At a hotel on Old Spring street, a group of three people was approached by a front desk worker.
“Thanks for waiting, here is the key to room number 311 on the 3rd floor.” The front desk worker beamed, handing the key to Xian Er. “Please enjoy your stay here. If you have any request, I will try my best to fulfill it.”
“Thank you.” Xian Er smiled back.
Li Jiangsu and the group soon arrived at their room. The room has two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a large living room. There was a minimal amount of decoration, a few art pieces here and there. The refreshing smell of the newly cleaned room made Li Jiangsu forget about his troubles momentarily.
“This is not bad for only 270 Yin per night.” Xia Jiang threw himself on the couch. “Haa- That was just too thrilling!”
Li Jiangsu put down the three papers in his hand on the table. He has already reviewed them while waiting for their key. The forged identity documents have all the necessary details and it’s unlikely anyone would find any fault with them. Of course, if the identity documents required identification with blood then it would have been near impossible to produce a fake. But the cost would have been too high, as every identity document would have to be an artifact.
They have opted to use their real names for the new identities.
“Sigh, have we been cursed by something?” Li Jiangsu lamented and pinched his nose bridge. “Our mistake was to not immediately find a new hideout once we arrived. But considering our circumstances and my injuries, it would have been more difficult or outright impossible.”
Xian Er sat down and laid her head on the table. “We have to get stronger. That’s the only way to guarantee our safety here.”
Li Jiangsu looked at one of the art pieces on the wall and chuckled. “I’ve always avoided anything to do with cultivation but fate seems to have other plans for me.”
“Is it alright we talk so openly like this? Maybe that demon is spying on us.” Xia Jiang asked, staring out of the window with a smirk.
“Maybe. But we can’t just always use you-know-what.” Xian Er said, scratching her head. “What should we do now? Go to that Lighthouse Foundation? Or should we find a more permanent resident first? We have around 9,000 Yin, so we have plenty of options.”
“Let’s apply for the job first. We don’t know how the Pledge works yet. It might kill us if we wait too long.” Li Jiangsu suggested, looking at the scab formed over the cut on his finger.
Xia Jiang lazily stood up from the couch and said. “Don’t forget about the fire, you guys will definitely get investigated. I advise we all find out on what date the funeral for the fake Cheng Zhu and Cheng Yuan will be held and attend it. This is the only way to lessen the suspicion on us.
”It’s unlikely the police will find us anytime soon considering the size of the capital. And they won’t delay the funeral just because of this. Of course, in normal circumstances, we should go to the police to know more about this matter once we heard about the arson in the news. Showing our concern as Cheng Zhu friends. But our current situation won’t allow it.”
“I still can’t understand the reason for him to burn the house down and leave fake bodies.” Li Jiangsu sighed, “Then we have two important matters to attend to, the Lighthouse Foundation and the funeral.”
“Right.” Xian Er lifted her head up and nodded. “We should rest here for one hour before we go out.”
Everyone in the room agreed. Li Jiangsu stayed in the living room while Xian Er and Xia Jiang went to their own bedroom. He opened up the [Livestream] that he forgot was still broadcasting.
[Li Jiangsu [01 Z1 ZZ ZZ]]
[Title: Watch me sipping tea while enjoying a public execution]
[Viewers: 1900]
[Chat]
[Retired from life: Brother Li, just commit suicide. The situation is hopeless. Why struggle so much? You are very brave so I’m sure you have the guts to do it. I am so worthless I can’t even take my own life!]
Li Jiangsu’s eyebrows twitched. This guy seriously needs help. No, that’s not right. The medicine back home should have easily cured whatever mental disorder this guy has. Don’t tell me he loves being like this?
He continued to read the chat.
[Feet Adorer: Why are newbie Explorers so pathetic. Host, you are reading this right? My infant nephew would’ve fought to the bitter end! Shame on you!]
Calm down… take a deep breath… just ignore this person.
[Sleep is overrated: Guys what’s happening? I’ve just joined.]
[Senior Shi: This is what has happened so far…]
[God Emperor is my slave: Junior Brother, It looks like you have finally decided to become a cultivator. I wish you good luck. The path ahead will be full of tribulations.]
At the very least there’s one adult in the room.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
Li Jiangsu shook his head and closed the chat. He then opened up the [Marketplace Menu] to check if there were any new items available. One of the Universal Assist purposes is to analyze the abilities of different cultivation pathways in this New World when using it. And if there’s enough data, the artisans in the Nine Heavens Empire might be able to produce an artifact with similar effects. Li Jiangsu wanted to know if the Universal Assist had managed to analyze the transparent glove’s ability.
