Chapter 14

Chapter 14

That evening, Xie Licheng had originally planned to return to his 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 a chaotic era lay ahead, Xie Licheng felt an urgent need to grow stronger.

Just then, Miss Xuancui suddenly came to find him.

Last time, Xie Licheng had completed his task quite well—he had helped Gu Zhangyuan catch a beautiful green bamboo snake.

Gu Zhangyuan thought the man had some real skill, 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 another gift for the prefect's son. This young master of the prefect's household was also a blessed male, but his tastes differed from most. He didn't just like venomous snakes—he liked wolves, tigers, and such.

If Gu Zhangyuan wanted to become friends with him, he needed to appeal to his interests. Sending just one venomous snake wasn't enough; he needed to send several gifts to show his sincerity.

Gu Zhangyuan asked him to go into the mountains to catch a wolf cub, and this time there was no deadline for his return. He probably understood quite well that catching a wolf cub would be a real hassle—even more dangerous than catching a fully grown wolf.

Gu Zhangyuan didn't insist that Xie Licheng catch it himself; this time he gave Xie Licheng a hundred taels of silver.

Whether he went up the mountain himself or found others to help him catch it, as long as he managed to bring back a wolf cub in the end, that was enough.

Xie Licheng accepted the task and slipped out of the Gu estate that same night.

He didn't head straight out of the city—instead, after leaving the estate, he entered his portable world.

Since Gu Zhangyuan hadn't set a time limit, there was no need for him to rush.

He felt like the prefect's son had been mentioned somewhere in the original story.

The Gu family was extremely wealthy and had relatives in official positions.

But a prefect's son—and a blessed male who rarely left home at that—Xie Licheng couldn't help thinking Gu Zhangyuan didn't need to go to such lengths to win his favor with gifts.

He kept feeling like he was missing something, so he decided to enter his portable world and flip through the book.

Xie Licheng lit the oil lamp and sat by the window, carefully searching through the book.

In the novel, Gu Zhangyuan was a supporting character, and the story didn't cover much about his life before meeting the protagonist.

Xie Licheng searched for a long time, and finally found the identity of that prefect's son in the part about the protagonist.

He wasn't really the son of the Lingzhou prefect—he was a Dazhou prince who'd been left among the common folk.

This prince had been raised by a hunter since childhood, and only learned at the age of eleven that he had imperial blood.

Because of his unruly nature and no reliable mother to care for him, he never quite adapted to palace life.

His grandmother, the Empress Dowager, worried that he couldn't grow up safely in the palace.

So the Empress Dowager decided to place him in Lingzhou and raise him as the prefect's son.

The prefect's family knew his true identity, so naturally they treated him with respect and indulgence.

Moreover, the Empress Dowager doted on him greatly, which made him quite willful and spoiled.

Gu Zhangyuan had likely also learned of his true identity, which was why he wanted to befriend this prince to secure the Gu family's future.

No matter how wealthy the Gu family was, they couldn't compare to actual royalty.

Gu Zhangyuan was a blessed male, and if he wanted to become head of the Gu family in the future, he'd need plenty of allies.

Actually, Gu Zhangyuan's thinking wasn't unreasonable—if a blessed male like him could become friends with a prince, it would indeed be a big help for his future.

As long as anyone brought up his blessed male status again, Gu Zhangyuan could use the prince as a shield.

That prince was also a blessed male, so no matter how dissatisfied they were with Gu Zhangyuan's identity, they wouldn't dare continue criticizing him about that.

However, that prince was a bit of a lovesick fool. In the novel, after he got together with the protagonist, he was constantly getting jealous and bickering with others over him.

Because the Empress Dowager and the prefect's family had spoiled him, he wasn't very cunning, and before long, he was outsmarted and killed by the protagonist's other harem members.

He was a young master who wasn't very bright and was hard to please.

Having learned the young master's true identity, Xie Licheng really wanted to talk to Gu Zhangyuan and tell him not to waste his time on this person.

What was the point of sucking up to someone like that? Once the Dazhou dynasty completely fell into chaos, he couldn't even protect himself—how could he possibly protect the Gu family?

And with his childish, lovesick personality—even in a time of chaos, his head was full of romance.

If the protagonist had been with only him, being a bit lovesick wouldn't have been a problem—at least he'd end up with a good outcome.

Unfortunately, the protagonist clearly wasn't into monogamy, yet he loved him desperately—wasn't that just asking to be tormented?

Xie Licheng closed the book, blew out the oil lamp, and lay down to rest.

He really should talk to Gu Zhangyuan, but now wasn't the time.

For now, he still wanted to use the excuse of doing business for Gu Zhangyuan to get out of the estate. Gu Zhangyuan probably wouldn't listen to a mere horse slave anyway—he'd wait for a better chance to bring it up.

