Surviving the Ancient Angst Novel [Transmigration] - Chapter 10

A stranger with delicate features was lying on the bed, tied up like a festive roast and gagged with a clump of cloth. Upon seeing me, his eyes went wide, and he let out a series of frantic muffled grunts, desperately trying to communicate something.

I reached out toward the cloth in his mouth, intending to pull it out, when Nie Gaoming walked in.

He was carrying a bowl of rice piled high with side dishes and looked at me with a smile. “Oh, you’re awake?”

I gestured with my eyes toward the man on the bed. “Who is he?”

Nie Gaoming shoveled a mouthful of rice into his mouth and said nonchalantly, “The delivery boy.”

Me: “…”

“Then why did you tie him up?”

Nie Gaoming took another bite and chewed as he spoke. “I went out for a look just now and noticed the neighboring courtyards were empty. I wanted to ask him a few things, but he wouldn’t cooperate.”

“So you just tied him up?”

Nie Gaoming nodded, his cheeks bulging. “Brother Lu, if you want to keep your life, you have to dig for information.”

I understood his logic get the first-hand info as early as possible so we could be prepared. However, just asking clearly wasn’t working. To pry open a man’s mouth, you have to play a role. How did they do it in the TV dramas?

I pondered for a moment, then suddenly turned a cold, piercing gaze toward the man on the bed. “If he won’t talk, just kill him.”

Nie Gaoming’s chewing faltered. “Kill him? Are you crazy?” Seeing how serious I looked, he pulled me into the hall, lowered his voice, and whispered, “This is the Eastern Wasteland Sect! You’re playing this wild on your first day?”

I curled my lip and said bluntly, “I’m playing the ‘bad cop.’”

Nie Gaoming froze, then burst into a grin. He gave me a silent thumbs-up: Brilliant.

Performance Time:

The two of us entered the inner room. With a dark expression, I gripped a short blade (which Nie Gaoming had “borrowed” from the delivery boy) and advanced toward the bed step by step.

Nie Gaoming rushed over in a panic, grabbing my wrist. “Brother Lu, don’t be impulsive! I have a way to make him talk!”

“Get out of my way!” I shook off his hand and plunged the blade into the bed right next to the man’s neck. The edge was barely a centimeter from his skin.

The delivery boy froze completely, cold sweat beads forming on his forehead. Seeing that I couldn’t be reasoned with, Nie Gaoming leaned over the bed and urged the man: “Just say something!”

The man blinked his eyes frantically while muffled grunts poured from his throat. Nie Gaoming took the hint and turned back to me. “He still won’t talk!”

The delivery boy: “!!!! Mmph! Mmph! Mmmph!”

I let out a cold laugh. “Keep asking. If he doesn’t talk next time, I’m cutting off a finger.” As I spoke, I moved the tip of the blade toward his bound hands. The cold pressure of the steel against his skin terrified the man on the bed. I was careful with my strength; I didn’t even break the skin. It was all for show.

Nie Gaoming seized the chance to yank the gag from his mouth. “Speak, quickly!”

The man burst into tears. “What am I supposed to say?! I’m just a delivery boy!”

Nie Gaoming: “But you wear a Green Jade.”

The man explained desperately, “That’s because my cooking is good! The Master rewarded me!”

Nie Gaoming: “Who is the Master?”

The man shut his mouth and went silent. That information wasn’t vital, so I gave Nie Gaoming a look.

“Fine,” Nie Gaoming said. “What does the white string on your jade mean?”

It seemed he had noticed that detail as well.

The man sighed. “Once you participate in the ‘Hunting Ground’ three months from now, if you survive, you can choose.”

“The Hunting Ground? Choose?” Nie Gaoming was puzzled.

“You’re given two paths: choose ‘Massacre’ and get a black string, or choose ‘Hero’ and get a white string.”

“What’s the difference?” Nie Gaoming asked.

The man’s eyes flickered. “I can’t say. If the word gets out, I’m a dead man.”

Nie Gaoming glanced at me. I didn’t actually want to drive a man to his death, so I maintained my dark expression and threatened him: “Tell us everything you can say.”

The man relaxed slightly. “I’ll give you a piece of advice: in these next three months, improve your martial arts as fast as you can. Especially your movement techniques they’re vital. They’ll save your life. This is for us bottom-feeders. If you’re already a master with high internal power, then ignore me and just wait.”

Nie Gaoming’s expression turned strange. “What can anyone improve in just three months?” Most people learn martial arts in terms of years.

I recalled that Wu Shu, Biyun, and Jian’an all wore jades with white strings. Does that mean they all chose the “Hero” path? I felt something starting to take shape in my mind—all the logical inconsistencies of this place were beginning to blur together into a cohesive picture. But I still needed more details.

The man had told us all he could. He looked at us pleadingly. “Can you let me go now? I still have other deliveries, and if I’m late, I’ll be punished.”

Nie Gaoming looked at me. “Let him?”

I retracted the knife and tucked it into my robes against my chest. “Let him.”

As Nie Gaoming untied the ropes, the man looked at me cautiously. “My knife…”

I clicked my tongue and gave him an impatient look. “Are you leaving or not?”

“The knife is yours! Please, keep it!” The man bolted out of the room instantly.

