Chapter 83

Jian Qing shouted and took out his weapon - a brass axe, and threw it straight at the gate.

The axe blade emitted a green light and flew past Captain Li's nose.

Inside the gate, An Rou grasped the Seven Souls Sword, the tip of the sword just inches away from Captain Li's heart. She ignored the axe coming towards her, determined to strike with one strike!

However, Captain Li's gold level was there, and before his brain could digest Jianqing's reminder, his body had already reacted in a flash and flew backwards.

Even with her mobility skills, An Rou couldn't catch up no matter what and could only watch as the distance between them, a hair's breadth, was rapidly widened.

The brass axe is here in the blink of an eye!

Bang! A burst of white light erupted from An Rou's body. Her ice wristband activated its passive defense, deflecting the axe back. At the same time, the palm-length Seven Souls Sword suddenly expanded!

The silver sword was stretched into a phantom, breaking free from An Rou's hand and shooting forward, and the distance between it and Captain Li's heart suddenly shrank back!

Captain Li finally reacted and activated his defensive items. Passive and active defenses overlapped to create a double layer of light. Combined, it was enough to withstand 3,000 points of attack. Ordinary weapons couldn't hurt him at all.

At the critical moment, a voice rang out.

"Purge!"

A little white light burst out from the Seven Souls Sword phantom!

White light passed through his body, and Captain Li's defense was completely shattered!

Not only that, the Seven Souls Sword blasted forward with overwhelming force, charging straight at Jianqing. Seeing this was not going well, Jianqing raised his brass axe to block the attack and activated his armor to defend himself.

However, the silver-gray sword shadow shattered them both again!

The two of them stared with eyes wide open, their expressions of disbelief identical.

Captain Li was wounded in the heart, and Jianqing's shoulder was pierced. However, the latter's injuries were significantly worsening. The wound inflicted by the Seven Souls Sword on Jianqing drew no blood, leaving behind a fist-sized white spot. Like a squirming, expanding ball of cotton, the white spot rapidly devoured his body!

Seven Souls Sword, three-stage skill, removes filth.

Wherever the sword goes, foul air is removed and fresh air is born!

In a few breaths, the right side of Jianqing's body had disappeared, and the edge of the white light had eaten away at his cheek, making it look as if it had been torn in half.

If Captain Li had not absorbed most of the attack power, he would have died by now.

——But for him, not dying is definitely not a good thing.

A figure dropped from the sky and forcefully inserted himself between the two men, pressing one hand on Jianqing's face and the other hand on the back of Captain Li's head.

A glimmer of soul light flowed down each arm and toward Wang Da's body.

Wang Da looked at An Rou: "Is it okay?"

An Rou stared at it with a serious expression.

The time it takes for a ghoul to devour souls is extremely short. She has experimented with it and found that if a soul is not eaten within ten seconds, the remaining soul will become a new ghoul.

In other words, if Wang Da finishes eating these two people within ten seconds, his strength will increase. On the contrary, if he fails to finish eating them, he will differentiate into new ghouls and enter a weak state.

Killing the head of the Ouli branch was a last resort, but who knows how much trouble that would cause. Baofu was still dormant, and Wang Da was undoubtedly the strongest of the farm's ghouls. His weakening was definitely not a good thing.

If Wang Da was summoned by An Rou, she would have chosen the first option without hesitation. The problem was that the incident happened suddenly, and she had no time to connect with Wang Da's consciousness.

In other words, Wang Da had chosen the most delicate moment to enter the scene. In An Rou's view, this was tantamount to using the situation to force her to agree to the escalation.

His heart is despicable.

"Boss!" Paopao was anxiously waiting for just a few seconds.

An Rou gritted her teeth: "Okay."

The soul light suddenly shines!

Wang Da is an out-of-control existence, possessing uncontrollable power. He has already been A-level and now has swallowed up the gold-level Dawn Darkness. If he is promoted to S-level in one fell swoop, he will inevitably be more difficult to control.

But Anrou had no choice.

The result of letting Wang Da split up is the same. Although you can get two new ghouls, they all obey the ghost mother Wang Da, which is no different from not getting any.

The ideal situation is that it is Zhang Da who comes instead of Wang Da.

Two balls of light exploded silently, like glowing smoke, and gradually dissipated.

Wang Da's figure flashed and disappeared. When he reappeared, he was holding the Seven Souls Sword. He turned the sword tip and handed the hilt to An Rou.

Its faint smile remained the same as always: "Don't worry, I haven't upgraded."

