Chapter 170 : Chapter 170
Chapter : 170
Doreen held her breath. She truly felt the cold sensation of the blade pressing against the back of her heart.
The sharp point had already pierced the soft fabric of her clothes and broken her skin, forcing her to believe the words of the person holding the knife—if she moved even a fraction, her heart would be pierced by that dagger.
Doreen slowly raised her hands, turning them palm out very slowly to demonstrate her harmlessness. "I have no ill intentions, sir."
Yan Yunqing let out a laugh. That laugh sounded somewhat hollow in the pitch-black room. If Doreen were to look back at this moment, she would see that face belonging to Joker mostly hidden in the darkness, the corners of his mouth curving up into a mocking arc.
Doreen felt the person behind her lean closer. A warm breath sprayed against the side of her ear, triggering a dense wave of itchiness. At the same time, her heart was tugged by that voice, suspended high in her throat.
"This young lady, the night is long. Isn't it a bit improper to break into a strange man's room in this manner?"
Doreen heard the man's tone rise slightly at the end. The slightly suggestive words coming from his mouth, however, made one... tremble for no reason.
Doreen swallowed hard and closed her eyes, suppressing her uncontrollably trembling body. She opened her mouth, trying to remain calm.
"I really have no ill intentions. You know that. Otherwise, I wouldn't have set the tracking magic so crudely. Anyone who obtained that 'Morgan's Heart' could have discovered that tracking magic with just a little scrutiny, couldn't they?"
Yan Yunqing raised an eyebrow imperceptibly. It seemed this was the person behind the auction of 'Morgan's Heart'.
That tracking magic was indeed superficial, but Yan Yunqing had only detected it at first glance thanks to the status bar on his system panel.
Yan Yunqing pulled at the corner of his lip. "So you placed a tracking spell on 'Morgan's Heart' to attract the holder's attention, making them overlook the Feathered Butterfly Flower pollen stained on it, just so you could conveniently come knocking when they let their guard down, is that it?"
Feathered Butterfly Flower was just a very ordinary variety of wildflower. It was named so simply because a type of butterfly called the Feathered Butterfly was particularly fond of it.
Under certain conditions, the pollen of the Feathered Butterfly Flower would attract Feathered Butterflies, which could serve as a tracking method.
Most critically, once this pollen got on you, it was very difficult to wash off. It would remain for a minimum of three days; even bathing would struggle to wash away all the pollen.
When Yan Yunqing realized there was a faint floral scent on his body, he immediately used [Probe] on himself. After three [Probe]s, the system reluctantly informed him that he had a type of pollen on him that was difficult to wash off, and he immediately made the connection to the Feathered Butterfly Flower.
Doreen stiffened. She lowered her head slightly, and in the instant her hair fell forward, she quickly crouched down, braced her palm against the floor, and swept her leg out to attack Yan Yunqing's lower body.
Few people could react quickly to such a sudden attack. However, the person behind her seemed to have anticipated it.
With a light leap, he grabbed Doreen by her collar, pulled her up, and using the momentum of the force, flung her backward onto the bed. Her hands were pressed behind her back, and her entire face was buried in the raised duvet.
Yan Yunqing casually lit the oil lamp in the room and also set up a soundproofing formation. Doreen wanted to struggle, but the dagger grazed her cheek and pinned into the bedding. A few severed strands of hair drifted down lightly, resting on the dagger right before her eyes.
The blade, glinting with a cold light, reflected Doreen's widened eyes and the trace of fear hidden within them.
Just a little bit closer, and that dagger would have stabbed into her brain.
Sensing the chasm-like gap in strength, Doreen settled down. She finally stopped struggling and obediently lay prone on the bed with her hands pinned behind her back. Her voice, muffled by the duvet, sounded somewhat depressed.
"Yes, I did indeed use Feathered Butterfly Flower pollen to track you... but sir, I really have no ill intentions."
Doreen said pitifully, "Have you forgotten me? Last time we agreed that I would take you to the dark dungeon, and you would take me out of that hellhole, but you disappeared in the end. I looked everywhere for you and almost got caught by those guards..."
Hearing this, Yan Yunqing immediately matched her identity with the person in his memory. "...You are that 'Maner'?"
