Ying Le was taken aback and immediately sat up straight, his expression becoming serious.
"A Secret Realm of the Thieves' House that can teleport to anywhere in the world? No wonder you suddenly disappeared from Nocturnal Heaven... What did you encounter inside?"
Watching Ying Le listening intently, Ying Rushi felt a moment of daze, as if she once again saw the Wise Empress who appreciated talents regardless of their status... But the nine tails of Ying Le's behind, burning and howling, his nearly naked body, and the cloying smell of blood in the air, brought Ying Rushi swiftly back to reality.
Ying Rushi briefly explained the situation inside the Thieves' House and their theft goal, then analyzed: "I can roughly guess the origins of the other three thieves. Although Black Wolf uses our Great Qi's accent, the grammar of his slang is clearly from Zhou Kingdom, obviously a Zhou person; Red Snake's accent and grammar are both southern, probably from Liang Kingdom; Yellow Dog's accent is hard to discern, nor does he speak much, but judging from his actions, he seems quite timid, probably a thief lacking in real combat ability."
Ying Le interrupted her: "The only thief within Great Qi's territory is the thief group 'Fox Ghost'. Do you have a connection with Fox Ghost?"
Ying Rushi knelt on the carpet of flesh and blood to confess: "Initially, it was just because as County Magistrate there were a few disobedient large clans. I wanted to use bandits to clear them out. Later, I discovered they could be used to gather some strong figures who opposed the Court. Rather than letting these people wreak havoc, I thought it'd be better if I managed them to do some dirty work, and thus the Fox Ghost was established. I was probably summoned by the Thieves' House because I am the leader of the Fox Ghost."
"The 'Fox Ghost' has been growing stronger lately, and I'm finding it overwhelming, begging Your Majesty to send someone to take over."
Right at this moment, a sound of orderly footsteps echoed from outside the hall. Ying Rushi looked back and found it was a company of Evil Ghost Warriors advancing. As they approached, Ying Rushi's face turned deathly pale—all the Evil Ghost Warriors had three or four heads tied at their waists!
And these heads were precisely the skilled members and leaders under her 'Fox Ghost'!
The Evil Ghost Warriors untied the heads and placed them on the ground, stacking them into a mound named 'Fox Ghost', then silently withdrew from the hall.
"Now you can focus on planning for the Thieves' House." Ying Le snapped his fingers, a flame consuming the Fox Ghost's heap entirely, as if flicking away dust: "How could someone of the Ying Family's County Duke associate with such sordid wild spirits?"
"Rushi understands." Ying Rushi's head touched the carpet, sweat from her forehead trickling into the writhing flesh of the carpet.
Though Fox Ghost's base was not far from Nocturnal Heaven, the speed was too shocking. The only possibility was that upon discovering her absence from Nocturnal Heaven, Ying Le immediately sent people to slaughter the Fox Ghost!
No questioning, no interrogation, no preliminary procedures, straight to killing!
"I've never heard of anyone mastering the Secret Realm of the Thieves' House, and I'm not imposing any demands on you. You just need to ensure that no one else masters the Thieves' House, but I'm very interested in Bingzi Pepper Forest."
"Rushi will certainly present Bingzi Pepper Forest to Your Majesty!"
...
...
Jiangnan City, Shang Family, Zhiyuan Residence.
Zhiyuan Residence is the study of Shang Qia, the third son of Liang Kingdom's Chancellor and Chief Historian of the Prime Minister's Mansion. Usually, nobody dares to intrude, but at this moment, Shang Qia has to stop his work and entertain this unexpected visitor.
"Who has troubled you again?"
"Look at you, I haven't even spoken yet, and brother is already showing this face." Shang Xinlei sits down, covering her face in tears: "I know I'm not as interesting as other sisters; brother ultimately doesn't care about me."
Shang Qia is completely at wit's end with his sister, who already acts recklessly in the mansion on usual days, and after becoming a messenger, no one could control her anymore. He let out a long sigh, took out his token: "Take it, do whatever you want, just remember to return it to me after you're done."
