Chapter 16: Main City Quest, The Truth of the Game

Reason: Until a main city quest arrived, everything about the game’s balance was upended.

Main City.

“Extra! Extra! In ten days, the Endless Sea is preparing to attack the main city—the lowest-grade sea monster is level two, the highest is level four. They will also attack players’ ‘cities.’ The first points of attack are Sacred Village and Han Village. All players are called upon to help—there’s no time to waste! All participants: if victorious, everyone levels up twice; if Sacred Village or Han Village survive, you’ll have the right to expand your territory. If you lose, both villages will be destroyed, and the players’ ‘cities’ along the way will fall as well—get ready to rebuild!”

Main City Quest: Defend the Main City
Conditions: Survive, live until the end; primarily protect Sacred Village and Han Village from destruction.
Time: Seven days
Rewards: If Sacred Village and Han Village survive, they can be promoted to small cities; if neither is destroyed, all players level up twice. If only one survives, only participants from that village level up. If you fail, both villages and all player villages along the route are destroyed.

In the Main City, the city lord looked at the assembled players, issued the quest, and then returned to the city lord’s mansion.

At this moment, an ‘NPC’ approached and said, “City Lord, are you really not going to help them?”

“Do you really think a human—no, a player—who can shake the main city needs our help? I hope he’s the one she chose. Last time, he killed a player with a single punch; let’s just watch and see! After all, players can revive infinitely, what’s the rush, right?” (Referring to Hua Tian’s previous punch.)

“And another thing—when Liuliu returned, she said humanity had gained tens of billions more people. I found it odd—were there other humans on the continent? Later, she told us to call them ‘players’ when we met them. These players have infinite resurrection; we can’t kill them, so let them train here and mess around. They can study the inner layouts of the Ancient City and Death Forest. Next time, we’ll keep giving them quests until they’re tired of it—then it’ll be our turn to attack. For the sake of those who have left.”

The ‘NPC’ behind nodded, “So Liuliu isn’t dead? I haven’t seen her in millions of years. She’s still alive?”

“She could kill you with a slap. Don’t you value your life? Don’t jinx her! I didn’t believe she was back at first either, but after she stroked my head a few times and threatened me, I had to believe. I even heard she used her power to create a planet outside. She came back because Shi’s descendants fled to her planet. To ensure the humans there survive, she’s letting the players train in advance and using her abilities again. Hopefully, the players can survive the upcoming bloodworm corpse disaster. We can’t let them know the truth. It’s frustrating! Even if she could now kill that one, it would mean the end of humanity on that planet. The players can’t just zip away into the stars to escape—they can only wait for the one she’s chosen. When that player appears, we’ll tell him or her the truth, and let them figure it out for themselves.”

Soon, the team captains of Sacred Village and Han Village knew about the quest. (Team captains are the leaders in professional competitions and also the village chiefs.)

Sacred City.

“Brother Ye, this might be our chance! Back when I founded Sacred City in front of the Endless Sea, this was the day I was preparing for.”

Ye Jiu listened to his vice-captain.

“Heh, you replaced all my teammates with gunners just to defend from a distance, but then why did you bring in that guy (Haotian)?” Ye Jiu pointed in Haotian’s direction.

“Brother Ye, don’t you get it? Isn’t the day finally here? Just let him charge in, and we’ll provide damage from the back. If he dies, we don’t need him anymore. If he refuses to charge and asks why we don’t go ourselves—well, we’re all gunners, aren’t we? That’s reason enough.”

“Then why not recruit shield berserkers? Wouldn’t they be better?”

“Brother! You, as heir to the Sacred Judgment Group, should know better than I do how much money we have left. Even the Han Family Group can hardly find berserk shields. It’s the same for us. These days, everyone wants to kill as much as they can—who would want to be a useless punching bag in the early stages? If it weren’t for his Rock Solid skill, I wouldn’t have recruited him. My idea is: as long as everyone is a gunner, if we don’t get hit, we don’t need healing; if we do get hit and can’t be saved, we don’t need a paladin either.”

Han City.

“I hear the Endless Sea is going to attack Han City, and Sacred City too. Their team is all gunners, so they might not all show up. Heh! At first, I thought the monsters would never attack this out-of-the-way city of mine, so I didn’t even bother with defenses... didn’t even build walls...”

