That evening, Xie Licheng had originally planned to return to the Portable World to continue leveling up.
The higher his level, the more attribute points he would have, allowing him to become stronger.
Knowing full well that turbulent times lay ahead, Xie Licheng's desire to grow stronger was quite urgent.
And then, at that moment, Miss Xuancui suddenly came looking for him.
Xie Licheng had done quite well on his last mission—he had helped Gu Changyuan catch a beautiful bamboo viper.
Gu Changyuan felt that this man was somewhat capable, so he planned to send him up the mountain outside the city again in the next few days.
This time, he wasn't asking Xie Licheng to catch a snake, but to find a way to bring back a wolf cub?
The wolf cub was still a gift for the prefect's young master. This young master of the prefect's household was also a young master in the traditional sense, but his tastes differed somewhat from those of ordinary young masters. He didn't just like venomous snakes—he also liked wolves, tigers, and the like.
If Gu Changyuan wanted to become friends with him, he needed to cater to his interests. Sending just one venomous snake wasn't enough; he needed to send several more gifts to demonstrate his sincerity.
Gu Changyuan asked him to go into the mountains to catch a wolf cub, and this time there was no time limit on when he had to return. He probably understood very well that catching a wolf cub would be extremely troublesome—even more dangerous than catching a fully grown wolf.
Gu Changyuan didn't say Xie Licheng had to catch it himself. This time, he gave Xie Licheng one hundred taels of silver.
Whether he went up the mountain to catch it himself or found others to help, as long as he could bring back a wolf cub in the end, that would suffice.
Xie Licheng accepted the mission and left the Gu residence that very night.
He didn't head out of the city immediately, though. After leaving the Gu residence, he entered the Portable World.
Since Gu Changyuan hadn't imposed a time limit, there was no need for him to rush.
He felt that he seemed to recall this young master of the prefect's household being mentioned in the original text.
The Gu family was extremely wealthy, and they did have relatives serving as officials.
But a young master of a prefect's household—and a young master who rarely even left his home—Xie Licheng couldn't help feeling that Gu Changyuan had no real need to go to such lengths to send gifts and curry favor with him.
He kept feeling like he was missing something, so he planned to enter the Portable World and flip through that book.
Xie Licheng lit the oil lamp and sat by the window, opening the book to search slowly.
In the novel, Gu Changyuan was a supporting character, and the text didn't describe much about his life before he met the protagonist.
Xie Licheng searched for a long time, and finally found the identity of that young master of the prefect's household in the protagonist's section.
The other party wasn't actually the son of the Lingzhou Prefect. He was a prince of the Great Zhou imperial family who had been lost among the common folk.
This prince had been raised by a hunter since childhood, and it wasn't until he turned eleven that he learned he was of imperial blood.
Because of his unruly nature and lack of a reliable mother to care for him, he didn't adapt well to life in the imperial palace.
His grandmother, the Empress Dowager, worried that he wouldn't be able to grow up safely in the palace.
The Empress Dowager made the decision to place him in Lingzhou, where he would be raised as the prefect's son.
The prefect's family knew his true identity, so naturally they treated him with both reverence and indulgence.
Coupled with the Empress Dowager's deep affection for him, his personality had been spoiled into arrogance.
Gu Changyuan had likely also learned of his true identity, and for the sake of the Gu family's future, he wanted to befriend this prince.
No matter how wealthy the Gu family was, they couldn't compare to true members of the imperial family.
Gu Changyuan was a young master, and if he wanted to become the head of the entire Gu family as a young master, he would need a great deal of support.
In truth, Gu Changyuan's thinking wasn't flawed. If he, as a young master, could become friends with a prince, it would indeed bring him considerable support in the future.
As long as anyone tried to make an issue of his status as a young master, Gu Changyuan could bring out the prince.
That prince was also a young master, so no matter how dissatisfied others were with Gu Changyuan's status, they wouldn't dare continue to gossip about it.
However, that prince was somewhat of a lovesick fool. In the novel, after he joined the protagonist, he was constantly getting jealous and fighting with others over affection.
Because the Empress Dowager and the prefect's family had indulged him, he didn't have much cunning, and before long, he was schemed to death by the protagonist's other harem members.
He was a master who wasn't very clever and was quite difficult to please.
Upon learning the young master's true identity, Xie Licheng very much wanted to talk to Gu Changyuan and tell him not to waste his time on this person.
What was there to curry favor with someone like that for? Once the Great Zhou dynasty completely fell into chaos, he couldn't even protect himself—how could he possibly protect the Gu family?
Moreover, he was childish in nature and lovesick to the point of foolishness. Even in turbulent times, his head was still full of romance and affairs.
If the protagonist had been monogamous with him, being a lovesick fool wouldn't have been a problem—at least he would have ended up with a good outcome.
Unfortunately, the protagonist clearly wasn't into pure romance, yet he loved him desperately. Wasn't that just asking to be tormented?
Xie Licheng reached out and closed the book, then blew out the oil lamp and lay down to rest.
He really should talk to Gu Changyuan—just not right now.
Now that he wanted to go out under the pretense of handling matters for Gu Changyuan, Gu Changyuan probably wouldn't listen to the opinion of a mere horse groom anyway. He decided to wait and bring this up another time when the opportunity arose.
