Scourge Messenger

Chapter 50: Long-term shallowness
Yan Qing pressed the teapot to brew the first cup of tea, poured it out, poured out the second cup of tea, and took a sip. It was slightly astringent at first, but the aftertaste was long and sweet, a bit like Tieguanyin.

His life has improved now. He even has a set of tea sets. In the past two days, there have been banquets every day, with rich fish and meat. He has to drink some tea to relieve the greasiness and avoid constipation.

Logically speaking, he should also be considered a game character, after all, he is listed in the character column, but why do other game characters not need to poop, but he has such a backward function?

Or did Ye Si, Jiang Shi and the others secretly take a shit when I wasn't playing?

Yan Qing was lost in thought as he watched Jiang Shi return to the Qian family carriage.

Qian Gongyu had just finished her shower, her hair steaming, and she was wearing a thin silk nightgown. She pinched her nose when she saw Jiang Shi. "You're all sweaty! Go take a shower! The water's still hot."

When Jiang Shi went to take a shower, the mist immediately obscured the entire screen, and Yan Qing could only see a few parts of his head, shoulders, and arms. Qian Gongyu walked in again, leaning over the tub and asking, "Jiang Shi, are you planning on going to the Jie family or the Shang family? I think the Jie family is better, after all."

"Did you hear that?"

"You guys were chatting at the door, I heard a little bit."

After the banquet, Shang Xinlei and Jie Yuanshao tacitly split up and came to recruit Jiang Shi. Shang Xinlei's offer was undoubtedly the lowest, requiring five years of service to the Shang family in exchange for three tokens. Jie Yuanshao's offer was much better, offering four tokens for four years, and these four tokens were self-selected, available from the Jie family treasury.

However, they all said that this was only the minimum offer, and once they contacted the family, they would definitely be able to offer better conditions. They also didn't need Jiang Shi to agree immediately. After the three days of the secret realm in the Mansu Forest were over, they were sure that the family would pay more attention to Jiang Shi.

Their main purpose in recruiting him was to show that they valued Jiang Shi as much as Qun Yushu did.

Yan Qing didn't mind serving the aristocratic family. As a player who had been tortured by canned single-player games, he had long been accustomed to helping NPCs unclog toilets for the slightest benefit. As long as the price was right, it didn't matter who he helped unclog the toilet.
As long as the other party cooperates with sincerity, Yan Qing is also happy to exchange labor for remuneration.

But these people are too stingy. They keep the tokens hidden and won’t give them to Yan Qing unless he works for a certain number of years. But Yan Qing needs the tokens now to improve his combat power!
As for the token of gratitude after working for a year...

In the game "The Messenger," even the most inexperienced, casual, and unfocused player could reach the fourth level in less than six months if they played for three hours a day. Even though reaching the fourth level in this world was more difficult and took twice as long, a year was enough for Yan Qing to reach it.

I have already reached the fourth level of foundation building, do I still need these ordinary blank tokens that can only be sold in stores?
This is also why Yan Qing directly identified the 'Guardian Jade Pendant' handed over by Qun Yushu - he certainly knew how precious the basic function in the game 'knowing all the information about the token' was in this world. It was equivalent to being the only educated person among a group of illiterate people. Not to mention becoming a public intellectual, even becoming a prophet was more than enough.

He also knew that after revealing this ability, Jiang Shi would attract more covetousness.

But as long as the benefits are obtained, it's fine.

Shang Xinlei complained that Jiang Shi shouldn't show off his identification ability, and Jie Yuanshao even said that Jiang Shi was too short-sighted to be so arrogant and aggressive.

They couldn't understand why "Jiang Shi" was so eager for a token of trust and why he didn't keep a low profile and pursue long-term interests.

After all, for the vast majority of people, it is undoubtedly right to keep a low profile and accumulate strength for a breakthrough. After all, we only have one life, and people should look at the long term.

But their long-term vision was too superficial for Yan Qing.

