Chapter 85
Shocking reversal: Not a mission, but a robbery? NPC offers a million-dollar bounty for help! Has the Oli Guild gone crazy?!
[1L (Original Poster): rt, we've already rushed over! ]
The news of the player army being dispatched from Zhongsu Town had already attracted attention on the forums. Everyone speculated whether they had discovered clues to a high-level quest, but unexpectedly, a catchy headline appeared on the front page: "Robbery of NPCs?"
2L: ??? Can you explain it more clearly?!
…
[119L: I finally understand. Lengbing City's second-largest guild robs an NPC? I have only one word: Wow!]
[342L: I don't believe it. Even if it's a robbery, is it really necessary to send out an entire branch? Besides, isn't that Boss An a special NPC? He's Oli's treasure chest!]
[355L (OP): Boss An's shopkeeper said this himself. Would an NPC lie? How many people can come up with a million gold coins?]
[369L: I was there too, I can prove the original poster is not lying!]
[1549L: Even if it's true, how many people do you have? A branch of Ouli must have at least several thousand people online. How can you protect the NPCs?]
2396L (OP): Many of you haven't been to Zhongsu, right? Anyone who has knows that there are at least 8,000 out-of-town players entering and leaving Zhongsu Town every day lately, and even half of them have the guts to stay after the ban. We have as much as Ouli has!
2411L: Wow!
2437L: Oh my god, I'm feeling a bit hot-blooded! Anyway, we're protecting the NPCs. Even if Long Yan comes, I can't say no. OP and all the brothers present, charge!
…
As the post had mentioned, in Zhongsu Town, players from other areas were shouting and yelling, quickly gathering a large crowd. Ouli and Yinlai had just shown off their prowess that afternoon, and many people were resentful. By the time they left town, the crowd was already thick with laughter, shouting, and bantering, making it seem like a market.
No one noticed that a silent figure quietly blended in.
-
Outside the farm, an employee holding two swords blew up a crazy ghoul and suddenly froze.
In the darkness beyond, dense shadows appeared. Countless delicious souls of the Chosen Ones crowded together, and even from a distance, it could smell their mouth-watering aroma.
In the farm yard, An Rou had been escorted back to the central hall of the bungalow by Paopao.
She suddenly said, "The guild army has arrived."
Following her words, several out-of-control ghouls that had rushed into the courtyard suddenly stopped, their eyes darting around, abandoning the souls in the bungalow.
The souls outside are more numerous and sweeter!
He ran out of the bungalow, jumped onto the roof, dodged the huge and twisted limbs of some crazy ghouls, and looked inside and outside the farm.
Hundreds of ghouls scattered, howling and running towards the edge of the farm. They were like wolves that had lost their minds due to hunger and suddenly discovered a flock of sheep outside.
However, the sheep carry knives, and everyone in the guild army holds a weapon as if facing a powerful enemy.
It seems that the legion has someone in command and has surrounded the entire farm, otherwise the ghouls would not scatter in all directions.
Paopao wanted to observe more clearly, but saw a figure flash by, and Wang Da stayed beside him for a moment, and brought him back to the yard without any doubt.
Wang Da's eyes were smeared with blood, and his pupils were barely discernible. But his composure far exceeded Paopao's expectations.
It nodded to An Rou: "We're here."
The out-of-control ghoul was attracted away by the legion, and its pressure suddenly decreased, and its usual smile appeared on its lips again.
An Rou cut off the connection with her consciousness and looked at it intently: "Go ahead, eat as much as you want."
The implication was that Wang Da could upgrade at will. Even though An Rou felt that this move was still risky, Wang Da was the fastest knife in her hand when Fu Fu hadn't woken up.
Have to use it.
Wang Da didn't say anything, just nodded. Just as he was about to turn around, he was stopped by Paopao.
Paopao knew clearly why the boss was wary of Wang Da. He first looked at An Rou for instructions. Seeing that the boss had no objection, he took out the penalty knife from the prop column and handed it to Wang Da.
"Your hammer isn't as powerful as this one," Paopao said. Seeing Wang Da didn't take it, he quickly added, "I can't do much with it, so it's useless to keep it."
The penalty knife is a green weapon, and with the energy value of running, it really can't perform many skills.
Wang Da then took it and said calmly, "Thank you. Protect the boss."
The penalty knife disappeared in its hand, and it flew out the door with the hammer in hand.
Paopao looked dazed, and Wang Da's final instructions made him forget the fact that the other party was a ghoul.
