WTYTIAAN Chapter 75

Yan Yunqing was very perceptive. Before the group of children could charge and crash into him, he took a step back, causing them to miss completely. Some even fell to the ground with a thud, raising a cloud of dust from the force of their fall.

He didn’t care that he had stumbled. Seeing that their goal had been achieved, he scrambled to his feet and rushed to Nika’s side. “Nika! Are you alright?”

The other children also gathered around, placing themselves between Nika and Yan Yunqing, forming a small human wall, tightly protecting Nika behind them while glaring at him.

Yan Yunqing: …

Yan Yunqing clicked his tongue and got up from the ground, casually brushing off the dust from his clothes. He said slowly, “If it’s just you guys, you won’t be able to stop me, you know?”

Hearing this, the children became even more nervous, and the way they looked at Yan Yunqing was tinged with hostility.

Surrounded and protected, Nika spoke softly, pulling on the corner of the clothes of one of the children in front of her. “Barton, I’m okay. I just had a nightmare. This big brother saved me.”

Barton, the child whose clothes she had pulled, hesitated and looked back at her face, discovering that there were indeed traces of tears on Nika’s face. Her pale lips also confirmed that what she said was true.

When the other children heard Nika say this, they all turned their heads and looked at Nika with concern. “Nika, why did you have another nightmare? Did some dirty things appear here again just now?”

One of them, Roko, who had rushed up to knock Yan Yunqing away and had also tried to steal his purse before, grabbed Nika’s hand. “Do you feel better now? I’ll take you to Mr. Paul right away!”

As he said this, he wanted to reach out and pick Nika up, but they were about the same size. It would be difficult for Roko’s small frame to carry Nika and run.

Before Roko could act, Nika pressed his hand down and shook her head softly. “Roko, I’m really okay now. This big brother gave me some healing potion to drink, and then I could breathe again.”

Roko was skeptical. “Really? Don’t worry about the money. I can always go to t—”

Before he could say the word, Nika covered Roko’s mouth with her hand. She gently shook her head, signaling that there were outsiders present.

Roko understood Nika’s meaning and closed his mouth sheepishly, but his eyes expressed everything he had not said.

Nika felt warm inside. It felt good to be cared for by her companions, but she also felt disgusted with her own uselessness. It had always been this way since she was little.

Ever since she was picked up from the ruins by the older children, Nika’s health had been very poor. When she was younger, she could only passively accept the food that the other children saved for her.

Even after eating so much food, she still couldn’t escape the torment of illness, getting sick from time to time. The other children had to find ways to get more money to send her to Mr. Paul for treatment.

Nika really tried hard to live, not to let down the other children’s efforts for her. She also wanted to do something for everyone. Finally, she grew up a little and gained the ability to “observe,” which allowed her to give advice to the other children. But then she was suddenly haunted by a demon and would get sick from time to time, requiring even more money to go to Mr. Paul for treatment.

Every time she burdened everyone, Nika would have the thought: if it weren’t for me, would these children be better off?

Yan Yunqing quietly watched these little cubs licking each other’s wounds and smiled silently.

They were quite cute.

But now he didn’t have time to play with these children.

Yan Yunqing looked up at the sky and felt that he should find a comfortable hotel, take a hot bath, and get a good night’s sleep to restore his energy before preparing for his assessment.

He clapped his hands to attract the attention of all the children. The children, who had been concerned about their little friend, froze when they saw Yan Yunqing, all wearing embarrassed expressions.

There was no way around it. They had been treating this person as prey, intending to steal his valuables, but their little friend Nika had been saved by this person despite their previous behavior.

This made the children, who rarely experienced kindness, feel a little embarrassed… or rather, ashamed.

Yan Yunqing’s gaze swept over these children, and he noticed that most of their eyes were slightly evasive, indicating that they were not thick-skinned enough. However, Roko, who had attacked him earlier, fearlessly raised his eyes to meet his gaze directly.

That small body seemed to contain boundless power.

Yan Yunqing found it very interesting. He cleared his throat. “Now, can you tell me what you wanted to do by following me all this time?”

As soon as he said this, the children, who were already embarrassed, became even more ashamed, wishing they could bury their heads in their chests.

Only Roko dared to look at him directly at this moment. He replied calmly, “Who said we were following you? We were just passing by.”

Yan Yunqing:?

Yan Yunqing couldn’t help but laugh. This kid was a bit like him, his serious and brazen lying was exactly the same.

“Passing by? Following me closely, and shouting that the gold ingot ran away when you realized I was gone, is that what you call passing by?” Yan Yunqing pointed out what the child who had called him a gold ingot had said. The child who was called out turned red with shame for his recklessness.

“S-sorry…” Before the child could finish speaking, Roko pushed him, stepped forward, and stood in front of everyone.

“Yes, that’s right, we were following you.” Roko changed his tone without changing his expression. “You tripped me earlier, and I was angry, so I asked my friends to follow you and give you a lesson.”

He raised his chin, looking very unruly, but upon closer inspection, one could see his fists trembling slightly at his sides.

Like a bluffing little panda, it was strangely cute when it threatened people.