Yan Qing wasn't chasing a mere fourth stage of Foundation Establishment, but rather the highest-level stages of seventh, eighth, and even ninth stages. As long as he could get enough equipment to get through the novice period, he didn't mind offending any of the aristocratic families here. While the aristocratic families here monopolized resources, and extorting gold from them was justified, Yan Qing had no intention of cloaking his actions in righteousness; he simply used whatever means necessary.

Single-player players are like this: as long as the game mechanics allow, they will use whichever method is effective: cheating, stealing, or robbery. The game NPC may call this a crime, while the player may call it efficient.

"The conditions they offer are not good. I will wait until the Mansu Forest is over and they offer better conditions."

"These conditions aren't great." Qian Gongyu smacked her lips, "But that's fine... so you'll still stay with me for the next two days, right?"

"Of course, Miss."

"whee."

"My lady, let's use our tokens for a sparring match tomorrow."

"Huh? Oh, well... okay."

Qian Gongyu suddenly remembered something, ran out barefoot, and ran back barefoot with a box in her hand: "This is the spiritual jade that Xinlei gave me. Now that Jiang Shi has changed his job to a messenger, let's split it up!" "This is for you, not for me, and I don't need spiritual jade."

"You don't need it?" Qian Gongyu looked around and suddenly remembered something: "Oh, you hid the spiritual jade in the storage token."

She lowered her head, looking at the box, her voice a little low: "That's right, you have a knife token and a storage token. You are obviously a descendant of a noble family. How could you be short of spiritual jade like me..."

"But don't miss it."

Jiang Shi reached out and took half of the jade from the box. "Consider this as the fee for hiring me as a bodyguard, Miss."

Qian Gongyu was stunned, feeling a bit amused and helpless: "This fee is too high, three thousand spirit jades have to be spent in just a few days."

"But I'm worth it."

Qian Gongyu blinked, then looked at Jiang Shi from the tub, her eyes flickering as she smiled faintly, "That's right."

……

...

The next morning, in the open space in front of the entrance to Mansu Woodland, they split into three groups.

The largest group naturally consisted of the children of prominent families. The Mansu Woodland was a secret place that lasted three days; missing even one day was equivalent to giving up, so they had to continue entering the woodland today.

They would glance at Jiang Shi and the other three from time to time, their eyes filled with envy and hatred. They envied them for not having to suffer in the forest, they envied Jiang Shi for being able to influence the Mansu Forest, and they hated her even more for not sharing this secret method with everyone - a mere black belt commoner had actually climbed over their heads with this, how could they not hate her.

The second group consisted of Jie Zilong, Chen Linchuan, and Qun Yushu. They would enter the Mansu Forest together. If they were lucky, they would form a team, but if they were unlucky, they would each form their own team. To this day, no one had figured out the pattern by which Mansu Forest assigned teams.

The last ones were Jiang Shi and his fourteen companions.

"Let's go." Jie Zilong said, "They've already formed their teams. Even if they go in with us, they won't be assigned to the same team as us."

"Then I'll leave it to you two seniors." Qun Yushu said with a smile.

Chen Linchuan received a large spear from his attendant and rode first into the dense forest fog, followed closely by the other two. After they entered, Jiang Shi and the others also set out. Even if they didn't enter together, they would still have ended up in the same shelter.

But Qian Gongyu seemed unaware of this, holding onto Jiang Shi's arm tightly. Shang Xinlei, upon seeing this, took Jiang Shi's other arm. Jie Yuanshao, noticing this, hesitated for a moment and reached out to grab Shang Xinlei's sleeve.

After passing through the brief thick fog, the shelter appeared before them again.

The shelter remained in the same state as before they left: the Blade Warrior statue, the stone house, the destroyed wooden crossbow, the broken wall. Somehow, after arriving in this dangerous place, Qian Gongyu felt completely relaxed, as if it were safer here than outside.

At the same time, a new message popped up in the game:
"You have entered the Mansu Woods."

Based on your level, you can currently obtain the following milestone information

"Bronze Hunter: You cleared the fifth level of Mansu Woodland."

"Silver Hunter: You have cleared the tenth level of Mansu Woodland."

"Gold Hunter: You cleared the 20th level of Mansu Woodland."

"Lord of the Woods: You have cleared the 99th level of Mansu Woods."

(End of this chapter)