Hearing Yuanshi Tianzun's grave tone, Guan Ya and Wei Yuanzhou both turned to look at Long Live the White Tiger.
"Illegal or undisciplined things..." Long Live the White Tiger's expression immediately turned rather embarrassed, and he stammered, "Why ask this all of a sudden? I, uh, sometimes I do use my position to pull a few shady side gigs and earn some extra cash. You know, the pay the organization gives isn't bad, but to buy an apartment in Jinghai City, I'd have to save for at least five years just to afford the down payment.
"But I only made some pocket money on the side, just a few hundred thousand. I know my limits. Besides, everyone does it..."
Beside him, Wei Yuanzhou coughed and said displeasedly, "That's just you. I've never pulled shady tricks on the side. Don't blame your mistakes on your environment and society. As long as you remain true to your principles, no amount of filth can erode your will."
Long Live the White Tiger felt ashamed at once. "Brother Wei, I definitely can't compare to you. You're famous for your integrity in our branch. But look at you—because you refused to sink into the mire with everyone else, you've been ostracized. You're still not a Deacon even now."
Zhang Yuanqing glanced at Guan Ya, who gave a slight nod.
*It definitely wouldn't be something petty like pulling shady side gigs. Yet when unlawful or illicit acts were mentioned, Long Live the White Tiger only brought up making quick cash. Given his weak body and terrible mental state, if he were lying, there's no way he could hide it from Guan Ya...* Zhang Yuanqing's brow furrowed.
Guan Ya said, "Get some good rest. We'll be keeping watch in the hospital over the next few days. If the assassin dares to come, we'll take him down for you."
Having said that, she saw Yuanshi Tianzun hunch his back and silently walk out of the ward.
"Where are you going?" Guan Ya asked.
"I'm heading to the restroom!" Zhang Yuanqing called back.
*Going to the restroom to flush my unborn offspring down the toilet. Dammit, I really need to find a prop to suppress my desires in the future,* Zhang Yuanqing cursed inwardly.
***
Ten o'clock at night, Wuhen Hotel.
Two electric scooters rumbled over the pothole-ridden road, made a turn toward the hotel, and finally pulled up at the entrance.
Wearing a delivery rider's uniform, Kou Beiyue opened the delivery box, retrieved a large stack of food containers, and led his lackey into the hotel, chest puffed out with pride.
"Xiao Yuan, I brought you a late-night snack! Ah, having two people delivering orders really brings in the money fast!"
Kou Beiyue set the food on the front desk, beaming with pride.
Little Fatty took off his helmet, attentively untying the packages while voicing his bewilderment: "Two people delivering definitely makes money faster than one, but Boss, there are so many ways to make money. Why do we have to deliver food?"
Kou Beiyue replied as if it were the most natural thing in the world: "Because we don't know how to do anything else."
Little Fatty opened his mouth, only to find himself speechless. He could only lower his head, untie the bags, and lay out the food containers one by one.
A few seconds later, he raised another question: "Wait, no. Making money is easy! Boss, you're a Saint now. You could easily sell off your Transcendent stage props. Wouldn't becoming a millionaire be a breeze?"
Before Kou Beiyue could answer, Xiao Yuan said indifferently, "Transcendent stage props that are no longer used are gifted to Transcendent walkers in our organization to improve their ability to handle danger and ensure their survival rate."
Little Fatty came to an understanding.
He knew there was a loose organization under Master Wuhen. Ordinarily, they were scattered all over the place, gathering at Wuhen Hotel only when the master gave sermons.
Just then, the ding of an elevator rang from deep within the hotel. Immediately after, an old man with a bitter, wrinkle-furrowed face emerged from the hotel interior.
He wore a pair of creased, worn leather shoes, a cheap T-shirt worth no more than ten-odd yuan, and equally cheap black trousers.
His skin was dark to the point of glistening and crisscrossed with wrinkles, resembling an old peasant toiling tirelessly in the fields or a day laborer scratching out a living through brute force on a construction site.
The weathering left by life's hardships was easily visible on his face.
"Uncle Zhang?"
Seeing the old man, Kou Beiyue looked pleasantly surprised. "What brings you here? I just bought some late-night snacks. Come eat with us!"
