Chapter 245: If You Don’t Mess With Npcs, How Will You Know They Don’t Have Good Loot?
“So this is defeat?”
Precia stared at Hao Wan, who was deeply embedded in the ground and so badly injured he could no longer move, and was momentarily stunned.
Hao Wan’s strength was definitely not weak.
Especially since he had already learned Storm Step; his instantaneous burst speed could surpass the speed of sound. If he were not already over thirty and thus unable to participate in the next Four Regions Youth Competition, he would absolutely have had a chance to charge into the top hundred.
Even if she recovered to her peak state now, she still could not severely wound Hao Wan with a single move. Those who could do that were probably only the vice city lords of each city who had mastered extraordinary martial skills.
And judging from the way Ye Qinglu looked, although her gray hood concealed her face so her exact features could not be seen, it was clear Ye Qinglu was definitely under thirty, and might even be younger than her.
It was hard to imagine that such a genius could have been cultivated by a faction from the City of Light Chasing that she had never even heard of before.
However, Ye Qinglu, who had clashed head-on with Hao Wan, was not completely unscathed either.
As a member of the Mountain Ridge Race, Hao Wan possessed terrifying innate strength. When the strength standard for peak high-level martial artists was 4 tons, peak martial artists of the Mountain Ridge Race could reach 5 tons. At the extreme advanced level Bone Forging Realm, their strength could reach 18 tons, and combined with having trained a super-tier martial skill to perfection, his actual strength had long since surpassed 20 tons.
It was true that Ye Qinglu had badly injured Hao Wan with one strike, but as a top Bone Forging Realm expert, Hao Wan’s control over his body had already reached a microscopic level. With the help of his tier 2 weapon, he had not only shattered the greatsword formed from condensed internal force in an instant, but at the critical moment also deflected the scattered B6-grade arrows, causing a considerable portion of them to spray toward Ye Qinglu.
Even though Ye Qinglu wore B6-grade battle armor and reacted in time, she was still struck in the abdomen by one of the scattering B6-grade arrows, and it was not as if she emerged completely unharmed.
But once Precia shifted her gaze to Ye Qinglu, she was utterly shocked.
“No injuries?”
Precia watched as Ye Qinglu stood up from the ground, patted the dust from her body, and directly pulled out the B6-grade arrow that had pierced her B6-grade battle armor.
The arrowhead did carry some blood, but it could be seen that this B6-grade arrow had only penetrated into the muscle slightly. It had not pierced through the muscle to damage the internal organs, and the wound had already stopped bleeding and clotted. It was simply inhuman.
“As expected of a boss. If I did not have this energy enveloping my whole body, that hit would have left me gravely injured even if it did not kill me.” Ye Qinglu looked at the B6-grade arrow in her hand, already shattered into several pieces, and marveled at the power of the Star Energy Construct Secret Method.
The shattered arrows Hao Wan had deflected at the last moment carried tens of tons of force on strength alone. Under normal circumstances, even B6-grade battle armor could not withstand such power from metal of the same grade; it could easily punch straight through.
Yet the energy wrapping her entire body had forcibly used repulsive force to weaken the shattered arrows, leaving them with only enough strength to pierce the skin and part of the muscle. Its defensive power was nothing short of defying the heavens.
Moreover, her current recovery power was two to three times that of the First Level Perfection of the Body Strengthening Secret Technique. In the time that had passed, the wound was already mostly healed; at most ten seconds more and it would recover completely.
“Big sis, are you okay?” Yi Ye Fu Yun, who had rushed over, asked with concern.
Their team only had three people now. If the strongest among them, Ye Qinglu, went down, then with only him and Xiao Yuan Ye Feng Kuang, it would be very difficult to survive in the Mountain of the Dead in a normal state. After all, lord monsters were everywhere there. Without Ye Qinglu, who could contend with a junior lord-level enemy in her normal state, they would only have the option of activating the Star Energy Construct Secret Method.
