My lord, spare his life!

All was silent, utterly still.

The room was brightly lit by candlelight, and the Prefect of Chesi was reviewing official documents.

When Zhang Yang arrived, he was working on the last book.

Beside the Prefect of Chesi, two beautiful maids were grinding ink and fanning him. In each corner of the room, eight women dressed as maids knelt on the ground, holding lamps in their hands. Zhang Yang glanced briefly at the red-named health bar, then fixed his gaze on the Prefect of Chesi.

The recruitment platform will also be updated to unlock new characters.

Zhang Yang ignored all other data, focusing solely on the other party's Star Talent and the "Starry Descent" ability. Upon closer inspection, she noticed something amiss. The "Starry Descent" ability was [Mercury Essence], and the illusory figure on the recruitment platform resembled Du Fang. The difference was that behind the Che Si County Prefect figure was an old woman dressed in pure white, and beside the old woman were more than a dozen identical, illusory figures.

She thought to herself, "No wonder."

Zhang Yang considered herself an intellectual who had been tormented by homework, and under Fan You's relentless pursuit, her literacy skills had greatly improved. Compared to dry and rigid books, she preferred reading all sorts of miscellaneous books. Through these books, she diligently supplemented her knowledge of the world background in this side map of her home.

This included some common methods of divination and the common side effects of these methods, such as lust-induced demons and childbirth demons. In addition to these common-sense methods of divination, Fan You also showed her many rare and uncirculated books.

These rare copies are not available on the market.

Among them is a record of "mercury essence".

Among the information Lu Yuan shared with Xiu Ying was crucial intelligence that the Prefect of Che Si County possessed numerous doubles. This information corroborated the information about the [Mercury Essence] of the Flood of Stars. The [Mercury Essence] inherently possesses the ability to separate and transform. Lu Yuan's restraint in not rashly turning against it all these years was correct; even if the [Mercury Essence's] avatars were killed, it could regenerate! The true body must be found!

More accurately, it is about finding the vessel in which the original body resides.

Zhang Yang lowered his hand from the game backpack.

Such an important item must be hidden in an extremely secret and safe place. Since the [Mercury Essence] cannot be away from the container for too long or too far, the container must be in the prefectural government.

Zhang Yang suddenly understood: [The key to the mission wasn't the boss battle, but rather the exploration and puzzle-solving.]

As expected of her, she is exceptionally intelligent.

Thinking of this, she quietly left like a wisp of smoke.

Throughout the entire process, no one knew that an uninvited guest had appeared on the roof beam. The Prefect of Chesi put down his brush, propped himself up on his knees, stretched, and immediately a attentive maidservant stepped forward to offer him a cloth: "Would the Prefect like to order a meal?"

Prefect Che Si wiped his face: "Send it."

After the usual poison test, he took a small sip of the rich soup in the bowl, its savory flavor spreading across his tongue. He surprisingly had an appetite and ate it all, then put down the silver spoon: "Why is it unusually quiet today? I feel rather stifled."

The maids looked at each other, unsure how to start a conversation.

At this moment, the steward requested an audience outside the door.

Upon entering, he bowed deeply, a fawning smile plastered on his face. The Prefect of Chesi, temporarily suppressing his sweltering heat and annoyance, attributed it to the weather. He asked, "What brings you such joy?"

The steward said, "I am delighted that the Prefect has gained another beautiful woman."

Not to mention the person in charge, even the Prefect of Chesi County almost forgot about it.

Some time ago, the steward went out and, by chance, came across a tenant farmer selling his daughter. The girl was young but had an exceptionally beautiful face. The steward, who was used to seeing beautiful women, immediately saw her great potential and bought her on the spot. After carefully raising her for a period of time, the girl's face finally gained some weight, and her skin became fair and tender. He couldn't wait to present the girl to the prefect as a gift.

The prefect of Chesi County secretly had a fondness for this kind of thing.

Those around them should naturally cater to their preferences.

The steward said ambiguously, "My lord, she has been waiting for you for a long time."

The prefect of Chesi smiled without saying a word, but inwardly he was very satisfied with the steward's understanding: "I can't keep the beauty waiting any longer, lead the way."

Zhang Yang was also exploring every room in the prefectural government office.

She interacted with every piece of furniture that could be touched, picking up and gently shaking every bottle and jar she saw. There were many decorative vases in the prefectural mansion, about ten in one room, but none of them were the large vase she was looking for. She did, however, find quite a few small objects with stories behind them. Normally, she would have taken the time to appreciate them carefully and analyze their narratives, but she didn't have the time now.

"Why isn't it there?"

Zhang Yang's patience was wearing thin.

"Could it be that Uncle Yan's rare copy is a lie?"

"Actually, the weakness of the mercury essence has nothing to do with the bottle?"

