Dawn came gray and quiet.
The fire had burned down to coals. The two on watch had been replaced by Bao, who was technically awake but doing a poor job of hiding that he was mostly asleep sitting up. The forest had settled back into normal morning sounds. Birds. Wind. Something small moving in the undergrowth.
Wang Hui sat near the edge of the camp and watched the sky get lighter.
She had a plan.
The plan was simple: leave now, while everyone was still mostly asleep, and go back to leveling up. Three more levels until she hit ten. Three levels was nothing. She had gone from one to seven in two days. She could do three more in one day if she pushed.
She just had to stand up and walk into the forest.
She had been about to do that for the last forty minutes.
'Any minute now.'
'I am going to stand up.'
'Right now.'
'...'
'The fire is still warm.'
╔══════════════════════════════════════╗
║ ★ NEW QUEST ★
║
║ [ Terrible at Leaving ]
║
║ Leave the camp before breakfast.
║
║ Reward : Dignity +5
║ Time limit: When they wake up.
║
║ (This should be easy.)
║ (System has low expectations.)
║
║ (｀・ω・´)
╚══════════════════════════════════════╝
'I KNOW it should be easy.'
'I am going. Watch me go.'
'...'
'Five more minutes.'
Wei Liang, who had not moved from his spot against the tree, said without opening his eyes, "You have been about to leave for a while."
'...'
'He was awake.'
'He was awake THE WHOLE TIME.'
Wang Hui looked at him.
He still had his eyes closed. His arms were crossed. He looked like someone who had not actually slept but was committed to pretending otherwise.
"You do not have to go," he said. Same quiet tone as always. "No one is making you stay."
'I know that.'
'I am fully aware of that.'
'I am leaving because I WANT to leave.'
'...'
'Why does him saying that make me want to stay.'
'That is not how reverse psychology is supposed to work on me.'
'I am too smart for that.'
She looked at the forest. Then back at the camp. Then at the sky, which was doing that thing where it turned pink right before the sun came up properly.
'...Five more minutes.'
╔══════════════════════════════════════╗
║
║ Quest [ Terrible at Leaving ]
║ Status: FAILED
║
║ Told you. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
╚══════════════════════════════════════╝
'I did not even try yet.'
'You cannot fail a quest before I even try.'
╔══════════════════════════════════════╗
║
║ The sun is up.
║ Bao is awake.
║ Breakfast has started.
║
║ Host is still here.
║
║ (¬‿¬)
╚══════════════════════════════════════╝
'...'
'I stayed for the sunrise. That is different.'
'Completely different.'
* * *
Bao discovered her the moment he opened his eyes properly.
"LUCKY!"
The shout woke up the two disciples who had been sleeping. One of them grabbed a sword on reflex. The other sat up so fast she hit her head on a tree branch.
'I am not Lucky.'
'My name is Wang Hui.'
'...But I cannot say that.'
Bao was already across the camp, crouching in front of her with the energy of someone who had been waiting for this moment since he fell asleep.
"You stayed! I knew you would stay. Mei said you would be gone by morning but I knew."
"I said she would probably be gone," Mei said from across the fire, not looking up from whatever she was cooking. "I did not say definitely."
"Same thing."
"It is not the same thing, Bao."
'I like Mei.'
'She is the only reasonable person here.'
'...I should leave before Bao tries to pat my head.'
Bao tried to pat her head.
She stepped back.
He followed.
She stepped back again.
He followed again, hand still outstretched, with the patient energy of someone who had all day.
'Stop.'
'Stop following me.'
'I am a sacred mythological creature.'
'You do not just pat a sacred mythological creature on the head.'
"She does not want to be touched, Bao," Wei Liang said.
Bao stopped. Pulled his hand back. Looked genuinely apologetic. "Sorry, Lucky."
'...'
╔══════════════════════════════════════╗
║
║ Dignity: +3 ↑
║ Total : +24
║
║ For maintaining personal space
║ with dignity intact.
║
║ (｀・ω・´)
╚══════════════════════════════════════╝
'Plus three.'
'Okay. I will take it.'
'...Still not leaving yet because I want to see what they are cooking.'
'That is the only reason.'
What they were cooking turned out to be a simple rice congee with some dried herbs. Nothing special. But it smelled warm and it had been two days of raw fish and raw rabbit and Wang Hui sat down next to the fire with the controlled dignity of someone who was absolutely not desperate for cooked food.
