Chapter 95
The Qingwu Yinfeng Mace is one of the few weapons with flying skills besides flying swords.
It's not as fast as a flying sword, but it's definitely not slow.
In front of him, the neon-filled valley was approaching rapidly. Ali saw a wall and a gate on it.
He wanted to go in through the door, but it suddenly opened and a woman in cheongsam came out.
Red and purple, clusters of flowers, and glittering jewels.
Ali suddenly hovered in mid-air.
The woman heard the noise, raised her head and looked over with a frown.
She is a lady with an oriental temperament, graceful and dignified.
Ghoul?
Yali narrowed his eyes, but no recognition notification popped up on the light screen.
The woman's voice was clear and bright. "Mr. Destiny, this is a private place. Please do not intrude."
The screen finally responded—[Unknown NPC's favorability decreased by 5%, currently 50%, no favorability.]
Ali frowned and opened the game map. Area 11 was the territory of the Gal Guild. All Gal members had a detailed map. However, when he zoomed in, he found no town in his current location.
The map shows that there is not even a single building on the Yuyang Ridge below.
But behind this wall, there are buildings with lights on everywhere.
It should be here.
Ali landed in front of the woman and asked directly, "Where is this place?"
An Rou pointed to the top of her head: "Yong'an Farm."
Yongan Farm?
Ali looked up at the plaque on the gate and immediately remembered the name - the large-scale ghoul wave in Zhongsu Town that caused a lot of uproar a few days ago!
No wonder!
He narrowed his eyes: "Are you An Rou?"
"Sir, you know me?" An Rou asked in surprise, "How could that be? I've never seen you before."
Yali asked again: "Are you from Zhongsu Town?"
An Rou looked bewildered: "Zhongsu Town? What kind of place is that?"
Ali never expected to get this answer.
He'd paid special attention to the massive ghoul wave in Zhongsu Town, where an SSS-rank ghoul was present. The name and location matched the information he had, but the person involved didn't even remember Zhongsu Town?
NPCs don't lie.
Could it be because An Rou is a so-called special NPC?
Just as he was thinking about it, he heard An Rou ask, "Are those two your companions, sir?"
Qina and Heigs finally arrived. In order to catch up with Ali, they used all their strength to perform the Wind Step, which consumed a lot of energy and stamina.
Heigs bent down and gasped for breath. Qina was higher in level than him, so her breathing was just heavier. But the moment she saw Anrou, she immediately held her breath.
Qina frowned and looked at An Rou with a wary look.
She didn't recognize this woman, but her eyes reminded her of the female gamer on the train. It was just that their appearances...were different.
The female player had a thin face and figure, a delicate beauty. The woman in the cheongsam before her was obviously more plump than the female player and a bit older.
"Is it you?" Qina asked tentatively.
Without waiting for An Rou to answer, she activated a perspective card, and a faint light appeared in her light brown eyes.
——Nothing was found. The woman in the cheongsam had no props on her.
An Rou's face darkened at Qina's unscrupulous scrutiny. Without hesitation, she lowered her favorability by 20%. At the same time, she said to Yali, "Is your companion as rude as you? Sorry, you are not welcome here. Please leave."
Qina looked at her light screen and was stunned.
Isn't it her?
Heigs was completely taken aback and shouted angrily, "How dare you speak to our captain like that?!"
"Hagrid." Ali said lightly to stop him, showing An Rou a forced smile, "Ms. An..."
"Call me farmer." An Rou interrupted him even more rudely.
A hint of gloom flashed across Ali's eyes, and his smile almost froze on his face. "Farmer, we are from the Gar Gang and have no ill intentions. We are here because we are tracking a ghoul - I dare say it has run into your farm."
"Ghoul?" An Rou's face turned pale. "No...that's impossible?"
She had to react this way.
Ghouls are what NPCs fear the most. If they appear too calm, it just means that the ghouls are hiding in the farm.
In this way, it is impossible for Ali and the other two to leave.
Ali's expression straightened and he nodded. "I'm sure. Why don't you let us in to search? Otherwise, not only will the farm be damaged, but the farmer's life will be in danger."
An Rou bit her lower lip and hesitated for a moment before agreeing: "Then I'll trouble you, sir."
I have to increase the favorability of the three people by 5%.
An Rou brought three people in.
