Chapter 821: A new quest
Translator: Legge
Releasing the prisoners from the secret prison was not a spur-of-the-moment decision for Ren Xiaosu. After all, the prisoners here hated the Kong Consortium to the core, so letting them out would definitely aid Ren Xiaosu’s cause.
However, Ren Xiaosu was not going to let them out without any conditions.
Ji Zi’ang and the others followed Ren Xiaosu back to the cell block when w.a.n.g Yun said at the back of the group, “There’s a total of 313 prisoners held in this secret prison. I don’t suggest releasing 17 of them because they’re either spies of the w.a.n.g Consortium or the Zhou Consortium. Moreover, they’re extremely capable individuals. As I recall, when we interrogated those 17 people, they would deliberately reveal some information about the Northwest to throw us off. It will not be good for the Northwest if we let them out. When they return to their consortiums, they might become a potential threat to the Northwest in the future.”
At this moment, the Great Hoodwinker felt that all the suffering that he had been through was worth it.
With an extremely intelligent supernatural being like w.a.n.g Yun working for the Northwest, many things would become much simpler. That was because taking w.a.n.g Yun away was equivalent to stealing the Kong Consortium’s entire intelligence database.
w.a.n.g Fengyuan was in charge of the intelligence agency in the Northwest, with the Great Hoodwinker and him each overseeing foreign affairs and domestic affairs respectively. As such, the Great Hoodwinker knew very well that if they had to obtain the intelligence that w.a.n.g Yun knew through the usual means, who knew how much it would cost them?
It would probably cost them a lot of money and effort and even the lives of hundreds of spies.
Now that w.a.n.g Yun had started taking the initiative to think on behalf of the Northwest, it signaled a very good start to the relations.h.i.+p. When the Great Hoodwinker thought of this, he felt very happy!
Ren Xiaosu said thoughtfully, “Wouldn’t it be really cruel to keep them locked up in here, though?”
“I hope you aren’t getting soft at a time like this,” w.a.n.g Yun said coldly.
Ren Xiaosu was taken aback. “Oh, that won’t happen. You worry too much.” He then walked towards the cell block. When he reached the first cell, Ren Xiaosu looked in through the prison bars.
Looking at the pale face of the prisoner inside, it was obvious that he had not been exposed to sunlight for a long time. The inmates here had to be very eager to get a whiff of fresh air.
Only those who had lost their freedom before would know how precious it was.
At this point, all the prisoners knew something had happened in the secret prison. When they saw through the metal bars of their cell gates that Ji Zi’ang, the Great Hoodwinker, and w.a.n.g Yun had regained their freedom, they immediately shouted, “Let us out! We’ll do anything for you if you let us out!”
“Please let us out!”
Beginning with one person shouting, the entire prison erupted with other prisoners shouting. Ren Xiaosu said to the prisoner in front of him in a serious tone, “Thank me three times. As long as you are sincere, I’ll let you out.”
Nearby, w.a.n.g Yun, Ji Zi’ang, and the Great Hoodwinker were all confused. What the h.e.l.l was this? Did you come to the prison in the middle of the night so you could be a good Samaritan and do good deeds?
The prisoner in the cell was also a little confused, but it was not difficult for him to say thank you. It was not something insulting like asking him to call the other party “daddy,” so he said decisively, “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!”
“Grat.i.tude received from Liu Qianhe, +1!
“Grat.i.tude received from Liu Qianhe…
“Grat.i.tude received from…”
Ren Xiaosu was overjoyed. Why had he come to the prison in the middle of the night? Wasn’t it precisely so he could earn some grat.i.tude tokens?
However, he was not greedy. After all, time was tight, and he could not afford to spend too long in this place. As such, Ren Xiaosu threw a bunch of keys over to w.a.n.g Yun. “You can remember which key opens which doors, right?”
“Yes, I can.” w.a.n.g Yun nodded.
“Open the doors.” Ren Xiaosu said. He could have just used the black saber to do it, but he did not want to reveal his weapon or how it looked like in front of these people. All the prison guards who saw it were dead, and only the Great Hoodwinker and some of the others knew about it. Since they were all going to join the Prosperous Northwest, so what if they had seen it?
Ren Xiaosu went on to the next cells and released the prisoners one after another. What gratified Ren Xiaosu was that these people were all very sincere in their grat.i.tude, with only a few who were not sincere in thanking him.
