Chapter 776: Winning over people with virtue
Ren Xiaosu watched as the steam locomotive disappeared into the distance. “He ran off just like that?”
When Ren Xiaosu saw w.a.n.g Congyang flee, he lost interest in pursuing him. In order to keep up with w.a.n.g Congyang’s speed, he would have to use his own steam locomotive for the pursuit until w.a.n.g Congyang was completely exhausted.
Second, Ren Xiaosu felt it was an option to keep the other party alive so he could continue taking the blame. Of course, he could not let others know about this thought of his.
Yang Xiaojin glanced at Ren Xiaosu before conjuring her black sniper rifle. “Should we go after him?”
“Unnecessary.” Ren Xiaosu quickly stopped Yang Xiaojin and said, “Look, my questioning just now has already made him so ashamed that he wants to be a good person. Let’s not keep fighting and killing all day. We have to win people over with virtue.”
Yang Xiaojin wondered, “You? Win over people with virtue?”
Honestly, no matter how much Yang Xiaojin glorified Ren Xiaosu in her mind, she would still find it very difficult to a.s.sociate him with that saying.
But after pondering for a while, Yang Xiaojin took out a dagger from her boot and carved “virtue” in small letters on the black sniper rifle’s b.u.t.t.
Then Yang Xiaojin decisively fired at the steam locomotive in the distance. She stood steadily as though she were not affected by the recoil at all.
About a second later, when the bullet hit the train, w.a.n.g Congyang nearly spat blood in the carriage. After all, any attacks on the steam locomotive would be transferred back onto the user.
But he did not have time for that. The most important thing now was to quickly get out of this d.a.m.ned place.
Yang Xiaojin put down the black sniper rifle and said to Ren Xiaosu, “Did you mean this way of winning over people with virtue?”
Ren Xiaosu was startled. What was with this girl’s comprehension of things? Her interpretation of “winning over people with virtue” was to carve the word “virtue” in the b.u.t.t of the rifle and shoot at someone with it?
Using “virtue” to win over someone?
More importantly, she was actually able to carve the word on it. ‘That’s the f.u.c.king black sniper rifle, alright!‘
Ren Xiaosu picked up Yang Xiaojin’s black sniper rifle and saw “virtue” elegantly inscribed on it. It was like it originally came with the rifle.
Ren Xiaosu was silent for a moment. “Well, if you say so I guess…”
He looked up at the sky and lamented how the girl next to him was so much more resolute than him the majority of the time.
But wasn’t this the reason why he liked her?
…
Stronghold 61 was now in a very orderly state. Residents could leave their doors open at night and no one would take things that were not theirs.
Currently, not only were there surveillance cameras installed in the stronghold, even the town had them as well.
As such, when Ren Xiaosu finally returned to Stronghold 61’s town again, he somehow felt very uncomfortable everywhere he went. This was no longer the town he was familiar with.
The shacks in front of them were still dilapidated and the roads remained muddy. However, brand new surveillance cameras were now installed above their heads.
Ren Xiaosu found it a little ironic. Actually, the w.a.n.g Consortium did not lack any money since it was located in one of the richest regions in the Central Plains. However, they would rather fill the town with surveillance cameras than build more brick houses for the refugees to have homes to live in.
It was really a little out of place for these technologically advanced surveillance cameras to appear in the slums.
When Ren Xiaosu led Yang Xiaojin into town, he said to her, “This was where I lived when I first arrived at the Central Plains. At that time, I wanted to look for y’all, but I didn’t know where to start and didn’t dare to expose my ident.i.ty. After that, I got to know about the Anjing House through the storyteller and had wanted to join them to make use of their resources to search for everyone. But I slowly realized that the Anjing House was not as honest as what they say, so I gradually dropped the idea.”
“Mhm.” Yang Xiaojin nodded. “The Anjing House was actually abandoned as soon as it was established. It was just a disguise for the Saboteurs’ external affairs. My aunt never seemed to have any intention of managing it seriously, but even so, the Anjing House has become the largest a.s.sa.s.sin organization in the Central Plains.”
In seriousness, both Ren Xiaosu and Yang Xiaojin really admired how capable Yang Anjing was. It was just that they did not approve of what she had done.
Ren Xiaosu continued, “The tavern is just up ahead. When I had free time, I would order a bowl of lamb stew, read some books, and listen to stories about me….”
Yang Xiaojin curled her lips. “Listening to stories about yourself is the highlight, right?”
“Hahahaha, no, that’s not it,” Ren Xiaosu said with a laugh.
Ren Xiaosu suddenly realized that a surveillance camera above his head seemed to be following him wherever he moved. It made him feel like he was being watched from behind by something that had developed a strong interest in him.
But when Ren Xiaosu looked up, that surveillance camera stopped moving. Then, when Ren Xiaosu tried walking out of the surveillance camera’s field of view, it did not follow him anymore.
“I wonder what the h.e.l.l this AI thing really is.” Ren Xiaosu lamented, “It seems that the w.a.n.g Consortium really trusts this thing that they’ve created. But I get the feeling that the stronghold residents won’t be too happy about being monitored by the surveillance cameras all the time. Or should I say, they won’t dare to feel unhappy….”
Ren Xiaosu had already led Yang Xiaojin into the tavern. He heard the storyteller saying, “But my dear audience, what you don’t realize is that the prominent White Mask is actually only a superpower of some supernatural being. When this fact is made known, the world will be shocked!”
Yang Xiaojin was stunned. Could this tavern be specially catered for Ren Xiaosu? Why did she hear something related to Ren Xiaosu as soon as they stepped into the tavern?
When she turned around, she realized Ren Xiaosu was already listening to the story with relis.h.!.+
But something unexpected happened at this moment. Yang Xiaojin suddenly saw a girl glare at her. After glaring at her, that girl looked at Ren Xiaosu and nearly burst into tears.
Yang Xiaojin could not help but think about what Ren Xiaosu had done during the time she and Ren Xiaosu were separated. Zhou Yingxue had only just left, but here came another girl throwing herself at him.
Ren Xiaosu did not notice Xiaolu’s expression at all. He just said to the waiter, “I’ll have two sets of lamb stew! Top it up with 20 yuan of meat!”
He would have to be more generous! He was treating Yang Xiaojin to a meal after all!
Realizing that Ren Xiaosu was back, the storyteller drew the story to a natural close and proceeded with setting up the highlights of the next session.
He touched Xiaolu’s face and whispered, “Silly girl! Wasn’t he also here with another girl the previous time?”
Although the storyteller did not want Xiaolu to have anything to do with Ren Xiaosu, his heart would still ache when his granddaughter was sad.
Xiaolu whispered in grief, “It’s different this time. He didn’t like that woman from the last time.”
“What about this time?” The storyteller was amused instead.
“The way he looked at that girl this time is different. He really likes her.” After that, Xiaolu went into the kitchen without even greeting Ren Xiaosu.
The storyteller cursed in his head before walking over slowly to Ren Xiaosu. “You’re lucky to have come back at this time. Otherwise, you wouldn’t see us anymore.”
Ren Xiaosu’s expression immediately changed. “Are you serious? You still look quite healthy to me.”
The storyteller spat, “I don’t mean that I’m dying, but it’s just too depressing to be constantly living under the surveillance of that annoying w.a.n.g Consortium’s AI.”