, so they didn’t have a chance to meet.”

Everyone seems to have an excuse, don’t they? Yeah, leave the New Residents to die. I bet there weren’t many Natural Residents in those 300,000 soldiers, were there?

“Who’s weaker between the Queen and Luo Yue’s Emperor?”

“People usually asks who’s strong, don’t they? Your way of questioning is so weird. Queen Xi Ying doesn’t show her skills off so easily. I haven’t seen her display anything or heard of anything grandiose she did in the past either, but we’re residents of The Eastern City. We can’t praise the other country and step down on our own, so naturally we say our Queen is stronger.”

I think it would’ve been better for you to just say I don’t know, instead of patching things in this way. The way you said it, it sounds like the Queen is weaker, but we just can’t say it to save the Queen some face…

“My mouth is so tired from saying so much all at once. Fan Tong, did you really not have any thoughts upon seeing all of our city’s big shots for the first time? The new people before you always grabbed onto me saying a whole bunch…”

Having a change of flavor is good for you then isn’ t it? Plus I didn’t see all of the bigwigs. Lord Hui s.h.i.+ is missing and Lord Wei s.h.i.+ wasn’t there.

Luo s.h.i.+ killed me before, and Lord Ling s.h.i.+ told him to kill me. Lord Yin s.h.i.+ rode on his beast, crushed me, and killed me. Counting them up, it’s only the Queen who hasn’t killed me before. How can you still expect me to be moved? Though you don’t know these things happened…

Since the two of them finished most of their lunches, Mi Zhong only chattered for a little more and released Fan Tong. Apparently, he had another job afterwards so one must be productive.

Does he even go to school usually? It can’t be that he’s been working so much that he didn’t learn anything, and thus can’t rise in rankings?

Putting the cart in front of the horse isn’t right, Mi Zhong.

When Fan Tong got back to his dorm room, Yue Tui and Zhu Sha were both inside. Seeing him come back, the two greeted him and asked if he wanted to go with them to grab some dim sum currently being pa.s.sed out.

So the streets are even handing out dim sum, huh.  Looks like today really is an important holiday.

“Fan Tong, the event’s about to end soon. Why did you only just come back now? The sun’s about to set too.”

“We were cleaning up after the parade, and I was even listening to Mi Zhong about the war that’ll happen five years later.”

“Five years later?”

Zhu Sha’s ears were sharp. He immediately caught the slip up.

“Five years ago…”

He said it correctly this time.

“The war five years ago? What about it?”

“Yeah, Mi Zhong told me that Luo Yue’s Emperor is an incredibly terrifying person. In that war, he single-handedly killed three million people.”

Hey, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d curse. Don’t turn me into someone who spreads fake rumors! It’s 300,000 and you made me exaggerate it to three million!

“Three million?”

Zhu Sha scoffed with his nose, clearly not believing in it. Would this be what people call, turning a nose in disgust at someone?

“Were… were there that many people? There couldn’t have been, right?”

Yue Tui’s face paled. He couldn’t have believed me, could he?

“It was 30,000…”

Wrong again, dammit.

“Explain to me what happened to the other 2,970,000 people, hm?”

The look Zhu Sha was giving him kept getting worse and worse. Yikes.

“Fan Tong, just how many people were there?”

Yue Tui’s expression was covered in question marks. He definitely just got teased.

“Uh, ah… let’s eat our dim sum.”

The more one talks, the more mistakes there are. Less talk, less problems. Not talking altogether, no problems at all.

There’s no need to talk. The mouth is just for eating food. I’ll just be a good child and go to school tomorrow. Yup…

The first cla.s.s, after a long vacation, was once again Wushu Xuan.

The thought of pretending to be sick and staying home crossed Fan Tong’s mind. No, he’d just outright ditch, or even, never learn Wushu. Who in their right mind would go see that Tractor Teacher for no reason and get their a.s.s whipped?

However, Yue Tui wanted to go to cla.s.s, and Zhu Sha utterly despised Fan Tong’s spineless att.i.tude.

“Fan Tong, why don’t you try it? You haven’t even tried Wushu yet, right?”

Yue Tui warmly advocated him to try it out.

But even without trying, I already know…

One knows best about himself with what talents he has or doesn’t have…

“Coward. Chicken.”