Qina leaned close to Yali's ear and said, "Captain, I always feel that there is something strange about this woman. Is this where the clues lead?"
Yali opened the notification on the light screen and found a task clue in the history message, the font had not turned gray yet.
He nodded: "Probably."
[Quest clue: It appeared, in a place where it shouldn't have appeared.]
[Related Quest: The Hidden Ghoul in Guangyuan Town (Relevance 40%)]
China: "What's next?"
Yali: "Look for clues here."
The three of them deliberately kept their distance, and An Rou could only hear them whispering to each other. When she turned around to look, the light screen in front of Yali disappeared.
I couldn't see the content on the screen.
However, this does not affect An Rou's judgment. These three people are here for a mission.
Her current appearance was a masterpiece of disguise cards, and she had transformed from a player into an NPC, which neither Ali nor Heigs had obviously recognized.
Qina seemed to have discovered something, but seeing the change in her favorability, she probably just brushed it off.
Unfortunately, Ali arrived in such a hurry that Anrou didn't even have time to take down the farm sign, let alone disguise the farm as something else. So, she and the farm simply used their real names and crudely feigned amnesia.
Special NPCs are still NPCs, the game system can change them however it wants.
An Rou stopped and waited for the three men to come in, her tone nervous, "Mr. Destiny, where should we start the search?"
Ali looked around.
Entering from the farm gate, you will see Yong'an Trading Company in front of you, the sauerkraut building on the right, and a circle of farmland surrounding the building on the left.
There are no crops too tall on the farmland, so it is easy to tell whether there are people hiding there.
He fixed his gaze on the neon signs on the outer wall of the Yongan Trading Company and asked, "Do we need to build a trading company on the farm? Well... not just a trading company, there are shops on those two streets."
An Rou forced a smile. "To be honest, the farm hasn't had a good harvest these past two years, and it's become a problem for my people to eat. That's why I spent all my money to build these two small streets, hoping to attract customers like you. The shops have just been completed and haven't opened yet."
"Is there anyone else here?"
"Yes, about forty of them, poor people whose families are haunted by ghouls and can't make ends meet. But here they can still find food."
Ali didn't believe a word of it.
It wasn't that I didn't trust An Rou; NPCs wouldn't lie. Rather, I didn't trust this "background introduction," fabricated by the system and implanted into the NPC's head, so much so that even she herself didn't realize it was fake.
He pointed at Yong'an Commercial Bank with his chin and said, "Start the search from these two streets, clockwise, all the way to this building."
He pointed to the Sauerkraut Building.
These words were not spoken to An Rou, but to China and Heigs.
The two responded, "Yes, Captain."
But before Qina reached the business, she stopped and looked back at Yali.
Yali knew she had something to say, so he tiptoed quickly to her side. An Rou stayed behind, watching the two of them whispering to each other.
Just by looking at the direction of Qina's finger, An Rou guessed what she was talking about.
From where they stood, they could just see the building across the pond. The words "Wing On Hotel" shone brightly in neon lights.
It was the only store that had not changed its name. It had been very popular in Lengbing City not long ago, so it was not surprising that Qina recognized it.
"Captain, could this be the farm where the massive ghoul outbreak occurred in Zhongsu Town?"
Qina looked as if she had seen a ghost. "The forum said that many buildings in Zhongsu Town disappeared overnight. Everyone speculated that they were destroyed by the ghoul boss. How could they appear here?"
She suddenly thought of something: "Could it be that the SSS-level ghoul was not strangled and not recovered by the system?"
China noticed Ali's calm expression.
Her eyes widened. "The clue the captain got leads to an SSS-rank ghoul. Did you know that?"
Yali glanced back at An Rou casually and said calmly, "It says Yong'an Farm right at the gate. You just didn't notice it."
China was speechless.
When she arrived, her attention was completely attracted by the woman in cheongsam, and she didn't even look up at the sign.
She shook her head twice. "No, any clues to a high-level mission must be reported to headquarters. The one hiding here is most likely a top-tier ghoul. Captain, we should..."
The words that were not finished were sealed in my mouth by Ali's cold gaze.
"Search carefully as I ordered," said Ali.
Qina put down her hand and gritted her teeth: "...Yes."
She walked towards Heigth, who asked, "What did you say to the captain?"