An Rou said nothing as she took the Seven Souls Sword and gazed towards the distant city walls. The searchlight moved slowly, but the soldiers there didn't notice anything was happening.

She lowered her head, gazing at the Seven Souls Sword in her hand. Its shape and pattern were identical to the palm-length sword she'd previously used, though it had been stretched to a full meter in length, making it feel heavier in her hand. However, An Rou felt it was still light compared to the other swords in the blacksmith shop.

It should be because of the material.

Paopao's breathing was disordered, and he was still frightened. Even in the dim light, he could see that his face was a little pale. He saw Anrou looking up, and then he remembered something and scratched his head and smiled awkwardly.

"Sorry, boss, I took the liberty of binding the weapon."

As he spoke, the Seven Souls Sword turned back into a small dagger, lying quietly in An Rou's palm.

An Rou understood that the Seven Souls Sword needed to be bound before it could return to its true form. As an NPC, she didn't have the ability to bind weapons. It would be a complete waste to have the Seven Souls Sword in her hands.

An Rou handed over the Seven Souls Sword: "I'll give it to you first."

Paopao waved his hands repeatedly: "No, no, boss, the blue weapon consumes too much energy. I can only use the third stage skill once at most..."

An Rou knew his stats: Lv31 Silver, 3100 HP, 1510 Energy. She glanced at the miniature light screen on the Seven Souls Sword: [3/7 Cleansing, requires 100 Energy points].

Logically speaking, the energy consumed is less than a fraction.

Paopao saw her doubt and looked strange: "Boss, the Seven Souls Sword is a flying sword. It doesn't rely on energy value, but on spirit value."

He turned on the light screen and showed An Rou the attributes: [Spirit value: 12/100].

According to the game's design, the growth of a player's Spirit Points doesn't come from numerical increases, but from a reduction in the rate at which they're consumed. In other words, a single "Purge" move can practically drain all of a player's Spirit Points!

Paopao cast an inquiring look: "Boss, don't you know... that the Seven Souls Sword is a flying sword?"

For the first time, his faith in An Rou wavered. In such a critical situation, if the boss was truly the second-ranked Ban Yue Princess, how could she not have activated the Seven Souls Sword? And how could she not even know the simple common sense that flying swords consume spiritual energy?

Princess Half Moon is a super player second only to Chu Mo!

An Rou's heart trembled, and she said calmly, "I can't use my spiritual power."

It turns out that after being hailed as a deity, it's far from easy to come down. Especially now that she was wary of Wang Da, this vigilance involuntarily shifted to Paopao.

"Oh." Paopao watched her put away the Seven Souls Sword and didn't ask any more questions.

He felt a little disappointed, feeling that his boss didn't trust him as much as he let on. But...why was that? He was clearly wholeheartedly concerned for his boss and the farm!

Just now, he killed the Ouli Minister Dawn Darkness, offending the entire Ouli Guild. If the matter were to be exposed, he would be wanted by Ouli to death!

An Rou didn't notice Paopao's resentful look at all.

She walked towards the bungalow with her thin eyebrows tightly furrowed.

The celebration banquet had just begun when Captain Li suddenly came to visit, and among his entourage was Jianqing.

Ever since the Yong'an Hotel reopened, An Rou had been keeping a close eye on Jian Qing, the Ouli team. If they found anyone, they would be killed. After all, they were the only players who had witnessed An Rou's actions as an NPC. Now that she had entered the big stage of Zhongsu Town, she had to eliminate this hidden danger.

Unfortunately, there were nearly 8,000 Ouli players in Zhongxu Town, and she could only inquire in a roundabout way, but she didn't get any information. She thought they were unlucky and had completely logged off during the T21 mission.

Killing Captain Li and Jianqing was a decision An Rou made in an instant.

Without a doubt, this was a terrible decision. Firstly, Captain Li had come to tip off the farm, saying Tang Lang had led his men to siege it. If he were still alive, he would surely have helped. Secondly, on his path to the position of mayor, Captain Li and his Ouli branch were indispensable aids.

Now, everything is in vain.

What kind of mayor is this? It's even a big question whether the farm and the businesses under her control can continue to operate! Killing a branch director is much more serious than killing Chiqian Yiming!

Wang Dalu was the last one in line. Before closing the farm gate, he suddenly glanced at the city wall in the distance.

The twenty-meter-high city wall, like a silent giant, casts an even darker shadow in the night.

I always feel that there is a wisp of soul fragrance floating on the tip of my nose.