"Brother, you've got it wrong, I'm not here to ask you for a favor, rather, I've brought enormous good news." Shang Xinlei didn't take the token, and said proudly: "I just returned from the Thieves' House."
"Oh... huh?"
Shang Qia was stunned for a moment before reacting: "You were summoned by the Thieves' House? I remember the Thieves' House is a four-person Secret Realm, did you reveal your identity? ...Wait, how could you be summoned into the Thieves' House?"
"Huh? Third brother, you don't know that I am 'Feathered Serpent'? Shang Xinlei picked up a pastry and started eating, stuffing her cheeks full: "I asked you to help me fence stolen goods multiple times, I thought you already knew."
Shang Qia sprang up abruptly: "You are actually the infamous thief Feathered Serpent!?"
"Brother, you didn't know I was Feathered Serpent; you truly don't value me at all." Shang Xinlei sighed: "Brother, if you're going to be like this, you might as well just ignore me."
"You, I, oh..." Shang Qia rubbed his temples and sat down, "I thought you were just playing around, you usually only dabble in small thefts... I'm going to inform father that you are Feathered Serpent, and as for the Thieves' House, you shouldn't be involved—"
"Why?" Shang Xinlei's eyes widened: "This is the legendary Secret Realm, not to mention it magically transported me from Jiangnan City into the Thieves' House, five days later it will let me descend into Chang'an to steal the Bingzi Pepper Forest, I've wanted to see Chang'an for a long time!"
"Descending into Chang'an, stealing Bingzi Pepper Forest!?"
Shang Qia was so frightened he nearly fell off his chair: "You haven't even undergone the second transition, yet you dare to venture alone into Chang'an? You're not allowed to go anywhere, wait until father returns tonight—"
"Father will surely permit me to go."
Shang Xinlei suddenly calmed down: "The Thieves' House is not only a national artifact but also a family treasure. Should there be a chance to seize it, father will not miss it. Father may indeed love me, but he values the family more."
"I know my cultivation counts for little in the Shang Family, but if I can master the Thieves' House, perhaps I can... master my own future."
Looking at his serious and mature sister, Shang Qia couldn't speak for a moment. After a pause, he asked: "So you transformed into Feathered Serpent to steal, all in order to be summoned by the Thieves' House?"
Shang Xinlei blinked, shook her head, and turned to leave the room.
"No, it was merely because I like it."
This sister, truly restless.
Shang Qia felt a headache coming on, and considered waiting for father to return to discuss it, but as soon as he sat down, he immediately noticed something amiss.
"Where's my newly bought Purple Hair Brush?"
...
...
Inside the Thieves' House, Yan Qing with no home to return to was inspecting his temporary new residence.
There's a bed, a water heater, a restroom, a bathroom; other than not having windows, it's basically like a hotel suite. In the center of the room is a circular Teleportation Array, when Yan Qing stepped on it, a Teleportation Gate appeared before him, showing a small path through the woods on the other side.
Yan Qing naturally wouldn't foolishly venture into unknown places; for now, the personal room within the Thieves' House is his most reliable safe house. But ten minutes later, Yan Qing changed his mind—the Thieves' House had no food.
Not only in the room, but he also ventured into the hall to look around and found no food anywhere!
There was tap water, and bathing posed no issues, but without food, unless Yan Qing plans to starve, staying in the safe house means sitting and waiting to die!
However, although Yan Qing didn't find food, he didn't leave empty-handed.
On the bedside table, he found a handheld console with an LCD screen. This console was casually placed, as if the room's owner would pick it up to play a game for a while before sleeping, in fact, Yan Qing suspected this console was the same as the one he had in the original world—aside from the identical appearance, even the slightly crooked tempered glass cover was the same!
Yan Qing pressed the power button, and in the breath-held anticipation, the screen slowly lit up after three seconds:
「Welcome to use the Nexar Handheld Game Console.」
No prompts to connect to wifi or update appeared, yet his account was automatically logged in, and the system directly entered the main interface. The game library was empty; all the games Yan Qing previously purchased were gone, leaving only one free-to-play online game:
"Messenger".