-
The legion surrounded the farm but did not attack. Four thousand men formed a defensive line around it but did not move forward.
Everyone's screen was fixed on the task details interface.
In the mission [Ghouls Hiding in the Farm], the number of ghouls has exceeded one hundred, and they are facing a large-scale ghoul tide!
Moreover, the ghoul level and mission level are as high as SS level!
The Oli players present quickly recalled the T21 mission from over a month ago, which also began with an SS-level ghoul wave. Despite nearly 20,000 Oli and Garr troops surrounding them, thousands still lost their game qualifications, and countless others died temporarily!
But now, together with the Yinlai Guild, they only have about 4,000 people.
"…What does the ellipsis after the level mean?"
In shock, someone finally discovered the abnormality. There were three dots behind the ghoul level and mission level: [SS...].
"Upgrading..."
Panic spread like a tide.
At this moment, the ghouls in the farm had already rushed out. The one in front was a mad ghoul. Its upper body was stretched to twice the length of an ordinary person. It had three pairs of arms and ran like a deformed wolf.
The players rushed to avoid the attack, and a gap suddenly appeared in the defense line.
It’s not that he’s afraid of ghouls, but he’s afraid that it’s the highest-level SS-level ghoul present.
At that moment, a giant foot descended from the sky and crushed the wolf-shaped ghoul beneath its feet. With a bang, gold coins flew from the foot's ankle height.
"Akiji, that's Captain Akiji!"
Some members of Ouli screamed.
He saw the owner of the giant foot clearly - a giant who was thirty meters tall, his upper body immersed in the dark night sky. Because it was so big, no one noticed its existence at first.
The reason why this player recognized it was not because of his extraordinary eyesight, but because Akiji's head was held by its hair in one hand and hung below its waist.
It held up its own head, with a look of horror on its face and its bloody mouth wide open. Something that looked like a blood vessel and a tongue extended out and sank into the back of its hand.
With their eyes focused on Akiji, the players received a notification on the light screen: [Crazy Ghoul (B-Rank)].
After a moment of daze, Qiuci raised his big feet, and the next place he landed was the blockade line.
The shadow of death hangs over everyone's head.
Giant feet stepped down.
Bang——
No one felt the overwhelming force, but the giant Akiji instantly transformed into a shower of gold coins and vanished. Compared to him, a figure as small as an ant flitted past them.
Tang Lang.
"It's just a B-rank, and it scared you, Oli?! Block it first, then find support!"
With a serious expression, he shouted, waking up the members of Oli. The sunken blockade was resealed, and everyone put aside their fear and began to concentrate on dealing with the oncoming ghouls.
The Yinlai members were also part of the blockade, located on the other side, and that's where Tang Lang had rushed in. In comparison, the people in his own guild reacted much better than the Ouli members after seeing the mission details.
There is fear, but more of it is excitement.
However, he did not underestimate Ouli's strength.
The reason the All Power members were afraid was precisely because they were regular troops, able to judge their chances of victory based solely on the mission details. Furthermore, large guilds were much more cohesive than the scattered guerrillas of smaller guilds. Facing Akiji's transformation into a ghoul, many All Power members must have had some time to process the situation before they could act.
Tang Lang silently equipped all the items with passive skills.
The mission before him was beyond his expectations. The level was too high. He had thought that even with a large ghoul wave, without high-level ghouls, the overall mission difficulty would be at most S-level.
But the fact is, there are SS-level ghouls in the farm. As a master player, he has to be careful when facing an SS-level ghoul alone.
What's more, there are more than a hundred ghouls in total. Who knows how many of them are B-level ghouls like Akiji?
The B-rank ones that had gone berserk were fine; their low IQ wasn't difficult to deal with, but as he flew through the air above the farm, he saw clearly that many ghouls hadn't gone berserk. The intelligence of the living dead was far superior to that of the berserk ghouls. They were all players before, so they had all the skills, movement speed, and combat instincts.
It's tricky, trickier than you might imagine.
Therefore, he was quite serious when he asked Oli to seek support.
"President Tang, look!" An Ouli member suddenly pointed behind him.
Tang Lang turned his head and saw human figures appearing in the night sky in the distance.
"Your support?" It came as soon as I said that. So fast?
"No, it's players from outside the area, players from Zhongxu Town!" The members of Ouli had never been so fond of outsiders before. It was as if they had seen their saviors. "I was browsing the forum before I left, so I saw the post as soon as I opened the screen. A large number of outsiders are chasing us!"
