Chapter 283 A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
"Young Master, you may not know this..." Qi Ran's voice was strained.
"...I no longer have the main ingredient needed for that medicine."
After a moment of silence, Mu Feng nodded, "Ahem... In that case, I was being presumptuous."
He tilted his head slightly, pressed his fist to his lips, and after a barely perceptible tremor in his shoulders and back, he spoke again in a hoarse voice: "I wonder if Miss Ranran could tell me what kind of spiritual herb it is? If there is any danger, I can go and retrieve it myself."
Qi Ran paused, "This thing can only be controlled by me..."
With just one sentence, the burning curiosity in Mu Feng's eyes quickly cooled down.
Mu Feng's long, raven-feather-like eyelashes concealed the complex emotions surging in his eyes. "In that case, I thank Miss Ranran for her earlier. Please accept this gift."
Without even glancing at it, Qi Ran pushed the Qiankun bag full of spirit stones back, her tone filled with undisguised concern: "Young Master, please don't force yourself to use your spiritual power to cleanse the old lady of the dark energy anymore. This dark energy is domineering, and it will wear down your own spirit every time you do it."
Her eyes showed worry. "You weren't coughing this badly the last time I saw you. You must have suffered a backlash during the purification. Young Master should keep the Life-Giving Pill inside for yourself."
Looking at Qi Ran's resolute gaze, Mu Feng sighed, "Now that the medicine is finished, it's time to settle the bill for the young lady."
"Young Master, you have misunderstood."
Qi Ran met Mu Feng's questioning gaze, "The medicine is only temporarily lacking, but it is not unavailable."
Mu Feng: "Currently unavailable?"
Qi Ran nodded, "Once I've remade it, I'll personally deliver it to your residence so as not to delay the old lady's condition." She smiled gently, "Besides, I saved people back then simply because of my ability, not because I coveted spirit stones. This thing is nothing more than dust to me."
Mu Feng's hand holding the Qiankun bag paused slightly, his eyes, deep as ice melting, slowly nodded, "...Then, I will await your good news, Miss."
*
As the sun sank behind the western mountains, a struggling, dark red tinged the horizon.
After Qi Ran's figure disappeared down the long street, Mu Feng did not rush back, but stood still in place.
As his dark robes fluttered in the wind, the brief warmth on Mu Feng's face, born of the promise, receded as quickly as the tide.
A shadow appeared silently and bowed slightly to him, "Young Master."
Mu Feng's gaze remained fixed on the direction where Qi Ran had disappeared. "Speak."
"The powder in the bottle has been completely analyzed." Shadow said clearly, "My subordinates ordered all the records in the treasury to be used, and secretly examined them by the three elders of Medicine King Valley. The results... were all the same."
"All the main ingredients and auxiliary materials of this medicine are unknown to us."
Mu Feng's fingers, which were tucked behind his back, curled slightly.
The shadow continued, "The refining method is unheard of. It seems to be a purification of plants, but after the three ancestors refined it separately, the spiritual energy properties were found to be unusually strange."
"The patriarch instructed his subordinates to inform the young lord that this medicine is indeed remarkably effective and can relieve pain. However, it can only delay the pain, not cure it."
The dark red on the horizon slowly spread out, like blood seeping through old cloth.
"Cough cough..." Mu Feng clenched his fist to cover his cough. "Besides that, can we find out his origins?"
"Qi Ran, real name, mortal."
"Initially, it appeared in Sunset City and had a close relationship with the Demon Lord Wen Tingyun."
"Later, in the territory of the Wu tribe, he unexpectedly saved Zhan Li, the crown prince of the Wu tribe."
"And then? Did they stay together?" Mu Feng rubbed his temples.
Shadow shook his head. "No. After that, Qi Ran separated from the two and went to the Spirit Sword Sect to study. She was an outer disciple there for a period of time. Later, when the spirit of the Sword Sect's Burning Heaven Tower escaped, Qi Ran also disappeared."
"This is all the information our agents could gather. There was a period of time when we couldn't collect any news about her. When Qi Ran reappeared, it was during this Cangminghai operation in Jiangling."
"Qi Ran also joined the ranks of monster hunters, and during this time she met Fu Zong Fu Yan, and later they traveled together to Linfeng County."
Mu Feng's slender fingers caressed the Qiankun bag in his sleeve, a look of understanding flashing in his eyes. "During the time she disappeared, she went to the Black Abyss and rescued the Cangming Sea Lord, Li Yuan, there."
Shadow, hearing this, was puzzled. "It seems that this person is quite kind and honest. From what I've observed along the way, there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with him."
Should we continue following her?
Mu Feng raised his hand, and the wide sleeves of his robe slipped down, revealing his fair and jade-like wrist.