But every time they activated the Star Energy Construct Secret Method, it consumed massive amounts of strength and stamina, with a maximum duration of five minutes. The only way to replenish it was by absorbing Type 2 Energy Potions. This was a secret technique that could only be used at critical moments. Using it to deal with a junior lord would be far too wasteful.
“I am fine. I just lost by half a move.” Ye Qinglu shook her head, then walked toward Hao Wan, who was embedded in the ground, intending to finish him.
Watching from a distance, Precia had no idea what to say.
Ye Qinglu had indeed fallen half a step behind in their exchange, but Hao Wan had lost half his life.
Just as Ye Qinglu drew her sword to kill Hao Wan, the grievously wounded Hao Wan suddenly laughed.
“Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, is it? I do not care what kind of faction you really are, but you and the faction behind you have no idea what sort of power you have provoked!”
“To dare make an enemy of us, the Smiling Skull, even a domain city will not be able to protect you. When other teams find our corpses, you can wait for endless revenge and annihilation!”
After speaking, Hao Wan painfully reached with his ruined hand to touch an instrument strapped at his waist.
“No! Stop him, quickly!”
Seeing this, Precia hurriedly shouted in the human race language.
But her warning came a step too late. As Hao Wan’s useless hand touched the device at his waist, it shot out a pillar of light straight into the sky that exploded midair into a red sphere like a small sun, visible clearly even from dozens of kilometers away.
“Damn it, still too slow!”
Precia used Illusion Step to arrive beside Hao Wan. Seeing that he had already taken his own life, her expression grew extremely grim.
“A signal flare?” Ye Qinglu looked up at the red light sphere that remained hanging in the air and asked Precia curiously, “Does this mean more people from the Smiling Skull will be coming?”
“Yes, it is a signal flare,” Precia said with a bitter smile. “But this is no ordinary flare. It is the Smiling Skull’s invasion alert, informing Smiling Skull countermeasure members that an external force is targeting the Smiling Skull. Any Smiling Skull member who sees this signal flare must rush here immediately to eliminate all invading enemies.”
“What was originally only a matter concerning a single temporary stronghold of the Smiling Skull will now likely mobilize the entire Smiling Skull. It will be even harder to leave the Mountain of the Dead.”
“Is what this lady says true? Will they really all gather here?” Yi Ye Fu Yun walked over and looked at Precia with some excitement.
“Yes. I estimate that in at most ten minutes, a large number of Smiling Skull members will converge here.” Precia nodded. Seeing the excitement on Yi Ye Fu Yun’s face, she knew the situation was truly bad, even disastrous.
“Big sis, that is great. We are going to make a fortune!” Yi Ye Fu Yun could not help but laugh, his grin almost reaching his ears. “We could not find them no matter how we searched before, and now they are coming to us. This operation is absolutely worth it.”
The dropped items from Smiling Skull members in the Mountain of the Dead were exceptionally good.
From that half-beast race man earlier, they had not only gained a set of tier 2 battle armor and a tier 2 weapon, but he had also been carrying a lot of energy crystals and Type Three Energy Potions that were not even available in the martial arts hall.
It had to be said that the level of the new map was indeed higher. The loot drops were all excellent, far better than those on the wilderness map.
Originally they thought such good fortune was a one-time deal, and that they would not know how many days it would take before encountering such an opportunity again. They had not expected this random event to be a chain quest, with more Smiling Skull members to come. It was simply too good.
Especially the dropped tier 2 battle armor and energy crystals, which were ideal items for exchanging for reputation in Chiyue Town.
A complete set of tier 2 battle armor could be exchanged at the martial arts hall for thirty thousand contribution points and one thousand reputation. Each energy crystal could be exchanged for five thousand contribution points and fifty reputation.
