Chapter 257: Queen
Before releasing the ultimate move to summon the undead, Phoenix had already told the Leo family about the precautions regarding the Tarantan undead, such as trying not to show a desire to talk to the undead (they will be harassed), not trying to give gifts to the undead to gain their favor (they will be robbed and harassed), not getting into physical conflict with the undead (they will be robbed)... and so on.
The entire Leo family was very reluctant to accept these instructions... but no one objected to the proposal to let the undead identify whether there were still vampires hiding in Crescent Manor.
Vampires do not appear one by one, but in groups. No one can tell when the unlucky child Simpson was impersonated by a vampire. Similarly, no one knows who else in the family has been replaced, and whether this fate of being replaced will fall on them.
Besides, if a young lady of Phoenix's noble status can accept coexisting with the dead, if they still make a fuss about it, it's not just a matter of being pretentious, but an overstep - are the lives of your family more valuable than the life of the eldest lady of the Odysseus family?
As for Phoenix herself...she really didn't think that these Tarantan undead were a bigger threat than vampires.
The danger posed by these strange undead spirits to humans is controllable. The worst behavior they can do is to rob people of their valuables (to exchange for game coins) and then tie them up and take them away (to exchange for reputation). They will not actually cause any harm to people - well, they may actually injure people slightly, but at least they won't kill them.
As far as Phoenix knew, the undead had indeed not killed anyone from the time they first captured the town of Westram, to the battle with the Cult of the Fiery Sun, to the later attack on the city of Innadri.
All the defeated soldiers who lost to the undead were taken by the Nightmare Butcher to build the railway to Tarantan - this matter was open in Innadri, and some citizens' family members (mostly caught for prostitution and gambling) were also in the prisoner road construction team. The city hall also allowed these citizens to give money and clothes to their relatives who were "reformed through labor"...
Regardless of which dimension, humans have a subtle "non-my kind" mentality. People who have killed others will be regarded as cruel and butchers. However, if both parties have the same position and common interests to maintain a relationship, or if the murderer's behavior is in line with contemporary mainstream values, then ordinary people will not particularly reject coexistence with people who have killed others.
It's like Phoenix sitting next to the nightmare butcher who once openly hammered a prince to death, and they can chat and laugh together.
But if the person who killed someone is not of our species, then the situation of this alien species will be very bad - even if it is an orc close to humans, or a dog, horse, or cow that is an important companion of humans, they must be killed to make others feel at ease. (If a human jumps into the panda house to harass the pandas, and the panda attacks this person, if the keeper has a gun, even if he is extremely sad, he can only shoot the panda.)
Even if Phoenix is an extremely rational political animal, even if Phoenix needs the combat power (destructive power) of the undead, whether these undead will kill humans is still very important to Phoenix's decision:
If these Tarantan undead had ever been stained with human blood, then she would never allow these aliens to appear in any city in the territory of Odysseus; even if she really needed the undead to fight for her, these undead could only appear on the front battlefield.
This can be said to be the arrogant mentality that is accepted by human beings by default. No matter who he is, as long as he is still human, he cannot think that this view is wrong... unless this person is a traitor.
However - even if Phoenix has made Leo's family mentally prepared, this kind of mental preparation is obviously not so easy to make.
When the armored and sharp-wielding undead figures appeared on the large iron plate, a series of short screams came from the crowd of Leo's family members across the fountain.
In front of the fountain, the servants and maids who were called to gather were in even worse condition. They could hear the screams of "Oh my God", "Ms. Gold Coin", "Help" and other ghostly cries.
Dozens of undead appeared and walked down from the iron plates. Skeletons with yellow patina on the bones looked around curiously. The people of Leo's family and the servants who came to gather also retreated far away with ghostly howls. There were even several puddles of suspicious light yellow liquid on the ground left by the crowd...
Players have long been accustomed to yelling at civilian NPCs every time a new map is opened. They paid no attention to the NPCs making the noise and looked around in surprise.
"Holy crap, is this a castle? The modeling is amazing!"
"It's so beautiful here, please take a screenshot for me!"
"It's a pity that this game doesn't allow you to customize characters. The screenshots of the skeletons look like scenes from horror movies. It's a waste of the beautiful scene modeling."