“Give me a lesson.” Yan Yunqing was helpless. “With just you guys? Kid, sometimes you have to face the difference between yourself and adults.”

He took two steps forward, and Roko took two steps back, his eyes fixed on his every move.

Yan Yunqing didn’t care about him. He quickly walked around him, went to Nika’s side, squatted down in front of her, and reached out to brush away the wet bangs on Nika’s forehead.

He observed Nika’s face and saw that her complexion was gradually becoming rosy and her health bar was rising. The [Weakened] debuff had also disappeared. He was relieved.

Yan Yunqing took a handful of small blue bottles from his backpack and stuffed them into Nika’s arms. “These are for you, as compensation for accidentally scaring you today. You should know how to use them. If you experience that state again, or if you get injured or anything else, you can try them.”

The small blue bottle was the only recovery potion he could make, and it was basically the common recovery potion in the game. The ingredients were simple and not difficult to obtain. Yan Yunqing had several sets of them in his backpack, all left over from his assassination of Fei Wu. He didn’t use them much himself, so giving some to this little girl was nothing.

Nika stared blankly at the small bottles in her arms. She had just been saved by the potion in these small bottles, so there was no way she wouldn’t know what they did. In her memory, anything related to treating illnesses and healing injuries required a considerable amount of money to buy.

But this person – this person, even knowing that they had ill intentions towards him, still used expensive potions to save her when she was sick. Not only did he not care about their previous behavior, but he even gave her so many precious potions.

Nika opened her mouth, but didn’t know what to say. Her eyes were slightly red. She looked down at the small bottles in her hand. She knew that she should refuse these precious potions at this time, but when she thought of Jeff, who had been beaten so badly by a mercenary a few days ago that he couldn’t get out of bed, and his recurring high fever and gradual weakening in recent days, Nika couldn’t bring herself to refuse.

Since this potion could treat her, it could definitely treat Jeff as well. Nika couldn’t go against her inner desires and return these small bottles.

Finally, her shallow eyes could no longer hold back the large tears, and they slipped down once again.

Nika tightly hugged the small bottles, stood up, and bowed deeply to Yan Yunqing. “Thank you, we will definitely remember your kindness.”

After speaking, she pulled her bewildered little companions and ran away in a hurry, leaving Yan Yunqing squatting in place.

Yan Yunqing touched his nose, wondering why he had made the little girl cry again. He wanted to say that if she had heart disease, she shouldn’t run so fast, or she would start panting again.

But by the time he wanted to say it, the figures of the children had completely disappeared from his sight.

“Are they rabbits? Running so fast?” Yan Yunqing was puzzled, feeling that even if he used Haste, he would only be this fast. But how long were a child’s legs, and how long were an adult’s legs?

Shaking his head, Yan Yunqing stood up, looked at the direction of the sun, recognized the way he had come, and returned the way he had come.

He remembered seeing a small hotel on the way, and the exterior decoration was okay. The facilities inside shouldn’t be too bad, right?

*

Yan Yunqing successfully found the small hotel he had scouted out from the beginning. Just as he thought, the facilities inside were half-new and half-old, but at least they were still presentable.

As for the price, it was still reasonable, six silver coins a night. For Yan Yunqing, this price was nothing.

Yan Yunqing decisively booked three nights and paid eighteen silver coins. As for three days later, he would definitely have figured out the city by then. He could find a more comfortable hotel or simply stay in the Merlin’s Pocket Watch all night.

After taking a hot bath in the wooden tub provided by the hotel to wash away the fatigue of traveling for many days, Yan Yunqing fell onto the bed and fell sound asleep.

The next day, Yan Yunqing was awakened by his own rumbling stomach. He got up, rubbed his eyes, and was about to call out for Lillian, but then he remembered that Lillian had already returned to the forest, and he was alone.

Scratching his messy hair, Yan Yunqing was helpless.

It was said that it only takes twenty-one days to form a habit, but for Yan Yunqing, it took more than twenty-one days to break a habit.

He was used to having a talkative little elf constantly nagging beside him, talking a lot and eating a lot. Now that Lillian had suddenly left, Yan Yunqing was really a little unaccustomed, and he would always think about what Lillian was doing when he was free.

Pressing his brow, Yan Yunqing got up. His mission today was still very important. He needed to quickly figure out the general situation of the entire City of Freedom, and also sneak into the Mandy Pell to take a look.

To be honest, Yan Yunqing, who had been a law-abiding citizen in Blue Star for eighteen years, had never seen what a casino looked like, let alone gone in and won 30 million.

He hadn’t unlocked this skill yet, and he needed to go in and observe, to see if he could learn something.

He also wanted to see if there was a chance to become the ultimate “Midas Touch.” If the chance of completing it was slim, he didn’t need to dwell on it and could just go back and tell Allison that the mission had failed.

Anyway, Allison had promised him that whether or not he completed the assessment, she would tell him some information about the prophecy, just the amount would vary.

Cross the bridge when you get to it. If all else failed, he really would have to risk being killed by his familiar and ask Theodore about what happened back then.