Qina looked at him deeply and shook her head: "Nothing. You go to the left, I go to the right, and we will search for clues separately."
If someone told him there might be a top-tier ghoul lurking on the farm, Heigs wouldn't dare to search it alone. A Silver player facing an SSS-tier ghoul would be like committing suicide.
Watching the two of them walk into different streets, Yali turned around and looked at Anrou.
An Rou stepped forward and said, "Sir, won't you come with us? Will it be difficult to rely on your companions alone..."
"They all have extensive experience in strangling ghouls."
Yali said, his sharp eyes under his silver hair always carrying a hint of inquiry. "Of course I will search, but as the owner of the farm, you know better than us where to hide, right?"
An Rou said timidly, "Sir, do you want me to join the search?"
"Don't worry, I'm here, no matter what ghoul can hurt you."
"……Oh well."
Since it was just an act, An Rou decided to go through with it and followed Ali closely.
Instead of walking into the street, Ali walked around the pond and finally walked along the water boardwalk to the pavilion in the middle of the lake.
An Rou observed his actions and it didn't seem like he was searching.
"There's one thing I'm curious about. The farmer owns such a large piece of land and can build so many houses... is he very rich?" Ali suddenly asked.
An Rou answered directly and tactfully: "Sir, this is my privacy."
Yali refused to give up: "Don't worry, the Gar Gang will never rob the townspeople's property. They will only protect you."
An Rou hesitated for a long time and sighed, "I do have some family assets, which were left to me by my parents, but after all these years, I've spent most of them."
"Are your parents here too?"
"It's just my father. There were ghouls in the house, and my mother... turned into a ghoul. My father was heartbroken when he saw it, so he brought me here."
Because his family was haunted by a ghoul, he took in other people haunted by ghouls. This background is quite reasonable.
Ali thought about it and asked again: "When did it happen?"
"Sir, are you asking about...ghouls?" An Rou clenched her hands in front of her, her voice low, "It was a long time ago, when I was still a kid."
The Lengbing City dungeon has only been online for twenty years, I don’t believe you can find any loopholes in it.
As expected, Ali didn't ask any further questions, but instead asked another one: "Since the farmer moved to Yuyangling a long time ago, he should know that the soil around here is saturated with the ghoul's corpse poison. Apart from the lifeless grass, nothing can be grown. How did the farmer keep these things alive?"
It turns out that the weeds growing on toxic soil are called "no life grass". Is it because of the name derived from the "no life land"?
An Rou pondered, following his gaze to the green trees by the pond.
"It wasn't me who grew the crops, it was my father. He said he spent a lot of money buying good soil from the surrounding area and spread it here, finally making the crops survive. But the harvest... is indeed getting worse every year."
This is consistent with what I said before about the poor “harvest”.
"If it's such a hassle, why not just move to a place where the soil isn't toxic?"
An Rou: "Dad said there are few people here."
Fewer people and fewer souls mean less likelihood of attracting ghouls.
Ali finally showed a hint of impatience.
For NPCs, their own growth experiences are logically self-consistent, so it seems that looking for clues by digging into the background is useless.
However, he showed no impatience. He walked out of the pavilion in the middle of the lake and walked along the plank road to the vicinity of the trading company.
Ali looked at the intersection of the two streets for a while, but didn't find China and Heigs. He thought they had searched deep into the area.
He tilted his head to look at the Pickled Cabbage Building: "Let's go there."
An Rou's eyelids twitched.
If there's a place with the most flaws, it must be the pickled vegetable building, which has two floors full of pickled vegetable jars.
The doors and windows of the Suancai Building were locked, and there was a padlock on the bolt at the main door. Yali pinched the lock and looked back at Anrou.
"I'll go get the keys."
Just as An Rou finished speaking, there was a click and the keyhole was pulled out by Ali.
Ali placed the broken padlock in her hand. "Compared to the ghoul, it's just a lock. The farmer won't mind, right?"
An Rou was stunned for a moment and shook her head: "No."
Resist the urge to lower the other person's favorability.
Ali pushed open the door and was stunned to see the unexpected scene.
There were no lights on inside, and at first glance, all I could see were large, dark vats, spaced only wide enough for a person to pass sideways. In the dim light, it looked a bit eerie.
"What is this place?" he asked.