"Catch up?"
Tang Lang glanced at the shared screen and saw the title of the post. His brows furrowed, then relaxed.
Whatever the reason, it's a good thing.
At this point, he no longer dreamed of taking the quest reward. Controlling the ghoul tide from spreading, lest he be condemned by the Dragon Flame Guild and lose Zhongsu Town, his hard-earned stronghold, was the top priority.
Our team is short of personnel, so players from other places come to supplement the numbers and quench their thirst.
"Send a message to everyone in your branch: kill the ghouls first, and don't think about stealing the missions."
"yes!"
After Tang Lang finished his instructions, he also issued the same command in the Yinlai Guild channel. When he looked up again, his heart suddenly skipped a beat.
wrong!
The figures were already quite close, and logically, they should have received the mission details. A massive SS-level ghoul wave would take time to process for anyone who witnessed it.
But only half of the people running in the front stopped.
Tang Lang could vaguely hear them shouting "Ghoul Tide".
But the other half, as if deaf, rushed forward without a care in the world. The front stopped and the back bumped into each other, and the whole place suddenly became a mess.
Tang Lang used his mobility skills to fly over and made an emergency stop on the second floor of the farm.
He finally saw what was happening.
A ghoul tide! Just now, right under his eyes, another ghoul tide erupted!
Tang Lang brought out the light screen.
The two ghoul waves were so close together that the game assumed they were part of the same mission. In the farm mission details, the number of ghouls suddenly tripled, from over a hundred to over three hundred!
What is going on?
Ghost mother, there must be a ghost mother hiding inside, taking advantage of people's unpreparedness to madly divide them!
Tang Lang stared at the scene, the commotion spreading rapidly. Suddenly, the roof collapsed beneath his feet.
A madly transformed ghoul, lost and wandering in the staff dormitory, smelled the strong fragrance emanating from him and charged straight at him. Tentacles as thick as snakes and pythons suddenly wrapped around Tang Lang's calf, pulling him into the collapsed building.
Tang Lang's iron boots were a defensive item. They detected the attack and emitted a burst of strong light, successfully maintaining his health bar. However, this burst of light attracted nearby ghouls.
When the staff dormitory completely collapsed, several ghouls that had rushed towards the outskirts of the farm turned around and plunged in.
The small second floor collapsed into a heap, then suddenly exploded. The scorching hot air lifted countless gold coins and sent them scattering in all directions.
Tang Lang stood in the center of the ruins, holding several Fire Needles. He lowered his brows and gazed coldly at the living dead beneath his feet. When it began to transform wildly, the Fire Needles detached from his fingertips, leaving a streak of red light in the air.
Ghouls explode into a bunch of rewards.
Whether or not a ghoul completes its transformation greatly affects the amount of reward. However, Tang Lang could no longer care. The number of ghouls had already soared to over 400, and who knew when they would stop? He couldn't kill them all by himself.
I can't wait any longer.
The only way is to rely on absolute force and start killing!
Blockade? Screw it, at worst I can make enough money, disband the guild and continue to be a wanderer!
Freed from the burden of commanding the mission, he felt a sense of relief, weaving through the ghouls like a fish, untouched by the elements. Wherever he passed, bursts of gold coins rained down, and he reached out and scooped up most of them.
Most of the ghouls were drawn away by the army outside the wall, so Tang Lang simply charged outside as well. A fire needle struck a wall, instantly burning the stone wall within a two-meter radius to scorching ash, successfully killing a madly transformed ghoul and two living dead.
However, that gap also became the most convenient place for ghouls to enter and exit. The blockade line closest to the gap was immediately affected. Coincidentally, it was the section under the Yinlai Guild's control.
Tang Lang jumped out of the wall and glanced coldly at the crying Yinlai members, his face full of hard-heartedness.
Now they are no longer his subordinates, but potential rewards.
His expression suddenly froze.
A man dragged a huge iron hammer and charged straight into the Yinlai Legion. Wherever he passed, white spots of light exploded along with the shadow of the hammer.
In the dark night, it is as beautiful as white fireworks.
——That was the scene where the player was completely offline.
The one holding the hammer is not a human, but a ghoul!
Judging by the skillful way it cast its skills, it was clearly no ordinary living dead. Could it be... the SS-rank ghoul, the boss of this mission?
Tang Lang narrowed his eyes. The opponent moved too fast, and it was difficult to activate the function of identifying the ghoul's level.
