Xiao Niao looked at his Master and realized that his Master was staring at him.
Xiao Niao: ???
"Well?" the Master raised an eyebrow. "Won't you start your report of the day?" he asked.
"Ah? Ah, alright, Master," Xiao Niao replied.
His Master was fiddling with the papers on one hand, his eyes scanning the contents of the paper. Although his Master wasn't looking at him, Xiao Niao began talking and reporting everything that the Master wanted to know.
When Xiao Niao was finished talking, the Master looked sharply at him.
"What was the last thing you talked about?" he asked.
Xiao Niao bowed his head and thought for two seconds before replying. The last thing he had reported was... the Vampire Clan's movements. It seemed like the Vampire Clan was colluding with the third prince of the Cloud Realm.
"The Vampire Clan is colluding with the third prince?" the Master paused. "Right, you also mentioned that... the third prince and the fifth princess are fighting?"
Xiao Niao bowed his head. "Correct, Master."
The Master sighed and narrowed his eyes. "How unexpected..."
He took a paper and threw it at Xiao Niao. Catching the paper, Xiao Niao quickly scanned the contents. Most of it was rubbish...
Wait! Nearing the end of the letter, Xiao Niao's normally stoic face began to wrinkle with a frown.
"Master... this..."
The Master took another sip of his wine. "How is it? Are you surprised? At first, I didn't take this guy too seriously either... Who would've thought he would be able to get valuable information?"
Xiao Niao pursed his lips. Several months ago, when his Master first received these anonymous letters, he had been annoyed and wary. After all, whoever sent those letters was too suspicious.
For starters, the Master had never sent any spies to the Shadow Demon's mansion, so who was this person, claiming to be loyal to the Master?
Next, those letters were sent through the special "MailMe" spell. This spell was very unique, and in the Phantom Realm and Cloud Realm, very few people knew the existence of this spell.
Knowing the spell was extremely suspicious in itself, but this anonymous person actually knew his Master's code name!
Every single person in the world had their own unique code name that could be used when they were sending letters through the MailMe spell. However, these code names were unique and many people didn't even know their own code names, much less other people's code names.
Since this anonymous letter sender had sent the letters straight to his Master... that meant this person knew his Master's code name. But this person wasn't one of his Master's spies, so how did he know his Master's code name??
Xiao Niao could not begin to fathom who or what this person was.
Not to mention how... uniquely strange the letter was...
With all those points gathered together, Xiao Niao could not help but become wary of this person. At that time, he thought his Master would tell him to investigate this person immediately...
Who knew that his Master would be so lenient and let it be?
Xiao Niao thought his Master was going to personally investigate the matter, or, at least, he would burn the letters and ignore this anonymous guy...
Who would've thought that his Master actually read those letters?
"Master, this servant would like to be bold and ask one question," Xiao Niao could not hold it in and spoke.
"Speak," came the reply.
"Master, the letters from that anonymous person..." Xiao Niao trailed off but did not continued.
"I kept them. Are you wondering why?"
Xiao Niao bowed his head even lower.
"They're rather amusing. Although it takes some time getting used to... In the end they can be rather entertaining... After all, where else can you find such horrible writing skills and creative use of grammar, syntax, and vocabulary?" the Master chuckled.
Xiao Niao pursed his lips. Wasn't it just writing rubbish? He could do it too...
"Anyway, back to business," the Master spoke. "I didn't take this too seriously, but I guess it was my mistake. I want you to do three things for me."
"Understood, Master. Speak and your servant will get it done immediately," Xiao Niao said.
"First, I want you to look into the fight between the third prince and the fifth princess. Find out the details about it," the Master said.
"After that, check out the Vampire Clan," the Master spoke, looking downwards. Coldness emanated from his eyes as he glance lightly at Xiao Niao.
"Find out what gave them the guts to collude with the pigs from the Cloud Realm, and give them a warning if need be," he added.
