"…Isn't this just supposed to be an event! What the hell is going on? It's all too strange!"
A female player jumped out of the alley, howling as she ran, "I quit, I'm logging out to mug! I'm not taking part in this sh*tty event anymore!"
More players poured out from the sa alley, scrambling and crawling in all directions as they fled.
Even though this bunch were fleeing in a rather miserable manner, it didn't stop them from the usual banter.
"Don't throw in the towel, Sis Study! It's a big waste not spending your weekends gaming!"
"I'm going shopping with my girlfriend later in the afternoon. How about you guys make the breakthrough without and I'll catch up later?"
"Stop boasting! If you really had a girlfriend, I would turn around and eat that damn thing raw!"
"Didn't expect you to have such a peculiar taste, bro…"
"Seriously, if this monster doesn't instakill us, I too can also eat it!"
"Shut up! Everything you say makes rember sothing disgusting!"
"Listen up, guys. Phantom ntioned before that he thought the Knight Instructor was handso…"
"Hahaha! As expected of Phantom. A true man, going for the manly ones~"
"Cut the crap! Even Lahong was kicked offline. Can you all get a grip?"
The group huffed and puffed as they ran to the end of the street before they stopped, crouching behind buildings and peering back at the way they had co from.
"Thank goodness, it's not following us. At least we can shake off this monster," Guileless Gale muttered, his heart still pounding hard. "Damn it, and I thought those Level 4 elite monsters in the Poisonous Marshlands were terrifying enough. Who would have thought there would be sothing even scarier? Spawning such monsters in town is simply cheating, isn't it?"
Study Obsessed sighed. "I really can't handle this sort of monster. I never watch horror movies, and I steer clear of any graphic B-grade films. I genuinely don't want to participate in this event."
"Seriously, I'm not afraid of such stuff, but this monster is a total puzzle. It doesn't matter whether you are scared or not." Phantom shrugged.
Seeing the other two completely losing their motivation, Guileless Gale felt compelled to voice out, "Hey, hey! We lost more than half of our comrades to this monster. Are you guys really willing to give up just like that?"
"Yes!" Nurous players chorused in agreent.
A flurry of voices chid in, "Not getting teamwiped is not too bad already, right?"
"Exactly. We managed to retrieve Lahong's dropped equipnt."
"The damned devs definitely had malicious intent when coming up with this event. Let's not keep banging our heads against the wall. Let's go do whatever else we can!"
Guileless Gale: "…"
Both Study Obsessed and Phantom usually helped lead teams, just like Guileless Gale. Seeing the latter at a loss for words against the group sentint, Phantom felt a little bad and took the initiative to speak up, "How about this? Since we're all that's left, why don't we move to Desolate Outpost and farm so monsters? By the ti Lahong cos online, we can return since the teleport cooldown is only half an hour."
Guileless Gale was silent for a bit… then nodded in agreent.
There wasn't any other choice even if he didn't agree. Their massive group of more than sixty had been reduced to just over twenty. Surely this group would rebel if they were dragged back to face the creepy monster in the alley.
Study Obsessed was already fed up with this eerily strange Exile Town and urged at once, "Let's go, let's go, hurry up!"
This motley crew of survivors headed toward the center of the town. While still so distance away from the teleportation and spawn point, a player ca running toward them from afar, waving and calling out, "Over here! Study, Phantom, Guileless Gale!"
The signature booming voice was recognizable even without the need to check the newcor's ID—it was Stuffed Gummy, Unceasing Entropy childhood friend, who had tead up with them for a bit when they were still farming monsters at Spider Cave.
"Gummy?" Study Obsessed exclaid in surprise.
"Yeap, it's ." Tang Jia trotted up to the group. "Hey, you guys got cut down quite a bit too, huh?"
Study Obsessed and the others: "…"
Phantom thought of sothing and spoke up first, "Too? Gummy, did you guys also lose quite a number of people running into monsters you couldn't defeat?"
"Yeah," Tang Jia gave a straightforward reply. "We were teamwiped once before, it was quite troubling. But that's not the point. Qingyue wants to ask if you guys would like to work together?"
Phantom: "Huh?"
