The girl who had approached was completely bewildered by Yan Mingguang’s answer, especially since he maintained his aloof and proud demeanor even while saying such things. After a long pause, she awkwardly smiled and said, “That, that’s a bit difficult…”
Yan Wei, on the other hand, still wore a smile on his face.
He felt a slight sense of helplessness for a moment, but then he leaned in close to Yan Mingguang’s ear and whispered amidst the noisy singing, “Teacher Yan—oh no, Miss Yan, are you jealous?”
His hand rested on Yan Mingguang’s shoulder, leaning in so close that his lips almost brushed against Yan Mingguang’s earlobe. Even the girl who had come to greet them was momentarily stunned, her face flushing slightly.
As he spoke, Yan Wei’s warm breath brushed against Yan Mingguang’s ear.
Yan Mingguang’s gaze darkened slightly. He raised his hand to grasp Yan Wei’s arm and gently pushed him away. “No,” he said.
Yan Wei nodded, chuckling softly, “Definitely jealous.”
Yan Mingguang: “…”
The few girls who had approached, hoping to win Yan Wei over as a client, stood to the side, exchanging uncertain glances. They could vaguely sense that there was something unusual about the relationship between these two men, something that didn’t seem like a normal friendship between people who had come to visit a brothel together. But what could it be?
They hesitated, not daring to approach further. Yan Mingguang merely glanced at the brightly dressed girls before his gaze returned to Yan Wei.
He looked down at Yan Wei, his well-defined features standing out sharply under the dazzling lights of the brothel, a stark contrast to the frivolous world around them.
In truth, it wasn’t just in this kind of place. Even in other instances, amidst mountains of corpses and rivers of blood, or when ghosts and monsters roamed freely, Yan Mingguang was always the one who stood apart. He appeared aloof and cold, but unlike Song Cheng’an’s arrogance, his was a kind of detachment that made him unique.
People like Song Cheng’an were perceived as arrogant because they looked down on those they deemed inferior.
Yan Mingguang’s pride, however, stemmed from the fact that those who stood before him often felt inadequate in comparison. He was so indifferent that it made those he looked at feel narrow-minded.
No matter how many people had died before him, Yan Mingguang’s principles and bottom line remained steadfast. He would never harbor ill will toward others; instead, he treated everyone with kindness.
…It was just that he was a bit of a tsundere. His actions were always straightforward and upright, but his words often told a different story.
This was why Yan Wei loved teasing Yan Mingguang about this. However, during this Ascension, it seemed that Yan Mingguang, like him, had undergone some changes in his thoughts and feelings. In the past, Yan Mingguang’s assertiveness would have been more pronounced, not as restrained and subtle as it was now, merely hinting at his jealousy.
If it had been the old Yan Mingguang, he would have already dragged Yan Wei into a room by now.
Thinking this, Yan Wei couldn’t help but say, “…You’re becoming more and more reserved.”
“Yan Wei,” Yan Mingguang’s gaze shifted slightly, “do you want me to do something in front of them?”
Yan Wei raised his eyes to meet Yan Mingguang’s gaze, and for a moment, all the teasing words he had prepared were stuck in his throat. The nervousness he had been trying so hard to conceal was now fully exposed.
The corner of Yan Mingguang’s mouth seemed to twitch slightly. “You’re nervous.”
Yan Wei: “…” He couldn’t refute that.
He shook off Yan Mingguang’s hand and turned around, pulling out the phoenix flower token he had found among the deceased’s belongings. “I’m looking for her,” he said.
The girls in Ten Thousand Flowers Brothel all had many such tokens, as most clients who had visited before would have a few for identification. As soon as he took it out, the girls’ expressions turned disappointed. One of them said, “I’ll go call her for you.”
They glanced at Yan Mingguang again, but seeing that he didn’t say a word, they finally gave up and went to call the owner of the phoenix flower token for Yan Wei.
Before leaving, Yan Mingguang took out some silver from his pocket and gave each of the girls enough money to buy their freedom.
The girls quickly accepted it, thanking him profusely, and then hurried off to do Yan Wei’s bidding, disappearing in an instant.
“They’re just living NPCs in this instance,” Yan Wei said. “You still helped them.”
“For them, this instance is their entire world.”
Yan Wei smiled. “For them, we might just be passing through.”
Not long after, a girl dressed in the brothel’s maid attire walked over to them. She didn’t look particularly young—at least not by the standards of this era—probably around thirty. Though her makeup slightly masked her age, her appearance was rather plain, making her quite inconspicuous in a place like this.
When she reached Yan Wei and Yan Mingguang, the girl introduced herself as A Yu, a maid who did odd jobs in Ten Thousand Flowers Brothel. Fengxian was currently in her room, and she would take them there.
