Chapter 17 Thinking of a Way Out

On the second floor of the restaurant, Xu Jingming was eating dinner alone at a table. He hadn't ordered many dishes—three dishes and a soup, along with a pot of wine. A waiter stood not far away, ready to attend to Xu Jingming's needs at any moment.

After all, Xu Jingming was the leader of the Blood Rain Guards in the surrounding jurisdiction! The restaurant naturally had to serve him well.

"Slurp, slurp." Xu Jingming ate quickly. After finishing the rice mixed with meat in the large bowl, he wiped his mouth with a handkerchief, poured himself some wine, and began to drink leisurely.

Seemingly enjoying his wine, Xu Jingming was actually pondering matters.

"...With my understanding of his personality, he probably won't let it go."

"Be careful every day. It'll be fine after this period. Cheng Yanran won't keep targeting you."

Fei Qing's words from the morning echoed in Xu Jingming's mind once again.

"With Fei Qing's status, he wouldn't speak without certainty. He said, 'Cheng Yanran won't let it go,' so there will probably be another wave of attacks." Xu Jingming frowned slightly. "Sigh, I'm just a Blood Rain Guard captain, and I've already provoked the hostility of a Prince Yan's son. Is this the world targeting me? Or is it just bad luck that I got caught up in a high-level struggle?"

"I'm just a small figure who wants to make some money. Why target me?" Xu Jingming was quite helpless. "No matter what, I've now encountered the biggest threat in the Blood Rain World—Prince Yan's son!"

The Blood Rain World was chaotic, and the people were suffering.

Order could still be maintained within the cities! Outside the cities, it was complete chaos.

Even Commander-in-Chief Fei's family had experienced many dangers on their journey from their hometown to the capital, which showed how chaotic the order was.

"Now that the empire is declining and the world is in chaos, there are many large and small rebels and insurgents." Xu Jingming thought, "The Blood Rain Guards in each city can only bully gangs. They can't withstand the rebel army at all."

"Chaoshan Lake is a small-scale rebel army that makes many surrounding cities tremble."

"And the largest rebel armies have swept across large swathes of territory and even destroyed many princes' fiefdoms, massacring members of the imperial family." Xu Jingming thought to himself, "The empire's military strength mainly consists of the Blood Rain Guards and the armies of the five princes."

"In the past few years, the princes fought fiercely to seize the throne, and the current Emperor successfully ascended the throne."

"But with the world in ruins, he still has to unite these five princes to barely maintain the situation." Xu Jingming thought, "So Prince Yan's son can still run rampant even after ruining the virtue of many daughters of wealthy families in the capital… The biggest reason is that the Emperor needs to win over Prince Yan!"

Xu Jingming pondered how to break the situation.

The Blood Rain World was too vast! It took a long time for the Emperor's orders to reach the frontier.

To strengthen their rule, the empire had established 'fiefdoms' in many remote areas since its founding, allowing the princes to govern and lead them. They wanted the princes to assist the Emperor and rule the world together.

However, some princes were too useless, only seeking enjoyment, causing the people to suffer, and some were even killed by the rebel armies under their command.

The truly powerful princes were now only five! Prince Yan was one of them.

"Prince Yan's fiefdom is a vast territory that he has managed into an impregnable stronghold, and its power extends to a wide area around it. Prince Yan's son is targeting me?" Xu Jingming felt a lot of pressure.

"Prince Yan's son acts high-profile and has ruined the virtue of many daughters of powerful families, making many enemies! There have been many attempts to assassinate him, but they have all failed."

"Blood Rain Guard records show that last year, hundreds of experts attacked Prince Yan's son's team, but Prince Yan's son remained safe and sound."

Xu Jingming thought about this information and felt that Prince Yan's son was too difficult to deal with.

He was a hundred times, a thousand times more difficult than Shen Gongfu.

…

After dinner, Xu Jingming walked out of the restaurant. It was already dark, but there were still many people on the streets, and the shops and restaurants were at their busiest.

"Captain."

The Blood Rain Guards patrolling the streets were quite respectful when they saw Xu Jingming.

Xu Jingming nodded slightly. He had become familiar with these Blood Rain Guards under his command in recent days.

"What's going on?" Xu Jingming walked down the street and glanced behind him. Many pedestrians looked ordinary. He looked up at the distance and saw someone on the second floor of a teahouse watching the street scene.

"The people in that teahouse were watching me, and the old man behind me was also following me." Xu Jingming's telepathy was sharp. He continued to walk without showing any signs.

From the main street, he suddenly turned into an alley.

