Chapter 9
Players actually had no sense of boundaries; after all, in their eyes, the people before them were merely NPCs within the game, not real human beings.
Most people were fine, merely pestering terrified passersby with questions, repeatedly confirming whether they had any quests.
Because in most game modes, if an NPC doesn’t recite the same line or set of lines when you speak to them, it usually indicates that the NPC is special and might offer a quest or something similar.
…As a result, everyone realized that the NPCs in this game seemed different; every single one appeared to be a special NPC! When talking to them, their reactions were nothing like those of ordinary NPCs!
“Is there anything I can help you with?”
“No… no need…”
“Rest assured, is there anything you need help with?”
The player’s eager face was almost pressed against the young man’s, who trembled in fear. “N-no… nothing…”
“Don’t worry, I’m very capable. Is there anything you need help with?”
The young man: “…”
He had no idea what was wrong with this ragged person standing before him, repeating the same sentence over and over. If not for the stranger’s tall and somewhat intimidating build, the young man would have already fled.
Even now, his eyes darted left and right, plotting to slip away the moment this guy let his guard down.
But the instant he lifted his foot, the player grabbed his arm in one swift motion.
That hand, strong as an iron clamp, exerted such force that the young man’s face turned ashen.
Still wearing that same overly eager, almost terrifyingly friendly expression, the player asked, “Is there anything I can help you with?”
The young man was on the verge of tears. He cast a desperate glance around and realized he wasn’t the only one entangled. After racking his brains, he finally managed to stammer out, “H-help me take this f-fish to Bowler on that street?”
The player jumped up in excitement; sure enough, there was a quest!
Not only this poor young man from Caixi City, but others around him had encountered similar situations. Most racked their brains to find some tasks for these people, though there were also those who were no better themselves—Caixi City was quite chaotic after all, otherwise Pei Sen wouldn’t have been forced to infiltrate the Golden Rose Manor.
However, at this moment, the players remained completely unaware of this fact and continued to relentlessly harass the native inhabitants of Caixi City.
After all, for them, this is just a game.
At this moment, Pei Sen witnessed someone brazenly punch a player right before everyone’s eyes, delivering the blow with vicious intent.
Kaixi City was by no means a bastion of goodness and law; more accurately, it leaned toward chaotic order, though such order had its very limits.
For instance, Kui Lang, the human trafficker who once captured Pei Sen and nearly sold him off, belonged to one of the more formidable factions within the city.
Here, a player had been knocked to the ground; the assailant happened to be one of Kui Lang’s men. He always wandered the streets, scouting for suitable “merchandise” to capture. Kui Lang and his gang were professional human traffickers; naturally, their merchandise consisted of people.
Today’s influx of players into the city mostly comprised good-looking individuals. Even though character customization wasn’t yet available at this stage, most would undoubtedly adjust their scanned appearances afterward—and always for the better. In modern times, those whose looks were so beyond redemption that no amount of enhancement could help them were an extreme minority. Therefore, considering the overall attractiveness of this wave of incoming players, it would have been strange indeed if Kui Lang hadn’t sent his men to scout around.
However, even with appearance adjustments, the level of improvement remains limited. Even a handsome man in real life would find it difficult to achieve the exquisite beauty of Pei Sen’s character within this game.
After the release of the face-creation system, countless attempts ended in failure; yet, truly high-level customizations still utterly dwarfed those from the era of mere appearance adjustments.
The player currently being beaten was one of Kui Lang’s underlings, nicknamed “Sharp Snake.” Few people remembered his real name. After observing for a while, he noticed that although this group had arrived together, they didn’t seem to know each other. Just then, someone approached him, apparently intending to strike up a conversation. Without hesitation, Sharp Snake punched the stranger down and prepared to call nearby accomplices to drag the victim away.
Indeed, this group acted with complete lawlessness. Kaixi City itself was located in a remote area, and its lord barely bothered with governance. Moreover, the city guards had long been bribed by them, naturally turning a blind eye to such antics.
Seeing the situation over there, Pei Sen heard Eagle beside him let out a mocking, cold laugh. He suddenly remembered what Lady Mary had said: this was Eagle’s territory…
“These slave traders are indeed excessive, but none of this is your fault, Young Master,” Pei Sen said, attempting to offer Eagle some tactful comfort. After all, the young nobleman was only fourteen; it was understandable that he would feel somewhat displeased seeing his domain in such a state.
Eagle glanced at him and said coldly, “The condition of Kaixi City has nothing to do with me to begin with.”
Pei Sen: “…” Very well, he had clearly tried to flatter the wrong person.
At this moment, before the Sharp Snake could drag the person away, every hair on his body stood on end. How could one describe such a situation?
The instant he knocked the person down, everyone nearby fell silent for a moment, as if the air itself had frozen. Then, the Sharp Snake realized that this group of people, whom he was certain he didn’t know at all, let alone be familiar with, all turned their heads in unison, their gazes locking onto him.
These looks carried neither anger nor malice; instead, they brimmed with an excitement that made his skin crawl.
Yes, nearly a hundred people, upon seeing him knock someone down and attempt to drag them away, were all staring at him with eyes full of eerie excitement!
Just as someone screamed “Quest!” and lunged at him, he had barely raised his dagger to defend himself when he realized this person meant no harm; instead, they clutched his arm with a death grip.
Beyond that, others surged forward as well. To his utter astonishment, one individual picked up a wooden sword sharpened to a deadly point and, without hesitation, stabbed the fallen figure to death. The others merely glanced over, seemingly completely unfazed.
What kind of people are these?
Sharp Snake felt a chill of fear; he thought these folks seemed somewhat insane.