"The Pickled Cabbage Restaurant," An Rou replied, "Our restaurant mainly sells pickled fish, so we pickled the cabbage in advance."
"Sour fish?"
Yali remembered that the Yong'an Restaurant in Zhongsu Town, known as the "special address", did sell pickled fish.
The look in his eyes as he stared at An Rou became inexplicable.
It seems that the special address and special NPC have been transferred from Zhongsu to Guangyuan. For the Gal Guild, this is undoubtedly a pie in the sky.
Because of this, he could not report to the headquarters.
"Sir, pickling sauerkraut requires a closed environment with limited air circulation. Can we go out now?"
Yali shook his head: "These water tanks can hide ghouls, we need to check them out."
"Sir, you mean the pickle jar? But..."
Before An Rou could finish her objection, Yali appeared and opened the wooden lid of a nearby pickle jar.
The smell of sour water hits me in the face.
Ali threw the lid to the ground, took out the Silver Wind Mace, and after activating the skill, the weapon emitted a silver-white light, illuminating the dark green water in the tank.
He dipped the Silver Wind Mace into the water and stirred it.
"Sir, this will ruin the whole vat of sauerkraut!"
Ali didn't listen and picked up the Silver Wind Mace. A pickled cabbage hung on the end of the weapon, which was the same yellow-green and black as the water.
How can these Oriental people eat this kind of food?
An idea flashed through Ali's mind. He threw the sauerkraut to the ground and smashed the wall of the jar with the Silver Wind Mace.
This weapon is too short to reach anything underwater.
The pickle jar shattered with a bang, and black water and pickles splashed all over the floor.
"gentlemen!"
An Rou screamed in anger and anxiety, decisively lowering her favorability by 10%. As a result, her favorability towards Yali was only 45%, entering a state of rejection.
Ali glanced at the screen and looked over: "Is sauerkraut more important than ghouls?"
An Rou said angrily, "But the ghoul you mentioned hasn't caused me any damage yet!"
Ali thought about it, put the Silver Wind Mace and the broken pickle jar into the prop bar at the same time, pressed the pickle jar next to him with his other hand, and tapped the light screen a few times.
An identical pickle jar appeared in the empty space.
Then, he bent down and put the pickled cabbage on the ground into the prop bar, and sprinkled a small piece of gold coins to purify the water stains on the ground.
Everything is back to normal.
He looked at An Rou again: "You have nothing to lose."
But Anrou only raised his favorability by 5%.
Yali frowned at the screen and said nothing more. As long as his favorability didn't drop below 50%, it wouldn't affect his destiny.
"I still need to search the second floor." Yali began to seek Anrou's consent.
An Rou hesitated for a moment and acquiesced: "But you can't smash my pickle jar again."
-
Yong'an Street is not long, and there are about thirty shops on both sides. All of them are closed but not locked.
Out of fear of SSS-level ghouls, Qina was very cautious during her initial search, spending nearly 15 minutes just searching the trading house. For a Destined Person with mobility skills, this was already very inefficient.
After searching several stores, nothing unusual was found.
If I had to say something unusual, there was only one thing: there was no one in every store.
Qina did not relax her vigilance, but increased the speed of the search. Soon she walked out of the Yong'an Hotel at the end of the street and looked at the house of the wealthy family not far away.
This mansion definitely needed to be searched, but the question was who should do it. It was clearly the farm owner's residence, and entering without the owner would likely lower the other NPCs' favorability.
In high-level missions, even a single point of Mandate can have an immeasurable impact. The favorability of NPCs at the mission site is the core factor affecting Mandate.
Qina hesitated and just saw Ali and Anrou walking towards the sauerkraut building across the pond.
The Sauerkraut Building is very close to the mansion. After the captain has searched the Sauerkraut Building, he should go to search the mansion, right?
This thought made China naturally give up searching the mansion.
After all, only the god-level Ali is a worthy opponent of the SSS-level ghoul.
China turned around and looked behind her.
A few minutes ago, Heigs sent a message to the three-person temporary team, saying that he had finished inspecting Yongnian Street, which he was responsible for, but found nothing, so he went to look around.
I don’t know where he went.
The farm has a clear layout, with a pond at the center, buildings surrounding it, and farmland and groves outside.
