Chương 5: Suspiciously Strong Family

The two missions to scan the Ren family residence and devouring 1 point of energy are something I've thought of while I am training my 3D imagining skill. The first one exists to help me understand the situation around the transmigrator. Although I also got a copy of the original Ren Qingquan's memory when the transmigrator possessed him, which also contains a lot of information about the Ren family's residence. But, memory is memory. I still need to make sure of it myself.

Meanwhile, the second mission is to help me better understand my abilities. My abilities are indeed extremely overpowered and seem to have unlimited potential. But that's all under the pretext that points are easy to gain. Which means that before I prepare my plan, I need to quickly find a way to gauge how difficult it is to gather points.

While I am thinking, Ren Qingquan has already read all the notifications I sent. The first thing he does is complain, 'Why is it newbie missions? Where is the newbie benefit?' I am utterly speechless at how brazen he is. Anyway, as a kind person, or a kind system to be exact, I decided to reply to his question. [The newbie mission is a benefit as it's extremely easy to complete.] I saw him roll his eyes at my answer before rubbing his chin and thought, 'Should I do mission 1 or mission 2 first?

Or perhaps I should actually do both of them at once?' Ren Qingquan then nodded his head, 'Let's complete both of them at once. I remember there are quite a lot of animals, like fish and birds, at the Ren family's residence. I could secretly kill some of them while traveling around the residence!'

'I am such a genius!' I heard him think as he slowly exited his courtyard and paused on his step.

'Wait a minute, how do I activate [Scan] again?' I facepalmed when I heard Ren Qingquan's thought. Did I forget to teach him how to activate [Scan]? It can't be helped, though; using this ability is kinda like an instinct for me. Anyway, I sent him a screen containing the explanation. [Ding! Simply think of 'Scan' to activate it. Once activated, the information regarding every area within scanning range will be sent to your mind.] Ren Qingquan read it and immediately tried to think of [Scan].

As I had already granted him the right to use [Scan], I first filtered it to receive only information about sights, noises, and energy before activating [Scan]. The instant [Scan] was activated, I saw Ren Qingquan kneeling on the floor, sweat dripping from his forehead. I felt something was wrong and quickly deactivated Ren Qingquan's [Scan]. With the [Scan] turned off, Ren Qingquan stood up while holding his head, 'Urghh, my head hurts so much!'

Looking at the veins that bulged on Ren Qingquan's forehead, it seems there is a problem with [Scan]. After I searched for the source of the problem, I realized it might be because he forgot to activate [Calculate] first. So, I reminded him of it. [You could try using 'Scan' in conjunction with 'Calculate' to receive the information better.] Ren Qingquan nodded and thought, 'Calculate!' His [Calculate] activated, and Ren Qingquan can feel himself turn slightly smarter.

Then he continued to shout in his mind, 'Scan!' This time, he held on for ten whole seconds before he fell to the ground while grabbing his head.

'Argg, so dizzy. I wanna vomit!' I deactivate Ren Qingquan's [Scan] once more and become confused. It seems the problem lies in the [Scan]. But, how come I could use and accept the information from Ren Qingquan's [Scan] while he can't? I began to think of the possible causes by looking at the difference between the two of us. After a whole minute, I can only think of two main differences between the two of us. First, those abilities are mine, and Ren Qingquan only borrowed them.

But I don't think the problem lies here. The second difference is that Ren Qingquan has a physical body and exists in the real world. Meanwhile, I don't have a physical body and exist in god knows where. I guess it might be because I don't have a brain? Wait, I mean, it's because I don't have a brain in a physical sense! Even without a physical brain, I am still brighter than average! Sigh, who am I even explaining this to? I guess it's true I've gone slightly bonkers.

