Chapter 46:

Murphy gathered all the vampires around him. Including himself, there were only four of them in total. Fortunately, it was nighttime, and there were still four to five hours until dawn. Their enhanced perceptions in the darkness allowed them to easily lock onto the civilians trapped in the outer city ruins. Before the survivors at the camp could be organized, the Young Lady and Lady Adele first spread their wings and flew a circle over the outer city ruins, braving the astral spirit energy and the ominous black snow. They brought back crucial intelligence. Since Kadman City was devoured by the energy of an astral rift rather than a true earthquake, there were not many people trapped under the rubble. The main reason the surviving civilians could not escape was the spawns of despair constantly emerging from the astral shadows, as well as the astral beasts prowling within those shadows. After receiving this intelligence, Murphy quickly adjusted his plan. “Use fire!” Relying on her profound research into spirit energy, Tris proposed a solution. Looking at the shadows within the collapsed city walls before them, she told Murphy: “The astral shadows in the outer city are just diffused from the inner city, far less in both concentration and number compared to the core area devoured by astral spirit energy. These peripheral shadows can be quickly driven back by flames. The simplest method is to burn the entire outer city. This will immediately cleanse it. But if you want to rescue people, you can’t be so brutal. Ordinary people carrying alchemical fire torches can also drive back the spawns of despair, giving those frightened people enough time to escape. The biggest trouble is the astral beasts lurking in the shadows. All astral beings can sense the emotions of living creatures. They can tell who is the easiest prey to hunt, so you don’t need to go along to rescue people. While they use the fire torches to clear a path, you need to deal with the dangers hidden in the darkness. To be honest, there are not many people who survived the first wave of the astral invasion in the outer city area. If all goes well, most of the unfortunate souls should be rescued before dawn. As for those too close to that rift covered in astral corruption, our current strength is simply insufficient to cleanse that area. My suggestion is to strategically abandon it.” “Why haven’t your servants risen yet?” The Young Lady had no objection to this plan, but she noticed the small tents and the fallen players lying inside them near the defensive line at the city wall breach. Puzzled, she said: “In this situation, shouldn’t they join in as well?” “My warriors are too exhausted.” Murphy snorted and waved his hand dismissively: “The survivors you see are those they rescued earlier. They are utterly spent. Let them rest. I believe those fearless ones will shoulder the most difficult tasks again tomorrow.” “Swish” From within the massive blood-red bat wings as they folded, a plump figure descended from the sky, landing precisely and lightly beside the Young Lady and Murphy. Lady Adele, who had already mastered the Blood Vulture flight techniques and seemed quite adept at flying, said to them in a low voice: “The people from the survivor camp are coming, about 140 of them.” “Prepare torches for them.” Murphy turned to Tris and said: “You don’t need to go with them. Stay here and help us hold the line.” “I’m not as helpless as you imagine, little Murphy.” Tris was somewhat dissatisfied with this arrangement, but the intelligent lady knew it was not the time to complain. She began crafting simple but long-burning torches with the alchemical materials on hand. As for weapons, they were not lacking. The players had scavenged many things from the city before logging out. They had also brought back plenty of cold weapons. Murphy would certainly not give firearms to these survivors. He knew that people would do foolish things when desperate and afraid. It was better to control firearms until his authority was established. “We’ll each take responsibility for one side.” Murphy pointed to three spots on the map of the outer city area and told the Young Lady and Lady Adele: “We’ll advance simultaneously on three fronts, hunting down those astral beasts. My servants and warriors will lead the survivors in the rescue and act as battle supervisors.” The Young Lady and Lady Adele were both Black Iron-rank vampires, and they had no objections to this arrangement. However, Femis glanced at Murphy and hesitated before advising: “It’s not that I’m belittling your strength, Murphy, but it’s better to have Adele stay by your side.” “No need!” Murphy waved his hand dismissively and rolled his eyes inwardly, thinking that the Young Lady could really be hurtful sometimes. Isn’t that just belittling my strength? But his character level had already reached 9, just one step away from triggering the Black Iron trial. How could he possibly let someone else come and share his combat experience? This