bestfiction Chapter 201 Street Stooge
Chapter 201 Street Stooge
Zhong Ming felt a great weight lifted from his heart. His master's instructions and Su Longshan's departure made him feel a little more at ease.
He had considered the possibility that Su Longshan was a member of the Yan family, but he had to seek outside help and muddy the waters; he had no better option.
At this time, the Yan family was unaware that they were being watched, and Young Master Yan was still "punished by kneeling" in the powerful man's room.
Half a month has passed in the blink of an eye, and Zhong Ming has been officially recorded as having changed from being seriously injured to being able to perform missions.
Some tasks that could be assigned to the new recruits were naturally given to Xueyan. To her surprise, Zhong Ming said that he was in seclusion and showing signs of a breakthrough.
Xueyan checked the mission level. If it wasn't a red-level mission, the cultivator in seclusion wouldn't need to come out of seclusion.
Helpless, she left with her people.
At this moment, Zhong Ming found himself in an awkward situation.
No money.
No military merit points. Last time, all the military merit points were lent to Yue Kaishan to make the robotic arm. This time, since we didn't participate in the points ranking, we are naturally short of military merit points.
Isn't that uncomfortable? Although he said he was in seclusion, he actually only stayed in the quiet room for a day, and came out immediately after Xueyan and the others left.
If we don't come out soon, we won't be able to afford the rental fees.
There are still some spirit stones left; as a guest of the Yue family, he still receives a small salary.
He was on the main road of the stronghold, and this was the first time he had the opportunity to carefully observe the scenery. There were many special shops on both sides of the road. These shops were not competing with the supply department for business, but rather providing information support by selling unverified information through a simple barter system.
Among them, the most important is to issue tasks to verify the authenticity of certain messages.
For ordinary soldiers, a piece of information can be "handed over" to the army, and they will be paid military merit points as a reward, just like scouts who receive rewards. However, many times, the person who obtains the information is unable to go and investigate to provide evidence due to their level, status, or other reasons, so this kind of place is needed.
Here, the information of both parties is kept absolutely confidential, and the shop acts as a notary office. If any of those who go out to earn extra money hand over the information they have gathered to the army without authorization, their records can be notarized and judged according to the "Detailed Rules for Punishing Those Who Seize Military Merits" in military law.
Zhong Ming then wandered around aimlessly.
He first entered an information shop in the southern battlefield, which was almost deserted. It was too far from the south and a stronghold with many new recruits, so no one would take on such long-distance missions.
After searching around without finding any news about Gao Jin, Zhong Ming went to another shop that seemed to be crowded.
Inside are shops selling information about elixirs, ranging from details like whether a particular alchemist in this stronghold is in seclusion to methods for obtaining a specific elixir—everything is available.
Information within the base is guaranteed to be authentic, but information outside the base is not.
Zhong Ming's interest was piqued. He glanced at the list and even saw a picture of Nanyangzi's big head posted on the bulletin board indicating that he had completed his mission.
He wandered around inside frequently, surrounded by a lively crowd, unaware that several pairs of eyes were already fixed on him.
The two ordinary disciples huddled in a corner of the shop, keeping an eye on Zhong Ming while secretly taking out a portrait to compare.
After observing carefully for a few moments, the two left the shop and found a quiet corridor between the shops to talk quietly.
"Is it this one?"
"That's probably true. Why not be bold and just go up and ask?"
"Shh~~ What did they say? Keep a low profile."
The Yan family wasn't exactly all-powerful in the military. No family would dare claim to have complete control over the army. If they did, the Chen dynasty would be ruthless enough to execute the entire family, sending them to the underworld for a vacation.
"That's because they're keeping a low profile. By sending us, aren't we just doing their high-profile work for them?"
On a larger scale, the most important thing for the Yan family to do in secrecy is to avoid arousing suspicion from other families.
Can they guarantee that other families haven't placed people in such important positions when they go to check information on Zhong Ming, Chen Dahai, and Chi Tong? Can they guarantee that other families don't know?
When other families find out, they will wonder why the Yan family is looking for Zhong Ming, and naturally there will be many speculations and inferences... For rival families, the important thing is that no matter what the Yan family is up to, they just want to cause trouble.
Therefore, we need someone with some connections to the Yan family, but who is insignificant, to clash with Zhong Ming and his group, preferably to fight and injure each other, and then beg the Yan family for help. This way, the Yan family will have no qualms about investigating them.
Other families would also consider Zhong Ming not an important pawn, and even if they protected him, it wouldn't harm the Yan family in the slightest, so they wouldn't interfere. Some families, out of contempt for the "inferior" from the "upper class," might even lend a hand.
"What are you afraid of? Let's bump into each other, it's no big deal. Fighting is forbidden in the military camp, but what's wrong with a couple of collisions if there are too many people? What's wrong with a few people vying for the same mission?"
The other person thought it made sense, so he swaggered into the pill information shop, only to find that Zhong Ming was gone.
After searching for a long time, the two finally found him at another shop that specialized in providing miscellaneous information about Yunzhou.
Zhong Ming was observing the information on the side. The messages were a jumbled mess, some bordering on the absurd, like a male cultivator's natal magic weapon being a breastplate, someone seeing a Nine-Yuan Old Ginseng flying in the sky while traveling by flying boat from Huling County to Tianhe County in Yunzhou, and a certain divine tree that could run bearing fruit that looked like children...
This was much more interesting than storytelling; he was so engrossed in it that he almost wrote it down.
There were fewer people here, and it seemed a bit deliberate to just bump into them. The two decided to see which message Zhong Ming would choose, and then they would rush up and grab it as soon as he asked.
Then... several hours passed.
The shop assistants went from being enthusiastic to disdainful, then to wanting to get rid of them, and finally to completely ignoring them.
Dude, are you that free? You spend your precious vacation time just strolling around the streets?
It's rare to see three female cultivators strolling together like this, but it's truly seldom seen among male cultivators.
The two men couldn't hold back any longer, thinking to themselves, 'Has this kid discovered something and is making fun of us?'
One person couldn't hold back any longer and strode over to Zhong Ming, performing the amazing feat of falling flat on the smooth floor that had been swept by spiritual energy multiple times.
"Ouch!" He fell down very quickly, reaching out to grab Zhong Ming's underwear.
The saying goes, if there's no opportunity, create one. I'll pull your underwear down in front of everyone, and I bet you'll be angry.
Getting angry gives you a chance!