471: Procrastination

It took Qin Shilei one minute and fifty-two seconds to leave the palace and then return to the Empire of the Setting Sun with Jin Qiaoqiao.

As soon as he emerged from the teleportation array, he immediately took out several items of clothing from his Qiankun Ring and had the Treasure Hunting Mouse identify their scent.

“Squeak, squeak, squeak!”

The Treasure Hunting Mouse sniffed for two seconds, memorized the scent, and then flew around searching. It quickly returned to Jin Qiaoqiao’s hand, squeaking.

“It said there’s no scent of those people nearby,” Jin Qiaoqiao translated what the Treasure Hunting Mouse was expressing.

“My mistake.”

Qin Shilei slapped his forehead, then immediately picked up Jin Qiaoqiao and quickly escape away towards the palace.

“Squeak, squeak, squeak!”

Near the palace, the Treasure Hunting Mouse immediately detected the scent of those people, pointed in a direction, and had Qin Shilei fly that way.

Soon, they arrived at a large mountain outside the city.

“Squeak, squeak, squeak!”

“It said the scent of those people is below.”

Qin Shilei flew down to the ground and quickly discovered two corpses.

They were the three doctors and nurses who had delivered Mary’s baby and taken the infant.

Each of them had a sword mark on their neck, indicating they were killed with a single blow.

There were no signs of struggle or resistance at the scene.

By this time, five minutes and forty-six seconds had passed since Qin Shilei left the main hall.

In the main hall.

“Hmph, dragging your feet. It seems we’ll have to present your daughter’s hands first before you’ll agree to trade.”

Willow Jade Book’s face was filled with impatience.

At the same time, another video appeared in the chat channel.

The man wearing the clown mask once again held a large knife and dangled it over the infant girl.

“Hehehe, this tender and delicate baby girl is truly adorable. Don’t you think it would be a pity if she lost a hand?”

The clown pulled the baby girl’s small hand out from under the blanket and began to gesture with the large knife above it.

“Wah, wah, wah!”

The baby girl’s cries never stopped, whether from hunger or fright.

“Tell him to let go of my daughter immediately, or I’ll kill you right now!”

The Dimensional Slash in Mary’s hand had already cut through the skin on Willow Jade Book’s neck, and a string of bright red blood flowed down his neck, staining the front of his clothes.

“Haha, kill me then. Since I stayed behind, I never expected to survive. Having Qin An King and Her Majesty the Empress’s daughter as my burial companions, I’m content.”

Willow Jade Book laughed wildly.

However, the trace of fear that flashed in his eyes was still caught by Mary and the others.

The other party was certainly not fearless of death, but this was indeed not the best time to kill him.

In fact, Willow Jade Book also regretted it greatly.

In order to personally witness Qin Shilei’s anguish and despair, and to help the person behind him better monitor them, he had chosen to stay.

Yet, he hadn’t expected that in less than three minutes, his identity would be exposed by Qin An King.

Willow Jade Book clearly understood that he absolutely could not back down now, or there would only be death.

“I’ll give you three more minutes to consider. If you don’t trade my items for the contract grimoire and a thousand pieces of Enlightenment Tea, I will immediately chop off your daughter’s arm.”

That sinister threatening voice once again came from the sound transmission talisman.

Qin Shilei, impersonated by Zhang Xiaoli, spoke, “We don’t trust you. Bring our daughter over, and we promise to give you what you want.

And I swear I will not harm a single hair on you, allowing you to leave.”

“Hehehe, you don’t trust me, and I don’t trust you either. We’ll use the trading channel to trade; that way, it’s good for both of us. Once the trade is complete, I’ll immediately have someone send your daughter back to you.”

The voice again came from the sound transmission talisman.

“I swear as the number one person on Blue Star, in the name of Qin An King. And I can post what I’ve said to the chat channel, inviting everyone to witness. Surely you’ll believe me now?”

Zhang Xiaoli declared solemnly.

No sound came from the sound transmission talisman for a long time; the other party was clearly hesitating.

Zhang Xiaoli and the others had no intention of rushing the other party, and the scene suddenly fell silent.

“If you want me to believe you, please first show your sincerity. Use a thousand pieces of Enlightenment Tea to buy my item first.”

After two minutes, the voice rang out again.

Seeing Zhang Xiaoli’s prolonged silence, the person spoke again, “Hmph, you don’t even have this much sincerity. It seems your reputation isn’t worth much. You might as well wait to collect your daughter’s corpse.”

“Enlightenment Tea isn’t something common. I can’t produce a thousand pieces all at once. I currently have five hundred pieces; do you want them or not?”

Zhang Xiaoli bargained.

In reality, the Enlightenment Tea produced by the enlightenment tea tree already amounted to nearly a hundred thousand pieces.

Zhang Xiaoli and An Qian each had thousands, even tens of thousands, of pieces in their spatial rings.

Bargaining at this moment was, firstly, to reduce losses if they couldn’t capture the opponent. Secondly, it was to buy more time.

The other end of the sound transmission talisman paused for a while again, but ultimately decided that a bird in hand was worth two in the bush. “Alright, I’ve changed the price. Buy the item now.”

Zhang Xiaoli opened the chat channel and searched for a long time. Finally, under the impatient urging of the other party, she bought the item with five hundred pieces of Enlightenment Tea.

“I’ve already shown my sincerity. Now, can you send my daughter back for us to trade?”

“No hurry.”

Having obtained the benefit, the voice was noticeably more cheerful. “To trade face-to-face, I’m taking a huge risk. The daughter of the esteemed Qin An King and the Empress of the Empire of the Setting Sun is worth more than just this little.

That spatial item of yours that can hold a large number of people, that needs to be added.”

“That’s impossible,” Zhang Xiaoli immediately responded. “That space was a system reward when I advanced to the Platinum Realm. It’s already bound to me personally and cannot be traded.”

Hearing Qin Shilei speak with such conviction, the person on the other side guessed that this was likely true.

After a moment of hesitation, he spoke again, “Since you have so much Enlightenment Tea, then you must have the enlightenment tea tree. I want that.”

Zhang Xiaoli hesitated for a long time before reluctantly saying, “Alright, just this one item. You cannot make any more demands.”

“No hurry, let me think what other treasures you have.” The voice of the person on the other side was filled with delight.

The person thought for a long time but couldn’t come up with any particularly special treasures that Qin Shilei might possess.

He could only tentatively ask, “How were you able to advance to Diamond Six-star so quickly? And your three wives, as well as your subordinates, all cultivate at an extraordinarily fast pace. Do you have some unknown treasure?”

Willow Jade Book at this moment also looked at Zhang Xiaoli with fervent eyes, hoping to uncover this secret that all Blue Star survivors yearned to know.

Zhang Xiaoli hesitated for a moment, then slowly said, “On one hand, our strength is sufficient, so we can kill more mutated beasts and have an inexhaustible supply of crystals. On the other hand, the heaven-defying effect of Enlightenment Tea has also boosted our cultivation speed by countless times.”

“Is that all?” The person clearly didn’t believe it.

“That’s all,” Zhang Xiaoli replied with certainty.

After a while, the person spoke again, “I still don’t trust you. You trade me that giant sword of yours that can change size with you, the equipment you’re wearing, and the Empress’s contract grimoire, along with the item to open that world. I will immediately send your daughter back to you.”