Qina's vision was a vast vegetable patch, with a small forest in the background. Suddenly, her eyes narrowed, and her gaze fell on the edge of the patch. There sat a person.
Perhaps we can get some clues from NPCs other than the farmer.
Qina used the Wind Step to run over, and when she got close, she changed to walking.
"Excuse me……"
"I'm busy and don't have time." Mrs. Xiang didn't even raise her head and interrupted Qina.
Qina frowned as she peeled and ate peanuts: "Aren't you eating?"
"Are you blind? I'm just fertilizing the land!" Mrs. Xiang rolled her eyes and gave her a cold look. "Peanut shells are the most fertile soil. You don't know shit."
China took a deep breath.
It was the first time she had seen an NPC with such a bad temper.
To put it another way, based on her status as a Chosen One and her sturdy physique, no NPC dared to look at her with disdain.
However, the most important thing right now is to dig up clues.
Qina had just suppressed her anger when she saw Xiang Sao rub her hands together, crush the peanut shells, and then throw them away.
Most of it fell on her.
Qina continued to suppress her anger: "Old woman..."
"Red-haired girl, what did you call me?" Sister Xiang stood up suddenly. She was two heads shorter than Qina, but she was no less imposing. "Are you calling me old?!"
Brush - Favorability drops by 30%, a step into "hostility".
Qina: “…”
She clenched her fists again and again, then turned and strode away. I was going to give them some gold coins to dig for clues, but it seems I'll save that!
"Bah!" Xiang Sao spat behind him.
Unreasonable NPC!
Qina walked out of the vegetable garden angrily and suddenly heard a shout.
The man's cry was short and didn't convey any meaning.
She suddenly turned her head and looked at the grove next to the vegetable field.
China didn't rush in, but asked in the team chat: [Hagrid, is there something unusual?]
Heigs was nowhere to be found, but he quickly replied: [Nothing unusual.]
Not Hagrid.
Who was making that cry in the woods, some other farm NPC?
Just in case, Qina said in the channel: [I'm going to search the woods.]
The trees in the grove are not tall.
The densest treetops were right at eye level, obstructing China's vision.
She had to bend down to get through it, and soon she found that the trees were planted neatly, with almost the same distance between them.
Maybe a fruit tree, she thought.
Before she drilled too deep, Qina heard the chaotic sounds of chickens and ducks coming from inside.
She paused, reached out and pushed aside a bunch of branches, and suddenly the view in front of her opened up to a small pond.
Ducks of all sizes were swimming in the pond, and chickens were running around the edge of the pond.
There are two gray huts beside the pond, which should be the nests of these chickens and ducks.
But there was no one.
The little creatures in front of her dispelled the eerie atmosphere of the grove, and Qina secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
She sped up a little and went back and forth in the grove a few times, but still found nothing.
However, on this strange farm, the most unusual thing is the absence of anything unusual.
Qina's mind tensed up again. She took one last look at the small pond, shook her head, and walked out of the woods.
The footsteps faded away, and the noisy sounds of chickens and ducks only highlighted the quietness of the grove.
In the eerie silence, a ripple appeared in a corner of the fish pond and a person floated up.
He - no, it, the ghoul employee of the farm - was holding a person in his hand, Hengbatong.
It grabbed Hengbaton by the scruff of the neck and brought him ashore easily. It glanced in the direction where Qina left and its gaze fell on Hengbaton's face.
No air left.
The employee had a blank expression on his face. He pinched Heng Batong's cheek with one hand and poured the life potion into his mouth with the other.
A few seconds later, Heng Batong took a deep breath and coughed up a mouthful of water. He inadvertently glanced at the ghoul beside him, his body trembling violently, his eyes filled with fear.
The employee leaned closer.
Heng Batong quickly retreated using both his hands and feet, shaking his head desperately: "I won't dare to do it again! I won't dare to do it again!"
But the employee pinched his cheek again, and with a cracking sound, his mandible was dislocated and he suffered inconsolable pain.
-
Heigs knew that Ali and China were hiding something from him, and he guessed what it was.
After all, the name "Yong'an" has long been known throughout the server, and this ghost place has "Yong'an" written everywhere.
He didn't go into any shop on Yongnian Street, which was flashing neon lights but deserted.
Why should Silver be a stepping stone for the great players? Which great player didn’t start out as Silver?
