Chapter 31 Upgrade again
The boy didn't say anything. Instead, he struggled to support himself with his shoulders and raised his head. He rubbed Ruan Xing's palm with his mouth like a puppy, swallowed the pill without hesitation, and opened his mouth for Ruan Xing to check.
Ruan Xing used his short sword to cut the rope that bound him, and put the hilt of the sword into his hand. "Now, if we kill your half brother and sister, we will be accomplices. Can you do it?"
The two innocent and ignorant children seemed to understand the impending danger and begged with tears on their faces.
This was the second test Ruan Xing gave him. Now she was closest to the boy and she gave him her only weapon. If the boy was not telling the truth, he would definitely seize this opportunity.
He looked at the dagger in his hand, then at his brother and sister who were struggling on the ground. His trembling hands could hardly hold the sword. He stabbed several times before the two little lumps of flesh stopped moving.
He walked over and returned the sword to Ruan Xing, his hands and face covered in gushing blood.
Ruan Xing took it and felt a bit like a villain.
But it doesn’t matter, it’s popular nowadays for villains to be protagonists.
After coughing lightly, Ruan Xing asked, "What were you shaking about just now? Can't you do it?"
"No..." The boy shook his head, his voice trembling, "I, have never killed anyone..."
"Oh, I'll get used to it in the future." Ruan Xing patted his shoulder, "What's your name?"
"My mother's last name is Xu, and she named me Xu Can."
"What a good name." Ruan Xing couldn't help but laugh, and almost immediately thought of that sentence, "The past is dark and can't be retrieved, but the future is bright and brilliant. Let's go and find my light now. Hu San, clean up this place."
Her light was golden and silver. Ruan Xing was in a good mood, humming a little tune as she followed Xu Can. Xu Can took her to the study, and then he knocked and struck something somewhere in the study to activate a mechanism. The floor next to the table sank into a hole about two square meters in size.
There were two large wooden boxes inside. Xu Can jumped down and opened the boxes. Ruan Xing took a look inside and was immediately attracted by the things inside. One box contained various gold, silver, jewelry, and banknotes, and the other box contained various rare antiques, calligraphy and paintings.
Ruan Xing jumped in excitedly like a mouse falling into a rice jar. With a wave of her hand, she recharged all the gold and silver into the simulation. Her points balance reached an astonishing number of more than 100,000.
It’s a pity that the simulator doesn’t accept things like jewelry and banknotes, otherwise it would be able to accept more.
"I'll take the banknotes too. Leave the rest here. It'll be troublesome if you take them."
Ruan Xing urged Xu Can to go to the room of his aunt, the wife of Lord Hu. There was a small room in her private room with a copper lock. Ruan Xing mobilized his true energy, broke the door with a sword, and walked in.
Most of the things in the house were cloth, satin, screens, dressing tables, valuable wooden furniture, as well as some head ornaments and jades, along with silver and banknotes packed in a box. Ruan Xing picked up the box and put it on her back. When she came out, she happened to meet Hu San who came to look for her after dealing with a corpse.
She then gave the bag she had packed to Hu San to take back. After all, she lived with Master Shi, and there were many people in the hall, so it was inconvenient to carry too many things.
"Once everything is clean, go to the kitchen and find some oil and wine, and pour them on the flammable building. Be careful and clean up all traces. When you are done, go home directly and don't come to me again." Ruan Xing gave instructions to Hu San, then turned to Xu Can and said, "When the fire starts, find an open place to hide, wet a cloth to cover your eyes, mouth and nose, and hold on. Someone will come to rescue you in two quarters of an hour. No matter what they ask you, you should say that you hid because you were too scared and didn't know or see anything. If someone says they want to take you home to stay temporarily or even raise you, you'd better choose a man with the surname Wang or a woman whose husband's surname is Wang. Do you understand?"
In many simulations, people from Lord Hu's hall and Madam Wang's subordinates would rush over within a quarter of an hour of receiving the news. Including the time they took to put out the fire, two quarters of an hour would be enough.
"Won't you take me with you?" Xu Can asked anxiously.
"Kid, it's very troublesome to take you away. Not only do I have to find a place for you to live, but I also have to cover up the traces that you are still alive. It is best for you to stay here. Don't worry, as long as you do what I say, you will survive. I will find you again in seven days."
"Okay, I understand, Miss." Xu Can called Ruan Xing just like Hu San did, with his head lowered respectfully.