After Ren Qingquan recovered from his headache, I decided to weaken his [Scan]. [Ding! Detected the host's hardware is insufficient to use 'Scan'. Preparing to update 'Scan'.] Ren Qingquan saw my notification and scratched his head, "What do you mean by insufficient hardware?" [The host's brain isn't good enough.] Ren Qingquan: (¬_¬)"Are you saying I am stupid?" [The host is the one acknowledging it. System never said the host is stupid.] If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. [It seems the host's brain is too weak to accept the information gained from 'Scan', even with the help of 'Calculate'. So, System has updated the 'Scan' function.] Ren Qingquan asked, 'Can you explain the update to me?' [The current 'Scan' will be separated into two modes, passive and active. In active mode, the host may look at an item or person and think of 'Scan' to see their details recorded in the system database. Meanwhile, the passive mode will be constantly active to record the host's surroundings within the range of 'Scan' and store them in the system's database.] [Additionally, you may check the place that has been visited and recorded through the System Map (locked).] Ren Qingquan nodded and walked toward a stone table in his courtyard, then thought, 'Scan!'

I quickly wrote on a screen and sent it to Ren Qingquan. [Stone table. Description: Outdoor table made out of hard stone. Has traces of bird poop on it.] Ren Qingquan saw it and pulled the hand he had placed on top of the stone table while wiping his palm with a corner of his robe. Then, he waited for a bit and frowned.

'Is that all? This seems to be pretty useless?' I couldn't accept such slander, so I retorted back. [That's because the host is too ignorant and hasn't come into contact with related information. The system will only display information that has been recorded in the system database.]"Are you saying it's my fault?" Ren Qingquan rolled his eyes. [Indeed.] He speechlessly stared at my reply before ignoring it and focusing on a random flower located nearby.

'Scan!' [Unknown flower Description: Unknown flower. Note: Please learn more about herbology.]'Damn, this time it's even worse!' Ren Qingquan massaged his temple, 'It seems I need to start studying things.' He then ignored the [Scan] for now and prepared to leave his courtyard. When he just took a few steps out of his courtyard, Xiao Cai suddenly appeared from outside the range of my [Scan] and bowed toward Ren Qingquan.

"Young master, you've finally woken up! The master and the second elder have been looking for you." Ren Qingquan paused his step upon seeing Xao Cai. From [Anchor], I could feel him trying to recall the original Ren Qingquan's memory as he panicked, 'Who is she?' After freezing for a full minute and putting on a poker face, Ren Qingquan finally recalled the memory of Xiao Cai and how the original Ren Qingquan usually interacted with her. Regaining his calmness, Ren Qingquan nodded toward Xiao Cai.

"Sorry, I've been lost in thought. Can you lead me to where my father is?" Xiao Cai nodded and led Ren Qingquan through several courtyards, gardens, and halls. During the journey, I constantly activated the [Scan] attached to Ren Qingquan and collected the data about the Ren family's courtyard. Although I didn't gain any important information, I've become even more certain that there is something suspicious regarding Xiao Cai. While walking toward his father's place.

Ren Qingquan has passed through several servants and guards. Yet, except for a few that have energy around Ren Qingquan's level, which means they are at the Martial Master realm. The other servants are all at the Martial Apprentice realm, which is one realm lower. That makes Xiao Cai, who has reached god knows what realm, stand out all the more.

Midway through the journey, Ren Qingquan grew bored and thought of something. While staring at Xiao Cai, he thought, 'Scan!' [Name: Xiao Cai Level: Far above Martial Master. Possibly at Martial Saint and above. Description: Suspicious maid of unknown strength.]'Huh? What does that mean?' After receiving the result from the [Scan] I sent, Ren Qingquan looked confused.

'How come Xiao Cai is so strong? I am pretty sure the original Ren Qingquan's feat of reaching the Martial Master realm before fifteen is already seen as genius.'

'How old is Xiao Cai again? 14? 16? Reaching Martial Saint level at such a young age is unreasonable!' He then thought of hundreds of possible reasons: she might be an old woman who has found a way to retain her youth, his father's illegitimate child by some overpowered woman, an assassin, or even a spy. His guesses are even more absurd than mine. While I am secretly reading Ren Qingquan's guesses about Xiao Cai's identity, she suddenly stopped in front of a courtyard and said.