With a few leaps, he disappeared into the alley.

"Where did he go?"

Several people also walked into this alley and searched the several alleys in the area, but they couldn't find Xu Jingming.

"He's gone?" The leader's face was gloomy. "Captain Jing manages this entire jurisdiction, and we have people everywhere! He can't escape."

…

With a few leaps, Xu Jingming had actually entered an empty house. As the leader of the Blood Rain Guards in the entire jurisdiction, he knew that there were some 'houses' in the jurisdiction that were uninhabited.

After entering, he hid in a woodshed, and then logged off!

His entire body disappeared into thin air.

******

"Since this period is so dangerous, I might as well log off at night and leave the Blood Rain World!" Xu Jingming walked out of the virtual chamber door.

Logging off was the ultimate trick for universe citizen players to hide.

In reality, it was now afternoon.

Xu Jingming walked into the courtyard and saw Li Miaomiao sitting in the pavilion, looking at the numerous messages displayed on the light screen. And on the grass, a small baby was walking steadily, with Old Master Xu smiling and following behind him: "Slow down, run slower."

"Jingming." Li Miaomiao saw Xu Jingming.

"Our daughter is not even a month old, and she's already walking so steadily." Xu Jingming marveled.

"Now, the genes of the entire new generation of Blue Star have transformed." Li Miaomiao smiled. "You, as her father, are already a cosmic lifeform. Isn't it normal for your daughter to be able to walk in half a month?"

Xu Jingming looked at his daughter with a smile.

In the Blood Rain World, dangers lurked everywhere, and killings were common. But Blue Star in reality was still very peaceful.

Li Miaomiao turned off the light screen and walked over. "Did you know that Zhang Qing has also broken through to the fifth level?"

"Oh?" Xu Jingming was surprised.

"The fourth fifth-level expert in Xia since the opening of the virtual world." Li Miaomiao said with emotion, "But according to what you said, there are only five months left before the end of the protection period for new civilizations."

"Yes, only five months left." Xu Jingming also felt the pressure.

He wanted to improve himself as soon as possible.

But the evolution of life couldn't be rushed!

Suddenly, the baby in the distance saw Xu Jingming, and her eyes lit up immediately. She raised her hands and walked over, walking quite fast.

But as soon as she walked fast, the baby stumbled and was about to fall to the ground.

Whoosh.

Xu Jingming arrived beside his daughter in an instant, as if he had teleported, and picked up his daughter who was about to fall.

"Good girl, be careful." Xu Jingming held his chubby little daughter, and his heart melted.

"Ba! Ba! Ba!" The baby looked at Xu Jingming, opening her mouth and only saying this one word.

"Our daughter, the first word she can say is 'Dad'." Li Miaomiao walked over and said helplessly.

"Haha…"

Old Master Xu walked over with a smile. "Jingming, I remember you were about eleven months old before you could speak, and the first word you said was also 'Dad'. This is heredity."

Xu Jingming held his daughter, and his mood was extremely good. "Miaomiao, don't you think about it? How many times did I teach her to say 'Dad'? At least a thousand times. I've called out 'Dad' so many times, so of course she has to call me first."

Li Miaomiao was speechless.

"You two, have you thought about a name for the child?" Old Master Xu asked.

Xu Jingming and Li Miaomiao immediately felt a headache.

"The baby's full moon banquet is coming up soon. You have to come up with a name before the full moon banquet." Old Master Xu urged.

"Grandpa, we've thought of a few names, and they're all on the shortlist." Xu Jingming said immediately.

…

After chatting with his wife about the current situation on Blue Star, teasing his daughter, and eating with his parents and elders, Xu Jingming entered the virtual chamber once again! Nowadays, he spent more than twenty hours online every day.

In the virtual world network, in his personal space.

Xu Jingming was practicing his spearmanship.

"Buzz." There was a message.

"Myriad Realms Group is at your service. The intelligence you ordered on Prince Yan's son, Cheng Yanran, of the Blood Rain World has been sent. Please check and give us your feedback after reading it." Xu Jingming clicked on it. "The intelligence is finally here."

Ordinary intelligence was easy to investigate, but detailed intelligence cost money to buy.

After Xu Jingming realized that it was 'Cheng Yanran' who had sent people to assassinate him, he immediately offered a reward for detailed intelligence on Cheng Yanran through the 'Myriad Realms Group.'

"This one piece of intelligence cost me 100,000 universe coins." Xu Jingming examined it carefully.

Converted to gold and silver in the Blood Rain World, it was actually only ten taels of silver.