Fan You said that these rare, unpublished copies were all passed down in his family, and he copied them down bit by bit from memory. Excluding the possibility of errors in the transcription, it's also possible that the content of the rare copies is incorrect.

However, there is no way to verify or confront Fan You right now.

Zhang Yang could only frown and continue exploring the next room.

This prefectural mansion, in terms of both scale and decor, looked far more luxurious and upscale than her Tianyue Prefectural Manor, with solid and expensive materials. If she weren't afraid of alerting the enemy, she would have easily stuffed the items into her game inventory. While searching, she found an extremely luxurious room. The room was dimly lit and ambiguous, and a silhouette of a person lying in the hazy bed curtains was visible. What attracted Zhang Yang was the name above her head—it was the only green-named NPC in the red-name group.

The kidnapped tenant farmer's daughter

Zhang Yang clicked on her character profile.

Her stats are even worse than a complete noob. However, there's a small, special note at the end of her character description: the green-named NPC's parents refused to sell her and were accidentally killed; she was forcibly kidnapped and imprisoned, and is now being given away as a gift.

In addition, a countdown timer appeared above her head for the first time ever.

A countdown to death debuff.

It was this detail that Zhang Yang could not ignore.

Based on her years of experience completing missions, this situation always required rescuing the hostages. As soon as Zhang Yang appeared, the girl on the bed, unable to move her limbs, suddenly opened her eyes wide, trying to open her mouth but unable to make a sound. However, judging from her lip movements, she was crying for help.

Zhang Yang whispered, "I know a little lip reading."

The girl's eyes were filled with urgency.

Zhang Yang asked, "Do you need to be rescued?"

The girl blinked frantically, tears welling up in her eyes.

Zhang Yang's expression was exactly as she expected; she was familiar with the game designers' tactics. Given that this house was the most luxuriously decorated and located in the most heavily guarded area in the center of the prefectural government's backyard, what she was looking for was most likely in this area. After a moment's thought, she accepted the task.

"I can save you, but you have to cooperate."

What if the other party doesn't cooperate?

She has killed hostages (NPCs) she was trying to rescue before.

The most annoying thing is NPC hostages who hold you back during rescue missions.

Unable to utter a sound, the girl could only offer a silent agreement through trembling lips. Without a word, Zhang Yang reached out to pick her up, and it was in this action that she noticed something amiss with the bed the girl was lying on. So, under the girl's horrified gaze, she pushed her further into the bed, letting the girl roll over twice to make room.

The girl lay limply on the bed: "..."

Zhang Yang groped around the spot where the girl was lying for a couple of moments.

His eyes suddenly lit up: "There's something down there."

The presence of something under the bed meant there might be a space below, so Zhang Yang lifted the mattress again without hesitation. The lifted mattress completely covered the girl, plunging her into darkness. She could only hear a few strange rustling sounds.

Then there was the sound of the wooden planks closing together.

Zhang Yang removed the mattress from the bed and put it back in its original state.

Only then did Zhang Yang remember that there was a young female hostage NPC here. He muttered to himself, "Oh, I almost forgot about you..."

Just as I was thinking about how to handle it, alarm bells went off in my head.

The prefect of Chesi County, whose name is red, is approaching.

Zhang Yang tossed the girl onto a roof beam in a blind spot, then took out a roll of tape from his game backpack and tied her mouth to the beam and wooden pillar to prevent her from falling or making a sound.

This roll of tape is no ordinary tape.

It is also a special tool for concealing one's breath and breathing.

Under the girl's gaze, Zhang Yang gracefully leaped down from the roof beam, instantly transforming into her likeness the moment his feet touched the ground—a perfect replica. He then lay down on the bed, perfectly taking over her role.

She had just lain down when the door was pushed open.

The prefect of Chesi walked straight to the bed.

The girl was slender, but her bone structure was truly exceptional, no wonder the steward was confident in presenting her to him. As he pondered this, the Prefect of Chesi County removed his outer robe as he walked, until he was only wearing his undergarments: "Is the beauty afraid of me?"

The girl stared with her dark eyes wide open, her face expressionless.

Where is there even a trace of fear left?

The prefect of Chesi County was taken aback: "That is indeed interesting."

The steward said this beauty had a very fiery temper, a wild horse that was extremely difficult to tame. However, the Prefect of Chesi County didn't care about this. He had tamed countless horses and knew best how to make them docile and obedient: "I dislike forcing them the most."

He pulled open the cabinet next to the pillow.

A jet-black pill was poured out of one of the bottles.

He gripped the girl's chin with one hand, forcing her mouth open. Just as he was about to feed her the black pill, he heard a whooshing sound behind him and rolled away. He stared in shock and anger at the girl who had sat up: "An assassin!"

No wonder I felt a bit bored today.