The phoenix flower token indeed corresponded to a girl in Ten Thousand Flowers Brothel.
Yan Wei and Yan Mingguang followed A Yu up two floors. The higher they went, the fewer people there were, and the hallway was filled with a faint floral scent. However, the fragrance was mixed, as if all the perfumes and powders used by the girls in the brothel had been piled together. Yan Wei sniffed carefully but couldn’t distinguish the individual scents anymore.
A Yu led them to Fengxian’s room.
Yan Wei observed for a while and noticed that the girls living upstairs seemed unusually quiet, somewhat like…
Somewhat like the nervous and jittery residents of Guanyin Town.
He couldn’t figure out much else, so he turned his attention back and casually asked A Yu, who was walking ahead, “Has Fengxian been busy these past few days?”
A Yu turned her head and replied, “She hasn’t been in a good mood lately. Other than clients who specifically come to see her, she hasn’t been going out much, so I wouldn’t say she’s been busy.”
“Not in a good mood?”
A Yu paused for a moment. They had just reached the third floor, and A Yu stopped at the top of the stairs, her expression tinged with worry. “Shen Yuanwai said a few days ago that he wanted to take her away. Ever since then, she hasn’t been happy.”
Yan Wei frowned.
Shen Yuanwai?
He thought of the carriage that had come to visit at the entrance of Guanyin Academy, claiming to be from Shen Estate. This Shen Yuanwai could casually take a brothel girl away, so he must be from a prominent family. Could he be the owner of that Shen Estate?
Yan Wei glanced at Yan Mingguang.
Yan Mingguang already knew what he wanted to ask and said in a low voice, “The identity I loaded into this instance has a prestigious family background. The place I live in is home to only a few prominent families, and Shen Estate is one of them. Shen Yuanwai is indeed the owner of Shen Estate. But these estates are vast, and the neighboring houses are far apart. I haven’t been to Shen Estate to see it.”
“This Shen Estate is suspicious,” Yan Wei said.
It appeared at the entrance of Guanyin Academy, and now it was connected to this Ten Thousand Flowers Brothel. Moreover, judging from A Yu’s expression and Fengxian’s unhappiness, Shen Yuanwai was clearly not a pleasant person.
He quickened his pace, feigning anxiety, and continued to ask, “When did Shen Yuanwai say this? I… I also wanted to buy Fengxian’s freedom. I didn’t come the past few days, so how did Shen Yuanwai suddenly decide to take her away?”
A Yu, unsuspecting, replied, “You’re a step too late, sir. Shen Yuanwai will come to the brothel the day after tomorrow to take a few girls away. If you really had plans…”
She sighed, “It’s better to forget about it. I’ve been working here for a long time, and whenever Shen Yuanwai wants to buy a girl, has he ever failed? It’s not a one-time thing for his family to carry away the bodies of girls. No one wants to go, but Shen Yuanwai has a large family and extensive business. Has anyone ever really been able to refuse? Fengxian doesn’t want to go either, but what can she do? She’s just a powerless girl.”
Yan Wei and Yan Mingguang exchanged glances, both understanding the hidden meaning in these words.
This Shen Yuanwai frequently bought courtesans to take back and abuse, sometimes to the point of death, after which he would simply have their bodies carried away and buried. The Fengxian they were looking for now was one of the girls Shen Yuanwai had set his sights on.
As they spoke, they had already turned a corner in the hallway.
The winding corridors upstairs had no natural light, so even during the day, it was dark, illuminated only by the candles on either side. The hallway was lined with candle lamps, but instead of making it brighter, they cast an eerie glow.
Yan Wei noticed that A Yu lowered her head, deliberately avoiding the candlelight, and kept her face in the shadows.
Thinking of the girl’s appearance and the place they were in, Yan Wei understood. He spoke in a gentle and clear voice, “Sometimes, being beautiful can be a curse.”
Though this girl was plain-looking, far less attractive than the other girls in Ten Thousand Flowers Brothel, her unremarkable features might not be such a bad thing in a place like this.
A Yu listened to him, still keeping her head down, and simply said, “Thank you. Fengxian’s room is just ahead—”
A sharp scream suddenly interrupted her.
In the hallway, a disheveled woman in a colorful dress came running toward them. Her face was filled with terror, and she was shouting, “Help!! Don’t come any closer!!”
She was running blindly, not even noticing the people ahead. Yan Wei turned around just as the woman was about to crash into him.
Yan Mingguang pulled him aside, and Yan Wei stepped out of the way. A Yu also quickly moved to the side.
