"The Boys?"
Zhao Kongcheng muttered to himself, "Never heard of it."
Lin Qiye frowned and asked, "You mean the one that tried to recruit you? Then you don't recognize this guy?"
"Uh, nope, never seen him," Yun Hexian scratched his earlobe and said awkwardly, "They all dress the same, but the last guy didn't use fire. Rumor has it that among them, the ones wearing white jade masks are members of The Boys, the red jade mask ones are team leaders, and the silver mask ones are in logistics. But I've never seen them."
"So thorough? Really?" Zhao Kongcheng grew even more confused. Could a new official organization have popped up in Cangnan City?
With that thought, he looked at the man in black who had just finished the fight and shouted loudly, "Hold on! Brother, would you like to join the Night Watchers?"
"Poaching my turf? I'm not interested in places with restrictions," the man in black laughed heartily, turning to leave.
"What's your name? And give this sword back," Yun Hexian picked up the sword and started to chase after him.
"The Boys, Flame's Embrace—Zhurui, the Zhurui that chases the sun!" The man in black laughed and waved a hand. "A rare healing ability, let's make a good connection—consider it a gift! Besides, I didn't use my own points to buy this sword anyway. Whenever you're interested in joining The Boys, just use what Haidongqing gave you to talk to us."
With that, Zhurui seemed to take something out, crushed it, and vanished on the spot.
BKing System: [BKing Event: #You Are Not the Only One in This World#
"No one died tonight; it is a peaceful night.
The Night Watchers guard the nights of Daxia, but protecting Daxia is not just the responsibility of the Night Watchers. We—the masses—are duty-bound!
When one person falls, another rises to carry on the fight. This is heritage; this is—endless hope!]
Congratulations to the host for acquiring the long-term game - Angel's Bookstore, the long-term game - Demon Address Book, and Forbidden Ruins - Ghost Face Physiognomy.
Yun Hexian: ......So the Ghost Face King essence was right here?
Seriously, the system description sounded way more arrogant than anything he could pull off himself.
Two long-term games and one Forbidden Artifact!
A massive jackpot!
"Who is Haidongqing?" Lin Qiye asked.
"The guy who gave me the sword," Yun Hexian replied.
Zhao Kongcheng pressed a hand on his shoulder. "Ahe, I'm going to report what happened today accurately. Make sure you tell the team captain the information about The Boys tomorrow."
"Got it," Yun Hexian nodded.
"This is the old district, and the Ghost Face King has been eliminated. Let the logistics team..." Zhao Kongcheng began making his report, then waved at the two of them, telling them to head home.
It was late; they shouldn't give their families something to worry about.
"Why don't you come eat with us?" Yun Hexian invited.
Zhao Kongcheng shook his head. "I have to go back and file my report."
"What time are we meeting tomorrow? Or should we meet at the school gates after classes?" Lin Qiye asked.
"Tomorrow morning," Zhao Kongcheng said.
Taking advantage of the moment, Yun Hexian wandered over to the fallen corpse of the Ghost Face King and swiftly carved off three pieces of muscle tissue.
Lin Qiye: ......
Zhao Kongcheng: "Ahe, what are you doing?"
"Just doing a little research, hehe," Yun Hexian smiled, pulled a plastic bag out of his pocket, and dropped them inside.
Zhao Kongcheng wanted to say something, but stopped, finally glancing down at the Cyan Jade Sword.
Whatever. If the kid wants them, let him have them—it wasn't like it was that much meat anyway.
Lin Qiye: ......
*Gritting teeth internally*
This was definitely not something Yun Hexian wanted to research.
What kind of grades Yun Hexian got, did Lin Qiye not know? The guy didn't even do his homework or exams, relying entirely on Pang Xin to scrape by.
It had to be for An Qingyu!!!
***
Back upstairs, Lin Qiye found Yang Jin and little Black Mange at Pang Xin's place. "Ajin, why are you here?"
"Brother Pang Xin and the others came to find Auntie, and suggested we all come down to hang out together. Brother Pang Xin's living room has a huge dining table, so they moved it down here," Yang Jin said calmly.
Little Black Mange trotted over to Lin Qiye, circling around his legs and barking, "Woof woof woof!"
"All right, little Black Mange, quit messing around. Ajin, I'm going to take a shower first, I'll be down in a bit," Lin Qiye said as he headed upstairs.