Zhu Sha didn’t bother to encourage him and just insulted him from the sidelines. The insults were a little too much though, Fan Tong felt.

“Fan Tong, you’re really not going?”

“I’m going.”

In the end, his mouth betrayed him. He couldn’t stay home now, now that he agreed to go already.

The dorms were closer to the campus than the temporary housing, so they didn’t need to leave that early. Zhu Sha had even gone and gotten breakfast. He stubbornly continued eating three meals a day, but Fan Tong and Yue Tui truly respected him for that. They would rather be unhealthy than eat those rations three times a day.

When it was about time to go, the trio departed for school. Although they were going to the same school, the cla.s.sroom Zhu Sha needed to go to was different, so they split up in front of Wushu Xuan’s gates and each went off in their own direction.

The first cla.s.s today is the Wushu lecture. Because there’s a new student, the Biased Teacher started teaching from page seventy-four again.

“Equally renowned, Queen Xiying’s Lunar Crescent Blade – Skies and Emperor Englar’s Four Stringed Sword – Tian Luo Yan, are both considered G.o.dly artifacts. These weapons were pa.s.sed down through the generations and are exclusive to each city’s ruler. They originated from the same source as the Eastern City’s Aegis, Qian Huan Hua and the Western City’s Lunar Gown, Aifroa. With the support of these weapons and armors, the rulers who inherited them all possessed great combat abilities. Our Queen Xiying bears a pure black ta.s.sel, an indication of the highest level…”

Biased Teacher, I can recite this paragraph to you word for word already. The Crescent Blade, Skies. The Four Stringed Sword, Tian Luo Yan. The Aegis, Qian Huan Hua. The Lunar Gown, Aifroa. I know them clearly and thoroughly…

No wonder so many people fall asleep in this cla.s.s. Who wouldn’t get sick of the same material?

“Let’s learn how to rise in rank today, okay?” Yue Tui whispered to him.

“Mm.” Fan Tong nodded. Learning about rising in ranks is really important. Even if he didn’t have the ability to do so now, Yue Tui did.

“The student called, “Fan Tong” over there, stop talking. Do you want to stand?”

Biased Teacher showed off how biased he was again. Yue Tui obviously talked too, and a whole sentence at that. He only uttered a sound, and the teacher picked on him.

Hah, Yue Tui, hurry up and learn the Eastern language form. Then we can pa.s.s notes to each other in cla.s.s.

Nothing special happened in the Wushu combat cla.s.s. Actually, it was because Tractor Teacher said that since they didn’t have weapons, they couldn’t partic.i.p.ate. They would have to wait until they found a weapon.

Fan Tong considered this as a form of discrimination as well. Why did he have to go find a weapon himself? He didn’t even know what kind of weapon would suit him best, you know? Couldn’t the teacher introduce various properties of different weapons to them before telling them to pick one? Moreover, where would he find a weapon? The Eastern City doesn’t hand them out for free. And he didn’t have money to buy one…

Money was now Fan Tong’s number one concern, the core of his life… Without money, you couldn’t do anything. That is a fact. He did think that having his own weapon was a good idea though…

Tractor Teacher even said to them, “Teaching the weapons’ properties is the lecture cla.s.s’ responsibility. The combat cla.s.s is not responsible for that.” The lecture cla.s.s was Biased Teacher’s cla.s.s, wasn’t it? The problem is, that man only talks about Tian Luo Yan, Skies, Qian Huan Hua, and Aifroa day after day! When will I ever learn about our normal, common weapons?

“Fan Tong, what sort of weapon do you want?”

Yue Tui asked, on their way towards the information center for rankings.

“Ah, about that…”

To be honest, he never really gave it much thought.

In his original world, not everyone needed to carry weapons around. Only some special professions required them, and even then, those people didn’t carry weapons around casually. For a commoner like him, his job was to happily stay in his little hut and be protected.

Plus, in his original world, the weapon of choice was quite obvious…

“What about you, Yue Tui? I haven’t thought of it yet.”

“Me? I think… a normal knife is fine. As long as it’s fairly sharp, it’s good. Anything’s fine.”

Yue Tui’s answer perplexed him.

“Why? I heard the weapons in this world can’t talk. Aren’t weapons that can’t talk better?”

As he said the sentence incorrectly, Fan Tong also recalled that Yue Tui might not have learned about this sort of common knowledge in The Eastern City yet. He might not have known the weapons in this world could talk.