The object being played with between those well-defined fingers was the Qiankun bag that Qi Ran had returned.
As the last rays of dusk enveloped the night breeze, a few strands of dark hair fluttered at Mu Feng's temples. The young master of Linfeng County turned his head slightly, his profile silhouetted against the shadows with a faint smile.
"In this world... is there anything good without a reason?"
"The less they seem to want anything... the bigger their ambitions are."
"Cough cough..." The young man coughed lightly, his hoarse voice escaping from his throat, "My mother is seriously ill and there is no cure. I originally wanted to ask the astrological station to change my fate, but I ended up in a pharmacy by mistake."
"We happened to meet Miss Ranran, who happened to possess a miraculous medicine."
Mu Feng turned around, facing the direction of the shadow.
The lanterns hanging at the entrance lit up one by one, illuminating his pale, handsome face. His barely concealed sickness blended with the unfathomable coldness in his eyes, creating an indescribable sense of contradiction.
"In this world, the most deadly things are often those 'good' things that come to you without asking for any reason or reward."
“Go. Keep a close eye on her, but don’t get close. Although she has no spiritual power, the source of her power is strange, and it is very likely that it is from the same source as the rare medicine. Moreover, the people around her are not ordinary people.”
"Just like last time, if there is any unusual activity, send a message immediately."
The shadow nodded, and its form vanished silently, like ink.
*
The biting night wind, like an invisible blade, sliced across Qi Ran's cheeks.
She ran through the rows of shops, sprinting towards Fu Yan's location.
Something's not right!
Compared to the icy night wind blowing into her lungs, the turmoil in her heart made Qi Ran even more panicked.
Before coming to this world, her mission was to win over the chosen ones, seize the world's primordial fortune condensed within them, and supply it to the headquarters deep within the universe.
The cards were merely a tool for her to acquire luck, used to record increases in favorability and simultaneously strengthen her own power.
Before this, relying on the powerful headquarters as a foundation, she had never failed! Not to mention the unbelievable notion of her favorability rating dropping!
But the sudden and drastic drop in Fu Yan's favorability rating completely overturned Qi Ran's understanding!
The rules have been changed?!
No! Perhaps the rules were flawed from the very beginning!
Who's interfering with all of this?
Qi Ran immediately thought of someone.
She immediately asked, "Xiao Tong, have you found out the origin of the rosewood?"
Xiao Tong: "There are still no matching records. There is no record of this person. I have been communicating with headquarters for the past few days. Fu Yan's decreased favorability is definitely her doing."
Qi Ran frowned. "We can't find anything? Why did she even appear? And what's with her system? The rules of this world have been completely disrupted. With things shifting, if she collects all the stars first, how will this mission end?"
Before Qi Ran could finish speaking—
"Buzz—"
A grand, ancient will, seemingly composed of the sounds of countless stars in motion, resounded directly in her mind.
"Tasker 774 - Qi Ran".
Qi Ran paused in her running, "Headquarters?"
"Your question has been received. I will now begin answering it."
"During the initial anchoring phase of the headquarters mission, you were selected as the mission taker for this world only."
"However, during this period, the headquarters' information flow suddenly encountered extremely high-intensity, hidden spiritual energy resonance interference and was implanted with a false mode of dual-taskers."
Qi Ran: "A hacker attack?"
"Yes. The other party and its associated system were not authorized by headquarters. At the time, the headquarters' core database was interfered with and implanted by some kind of force. Because it was not detected immediately, it was judged as a dual mission and different tasks were issued separately."
"Headquarters... has been scammed."
boom--
Qi Ran's face turned deathly pale instantly. "Headquarters, we've been tricked?" The headquarters, which possesses immense power, is located in the center of the entire universe?
She steadied herself and quickly asked, "But why does Karin possess the same power as me? Cards! How do you explain cards?!"
The headquarters paused for three seconds before speaking:
"The unknown force perfectly replicated the core operating mode of the headquarters' 'Luck Harvesting Card' and its interaction interface with the headquarters, and implanted its 'system' into the system group."
"Everything seemed perfect, but the reality was completely different."
"774 Your core function is: single-item extraction, through five-star transformation, transmission of the world's original fortune of fortune particles, and supply to the global headquarters."
"But the opponent's cards are going against the current."
"It does not absorb, but continuously infuses and strengthens the card holder with a highly refined spiritual energy. Instead of drawing from it, it gives back to the card holder as it grows stronger."
With each sentence spoken by the headquarters system, Qi Ran's expression grew increasingly grim. "So, that's why headquarters wants us to gain at the expense of others?"
Headquarters: "This ebb and flow is not a matter of life and death, nor is it an order from headquarters; it is a conflict of energy itself."