“Captain Han,” Hua Tian looked at Han Qianyun, who was lounging about, lost in her own world.

“What is it?” Han Qianyun stopped, fixing her gaze on him.

“Look behind me.”

Without even glancing, Han Qianyun said, “I know, it’s just a horde of zombies, right? Ah—a zombie horde! You mean we should use zombies as our meat shield? They’re the best city wall. We can safely deal damage from the rear.”

“Uh, not exactly. The siege hasn’t started yet, so I was thinking we should expand the zombie army. When we have enough, we can just sit back and watch the show!”

Han Qianyun smiled sweetly, “Alright, let’s do it together!”

For the next ten days, Hua Tian and Captain Han stopped farming crafting materials and started grinding zombies and their numbers.

Captain Han gave her Phantom Beauty Belt to Xiaoyu, who was ecstatic to have a belt at last. Han herself wore the Void-grade belt, the Sand Python Belt.

Then came the long grind for equipment. Thanks to the passive skill Berserk Kill, the drop rate was almost guaranteed.

The team knew his passive could stack, so they tried combining their 200% drop bonuses to see if it improved things—but the results weren’t as good as his solo 100%. So, everyone started saving up, waiting for their own chance and going to solo mode to farm.

Once, while fighting too close to the edge of the Death Forest, they encountered a level five zombie—three stories tall, its face twisted and covered in blood spikes. Everyone wanted to run at the sight.

Captain Han was the first to run, but Hua Tian quickly pulled her back and whispered in her ear, “It’s male, a physical attacker—why are you running?”

Han Qianyun froze, a fire flashing in her eyes. Under everyone’s gaze, she ran up alone with her staff, casting Berserk three times during the fight. She insisted on solo melee, quickly pulling Berserk Kill, who’d rushed ahead, out of the way—“Hey! Captain Han, you’re a mage...” In the end, the monster grabbed her, but she didn’t lose a single point of health. Captain Han was functionally invincible. Her magic damage made the level five blood zombie writhe in agony, and she killed it after just a few hits.

Her teammates were dumbfounded... Berserk Kill had void-level skills, with high healing and blood-locking—unless he was one-shotted, he could tank anything. But now, looking at their fierce female captain, they couldn’t believe it. Sharp-eared Liuxin had caught on to the “male” issue from the start.

After she pressed for details, Captain Han admitted she was wearing a new belt and that’s what gave her the edge. Poor Xiaoyu’s heart broke—she’d thought Han was so kind to give her the beautiful belt. Turns out, Han just preferred new to old; she’d given away the obsolete belt. No love there! Xiaoyu fainted again.

Han Qianyu squatted by the freshly slain blood zombie, examined a piece of equipment in her hand, and called out, “Sister, how about this gear?”

Han Qianyun glanced back, checked the stats, and laughed. “I’ve got my outfit now.”

With everyone’s help, Berserk Kill expanded the zombie army to ten thousand. Watching the revived level five zombie startled the group at first, but once they knew it was just another skill, they were full of envy. The players stood back and watched the show. Other passing players saw this and wondered just how gutsy they were.

Soon, the zombie army swelled to twenty thousand—quest secured.

...

In the lounge: “Now that we’ve farmed so much gear and so many skills, let’s take a look! If you need anything, just say so—don’t stand on ceremony.”

Han Qianyun flashed a look that invited the three female players present to browse together, her beauty teasing them all. Berserk Kill and Liuwei had already been sent off to cool their heels elsewhere.

Zombie Pants [Yellow-grade Pants], Zombie Belt [Yellow-grade Belt], Zombie Garment [Yellow-grade Clothing]
Lord’s Shroud [Orange-grade Clothing]
Hand Garment [Green-grade Clothing]
Moonlit [Blue-grade Clothing]
Rapid Burst [Red-grade Skill]

Seeing the gear and skills, everyone was overjoyed. Han Qianyun didn’t care what the others thought and immediately took the outfit she’d been eyeing for ages.

Her teammates, as they added items to their packs, wore pained expressions.

