Can't Pay the Ransom? Then This Will Be Difficult
"Wh... what..."
"I have to offer another bargaining chip before you'll let Zhu Zhuyun go?"
Zhu Zhuqing was utterly dumbfounded!
Her mouth hung slightly open, but the words wouldn't come.
Another bargaining chip?
Didn't that mean she had to hand over another Soul Bone?
And a Ten Thousand Year Soul Bone at that.
But the problem was, where was she supposed to find another one?
The Ten Thousand Year Soul Bone she had just handed over had already drained her little treasury dry. There really wasn't a single drop left!
Besides, wasn't a 44,444-year-old top-grade life-attribute Soul Bone enough to buy back the lives of both sisters?
Did it have to be this outrageous?
Since when had the lives of the two sisters become so valuable?
How come she hadn't known?
"Heh heh heh, little kitten, you heard me right. Either you offer me another satisfactory bargaining chip, or I'll catch up to your sister Zhu Zhuyun and kill her right now."
"Those are your two choices. Pick one!"
After speaking, Li Wuyou looked at Zhu Zhuqing with ill intent written all over his face.
He had to admit, at this moment, he really did look like a major villain coercing an innocent young woman.
That "heh heh heh" laugh in particular always gave him an inexplicable thrill, making him want to do something wicked right away to vent his feelings.
Ah!
So this was what it felt like to be a major villain?
Wasn't it a little too satisfying?
"Y-your Excellency Angel, I don't have any more Ten Thousand Year Soul Bones on me, and I don't have anything else valuable either."
"I... I..."
As Zhu Zhuqing spoke, she found herself completely lost for words!
The truth was, she was flat broke right now.
Forget a Ten Thousand Year Soul Bone. She probably couldn't even come up with ten thousand Gold Soul Coins now, so how could she possibly produce a second bargaining chip that would satisfy him?
At that moment, Zhu Zhuqing wanted nothing more than to shout!
"This humble consort can't do it!"
"Hm???"
"Little kitten, you wouldn't be lying to me, would you?"
"Fine, so you can't produce a second Ten Thousand Year Soul Bone!"
"But don't tell me you don't even have the money to ransom yourself?"
Li Wuyou rubbed his chin and looked suspiciously at Zhu Zhuqing, who was kneeling on the ground with a troubled, anxious expression.
Who was Zhu Zhuqing?
The second young lady of the Star Luo Empire's Nether Duke's Mansion.
The nominal fiancée of Dai Mubai, the third prince of the Star Luo Emperor's imperial family.
She had no money?
Even if Zhu Zhuqing had fallen on hard times!
He still believed she could squeeze some out.
After all, this little kitten Zhu Zhuqing had plenty to offer.
He didn't believe Zhu Zhuqing was truly penniless.
Otherwise, after Zhu Zhuqing escaped the Star Luo Empire, didn't she need to eat, drink, and relieve herself? Didn't she need to find somewhere to stay and rest?
Surely Zhu Zhuqing couldn't have been using the sky as her blanket and the earth as her bed, picking wild fruit from trees when she was hungry and drinking dew from flowers and grass when she was thirsty?
Damn it!
Wouldn't that make her a wild woman?
The little kitten had turned into a wild woman?
Didn't that mean Zhu Zhuqing hadn't bathed in days?
Ew!
At the thought of Zhu Zhuqing going days without bathing, Li Wuyou felt a wave of disgust. He instinctively drew back, his brows knitting together as he covered his nose with his hand in revulsion and put some distance between them.
He had said it before: he was a clean freak.
"Y-your Excellency Angel..."
"What's with that disgusted look on your face?"
"And why are you covering your nose and moving away from me? Do you think I smell bad?"
All her earlier complicated emotions were cast to the back of her mind. At this moment, Zhu Zhuqing was gritting her teeth.
She wasn't stupid, so naturally she had guessed what he was thinking.
Both her maidenly reserve and her pride made her deeply resent the angel bastard before her.
A strange man was looking at her with open disgust. Didn't she, a young woman, have any pride?
Besides!
Who was she, Zhu Zhuqing?
The dignified second young lady of the Star Luo Empire's Nether Duke's Mansion.
Even though she had been on the run all this time, she had still been eating, sleeping, and bathing properly, all right?
She had even secretly made off with Zhu Zhuyun's 44,444-year-old top-grade life-attribute Soul Bone, so how could she possibly have failed to prepare enough Gold Soul Coins for her escape?
The reason she couldn't produce ten thousand Gold Soul Coins now was naturally that she had spent all this time evading Zhu Zhuyun and her group's pursuit.
To get past the checkpoints manned by the city guards and increase her chances of escape, she had even paid Soul Master mercenary squads to help her by harassing and confusing Zhu Zhuyun's group.
Her expenses along the way had long since eaten through the large amount of Gold Soul Coins she had brought with her at a frightening rate. The fact that she still had a few thousand Gold Soul Coins saved was thanks to her scrimping and saving during this time.
If she hadn't budgeted carefully, she would probably have been penniless by now. Then even finding a hotel to eat, bathe, and sleep in would have been a pipe dream.
"Oh! It's nothing. Don't think too much about it!"
"Zhu Zhuqing, let's get back to the subject."
"Fine, if you can't produce a top-grade Ten Thousand Year Soul Bone, I won't make things difficult for a girl on the run."
"In that case, the 44,444-year-old top-grade life-attribute Soul Bone I accepted just now will count entirely as the payment you gave me for Zhu Zhuyun's life!"
"As for you, Zhu Zhuqing, since you never attacked me, I don't intend to make things difficult for you either. But though the death penalty can be spared, punishment is hard to escape. You only need to pay me a ransom."
"My demand isn't excessive. Ten thousand—no, a hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins will do! After all, you're the second young lady of the Star Luo Empire's Nether Duke's Mansion. That ransom isn't excessive, is it?"
Suspecting that Zhu Zhuqing might not have bathed in days, Li Wuyou couldn't even be bothered to call her little kitten anymore and simply used her name.
A hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins was a fortune to some minor factions, but to the Star Luo Empire's Nether Duke's Mansion, it was hardly worth mentioning.
After all, Zhu Zhuqing wasn't just the second young lady of the Nether Duke's Mansion; she was also the nominal fiancée of Dai Mubai, the third prince of the Star Luo Imperial Family.
If Zhu Zhuqing hadn't already fallen out with the Nether Duke's Mansion, with no Nether Duke as an old father to step in and back her up, then her status as a future consort to a prince of the Star Luo Empire alone would have prompted him to demand far more Gold Soul Coins.
A mere hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins was already going easy on Zhu Zhuqing!
"A... a hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins?"
"I... I..."
"I don't have that much money right now..."
When she heard the exact amount of her ransom, Zhu Zhuqing stammered, her face full of embarrassment and distress.
Before she had escaped the Star Luo Empire, she could have paid a mere hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins without batting an eye.
The Gold Soul Coins she had taken from home alone had certainly amounted to no fewer than a hundred thousand, but the problem was that she now had fewer than ten thousand in her pocket!
She was a full ninety thousand Gold Soul Coins short of the hundred thousand demanded for her ransom.