Where Did the System Go?

"It looked like he could only take things one step at a time for now." Wang Shouzhe's expression was slightly grave, but he quickly came to terms with it. Even without a golden finger, he still had some advantages.

At the very least, after merging with his memories, he had discovered that although this world had many powerful experts, it lagged behind Earth in both civil development and advanced ways of thinking—even though he had only been an ordinary office worker with a university degree...

Just as Wang Shouzhe was about to sum up his advantages—

All of a sudden, the young servant Wang Gui rushed in from outside in a panic. "Clan Leader, Clan Leader, something terrible has happened! Sixth Master was beaten, and he sent someone back to ask for help!"

Sixth Master?

Wang Shouzhe frowned slightly as memories surged forth. "It's Sixth Uncle Wang Dinghai."

Wang Dinghai was Wang Shouzhe's paternal uncle, ranked sixth among the male members of the Ding Generation. His aptitude was ordinary and his cultivation unremarkable, but he was quite skilled in watercraft, so he was responsible for one of the clan's industries—the fishing fleet.

Now that Wang Dinghai had been beaten, something must have happened with the clan's fishing fleet. This was a perfect chance to personally observe this world.

"Calm down. What kind of behavior is this, running about in such a panic?" Once Wang Shouzhe thought this through, he calmed down. After rebuking him, he said evenly, "Prepare the carriage. We're going to take a look."

"Yes, Clan Leader." Wang Gui hurriedly acknowledged and dashed off to make preparations.

Following his memories, Wang Shouzhe left his room and strolled leisurely toward the main gates of the residence, studying the buildings, facilities, and layout of the main residence along the way and comparing them one by one with the memories in his mind.

On the way, he happened to see his legal mother, Gongsun Hui, leading several clan guards hurriedly toward the main gate, her face grave.

Wang Shouzhe saluted Gongsun Hui. "Greetings, Eldest Mother."

After merging with his memories, Wang Shouzhe already knew that his mother had died when he was young. Gongsun Hui was the legitimate wife his late father, Wang Dingyue, had married afterward. She had borne one legitimate daughter, Wang Luomiao, who was already eight this year.

Thus, although Gongsun Hui was Wang Shouzhe's legal mother, she was not his birth mother. Yet she was kind and sincere by nature, and had always treated Wang Shouzhe as if he were her own son, taking excellent care of him in every respect.

That was rather different from the usual fantasy novel formula.

The moment Gongsun Hui saw Wang Shouzhe, she stepped forward and took his hand, her face full of concern. "Zhe'er, why did you come out? Have you eaten? Are you feeling any better?"

The other clan guards also hurriedly clasped their fists and saluted Wang Shouzhe.

"Eldest Mother, I'm already fine. I also finished all the spirit food you had prepared. I'll explain everything to you in detail later." Wang Shouzhe quietly withdrew his hand, his expression turning solemn. "Eldest Mother, are you taking the clan guards to support Sixth Uncle? I'll go with you."

Gongsun Hui's face sank. After hesitating briefly, she said, "Zhe'er, since you have inherited the position of Clan Leader, you will face such matters sooner or later. Since your body has recovered, then come and take a look with us."

"Yes, Eldest Mother."

The two left the main gates of the residence together. Above them hung a plaque inscribed with the words Ping'an Wang Clan in sweeping, dragon-like strokes, imposing and extraordinary.

Yet together with the peeling paint on the corridor pillars and the white lanterns bearing the character "Mourning" swaying in the wind, it revealed the bleak desolation of the Wang Clan's fading fortunes.

"Clan Leader, Madam Gongsun, the carriage is ready." Wang Gui jogged over. "The sword and bow and arrows have been placed in the carriage."

After a brief discussion, Wang Shouzhe and Gongsun Hui rode in the same carriage, while the other four clan guards mounted yellow steeds and guarded them on both sides as they headed for Dingpu Ferry on the An River.

Along the way, Gongsun Hui explained the entire chain of events in detail.

With the mindset of both his past and present lives, Wang Shouzhe quickly sorted out the situation. The An River was a great river several hundred zhang wide, rich in distinctive aquatic life. A fishing fleet could bring lasting economic benefits.

But where there was profit, there would often be conflict. Naturally, none of Ping'an Town's Three Great Clans were willing to give up such a juicy piece of meat. After all kinds of struggles and compromises, the three great clans of Ping'an had each demarcated their own territories and agreed not to cross the boundaries.

The stretch of the An River from thirty li to the right of Dingpu Ferry to Boulder Shoal was the waters claimed by the Ping'an Wang Clan.

However, in recent years, the other two clans had produced outstanding talents one after another and kept rising in strength. Their appetites had grown ever larger, and with the overall territory being limited, it was only natural that they would stretch their chopsticks into someone else's pot.

Plans of gradual encroachment had long been unfolding. Year after year, the clan's territories and industries had steadily shrunk. The smaller their territory became, the scarcer their resources grew. Without resources, clan members found it even harder to develop, trapping them in a vicious cycle.

