Chapter 969: 605. Courier, Shadow

“Stop, stop, stop! Can we stop hurting each other? Why did we even come here? Shouldn’t we be almost done playing?” Ma Jingjing shouted hoarsely.

Qing Chen: “Alright, alright, alright…”

Shadow: “Alright, alright, alright…”

Everyone agreed with dry mouths, after playing for six hours, it was indeed about time to call it quits.

They should stop before the friendly and harmonious relationships between them were completely shattered…

Qing Ye asked, “It’s 11 PM now, should we continue on, camp by the Dragon Fish Lake, or camp here first and move forward tomorrow?”

Ma Jingjing emotionlessly glanced back, just dozens of meters behind them was the boundary of the Taboo Land.

He calmly suggested, “I recommend we camp outside the Taboo Land first and set out again at dawn…”

To be honest, it was his first time seeing such a way of exploring a Taboo Land.

They had been here for six hours, and yet had only moved a few dozen meters.

No Dragon Fish in sight, everyone has eaten quite a bit of nonsense.

Why continue at all, wouldn’t it be better to sleep a night outside the Taboo Land and move on? Furthermore, this way everyone avoids having to reveal their secrets right now, giving enough time to carefully deliberate over any potential loopholes in their secrets once back outside, and consider if they might be exposed.

Probably, no one had ever seen such a cowardly group in the Taboo Land.

Actually, the unluckiest was Xiao Mengqiu, who carried a backpack full of climbing gear last night for no reason.

Qing Chen and Shadow also felt a bit embarrassed: “Ah, let’s just camp outside for the night, hahaha… save up our energy!”

The group exited the 10th Taboo Land and lit a campfire outside, everyone gathered around it waiting for someone to break the awkward atmosphere.

What they didn’t know was a team planning an assassination on Qing Chen had already wandered around in the Taboo Land once and exited again.

Not only that, mysteriously, they had already incurred casualties.

The squad leader was pondering how to explain the casualties of this operation to his superiors, and how to write the operation report.

By the campfire, Ma Jingjing said, “At least I contributed some money to hire a guide, can’t you show a bit of respect?”

Zard: “Ah, right, right…”

Ma Jingjing yelled, “We’ve already come out, damn it!”

Yi Wenbo calmly stated, “Let’s make a pact, no more personal attacks, okay? We’re all here to seek fortune in the 10th Taboo Land, let’s not waste any more time!”

“I agree!” Shadow raised his hand.

“I agree too!” Qing Chen raised his hand.

Seeing this, Zard and others had nothing to say since the bosses had already spoken.

At this moment, Qing Chen looked at Qing Ye: “You brought a satellite phone, right? Let me borrow it to make a few calls.”

Without hesitation, Qing Ye handed the phone to Qing Chen, even thinking of asking Qing Chen to sign his name on the satellite phone.

But he held back.

Early the next morning, the group resumed their journey after waking up.

This time, no one talked as everyone silently continued; no one wanted to reignite any conflict, and the atmosphere was extremely peaceful.

On the way, Shadow pointed at a bud and said, “This plant is called the Oil Flower. Once the flowers wither, they bear fruit, each the size of a fist. The oil extracted from it has no side effects and tastes better than peanut oil. Unfortunately, it doesn’t enhance the abilities of Transcendents, so it’s mostly forgotten. In fact, if humanity could live in the Taboo Land one day, there would certainly be no food shortage.”

After finishing, Shadow pointed to a branch growing on a tree and said, “This branch looks like part of the tree, but it’s actually a parasitic plant called Python Vine. Its roots must grow on other trees… or animals. So in the 10th Taboo Land, occasionally you’ll see animals with trees growing on them. If you try to remove it, you’ll tear dozens of your own blood vessels.”

Shadow: “Of course, the Python Vine doesn’t kill. It absorbs blood very slowly and even secretes a liquid that has anesthetic, analgesic, and anti-inflammatory properties, helping its host to heal wounds, forming a symbiotic relationship.”

As he spoke, a wild boar with a Little Sapling growing on its back ran past, looking terrifying yet adorable, extremely contradictory.

The wild boar stopped to glance at the group before continuing to run towards the distant…

Zard exclaimed in admiration, “Who could resist such an interesting limited-edition skin.”

Qing Chen: “???”

Zhang Mengchan: “???”

Ma Jingjing: “???”

As he spoke, Zard was about to pick a branch from the tree and stick it into himself but was stopped by Shadow’s gaze…

It was at this moment that Ma Jingjing suddenly wanted to ask for the guide fee back.

As they continued, Shadow took over as the guide, providing a lot of useful information along the way.

But Qing Chen knew this was intended for him alone; the other party knew he would return to the 10th Taboo Land in the future, so they wanted to help him understand everything here.

Moreover, Shadow seemed very familiar with the place, raising Qing Chen’s curiosity: if Shadow didn’t know the fourth rule, how could he be so familiar with it?

The Realm camellia was also harvested from here.

Shadow seemed to notice his curiosity and chuckled softly, “The Door of Shadow is quite a convenient tool; once you’ve been here, you can explore slowly in the future, avoiding the time triggers.”

Qing Chen understood, the fourth rule took effect 12 hours after entering.

Just knowing this allowed Shadow to leave at 11 hours and 59 minutes using the Door of Shadow and then come back again.

Therefore, what was restricted for others in the 10th Taboo Land couldn’t limit Shadow.

Shadow said with a smile, “Don’t worry, even though I’ve been here many times, I’ve never touched your Dragon Fish. In fact, the Knight Organization hasn’t been here for over a decade, so many Dragon Fish have accumulated. I suspect Uncle Li Dong intends to save them up for the next generation of Knight leaders, making it a boon for you now.”

