Chapter 154: Be Frank
In autumn in Innadeli, it gets dark after six o'clock.
An official from the Innadri Taxation Bureau and two operators appeared on a path outside the north city gate on sturdy ground lizard horses and galloped towards the city gate.
The suburban farmers who were walking on this road, who worked in the city during the day and went out of town to go home for the night, saw the uniforms of the three men from afar and hurriedly made way.
Only when the figures of the tax commissioner and his two companions disappeared did the farmers, who had been making way for them in fear, dare to spit quietly and curse in a low voice: "It's bad luck to run into a yellow-skinned dog!"
The tax commissioner’s uniform is usually yellow, which is close to gold. Both city residents and rural farmers look down on this “yellow dog”… The hard-earned income has to be taken out of your pocket and given to these people. It is strange for anyone to like to see the tax commissioner.
Of course, the people in the Tax Department never care whether they are popular with the public, and it is impossible for them to receive a few extra months of monthly salary.
Turning out of the small path, I saw the tall north city gate in the distance. The fat tax collector's whipping movement slowed down significantly.
The riding comfort of the high-endurance and high-load-bearing ground lizard horse is not much better than that of an ordinary horse. After riding on the horse's back for more than an hour, the tax officer felt a dull pain in the flesh on the inside of his thigh.
Glancing at the sky, the tax collector was in no hurry anymore as it was still a long time before the city gates would close at night. He muttered a few words about how annoying the peasants who resisted taxes were, stopped his horse by the roadside, dismounted and untied his belt… He had drunk some wine when he came back from the town, and he had been feeling a heaviness in his lower abdomen for a long time.
The two operators also drank a lot of rum and stopped the horse like the tax collector.
The three men were facing the woods on the side of the road, making a lot of splashing sounds.
After being relieved, the three were preparing to remount their horses and go back into the city when one of the operators noticed something out of the corner of his eye and turned around abruptly.
Deep in the woods, a sneaky figure flashed away.
"who?!"
The operator immediately drew the revolver from his waist and strode into the forest.
The operators of the Taxation Bureau are different from those of other departments. In addition to conventional knives, each official operator can also be equipped with firearms.
The development of firearms in this world is the same as that on Earth; it was born out of response to the needs of war after the advent of the industrial age.
Unlike Earth, the firearms technology in this world has not been further developed. After the emergence of fixed ammunition and firing technology, there is no next step.
The reason is simple. Firearms that use pure physical attacks are not suitable for the more complex war environment in this world. Most non-human monsters don't care about penetrating wounds from tiny bullets. Shooting in a line is far less effective against large monsters than a group charge by heavily armored knights.
Even in internal human wars, the role of firearms is very limited... Most spellcasters possess a spiritual realm that can affect the physical laws within a certain area. It is very .
It cannot be used on the front battlefield, but it is very suitable for public security warfare. For civilians and professional-level strongmen who have not completed their advancement, firearms are still quite deterrent weapons.
Taxation officers who can equip themselves with firearms are a greater deterrent to civilians than those in the church—even though an operator with a gun can never be a match for any Night Watchman.
The two armed operators who strode into the forest soon spotted the guy who was sneaking around.
Seeing this "person" clearly, the two operators who were originally aggressive let out short screams at the same time, and quickly retreated out of the woods with a figure that was even more agile than when they chased in...
Standing in the woods is a... headless monster!
The operator who escaped from the forest did not stop at all, but quickly mounted his horse and galloped away.
This kind of strange incident that is beyond the capabilities of the guns in their hands is not their responsibility.
The "monster" in the forest silently "watched" the three lizard horses go away in embarrassment.
Then… “it” slowly squatted down, picked up a bald skull from the overgrown grass under the osmanthus tree, and put it around its neck…
"Next time I'd better find a place farther away from the road to log off." Zhao Zhenzhen muttered to herself, then squatted down in the bushes and rummaged around, dragging out her backpack.
Putting on his backpack and covering his conspicuous skull head with the hood on his cloak, Zhao Zhenzhen looked towards the city of Innaderi and sighed, "It's not difficult to make 'Von Alphonse' into a tragic hero... but won't the town's affairs be delayed?"
Ben had returned to Westram before she went offline last time, and there was no one else around Zhao Zhenzhen.
However... after Zhao Zhenzhen expressed this sentiment... someone actually responded.
A particularly familiar voice belonging to an adult male was transmitted directly to Zhao Zhenzhen's ears through the imprint matrix: "There is no time to delay. You must trust others."
Zhao Zhenzhen was silent after hearing this voice...
"Yang, you're not an NPC, right?" Zhao Zhenzhen said dimly.
One day before the game time, when Yang issued the suicide mission to her, he still insisted on the NPC mode and sent a mission text to her...
After she got on the carriage and left the town, Yang didn't even bother to deal with the task text program, and directly "transmitted the message over a thousand miles", asking her to find a way to shape the exorcist "von Alphonse" into a tragic "hero", and make the fact that the exorcist "von Alphonse" had cooperated with the Night Watchmen of the Gold Coin Church an ironclad public fact - she felt something was wrong.
