Chapter 7:

“Ah Yuen! Ah Yuen, are you okay? Still alive? If you’re alive, at least make a sound!” At the “accident scene” of the blazing Morland Village, the dusty Leading Pigeon crawled up from the ground, feeling dizzy. This was definitely a mild concussion. The symptoms were exactly the same as the last time he was hit in the head by a “accidental” flying soccer ball while trying to pick up girls on the playground! Damn, this experience was too realistic! His first reaction was to call out to his two brothers. When the explosion happened earlier, he felt like he saw the unlucky Spicy Gugu Chicken closest to the blast get blown away? Alas, he had probably kicked the bucket and become roast chicken. However, the reality was slightly better than what Pigeon imagined. Gugu Chicken wasn’t dead yet. He was thrown by the violent explosion and crashed right into a wooden door across the village street. Although he felt like his waist was about to break, at least he was alive, just inflicted with a【Blindness】and【Deafness】Debuff. He was lying on the ground, groaning for a long time before he could crawl up. Ah Yuen was in the best condition. This lucky guy was further away, communicating with Maxim using their rudimentary sign language skills when the village warehouse exploded. Maxim had pushed him down, so not a single hair on his head was hurt. But the scene before the four of them was tragic. Morland Village only had this one street. The warehouse at the east end of the village was completely blown open by the Witch Hunters’ alchemy bombs. Some substance added to it like “Blazing Glue” was released, causing the flames to burn extremely fiercely and quickly igniting the surrounding buildings. The craziest part was that there were villagers on fire, screaming as they ran out of the warehouse. However, there was no saving them. Some kind of oil was poured on their bodies, and most of them only struggled for a few moments before collapsing in the fire. Logically speaking, no matter how horrific a scene occurred in a game, it was just part of the storyline and cutscenes for players. But for these three innocent college students, the “game” they were in was too realistic. The intense scene left them stunned on the spot, not knowing how to help even if they wanted to. Ah Yuen tried to rush over but was held back firmly by Maxim. With the intensity of the flames, anyone getting close would be burned. The pure-hearted little players couldn’t understand why the Witch Hunters had locked the villagers in the warehouse, or why they had detonated bombs in their own hiding place. But Maxim had heard of such things before. He got up from the ground and told Ah Yuen in a hateful and disgusted tone in the Transia language: “The Witch Hunters judged this village to be a gathering place for vampire worshippers and sentenced these villagers to ‘death by fire’. Those lunatics locked the innocents in the warehouse, planning to execute them after killing Lord Murphy. But we won. Knowing there was no way out, the Witch Hunters chose to go down together. Truly despicable!” Maxim explained in detail, but the inexperienced little players couldn’t understand his Transia language. However, from Maxim’s sad and angry expression, they could roughly guess the situation. Especially after the collapsing burning warehouse wall revealed the still burning skeleton of a Witch Hunter, Leading Pigeon became indignantly enraged and cursed loudly: “F**k! If you want to fight, just fight! Killing vampires is one thing, but killing civilians? What’s the difference between these Witch Hunters and those demons deserving of hell?” “I think this scene is a bit disgusting,” Ah Yuen said softly, turning his head away. “But did it have to be so realistic? Wouldn’t a few images be enough? If everything is done like this, there’s no way this game would pass inspection after testing is done.” “Uh, I can’t see right now,” the temporarily blinded Spicy Gugu Chicken said softly while panting. “But from your descriptions, I feel this blindness situation might not be a bad thing. Amitabha Buddha, it’s too tragic.” Maxim was born in a similar village, so witnessing this tragedy, he couldn’t help but go forward and kneel down in front of the silent fire to pray softly. The biggest joke of all was that even though the people of this village were massacred by the Old Faith’s Witch Hunters, the prayers Maxim used were still from the Old Faith’s scriptures. There was no other choice. Since vampires had no gods or churches of their own, the vampire worshippers could only use the teachings of a religion that had disappeared ten years ago when mourning the dead. The other human civilization’s faith, the Winter Wolf Church of the northern Kingdom of Nordtov, had never been able to spread its doctrines in the Transia region where the environment was completely different from theirs. The three little players also fell silent. “Do you see now?” Murphy’s