Chapter 24 [Scene 8] "Hummingbird"/The Kingdom Wants to Kill...
[Mission 2. Mission Description: Civilian Epic.]
Mission 2: Each of the three kingdoms has detected the presence of a traitor. While concealing your identity, infiltrate the people of Kangsu, organize them to join the "evil forces," and assist players who have infiltrated Kangsu's upper echelons to complete the mission. (Limited to 24 hours)
Current public attitudes toward "evil forces": 10% support, 5% are neutral, and 85% oppose.
[Accept/Ignore (1 crystal)]
If He Yuezhe didn't have any usable crystals in her backpack, she would never have accepted this seemingly difficult task!
After hurriedly explaining everything to "Zhi", although he left a message saying "I'll be back soon", it was still a question whether he could actually return to that small stronghold.
"Um, do you have anything else to say?"
He Yuezhe's recollection was interrupted by the voice of a middle-aged man. She then spoke slowly, "No more."
"So, are we supposed to wait here for the organization to pick us up?" The middle-aged man clenched his fists, his eyes filled with admiration. "Hey, Mr. Messenger, aren't you coming back with us?"
"There are still many people waiting for me."
He Yuezhe smiled at the nervous little girl standing next to the middle-aged man, took out a bouquet of wild flowers from her bag and handed it to her.
The little girl grabbed the edge of the middle-aged man's clothes and rolled her eyes: "Dad, this flower smells so good."
"Hmm? It smells pretty good. Do you want some?" The middle-aged man bent down and smelled the bouquet.
"Yes!" The girl jumped up excitedly.
"Why don't you thank the Messenger quickly?" The middle-aged man smiled kindly.
"Thank you, Messenger!" The girl carefully took the flowers and held them in her palm. "Messenger! These are cookies I made myself. For you!"
"Thank you, but no thanks. I don't accept gifts from children."
He Yuezhe looked at the cute-looking animal cookies the girl handed him, squatted down and pushed her hand back. "Wait until you grow up before you treat me to cookies?"
"Oh...Okay, let's make a pinky promise," the girl pouted and held out her tender left hand. "When I grow up, you must remember me and my cookies!"
"Okay." He Yuezhe also stretched out his left hand.
The two chatted for a while before He Yuezhe stood up and said goodbye to them.
"Mr. Messenger!" The middle-aged man suddenly called out to He Yuezhe, who had already walked a little further away. "Um, thank you! See you later, and I'll treat you to dinner too!"
The middle-aged man pulled the girl and bowed deeply to her. The girl secretly raised her head, and when her eyes met He Yuezhe's, she lowered her head again.
"No need!" He Yue turned her head and responded loudly.
Ignoring the noise coming from the middle-aged man and the girl behind her, He Yuezhe continued to move towards her next destination.
She had to hurry.
^
"Hello? May I ask..."
"I do!"
"...Do you know what I want to ask?"
"Yes! I do! I want to join you, please take me back!"
......
"Is it the Messenger?!"
"Yes, please..."
"I want to join you!"
"Wait a minute, I can ask..."
“Please believe me!!!”
"Hey, don't kneel down."
......
"Are you here to pick us up?!"
"you......"
"Everyone is waiting for you!!"
"……Yeah?"
......
"You have a girl in your family too."
"Yes, sir, you are not a local?"
“…”
"Then let me briefly explain. This is a new policy requirement of the kingdom in recent years. Although most people are somewhat reluctant, they have no choice but to comply."
"Then you have to..."
"Yes!! Sir, we have been waiting for a long time!!!——"
......
"C-Can I ask why you all want to join?"
"Of course! Sir, this isn't the right place to talk. Um, Xue, why don't you go to your room and read for a while?"
"Can't I listen?" The girl's voice was very soft, but He Yuezhe heard it surprisingly clearly.
"Axue," the middle-aged man took out a bronze key from his pocket and handed it to the girl he called "Axue," "This is the key to the bookcase, you listen carefully--"
"My name is Ji Xue." The girl suddenly spoke in silence.
“Ding-ling-ling——”
"Be good, Xiaoying, go play with your building blocks by yourself, okay?" The middle-aged man froze for a moment, then changed his tone when he spoke again. She touched the girl's head very gently, "I bought you some new building blocks."
