Stranger Danger-Chapter 1694: Was It Fun?

“This junior was blind and failed to recognize the two of you, seniors. This junior humbly begs for your forgiveness.”

Blood Plum apologized first before betraying the Pingshun King without hesitation. “Please understand that this junior did not intend to offend you two on purpose. It was the Pingshun King and Yu Shuanglu who gave me the command.”

“Xiahou Zun humiliated them, but they didn’t dare to take action against him. So, they choose to vent their frustrations on you instead.”

“Unfortuntaely for them...”

“Unfortunately for them, they made an error in judgment and calculation, correct?” Ye Qing finished her sentence.

“An astute observation, senior.”

Slowly, Blood Plum raised a finger and pointed at the middle-aged man. She said, “Seniors, that man over there is called Tong Nian (Childhood). He is a keeper of the Pingshun King Office. He’s the one who ordered me to do everything.”

“Bullshit!” The middle-aged man heard Tong Nian’s accusation loud and clear as a matter of course. If Blood Plum was only selling the Pingshun King, he would have been fine with it. However, Blood Plum was dragging him into the mess as well. Sure, it was the truth, but Blood Plum was trying to paint herself as the “innocent victim” who had no choice but to obey her cruel superiors’ order while damning everyone else around her. There was no way he was going to let her succeed without a fight!

“Do not listen to her nonsense, seniors! She is a subordinate of the Pingshun King as well! In fact, she is the one who masterminded this incident. I am at best the subordinate bandit who executes her orders.”

“This junior is just a ninth rate bandit at best. How could I possibly have anything to do with the famous Pingshun King?”

Blood Plum said in an aggrieved tone, “Tong Nian’s the one who threatened me saying that the Pingshun King would dispatch his army and his elites to kill me if I do not obey his orders. This junior... this junior had no choice.

Blood Plum was weeping at this point.

“What absolute nonsense!”

Tong Nian was so furious that one could almost see the smoke of anger churning out of his orifices. “Do not listen to her bullshit, seniors! She is the Pingshun King’s confidante, not me! She is the tool the Pingshun King secretly supported to gather riches for himself, and she has committed practically every crime under the sun to further his goals! She is the one who received his deepest trust, not me! You must not fall for her lies, seniors!”

“Uu... enough with your slandering. I am sure the two wise seniors would not fall for your lies!”

Blood Plum feigned on a tearful, pitiful appearance. “Please, give me justice, seniors.”

Ye Qing smiled. “Sure, I’ll give you justice.”

“Thank you, senior!”

Blood Plum was overjoyed when she heard this. As expected, a woman’s greatest weapon was feigning pitifulness. Not even a Sage was immune to this.

I’m safe!

Before her smile could fully form on her face, she saw a finger growing larger and larger in front of her. It tapped her on her forehead before she could react.

“Senior—”

A stunned Blood Plum tried to say something, but her consciousness sank into darkness before she could say her piece.

“As I thought, women are natural born liars.”

A few breaths later, Ye Qing withdrew his finger and looked at Feng Qingyou with a taunting expression.

“Perhaps, but the lies of some men are much scarier than a woman’s.”

Feng Qingyou did not fall for the provocation though. She said smilingly, “Liar, liar, pants on fire.”

“Ahem... yes, the Pingshun King is a two-faced bastard. His smile always comes with a dagger in the back. He’s such a sonuvabitch.”

Ye Qing immediately used the Pingshun King as his meatshield. There was no way he was going to admit that he was the one Feng Qingyou was really hinting at. No way! 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

Ye Qing then looked at Tong Nian and said, “It looks like you’re telling the truth after all.”

Tong Nian felt his skin crawl when he saw the seemingly unhurt yet definitely Blood Plum on the ground. “This junior swears that every word he says is the truth, seniors!”

“There is one thing this demonness says is the truth though. The ones behind this incident is His Highness—I mean, Wei Nandou and Yu Shuanglu. They are the masterminds, and we are just the knives.”

“I know,” Ye Qing replied. “I knew from the moment you followed us out of the city.”

Indeed, they had discovered their tail and their malice long before they set foot on the Golden Road. He even knew who was the one who dispatched them.

The only person who might wish them harm in the entire Wei was Wei Nandou, the Pingshun King.

They did not share a direct grudge with Wei Nandou, and Xiahou Zun was the one who humiliated him. However, Wei Nandou wasn’t just vengeful, he was also a bully. It was in a bully’s nature to avoid the strong and target the weak.

Strictly speaking, they were caught up in Xiahou Zun’s game.

It was fine though. It wasn’t like he was the one who started it.

If Wei Nandou was so eager to play, then they would play with him.

Tong Nian’s mouth fell open. “You... you knew?”

Ye Qing retorted, “You think we wouldn’t?”

“I wouldn’t dare!”

Tong Nian said in a hurry, “Your power is immeasurable and unimaginable. It is only natural that we wouldn’t be able to hide from your senses.”

“But if you already discovered us from the start... then why...?”

“Why didn’t we just kill you off from the get go?”

Ye Qing guessed his thoughts as a matter of course. “We have a long and mostly boring journey ahead of us. Since you wish to play, we thought: why not?”

“So? Was it fun?”

“It... It was fun,” Tong Nian replied with a bitter expression. What else could he say? He didn’t want to die.

Ye Qing raised an eyebrow. “If it’s fun, then why aren’t you laughing?”

“Hahaha...” Tong Nian hurriedly let out a few laughs.

Ye Qing shook his head. “Tsk. Enough of that. Can’t believe that your laugh is worse than your cry.”

Tong Nian was aghast. “Forgive me, senior. Please, forgive me!”

“Don’t worry. I won’t kill you.”

Ye Qing gave him a pat on the shoulder. “After all, I need you to do something for me.”

Tong Nian shuddered when he felt Ye Qing’s touch, but his fear turned into unbridled joy when he finished listening to Ye Qing until the end. “Just give me the order, senior! This junior will see it done even if it costs me a million deaths!”

“I want you to take Blood Plum’s head and a message to Wei Nandou.”

Ye Qing said indifferently, “Tell him this: ‘Thanks for the game, but I’ve had my fill. If you still wish to play, then the next head I deliver to your doorsteps will be your own.’”

Tong Nian visibly shuddered after hearing this. He was almost certain that Wei Nandou would smash his head open like a watermelon if he dared to carry Ye Qing’s message to him word for word.

Seeing Tong Nian’s difficult expression, Ye Qing asked, “What’s wrong? You don’t want to?”

Tong Nian gritted his teeth and answered, “This junior will do as you say, senior.” Die early or die later—he knew which choice was better at least.

Of course, he might not necessarily perish. After all, he had the option to ah... blunt the edge of the threat.

There was also the option of not returning at all.

“Oh right, I want you to convey my message exactly as it is. Don’t try to be smart, and don’t try to run away.”

Ye Qing saw through him instantly. “Of course, feel free to do so if you wish to suffer so much that death is a mercy.”

“I-I will do as you say, senior!”

Tong Nian broke into cold sweat when Ye Qing exposed his thoughts instantly.

Ye Qing gave him a pat on the shoulder. “You’re an honest man. I trust that you won’t lie to me.”

“Yes, yes...”

Every time the young man patted him on the shoulder, Tong Nian’s heart thumped violently as if he just took a whirl around the gate of hell.

By the time he calmed down, he realized that the two seniors were no longer anywhere to be found.