Chapter 165: A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Fang Ning continued to walk the farm and conversed with some of the workers along the way. In conclusion, they still believed in the words of the upper management.
Especially in Qi City. Half a year had passed since they entered the new era, and it was becoming very peaceful. It was much safer compared to previous years.
This was normal. Vigilante A would, from time to time, clean up the old nest and get rid of any kind of monsters that tried to hide around here. There was no chance for them to grow in this area.
Of course, there were many weird stories from overseas that were circulating on the internet, but because those stories came from faraway lands, everyone just took them as myth.
After one round, Fang Ning had a good grasp of what was happening. He then returned to his room to read his novel in peace.
Long Fan had previously mentioned to him a writer called “XXXXX”. After some searching on the net, he found out that the writer had started releasing new books four months ago.
That writer was following his idea of writing ten thousand words per day. After one hundred and twenty days, four months, his new book already had twelve million words. It looked like he was aiming to become the number one writer with most words in a book.
As a veteran reader, Fang Ning had gone through similar books. He had read a few books that had around twenty million words…
However, this newcomer, “XXXXX”, had the potential to surpass any one of the previous writers, so long as he maintained the speed that he’d shown so far.
Although Fang Ning called himself a veteran reader, he had a different taste when it came to books he liked. He would never finish reading books like this one.
But when he started reading it, he was drawn in by the content. The story was filled with joy and laughter followed by anger and shouting, bringing his emotions on a roller coaster ride.
After a while, someone got annoyed with him.
The System chided, “Host, now is your free time. I won’t stop you from reading your novels, but could you please keep quiet?”
Fang Ning waved his hand, “Alright, I won’t laugh anymore ok? Hahaha, I am dying from laughter…”
“No, I think you have something wrong with your mind. I am going to investigate.” The System retorted.
A System Notification popped up. [Your internet has been disconnected.]
Fang Ning replied, “I already have this on my local files.”
Another System Notification. [The power supply has been disconnected.]
The computer screen turned black and Fang Ning, suddenly feeling empty, said, “Hurry up with your investigation. Don’t disturb me reading my novel.”
[The System has started testing the Host’s spiritual sense.]
[The System is testing the Host’s spiritual sense…]
[The System has identified the Host is in a state of euphoria.]
[The System has instructed the Host to receive treatment…]
Fang Ning was shocked by the notification, “I don’t need any medication!”
System replied, “Don’t worry, you will recover after eating this pill.”
A black pill suddenly appeared out of nowhere and started floating in front of Fang Ning.
“I think I will have something wrong with me if I eat this pill. Let’s forget about it,” Fang Ning refused to eat it.
The System said, “You must. Your sickness is quite serious. I have master-level medical skills, so I won’t lie to you.”
Fang Ning continued to reject The System.
The System said, “Fine then, looks like I need to eat it on your behalf.”
Fang Ning suddenly felt uneasy and lost control of his body. Relief time was over and his body was back into hosting mode.
Fang Ning saw his mouth open and swallowed the black pill.
A spicy sensation with a hint of bitterness rushed to his brain and he sobered up.
Fang Ning said, “What the, what did you just put in my mouth?”
The System replied, “A mixture of chili powder and herbs that helps with clearing one’s mind, refined into a mind easing pill. Now do you feel awake?”
Fang Ning looked helpless. “I just feel bored, please recover the power supply and the internet connection.”
After recovery, Fang Ning continued to read the novel and felt something was abnormal. He no longer felt emotional or hyped when reading the novel, and he turned back into a veteran reader.
He felt curious. “Eh, it is the same kind of content, but I don’t feel the same way as before. Sir System, is it your pill playing tricks or is the content becoming weird?”
The System replied, “I don’t know, but now your senses are back to normal. Don’t just read the novel for fun. I mentioned before, you need to arrange a tactic for me from the novel that allows me to disguise as a weakling before pouncing on my prey. This is to ease my time playing the Dark Tournament qualifiers match. I was busy leveling up through PVE and didn’t have the energy to remind you about it. Now that you’re so free, get it from your novels.”
Fang Ning felt helpless. ‘What’s the point of reading novels with a task?’
Fang Ning replied, “I’ll try to find it, but I’m not gonna guarantee it will be useful. You know how different it is between the novel and real life.”
The System said, “If that is the case, I should give you a mission to get you interested.”
Fang Ning sensed something bad before hearing the notification.
System notification,
[Advanced-level game book mission module has started to distribute missions to the host.]
[Mission 2, Weaker Than None: Prolonged mission line, find the strongest creature in current realm every season for the System’s comparison purposes. Repeatable mission reward: $1,000,000 in cash.] Note: This mission has been completed once. The previous strongest living thing: Anderson the Devourer. The mission has been reset.]
[Mission two, Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing: Limited Mission Line. To enable the System to compete in the Dark Tournament qualifiers match, it will feign weakness. The host will need to find a way that helps the system achieve its objective. Reward per completion: Every time the System participates in one round of the qualifiers, the System will reward the host five percent of the prizes. Punishment for mission failure: The duration for this mission is a month, if failed…]
Fang Ning heard the system notification. He took out his game book and flipped to the mission module. He felt joyful and said, “Hey, you’re actually generous enough to divide the missions this time. But you just had to insert a punishment, and even then it’s just ellipsis. What’s the point of including it then?”
