Tang Qingluo hadn’t expected a masked intruder to break into the prison in the middle of the night.
She had eaten a bit too much tonight and couldn’t sleep, so she was wandering around the cell to digest when she noticed a masked man in black bursting in.
The black-clad figure moved with deadly precision, killing the guards one by one.
At that moment, a phrase suddenly flashed in Tang Qingluo’s mind: “A moonless night for killing, a windy night for burning.”
Her intuition told her this intruder had come straight for the Xie Guogong Mansion’s people.
Immediately, she pulled out the rewards she had previously obtained from the system.
Her wrist crossbow was swiftly readied, her dagger gripped tightly. She was ready for battle.
[Emergency Mission Issued: Protect Xie Lanyi. Reward: A full set of offensive and defensive armor. Mission completion time: 15 minutes. Failure to complete will result in host termination. Countdown begins…]
Fifteen minutes? Was this masked man really that strong?
Sweat formed in the palm of Tang Qingluo’s hand around the dagger.
But, to her surprise, after killing the guards, the intruder didn’t take the cell keys. He precisely stopped at the door of Xie Lanyi’s cell and reached into his pocket to toss out a small bag of powder.
No good—it was poison!
Tang Qingluo’s initial assumptions had been off.
Realizing the powder was likely toxic, she immediately thought of the reward item she had just received—the detoxifying perfume.
System-produced items were always premium quality. If the marketplace’s powders were so effective, the reward medicine had to be even better.
She pulled out the detoxifying perfume and looked at the familiar clear glass bottle and the modern spray nozzle.
It reminded her a little of life in her previous world.
Hiss… hiss… hiss…
The perfume sprayed into the air, releasing a faint, refreshing scent with a hint of mint.
The masked man noticed the scent but didn’t care.
Confident in his plan, he removed his mask, not caring if Xie Lanyi and the others saw his true face.
He quietly waited for the poison to take effect and for Xie Lanyi to die.
But as the time passed, seeing Xie Lanyi and the others unharmed, with no signs of poisoning, he realized something was wrong.
“It’s you!” the intruder finally realized Tang Qingluo had the antidote.
He was confused and enraged—confused that Tang Qingluo just happened to have the antidote for the Kugu Poison, and angry that his mission for his master had been thwarted.
No matter—he still had ways to complete his mission.
For instance—
His knife.
A blade that always drew blood.
That wretched woman would be the first to die by his hand.
He grinned darkly, his eyes wild and frenzied, and brought his knife down on the lock of the cell.
A sharp blade could easily cut through iron, so opening a prison lock should be trivial.
But it seemed as though he wanted to punish Tang Qingluo personally—he held back his strength, slicing slowly, one cut at a time.
Xie Bozhi banged against the cell door desperately, trying to break out, but it was impossible.
He wasn’t a naturally gifted powerhouse. Even with countless life-or-death battles and excellent martial arts, he couldn’t break the door with his fists.
Xie Shuzhi and Xie Wenzhang were average fighters; Xie Jizhi was a scholar.
Xie Lanyi’s legs were crippled—had they not been, maybe he and Xie Bozhi together could have broken the door. But now, he couldn’t even stand.
“Xie Lanyi… you were once the most talented young man in the capital, graceful and skilled in both literature and martial arts. And now? You’re a cripple. You can’t even protect your own wife. What use are you? You shouldn’t even be alive—you should die.”
The masked man loved watching people struggle at the edge of death. He slowed his strikes, enjoying the sight of Xie Lanyi’s helplessness.
“Xie Lanyi, you could kneel now and beg me to spare your wife and family. Maybe then I’d spare them.”
He sneered further, mocking him: “Oh? I forgot—you probably can’t even kneel now. What a pity. Then I’ll kill your family right in front of you—first your wife, then your mother, then your sister—hahaha—hahaha—”
As the intruder laughed loudly, thinking his mission would proceed without mishap, Tang Qingluo lifted her right hand and triggered her wrist crossbow.
“Think again!” The arrow shot straight at the intruder’s forehead, piercing his skull.
“You—how is this possible?” The masked man stared at Tang Qingluo in disbelief.
“No one told you, right? The villain dies because they talk too much. Killing is killing—talking too much, who dies? You do.”
Blood surged through the intruder’s body as he collapsed, eyes wide open.
He died unwillingly.
[Host completed mission. Reward: One Battle Axe. Combat Power +100. Reward automatically placed in reward backpack.][Host completed emergency mission. Reward: A full set of offensive and defensive armor. Combat Power +1,000. Reward automatically placed in reward backpack.]
Perfect. Tang Qingluo’s combat power shifted from negative to positive.
The marketplace now showed a combat power of 401.
As expected, killing people wasn’t as important as protecting Xie Lanyi.
Xie Lanyi—he must be a son of heaven himself.