Scourge Messenger

Chapter 156 Casual Chat at Lunch
At the thief's house, Shang Xinlei and Yan Qing ate lunch together as usual.

Today's dish is three ways to prepare the dragon sturgeon: the head is used to make soup, half of it is steamed with ginger slices and soy sauce, and the other half is pan-fried. It may not sound like much, but the dragon sturgeon is a demon from the third-level secret realm. It can strangle third-level messengers in the river. Just from this, you can see how big and heavy the dragon sturgeon is.

Such a ferocious monster, yet it is a rare delicacy as food; the fish soup is fresh, the steamed fish is sweet, and the pan-fried fish is fragrant.

Besides satisfying the appetite, the energy from the three-stage ingredients is far beyond what ordinary food can provide. Even if Yan Qing is full from eating ordinary food, he will get hungry again soon and needs to eat six meals a day to barely survive. However, a dragon sturgeon feast can sustain him for an entire day without eating.

Although The Messenger has a food system and even life professions like chefs, it doesn't have a hunger mechanic like that found in survival games. Food only provides buffs and isn't a necessity for players; the game assumes that players don't need to eat or defecate.

However, in reality, high blood pressure inevitably leads to high energy consumption. Messengers are almost always very big eaters, and ordinary food can hardly meet their daily needs.

However, high-level food in the secret realm is acceptable. Besides demons, ordinary animals that appear in the secret realm also have levels, and these levels change dynamically with the level of the secret realm. For example, a level 5 cow will appear in a first-level secret realm, while a level 15 cow may appear in a third-level secret realm, with higher HP than a first-level messenger.

This design was probably intended to make it easier for players who need to accumulate energy through attacks, leaving these advanced animals behind to allow players to accumulate attack attempts, but it also happens to solve the real-world food needs.

Not to mention that these secret ingredients are indeed more delicious than regular ingredients. Such good things are never circulated to the public and only the powerful and wealthy are qualified to enjoy them. Yan Qing is just riding on Shang Xinlei's coattails this time.

"Did something good happen?" Shang Xinlei suddenly asked, her eyes sparkling as she looked at him. "You seem very happy today."

Yan Qing blinked, scooped a large piece of fish into her rice bowl with a spoon, and casually said, "The fish is delicious today."

"Hmph, fine, I won't tell you then." Shang Xinlei sniffed unhappily. "As if anyone cares to hear it."

If she pressed Yan Qing for an answer, Yan Qing might have become wary and brushed it off, but her words only fueled Yan Qing's rebellious spirit. "Didn't you say before that the Shu Road Mountains are an extremely dangerous and dangerous place for demons?"

"You sent people over there? How many? You wouldn't have sent Jiang Shi to such a filthy place, would you?"

"They sent one, someone you don't know."

"They infiltrated?"

"No, we stormed in," Yan Qingfeng said casually. "We fought our way from Chang Le City all the way up Shu Dao Mountain, killing more than a dozen demonic messengers, including one who had reached the third level of the demonic path."

Shang Xinlei's first reaction was disbelief. How could someone rush into the dangerous land of the demonic path and kill more than a dozen people, including those who had reached the third level of cultivation? Did you think that demonic messengers were just pigs to be slaughtered at will?

However, she also knew that Yan Qing was not the type to speak carelessly, and was even not good at lying. He could often use lies to build relationships, but he always insisted on stating the cold, hard facts, as if he only wanted others to see his worst side.

"What strength?"

"Second job advancement".

What token was provided?

"Rare, legendary, and exotic treasures are all available."

"You lent out the Bingzi Pepper Forest?" Shang Xinlei glanced at the long sword at Yan Qing's waist: "If it's the Bingzi Pepper Forest, this feat isn't impossible—"

“No, she didn’t use Bingzi Jiaolin. She fought her way up on her own,” Yan Qing said. “She is a messenger of the storm and has a token that can increase her attack speed. Even a demonic messenger is no match for her.”

Shang Xinlei suddenly realized: "So it was a Storm Messenger, then that's not surprising. But your subordinate actually became a Storm Messenger, and can even use this power to kill several people... It seems he's a person who has a very hard life."

Yan Qing finally realized something was amiss: "Why do you think the Rainstorm Messenger is someone who lives a very difficult life?"

"Your people are Rain Messengers, don't you even know that?" Shang Xinlei was quite surprised: "Rain Messengers are a forbidden profession that injures themselves before injuring the enemy. Every time they actively use the power of the rain, it is a great devastation to the messenger themselves."

