It was not very common for knights to carry criminal records, but martial artists had worse tempers than ordinary people, so turning into wanted criminals was hardly rare.
However, Naimu'er had a far richer imagination than Cynthia.
He asked tentatively, "Could it be that... he got his hands on something good?"
"Holy crap!" Cynthia stared in surprise, looking him up and down. "Senior, you really know how the world works."
She was a young woman after all; though sharp-witted, she had rarely endured hardship and couldn't easily stomach dirty work like looting corpses.
"Just a suggestion," Naimu'er said, wary of pushing too hard. Young as this junior schoolmate was, she truly didn't hesitate to kill. "Cynthia, you take the lion's share, and the two of us will just share the benefit—how about it? I really took heavy losses this time."
Cynthia glanced at the youth from Jin. "What do you say?"
Wu Youren shook his head calmly. "No objection."
In the end, Cynthia stepped forward to test for Guizu aura, and then Naimu'er moved in to loot the corpse.
Sure enough, his hunch hit the mark: inside the knight's waist pouch, they actually discovered three Guizu aura crystals—one large and two small!
The large one was three to four times bigger than the ones Wu Youren had seen before.
Two of the crystals still carried a faint scent of blood.
No wonder this fellow hadn't wanted to come into contact with anyone from Red Pine.
If three crystals were found on him, even if he had obtained them legitimately, the outcome... would not be very optimistic!
Men die for wealth, just as birds die for food. Even if Red Pine Martial Academy were willing to be reasonable with such a fortune, taking a cut would be entirely normal, wouldn't it?
In fact, once such a scarce resource was discovered by the academy, without strong connections, it would most likely be bought by force.
As for the purchase price... that went without saying.
Naimu'er let out a long breath, his lingering worries mostly evaporating.
Beaming with delight, he said, "This discovery makes total sense."
One large and two small—wasn't that just perfect?
Cynthia looked at the youth from Jin, who had walked over as well. "You pick first!"
Wu Youren shook his head, however, and said calmly, "I'm not interested. You two take them."
Why wasn't he interested? The reason was simple: he felt no experience points!
As expected, Guizu killed by others truly had nothing to do with him.
Conversely, the death of the knight had granted him a substantial amount of experience points.
Yet the crux of the matter was that he hadn't attacked the knight at all, nor had he harbored any malice.
Granted, he had set up the traps, which he acknowledged, but... he hadn't triggered them, had he?
The underlying logic was somewhat elusive, but it aligned with certain conjectures he held.
The logical chain was still incomplete, though; he needed more evidence to flesh out his various hypotheses.
However, his attitude displeased Cynthia: aren't you being a bit too timid?
She didn't want Naimu'er looking down on Wu Youren in the slightest, nor did she want her fellow townsman questioning her judgment.
"Take one!" Her expression darkened as she spoke with no room for argument. "You have the potential to be an ability master!"
"Holy shit..." Naimu'er blurted, once again shocked. "I thought you just fancied him for his looks!"
Cynthia gave him a cool look. "Is he not good-looking?"
"Both of you, listen to me," Wu Youren said. He wasn't fond of talking, but at this point, he could no longer remain silent! "As for potential as an ability master, I haven't noticed any in myself, and I really don't have much interest in these things. If you two genuinely want to look out for me, then... cash me out."
Hearing this, Naimu'er gave him a deep look. "With your family background, no wonder Cynthia likes you!"
Anyone with common sense knew that Guizu relics could be exchanged for money, but having money didn't necessarily mean one could buy Guizu relics!
These three resentment crystals were precious to apprentice knights—in fact, even to knights—yet some families truly didn't lack such things.
As it happened, Naimu'er had actually interacted with an ability master before, and knew how they viewed such Guizu relics.
Simply put, Guizu relics of this tier were only useful to apprentice ability masters; for higher tiers, they held virtually no value.
The ability master system differed from knights: although "apprentice ability masters" carried the word "apprentice," they had to have already awakened.
In a rough analogy, an apprentice ability master was roughly equivalent to a knight.
The damage an actual ability master could inflict was at least comparable to that of a grand knight.
Of course, grand knights were thick-skinned, resilient, and astonishingly powerful in close combat, whereas many ability masters were fragile, with few excelling at melee.
In short, each had their strengths, and precise cross-system comparisons made little sense.
Still, such a rough analogy was enough: would a Guizu relic obtained by a knight be of any help to a grand knight?
In Naimu'er's mind, with Wu Youren's family background, he probably didn't think much of such relics.
What wild assumptions are you dreaming up now? Wu Youren remained impassive and said, "If you liquidate the crystals, you can at least gain some favors."
I'm a damn Jin native, what do I need Liang favors for?
Besides, if word got out that I had a crystal, who knew what trouble it might bring!
Naimu'er nodded at those words; that was indeed true.
His family was hardly strapped for cash either, otherwise how could he have gotten acquainted with an ability master?
