Chapter 249
Although it was a question, she clearly already knew the answer.
Zhao Shuying raised her gaze, quietly meeting Yu Xunge's eyes. Her voice was gentle, but the words were chillingly cold: "No."
"Their actions are justified. The reason the Xiangxiao are willing to risk their lives without fear is that they have no way out. If everyone knew there was an escape route, and that it was filled with immense benefits, the consequences would be unimaginable.
"When beings know there’s a way out, they begin to weigh gains and losses, becoming foolish and greedy."
Having known each other for so long, it was the first time Yu Xunge faced Zhao Shuying's true self. She wasn’t surprised; she had no filters when it came to anyone, any profession, or any organization.
Dinghai was a good place. She would always remember the cheap healing syringes and pills that flooded the market during the early days of the game invasion in her past life. But she also recalled how a group of lone wolves had huddled in the rainforest, discussing why Dinghai, which had once courted them, no longer wanted them after they were hunted by those powerful forces.
It wasn’t about right or wrong; it was a calculation that a major power must make. It had to choose the majority, the option most beneficial for development—cold, rational, compassionate yet ruthless.
And someone who could thrive in such a power structure like Zhao Shuying would never be content to remain beneath others. Perhaps she already had her own small team.
Just thinking about it made Yu Xunge feel exhausted. She sighed, "You’re starting to see things from the perspective of a player."
Zhao Shuying chuckled, her lips curving into a smile as she lowered her gaze to the documents on the table. "Because only by doing so can I notice when it’s time for my piece to be sacrificed."
Yu Xunge gathered her documents and stood up. "I’ll start collecting those specific items and keep in touch. And, I wish you success."
She didn’t pity Zhao Shuying’s situation, just as Zhao Shuying never indulged in self-pity. Everyone had their own choices and pursuits.
Zhao Shuying didn’t look at her, but her smile brightened a bit more. Lazily propping her head up with one hand, she lifted the teacup on the table and shook it at Yu Xunge, mimicking a toast.
After leaving the base, Tu Lan whispered, "Is she having a hard time? Is someone trying to harm her? Why did you suddenly wish her success? Why did she toast you?"
She had grown accustomed to asking Yu Xunge everything. No matter how silly her questions were, Yu Xunge would never mock her; instead, she would explain.
Yu Xunge recalled Zhao Shuying’s expression at that moment. It wasn’t sadness or grievance; it was ambition, sarcasm, expectation, and a hint of disdain. After a moment of thought, she tried to explain as simply and directly as possible: "She’s competing for a nest called power."
Tu Lan instantly understood. "Oh, but isn’t your world being invaded by Zelan? Can you still be busy with this?"
Yu Xunge couldn’t help but laugh at Tu Lan’s question. She laughed for several seconds, as if Tu Lan had told a hilarious joke, which only made Tu Lan more annoyed. Yu Xunge had to hug her and comfort her, still chuckling, "Just a side task."
Wasn’t that the case for Songui, Fengtang, and Taomian as well?
She continued the mission with Tu Lan, focusing on collecting those specific items.
There were a few she had previously obtained, but back then, she didn’t know their use and had sold them as junk.
Now, actively collecting them was a headache. Some required luck, while others were extremely troublesome.
For instance, the first tail of the Moon Fox, which referred to the tail that the Moon Fox was born with. One tail was easy to identify, but two or more tails meant gambling on luck, as each tail looked the same. Even if other Moon Foxes came, they wouldn’t be able to tell which tail belonged to which fox; only the Moon Fox itself knew which was its first tail.
After the Moon Fox died, as long as one tail was chopped off, its body would immediately turn to smoke, returning to the embrace of the Moon Goddess.
Of course, one could try to exploit a bug and chop off all the tails at once, but the result would be that none would remain.
The situations involving chopping off Moon Fox tails were all tested by Blue Star people who wanted to use them as scarves in their past life.
However, there was a way to deal with the first tail of the Moon Fox. At least Yu Xunge could think of a solution: she could have players with mind-reading skills interrogate the Moon Fox. It would just be a bit of a hassle.
But the most troublesome were the candle flames of the Zhu Man’s tails and a drop of the Undying Spring from the heart of the undead.
Zhu Man was a race characterized by tails adorned with seven candle flames.
The stronger they were, the closer the color of their candle flames would be to white. The candle flames of the seven royal families of Zhu Man were all white flames.
Once a Zhu Man died, their candle flames would extinguish immediately, not even lasting a second. Yet while they were alive, these candle flames were an incredibly powerful skill.
