Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Because their memories had been cleared, the two young thugs fell into a brief unconsciousness. Xie Licheng saw this and didn't bother with them anymore, instead returning alone to his personal world.

He had originally wanted to go to the West Market to buy things, but thinking about how selling the animal hides today had been too conspicuous and had gotten him noticed by the two young thugs, he decided not to go out shopping that evening.

After Xie Licheng sent the two young thugs out, the quest bar returned to (1/20). Just bringing people in for a quick look didn't do anything—they had to stay inside for it to count.

He was genuinely curious: what would he get for completing this 20-person quest?

Would it unlock new maps, or would there be some special reward?

With that thought, Xie Licheng picked up a basket and headed to the chicken coop to collect eggs.

If eggs were left sitting in the coop too long, they'd go bad.

He needed to collect the eggs and store them in the warehouse.

His farm had two chicken coops, built in the southernmost corner of the property.

He'd fenced off this area and scattered grass and vegetable seeds inside.

These chickens could eat the weeds, greens, and insects that were there.

Sometimes Xie Licheng would also supplement their feed with grain or table scraps.

Planting, raising livestock, foraging, cooking... all of these could earn him experience points.

But the gains were all very small. After working hard for two hours, his experience bar had barely budged.

At eight the next morning, Xie Licheng grabbed two big meat buns, a bow, and a knife, and headed up the mountain.

He knew this mountain well, moving along the path with ease as he went deeper into the wilds.

On the way, he ran into a wild boar—probably a male—which even gave him a little challenge.

But today, Xie Licheng wasn't in the mood to play the hunter-and-prey game with it.

He was focused on getting deep into the mountains, hoping to catch a wolf cub early and finish Gu Zhangyuan's quest sooner.

Once Gu Zhangyuan's quest was done, he could focus on his own business with peace of mind.

Spring was the season when wild animals gave birth.

At this time of year, it was usually easy to run into cubs in the mountains.

But whether it was bad luck or not, he spent the whole day roaming the mountain without seeing a single wolf.

He didn't find any wolves, but he did run into other wild animals.

As he was about to head down the mountain, he ran into a tiger.

It was a full-grown tiger, and from a distance he couldn't tell if it was male or female.

Since this was the breeding season for many wild animals, Xie Licheng didn't dare act rashly.

He climbed a tree and watched for a while, then gave up on the idea of hunting it.

Even though he hadn't found any wolves or hunted anything today, he still came away with some gains.

Xie Licheng picked quite a few mushrooms, wild fruits, and wild greens.

Spring was the best time for wild greens—many tender shoots tasted incredibly fresh.

Even though Xie Licheng didn't like cooking, he still liked to stock up on wild greens when he went up the mountain this time of year.

Today, he'd picked a good amount of wild greens.

Some were best eaten fresh, while others could be dried and saved for later.

After getting back, he sorted them simply: the ones that needed to stay fresh went into the warehouse, and the rest were hung under the eaves to dry.

Since he'd gone into the mountains twice in a row without running into any wolves, Xie Licheng left Lingzhou City the next day to check out the mountains outside town.

At this point, Xie Licheng's health had recovered to 69, and his stamina to 72.

That was a pretty good state to be in, and with all kinds of weapons on him, he wasn't too worried about heading into the mountains.

But just as Xie Licheng left the city, he ran into a group of ragged refugees.

Xie Licheng gave them some food and got quite a bit of useful information out of them.

These refugees had come from the south, where heavy rains had caused floods that submerged many farms and homes.

On top of that, there were many pirates in the South Sea who took advantage of the chaos to come ashore and loot homes. These southerners, fleeing for their lives, could only grab their families and head north.

But the north wasn't peaceful either—there were bandits, outlaws, and the Marquis of Xubei plotting a rebellion.

Even if they fled here, they'd hardly find any protection.

Xie Licheng said to a young man, "You'd better head southwest. There are lots of big mountains there. Even if things get chaotic, you can hide in the mountains."

The young man didn't quite get it. "Lingzhou is really close to the capital. Even if things get messy here, it won't get too bad. We just want to stay."

Seeing the man wasn't willing to listen, Xie Licheng didn't bother trying to persuade him further.

He wasn't a good person—giving a word of advice just now was already pretty kind of him.

He'd read the books and knew what was coming. Soon, the whole Great Zhou would fall into chaos.

Lingzhou was wealthy, and a lot of people would want to grab it.

In the north, many would declare themselves kings, and the central region—the heartland—would be stuck in constant warfare.

Lingzhou sat on the edge of the central plains. Not exactly the core, but still a place where battles happened often.

Then there was the south with its floods and pirates—life there was tough too.

Only the mountains of the southwest, with their rugged terrain and poor farming conditions, wouldn't be worth fighting over for the various warlords. The people living there would have a relatively easier time.