At this moment, Eagle finally stood up, clearly having not anticipated such an event.
“Young master, that corpse!” Aken, who had been hiding in the shadows, appeared beside Eagle and said in a low voice.
Eagle nodded. “I saw it.”
Pei Sen, standing nearby, chuckled lightly. “No need to be too surprised; they are members of the Bix race.”
He had long been aware of this setting; in fact, the Bix race would soon shock the entire continent of Yali.
“The Bix race?”
Pei Sen looked at the “player corpse” that had turned into a skeleton within mere seconds before the Demon Eye’s gaze, terrifying the Sharp Snake into falling to the ground, and explained to Eagle, “The Bix are a race deep within the Askin Mountains. Though numerous in population and outwardly indistinguishable from ordinary humans, this race possesses three distinctive traits.”
“Three characteristics?” Eagle glanced at him. As a noble, Eagle was far from ignorant; he knew of most races in this world, yet he had never heard of the Bix race.
Pei Sen remained unhurried. This setting was provided by the game itself, and since everyone would eventually learn of it anyway, there was no need to keep it secret.
It must be said that the game’s design for the Bix race was quite intriguing. After all, players were immortal; before reaching level ten, they suffered no penalties even upon death. However, after level ten, being killed would result in experience loss and impose a period of debilitation.
Finding a logical explanation for such a game mechanic was not easy, yet the game system somehow convinced everyone that this bizarre race truly existed.
“First, after a member of the Bix race dies, their body rapidly turns into skeletal remains; within a few hours, even those bones turn to ash, leaving nothing behind.” Pei Sen believed this mechanic was designed to distinguish them from demonic entities. He knew that demonic creatures instantly turned to ash upon death, so the system likely implemented this delayed ashification—first becoming skeletons, then dust—to prevent players from being mistaken for demons.
“Second, when a member of the Bix race dies, their siblings inherit their face, memories, and everything else, continuing until the entire lineage is utterly extinguished. Third, the Bix possess an innate ability to traverse regions; although they cannot do so at will, the fact that they have appeared in Kaixi City proves they are capable of traveling here from the Askin Mountain Range.”
As Eagle listened, his brow gradually furrowed; this race was simply too strange.
“There’s actually no need to be so surprised,” Pei Sen said with a smile, knowing exactly what Eagle was thinking. “Beyond the distant high walls of our continent dwell powerful orcs; deep within the forests reside proud elves; underground live ugly dwarves; and there are even rumors of giant remnants lingering at the edges of the ice plains. Compared to them, while the Bix race may seem peculiar, at least they still retain a human appearance.”
Eagle stared at Pei Sen for a moment. “You seem to know quite a lot.”
Although Pei Sen spoke as he did, in truth, within the central regions of human settlements, these non-human races were hardly ever seen. In fact, with humanity’s overwhelming dominance, their living space had been endlessly constricted, making them exceedingly rare nowadays. In earlier times, some nobles took pleasure in keeping orcs and elves as pets, but now very few remained enthusiastic about such practices.
As for the reason, Pei Sen truly wasn’t clear; he only knew that the several human kingdoms at the center of the Yali Continent deeply disliked encountering non-humans, so naturally, the nobles no longer dared to keep them recklessly.
A trace of mockery appeared at the corner of Eagle’s lips. While Pei Sen remained unaware, he understood perfectly well. Nearly every kingdom had experienced incidents where half-blood children, having been excessively favored, nearly ascended to the throne. Since then, not only the kings but also those great nobles began prohibiting the keeping of orcs and elves.
However, Pei Sen was right about one thing: although the Bix people had some strange traits, they were far less shocking compared to those other alien races.
The Serpentfolk below, however, did not share this view. For many years, alien races had been virtually unseen on the human continent; many commoners didn’t even believe such beings existed, dismissing them as mere legends. Now, confronted with players who clearly looked abnormal, they were utterly terrified.
He witnessed murder, saw corpses turn into skeletons, and turned pale with terror as he desperately tried to retreat. Yet the surging players had nearly surrounded him; where could he possibly flee?
“Save… save me!” he cried out to his companions, but they too were terrified beyond measure, each running for their lives without a moment to spare for him.
Sharp Snake dared not lift his head. He felt countless excited gazes fixed upon him, and the sheer horror made his entire body tremble. To be honest, having worked as a human trafficker for so long, Sharp Snake had always considered himself bold. Yet now, merely the expressions on these people’s faces and the way they stared at him nearly made him faint from fear.
Who exactly are these people, and why are they so strange?
Seeing his fear, the players were genuinely excited. “Damn, this game is way too realistic! What’s up with this NPC? Is it played by a real person? Why is the AI so advanced?”
Wait, even if it’s a real person acting, this employee deserves an acting award! How is the performance this good?
“Don’t be afraid,” one player said kindly. “What were you trying to do when you knocked that guy out earlier? For example, just pick me and knock me out instead.”
Viper Snake: “???”
The Demon Eye cannot record sound, so Pei Sen and Eagle on the tower could only see the visuals. Yet Pei Sen could easily guess what they were saying. Watching the shocked expressions of the servants behind Eagle, he struggled immensely to hold back his laughter.
It must be said that the native inhabitants of this world simply cannot comprehend the way players think.
At that moment, a player stormed into the city from outside, furious. Since respawning in this game is only possible at designated revival points, he had no choice but to respawn and then run all the way back, screaming as he ran, “Braised Spicy Strips! You dare steal my quest!”
Indeed, this was precisely the unfortunate soul who had been knocked unconscious by the Sharp Snake and then killed by other players attempting to snatch his quest.