Chapter 26
Paopao changed the light screen to visible mode and let Anrou flip through it.
Seeing An Rou concentrating on browsing the game forum, he couldn't help but be curious: "Beautiful sister, what are you looking for?"
"What are you looking at? Close your eyes." An Rou casually slapped him on the forehead. "I told you to call me Farmer."
She was searching the forums. Keywords: [becoming an NPC], [entering the game], [exchanging souls with NPCs]...
After searching a long list of keywords, nothing was found.
An Rou sighed inwardly. Perhaps, even if someone else were transformed into an NPC like her, they wouldn't have the chance to touch the light screen, let alone post a request for help.
Forget it, forget it. She might as well make the best of it. Besides, she already had 530,000 gold coins, making her a legitimate wealthy woman. But if she were to return to reality, could she still be a wealthy woman?
An Rou returned to the forum homepage and scanned the million-story buildings in front of her again.
Putting aside the commotion last night, the excitement in Zhongsu Town had died down over the past two days. If they had discovered it earlier and returned to town a day earlier, they wouldn't have gotten into such trouble.
Even so, An Rou had no regrets. Fortunes are won through risk. Without last night, she wouldn't have earned so much money.
"How many people are there in the Huaiyin branch of the Orli Guild?"
Paopao thought for a moment and said, "Secondary Security Zones usually have branches in every town. I've never been to Huaiyin Town, but they might be several thousand?"
An Rou took a deep breath.
Thousands of players surrounded her. No matter how she planned, she would still die, right?
It seems that what Paopao said about diverting attention is the most feasible solution at the moment.
She deleted the search history and switched the screen to the system notification page, which was filled with various tasks or clues. The latest one was the advanced task that Qin Wudi mentioned.
Admittedly, it's not the complete mission details, just a clue.
[Quest clue: Train T21 is about to depart, conspiracy and chaos are spreading in the dark, and the shadow of death hangs over the heads of unknown people.]
[Related Task: T21 Train Crash (Relevance 50%)]
At first glance, An Rou was completely bewildered. The clues were simple and vague, with no mention of the mission location, the number or level of ghouls, or anything else besides a specific train number.
How did they determine that this was an SS-level high-level mission?
How can we be sure that the incident took place in the uninhabited land outside the nearby city walls?
The T21 train runs directly between Lengbing City and Ghost Island, with no stops along the way. The entire journey is two thousand kilometers long. With such a long distance, a train crash could occur anywhere.
I don’t have much experience in running and traveling missions, so I can only try my best to restore Qin Wudi’s analysis.
The first is the mission level. The words "spread" and "people" indicate that this mission is likely a ghoul tide. Whenever the number of ghouls reaches a critical mass, transforming into a ghoul tide, the mission level is likely to reach S-level.
In a post-apocalyptic world, few NPCs would travel such a long distance between two safe zones, so the vast majority of passengers on T21 were players. Ghouls thrive in densely populated areas, where they have no shortage of food and quickly level up. With high-level ghouls, the overall mission level is likely to rise to SS.
As for why it's not SSS grade...
According to Qin Wudi's analysis, it is related to the second question - the mission location.
"About to depart" and "trick", in Qin Wudi's view, these two keywords point to a role that cannot be ignored: the Gal Guild.
Lengbing City's three major guilds are Longyan, Oli, and Gar. Longyan's power far surpasses the latter two, and he is a proponent and defender of guild order, not one to engage in shady schemes. Gar, on the other hand, is only slightly weaker than Oli in overall strength, but controls a significantly smaller territory than Oli.
Lengbing City's three major circular areas, the central city, and the primary security zone were all under Long Yan's control. Of the 12 districts within the secondary security zone, Garl held only two, while Ouli, with a slight guild advantage, controlled all three. The conflict between the two groups was constant.
One of the most intense conflicts was the fight over the train station.
While T21 is the train number, it's true, but that doesn't mean there are so many trains in Lengbing City, or even in the entire Soul Realm. On the contrary, there's only one train between Lengbing City and Ghost Island, used for trading goods. Whoever has the train station on their territory stands to profit more.
Since the launch of the Cold Soldier City dungeon, the station has always been in Long Yan's territory. Later, with the rise of Oli and Gar, and the diplomatic games among countries in reality, Long Yan agreed to let the three guilds take turns to set up the station. As for whether to give it to Oli or Gar first, the two sides coordinated on their own.
Long Yan might have wanted to deflect the blame, but Oli and Garr had no choice but to accept it. The conflict between the two sides escalated, and offline military operations were hindered by various factors, eventually devolving into violent clashes within the game.
The battle for the train station resulted in the disqualification of tens of thousands of players on both sides, severely damaging their game. The Dragon Flame Guild emerged unscathed, solidifying its unshakable position as the dominant force. However, the Ouli Guild ultimately achieved its goal and secured the rights to build the train station.
That year was the 21st anniversary of the release of the Soul Song game, so the train number was renamed T21.
Since the mission clue clearly points out the "trick", as a member of Ouli, Qin Wudi naturally thought of Gar.
He believed the T21 disaster, and more generally the entire mission, was a conspiracy orchestrated by the Gal Guild. Their sole purpose was to inflict heavy damage on the T21 train and the players aboard, and then exploit the terms of the "Train Operation Commitment Agreement" signed by the three major guilds to deprive the Orli Guild of its remaining three years of operating rights.
This is why Qin Wudi deduced that the mission level was higher than S-level, but would not reach SSS level. Since the Gal Guild was behind the scenes, they would not let the entire mission get out of control.
