Chapter 175: Allies Afoot

As soon as the words left her mouth, the woman’s gaze fixed directly on Shangguan Liqian, her eyes gleaming with newfound interest.

Seeing this, Luo Wushuang instinctively stepped in front of Shangguan Liqian like a protective young cub, glaring at the woman in plain clothes.

The accompanying Secret Guards had long since grown accustomed to their Empress Regnant’s habit of launching indiscriminate verbal or physical attacks on anyone who dared linger their gaze on the Empress Consort.

The woman, however, was experiencing this for the first time. She found Luo Wushuang quite intriguing as well.

Seeing the two of them watching her with such high alert, the woman in plain clothes let out a soft chuckle and waved her hand dismissively to soothe them. “Don’t be nervous. I mean you no harm.”

Luo Wushuang scoffed at that. This woman had just commanded a pack of monsters to attack them, and now she claimed to have no malice? Only a fool would believe her.

“I know why you have come to Wuyou Island. I can help you, but in return, you must agree to one condition.” The woman’s voice was as ethereal and melodic as her flute music, and if one listened closely, a hint of desperation could be heard beneath the surface.

Luo Wushuang didn’t even stop to think before she opened her mouth to refuse, but a hand suddenly reached out from behind and caught her own.

Frowning slightly, Luo Wushuang turned back to her sister, not understanding why she was being stopped.

Shangguan Liqian shook her head slightly, signaling for her to remain calm. Then, she looked toward the woman and spoke in a cool, level tone. “And why should we trust you?”

The woman tilted her head, pondering for a moment before answering. “Master Yujing sent me to help you.”

Luo Wushuang and Shangguan Liqian exchanged a look, both of them feeling a wave of speechlessness.

Help us? She probably meant helping the NPCs on this island kill them!

Seeing their skepticism, the woman grew frantic. “Master Yujing said that as long as I help you achieve your goals, you will be able to help me achieve mine afterward!”

It was a bit of a tongue-twister, but the two of them quickly caught the meaning.

Wasn’t this woman just looking for a partnership?

But if she wanted to cooperate, why send a bunch of grotesque, half-dead monsters to attack them first?

Upon hearing this, the fury on Luo Wushuang’s face didn’t soften; instead, it intensified. Especially when she thought about how that stunt nearly hurt her sister, Luo Wushuang’s temper reached its boiling point.

She pointed a finger at the woman in plain clothes and launched into a frantic tirade. Even Shangguan Liqian couldn’t hold her back.

“Wait… it’s not what you think—” The woman tried to explain herself at first.

But Luo Wushuang didn’t care what she had to say. Her mouth became a rapid-fire weapon. Using the woman as the center, her ancestors for eighteen generations as the radius, and every distant relative as a fulcrum, she supplemented her insults with anatomical references and improvised verbal skills. It was a 360-degree exhibition of a young woman’s absolute rage.

The woman in plain clothes, forced to endure the pinnacle of the Empress Regnant’s linguistic “artistry,” was stunned into silence.

Eventually, the woman could only stare blankly at Luo Wushuang’s mouth, watching it flap open and shut with dizzying speed. She couldn’t get a word in edgewise. Not a single one!

What left her even more flabbergasted was that after the girl finished her rant, she took two deep breaths, turned around, and immediately began acting like a spoiled, cute child toward the woman in the wheelchair.

And even more baffling? That woman in the wheelchair was actually coaxing the little ranter with an indulgent, doting expression.

The woman in plain clothes felt her world spinning. Does she not see how much that brat just cursed? What is there to coax?! Why are you comforting her?!

Shouldn’t she be the one receiving comfort right now?

Setting aside the woman’s inner grief and indignation, she had completely lost her “otherworldly” and “detached” aura.

As for Luo Wushuang, who had been cheered up by her sister in just a few sentences, she looked as though she had swallowed a divine tonic. She stood up to face the woman again, her mouth opening as if she were ready for round two.

The woman, now completely rattled, reacted with lightning speed. Before Luo Wushuang could speak, she blurted out, “I’m sincere! I’m sincere! I really am!”

[Xiaobai: Hahaha! Look how panicked the poor thing is, she’s even lost her accent.]

Luo Wushuang slanted a look at her and let out a cold snort through her nose. She tilted her head high with disdain. “First, move your eyes away from my sister. Otherwise, I’m going to start ‘praising’ you again!”

Luo Wushuang thought to herself: Praising you? If you keep looking, I’ll gouge your eyes out!

The woman, who had originally thought the one sitting down might be easier to talk to, immediately snapped her gaze away. She moved so fast that her neck let out a sharp, protesting crack.

Rubbing her neck gently, the woman grumbled inwardly. Master Yujing said he found me a helper, but he never said the helper would be such a foul-mouthed terror!

Having enjoyed her first true bout of unbridled scolding, Luo Wushuang was now secretly gauging Shangguan Liqian’s expression. She had been so angry that she spoke without thinking—would her sister think she was unrefined or lacked manners?

Just as she was trying to figure out how to salvage her image, she caught the woman peeking at her out of the corner of her eye and immediately glared back fiercely. After the glare, she went back to sneakily checking her sister’s face…

Shangguan Liqian’s brow was slightly furrowed as she weighed the credibility of the woman’s words. When she looked up, she happened to catch Luo Wushuang’s shifty, nervous eyes.

After a moment of confusion, she realized what the girl was worried about. She patted Luo Wushuang’s hand with a light chuckle and whispered, “That was a great performance.”

Luo Wushuang’s eyes lit up instantly, and she puffed out her chest like a proud rooster.

After soothing Luo Wushuang, Shangguan Liqian looked back at the woman and spoke calmly. “Since you want to cooperate, why did you control those things to attack us earlier?”

The woman sighed, no longer bothering to hide the truth. She spoke bluntly. “If we are to cooperate, I naturally had to see if you possessed enough strength.”

“If you had turned out to be useless like the ones who came before you, I wouldn’t have shown my face even if I did promise Master Yujing to help.”

She wasn’t lying. She had seen their strength with her own eyes and decided they would be useful to her. Only then did she come out to talk. Otherwise, instead of helping her, they would have only dragged her down.

Shangguan Liqian’s brow tightened. Useless like the ones before? Did she mean the people who had previously tried to invade the island?

Her intuition told her that whatever this woman wanted to do was extremely dangerous; it would be best if they didn’t get involved. However, they were currently operating in the dark. If an islander offered to help, their task would undoubtedly become much easier.

But… was this woman trustworthy?

Meeting the woman’s gaze—which was looking at her expectantly yet darting away whenever Luo Wushuang twitched—Shangguan Liqian pondered for a moment. Then, she asked tonelessly, “When you said you wouldn’t have shown your face, did you mean you would have stayed in the shadows to control those monsters?”

The woman hesitated for a moment, then nodded slowly. She revealed a secret that shocked everyone present.

“In truth… those things are all failed experimental subjects from previous failed attempts to enter the island.”

Shangguan Liqian’s frown deepened even further. “What exactly is going on here? And who exactly are you?”