Chapter 1 Mingmei's Choice

Leaving the tent, Mingmei returned to the kitchen with her original team, confirming the identities of the remaining three players along the way.

The other three consisted of two Hua Liang envoys who had come to deliver the letter of surrender, and one Hua Liang assassin from the common folk, skilled in disguise, infiltration, and assassination.

Beyond that, there was no further information.

[This information is a bit too basic.]

Mingmei frowned. In this game, she couldn't directly access player information.

Previously, Lu Xiaoyao and Bai Xiao had mentioned that two assassins sent by Hua Liang nobles were mixed among the beauties presented by wealthy merchants. Plus, Mingmei was too familiar with Lu Xiaoyao and Bai Xiao's faces, which allowed her to quickly find them.

[Because this assassination attempt is extremely important, Emperor Chu Rong is highly suspicious. His subordinates are also very loyal to him, and they will become suspicious even at the slightest hint of something being amiss. If you directly know their identities and make direct contact, it might alert the other NPCs, leading to their discovery. You'll have to take the blame for that, and points will be deducted!]

[What?]

As soon as Mingmei heard about the point deduction, she immediately became unhappy.

Academic points were equivalent to final grades, and passing final grades meant bonuses!

What were bonuses?

Money!

Wasn't this just taking her money?!

Mingmei was about to argue with Guigui when the head chef NPC in charge of the kitchen once again stood in front of her. Mingmei sat there, looking up at the way the other party was scrutinizing her.

"You, go deliver the meal to His Majesty."

After saying that, Mingmei followed the direction the other party was pointing and saw a meal box that was three times more exquisite than the box lunches she sold.

"Why me?"

Mingmei remembered that this guy had said that the tyrant seemed interested in her. Although she didn't know how intelligent these NPCs were, she didn't want to take the risk!

"Nonsense! You're the laziest one in the entire royal tent kitchen. You can't wash vegetables, you can't light a fire, and your delicate fingers will chop off a finger when you cut vegetables. If you're not delivering food, what are you doing?!"

"I can go back to the original kitchen and cook for the frontline soldiers. It's not as if I'm as idle as you say," Mingmei stood up and argued with the other party, pretending to be aggrieved.

However, just as she finished speaking, the other party stared at Mingmei for a few more seconds and suddenly sneered.

Before Mingmei could figure out what the other party meant, she was met with a torrent of abuse.

Mingmei couldn't help but tilt her head back, feeling like she was about to be sprayed with saliva.

In the end, Mingmei successfully avoided delivering food to the tyrant and instead delivered food to the Hua Liang envoys who had just arrived today to submit their surrender.

Now, Mingmei was energized.

There were players among the envoys!

She followed the serving maids to deliver lunch to the Hua Liang envoys. When she opened the lunch box, Mingmei's expression stiffened as she stared at the cold, hard black bread inside.

Looking at the silent expressions of the other NPC sisters, and then at the group of envoys across from her who also looked angry but dared not speak, Mingmei sighed from the bottom of her heart.

Might makes right, doesn't it?

Look at what they're eating. Mingmei wanted to curl her lip, but these envoys were able to face it calmly after receiving it. They brewed a pot of hot tea and placed the small black bread on delicate little plates. They sat there upright, and if you didn't know better, you'd think they were eating some kind of high-end pastry.

During this time, Mingmei also observed the reactions of all the envoys in the entire room. After observing for a while, she did indeed see two green-robed officials with very Western appearances in the corner.

Suddenly, she felt that what the system said about closing the hidden function to distinguish between players and NPCs was a self-deception.

Perhaps the game considered the spectrum of hair colors of the interstellar people. In *The Ancient Blue Star Survival Manual*, almost every story blurred the issue of race.

Therefore, in an alternate ancient era based on ancient China, a group of people with black hair and black eyes stood next to two blond, blue-eyed boys. The data-generated NPCs didn't even realize that there were two "aliens" among them.

However, it wasn't just their appearance that made Mingmei notice those two players; their behavior also had many flaws.

The two of them reached out and first pinched and broke the bread, secretly and cautiously scanning their surroundings. Only after seeing others eat it did they feel relieved and eat it, as if they were afraid that the bread contained a blade or poison that would kill them.

It was obvious that they had played too many escape games and were afraid of accidentally eating something that would kill them.

Drinking tea was the same. They didn't brew their own; they mooched off the NPCs at the next table, causing the envoy NPCs to frown. Because she was standing far away, she couldn't hear what they were saying, but the two players smiled at the NPCs after drinking their tea.

"Oh my god, this tea is so good!"

Charlie stared blankly at the bottom of the cup, which was only the size of a baby's fist. The aftertaste, along with a bit of fresh fragrance, constantly surged into his brain after the hot tea went down. He had never drunk such "water" in the interstellar world.

The envoy glanced at the two green-robed junior officials beside him, a trace of helplessness flashing in his eyes. Seeing the two of them holding their teacups, winking at each other and giggling, they were really undisciplined.

He couldn't help but sigh, "When we meet that... Emperor Chu Rong tonight, you two should stand in the back, given your manners."

"Ah?"

Charlie was stunned and exchanged a look with his friend. If they listened to this NPC uncle and stood in the back, wouldn't they miss the chance to get close to the tyrant?

Wouldn't their assassination plan for tonight fail?

"Sir, we... we know that our manners are not proper, but... but..." Charlie opened his mouth, but he didn't know how to say the awkward Ancient Blue Star language for a moment.

What to do?!

Even though he had heard that some people in the Empire complained that the game was inhumane because they couldn't understand or read the text of Ancient Blue Star, and the game later updated the players' game systems to automatically install the *Ancient Blue Star Language Compendium*, he still didn't dare to speak directly to the NPCs.

It was really—the difference between humans was too great!

The NPC's gaze had been fixed on Charlie after he finished speaking, causing the other player watching from the side to break out in a cold sweat.

What if the NPC discovered that they weren't real NPCs?

Julian looked at Charlie nervously. Just as the two of them were letting their imaginations run wild, their unusual behavior was not only noticed by Mingmei, but also by several of the serving maids. Mingmei could clearly see that some of the maids, like her, scanned the entire tent after entering.

The reactions of Charlie and Julian naturally attracted their attention as well.

Seeing this, Mingmei's heart skipped a beat. So, the tyrant wasn't an idiot; there must be many spies in the dark, right?

Looking at the fact that she had only earned 0.3 academic points so far, Mingmei's heart tightened. If she didn't seize the time to sell box lunches, these two might be taken away later.

So, Mingmei finally decided to take the risk and "pull off a big one"!

...

Charlie and Julian, who were completely unaware that they were being watched, were still worried about how to fool the official in front of them.

In the end, after a long time, the official saw these two dumb fellows standing beside him and couldn't help but say, "Since you're unwilling to stand in the back, go find someone else to refine your etiquette!"

As he spoke, he waved his sleeve, looking as if he didn't want to pay attention to people, and told them to get out of his sight.

This finally relieved Charlie and Julian!

"If you two gentlemen are not full, we have some special food in the corner here." Taking advantage of the opportunity to clean up, Mingmei approached the two players.

"You?"

Looking at Mingmei, whose style was completely different from the surrounding maids, Charlie and Julian's eyes lit up. Mingmei saw their reaction and her eyes flashed, secretly cheering that this was promising!

"Are you the one?" Charlie looked at Mingmei with a look of surprise, but the vague word "one" was full of excitement!

Was this "one" the "one" she was thinking of?

Seeing Mingmei staring at him without blinking, not saying a word, Charlie became anxious and said again, "Teammate! I'm from the Federal Elite Military Academy, what about you?"

Mingmei: ...?