What made matters worse was that Ancestor Longyan, the Wang Clan's Sea-Stabilizing Needle, seemed to be growing weaker with each passing year. She had been in secluded cultivation for the past several years. Even when such a major incident had occurred within the clan, she had not shown herself once. Outsiders would inevitably speculate endlessly over whether she was still capable of fighting.

The situation did not look good. Wang Shouzhe furrowed his brow.

The Wang Clan Main Residence had been built against the mountains and beside the water, only a little over ten li from Dingpu Ferry. The roadbed was firm and maintained year-round. With clan guards scouting ahead, the road was clear, and the carriage arrived in less than half an hour.

This ferry crossing had already been one of Changning Guard's outposts when Ping'an Town was first established. After more than a century of Ping'an Town's development, Dingpu Ferry had become a vital transportation route connecting north and south.

All Three Great Clans of Peace had docks, ferries, shops, and other basic facilities here.

The ferry had some simple defensive structures. Its walls were rather crude, only five or six meters high, enough to withstand only small-scale Fierce Beast assaults.

After Wang Shouzhe's group entered the ferry, they headed straight for Deepwater Pier. Beneath the long wooden trestle bridges stood enormous timber pillars so wide that two arms could barely encircle them, holding the bridges up all the way into waters three or four zhang deep. In the deepwater zone, two more transverse trestle bridges formed a series of berths.

Ships of all sizes were moored at the berths—ferries, merchant vessels, and fishing boats.

From afar, they saw two groups confronting each other at the end of the trestle bridge. Both sides held clubs, blades, and forks, their emotions running high.

"Wang Sixth, you've got some nerve. You actually dared bring people to block your Young Master Yongzhou. Was the beating I gave you not hard enough?" A young man's mocking voice rang out.

"You little Liu Clan mongrel!" Another man roared, furious and agitated. "Didn't you just sneak up on me underwater? If you're a man, let's settle this with our own skills. We'll go back underwater and have a real fight with blade against blade! Your Sixth Master Wang will teach you little mongrel how to behave!"

"Wang Sixth, don't blame me for looking down on you. At your age, you've lived every last bit of your life on a dog's back. You don't have half a brain." The young man snorted disdainfully. "An underwater ambush is a tactic of battle. What, before a fight, do we have to announce in advance that tactics aren't allowed? Heh, you've truly grown more backward the longer you live. Why not get out of Ping'an Town early, so you don't waste grain?"

The young man's group burst into laughter and joined in the jeering. "Get out of Ping'an Town! Get out of Ping'an Town!"

Dingpu Ferry was crowded and disorderly, gathering many passing travelers and merchants. By now, they had all gathered around to watch the excitement, their discussions buzzing without end.

Today's conflict would surely spread to other places on their feet and through their mouths, passed from person to person. As the side that had suffered in this clash, the Ping'an Wang Clan would become a laughingstock for a time, the subject of idle chatter after meals, damaging the Wang Clan's prestige.

"You little Liu Clan mongrel!" The man's face had already turned dark red, his rage reaching its peak. "You've gone too far! Your Sixth Master is going all out against you!"

"You old Wang Clan dog, come if you've got the guts!"

A brawl was about to erupt, taut as a bowstring and ready to snap at the slightest touch.

"Stop!" Seeing the urgency of the situation, Gongsun Hui hurried forward and stepped between the two sides to stop them. "Wang Dinghai, Liu Yongzhou, calm down first. If you have something to say, say it properly."

Afraid that Eldest Mother might suffer, Wang Shouzhe waved his hand. The four Wang Clan guards immediately surged forward and shielded Gongsun Hui within their ranks. He followed closely behind, continuing to observe everything with cold eyes.

Both his observations at the scene and his memories told him that the young man dressed in close-fitting water gear, with a short blade at his waist and a somewhat frivolous air about him, was Liu Yongzhou, a member of the Liu Clan's Yong Generation.

Rumor had it that this man was skilled in water combat, especially water-escape techniques. He had once wielded a short blade and dived underwater to hunt and kill a first-tier Fierce Beast, a Red-Scaled Eel weighing more than two hundred jin. Though only twenty-three or twenty-four, he had already risen to fame and was a thousand-li steed of the Ping'an Liu Clan.

The other man was lean and dark-skinned, clearly someone who had made his living on the water for years. But his head and arms were both injured, wrapped in strips of rough cloth, making him look rather bedraggled.

That was Wang Shouzhe's paternal uncle—Wang Dinghai. He was specifically responsible for the Wang Clan's fishing operations within its territorial waters, and was likewise highly skilled in water combat and fishing. He was also one of the main catchers of the Red-Tail Spirit Mandarin Fish Wang Shouzhe had eaten earlier.

"Oh, so it's Madam Gongsun of the Wang Clan." The young man named Liu Yongzhou smiled and casually clasped his fists. Then he turned back to Wang Dinghai with mocking contempt. "Wang Sixth, you had a little friction with a junior like me, yet you brought out your clan sister-in-law to support you. Yongzhou admires you, admires you. I truly cannot compare."

"You..." Wang Dinghai's dark face flushed black-red.

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