The Third One

The rat's answer was fairly good news: "I want to return in broad daylight and take my revenge!" *I support you in spirit!* Wu Youren didn't want to waste breath on polite nonsense. "Why look for me?" "Because you're relatively free," Chen Quanxu answered without hesitation. "Moreover, you have great potential—very, very great potential." *I don't need you to tell me that!* The youth said calmly, "You're mistaken." "I know what you're wary of. Building mutual trust isn't easy." It was quite a reasonable rat. Still, he was quite blunt: "Then again, if I wanted to harm you, it wouldn't take much effort. Hong Yan couldn't protect you." *Are you trying to force me to join the New Army?* The youth was a bit paranoid, but he couldn't help it—circumstances had forced him to be that way. "Since you know building trust isn't easy, how about you leave me alone? We're both from Jin—why should people of Jin make things difficult for each other?" "You need my help," Chen Quanxu stated brazenly. But right after, he changed tack: "I'm dying!" "..." Wu Youren truly didn't know what to say. After a long pause, he asked, "You're not planning to leave your fortune to me, are you?" "That's certainly open for discussion," the rat actually replied without hesitation, "as long as you promise to help me take revenge!" *Did I drink fake alcohol before leaving today?* The youth genuinely felt something was off. "You know illusion techniques too? Impressive!" "Illusion technique my ass," the rat cursed bluntly. "Aside from my feud in Great Jin, I have one with Liang, too! "If not for this goddamned country insisting on Jin hostages... If I hadn't had to come as a guard, who would have dared strip my Chen family of our fiefdom?" *This illusion is completely seamless!* Wu Youren couldn't help asking, "When did you first notice me?" *If you dare say I'm a transmigrator, I'll definitely... Wait, should I call the cops for this?* "When you left Hostage Manor for the Martial Academy, of course," the rat answered without thinking. "Mainly later, when I wanted to make a run to Suotu Town to pick up some goods." *Make a run to Suotu for goods...* The youth's brow twitched. *Oh, he's an ability master? Never mind, then.* Wu Youren always liked cutting straight to the point. "Then why didn't you contact me back then?" "It wasn't appropriate," the rat replied crisply. "You even killed a secret agent from Jin. Your mental state was off." "Holy shit!" Wu Youren was truly shocked this time. He had always thought he was the only one who knew about him shattering a certain knight's testicles without receiving any experience points. *Can a guy seriously get no privacy around here?* Yet the rat showed zero regard for his feelings. "An apprentice knight killing a knight—and one of your own, no less. It really blew me away!" The youth looked stone-faced: *If insulting people had ranks, you'd be at rank ninety-nine!* Still, Chen Quanxu was genuinely straightforward. "I didn't mind. That idiot knew nothing about intelligence work. If you hadn't killed him, he would've brought ruin upon himself and others sooner or later." If this wasn't an illusion... he really had no choice but to believe it! But the rat wasn't finished. "Later, when you got rid of that scoundrel Er Shan, that's when I confirmed you had potential. "I don't know much about what happened at Mount Xuanling afterward. Many of my methods were slaughtered by people mistaking them for Guizu!" "Fine, bro, you win." Wu Youren was truly at a loss for words. Setting everything else aside, if word got out that he had killed Er Shan, he would be in deep trouble. Sister Hua and the others hadn't dared leak it because their own conduct had been dirty, so they dared not speak up. As for killing his own country's intelligence operative—Jin might not tolerate him either. Giving up on resisting, he asked, "What do you want me to do?" "I don't need you to do anything," the rat said bluntly. "I just wanted to remind you: don't forget where you came from! "You're a person of Jin, and a hostage at that. Your position is even more awkward than mine... In Liang, you'll never make a name for yourself!" Wu Youren fell silent. After a good while, he asked, "Bro, if you don't mind me asking, where is your true body?" "Now that's the spirit." The rat's whiskers twitched, and it actually let out a laugh. "You ought to find a way to track me down and silence me! "I even like your name. Toward an enemy country... there is no need for benevolence!" "I didn't mean it like that," Wu Youren gave a dry laugh. "I was just a little worried about you, bro, and a bit admiring. I'm a very simple guy." "Do you even believe that yourself?" The rat's whiskers twitched again. "If we're going to cooperate, it's better to keep some distance between us." "Cooperate..." Wu Youren was slightly dazed. *Did I agree to that?* Still, keeping distance was no bad thing. "Maintaining a bit of personal boundaries sounds great to me." "'Personal boundaries'—I like that phrase... Uh, that's the third one!" A small knife flew through the air, pinning the rat to the ground. Right on its heels, a scrawny figure swept past like a gust of wind. The figure pulled out the knife, revealing another youth in ragged clothes. Glancing cautiously around at the people sheltering from the rain, he bent down and picked up the rat by its tail. The rat wasn't small; even excluding the tail, it was a good ten-odd centimeters long. In the next instant, the ragged youth bolted, vanishing into the vast, rainy night in a flash. "The third one?" Wu Youren raised a brow. The second had been the black cat, which he knew, but what about the first? Right at that moment, Xiao Ha let out a couple of chirps, seemingly indicating he was hungry. Wu Youren