"...My name is Doreen, sir." Doreen realized that Yan Yunqing had truly forgotten her name.
Yan Yunqing thought about it. It seemed her name really was that. It was just that at the time, his attention wasn't on Doreen; he was only thinking about that NPC, Nana, whom the system was frantically warning him was about to die.
At that time, because this Doreen knew too much and her identity was dubious, Yan Yunqing had wanted to tear up the agreement right there and then. Later, he simply teleported away with Nana, completely forgetting about Doreen, whom he had left behind.
Yan Yunqing: .
In a sense, he was indeed in the wrong. After all, their agreement was that Doreen would lead him to the dark dungeon, and he would take Doreen out of Mandiper.
But Yan Yunqing did not release his grip on Doreen. He was already suspicious of Doreen's identity, and now, meeting again because of 'Morgan's Heart', Yan Yunqing's danger radar was blaring alarms.
'Morgan's Heart'—just looking at the name, one knew it came from the False God Morgan. Although the False God Morgan carried the word "False," he had been stealing the authority left behind by Jinmai for years.
His strength was long equivalent to a god; he was a guy that required Isabel and Divic to join forces to defeat.
And for Doreen, someone who couldn't even beat him, to be able to steal 'Morgan's Heart' from Morgan was simply incredible. Even more incredible was that she successfully escaped in the end.
"Although I don't know how you got your hands on this 'Morgan's Heart', I know the process was definitely not easy, even if you act so nonchalant about it."
Yan Yunqing cast an Imprisonment Spell on her before letting go. He pulled over a chair and sat by the bed, finally having the time to examine Doreen's current attire—a dusty blue and white outfit. Yan Yunqing found the style very familiar; it was the style often worn by the maids in this inn.
Truth be told, this Doreen's preparation work for infiltrating this place was quite thorough; at least the costume was correct.
But had she considered that this was a small inn, and the boss knew exactly how many employees he had and what they looked like?
"Yet you still put the hard-earned 'Morgan's Heart' up for auction. What do you want to do? Or rather, who do you want to lure out with this 'Morgan's Heart'?"
Because of the Imprisonment Spell, Doreen was squirming on the bed like a maggot. Hearing Yan Yunqing's words, she stopped and tried hard to look back in his direction. Unsurprisingly, she saw that the man with the high chestnut ponytail was still wearing a mask. Seeing this, she couldn't help but ask, "Do you not take off your mask even when you sleep?"
She squirmed hard a couple more times before she managed to turn her body slightly, pressing her face against the puffed-up duvet and using it as a pillow so her line of sight could fall on Yan Yunqing more easily.
"Also, why are you sleeping fully dressed? Do you sleep like this every day?"
Yan Yunqing: .
Not really. It was just that after discovering Doreen's arrival, he quickly switched to the Joker persona so he wouldn't run into her wearing his player face.
"Answer my questions honestly." Yan Yunqing ignored Doreen's questions, raising an eyebrow. "Keep changing the subject, and I'll beat you up again?"
Doreen was speechless. She looked at him, then looked at her hands, which were bound tight by the Imprisonment Spell.
Beat her up again? Did he mean her getting unilaterally thrashed again?
The room fell into a strange silence. Doreen stiffened her neck and held out against Yan Yunqing for a while.
Then she pretended to be pitiful, but upon discovering that this man was truly impervious to both soft and hard tactics and had a heart as hard as iron, she finally gave up on indirect strategies.
"...Let me go, and I'll tell you what you want to know."
Yan Yunqing did not answer, nor did he move. He crossed his arms, his posture relaxed, looking at Doreen with leisurely composure.
"..."
Doreen buried her head into the duvet, her voice muffled. "Fine, I'll answer a few of your questions first. Can you untie me then? This posture is really weird!"
Yan Yunqing finally answered her question. "Is it not weird for you to break into a strange man's room in the middle of the night? You answer first. If I'm satisfied, I'll consider untying you."
Doreen secretly ground her teeth, daring not let Yan Yunqing hear. She could only hide this little grievance and, for the sake of her freedom, decided to smash the jar since it was already cracked. "Ask!"
"How did you get 'Morgan's Heart'? Why did you go after this thing? And why bring it out for auction? What is your goal?" Yan Yunqing fluently threw all the questions at Doreen in one go.