He had already done Ali a great favor by not reporting to headquarters immediately.
Having said that, it was China's concealment that made Heigs feel sad.
The two had been teammates since bronze, and their relationship had reached an extremely close level. However, Qina leveled up faster than he did, and some hidden conflicts finally began to surface after she was promoted to captain.
China...was ready to sacrifice him, which meant that in her eyes, he had truly become a team member.
Just team members.
Higgs hid in the shadow of a neon sign and smoked a cigarette melancholy for a while.
After calculating the time and walking out of Yongnian Street with full energy, I suddenly discovered a strange place.
Across the intersection, there is a two-story building opposite Yongnian Street.
The reason it was so strange was that this was the only building on the entire farm that didn't have any lights on. It was pitch black, and as the sky gradually darkened, you wouldn't notice it if you weren't paying attention.
The main door on the first floor of the small building was closed, and the lights outside were reflected on several windows, which must have been locked.
Although the architectural details do not show that it is an abandoned old building, it looks like a haunted building when compared with the colorful shops on the two streets.
Heigs was a little nervous.
Could it be that a ghoul is hiding in here?
Does he want to go over and take a look?
Forget it. If there really is an SSS-level ghoul out there, I might die before I even have time to communicate with it, so it would be useless to watch.
Just tell them there's something unusual here.
Heigs turned on the screen and saw a message from Qina. He replied and was about to tell her that something was wrong with the building when he heard a voice.
"The Chosen One?"
Leng Hanli walked out of the back door of the villa and came slowly.
The two were only a few dozen meters apart, but Leng Hanli's steps and posture made Heges stare in amazement.
A very beautiful woman, not beautiful in the traditional sense, but beautiful in a strong and cold way.
Leng Hanli was tall, with a larger frame than the average person, more like the build of a fellow citizen from Heigs' hometown. Combined with her low voice and a perpetually insincere smile, she instantly struck a chord with Heigs.
Also, with her black hair and yellow skin, she has a strong exotic charm.
"Are you Mr. Destiny?" Leng Hanli stopped in front of Heges and asked again, neither humble nor arrogant.
Hagrid came back to his senses and coughed: "I am... My name is Hagrid, ma'am..."
"Mr. Hai, just call me Mrs. Leng."
"Oh, Mrs. Leng," Heigs paused and blurted out, "Are you married?"
Leng Hanli looked into his eyes with a half-smile: "Is it important?"
Heigs actually avoided looking at him and shook his head: "It's not important, it's not important..."
As he spoke, he suddenly realized that Mrs. Leng's answer was a little subtle, and he was delighted.
Leng Hanli: "Mr. Hai is visiting the farm, what's going on?"
Heigs patted his chest and laughed, "You have a ghoul here, I'm here to help you kill it!"
He waited for a while and was disappointed to find that the other party's favorability towards him had not changed at all.
Heigs woke up with a start and looked at Leng Hanli seriously again.
There is no ghoul level prompt, no mission details, and it is not a ghoul.
His depressed mood lifted again, and the goodwill that was difficult to pry open actually raised his secret expectations.
Leng Hanli turned a blind eye and looked towards the small building. She asked, "I saw Mr. Hai observing the staff dormitory. Mr. Hai thinks... the ghoul is hiding in the dormitory?"
"Dormitory?" Heigs repeated.
He was very familiar with this word. For most players, the guild hall was a dormitory where they stayed when they were offline.
But... NPCs also have dormitories? This was the first time he heard of it.
He asked Leng Hanli uncertainly, "Do you live here?"
Judging from her clothes, Leng Hanli doesn't look like someone who lives in the dormitory at all.
Sure enough, Leng Hanli shook her head and gave a clever answer: "I don't live here, but some of our employees do. There's no electricity inside yet. Mr. Hai, do you want to go in and take a look?"
She didn't lie, she just confused ghouls with living people.
Heigs was about to refuse, but hesitated and asked, "Is anyone in there?"
Leng Hanli shook her head: "No."
There are no people, only ghosts.
Heigs's eyes lit up, and his gaze towards Leng Hanli became more vivid. The invitation to play the game lingered in his throat, unable to break through another barrier.
——A lesson learned this morning.
She is also a married woman.
What if this Lady Leng is not an NPC, but a player...