The bitter-faced old man gave a slight shake of his head. "I came to ask Master Wuhen for guidance. I still have things to do, so I won't eat."
Hesitating a moment, he looked at Kou Beiyue and asked, "I heard from Xiao Yuan that your sister's case has been settled?"
Kou Beiyue nodded vigorously. "I have no lingering obsessions anymore. From now on, I'll focus on practicing under Master Wuhen. Oh right, it was that Yuanshi Tianzun who helped overturn the case for me. Uncle Zhang, have you heard of him?
"That kid is quite a talent. I have to admit, he's a tiny bit better than me. He's very friendly toward people like us. I'll introduce you to him another day."
Upon hearing this, a heartfelt smile finally surfaced on that weather-beaten face.
"That's good, that's good. Beiyue, you are fortunate..."
He seemed poor with words, merely repeating things like "fortunate" and "that's good," after which the conversation lagged. A little awkwardly and stolidly, he turned his gaze toward Little Fatty.
Kou Beiyue hastily introduced, "He's our new member, 'Good Minister Chooses His Master to Slay,' my lackey... Uncle Zhang is a senior veteran in our organization. He has a really good temper."
One could tell Kou Beiyue was very fond of this kindly elder.
*An honest, simple peasant, somewhat slow and wooden, not good with words or socializing.*
That was Little Fatty's first impression of Uncle Zhang.
He bowed respectfully. "Uncle Zhang!"
A trace of fluster flashed across the old man's rather wooden face.
Kou Beiyue said, "Uncle Zhang, I heard from Xiao Yuan that you were injured by the officials a while ago? Who did it? Is it serious? I'm a Saint now, I can take my lackey to avenge you!"
Uncle Zhang fell silent for a moment, then shook his head. "It's nothing major. Beiyue, Xiao Yuan, I'll be heading back now."
He also nodded to Little Fatty.
Kou Beiyue said, "Take care on your way."
Once Uncle Zhang had walked out of the hotel, Kou Beiyue said to Little Fatty, "Uncle Zhang is actually old enough to be my grandfather, but everyone calls him Uncle Zhang, so I do too. You just follow my lead.
"He's a bit taciturn, but he's kindhearted and very willing to help the younger generation. If you ever need help with anything in the future, you can go to Uncle Zhang. Though Uncle Zhang doesn't come to Wuhen Hotel very often, so you usually won't see him around. Sigh, I didn't buy that much food anyway. It's just as well Uncle Zhang left, or there wouldn't have been enough to go around."
*A freelancer who's kindhearted?* If anyone else had said that, Little Fatty would have sneered in contempt. But after learning more about them over the past few days, he was well aware that this was an organization devoted to self-redemption.
Xiao Yuan watched the old man's departing back, her brow furrowing slightly.
***
Jinghai People's Hospital.
In the lounge outside the intensive care ward, Zhang Yuanqing sat on a high-backed chair, with finished meal containers and canned beer sitting beside him on the table.
"Captain Wei, how long has it been since you advanced to Saint? Why haven't you been promoted to Deacon yet?" Zhang Yuanqing took a sip of iced cola, looking at the man across from him.
This entire floor of intensive care wards had been cleared out. Ordinary patients had been moved to other wards, while official walkers were stationed at the stairwells and elevator bays to keep guard.
Armed with her Insight ability, Guan Ya had taken over the hospital's surveillance room, while Little Green Tea stayed in an adjacent ward using a prop to monitor nearby sounds.
They were only waiting for the assassin to arrive so they could swarm and overwhelm him.
Wei Yuanzhou twirled a can of beer in his hand and smiled. "To be promoted to Deacon, you need to earn Grade-C merits at least three times, or a Grade-B merit once. Everyone says Grade-B merits are bought with your life, while Grade-A merits can only be obtained by Elders. You're a genius, so you don't understand the hardships of ordinary walkers."
"No, no, no, my merits were bought with my life too," Zhang Yuanqing retorted, then remarked with a sigh, "I thought it was just as Long Live the White Tiger said—that you refused to go with the flow and ended up being ostracized."
Wei Yuanzhou turned solemn. "Maintaining personal uprightness is the bottom line. I really am not very sociable, but I wouldn't call it being ostracized. As long as you focus on doing your job, the organization will notice you eventually. It just takes time."