Guizu relics were certainly valuable, but if a family truly went all out, who couldn't afford one or two?
The crux lay in the high invisible barrier to entry... in short, having money alone wasn't enough to buy them!
"So you truly don't need them, right?"
"Shut up for a second!" Cynthia snapped, thoroughly annoyed, before glaring fiercely at the youth from Jin. "Do you really not want to awaken?"
"My main issue is that I'm short on cash," Wu Youren spread his hands helplessly. "How about... giving me his weapons instead?"
The knight carried quite a few things: his cold weapons consisted of a long saber and a short sword over half a meter long.
For firearms, there were two pistols; no rifle was seen, most likely abandoned in combat.
Setting aside the rest, almost nothing had survived the explosion anyway.
Wu Youren had no designs on the two pistols; even if they were given to him, he would sell them later to avoid courting trouble.
Cold weapons, however, were something he genuinely lacked, and he truly couldn't afford to buy them.
"You..." Naimu'er was somewhat speechless. Was this guy rich or broke?
Still, knight-grade cold weapons were also very valuable; a properly nurtured cold weapon could account for half of a knight's combat effectiveness.
A well-nurtured, top-grade long saber could be worth more than the three crystals combined!
While looting the corpse, he had already been pondering how to divide the two cold weapons.
Although Naimu'er was only an apprentice knight, his discerning eye was sharp enough to recognize that both weapons barely qualified as high quality.
They weren't the frightfully expensive custom-made pieces, but in brand-new condition, they would be worth a small crystal, around three to five thousand silver dollars.
Both cold weapons had seen years of use and suffered slight damage, but they were repairable, with a combined value of three to five thousand silver dollars.
Naimu'er had been wondering whether he could pay some money after dividing the crystals to take one of the weapons.
Since the other guy wanted them, however, it didn't matter. Wouldn't it be better to get a brand-new one once he advanced to knight?
Cynthia also knew weapon prices—no martial artist was ignorant of such things. "You want both?"
"One is fine too," Wu Youren offered easily. Carrying two cold weapons would make him stand out rather conspicuously among the hostages.
Naimu'er, however, knew the prices all too well. "This fellow really is... easygoing."
If Wu Youren took both weapons and left the three crystals to him and his junior schoolmate, they would be getting an enormous bargain.
"Take both, then," Cynthia decided. "Once I advance to knight, my family will buy me a new one!"
"You're better off than me," Naimu'er said, glancing at her enviously. "My family will probably only cover part of it; I'll have to scrape together the rest myself."
"In that case... my thanks to both of you," Wu Youren hesitated for a moment before hardening his resolve.
At most, it would just make him stand out a bit.
Only those who had experienced that constant feeling of treading on thin ice truly knew what it was like; he desperately wanted to bolster his ability to protect himself.
Might he be targeted? It really didn't matter. Who could ever gain anything without paying a price?
Because the explosion had made too loud a commotion, the three worried someone might trace it to them, so they didn't discuss the matter for long.
Cynthia stated that after dealing with the crystals, she would compensate Wu Youren with some silver dollars depending on the circumstances.
Naimu'er felt a bit reluctant inside; he felt that since Wu Youren hadn't even lifted a finger, walking away with two weapons was already more than fair.
Yet the recent scene had also made him realize that although his fellow townsman was a young woman, her methods were utterly ruthless.
She might be younger than him, but temperament was partly innate.
As an injured bystander who had merely happened to pass by, getting an unexpected windfall was already more than enough to be satisfied.
Especially since this place was covered in traps. "What do we do about the corpse?"
Cynthia said the corpse could be left there, and they would decide once Instructor Keli returned—after all, they weren't in the wrong.
She urged him, "You're injured and lost your biguijue. Aren't you leaving soon?"
Naimu'er hesitated. If he left, wouldn't he be far away from the crystals? And he couldn't very well take them by force.
It wasn't that he distrusted his fellow townsman, but when it came to money, if you didn't look after your own interests, who else would?
So he chose to stay. As for danger... he would just accept it; running out might not be any safer anyway.
They had proper medicine here to give him basic treatment without issue, as well as traps for warning and defense.
As darkness fell, large numbers of martial artists continued fleeing along the mountain road, but none attempted to climb the hill anymore.
The three were happy for the peace and quiet. To avoid drawing attention, they didn't light a fire that night.
Even deep into the night, engine rumbles and human voices could still be heard from the mountain road.
Cynthia and Wu Youren checked in with Instructor Keli at set intervals, but there was never any response.
Only when dawn began to break again did the female martial artist's watch vibrate. It was another instructor from Red Pine contacting her.
This instructor stated that the academy already knew of Keli's situation; martial artists who had rushed out from inside had brought a message from the military.
Keli had originally been helping with logistics, but the sudden outbreak of Guizu prevented him from pulling away—the military required him to stay behind.
Red Pine now wanted to know whether there were still academy personnel standing guard at the mountain pass.
Chapter 59