Just as he was thinking about it, a light screen popped up: [Mrs. Leng's favorability -5%, current favorability 45%, rejection].
Heigs was delighted again. It wasn't a player, but an NPC!
Her favorability rating had dropped, so she just had to find a way to make up for it. As for the reason for the drop… who cares? The more she hated herself, the more she got into the game.
"Madam Leng, let's go in..."
"Hagrid!"
A familiar voice ruined his plans.
Qina ran over quickly and looked at Leng Hanli with a frown: "Who is she?"
"Mrs. Leng." Heigs almost lost control of his tone. When he introduced the newcomer to Leng Hanli, his voice softened noticeably. "Mrs. Leng, she is my companion, Qina... a woman."
"Hagrid!" Qina was dissatisfied with his casual disclosure of his ID.
Leng Hanli didn't mind and greeted her with a smile: "Miss Qi."
China looked her over and signaled to Hagrid with her eyes.
Heigs mouthed helplessly: NPC.
China then let down her guard and looked behind them: "Hagrid, have you checked there?"
I'm not talking about the staff dormitory.
Haigs followed her gaze curiously and asked, "Where?"
"That smoking house!" Qina pointed at the generator room.
Heigs had actually seen it a long time ago: the completely black staff dormitory wasn't a single building, but was connected to two other small buildings. However, his attention had been focused on the dormitory, so he ignored the smoke not far away.
The sky was dark and the white smoke was dispersed by the air vents, making it inconspicuous.
He asked Leng Hanli: "What is that house used for?"
Leng Hanli hesitated for a moment and answered truthfully: "There is a generator inside."
dynamo?
Heigs and China looked at each other suddenly, and both remembered the steam generator stolen from the train.
Aside from the central city and the first-level district, they had never seen a generator outside of a power plant. Three had just been lost this morning, and now a generator appeared on this strange farm?
Qina grabbed Leng Hanli's arm and said, "Where did you come from?!"
Heigs hadn't expected her to be so rude and called out, "China!"
Qina quickly relaxed because a notification about a drop in favorability popped up on the screen.
Leng Hanli gently patted the wrinkled clothes on her arms, her expression unchanged: "You'll have to ask the farmer."
Heigs nodded repeatedly, pulled China aside, and lowered his voice: "Ask first, don't do anything. A decrease in favorability will not do any good to either of us."
He was already hinting to China that he knew there was a top-tier ghoul hiding on the farm.
But China's mind was full of generators. She broke free from his hand and said, "Why are you asking? Just open it and you'll know. If there are three generators inside, they must have been stolen from the train!"
Before she finished speaking, China rushed straight to the generator room, and Heigs hurried to follow.
Just as Qina's hand touched the outer door of the computer room, a voice sounded from behind.
"What are you doing?"
Both of them received notifications of decreased favorability from an "unknown NPC" at the same time.
The sound of high heels clattered on the bluestone floor as another woman in a cheongsam approached. Qina was stunned at the sight and asked the same question she had asked when she first arrived at the farm: "Is it you?"
The woman in front of him was at least 50% similar to the female player Long Yan from this morning!
The other five points of difference are mainly in age and some minor details.
Meihong said with a stern face, "I don't know you. The generator room is the most important place on the farm. No one can go in there."
Qina realized that this woman was associated with favorability and was also an NPC.
It was strange, so strange. The two people she thought resembled the female player were both NPCs.
Damn weird!
Qina suddenly felt a surge of anger: "I'm going in, can you stop me?!"
She stretched out her hand, and with the heavy sword in her hand, the blade clanged and shattered the bluestone. The blade was so wide that it almost blocked half of Meihong's body.
But it didn't stop Meihong's favorability towards her from declining again and entering a "state of alert".
Mei Hong: "Can those who are destined by heaven do whatever they want?"
China shouted, "What else?!"
"Of course not!" A figure quickly ran over and said to Meihong, "She just wanted to find the ghoul so badly that she was so angry that she said that. Don't take it to heart."
Suddenly, another person appeared. Judging from the speed of his movement, he was obviously a player, which made Qina stunned.
She didn't buy it and asked angrily, "Who are you?!"
"I..." Paopao started but stopped again, looking up at the air behind Qina, "I'll talk to your captain directly."
Ali is here.