"My mistake, I was too shallow. A penalty toast to myself." Zhang Yuanqing raised his can of cola.
He quite admired this gentle Plague God who treasured his reputation, and was pondering whether to poach him over to Songhai. Although Wei Yuanzhou lacked sufficient merits to serve as a Deacon in Songhai, Zhang Yuanqing could recommend him to Fu Qingyang to become a patrol captain.
Since patrol squads hunted down wanted criminals, it was far easier to accumulate merits. Once he had accrued enough merits in the future, Wei Yuanzhou could return to Jinghai City as a Deacon.
Serving as a Deacon in Songhai was exceedingly difficult. As a municipality directly under the central government, Songhai's Deacons were usually Level 5 or Level 6 Saints. Level 4 Deacons were rare.
Wei Yuanzhou chuckled and raised his beer can, taking a sip in company.
Zhang Yuanqing said, "Captain Wei, have you considered—"
Suddenly, Xie Lingxi's urgent voice came through the earpiece: "Brother Yuanshi, I heard our colleagues patrolling the stairwell collapse! There was the sound of a brief scuffle. Their hearts are still beating, they're not dead, just unconscious..."
*The attacker really is here! When did he sneak into the hospital? Why didn't Guan Ya give a warning? There are no cameras in the stairwell, so he chose to eliminate the enemies in the stairwell first—* Zhang Yuanqing shot to his feet.
Across the table, Wei Yuanzhou also set down his beer can, his expression grave.
He was also wearing an earpiece and had heard Xie Lingxi's words.
Zhang Yuanqing pressed his earpiece and asked, "Do you hear the attacker's footsteps? What direction?"
Xie Lingxi's cry came through: "He's coming! He's heading toward our floor... mnh..."
The voice in the earpiece cut off abruptly, replaced by Little Green Tea's soft moan.
The next second, by the round table, Zhang Yuanqing and Wei Yuanzhou's legs went weak, their heads spun, and an overwhelming wave of exhaustion and drowsiness washed over them.
At the same time, Zhang Yuanqing heard the thuds of Transcendent walkers collapsing in the hallway.
Wei Yuanzhou quickly retrieved a tender green leaf from his inventory, held it in his mouth, and said in a heavy voice, "It's a colorless, odorless paralyzing gas. It probably came from the ventilation ducts or the central air conditioning. The toxicity isn't strong, but it severely weakens our combat strength..."
From his colleagues' condition, he immediately deduced the attacker's method.
The more lethal a Gu poison, the stronger its odor, which would be detected instantly. The attacker was clever—he had used the hospital's ventilation system to grind them down with a blunt knife, paralyzing the official walkers in the building bit by bit.
Zhang Yuanqing chuckled mirthlessly. "I figured as much."
When a Spirit Medium adept at using toxins faced superior numbers, what tactics would he employ?
When the patrol squad had discussed it privately, Li Chunfeng's speculation had been using the ventilation ducts to deliver poison gas.
Therefore, Zhang Yuanqing had stationed Little Doubi and the Ghost Bride to guard the central air conditioning and ventilation ducts, and had given every official walker on duty an antidote pill refined by a Wood Monster.
He hadn't expected they would still fall victim.
Zhang Yuanqing estimated that before this operation, the Spirit Medium had held a grand prayer ceremony to grant his actions a buff.
Without panicking, he summoned the Mountain God Scepter, gripping this prop with a "heavy" price yet tremendous power, and activated its Monstrous Strength ability.
In an instant, an immense surge of power welled from the scepter, coursing into all his limbs and bones. The limp weakness in his muscles dissipated immediately.
Clutching the Mountain God Scepter, Zhang Yuanqing dashed out of the lounge, just in time to see a masked, hunchbacked man in a black trench coat charging down the brightly lit hallway toward the intensive care ward.
*Thump!*
He struck the Mountain God Scepter onto the floor before his feet. A green ripple expanded outward, and the potted plants placed around the hallway came alive, growing rapidly and sending out vines to entangle the charging enemy.
The hunchbacked enemy in the trench coat was exceptionally nimble. Sidestepping and hopping, he evaded vine after vine before leaping into the air, kicking off the wall to dodge the lash of another vine, landing right in front of Zhang Yuanqing.