Even if a Zhu Man fell unconscious, the candle flames would automatically protect their master, and their power would surge when their master lost consciousness.
The Undying Spring was even more difficult. The Undying Spring could transform a dead person into an undead, which meant that to obtain the Undying Spring, one had to find those who had been transformed into undead midway.
But therein lay the problem.
Being transformed into an undead wasn’t particularly difficult; even without the Undying Spring, it was possible. However, these undead were rejected by their original race because their luck and divine gifts would revert to the undead race after death. Other races viewed this transformation for survival as a betrayal.
In contrast, there were other types of undead. Those who were highly valued by the undead would seek out the extremely precious Undying Spring, which only circulated within the undead, to transform them into undead after their valued ones had died.
Undead transformed by the Undying Spring had purer undead flames, retained more of their strength from life, and after death, their luck and divine gifts would return to their original race. The transformation effect was second only to those transformed directly by an undead lord.
So the question arose: the undead who could be transformed into undead by the precious Undying Spring generally wouldn’t be sent to the other world as cannon fodder at the beginning of a war, so their rank must be quite high...
And even if one painstakingly found those high-level undead who were clearly transformed later, defeating them wouldn’t necessarily yield the Undying Spring.
Just thinking about it was a headache.
Yu Xunge asked Tu Lan, "You don’t need anything from your dragon race, do you?"
Tu Lan replied, "Impossible. I didn’t sign any contracts when I descended to Blue Star; the dragon race isn’t considered a combatant."
Yu Xunge felt much more at ease. Then she suddenly stopped, pulling Tu Lan from her shoulder to face her, asking in a serious tone, "I want to ask you a few questions."
Tu Lan was a bit nervous now. She took a deep breath and became serious as well. "Go ahead."
Yu Xunge: "I’ve always wanted to know, how do Zhu Man wash their hair?"
Tu Lan’s earlier deep breath got stuck in her throat: "…"
Oh no, she wanted to know too!
Yu Xunge continued, "What if they don’t have hair? What happens to the candle flames?"
Tu Lan’s expression grew more dazed.
Right! What do bald Zhu Man do?
Yu Xunge was still curious: "When they sleep, do the candle flames float in the air? Do the candle flames need to rest? What if they accidentally lay on their hair while sleeping? Won’t the big Zhu Man burn the little Zhu Man when they have babies? If they change hairstyles, how do they divide the hair? Does each candle flame get the same amount of hair? Why don’t Zhu Man hair salons serve other races? Is there some secret?"
Tu Lan painfully hugged her head, twisting in the air as she wailed, "No… don’t say anymore… please, ah! I’m going to lose my mind!!"
Yu Xunge regretfully closed her mouth; she was genuinely curious about these questions.
Just as she was about to ask where the scythe that came with Fenglian originated from, Zhao Shuying, who had just separated from her, messaged her.
【Lacong】: Someone from Dinghai found me, wants to join.
【Songqiu】: At this time?
Over the years, the three of them had made a name for themselves, especially her, who had become notoriously infamous!
Songji had raised her bounty several times and even personally sought her out, while Songgui had been less idle, steadily fighting against the 11 alien races.
Their group, named "Only Recognize Money," had grown strong, but in the early years, no, even now, they hadn’t had it easy.
The 11 alien races wanted to kill them, and the Xiangxiao were also hunting them. They had grown up in the cracks, and in the first few years, she and Liang Yuchuan had hardly made any profit. Back then, they only sought to level up quickly and gain recognition; otherwise, no one would believe in them.
Most of their skills had been earned in the last two years.
At that time, Zhao Shuying had been running around looking for tasks to pull in business, but whenever the alien races saw the Xiangxiao, they would attack. Sometimes they were chased for hundreds of miles, and she had to use the skill "There’s a Motorcycle in My Throat," singing rap all day long as if putting on a concert.
Yu Xunge had once gone to escort her and nearly died laughing on the way. After that, Zhao Shuying wouldn’t let her escort anymore.
Fine, let Liang Yuchuan take over. This young lady claimed to be an emotionless battle machine, unlike Yu Xunge, who was unprofessional. But when Zhao Shuying’s bubble voice came out, Liang Yuchuan laughed so hard she fell to her knees.
At least Yu Xunge could laugh and fight at the same time; Liang Yuchuan, this so-called emotionless battle machine, had an incredibly low tolerance for humor and, without exaggeration, fell to her knees on the spot.
Now, Zhao Shuying not only had to rap in a bubble voice but also had to carry Liang Yuchuan while escaping, eventually resorting to cursing Liang Yuchuan in her bubble voice.
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