Behind the woman, several brothel servants were chasing her.
She ran chaotically, and within moments, she had passed Yan Wei and the others. The burly servants caught up to her and restrained her firmly from both sides. The woman struggled, her already disheveled hair becoming even messier, as she muttered to herself, “She, she… No, don’t come any closer…”
The servants seemed accustomed to this, their expressions unchanged as they dragged the woman back. One of them came over to Yan Wei and Yan Mingguang and said, “Sorry for the disturbance. She’s always been crazy, and today we weren’t paying attention, so she ran out of her room.”
After apologizing, the man and the others quickly took the crazed woman away.
Before Yan Wei could ask, A Yu explained, “She’s also one of the girls in our brothel. Before… just like some other people in the town, she said she encountered an evil spirit and got soul loss syndrome.”
“I see.”
Yan Wei remembered the girl he had seen on his first day in this instance. It was at the deceased’s neighbor’s house, a widow’s home where three generations of a family had lived together. The old woman’s daughter had said she was haunted by a ghost and had gone mad. They had seen the crazed woman run away in panic, just like the girl they had seen now.
Both had been driven mad by ghosts.
The evil entity in Guanyin Town didn’t seem particularly interested in the lives of young women. Most of the dead were strong, middle-aged men, with only a few elderly, weak, women, and children. Women who encountered the entity usually went mad.
As if they had lost their souls.
A Yu said to him, “Don’t be frightened, sir. She’s just a bit crazy; she won’t hurt anyone.”
Yan Wei shook his head, “I’m not scared.”
A Yu led them to a brightly lit boudoir. The door had a phoenix flower token hanging on it, identical to the one Yan Wei had.
“Miss,” A Yu knocked on the door, “You have a guest.”
Yan Wei looked back at Yan Mingguang.
They needed to ask Fengxian some questions, but the girl with soul loss syndrome also needed to be checked on.
Yan Mingguang nodded and whispered to him, “If anything happens, call me immediately.”
“Got it.”
Yan Mingguang turned and silently followed the path the servants had taken with the woman.
A Yu knocked on the door for a while but got no response. She turned back to Yan Wei and only then noticed that Yan Mingguang was gone. She exclaimed, “Where did that gentleman go?”
Yan Wei said, “He had something urgent to attend to and left first.”
Brothels weren’t the cleanest places, and there were always all sorts of clients. Yan Wei’s excuse was casual, but A Yu didn’t question it further. She said to him, “Usually, when I knock like this, the miss will open the door. I don’t know what’s wrong today. Maybe she’s been feeling down these past few days and is in a deep sleep. Could you wait here for a moment while I try calling her again?”
As A Yu spoke, Yan Wei released his Perception, subtly probing the surroundings and the room.
There didn’t seem to be any signs of life inside the room, and the floral scent in the air was mixed with a faint trace of blood. However, the door was locked from the inside. It was eerily quiet, but there was no sense of danger.
A Yu was still knocking on the door when Yan Wei reminded her, “Could something have happened?”
A Yu was startled, “It couldn’t be…”
She thought for a moment, recalling that Fengxian had indeed been in a bad mood these past few days because Shen Yuanwai had taken an interest in her. She hurried off to find some brothel servants.
Yan Wei stood to the side, waiting. There was still no movement from Fengxian’s room.
After a while, A Yu returned with several men. The men forcefully slammed into the door a few times, finally breaking the latch.
A Yu cried out, “Miss!!!”
Yan Wei followed A Yu’s gaze and saw Fengxian slumped over the table, one arm hanging limply, blood slowly dripping from her wrist, almost coagulated. On the table was a small, blood-stained dagger, and the floor and table were stained with blood.
The men rushed in and lifted Fengxian’s body, confirming that she was already dead.
A Yu’s face turned pale.
In a place as chaotic as a brothel, such incidents didn’t elicit much of a reaction. The men immediately went to find the manager to handle the matter. For a while, Yan Wei and A Yu stood to the side of the hallway as the brothel manager and several servants came and went. Occasionally, a few girls would peek out, take a look, and then run away in fear.
To Yan Wei, this scene was incredibly mild. He calmly examined Fengxian’s body and the room’s condition, quickly concluding that the girl had indeed committed suicide. Considering what A Yu had said about Fengxian’s recent unhappiness due to Shen Yuanwai’s interest, it was clear that Fengxian had chosen to end her life to escape being bought by him.
Just how terrifying was Shen Yuanwai’s reputation for abusing women that it drove a brothel girl to take her own life?
