My lord, spare his life!

"...Heh, the fewest in number but the richest. Young friend Boyuan, do you know who these people are? They can't be touched lightly."

"Is it the Heavenly King himself?"

Shen Zhi, who was worried for Zhang Yang, was speechless.

The woman seemed surprised by Zhang Yang's unusual answer.

And yet, it's so interesting.

Her smile deepened: "Even if the Heavenly King himself were to descend to the mortal realm, he probably wouldn't have the same influence as those other people."

Zhang Yang simply raised an eyebrow.

Who's so powerful? Is he a relative of the game planner?

Shen Zhi secretly tugged at Zhang Yang's sleeve, signaling her not to speak carelessly. Despite this woman's outward friendliness and her claim to be his elder brother's classmate, she could turn on them in an instant. He didn't believe these ruthless characters would hold onto old friendships.

Zhang Yang: "Why are you tugging at my sleeve?"

Shen Zhi: "..."

The woman's initially superficial smile gradually widened and deepened, transforming into genuine joy: "Young friend, your temperament is truly interesting, very interesting indeed. However, you young people are too simplistic in your thinking. The world is complex; one cannot be invincible simply through passion and reckless courage. Weighing the pros and cons is the irrefutable truth. The 'group' you speak of, even if they don't have the resources to carve out their own territories and become kings, they have the means to push someone into that position. How can they be easily offended?"

Shen Zhi listened expressionlessly.

He added coldly, "The rebel leader also comes from a prominent family."

The benefits that people gain from using their class status to win over allies are not greater than the benefits they gain from betraying their class and killing their allies.

Those who aspire to great things must have allies.

Unexpectedly, Zhang Yang said, "So you mean you actually have some wealth, but not enough to be able to ignore others' opinions. Essentially, you still have to compromise and act like a servant. You don't dare to turn against your big investors, so you just go after the weak and opportunistic?"

to sum up--

"Isn't this just bullying the weak and fearing the strong?"

Zhang Yang glared at Shen Zhi with a reproachful look.

Previously, when this woman condemned some princess, Zhang Yang had initially thought the rebels were victims and righteous forces. Turns out, both sides were actually evenly matched? She rambled on and on, not caring whether the two people present understood her or not. Well, the woman should understand some of it; Zhang Yang even noticed her smile was barely holding on.

The woman has such a good temper.

Even this didn't change the color of the name on his head.

Unlike Shen Zhi, who is a chameleon, changing color is as easy as breathing.

In front of the two men, and under their watchful eyes, Zhang Yang suddenly stood up and began exploring the room as if no one else was there. He picked up every ornament, examined it, weighed it, and commented on it. He lifted cushions, carried tables, climbed walls and beams, and looked around everywhere.

After a while, she felt that something was wrong.

She crouched on the roof beam, looking down and meeting two different pairs of eyes.

Oh, she realized something was wrong.

I didn't even hear their dialogue in the storyline.

"You all go about your business, why are you looking at me?"

Don't be lazy, these dialogue scenes are the biggest waste of time.

At first, Zhang Yang felt that out of politeness, she should stay aside and quietly listen to the NPCs' conversations. Later, she realized that her behavior was very inhuman and full of flaws! Real human players don't have this patience. They will use the time while the NPCs are talking to entertain themselves, including but not limited to jumping around, searching around, and they will never sit still and daydream.

Zhang Yang summarized the pattern and solemnly recorded it, regarding it as an ironclad rule.

Shen Zhi's expression was indescribable, and he covered his face with one hand.

The woman almost laughed in anger, but on the surface she remained good-natured: "Even if you want to scout out the place, you should at least avoid the host family."

They treated her like she didn't exist, searching her everywhere right in front of her?

Zhang Yang blinked her peach blossom eyes.

"What 'reconnaissance'? Do you suspect I'm a thief?"

Seeing Zhang Yang's undisguised doubt, the woman felt a lump in her throat, making her feel choked and uncomfortable.

She didn't answer, so Zhang Yang assumed she had nothing more to say and continued exploring the room to pass the time during the boring plot. When she came down, only Shen Zhi was left below: "Where is she? Why did she leave?"

Shen Zhi: "Are you going to stay angry and not leave?"

"Women should not get angry too much, as it can easily cause nodules on the nails and breasts."

"...What did you discover?"