Ten taels of silver could never have collected such detailed intelligence in the Blood Rain World.

But it could be done in the Myriad Realms Group. This was the convenience of being a universe citizen player.

"Cheng Yanran once lived outside and had a tragic fate as a teenager before Prince Yan found him?" Xu Jingming carefully read the file. Through this file, Xu Jingming truly understood a twisted Prince Yan's son.

However, just as Xu Jingming was reading the intelligence—

In the Blood Rain World, the massacre targeting Xu Jingming's team had already begun.

…

Blood Rain World, the imperial capital at night.

A group of people walked down the street, arm in arm, drunk, followed by their servants.

"Yuan Fu's alcohol tolerance is too bad. He's already drunk."

"Tell him to drink less in the future. If he gets drunk, I'm the one who suffers. My uncle will punish me again."

A servant carried his young master on his back, and the others spoke drunkenly.

In the corner of the street, three Blood Rain Guards hid in the shadows, sitting there, putting down their food, and watching the drunks coldly.

The group of drunks staggered to a place near the three Blood Rain Guards.

"Get lost."

One of the Blood Rain Guards shouted.

"Who are you?" One of the drunks glared.

As soon as he finished speaking—

Pfft pfft pfft!!!!!!

Darts shot out one after another. In an instant, the group of drunks and servants released dozens of darts. Even though the three Blood Rain Guards were quite skilled, they couldn't withstand so many darts. In an instant, two of them were shot with holes all over their bodies and died on the spot, collapsing to the ground. Only one Blood Rain Guard held up his shield to block the darts, and his body crashed backward, smashing through the wall behind him, trying to escape.

But sword light, darts, and ropes enveloped him one after another. The Blood Rain Guard, who had just smashed through the wall, didn't even have time to release an alarm arrow before he lost his life.

After killing the three Blood Rain Guards, the drunken team didn't show any signs of drunkenness. They were all very calm.

"Go to the next place." One of the inconspicuous servants ordered.

…

In one place after another in the jurisdiction, attacks against the Blood Rain Guards occurred one after another. They were all using numbers to overwhelm the few! With an overwhelming advantage, and with careful planning, the Blood Rain Guards were completely on the receiving end of the slaughter.

It wasn't until eleven Blood Rain Guards had been killed that one of them managed to release an alarm arrow.

"Whoosh!"

The alarm arrow streaked across the sky, its sound piercing, and finally exploded in the air, making it visible for more than ten miles around.

"Full-scale attack."

The experts from the Yellow Spring Sect saw the alarm arrow and no longer concealed themselves, beginning a full-scale attack.

"Haven't found Jingming yet?" The leader of the Yellow Spring Sect's mission was somewhat angry.

"Reporting to Protector, our scouts are all over this jurisdiction. Every street, every alley, and even some suspicious places have been searched, but we can't find that Jingming at all." The subordinate said.

"We can't worry about that. Kill as many as we can." The leader of the Yellow Spring Sect waved his hand and said, "We must retreat when the time is up."

"Yes." The subordinates acted quickly.

*******

In his personal space.

Xu Jingming read the file and gained a deeper understanding of Cheng Yanran.

"He actually has so many secrets." Xu Jingming thought to himself, "But it can also be seen that Cheng Yanran is superficially arrogant and unbridled, but in reality, he is very cunning and cautious. It is almost impossible for me to kill him."

The more he understood, the more he realized that Cheng Yanran was too cautious.

His power was too great! It was impossible to find any flaws.

"He must have developed this cautious personality after being lost outside as a teenager." Xu Jingming put away the file and suddenly had a thought. "He sent people to assassinate me last night. I wonder what will happen tonight?"

With a thought, he clicked on the Blood Rain World and entered directly.

…

Xu Jingming appeared in the woodshed of the abandoned house, surrounded by a faint light.

Walking out of the woodshed, his ears twitched slightly, and he heard the noisy footsteps and sounds: "What's going on? It's already the second half of the night in the Blood Rain World. Why is it so noisy?" He jumped lightly onto the wall, and then jumped onto a large tree next to him. Standing on a thick branch, he followed the sound to check the situation.

He saw Blood Rain Guards and auxiliary guards with torches in many streets in the distance.

Looking around, he estimated that there were at least a thousand people.

"Something's wrong." Xu Jingming's face was serious. He jumped down from the tree and walked towards a familiar auxiliary guard.

The auxiliary guards held torches, illuminating the streets, and their faces were all solemn.

Xu Jingming walked out of the alley and walked straight over.

"Lord Jing."

