The three players nodded, smiling. The woman with a viper tattoo casually replied, “Yes. We are from the Valley of Thorns.”
Xin Xiaoqi’s face was even more awful than before, as if a bitter and sour orange had just been stuffed into her mouth.
It was obvious that she did not want the two little fellows to hear the name ‘Valley of Thorns’ in case they got mired any deeper in trouble.
Han Te and Liu Li both trembled, apparently shocked by the news.
Li Yao’s soul released two warm ripples without alarming anyone, pacifying their souls. Then, he sent a message into Han Te’s brain. “What place is the Valley of Thorns? Is it terrible? Don’t talk. Just draw on my back with your hand.”
After spending a month with him, Han Te had picked up some secret techniques to communicate quickly and soundless with spiritual energy. He immediately wrote on Li Yao’s back with his fingertip as a pen. “The Valley of Thorns is the most mysterious and dreadful organization in the Land of Sins. Rumor has it that they have been controlling the entire Land of Sins in secret.
“According to legend, the Valley of Thorns have the most dangerous assassins and the strongest mercenaries. Every large-scale conflict in the Land of Sins has the shadow of the Valley of Thorns. But what is strange is that nobody has ever seen a living assassin or warrior of the Valley of Thorns. Even their bodies have never been found, much less their headquarters and their communication method.
“In other words, nobody even knows whether or not the organization exists. Perhaps they are just groundless tales that do not exist at all. Or maybe those who have seen the assassins and the warriors from the Valley of Thorns are all dead now!”
“Don’t be scared.” Li Yao’s soul released a second ripple. “Nothing can happen as long as I am here. Just calm down and be smart.”
The mental devil, on the other hand, simply smiled. “It seems that the Valley of Thorns is a camouflage for the players of the Immortal Cultivators in the arena that is the Land of Sins. A fabricated, nonexistent organization of assassins and mercenaries. Fabulous. In that case, they have good reason to be involved in all the conflicts and fights in the Land of Sins. Even if some sinners discover the truth, they’ll be ‘erased’ without alarming anybody else, and the order of the Land of Sins won’t be disrupted. After all, there is little order here in the first place.”
Shaking, Xin Xiaoqi summoned her courage and said, “My—My name is Xin Xiaoqi. I know something about everything in the Land of Sins, including the range of the major forces, the personalities and features of the experts, the nests of the mutated beasts, the mysterious black markets… All in all, you can ask me about anything you are interested in, however peculiar the information may be. I will certainly tell you all that I know and try to make my answers as satisfactory as possible!”
It seemed that Xin Xiaoqi did not necessarily know that the three ‘players’ were high and mighty ‘angels’, but the Valley of Thorns must have left a very deep impression on her. She knew the dreadfulness of the fiends very well and was scared that she might be killed on the spot if she accidentally pissed them off.
Of course, by Li Yao’s estimation, even if she worked dutifully as the guide and helped the three players accomplish their so-called ‘quests’, her outcome would not be any better. It was very possible that she would be delivered to Manjusaka and end up being a warm test subject.
Li Yao did not feel that the Immortal Cultivators would keep any sinners who had gotten in touch with the ‘players’ alive.
The viper-tattooed woman smiled and patted Xin Xiaoqi’s shoulder. “Don’t be so anxious. The one who asked you to come here should’ve told you what you needed to do next, right?”
“Yes.” Xin Xiaoqi’s soul almost left her body after the patting. She nodded, shivering. “He asked me to take you to the Fist King’s place and join the Fist King’s army. Then, I will listen to your command and provide all the necessary help for you to accomplish ‘that’.”
“You know your job very well.” The viper-tattooed woman squeezed Xin Xiaoqi’s cheeks and smiled. “Fulfil your job dutifully, and you will be well rewarded later. However… why are the two people behind you here?”
She gestured at Han Te and Liu Li.
The muscular man and the six-eyed shortly both moved their daunting eyes to the two little fellows.
Being stared at by the three Immortal Cultivators, the two little fellows felt as if the blood throughout their body was frozen. Had it not been for the spiritual energy that Li Yao transmitted into their bodies, they probably would have grunted and collapsed to the ground.
“They—They’re with me.”
After some brief hesitation, Xin Xiaoqi gritted her teeth and said quickly, “We will go to the Fist King’s camp together!”
“Will we?” The viper-tattooed woman gave neither approval nor disapproval. Narrowing her eyes and observing Han Te and Liu Li who were overly young, she suddenly began to move her lips quickly.
“Their killing intent is very strong,” the mental devil said in a hurry. “Should we kill them?”
“Are you insane? Since they are ‘players’, they certainly have communication devices that connect to Manjusaka,” Li Yao analyzed calmly. “Chances are, retina lenses that can capture and upload everything they see in real time have been stuck to their eyes. Even if those two do not, the guy with six eyes certainly has one!