Doreen: "...Can't you ask one by one? Which one should I answer first with so many questions?"
"Just answer them one by one." The corners of Yan Yunqing's mouth turned up, and a sweet dimple even appeared on his cheek. However, Doreen didn't feel it was cute at all; instead, she felt that the dimple added a degree of danger to this man.
"Don't think about fudging your way through."
Scary man.
Doreen accepted her fate. "How did I get 'Morgan's Heart'? Just used a tiny little scheme... Don't glare at me, these are the tools of my trade, I can't really tell you everything, can I?"
Without waiting for Yan Yunqing to question her, Doreen quickly continued, "Why did I go after this thing? Because I received a commission. The employer asked me to get this thing. The employer offered way too much, so I accepted the task."
"You are a Bounty Hunter?"
Doreen curled her lips. "I am from the Thieves' Association, not a Bounty Hunter."
Bounty Hunters were considered a derivative profession of mercenaries. Anyone with strength could form a team at the Bounty Hunter's Association to become a hunter, accepting and completing tasks to earn rewards.
As a public and relatively transparent organization, the tasks were generally positive. Rarely would anyone place orders for assassination or theft-type commissions in the Bounty Hunter's Association.
—Although the client is kept confidential before a task is accepted, because the Bounty Hunter's Association has a massive number of members, the identity of the person behind the task would inevitably be known by some people with high authority levels, even if anonymous.
In contrast, the Thieves' Association dealt with these shady matters: assassination, theft, interception, and so on.
Any task that was inconvenient to publish in the Bounty Hunter's Association could be published in the Thieves' Association, guaranteeing anonymity and task completion rates.
Correspondingly, the entry threshold for the Thieves' Association was also higher; every thief had quite a criminal record.
Hearing Doreen say she was a thief, Yan Yunqing couldn't help but twitch his eyebrows twice. "You? A thief?"
An ordinary petty thief, perhaps. But with this strength that allowed him to suppress and beat her, could she really handle those assassination and murder missions?
She might have some talent in theft, but Yan Yunqing felt that Rocco from Freedom City definitely had more talent in theft than Doreen.
Doreen huffed. Seeing that Yan Yunqing didn't believe her, she could only add hatefully, "I only accept theft-type missions."
Yan Yunqing thought to himself: Guessed as much.
However, a thief who could steal 'Morgan's Heart' was probably not simple. He could investigate later.
Yan Yunqing knew that even if he asked Doreen for her true identity now, she wouldn't necessarily answer seriously, so he simply didn't ask.
"Next."
Doreen paused and puffed out her cheeks. "Why auction it? Just like you said, I want to lure out the guy who gave me the commission."
"That person issued the commission and the deposit, then disappeared. I went through so much trouble to get this thing, only to turn around and find the employer couldn't be contacted."
A look of indignation appeared on Doreen's face. "I couldn't chase down the final payment, so I had to find a way to lure the person out. I thought about auctioning 'Morgan's Heart' and releasing some rumors before the auction. Naturally, people who want this thing would appear."
Doreen glanced at Yan Yunqing aggrievedly. "Then you won the bid for this thing, so I came over. You know what happened after that."
Yan Yunqing hadn't expected it to be for such a reason. So, his sudden appearance today to buy 'Morgan's Heart' really had disrupted Doreen's debt-collection plan.
"...Is this the reason you sneaked over in the middle of the night and pried open my room's lock?" Yan Yunqing was suspicious.
Doreen was silent for a while before speaking awkwardly, "Um... actually, I found you earlier. But at that time, you were... fighting with another person outside the city. The fight was too fierce, I didn't dare go up. I waited at a distance for a while, but then you disappeared."
"You run too fast. I took the Feathered Butterfly and circled Slanlipa City for a full round before finding my way here."
Doreen also really wanted to question this chestnut-haired man: why could he run so well? The entire Slanlipa City was covered in his traces.
Yan Yunqing: .
Well, he really had nothing to say to that. To avoid being found by Yuchir, he had indeed taken a very long detour and made camouflage traces everywhere before returning to the inn.