So we were waiting for him here!

The Prefect of Chesi was clearly used to such scenes; he had been assassinated countless times over the years, a large portion of whom were beauties offered as tribute. His methods for dealing with these were exceptionally ruthless: "Who sent you?"

Zhang Yang did not answer.

I was just staring at the top of his head.

The opponent's red name changed from [Prefect of Chesi (Fake)] to [Prefect of Chesi (Mercury Spirit Incarnation)]. Zhang Yang, taking advantage of the brief contact, remembered the ghostly aura on the opponent. There were three similar auras in the prefecture, like a cunning rabbit with three burrows.

"Not going to tell?"

The prefect of Chesi County hardened his heart and smashed the objects at hand.

A series of hurried footsteps sounded outside.

The prefect of Chesi issued a stern order.

"Capture this woman! Today we'll use her to reward you all!"

Seemingly surprised that her deeds had been exposed so quickly, the girl paused for a moment before taking any further action, only when the guards filed in.

Prefect of Chesi: "Don't let her escape!"

Zhang Yang naturally had no intention of escaping.

Because she had already thought of another brilliant idea.

Once a player decides to do something, they often act with explosive energy. Her first step was to leap onto the roof beam, dodging the numerous swords and blades that attacked. Her second step was to pick up the terrified girl on the roof beam. Her third step was to punch through the roof and leap into the air.

His series of poor performances made him look like a piece of trash in the eyes of the Prefect of Chesi, far worse than the assassins of the past.

The guards followed closely behind and chased after them through the gap in the roof.

The Prefect of Chesi snorted.

"I want to see him alive or dead—"

His anger lingered on his face, and his voice abruptly stopped.

Instead, a solemn expression appeared.

The guards blocked the gap in the roof, so the Prefect of Chesi County naturally didn't see that Zhang Yang, instead of panicking and fleeing, threw the girl he was holding upwards when he reached the highest point. The girl felt the intense gravitational pull of the rapid ascent, and the objects on the ground in her vision shrank rapidly. Although she was terrified, she couldn't make a sound; she could only close her eyes in despair and wait for the moment of her fall.

The expected weightlessness did not occur.

Some were simply caught steadily by something.

She suddenly opened her eyes.

The first thing she saw wasn't the strange, enormous bird that caught her, but rather a ball of light beneath it, like a newly risen golden crow. At the very center of this ball of light was a figure drawing a giant golden bow to its fullest extent.

The figure maintained the disguise of a young girl, looking slender and frail, as if she could be burned and swallowed by the golden light at any moment, but she stood firm, like a strong bamboo sticking to the green mountain.

The golden arrow pointed directly at the gap in the roof beneath their feet.

"Stop them—"

The prefect of Chesi County showed more anger than panic.

Zhang Yang knew why he wasn't flustered.

Because the Prefect of Chesi had too much confidence in the defenses of the underground chamber beneath the bed. The entrance beneath the wooden planks was at least half a person thick, and below it was a metal cover as thick as an arm. Ordinary attacks wouldn't even be able to break through these defenses, let alone blast a shallow crater in the metal below. The guards were dead, and as for his avatar, he dissipated, but that wouldn't harm him at his core.

Unfortunately, he probably doesn't know one thing yet.

When Zhang Yang was dismantling the wooden planks, he casually took the metal plate with him.

That is to say-

This arrow can break through the underground chamber.

With a flick of her finger, the golden arrow met the charging guards, instantly devouring them all. The guards didn't even have time to scream before turning into puffs of blood mist. The arrow, its power undiminished, hurtled towards its intended target with a deafening roar.

Rumble rumble rumble—

A dazzling golden light exploded above the county government building.

In an instant, the world became as bright as day.

Zhang Yang stood high in the air, slowed down and descended slowly, casually took out a pair of sunglasses from his gaming backpack, and elegantly placed them on the bridge of his nose.

"If we can't find it, then we'll have to blow it up."

With the help of sunglasses, Zhang Yang could clearly see the red names in her field of vision turning gray one by one. Until she gracefully landed, a large crater nearly ten feet in diameter appeared in the ruins where she had stood. Scattered around the crater were thick metal plates overturned by the blast.

Not far away, there was a pool of silvery-white liquid metal on the ground.

The liquid swayed and tried to condense into a human shape.

Before they could gather all the arrows, Zhang Yang pierced their foreheads with a single shot.

The mercury splashed, but its regrouping speed was noticeably slower. Zhang Yang fired another arrow with great interest: "This is fun. The mercury spirit can be locked up and used as a target. Should we open a shooting range so our children can practice on people?"

This idea is absolutely brilliant!

Waste utilization, making the most of everything.

This target is indestructible and can be used as both a stationary and a moving target, requiring no maintenance or repairs.

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