Realm of the Night God

Chapter 91: The Most Handsome Guy (1)

Inside the hall behind the rocky walls, Yang Haoran was chatting with other Night Watch members as usual. He spoke sparingly, mostly listening with a smile on his face, occasionally interjecting a few words to ensure he wasn't being overlooked.

This time, Xu Meijing was the last to arrive again, but this time her expression wasn't too pleasant. She had a dark look on her face, as if someone owed her a great deal.

Xu Meijing had long been the shining star among the Lecheng Night Watch. It wasn't just because of her looks, but also because her monthly performance never failed to impress others. Combined with her naturally outgoing personality, it was difficult for her not to stand out.

Her presence naturally drew the attention of others, including Yang Haoran. His gaze fell upon her.

"Hmm, something's off. That expression doesn't seem right," remarked the Night Watch member beside Yang Haoran, his expression filled with puzzlement as if he couldn't quite grasp what was going on.

Yang Haoran didn't inquire further about this. The reason was simple. With Xu Meijing's face looking as dark as it did, anyone with eyes could see that something was amiss.

"Showing such an expression... her performance this month is probably not that good," Master Jiang, seated beside Yang Haoran's right, chimed in at this moment.

Yang Haoran's gaze shifted to Master Jiang. These words pleased him inwardly, even sparking a hint of satisfaction. However, he didn't show it on his face. Instead, he feigned surprise.

"No way, her performance has always been excellent every month. This month shouldn't be an exception!"

Yang Haoran's words were not spoken quietly. They echoed clearly throughout the entire hall, catching the attention of all the Night Watch present, including Xu Meijing.

Xu Meijing, already with an unpleasant expression, looked even more displeased upon hearing Yang Haoran's words. Her face grew even darker, almost dripping with gloom. She glared towards Yang Haoran, gritting her teeth in frustration.

Master Jiang, standing nearby, was startled by Yang Haoran's words and quickly whispered a reminder, "Keep your voice down!"

After Yang Haoran assured Master Jiang with a casual response, he looked towards Xu Meijing. Ignoring her menacing expression, he unexpectedly smiled warmly, nodding as if greeting an old friend.

Yang Haoran was never one to repay grievances with kindness. His smile towards Xu Meijing at this moment wasn't the friendly demeanor of old friends reuniting. If one had to describe the meaning behind his smile, it was provocation—blatant and unreserved.

Xu Meijing wasn't foolish. How could she not see that Yang Haoran was provoking her? It made her seethe with anger, yet she found herself powerless to retaliate.

The reactions of the two naturally didn't escape the notice of the other Night Watch members. While not finding it strange—similar scenes had occurred between them before—they were curious about the deep-seated animosity between the two and why they exuded such strong hostility upon meeting.

At this moment, there was a ripple in the space in front of Divine Envoy Deng Feng's exclusive seat. A crack appeared, and Deng Feng, with his sharp features, emerged from it.

Though Xu Meijing was burning with fury inside, upon seeing Deng Feng, she could only suppress her anger. With a fierce glare at Yang Haoran, she dared not act rashly.

Yang Haoran, of course, didn't dare to cause trouble in front of Deng Feng. This Boss could elevate him to Night Watch, but he could just as easily reduce him to an ordinary person.

With Deng Feng's appearance, it was finally time for the Night Watch to receive their salaries. Temple priests like Master Jiang had only a handful of souls in their possession, ranging from as many as eleven to as few as five.

However, as temple priests, their primary duty was to manage their respective Death God Temples, expand the influence of the Death God, recruit more followers, and provide assistance to believers in need. Their secondary task was to guide the undead and subdue evil spirits. So, even if they didn't have many souls in hand each month, it wouldn't greatly affect them. Instead, they still received a fixed amount of Soul Qi belonging to temple priests every month.

Deng Feng didn't react much. He neither affirmed nor denied the achievements of Master Jiang and the others, maintaining a rather indifferent demeanor.

In just a moment, only Yang Haoran and Xu Meijing had yet to submit their souls.

Compared to Master Jiang and the others, Yang Haoran and Xu Meijing were the professional Night Watch members. They didn't have as many mundane tasks as temple priests and only needed to fulfill the duties of the Night Watch, which mainly involved guiding the undead and subduing evil spirits. Therefore, under normal circumstances, they should have far more souls in their possession than temple priests.

Deng Feng didn't even glance at Yang Haoran. Yang Haoran's performance in the previous month was zero. Since Yang Haoran had only recently joined the Night Watch at the time, and had also flattered Deng Feng, Deng Feng didn't immediately dismiss him. However, he was still particularly disappointed in Yang Haoran.

