It was almost dusk when the group left the general's mansion.
General Qi arranged a carriage for them. Lu Cai asked others what they thought and finally declined.
After all, this was where they would be living, so they wanted to explore. After walking for a while, they discovered that this small town, surrounded by towering city walls, truly had a bit of a serene, secluded feel.
Zhaohe followed them, took off her golden hairpins and gorgeous clothes, and rejected General Qi's suggestion to arrange another place for her to live.
She didn't want to live out by herself. Facts and premonitions told her that only by following them could she survive!
"Lu Cai, you just asked for a training ground for us!" Yue Xiaoyan followed Lu Cai and completely dropped her arrogance.
Lu Cai smiled and said, "General Qi is also a veteran of the battlefield. How could he not see through my little tricks..."
He took the initiative to speak just to give face to this group of talented people.
General Qi's question was meant to test their intentions. Lu Cai's answer proved they were there to cooperate, not to be thugs for the general's office.
The two sides reached a clear understanding: mutual benefit and cooperation. Lu Cai requested a training ground, so General Qi prepared one for them. In exchange, Lu Cai had to train the soldiers in the town to learn how to deal with the scorpion monster.
General Qi still had some conscience and did not ask the four of them to fight to the death. He probably knew that they could not rely entirely on others.
"I think he's good." Zhao Yan was very satisfied after having a full meal.
Zhaohe rolled her eyes at him: "You think his food is good, right--" She noticed that apart from Lu Cai, Zhao Yan ate the most.
"The food is good, and the guy is nice too." Zhao Yan said seriously, "It's clear that he really wants to protect the people."
Lu Cai agreed with him. At least as a partner, there was no one more suitable than him. If it were someone else, it would probably take a long time of back and forth, pushing and pulling, to reach an agreement.
Although this is a small town, the group could not explore the whole place by just strolling around. After dark, the people packed up and went home.
There was no curfew in Stonewall Town, but after the scorpion monster incident during the day, no one dared to go out on the streets at night. Business was bad, so naturally the shops closed.
Lu Cai walked to a street junction and released a red thread from her hand, injecting it into the ground. She made some subtle changes to her ability data. Previously, it could attach to weapons for others to use, but now she would try to make them attack independently.
Everyone saw her actions, but they were not surprised. They just guessed that she was trying out some new way to use her supernatural powers.
Seeing that the sky was dark and the lights on the street were scattered, the few of them finally returned to the alley and courtyard.
Before Lu Cai even entered the yard, he knew there was someone there.
Sure enough, there was a person standing in the yard, looking up at the lush branches of the orange tree.
When Wang Shu heard the sound of the door being pushed open, she slowly turned around and watched them walk in slowly. She was startled and then immediately forced a smile.
Seeing that the person in the yard was Wang Shu, everyone else went into the house as if nothing had happened, leaving only Lu Cai.
Wang Shu bowed gracefully to Lu Cai. The girl had a graceful figure, and even though she was wearing a plain dress and holding a wooden hairpin, she could still make people fall in love with her.
Lu Cai looked at her with admiration in his heart. He used to admire this sister's beauty, but now he admired her indifference.
She could go from being a concubine in a marquis's mansion to a common woman in a remote town without any resentment.
"It's so late, why don't you rest?" Lu Cai walked slowly towards them, the hem of his cloak scraping against the flagstones in the yard.
Wang Shu had a faint smile on her face. "Sister, you've been working hard all day. I shouldn't disturb you from resting." She hesitated for a moment, "But Shu'er, remembering your kindness, couldn't help but come and ask."
Lu Cai remembered that he brought Wang Shu with him because she knew how to grow flamboyant trees. But when she left the Princess's Mansion, Wang Shu didn't mention what she wanted to take with her.
Without trees, seedlings, or even tools, she didn't know how she was going to plant trees.
"Just tell me what you want." Lu Cai looked at the girl in front of him and thought that Wang Shu had to be so roundabout in every sentence she said. She must have had a hard time in the Wang family these years.
Wang Shu didn't say any more nonsense: "I need resin, any resin will do, but the resins of different tree species must be stored separately."
"I've made a note of that." Lu Cai nodded.
Wang Shu thought of her mother's words and looked up at the girl in the bright red cloak: "My mother said that when I left the Wang family, it was thanks to you that I took care of her."
Lu Cai was stunned and didn't react. Take care? How did she take care of him?
"You and I have long understood Dad's temper, but unfortunately my mother treats him as a great benefactor." Wang Shu shook her head. "She understands it, but after all, all these years of prosperity are owed to others."
Mr. Wang's temper? Lu Cai then remembered that when he went to the Wang family to pick up Mr. Wang and Mrs. Wang, he intercepted them in the backyard. Mr. Wang was showing off to Mrs. Wang, and Lu Cai "threatened" Mr. Wang a few words.
But Lu Cai didn't have the energy to judge how true or false Wang Shu's feelings were at this moment.
"It's getting late, you should go back and rest first—" Lu Cai stepped aside and said, "I'll take you back."
Although the two courtyards were not far from each other, it was still night and no one was around. What if such a beautiful girl ran into a criminal, let alone a scorpion monster?