Some were busy looking at the new map scenes, while others were concentrating on finding NPCs to complete tasks. Qin Guan, a veteran Monster Battlefield player, looked around and found Wagner standing next to the teleportation point. He immediately greeted him enthusiastically: "Hey, Lao Wa! Aren't you a battlefield quartermaster who came here to open a new map?"
Wagner looked straight ahead and refused to respond, not even giving a glance.
"Wagner is here?" Miaobishenghua had been to the monster battlefield many times, and was very happy to see Wagner. "Hey, Wagner! When are you going to go back to be the quartermaster?"
Wagner was not at all moved by the clear and beautiful young female voice of the dead body. His heart was as hard as iron, and his eyes were only looking straight ahead.
——He has no friendship with these undeads! Whenever these bastards fail a battlefield mission, they point their fingers at him and curse him for a long time! !
If Yang hadn't had a change of heart... well, if Yang hadn't felt that he and Kane still had value in shining their own light elsewhere, and had transferred four men from the Sokri mercenaries to take over their shifts in rotation, he would probably still be squatting in that horrible dimensional demon world every day, having his relatives greeted by these undead!
The players quickly found their next target. They let go of Wagner, who only had grievances against the players but no gratitude, and aimed their spearheads at the two men and women standing side by side behind the fountain:
"Isn't the pretty boy here to help the Chamber of Commerce open a new map? Who is that female NPC next to him? Has the pretty boy fallen in love with someone else?"
"I think I've seen this NPC in the main city's town hall. She's pretty."
"Hey, this new N PC has the temperament of a queen!"
"My Queen! Is it a new force? Old Yang's fiancée?"
"What the hell is this? This pretty boy is standing here!"
"Can NPCs also engage in love triangles that are this exciting?"
"Where's the orange cat boss? Come out and interact with him!"
Brother Lowell, expressionless.
He is no longer the impulsive person who chased the undead across several streets after hearing someone call him a pretty boy. There is no point in catching up with the undead and killing them anyway, and he will still be shouting and yelling without restraint the next time he is seen.
The only secret to staying calm and coexisting with these Tarantan undead is to ignore the language these guys say other than telling you the mission.
The orange cat boss was about to run to the "castle" to take a screenshot when he remembered that he had a mission, so he hurried back to interact with Brother Lowell.
"Xiaobai... Respected Brother Lowell, I am a ginger cat sent by the Undead Chamber of Commerce. Is there anything I can do for you, your undead friends?" An ginger cat recited the common interactive dialogues among players in a serious tone.
Brother Lowell had seen many madly running undead in Westham, and had dealt with this group of undead more than once or twice, but it still took him a while to figure out that "there is an orange cat" was the name of the undead in front of him.
Phoenix from the Odysseus family stood beside him with a serious face. Lowell didn't care that this guy's name was too awkward, and performed his duties expressionlessly: "This lady is Miss Phoenix from the Odysseus family. She needs you to thoroughly check everyone in this manor to determine whether there are vampires among them."
Phoenix naturally did not understand what the "KABAKABA" sound of the undead's upper and lower jaws colliding meant. He only keenly discovered that these undead seemed to have some way of communicating, and they were not just making meaningless sounds. At this moment, he saw some undead running to Brother Lowell and (seemingly) "talking" politely, and Brother Lowell seemed to understand their language , so he was amazed.
At this time, Lowell took out a rhododendron badge and handed it to Phoenix reluctantly: "Madam, please take this and communicate with our undead friends."
Before leaving, Yang gave him several azalea badges and told him to give one to Phoenix after summoning the undead.
Considering that Phoenix will be dealing with the undead for a while, he really needs to communicate with them directly. Although it is a bit reluctant... this is the only way.
Phoenix took the badge naturally without any suspicion.
The moment the cool metal badge touched his finger skin, Phoenix's ears were immediately filled with countless extremely lively and energetic voices of young men and women.
Phoenix turned his head in surprise and looked towards the source of the sound.
"Hey, this scene is too detailed. Is it a map or a dungeon? It shouldn't be like a monster battlefield where only fixed areas are modeled and everything in the distance is just textures, right?"
