Messenger of Calamity

Chapter 95: Hell of the Human Heart

Yan Qing approached the room behind the Administrative Hall. It was worth mentioning that the entire Ministry of Appointments had glazed windows installed—likely because a nearby Secret Realm yielded an abundance of glass. Although the bed inside wasn't visible from the outside, Yan Qing could clearly see that the Heaven-Reliant Sword had been placed atop the wardrobe alongside the clothes.

Although the Heaven-Reliant Sword was a treasured relic bestowed by the Emperor himself, in the end, it was still just an ordinary longsword. Its primary purpose was to highlight Shang Xuanwen’s nobility and imperial favor, so naturally, it wasn’t stored inside a Storage Ring.

Yan Qing’s plan was simple—just sneak in and steal it. If Shang Xuanwen happened to wake up, then it would simply escalate from burglary to armed robbery. Either way, the alternate character would grab it and run. Since Shang Xuanwen couldn't harm the alternate character within the main city area, Yan Qing would find a place to hide and wait until midnight to rendezvous with the main character for a victorious merge.

This was precisely why the powerful and influential avoided living in the main city. If someone truly didn’t fear death and dared to brazenly snatch something in your face, there really wasn’t much you could do immediately.

However, this also meant that the Rat Monk would definitely get deleted. But if the theft could be pulled off smoothly, sacrificing him would be worth it.

Yan Qing stared at the Heaven-Reliant Sword in the room, wondering if this would leave Shang Xuanwen with a psychological scar too heavy to bear.

Over the past days, Yan Qing had come to understand that because Shang Xuanwen could vaguely hear others’ thoughts and see through their ugliness, he trusted no one.

He was like someone who believed everyone would lose control of their bowels at any moment and thus refused to believe any fart was clean. He didn’t even want servants attending to him—he might as well have had anthropophobia. But to someone like him, the Rat Monk, a so-called ‘Child of Sincerity,’ was akin to a sweet-smelling, ever-clean, beautiful maiden, instantly earning his full trust.

When the Rat Monk stole the Heaven-Reliant Sword and stabbed him in the back, who knew if Shang Xuanwen’s worldview would shatter? He might never trust anyone again. But a shattered worldview was still better than being ganged up on by his daughter and three thieves. Let Shang Xuanwen suffer, and let the bad name be borne by the Rat Monk.

Time ticked on. Yan Qing had planned the heist for the hour of the Rat (11:00 PM), and there was still quite a while before three quarters past the hour (11:45 PM). Even if Shang Xuanwen got alerted, he couldn’t mobilize troops to search the entire city that quickly in the dead of night. The Rat Monk would have plenty of time to find a hiding place and wait for the main character to arrive.

Almost time. It’s about time...

Ding——

The bell at the front hall suddenly rang, indicating an urgent matter had arrived late at night. Yan Qing watched as Shang Xuanwen in the room immediately got up and dressed—his mind went blank.

A non-class-changed ordinary person like the Rat Monk, trying to snatch the Heaven-Reliant Sword from a Third-Stage Messenger? Even if damage couldn’t be inflicted inside the main city, Shang Xuanwen wasn’t so useless that he couldn’t guard a single sword!

Damn it, who messed up my plan!

Yan Qing saw a soldier dismounting from a fast horse on the screen. Using security as a pretext, he followed the soldier into the Administrative Hall, curious to see what matter was urgent enough to disturb the Prime Minister at night. Had the north been invaded?

But it turned out to be neither military emergency nor natural disaster—just a priority letter from the Mansu Woodland. The soldier left to rest after delivering it.

Mansu Woodland?

It felt like a murderer suddenly hearing their own case exposed while sitting inside a police station. Naturally, Yan Qing was filled with curiosity. He wanted to see how others described Jiang Ten blowing up the battlefield, so he had the Rat Monk slowly lean in for a peek.

Upon reading the letter’s content, Yan Qing felt somewhat disappointed. There was no mention of Jiang Ten at all—just a long list of goods that made his eyes blur. Most of the items were materials or supplies, with only the top ten treasures standing out as significant.

Yan Qing’s mind stirred; he roughly guessed what this was.