“Eh? Shouldn’t weapons that can talk be better? The ones that can’t talk are usually household tools or weapons that failed during production. I’m fine with this kind of weapon.”

So Yue Tui knew, and very well at that. Then, why? Too confident in his abilities? Was he thinking about its monetary value? Weapons that can talk would definitely be more expensive.

“Then, why?”

Fan Tong continued to trouble Yue Tui.

“No reason in particular… just that.”

You’re acting weird, Yue Tui.

At the registration place, they found out the ways to rise from the rank of a white ta.s.sel. The first method was, naturally, challenging someone higher in rank than oneself and winning. Yue Tui already said that he wouldn’t consider this method, so they resorted to the second method.

As one leaves the Eastern City and walks southwest, the person would reach Resource Area 1. Creatures with little to no offensive power lurk in that plot of land.

In that area is a creature called the, “land chicken.” If one got hold of good, quality feathers from it, the feathers could used for many things, such as filling clothes, pillows, and blankets. White ta.s.sels only needed to get three hundred of these feathers and they would become pale greens.

The Eastern City didn’t care how you got the feathers. You can steal if from someone, or if you have money, you can buy a pillow from a store and just rip out the feathers from inside. In the end, if you are not skilled enough and a lower rank happens to challenge you, you lose at your own cost. If you accidentally become a white ta.s.sel again, you could just grab another three hundred feathers.

Different ranks have different responsibilities and tasks. Although the cla.s.ses for pale greens are about the same as the whites, they still have other “homework.”

They heard that the tasks for raising sub-ranks in the greens were collecting different materials from Resource Area 1. Only when one reaches the blue ranks do they do something else.

“Fan Tong, this is great. Once we get six hundred feathers, you can become a pale green ta.s.sel too.”

Yue Tui looked really happy for him, but Fan Tong didn’t know how to feel.

Who knows how hard it would be to get those feathers? Maybe three hundred was already h.e.l.l. Was he supposed to get Yue Tui to collect the feathers for him? That would be too much, wouldn’t it?

Hah, and what does that “land chicken” even look like? How dangerous is it, Fan Tong wondered. If it was simply plucking a random chicken, maybe he could take care of that himself…

Zhu Sha was a pale green ta.s.sel already, so he could ask him. He had to have gotten the three hundred feathers before.

“I don’t know.”

“Eh?”

Unfortunately, Zhu Sha sent back an unexpected reply.

On another note, the afternoon consisted of the cla.s.s in which Fan Tong had no hope in at all. There were two cla.s.ses in a row, so Fan Tong could only blink his eyes on the side the entire period, while Yue Tui learned a bunch of new tricks again.

“I heard we had to pluck three hundred feathers and thought it was too troublesome, so I picked a random pale green ta.s.sel and pushed him into the alley way and defeated him.”

…

Why did you have to push him into an alley way…

“Eh? If it’s like this, then how is it recorded?”

Yue Tui questioned in surprise. If no one saw it, who could prove it happened?

“The key point to a challenge is the giving of one’s ta.s.sel to the winning party. Before the other person strikes you unconscious or kill you, you strike him unconscious, kill him, or steal the ta.s.sel on him. A success or failure will be recorded on the ta.s.sel. If you succeed, you take that ta.s.sel and walk straight to rankings department. As for the losing party, on the day salaries are paid, the administration would naturally get someone to retrieve his ta.s.sel and issue a new, lower-ranked one.

Oh, so you can’t sneak up on someone. Just who was the unlucky guy that got pushed back into being a white thanks to you…?

“Is that how it is…”

Yue Tui laughed dryly. He didn’t actually want to understand the rules to challenges so discreetly.

“When do you guys plan to pluck those feathers?”

“Tomorrow, probably. We only have cla.s.s in the early afternoon tomorrow.”

All students have cla.s.s only in the morning tomorrow. There are four days a month like this. Aside from this, there’s a day off every six days. It was quite convenient when counting this using a seven-day week.

“Then I’ll go with you guys. It seems the requirement to get out of the gra.s.s green rank is to gather chicken skin, so we can do this together.”

Chicken skin?

Chicken skin ––––?

Can you please enlighten me on how many pieces of skin that is… It would require a great deal of handicraft to cut out something like skin…

“Zhu Sha, how many skins do you need?”