Calculating the rate, Ren Xiaosu’s grat.i.tude tokens, which were originally close to 4,000, would likely get close to 5,000 after this wave of thanks he received in the secret prison.
w.a.n.g Yun saw Ren Xiaosu walk to the next cell and reminded him, “The person locked up in there is one of the 17 I mentioned.” Then w.a.n.g Yun looked on coldly. He wanted to see how Ren Xiaosu would handle it.
When Ren Xiaosu got to that cell, he instantly threw a grenade into it before the prisoner inside could say anything.
With a boom, the cell exploded with a huge cloud of dust. w.a.n.g Yun and Ji Zi’ang were shocked!
What did Ren Xiaosu say just now? His exact words were “Wouldn’t it be really cruel to keep them locked up in here, though?” So Ren Xiaosu’s idea was to… give them a quick death?!
Could this be the legendary “say the nicest things and do the most terrible things”?
Only at this moment did w.a.n.g Yun realize he had misunderstood the future commander of the Northwest. Why the f.u.c.k did he have to worry about that guy getting soft? He was clearly a ruthless f.u.c.ker!
It was no wonder those d.a.m.n f.u.c.ks in the Northwest would acknowledge this young man. w.a.n.g Yun claimed to be a ruthless person, but even he could not compare to Ren Xiaosu.
w.a.n.g Yun muttered, “You…”
Ren Xiaosu turned around in surprise. “What?”
“Nothing,” w.a.n.g Yun said, sounding a little annoyed.
“Mhm, remember to remind me when you identify the next person,” Ren Xiaosu said as he walked calmly towards the next cell.
After the explosion, the prisoners in the other cells started panicking.
Ren Xiaosu was all smiles as he looked at the prisoner in the cell in front of him and said, “Say thank you and I’ll let you out.”
The prisoner in the cell asked nervously, “What happened next door? Why did he get blown up?”
Ren Xiaosu replied with a smile, “Because he didn’t want to say thank you.”
The prisoner was confused.
The Great Hoodwinker was speechless. w.a.n.g Yun was speechless. Ji Zi’ang was speechless.
Honestly, just based on the things Ren Xiaosu did here today, it made him appear even more of a madman than Li Shentan was.
In the eyes of the prisoners, Ren Xiaosu had broken into the prison just so he could make them thank him. But if they did not thank him, he would blow them up. No matter how they looked at it, he seemed crazy.
The prisoner gulped and said, “Thank you.”
“Grat.i.tude received from Qi Jiesheng, +1!”
Ren Xiaosu waved it off. “Alright, let him out.”
When Qi Jiesheng saw w.a.n.g Yun opening the cell door for him, he was overjoyed. He did not expect that he would be able to regain his freedom just by saying thanks!
But when he pushed open the door and came out, he heard Ren Xiaosu arguing with the prisoner next door. Although the prisoner in that cell thanked him, Ren Xiaosu did not receive a single grat.i.tude token!
Ren Xiaosu said with a dark expression, “How can I let you out if you don’t even thank me sincerely?!”
The prisoner in that cell was also short-tempered. “How am I not sincere? How do you determine that I wasn’t sincere in my thanks?”
All of a sudden, the voice from the palace intoned, “Quest: Obtain 66 grat.i.tude tokens from the prisoner before you.”
Ren Xiaosu was stunned. Wasn’t this making things difficult for him? The other party had not even given him a sincere thanks yet, so how was he going to get 66 grat.i.tude tokens out of him?!
However, Ren Xiaosu suddenly recalled an incident from the past. After a moment’s silence, he said, “I thank your mom!”
When the prisoner in the cell heard that, he got agitated. “I thank your eight generations of ancestors!”
“Grat.i.tude received from Zheng Xiding, +1!”
Ren Xiaosu said expressionlessly, “I thank your grandma’s leg!”
From the cell came, “I thank your grandpa!”
“Grat.i.tude received from…”
Ren Xiaosu said, “Thank you for your banana skin!”
From the cell came, “Thank you…”
Off to the side, Ji Zi’ang, w.a.n.g Yun, and the others suddenly realized Ren Xiaosu had actually started arguing with that prisoner in the cell. In this gloomy secret prison, the future commander of the Northwest completely abandoned his image and continued exchanging insults with the prisoner for over a 100 rounds until the guy in the jail cell broke down!
w.a.n.g Yun said in a daze, “This is your future commander of the Northwest?”
But Ji Zi’ang laughed. “I find him rather interesting.”