Currently, raising reputation in Chiyue Town in the game was extremely difficult. Normally, to accumulate three thousand reputation without tasks would take at least ten days to half a month, and even then it might still not reach three thousand. Upgrading to the inner disciple outfit was hard enough, let alone the core disciple outfit, which required fifty thousand reputation.
If they really got another large wave of Smiling Skull members, it would not be impossible for all of them to reach the “respect” level of reputation in Chiyue Town, maybe even “revered.”
“You are not planning to run?” Precia stared at Yi Ye Fu Yun in surprise, feeling that he did not understand the situation at all.
The signal flare Hao Wan had sent before dying would summon more than one or two teams of Smiling Skull members. It could easily be more than a dozen teams, or even more than that. There was no way Yi Ye Fu Yun’s mere seven people could handle that.
“No, we plan to stay,” Ye Qinglu said with a shake of her head and a smile. “If you feel it is not safe to remain here, miss, we can escort you out first.”
“Are you crazy? What kind of enmity do you have with the Smiling Skull to go this far?” Precia looked at Fang Zhen and the others who had also come over and who all appeared excited and pleased at the news of a large gathering of Smiling Skull members, and she felt that Ye Qinglu and the rest were completely insane.
“Enmity?” Yi Ye Fu Yun thought for a moment, then said righteously, “Not really. We are just carrying out a task. After all, offering the heart to the hall master is an obligation for us disciples.”
Hearing this, Fang Zhen and the others nearby all cast looks of disdain at Yi Ye Fu Yun. To be doing a task yet still seize the chance to flatter the hall master was shameless.
But Yi Ye Fu Yun did not care. Instead, he rolled his eyes at Fang Zhen and the others, feeling that these professional players had no idea what the essence of playing an MMORPG was.
For an ordinary player, getting closer to NPCs and increasing favorability was fundamental. That was how one gained chances to obtain hidden goodies in the game, not to mention clinging to the hall master’s thigh.
“Offering the heart? An obligation?” Precia was dumbfounded. She had never imagined that the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall’s indoctrination of its disciples was so terrifying. Even the suicide squads trained by domain cities could not compare.
“Young lady, how about I escort you out?” Yi Ye Fu Yun asked when he saw Precia frozen in place.
To him, Precia was simply a blessing. Even though her value in luring out Smiling Skull members was gone, there might still be other tasks they could pick up from her and perhaps make another profit.
“No need. I can get out on my own.” Precia looked at Yi Ye Fu Yun and could not shake the feeling that he was plotting something with her, so she instinctively refused. “But before I go, this might be useful to you. I found it in the Smiling Skull’s temporary stronghold. I hope it can help.”
As she spoke, Precia took an old paper map from inside her clothes and handed it directly to Yi Ye Fu Yun.
One look, and Yi Ye Fu Yun was overjoyed.
Sure enough, if you did not squeeze NPCs a bit, how would you know whether they had something good?
“Then I will take my leave. I hope we have a chance to meet again.” Seeing how delighted Yi Ye Fu Yun was, Precia let out a sigh of relief. She was seriously injured and her strength had been greatly reduced. Although she had no enmity with the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, for her own safety, she had to offer them some benefit; otherwise, she might not even be able to leave here.
After all, Yi Ye Fu Yun and the others were not normal people. They were more like a group of lunatics who did not even realize they were crazy.
She was genuinely a little afraid of such lunatics.
After speaking, Precia no longer cared what else Yi Ye Fu Yun wanted to say. Covering her wounded arm with one hand, she used Illusion Step and quickly vanished from their sight.
“Hey, miss, wait!” Yi Ye Fu Yun shouted anxiously as he watched Precia sprint away. “I cannot read. Can you tell me what this map is?”
But the louder he shouted, the faster Precia ran, giving him absolutely no chance. Even if he activated extraordinary mode, he probably still could not catch up.
“This lady NPC has no sense of decency at all. Who only gives half an item? She should at least tell me what this map is.” Yi Ye Fu Yun looked in the direction Precia had disappeared, speechless.