Although another month had passed since then, Deng Feng still didn't hold high hopes for Yang Haoran and naturally ignored him completely.

Xu Meijing was different. Since becoming a Night Watch member, her monthly performance had both satisfied and surprised Deng Feng. He had high expectations for Xu Meijing, which remained unchanged this time.

"Meijing, I believe your performance this time will still astonish me," Deng Feng said, looking at Xu Meijing with a smile.

Deng Feng smiled. This was the first smile he had shown since appearing today, and it was directed solely at Xu Meijing.

Xu Meijing hesitated for a moment, then, as if resigned to her fate, approached Deng Feng with a dark expression on her face.

Deng Feng noticed that Xu Meijing's complexion seemed off, but he didn't pay much attention to it. After all, Xu Meijing always carried herself with an air of superiority, and he had long grown accustomed to it.

What he wanted was souls. As long as she could hand over satisfactory souls each month, she would be considered a good employee in his eyes—a competent Night Watch. As for her personality, he couldn't be bothered.

Approaching Deng Feng, Xu Meijing took out the soul gathering bead. In that instant, her face flushed slightly.

Deng Feng also paused when his gaze fell on the soul gathering bead. Inside it, twenty-one threads of soul were swimming.

Twenty-one threads were already considered quite a few. Even compared to temple priests like Master Jiang, who collected the most souls, Xu Meijing had half as many.

However, for Xu Meijing, twenty-one threads were too few. Her past performances had far exceeded this.

Yang Haoran was also surprised. Seeing Xu Meijing's earlier bad mood and Master Jiang's reminder, he realized that Xu Meijing's performance this month might not be good. But he hadn't expected it to be this poor.

Before subduing the red-robed evil spirit, Yang Haoran already had thirty threads of soul in his soul gathering bead, which he had painstakingly collected from the wilderness every night. At the time, he thought that with just thirty threads, he wouldn't be able to surpass Xu Meijing.

But now, it seemed that things weren't as he had imagined. Despite Lecheng's large population, the number of people who died each month due to various reasons was limited. If Xu Meijing's business scope hadn't expanded, fluctuations in her performance were normal.

Yang Haoran was in a good mood. He lightly rotated the ring embedded with the soul gathering bead, his smile growing even more pronounced.

He knew he had won this time!

"Is this all for this month?" Deng Feng reacted, his smile fading as he looked at Xu Meijing in front of him.

Xu Meijing nodded, then fell silent, seemingly not intending to explain further.

"It seems I was right. Your performance this month truly surprises me," Deng Feng said.

Xu Meijing still didn't speak, maintaining her silence.

"Meijing, you've always been the most outstanding Night Watch under my command. I have high expectations for you. I hope you won't disappoint me," Deng Feng said earnestly to Xu Meijing.

Xu Meijing nodded again but still didn't speak. At Deng Feng's gesture, she returned to her seat.

Only then did Deng Feng turn his gaze to Yang Haoran. He had no hope for Yang Haoran. If even Xu Meijing, who always had the best performance, did so poorly this month, in his eyes, Yang Haoran's performance would surely be worse. He naturally wouldn't hold any hope.

Yang Haoran's face bore his signature smile as he stood up, straightened his clothes, and then briskly walked towards Deng Feng.

"Bastard is just being pretentious!" Xu Meijing couldn't help but mutter under her breath when she saw Yang Haoran adjusting his clothes so meticulously.

Her voice was low, only audible to herself. Others could only hear her mumbling something.

With her performance this month so poor, even Xu Meijing's mocking tone towards Yang Haoran had softened.

"Bring it out; I'm busy," Deng Feng said, looking at Yang Haoran in front of him.

Deng Feng treated Yang Haoran and Xu Meijing completely differently. Yang Haoran's expression remained unchanged, still wearing a smile on his face. He didn't waste words. With a flip of his hand, a soul gathering bead appeared above his palm, which he respectfully handed to Deng Feng.

Yang Haoran kept his posture low. Regardless of whether the person in front of him was his boss or a stranger, he would try to maintain a humble attitude.

Initially appearing a bit impatient, Deng Feng's expression softened slightly as he noticed Yang Haoran's attitude. When his gaze fell on the soul gathering bead Yang Haoran handed over, he was once again stunned.

This scene had just occurred with Xu Meijing. He had been stunned then because Xu Meijing's performance this month was unexpectedly poor, leaving him bewildered.

And now, he was stunned again because Yang Haoran's performance this month was unexpectedly good, momentarily leaving him at a loss.

Not only Deng Feng, but all the Night Watch present, including Xu Meijing, had a drastic change in expression when they saw the situation inside Yang Haoran's soul gathering bead. It was as if they had witnessed something incredibly unbelievable.