As he thought, Yue Tui wanted to ask the same question.

“A hundred, it seems.”

Mm, good, less than feathers. No, no, no, wait, wait. This isn’t good at all. How many feathers are there on a chicken? Well, there’s only one skin!

You don’t need to kill the chicken for their feathers, but how can you get the skin without killing the chicken! Does that mean he’d have to kill a hundred chickens?!

I’ve never killed any small animal in my whole life! No one has ever told me how to kill them before and I also haven’t even seen one killed before!

“Then let’s go together tomorrow.”

Yue Tui smiled at Zhu Sha. Don’t be tricked, Yue Tui! You didn’t have to kill the chickens earlier, but now you do once he’s going–––

“Fan Tong, your expression turned weird again. Are you not feeling well?”

Yes, I feel very unwell. Right, how do you people plan on killing the chickens? There doesn’t seem to be a weapon on you. Karate chop them? Are you going to strangle them? Break their necks? Smash their brains into mush?

“Fan Tong, your expression is getting worse and worse. Do you want to rest…?”

Yue Tui genuinely cared for him, but this wasn’t the time to be touched. Not the time to be touched, you know–––––

Let’s go! To skin chickens and pluck feathers!

Usually, one’s supposed to shout this pa.s.sionately, but since killing chickens came before the skinning and plucking, Fan Tong couldn’t muster any feelings of excitment, and he vaguely wanted to scream for his life.

“Fan Tong, let’s meet up with Zhu Sha now.”

Yui Tui said, after Fan Tong sat through two Fuzhou cla.s.ses absent-mindedly.

Can I not go––

Despite the internal struggle, he was dragged away by Yue Tui. They happened upon Mi Zhong as they neared the gates, and the two sides greeted each other hospitably.

“Oh? You guys are going to Resource Area 1? Plucking feathers and leveling up, hm?”

“Yeah, my roommate has to skin them.”

Yue Tui smiled back.

Fan Tong suddenly thought of something when he saw Mi Zhong.

“Mi Zhong, the reason you haven’t become a gra.s.s green, isn’t because you have trouble killing chickens, is it…”

“Of course not.”

Mi Zhong’s expression became really terrifying.

“Chicken skins sell for one string each! Even if I skinned one, how can I be willing to hand it in! I was already extremely hurt when I turned in the feathers. Three hundred feathers accounts to a hundred strings, you know!”

I think it’s more practical for you to level up and get a stable salary, honestly.

“Is that so, we’ll be heading off on our own then…”

“Good luck. It might not be easy for you guys to get the feathers.”

Mi Zhong said enigmatically as he left. They left the gates and met up with Zhu Sha, the three of them understanding what Mi Zhong meant only after making their way to Resource Area 1.

Zhu Sha brought a picture of the land chickens. They’re ugly… but that’s not what’s important. They’re sluggish… that’s not what’s important either. Seeing the actual chicken, the three realized these things were even bigger than humans… but that’s not what’s important either.

On the entire chicken, there is only one feather on top of its head. This meant they would have to kill six hundred chickens, adding to Fan Tong’s trauma and guilt, but that’s still not what’s important.

What’s important was that there was no cla.s.s for anyone this afternoon, so plenty of people crowded the place. What’s worse, some ill-natured cla.s.smates purposely hogged the chickens they were after to prevent them from getting any spoils.

This sort of behavior was clearly pointed at Yue Tui, which are also acts of discrimination against a Western face.

“They’re too much!”

Zhu Sha’s anger jar was about to shatter when they ran around for two hours and still hadn’t harvested a thing.

At the same time, he saw another isolated land chicken quickly killed off by a bunch of giggling students in the midst of its cooing, which then had its skin sc.r.a.ped off and its feathers plucked. Only the part of the skin that’s attached to the feather was required for pale greens to become gra.s.s greens. One could chop it off very easily.

It sounded more reasonably that way anyways. Fan Tong couldn’t imagine someone carrying a hundred pieces of skin, each larger than one’s self, but at the same time, this made it really convenient for the others to interfere. A simple swing of the blade, and they would be left with nothing.

“What’s wrong with you people, to bully new students like this!”

Yes, the most infuriating part of this whole ordeal is that these people weren’t even here to collect materials for leveling. They were mostly blue ta.s.sels already, and some reds partic.i.p.ated as well, albeit not many.