Seeing the man wouldn't listen, Xie Licheng kept going toward the mountains outside the city.

He still had things to do. Now that he'd gotten the info he wanted, there was no point wasting time here.

To make better time, he bought a horse along the way.

Xie Licheng knew how to ride. In his past life, before the apocalypse, he'd been fairly well-off with plenty of free time, so he'd learned to ride at a club.

Previously, he hadn't wanted to buy a horse, mainly because he couldn't manage to care for one on his own.

His farm had two chicken coops, and the novice village had a few ducks and sheep running loose.

He could barely take care of all of them, so he didn't want to add a horse to his responsibilities.

But now things were different—his personal world could hold people.

In the future, when chaos swept the land, many elderly, weak, women, and children would struggle to survive.

At that point, he could take a few in, and as repayment for him saving them, they would help him tend the livestock and poultry inside.

Since his personal world could erase memories, even if they later wanted to leave, Xie Licheng could let them go without having to kill them all to cover his tracks.

He wasn't a good man, but he wasn't a cold-blooded killer either.

If those people meant no harm and simply didn't want to stay in his personal world, he wouldn't kill them over something like that.

After reaching the mountains outside the city, Xie Licheng spent his days searching for wolf dens and his nights resting in his personal world.

Nine days passed like this, and finally, Xie Licheng found a litter of wolf pups in the mountains.

During those nine days, Xie Licheng made out well.

He completed the task Gu Zhangyuan had given him, and he also caught three rabbits and a wild chicken, all caught alive.

Then he discovered something very interesting: killing prey in this world also gave him experience.

In his previous life, Xie Licheng had gained no experience in his personal world—whether killing zombies, humans, animals, or even cooking and gathering.

To level up, he had to rely on his personal world alone.

But this time, for some reason—perhaps because the system quest had been activated—when Xie Licheng killed a snake while searching for wolf pups, he found that he leveled up from it.

Over the following nine days, Xie Licheng hunted a wild boar, two snakes, a rabbit, and two wolves, and these kills got him two more levels.

Now, Xie Licheng was at level thirty-eight, with 3 attribute points available.

Attribute points could sometimes save lives—for instance, when he was severely injured, he could add them to his health to keep himself alive.

For his own safety, he didn't use all 3 points right away.

Xie Licheng brought the wolf pups back to Lingzhou City, but instead of hurrying to the Gu residence to report in, he stayed in the city for three days before returning.

During those three days in the city, he blew nearly two hundred taels of silver.

Two hundred taels wasn't just two hundred coins or two thousand—it was a small fortune in ancient times.

He blew through it all in just three days.

The things he bought were piled up in the living room of his house, and he hadn't had time to put them away yet.

Xie Licheng planned to return to the Gu residence first, hand over the wolf pups to Gu Zhangyuan, and then find time to tidy up later.

Xie Licheng had been gone for half a month, and Xuan Cui was beginning to think he had run off with the money.

When she suddenly saw him return, successfully bringing back a wolf pup, she couldn't help feeling relieved.

It seemed their young master hadn't misjudged him—this groom did have some skill.

Gu Zhangyuan had always trusted his own judgment, believing that Xie Licheng wasn't as simple or ordinary as he appeared.

But whenever he thought Xie Licheng was extraordinary, Xie Licheng would play dumb, as if he didn't want too many people to notice him.

When Gu Zhangyuan learned of Xie Licheng's return, he had been organizing account books in his study. Hearing the news, he felt like getting some fresh air, so he brought Yuan Qiao and went personally to the front courtyard.

Xie Licheng met Gu Zhangyuan in a side courtyard of the front area. Seeing Gu Zhangyuan come personally with his attendants, he assumed Gu Zhangyuan valued the wolf pups he brought back, and thought to himself that Gu Zhangyuan didn't need to hold that prince in such high regard.

But seeing others around, he didn't want to say much with them present.

Xie Licheng said, "Young master, I've brought back the wolf pup you wanted. Since I came across a whole litter, I was afraid one might not survive the trip, so I brought an extra one back."

Gu Zhangyuan leaned in to take a look. He hadn't had much contact with wild animal pups, and at first glance, they looked much like puppies.

Gu Zhangyuan asked, "Are these actually wolf pups?"

If not, giving one to that prince might end up displeasing him.

Xie Licheng said, "They're gray wolf pups—it'll be obvious when they get bigger."

Gu Zhangyuan thought they were pretty cute and reached out to gently touch one.

But unexpectedly, one of the pups was very fierce. Seeing his hand approach, it snapped at him.

These pups were still small, and their teeth weren't that sharp.

But if he got bitten, they might carry germs, which was risky.

Xie Licheng was close to both the pups and Gu Zhangyuan. Knowing wild things like this were aggressive, he quickly grabbed Gu Zhangyuan's hand when he saw the pup lunge at him.