Inside the Imperial Secret Treasury, Shang Xinlei watched as item after item appeared out of thin air, her expression rather complicated.

Yan Qing could understand. After all, in her mind, the mastermind behind the Trading Board ought to be a powerful being as divine as a god or as demonic as a devil—at the very least, a peerless schemer. Not a mere mortal who hadn't even reached Foundation Building, and certainly not someone who would be trapped here in the secret treasury, more than thirty zhang underground, alongside her.

He carefully observed Shang Xinlei’s eyes, trying to capture any emotion she might reveal. In truth, he wasn’t afraid that Shang Xinlei would leak this secret. After all, he had no ties or belongings in this world—no bottles or jars to his name. In the Thieves' House, once the quilt was pulled over, no one cared for anyone. What he truly feared was the rise of greed in Shang Xinlei’s heart.

He disliked testing human nature. Just like no player would test if a computer case could keep working after being soaked in water—they only hoped the computer would run games forever. Similarly, all he hoped for was to prolong this brief friendship with Shang Xinlei as long as possible, until the day he no longer cared about this woman.

"Must it be exchanged with a Heartguard Mirror?"

Unexpectedly, Shang Xinlei was the first to question Yan Qing’s extravagance: "There are quite a few Second-Stage Tokens piled up here. Couldn’t you trade those instead? A Third-Stage Heartguard Mirror can clearly fetch a high price. It’s such a waste to use it for these door-opening items."

"It has to be a Heartguard Mirror." Since the secret was exposed, Yan Qing didn’t mind revealing more about the Treasure-Hunting Token to quell any greedy thoughts she might have. "Not all items can be listed in the Treasure Pavilion."

"But it’s such a waste. These few items wouldn’t even cost five Spirit Jade in Jiangnan City, and you spent five Third-Stage Rare Tokens."

"Escaping is more important than anything. Besides, it’s just five Third-Stage Rare Tokens."

"'Just'? You’re being way too extravagant."

Seeing Shang Xinlei’s face full of heartache, Yan Qing thought to himself how greedy this thieving woman was. These were his possessions—why did she care so much? Could it be that she was already planning to harm him and had mentally counted his wealth as her own? Truly, fate was unpredictable, and people’s hearts were sinister. Thankfully, she slipped up, or he wouldn’t have been alerted. He had to be more cautious going forward.

Shang Xinlei continued curiously, "So, what restrictions are there for listing items in the Treasure Pavilion?"

"Not telling you."

"What’s the big deal?" Shang Xinlei puffed up her cheeks. "That Token appeared in a treasure chest I found in Mansu Woodland. If I had known how useful it was, you wouldn’t be the only one fencing goods in the Treasure Pavilion right now."

"If you had known back then, you’d have suffered a big loss. You wouldn’t have been able to use the Treasure-Hunting Token at all."

"Why not? Are you the only one in the world who can use it?"

"Because using the Treasure-Hunting Token requires knowing a trick. And that condition has nothing to do with strength, status, or background. Not just you—even Foundation Messengers or legendary immortals and deities, without the trick, still wouldn’t be able to activate the Token."

Yan Qing didn’t think the Treasure-Hunting Token in his hand was the first ever in existence. After all, besides event rewards, there were many other places in The Messenger where these Tokens could be obtained. It was just that previous holders, even if they could open the Treasure Pavilion interface, couldn’t discern the system information of the items and thus couldn’t list anything for sale. At most, they could buy his items.

There might be countless potential buyers in the Treasure Pavilion, but he would always be the only seller.

"What trick?" Shang Xinlei immediately pressed him, but then quickly answered her own question: "Never mind, you won’t tell me. Keeping so many secrets will give you acne, you masked freak."

"Still better than a nosy snot fairy. Grab the door-opening items and come with me."

Yan Qing turned toward the center of the secret treasury. Behind him, Shang Xinlei ground her teeth in frustration and complained, "Why don’t you take them yourself?"

"I don’t like touching other people’s shoes."

Shang Xinlei made a face behind his back. She looked down in surprise and said, "This dance shoe is quite pretty. Doesn’t look like a Jiangnan textile. It’s got gold and gems—its owner must have been someone important."

"An important dancer?" Yan Qing questioned.