A few hours later, Shadow led the group to the Dragon Fish Lake with ease.

This lake was rather strange, with dozens of towering trees growing in the vast lake, their roots twisting and intertwining to form fish nests.

The giant trees’ canopy covered the sky, filling the entire sky above the lake, with only scattered rays of sunlight shining down, reflecting on the green lake like twinkling stars in the universe.

The thousands or tens of thousands of slanted beams of light made the place seem like a dream.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Shadow marveled.

Zard: “Yes, yes, indeed.”

Shadow glanced sideways at him, feeling for some reason that the sense of beauty was suddenly shattered…

At this moment, Qing Ye scanned the surroundings warily, then exchanged a look with Qing Qu.

They noticed signs that someone had recently been here, and quite a few of them.

Qing Ye let Qing Qu stay by the lake to guard, while he himself pulled Zard along toward the footprints.

…

…

Ma Jingjing and others excitedly threw their backpacks by the lakeside, then took out telescopic fishing rods, fishing lines, and baits from their hiking bags.

The most famous thing about the No. 10 Taboo Land is the Dragon Fish, so naturally, they came prepared.

You cannot go into the water to catch the fish here; if you really went in, it’s uncertain whether you’ll come out alive, so you can only fish.

Ma Jingjing said: “Dragon Fish are hard to catch, but as long as we catch one, we’ll be worth the ticket price. Catching two means we’ll make a profit.”

As they spoke, Qing Chen used his Puppeteer to already pull up one from the lake.

The Puppeteer in the water seemed to have grown eyes, hitting the mark with every stab!

Ma Jingjing: “…”

Yi Wenbo: “…”

They had not even seen Qing Chen use a hook and bait, and it’s quite hard to see the almost transparent strings of the Puppeteer, yet Qing Chen just managed to bring one up…

Ma Jingjing quickly sat down, quietly waiting for the Dragon Fish to bite.

Qing Chen ignored them and took the Dragon Fish to the Shadow: “Can you help deliver it to Li Ke?”

Shadow: “…Sure, sure.”

The Shadow never expected that his little brother would be using him as a delivery person!

He raised his eyebrows and said: “I don’t even know where Li Ke is, how do I deliver this?”

Qing Chen: “Right, right… I called him last night. He’s now waiting for you in the lobby of the Yunding Hotel in City No. 19. You’re surely been to City No. 19. Just open the Door of Shadow to get there directly.”

The Shadow hesitated for a moment, Qing Chen’s arrangements were amazingly well thought out.

Qing Chen said: “Quickly return, alright?”

Shadow slapped Qing Chen on the head: “Sure, sure…”

Qing Chen was taken aback, how could one say sure, sure while hitting someone, and without triggering any rules?

He paused for two seconds: “You’re not wearing shorts.”

Shadow pinned Qing Chen to the ground and gave him a good beating: “Right, right!”

“Ah, it hurts, it hurts!” Qing Chen was completely bewildered, finished, he dared not talk back here!

Can’t beat him!

Qing Qu watched the sky as if nothing had happened.

The matter of a brother beating a younger brother, he truly couldn’t intervene.

Moreover, now the current boss beating the future boss, what position does he, a subordinate, have to interfere?

To be honest, this is the first time Qing Chen was pinned to the ground and beaten like this.

Once, when the Shadow said he was his real brother, he felt a bit unreal.

But at this moment, the relationship between elder and younger brother was exceptionally real and close.

Just like all brothers and younger brothers in the world, the younger brother is the one who should be beaten.

“Brother, stop hitting! Ah! It hurts, it hurts!” Qing Chen shouted.

The Shadow paused for a moment, dusting off his clothes.

Silenced for a long while.

Since he’s the apprentice of his brother, delivering a Dragon Fish is nothing much.

He didn’t waste anymore time, directly going into the forest, put on a black mask, and taking advantage of Ma Jingjing and the others not noticing, activated the Door of Shadow and left.

…

…

City No. 19, inside a hidden apartment, a Door of Shadow opened.

The person inside immediately rose and respectfully said: “Boss, what are your orders.”

The Shadow remained silent for a few seconds and said: “No need to be nervous, I just came to deliver a fish.”

After saying that, he carried the Dragon Fish, opened the apartment door, and went away.

Leaving a certain spy from the Spy Bureau standing perplexed in the apartment.

Deliver a fish? When did the Shadow Boss become so idle that he needed to personally deliver a fish?

Several dozen minutes later, in the lobby on the 76th floor of the Yunding Hotel, Li Yunjing who was resting with closed eyes suddenly opened his eyes, staring fiercely at the man in black before him.

He subtly guarded Li Ke behind him: “If there is danger, ignore me, you go first.”

Li Yunjing knew who the man in black clothes, black hat, and black mask was, but didn’t know why he had appeared here.

And every time the Shadow appeared on the Federation stage, it was always accompanied by bloodshed and turmoil.

Faced with the Shadow, even a master like Li Yunjing couldn’t predict his own life or death.

Yet he still chose to shield Li Ke from the wind and rain.

Li Yunjing looked at the Shadow and said: “He has no grudge against you, he won’t block the path of Qing’s Family.”

However, the next moment the Shadow helplessly smiled and lifted the Dragon Fish: “I’m here to deliver a fish, Li Ke, this is the last Dragon Fish owed to you by your Master.”

Li Ke was stunned: “What did you do to my Master?”

The Shadow said with a grin: “Just gave him a beating, don’t worry, he deserved it.”

Saying this, the Shadow left in a good mood.

…

Please subscribe and vote monthly~