Chapter 26: Triggering a Story Mission
【……】
【Player "Black-Eyed Rui Ge" has died, Essence +600……】
【Player "Lone Boat" has died, Essence +600……】
【Player "Ye Li Meng" has died, Essence +900……】
【Player "Mad Blade Old Wang" has died, Essence +900……】
【Ding, you have annexed the "Lesser Abyssal Nightmare Source", your Talent Points +1!】
Good news kept coming.
Another wave of total annihilation.
Fortunately, it was the Players who died!
Otherwise, judging by this casualty rate,
Hang Yu feared he could only package himself off to a rich woman.
Even then, he might not be able to afford the consumption of expanding the territory.
Although they had paid a near wipeout price, the Players successfully hunted the BOSS.
This Skeletal Scorpion-Tailed Bull was also a lesser pollution source, thus granting Hang Yu another precious Talent Point.
This time, a total of two Level-5 Players, three Level-4 Players, nine Level-3 Players, and six Level-2 Players had died.
Although the number was lower than last time, the quality had improved.
Altogether, they generated 8,700 Essence Points, bringing the reserve Essence up to 9,300 Points.
He spent 600 Points as the First Kill Reward.
The usable reserve of Essence still remained a high 8,700 Points.
Hang Yu was already Level 6, with four maxed-out skills, and had no urgent need to further boost his personal strength.
After weighing the options, he decided to use it to nurture his own regular elite soldier corps.
The eight personal guards had already been upgraded to Level 3 earlier.
It required 400 Essence Points to upgrade from Level 3 to Level 4, and 700 Essence Points to upgrade from Level 4 to Level 5.
【Reserve Essence -3200!】
Hang Yu directly upgraded all eight soldiers to Level 4 in one go.
The remaining 5,350 Points were insufficient to upgrade every soldier by one more level.
Thus, he chose to upgrade Zhang San, Li Si, Wang Wu, and Zhao Liu once each.
【Reserve Essence -2800!】
Remaining Essence Reserve: 2700.
【Essence Reserve -1000, you have upgraded "Abyss Warrior: Zhang San"'s Iron Armor Skill to Level 9!】
【Essence Reserve -1000, you have upgraded "Abyss Warlock: Wang Wu"'s Flame Arrow Curse to Level 9!】
It was done!
This round of upgrades significantly enhanced the strength of the eight Follower Units!
Although the investment was considerable, it was absolutely necessary.
Hang Yu had to ensure that the territory possessed an absolutely loyal and strictly disciplined armed force.
This NPC troop was not only the final line of defense when the territory encountered danger, but could also be used to discipline Players and maintain order.
Since there was a need to discipline Players, naturally, a stronger force than Players was required.
As the strength of the regular army gradually increased,
Hang Yu would then issue more tasks to return Essence resources to the Players,
thus enhancing the Players’ strength and forming a positive feedback loop,
ensuring that the territory's strength grew stronger and stronger.
"Master, a Player has been captured by natives," Xiao Ba reminded.
Hang Yu nodded slightly and said, "Mm, I saw it. To encounter natives so quickly is quite a surprise, but it's a great thing for the territory's development!"
What were natives?
Xu Feng in the ruined village did not count.
Although Xu Feng used to be a figure from the Three Kingdoms era, it was obvious he had been corrupted and fallen, thus becoming an Abyss creature, no longer considered a native of the Three Kingdoms.
Natives referred to the original inhabitants who had not been polluted by the Abyss.
They did not have undead traits.
Once dead, they could not resurrect.
If they were polluted during death, they could possibly be transformed into new Abyss creatures.
Hang Yu did not intervene immediately.
If he could take this opportunity to find the natives' settlement, it would be even better.
Because the towns of these natives were excellent targets for conquest!
At present, the territory's finances were severely in deficit every day.
Just relying on Players killing monsters to drop a few scraps was not nearly enough.
After thinking it through, the quickest way to make money was only plundering.
…………
Midnight Pig Slayer was stuffed into a small boat hidden in the reeds.
Two villagers were rowing toward the west bank of the river.
The entire process left him completely baffled.
But he finally realized that these people had no intention of killing him.
What was going on?
Had he triggered a hidden story event?
No way! Was there actually such a good thing!
Wait, why did these people capture me?