Mei set a small portion aside near the fire without saying anything. Not in Wang Hui's direction. Just. There.
'...'
'That was for me.'
'She set that out for me.'
'She knew I was going to stay.'
'...I have been predicted by a teenager. This is humiliating.'
╔══════════════════════════════════════╗
║
║ Dignity: -2 ↓
║ Total : +22
║
║ For being that obvious.
║
║ (づ￣ ³￣)づ
╚══════════════════════════════════════╝
'I was not obvious.'
'...The congee is very good.'
'I refuse to comment further.'
* * *
The group packed up camp with the efficiency of people who had done it many times. Bedrolls gone in under a minute. Fire properly put out. Traces cleaned up.
Wang Hui watched them and tried very hard to look like she was not watching them.
'They move well together.'
'Even Wei Liang. He is clearly hurt but he is not slowing them down.'
'...This is a competent group.'
'For people who think I am a horse, they are surprisingly competent.'
"Right," Mei said, shouldering her pack. "Northeast. Same as yesterday. We should reach the outer sect outpost by nightfall if nothing goes wrong."
"Something always goes wrong," said one of the two disciples Wang Hui had mentally labeled Quiet One and Nervous One. This was the Nervous One.
"Thank you, Chen," Mei said flatly. "Very helpful."
"I am just saying."
"Please stop saying."
Bao looked at Wang Hui. Then at the direction they were heading. Then back at Wang Hui. His face did that thing where it went very expressive very fast.
"Are you coming with us?" he asked.
'No.'
'Absolutely not.'
'I have my own plans.'
'I need to level up.'
'I am not a pet.'
'I am not going to follow a group of cultivators through the forest because one of them set out congee for me.'
She looked at the direction they were heading.
Northeast. The direction she had not explored yet. The deeper part of the forest, where the higher grade beasts were.
Higher grade beasts meant better exp.
Better exp meant faster leveling.
She was going to need to go northeast eventually anyway.
'...This is purely strategic.'
'I am going the same direction for my own reasons.'
'It has nothing to do with the congee.'
╔══════════════════════════════════════╗
║ ★ NEW QUEST ★
║
║ [ Definitely Strategic ]
║
║ Follow the group northeast.
║ (For your own reasons obviously.)
║
║ Reward : Level +1, Skill Point +1,
║ ??? (hidden reward)
║
║ (•ω•)
╚══════════════════════════════════════╝
'Another hidden reward.'
'...Fine.'
'I am going northeast anyway.'
She stood up and walked to the front of the group.
Bao made a noise like someone had just given him a puppy.
"SHE IS COMING WITH US."
"Indoor voice," Mei said.
"She is COMING WITH US, Mei."
"I heard you the first time."
"Lucky is coming with us!"
'Wang Hui.'
'My name is Wang Hui.'
'...I am going to have to do something about this name situation.'
* * *
The forest northeast of the pond was denser. The trees got bigger, the undergrowth thicker, the light coming through the canopy darker and more scattered. They had been walking for about an hour when Wang Hui started to notice the difference in the animals around them.
Fewer small things. No rabbits. No birds hopping along the ground. The things she could sense through Night Sense, which she had kept running at a low background level, were bigger and further back, watching from a distance.
'Higher grade territory.'
'The outer zone gives way to the middle zone here.'
'Common grade predators in here. Maybe Uncommon on the deeper end.'
'This is where I need to be for leveling up.'
'...This is also where the group is most at risk.'
'Not that that is my problem.'
'I am just here for the exp.'
Wei Liang, walking slightly ahead of the group and to the left, slowed down.
Wang Hui slowed down too without thinking about it.
He glanced at her. She looked away.
'I was already slowing down.'
'That had nothing to do with him.'
"There is something watching us from the east," he said quietly. Not to Wang Hui. To Mei.
"I know," Mei said. Same volume. "Two of them. Been following since we left camp."
"Same direction as yesterday's group."
"Yes."
A pause.
"Blood Asura?" the Quiet One asked.
"Probably not," Wei Liang said. "Too sloppy. Blood Asura disciples do not follow that loudly."
'...'
'Something is following them.'
'Not a beast. A person.'
'Two people.'
Wang Hui tilted her head and pushed Night Sense east.
He was right. Two signatures, roughly two hundred meters out, moving to match the group's pace. Not attacking. Not getting closer. Just. Following.
'They are not from any sect I can sense.'
'No cultivation aura I recognize.'
'...They feel off.'