Early the next morning, Xie Licheng left his farmstead and headed up the mountain with his tools.
There were wolves in the mountains of his Portable World, and not just wolves—there were also tigers, bears, wild boars, and more.
These wild beasts all dwelled deep in the mountains and generally didn't venture out to the mountain's outer edges.
Xie Licheng leisurely entered the mountain and spent the entire day there.
He hunted a wild boar and caught two plump rabbits alive, but he didn't see any trace of wolves.
He wasn't too anxious about it. Carrying his prey down from the mountain, he brought several animal pelts out of the Portable World.
Hunting at night in the mountains would be dangerous, so he didn't plan to continue hunting after dark.
He brought several pelts out, intending to sell them in Lingzhou City.
After selling the pelts, he could conveniently buy some supplies to stock up in the Portable World.
Xie Licheng's pelts were all intact. Whenever he hunted prey in his Portable World, the system would automatically process them upon collection.
Even if the prey had severe wounds when he killed it, after processing, the pelt would still come out as a complete one.
Such pelts could be sold at a higher price. The pelts Xie Licheng brought out included one tiger pelt, three bear pelts, one wild boar pelt, and three wolf pelts.
These were all from his prime days, when he'd hunt up the mountain to grind experience points in his spare time.
The beasts in the Portable World's mountains refreshed once a day, so there was no worry about hunting them to extinction.
If left unhunted for long periods, they would even breed on their own.
If they bred too much, they would affect the village at the foot of the mountain.
Fortunately, there was no one in the village at the foot of the mountain now, and Xie Licheng hadn't raised any livestock there either, so there was no need to worry about them coming down to cause trouble.
Xie Licheng sold the tiger pelt for forty taels of silver. While that price seemed quite high, it actually wasn't being sold for all that much.
Such tiger pelts were favored by wealthy families who liked to buy them for collection.
Because they symbolized status and prestige, and since the item counted as a collector's piece, the price naturally wouldn't be low.
One bear pelt went for thirty taels, so three came to ninety taels.
One wild boar pelt sold for eight taels.
One wolf pelt went for eleven taels, so three came to thirty-three taels.
With all those pelts, Xie Licheng sold them for a total of over one hundred seventy taels.
After selling the pelts, he carried his heavy silver and prepared to head to the West Market to buy supplies.
Then, somewhat to Xie Licheng's surprise, because he'd sold several pelts in a row, he ended up being targeted by two petty thugs.
Xie Licheng noticed them and deliberately ducked into a small alley, clearly baiting them on purpose.
The two fools were delighted at the sight, thinking they were about to make a big score today.
But little did they expect that after following Xie Licheng into the pitch-dark alley—
The ones who'd wanted to rob him ended up becoming the ones being robbed.
After watching Xie Licheng easily tie the two of them up with one hand, one of the petty thugs said to him with a miserable, tearful face, "Brother, brother, we really didn't know you were in the game too. Please, for the sake of us being young, just let us go this once."
Hearing this, Xie Licheng made a shushing gesture at them, signaling for them to keep their voices down.
The thug who'd spoken immediately lowered his voice and continued to plead, "Really, we truly know we were wrong. We didn't even do anything to you—instead, you beat us up. Brother—no, boss, boss, please just let us go."
The reason the thug was so cooperative wasn't because he had a good temperament.
It was mainly because… Xie Licheng had a knife pressed against their throats, and both their arms had been dislocated by him.
Moreover, Xie Licheng's methods were ruthless and vicious, not at all like he was just playing around with them. They were absolutely terrified of him right now.
Hearing this, Xie Licheng said mildly, "Don't be afraid. The fact that I went to the trouble of tying you up means I don't plan to kill you."
The other thug quickly asked, "Th-then, what do you want? What do you want us to do?"
Xie Licheng: "I don't need you to do anything. Just stay still and don't say a word."
As he said this, Xie Licheng covered their heads with their clothes.
Seeing this, the thug who'd been chattering nonstop earlier immediately whimpered quietly to Xie Licheng, "Bro, bro, you're not going to… take advantage of us, are you? I'm really ugly, and my backside isn't nice to look at either. If you like handsome men, I can tell you where to find them."
Xie Licheng said coldly, "Shut up!"
He had captured them because he wanted to bring them into the Portable World for an experiment.
Last time he'd brought in a dead person; this time he wanted to try bringing in two living ones.
He dragged them to a hidden corner, then brought them into the Portable World together.
As the three of them entered, Xie Licheng's Quest Panel changed.
It went from (1/20) to (3/20).
He grabbed them, intending to take them back out, when a notice popped up in front of him.
【Clear all memories related to the Game World? Yes/No】
If Yes was chosen, it would erase all of the other person's memories of Xie Licheng and the Game World.
Once this memory was cleared, the Game World would automatically refuse to accept that person's entry in the future.
This Game World referred to Xie Licheng's Portable World.
In his previous life, Xie Licheng had never brought anyone into the Portable World, so he never knew this world was called the Game World, nor did he know that his Spatial Dimension had so many functions.
Choosing No meant not clearing the memories, and in the future, Xie Licheng could continue to bring the other person into the Game World.
Seeing this, Xie Licheng couldn't help but smile, finding the whole thing quite amusing.
He chose Yes, and then brought the two of them out of the Portable World.