HELP! These Girls Wants To Kill Me-Chapter 261

Listening to her shout, Yang Ze's lips twitched in response before he gave her a nod. Had he known, he wouldn't have walked out of the room, but now that he was already out, it was hard for him to ignore it.

"What a mess." Clicking his tongue in annoyance, Yang Ze signalled her to wait before walking back to the house, and after searching in vain for a while, just picked up the few pieces of paper and headed back up.

From what he had gathered so far, the annual gathering was a way for people like Sun Qiao to show off their new findings or any breakthroughs.

Even though he didn't want to go there and participate in it, he didn't have any other choice. Especially now that the old woman was personally escorting him there.

"Well, at least I will be able to gather more intelligence there." In the end, Yang Ze could only console himself with this thinking.

After searching the basement for a while and still unable to come up with anything presentable in the annual gathering, Yang Ze gritted his teeth, picked up the human skin 'paper' and headed out of there with an expressionless face.

Since he had nothing, he might as well just play dumb and blend in.

The moment Yang Ze stepped outside the house, the old woman standing there gazed at the 'paper' in his hand as a frown appeared on her face for a split second before it disappeared.

She opened her mouth to speak, but in the end, just shook her head and kept on walking.

Looking at her figure and the mist enveloping the mountain, Yang Ze simply waved his hand, manifesting a small umbrella inside his robe before following behind the old woman.

Thankfully, the rain has stopped for now.

"Just how long is this rain going to last?" Looking at the cloudy sky, he couldn't help but mutter in a dissatisfied voice. From the day he stepped into this imperial city, there hasn't been a single day when it didn't rain.

"Probably forever."

To Yang Ze's surprise, the old woman walking in front of him suddenly spoke in a low voice, startling him.

"Hmm?" He couldn't help but glance at her back in confusion, wondering what she was talking about.

"Why so?" With nothing to do, he decided to have a conversation with her. Besides, it would do him good to know as much as he could, even if it was just miscellaneous knowledge or simple rumours.

"Why!?" The old woman glanced at Yang Ze from the corner of her eye, wondering why she was asking such a stupid question, but still decided to tell her, nevertheless.

"The rain has never stopped since the foundation of the Imperial city ages ago… And will probably never stop."

"What makes you think it is going to stop anytime soon?"

This time, her words made Yang Ze narrow his eyes in response.

"..." He wanted to ask why it was the case, but in the end held back. From the looks of it, it seemed like basic knowledge.

"Nothing… just wanted to spend a day under the sun." In the end, he could only come up with a clumsy excuse.

"Then, you might as well head outside the Imperial city for that." The old woman replied absent-mindedly as she stopped for a moment and then continued in a different direction.

"Mmm…." Yang Ze merely nodded in response, not wanting to dwell on this topic.

"How many people do you think are going to have some new breakthroughs this time?" After a brief silence, Yang Ze asked the question. He wanted to gather as much knowledge as possible before participating in the so-called Annual gathering. And the only way to do that right now was the old woman in front of him.

It would be a lie to say that the idea of knocking the old woman unconscious and then taking her place didn't cross his mind, but the moment this thought came to mind, Yang Ze shook his head in response. He was already taking a huge risk by replacing this middle-aged woman. If he were to do something even more extreme, he had a feeling that his mission would turn into something impossible to accomplish.

"Same as always." Unfortunately for Yang Ze, the old woman didn't seem to be in the mood to entertain him. She just gave him a half-hearted reply as she kept on walking.

It wasn't until a few more minutes passed that Yang Ze asked again.

"How many people do you think are going to participate?"

This time, the old woman's figure finally came to a halt as she turned her head to look at the middle-aged woman behind her with an annoyed face.

"You sure are asking a lot of questions today."

Her words almost made Yang Ze's heart leap out of his chest before she continued.

"Usually, you never talk, but today…"

She glanced at the middle-aged woman's figure from top to bottom intently as if trying to figure out something.

"Did you hit your head or did you make a new breakthrough?"

The moment she asked this question, Yang Ze felt the internal energy in her body condensing at a rapid pace, as if ready to take action.

Even though the current him could pat her dead with a single finger, he wasn't here to kill.

Thinking for a moment, a sudden smile appeared on his face as he raised his hand, twirling his finger around the long hair before letting out a soft chuckle.

"Haha… was it that obvious?"

"....."

"....."

"A breakthrough, is it then!" The old woman couldn't help but shake her head as her internal energy once again returned to normal. She then turned around and began to walk once again.

"Must be nice to be so young and make progress." She couldn't help but mutter to herself, but her voice was somewhat loud, clearly wanting to let Yang Ze hear it.