Wang Dan stared at the barely discernible black dot beside the searchlight on the city wall. Could it be that his increased strength had also heightened his sense of smell?

The farm gate closed silently.

Somewhere in the darkness, a secret gaze was retracted and placed in front of him.

[Mission Name: Ghouls Hiding in the Farm]

[Mission Location: Eastern Suburbs of Zhongsu Town]

[Ghoul Level: SS... (Highest)]

【Number of Ghouls: 21/21】

【Time limit: None】

[Difficulty Rating: SS...]

A pleasant surprise.

-

Two hundred people marched out of the neon-lit Zhongsu Town and into a pitch-black field.

The players had good eyesight and could see the road clearly without lanterns or flashlights. But even though the dirt road was right next to them, they still chose to cross the wheat fields, and countless wheat seedlings fell into the mud under their iron boots.

One hundred Yinlai members and fifty Ouli members acted as the vanguard, while the remaining fifty Ouli members were responsible for the rear guard. They frequently showed their IDs and used the identity of the Ouli Guild to scare away the foreign players who followed them.

As the lights behind him disappeared from view, an All Power member ran to the front.

"Captain Akiji, no one is following us."

Akiji is the captain of the largest execution team of the Nakasuki branch, with twenty members under his command. He is also the person in charge of the Orli Hundred Legion in this operation.

He nodded: "Stay alert, some skills are good at hiding."

The laborer was the leader of the Yinlai Corps. Upon hearing this, he looked at Qiu Ci and said, "Captain Qiu, should we speed up?"

"Qiu is not my last name." Qiuci said, turning on the screen, "I'll ask the minister for instructions."

It’s okay for workers, just wait patiently.

Akici frowned instead.

The instructions for this operation were somewhat odd. First, there were no mission clues, so they weren't going to kill ghouls. Second, despite the large-scale mobilization, witnessed by the entire town, the branch office had formed a separate makeshift team and brought in a hundred of them, claiming it was to report to Herring.

Not to mention outsiders, even they themselves are confused.

After waiting for a few minutes, there was no reply from Herring.

At the Ouli Club, Herring stood alone in the director's private suite, which also served as the operations command center. Even before Qiuci's message, he had sent several messages to Captain Li, but received no response.

The same goes for Jianqing.

Minister...did you take An Rou away?

Herring paced back and forth, unsure of what to do. He had always been the minister's assistant, assisting with command and delivering messages, and now, suddenly tasked with mobilizing a 200-man legion, he felt immensely stressed.

Fortunately, the target this time is NPC rather than ghouls, so there is no need to worry about casualties.

Herring gritted his teeth and finally issued an order in the temporary channel: [Proceed normally.]

Maybe the minister still needs time. After all, the personality of NPC An Rou is not easy to grasp.

Normal advancement is equivalent to slow advancement. After seeing the order, Qiuci led the legion and the worker and moved forward slowly.

However, the legion had already walked some distance out of the town, and the lights of the town disappeared. Not long after, a dim yellow light appeared in front of them.

The farm was very close. The outline of the buildings gradually appeared under the dark sky.

There were whispers in the team.

"Hey, aren't all the places we stopped at owned by Boss An? Could this farm also be hers?"

"No way? We stopped at those places, weren't we just to attract the attention of out-of-town players?"

"If you want to attract attention, why do you let Ouli stay behind to chase them away? It's contradictory. There must be something wrong here."

"You have to go even if you have a problem. Can you not follow the president's orders?"

"I'm worried that if the farm really does belong to Boss An, isn't she a special NPC? If we offend her, where will we get our missions from in the future?"

"That's why I said it's impossible. If it really was hers, would the Guild President let us sabotage it? Besides, if it was, the farm would have been busted open by players long ago. Look at the Gentleman's Barber Shop and the Red Luck Bathhouse. Before the ban came out, they were packed all day long."

“…That’s true.”

Those who were talking were all in the Yinlai Legion. On the other hand, Ou Li might have been listening attentively, but no one spoke.

Seeing the target getting closer, the worker wanted to stop it, but then changed his mind and gave up. He glanced at the silent Qiuci.

He knew Anrou was the owner of Yongan Farm, and Qiuci naturally knew it too. However, the discipline of the two guilds was far different. Even if the members of Ouli knew, they would probably follow orders meticulously. Meanwhile, his own guild... unless the guild leader personally showed up to put pressure on them, they would definitely flee in droves.

The worker silently tolerated the gossip and jokes behind his back.