wasn’t really an instance dungeon with a boss. In this crappy real game, he had to fight every battle and swing every blade himself. It was no time to slack off in the early stages of his enterprise. Seeing Murphy’s determination, the Young Lady took out a few scrolls from her spirit energy pouch and handed them to him, saying: If anyone has objections, step forward and tell me what you think!” He looked at the slightly restless crowd before him. Maxim with his sword was on Murphy’s left, camp director Miriam on his right, and the players were now gripping weapons beside him, their shadows stretching long. After waiting a few seconds, Murphy waved his hand expansively: “Since there are no objections, take the torches and follow me!” —— “There are three hiding in a house basement up ahead!” As Murphy led a search and rescue team down the street, he twitched his ears, precisely catching the sound of crying coming from the nearby ruins. He waved his left hand forward, and Lumina and Black Stockings, carrying torches, immediately ran over, followed by a few bold survivors gripping cold weapons cautiously eyeing their surroundings. “We’ve come to rescue you!” Black Stockings shouted into the blocked basement entrance while knocking on it. Those inside couldn’t understand, but it didn’t stop them from realizing help had arrived. Shrill cries rang out again, making the surrounding survivors wince. The others began clearing the rubble trapping the basement entrance but couldn’t move it for the time being. Below, the mother wailed, her daughter apparently injured and in dire condition. “There’s a broken ventilation shaft nearby, but it’s too narrow for me to fit through.” Black Stockings brought back the awkward news. He was one of the larger-framed players. Lumina peered at the narrow vent before tossing her torch to Black Stockings and rolling up her sleeves to crawl in, only for him to grab her. “Don’t go! Let the NPCs do it!” He advised: “We don’t know what the situation is in there. If you die, it’ll be three days.” “If we die, we wait three days. If they die, that’s it for them.” Lumina glanced at the few timid NPC survivors around them and said with a pout: “I know they’re just lines of data, but this is too realistic for me to be heartless. Besides, I wouldn’t have the guts to rescue people like this in reality, right? That doesn’t prevent me from being a hero in the game. Keep an eye out for me!” With that, she tore open the scroll Murphy had given her and boosted her Agility, then crawled into the dark, narrow vent. Black Stockings watched the determined girl. He felt his cheeks burning a little, so he turned to the few hesitant NPCs beside him and shouted for them to quickly clear the stones blocking the basement entrance, joining in to help too. A few minutes later, strange noises came from the vent. Black Stockings ran over and saw Lumina covered in soot, crawling out while cradling a baby. She handed the swaddled infant to him, then without a word crawled back in and rescued another four or five-year-old girl. But after the third time she went in and waited several minutes, there were no more rescues. When Lumina emerged again, her eyes were brimming with tears. She covered her mouth, her voice full of regret as she kept glancing back, telling Black Stockings: “I couldn’t save their mother. She was hit in the head by bricks earlier and didn’t make it. She begged me to take care of her children and gave me the last of their money. I couldn’t save her, alas.” For that moment, Black Stockings didn’t know what to say. He looked at the baby peacefully sleeping in his arms, sucking on its own fingers, seemingly oblivious to what was happening around it. The other rescued girl was clinging desperately to Lumina’s leg. She had been terribly frightened. In that instant, the soot-covered Black Stockings felt a tightness in his chest. This damned game was too freakin’ realistic. Did it have to be so hardcore with these details? Couldn’t they just have fun grinding monsters and play the game? “F**k!” He swore and viciously kicked a piece of wood beside him. The action startled the baby, who began crying, leaving the man in his mid-twenties at a loss. A few seconds later, a middle-aged NPC came over and gestured to Black Stockings. He took the wailing infant, gently rocking it in his arms, then deeply bowed to the teary-eyed Lumina. Turning back, he loudly berated the others. The NPCs who had been dithering before now seemed transformed. They fell silent, taking up torches and beginning to search more actively, as if the baby Murphy’s warrior had rescued had infused them with some strength, allowing them to inwardly resist their fear. “Keep going!” Lumina wiped her face and said to Black Stockings: “This game is so realistic, right?” “Too realistic.” Black Stockings bent down, hoisting a pickaxe as he murmured in complaint: “I’m starting to miss my keyboard and mouse, and those crappy, poorly modeled games. Really, I’m not kidding you.”