Stonewall Town has been quiet for quite some time. Although scorpion monsters often appear outside the city walls, they no longer dare to approach the town since the walls were covered with artificial amber.
After repeated checks, the town was confirmed to be free of infected individuals. For a moment, Stonewall Town seemed like a safe haven for a horror game.
Everything is calm, which makes people feel uneasy.
The towering stone walls stretched out in a circle around the city, and several people looked around on the wall.
Lu Cai rubbed her twitching right eyelid. Now she had no idea about the dungeon mission, and Qin Yu was still trapped in the capital. Days passed by, and if any longer, she would forget that this was a game dungeon world.
After walking around for a while, the few people reunited. It was already noon, and the mayor sent someone to invite them to dinner on time.
Since arriving in Stonewall Town, they've been living a comfortable life. They usually report to General Qi for training, and the mayor takes care of their meals.
As players, they don’t need to worry about their future livelihood. As long as they have a place to live and food to eat, they will be content.
The mayor is a good-tempered middle-aged man who is meticulous in his work. He is not too surprised by their ability to eat and always patiently meets their requests.
So I wasn't surprised to see two buckets of white rice in the government office that day. I had been eating more these past few days, and my appetite was gradually decreasing. When the mayor prepared white rice, he didn't distribute one bucket to each person like before.
They sat down, and Yue Xiaoyan took a bowl of rice and said, "Doctor Shi, they said you saved five or six patients at once, and they asked me if you learned any magic from me."
Shi Rukui waited for Yue Xiaoyan to scoop up some rice: "One should be prepared for danger in times of peace. It's always a good idea to practice more."
Zhao Yan swallowed a mouthful of white rice and couldn't help but snort. Others didn't know, but he had noticed that Shi Rukui was the one working the hardest on the training ground, making Zhao Yan feel embarrassed to slack off.
Lu Cai was completely oblivious, still focused on the city's defenses. She ultimately kept quiet about Wang Shu's blood-forged flamboyant tree, fearing it might lead to greed and harm Wang Shu.
Therefore, the amount of protective amber is limited, and it is hung on the city walls to form a protective circle, but this is not enough. If the scorpion monster evolves and learns to fly and hide, this protective wall can only be regarded as a circle of decoration.
"There's a smell in this white rice..." Shi Rukui held the freshly served rice with a frown on his face.
Yue Xiaoyan had already taken several bites, her face full of surprise, but not panic: "What's that smell?" She put her nose to the bowl, but apart from the fragrant aroma of rice, she couldn't smell anything else.
"Knockout drug." Shi Rukui put down his bowl.
Lu Cai had just swallowed a mouthful of white rice and choked a little.
As if it wasn't enough, Shi Rukui took another sniff and wrinkled his nose: "At least ten times the amount, it's coming for us."
Zhao Yan, who was eating happily at the side, quickly put down his bowl and chopsticks: "Are you coming for us?" He couldn't remember who he had offended.
"Someone wants to knock us out? Why?" Yue Xiaoyan also put down her chopsticks, took out a handkerchief from her arms and wiped her mouth.
Lu Cai concentrated and felt it, and found that the food she swallowed was no different from what she ate normally. She hesitated for a moment, then continued to pick up the food with her chopsticks.
The three people beside her looked at her strangely. Lu Cai didn't even look up. "With our current physical condition, even a poisonous drug might not work on us. What are you afraid of—"
That's the logic, but asking them to take drugs... sounds weird.
"Anyway, anything that can replenish my energy is food—" Lu Cai didn't care whether the food she ate was poisonous or not. If it could be converted into energy, then poison was also food to her.
After hearing what she said, the others thought it made sense, sniffed the rice tentatively, and when they felt that it was no different from usual, they picked up their chopsticks again.
Only Shi Rukui, who discovered the drug inside, frowned. It wasn't because they ignored his warning, but because he was hungry. However, his healing ability gave him a tough body, but also made him overly sensitive to drugs and wounds.
Tried to smell the food——
vomit--
It's dead, they can still eat it so happily even though it stinks!
Judge Lu on the side noticed Shi Rukui's sour face and laughed out loud with his head down.
——
The official office in Stonewall Town wasn't particularly impressive, its facade only slightly wider and its threshold slightly higher than the gates of nearby residences. The mayor didn't have much to do, managing trivial matters. The people knew that the real caller in Stonewall Town was General Qi, the city's defender.
I heard that the mayor has been in Shiqiang Town longer than General Qi, and has a mild temper. He has worked diligently for General Qi in recent years and has become General Qi's confidant. He usually manages the tax accounts.
When General Qi handed the food issue of the four instructors to him, the mayor carefully inquired about their taste preferences and would never dare to neglect them.
After lunch today, the mayor went to check on the leftovers on the tables of the four teachers. He saw that the plates were all empty, with only a few scraps of food left.
The oil stains on the white porcelain plate made the shiny surface look like the moon stained by dark clouds, giving people a gloomy and dark feeling, making people shrink from the bottom of their hearts.
The mayor simply nodded in satisfaction, then left the government office and headed for his own private residence.