From beneath the black coat darted an arm clad in a steel bracer. Its hand resembled the oversized forepaw of a rodent, tipped with razor-sharp claws.
*Whoosh!*
The sharp claws grazed through the air with a distinct whistle, easily shredding the staff-wielding youth.
Yet it was merely a phantom image.
The hunchbacked Spirit Medium froze for a split second. Immediately after, he threw his body to the left, pressing his back against the wall as if dodging something.
*Bang!*
The floor tiles where he had stood shattered into pieces.
The youth holding the scepter materialized.
Having missed with the strike, Zhang Yuanqing immediately snapped a kick upward, displaying extraordinary flexibility as the tip of his foot cracked toward the Spirit Medium's jaw.
At the same time, he caught a clear look at half of the Spirit Medium's face—beady, dark rat-like eyes, graying hair at the temples, and deep crow's feet at the corners of his eyes. He was quite old.
The Spirit Medium's body suddenly collapsed downward, dodging nimbly once more.
*Thud!*
Zhang Yuanqing's viper-fast kick left a deep crater in the wall. Without hesitation, he cast Star Escape, his body turning into a dreamlike beam of starlight that neatly evaded the claw sweeping toward his ankle.
Zhang Yuanqing's figure reappeared over ten meters away, his complexion pale green, worm-like bulges slowly squirming beneath his skin.
He had been poisoned and invaded by parasite eggs.
The air was filled with toxic gas and dust-like parasite eggs, entering the body with each breath.
"Cough, cough, cough..."
The Spirit Medium suddenly began coughing violently. His chest tightened, his throat felt scratchy and irritated, and he experienced symptoms of breathing difficulty.
His forehead also burned with a fever.
He was sick. Germs were attacking his immune system, bringing about various afflictions.
This was the work of Wei Yuanzhou in the lounge, releasing bacteria.
Just then, a door along the hallway was violently kicked open. A red-haired girl charged out, and without a word, ignited her petite frame into roaring flames. Like a falling meteor, she crashed boldly into the Spirit Medium.
Suffering from the sudden illness, the Spirit Medium was just about to cross his arms to block the meteor impact.
However, a ghostly shadow clad in a crimson wedding dress and cradling an infant appeared silently behind him, completing a possession.
*Boom!*
The meteor struck the Spirit Medium square in the chest, sending him flying backward violently, vomiting blood profusely with his chest charred black.
Seizing the opportunity, Zhang Yuanqing used the potent vitality of a Night Walker to forcibly suppress the Gu parasites and poison. Gripping the Mountain God Scepter in his left hand, he summoned the Bloodthirsty Blade into his right and surged with even greater speed toward the possessed Spirit Medium. The sharp willow-leaf blade plunged into the enemy's chest with a squelch.
Yet Zhang Yuanqing knew that given a Spirit Medium's vitality, such an attack was not enough to be fatal.
Calmly withdrawing the blade, he slashed toward the opponent's neck, intending to decapitate him.
Having suffered heavy injuries, the Spirit Medium crashed heavily to the ground. His limbs seemed to lose their nimbleness, flailing clumsily a few times, unable to mount an effective evasion.
That was because Little Doubi had traded away his agility.
Against a Level 4 Spirit Medium while having the advantage of numbers, Zhang Yuanqing didn't need to deploy all his props, nor did he need to use skills like Howl at the Moon or Astral Travel.
Just then, a thunderous crash erupted as the French window in the ward beside Zhang Yuanqing shattered.
A dark figure burst through the broken floor-to-ceiling glass, zipped across the ward in the blink of an eye, surged into the hallway, and slammed Zhang Yuanqing away.
The figure moved astonishingly fast—so fast he couldn't even react.
In his haste, all he could do was execute Night Roaming while tumbling, concealing his form.
The dark figure didn't pursue him, but grabbed the Spirit Medium by the shoulders, carried him into the ward, and flew out through the shattered window.
Tracking the figure with his eyes, amidst the helicopter-rotor-like hum of beating wings, Zhang Yuanqing saw a sexy bee-like abdomen striped in alternating black and yellow, and caught sight of a familiar yet unfamiliar back.
*Xiao Yuan?!*
He froze.
Chapter 335