Calamity Messenger-Chapter 72 - 59: The Only Wonder—Heroic Painting

"Don’t deny it, when you took out the White Iron Straight Saber, I guessed you were connected to ’that organization.’" Shang Xinlei looked around as if she expected Yan Qing to jump out from the bushes and snatch away her woman: "Plus, your name has a numerical code, which further confirms my suspicion."

It was exposed so easily...

Yan Qing felt quite helpless. He hadn’t expected the Messenger World to be so vast with so many people, yet it coincidentally led him to encounter the Red Snake. As for the name, he didn’t mind much, but currently, the White Iron Straight Saber was the only weapon he could casually let his alt use. He couldn’t possibly leave his alt unarmed and have it fight empty-handed just to hide his identity, right?

Shang Xinlei continued: "’That organization’ sent you for the treasure chest in the Mansu Forest Land, didn’t they? No guidance, no assistance, just sending you to charge forward recklessly. If successful, they’d keep it all for themselves; if you die, they’ll discard you like an old shoe... You should recognize the cruelty of that organization by now, right? If you join the Shang Family, I guarantee you’ll be safe. A dark organization lurking in the shadows hasn’t the qualifications to challenge the Shang Family of the Liang Kingdom."

"Joining the Jie Family works too, as long as you don’t pledge allegiance to that leader anymore. He’s so despicable, shameless, lecherous, and vile; he isn’t worth following."

Slander, blatant slander! It was you who wedged your thigh into the doorframe, and it was only then that I took a glance. Can you really say I’m lecherous for that? Before you did that, I had no interest in thighs at all!

Though he wanted to loudly refute her, Yan Qing didn’t want to disclose more information or engage in a drama with Shang Xinlei, so he replied, "Time is running out; I’m not interested in discussing this with you."

"Is it that you’re in his grasp, or is your family being held hostage by that scum?"

Within just a few words, Shang Xinlei’s term for Yan Qing’s leader had escalated from ’that leader’ to ’scum.’

"If that’s the case, you should resist even more. Following that organization only leads to being used up and then tossed away like trash! Only by saving yourself can you break free from a tragic fate!"

"If you can’t do it, leave it to me!" She placed her hand on her chest, eyes firmly fixed on ’Jiang Shi’: "You might think I’m just trying to recruit you, and I won’t deny having such thoughts, but I really want to help you because you deserve it."

"You should soar, not fall into the mire."

Watching this, it’s enough to ignite my spirit. Next should be a bond surpassing friendship between the two, undergoing numerous adventures and brushes with death, defeating the Four Heavenly Kings of the dark organization, mixed with some redemption arcs for the villains, finally defeating the mastermind, and then the two embracing and shedding tears among the rubble...

If only I weren’t the mastermind she’s talking about, Yan Qing thought.

However, he had no intention of explaining. He knew well his emotional intelligence and depth were likely at the bottom of the food chain in this world. After all, before crossing over, he was shut at home gaming, and after, gaming in the Thief’s House. The common point was a complete lack of socialization all day. If one day his language ability regresses to babbling, he wouldn’t be surprised. He understood the more he said, the more he exposed, and how others perceive him is their business. As long as he didn’t say too much, he wouldn’t be figured out.

"You’ve already wasted a cup-of-tea’s time, Shang Xinlei."

"Why won’t you leave that organization? Kindness? Hostages? Or—"

"Shang Xinlei, unlike you, I have no one to rely on."

"I don’t need to rely on others either."

Saying that, ’Jiang Shi’ broke free from Shang Xinlei’s grip and walked towards the depths of the forest, leaving behind one last sentence: "Go collect resources quickly."

Seemingly giving up, Shang Xinlei didn’t follow. Yan Qing thought back, feeling assured he hadn’t revealed any flaws, then went on with ease to scavenge for resources.

Along the way, he chopped any trees and rocks in sight, racing to the second resource area at maximum speed. The terrain of the second resource area changes every time. Now he encountered snowy terrain, a vast expanse of white, with snow depths reaching half a person’s height deeper in, making even ’Jiang Shi,’ with his advanced stride, struggling in the snow.

Moreover, although the resource coverage is high here, they are all buried under the snow, hard to detect without getting close, further lowering Yan Qing’s scavenging efficiency.

Soon, Yan Qing spotted a lighthouse buried by snowstorm, and upon approaching, he found a wooden sign nearby, hinting that investing ten pieces of Spiritual Jade would activate the lighthouse. After investing the jade, the top of the lighthouse emitted a golden yellow light, which rotated with the lighthouse and scattered golden rain across the snowy land.

These golden lights adhered to resources or special buildings, visible even across thousands of meters. Yan Qing looked around and discovered the resources were densest to the northeast and also saw the outline of a special building.

However, approaching would take half an hour, during which the golden light had long dissipated. Yan Qing could only rely on his instincts to walk in a straight line, missing numerous resource piles, fearful that picking them up would cause a deviation in direction. If players could fly, they could have scoured the resources clean here; however, without flight, focusing on the largest target was the best way to press forward.

Standing at the end was a temple covered by snowstorm.

Inside the temple, there wasn’t a trace of snow, merely three altars. Placed atop the altars were different scrolls, and beneath them were various resource patterns, with gaps below.

Yan Qing initially thought the altars would yield resources, but upon closer inspection, the hints beside them revealed that he needed to invest resources to obtain rewards here.

"Warrior Monument"

"Unlock resources: 25 crystals"

"Building resources: 100 stones, 80 crystals, 80 gemstones"

"Unique wonder: Only one building with this characteristic can exist at the same time."