I passed many street vendors, and unlike the common people who were intimidated by the mayor, they greeted him. The mayor was not arrogant, but would always stop and chat with the people who greeted him.
After the mayor entered a remote alley and came to an inconspicuous small courtyard, he entered the courtyard and closed the gate. Then a row of soldiers quietly surrounded the courtyard.
The yard was quiet at first, but then a rustling sound began to appear. At first, the sound was very soft, but gradually it became louder and louder...
Three or four dark figures scrambled past the wall behind the courtyard. As soon as they leaped out of the courtyard and touched the ground, they were captured by soldiers lying in ambush nearby. The sound of the fighting between the two sides alarmed the people in the courtyard, and the soldiers outside the wall no longer concealed their movements and scrambled into the courtyard one after another.
Suddenly, the walls inside and outside became a boiling pot of porridge, and it was as if bubbles were floating on the surface of the white rice porridge, which was very lively.
Swords clashed, and the soldiers hiding outside the main gate also heard the noise and rushed into the closed courtyard door without hesitation.
For a moment, the air was filled with a clamor of dust, and the soldiers ordered the neighbors to leave the alley. The courtyard was surrounded by soldiers and was completely blocked.
After an unknown amount of time, the dust settled and about twenty men in black were escorted out of the yard by soldiers. A tall horse came to the front of the yard.
General Qi sat on his horse, head lowered, looking at the man in black who was forced to kneel down. The last person who came up was the mayor in an elegant robe.
The mayor had a knife held to his neck. He hung his head lifelessly, not saying a word, as if he had been prepared for all this.
General Qi couldn't help but frown, feeling vaguely uneasy.
......
"It was so easy to catch him?" Yue Xiaoyan was a little bit unbelievable.
After eating two large buckets of white rice mixed with drugs, the four of them were still full of energy. They stood on the balcony of a restaurant on Chang Street, leaning on the railing, and just happened to see the scene of soldiers surrounding the small courtyard.
Zhao Yan was not suspicious: "If we hadn't identified the drug, we wouldn't have discovered that something was wrong with the mayor."
"But he didn't even bother to confirm whether we were unconscious, and went straight back to gather people to cause trouble. This is totally inconsistent with his character who has been dormant for ten years--" Shi Rukui's face was not very good. In order to act out the scene of being knocked unconscious, he didn't even have time to eat a few more mouthfuls of noodles.
The other three people used the drug as seasoning powder, mixing it with their food and swallowing it down with big gulps. Only he lost his appetite due to the stench, and didn't eat a single bite. He hoped to eat a normal meal outside during his free time.
But who would have thought that the mayor was so anxious that he didn't even check on them. It seemed that he was very confident in his own drugs.
Lu Cai, who was sitting at the very edge, was holding a small piece of paper in his hand. The paper was slightly curled up, and it was obvious that it had just been taken out of the small bamboo tube used to deliver messages.
The ink on the note was thin, outlining only two words - Get the order.
This was intercepted from a carrier pigeon released by the mayor.
Scorpion monsters were everywhere, and the ground-based communication channels were blocked, so the birds in the sky could still fly more freely. If it had been two days earlier, no one would have discovered it, but these past two days, even the birds had hidden themselves.
Birds and beasts possess extraordinary perception, and are best suited to seeking advantage and avoiding harm. Now that scorpion monsters are everywhere, they don't want to show their faces and can only hide.
Under such circumstances, the carrier pigeon was particularly conspicuous when it flew across the sky. Before it even left the sky over Stonewall Town, someone shot it down with a slingshot.
General Qi wasn't surprised to receive the note. The emperor suspected him, and he knew who were his spies. So, he assumed it was just a typical spy report, so he thought he'd take it down, read it, and then put it back.
Until Lu Cai and his men found him...
They said that the food was drugged, and because they were afraid that he wouldn't believe it, they brought him a bowl of white rice.
When General Qi saw the food tainted with drugs and thought about the "orders" on the note, he realized that something was wrong.
What kind of order requires knocking out all four instructors who are dealing with the scorpion monster?
Lu Cai and his companions suspected that it was the mayor who drugged General Qi, because the mayor had been in Shiqiang Town longer than General Qi, and he had reason to resent General Qi.
Judging from General Qi's reaction afterwards, he seemed to have known that the mayor had ulterior motives.
But... they caught the man so easily... She also felt it was too strange.
Lu Cai frowned, feeling that things were not over yet.
Stun them, then gather your men and go out...
Before he could calm down, the crowd at the distant city wall exploded like a pot of boiling water. People screamed and scattered, fleeing frantically towards the streets of the town.
"What happened?" Yue Xiaoyan's heart was in her throat and her voice was hanging.
Lu Cai quickly turned her head to look over, her dark eyes serenely eerie. She stared into the distance where the crowd had dispersed, and saw… the smoky scorpion monster data!
"Someone picked the amber from the city wall!" She finally figured it out!
"Make a feint to the east and attack in the west!" Shi Rukui reacted in an instant.
Both of them had gloomy faces, which was very scary.
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