Chapter 106 – Complete Hidden Quest
A message that bypasses blocks and mutes, forcibly popping up a dialog box for all players within the scope to see, currently costs a staggering 100 Gold Coins per message!
The sudden message from Proud of the Crowd left Zhang Yi a bit surprised: How did Proud of the Crowd find out about him? They even knew Han Yaru was with him. Before this, Zhang Yi had never met Proud of the Crowd, and even three years ago when he was dating Han Yaru, he had never heard of her having such a prominent cousin.
Zhang Yi looked at Han Yaru, who quickly shook her head, innocently saying, "It wasn't me, I didn't say anything..."
After a pause, as if remembering something, Han Yaru said, "Oh right, it might have been when King's Glory went to Zone 885 to rescue me last time and accidentally mentioned it!"
Realizing this, Han Yaru suddenly opened the regional chat channel and started typing a message.
Zhang Yi asked, "What are you doing?"
"I'm helping you fight back," Han Yaru continued typing, saying, "Otherwise, he'll think you're afraid of him, which is why you don't dare to go in!"
After a pause, Zhang Yi said, "What if I say the reason I haven't gone to the City of Energy is really because I'm afraid of the Proud Family?"
As soon as Zhang Yi finished speaking, Han Yaru was taken aback, "You're lying, you aren't even afraid of King's World, how could you be afraid of a Proud Family whose background you don't even know?"
"Since the captain of the Proud Family, Proud of the Crowd, is your cousin, and he happens to have a good impression of you, being with him might be more promising than being with me."
"Zhang Yi!" Han Yaru shouted at Zhang Yi, tears involuntarily streaming down her face.
Zhang Yi's heart skipped a beat; he hadn't expected that a joke would actually make Han Yaru cry!
For a moment, Zhang Yi was at a loss, hurriedly comforting Han Yaru, "I... I was just joking, don't take it seriously, why are you crying..."
"What do you take me for, Zhang Yi!" Han Yaru cried, "Do you think I'm with you because there's something to gain?"
"No, that's not what I meant,"
Zhang Yi still hadn't managed to fix his problem of panicking whenever Han Yaru cried.
Han Yaru wiped her tears and said, "Let's go turn in the quest."
After speaking, Han Yaru went ahead to the Undead Merchant to submit the quest.
Zhang Yi followed closely, submitting the level 7 difficulty [Undead Requiem] once again. Under the generous rewards of the quest, a beam of golden light descended on his head—
"Ding~ Congratulations on reaching level 29, the next level requires 3,000,000 EXP..."
As the level increases, leveling up becomes more difficult, and the gap between levels 29 and 30 is a huge divide, requiring five times the EXP of previous levels!
Under normal circumstances, it would take about two to three days to reach level 30.
After finishing the quest here, they used a Return Scroll to go back to Hope Town.
Han Yaru was sent to the restaurant to wait, while Zhang Yi, filled with anticipation, hurried to the Blacksmith Shop, faintly hearing the whispers of passersby.
Passerby A: "Look, isn't that Yinuo Qingcheng? Proud of the Crowd just taunted him in the regional chat, and he didn't even respond, yet he still has the mood to stroll around the streets!"
Passerby B: "Exactly, even Yinuo Qingcheng might be afraid, Proud of the Crowd is too formidable!"
Passerby C: "Who would've thought Proud of the Crowd would take a liking to our zone's Yaru, how interesting!"
Passerby D: "Quick, look at the regional channel, Proud of the Crowd is spamming again!"
Many players around opened the regional chat interface, indeed seeing Proud of the Crowd's messages flooding the entire channel—
[Proud of the Crowd]: "Yinuo Qingcheng, what, don't even have the guts to come out and say a word?"
[Proud of the Crowd]: "The group of losers in your zone poses no challenge to me, they say you're the number one in Zone 886, let me see how strong you really are!"
[Proud of the Crowd]: "With your cowardice, do you deserve to be with Han Yaru? I'll give you a chance, if you're smart, leave Han Yaru, otherwise, don't blame me for invading Zone 886! Even if I have to snatch her, I will get Han Yaru!"
Zhang Yi's indifference made others in Zone 885 restless.
[Proud of Bloodthirst]: "Is your zone's top-ranked player really this cowardly? It's come to this, and he doesn't even dare to say a word?"
[Proud of War God]: "So cowardly, birds of a feather flock together."
Though there was private gossip, publicly, players from Zone 886 still stood up for Zhang Yi:
[Drawing Snakes to Add Feet] (Zone 886, Male, Level 25 Knight): "Our Yinuo Qingcheng just doesn't bother to fight you, do you really think he's afraid? With Yinuo Qingcheng's strength, he could easily crush your Proud Family!"
[King's Glory] (Zone 886, Male, Level 23 Archer): "From personal experience, let me tell you, Yinuo Qingcheng is not someone you can mess with!"
It was rare to see even King's Glory speaking up for Zhang Yi.
The more players from Zone 886 defended, the more Zone 885 provoked.
[Light Face] (Zone 885, Male, Level 25 Assassin): "Oh really? Then let him come to the dungeon for a solo challenge! Don't just be a turtle hiding in its shell!"
"Who's the turtle? You're the turtle, your whole family are turtles!"
"Stop yapping, come to the City of Energy and prove it with skills!"
"Bring it on, who's afraid of who!"
The chat channel was ablaze with arguments, and as the key figure who sparked this verbal battle, Zhang Yi walked through the crowd as if nothing had happened, heading straight to the Blacksmith Shop, where he found Ili again to trigger a conversation.
"Young man, you're here, have you finally collected those Divine Bones and Undead Knowledge for me?"
"Yes." Zhang Yi took all the Divine Bones and Undead Knowledge from his bag and handed them to Ili.
Ili's eyes lit up with joy, "I can't believe you actually completed this task, wonderful, with these top-notch materials, I can forge powerful weapons and equipment for the soldiers guarding this town!"
As Ili finished speaking, a pleasant notification sounded in Zhang Yi's ear—
"Ding~ Congratulations on completing the advanced hidden quest [Acquire Rare Materials], rewards: EXP 2,000,000, Gold Coins 100, Level 3 Enhancement Stones 50, Human Reputation 2400, received [Skill Scroll] 1, received Skill Book [Freeze Spell] 1, received Mage [Undead Set] (seven-piece set) 1, Affinity Level with [Blacksmith Shop Owner] 100!"
"Ding~ Congratulations, your Affinity Level with [Blacksmith Shop Owner] has increased to Level 2, unlocking privilege: 10% off all purchases at the Blacksmith Shop!"
"Ding~ Congratulations, your Affinity Level with [Blacksmith Shop Owner] has increased to Level 3, unlocking privilege: 15% off all purchases at the Blacksmith Shop!"