Its teleport ability could save his life if he finds himself in a life-threatening situation. And there’s also the ability of the white-robed man. If he could acquire it in the form of an artifact then he would have another ace up his sleeve.
***[You’ve selected ‘Items’]***
***[Loading items…]***
***[Found other users in the local system…]***
***[Importing items…]***
[Credits: 1050]
[Void’s Gate and Key]
**Data Collected: ?/?**
**Not available**
[Compressed Library]
**Data Collected: 5/5**
Available: 0
Price: Request a quotation
[Photographic Storage]
**Data Collected: 3/5**
**Not available**
[Mark of Observation]
**Data Collected: 1/10**
**Not available**
[The Pledge]
**Data Collected: 3/35**
**Not available**
[Unknown -No name- #1]
**Data Collected: 3/25**
**Not available**
[Unknown -No name- #2]
**Data Collected: 1/10**
**Not available**
[Unknown -No name- #3]
**Data Collected: 12/100**
**Not available**
!!An inferior version was detected!!
**Data Collected: 10/10**
Available: 0
Price: Must request a quotation.
[Unknown -No name- #4]
**Data Collected: 3/150**
**Not available**
[Unknown -No name- #5]
**Data Collected: 5/?**
**Not available**
Li Jiangsu got a headache just by looking at this list. He was the most interested in the items with the name ‘Unknown’. Hehe, if that guy’s ability is one of them then I wouldn’t mind meeting him again. I wonder if it’s the one with the inferior version?
Li Jiangsu thought about it for a moment before he decided that he might as well request a quotation because it’s free. And if the price is too high, he could just save up credit or pool his credit together with Xia Jiang and Xian Er by donating to each other [Livestream].
***[Quotation has been requested for “Unknown #3 -Inferior version”]**
**[Average response time: 5 days]**
Now all I have to do is just wait.
Li Jiangsu checked the items once again to make sure he didn’t miss anything. He then closed the Universal Assist and went to the couch to take a much-needed nap.
—***—
Red carriages with tiger’s fang as emblem lined up Nightflower street. People in red robes can be seen standing around in many small groups in front of a charred house. Officer Lan Yi was in one of such groups.
“Yes, I was the one responsible for checking one of the supposed victims’ bodies.” Officer Lan Yi said, standing straight in front of her superior. “The Body and Mind Examiner couldn’t detect any abnormalities with any of them. If the problem could fool the artifact, then we might be dealing with a master cultivator.”
“Um-hum.” The Chief Officer drew on the cigarette and exhaled the smoke before saying. “In any case, we will have to investigate Mr. Tan Xuan and the people who were together with Mr. Cheng Zhu today. You should already have interrogated Mr. Tan Xuan for their names right? Then I’m sure you know what to do next.”
“I understand.” Officer Lan Yi noted down the instructions and asked. “Sir, may I ask a question?”
The Chief Officer nodded in affirmation.
“Will this accident involve the Ancient Tigers?” Officer Lan Yi questioned.
The Chief Officer took another puff of the cigarette before answering. “It seems so. This means our responsibility is just finding the suspects and they will take over the rest of the investigation.”
Having satisfied her curiosity, Officer Lan Yi thanked the Chief Officer and said farewell. She promptly left the crime scene with her colleague. There will be many sleepless nights in the next few days.
—***—
In front of the hotel on Old Spring Street, a newspaper boy could be seen selling today's special like hotcakes.
“I will take three!”
“Give me one, I’ll pay double!”
“Don’t cut in line you b*stard!”
Li Jiangsu watched in amusement as people were fighting over pieces of paper. When the television is rare, I suppose most people will have to rely on the newspapers to see what happened at the public execution. In the next few weeks, the media will most likely only talk about this event.
“It feels like days have passed since the execution. Maybe I’ve aged another 100 years just today alone.” Xian Er sighed.
“Look on the bright side. At the very least we found a job!” Xia Jiang tried to cheer everyone up, including himself.
Li Jiangsu only shook his head before he noticed a woman approaching them. The woman held onto a black-colored book with blood marks on them. She has blonde hair with dark roots and looks to be in her early 30s.
“Ladies and gentlemen, may I take some of your time? My name is Yuan Ran.” the woman named Yuan Ran said and looked at them with sparkling brown eyes. “I would like to introduce my Lord and savior. He’s the Beginning and the End of all.”