——
After going back and forth, when Lu Cai pushed the door into his own courtyard, he saw a light on in the kitchen on one side, and the door was wide open, casting a flickering orange light inside.
She walked closer and heard the voices of Shi Rukui and Zhao Yan.
Shi Rukui: "Lu Cai's supernatural power has become stronger. Every time I see her, I am blinded."
"She's really crazy..." Zhao Yan laughed, "This time when she left the capital, she tore her way out with her bare hands. I've never seen anyone like her before."
Shi Rukui continued, "Perhaps because they are being hunted, their survival instinct is more intense than ours, the players—"
Cai Lu at the door raised his eyebrows.
"Indeed..." Zhao Yan seemed to have thought of something interesting. "You don't know, I've seen Lu Cai before he awakened——"
Shi Rukui was indeed interested: "Oh?"
Zhao Yan lowered his voice seriously: "The copy is called 'The Return of Doomsday', a story about a zombie siege..." He told the story of the first time he met Lu Cai and the time when he put the gun to Lu Cai's forehead.
Shi Rukui didn't say anything.
The journey back to the end of the world? He remembered that before entering "Amber Legend", he found a notice on the mission area bulletin board saying that some copies needed maintenance and the passage was temporarily closed.
There seems to be a copy of "Return to Doomsday" in the maintenance copy.
Zhao Yan was still sighing, "You don't know, when we saw Lu Cai again, she had changed so much. She chopped off half of a zombie's brain by herself without even shaking her hands." He then clicked his tongue twice, "She looked scarier than a zombie."
Half of Lu Cai's face was hidden under the cloak, and the corners of his mouth were slightly raised, revealing a sharp smile.
"Am I really scarier than zombies?" She moved and stood right at the door.
"Oh shit!" Zhao Yan was so scared when he saw the red cloak suddenly appear at the door that his hands loosened and the firewood fell to the ground.
On the other side, Shi Rukui was holding a gourd ladle and adding water to the iron pot.
As the only two men in the whole yard, they consciously took on the task of boiling water.
Zhao Yan calmed down and said, "Don't say such bad things. If you say them, people will definitely hear you."
"Who is like you, saying bad things about others without closing the door?" Lu Cai raised his hand to lift the hood of his cloak and knocked on the door against the wall.
Zhao Yan chuckled twice: "What did that little girl say to you?" He changed the subject abruptly without any connection or turn of events.
"Of course, we're discussing whether she can stay here." Lu Cai walked a few steps inside. The water in the big pot was not hot yet, and it would probably take some time for it to boil.
Shi Rukui put down the gourd ladle and covered the wooden pot: "She came to talk to you about the flamboyant tree?"
Lu Cai nodded. "She wants us to collect some resin. I plan to have Dacheng and Ercheng lead some people to collect some tomorrow. Once we find out what Wang Shu's trump card is, we'll consider whether to tell General Qi."
"Are you really going to cooperate with General Qi?" Shi Rukui looked at her in surprise.
"I'm not really sincere..." Lu Cai sighed, "It's just that we need allies right now, and even more so, we need troops."
Zhao Yan hesitated for a moment, "Um... Lu Cai, you're not really planning a rebellion, are you?"
They have troops and allies, they just come to the next dungeon to complete a mission. Could it be that Lu Cai wants to become the king here?
"Yes, rebellion—" Lu Cai said jokingly. There was a loud noise at the door, the sound of a wooden basin falling to the ground.
The three of them quickly turned around and saw the little princess in coarse cloth standing at the door in a daze. She seemed to have come to fetch water to wash.
Looking at Zhaohe's blank eyes, Lu Cai felt guilty for once: "That's not what I meant."
It's really embarrassing to be caught in person trying to rebel against someone else's father.
"It's okay." Showa came to her senses and quickly squatted down to pick up the overturned wooden basin on the ground and the towel scattered on the side.
Lu Cai wanted to go over to help, but was pulled back by Shi Rukui. She quickly turned around and looked at Shi Rukui in confusion, only to see him shake his head slightly, his dark eyes catching a warm glow of fire.
Showa held the wooden basin, but she didn't stand up. In the end, she just squatted on the ground in a daze.
The surroundings were extremely quiet. Even Lu Cai, an abnormal human who was not very able to sense other people's emotional ups and downs, felt that something was wrong with Showa.
The little princess was already thin, and she looked so tiny as to squat at the door wearing this simple dress.
"I know you all dislike my father," Zhaohe said slowly. "In the face of great adversity, he ignored the people and is unworthy of the title 'king'."
However, he also held the young Showa in his arms and patiently said that the subjects are the foundation of the country.
"This country can do without me, but it can never do without my ministers, and it can never lose its people."
A long time ago, Showa realized that although she was important to her father, she could be abandoned. But she always believed that at least her father would not abandon the people.
Unfortunately, he sealed the palace gates and deceived the people...and...and that harmful scorpion monster was actually tamed by order of my father.
He did not trust the brave and warlike General Qi, and was worried that his son would sideline him. Now, he actually placed his hopes on these monsters, which ultimately led to disaster.
"If the evidence is conclusive, and the world comes to fight against him, my father will fall into your hands..." The little princess stood up, the firelight casting her shadow on the muddy ground in the yard, and the shadow gradually disappeared into the darkness. "I beg you, at least spare his life."
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