The poor Liu siblings’ team credits were completely spent. Xiaoyu and Liuxin were both in debt—now Liuwei and Xiaoyu together owed about a billion. Younger sister Liuxin’s team credits weren’t so outrageous—only negative ten million. (Red-grade skill: one billion credits; orange-grade: one hundred million; etc.)

On the eve of the siege, after donning the zombie set, Hua Tian realized he now looked exactly like a level three blood zombie. He went to Han Qianyun, who said, “You’ve already dropped two blue-grade item stones—third one can’t be far. I trust your luck, you little wage slave, go for it! Try to become a level four blood zombie!” Hua Tian’s face darkened. He thought: Item stones? You’ve already used them to upgrade your sisters’ equipment, haven’t you?

Except for Han Qianyu, who was still a novice, everyone else was intermediate level.

Name: Berserk Kill
Level: 21 [Intermediate]
Class: Shield Berserker
Attributes: 133.133.133 [Max for Novice/Intermediate]
Skills: Earthshaker [Void-grade Lv4], Devouring Divine Fist [Void-grade Lv4], Lucky Meteor [Void-grade Passive Lv0], Command [Weapon Skill], Blood Claw [Weapon Skill]
Technique: Fistmaster Hunter [Level 10]
Equipment: Destiny Gauntlets [Purple-grade Weapon], Zombie Pants [Yellow-grade Pants], Zombie Belt [Yellow-grade Belt], Zombie Garment [Yellow-grade Clothing]
Team: Han Crown Team [Vice-Captain]
Team Credits: 401,084,535 (400 million)
Gold: 98

Name: Han Qianyun [Female]
Level: 22 [Intermediate]
Class: Mage
Attributes: 188.48.15
Skills: Gift [Weapon Skill], Infinite Firepower [Weapon Skill], Fire Maiden [Red-grade Lv5], Dance of the Frenzied Serpent [Red-grade Lv1], Berserk [Equipment Skill], Serpent Beauty Passive [Equipment Skill], Python Alert [Equipment Skill], Void [Equipment Skill]
Technique: Staff Mastery [Level 8]
Equipment: Targeting Staff [Purple-grade Weapon], Sand Python Belt [Void-grade Belt], Lord’s Shroud [Orange-grade Clothing]
Team: Han Crown Team [Captain]
Team Credits: 1,000,009,999 (1 billion)
Gold: 2,846

Name: Han Qianyu [Female]
Level: 20 [Novice]
Class: Warrior
Attributes: 88.28.08
Skills: Escape [Red-grade Passive Lv4], Shadow Burst [Red-grade Lv3]
Technique: Advanced Staff Technique [Level 5]
Equipment: Wolf King Set [Blue-grade Set]
Team: Han Crown Team [Squad Leader]
Team Credits: 100
Gold: 16

Name: Liuwei
Level: 21 [Intermediate]
Class: Gunner
Attributes: 186.26.08
Skills: Fire Support [Blue-grade Lv1], Static Sniper [Orange-grade Passive Lv4], Rapid Burst [Red-grade Lv1]
Technique: Advanced Shooting [Level 6]
Equipment: Ferocious Fang [Yellow-grade Weapon], Hand Garment [Green-grade Clothing]
Team: Han Crown Team [Member]
Team Credits: -999,999,900
Gold: 11

Name: Liuxin [Female]
Level: 21 [Intermediate]
Class: Assassin
Attributes: 127.88.10
Skills: Invisibility [Purple-grade Passive Lv2], One-Hit Kill [Orange-grade Lv1]
Technique: Master Quick Kill [Level 6]
Equipment: Venom Fang [Green-grade Weapon], Orange Heart [Green-grade Shoes], Wolf Fang [White-grade Belt], Moonlit [Blue-grade Clothing]
Team: Han Crown Team [Member]
Team Credits: -9,905,000
Gold: 33

Name: Xiaoyu [Female]
Level: 21 [Intermediate]
Class: Paladin
Attributes: 08.66.146
Skills: Blessing [Purple-grade Lv3], Healing Tree [Orange-grade Lv4], Obedient Shield [Red-grade Lv0]
Technique: Devotion [Level 6]
Equipment: Holy Staff [Green-grade Weapon], Phantom Beauty Belt [Green-grade Belt]
Team: Han Crown Team [Member]
Team Credits: -990,000,000
Gold: 100