"By the way, no matter which NPC runs the farm, it's still an NPC, right? If their favorability towards us decreases, it will also reduce their destiny points."

"Oh, that's right. My Life Points have already been cut in half. If they drop any further, wouldn't that be very dangerous? - Brother Zai, what did the president say?"

The worker said without even turning his head: "With two hundred people sharing the burden, where else can it fall?"

The Yinlai members laughed and said, "That's right. The law doesn't punish everyone. If we have to suffer, we have to suffer together."

Then someone spitted a few times: "Who wants to be unlucky with you? I play games to make money."

"Look, someone's getting anxious now," the others laughed. "It's just destroying an NPC's farm. How bad can that be? Just two months ago, I saw a group of people robbing a gold shop offline. They rushed in to grab whatever was on their way, and what happened? Aside from the ringleaders, no one else was held accountable. The law doesn't hold everyone responsible. What that guy just said makes sense!"

The voice gradually became more outrageous.

Akiji raised his arm, and everyone stopped simultaneously. They had reached their destination, about ten meters away, the farm wall. A dim yellow light shone through the wall, probably from a kerosene lamp.

Qiuci asked again.

Herring still hadn't waited for Captain Li to reply, so he couldn't help but ask, "Have you seen the Minister?"

The Minister is here too? Qiuci looked up, puzzled.

The farm was quite large, its solid walls stretching out to either side, fading into darkness. Higher walls appeared in the distance, seemingly fading into nothingness, merging the wasteland within the walls with the lifeless land outside.

The same silence.

He listened for a moment. It was very quiet inside the wall, and with his excellent hearing, he could vaguely hear the sound of footsteps.

【Akiji: No.】

[Herring: What's the situation on the scene?]

[Akiji: No abnormalities.]

Inside the guild hall, Herring gritted his teeth and said, "Let's do it. Let Yinlai take the lead."

Hesitation, a first-time commander, would only cost him the chance to shape her. Perhaps the Minister had already successfully taken An Rou away. His delay in replying to messages might have been a test of his own abilities.

He couldn't let the minister down.

But out of caution, Herring also kept a backup plan and temporarily decided to let Yinlai go first.

Qiu Ci remained calm. After reading the message on the screen, he turned his head and said, "The Minister has instructed that the Yinlai Corps go in and take action, while Ouli deploys defenses on the periphery."

The worker was stunned. Before he could respond, a Yinlai member protested, "Why should we take action? Isn't this a joint action between the two guilds?"

Qiu Ci glanced over coldly: "A group of foreign players are secretly gathering and tracking us. Can you stop them?"

The protesters were immediately silenced.

Not to mention whether the Yinlai identity has any deterrent effect, just the idea of ​​confronting other players is something that no Yinlai member is willing to do.

There are many reasons for this. Yinlai is a guild, and many of the players from other places are temporary groups of wanderers. Yinlai cannot afford the consequences of the guild abusing its power and violating the guild agreement. This is one of the reasons.

Zhongsu Town has been incredibly busy lately. Even with the ban order that dissuaded most out-of-town players, quite a few have remained. Yinlai alone is unlikely to be able to stop them. This is the second reason.

The most important point is that you can't just kill people and steal their goods. Who wants to take that risk? By comparison, picking on vulnerable NPCs on the farm is much less risky, aside from the potential loss of Life. And as mentioned earlier, the impact on Life isn't likely to be significant.

No one protested anymore, and Akiji looked at the worker.

The worker had been secretly grumbling for a while. He knew who the farm owner was. The action plan the president and Ou Li had previously agreed on was clearly for two hundred people to act together, and now Ou Li suddenly pushed Yin Lai to the front...

No matter how you think about it, it seems strange.

To verify whether Ouli has evil intentions, it is very simple. He just needs to send a message to the president to confirm whether there are really players from other places gathering to follow him.

——However, doing so would go against his identity as a traitor.

The president is looking for an opportunity to get promoted, so there is no guarantee that Ou Li is not taking the opportunity to suppress Yin Lai.

The worker's masseter muscles bulged again and again.

He wouldn't last long if he kept sitting on the fence. Since he had chosen to turn against his allies, he might as well take this opportunity to make a final pledge of allegiance to Oulina. When this was over, he would go directly to the Ouli Hall and not return to Yinlai.

"Acheng, Wax Hand, you lead the team in."

After all, having been Tang Lang's confidant for two years, his orders were still very effective. Two Yinlai members stepped out, and with a wave of their hands, nearly a hundred players split into two groups and headed straight for the farm gate.