"Young master, we've arrived." Without waiting for Ren Qingquan to respond, Xiao Cai knocked on the courtyard's door and said, "Master, elder, the young master has arrived."

"Come in." A heavy, middle-aged male voice answered from behind the door. As Xiao Ling opened the door, I finally saw Ren Qingquan's father and grandfather for the first time. From Ren Qingquan's eyes, I saw two middle-aged men sitting at a table while drinking a warm tea in the middle of the courtyard. One of the middle-aged men should be Ren Qingquan's grandfather, Ren Wangzhen.

According to Ren Qingquan's original memory, he is a martial artist at the peak of the Martial Lord realm and one of the few Martial Lords of the Ren family. Although he looks like a middle-aged man, Ren Wangzhen is actually an old man in his mid-eighties. He looks like a middle-aged man because once someone reaches the Martial Saint realm, they can retain their youth. This fact often led to situations in which a son appeared older or close in age to his father. This often creates an awkward situation.

After Ren Qingquan stepped into the courtyard, Ren Wangzhen suddenly asked while blowing the cup of tea in front of him.

"How is your wound?"

"After applying the medicine, my wound has started to heal." Ren Qingquan replied as awkward silence descended into the courtyard. Watching the awkward silence, I suddenly recalled some information from the original Ren Qingquan's memory. Ren Wangzhen, Ren Qingquan's grandfather, is someone who rarely speaks. Actually, I recall that most of the Ren family members in Ren Qingquan's original memories are the kind who rarely speak much.

Well, except for his father, Ren Shiluo, who is a super nagging and gossipy chatterbox capable of shooting words at a speed equaling a machine gun. While Ren Qingquan stood awkwardly, Ren Shiluo immediately began his machine gun attack.

"That Ren Xuan from who know where is just too much. He actually targeted our main family branch suddenly during the yearly tournament. Why couldn't he just target another main family branch? It's not as if there's no other genius there. The third elder's sixth grandson is also at the early stage of the Martial Master realm. Although he achieved it at twenty years old which is five years older than Ren Qingquan, but don't you think it is more appropriate to use him as a target to show off.

After all, not only does that kid often fight with random people in the city which could be counted as battle experience, our Qingquan has just achieved the Martial Master realm recently and has not been used to his strength. Not only that, I have even heard some news saying that the Ren Qingchen kid is a no good thing, he actually entered the city with the smell of human blood at midnight, if not for him to be our Ren family member the guard that met him might've already killed him on sight....."

Whoa, I knew he was a chatterbox. But after seeing it in person, I am still awed by Ren Shiluo's talent at spewing nonsense nonstop. If possible, I wanted to press 'Space', 'Esc', or 'Enter' to skip Ren Shiluo's nonsensical dialogue. What a pity, this is reality and not a game. So, there is no skip button for dialogue. Although I complained, I still placed all of my attention on Ren Shiluo. Not because whatever nonsense he is speaking is actually important. But, because of the energy he has.

The energy I sensed on Ren Shiluo's body is much higher than that in Ren Wangzhen's body. Actually, forget about that. Even the energy inside Xiao Cai is actually only slightly lower than Ren Wangzhen's. Just what the hell is going on? Didn't the original Ren Qingquan's memory say his father, Ren Shiluo, is only a salted fish at the Martial Grandmaster realm? But by comparing the energy in Ren Shiluo and Ren Wangzhen. Ren Shiluo's energy is definitely much stronger.

If Ren Wangzhen is indeed a Martial Lord, as the information in the original Ren Qingquan's memory said. That means, Ren Shiluo is either also at the Martial Lord realm or perhaps even stronger and has reached the Martial Emperor realm, which is the peak of this world! Seriously, just what is going on? Is Ren Qingquan's family actually full of hidden experts?