Chapter 186 : Chapter 186
Chapter : 186
Good news, Fitch's death was indeed caused by excessive injuries.
He was severely beaten by Yan Yunqing about six days ago, and immediately followed by six consecutive days of interrogation. Let alone a pampered prince, even a trained deathsworn would find it hard to survive.
Especially when the people of Blood Mist were heavy-handed.
Kidnapping Fitch did cost Blood Mist quite a few men, and Yan Yunqing learned from others one of the reasons Blood Mist hated Augreer—the Augreer family secretly used civilians and mercenaries to research demonic beasts, among whom were family members of Blood Mist members.
In the auction house he had transmigrated to, there were family members of several Blood Mist members in another warehouse—several beastmen. Blood Mist carried out that operation both to rescue those beastmen and to kidnap Feu, in order to get the whereabouts of more 'goods' from him.
It was just a pity that Palos wasn't there that time, so the people of Blood Mist couldn't successfully break through the guards around Feu to take him away.
Before the second operation against Feu could even begin, Feu had already been killed by Joker in advance. Thus, the people of Blood Mist shifted their attention to Fitch.
It could be said that during these few days of interrogation, the people of Blood Mist tallied the grudge from the two previous failures onto Fitch. Coupled with the loss of quite a few brothers this time, their hand was accidentally a tiny bit too heavy.
...Which led to Fitch kicking the bucket prematurely.
Yan Yunqing looked at the dungeon not far away. People from Blood Mist were constantly going in and out, among them were several who had been responsible for the interrogation these past few days.
But...
A Fitch who confessed the Slanlipa City plan after just one beating from Joker, could he really last six days under a group of people hostile to him without revealing a single clue?
Did Fitch have that kind of backbone? If so, he wouldn't have said anything when beaten by Joker.
Yan Yunqing rubbed his chin, feeling something was amiss.
If Fitch didn't speak, could it be not because he didn't want to, but because he couldn't? For example... he didn't know?
What did Palos say they wanted to ask Fitch?
Smuggling routes and strongholds researching demonic beasts...
Such secretive matters would definitely only be known by those holding power in the Augreer family. That Queen was undoubtedly an insider. As her youngest son, Fitch didn't know, even though he knew the Slanlipa City plan... hmm?
No, Fitch didn't know the complete Slanlipa City plan. He only knew his purpose for coming this time, but he didn't know much about the specific plan.
Why?
Was Fitch not trusted that much?
Was it because that Queen knew Fitch's character, so she felt that if she told Fitch the specific plan, he might not be able to keep his mouth shut?
But the news Palos told him was indeed that the Augreer family was preparing to groom Fitch to be the next family head. Even as a future family head, he wasn't trusted? Just how suspicious was that Queen?
Or was this decision not made by the Queen, but by another... that Prince Felton?
But there was no fundamental conflict between Prince Felton and Fitch...
Yan Yunqing thought for a long time and finally came to a conclusion: The noble circle is too messy.
Both 'motherly kindness and filial piety' and 'brotherly respect and fraternal love' were hellish jokes.
[Carrier Pigeon] let out a sound.
Yan Yunqing took out the [Carrier Pigeon]. The first thing he did upon waking up was send a message to Merlin, so Merlin should be replying now.
[Merlin]: Understood, as long as you're fine.
[Merlin]: Some of the Descenders are a bit strange. Do you want to come and take a look?
Yan Yunqing raised an eyebrow. Strange?
It couldn't be players pulling down blacksmiths' pants again, could it?
Yan Yunqing thought for a moment, replied to Merlin with an 'okay', glanced at Yuchir who was still handling matters, and turned to leave.
Ah, right, have to remind Palos not to kidnap players anymore. Let those unlucky players have a good gaming experience.
Thinking this, Yan Yunqing left a note for Yuchir in the room he woke up in.
Yes, those players crying on the forum about being killed by savages as soon as they were born, or being kidnapped by savages... were all the doing of Blood Mist people.
No, to be precise, it was done by several impoverished villages attached to Blood Mist. The people in those villages were partly the 'poor' that Blood Mist robbed the rich to help, some elderly, weak, sick, and disabled, and some were simply family members of Blood Mist members. Since they joined Blood Mist, their families were also included in Blood Mist's protection.
How to put it? People who would join Blood Mist... were more or less rejected by normal society. For example, mercenaries who had offended nobles, commoners oppressed by landlords, or those with blood feuds against certain powerful figures, etc.
In short, the villagers outside Blood Mist were very xenophobic because of their past. The appearance of Descenders triggered them. The first few Descenders born nearby were killed directly by 'savages', and the subsequent Descenders were taken back by Blood Mist people and locked in the dungeon as suspicious persons.
This was the truth behind players being killed and kidnapped by savages.
When Yan Yunqing heard it, he thought it was ridiculous... but there were spawn points nearby. Maybe he could set up a novice village near Blood Mist?
