Volume 1: Spring in Wulong Town Chapter 189: Having money is too painful
Wulong Town, West Street.
Every shop that used to belong to Hidden Blue Villa was turned upside down, from the rooftop to the cellar.
"No. I measured it one foot at a time with a ruler. The structure inside and outside is consistent. There is no hidden wall."
"I don't have one here either. Although there is a cellar, it is a closed cellar and there is no secret passage inside."
There is no store in Wulong Town that dares to stop the inspection of Tangjiabao, so the whole process goes very quickly.
However, the other two managers of Yinlan Villa did not hide in any shop, even the shops that were previously run by Yinlan Villa.
Another group of people from Tangjiabao searched the outskirts of Wulong Town and various villages, leaving no courtyard unsearched, but they also did not find any clues.
As for Tang Boyuan and his group, they followed Zheng Qian and his group, who were familiar with the mountain roads, and went into the large and small mountains near Wulong Town, directly looking for the so-called Lan family secret cave.
One day, two days, three days...
As time went by, the hearts of the people in Tangjiabao sank little by little.
Not only was the location of the Lan family's secret cave not found, but the other two managers who were responsible for the blood sacrifice offerings like Manager Li also did not reveal any clues.
Disappointment, fatigue, panic...
Various complex emotions continued to grow and spread in Tangjiabao.
Tang Zheng watched the children of Tangjiabao busying in and out day after day, leaving with hope and returning with disappointment. The more he watched, the more he felt something was wrong: "No. Xiaotang, this won't work."
"What's wrong..." Xiaotang looked at Tang Zheng with a pair of red eyes.
"If you keep searching like this, you will collapse before the Hidden Blue Villa even attacks you! You must reduce the number of personnel, take turns to rest, and maintain normal star power training and martial arts practice!"
"But..." Tang Xiaotang's eyes became even redder. "We have already searched like this, but we still can't find the Lan family's secret cave. If we reduce the number of manpower..."
"There are three teams now. One team is investigating Wulong Town, one team is investigating the suburbs, and one team is looking for the Lan family's secret cave. So, only three people are needed every day."
"Ah?" Tang Xiaotang rubbed her eyes, "How can three people be enough?"
"Tangjiabao has so many young talents, but Yinlan Villa has none. Think about how they did it?" Tang Zheng looked at Tang Xiaotang.
"Uh... hired hunting groups." Tang Xiaotang didn't think of it at all for a while because she was in danger of being massacred and exterminated.
Tang Zheng nodded and held up three fingers. "That's right, we'll hire a hunting group! Starting today, we at Tangjiabao will only send out three people as team leaders every day, and the rest of us...will just hire reputable hunting groups like Zhao Shanhe to help investigate."
Tang Xiaotang had no objection and nodded immediately.
"It would be best if we could directly invite strong men above five stars, even a hundred or eighty would be fine, money is not a problem..." Tang Zheng suddenly raised his hand.
"..." Tang Xiaotang looked at him with a look of giving up, "Are you asking me to invite the leaders of the Zhaixing Sect and the Qintian Sect?"
"Is it okay?" Tang Zheng asked.
"What do you think?" Tang Xiaotang was originally very tired and was almost made to laugh by Tang Zheng.
Because Tang Zheng’s idea was so funny.
Five-star experts are already capable of founding their own sects, so how could they possibly come out and risk their lives just for money?
"Wait a moment." Seeing her rushing out again, Tang Zheng waved her back and said, "Let Zheng Qian and the others apply for a hunting group nameplate... No, directly apply for an independent corps nameplate, and register it under the name of Tangjiabao. I will pay them a salary."
"Well, I originally wanted to pay a salary, but Brother Zheng said that they owed us Tangjiabao, so he didn't want any compensation..." Tang Xiaotang said.
"We can do without it for one or two days, but can we do without it for eight or ten years?" Tang Zheng waved his hand. "Tangjiabao can provide a martial arts training ground, food and lodging, but you have to take care of your own equipment, martial arts, and accessories to assist in your training."
Neither hunting groups nor independent corps belong to the regular military organization. Each noble family will only pay to recruit some hunting groups and independent corps into the combat sequence when the battle is intense. If called up, the hunting group will have a service period of fifteen days, while the independent corps will have a service period of twenty days.
The rewards a hunting group receives are twice that of regular troops stationed in the same war zone, and independent corps receive three times as much.
The noble families do not need to maintain soldiers all year round. Instead, they only need to spend two to three months' military pay in the autumn and winter to replenish their combat effectiveness. Therefore, most of the noble families near the border adopt an open and encouraging policy towards such private soldiers.
Tang Zheng took out a bag of purple gold Tong Bao and gave it to Tang Xiaotang. He had solved a problem - the purple gold Tong Bao was not pure enough and could not be put into the purple gold belt.
Tang Zheng only left a few dozen purple gold coins in his small purse. Watching Tang Xiaotang leave, he couldn't help but sigh: "I have to think of some ways to develop more ways to spend money..."
He hasn't even spent the money he earned for several months, let alone the money in the purple gold belt!
What happened to the promise of “spending all your money before you die”?
Not only is it not getting closer to the goal, but there is a tendency to get further and further away from the goal?
"Having money is so painful." Tang Zheng returned to the courtyard and fell on the bed in depression.
Of course, Tang Zheng himself knew that this was a false proposition.
If he had already reached nine stars, then of course he could spend money wherever he wanted and do whatever he wanted to die. But, after all, it was his current strength that limited his full talent for dying and prevented him from playing happily in the corrupt and evil ocean of money.
"I want to reach the ninth star ah ah ah ah!" Tang Zheng's whole face was facing downwards, buried in the pillow.
…
The summer in Wulong Town has finally arrived.
