Chapter 40

Chapter 40

The Great Xia Dynasty had stood for exactly 980 years, a true behemoth of an empire.

Though this dynasty had been patched and repaired for nearly a millennium and was now riddled with severe ailments, the ruling class seated in Luoyang remained unshakable.

The fuel that kept this massive machine of governance running was the Monstrous Beasts.

By breeding and capturing all kinds of rare and exotic Monstrous Beasts, they had cultivated a powerful legion.

The Jade Balance Army, to which Han Lie and his men belonged, was one such force.

Unlike the Imperial Forest Guard that protected the Imperial City, the Jade Balance Army’s duty was to scour the world for rare treasures for the Great Xia Dynasty.

While the Imperial Forest Guard was mostly composed of the sons of nobility, the Jade Balance Army accepted any man of good standing from across the realm-it all depended on whether one could survive the strengthening process.

Out of ten living men who went in, it was considered a success if even one came out alive.

“Does eating Monstrous Beast meat kill that many people?” Qin Ying realized belatedly how reckless her previous act of eating the Danghu had been.

Han Lie tilted his head. He keenly sensed that something was slightly off in the Supreme Deity’s tone.

Being a meticulous man, he immediately thought of that Danghu and hurried to explain, “Treatment and strengthening are two different things!”

“Take the Danghu, for example. Those with eye ailments eat its meat to cure them, while those without any illness eat it to sharpen their vision.”

“Strengthening, however, involves forcibly reconstructing the body under the effects of a Secret Elixir.”

Qin Ying breathed a private sigh of relief, and her attention immediately shifted to what interested her: “Secret Elixir?”

Han Lie pondered for a moment. Sensing Qin Ying’s interest in the Secret Elixir, he thought it over and said, “If the Supreme Deity desires it, I will find a way to obtain it for you once I return to Luoyang.”

The Secret Elixir used to build an army was bound to be a secret among secrets, but as long as the Supreme Deity wanted it, he would do everything in his power to get his hands on it.

Han Lie wasn’t one to complain about difficulties. Qin Ying couldn’t see his expression, but hearing his certain tone, she assumed the Secret Elixir was something that could be obtained with a bit of effort, so she casually agreed. “Alright.”

They chatted a bit more about the affairs of Great Xia until the sun was fully up in the World in the Box.

Commandant Lin had used the snake medicine and managed to pull his foot back from the gates of hell. However, because he had been poisoned for so long and had endured a bumpy escape, he was barely hanging on by a thread and it was unclear when he would wake up.

Once day broke, Han Lie busily organized the troops to deliver medicine throughout the Commandery to drive away the Fei Yi.

After he had been busy for a while, it reached eight o’clock in the evening on Qin Ying’s side. She stretched her aching neck and closed the lid of the box.

Beside her was a palm-sized notebook Qin Ying had bought from a supermarket on her way back.

The first few pages were filled with intelligence regarding the Great Xia Dynasty within the box.

She casually flipped to the second page and circled one of the keywords-Giants.

Seeing that Specimen Bottle at the Cultural Center, Qin Ying’s intuition told her that the thing shared the same origin as the World in the Box.

That was why the moment she saw the bottle, her mind was filled with conspiracy theories and she prepared to flee immediately.

However, after interacting with Old Miao and the others, she discovered they knew nothing about it.

Old Miao told her that the thing in the Specimen Bottle was very likely the race of small people recorded in the Classic of Mountains and Seas-the Jingren.

Qin Ying had just asked Han Lie about the Jingren in the World in the Box, and the answer she received was rather speechless.

Nine hundred years ago, when Great Xia’s national strength was at its peak, they had sent out thousands of ships and tens of thousands of sea beasts to conquer the lands beyond the Eastern Sea. Relying on their unique Monstrous Beast legions, they had trampled countless nations of divergent peoples.

Seeing that the Giant Country and the tiny Jingren recorded in the Classic of the Great Wilderness: East had both faced national extinction, some survivors were captured by Great Xia nobles to serve as slaves.

The giants pulled carts and built city walls, while the tiny Jingren were kept as exotic pets.