“What right does a Westerner have to come here and level up?”

“It’d be best if he stayed a white ta.s.sel forever. Those who side with Westerners are guilty as well. You deserve this!”

Even if they tried to argue with the people, the groups would only reply with maddening comments like these. Yue Tui had pretty much given up in the end.

“Forget it, Zhu Sha. You should go kill the chickens yourself. Don’t stay with me. That’d probably be better.”

He didn’t tell Fan Tong to go off on his own since he didn’t have the ability to kill a chicken bigger than himself, nor would he be able to pluck their feathers without killing them.

“No. It’s them who’re being rude. You’re not the problem.”

Zhu Sha rejected the suggestion. Yue Tui heaved a sigh.

“Would it really be better If I challenged them to level up?”

Oh yeah, it’s not like Yue Tui can’t beat them.

“This is terrible. What shouldn’t we do?”

What’s terrible is this sentence.

“Since we are in The Eastern City, I guess I should only use the things I’ve learned from here…”

What are you being so dutiful for… Cheat a bit. They might not catch it…

“Don’t you think you guys are too much to bully girls like this!”

Eh? When did we bully girls?

Fan Tong’s brain processed too fast and took in the words before he realized the sentence wasn’t directed at them. Also, where had he heard this voice before? As he looked left and right for the speaker, that person found them as well.

“Ah!”

The one who had been yelling heatedly from having her chicken stolen away was Bi Rou. The other two girls from Room 448 were with her.

“Fan Tong, Yue Tui, Zhu Sha, you guys are here to kill chickens too?”

I’m only here to pluck their feathers.

From arriving at this place to now, Fan Tong had already witnessed multiple chicken murder scenes and also experienced the incredibly power of human adaptation. Fan Tong was truly scared before, but he stopped feeling anything now after seeing it happen so many times. He didn’t know if this was a good or bad thing. As for something like dying though, he would never come to feel nothing, no matter how many times he died. That’s because each death meant a hundred strings worth of money…

“Oh, are you guys having the same problem?”

Zhu Sha asked flatly. Bi Rou nodded; she and her two cute girlfriends looked like they were about to cry.

“These people are sc.u.m! What’s so fun about interfering someone else at killing chickens? To discriminate against Westerners like this, they have some serious issues!”

“…Why don’t we work together and try again?”

Bi Rou agreed to Yue Tui’s proposition. After all, six people working together beats three people working separately. As long as they’re quick, there’s a chance they’d be able to get the feathers and skins.

Except…

Fan Tong counted the number of people, making an uncomfortable estimation quietly.

Summing it all, if each person was to get his or her fair share of feathers and skins, they would have to pluck one thousand two hundred feathers and skin two hundred chickens.

……

Removing two hundred skins sounds alright, but those one thousand two hundred feathers… What is that…

Telling them to kill a whole thousand two hundred chickens under such horrible compet.i.tion, wouldn’t that be too much to ask for? It’s most likely impossible, right?

If they are unable to kill all of this, how are they going to split the loot later? Each person gets three feathers if they kill twelve chickens? If they could really kill all those chickens, all of them have enough skins to become gra.s.s-green ta.s.sels…

It seemed only Fan Tong was calculating how realistic this exploit was. In the meantime, they had another chicken stolen.

Those pests were obviously picking on them. There was no way they could properly kill their chickens.

“As New Residents of blue and red ta.s.sels to get in the way of whites and greens, have you guys no honor!”

Both men and women partook in these depraved acts. None of them cared about Bi Rou’s angry bellows.

“If you have the ability, why don’t you ask someone strong to come help you? Hahahaha–“

“But do you even know anyone like that? Only in your dreams would a Westerner know anyone that mattered! Everyone thinks you’re an eyesore!”

These blunt, cruel words naturally enflamed feelings of hate. Bi Rou glared at them, shaking as though she was about to lose all control. Fan Tong a.s.sumed she’d either refrain herself or plainly rush up to them, but her reaction was neither of those.

“Calling in a bigwig, right? Sure!”

Bi Rou frankly took out an instrument from her clothes. It was a circular badge with some b.u.t.tons on top of it. Fan Tong didn’t know what that was. After asking the others, he found out that was a Fuzhou “Communication Charm”.