The female ghost in the red dress was likely connected to this Ten Thousand Flowers Brothel, and Shen Yuanwai from Shen Estate frequently bought girls from here, often torturing them to death…
Mr. Bai, a gentle and upright scholar, had outright refused to meet with this Shen Yuanwai. Moreover, Mr. Bai was the one who had invited their faction of players to suppress the female ghost. Could it be that… Shen Estate was the other location?
As the brothel staff efficiently handled Fengxian’s remains, Yan Wei glanced at A Yu, who had been left behind by the manager to answer questions. He asked in a sorrowful tone, “Miss A Yu, why did Fengxian suddenly… give up like this? Even if Shen Yuanwai bought her, it wouldn’t necessarily mean death, but now she’s gone for good.”
A Yu was startled by his question, then nervously said, “I heard that Shen Yuanwai’s methods of… entertaining himself are worse than a quick death.”
Yan Wei’s calm demeanor, even in such a tense moment, helped ease the heavy atmosphere. A Yu seemed to have little guard up and continued, “Over the years, Shen Yuanwai has bought many girls from our brothel, and only two ever returned. When they came back, they were completely broken. The girls are powerless, coming and going, and no one really cares. It’s just that you happened to come today looking for… Well, that’s why you encountered this. None of the girls want to be noticed by Shen Yuanwai. Fengxian had been saying for the past few days that she’d rather die than be taken by him. I didn’t think she’d actually…”
Yan Wei noticed that the more A Yu spoke, the more frightened she became. It didn’t seem like she was grieving but rather panicking.
He probed further, “Those girls… they must have died with a lot of resentment.”
A Yu’s face turned pale, and she stammered, “Who wouldn’t die with resentment…”
Yan Wei pressed a bit more, but A Yu didn’t say anything else—though he had already gained some understanding. In the Tower World’s instances, ghosts and monsters were usually rooted in unfulfilled desires or the sins of greed, hatred, and ignorance. The core of these instances revolved around these dark forces, and the source of these evil spirits or resentments was Resentment.
Where there was resentment and unfulfilled desires, that was usually the root of the instance’s problem.
Over the years, the girls who had silently died in Shen Estate had accumulated enough resentment and unfulfilled desires to create such a powerful force.
As he pondered this, Yan Mingguang sent him a message: [Where are you?]
Yan Wei: [I’m still at Fengxian’s room. Fengxian committed suicide. I think the student’s death is indeed connected to this brothel, but he was probably just a client of Fengxian’s, not closely related to her. The real clues lie with the girls Shen Yuanwai tortured to death.]
[I’ve found a lead on one of the Ten Thousand Flowers Brothel girls. I’m coming back to find you now.]
[Alright.]
A short while later, the brothel staff quietly finished dealing with Fengxian’s body. A few girls from the neighboring rooms, who hadn’t taken any clients yet, peeked out and then, like A Yu, nervously returned to their rooms. The brothel staff handling the matter didn’t look too good, and their conversation revealed that they were more concerned about how to explain this to Shen Yuanwai in two days than about Fengxian’s life.
The manager was also worried about the impact on the brothel’s business downstairs and came over to apologize to Yan Wei, hoping he would keep this matter quiet. Yan Wei’s purpose here was just to investigate, so he didn’t care about the brothel’s business. He nodded in agreement, but perhaps because he was too casual in his response, the manager didn’t feel entirely at ease.
Thinking that Yan Wei was just a client here to enjoy himself, the manager decided to offer some incentives to ensure Yan Wei’s silence. While Yan Wei distractedly agreed, the manager gestured to a servant to go and do something. When the servant returned, he was carrying a pile of wooden tokens.
Yan Wei: “?”
“We’re terribly sorry for the disturbance, sir. This is the first time something like this has happened, and we hope you won’t spread it around,” the manager said with a smile, handing over the pile of tokens carved with various flower patterns. “Please accept these as a token of our apology. With these tokens, you can enter any girl’s room in our brothel. These are the tokens for all the girls here…”
The manager gave a meaningful smile. “We guarantee you’ll be satisfied the next time you visit.”
Yan Wei: “…”
These tokens were even recognized by the damn instance as instance-specific Items and couldn’t be stored in the Black Ring.
Yan Wei: “…………”
When Yan Mingguang returned, Yan Wei was standing to the side of the hallway, bathed in the flickering candlelight, holding a pile of wooden tokens carved with various flower patterns. The girls nearby kept stealing glances at him, their eyes lingering on the tokens in his hands, hoping he would choose one of them.
Yan Wei completely ignored the girls who were deliberately trying to catch his attention.
He watched as the man approached, his bright eyes twinkling slightly. He preemptively said in a low voice, “The girl I want to choose isn’t among these—I prefer someone quiet, a bit taller than me, strong, and able to protect me.”
