Chapter 18
Claude was first stunned, then so furious he felt like spitting blood; it took him a long time sitting at the respawn point before he finally recovered.
Why is it always that Braised Spicy Latiao? What grudge does that guy have against him?
The Braised Spicy Latiao, who remained in place, was brimming with smug satisfaction. Amidst the frenzy of countless hammers raining down, he, as a surgeon, delivered one precise, fatal blow. Sure enough, the head ultimately belonged to him.
Seeing Claude killed, the others could only dejectedly return to hammering the wall. There was no choice; they needed to earn more contribution points.
They paid it no mind, but to onlookers, the scene appeared even more horrifying.
In any case, Kemis felt he could no longer continue this job. This knight, known for his steadfast resolve, was beginning to suffer a collapse of his fundamental beliefs, feeling as though his mind had been contaminated.
“It seems we need to be careful when accepting quests; they could turn out to be massive traps,” one player summarized.
“Exactly. This game isn’t like ordinary ones. If you follow traditional gaming logic and accept every quest that triggers, you might end up so screwed that you’ll question your entire existence.”
“For instance, those still stuck on the Starfall Plains are probably questioning their lives right now, hahaha.”
The players were in high spirits, laughing at Claude’s predicament while analyzing the current situation.
“That Kui Lang is considered part of the opposing faction? So which faction does he actually belong to?”
“I don’t know; I only know this NPC seems to be a trafficker who stops at nothing.”
“So does that mean the Thorny Rose faction we joined is on the side of justice?”
“I don’t think they’re all that righteous either. Just look at what we’re doing first.”
“That’s true…”
They were tearing down the entire street, while some native NPCs glared at them with sorrow and anger.
The players’ atmosphere was jubilant, making Kemis feel a chill in his heart; Claude felt equally chilled.
“What are we going to do now? We’ve abandoned our faction!” he lamented with a furrowed brow.
Players universally agreed that triggering quests in this game was extremely difficult. Without the faction’s main storyline quests, he now had no main quest at all. Was he really expected to go to the Starfall Plains and battle fierce rabbits?
No way, Claude admitted to himself that he wasn’t the type of powerful combat-oriented player.
In reality, he was a wealthy heir who rarely lifted a finger; apart from his good looks, he had almost no other merits. His intellect couldn’t compare to his older brother, who had already taken over the family business. However, being rich and just “foolish” enough meant he lived quite comfortably. Even this closed-beta account had been purchased at a high price. But since this holographic game didn’t allow top-ups or microtransactions, his financial power was utterly useless here.
In just the few days since entering the game, he had already died several times, which was truly disheartening.
At that moment, he received a notification: a player was trying to private message him.
“Being forced out of your faction must be tough, right?” Sender: Braised Spicy Strips.
Claude flew into a rage. “Are you serious? You’ve killed me several times and now you’re sending private messages just to mock me? Where’s your decency?”
Braised Spicy Strips: “No, I’m really not mocking you. I was just trying to help you figure out a way to solve the problem.”
Claude: “What kind of solution?” he asked eagerly.
Braised Spicy Strips: “Has your faction reputation turned negative?”
Claude: “No, it’s just that all the reputation I earned before is gone. Now our relationship is ‘Cold’.”
Braised Spicy Strips: “That’s not too bad then. Go to the manor and see if you can rejoin the faction.”
Claude thought about it and realized they were right. He got up and ran toward the manor. Regardless, everyone was currently working on the main faction quests; no one had triggered any other main storylines yet. For now, players simply had no other choice.
This is a game with an extremely high degree of freedom; players are still in the exploration phase, and a player of Claude’s intelligence level has no desire to stand out by digging into other quest lines.
It’s better to play it safe.
When he returned to the manor and saw Neil again, Neil merely glanced at him without saying anything. Soon, Claude received a notification that he had rejoined the Thorny Rose faction. Before he could become overjoyed, however, a system prompt appeared.
Claude: “Holy crap, I’ve rejoined the faction, but the system says I have a record of betraying a faction, reducing all faction mission rewards by 10%.”
This debuff is so brutal he’s about to cry.
When Hongshao Latiao received the private message from Claude, he immediately turned to the player beside him and said, “Looks like everyone really needs to be more careful when accepting quests.”
Originally, his suggestion for Claude to try joining another faction was merely to test this very point.
As if he were genuinely that kind-hearted or felt any guilt over killing Claude? Impossible—it’s just a game.
Compared to Claude, Hongshao Latiao, a graduate of a prestigious university with a successful career, clearly has his wits about him.
Pei Sen had observed the entire incident on the forums before approaching Eagle to ask, “Isn’t that human trafficker in the city, Kui Lang, connected to Mayor Wallis?”
He found it hard to believe that a human trafficker would negotiate with players just to save a single street; this sounded far more like something Wallis might do, grieving over the destruction of Kai West City.
Eagle set down his cat teaser. “Probably.” He hadn’t cared about such matters before.
Pei Sen thought to himself that, come to think of it, that city lord really wasn’t anything good.
However, Pei Sen was unaware that the guard squad sent from the estate had been thoroughly frightened by the players. This fear stemmed not from the players’ overwhelming strength or any other factor, but purely from their sheer “madness.”