If so, this is a good opportunity to observe prey.
However, just as he made up his mind, the other party's dazzlingly fast figure suddenly stopped, activating the light screen notification.
The levels have been identified.
But Tang Lang didn't have time to look at it.
Because the opponent suddenly attacked!
[Kill Tang Lang first!] An Rou's words circled in Wang Da's mind. Before the voice faded away, his body had already smashed towards Tang Lang with the hammer.
The iron hammer expanded rapidly in the air, as if Qiu Ci's giant foot came again, smashing down on Tang Lang's head!
Tang Lang did not dare to delay. He attacked with the Lihuo needle and flew back at the same time.
Using a needle to hit the hammer was like a drop in the ocean, but the force it unleashed was a stark contrast to the visual effect. A stream of heat shot out in all directions from the point of impact. The hammer flipped, somersaulting Wang Da with it, and crashed to the ground.
That's not all. The fire element on the Lihuo needle was transmitted to the handle through the hammer head. A red light was hidden inside the handle. When it was transmitted to Wang Da's hands, the energy exploded.
The handle quickly turned red and shiny, as if it had just been burned in a furnace at thousands of degrees.
The smell of burnt flesh filled the air. The skin on Wang Da's ten fingers was like melted wax, flowing onto the handle with a crackling sound.
But, it never let go.
Wang Da held the hammer in both hands and stood quietly there, even with a hint of smile in his eyes as he looked at Tang Lang.
Tang Lang stood on the two-meter-high wall of the farm, looking down at it.
Actually... it's only A. level?
He saw clearly the level of the ghoul identified by the system. Although he did not show it on his face, he felt a little surprised in his heart.
A-level ghouls are indeed high-level ghouls, but the ghoul before him, whether in terms of demeanor or the power he displayed, didn't look like an A-level ghoul at all. Even if it wasn't SS, it should have been S.
However, the system cannot be wrong.
Just as he was thinking about it, Wang Da spoke in a soft and gentle voice: "So it's you."
Tang Lang was puzzled: Has he met it before?
It’s no wonder that Tang Lang didn’t understand. After all, Wang Da was just a mouthpiece at this time.
In the central hall of the bungalow, An Rou's eyes were distracted, with a very cold smile on her lips.
Through Wang Da's eyes, she saw the weapon in Tang Lang's hand - a thin needle emitting a faint red light.
It matches the thin scars on her abdomen and knees.
It wasn't until this moment that An Rou finally understood that it wasn't Captain Li who had attacked her during their first encounter at the mahjong table, but him. She had been secretly upset for a while: Captain Li had been killed so suddenly and so quickly, without any sense of revenge at all.
It's really unfair to Captain Li.
But whether it's him or Tang Lang, it's only a matter of time before they're completely offline. Sooner or later, there's going to be a reckoning.
An Rou: [Wang Da, say a word for me before you kill him.]
Outside the wall, Wang Da smiled at Tang Lang and nodded gently: "Okay."
Tang Lang felt even more bewildered, but he had no time to reminisce. In a few words, Wang Da's burned hands had healed on their own, and he once again swung the hammer, smashing it against the wall.
Wang Da didn't move his feet. The length of the hammer was far enough to reach Tang Lang on the wall. However, the hammer suddenly emitted a dim iron-gray light in mid-air, and under Tang Lang's nose, it transformed into a huge phantom.
This weapon actually has a skill that turns the real into the virtual, so its level must be no lower than that of the orange weapon.
Tang Lang, experienced as he was, remained unfazed. According to the game's settings, weapons with extended attack ranges would lose power as distance increased. Moreover, just like the previous exchange, even if the attacker was a physical entity, he remained fearless.
Tang Lang pinched the Lihuo needle and his fingers suddenly stopped.
The hammer phantom suddenly split into three. The weapon actually had a clone ability.
He sneered, flicked his wrist, and three fire needles shot towards the three phantoms.
The Qingwu Lihuo Needle is not just one needle, but a set.
The red light and the gray shadow intersected, and the two gray shadows shattered.
As expected, the clone was just an illusion within an illusion, with no offensive power at all. His false and real tactics were completely ineffective against his Lihuo Needle.
With a thought, two more Fire Needles appeared in Tang Lang's hands, chasing the remaining iron hammer phantom. Initially, the shadow was able to hold its own against the Fire Needles, but with the arrival of the two Fire Needles, it was instantly shattered. The Fire Needles continued their attack, striking the iron hammer's physical form.