"The primal power you draw from your cards will make your opponent's cards feel suppressed and their power sluggish. And the opponent's gradually stabilizing power will have the same effect on you."
Qi Ran was puzzled, "But our destinies are different."
"Qi Yunzi is the most important node of energy in this world, like the root system of a big tree. You dig roots in the east, and she nourishes roots in the west, but the energy of the whole tree is flowing."
"When headquarters discovered the anomaly, it was no longer possible to remove it directly. In order to ensure that the mission takers could continue to complete the supply to the world, the mission issued by headquarters to the counterfeiters has also been changed."
"Therefore, the host need not feel pressured. Compared to the counterfeit goods, you have a complete system and can convert favorability into points to buy items in the store to speed up the progress of the strategy, while the counterfeit goods have nothing."
"The host only needs to use all methods to collect the cards before her, and the Global Headquarters will handle everything else."
The other party doesn't have an in-game store?
Qi Ran finally breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this. "When did you notice anything unusual?"
System Headquarters: "...Causal Tree, Demon King."
"The Tree of Cause and Effect?" Qi Ran asked疑惑地, "Then what is this black mist?"
Headquarters: "Taskers only need to do their tasks well; everything else is irrelevant and can be ignored."
Qi Ran: "......"
So what exactly is this "one person, one rule"?
*
"He's a wolf in sheep's clothing."
"And you are my prey—the lamb in my mouth."
In the courtyard, Hua Li stood on the small stage that Feng Yi and Zhao Heng had built just for her, one hand on her hip and the other clutching a carrot, shouting at the top of her lungs: "I left the wolf pack to wander alone~ I'm just afraid someone will come and share you~"
Ao Bai stood on his hind legs, front paws raised high, and roared, "Awoo~~"
Huali exchanged a glance with it, "The spirit stone makes me infatuated~ makes me mad~ Your howl of love still echoes in the valley!!!"
Ao Bai: "Awoo~~~Awoo~~~"
As the song ended, Huali took a big bite of a carrot and said, "I'd like to dedicate a modified version of Dao Lang's 'The Wolf in Sheep' to all my enthusiastic friends here!"
After saying that, she excitedly looked at Tang Wanwan and Shao Siming below the stage, as well as Xia Ge, who had infiltrated the sisterhood by pretending to be a cross-dresser, and asked, "How about it? Aren't you awesome? Can you take the championship in one fell swoop?"
Tang Wanwan: "...Are you serious?"
"Of course! I spent a long time choosing before I decided," Huali said confidently. "Sister Ayu, what do you think?"
Shao Siming was silent for a moment, then said, "Well... how should I put it? It's just very unique."
Shrimp Bro looked at Shao Siming and said, "My little sister really knows how to talk. Her wailing is quite unique." The very first sentence scared away all his inspiration.
Hua Li glared at Brother Xia, then covered Ao Bai's ears, "Chief Steward Ao, don't listen, it's a bad review!"
Ao Bai: "...I only wrote two lines, so who am I criticizing?!"
"Tsk, it's normal to have dissenting voices!" Huali continued munching on her carrot. "The birth of a superstar inevitably attracts a few haters."
As she spoke, her head automatically turned to the men's audience seats, her expectant gaze sweeping over Wen Jin, Lian Zhuo, Chen Yu, Luo Chuan, and Yan Xi.
Satisfied with the unanimous approval in their eyes, Huali straightened her back and rolled her eyes at Brother Xia and Tang Wanwan, "See? Facts prove that the eyes of the masses are discerning."
Tang Wanwan crossed her arms and coldly swept her gaze over the deaf people in the four corners and the middle who were "unconditionally supporting" her. She huddled with Brother Xia and said, "This is spoiling. It's terrifying."
Shrimp Bro reached out and tugged at the bow on the little skirt. "Love always makes people blind. That's youth."
"Wanwan, it's your turn. Why don't you come up and try?" Huali jumped off the stage.
After Yunshang Yinyu retrieved the small ball, she and Tang Wanwan successfully avoided the musical instrument category; one of them sang, and the other danced.
Tang Wanwan shook her head, "No, I'll just practice swordsmanship. I can practice by doing quests and slaying monsters every day."
Compared to that, she had something more important to do. "I'm saying..." Tang Wanwan pulled Huali closer and whispered in her ear, "How did you train these big shots?"
"How come they all become Buddhas on the spot after a trip to the temple?"
Huali turned her head and looked at Wen Jin under the corridor, Lian Zhuo in the chair, Luo Chuan by the tree, Shen Yu with his arms crossed, and Yan Xi who was smiling innocently at her right in front of her.
And then I realized, wow!
It covers all directions: east, south, west, north, and center.
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