The System looked at it and replied, “Damn it, this book is going against me! I already wrote that if you failed to complete the mission in a month I will take your money and disconnect your internet. This book turned them into ellipsis…”
Fang Ning heard and understood the situation. He rushed to hug his precious game book and give it a big kiss. “Haha, this beloved game book knows to repay his debt just like its owner. Lucky me that I convinced you to save him…”
System replied, “Whatever, there’s no punishment then. I won’t argue with you guys about it. Hurry up and figure it out for me.”
Fang Ning replied disdainfully, “I’ll figure it out anytime. I’ve read so many books and learned so many tactics, you think I can’t find one to use? Don’t you start taking away my reward away then.”
The System said, “As long as it works I won’t reward you any less.”
Fang Ning rolled his eyes and started thinking. An idea came to his mind and he said to the System, “Right, all you need to do is this and this, and just like that…”
The System listened and replied, “You are really clever…”
…
The next day, Butler Zheng was summoned into the Vigilante A’s bedroom via phone call.
He saw the Venerable Dragon God sitting on his bed. His eyes were closed and his face was pale, and there was blood stain by the corner of his lips.
Normally his energy would be hidden away like normal people, but at that moment his energy was unstable and was undulating between a strong and weak person’s. He knew something was wrong.
Zheng Dao turned serious and rushed forward, “Venerable One, what happened to you?”
The System was controlling Vigilante A. He opened his eyes slowly and replied breathlessly, “Butler Zheng, you finally came. A few days ago, I went to a secret place to kill a boss monster, but I was injured by its evil spell. At that time, it remained dormant, but I’d never imagined that it was so strong. Now it has gone out of control and my body has taken a huge hit. I need to cultivate in isolation to regenerate my health. You must guard the house and make sure no one else knows about this.”
Zheng Dao was moved by his words. With his strong psionic ability, he could tell that the words spoken by the Venerable were from his heart and was the whole truth.
‘For any masters that sustained such level of injury, they will only reveal their injuries to those closest to them. The Venerable One really treats me as someone like that…’
Zheng Dao steeled his mind and said, “I will handle them properly. Do you need me to go buy some herbs and medicine in secret for your treatment?”
Vigilante A replied, “You are really thoughtful. This is good too, so long as no one other than us knows about this. I will pass you the list of medications, these items are good for treating soul injuries.”
Zheng Dao nodded continuously.
Fang Ning saw how Zheng Dao was worried from the bottom of his heart and felt touched. He suddenly turned softhearted and said, “I don’t have the heart to continue to lie to butler Zheng…”
System replied, “I have my own restrictions. I will never do what is wrong. Stop being so soft and think of more ideas. This trick is not going to work for long.”
Fang Ning said, “Don’t worry, I have many tricks in my sleeve, so long as you are strong enough to execute them.”
…
In one of China’s Truth Department base camps, Qiao Zijiang brought his uncle for resting here.
The medical facilities here was much better than the Land of Heritage. To maintain the relationship with the monster villages, there weren’t many modern structures built there.
The injury Qiao Anping suffered was on his soul, and his vitality level would not affect the progress of soul recovery. Resting here would be both safer and more convenient.
When Qiao Zijiang was with her uncle, someone called her through her phone.
She went away to receive the call and came back with a puzzled facial expression. Her expression looked as if she was touched, but regretful at the same time.
Qiao Anping rarely saw his niece with such a complicated expression. He tried to sit up and asked, “What’s wrong, Zijiang?”
Qiao Zijiang replied immediately, “Oh, it’s nothing. One of our guys from the Special Investigations Unit sent over some information. They saw the butler for the Venerable Dragon God secretly asked Aunt Ding to help him get some herbs from the Truth Department’s medical market. All the rare herbs he bought are for clearing one’s mind, and also to help in focusing and treating soul injuries.”
In China, the list of herbs Vigilante A was looking for were mostly sold by the Truth Department. Other places might have but they would not have enough stock or had some ways of obtaining those herbs. Although Zheng Dao really wanted to keep it a secret, this was the best he could do. He must have thought the Truth Department was their alliance and will keep it a secret.
Qiao Anping had been on the field for so many years, he knew what had happened right away and sighed, “This is really happening, the curse of the King Cobra is really too evil and poisonous. I was protected by my murderous intent and I was still hit and almost killed. Although Venerable is skillful he is not much stronger than me. There is no way he can escape with a disguise. Looks like he was just trying to encourage others and acted like he was okay, and later gave me those elixirs from Upper Realm for me to recover.”
“He was keeping his injuries to himself and is now trying to make new medicine to tend his injuries. Zijiang, excluding the 500 million worth of medicine that can be discarded, go and get those rare herbs that were allocated to me in previous years, those that can’t be found in the market. Pick those that are useful and send it to the Venerable One.”
Qiao Zijiang nodded. She always thought that humans were selfish, but now she realized there was really someone this selfless in the world. Since there were so many people in the world, it was normal to have one or two such people that stood on the moral high ground.
But this man is a powerful man among extraordinaires, of which in the world only had a few. Not only that, his skills were obtained through hardship. Somehow, he was still so selfless that he held his injuries and gave those elixirs to others, and only made new pills when he was back home. This action moved her ideas. Maybe in this world, other than her brother and uncle, there was still someone who she could trust.
