Overthinking It

However, Ma Feifei's joy was short-lived. He realized that the system's challenge mission offered no reward, meaning that he would not receive any benefit regardless of whether Ma Feifei won or lost the mission.

"Then what am I doing here? I'm waiting to find Dragon Girl." Ma Feifei felt frustrated thinking this, and mentally asked the system to send him out. This mission was completely meaningless...

"Because the host previously agreed to the combat mission, you cannot leave before the mission ends." The system's answer filled Ma Feifei with despair.

I didn't pay attention to the prompts at the time, and I habitually assumed that every task would come with a reward, which led to this awkward situation.

Fortunately, there was no reward or Punishment; it was merely a waste of Ma Feifei's time. According to the timeline in the book, this Battle of Conquest should actually end in about an hour, so the wasted time was not much and was within acceptable limits.

Thinking this, Ma Feifei calmed down and looked up at the dozen or so armored generals on either side of him, then paused, momentarily stunned: What should he do next? He'd never been a general before...

"Ahem..." Ma Feifei coughed twice seriously, and the generals on both sides immediately straightened their backs, looked straight ahead, and waited for Ma Feifei to give orders.

"All of you, step back," Ma Feifei said in a deep voice.

"Uh..." The generals exchanged bewildered glances. Shouldn't the general be issuing battle orders and announcing the start time for the siege? Why were they being told to retreat?

"Yes, sir!" At this time, more than a hundred years had passed since Shang Yang's reforms in the Qin State. The entire Qin State followed the rule of law, and the Qin Army had strict military discipline. As subordinates, they could not disobey the words of their commander. So even though they had doubts in their hearts, they still obediently obeyed and left.

After watching the generals leave, Ma Feifei got up and walked out of the tent. The guards behind Ma Feifei, holding halberds and axes, quickly followed.

Stepping out of the camp, one is greeted by rows of tents that look like steamed buns, stretching for dozens of miles without end. Everywhere, one can see soldiers in black armor patrolling back and forth, wielding halberds and axes. Banners with the black character "Qin" on them flutter in the wind, and a solemn atmosphere envelops the entire Qin Army camp.

"Which direction is Yandu Jicheng?" Ma Feifei asked, glancing around.

"Reporting to the General, it's fifty li to the northeast," the guard beside Ma Feifei replied respectfully.

"Hmm..." Ma Feifei turned to the northeast. Apart from the continuous tents blocking the view, the city walls of this era were relatively low and could not be seen from fifty miles away. Therefore, Ma Feifei could only imagine what Jicheng looked like.

This battle was irrelevant to Ma Feifei. He only needed to consider two things: whether or not to let Yuwen Hongdu complete the story mission and obtain the Emperor's Aura, and how he himself could benefit from this story mission.

The first point is easy to handle. Logically speaking, Yuwen Hongdu a customer of the Bookstore. As the Bookstore owner, Ma Feifei should not, in principle, prevent book lovers from profiting from the books, unless there is a grudge between them. This is a matter of integrity, and Ma Feifei's values are quite sound in this regard. He runs Bookstore, and it is his luck if book lovers profit. Sheer Force preventing them as the Bookstore owner would only ruin the reputation of his own Bookstore.

Therefore, in this Battle of Conquest, Ma Feifei will definitely side with Yuwen Hongdu, allowing him to reverse the situation, Protect Jicheng, complete the mission, and obtain the Emperor's Aura.

Then another problem arises: if book lovers want to earn money, the shop owner can't just work for them for free, right? If opening Bookstore is only to serve a wide range of book lovers without allowing the shop owner to earn a corresponding income, Ma Feifei feels there's no point in continuing to run the Bookstore.

However, the system did not provide any rewards for the task, nor did it even explain whether the Qin Army's capture of Yan's Jicheng or whether Yuwen Hongdu's Protect Yan's Jicheng should be considered a victory.

Simply put, this is a free-response question. The system only presented the question, but there is no answer. No matter what Ma Feifei chooses, it counts as completing the task, only without any task rewards.

The system doesn't offer rewards, but Ma Feifei can't work for free. Serving the readers is fine, but he must also receive corresponding compensation; only then is it reasonable.

Since he couldn't rely on the system to gain any benefits, the only one he could count on was Yuwen Hongdu, the enemy force that had come to the world of the book with him.

"I'll help you out, and you'll give me something in return. That's fair, isn't it?" Ma Feifei thought to himself, looking towards the northeast.

"Your Majesty, a Qin Army envoy has arrived outside the city, saying he is here on the orders of Qin General Wang Jian to deliver a letter to you." In the Jicheng Palace, Yuwen Hongdu was kneeling in the main hall, listening to the ministers and generals below discuss how to proceed with the defense of the Yan Jicheng, when a soldier rushed in.

"Wang Jian?" Yuwen Hongdu frowned. He already knew this man's name; he was the supreme leader of the Qin Army's attack on Yan capital. But what did it mean for him to send a letter at this time? Was it to persuade him to surrender?

"Bring it up," Yuwen Hongdu said calmly.

"Yes!" The kneeling taxi driver stood up, took a few steps up the steps, and handed the brocade pouch in his hand to Yuwen Hongdu.

Yuwen Hongdu took the brocade pouch, pulled open the thin string, and took out a piece of cloth covered with densely written small characters.

"Hmm?" Yuwen Hongdu was somewhat surprised at first glance.

These characters are actually from the Azure Dragon Continent! (Note: The text in all books is automatically converted into the other world's language by the system. The protagonist is a soul transmigrated into this world, retaining memories of the original body, so the transcription is also done in the other world's language.)

Moreover, the very first sentence begins with the four characters "Yuwen Hongdu." This Wang Jian actually knows him? Yuwen Hongdu was secretly alarmed: Could it be that other readers have also entered the world of "Han Feizi"?

Thinking of this, Yuwen Hongdu suppressed his surprise and continued reading. The more he read, the more shocked he became, because what was written was exactly what he had thought. The other party was indeed a cultivator from the Azure Dragon Continent. Now, he had triggered the world in the book "Han Feizi" together with the other party and had also received a mission. The mission required him to conquer the Yan capital Jicheng. In other words, this fellow reader had become his enemy.

Yuwen Hongdu originally thought his opponents were just these natives. To be honest, he didn't take them seriously. But now, a cultivator from the Azure Dragon Continent has appeared on the other side, making the situation somewhat unpredictable. Whether he can Protect Yuwen Hongdu Jicheng is now uncertain.

To Yuwen Hongdu's surprise, the purpose of this friend's letter was to ask Yuwen Hongdu wanted to Protect Jicheng. If so, the friend could use Wang Jian's identity to secretly let the Yan Army Protect Jicheng. Of course, Yuwen Hongdu would have to pay the friend a certain reward.

"Such a good thing?" Yuwen Hongdu fell into deep thought after reading the contents. As the prime minister of a country, he would not consider things so one-sidedly. Since the other party had also entered the world of the book and become his enemy, they must have received a mission from the Mysterious Bookstore. The mission reward might also be the Emperor's Aura.

The fact that the other party could give up something as precious as the Emperor's Aura to exchange for some reward is clearly disproportionate to the gain. What can compare to the Emperor's Aura? Apart from divine artifacts and immortality, nothing can compare.

Therefore, it is very likely that this is a trap, Yuwen Hongdu thought.