voice came from behind them. Seeing this evil and crazy scene also dampened the vampire’s mood. To the players, this was just a game, but to Murphy, it was all real. Taking advantage of the emotion, with the fire’s glow illuminating him, Murphy lowered his voice and said half-truthfully to the players: “Not just money, they are interested in everything from our world. They even have a severe hoarding habit. You can pay them with actual items, anything works, but currency, weapons and armor are their favorites. If you can get some handsome warhorses or rare, exotic treasures as rewards, they’ll be even happier and see you as a closer, more trustworthy person.” “It sounds a lot like mercenaries, the same disregard for death, the same heartlessness. Neither emotions nor sorrow can affect their actual actions, only motivated by profit.” Maxim summarized. Murphy was satisfied with the comparison said: “They are mercenaries from another world! Pure and opportunistic yet just. When benevolent, they rival the most selfless angels. When malevolent, even hellish demons would tremble. I’m grateful now that they are on our side. But enough about them. I’ll rest for a bit, then we can discuss how to proceed towards the Midnight Hunters’ camp.” With that, he closed his eyes as if napping, but was actually checking the rewards for the newbie guide quest: 【Newbie Guide Quest (3/6): Basic Combat Testing (Completed) Rewards: 5 Test Invitation Codes, Game Forum Feature Unlocked. Developer’s Note: The forum is not just a place to share gossip and vent over tea, but also a gathering place for the lovely little players to share their feelings. They need the forum like adventurers need a tavern. Now you have your own tavern, use it wisely.】 【Newbie Guide Quest (4/6): Advanced Combat Testing, instruct test subjects to conduct a qualified battle. Requirement is to annihilate or drive off the enemy while sustaining no more than one-fifth casualties of current manpower. Win Condition: Current manpower is 15, suffering more than 3 losses is considered a failure. Rewards: 5 Test Invitation Codes, New Feature Unlocked, additional rewards based on completion. Developer’s Note: Would you really use such adorable little players as cannon fodder? Well it’s not impossible, but at this stage we suggest properly allocating each precious manpower. In other words, you must first learn the finesse of operation management before executing bold blitzkrieg tactics.】 “Are these difficulty settings serious? I feel like there’s a whole world of difference between three and four! Are you trying to force me to transition from roleplaying to an RTS player? Should I just gouged out my eyeballs now to get the job change over with?” Murphy inwardly roasted the quest objectives fiercely. But the rewards were still enticing. He saw the newly unlocked game forum feature under his character card. Using his consciousness like a virtual mouse cursor, he tapped on it, causing a brilliant glow to flash before his eyes. A translucent panel then appeared, like sitting at a computer browsing the web. This was the main forum interface. Admittedly quite rudimentary, but it had basic functions like private messages, posting, discussion groups, etc. Murphy checked his account information skillfully and saw his ID was not Revnor Murphy Lessenbra, but the cryptic【Alpha】. This reminded him of when the test plan management system activated and the first guidance quest referred to him as “Alpha” in the content description as well. “What does this name mean?” Murphy pondered inwardly but found no answer. He continued checking his account info which showed he had been granted sole admin privileges for this forum. Just as he was the sole admin interacting with players in this “game” under testing. “Maybe I can try forcing the players offline sometime? To flex my admin dog privileges a bit.” This slightly evil thought entered Murphy’s mind, making the hapless vampire eager to try it. He then turned his attention to this unusually minimalist yet complex forum. There were currently no posts, as the feature had just unlocked. But the【10/15】player count showed that the five newly obtained test invitation codes were somehow being circulated and finding suitable test subjects in the players’ world by means Murphy couldn’t imagine. Speaking of which, what were the standards for selecting players anyway? Was it really just based on luck? As Murphy pondered these questions, he was about to enter the forum to vent and maybe make an introductory post to ease his tense and perplexed mood. But before he could act, a sudden gunshot made him jump up, with Maxim also gripping his sword nervously beside him. The people in this village were probably all killed by the Witch Hunters. Where did that gunshot come from? More importantly, were his adorable little players already dead? Damn it! How dare anyone kill my cute little players! You’re really asking for it!