Plus, he had been scurrying all over the city earlier to avoid the encirclement of those small fries, so it was normal for the Feathered Butterfly to lose his track for a while.
Yan Yunqing accepted Doreen's explanation. "Last question. What is the final payment the employer of that task owes you?"
It couldn't just be money.
After all, the transaction amount for 'Morgan's Heart' at the auction alone was enough to issue dozens of missions in the Thieves' Association. If it were just money, Doreen wouldn't have chased after him after seeing the auction house's transaction amount.
After all, the gold coins Yan Yunqing created using the [Touch of Midas] skill would take a day to turn back. The current Doreen absolutely could not have discovered that those gold coins were all stones.
So, that employer must have promised Doreen something she had to get her hands on no matter what, causing her to risk publicly auctioning 'Morgan's Heart'.
He hadn't forgotten the bounty he saw in the Bounty Hunter's Association earlier. If even the Bounty Hunter's Association had a bounty, the Thieves' Association definitely went without saying.
Doreen opened her mouth to answer, but Yan Yunqing narrowed his eyes. "To be honest, you probably don't want to know the consequences of lying, do you?"
Yan Yunqing looked pointedly at the dagger still pinned to the bed. Doreen followed his gaze. One second, two seconds...
Doreen admitted defeat. "Why do you have to know this? Knowing too much won't do you any good! As far as I know, that employer's background isn't simple!"
Yan Yunqing crossed his legs, his posture languid. "That has nothing to do with you. You just need to answer my question honestly."
"..."
Doreen struggled, the expression on her face changing constantly. It was obvious she really didn't want to tell Yan Yunqing the truth, but due to the danger to her life, she had to. She could only struggle internally.
Yan Yunqing wasn't in a hurry either, waiting for her to think. As long as Doreen was smart, she would know it was best not to lie to someone who held her life and death in his hands right now.
Doreen shuddered, seeming to feel the thick malice coming from Yan Yunqing. After a long while, she spoke slowly: "Holy Water."
"What?" Yan Yunqing thought he had misheard. "What did you say?"
Doreen couldn't help but glare at Yan Yunqing. "Aren't your ears very functional? You heard my footsteps when they were so light earlier, and now you can't hear? Holy Water! Holy Water! Did you hear that clearly?"
Doreen was puffing with rage. The last sentence was almost shouted. If Yan Yunqing hadn't set up a soundproofing formation in advance, this voice would have woken the soundly sleeping people next door.
Yan Yunqing: "Holy Water?"
His expression turned strange. "What do you want that stuff for? Don't you know that stuff is all fake?"
Holy Water, as the name implies: water blessed by a god, used for blessing, exorcism, healing, and so on.
This is the more official explanation. In reality, it is just a method used by the Church to control people's hearts and spread faith using certain metaphysical means.
Holy Water generally refers to the spring water enshrined before the statue of the god in the main halls of various churches.
Perhaps before the War of the Gods, when the God of Light hadn't been killed by the Demon King yet, that Holy Water really had some use.
After all, being enshrined before a god's statue, it would definitely be tainted with a lot of light elements, and light magic is mostly used for healing, exorcism, etc., so the Holy Water back then really had some use.
Now that the God of Light had been hacked to death by the Demon King, and the remaining Goddess of Light was a god fabricated by the Church, the spring water enshrined before the statue was really just ordinary water now.
It didn't have much more light element than anywhere else.
Perhaps ordinary people couldn't tell, but having become a thief of the Thieves' Association, Yan Yunqing didn't believe Doreen couldn't sense that the Holy Water before those church statues was just ordinary water.
"If you want Holy Water, just find a church and steal some. That happens to be what you're good at." Yan Yunqing began to suspect Doreen was lying to him again.
Doreen looked completely innocent. Seeing Yan Yunqing's strange expression, she explained, "It's not that kind of ordinary water. Do I look that stupid? The Holy Water I want is enshrined in the Church's Sacred Palace."
Yan Yunqing: "...Is there a difference? Is the Holy Water in the Sacred Palace clearer than the Holy Water in ordinary churches?"
The Church's Sacred Palace was the headquarters of the Church of Light; the Pope and several Cardinals were all inside.
The newly established Sacred Palace was sandwiched between the Two Great Empires, and the surrounding towns basically belonged to the Church's territory.