Ruan Xing left Xu Can there and went out of the house alone. She stood at the street corner not far away and looked back. Hu San was very efficient. In just a moment, the curling green smoke had turned into a blazing fire, and the flickering flames shone on her face.
Ruan Xing shook the dagger in his hand, his inner energy trembled slightly, and the blood on the dagger flowed down, returning to its shiny state.
With his mind agitated, his true energy flowed throughout his body, and he felt as if a shackle had suddenly disappeared from his body. Ruan Xing felt something in his heart, and before he could look around, he heard a familiar voice in his mind.
[Congratulations on reaching a new level of martial arts. The simulator is about to enter the system upgrade, which will take twelve hours.]
Hmm, looks like the price is going to go up again.
When she was learning internal strength before, the price of the simulator had not increased, and she was lucky enough to think that she had encountered a bug. Now it seems that internal and external strength can be practiced at the same time, and the transformation of strength is just a transition. The simulator does not consider this to be a new realm of martial arts at all.
Only when she reaches the acquired realm will the simulator change.
Once the simulator is upgraded, she can start thinking about how to deal with the old man in the cave.
And now, she could go back to the hall refreshed and have a good sleep, without having to worry about the chaos in Jiangning City in the second half of the night.
The next day, the weather was sunny and the sky was clear.
Ruan Xing had just gone out for a stroll when he saw people on the streets discussing the big event that happened last night.
Passerby A: "Do you know? Last night was a big deal. The Red Head Gang leader was brutally killed, leaving only an ignorant little kid behind!"
Passerby B: "Everyone is talking about this. Tsk tsk, Tiger Lord's glory is coming to an end. I wonder who will take over this place next."
Passerby C: "Well, is this something you should care about? Just pay your protection fee. I'm curious, who is so powerful as to dare to provoke the Red Head Gang and wipe out the whole family overnight!" Passerby A: "That's not the case. I live nearby. Before the fire started, I didn't even hear a scream. No one was alive there quietly. I'm scared even living at home now."
Passerby C: "So powerful? When did such a capable person appear in Jiangning City?"
Passerby B: "I have finally had a peaceful life these past few years. Could it be that a new force is coming in? I don't want to go back to the troubled life I had seven or eight years ago."
Passerby A: "That's not necessarily true. Maybe there's a conflict within the Red Head Gang. It's just a pity for that ignorant kid. He lost all his relatives overnight. It's so tragic!"
Ruan Xing listened with great interest for a long time, then sighed with empathy: "It's so miserable."
Passerby A then noticed a little girl standing nearby and frowned, saying, "Go away! If a child hears this, he will have a nightmare at night. Whose child is this, go home quickly!"
Although he was driven away, Ruan Xing was not angry. He wandered around for a while and then went back.
The atmosphere in the Seventh Master's hall was inexplicably tense. Everyone was in a hurry and no one cared where Ruan Xing had gone or what he was doing.
No one could have guessed that she was the mastermind behind this incident.
The leader of the Red Head Gang convened an emergency meeting. The Seventh Master and his bodyguards had not been seen in the hall all day. Presumably, Master Wang and Master Liu were busy and had no time to take care of him. Ruan Xing could only count the countdown in the room and amuse himself.
It was not until the evening that the dust settled, and then she received a message from Hu San that Young Master Wang wanted to invite her for a drink.
Maybe he was so happy that he lost his mind and asked the child to drink.
Although she felt it was a bit outrageous, Ruan Xing also wanted to know as soon as possible whether the result was as she expected, so she got on the carriage that Hu San came to pick her up.
She specially put on the goose yellow dress that Prince Wang gave her. Her half-long hair was tied into two buns with a flowery hairband, making her look very playful and cute.
The carriage drove to a restaurant she had never been to before. It was called Yingkeju. It was decorated magnificently and looked festive and auspicious, which probably suited Prince Wang's taste very much.
Prince Wang's cheeks were already flushed, but he had not lost his mind yet. Seeing Ruan Xing, he excitedly said, "Sister Ruan, today is a celebration party exclusively for the three of us!"
"Don't pay any attention to him, he's drunk." Young Master Liu waved his folding fan with a smile on his face.
"Who drank too much? I didn't." Prince Wang retorted, "I just said a few words to my mother at dinner today and ran out. Hey, she didn't scold me or stop me. Don't you think this is amazing?"
Young Master Wang was drunk and was chattering away with a strong desire to show off, as if he was reporting to Ruan Xing. Ruan Xing wanted to understand the situation, so he just listened quietly.