Just let these players work for the elderly, weak, sick, and disabled in the village. Free labor shouldn't be wasted. And there was no need to worry about players doing anything to the villagers; after all, Palos was there to suppress them.
But that was for later. Yan Yunqing explained a few sentences on the paper, then turned back into a black cat and left Blood Mist.
***
Returning to the Romunik novice village, Yan Yunqing clearly felt the number of players in the novice village had increased.
This couldn't be helped. After all, there were seven thousand more players, equivalent to a few hundred more players per novice village. This data was quite intuitive.
Fortunately, when the novice village was first established, it was anticipated that it could accommodate at least a thousand players entering simultaneously. If not online at the same time, it could even accommodate over five thousand players.
As for more, it would be a bit overloaded. However, Yan Yunqing had considered it. Since this game wouldn't wipe data after closed beta, by the time more players flooded in, the current players would have already left the novice village.
As long as the game officials didn't cause trouble, the novice village naturally wouldn't crash due to too many players.
Yan Yunqing changed into Nolan's identity. Just as he was about to walk into the novice village, Yan Yunqing remembered something.
...Speaking of which, didn't he give a quest to the players in Romunik before?
On the day players were forced to log out.
Ah...
Yan Yunqing pulled up the quest panel and saw the [Help [Mysterious Traveling Merchant] Complete His Order] on it, falling into contemplation.
It was fine; at least the quest time hadn't completely passed. There was still one day left.
If the quest time had completely passed before he remembered this matter, then the players in Romunik would probably be crying and cursing him, the NPC who disappeared after giving a quest.
Yan Yunqing guiltily closed the quest panel.
This couldn't be blamed on him, right? After all, he didn't expect players to be forced to log out right after he gave the quest, and he accidentally slept for six days in Blood Mist's territory.
What with dreams, Fitch's death, plus the previous Slanlipa City incident, all these things piled up together. It was already pretty good that Yan Yunqing could remember this matter now.
As Yan Yunqing thought, the players in Romunik had been about to explode these past few days.
[Help [Mysterious Traveling Merchant] Complete His Order] was a public quest. Any player present at the time could receive it. They originally thought it was just a very simple quest, but problems arose in the first step: they couldn't find Blacksmith Mason.
Immediately after, Closed Beta 1.0 ended, Closed Beta 2.0 was about to launch, and players were forced to log out. The update took three days!
Three whole days! Do you know how these players survived? A world without 'Return' to play might as well be destroyed!
When players finally came back online and found Blacksmith Mason, after much difficulty persuading him to accept the Traveling Merchant's order, Mason said: Huh? But I don't know what weapon that Traveling Merchant wants me to make.
Hearing this, the players froze.
Turning around to find the Traveling Merchant, they discovered that the mysterious NPC had disappeared since they came back online.
After searching for three consecutive days, the mysterious Traveling Merchant NPC had vanished from the face of the earth!
Even more terrifying was that their quest was still counting down!
After players posted 'Where did Mason go', they issued cries of 'Where did the Traveling Merchant go'.
When Yan Yunqing entered the Romunik novice village under the identity of [Nolan], he received expressions of joy and tears from a crowd of players.
"You finally appeared—you bastard NPC who puts on his pants and doesn't recognize people!"
Hearing this title, Yan Yunqing almost stumbled and hit his head on the ground.
Making it sound like they had something going on...
Then Yan Yunqing found himself surrounded.
"Where exactly did you go!"
"Your order requires..."
Players asked all at once. Yan Yunqing only felt like thousands of ducks were quacking in his ears, making his brain throb. He had no choice but to pull out his magic wand and cast an area-of-effect Silencing Spell on this group of players who were only around level ten.
Instantly, the thousands of quacking sounds stopped.
Yan Yunqing felt the world become quiet.
Players: ?
Players: !!!
The players, discovering they couldn't make a sound, turned pale with fright, thinking the game had bugged. It was only when the first one opened their personal panel and saw [Silence] in the status bar followed by a countdown that they realized they had all been hit with a debuff.
And the culprit was naturally the mysterious Traveling Merchant in front of them, who had covered his face with a hood.
Yan Yunqing clapped his hands, trying to fake a kindly voice: "Alright, alright, children, I know you are all enthusiastic, but I can't hear clearly like this, can I?"
He searched the crowd, his gaze stopping on the female player whose ID had left a deep impression on him, [Mount Emei Monkey]. Pointing his magic wand, he lifted the Silencing Spell on her. "You tell me. So many days have passed, have you helped me persuade that stubborn blacksmith?"
[Mount Emei Monkey], being pointed at by the magic wand, looked around and found everyone's gaze falling on her. Only then did she realize the debuff on her was gone.
[Mount Emei Monkey]'s eyes sparkled. This NPC could actually apply and remove debuffs at will!