A military truck draped in a thick tarpaulin rolled into the courtyard, and the people upstairs began hauling things down... Among them was an unfamiliar yet remarkably nimble figure.
The guard Shang Nianhua had brought along was actually helping to carry crates.
Without anyone noticing, he had simply blended in, looking completely natural and at ease.
When Han Qingyu and the others finally realized it, they were dumbfounded.
"By right, shouldn't he be under guard too?"
"Probably."
"He acted so naturally that we completely forgot about him."
Wen Jifei had secretly wrapped up the phoenix coronet, intending to carry it down himself in a moment. Looking up again, he happened to see that guard heading back upstairs and chuckled. "He's gone up and down several times already, and he hasn't even tried to run..."
"Well, since that's the case, it doesn't matter much. Just have someone keep half an eye on him... His gear and weapons have already been stripped, and Wu Xu is keeping watch downstairs anyway."
Han Qingyu surveyed the scene. Most of the goods had already been moved, so he merely gave a casual instruction without pressing the matter.
This time, they had wiped out the Yu clan. In Captain Lao's words, catching key fugitives who had raided the supply depot and recovering such massive losses went beyond their squad's regular duties, so the reward Azure granted them was bound to be substantial.
On top of that, Han Qingyu and his friends had acquired twenty-six source energy blocks for themselves.
These were leftovers from the Yu clan's personal reserves. No one knew when or where they had been produced, but their refining and manufacturing quality was exceedingly poor; each block's maximum capacity was less than two-thirds of the Azure standard.
It had to be considered a rather meager haul.
Then there was that piece of bone, which Han Qingyu had kept for himself.
The source energy fluctuations on the bone's surface were not particularly intense. As for what was stored inside, Han Qingyu had tried to inspect it, but for the moment, he had no way of sensing it clearly, nor could he absorb it directly.
Even so, he had kept it because the source energy fluctuation emanating from the bone was exceedingly peculiar—it exuded an inexplicable sense of familiarity that drew him in.
Once they finished their work, Wen Jifei and the others gathered around to study it.
"What kind of bone is this?"
"Human?"
"Doesn't look like it."
Because it was a fractured piece, it was impossible to tell what animal it had come from at a glance, but judging by its size and structure, it did not appear to be from a human body.
"Then again, you never know... Maybe it's from a modified human?"
"Or a modified beast."
"A super Great Spike?"
"Don't Great Spikes self-destruct, though?"
"Who can say for sure?!"
They babbled back and forth for a while without figuring anything out. Then Shen Yixiu returned, bringing Shang Nianhua with her.
After only a short time outside, the woman had already regained her composure.
She was clearly adept at reading people and finding the right angle to handle them. When she spoke to Han Qingyu again, every trace of her earlier seductive charm was gone.
"As you said, all my people have been dismissed," Shang Nianhua stated, her expression calm and unyielding.
Shen Yixiu had just escorted her out to send away the Shang clan ambushers waiting outside.
Under Azure's current policy toward most of the Self-Preservation Faction, there was indeed no need to wipe out an outfit like the Shang clan. Unless special circumstances arose, there wasn't even any need to drag them back under arrest.
Han Qingyu had no interest in doing so right now either. He gave a nod and asked, "Can you guarantee they'll behave themselves once they go back?"
"I can... I swear it on my life."
A trace of apprehension lingered in Shang Nianhua's eyes. She feared Han Qingyu might go back on his word and resort to slaughter; after all, his current image had already merged with the legendary God of Slaughter of the Nepal Gorge.
Yet on the surface, she maintained a resolute front and added, "The Shang clan has always minded its own business."
As she said this, Shang Nianhua made no attempt to display anger or a sense of grievance as she had before. She had learned that using feminine wiles on the man before her was entirely useless.
"Good, then." Whether they minded their own business or not, weren't they still stirring up trouble? Han Qingyu had no desire to debate right and wrong over such matters. He glanced at her, took out the bone, and said, "You should know about this... What creature did this bone come from, and what secret does it hold?"
Shang Nianhua looked at him and shook her head. "I don't know what creature it came from. I only know that among families like ours, it's rumored to be immensely important—supposedly capable of altering a person's source energy constitution..."
"Alter?!" Everyone present was startled at the same time. After all, the conviction that one's degree of source energy fusion could never be altered was ingrained in every single one of them.
"Yes. They say it enhances it—supposedly to a terrifying extent." Shang Nianhua seemed to have fully grasped her current situation. Like a prisoner who had abandoned resistance and chosen to come clean, she held nothing back and continued of her own accord, "However, to this day, it remains nothing more than a legend. No one has ever actually achieved it... at least as far as I know."
"Then why did you want it so badly?!" Wen Jifei challenged her on the spot.
Shang Nianhua turned to look at him and calmly explained, "No one has achieved it... but various families speculate that it might be a matter of quantity. So whenever there's a chance, everyone strives to secure whatever pieces they can."
"Oh, so the He clan has one too?"
"Yes."
"The He, Yu, and Shang clans... Who else has one?"
"That is all I know."
"That can't be right, can it? If this came from an animal, it must have been massive. There's no way there are only this few bones."
"That truly is all I know."
"Then why don't you name all the families you know of that are in a similar situation to yours?"
"..."
While the two went back and forth, Han Qingyu was actually spacing out.
*Shang Nianhua said the bone can enhance a person's source energy constitution to a terrifying degree... and I feel a sense of kinship with the bone... Could it mean reaching a level like mine? The level where one can directly absorb metal blocks and blue crystal blocks?*
At the thought, a strange unease welled up inside him... *Damn it, my bones aren't going to swell up and deform, are they?! How am I supposed to go on blind dates and marry a wife then?!*
"Do you truly not know what creature this bone came from?" Han Qingyu looked up and asked nervously.
Turning away from her argument with Wen Jifei, Shang Nianhua replied, "I truly don't. Nor does anyone know where they originally came from."
Her gaze was completely earnest.
"All right." Han Qingyu considered it for a moment, then tucked the bone away. "Let's leave it at that for now. The four of you take the truck back to our encampment and stay put for a few days. We'll deal with the rest after I finish my business and return."
He needed to visit the medical station first.
"...Understood." Shang Nianhua agreed and turned to leave, taking a few steps behind Shen Yixiu. Upon reaching the top of the stairs, she looked back. "If I do everything you asked, will you really let us go in the end?"
"I will."
"All right."
***
Downstairs, Shang Nianhua saw Que Qingshang sitting in a corner of the courtyard wall, guarded by soldiers.
Making a quiet request of Shen Yixiu, Shang Nianhua walked over.
"It's all right now, Qingshang."
"Don't be afraid. Godmother will make sure you get back safely."
She spoke as though nothing had happened between them and nothing had changed, crouching beside her goddaughter to offer those reassuring words.
"By flaunting your charms before a man barely a few years older than me?"
"...No, it's not like that."
Shang Nianhua answered softly. Seeing that Que Qingshang fell silent, she crouched down and took out the medicine Shen Yixiu had given her to dress the girl's wounds.
Que Qingshang pulled away slightly. "Don't touch me."
Shang Nianhua stopped.
"So you knew all along, didn't you?" Que Qingshang turned her head toward her. "You knew that I deliberately cursed you as a venomous viper and all that? ...Say something! Did you really know all along...?"
"Yes, Godmother knew. Because how could my Qingshang ever be such a foolish child?" Shang Nianhua smiled at her tenderly.
Chapter 201