Yun Hexian also headed toward his own apartment. An Qingyu was sitting on the sofa, re-examining Lin Qiye's handwriting. Hearing the commotion, he didn't even turn his head as he asked, "Did you get anything?"
"For you," Yun Hexian handed the excised muscle tissue to An Qingyu, then grabbed a set of fresh clothes and went to take a quick shower.
While showering, he kept replaying today's battle in his mind. Yun Hexian had figured it out now.
Abilities should be valued for their quality rather than quantity. Since he had already revealed the Immortal Crane, he wouldn't dish out any more abilities to his clones for now; at worst, he could just play a support role.
With his mental energy currently capped at the Lamp Realm, having a whole stack of abilities spread out meant each one lacked combat effectiveness, and just maintaining the support abilities alone drained massive amounts of mental energy.
On the contrary, parceling those abilities out to fight alongside his clones optimized their usage—after all, clone combat didn't drain his personal mental energy.
If he acquired any more offensive abilities from now on, he wouldn't split them off immediately; he would keep at least one for himself.As for the clone Zhurui, avatar of the Forbidden Void-Bursting Flames, he should have been on the same level as Yun Hexian—both at the Lamp Realm (Late).
The only reason Zhurui was at the Pool Realm Peak was because of the Elements Butterfly. Before entering the fray, he used the Elements Butterfly for support, boosting his strength tenfold to reach the Pool Realm and swiftly ending the fight.
After discussing a few things with them, and explaining the organization called The Boys to Zhao Kongcheng and Lin Qiye, he could head back into the Game Space.
After all, clones were able to return to the Game Space.
This would plant a specific concept in their minds: "The Boys possess space-transfer Forbidden Artifacts."
That was precisely why Zhurui had made a show of taking something out and crushing it.
The identical Cyan Jade Sword, alongside the distinctions between masks and ranks that Yun Hexian had mentioned, were meant to convey two things: "they have a lot of people" and "they have standardized uniforms and equipment."
Zhurui's mention of trading points for the Cyan Jade Sword implied "strict hierarchy" and "The Boys have their own internal currency system."
And Zhurui's recruitment pitch was simply meant to plant the concept among the Night Watchers that "Yun Hexian is actually in high demand."
After all, Yun Hexian figured that no matter how strong his abilities were, he wouldn't be valued more than Lin Qiye, a God's Proxy. Throwing out that recruitment line was purely a way to elevate his own value.
After showering, Yun Hexian went over to Pang Xin's apartment, where Lin Qiye was already seated.
"Where's An Qingyu?" Yun Hexian asked, looking around in confusion.
Lin Qiye twitched the corner of his mouth. "Who knows?"
*An Qingyu, An Qingyu, An Qingyu—*
Your head is just completely full of An Qingyu. Did he and An Qingyu come up with that whole [Birds and Fish] ability name together or something?
After all, An Qingyu called Yun Hexian "Bird Brother," and Yun Hexian called An Qingyu "Little Crucian Carp."
Such a cute nickname.
"Little Qi, you're acting weird," Yun Hexian keenly sensed something was off. Lin Qiye seemed a little unhappy, so he sat down beside him and asked with a puzzled look, "I was just gone for a shower, what happened to you? Did you and Ajin get into a fight?"
Yang Jin, who had been innocently dragged into this: ......?
Lin Qiye smiled faintly. "No."
As for what "no" meant, he didn't elaborate.
Actually, he knew very well in his heart that Yun Hexian and An Qingyu were classmates who sat right in front of and behind each other; naturally, they were closer to each other than to him.
For the past ten years, because of his eyes, he had never spoken to the neighbors upstairs or downstairs, and his family didn't socialize with neighbors either, because his aunt was always so busy.
Yet Yun Hexian and Pang Xin hadn't abandoned him when they ran into the Masked Ghost; instead, they had risked everything to save him.
During those ten years of blindness, apart from his aunt and Ajin, they were the only ones who hadn't abandoned him.
Especially when compared to his other classmates, the difference was even more glaring.
"Do we really have to squeeze together this tightly to eat?" An Qingyu walked over from the opposite room. Seeing Yun Hexian and Lin Qiye practically glued to each other, he looked momentarily puzzled.
Yet Lin Qiye could see nothing in his eyes but absolute calmness.
So, the fundamental point of this kid saying that was just to provoke him, right?!