The entire map was covered in characters he could not read, and this map looked exactly the same as the one on his smart watch. Whether she gave it or not seemed to make no difference.
“Can I take a look?” Dark Judgment asked suddenly.
“You can read?” Yi Ye Fu Yun looked at Fang Zhen in surprise.
“No.” Dark Judgment shook his head.
“Then what use are you?” Yi Ye Fu Yun rolled his eyes at him.
“I cannot read, but I can read maps,” Dark Judgment said. “Because of my job in real life, I often look at various mission maps. Even if I cannot read all the characters, with some markings I can get a rough idea.”
“So you are a map expert. My apologies for underestimating you.” Yi Ye Fu Yun quickly took out the map and handed it to Dark Judgment. “Take a look. What kind of map is this? Is there treasure?”
Dark Judgment said nothing and simply examined the map carefully.
The map was identical to the one on their in-game smart watches, with the only differences being additional text and several lines.
After staring at it for a while, Dark Judgment said seriously, “If I am not mistaken, this should be a transportation route map. I just do not know what is being transported.”
“A moving treasure map?” Yi Ye Fu Yun’s eyes lit up as he put the map away, delighted. “I knew it. Raising NPC favorability is extremely important. You all mocked me before, but now you see how great I am.”
“A transportation route map? Judgment, are you sure you are right?” Fang Zhen was shocked when he heard this.
He had not expected such a good thing to fall into Yi Ye Fu Yun’s lap. As for what the Smiling Skull would transport, even a fool knew it had to be valuable stuff. It was not like they would be hauling missiles.
“I am pretty sure. It looks a lot like many transportation route maps I have seen before. I just do not know the specific cargo or the date and time,” Dark Judgment said with a nod.
“Not knowing the time is fine. At worst, I will wait from morning till night,” Yi Ye Fu Yun said with a grin.
“Can the three of you handle it alone? There are so many routes. If you miss them, there will not be another chance.” Fang Zhen was extremely tempted as he watched Yi Ye Fu Yun put away the map. “If you are willing to share it, we can split all gains fifty-fifty.”
“All right.” Yi Ye Fu Yun thought about it and decided Fang Zhen had a point, so he made an agreement with Fang Zhen and the others.
Meanwhile, more than twenty kilometers away, there came a deafening roar from behind Precia, clearly signaling an exceptionally fierce battle.
“It seems they are as good as dead,” Precia said, glancing back. She had already seen more than forty Smiling Skull members heading there, and those were just from the outskirts of the Mountain of the Dead. There would definitely be even more coming from deeper inside. Even if the seven people led by Ye Qinglu were all vice city lord level powerhouses, there was no way they could survive today.
She did not linger and continued to run toward the outskirts of the Mountain of the Dead, planning to seize the chance to leave.
A day later, after fleeing back to Wanxing City, Precia received shocking news.
“What did senior brother say? That temporary stronghold of the Smiling Skull was wiped out? Are you sure you did not see wrong?” Precia stared at the half-scale race man in white standing in front of her. Though he was just standing there without releasing any qi and blood, he still made her feel terrified.
“I went by the coordinates you gave me. If those coordinates were correct, then that temporary stronghold was indeed destroyed. From my investigation, there were over a hundred dead Smiling Skull members there, but I did not see the high-level Smiling Skull figure you mentioned. He should have escaped,” the half-scale race man said with a nod.
“To destroy a temporary stronghold of the Smiling Skull yet let that person escape, which faction could have done this?” Precia was both shocked and puzzled. “Could it have been some major power from the Tianhe Domain across the way?”
“I do not know whether it was a force from the Tianhe Domain,” the half-scale race man said. “But from the Smiling Skull member I captured, I did learn a bit about that faction. Of course, this is just what he heard. He said the people who attacked that temporary stronghold were all wearing silver-gray clothing. The Smiling Skull people are now calling them the grey-clothed persons.”