"No way, isn't this a worldview breakthrough mission? I feel like it should be the same as the mission Sister Zhao sent out back then. A group of players go in first to get familiar with the environment, and when they come back it's a new map."
"Sangsang, what are the properties of your new weapon?"
"It's OK, but the enchantment is a little off. I plan to bring it in to have the enchantment cleaned when I open the activity book this weekend."
“Did you get a boss this weekend?”
"It's still early. It won't be too late to contact the boss on Thursday or Friday..."
Phoenix hadn't recovered from the shock that these skeletons, which were obviously antiques and at least hundreds or even thousands of years old, could actually make the voices of young men and women. The orange cat owner, who had been waiting for a while, was already getting a little impatient.
This guy came up to Phoenix, grinned, and said in a frivolous male voice that was totally inconsistent with the skeleton's face and sounded like a dog: "My Queen, is there anything I can do for your undead friend?"
Phoenix: “…”
Rowell understood how divisive the language style of the undead was, so he kindly reminded: "Phoenix, don't pay attention to the wording of the undead. Their language habits are not very different from ours."
Phoenix swallowed his saliva, and calmly spoke with the skill of a great noble politician: "There are 47 people in the Leo family, including butlers, deacons, servants, and handymen, a total of 162 people. I need you to carefully identify the human identity of each person and find out the vampires that may be hiding among them without harming all of them. Can you do it?"
"Of course!" the orange cat boss said firmly.
"Wait." Miaobishenghua and Enbutzeng spoke at the same time. The two looked at each other. Enbutzeng made a gesture of "you come on". Miaobishenghua stepped out of the crowd and walked in front of the queen, who rarely explained the purpose of the mission in the conversation. She looked very high in IA and should be a high-level NPC. "Your Majesty, can you provide more convenience to support our investigation? If the vampire does not behave suspiciously, it will be difficult for us to find the target."
Yang Qiu did not provide the players with the information that "identification techniques cannot directly identify vampires" because there was no need.
When Phoenix accurately reported the number of people in Crescent Manor, the two brainy girls, Miaobishenghua and Entropybutzen, almost simultaneously discovered this hidden "setting" - if identification techniques can find out vampires, then this mission has absolutely no value as a world view breakthrough mission!
Phoenix looked stiffly at the undead lady who walked up to her. Her voice sounded very confident and gave people a sense of wisdom and calmness.
So... why do you undead insist on calling me the Queen?!
I'm not! I didn't! Don't talk nonsense!
"Of course." Phoenix forced himself to ignore this offensive title to the royal family, "I wonder what kind of support the Lady of the Dead needs?"
Miaobishenghua pondered for a moment. This high-level NPC with a very high IA specifically told them not to hurt anyone. Obviously, this mission could not be solved by force, so he said, "Let's organize the conversation. Question each person one by one. Let someone who is familiar with the person being questioned listen in. If there is something wrong during the questioning, the person listening should point it out. If multiple people think that a person's reaction is abnormal, they will be considered a suspect and will be put together for further screening."
"Xiaobai - Brother Lowell, there is a way to let the people here communicate with us undead, right?" As he said this, Miaobishenghua looked sideways at the ascetic monk standing beside him.
Giving props to new NPCs in front of players and allowing them to communicate with players are, in Miaobishenghua's eyes, obvious hints.
Brother Lowell suddenly understood why Yang gave him a lot of extra azalea badges before he set off...
Phoenix glanced at all the members of Leo's family who were nervously hiding far away, and then looked at the more than a hundred servants who had almost retreated to the edge of the square.
These guys' fear of the large group of undead that appeared out of nowhere does not seem fake... If there are really vampires disguised inside, under the pressure of this group of undead who have already wiped out two vampire nobles, they might be exposed just by talking.
"Okay." Phoenix said in a deep voice, "But I hope the questioning can be conducted in public, preferably in this square, and the questions cannot involve the secrets of the Leo family that are inconvenient for outsiders to know."
"No problem, Your Majesty!" Miaobishenghua happily made the OK gesture.
Phoenix: "...Don't call me Queen."
"Yes, my Queen!"
