Scourge Messenger

Chapter 312 Awakening from Dream
Ying suddenly opened her eyes.

She stood there for a moment, then her expression suddenly changed: "Oh no, oh no, I must have overslept!"

Although she was in a hurry, she couldn't rush things. She had to wrap her hands in bandages first. Fortunately, while she was sleeping, the blood-replenishing pills had basically healed the injuries on her hands. However, the scars were so ugly that they looked like hundreds of centipedes. She was going to have dinner with everyone, so she naturally couldn't let them see such disgusting scars.

She quickly washed off the dirt and changed into a relatively clean set of clothes. As for her hair, which was stuck together by blood and rain, she could only tie it into a bun and cover it with a hood. She didn't have a keepsake that could be heated, so washing her hair was a very time-consuming chore for her.

Looking in the mirror, she felt fine. Just as Ying Ru was about to leave, she suddenly remembered something, sniffed herself, and immediately smelled a stench that seemed to have been fermenting for two or three days. These past few days, she had been either traveling or killing people, and the only time she had slept was just now. Naturally, she hadn't had time to shower. Even though she was a naturally beautiful member of the Ying family, rolling around in blood and gore for a few days would still make her dirty.

There was no time to take a shower now, but Ying Rushi remembered that Ying Le had once given her a bottle of Secret Realm Perfume, which she had casually left at the Thieves' House. Now it would come in handy. She had never used it before, so she sprayed it on herself haphazardly a dozen times until it didn't smell bad anymore.

Once you're ready, muster your courage, push open the door, and say as soon as you step out, "Excuse me, I'm sleeping—"

Her voice trailed off as the Thieves' Hall was empty, devoid of anything.

The glass skylight in the center of the ceiling is an eternal source of light, which will illuminate a solitary shadow.

How long did I sleep?
Have they finished eating and gone home?

What should I do? They rarely invite me out, and I just stood them up like this?
Will they be disappointed in me?

Will they think I'm fooling them?
Ying Ru was extremely flustered, pacing back and forth anxiously. Suddenly, she remembered something, went back to her room, rummaged through drawers and cabinets, and quickly found a pocket watch. This was one of the few ordinary items from the secret realm that was extremely difficult to imitate. It was said that during the Great Xuan era, there were craftsmen who could handcraft pocket watches, but this technique had long been lost, and even the secret realm that produced pocket watches had been discontinued for a long time. The pocket watch in Ying Ru's hand was a rare item that Ying Le had obtained by confiscating and exterminating his family, and he had casually given it to her.

It was just past 18 PM when Ying Ru went out to check; it wasn't dark yet. She went to the thieves' hall and touched the stone table. The surface was cold, and it didn't look like hot food had been left there. Ying Ru breathed a sigh of relief; she hadn't slept long, so they probably hadn't had dinner yet.

Since there was still time, Ying Rushi quickly tidied herself up, gave her hair a quick wash—even if it was wet, it was better than it sticking together. Once she was almost done, she came out and saw that the Thieves' Hall was still empty. Ying Rushi didn't mind and sat down to wait.

A quarter of an hour passed.

Two quarters of an hour passed.

Half an hour later, Ying Rushi took out his pocket watch and saw that it was already 19 p.m., and he couldn't help but feel a little anxious.

Could it be that she misheard, and the agreed-upon meal wasn't tonight's dinner, but tomorrow's lunch or dinner?

She quickly dismissed the idea, because Red Serpent had made it very clear that he was preparing dinner for tonight, and it couldn't be at any other time; they were probably eating this late.

Time passed slowly, and the thieves' hall was unusually quiet, with only the ticking of the second hand of the pocket watch.

Half an hour passed.

An hour passed.

Ying Rushi couldn't sit obediently on the stone chair and wait, nor could she bear the quiet hall. She paced back and forth anxiously, constantly glancing at the doors of the three of them. Occasionally she would look away but then immediately look back, as if she were the legendary Zhu Jiuyin, whose world was in eternal darkness when she didn't look, but whose fates changed when she did.

She unconsciously fiddled with her hands until she scratched the scabs off them; only the pain of the continuous bleeding could slightly alleviate her unease. But as time passed, there was still no movement from the other doors. Ying Rushi had wanted to knock on the doors countless times, but then lowered her hands again and again.

Her wet hair clung to her face, seemingly absorbing all the heat from her body, making her feel colder inch by inch. She could only keep scratching at the scabs on her arms, but even when she scratched her hands raw, the white bandages turning completely blood red, her overwhelming emotions still surged like a raging flood, devouring her reason.

Bang! Ying Rushi suddenly slammed her head against the wall with great loudness and force. Her forehead immediately broke open, and blood slid down, splitting into two bloody streaks on her nose, dividing Ying Rushi's face into three parts: fear, loss, and despair.

They won't be coming.

Ying Ru wandered around the hall like a walking corpse, bending over next to a stone bench. A strong urge made her gag repeatedly, but nothing came out. The sounds she made were like wails squeezed out by the folds of her soul.