Early the next morning, Xie Licheng emerged from his farm and headed up the mountain with his tools.

There were also wolves in the mountains of his portable world—not just wolves, but tigers, bears, wild boars, and more.

These beasts all lived deep in the mountains and generally didn't roam near the outer edges.

Xie Licheng strolled leisurely into the mountains and spent the entire day there.

He hunted a wild boar and caught two fat rabbits alive, but he saw no trace of wolves.

He wasn't particularly anxious about it. Carrying his prey down from the mountain, he took several animal pelts out of his portable world.

Hunting at night in the mountains would be dangerous, so he didn't plan to continue hunting after dark.

He brought out several pelts, intending to sell them in Lingzhou city.

After selling the pelts, he could buy some supplies to stock up in his portable world.

Xie Licheng's pelts were all intact—when he hunted prey in his portable world, the recycling process

automatically decomposed them.

Even if the prey had severe wounds when he killed it, the pelt would still come out as a complete, intact hide after decomposition.

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 hunted by Xie Licheng back in his prime, when he had nothing better to do and went up the mountain to farm experience.

The beasts on the mountain in his portable world respawned daily, so he didn't have to worry about hunting them into extinction.

If he left them alone for long stretches, they'd even breed on their own.

If their numbers got too high, it would cause problems for the villages at the foot of the mountain.

Luckily, the villages at the foot of the mountain were empty now, and Xie Licheng hadn't kept any livestock there either, so he didn't have to worry about them coming down and causing trouble.

Xie Licheng sold a tiger pelt for forty taels. That might sound like a lot, but honestly, it wasn't really that pricey.

Rich families liked to buy tiger pelts like these for their collections.

Since they symbolized status and prestige and counted as collectibles, the price was naturally never low.

A bear pelt went for thirty taels, so three netted him ninety taels.

A wild boar pelt went for eight taels.

A wolf pelt was eleven taels, so three netted him thirty-three taels.

All together, Xie Licheng sold the pelts for over a hundred seventy taels.

After selling the pelts, he took his heavy bag of silver and headed to the West Market to do some shopping.

But to his surprise, selling several pelts in a row had caught the attention of two small-time thugs.

Xie Licheng noticed them and deliberately ducked into a narrow alley, obviously luring them in.

The two idiots were thrilled, thinking they were about to score big today.

But little did they know, after following him into that pitch-black alley, the would-be robbers ended up getting robbed themselves.

After watching Xie Licheng tie them both up without breaking a sweat, one of the thugs said with a miserable look on his face, "Brother, brother, we really didn't know you were one of us. Please, we're just kids, so let us go this once."

Xie Licheng just made a shushing gesture, telling them to keep it down.

The thug who'd spoken immediately dropped his voice and kept begging, "Honestly, we know we messed up. We didn't even do anything to you—you just beat us up instead. Bro, no—boss, boss, please let us go."

The thugs cooperated so easily not because they had good temperaments.

Mainly... Xie Licheng had a knife at their throats, and he'd dislocated both their arms.

Plus, Xie Licheng was ruthless and vicious—not at all like he was just messing around—so they were scared shitless of him now.

Xie Licheng said gently, "Don't be scared. If I went to the trouble of tying you up, it means I'm not planning to kill you."

The other thug quickly asked, "Then... then what do you want? What do you need us to do?"

Xie Licheng: "I don't need you to do anything. Just stay put and shut up."

With that, Xie Licheng pulled their clothes over their heads.

The thug who'd been yapping nonstop earlier immediately started crying and whispered to Xie Licheng, "Bro, bro, you're not gonna... rape us, are you? I'm ugly as hell, and my ass isn't pretty either. If you're into good-looking guys, I can tell you where to find them."

Xie Licheng said coldly, "Shut it!"

He'd caught them to bring into his portable world for experiments.

Earlier, he'd brought in a dead person, and now he wanted to try bringing in two live ones.

He dragged them to a hidden corner and then brought them both into his portable world.

As the three of them entered, Xie Licheng's quest panel updated, going from (1/20) to (3/20).

He grabbed them, about to take them back out, when a prompt popped up in front of him.

"Erase all memories related to the game world? Yes/No"

Choosing yes would wipe all memories of Xie Licheng and the game world from the person.

Once erased, the game world would automatically refuse to let that person in again.

This "game world" was Xie Licheng's portable world.

In his past life, Xie Licheng had never brought anyone into his portable world, so he'd never known it was called the game world, or that his space had so many functions.

Choosing no meant keeping the memories, so Xie Licheng could keep bringing that person into the game world later.

Xie Licheng couldn't help but smile, finding the whole thing pretty amusing.

He chose yes and then brought the two of them back out of his portable world.