"Work together? Us?" Guileless Gale exclaid in surprise.
Guileless Gale couldn't be blad for being taken aback. Since the ti Unceasing Entropy supported Ji Tang in challenging for the top spot of territory prestige, the relationship between their two sides had changed. Although it hadn't reached the point of hostility, playing together harmoniously was no longer possible.
"Yeah," said Tang Jia.
Guileless Gale was expecting her to give so reasoning, but after waiting for several seconds, Tang Jia didn't add on anything.
"Alright," Guileless Gale sighed. "What did your good friend Unceasing Entropy say exactly?"
"Qingyue said you guys have more manpower, and with her on our side, it would be mutually beneficial," said Tang Jia without holding anything back.
Guileless Gale and the others: "…"
That girl really has an imnse amount of confidence…
But to be fair, she has good reason to be…
Guileless Gale exchanged a glance with Phantom and Study Obsessed. Seeing that neither of them voiced opposition, he took the lead and made a decision, "Alright. Shall we et up and discuss then?"
Tang Jia seed unconcerned about the possibility of rejection and gestured dramatically, "Follow !"
Twenty minutes later, at the open square in the Warrior Guild site.
"So, you guys encountered a monster in the alley near the weapon shop, which resembled a super-sized slug that could rapidly move along walls?" Unceasing Entropy asked solemnly.
"Holy, that's so disgusting!" Tang Jia couldn't help but interject.
"We find it repulsive too… What's even worse was that we couldn't defeat it," Study Obsessed said wearily. "Our attacks pass right through it, and when it bites our people, it's always an instakill."
"How could this… how could it be a non-humanoid monster? It couldn't be…" Unceasing Entropy was at first baffled, but then her eyes lit up as if she thought of sothing. "No! This is plausible instead. It isn't a physical mutation but a spiritual one. That's why it makes perfect sense for it to be immune to physical attacks!"
"Did you have so kind of revelation?" Guileless Gale eagerly asked when he saw Unceasing Entropy's reaction.
Unceasing Entropy pointed toward a small cabin less than 30 ters away in a straight line from the Warrior Guild and explained Yang Ying's discovery of the ghost that "mustn't be looked at."
"Goddamn!" Study Obsessed was spooked. "Is this for real? Can't there be limitations for this stupid event? Why didn't those damned devs just throw in Freddy Krueger while they were at it!"
"Honestly, Freddy Krueger is way weaker than this female ghost. He only goes after teenagers and can only handle one at a ti," Phantom mused. "Jason wouldn't cut it either. I feel like this ghost is at least on the level of Sadako…"
Tang Jia eyed Study Obsessed curiously. "Didn't you say you never watch horror movies? How do you even know about Freddy Krueger?"
"I read 'Terror Infinity,'" replied Study Obsessed. [TL note: Terror Infinity is a web novel.]
Unceasing Entropy: "…"
She finally understood why Tang Jia was able to get along with this group of people so well…
Guileless Gale also felt a bit embarrassed by his two companions. It wasn't appropriate to have disagreents in front of so many outsiders, so he quickly redirected the conversation, "So, what does Boss Unceasing Entropy think about this female ghost?"
Unceasing Entropy nodded, then said solemnly, "I believe that the monsters spawned in this event are closely related to the civilian NPCs we brought back from our previous expedition quest."
Guileless Gale quickly gestured for everyone to please stay focused and nudged Phantom, who was trying to make light of the situation.
Unceasing Entropy was not the type to hide behind pretentiousness, so she imdiately shared her thoughts…
It had to be said that those with strong self-control and the ability to think long-term could see things from a different perspective when it ca to evaluating situations. Just like the strategist on Qin Guan's side, Blossoming Strokes, had related the epic quest [Birth of the Undead] to their current circumstances, Unceasing Entropy also recalled the events surrounding Morris.
Not just that, she also linked it to the preluding quest of accepting civilian NPCs to Exile Town.
"…The previous expedition quest we did and the prerequisite that triggered it was the hidden quest [Brave Jean]. According to the storyline provided by the zombie NPC Raphael, the civilian NPCs we received co from a town called Camore. According to the zombie NPC, the living conditions in this town are poor, and the civilians there live a miserable life.