"I had considered switching to the Storm Messenger class before. After all, among the second and even third job advancements, the Storm Messenger is one of the strongest classes, and there are many legendary figures in history who have left behind a glorious reputation as Storm Messengers. However, after careful research, I gave up on this idea." "When using the power of the storm, the messenger's speed reaches an extremely exaggerated level. Instantly killing demons and even other messengers of the same job advancement is a piece of cake. This is the Storm Messenger's greatest advantage, and also its greatest weakness."

Yan Qing understood: "You mean, the messenger's body can't withstand this kind of power?"

“Most people can’t withstand it.” Shang Xinlei nodded seriously: “In fact, many professional characteristics will affect the messenger himself, but the impact is not big and can be alleviated afterward. But the power of the Rainstorm Messenger is too violent. Once the messenger fully unleashes the power of the rainstorm, his body will accelerate to an extremely terrifying speed in an instant. Muscles, internal organs, bones... every attack he makes in the rainstorm is paid for with his own flesh and blood.”

"It is not uncommon in history that many rain messengers have suffered muscle lacerations, bone fractures, internal organ damage, or even death after triggering a rainstorm."

This is probably the conflict between gameplay and realism, Yan Qing thought to himself.

Any system is designed with fun in mind, not with the goal of providing realistic service.

The Rainstorm Messenger is a fun but unrealistic game. Second-tier and even third-tier messengers can't control the power of a rainstorm; using it is tantamount to self-harm. But which designer would think their game would become the real world? If they hadn't designed a food system, this world probably wouldn't even have high-tier messengers—third-tier messengers alone could eat the land out of business.

Rainstorm Messenger is just a tiny microcosm of the conflict between games and reality.

As for why the alt account is unaffected... the alt account doesn't need to eat, poop, or sleep.

"Don't worry, my people can perfectly control the power of the Rain Messenger. Ordinary third-level cultivators are no match for her." Yan Qing said confidently, "Now that she has infiltrated the Shu Road Mountains, she may soon inherit Si Wuxie's legacy."

"He's your subordinate, not you. Why are you so smug?" Shang Xinlei couldn't stand his attitude.

"The achievements of my subordinates are my achievements." Yan Qing said confidently. He spent a whole morning painstakingly clearing the Shu Road Mountain, but he was the only one who needed to control the alt account. Yan Qing himself had to consider many things.

"Shameless." Shang Xinlei stuck out her tongue. "Speaking of which, what's your subordinate called?"

"Bunny Girl Heroine." Yan Qing didn't really have anything to hide. The main thing was that as long as Shang Xinlei heard this code name, she would definitely be able to instantly associate it with him.

"Rabbit...heroine?" Shang Xinlei's face was full of question marks, but she quickly grasped the key point, "A woman? Is she pretty?"

"She's quite cute," Yan Qing commented, adding, "She's delicate and petite."

"You're just going to send her to the dangerous demonic lands alone?" Shang Xinlei stared at Yan Qing with wide eyes. "I didn't say you should send a man, but didn't I suggest you send several people to accompany her? You shouldn't be short of manpower, right? If you have to send one person, you should choose someone with a fierce appearance. That way, you can at least minimize the possibility of encountering danger, rather than choosing a weak person who will be coveted by others!"

"But didn't she successfully scale the Shu Road?"

"What if it doesn't work? What if she falls into a trap? Haven't you thought about that—"

"Of course I thought she might die." Yan Qing's tone suddenly turned cold: "The reason she was besieged by the demonic messengers was also because of my intention. The demonic messengers are not stupid. How could they rashly gather a large group of people to deal with a woman who could break into the demonic territory? No matter how weak or cute she looks."

Shang Xinlei asked, "Then why did you do that?"

"I wanted to test her capabilities," Yan Qing said calmly. "I provided her with the best tokens and had her switch to the most violent class, just to see what she could achieve. The test results are in. She has no problem killing ordinary third-tier cultivators, but when facing the top third-tier cultivators, such as the three guardians of Shudao Mountain, she is still not up to the task."

Shang Xinlei looked at him very seriously, carefully observing every detail on Yan Qing's face, as if this was the first time they had met and she had never known Yan Qing before.

"Are you serious?" she asked.

"Have I ever lied?" Yan Qing retorted.

(End of this chapter)