Shouldn’t the game have an R-18 protection mechanism?
If something special really happened, should I choose to forcibly log off, bash my head to suicide, or just endure it?
Li Niu noticed the captive’s expression constantly shifting.
First confusion, then shock, then excitement and ecstasy, followed by disgust and worry,
but never fear.
What was going on?
This guy showed no signs of Abyssal corruption.
Why did his behavior seem so strange?
"Bro! What exactly are you guys planning?"
"Why capture me? Is it a kidnapping? But I’m broke, I have no money!"
"Uh, you’re not planning anything... special, right? Honestly, I’ve had severe constipation since childhood. Haven’t pooped in thirty days. I also have serious colonic ulcers and hemorrhoids."
"Bro, why don’t you say anything?"
"Bro, your broadsword looks nice."
"Bro, what quality is your bow? Can I take a look?"
"Bro, why are you looking at me like that? Your gaze is scaring me!"
"……"
Li Niu’s face grew increasingly ugly.
Midnight Pig Slayer suddenly felt the world go black before his eyes.
【Ding, you have been knocked unconscious. You are expected to wake up in 38 minutes!】
Midnight Pig Slayer lost connection with his character, leaving him baffled once more.
He could actually be knocked unconscious—and for so long.
These dog developers really had to make the game this realistic?
Forced logout.
Back to the real world.
He immediately texted Black-Eyed Rui Ge, Street Slayer, and others to report the situation.
At this moment, Black-Eyed Rui Ge and others had already learned part of the situation from Mad Blade Old Wang and Chenxi.
Now with Midnight Pig Slayer’s intel, everyone took it seriously.
It was clearly a hidden story event!
Thirty-two Players gathered at once to discuss this incident.
Why thirty-two Players?
Because Twisted Three Kingdoms released ten internal testing slots each day.
About half an hour ago, another batch of Players entered the game.
They had barely had time to kill a few monsters when they heard a hidden event was triggered.
Naturally, they rushed over to join the excitement.
"The situation is very clear now."
"Probably because we made too much noise hunting the Skeletal Scorpion-Tailed Bull, we alarmed the nearby native villagers."
"They not only killed Old Wang, Slash Brother, and Chenxi Girl, but even captured Old Pig."
"This game really is full of surprises."
"There’s even random encounter storylines like this."
"Heh, lucky it was Old Pig who got captured and not a girl."
"Otherwise, with this game's freedom level, who knows what could happen next."
"I don’t think it would get that bad. The game should have forced protection measures, like system-determined forced death."
"That’s not important now."
"What matters is—how do we save Old Pig?"
"Is there any way to determine his location?"
"Not at the moment. Old Pig was knocked out. He doesn’t know where he is either."
"But judging from the villagers’ rowing direction, it should be somewhere on the river’s west bank!"
"If we don’t even know the location, how can we take action?"
"I think we shouldn’t act rashly."
"Maybe these native villagers are not enemies."
"Right, this world is full of corrupted monsters and characters."
"It’s rare to meet normal beings who can communicate."
"If we kill indiscriminately, we might lose a lot of storyline opportunities."
"……"
Everyone voiced their opinions.
No one could make a decision.
Chimera Wraith suddenly said, "Let’s just seek help from the Lord."
Ye Li Meng said, "The Lord has always seemed like a salted fish. Will he really act?"
Black-Eyed Rui Ge said, "Let’s try. After all, unknown forces have appeared near the territory. Reporting to the Lord is reasonable."
Not long after,
Chimera Wraith, representing the Players, reported the situation at the Lord’s Hall.
Hang Yu nodded in satisfaction and said, "I understand. This matter, your Lord will not ignore."
"With your current strength, it is not enough to deal with a group of natives."
What did that mean?
Was the Lord going to act personally?
As everyone speculated in doubt, they suddenly all received a system prompt.
【Ding!】
【Mission triggered successfully!】
【Mission Name: Campaign Against Hexi Village!】
【Mission Content: Please follow the Lord to seize Hexi Village!】
【Mission Reward: Earn 50—500 Contribution Points based on performance!】
Was this salted fish Lord really going to make a move?
All this time, there had been much debate over the Lord’s strength.
Some believed the Lord was unfathomably strong, while others thought he was very weak.
Perhaps soon, this mystery would finally be revealed.