The girl nodded blankly, her voice filled with electricity: "Okay, sizzle! I love playing with building blocks the most!"
"Xiao Ying?" He Yuezhe asked hesitantly.
Didn’t you just introduce yourself as “Ji Xue”?
"Sir, what's up?" The girl stopped skipping and turned back with a curious look on her face. "I still have to play with my building blocks. I won't disturb you!"
"Hey, but, Xiaoying, look what this is?" He Yuezhe took out the last token from his backpack: a bouquet of wild flowers, and stuffed it into Xiaoying's hand.
Xiao Ying looked at He Yuezhe in surprise, and after the middle-aged man nodded in approval, she finally took it. "Yes, it's flowers! Thank you! I'll take good care of them!"
He Yuezhe looked at the lively girl in front of him and suddenly felt a pang of pain in his heart.
"grown ups?"
"grown ups."
"Sir, let me talk to you while we walk. Are you anxious?" The middle-aged man led He Yuezhe, who was standing there in a daze, to another direction.
He Yuezhe nodded: "Just tell it right here and quickly, I have other things to do."
"Oh, okay."
"Sir, the truth is, have you heard of the 'Strange Sound in the Valley' incident?"
"Anyway, in that incident, we relied on a detective sent from the Kingdom."
"He brought his own child with him and successfully busted a group of criminals who profited by exploiting girls' misery and selling 'that kind of stuff'!"
"It is said that among that group of criminals there is also a wife with whom he used to have a very good relationship!"
"And his daughter was also held there for a long time. I don't know if she's still alive."
[Congratulations on successfully achieving the achievement "Strange Valley" (Achievement conditions: Hear about the "Strange Sound in the Valley" incident from an NPC for the first time and successfully learn the truth)!]
[Reward: Token: A bouquet of everlasting flowers x2!]
The middle-aged man looked left and right and continued, "Later, as for the girls who were still alive, they were assigned by the kingdom to the homes of us commoners."
"But what's very strange is that some girls develop very severe, uh...all kinds of symptoms after leaving that place."
"After testing, we found out that those unscrupulous criminals had given each girl different doses of 'that stuff'!"
"Besides, there's even a whole circle of 'that thing' planted outside the hideout! In other words, ahem..."
The middle-aged man came closer to He Yuezhe and whispered:
"Seven-petal flower."
It turns out that the "seven-petal flower" that Yuan Yang mentioned earlier was the same flower that he saw in the copy.
"These people didn't even let me go!" The middle-aged man became more and more angry as he spoke, and he took several breaths before he calmed down.
"The most terrifying thing is, sir, you should know, right?" The middle-aged man leaned closer. "'That thing'—it was actually researched and cultivated by the Kingdom!!"
"Even the kingdom's recent decree requires us to plant 'that thing' near our homes!"
"They say it can relieve the girls' symptoms... but in our opinion, 'that thing' is exactly the same as the previous 'that thing'!"
"The Kingdom just wants to kill these girls!"
The middle-aged man clenched his fist and punched the stone beside the two men.
"Thanks to the organization, they've developed the 'reverse-action flower'. As long as you carry it with you, you don't have to worry about 'that stuff' anymore, no matter how strong it is!"
"And they say the organization has recently developed a more convenient 'reverse-effect potion'. Drink it and you won't have to be afraid of 'that thing' anymore!"
"But if the potion and flowers are used together..."
"Oh, don't worry about that. We've already done some science education for the girls, and they're all very obedient."
The middle-aged man shook his hand which was hurt by the shock and looked at He Yuezhe with a smile.
"Thank you so much for listening to me."
"I saw you gave flowers to all the girls, didn't you? You're such a nice guy."
"It's what I should do." He Yuezhe also smiled back.
"Then how long will it take for us to return to the organization?" The middle-aged woman's eyes were full of longing, as if the "organization" was like a utopia to her. "Everyone can't wait!"
"Maybe now, maybe soon." He Yuezhe shook his head, "I don't know either. I'm just here to help."
"That's great, that's great..." The middle-aged man clasped his hands together and bowed to the sky.