╔══════════════════════════════════════╗
║ ℹ INFO ℹ
║
║ Night Sense has detected:
║ 2 human signatures, east.
║ Distance: ~200 meters.
║ Cultivation: Suppressed / Hidden.
║
║ Note: Hiding cultivation requires
║ significant skill or special tools.
║
║ These are not amateurs.
║
║ (⊙_⊙)
╚══════════════════════════════════════╝
'Suppressed cultivation.'
'So they are strong enough to hide how strong they are.'
'And they are following this group specifically.'
'...Someone knew we were coming.'
'That is what Wei Liang said last night.'
'Someone told these people where this group would be.'
She looked at Wei Liang.
He was still walking forward, face neutral, but his hand had drifted closer to his sword.
'He knows.'
'He already knows they are not amateurs.'
'He walked into this knowing someone leaked their route.'
'...Why.'
'Why would you keep walking into something you know is a trap.'
'That is the stupidest thing I have ever'
'...Oh.'
'He is walking into it on purpose.'
'He wants them to make a move.'
Wang Hui looked east again.
Two hundred meters. Matching pace. Waiting for something.
She made a decision.
She peeled off from the group without warning, cut east through the undergrowth, and made as much noise as a small Qilin could make doing it.
Which was, it turned out, quite a lot.
'THIS IS FINE.'
'I AM JUST GOING FOR A WALK.'
'A VERY LOUD WALK.'
'TOTALLY NORMAL.'
╔══════════════════════════════════════╗
║
║ Dignity: -3 ↓
║ Total : +19
║
║ For crashing through bushes
║ like a startled deer.
║
║ ヽ(｀Д´)ﾉ
╚══════════════════════════════════════╝
'I WAS BEING A DISTRACTION.'
'THAT WAS TACTICAL.'
* * *
The two signatures east stopped moving.
Then one of them shifted to track her.
Good. One was coming her way. That left one still on the group, but one was easier to deal with than two, and the group had Wei Liang.
Wang Hui kept moving east, slower now, quieter, threading through the undergrowth with more care. She pushed Night Sense to its full range and found a small rocky outcrop about a hundred meters ahead.
Higher ground. Good sightlines. She could get up there and see what was following her before it saw her properly.
She was most of the way there when the second signature moved.
Not toward her.
Toward the group. Fast.
'...'
'They split up too.'
'One following me. One going for the group faster now that I am not there.'
'That was the plan. Wait for the group to separate, then move.'
'I just made it easier for them.'
She stopped.
Turned around.
Ran back.
╔══════════════════════════════════════╗
║ ⚠ WARNING ⚠
║
║ Host has made things worse.
║
║ This is a new record.
║
║ ┗(°0°)┛
╚══════════════════════════════════════╝
'I AM AWARE.'
'STOP NOTIFYING ME AND LET ME FIX IT.'
She hit Sacred Step and ran.
The forest blurred. She could hear the group ahead, not fighting yet but tense, the kind of silence that happened right before something started. The second signature was fifty meters from them and closing.
She burst out of the undergrowth into a small clearing just as the second figure dropped out of a tree.
Black clothes. Face covered. No sect insignia.
Not Blood Asura. Not Azure Sky. Not any sect.
'Assassin.'
'An actual assassin.'
'In my third day of being alive.'
The figure looked at the group. Then at Wang Hui, who had appeared from the wrong direction at high speed and was now standing between them.
A pause.
The assassin looked at Wang Hui the way the bear had looked at her.
That same uncertain flicker.
'...Sacred Aura trace.'
'Even these people can feel it.'
'Good.'
'Use it.'
Wang Hui did not know how to use it consciously. The Sacred Aura was locked. She could not turn it up or aim it or do anything intentional with it.
But she could stand very still and stare at someone like she was something old and dangerous.
She was getting good at that.
The assassin took one step back.
Then a sword appeared at the assassin's throat from behind. Wei Liang, who had apparently circled around while Wang Hui was being a distraction, pressed the blade in close and said, very calmly, "Drop it."
The assassin dropped what was in their hand. A small black pellet that hit the ground and immediately started releasing a thin dark smoke.
"Hold your breath," Wei Liang said.
Everyone held their breath.
Wang Hui did not have breath to hold in the same way but she stopped pulling air in on instinct.
The smoke drifted past. Thin. Then gone.
"Sleep poison," Mei said, looking at the pellet on the ground. "Low grade. Would not have worked on Wei Liang."
"No," Wei Liang agreed. "But it would have worked on the rest of you."