This time, when she waited until dark in the "game" before going online again, Yang actually communicated with her in such a lifelike tone that was not "NPC" at all... Obviously, this guy was going to reveal his cards.
The man's voice in my head chuckled and said, "Your think tank should have made a judgment on this point."
Zhao Zhenzhen fell silent again.
It wasn't that she had nothing to say, but she didn't have enough information and it was difficult for her to judge Yang's bottom line.
After weighing the pros and cons, Zhao Zhenzhen decided that there was no need to rush to find out Yang's background for the time being - since the other party had shown the intention to communicate, it was only a matter of time before both sides deepened their understanding and spoke frankly (revealed their cards); if they rashly inquired and angered the other party, it would be counterproductive.
The Chinese people never lack patience.
After determining the route, Zhao Zhenzhen quickly found the position to maintain a friendly and cooperative relationship with Yang. Since Yang had worked so hard to disguise this world as a game, then from the perspective of a friendly party, she should send friendly signals and provide corresponding cooperation.
In other words, continue with the status quo.
So Zhao Zhenzhen didn't ask about Yang's true identity at all, but asked: "The key point of this mission is the Gold Coin Church?"
When she threw away the exorcist vest before, Yang had signaled to the young Brook to take the initiative to inform the Gold Coin Church that the "Seal" had been intercepted by him.
Zhao Zhenzhen thought hard and guessed two main points: First, the "sealed object" was very important to the natives of this world, and only when it fell into Yang's hands could the Gold Coin Church give up.
Second, the Gold Coin Church would undoubtedly vent its anger on the exorcist alias "Von Alphonse" - and this was what Yang intended.
Yang Qiu admired the lady's accurate grasp of the scale of cooperation between the two parties and said frankly: "Yes, due to some historical issues, the Gold Coin Church is unwilling to have anything to do with me, and I need the friendship of the Gold Coin Church, even if it is just superficial friendship."
Zhao Zhenzhen: “…”
He made it seem like he was just trying to make friends with others by doing something as trivial as throwing dirty water on others... It's such a shameless person that it would be a shame if he didn't run for the presidency of the United States.
"In short, we just have to stick to the Gold Coin Church, right?" Zhao Zhenzhen avoided the main road and walked towards the north gate of Innadeli City with one foot deep and one foot shallow.
"Not bad." The voice in her head seemed to appreciate Zhao Zhenzhen's understanding and said happily, "The Gold Coin Church is not much better than other churches in this world, but there is one advantage of the Gold Coin Church that I personally appreciate, which is that it is pragmatic enough and not so conservative. As long as the benefits outweigh the disadvantages, their priests are willing to hold their noses and endure their dissatisfaction."
To Zhao Zhenzhen, saying "this world" was like Yang admitting that he was from Earth...
Zhao Zhenzhen resisted the urge to ask whether the other party was Chinese or not, and asked another question that she was very curious about: "Does this world really have gods?"
"Yes." Yang answered her question almost without hesitation, "However, the so-called gods are just some powerful extraordinary beings, not the omnipotence that the earth's religions boast about in order to fabricate the authority of gods."
This kind of extremely blasphemous statement would probably scare other listeners to death, but it was well received by Zhao Zhenzhen.
"What about the evil god?" Zhao Zhenzhen asked again.
If the evil god was just a "main storyline background of Exile Town" made up by Yang and existed only in the players' understanding, then Zhao Zhenzhen would not ask this question.
But... there are reports of cult troubles in newspapers, and not just one or two issues; in the archives of the town hall of Exile Town, there are even two records of cases caused by local cult sacrifices decades ago. This cannot be explained by a "made-up game background".
"You have read the Innadri Daily , right? This year's calendar is the New Era 1032. The custom of this world is to calculate the era from the beginning in the year when the old and new gods replace each other after the War of the Gods." Yang's reply was still straightforward. "The gods do not exist forever. Every thousand or tens of thousands of years, a varying number of gods will fall in the War of the Gods. Their godheads will disintegrate and return to the laws of the world, becoming part of the magic element, while their main consciousness will fall into the endless void."
"Once a fallen god loses his status as a legitimate god and a large number of believers, no matter what position he previously held, he will gradually lose his divinity over the years and go crazy."
"A crazy god will still instinctively project his will to the material plane and recruit believers. His madness will also pollute the believers. For fragile humans, the crazy will poured into them by the gods is irresistible."
"These fallen ancient gods are evil gods."
Zhao Zhenzhen broke out in a cold sweat after hearing this.
Yang Lian admitted his identity as an Earthling, so there was no to lie.
In other words... this is definitely not a game background he made up, but reality!
"Doesn't this mean that there are actually quite a lot of evil gods in existence?" Zhao Zhenzhen said.
"Countless." Yang said briefly.
After a pause, Yang added meaningfully: "In addition to worshipping evil gods, for creatures living in this world, absorbing magic power, coming into contact with infected people, or touching untouchable objects can also lead to mental pollution."
Zhao Zhenzhen exhaled lightly...
Of course, she understood Yang's hint - the plan that the young people in the expert group had enthusiastically planned to "one day set foot on the land of the alien world in person" could be declared over.
Such a weird world must not be visited by real people!