The auxiliary guards were startled and recognized their superior.

"Lord Jing, are you alright?" An auxiliary guard said in surprise.

"I just returned to the jurisdiction. What happened?" Xu Jingming asked sternly.

"Half an hour ago, many Blood Rain Guards in our jurisdiction were attacked. It was too tragic. By the time the Blood Rain Guards from other places saw the alarm arrow and rushed over, the murderers had already escaped."

"Many of our auxiliary guards have also died."

"Those murderers are too ruthless. They kill any Blood Rain Guards they see."

The auxiliary guards were talking.

Xu Jingming's face was serious. "How many people died? Are Vice Captain Zhang Ke and Vice Captain Qian Yan alright?"

"We didn't see the two vice captains." An auxiliary guard said, "Many Blood Rain Guards died, probably more than half. I heard that those murderers even killed them at their homes. The brothers who weren't on patrol tonight were chased and killed at home, and even their families were implicated."

"Killed at their homes?" Xu Jingming's face was ugly.

Cheng Yanran was crazy to the core.

But what kind of hatred, what kind of grudge?

Was it necessary to deal with a Blood Rain Guard team like this?

Perhaps it wasn't hatred, but in the eyes of this young master, the Blood Rain Guards were just ants that he casually crushed to death.

Xu Jingming walked towards other places.

"Lord Jing."

Xu Jingming saw the corpses placed in the distance, and the auxiliary guards in charge of guarding them were extremely respectful.

"These are the corpses of three Blood Rain Guards and seven auxiliary guards." The auxiliary guard said.

Xu Jingming walked over and lifted the cloth.

They were all his own team members. These days, they had all served him respectfully. And those auxiliary guards, he remembered that when he moved on the first day, some of them had helped him move.

Now they were lying here, their corpses with hideous wounds.

Xu Jingming was silent.

…

He continued to walk, checking the corpses of the dead. The many brothers lying there were no longer making any sounds, and Xu Jingming's heart was very heavy. Even though he knew this was a virtual world!

But it was still painful.

Xu Jingming was very clear that for 'planetary lifeforms' with a lifespan of less than two hundred years, a life in the Blood Rain World accounted for nearly half of their lives.

For them, how different was it from a real life?

"They're all my subordinates. Because they're targeting me, they're implicating my subordinates?" Xu Jingming said silently.

"Captain Jing." Suddenly, an angry shout came from a distance.

Xu Jingming looked up.

Zhao Defang rode on his horse, looking at Xu Jingming coldly, and reprimanded him, "The area you manage was attacked by Yellow Spring Sect rebels, and you, the Blood Rain Guard captain, disappeared at a critical moment? What use is a captain like you?"

"Lord Centurion, how many people in my team died?" Xu Jingming asked.

"Hmph."

Zhao Defang sneered, "Your two vice captains, Qian Yan was at home, and his entire family died. As for Zhang Ke, he's missing just like you! As for the 30 ordinary Blood Rain Guards, only three survived! The rest are all dead. Those who were at home were also killed, and even their entire families were killed."

Xu Jingming's eyes turned slightly red.

A madman.

Killing people, and targeting their whole families?

The intelligence was right. This Cheng Yanran was twisted and a madman!

"I have to ask you, where did you go when the alarm arrow sounded?" Zhao Defang reprimanded. A group of Blood Rain Guards beside him were also looking at Xu Jingming. In fact, they all sympathized with Xu Jingming.

If Xu Jingming hadn't escaped and had been surrounded by Yellow Spring Sect rebels, he would probably have lost his life too.

"What about the losses of the auxiliary guards?" Xu Jingming asked.

"Dozens of them died." Zhao Defang said coldly, "This matter will be known to Lord Chiliarch and even the Town Governor. As the captain, you can't escape the charge of being 'incompetent'. Think about how to beg for mercy from Lord Chiliarch."

Xu Jingming turned silently and walked away. Suddenly, he saw a wet figure running over in the distance. It was Zhang Ke.

"Captain." Zhang Ke, who was soaked, said in surprise, "Are you alright?"

"I happened to be away from the jurisdiction before and escaped the disaster." Xu Jingming said. Fortunately, one more of his team members had survived.

"I had just left the brothel and was preparing to go home when I was attacked on the way. I jumped into the river and managed to escape." Zhang Ke said, "I don't know where those evil bandits came from. They're so fierce."

"The auxiliary guards said they were from the Yellow Spring Sect." Xu Jingming said.

