This time I chose Paladin.

Chapter 112 Ra Threat
When Nie Weiyang landed beside He Li, the people around him realized that he was not one of them.

With the calmness of an old assassin and the friendliness of a paladin, Nie Weiyang could blend into any crowd with ease. Wearing his Walkman headphones and with his hands in his pockets, he walked over to He Li openly and even said hello: "Hello."

"..." He Li slowly turned his head. He could sense a strong sense of intimidation from this stranger who was taller than him, but -

——Who the hell are you?
"Who are you?" He Li asked.

The glowing fang on his necklace floated slightly, and the river surged, crashing into the riverbank where the two men stood with a loud "boom!" A curved shield of light flashed beside Nie Weiyang, blocking the yellow sand and water that had been blocked and splashing onto the wet mud.

"Nice to meet you." He smiled and extended his hand: "I'm Nie Weiyang."

He Li was silent for a moment, then suddenly revealed a bright and sunny smile. He held Nie Weiyang's hand tightly with both hands and shook it enthusiastically: "Nice to meet you, nice to meet you. My name is He Li, and I'm the agent of the Great River Lord in Zhongzhou."

...He is really flexible!

Nie Weiyang's smile almost faltered as he thought about the 'He Bo' who would look down on others with his nose in the future - if he wasn't short, that guy would have done it - and then looked at the person in front of him...

Sometimes he was in awe of these resilient, arrogant guys. Really.

"Mr. Nie, what brings you here?" He Li asked with a smile, holding Nie Weiyang's hand tightly.

Just as Nie Weiyang was about to pull his hand away, he saw the four teeth on the other person's necklace flash.

[[Spirit]-[Charm] stealth confrontation succeeded, and the [Charm] launched by player [He Li] (Great River Power) against you failed.]

[[Spirit]-[Spirit] secret confrontation was successful, and the [Deterrence] launched by player [He Li] (Great River Power) against you failed.]

[[Charm]-[Charm] stealth confrontation succeeded, player [He Li] (Dahe Zhiwei)'s attempt to [obtain information] against you failed.]

Nie Weiyang: “…”

He Li: “…”

"Mr. He's enthusiasm is touching." Nie Weiyang smiled and gently held He Li's hand.

The next second, He Li's face twisted, and at the edge of his vision, a prompt floated up slowly:

[Player [Nie Weiyang] challenges you to a [Strength] vs. [Strength] attribute match... The match fails, and your health is -230.]

He Li: “…”

Night fell, He Li slowly raised his eyes and looked at Nie Weiyang's sunglasses.

In that darkness, he saw a glimmer of scarlet light.

"...What on earth are you?" he asked slowly, "The might of the river blesses me, but you..."

But how the hell could you possibly beat me in every way? Beat me with the blessing of the Great River? The effect of 'Might of the Great River' multiplies my Charisma and Spiritual Attributes by 1.5 times their original value, even allowing me to use high-level equipment and rare items prematurely!
Haven’t we all just entered the new world four months ago?
My panel's Charm attribute is 30 points, and my Spirit attribute is 45. Multiply that by 1.5, and you can still win. Are you still a human being? ??? ???
He Li had no idea that if he had had the option to use his mind to challenge Nie Weiyang's charisma, he would have likely won. But now, as he tried to pull his hand back in pain, he stared at Nie Weiyang in shock, baffled by what this was, yet unable to stop himself from developing a fondness and closeness for him, even wanting to join him—both because of his defeat and because of Nie Weiyang's charismatic passive skill, [Herald Inspiration].

This brief confrontation between the two was completely out of the sight of the other people around. Everyone just held their breath and concentrated, originally waiting for the boss to win as usual, but they only saw the boss's expression as if he had seen a ghost.

So when they looked at Nie Weiyang's expression, they also began to look like they had seen a ghost.

"Being polite will do you good." Nie Weiyang smiled, still holding the other person's hand. "I have a few questions. Can you answer them?"

"...Okay." He Li said slowly. He tried hard to keep his expression from being distorted, but Nie Weiyang was too strong and knew too much about exerting force and torturing people. At this moment, just a slight movement of his fingers made him feel like his hand was going to break.

"Who were the people you offered sacrifices to the River God?" Nie Weiyang asked slowly. He Li took a deep breath.

"Some of the people who were causing trouble in my area were robbing, killing, setting fire, stealing and raping," he said.

This is not a lie, Nie Weiyang thought.

This is reasonable. Not everyone in this world can so easily treat others as non-human beings in troubled times. If He Li starts to disregard human lives and randomly selects people to sacrifice to the river, he will not be able to build "Tianyu Ferry" in the future.

People can follow a boss who is cruel to his enemies, but most people won't follow a boss who could whip everyone to death at any time. If someone really does this, it's hard to say whether the boss is more psychotic or his followers are more psychotic.

To be on the safe side, Nie Weiyang asked again, "Are you sure that among the sacrifices so far, this kind of person is the only one?"

"I'm sure." He Li's answer this time was more justified.

That's the truth. Very good.

Nie Weiyang nodded slightly and asked a fatal question.

"Do you know that the Reversion Sect is a cult that sells drugs and harms people?" he asked slowly.

The people around him suddenly buzzed, and He Li remained calm: "I don't know."

"Lying will do you no good." Nie Weiyang's voice became calmer.

‘Click! ’

He Li's hand made a teeth-grinding sound, and his usual calmness disappeared.

"You know. Even these days, you've repeatedly helped the Return Sect members travel back and forth between the two sides of the river. You're so skilled, and your relationship with them is so close, that the spirit-controlling messenger subconsciously came to you—because she knew you could provide services." Nie Weiyang said slowly, "It's not that you didn't know what those people were doing, you just pretended not to know. You compromised for the sake of your goal... Perhaps it was originally to survive, to protect those around you, so you gathered so many people..."

His voice gradually softened. A person's personality was a complex topic. Nie Weiyang had no way of knowing what kind of person He Li had been. Because whether He Li remembered it himself or others, it was not the real He Li. Superficial memories could be deceptive.

Therefore, Nie Weiyang only talks about the present.

"...Now, you cooperate with the cult and learn their practices, making people worship He Bo as a 'god'. You also mark out land here to control the river waterway, but you don't contact any official forces around. Do you... want to be a god, or a king? Or both?" He said slowly, lowered his head slightly, and looked at He Li closely.

Night enveloped everything, and the stars and the moon shone through the darkness, watching the scene.

Nie Weiyang's voice was deep, a clear threat. Even though this was on the banks of a large river, if a fight really broke out, with a boss and a group of people helping them, they would be an unprecedentedly difficult opponent. But this might be the best chance to resolve the Hebo issue in the near future.

"He Li, are you sure... you want to continue doing this?"

——Nie Weiyang asked.

In his mind, the once prosperous 'Tianyu Ferry' in his previous life emerged silently.

At that busy ferry, communication between the two sides of the river was blocked by such a person.

If this doesn't resolve the issue...

Then he would try to deal with He Li himself!

　I owed you an update from the day before yesterday!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)