"I was tossing and turning last night, unable to sleep all day and night. When I heard the noise outside, I woke up all of a sudden. I quickly got up and followed my mother out. When we got to the place, we saw that the keel on the beam was burned off! But there was not a single corpse in the whole house. Instead, it was full of fishy mucus mixed with the smell of burning. I almost vomited!"
"We found a kid in the back. He's the nephew of Mr. Tiger I told you about last time. As soon as he saw me, he hugged me and wouldn't let go. He kept calling me brother and said I was kind. He was afraid of other people. Hey, I didn't realize he liked me so much when I met him before. It's all because I'm handsome and elegant, so people are fascinated by me when they see me!"
As he spoke, Prince Wang stood up shakily and shook his head narcissistically, "Then I took that kid with me and took over most of Uncle Hu's territory at lightning speed. Hehe, I also wanted to occupy a few restaurants that I had set my eyes on for a long time, but unfortunately my mother stopped me. She wouldn't let me take them."
Ruan Xing listened and nodded silently. Madam Wang owned all the grain shops and farms in the city. If she were to manage the profitable shops in the city as well, her power would probably be greater than that of the gang leader. Naturally, she didn't dare to take it.
Prince Wang continued, "At dawn, the gang leader called a meeting. I didn't go, but because my family was going to adopt the child, the gang leader gave my territory to my family. Then I heard that in order to compete for the management rights of the gang's properties, several managers fought at the meeting, haha!"
What Young Master Wang described was pretty much the same as she had imagined. When she told him yesterday, she guessed that Madam Wang and Seventh Master, whose management areas bordered Master Tiger, would be the biggest winners. She didn't want Seventh Master to take more, so she could only let Madam Wang take more. She had this consideration in mind as well when she spared Xu Can's life last night. Under the management of the Red Head Gang in recent years, the gang has tended to be larger in scale and more civilized, and most people value brotherhood. Whoever holds Master Tiger's only orphan will be able to gain greater benefits.
She is not the kind of person who would be soft-hearted just because someone gave her a reason to ask for help. It's just that Xu Can is more useful alive than dead.
However, Ruan Xing's sources of information were limited. She didn't know the managers in other areas, so she couldn't tell who would win the industry. So she asked, "What was the result? Who got it?"
"You'll have to ask Brother Liu about this." Young Master Wang winked at him mischievously.
Young Master Liu smiled helplessly and shook his head, then took over the conversation, "I also made some preparations after I went back yesterday. After I got the news, I took a few teams of guards from the Patrol Security Division to intervene in the name of my brother-in-law. The Patrol Security Division temporarily detained and managed the gang on the grounds that gang fighting was disrupting people's livelihood. During the confrontation, my brother-in-law came to support me. He didn't say I was making trouble, but praised me for doing a good job this time. After discussion, the result was not bad. The Patrol Security Division temporarily managed the gang for three months, and will return the management after the internal affairs of the Red Head Gang are stabilized. The annual gift has also increased from 50% to 10%."
Ruan Xing was surprised that the leader of the Red Head Gang would agree to such a condition? After these three months, it was uncertain how much of the property would be left.
She felt that something was fishy, but seeing that both Master Liu and Master Wang were so happy, she didn't want to pour cold water on them. She could only congratulate them while admonishing them: "It is most important for you two to take advantage of this opportunity to find your own positions and stand firm."
"Of course. Sister Ruan has made the greatest contribution to my being Wang Dongxing today. Come, have a drink!" Young Master Wang poured two glasses of wine to Ruan Xing.
Unable to refuse the kind invitation, Ruan Xing took a sip from the wine glass. It tasted sour, sweet and a little spicy, and then he realized that it was fruit wine.
Prince Wang was a little proud: "How could I let Sister Ruan drink spicy wine?"
As attentive as ever, Ruan Xing raised a smile on her lips. If she could apply this attentiveness to her career, there would be nothing that could not be accomplished.
After three rounds of drinking, Prince Wang said to Ruan Xing with a big tongue: "Sister Ruan, you... are so beautiful today. If I had a brother... I would definitely arrange a marriage for you. Unfortunately..."
"By the way, I, I have a gift for you. Where did I put it..." Young Master Wang shook his head and looked around.
Thanks to Le Guoguo for the reward~
Thanks to the monthly ticket of those who have heard of it~
(End of this chapter)