"Battle Unceasing: All facilities in the Shelter except statues increase health by 100, damage increased by 300%, building capacity reduced by 50%, and fully recover 60 seconds after destruction. This building can be upgraded."

A wonder building that drastically changes building strategy!

Yan Qing instinctively felt a sense of dissonance before because statues were too practical, making other non-statue troops extremely cost-inefficient, opting against creating troop lines unless facing key battles. If troops were only a temporary phase, but the Shelter upgrade unlocked many new troop recipes, it always gave Yan Qing a sense of ’someone still playing troop flow in the later stages.’

The Warrior Monument is undoubtedly the key building for troop flow, boosting health and damage, doubling the building limit, and even able to resurrect on the battlefield... Yan Qing felt a bit tempted. With the Warrior Monument switching to troop flow, passing the tenth level shouldn’t be challenging!

"Rainbow Bridge"

"Unlock resources: 50 gemstones"

"Building Resources: 100 wood, 100 crystal, 100 mercury, 100 sulfur"

"Unique Wonder: A building with this trait can only exist as one at a time."

"Rainbow Reflection: Shelter members emit a 25-meter radius of rainbow light, and resource piles and nodes that are illuminated by the rainbow light are automatically collected into the shelter’s warehouse. This building can be upgraded."

"Whoa!"

Yan Qing immediately knew this was a late-game wonder, and anyone aiming to reach level 30 or 50 would definitely take this. With the Rainbow Bridge, players could just charge around to collect resources, collecting at least three to four times faster than normal.

This wonder held even greater significance for Qian Gongyu and her companions, as they didn’t have personal warehouses, with collection efficiency less than one-tenth of a normal player. If they had the Rainbow Bridge, they could also loot around like regular players, and reaching levels 20 or 30 wouldn’t be impossible!

Although the building requirements for the Rainbow Bridge are higher than the Warrior Monument, if resources are saved for a few rounds, it might not be impossible to gather enough...

Yan Qing felt quite torn, feeling the Warrior Monument was more reliable yet thinking the Rainbow Bridge held more potential. But when he saw the third scroll, all hesitation vanished completely.

...

...

An hour passed, and everyone returned promptly to the shelter, except Shang Xinlei, who was still preoccupied, while Qian Gongyu and Jie Yuan Shao wore smiles on their faces, clearly having encountered some adventure.

According to last night’s plan, they should now build the Level 5 Shelter to see if it unlocks any better facilities, or upgrade statues if not.

However, Jiang Shi neither upgraded the shelter nor the statues. She pointed her finger, and most of the courtyard’s resources turned into streams of light, flowing into the castle. Under the astonished eyes of all, the streams melted into the wall above the fireplace, becoming a delicately large painting.

The image depicted the four of them sitting in front of the fireplace chatting, with Jie Yuan Shao sitting upright, Shang Xinlei lounging lazily, and Qian Gongyu holding Jiang Shi’s hand as they snuggled on the sofa. The image was so vivid and lifelike, as if clipped from their yesterdays.

"It’s so beautiful..." Qian Gongyu murmured, "Can we take it with us?"

"Our resources," Jie Yuan Shao drew a large circle with her hands, asking in a tone of disbelief, "just turned into a painting?"

"But it’s so beautiful!"

"That’s not the point of whether it’s beautiful!"

"Jiang Shi has left," Shang Xinlei reminded. Only then did they realize Jiang Shi had already gone out, and the monster horde had begun.

They thought Jiang Shi left to snatch monster kills, but upon coming out, they saw her standing on the battlements, not rushing to slaughter. Unlike Jiang Shi, they had to rely on the walls to kill monsters, as charging into the monster horde was too risky for them.

The first wave of monsters consisted of Thief Lizard Demons and hundreds of Thief Lizards. As the monsters approached closer, the statues descended one by one. At this moment, Shang Xinlei and others noticed something startling—

A surge of strength burst forth!

The rushing Qi Blood violently circulated within their bodies, spinning madly, spinning fiercely! Strength surged forth, doubling, tripling, decupling!

Qian Gongyu couldn’t help but howl wildly, casually slapping a battlement, turning part of the parapet into powder!

She was initially startled by her own strength and then giggled foolishly: "Look, I’m so strong!"

"Jiang Shi!" Shang Xinlei immediately asked, "Is this the power of that painting?"

Jiang Shi nodded, then shook her head.

She raised her Iron Blood Long Saber, pointing slightly toward the Chaos Warrior and the Daffodil Mermaid, then again at herself.

They noticed the red light flashing on the Chaos Warrior’s, Dragon-Breaking Warrior’s, and Blade Warrior’s bodies, the blue light flashing on the Daffodil Mermaid’s and Funeral Mermaid’s bodies, each extending a thin thread into their bodies. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Red light and blue light flowed through each of them as if... they too had become part of the statues.

"Is this the bond effect you mentioned before?" Jie Yuan Shao immediately recalled, "Are we being strengthened by the bonds of the Pearl Tears Alliance and Comrades Association?"

Jiang Shi nodded, then jumped off the battlements, charging alone toward the Thief Lizard horde as usual. However, this time, Shang Xinlei, Jie Yuan Shao, and Qian Gongyu exchanged a glance, following closely behind, directly confronting hundreds of Thief Lizards!

Boom!

The ocean of Thief Lizards crashed against four scarlet reefs, getting severely battered, suffering heavy losses!

"Heroic Painting"

"Unlocked Resources: 30 Mercury"

"Building Resources: 100 wood, 100 stone, 50 crystal, 40 sulfur, 30 gemstones"

"Unique Wonder: A building with this trait can only exist as one at a time."

"Heroes’ Companionship: When shelter statues form bonds, all shelter members can enjoy bond bonuses. This effect can be upgraded."