Oh– So once you learned to Fuzhou to a certain extent, you can communicate with others like how they explained before?

No, wait, this wouldn’t cost money as well, would it?

“You try calling someone here. Let’s see how many you can a.s.semble. Let’s see how strong they are.”

Annoying Girl A with a pink ta.s.sel laughed lavishly without any intention of preventing Bi Rou from using her Communication Charm. Their bunch just wanted to watch a show. They didn’t think for an instant that some weak, new student would have a network of people who’re stronger than them.

They only saw Bi Rou press a few b.u.t.ton, and in a few moments, it looked she had found someone. She immediately cried bitterly into the charm.

“I was bullied–––“

Then there was a long period of crying, and then another long period of crying…

It looks so real! How does she do it?

“It’s nothing. Really, it’s nothing. Don’t worry, I’ll try my best. You’re coming? But I’m scared to bother you… I didn’t cry, yeah, I just really want to see you. I feel horrible right now…”

Wow, is this what you call playing cat and mouse? We have an expert right here! And it’s true! You really didn’t cry!

“But we haven’t known each other for that long… is this really okay? …You’re too humble. If you’re here, everything would be solved. Ah, I’m at Resource Area 1. I should wait here for you? But the area’s so huge, how are you going to find me… Ah, what are you saying something so embarra.s.sing all of a sudden for–“

Bi Rou covered her cheek with one hand in the middle of talking, her body shedding a pink aura… Yeah, it’s better not to know what she had heard.

“Alright, I know. Don’t hurry yourself. No matter how long it takes, I’ll be waiting for you.”

She finally finished. Yue Tui and Zhu Sha were pretty much stunned stupid by this time. Cute Girls A and B acted as though it was natural, since they had been roommates for a while now, so they understood her to a certain degree.

Seeing Bi Rou hang up, a guy with a meat-cake for a face sneered with contempt.

“You only got one person? Did you ask the guy to come here and die? The only one’s who’ll come are those who fell for you looks anyways.”

So you admit that she’s beautiful. So your interfering with her is only to attract her attention? No, it’s because you had no hope in the first place. That’s why you’re doing these twisted things, right?

“Who cares what you think! As long as someone’s here to help me. Just don’t cry later!”

Bi Rou made a face at them, her att.i.tude like a different person from when she asked for help… Hahh, it’s better for one’s health to simply ignore these many pretenses of females.

Once Bi Rou finished her call, Fan Tong curiously looked around to see if anyone was heading towards them. He as well wanted to know what kind of person  Bi Rou asked for help from. Based on the amount of time Bi Rou’s been in The Eastern City, the main groups she was in contact with should all be white or pale green ta.s.sels.

According to their conversation, the other party should be a guy, so as Fan Tong scanned the area, he also inspected the males more carefully. However, this was already the center of Resource Area 1. If the person came from within the city gates, it would take at least thirty minutes to get here, wouldn’t it? The guy would even have to find them in this midst of people.

“Bi Rou, is the person coming to help us trustworthy?”

Cute Girl A asked her quietly.

“Of course. Even if only an arm of his came, it’s enough.”

…That picture sounds gory. What if that was true, and only one arm came? Everyone would flee in terror, huh?

The nearby students who have come to Resource Area 1 to collect skins and feathers also saw the commotion. Whether out of curiosity or from wanting to see a show, many people had gathered to see how this would all play out.

Just what kind of person will come?

As Fan Tong pondered on this question, the situation changed.

On the ground not far from where Bi Rou was facing, a magic circle suddenly appeared. The symbols glowed, and Bi Rou’s beautiful face lit up with joy. The others surrounding the area were astounded as a man appeared while the glow faded away.

If they were astounded to see the magic circle, then seeing who the man was created a cause for screams.

“Xiao Rou, I’m here. What’s wrong? Are you hurt?

A clear, refres.h.i.+ng voice, black flowing hair, and that handsome appearance that’d easily intoxicate a female’s heart…

Bi Rou happily pounced at him.

“Ah! You’re here!”

Everyone looked at this man who definitely was not an illusion, then they looked at Bi Rou who called out to him gleefully, then they looked at the man’s unbelievably black ta.s.sel…

The person who came was Shufa Xuan’s rector, one of The Eastern City’s Five Attendants, Yin s.h.i.+.