There was no dinner.

It didn't help at all.

All the recognition, understanding, and comfort are fake.

fake!

Ying Rushi could almost hear their snickers, both smug and contemptuous, mocking her weakness, her gullibility, and her foolishness.

"She really thought we would help her."

"We won't miss a single one of hers."

"She squandered her life on so-called righteousness and deserved this end. I have a doppelganger who can do whatever she wants, but she only has one life and still does whatever she pleases. She's insane."

"Thieves' House doesn't need such naive fools."

"That's right." Ying Ru covered her ears, shook her head helplessly, and pleaded with fate, which seemed to be high above her: "No... don't say it..."

"Let's say a few nice words later to trick her into giving us the Heaven-Slaying Sword."

"Yes, it's a real waste for her to have the Heaven-Slaying Sword."

"I really don't know why the Thieves' House chose her to join. She told Ying Le everything. There might be unexpected trouble on the next mission."

"If only she hadn't existed in the first place."

"say no more!"

Yingru slammed her fist on the stone table, and all the auditory hallucinations vanished, but tears streamed down her face. She sat helplessly on the ground, next to the stone chair, staring blankly at the stained glass skylight in the ceiling, her pupils as dim as damp embers.

Why did you lie to me? Why did you lie to me!

Ying Rushi murmured to herself, repeating the same yet different phrase over and over. The first phrase was filled with sadness, the next with her eyes wide with anger. Sadness and anger alternated seamlessly. Later, her face was half sad and half angry, and her voice was almost a duet, as if gods and demons resided in her heart. Now they had merged into one, transforming into a cocoon. What would emerge from the cocoon would be an unprecedented monster!

Her pupils had unknowingly transformed into scarlet vertical pupils, both eerie and noble.

She gradually stopped whispering, stood up expressionlessly, without sadness or despair, her eyes revealing an arrogance that looked down upon all living beings, her majesty dignified without needing to speak.

At this moment, she didn't seem like a traitorous heroine who had been hunted down to the point of desperation and was on the verge of death, but rather like a worldly emperor reigning over the world!
With a creak, Ying Rushi opened the door and returned to her room, striding back with head held high, like a king returning to his palace. Suddenly, a loud slam sounded behind her. Ying Rushi turned around and saw the door close automatically. Instantly, the nobility and majesty on her face vanished.

All that remained was a sliver of unbelievable ecstasy.

She opened the door again and watched as it automatically closed without her control, meaning that even if Ying Ru Shi forgot to close the door, no one could possibly break in.

The three of them, including Huang Quan, never came here at all.

The moment she realized this, Ying Rushi recalled even more illogical details. Even if the yellow dog knew she was Ying Rushi, how could it possibly know that her relatives and friends had been killed by Ying Le?

Black Wolf and Red Serpent's words were not flawed, but they were too close to her. Ying Rushi did not doubt their character, but their personal relationship was not that close.

More importantly, during that long conversation, not a single new piece of information emerged; it was all information that Ying Rushi already knew. Even when Huang Quan mentioned his 'teleportation ability,' he didn't even name it or mention any limitations; it all remained within Ying Rushi's conjecture.

So, it was all a dream?

Ying Rushi wasn't quite sure, because she clearly pinched herself. If it were a dream, she should have woken up, unless... it was a dream mixed with hallucinations.

A dream of wealth and glory on the pillow reflects the mortal world in my eyes.

A chill ran through Ying Rushi's heart.

Although she had been troubled by auditory and visual hallucinations before, they were all tending to be 'negative'. Now, the hallucinations were going in the opposite direction, weaving a beautiful dream for her. In the dream, she gained the yellow dog's approval, the black wolf's friendship, the red snake's invitation to dinner, and their help... as if she had really become their friend.

So when Ying Rushi woke up and found that reality was different from her dream, she felt such intense hatred and despair that it almost dragged her thoughts into a quagmire.

The greater the hope, the greater the disappointment.

Yingru was lucky this time, realizing the flaw in the dream through the door mechanism, but what about next time? And the time after that? The dream of wealth and power was too real, so real that Yingru couldn't see through it, so real that Yingru didn't want to see through it.

One day, she will vent her hatred on real people because of a dream that never happened.

Ying Rushi had no doubt that she would fall into this future. If even her gifted aunt could not escape it, how could she possibly be spared?

This is not an illness, it's fate.

This cannot go on.

And she couldn't continue.

Ying Le had caught up, and she couldn't shake him off. Even if she hid in the thieves' house, Ying Le would still be able to pinpoint her last known location. She needed to find a place to rest and recuperate, and then... complete the final leg of her journey before the next mission.

Ying Rushi walked to her desk, pulled out a scroll, and unfolded it—a map of the State of Qi. She checked her location, then looked at the nearest, unusual spot:
【Gathering Places】

　It would be better to update these two chapters together; there won't be any more tonight.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)