"There is a difference." Doreen paused here. "Rumor has it that Holy Water was passed down from the ancient War of the Gods era.
It still carries the early grace of the God of Light, as well as the favor of the current Goddess of Light. That Holy Water can dispel the corruption left by the Bones of a God and demonic beasts."
"This isn't fake. Someone really was polluted by the filth of a demonic beast, and the people from the Church used that Holy Water to purify the filth on that person."
Fearing Yan Yunqing wouldn't believe her, Doreen hurriedly added, "I went to investigate the truth of this matter and even saw the person who was purified."
Yan Yunqing couldn't help but twitch the corner of his eye.
Real or fake? Able to dispel the corruption left by the Bones of a God and demonic beasts?
The current Goddess of Light was a fake. If this Holy Water could really do that, it would really have to have the blessing left by the God of Light.
However, it had been more than two thousand years since the God of Light kicked the bucket. If it really was Holy Water left from that era, it would have to be at least two thousand years old.
Leaving aside whether the water would have dried up over two thousand years, even if it hadn't dried up, wouldn't plenty of microorganisms and bacteria have grown in it? That water would probably be green by now. This wasn't two months, nor two years, but two thousand years!
Thinking about how Doreen worked so hard to steal a False God's item for a bottle of rotten, stinking, green, weird liquid, the expression on Yan Yunqing's face also became strange.
Th-this wasn't quite right, was it?
Wasn't this scamming people?
Yan Yunqing felt that the employer was scamming Doreen. They were probably just bluffing her about this Holy Water. If it really existed, what would be handed to Doreen would only be a bottle of sewage similar to something scooped up from a stinking ditch.
Whether it could bless or exorcise aside, the method of use would have to be carefully considered. Pour it over the head or take it internally...?
"So you want to save someone polluted by a demonic beast or the Bones of a God?" Yan Yunqing read this key information from Doreen's words.
"That's why you are so eager to find the employer of that task and demand that portion of 'Holy Water that can purify'?"
Doreen fell silent, feeling despair at Yan Yunqing's sharpness.
She only had to say a little bit, and this guy could figure out her goals clearly. But if she gritted her teeth and didn't speak, her life would be threatened by this guy again!
She really had it too hard!
Yan Yunqing took Doreen's silence as confirmation. Looking at Doreen, who was still forced to lie crookedly there due to the strange posture he had bound her in, Yan Yunqing thought for a moment. With a thought, he removed the Imprisonment Spell from her.
Doreen, who was still immersed in self-pity, suddenly had her hands freed. She slumped onto the bed, unable to react for a moment.
Eh? She seemed to be able to move?
Doreen moved her hands. Immediately, the numbness caused by the long period of restriction made her hands tingle. She shook her hands several times before she felt a bit better.
She did a kip-up, pulled out an extremely well-hidden dagger from the inner thigh under her skirt, turned around, and pounced toward Yan Yunqing.
Yan Yunqing tilted his head slightly and extended his long leg, tripping the pouncing Doreen.
This time, without the soft bed as a buffer, Doreen fell solidly on the ground, face-planting into the floor.
Doreen: ...
Yan Yunqing sneered. "Your body is stiff from maintaining a fixed posture, and yet you dare to pounce at me? Besides, you couldn't beat me originally; do you think you can beat me now?"
Doreen: ::::::
Doreen lay on the ground, sulking. Hearing this, she said hatefully, "Of course I can't beat you in a frontal fight, but when it comes to sneak attacks, I'm stronger than anyone!"
Yan Yunqing found it funny. This guy seemed to have forgotten that she had just prepared to sneak attack him earlier. But was it useful? She was still thrown down by him the moment they met.
Yan Yunqing felt refreshed. The unhappiness from losing the fight with Yuchir was all recovered from this punching bag, Doreen, who had delivered herself to his door.
"The person you want to save, who are they to you?" Yan Yunqing looked at Doreen, who was still lying on the ground refusing to get up, and asked abruptly.
"Huh?"
Doreen was stunned for a moment. She looked up at him a few times, muttering about why she should tell him. However, since Yan Yunqing's threat to her was still valid, she answered: "...The mentor who introduced me to the trade."