Zhang Yang: "In a place so poor that you can't even find a coin, it's no exaggeration to say that the house is bare. What could you possibly find? If you really want to find something, there are signs of rat activity on the roof beams. I suggest you buy some rat poison and sticky rat traps to prevent them from contaminating the food."

"...Hehe, you've looked quite thoroughly." The woman didn't assign anyone to guard them, but she didn't set them free either. She simply let them stay for a few days so she could fulfill her duty as a hostess. They were now nominally honored guests, but in reality, they were practically prisoners.

"Did you tell her that she has troops under her command who are about to do something?"

Zhang Yang's topic jumped around wildly, and Shen Zhi almost didn't react: "I already mentioned it, and she said she would send people to chase after them. Even if they can't catch up, she won't let them go easily... This is the best outcome right now. Those aren't her troops; she's just a strategist for the rebels."

"Oh, a high-class working person."

Shen Zhi: "..."

Zhang Yang stretched and asked, "Where will I sleep tonight?"

"Go next door, don't wander off."

The house wasn't very big, with only three rooms for sleeping. Shen Zhi thought Zhang Yang would listen and go to the next room, but to her surprise, she looked at all three rooms and finally chose the one with the largest space, the best decoration, and the softest bedding to lie down fully clothed.

Could it be the master bedroom of the owner's family?

It does not matter.

The important thing is that human players should not shortchange themselves.

When Zhang Yang woke up, there was another person in the room.

"Hey, who gave you permission to come in?"

"Young friend, this is my room, my bed." Upon returning, she found the bedroom door open and immediately assumed an assassin had broken in. As soon as she stepped inside, she keenly heard extremely faint breathing sounds coming from the inner room. Her expression was cold as she approached, her hand on her sword.

She was shocked to discover that the person sleeping on her bed was her friend from earlier that day.

The temporary room held no secrets, and she wasn't afraid of outsiders breaking in, so she didn't act immediately, secretly dismissing the guards. She waited while drinking tea, but Zhang Yang showed no signs of waking up.

To everyone's surprise, as soon as she woke up, she started questioning her.

It was as if the other person was the owner of the house.

The most outrageous thing was that when the other person woke up, they rubbed their eyes and showed no embarrassment at trespassing in someone else's bedroom. Instead, they poured themselves a cup of tea and drank it to wake themselves up. The room was dimly lit by candlelight, with most of the light source concentrated on a screen in the center.

"What is this crooked drawing?"

Maps.

"What is a map?"

The woman said, "Heaven and earth have the virtue of covering and supporting, hence heaven is called a canopy and earth is called a carriage. A map is naturally a map of territory."

Just as Zhang Yang was about to walk past the map screen, he suddenly perked up, took a step back, and commented with great interest: "This is the map of our homeland? It looks rather rough..."

After turning it over and over, Zhang Yang realized he couldn't understand it.

This map is completely different from the game map.

She pointed randomly to a spot: "Where is this?"

They didn't treat the woman like a stranger at all.

Yes, I'm using it as a map search tool.

Woman: "...The feudal state of Jing."

"The Kingdom of Jing? What about here?"

"The feudal state of Liu".

"And here?"

woman:"……"

Zhang Yang asked around in several places, and the more he listened, the more something seemed off: "Why are they all vassal states?"

"Not all of them are vassal states. There are seven major states in the world: Ziwei, Taiwei, Tianshi, Zhuque, Xuanwu, Qinglong, and Baihu. The other smaller vassal states all originated from these seven states. This map was drawn more than twenty years ago and is no longer accurate."

Zhang Yang quickly interrupted her: "No, no!"

"What's wrong?"

"You just said—seven major states? Minor vassal states?"

The woman looked at Zhang Yang, who was reacting very strongly, with a puzzled expression. It seemed that this was extremely strange to the latter.

"You mean, these large and small countries have established themselves here?"

"Yes, what's wrong with that?"

Zhang Yang: "..."

There are so many things that are not right!

How dare these NPCs?

To establish a nation on her homeland?

Founding a nation?

Have you asked her?

Did you pay her rent?

They build a country, but what do they build for themselves?

A single homestead deed is worth 888,888 billion Alliance Coins; that's how much money she spent to buy it!

Get out of her house, all of you uninvited guests!

Zhang Yang paced back and forth, suppressing his anger.

Part of her anger was directed at these NPCs, and the rest at the game designers. Was this plot arrangement conceived with their asses? She spent so much Alliance Coins to buy the land deed, and it came with so many uninvited guests who had taken over her place?