"Do you think others might have made a similar breakthrough as well?" Ignoring her snarky remark, Yang Ze began to probe around.

"Might be." The old woman thought for a moment before nodding in reply.

"Zhao Yan was constantly screaming about how she managed to develop a new material that is suitable for armour."

"Li Hua has been rambling on about developing a new set of ingredients that could be used in a myriad of things."

"As for others…" The old woman scratched her chin before shaking her head. "Their progress is… let's say, somewhat limited."

Speaking those words, she glanced at the middle-aged woman from the corner of her eyes, opened her mouth to speak, but after some hesitation, chose not to.

How could Yang Ze not see such an obvious act of hers? Without any hesitation, he hurriedly stepped forward, directly standing behind the old woman before tinkering in his robe and pulling out a handful of gold coins.

"Just a small token of my appreciation. You have done so much for me." Without wasting another moment, he pushed the gold coins into the old woman's hands, who was stunned for a long time.

It wasn't until a few moments passed and she felt the weight of the coins in her hands that she came back to her senses and gazed deeply at the middle-aged woman behind her.

"And all the time I thought you were a blockhead that doesn't know the way of the world." Clicking her tongue in wonder, her hand holding the coins flashed inside her robe, and when she took it out, it was empty.

"Do not tell anyone that you heard it from me." With a grave warning, her voice lowered a bit as she whispered softly.

"Rumours are that a new batch of women is going to join the Royal Family."

"And they are going to be replacing the ones who haven't been able to make progress."

Her eyes glanced at Yang Ze meaningfully, letting him fully understand the meaning of her words.

"A new batch!?" Yang Ze's eyes narrowed into slits as innumerable thoughts flashed in his mind. He tightened his grip on the 'paper' in his hands.

"Yep…"

"And that new batch would need lots of materials for their own research."

While mentioning 'materials', a meaningful smile appeared on the old woman's face.

Yang Ze's steps paused momentarily as he reached inside his robe to pull out another handful of newly manifested gold coins and handed them over to the old woman without saying a single word.

"....."

"Heh." The smile on the old woman's face only got wider as she placed the coins inside her clothes, cleared her throat and spoke further.

"Because of the awful performance of the Harvest Hall, they are planning to replace the entire Harvest Hall in a single go."

"That means you and every single person in it is going to be discarded."

"And when the newcomers take your place, you all will be given to them as 'gifts'."

After speaking those chilling words, the old woman grew quiet.

It wasn't until a few more moments passed that she muttered to herself.

"Perhaps, going out to take a look at the sun isn't such a bad idea."

Yang Ze could clearly feel that those words were targeted at him, but he didn't take it to heart. This identity of his was merely for him to sneak into the royal family and gather intelligence. Not to mention the fact that he could easily discard this identity and change into someone else… even if something went wrong and his identity was exposed, he could just fly away.

Other than that royal palace that gave him the creeps, there was nothing in the entire imperial city that could threaten him.

If worst came to worst, he would just summon a cyclone and tear the entire imperial city apart.

Taking a deep breath that was filled with the smell of rain and mud, Yang Ze quietly followed the old woman.

The two of them first made their way to the distant house enveloped in mist, but even after shouting for a while, when they didn't receive any response, the two of them then headed to another house.

For the next hour or so, the two of them made their way towards different houses, but no matter where they went, the result remained the same.

"Looks like it's just the two of us." The old woman didn't mind it in the slightest; on the contrary, she seemed unfazed, as if she had expected it.

Yang Ze didn't say a word this time but quietly followed her. Even though he was having second thoughts about following her to the annual gathering, he didn't show it on his face.

The two of them finally made their way towards the other peaks. Crossing the familiar awe-inspiring gigantic bridge, Yang Ze's initial thoughts were that they were going to visit more houses and call for more people, but to his surprise, they didn't. After passing through the next two bridges, they finally reached their location.

"Interesting." Looking at the giant tunnel entrance leading inside the mountain, Yang Ze couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.

Without making a sound, he quietly followed the old woman, and after showing his identity token, he entered the tunnel.

Contrary to the dim light outside, the tunnel was well-lit. The road beneath them was made from some kind of luminous stone, giving off a hazy glow and making it look like one was walking on a starry river.

Yang Ze almost wanted to shout after seeing such a breathtaking scene that he had only seen in paintings, but managed to hold back. Suppressing the surprise and excitement in his heart, he kept on walking till they finally reached their destination.

After a few hundred meters of walking, the cave finally opened up to a large space that was filled with numerous small exquisite buildings as well as a dense number of women constantly moving around.