Chapter 171: Dragon Valley (3)
Judging from the soldier's expression, Su Yue handed the pendant to him, which made him feel more uncomfortable than putting a fly in his mouth.
The soldier stared at the thin, pendant-sized pass for a long time, as if trying to find evidence that it was a forgery. Unfortunately, he found nothing.
The soldier looked around at the archers who were already ready to attack, and waved his hand angrily: "Go in!"
Everyone: “…”
This soldier almost had "I'm so disappointed that the launch failed" written on his face.
Anyway, with the help of the accessories on the unconscious explorer, the players finally passed the first level.
The faces of those who had just threatened to abandon the explorer were all grim. They were silent for a moment, and finally someone spoke up, "But even if we abandon him there, we'll search him first."
"That's right, so we can actually pass this level." Another one immediately agreed.
After saying this, they finally breathed a sigh of relief.
This means that even without Su Yue, they would not all die at the beginning, and they would not lose themselves as players.
Of course, Su Yue didn't care about the twists and turns in their minds. The explorers said at the beginning that they were going to explore the "Valley of the Dragon". The Valley of the Dragon must be this town, but now the plot has not progressed.
This is a quaint little town, with taverns, shops, and houses all available. The black stone bricks line the ground, and the walls are also black stone, creating a solemn and oppressive atmosphere. The houses on the outer edge of the town are arranged in a circular pattern, surrounding a central building. Apart from that, there's nothing special to see.
——But Su Yue obviously didn’t think so.
"Boss, what did you see?" Zhao Shuo asked curiously.
"Guess what." Su Yue said casually.
"I..." Zhao Shuo instantly felt like he was being given a question by his teacher. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked around. Occasionally, there were pedestrians walking on the street, and these people walked quite fast. Apart from that, he didn't notice anything special.
But these pedestrians can already explain——
"This town is suffering from a disaster." Cangzhi reminded.
Su Yue glanced at Cang Zhi and asked, "Did I ask you?"
Cang Zhi: “…”
Cang Zhi shrank back quietly like a big, aggrieved dog.
Zhao Shuo: “…”
Zhao Shuo silently erased his memory of seeing the couple arguing, and following Cangzhi's hints, he soon came to the same conclusion.
"This town looks very prosperous, but the doors and windows are all closed. People who occasionally walk by on the street look nervous and walk quickly, which shows that they don't want to stay outside for too long," said Zhao Shuo.
Su Yue nodded.
"Combined with what we just saw in the canyon, the cause of this 'disaster' is actually very obvious." Su Yue said.
"Dragon?" Zhao Shuo asked.
As soon as the word "dragon" was uttered, two women who were walking quickly nearby suddenly stopped. Both women were dressed in gray and black, wrapping themselves tightly with only a pair of eyes showing.
They both turned to Zhao Shuo at the same time, with extremely angry expressions in their eyes above their veils, and yelled at him.
Zhao Shuo didn't understand a word.
But he was still a little confused, because even a fool could feel that he was being scolded.
The two women walked up quickly while cursing, their fingertips almost touching Zhao Shuo's nose. At this moment, the two women suddenly stopped.
They looked in the direction behind Zhao Shuo, with a look of fear and respect, put down their hands and stepped back.
Su Yue turned around.
He saw a well-dressed middle-aged man walking towards him.
.
The man's appearance resembled a standard model from a Western fantasy game: short, slightly blond hair, a full beard, a handsome face, and a neatly tailored suit. On his chest, he wore a badge depicting a golden dragon with outstretched wings. The color was beautiful, like ice bathed in sunlight.
The middle-aged man first said a few words to the two women, using a language that the players could not understand. The two women nodded in a good manner and left quickly.
The man turned to the players, smiled slightly, and said, "I'm sorry to trouble you."
Then he said sincerely: "Welcome to the Dragon Valley, explorers, I have been waiting for you for a long time."
So that's how it is. This man is the real guiding NPC, and the explorer is just a prologue.
No matter how difficult the game is, it is impossible not to have an introduction to the NPCs right from the start. If not, it is not a game.
The man led the players along the circular town trail inward, passed a checkpoint, and entered the guarded building.
"You can call me Duke. I'm the administrator of this town. Our place is called Shenlong Valley, a town blessed by the Dragon God. For thousands of years, although we live at the foot of the mountain, we've never lacked sunshine and rain, all thanks to the dragon clan's blessing."
He pointed to the field on the right. It was a vegetable field in a dark environment. Naturally, all the vegetables had their heads drooping, looking half-dead.
"Originally, this place relied on the Dragon God's light and fire, allowing vegetables to grow even in the absence of sunlight. Now, these vegetables are about to wither."
He pointed to the end of the town, where he could see a river, but the river was also completely dry.
"This used to be our water source. The dragon clan's blessings spread across the land. Now, the water source is gone. If we want to drink water, we have to walk a long way outside the valley to fetch it."
Seeing that the Duke was about to continue his eloquent speech, Su Yue quickly interrupted him and asked, "So now, why are the dragons unwilling to bless your town?"
The Duke sighed: "Because the Dragon God is angry."
"The Dragon God is angry?" Su Yue didn't understand.
"Two months ago, the dragons stopped responding to our prayers. A month ago, they became restless and even began to attack the tribe. The land outside the canyon is now covered with huge rocks dropped by the dragons. Without sunlight and water, we are practically waiting to die here," said the Duke.
"Why is the Dragon God angry?" Su Yue asked.
"I don't know either. That's why I asked you to come," the Duke said. "You are explorers, knowledgeable, and I hope you can help us find the cause of the Dragon God's anger, calm his wrath, and allow the residents of this town to survive."
As soon as the Duke finished speaking, there was a loud noise like the collapse of heaven and earth above their heads, and everyone looked up quickly.
Above, beside the cliff, a gigantic fire dragon roared angrily. It was golden, a very light but bright gold, identical to the emblem on the Duke's chest. The dragon roared a few times, then suddenly raised its head, spitting out a fireball, then slowly spread its wings and flew away.
Although it is said to be "slow", it is actually very fast, but the fire dragon's movements are like slow motion, which makes it appear slow.
As soon as the fire dragon flew away, accompanied by screams, the fireball it had just spit out hit the ground like a falling rock. The fireball exploded on the grass with a "bang", leaving a huge black scorch mark. People screamed and scattered.
"By the way, I forgot to tell you that if the Dragon God's anger value reaches 100, our town will be razed to the ground. Be careful." said the Duke.
Okay, now we finally know the mission objectives and deadlines.
The mission objective is to appease the Dragon God's wrath, and the deadline is before the Dragon God's wrath reaches 100.
"What is the Dragon God's anger value now?" Su Yue asked.
"This morning? 99, I think," replied the Duke.
Su Yue: "..."
Or just surrender.
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