Li Jiangsu’s mind was in a mess. Seconds felt like hours when he saw the book and the young man in the white robe. Why is he here? And that’s my…
Li Jiangsu broke free from his motionless state and started to check his bag to confirm his suspicion. He couldn’t find the book.
“Traditional Amarin… Groundbreaking Innovations… The encyclopedia… On their own, they are not so problematic. People will always try to deepen their knowledge after all. But I wonder why it feels like you people don't even know the most common knowledge?” The white-robed man closed the book and slightly raised his eyebrows. “I find this fascinating… Don’t tell me you people are ancient humans who have been asleep for ten thousand years?”
None of the trios could come up with anything to say and they have no such intentions either. All of them stood on the same spot, observing the young man's every move. Their clothes are soaked with sweat as if the sun is right behind their back.
“Anyway, that’s not why I am here.” The white-robed man stood up and headed straight for the underground storage room.
Li Jiangsu and the others were prepared to run and flee if the young man had any intention of fighting them. But seeing that the intruder had no such intention, they looked at each other and began to follow the young man. They could have used this opportunity to run away but it was Li Jiangsu who stopped them through the [private local chat group]. He had an inkling that it would worsen the situation.
The door leading into the underground storage room wasn’t far from the living room so it didn’t take long before they arrived. The young man unlocked the door with a key he had found somewhere. The trio stayed close to the living room door while watching the white-robed man slowly walk down the stairs into the underground storage. It didn’t help that the musty and urine smell made the atmosphere feel heavier.
From their position, they could see a couple in their late 20’s laying down on the ground with a rope around their bodies. The area around them was noticeably wetter than its surroundings. Except for the couple, the underground storage was empty. Xian Er could also see herself from the third point of view through her ability.
“Poor Guan Zai and Cui Yi. To have ended up in this state… Sigh, I suppose it’s better than being dead.” The white-robed man took out a knife and set the couple free. He then continued with a hint of happiness “Count yourselves lucky for not being rash and killing them.”
Xian Er and Xia Jiang didn’t feel relieved once they heard that. It’s like comforting a chicken in front of a butcher.
The white-robed man then reached into his robe and pulled out an artifact with an appearance of a scissor. He snipped the air a few times and said.
“Also, it’s not good spying on others.”
“Ah!” Xian Er uttered a yelp and closed her eyes while her body was visibly shaking. Xia Jiang and Li Jiangsu quickly pulled Xian Er back through the living room door. They checked Xian Er’s body for any visible injuries. Thankfully, there was none.
[Private local chat group]
[Xian Er: I’m alright, at least for now. He forcibly broke my connection with the Mark of Observation, well that’s how I call my ability. This caused my nerves to be stimulated.]
[Xia Jiang: Good, Li Jiangsu, is it really alright to remain here? I suggest we run now. Playing hide and seek with that guy sounds fun. Sorry, I couldn't help it.]
[Li Jiangsu: Ultimately, I can’t force you guys to stay. If my gut feeling leads to my own death, then I have lost my all-in bet. But I won’t pull anyone else into this gamble.]
[Xian Er: I am staying.]
[Xia Jiang: Arrgh, and I wanted to know what will happen if I run away now.]
The trio conversation via the Universal Assist didn’t last more than a few seconds in real-time.
The white-robed man put away the scissor and looked at Xian Er, who had fallen down to the floor due to the pain.
“I applaud you for not being careless and marking him when he was conscious. Or else the one locked down here wouldn’t have been them.” The white-robed man took out a handkerchief and cleaned his ‘dirty’ hands with them. “Why don’t we continue our conversation in the living room? It’s a bit smelly here.”
Xian Er, who was writhing in pain on the floor suddenly stood up and began to walk into the living room. Li Jiangsu and Xia Jiang also did the same. They chose a chair randomly and sat down. It wasn’t until a few seconds later that they realized what had happened.
Don’t tell me I was hypnotized? But somehow it still feels like it was my own decision to walk here and sit down. The only reason I know I was forced to do this is because I followed his ‘suggestion’ too quickly without spending any time thinking about it. Scary, what would happen if I was unable to realize this point and consider everything to be logical?
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
The young man walked in carrying the couple and smiled. “Very good. Why don’t you guys introduce yourself?”
“I am Li Jiangsu, 22, I like to go to the casino and…”
“My name is Xia Jiang, 29, I am more handsome than you and I like to impersonate others so I can steal their money, it’s so thrilling! I also...”
“You can call me Xian Er, 19 years old, I sell drugs for a living and…”
The white-robed man put the couple down. He nodded from time to time and listened attentively to their personal history. He then asked. “Why did Li Jiangsu read these books? Xian Er, Xia Jiang, do you guys also read them? And why did you guys capture my subordinates and stay in this house?”