Bao looked at the smoke. Then at the assassin. Then at Wang Hui, who was standing in the middle of all of this with what she hoped was a calm expression.
"Lucky scared them," he said.
'Wang Hui scared them.'
'...But yes. Essentially yes.'
╔══════════════════════════════════════╗
║ ★ QUEST COMPLETE ★
║
║ [ Definitely Strategic ]
║
║ Reward : Level +1, Skill Point +1,
║ Dignity +10
║ Total : +29
║
║ Hidden reward unlocked:
║ [ GROUP SENSE (Passive) ]
║ Host can now sense the general
║ status of nearby allies.
║ (HP, cultivation level, mood.)
║
║ \(^▽^)/
╚══════════════════════════════════════╝
'...Group Sense.'
'I can sense allied status now.'
'That is...actually very useful.'
'...Why does the System assume these people are my allies.'
╔══════════════════════════════════════╗
║
║ Because Host just ran back to
║ help them instead of escaping.
║
║ (¬‿¬)
╚══════════════════════════════════════╝
'...'
'I was being tactical.'
'I needed to fix my mistake.'
'It was not about them.'
╔══════════════════════════════════════╗
║
║ Sure. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
╚══════════════════════════════════════╝
'I hate you so much.'
* * *
The first assassin, the one that had followed Wang Hui east, ran into Lin.
Lin, the Quiet One, had apparently circled east the moment Wang Hui peeled off from the group. She did not say anything about this. She just showed up at the edge of the clearing ten minutes later with the first assassin tied up and dragging behind her.
Chen looked at her. "How did you"
"I followed her," Lin said, nodding at Wang Hui. "Figured someone should."
'...'
'She followed me.'
'The Quiet One followed me into the forest to make sure I was okay.'
'...I do not know how to feel about that.'
Both assassins were searched and questioned. They did not say much. But what they did have on them said enough.
Mei held up a small token. Flat, black, with a symbol on it that Wang Hui did not recognize but that made every member of the Azure Sky group go very still.
"Shadow Broker," Mei said quietly.
"Here," Wei Liang said. Not a question.
"In Moonlight Forest."
A pause.
"That changes things," he said.
'Shadow Broker.'
'I do not know that name.'
'But the way they all reacted suggests it is a very bad name to know.'
'...This is getting complicated.'
'I came to this forest to level up quietly.'
'I have been here three days and I have encountered a tiger, a Demonic Bear, two assassins, and whatever Wei Liang's actual situation is.'
'...'
'At least I am level eight now.'
╔══════════════════════════════════════╗
║ ★ LEVEL UP ★
║
║ Wang Hui is now Level 8!
║ +5 Stat Points
║ +1 Skill Point
║
║ Two more levels until evolution.
║
║ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ
╚══════════════════════════════════════╝
'Two more levels.'
'Then I evolve to Common grade.'
'Then I am stronger.'
'Then none of this matters as much.'
'...I just need two more levels.'
'I can do that.'
'...Probably while also dealing with whatever Shadow Broker means.'
'...I did not ask for this.'
Wei Liang crouched down to her level again. He did that a lot, she had noticed. Like he had decided it was the polite way to address her.
"You went east on purpose," he said. "To draw one of them off."
She looked at him.
"It almost worked."
'ALMOST.'
'He said almost.'
'It would have worked if they had not split up.'
'...Okay it almost worked.'
He watched her face for a moment. That studying look again.
"What are you?" he asked. Not like Bao asked, not confused and delighted. Quiet. Genuine. Like he actually wanted to know.
Wang Hui looked at him for a long moment.
Then she looked away.
'...I am Wang Hui.'
'I am twenty-two years old.'
'I died from a charger.'
'And I am currently a Qilin with a negative dignity score that has somehow gone positive.'
'And I have no idea what Shadow Broker is.'
'And apparently I have allies now.'
'...I did not plan for any of this.'
From behind Wei Liang, Bao said, very earnestly, "She is Lucky."
"She is something," Wei Liang said. He stood back up. Looked at the forest ahead. "We keep moving."
Wang Hui stayed where she was for a moment.
Then she walked to the front of the group.
'Two more levels.'
'Just two more levels and then I can figure out the rest.'
Bao fell into step beside her, beaming.
She did not tell him to go away.
End of Chapter 4
[ Dignity: +29 ] [ Level: 8 ] [ New skill: Group Sense ] [ New problem: Shadow Broker ]