If these assumptions are true, once something happens to T21, the members of the Gal Guild will rush over immediately and swallow the entire mission reward, killing two birds with one stone.
The more An Rou listened, the more shocked she became.
Everyone knows that Soul-Calling Song is not just a simple holographic game. After all, it is not just any game. There is a guild specially established by people sent by the country - the Dragon Flame Guild.
But Oli, Gar... these guilds also have a national background?
The situation in the game was much more complicated than she had imagined.
It seems that in the future, we must try our best to avoid getting involved in complicated situations to avoid becoming the target of public criticism. To this end, the farm must be improved as soon as possible and become self-sufficient.
Of course, this time's T21 was an exception. She still needed this high-level mission to escape.
"So you're saying that the way to help me escape from Ou Li's encirclement is to wait for something to happen to T21?" An Rou asked with a frown.
T21 departs at sunset. Qin Wudi calculated that the accident would happen tonight, which is still a whole day away.
Such a long time, is it enough for Oli to catch up?
Paopao fixed his gaze on the screen, scrolling through the forum posts. "If what you said, sister...farmer, is true, Chiqian Yiming would have come after us, calling Brother Qin a 'traitor.' Logically, Chiqian Yiming has been offline for so long, the Huaiyin branch should have come after us long ago."
"There are only two possibilities for their continued absence. Either Shakuzen Kazuaki hasn't revealed the farm for some reason, or the Huaiyin branch has also obtained the T21 clue and is concentrating on completing that mission first."
"As for Brother Qin... although he and Shakuzen Ichiaki belong to the same Oli, they are from two different countries after all, and there has always been internal discord. Besides, Brother Qin is only the captain of the team. He said that the country doesn't need him to stand at such a high level to consider things. He only needs to consider his own interests. This, uh, is also the reason for his rebellion."
There was so much information that An Rou couldn't help but bite her nails.
Her eyes suddenly became determined: "If that's the case, why do I need you?"
"...Ah?" Paopao was startled. "Even though Oli hasn't arrived yet, that doesn't mean they won't come. Maybe once the T21 incident is over, they'll have the energy to deal with you! You know, Chizen Ichiming was the fastest-rising player in Oli in the past two years. He couldn't have died in vain!"
An Rou smiled.
She was just scared and ran away.
This young man might not look very old, and he might not have much gaming experience, but he's got a sharp mind and a good understanding of the situation. Keeping him around might come in handy sooner or later.
An Rou turned her head and looked around: "Bao Bao, Bao Bao?"
There is nothing around, no sign of getting rich quickly.
"Where the hell have you been!"
An Rou cursed under her breath and was about to use her consciousness to call out when her vision blurred and a huge, terrified face floated up from the ground.
The dark mud ground was like a mirror, in which the face of a wealthy man suddenly appeared.
Paopao jumped up in shock and shrank behind Anrou. A ghoul was still a ghoul, and regardless of level, its appearance was terrifying enough. In comparison, he became increasingly convinced that Anrou was another player disguised as an NPC, and not that scary.
An Rou was also startled and looked up quickly. There was no cloud looking in the mirror in the sky. How could it have hidden underground?
It’s not right to say that it is hidden underground. It’s more like a vague shadow cast on the ground.
An Rou looked at its fist with puzzled eyes: "What's wrong with you?"
Baofu rolled his eyes but said nothing. His face emerged from the soil like water.
"Ghost, ghost magic, don't you know?" Paopao was even more puzzled than Anrou.
"Ghostcraft?"
An Rou muttered, her eyes falling on Paopao's light screen, where the mission details popped up.
[Mission Name: Dark Clouds Over Unknown Farm]
[Mission Location: Eastern Suburbs of Zhongsu Town]
[Ghoul Level: SS. Ghost Technique 1/2: Elephant Devouring; 2/2: Pseudo-Hiding]
[Number of Ghouls: 1/1]
【Time limit: None】
[Difficulty Rating: S]
An Rou suddenly realized that Paopao was a gamer. For him, getting rich quickly was the immediate task.
"You really don't know? The strength of ghouls below S-rank is determined by the parasite they inhabit. Above S-rank, they develop unique ghoul-like skills. It's SS-rank, so it has two types of skills... This one looks like it should be 'Pseudo-Fu', right?"
Before Paopao could finish his words, he was startled to find Anrou staring at him with her eyes narrowed dangerously.
Paopao swallowed hard, his will to survive making his brain more active. "Don't worry, I swear I won't reveal any clues to anyone!"
"Men's words are deceiving," An Rou said. "Let's put it this way. You're a nobody, and Bao Fu and I both looked down on you. But considering you still have some brains, I'll make an exception and hire you as a farm employee. From now on... well, just call me boss."
"Staff?" Paopao opened his mouth.
"Why, you're not happy? Bao Bao."
At An Rou's command, Bao Fu's face floated up again, and his open mouth was dark, as if he could swallow Paopao in one gulp.
Paopao nodded hurriedly: "I am willing to accept it. The boss is in charge, and I am the subordinate..."
"Don't try that." An Rou stopped him, "Don't worry, just follow me, you won't lose out on levels, gold coins, and props."
She clapped her hands: "Pack up and get ready to work."
"Start work? Boss, aren't we supposed to wait and see?"
An Rou smiled: "Didn't you say that Ou Li would come sooner or later? In that case, we should also recruit troops quickly, right?"
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