Chapter Ninety-Three: Yi Shen's Confidence [Subscription Request]

There is no problem with the Peach Blossom Retreat matter.

Zhan Yu nodded and agreed on the spot.

Qi Lei had already brought it up today in the first place.

Now that An Qing was dead, the mess surrounding Peach Blossom Retreat really ought to end here, so he could accept Yi Shen’s request quite naturally.

“Second, I need resources. The major guilds in the Jingmen safe zone have hoarded enormous amounts of supplies and formed a monopoly. Rather than let those people profit, it would be better to give them to me. Yesterday, holding the defense line alone, I was worth half of them, so I deserve compensation too.”

Yi Shen continued.

He was certainly not going to miss such a fine opportunity to ask for a king’s ransom.

He knew these guilds could gain future territory by coming out to defend the line.

The authorities would also provide some supplies and resources.

Although Yi Shen had originally had a need to farm monsters anyway, if something was there for the taking, he would not refuse it. He was not the type to exploit others for gain, but he felt this was something he had earned.

“Especially the resources monopolized by those large guilds and big merchant houses. At the very least, they can’t be allowed to raise prices; that needs to be brought under control. As for my pay, you can decide what to give me. All I can say is that helping you hold half of Jingmen City shouldn’t be a problem.” Yi Shen added.

He still had some confidence in his own strength, and with his attributes having advanced another tier and his level having risen to forty-two, he simply let Zhan Yu and the others name the price.

What Yi Shen feared most was that if he named too low a figure himself, he would shortchange himself.

He also wanted to gauge their limits.

After Yi Shen finished speaking, Zhan Yu had not yet replied when the yellow-clad woman beside him turned her head.

Zhan Yu paused as well. He had not expected Yi Shen to ask him for money.

“I can help you apply for it,” Zhan Yu said with a nod.

“Or if you need equipment or anything like that, I can also help you ask around.”

“Equipment isn’t necessary. Skill books would be best.” Yi Shen’s eyes lit up slightly. He had even forgotten about equipment and skill books himself; he had not expected Zhan Yu to bring them up instead.

The equipment Zhan Yu could provide was most likely too low-level for him to use, but he certainly hoped to get as many mage-type skill books as possible.

“As for my last request, I want a clear understanding of the full story behind what happened at Peach Blossom Retreat. At the moment, I only know that An Qing was involved, and that Blood Slaughter may also have had a hand in it.” Yi Shen said.

“The Peach Blossom Retreat incident was mainly caused by disorder in planar energy, I think. You should know that a new planar rift appeared in the northern district yesterday. Right now, we still don’t have definite information.”

Zhan Yu answered. From what he currently knew, the Peach Blossom Retreat incident should not have involved Jingbei Industrial on this side. After all, Zhao Weimin and the others were not weak, and they were inside a secret realm as well. A mere one or two undercover agents would not have been enough to cause such a grave outcome.

“Not just planar disorder, though. My mother mentioned at the time that red shadows appeared inside the secret realm. Also, blood pills fell from An Qing and Fan Xidiao. Oh, right—this thing is a little strange. What exactly is it?”

Yi Shen took out the blood pill in his hand and placed it on the table.

The instant he produced the item, the air in the entire meeting room seemed to drop by half a degree at once.

Zhan Yu’s expression froze, and the yellow-clad woman beside him also visibly tensed.

“Hm?”

Yi Shen was slightly surprised. He had assumed Zhan Yu and the others knew of this thing’s existence, never expecting such a strong reaction.

“You took this from An Qing?” Zhan Yu asked solemnly.

“Yes.” Yi Shen nodded, realizing that Zhan Yu seemed to attach great importance to this matter. “Mostly it dropped when he died.”

He used the word dropped, as if killing An Qing had been no different from slaying a monster and looting its gear.

“Besides them, have you seen this thing anywhere else? And are you sure your mother mentioned that red shadows appeared inside the secret realm?” Zhan Yu continued, his face stern.

In his eyes, the blood pill was taboo—something that should have disappeared completely eight years ago. He had never expected it to appear again in the Jingmen region!

“No, only An Qing and Fan Xidiao. I don’t know about anything else.”

“The red shadows were something my mother said. When Fan Xidiao died, it seemed like some shadow came out, and the same thing happened when An Qing died. That thing is very strange. I used one blood pill, and it felt uncanny.”

Yi Shen’s impression of Zhan Yu was fairly good. Though he was younger, Zhan Yu had shown no trace of condescension during their conversation. Of course, that may have had much to do with the strength of the black mage.

“Don’t eat this. It has side effects.”

Zhan Yu reached out and took Yi Shen’s blood pill directly, leaving Yi Shen speechless. How could he just take his things like that? He had never said he was giving it to him.

Fortunately, the blood pill Yi Shen had taken out was only a C-grade one; the better ones were still in his bag. In the end, he could not be bothered to argue with Zhan Yu.

“Most of your conditions can be agreed to, but I need to go back and discuss it with Brother Lei. As for the blood pill, don’t mention it to anyone for now. I need to investigate.”

“Xiaoyu, have you noticed anything unusual lately? An Qing and the others actually had blood pills in their possession? No one reported this?”

“Shouldn’t there have been quite a few people who escaped from Peach Blossom Retreat inside the secret realm? When the task force investigated, did no one mention the red shadows?”

Zhan Yu asked the yellow-clad woman.

“No.” The yellow-clad woman shook her head and answered tersely. “At least nothing in the reports we received.”

Zhan Yu frowned slightly.

He had not heard Brother Lei mention this either.

In his view, the appearance of blood pills was a far more troublesome matter than the emergence of a second-tier civilization in the Land of Moonlight this time.

After all, Wu Lei had always been outside the Jingmen safe zone, while the task force had been made up of people within Jingmen Safety itself.

In the transmission of information, the reports concerning the red aura might very well have been deliberately concealed. That deliberate concealment made Zhan Yu feel an even stronger sense of foreboding.

“All right, then you can get busy.” Yi Shen nodded. What he wanted to say amounted to no more than this.

He added Zhan Yu to his communicator, and even casually asked to add the yellow-clad woman as well. But she said she did not use such a thing, and Yi Shen did not insist.

Soon, Zhan Yu left the shop with the yellow-clad woman. As they departed, people nearby who saw Zhan Yu emerging gave the shop strange looks.

Not only that.

After Zhan Yu and the others left, Yi Shen let out a long breath. Although Zhan Yu seemed relatively easy to talk to, Yi Shen had been suppressing his aura the whole time, and at last he could relax a little.

“Boss? That... was really Zhan Yu?”

After everyone left, only a few youngsters remained in the shop, all of them girls. It was only then that Yi Shen realized, for some reason, his shop had turned into a den of girls. Zhu Qing asked him timidly.

Yi Shen nodded, effectively confirming it.

Zhu Qing looked strange. When she learned that Yi Shen was the young master of Peach Blossom Retreat, she had already been shocked once, though she could still barely accept it.

But now Zhan Yu had appeared in her family’s little shop, sending her once again into a state of disbelief.

That was a figure from a completely different world than her own.

At once, Zhu Qing’s evaluation of Yi Shen rose again.

She had never expected Yi Shen to be able to reach so high above the clouds.

“Let’s tidy up first.” The shop was a little messy, and Yi Shen gave the instruction.

Zhu Qing nodded and began calling the little ones over from the back. Zhu You and Zhu Ke also came out from the corner, both wearing complicated expressions. Yi Shen glanced around and realized that this seemed to be the first time he had appeared together with the three Zhu sisters in the same place.