Translator: Legge
Ren Xiaosu had already given up. He could foresee that in the next six and a half days, the palace would definitely brew a lot more trouble.
Therefore, when that young man asked everyone about their expertise, he simply told him it was singing nursery rhymes.
The reason why the young man chose Ren Xiaosu as the first person to ask was mainly to test him out. After that, he wanted to see how the others would respond so he could get a deeper understanding of the others on the team.
But the moment he posed that question to Ren Xiaosu, it might as well have ended right there. It was impossible to continue asking any further!
The young man turned towards the Great Hoodwinker in slight embarrassment and asked him about his expertise. With Ren Xiaosu kicking it off by answering that his expertise was singing nursery rhymes, the Great Hoodwinker followed up by saying that he was good at kneading playdough. If it weren’t because he had taken into consideration that everyone was about to have dinner, he even wanted to say he was good at scratching his feet.
As such, this discussion finally died off here. Cheng Yu sat back down at his campfire and looked at Ren Xiaosu through the flickering flames.
He was a little puzzled. Was this young man playing dumb or did he really have some kind of strange fetish?
Cheng Yu was sure that Ren Xiaosu was not stupid. After all, an idiot could not become a C-rank hitman. Cheng Yu was different from Zhou Yingxue in that he had to work his way up to become an A-rank hitman before getting accepted as an official member of the Anjing House. Cheng Yu had to conscientiously perform his missions in order to rise up the ranks.
He knew full well that even if an idiot had been lucky enough to pick up an Anjing House cell phone, it would be impossible for them to rise from D-rank to C-rank.
But when he thought about his assistant mentioning that Ren Xiaosu and Yang Xiaojin had gone out to jump rope in the afternoon, Cheng Yu couldn’t be sure of his judgment.
Cheng Yu had wanted to conduct a check on everyone tonight, but it seemed that he would have to leave it for now.
To ease the awkward atmosphere, Ren Xiaosu headed out alone and caught two large rabbits to roast for dinner.
Once he got that rolling, many others in the campsite also headed out to hunt. As many people went out, no one could tell who had gone hunting for game or who was taking the opportunity to go elsewhere to plot something with their companions.
Ren Xiaosu hung the plump rabbits on a tree branch and said to Yang Xiaojin while smearing honey on them, “Laugh if you want. There’s no need to hold it in.”
Yang Xiaojin pursed her lips to stop laughing. “It sounded pretty nice.”
Off to the side, the Great Hoodwinker said, “I know! Future Commander, you must be trying to obfuscate these people so they can’t see through you. Was that why you suddenly acted like you were crazy?”
Act crazy, my ass!
Ren Xiaosu’s face darkened as he handed the branch with the rabbits hanging from it to the Great Hoodwinker. “Leave me alone!”
That night, the Great Hoodwinker negotiated with Ren Xiaosu and said he wanted to keep watch for the night by himself. He said he felt quite energetic and could keep watch without problems, but Ren Xiaosu did not agree.
In the end, the Great Hoodwinker said he would take turns with Ren Xiaosu and keep watch for each half of the night so Yang Xiaojin would not have to. After all, she was a girl, so she should get some preferential treatment since they were out in the wilderness.
But Yang Xiaojin objected. In her opinion, everyone on a team should always do their best. At this moment, there should be no differentiation between genders. There were simply teammates and companions.
After compromising, it was decided Ren Xiaosu and the Great Hoodwinker would each keep watch for half of the night today, while Ren Xiaosu and Yang Xiaojin would share the duties of keeping watch for tomorrow night. The day after that, it would be Yang Xiaojin and the Great Hoodwinker’s turns to keep watch. As such, there would always be one person in the trio at their best during the day to deal with any emergencies.
While keeping watch, Ren Xiaosu made some careful observations during the first half of the night. Just as the Great Hoodwinker had said, these seemingly independent experts seemed to have already been assigned their duties as they went about keeping watch for the night.
During the day, Ren Xiaosu wondered if there were really some lone wolves among them. But now he realized there was not a single one.
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Previously, Ren Xiaosu was worried the Anjing House might not be able to trouble the Pyro Company much even though they had split into several groups to enter the Sacred Mountains.
But from the looks of it now, the organizations probably wanted to get their hands on the No. 001 Experimental very badly.
Immortality?
Ren Xiaosu had never thought about living forever. He always felt it might not be a good thing for some people to live too long.
If a cat was not happy, having nine lives would be kind of sorrowful.
Ren Xiaosu did not think those people living in high places and had a grip on authority were truly happy at all.
Tonight, Ren Xiaosu was keeping watch for the first half of the night. Even though he was on guard in front of Yang Xiaojin’s tent, Yang Xiaojin still placed her pistol nearby so she could easily grab it. However, her breathing this time was much more even, and it was as though she was sleeping better.
Ren Xiaosu turned around and glanced at Yang Xiaojin, who was sound asleep. This girl must have been so wary in the past because she did not have anyone she could rely on.
Comparing Yang Xiaojin’s current state with how she was in the past, she did not even fully trust Luo Xinyu. After all, Luo Xinyu had always been by her side while they were in the Jing Mountains. But at that time, Ren Xiaosu clearly noticed the girl had never really slept well.
At this moment, the young man, who had earlier asked Ren Xiaosu what his expertise was, got up and walked into the wilderness. It might be that he wanted to relieve himself.
Initially, Ren Xiaosu did not take this matter to heart. However, something the palace said suddenly caused his expression to change.
Ren Xiaosu paled as he sat at the entrance of the tent. When the young man returned to the campsite more than ten minutes later, Ren Xiaosu looked up and asked, “Why were you gone for so long? Did you pee on your hands?”
The young man was shocked. Are you crazy?!
The young man flew into a rage out of humiliation. “What’s so strange about that? Have you never peed on your hands before?”
Ren Xiaosu sighed. Judging by this reaction, he actually got it right!
But he really did not want to ask such a weird question in the first place. It was the palace that made him do it!
Moreover, after this quest was completed, the palace suddenly added, “As you have completed three penalties perfectly, a side quest has been activated. If you can complete every quest perfectly over the next seven days, you will receive a new skill reward.”
Ren Xiaosu was stunned. He did not even hear what the young man said to him after that. After completing all three penalties perfectly today, he had activated a new side quest that would reward him with a new skill?
When it came to new skills, Ren Xiaosu got really excited at the thought. After all, everything the palace gave him as a reward, including a crop like the Potato Shooter, always proved to be useful at critical moments.
Ren Xiaosu was a very pragmatic person. As long as there was a new skill to be earned, what was there to be embarrassed about?
Then Ren Xiaosu heard the sound of something stepping on decaying leaves in the wilderness behind him. But when he turned around, he did not see anything.
Ren Xiaosu counted the number of people at the campsite. Everyone was right here, so who could have made that sound just now?
He recalled his encounters in the Jing Mountains. At that time, they had also encountered many strange happenings.
The commotion outside the campsite did not only alarm Ren Xiaosu, but many of those who were sleeping also suddenly opened their eyes. It seemed that everyone here was no average person.
Yang Xiaojin asked in a whisper, “Is it an enemy attack?”
Ren Xiaosu shook his head. “Don’t worry, go back to sleep. Everything will be fine with me around.”
He was no longer that ignorant young man from the Jing Mountains.