Noticing the Rat Monk’s curiosity, Shang Xuanwen spoke without turning his head: "This is the reward list from the Mansu Woodland Secret Realm. You can go next year too—it's quite good for tempering the will."

Yan Qing opened the announcement page and confirmed that the Mansu Woodland had indeed concluded.

It had been mentioned before that upon the event’s conclusion, ten Grand Treasure Chests would be awarded, open to fair competition among all players. But since the Great Liang was benevolent and didn’t want to see people slaughter each other over loot, it was adjusted so that every participant received a share, and the main portion went to the Court.

Among them, the top entry “Third-Stage Healing Token: Blood Jade” had Jie Yuanshao’s name beside it—likely already reserved by her.

Yan Qing glanced over the list. The rewards were indeed excellent. If I reach Foundation Building next year, I’ll take them all for myself—not leaving a single scrap for you lucky freeloaders.

Now that the letter was read, could the Prime Minister please go back to bed? I’m desperate here!

However, not only was Shang Xuanwen not in a hurry, he even poured himself a glass of water and sipped it slowly, his gaze fixated on the list. But was there really so much to stare at? Was his eyesight failing?

After a while, Shang Xuanwen drew out a sheet of paper and dipped ink to write:

"Shang Xinlei: Secret Technique Book: Shockwave Fist"

"Qian Gongyu: Third-Stage Token: Wolf Fang Claws"

"Qian Gongyu: Three-Slot Storage Ring"

After finishing, he blew on the ink on the paper and handed it to the Rat Monk beside him.

"You don’t need to stand guard tonight. Take this paper back to the residence and give it to Fourth Miss, then go rest."

Yan Qing glanced at the paper, then at Shang Xuanwen, his heart filled with some confusion.

The number of rewards was not the issue. Qian Gongyu was claiming the reward on behalf of Jiang Ten, so she had two portions. What puzzled Yan Qing was that the list didn’t include any Secret Technique Book—so why did Shang Xuanwen write that Shang Xinlei would receive one?

Moreover, among the top ten rewards, the most precious ones like the Wolf Fang Claws and the Blood Jade were merely Third-Stage ordinary Tokens. They were nowhere near the level of a Secret Technique Book. Previously, when Shang Xinlei and the others had been chatting, they’d mentioned it before—being a necessary path for Third-Stage progression, and significantly enhancing Token abilities, the greatness of Secret Techniques was such that their value was at least on par with Third-Stage Rare Tokens. They were truly priceless.

"Just say this is a reward from the Mansu Woodland. Don’t add anything else," Shang Xuanwen said casually, noticing the Rat Monk’s confusion.

"Isn’t this a gift from you to Fourth Miss Shang? Why use the name of the Mansu Woodland to deliver it?" Yan Qing asked in surprise. "Isn’t this your chance to mend your relationship with your daughter?"

Shang Xuanwen didn’t reply. Yan Qing knew this wasn’t a refusal, but rather that he was organizing his thoughts. In the eyes of outsiders, the Prime Minister of Great Liang was stern, taciturn, and meticulous—like a dormant volcano that commanded awe. But Yan Qing knew that, often, he was just thinking hard about how to respond. If he were to argue with someone, he’d probably be tongue-tied and unable to utter a single word—he simply lacked the ability for quick-witted rebuttals.

Though they had only known each other for three days, this man already felt like a long-time buddy to Yan Qing—stubborn and clumsy.

"The only child I personally raised was Yue'er," Shang Xuanwen slowly said. "When he was young, he was often sick. They said he was congenitally frail and couldn’t be cured. I massaged his Vital Energy and Blood every night, even took the initiative to resign from some assignments."

"After Xin Hao was born, I inevitably had to divert some attention to take care of her, so the time spent with Yue'er decreased. One time, I saw Yue'er playing with the baby Xin Hao in the cradle. I asked him if he liked his little sister. Yue'er nodded and said he did."

As if recalling the scene, Shang Xuanwen’s expression suddenly twisted into a grimace, and his tone became gritted and bitter. His arms trembled non-stop. Rather than anger, it was more like terror.

"But what I heard in his heart… was that he wished his little sister were dead. That if only there were no sister, Father would have more time to play with him."

"He was only five years old at the time. My five-year-old son, out of jealousy for the love shared by parents, wished death upon his own blood sister!"