Chapter 174: So Well-Disguised Even Their Own Mother Wouldn't Recognize Them

Ying Ruoying was looking more and more like a boss these days.

Lately, she’d been having Bao Ye and Bao Zai deliver supplies to her, doing it all very discreetly.

But no matter how careful they were, there were always people tailing Bao Ye and Bao Zai.

Anyone who tried to follow them would be caught by the bodyguards Ying Ruoying had stationed in advance.

Then, they’d be sent off to Xiao Lingye’s place for a little “persuasion.”

With the supplies she got from Xiao Lingye and the others, Ying Ruoying traded for all sorts of beautiful, luxurious things both inside and outside the city.

For example, all kinds of ambient lighting, high-quality velvet bed sheets—

In short, she was all about high-end enjoyment.

Duan Xiangtong’s business was doing well too, but it was nowhere near as extravagant as Xiao Lingye’s side.

They both ran tents, but visiting Xiao Lingye’s setup felt like stepping into some exclusive club.

On top of that, Ying Ruoying would regularly bring in new faces.

She was a master at keeping things fresh for her customers and setting the mood just right.

So naturally, her business was booming.

She didn’t even need Shi Yuebai’s ready-made food anymore—she could earn her own.

And with the food she made, she traded for large amounts of daily necessities to send back to Shi Yuebai.

The people who got caught tailing her would shout,

“Don’t you dare! Bitch, do you even know who I work for?”

“I’m warning you, you’d better let me go, or Scarface won’t let you off easy!”

Shi Yuebai, who’d been resting on the sofa upstairs, suddenly opened her eyes.

Out in the yard, Ying Ruoying sneered,

“So you say you work for Scarface, and that’s supposed to scare me?”

“Scarface is that tasteless? He’s actually sending people to tail a woman like me?”

But it was precisely because Ying Ruoying was a woman, and had hired so many bodyguards, that people started watching her.

The captured tailer looked smug.

“You’ve been way too high-profile in the city. Scarface has had his eye on you for days.”

“He sent me this time to find out who you’re working for.”

The powers inside and outside the city had actually been divided up years ago.

For an outside group to get into the city wasn’t easy.

And there were only a handful of major civilian teams inside the city.

So when Ying Ruoying suddenly appeared, of course Scarface got suspicious.

He guessed she was a pawn for some outside group, trying to muscle in on the city’s turf.

That meant taking a slice of the pie from the established teams.

After all, survival resources were limited—if someone new joined the game, everyone else’s share got smaller.

Even though Ying Ruoying had been buying up daily necessities, who’s to say she wasn’t playing a long game?

In any case, Scarface wanted to test the waters first.

Ying Ruoying eyed the tailer, weighing whether it was worth offending Scarface.

Honestly, she didn’t want to cause trouble for Shi Yuebai.

A paper airplane landed on Ying Ruoying’s shoulder. Shi Yuebai’s voice came through:

“Hesitating will only make things worse. Mute him and send him away. Don’t let him show up in the city again.”

The more you’re afraid to offend someone, the more trouble you’ll get.

If Scarface didn’t know what Ying Ruoying was about, and she let this guy go—

Soon every team in the city would know she was afraid to cross Scarface.

Ying Ruoying waved her hand, signaling her bodyguards to take care of it.

These bodyguards had all been hired with ready-made food.

They glanced at each other, none of them daring to offend Scarface.

Ying Ruoying snorted,

“If you work for me and do as I say, you’ll have food to eat. If not, we’ll all starve.”

“If Scarface gets mad, he’ll come after me, not you.”

“If I’ve got the guts to cross him, I’ll take responsibility.”

Without Ying Ruoying, these bodyguards wouldn’t have survived in the city at all.

Most of them were skinny, weak, or missing limbs, or had mental issues.

Some had serious chronic illnesses—always coughing, or unable to do heavy labor.

The city’s civilian teams never wanted people like this.

So there was a whole group of original residents on the verge of starvation.

Working as Ying Ruoying’s bodyguards, all they had to do was catch peeping toms and follow her around the city’s street markets.

Easy work, and plenty to eat.

After hearing Ying Ruoying’s words, they obediently dragged the tailer away.

First, they made sure he couldn’t talk.

Before sending him to Xiao Lingye, they’d put an exquisite mask on him.

Once he arrived, they’d dress him up—leather thong, two big feathers for decoration—

So well-disguised, even his own mother wouldn’t recognize him.

Before leaving, Shi Yuebai told Ying Ruoying,

“Now that you’re being watched, it’s fine. We’ll just face them head-on.”

“If anything happens, you know how to reach me.”

Shi Yuebai’s body was still clumsy, but after all this time, the exhaustion from her soul leaving her body had faded.

She wasn’t afraid of Scarface.

If he had the guts, let him fight.

Scarface’s man never came back.

At first, Scarface didn’t believe a woman like Ying Ruoying would dare cross him so openly.

Could she really detain his man?

But by the next day, Scarface realized his man had vanished.

He was furious.

“There’s actually someone this bold in the city?”

“Don’t they know who’s backing me?”

His boss was an office manager in the city’s ruling class.

Any team that could hold its own in the city had some connection to the authorities.

Scarface immediately took a dozen men and stormed into Ying Ruoying’s villa.

Honestly, Ying Ruoying’s bodyguards were no match for Scarface’s crew.

Each of Scarface’s men was armed with a watermelon knife, looking like gangsters from an old movie.

Ying Ruoying’s bodyguards didn’t even dare stand in their way!

“Bitch!”

Scarface’s men found Ying Ruoying and lunged to grab her.

Ying Ruoying spun around, hurried into the basement, grabbed the stone token Shi Yuebai had given her, and stepped onto the teleportation array.

Before Scarface’s men could find the basement,

Ying Ruoying’s figure vanished.

Shi Yuebai had thought, given how little people valued life in the wasteland, that Scarface would take a few days before coming after Ying Ruoying.

Who knew he’d show up the very next day?

Shi Yuebai was in the fields checking on her lingzhi mushrooms.

In two days, twelve more red mushrooms had sprouted.

Xiao Jiao came running over in a panic.

“Auntie, Auntie, someone just appeared out of nowhere up ahead!”

Xiao Jiao had never met Ying Ruoying.

None of Shi Yuebai’s people had.

Ying Ruoying stood up from the wooden frame she’d been sitting on.

She looked around, dazed, then was drawn over by the sound of a baby laughing in a shopping cart.

Ying Ruoying swayed a little, then slowly walked over.

Paper Figure No. 1 screamed:

“Alert! Alert! Demon woman approaching the gold-eating beast!”

No. 2 had found a little button these past two days. Waving it at Ying Ruoying, it shouted,

“Don’t come any closer! If you do, I won’t be polite! Shi Yuebai, hurry up, emergency!”

(Today, for the first time in ages, I actually have some chapters saved up. My god, my mental exhaustion is too much.)"