There were many auxiliary guards in the jurisdiction, and they were almost all entry-level experts. Their escape speed was also extremely fast. It was they who saw many murderers and even recognized some of the wanted criminals.

"How many brothers died?" Zhang Ke asked.

"Besides you and me, there are only three brothers alive." Xu Jingming's face was ugly. "The Yellow Spring Sect even killed many brothers at their homes and didn't spare their entire families."

"Homes?" Zhang Ke's face changed. "My home—"

Zhang Ke turned and ran.

"Zhang Ke! Get over here!" Zhao Defang rode over on his horse and shouted remotely. He also wanted to question this Vice Captain Zhang Ke. He couldn't control the 'Jingming' captain, who had a strong backer, but couldn't he control a Zhang Ke?

However, Vice Captain Zhang Ke didn't look back and ran away.

Xu Jingming also realized the problem and followed along.

"Bastard!" Zhao Defang was annoyed. A small Zhang Ke dared to ignore him?

…

Zhang Ke finally arrived home.

The door was wide open.

Zhang Ke stood in front of the door and looked inside. The blood that stained the window paper and the corpses lying in the distance made Zhang Ke's face change.

Zhang Ke rushed in like a madman.

Corpse after corpse.

His stubborn old father, who had also served as a Blood Rain Guard, was ferocious, holding a single blade, and nailed to the wall by a long spear! The spear wasn't even taken away, which showed the enemy's hatred. This old guy had killed two experts from the Yellow Spring Sect.

The others in the residence didn't have the ability to resist and fell there one by one.

"Dad, Mom, Apu…" Zhang Ke was completely dumbfounded. Finally, he held the corpses of three children in a daze.

Zhang Ke had been taught martial arts by his father since he was a child.

Then, he entered the Imperial Capital Blood Rain Guards in an orderly manner, married a virtuous wife, and his wife gave birth to three children. He spent his days carefree, calling friends and drinking, and sleeping in brothels.

"My children…" Zhang Ke held the children, sat there, motionless, like a dead tree.

Xu Jingming looked at this scene, and his heart was very uncomfortable.

Even after coming to the Blood Rain World and experiencing so much, he was still very uncomfortable.

It was a virtual world!

This was a virtual world!

All of this… was virtual! They would come back to life in reality after they died!

It was all virtual!

Xu Jingming repeatedly told himself.

"Cheng Yanran, you madman! You madman!" Xu Jingming could no longer convince himself and couldn't suppress the anger in his heart, "What do you take these people for? Ants? Pigs and dogs? Very good! Very good!"

"I've come to this Blood Rain World, and this is the first time I've wanted to kill someone so much!"

Xu Jingming's killing intent was extremely intense.

…

The next morning.

Fei Qing had already entered the palace to meet the Emperor.

"Your Majesty." Fei Qing knelt respectfully and presented a file respectfully.

"Get up." The Emperor said with a gentle smile.

Fei Qing then got up. A servant took the file and placed it respectfully in front of the Emperor.

The Emperor then looked at the file and said solemnly, "What? In the imperial capital, there are actually rebels who dare to attack my Blood Rain Guards? An entire Blood Rain Guard squad was almost wiped out?"

"The murderers are from the Yellow Spring Sect. Many auxiliary guards have recognized some of the wanted criminals." Fei Qing said, "And the night before yesterday, Prince Yan's son Cheng Yanran sent people to attack Luo Baichuan and Jingming because these two are my sister's best friends. After the assassination of Jingming failed, Cheng Yanran was even more insane and instructed the Yellow Spring Sect to kill Jingming's entire team."

"Do you have evidence?" The Emperor looked at Fei Qing.

"The Yellow Spring Sect's foundation is in the north of the empire." Fei Qing said, "And the largest force in the north is Prince Yan! Without Prince Yan's permission, how could the Yellow Spring Sect be so prosperous?"

The Emperor frowned and shook his head gently, "Fei Qing, do you mean to tell me to punish my nephew Yanran?"

"Your Majesty, Cheng Yanran's temperament is strange." Fei Qing said, "Letting him go like this may cause big trouble. He must be made to fear!"

"Alright!" The Emperor looked at him, his eyes turning cold, "I'll ask you one more time, do you have evidence?"

Fei Qing was slightly stunned and lowered his head, "No."

"Since it is confirmed that they are Yellow Spring Sect rebels, then arrest and hunt them down to avenge the dead Blood Rain Guards." The Emperor's voice was cold, "As for my nephew Yanran, Fei Qing, you must remember that without evidence, you cannot touch him in the slightest."

"Yes."

Fei Qing could only bow and obey.