Akiji also gave the order: "All members of the Oli, face towards Zhongsu Town and form a semi-moon formation."

Including him, Ouli had a hundred men. This was certainly not enough to surround the farm. Since they had mentioned that there were outsiders tracking them, they positioned themselves in an interception position, with their backs to the farm wall and their faces towards Zhongsu Town.

The players all had movement skills, and their steps were quick and silent, completing the formation in no time.

Qiu Ci glanced at the Yinlai Army arriving at the farm gate, then his eyes fell on the worker's face: "Why aren't you going?"

It seems he doesn't know his identity as a spy. The worker thought to himself, then smiled and said, "Yin Lai must leave someone to command and report to."

Akiji remained silent. The farmer was a special NPC, not a high-level ghoul. Yinlai's presence was sufficient.

At the farm gate, two large red lanterns swayed slightly in the night wind, casting a dim shadow over the people huddled together outside.

As soon as they separated from the Ouli Legion, the Yinlai Legion immediately lost its barely neat formation. Everyone gathered around the farm gate like ants, their eyes fixed on the faces of Ah Cheng and La Shou outside the gate.

The two Yinlai captains were of low rank, at the lower silver level, which put them at the bottom of the pack among Yinlai captains. However, compared to the other members, they were the most outstanding among the members present, otherwise how could they have become captains?

Ah Cheng was about to push the door open when La Shou nudged him with his elbow.

"Wait, let's align the granularity first."

“What granularity?”

Wax Hand rolled his eyes at him. "Let's keep pace. Ouli asked us to do the labor, that's fine, but brothers, we can't work so hard in vain. Don't you agree?"

Those who were closer heard it and nodded repeatedly: "That's right!"

Ah Cheng: "What do you mean?"

Wax Hand: "To be able to build such a large farm in the middle of nowhere, the owner must be quite wealthy, right? Anyway, his favorability will definitely drop after destroying it, so he might as well grab more."

Ah Cheng's eyes lit up: "That makes sense!"

Suddenly I found that I could make some extra money, and I became full of energy.

The two captains exchanged a final glance, then simultaneously raised their feet. With a resounding bang, the iron door creaked sharply, and the bolt behind it was unexpectedly broken.

The Yinlai Legion surged in.

A two-story building was right in front of us. One member exclaimed, "This place has two floors. It's so impressive!"

"Captain, let's grab this first?"

Wax Hand glanced at the farm staff dormitory. The windows were dark, and he couldn't tell if they were empty or had already fallen asleep. He was about to nod when he heard a female voice from not far away.

"Who is it?"

The sound came from the brightest light source on the farm - a bungalow across a pond.

A red lantern hung at the door of the bungalow, its dim light reflected on the black water.

Ah Cheng immediately said: "Grab the ones in the pockets first, the gold coins are the most valuable!"

Before he finished speaking, he used his movement skill to fly across the waves. The other Yinlai members hurried to catch up.

The woman outside the bungalow screamed and ran inside. Her cheongsam wrapped around her curvy body, swaying like a willow branch.

Wax Hand became more excited: "Beautiful!"

He and Ah Cheng, as expected of the highest rank, were the first to reach the other side of the pond, and without stopping, they rushed through the gate of the bungalow. But another figure rushed out of the courtyard, holding a shovel, and a flash of light.

He's actually a gamer?!

Waxhou and Acheng stopped at the same time and looked at each other in confusion.

Paopao also stopped and confronted them, shouting, "This is Boss Anrou's farm, why are you forcing your way in?!"

The question is "Why do you dare to do this?", but the tone is more like "Why do you dare to do this?"

The name An Rou is well-known among the players of the two guilds in Zhongsu Town.

Ah Cheng was shocked: "An Rou? Boss An?! Damn, I got tricked!"

The idea of ​​quitting began to emerge.

He looked at the wax hand: "Retreat?"

At this time, other Yinlai members also caught up and blocked the gate of the bungalow layer by layer, their faces full of shock and confusion.

Everyone heard Paopao’s loud shout.

Like Acheng, everyone is waiting for Waxhou to make a decision.

Wax Hand suddenly spat.

"No matter if it's just a joke or not, I've already done it. After all, what does it have to do with me whether An Rou is offended or not?! When have we ever been given a spot to dine at the Wing On Hotel? Aren't they always given to the migrant workers first?"

He decided to make the best of it, staring at An Rou and grinning, "Boss An is better, he makes more money!"