The Silver Wind Mace left an afterimage in the gradually darkening sky, and his men had already landed beside several people.
The alley behind the villa, which was originally deserted, suddenly became lively.
Ali narrowed his eyes: "Player?"
Paopao nodded, glanced at Meihong beside him, and said to Yali, "Talk while we talk?"
Ali thought for a moment and walked aside with Paopao.
Qina put away her heavy sword, glared at Heges, and moved closer. At the same time, she turned on the light screen and saw that it was Heges who notified Ali on the temporary channel.
Haiges watched Qina's nose and his heart, and waited until Qina left before he smiled apologetically to Meihong and Leng Hanli and followed her.
"...The generator room. These NPCs are so precious. I've been here for days and haven't been able to get in. As soon as I mention going in to take a look, their favorability drops like crazy. I can't stop it."
Yali then realized that the house behind him was the generator room. He glanced at it, turned his head and said, "Tell me your identity first."
Paopao's ID "Eight Bars" lit up: "Just call me Xiaoba, I'm a stranger. You are... from the Gar Guild, right? You are the great god Yali, with your short silver hair, I recognize you!"
Ali looked at him coldly.
Paopao had to get back to the point: "I just passed by here two days ago and found that there was a farm here, but there was nothing marked on the map. I thought it was strange, so I found an excuse to stay overnight.
"However, I didn't find any clues. I guess even if there was a mission, it was completed by Qimo. I wanted to leave today, but when I saw you guys coming, I thought I would... take a look at the excitement."
He scratched his head guiltily, and seeing the stunned expressions of the three people, he remembered, "Oh yes, Chu Mo is here too, but I haven't seen him since I woke up this morning. Number one is number one, so aloof and cool, he didn't even say a word to me."
Yali asked, "Are you sure it's ink removal?"
"Of course I've seen it once in Central City." Paopao said as a matter of course, "Otherwise, this farm is so strange, I wouldn't dare to stay here... Uh, Master Ali, what are you doing..."
Ali suddenly pointed the Silver Wind Mace at his throat.
Paopao raised his hands in surrender.
"Hand over the clues in your hand." Ali said coldly.
"Clues? I don't have any clues... Master Ali, I really haven't found any clues..."
The Silver Wind Mace swung and pierced Paopao's carotid artery, and a trickle of blood spurted out.
Paopao's health immediately dropped by 800 points. Fortunately, the teardrop-shaped mace head did not leave the wound, blocking the other blood, so the subsequent life loss was not too fast.
Yali: "I'll give you one last chance."
Paopao's legs were shaking like a sieve, and he managed not to kneel down, his face full of sorrow. "I really don't have any clues, otherwise I would have sold them long ago. Why am I still waiting for Qimo to get rid of it?!"
Ali's eyes darkened and he was about to take action when he heard An Rou's voice in his ears.
"Sir!" An Rou ran over, a little out of breath, "Sir, didn't you come here to kill ghouls? Why are you killing people?"
Favorability declines with questioning.
Yali calmed down, took back the Silver Wind Mace, and said coldly: "Get out!"
Paopao gave Anrou a look of gratitude, drank a large amount of life potion, and ran in the opposite direction using the Gale Step.
China: "Captain, are you really going to let him go?"
Ali closed his eyes and said nothing, which was considered as his agreement.
The logic is simple. First, the other party is only at the silver level. Even under the threat of losing half of his life points if he dies, he still insists that he has no clues.
Secondly, what he said made some sense. Even if there were tasks on the farm and Chu Mo was there, he would not be eligible for the reward.
Ye Ke will only try every possible way to maximize his own interests. If he really has a clue, the best option is to sell it to other players or a data cabinet in a pawnshop before the clue becomes invalid.
Furthermore, it is common for wild people to form a temporary team to complete a mission, but the other party is alone.
Probably not lying.
After adjusting his mood, Yali turned to face An Rou and said with a smile, "Sorry, I just thought he was suspicious and was being cautious."
"Mr. Ba is a very polite guest." An Rou said.
The key point of this sentence is obviously the unspoken second half.
Ali frowned and turned to look at the generator room. Just as he was about to request to enter the room to search, there was a crackling sound and the lights nearby suddenly went out.
The darkness spread eastward, and the neon lights on the buildings not far away disappeared.
The whole farm fell into gloom.
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