Of course, that was when his level was high enough. At least he had to have some self-protection ability before Yan Yunqing would choose to go to Theodore.

In short, all choices came down to one sentence: Become stronger!

Yan Yunqing stretched lazily, tidied himself up, and left the small hotel.

The hotel didn’t include meals, so Yan Yunqing had to go out to find food. As soon as he went out, he smelled the aroma of meat buns. Following the aroma, Yan Yunqing found a shop selling meat buns.

He confirmed again that at least 80% of the people in this city were descendants of the Demon King’s people, otherwise, how could people from another world make such authentic meat buns?

Only the Demon King’s people had received some guidance from the Demon King and could make these foods that were extremely palatable to Hua Country babies.

Yan Yunqing bought a bag of meat buns and, while eating them, strolled around the City of Freedom, feeling the ‘simple’ folk customs. He stood on the side of the road, seamlessly blending into the crowd watching the excitement, pointing and commenting on the two men fighting in the middle.

“Wow, what happened to them? They’re fighting so fiercely?” Yan Yunqing nudged the burly man beside him with his elbow and handed over the bag of meat buns. “Buddy, want some?”

The gesture was as if he was handing out cigarettes instead of meat buns.

The burly man didn’t hold back and directly took a meat bun from the bag and stuffed it into his mouth, answering Yan Yunqing’s question indistinctly. “Hey, what else could it be? That blonde Ahh stole Taf’s wife while Taf was out on a mission. Now Taf is back and caught them in bed.”

The burly man pointed to the other side. Yan Yunqing looked in the direction he was pointing and saw a woman in a floral dress sitting on a chair, holding a handful of melon seeds in her hand, cracking them and watching the excitement – as if she wasn’t watching her husband and her lover fighting.

Yan Yunqing leaned back tactically. “This woman’s mentality is good! She’s not even a little flustered watching her husband and lover fight.”

The burly man waved his hand. “It’s obvious you’re from out of town. Vina is famous around here. She changes men more often than she changes clothes. Taf is just her latest fling. She’ll kick him out when she loses interest. Who cares if clothes fight each other?”

Yan Yunqing:…?

Yan Yunqing’s eyes widened: Wait, buddy? It sounds like you accidentally revealed something incredible?

Yan Yunqing quietly wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, listening to the burly man continue to share information (gossip) with him.

“Don’t think Vina is plain-looking and has average strength, but she’s very popular.” The burly man marveled. “I heard that many handsome young men have been with Vina, rushing to become her lover, and no one can stop them.”

“Last time, a very powerful mercenary group had just returned from a mission and wanted to rest in the city for a while. As a result, the group长’s younger brother, I don’t know what happened to him, kept clamoring to be Vina’s lover – oh, Vina’s husband wasn’t Taf at that time.”

“His Team leader brother couldn’t dissuade him no matter what he said, and even broke his legs, but he still crawled out to see Vina. It was truly infatuation.” The burly man marveled.

Yan Yunqing silently supported his chin, preventing himself from showing a shocked expression. He swallowed and responded dryly, “Wow, this girl is quite something.”

“Isn’t she? Things like this happen a lot around here. You can chat about them for half a day.” The burly man said.

Yan Yunqing quietly glanced at the woman in the floral dress again, deeply remembering her appearance, knowing that he had to stay away from her if he met her on the road in the future.

He might not be able to tell anything from the burly man’s description, but when combined with what the burly man said and looking at the girl’s character panel,

Good heavens, isn’t this a succubus?

There was a succubus species in this other world, but they usually disguised themselves as ordinary people and appeared in the crowd, rarely revealing their succubus identity.

Because succubi were inherently rejected by the world. It was okay during times of war, when everyone was a victim and there was no high or low status, but once the world was at peace, succubi were hated by everyone.

No one was willing to fall madly in love with someone uncontrollably, and even lose their lives because of it.

But listening to what the burly man said, it seemed that this succubus girl had some sense of propriety. At least she knew that in order not to expose herself, she couldn’t just focus on one man.

Changing husbands from time to time and not harming people’s lives was pretty good.

At least in Yan Yunqing’s view, this kind of succubus could be considered friendly.

Of course, just because he thought the other party was friendly didn’t mean he would join in on the fun.

As the saying goes, if there is no love in your heart, you will naturally be a god with a knife.

Having experienced three years of high school with a focus on early relationships, Yan Yunqing had already engraved this sentence in his heart and written it into his DNA.

Head teacher, I have never thought about being in a relationship!

Seemingly sensing Yan Yunqing’s gaze, the succubus in the floral dress who was cracking melon seeds and watching the excitement looked towards Yan Yunqing’s direction, giving Yan Yunqing a start. He quickly lowered his head and quietly withdrew from the crowd.

Phew, almost attracted the succubus’s attention. I have to be more careful next time.

Yan Yunqing breathed a sigh of relief, but found that the feeling of being watched lingered.

Yan Yunqing:…?

What’s going on?

Yan Yunqing looked left and right, and finally found a few small figures in the corner of his eye.

…Why is it these kids again? Are you addicted to stalking?