They were treated like livestock, and after several hundred years, their bloodlines had become a muddled mess. Pure-blooded giants or Jingren were almost extinct, so Han Lie didn’t have much information on these divergent peoples.

Qin Ying’s pen drew circle after circle around the word ‘Jingren.’ The feeling of being shrouded in mist was truly unpleasant.
To uncover the truth, she would have to gather information from both inside and outside the box.

With a long sigh, she tore out the first ten pages of her notebook and burned them one by one until they were nothing but ash, which she then buried in the barren backyard.

The next day, Qin Ying woke up at nine-thirty.

The World in the Box wasn’t much different from the day before. Han Lie and his men were busy driving away the Fei Yi and other Monstrous Beasts.

Qin Ying finished washing up and headed out, timing her departure perfectly. As a Punctuality Fanatic, she had always believed that beautiful moments shouldn’t be wasted on school-not even for a second.

Back then, she had always stepped through the classroom door just as the bell rang; she certainly wasn’t going to be any more proactive now that she was working.

She arrived at the Cultural Preservation Institute at exactly 9:59 AM, only to be greeted by a disheveled, bleary-eyed Yin Minmin.

Since the salary was pitifully low and Yin Minmin had her own expensive little hobbies, she simply lived in the office to save money.

When the precisely-on-time Qin Ying walked in, she was faced with a girl who had spent the entire night binge-watching shows. It was unclear what kind of tragedy she had been watching, but the girl’s eyes were as swollen as a Sad Frog’s, and she spoke with a heavy nasal congestion.

“Sister Ying, Old Miao says our working hours are unscientific. He says we need to nurture our yang energy in the morning and rest well at noon, so we usually don’t start working until the afternoon.”

Qin Ying was impressed. These people had found a remarkably reasonable excuse for Slacking Off.

She chose a vacant room to use as her office. After Yin Minmin handed her the key, the girl wobbled back to catch up on her sleep.

The office Qin Ying had selected happened to have a window that looked out onto the upturned eaves of the thousand-year-old wooden pagoda. The room smelled damp and musty, and its only furniture was a desk with a broken leg.

Qin Ying grabbed a rag and a mop and cleaned the office thoroughly.

It was nearly noon when Wen Hao finally walked in, wearing a black administrative jacket. With the way he carried his briefcase, he didn’t look at all like someone who had been Slacking Off until now.

He gave Qin Ying a friendly greeting and asked if she wanted to sit in his office for a while.

Thinking she might be able to fish for some information, Qin Ying agreed, but she could barely stop herself from facepalming the moment she stepped inside.

Calling the room an office was a stretch; it was more like a gaming lounge. The walls were lined with game consoles and figurines, there was a large projection TV, and a corner of the room was packed with snack cabinets and a beverage cooler.

Wen Hao pushed his black-rimmed glasses up his nose and said with a perfectly straight face, “Feel free to play or eat whatever you like.”

Qin Ying felt that ‘playing’ wasn’t the issue here.

Wen Hao friendly offered her a controller, asking if she wanted to play a newly released Folk Horror Game.

The temptation of being a Wage Thief by playing games during work hours was truly alluring. Qin Ying hesitated for a second.

Just as she reached out to take it, a shout suddenly echoed from the courtyard where the pagoda tree grew.

“Is anyone here?”

Wen Hao’s pupils dilated in shock. “A visitor?”

“We haven’t seen a living soul in two years.”

He looked at Qin Ying as if she were a rare specimen. “Old Miao was right. It really took someone with a Hua Gai destiny joining us to actually give us something to do!”

“Sister, you’re incredible!”

Qin Ying wasn’t sure if Wen Hao was complimenting her or insulting her. Her lip twitched. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

As they spoke, the person in the courtyard grew impatient and strode toward them. “Where are the people from Cultural Preservation Institute No. 3?”

Number three.

Qin Ying made a mental note of the designation as she followed Wen Hao outside.

They came face-to-face with a man who was smoking. Despite the heat, he wore a thick, padded jacket. He smoked aggressively, taking deep drags into his lungs before exhaling.

Seeing Qin Ying and Wen Hao, he held the cigarette between his fingers and said impatiently, “Someone referred me here to find Miao Lixin.”

“I’ve run into something strange!”