Wu Youren had to admit that he was a little surprised. "You know about the Life and Death Knot too?"
This news really puzzled him.
It was not particularly strange that the man knew about the Life and Death Knot. What was strange was that he still dared to come looking for trouble despite knowing Wu Youren was under its protection.
Yet the male martial artist's answer was truly bizarre. "If the Life and Death Knot can collect protection money from you, so can we!"
You're asking for death yourself! Wu Youren shook his head, speechless. "You don't dare wager on killing the Weird Race?"
The male martial artist gave a contemptuous smile. "How could the paltry lives of people from Jin deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as the noble people of Great Liang?"
You really know how to court death! Wu Youren was utterly speechless. He simply pretended not to have heard.
It was not as though he had never experienced regional prejudice or personal attacks, but madness on this level was truly rare.
Cynthia also felt those words were somewhat inappropriate, but she was from Liang.
What interested her more was, "How did you find out about the Life and Death Knot?"
That was a force that did not even take the Mirage Sea Alliance seriously!
If they really had confirmed that Wu Youren was under the Life and Death Knot's protection, how did they dare provoke him like this?
The male martial artist glanced sideways at her. "Weren't you the one who told us?"
He was not talking nonsense. Cynthia really had said it herself, because the Life and Death Knot had refused to give the Mirage Sea Alliance face last time.
She had heard of the Life and Death Knot but was unsure just how powerful it was, so she had asked friends in the alliance about it.
His answer made her realize what had happened, but she still could not help looking stunned. "You knew it was the Life and Death Knot, and you're still collecting protection money?"
"What's so surprising about that?" The male martial artist snorted. "Others can collect it, but we can't?"
He genuinely was not trying to provoke anyone. He had done this sort of thing more than once, and had long since formed his own understanding of it.
Shali's ties to Great Knights were simply too close: one was her father, and another was her second brother!
Even if the Life and Death Knot also had a Great Knight behind it, so what? Would they really clash over such a trivial matter?
They were only targeting Wu Youren personally, and were not forbidding anyone else from collecting protection money from him. Each side would simply collect its own!
Thus, these people could not even be bothered to learn what sort of organization the Life and Death Knot actually was!
They had merely confirmed that, yes, they had heard the name, and it certainly was not some enormously prominent major power!
There was obvious astonishment on Cynthia's face. "You're just going to charge him twice like this?"
This was rather beneath even a martial artist's bottom line.
"That's none of your business!" The male martial artist ignored her and turned to Wu Youren. "You have three days!"
"If you can't hand over the protection money by then, you'll bear the consequences!"
With that, he turned and led his people away, not even bothering to look at Wu Youren's reaction.
Cynthia sighed worriedly. "What should we do? Why don't you come hide out with me for a couple of days?"
"You don't need to worry about it," Wu Youren said mildly, without any worry on his face.
At that moment, he was pondering, Why do I run into trouble every time Cynthia is around?
Once or twice could be called coincidence. If it happened every time and he still had no suspicions, would he even count as a normal person?
"Then go to the Life and Death Knot," Cynthia said, not knowing how to handle this either.
However, she had made serious inquiries about this force.
The organization's background was far more terrifying than ordinary students imagined. For a time, she had even wondered whether she had misunderstood something.
To put it bluntly, she did not believe Shali could stand up to the Life and Death Knot just because she had two Great Knights among her relatives.
But she had no dealings with them, so she could only leave the youth from Jin to handle it himself.
Wu Youren nodded slightly, unable to help muttering inwardly, Is this... pushing things forward?
He really was not seeing enemies in every tree and blade of grass. In this environment, he could not afford to relax. The slightest negligence could plunge him into eternal damnation.
That very night, he called the burly man on his wristwatch. He had only added him last time.
He did not ask for help, merely posing a question. "If someone comes to provoke me, am I entitled to fight back?"
The burly man was clearly somewhat surprised. Only after asking a couple of questions did he understand the rough sequence of events.
Once he understood, he asked with some astonishment, "Do you think Great Liang would tolerate someone from Jin resorting to violence in the martial academy?"
"At worst, one life for another," Wu Youren answered without hesitation. "At least I wouldn't have disgraced Jin."
The male martial artist today really had enraged him, but as for trading one life for another... he was not that honest!
The burly man paused, then actually laughed. "Is that supposed to be a threat?"
"How am I qualified to threaten you?" Wu Youren replied evenly. "The main thing is that I can't come up with that money."
The man was right. He really did have that thought: if a foreign hostage's safety could not be guaranteed in Great Liang, what would other countries think?
It was not that hostages could not be killed. If they died at the hands of Liang's authorities, any charge could be slapped on them.
But if they lost their lives at the hands of unofficial forces, would that not suggest that order in Liang had somewhat broken down?
Of course, Liang's authorities might not care about that kind of reputation. No one should take themselves too seriously.