Three points of red light flashed like a volcanic eruption, and the hammer was instantly covered in winding lava. With a few muffled clangs, the hammer head was shattered into countless pieces by the lava and smashed to the ground. The weeds, already trampled beyond recognition, immediately caught fire, and the flames licked Wang Da's trouser legs.
However, ordinary flames could not break Wang Da's defense at all.
Wang Da's smile remained unchanged as he murmured softly, "Thank Paopao for me, or I'll really be left with nothing."
As soon as the words fell, a ripple of water light appeared in its hand. With a light shake, it swept away a fire needle that was attacking it.
The Punishment Knife, a green weapon, is one level lower than the Fire Needle, but two levels higher than the Iron Hammer.
An Rou asked in its mind: [Can I win?]
Wang Da: "We can only try."
An Rou's grip on the Seven Souls Sword loosened. Tang Lang was a master player, so possessing high-level weapons was perfectly normal. She had already considered giving Wang Da the Seven Souls Sword.
But Wang Da said, "Let's try it."
Then try it first.
The penalty knife appeared, and the first reward in this mission that caught Tang Lang's eye appeared.
Even if it is not a high-level martial artist above the Qing level, the level of that knife as soft as water is not too low.
He became jealous, and his attack was no longer a test. Instead, he showed the speed and strength of a master player and began to attack actively!
The punishment of ink.
The punishment of cutting off the nose.
The punishment of cutting off the feet.
Palace punishment.
Except for the last skill, the first four stages of the Punishing Blade's skills were all treacherous, with the water light flowing into every hole. Unfortunately, tonight, the water failed to restrain the fire, and instead allowed the Fire Needle to frequently exploit the gaps.
After all, no weapon is thinner than a needle.
In a short while, Wang Da's clothes were shredded, and the parasite's defenses were severely damaged. Meanwhile, Tang Lang, relying on his superior speed, wandered around calmly.
Tang Lang also wanted to deliver a fatal blow, but Wang Da was actually far less embarrassed than he looked. Whenever the Lihuo Needle found a flaw, the water light always arrived in time to prevent it.
He simply gave up the idea of a one-hit kill and smirked, "Let's see who can outlast the other."
This whisper did not escape Wang Da's sharp ears. He smiled and said, "Oh, really?"
The Punishment Blade blocked the attack of the Fire Needle and accelerated the use of the Ink Punishment to counterattack Tang Lang. Tang Lang easily dodged it, only to realize that Wang Da was not interested in drinking, and flew towards the players struggling to resist the ghoul not far away.
The two Yinlai members were caught off guard and were pressed on the face by Wang Da with one hand each. In the blink of an eye, they exploded into two balls of light.
The king's momentum suddenly surged, and his already slightly sluggish state was swept away.
Ghouls can replenish their energy by devouring souls! Thousands of players, around them, are now their source of energy!
"Who can outlast whom?" Wang Da looked at Tang Lang and smiled.
-
In the eastern suburbs, flames blazed across the wasteland, trapping nearly ten thousand players in a raging ghoul tide. The mission details showed the number of ghouls fluctuating, then fluctuating. The number of surviving ghouls had already exceeded a thousand, and the cumulative number was expected to double.
In contrast, the number of players surviving the mission is plummeting. It's a shame the mission details don't include a count of survivors.
Three pairs of eyes, hidden in the darkness, gazed upon the battlefield.
The man in white clothes and long hair tilted his head slightly and smiled faintly: "How is it?"
Chu Mo's hair wasn't silver at this point; it was pure black with a few flashes of lightning. He watched the fight between Tang Lang and Wang Da without blinking, and didn't respond.
Xie Xin didn't take it seriously and said to himself, "It seems that he is not the one you are looking for."
Asking despite knowing the answer.
Xie Xin laughed again and said, "What if it is? He is a great god after all. It looks like that little guy can't beat him."
"He's waiting." Chu Mo suddenly said in a hoarse voice.
Xie Xin's smiling gaze swept across some darkness.
There, a third person, watching the fire from the other side of the river, licked his lips.
But it didn't arouse Jie Xin's interest at all.
He shifted his gaze to the center of the farm. The small, one-story house was the only piece of pure land untouched by the flames of war amidst the chaos. Chu Mo, however, hadn't noticed the presence of the house yet.
I wonder how he would react when he saw her.
Jie Xin suddenly felt a little hopeful, and followed Chu Mo's words perfunctorily: "Let's see if he can open the Ghost Ruins."
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