turned his head and scolded with a chuckle, "Don't bother pretending. With his urge to show off, you wouldn't be able to hold back!" The bird's chirps drew the attention of the people sheltering from the rain nearby, who turned to look. Time to head back! Wu Youren stood up. In the short term, the other party was unlikely to seek him out again. This conversation had delivered no small amount of information for a first contact. As for establishing mutual trust, that was something for later; there was no need to dwell on it now. He just wondered what the relationship was between Chen Quanxu and that middle-aged one-eyed man. Total strangers, collaborators, or... had the one-eyed man also been controlled? If it was the third possibility... Forget it. It was a headache, and making wild guesses was a pointless waste of energy. Better to just watch how things played out. Enough had already happened today! From the arrival of the messenger from the Ministry of Works, to visiting Fanghua Martial Academy, to learning the inside story of the New Army, to meeting the New Army commander... And then, just now, making contact with Chen Quanxu. Everything that had happened in this single day practically exceeded his eight years in Hostage Manor. Even as he returned to the Red Pine liaison office, he was still digesting and organizing the day's information. Stepping into the courtyard, he was somewhat surprised to find that the academy's nine knights hadn't returned yet. Did they really have that much to talk about with the people from Fanghua Martial Academy? Xiao Ha chirped a few more times. Now that its aviator-shades look had completely faded, it had some vision. Could the little fellow sense they were back at the liaison office? It was definitely hungry. Wu Youren returned to his room and dug out two strips of dried meat. The little guy was growing well, changing day by day, and its appetite was surging. While feeding Xiao Ha, he was still pondering: *Why didn't Chen Quanxu possess Xiao Ha?* Whatever, no use overthinking it. He just needed to stay guarded in the future. He didn't fully trust the ability master, even if the man knew far too many of his secrets. His current level of trust in that man... was about on par with his trust in Hong Da. If he weren't powerless against him, he would have at least considered capturing the man to interrogate him for more details. Funnily enough, the person—or strictly speaking, creature—he could trust most up to now was actually Xiao Ha! If the little fellow were ever controlled by Chen Quanxu, that was something he could never accept. "Huh? What the fuck..." Wu Youren noticed something amiss. "What's wrong?" Just as he was about to feed Xiao Ha the second meat strip, the little guy spit out the first! He thought for a moment. Xiao Ha hadn't eaten any Guizu-luring agent today—was it being finicky? Unfortunately, none of those crowdfunding fellows were around! The youth walked up to Hong Da's door and knocked. "Come in, it's unlocked," came a lazy, raspy voice. He pushed the door open. Hong Da was sitting in a chair fiddling with her comms watch, saying without looking up, "Give me a second." Half a minute later, she finally lifted her eyelids, though her fingers still fiddled with the comms watch. "What is it?" "Buying Guizu-luring agent." The youth took out two gold coins and placed them on the table. "Xiao Ha has been eating a lot lately." "Never mind that," Instructor Hong said as she set a small vial on the table. Then she went back to fiddling with her comms watch and remarked casually, "I'm an investor too. This meal's on me!" The ten people in the know naturally included Grand Knight Hong. After the Guizu-luring agent was sprinkled on, Xiao Ha indeed swallowed the meat strip, opening its beak for a second piece. Once it swallowed the second piece, Instructor Hong finally found a free moment and looked up at the youth. "Was there a mastermind behind those fellows?" "I don't know," Wu Youren shook his head. "I didn't want any entanglement with the New Army, so I left quickly." "They were trying to get on your good side," Instructor Hong answered casually. Evidently, once she noticed the New Army stepping in, she had pulled back her perception. Otherwise, if someone noticed her presence, this treasure of a boy... might not belong exclusively to Red Pine anymore. Hence, she had no idea about the subsequent events. "Be a little more careful during this period. Wait another half a month." "I'd like to... head back tomorrow," the youth hesitated before speaking. "It feels a bit unsafe here." "Hmm?" Instructor Hong's eyes lifted from her comms watch once more, a hint of displeasure showing. "With me here, you feel unsafe?" Wu Youren met her gaze with clear eyes. "Hong Da, I don't like exposure. It might not be good for Red Pine either." "Tsk." Hong Yan finally stopped fiddling with her comms watch and fell into thought. "That's also a concern... How about waiting another five days? I'll press Jeff." Those two Guizu relics were far too important to her—so much so that she couldn't even entrust anyone else to deliver them back to Red Pine. That bearded senior of hers in the City Guard Bureau ought to be reliable enough, and he had just received favors from her, but she dared not gamble on it. "Court struggles change in an instant," the youth said with a wry smile. "If you think we can wait, then... let's wait!" What he feared most was a sudden shift in the situation. If another continuous wave of experience points suddenly surged in, he truly wasn't sure what would happen. "If that happens, going back to Red Pine won't let you escape it either," Instructor Hong answered dismissively. "Tell you what: go stay at the City Guard Bureau for a while. It's relatively safe there..."