Still, it was hardly a good thing. If it could be avoided, who would willingly invite needless trouble?
"Heh, no money?" The burly man sneered. "Your money... most of it is in your prince's hands!"
Every hostage had to hand over sixty percent of their living allowance. Eight years had passed-did they really think Great Liang's guards were just eating for free?
But his words certainly had more than one purpose. Chiefly, he was pointing out that every grievance had its source and every debt its debtor: Liang was not the one fleecing him the worst!
Wu Youren did not take up that thread. "I just want to ask whether I can fight back if I'm attacked."
Instead of answering, the burly man asked, "Do you want us to step in and handle it?"
Isn't that fucking obvious? Wu Youren could certainly make that demand: I paid protection money. Did you collect it for nothing?
Yet he knew very well that he could not make even such a perfectly reasonable demand.
The other side was not an organization that listened to reason, and he himself had no standing to demand that it do so!
More importantly, the moment he spoke up, there was a very strong chance that it would breed new complications.
So he answered, "Whether your side intends to intervene won't be influenced by me. I'm not worthy!"
"Still, the Life and Death Knot's name really doesn't command much respect... sorry, I mean no offense!"
Those words carried considerable weight. What powerful agency could tolerate being looked down upon?
What a sharp tongue... Even the burly man was finding it somewhat hard to take. "You don't even know to soften your words when asking for help?"
Wu Youren did not follow his lead. "I'm merely consulting you on a question. I'm not qualified to ask for help."
"All right, I understand." The burly man was somewhat helpless against someone who refused to budge. "I'll get back to you."
Wu Youren was a little surprised. "You can't give me an answer right away?"
He really could not! The burly man knew that the nature of his profession did not permit him to operate like that.
Every hostage who might be turned was a valuable resource. Even with sufficient authority, he could not make a rash decision!
The human heart was the hardest thing in the world to fathom. Even an old hand might overlook something.
Thus, this matter had to go through an internal procedure.
But he certainly would not explain it that way. "I've only heard your side of the story. Don't I need to investigate the specifics?"
Wu Youren figured he had now reported the matter, and all he needed to do was quietly await the result.
Shali's people had given him three days. That should be more than enough time for the Life and Death Knot to investigate.
Yet the facts proved that he had oversimplified things again. By the evening of the third day, there was still no reply.
Still trying to break me like a hawk? Wu Youren was speechless too. These people really had no scruples about how they did things!
Fortunately, he had not pinned all his hopes on them. Around his dwelling, he had set up numerous traps to give warning and catch people out.
Even if the Life and Death Knot did not respond, his earlier actions counted as having reported the matter, so he could consider acting in self-defense.
Of course, whether it was justified was not his to decide, but he had at least fulfilled his obligation to notify them.
On the morning of the fourth day, the male martial artist appeared with his people again, arriving right on schedule to collect payment.
This, too, was a strategy, one that could exert tremendous pressure: We're watching you.
Wu Youren's answer was, "I gave the money to the Life and Death Knot. Go ask them for it."
Yet this attempt to shift the trouble onto someone else really did not work. What protection racketeer would not know that trick?
The male martial artist stated quite plainly that they would not ask anyone else for it.
The point was that Wu Youren had given their money to someone else. In that case, there was nothing more to say. They hoped he would sleep well tonight!
They could act now, too, but doing it in broad daylight would somewhat affect Red Pine's image.
Wu Youren also had a decent relationship with the administrator of this area. The viscount's daughter did not care about a martial academy handyman, but... why bother?
Waiting until nightfall to act would show consideration for everyone's face!
That afternoon, the administrator came and said supplies could resume, starting tomorrow!
He even asked how the discussion with the group that had come that morning had gone.
Wu Youren was absolutely certain that the question was purely idle curiosity. The man had not the slightest intention of intervening.
If he wanted to help, this should not have been his reaction.
Wu Youren said casually, "Nothing came of it. Something this minor isn't enough to scare me."
"Then you need to be careful," the administrator finally warned.
"Try not to go out for the time being. Around here, I can at least ask some questions... better than nothing."
He did have some sense of responsibility, even if not much,
But considering the "Jin" label Wu Youren bore, even that much was already quite rare.
"All right, thank you," the youth from Jin said, expressing his sincere appreciation.
Night finally came, indifferent to human will.
Dusk had barely fallen when Wu Youren raised his eyebrows inside his dwelling and flicked out two small daggers.
Anyone coming at this hour could only be an enemy. He did not even need to ask who they were!
The next moment, several jets of water sprayed out-not water, but oil!
"Wait!" a woman's voice called out. It was unmistakably Cynthia's. "It's me!"
"Leave!" Wu Youren's voice was exceptionally cold. "Or don't blame me for showing no mercy!"
"Planning to set a fire?" an icy voice rang out. "You're courting death!"