“Even if they are to be killed, now is not a good time. We must find a way to cut off their signal and block the surveillance from the sky. It will be even better if we lay a few neat traps so that we won’t need to attack in person.”
“They seem to be communicating with a discrete communication technique.” The mental devil grinned hideously. “How naïve. Do they think that nobody can hear them? Let me crack it!”
Their discrete communication technique involved the precise control of the soundwaves, which would be condensed into lines that were similar to light before they were directly sent into the ears of the receptors.
But however they were controlled and condensed, the soundwaves would release very feeble ripples after all. As long as the gap between the two parties was huge enough, it was always possible to intercept and decrypt it.
A moment later, the conversation among the three players that they thought to be confidential was intercepted by Li Yao and the mental devil.
The six-eyed shorty frowned and said, “What’s the meaning of this? Teammates that the system has distributed to us randomly? They look very weak.”
The muscular man snorted and said, “What can we do with such weak teammates? Let’s just kill them here in case they encumber us at a critical moment.”
The viper-tattooed woman did not seem fond of participating in the operation with too many locals, either. She considered the suggestion of her companions carefully.
Li Yao sent a message into Han Te’s head again. “Show them the Fist King’s invitation card!”
As if woken from a dream, Han Te hurried to take out the rusty card from his pocket and said, “Please look. This is the Fist King’s invitation card. You can directly join the Fist King’s cause with it!”
Xin Xiaoqi was slightly dazed, not expecting that Han Te and Liu Li would have an invitation card given their young age. But she grasped the life saver quickly and nodded. “Yes. With the invitation card, we will be able to directly join the Fist King’s army as a team of six!”
Li Yao saw that the viper-tattooed woman rolled her eyes and hesitated a moment before she snapped her fingers at her companions. “Forget it. Just keep them alive for now. Perhaps they are really teammates that have been randomly distributed to us by the system and will trigger all kinds of weird secondary quests. I ran into similar cases during some of the previous trials. Although the quests may not be very important, it will still be a shame to kill them right now.”
After pausing for a moment, she continued smiling and said, “I know that you both want to secure the achievement of a hundred kills, and I am trying to get the super achievement of a thousand kills, too. However, it does not need to be done in a hurry. After the battle between the Fist King and the leader of Liberty City begins, there will be lots of opportunities.”
The muscular man and the six-eyed shorty nodded, not having the courage to defy the viper-tattooed woman.
Little did they know that they had just avoided being killed in their ignorance—although only temporarily.
“He is ‘Black Spear’, he is ‘Flash Point’, and I am ‘Red Viper’.”
The viper-tattooed woman introduced them in a tone of mockery.
Xin Xiaoqi swallowed hard and glanced at Han Te and Liu Li.
“I am Han Te.”
“I am Liu Li.”
The two little fellows tried to calm themselves down and introduce themselves.
“What’s this?”
The viper-tattooed woman suddenly shifted her attention to Li Yao. She glanced at him casually first before she grew curious and scratched Li Yao’s iron shell carefully. She observed, somewhat surprised, “It seems ugly and stupid, but some of the components are rather well-designed!”
Li Yao’s wariness that had just been lowered was raised to the highest level again. If Red Viper extended her spiritual energy to the core of the crystal processor for investigation, Li Yao was not sure if he could deceive the ‘seasoned player’ without alarming her. If things did not work out, he would have to kill all of them at the risk of being discovered.
Damn it. Why did those Immortal Cultivators always ask to be killed!
“Its name is ‘Fiend Star’. It is our spiritual puppet,” Liu Li said nervously. “It is very impressive!”
“Very impressive?” Red Viper glanced at the joints and gaps that Li Yao had intentionally built in a crude way and then at the tracks that were full of mud and fungi. She smiled casually and said, “I don’t know if it is impressive, but it does seem capable of carrying a lot of goods.”
“Exactly,” Han Te hurried to add. “The shuttle consumes too much spiritual energy, and we do not have many crystals. In many cases, all our belongings are hauled by ‘Fiend Star.”
Red Viper was not a refiner. She was not interested in the spiritual puppet that belonged to the ‘locals’ of the novice village. Curling her finger, she flicked Li Yao’s iron shell softly.
“Clang!”
The sound of a component breaking off and hitting the ground immediately echoed inside Li Yao’s body, and the indicator flashed quickly for a while.
Red Viper was slightly stunned. She completely lost interest in Li Yao and yawned. Looking at the towers that were connected to the Heavenly Rails far away, she smiled and said, “Let’s go to the Fist King’s camp now. The Battle of Liberty City is about to begin!”