Thus, when Kemis came that evening to beg Eagle for a different assignment, Pei Sen was momentarily caught off guard. After all, as an estate guard, Kemis’s job, to be honest, was merely to keep an eye on the city guards and prevent them from stopping the players from hammering at the walls. Logically, it should have been an easy task; the estate guards were inherently stronger than the city guards, and those city guards were cowards to boot. So why was this job so unbearable?
Yet Kemis wore an expression suggesting he would do anything—absolutely anything—as long as he never had to perform that duty again.
“Tell me the reason,” Eagle said casually.
Kemis fell silent; the reason was somewhat shameful to admit. As a knight, having such weak mental fortitude was inexcusable. Moreover… he secretly glanced at Pei Sen standing beside his young master. Pei Sen seemed perfectly normal, so why did those Bix people act so strangely?
“If there’s no reason, you’re going tomorrow anyway,” Eagle said impatiently, waving his hand to dismiss Kemis.
Kemis quickly looked up and said, “Young Master, perhaps you could send me to search for Star Grass instead.” He would rather face the dangers of the Starfall Plains.
Eagle, however, said calmly, “No need. This year… we won’t be going.”
Kemis grew frantic. “Young master—”
“Get out.” Eagle no longer wished to speak with him.
Kemis withdrew dejectedly. Pei Sen approached him and smiled. “Captain Kemis, what exactly happened?”
“Actually, it’s nothing… it’s just that those Bix folks are a bit, um, terrifying.” He wanted to phrase it more tactfully, but simply couldn’t find any other suitable adjective.
Pei Sen suddenly understood everything. He sympathetically patted Kemis on the shoulder. “There’s actually no need to be afraid; their strength is quite weak. Tomorrow, I’ll be counting on you again.”
Kemis: “…”
Having no other choice, he decided to seek out Sarding that night. After all, Kemis had always been under the command of that Great Steward Sarding.
After hearing about the Bix Cube race’s actions, Sating remarked thoughtfully, “I’ve never heard of this race before.” He paused briefly before adding, “However, Pei Sen doesn’t seem to show any abnormalities.”
“The Bix Cube people are nothing like Pei Sen,” Kemis hurriedly explained. “They can kill their own kind without blinking an eye, and even after committing murder, they keep smiling on their faces, as if… as if…”
“They care nothing about killing,” Sating continued. “Kemis, your strength isn’t weak, but during all these years protecting the young master, you’ve lacked sufficient training and your willpower isn’t firm enough. Since the young master has asked you to continue this task, then carry on. These Bix Cube individuals aren’t particularly powerful. Keep observing them closely for me, and report back immediately if anything unusual occurs.”
Poor Kemis could only depart, resuming his duty the next day by accompanying the players to hammer walls in Kaixi City.
More frustrated than Kemis was Wallis, who wanted to stop the players yet dreaded further offending Eagle, knowing full well how furious Eagle had become after the previous incident.
“My Lord,” Ferre suggested, “since the young master’s birthday is approaching, why don’t we prepare a generous gift and swallow our pride for once?”
Though deeply reluctant, Wallis saw no other choice. “I just fear that by then, half of my Kexi City will already be destroyed.” The very thought made his heart ache.
The players acted far faster than Wallis had anticipated; within less than half a month, they had already demolished half of Kexi City, leaving Wallis fuming with rage inside the Lord’s Manor day after day.
Pei Sen finally had to go out and meet these players, as the first batch of extremely diligent wall-breakers had finally accumulated enough contribution points to claim items from the list.
As the personal butler attending closely to Young Master Eagle, Pei Sen was treated with considerable respect wherever he went; this included Neil, the steward in charge of miscellaneous affairs, who, having received favors from Pei Sen, showed him even greater deference.
The players gathered together, whispering among themselves as they watched Pei Sen emerge dressed in a black suit.
“He looks like a very formidable NPC.”
“Didn’t you hear what those people nearby were saying? This is our faction leader’s personal butler, the one serving that Count.”
“Oh, I see. That makes sense.”
“But the system labeled him as a Faction Merchant NPC named Pei Sen? Is this a translation issue? Why isn’t it Posen or Peson instead?”
“Why do you care? The language of this world was automatically mastered by us through the system; it’s merely similar to English. Any phonetic transcription should be acceptable, right?”
“That makes sense.”
The female players, however, had a completely different focus: “Holy crap, this NPC is so handsome!”
“Handsome as hell, right?”
In any game, good-looking NPCs never lack popularity. Pei Sen’s face gave him a huge advantage; before long, the forums were flooded with screenshots of him. Soon enough, countless female players were screaming in the threads, most of them cloud gamers who hadn’t even managed to get into the game yet.
It was just that some of the comments in the threads seemed oddly off to Pei Sen.
“I wonder what that Count looks like; I hope he’s a handsome guy too.”
“Huh, a handsome Count paired with a beautiful butler?”
“That’s pretty great, haha.”
“This couple is so cute; I love master-servant dynamics the most.”
“Speaking of Count Thorny Rose, with a prefix like that, his looks can’t be too bad, right?”
“Ahhh, I really want to see if our faction lord, the Count, and this handsome personal butler are a good match.”
“Firmly supporting the master-servant pairing.”
“+1 from upstairs.”
Pei Sen: “…”
For some reason, he didn’t want these players to see what Eagle looked like.
Setting aside personality, that young master’s appearance was truly beyond criticism.
Gamers have no bottom line; many artists and writers even love creating fan works related to the game.
Occasionally, these derived scales can be astonishing.
At this moment, Pei Sen already had a very ominous premonition.