After the middle-aged man finished his greeting, he asked He Yuezhe who was standing beside him: "By the way, Mr. Messenger, do you have anything else to do?"
"What's wrong?" He Yuezhe was curious.
She glanced at the screen showing [55% in favor, 5% neutral, 40% against] and the countdown that showed there were still 18 hours left, and shook her head.
[World Announcement: The war between the three kingdoms is about to begin! Phase Two: Show Your Strengths has begun!]
…! ?
"The war between the three kingdoms is about to begin." The middle-aged man looked at the column of light that inexplicably appeared in the center of Kangsu with a serious expression.
[All players please abide by the "Three Kingdoms Contract" and stay in your own kingdom. Do not wander around and wait for the issuance of system tasks.]
"During this time, could you please help us protect these children and keep them from running around?"
[All quests in the game are not ranked in order. Players' choices, whether or not the quests are completed, and the degree of completion will greatly affect the development of the plot.]
"If you have other tasks, we won't force you. After all, protecting them is our responsibility."
[After detecting that all players have their own initial skills, the system will automatically assign different character classes to the players.]
"By the way, what is your occupation? Can you tell me?"
[Character professions are divided into three categories: attack, survival, and defense.]
"Is it attack, survival or defense?"
[Each major character class is further divided into several subclasses, and the class players receive will be one of the subclasses.]
[Professions can be changed, and players can freely set their profession skills, profession points, etc.]
[The profession has been issued, please check in your mailbox!]
[This announcement concludes. Happy playing Phase 2: Show Your Power!]
[We will inform you of the next phase in the same way!]
"Isn't this important?" He Yuezhe had just finished listening to the announcement and the middle-aged man's words, and before he had time to click on the "email" to check, he was forced to answer by her.
"Yes, that's right. Please follow me." The middle-aged man relaxed his body, thought about it, nodded, and led He Yuezhe towards the direction of the light column.
"Also, everyone in Kangsu agrees with the organization, so everyone is spontaneously trying to build a protective shield here."
"Mr. Messenger, you can ask other members of the organization to take shelter here if necessary."
The middle-aged man began to introduce himself.
"The King's palace is near the central tower, so they won't pay attention to this area. Most of the people here are civilians like us, and there are no soldiers."
"If there were no protective shield, I'm afraid no one would see the dawn of the next day." The middle-aged man described this place in a teasing tone.
"After all, the power of war cannot be underestimated, right?"
"Oh, I really don't know why they want to start another war. The three kingdoms are obviously quite peaceful. If it's really for such a small amount of resources, it's totally unnecessary."
"I don't know how long this protective shield will last. After all, we're all still civilians and haven't used those skills much."
"It would be great if you were willing to stay here. Maybe after this war is over, we can still..."
"Bang--!!!"
[Congratulations on successfully achieving the achievements "Blood Blossoms Before My Eyes" (achievement condition: seeing an NPC die in battle for the first time), "War Curtain" (achievement condition: entering the second stage), and "Undying" (achievement condition: triggering the special skill: Undying for the first time)!]
[Reward: Skill Points x35!]
Hey, isn't that a bit too hasty?
He Yuezhe looked at the mass of flesh and blood beside him, which was constantly blurring and diluting on the ground. He slowly reached out and wiped away the blood spots on his face.
She walked towards the pillar of light in the center of the city, facing the continuous artillery fire.
"I'm afraid I'm going to break the contract again."
…
[System prompt: Health -1, Health -1, Health -1, Health -1, Health -1...]
"Mr. Messenger, is that you?!" The girl's voice came timidly from behind the ruins.
"...Xiao Ying?" He Yuezhe ran towards the voice. The girl was kneeling on the ground, huddled up. "Is this a protective shield?"
"Defense...what is that?" The girl looked at the building blocks that formed a "castle" in front of her, a little puzzled, but the layer of light curtain covering her and the building blocks became brighter and brighter.
He Yuezhe squatted down and followed her gaze.
It wasn't a very pretty piece of work, with a crooked structure and a messy interior. It was simply terrible.
"Hello, my name is Ji Xue. How many times do I have to say it?"
The girl suddenly changed her attitude, picked up a building block and threw it at He Yuezhe like a flying knife: "You people with bad memories are really annoying."
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