Every evening, there will be bursts of rain, as if washing away the dust of the day.
However, even though Tangjiabao sent people to watch every side door of Yinlan Villa for twelve hours without interruption, they still gained nothing.
There is simply no one coming in or out of Yinlan Villa!
As for the other two stewards mentioned by Steward Li, no one saw them coming in or out.
Obviously, they didn't need to go back to Yinlan Villa. They just needed to prepare the offerings and send them to the secret cave of the Lan family where their ancestors had been in seclusion.
Tangjiabao tried every possible means, including forging a letter from Manager Li, asking hunters to go to the mountains and shout "There is a forest fire", etc., but nothing worked.
Even Azhi and Xiaolingling volunteered to be bait, letting Zheng Qian pretend to be a human trafficker in an attempt to lure out the other two managers of Yinlan Villa, but it was equally ineffective.
In his previous life in the game, Tang Zheng, who could come up with at least dozens of strategies to solve a difficult task, felt for the first time that he had met an opponent.
He has proposed no less than ten methods, including active, passive, oppressive, and showing weakness. Some of the methods were so real that even the people in Tangjiabao were scared into breaking out in cold sweats, but there was no response from Yinlan Villa!
Tang Zixie even wanted to take the risk and sneak into Yinlan Villa, but Tang Zheng immediately shattered this idea.
None of the important managers of Yinlan Villa have returned, and the ancestors of the Lan family are not in the villa. What are they going to do in there?
The effect is not great, and it only increases the danger!
"Uncle, have you gotten anything new out of Steward Li?" Tang Zheng asked several stewards while walking up and down the hall.
"I asked yesterday and this morning, but there's nothing new." A steward sighed, "That steward Li has even told the story four times about how he peeped at Lan Shaoqing's maid taking a bath when he was ten years old. There's really nothing new to say."
It's night.
The night wind in Tangjiabao is not refreshing and cool, but rather humid and stuffy.
In the hall of Tangjiabao, there were only Tang Zheng, a few managers, and coaches like Meng Fenghua.
Tang Xiaotang and the others were all sent away by Tang Zheng to "recuperate their energy" because no one knew when the ancestor of the Lan family would come out of seclusion or when he would suddenly attack Tangjiabao.
It was almost midnight when Tang Boyuan rushed back from outside. As soon as he entered the room, he placed the blood sacrifice formation diagram on the table in front of Tang Zheng and the others.
"I've asked before, this isn't the formation diagram for the Moon-Slaying Blood Sacrifice, it's... the Moon-Devouring Blood Sacrifice! If it's the former, there are still three points to break the formation, but the latter." Tang Boyuan's eyes darkened as he spoke, "No, there is no point to break this secret method!"
"No point can be broken?" Several managers turned pale, "How can Yinlan Villa have such a secret method?"
"No, the Moon Devouring Blood Sacrifice is a more extreme formation. Strictly speaking, it is not as complete as the Moon Killing Blood Sacrifice." Tang Boyuan continued: "The secret method of the Moon Killing Blood Sacrifice has a point to break the formation, but it can allow the main priest to completely upgrade one star level! Although the Moon Devouring Blood Sacrifice does not have a point to break the formation, the price paid is a 'closed loop formation '..."
"What is a closed-loop formation?" Several managers looked at each other. Formations were too profound. They only knew about the formation of a martial arts training ground, and they didn't understand anything else.
"Master Mo Feng is talking about a closed-loop formation, which is a self-circulating formation, because Xing Bei is not the main star, and it does not possess real star power. After he introduced Xing Bei into the Palace of Life, the formation was closed. Xing Bei's power caused a certain improvement, which must also cause a certain weakening at the same time!"
The managers didn't quite understand: "So... Xing Bo weakened the vitality of those children and increased his star power?"
Tang Boyuan shook his head: "Master Mo Feng said that the child's blood might be used to carve a formation. It can only be regarded as... a material for setting up a formation, and it cannot bring any substantial improvement to the old man of the Lan family."
Using the blood of a thousand children as the material...
Although this is true, it still seems too cruel to say it out loud.
There was silence in the hall for several breaths.
"If there is really nothing we can do..." A steward raised his head and said, "We can only send Tang Zheng and the others... the younger ones away as soon as possible."
The other managers didn't say anything, but it seemed that they almost all agreed with this statement.
Yinlan Villa was willing to completely blockade itself just because it didn't want Tangjiabao to be prepared in advance. The Lan family's ancestor's intention was very clear, he wanted to wipe out Tangjiabao in one fell swoop, leaving no one alive.
To be honest, Tangjiabao reacted in advance and played a game of hide-and-seek with Yinlan Villa. As long as they could successfully hide until the ancestor of the Lan family was killed by the backlash of the blood sacrifice, it would be considered a victory.
Although if everyone in Tangjiabao were to evacuate, they would be too conspicuous and would be impossible to hide completely, but if only the younger generation were to leave and Tang Boyuan and the others were left in Tangjiabao to contain and delay the team, there would still be a chance for Tang Zheng and Tang Xiaotang to survive.
Tang Boyuan was lost in thought when Zheng Qian and Master Zhen suddenly rushed in: "Hurry... hurry to the firewood room to check... Manager Li... Manager Li..."
"What's wrong?" Tang Zheng stood up.
Zheng Qian, a two-star peak warrior, was running out of breath. His face was pale and he couldn't even finish a sentence.
Generally speaking, Zheng Qian's first reaction when encountering something is to "analyze it" first. Based on Tang Zheng's understanding of him, even if Manager Li in the firewood room had died, he would not skip the process of counting with his fingers and just run over in panic.
"Let's go and take a look." Tang Boyuan didn't ask Zheng Qian any more questions. He just waved his sleeves and walked towards the firewood room where Manager Li was imprisoned...