"According to the storyline, these civilian NPCs fled their hos to seek refuge with our undead race. Given the ticulous world-building of this ga, these civilian NPCs must have had quite unfortunate backgrounds."
Unceasing Entropy drew her conclusion, "Exile Town is the birthplace of the undead race. But if we view things from beyond us players' perspective, then Exile Town would, without a doubt, be considered a 'strange and mysterious land.' Unfortunate commoners arriving in the mysterious Exile Town burdened by their own unfortunate and painful past… Drawing connections to the town's setting, it's not hard to imagine the inhabitants of this place being wiped out."
"Right! This ga has a Cthulhu setting. The event description ntions so sort of terrifying entity awakening, perhaps from so Cthulhu influence corrupting the civilian NPCs and turning them into monsters. Is that how to interpret this?" Guileless Gale ca to a realization. "No wonder this event prevents us from killing monsters. Killing them is akin to attacking civilian NPCs. So, we need to find the root of the problem and identify the NPCs connected to these monsters."
"Not bad." Unceasing Entropy gave Guileless Gale a nod of approval. "The monsters we see can't be struck, and encountering them results in an instakill. It's a complete dead-end in that aspect, so it's highly likely those aren't the main bodies. We need to change our approach and try to find the source."
Guileless Gale quickly assud a humble attitude. "Please enlighten us, Boss."
A few more minutes passed.
Two players, seemingly ready to face death, appeared in front of the completed cabin a short distance away from the Warrior Guild site.
"My luck is really rotten. How did I manage to hit the jackpot from a 2 out of 39 chance…" Study Obsessed moaned in despair.
"Ugh… I'm not usually this unlucky, but I'm having a streak of bad luck today," Tang Jia, equally disheartened, said sheepishly.
"What are you two doing? Hurry up!" Teammates across the street urged them impatiently.
"Got it, got it!" The two girls shouted back in annoyance, then rushed toward the tightly shut door of the hut together.
Unceasing Entropy's solution was simple and direct—since the NPC wouldn't co out of the house, they would just enter forcefully.
Attacking NPCs had the risk of leading to a ban, but forcibly entering a "residential dwelling" would most likely result in being killed and kicked offline, or perhaps strung up like those who had tried to invade the tents of advanced NPCs before…
This was still a price that they could bear.
In any case, whether the dwellings the NPC stayed in were wooden huts or cabins, forcefully entering wasn't too difficult.
"Ahhhh—!" Study Obsessed shrieked.
"What the heck!" Tang Jia exclaid in shock.
The onlookers on the next street witnessed Study Obsessed and Tang Jia hastily rushing out of the main door; Study Obsessed, who was ahead, managed to escape successfully, while Tang Jia, who followed behind closely, had barely stepped through the door when she was forcefully pulled back by so unknown force.
mbers of the now larger party saw the notification that Stuffed Gummy had left the party (logged out).
Unceasing Entropy chuckled. "What luck, found it on the first try."
Guileless Gale and Phantom beside her: "…"
The two wondered if this lady was truly Stuffed Gummy's good friend…
Inside the Town Hall.
Yang Qiu lifted the kettle of boiling water from the coal stove and refilled the teapot, then personally poured tea for the black-robed inspector sitting across him before topping up his own cup.
Throughout this process, Inspector Lowell wore a complex expression of mixed emotions as he watched Yang Qiu…
"Please don't mind," said Yang Qiu as he blew on the rising steam from his teacup. "This is simply a highly impactful lesson to help our undead friends truly understand the essence of 'power.'"
Inspector Lowell didn't respond and just continued watching him.
Yang Qiu remained unperturbed.
Upon assimilating with the elder god's tentacle, Yang Qiu hadn't only gained access to the spatial rift connecting to the earth, which the tentacle had seized, but also a trace of the elder god's eldritch power.
To beco a spellcaster, one needed to abandon praying to any gods. He wasn't worried that this ascetic of the Goddess of Prosperity's faith would mistake him for a heretic.
As for how a non-heretic like him could wield the eldritch power of an elder god… Since Inspector Lowell wouldn't ask such an impolite question, Yang Qiu wouldn't have to bother explaining.
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