"Lastly..." the man's eyes grew even frostier than before. "Find out the identity of this anonymous person," he said, waving the letters in his hand.
"Understood, Master!" Xiao Niao replied with vigor.
The man gave a low hum in reply and waved his hands, telling Xiao Niao to leave. Xiao Niao bowed respectfully again, turned into a bird, and flew out of the room.
***
One week later, Xiao Niao returned with a ton of information. He first explained that the third prince and Lilith, the head of the Vampire Clan, were indeed working together.
Apparently the third prince had approached Lilith first, asking her to back him up in the fight against the fifth princess.
"And why did Lilith agree?" Xiao Niao's Master asked as he twirled a brush between his fingers.
"That... according to this servant's investigation, there was no particular reason... It's just that..." Xiao Niao hesitated, unsure on whether to speak or not.
"Just speak," the Master said, crossing his legs languidly.
"Apparently she thought it would be fun..." Xiao Niao whispered.
The Master glanced lazily at Xiao Niao as his eyes moved to the brush in his hands. Based on Lilith's personality, it was, indeed, true that she loved doing things based on her whims...
"Alright, I get it," a small smile grew on the man's lips as he eyed Xiao Niao gently. "No need to send a warning to the Vampire Clan. They know what to do," he smirked.
"Understood, Master," Xiao Niao bowed.
"What about the third prince and the fifth princess? Why are they fighting?" the man asked.
Xiao Niao bowed his head and recited the information he had collected. Many people only knew that although the fifth princess had no background or support from her maternal family, and that she was successful because of her own intelligence and natural talent.
However, few people knew that the fifth princess, Huang Lifen, actually had a stepbrother, whom she doted on immensely. Huang Lifen's mother had been a low-level maid working in the Heavenly Immortal's palace.
At that time, Huang Lifen's mother was already in love with a fellow servant, and the two secretly got married. They even had a son named Wang Bai. However, a lot of things had happened, and Huang Lifen's mother became pregnant with the Heavenly Immortal's child, namely Huang Lifen.
Long story short, Huang Lifen's mother was promoted to become a concubine, and, fearing for her son's life, Huang Lifen's mother claimed that he was her nephew.
Huang Lifen was extremely close to Wang Bai, and the two grew up almost glued together. But even if you were a child, as long as you grew up as one of the Heavenly Immortal's children, then you were bound to have a difficult life.
When Huang Lifen was only 8 years old (which was considered very, very young, considering the immortal's lifespans), someone put poison in her food, intending to take her life.
A mishap occurred, and the one who got poisoned was Wang Bai. The results of the poison was disastrous -- he managed to stay alive, but his cognitive ability was greatly damaged. Ever since that incident, Huang Lifen had to be the older sibling and take care of her brother.
Now the spark that ignited the fight between Huang Lifen and the third prince was Wang Bi. Huang Lifen had found out that the person who had schemed to hurt her (and ended up hurting her brother) was the third prince's mother.
Of course, she was furious, so Huang Lifen began to attack the third prince aggressively, disposing of his loyal subordinates one by one and scheming a way to get him killed.
"So that's what started the fight..." the man drawled. "What do you think of it?" he asked Xiao Niao.
Xiao Niao's brows were knitted into a frown.
"Master, this servant thinks there is nothing wrong with this incident," Xiao Niao said slowly. "In any case, the fight for the throne will be a good thing for us."
The man nodded slowly, a smile creeping up to his lips. "I agree with you. But, don't you remember what that 'Creative Writer' said?"
Xiao Niao paused and searched for the possible candidates of the 'Creative Writer'. It took him a while to realize that his Master meant that anonymous person who had been sending ridiculous letters to the Master.
***
Xiao Niao: Isn't it just writing rubbish? I can do it too...
Feng Yongrui: ...Are you sure? It's harder than you think QAQ
***
Why do you usually do something?
a) Because you are forced to
b) Because it needs to be done
c) Because you can get benefits (e.g., money) out of it.
d) Because it's fun.
Comment below~~