"Hard to say. Plenty of Messengers love to dance. Maybe it belonged to a Foundation Messenger. Want a whiff?"

"Get that thing away from me!"

Yan Qing returned once more to the Liuli Cabinet containing the Hands of Hundredfold Refinement. Shang Xinlei asked in surprise, "You haven’t given up yet? We’ve got at most two quarter-hours before we need to return to the Thieves' House. Can you really crack the cabinet in such a short time?"

"Maybe I won’t need to."

Yan Qing pulled out a Purple Brush from her arms, along with five Heartguard Mirrors. He had listed them all, and besides trading for four door-opening items, he had intentionally traded for an extra Purple Brush to test a theory.

He found the scratch mark beneath the Turquoise Slab and pressed the brush into it. The slab had no visible indentation, yet it absorbed the Purple Brush.

With a loud clunk, the Liuli Cabinet quietly opened. The Foundation Token once used by the Sixth-Stage Messenger, Emperor Taizu of Liang, returned once more to this chaotic world.

It worked!

Previously, Yan Qing noticed the scratch under the Turquoise Slab resembled the requirements of secret realm gates, and suspected they might share a locking system. But since the Turquoise Slab offered no hints, it was all guesswork. Thankfully, the unlock item for the cabinet containing the Hands of Hundredfold Refinement was also a Purple Brush, so his efforts weren’t in vain.

Watching Yan Qing carefully store the gloves away, Shang Xinlei was deep in thought. After all, the gloves were already damaged. If not for collection, then Yan Qing must have a way to restore them.

Another Treasure-Hunting Token, another restored item—this bastard... just how many secrets does he have!?

"One day, I’ll make you spill all your secrets..."

"Hmm?" Yan Qing heard Shang Xinlei muttering something and turned to look at her.

"I said, shouldn’t we get going?" Shang Xinlei casually donned her mask. Since they were leaving, she had to resume her disguise as Red Snake. "Don’t tell me you’re planning to open more cabinets?"

Yan Qing shook his head. "Of course not. Every second we delay increases the risk of exposure."

In truth, using a Treasure-Hunting Token to acquire door-opening items was quite risky. Others might not know what the items meant, but the royal family of Great Liang definitely would. The moment they saw the combination of ‘brush, shoe, needle, dice,’ they would realize someone had entered the secret treasury. By then, they might find a Foundation Messenger waiting above.

But tonight was utter chaos—explosions, assassinations—Yan Qing gambled that the palace was under complete lockdown. And the number of royals who knew the secret of opening the treasury wasn’t likely high. As long as they seized this window of opportunity, they could return safely to the Thieves' House!

He inserted the four corresponding items into the four Spirit Jade spheres on the treasury door. Under their nervous gaze, the door roared open once more. Perhaps it was an illusion, but that first breath of air upon exiting felt especially fresh.

Climbing up wasn’t hard. They’d already seen on the sand table that stone ladders lined both sides of the vertical passage. But when it came time to leave, they encountered a small problem—they had no free hands.

After looting the treasury, both were burdened with plenty of loot. Even after strapping down as much as they could, Yan Qing could only free one hand. Shang Xinlei couldn’t free either. Though they both had Storage Rings, those worked by slot count. Yan Qing’s ring was already full with Spirit Jade, Treasure-Hunting Tokens, Return Tokens, and a spare Flame Pattern Long Blade—he hadn’t planned on going on a zero-cost shopping spree in the treasury, after all.

With things as they were, the male-female thief duo had no choice but to part with some of their spoils.

Just then, a voice echoed down from above:

"Hey—"

Startled, they looked up to see a full-moon-shaped hole opened in the ceiling high above. Two familiar wolf and fox masks peered down from dozens of floors up.

"Looks like someone needs a little help?" Medicine Master Wen held a Serpent-Patterned Rope, her tone as arrogant as a divine emperor saving foolish mortals.

Yan Qing and Shang Xinlei exchanged a glance and shouted in perfect unison, "Black Wolf, save us!"

"Thank goodness for such amazing teammates—otherwise, we’d be in real trouble!"

At that moment, Medicine Master Wen’s sense of superiority soared to unprecedented heights. Fresh chapters posted on novel★fire.net