“You really don’t want it back?” Nie Gaoming yelled toward the door.

“I have plenty of knives!”

“Got it.”

Nie Gaoming pulled his head back in, clutching his hands and grinning at me. I couldn’t help but laugh, pulling the knife from my robes and tossing it to him.

Nie Gaoming caught it deftly. “You don’t want it?”

I sat on the edge of the bed nonchalantly. “It’s not much use to me.” Besides, he was the one who swiped it first.

Nie Gaoming smirked and tucked the knife into his boot. “Thanks.”

I let out a yawn, kicked off my boots, and climbed into bed. Nie Gaoming’s eyes widened. “No way. You just woke up and you’re going back to sleep?”

I closed my eyes, rolling myself into a tight cocoon. “It’s getting cold. Time to hibernate.”

Nie Gaoming: “…It’s still autumn.”

I turned over, my back to him. “There’s nothing else to do anyway.”

“Aren’t you going to seize the time to practice?” Nie Gaoming wouldn’t give up; he walked to my bedside and poked his head in to look at me.

I opened one eye. “Are you going to practice?”

“Of course. I have to.” Nie Gaoming sat on the edge of my bed and patted my blanket. “Come on, get up and practice with me!”

I closed my eye again and pulled the covers over my face. “Good luck with that.”

Nie Gaoming watched me for a while, let out a long sigh, and left the room.

System: 【Yinchen, have you given up? Ready for your exit scene?】

‘Not quite. I just don’t want to show all my cards to one person. Keeping some distance will keep him wary.’ Back in the modern world, I learned a simple truth: no one is friendly for no reason. If they are, they have an agenda. Especially the supporting characters in these novels they usually have eight hundred hidden layers, and I’m afraid I can’t outplay them. I don’t want to be sold out and find myself smiling while I count the money for the person who sold me.

The system sounded relieved: 【Yinchen, you’ve grown up.】

I woke up the next morning to broad daylight. I glanced at the neighboring bed; it was empty. Nie Gaoming was gone.

In the hall, the table was set with steaming buns and minced meat egg custard. The fragrance was wonderful. One thing about the Eastern Wasteland Sect: they handle food and lodging perfectly. You won’t be cold or hungry. Honestly, if this weren’t a product of a “misery-porn” novel, I’d want to retire here.

I sighed, popped a small bun into my mouth, and went to the well to wash up as usual. Just as I was heading back to the table, I saw Nie Gaoming leaning against the doorframe, eating egg custard from a bowl. This guy was becoming more and more elusive.

I glanced at him as I passed. He didn’t look at me; he was focused on blowing on the golden custard in his spoon, his head swaying gently. A total attention-seeker. I chuckled inwardly, looked away, and sat down with my back to him to eat my buns.

“Aren’t you curious where I went last night?” After a while, Nie Gaoming couldn’t hold it in anymore. He walked to the table and set his bowl down.

I asked through a mouthful of bun, “You didn’t sleep?”

Nie Gaoming smirked. “Nope.”

I swallowed and said dismissively, “Good for you.”

Nie Gaoming: “…” He sputtered for a moment, silenced by my lack of interest. Finally, he downed the rest of his custard in a huff and went back to the room.

System: 【Are you really not curious?】

‘Nope.’ I took another bun. This body is too thin; I need to focus on nutrition. I plan to live here for ninety years. If I get old and my immunity drops, I won’t make it to that age, and all my efforts will be wasted.

【But why?】 the system pressed.

‘Isn’t that how it goes in novels? The more you know, the faster you die.’ I explained patiently. ‘That law applies specifically to cannon fodder and background characters.’ Information coming from a major supporting character is basically a death warrant.

‘Besides…’ I smiled as a thought occurred to me. ‘I have you as my “cheat code.” Why would I need info from him?’

System: 【True.】

I took the opportunity: ‘So, where did he go last night?’

System: 【You haven’t unlocked the protagonist of his book yet. I can’t show you.】

‘Give me a little spoiler.’

【That’s against the rules.】 The system hesitated, then asked: 【How about a bribe?】

I laughed. ‘Fine. You can have all the savings in my modern bank account.’ It wasn’t much anyway; I could earn more when I go back.

【I’ve been waiting for you to say that!】 The system immediately spilled everything about Nie Gaoming.

【He went to find Si, the male lead of Cold Heart, No Soul. Si is currently a Blue Jade—that’s a high rank. They’ve conspired together: once the Hunting Ground is over, Si will transfer you to his side as an attendant. Nie Gaoming even praised you to Si, saying you’re smart and the newcomer he likes best. He said you should be groomed so that, when you’ve developed enough, you can be pushed out as a shield at the critical moment. He said that with your abilities, you should last quite a while. Nie Gaoming thinks quite highly of you~ That’s the gist of it, just a simple summary for you.】

‘Last quite a while?’ I smiled, my gaze turning cold. This Nie Gaoming is quite the actor, pretending to be a newcomer while he has a high-level backer and knows exactly what’s going on.

【What do you plan to do?】

I looked toward the closed door of the inner room. ‘We’ll see when the time comes.’

Right now, the most pressing matter was how to survive the Hunting Ground safely.