Before Li Jiangsu could open his mouth, he saw a notification from the Universal Assist.
[Involuntary disclosure of classified information detected.]
[Do you want to continue?]
At this moment Li Jiangsu couldn’t have been happier. It looks like the rumor is true, the Universal Assist can block certain actions if it involves the Nine Heavens Empire. Sigh, it would have been great if it also worked for everything.
Li Jiangsu didn’t hesitate.
[No]
But he didn’t stay silent as that would have alerted the white-robed man. He had to quickly come up with a reasonable explanation. Then he thought about how this New World also utilizes the Void’s Domain, or what they call it here, Yin-Yang Realm, and people are living in it. He got this information from the “The encyclopedia of the three great civilizations” and “Groundbreaking Innovations Explained” books. He was also sure that the Ying-Yang Gate must have been opened recently otherwise their Interuniversal Travel wouldn’t have been possible.
“I was born and raised inside the Ying-Yang Realm. As such, I did not learn much about the outside world. It might be more accurate to say, I couldn’t care less about some distant empires and people. I wouldn’t have come here if I had a choice.
“I had to hide here because I’m an illegal immigrant and the security has been higher than normal recently. It’s due to Xia Jiang and Xian Er that I chose this place, they are fugitives I befriended.”
The white-robed man squinted and looked deeply into Li Jiangsu’s eyes. He didn’t say anything for a while. Li Jiangsu had to use everything he got to not reveal anything suspicious. After a few seconds of intense eye contact, the white-robed man said:
“Alright. Xia Jiang, Xian Er, did he tell the truth?”
Because this didn’t involve Nine Heavens Empire itself, the duo couldn’t resist. The Universal Assist will not block an indirect question.
“No, he’s lying.” Xia Jiang said.
“It’s made up.” Xian Er confirmed Xia Jiang’s answer.
“Truly interesting.” The white-robed man grinned and looked at Li Jiangsu before he turned to Xia Jiang. “Xia Jiang, answer my previous question about the reason you are here and the books.”
As expected, the Universal Assist blocked the white-robed man’s ability and allowed Xia Jiang to freely choose his own action. He considered many scenarios in a blink of an eye. If he revealed information about the Nine Heavens Empire and their goal here, he might become a valuable pawn for the white-robed man and survive this situation.
But there’s also a possibility that the white-robed man will kill him on the spot to minimize the leak of intelligence. And maybe use this merit to gain more influence if the white-robed man has an important position in the Twilight Hall or Chamber of Stars.
Xia Jiang finally made a decision.
“I am a fugitive on the run. Xian Er and Li Jiangsu are my accomplices. We hide here because Cheng Zhu or Guan Zai looks similar to me and just moved into this neighborhood a few days ago. This made it easier to blend in. We can’t stay hiding in the underground storage room forever after all.
“The bags with emergency supplies are self-explanatory.
“We would have left this place after we got our forged identities documents. This was the only unexpected but good surprise for us. Or else we would have sooner or later got caught.
“Li Jiangsu is a little stupid and forgets things fast, so he read that book to not embarrass himself.”
Xia Jiang, oh, Xia Jiang. Li Jiangsu's eyebrows twitched for a second.
The white-robed man nodded; looked at Xian Er and Li Jiangsu and asked.
“Is that true?”
“Absolutely not.” Li Jiangsu denied without any hesitation.
“I am a hairless monkey if that’s true.” Xian Er said with a straight face.
“Hahaha,” the white-robed man let out a laugh and clapped loudly. “Wonderful, wonderful. This is the most fun I’ve had in a while.”
He then took out three rolled-up papers from his robe. He unfurled it and showed its content.
“I’ve picked this up on my way here. Well, I also changed a few details so they are more useful to me if I find you guys suitable.” the white-robed man grinned a little before continuing. “Now that some of my arrangements are disrupted and my subordinates are hurt, I will need some compensation.”
The white-robed man then stood up, slowly walked around the trio, and said.
“We know that we will never trust each other, no matter what. And I have no need for money. Your corpses might be more useful to me.”
Hearing this, Li Jiangsu felt like the young man’s abyss-like eyes were going to swallow him whole.
The white-robed man then resumed his speech while passing by each of them. “However, we do not have any real bad blood between us, so I have no reason to go that far. But I cannot let you guys off lightly either.”
He then stopped in front of the house’s entryway and showed two fingers.
“I will give two choices. The first one is carrying out a near-suicide mission. I don’t care if you guys succeed or not. But it would be a pleasant surprise if you guys managed to do it. Or the second choice, let me kill you all here so I can go to sleep soundly.”