Chapter 82: Forcing NPCs to "Follow the Plot"
Hal Maxwell, whether according to the moral values of the Chinese or the natives of Napalm, this guy has to be classified as a "villain".
He is an absolute egoist, cruel and ruthless, but flexible when faced with difficulties, at least he can lower his head for his companions; he is definitely unwelcome in an orderly society, but if he is thrown into a gray area, he can still hold up as a leader of a small team or organization.
In short... there is absolutely no market for Hal for anything that can impress Rex. After patiently listening to the eloquent introduction of the three rescued people, Hal just laughed.
Not only did Hal laugh back, he also rolled his eyes at the players as if they were idiots: "It's none of my business. Why would I go see such a disgusting thing?"
Players: “Holy shit?!”
Miaobishenghua raised his hand to signal everyone to stop complaining, and still looked at Hal confidently: "Are you sure, Hal, you really decided not to help the three Osrians?"
Hal was only willing to listen to these undeads because he had nothing to do. Now his patience was almost exhausted, so he waved his hand like he was shooing away a fly: "Stop talking nonsense, get out of here, get out of my tent."
The brilliant pen said: "Do you remember Jim?"
Hal's annoyed expression froze instantly.
Miaobishenghua spoke calmly: "Your friend when you were studying in the northern industrial city of Kenya Empire... No, Jim's family should not be qualified to know you who are still studying in a key university. That is, you met him after you stopped going to school. You once left Jim to die without helping him, right?"
Hal's stiff face suddenly became very gloomy and ugly. The skin around his eyes was taut, and he stared at Miaobishenghua with a murderous look in his eyes.
What players don't care about the most is the threat of death... So Miaobi Shenghua didn't mind at all that Hal's reaction was already very close to that of a real-life furious murderer, and continued to attack Hal very steadily: "How many years have you had nightmares about not saving Jim's life and even lingering on his body? After Jim, did those people you once felt guilty about also appear in your dreams?"
"Shut up!" Hal growled angrily, took a step forward, and poked his finger into Miaobishenghua's chest, "Shut up, undead, no matter where you heard about me, it's not your turn to point fingers at me!"
Miaobishenghua smiled calmly: "You are wrong, Hal, we are not here to teach you how to do things, we are here to threaten you."
Hal: “?!”
"You are the boss of the other tutors, right? We all know that Tuttle, Pansy, and Jerome all listen to you and follow your lead." Miaobishenghua said happily, "If you don't do what we say..." She raised her hands and motioned Jim to look at the three people behind her, "We will tell everyone about the nightmare in which you were scared by Jim and cried loudly, and begged for mercy desperately."
"What nonsense are you talking about!!" Hal was so angry that his face turned green.
"I'm not talking nonsense. You were afraid of being killed so you accepted a gold coin and buried your friend's body with your own hands. You couldn't survive if you didn't become a scumbag. You cried and shouted it out very frankly in your dream." Miaobishenghua said with a smile.
Hal: "... (゜ロ゜)"
Hal Maxwell, took a knee.
Successfully persuaded (threatened) Hal to agree to meet the three rescued people. On the way together, En Bu Zeng couldn't help but give a thumbs up to Miao Bi Sheng Hua.
In front of Hal, En Bu Zeng praised Miao Bi Sheng Hua without any hesitation: "Hua Hua, you are really steady. When Hal's face changed just now, I almost thought you were going to be chopped off."
Miaobishenghua smiled complacently: "On the contrary, when Hal's face changed instantly, I knew it was done. Our trick is definitely effective."
"What do you mean?" Ming Fengchunpu and Ai Pincaiying, who did not contribute, looked at each other sideways.
"You know I'm an online writer. I've read some psychology books to bring characters to life." Miaobi Shenghua is not shy about his own tricks for observing NPC reactions. "If a person is really angry, anger accumulates over time. The louder the quarrel, the more emotional the person becomes. If you act very angry instantly, your anger will be a performance, or there may be factors such as guilt, avoidance, or venting your anger on others."
Hal, who was walking behind the players with a gloomy face, looked in horror at the undead lady whose only advantage was her pleasant voice.
Hal couldn't understand what an online writer was, but the description of human anger in psychology and writing was very clear and straightforward. Hal felt a shiver in his liver after thinking about it carefully...
——These ghosts actually understand psychology and can analyze people's emotional reactions? !
God of Assassins, from which horrible dimension did Yang summon these weirdos?
In the tent secretly built by the players, Hal met Osrian, Lika and the black-haired boy.
He was not Rex who put the safety of the team first, nor did he care whether anyone would attack the undead convoy. It was even more impossible for him to feel sympathy for the unfortunate guy whom he only found "disgusting"... Naturally, he had nothing to say to Osrian and the other two.
After standing there in awkward silence with Osrian and the other two for a while , Hal turned his head impatiently to look at the undead who had forced him to come over: "I've seen them, bastards, are you satisfied?"
This scene...the players are also confused.
"Why don't they interact with each other? Does Hal have no role in this mission?" Mingfeng Chunpu asked puzzledly.
"That shouldn't be the case. Rex is level five, and Hal is also level five. They should both have their own stories, right?" Miaobishenghua scratched his head.
"Is there some key factor missing?" The man who works hard to win also frowned.
Veins popped out on Hal's forehead. "Look at me when you speak. Don't mutter in front of me, you bunch of damned undeads!"
"Emmmmmm...Hal, please say a few words to them." said the brilliant writer.
Hal's forehead was covered with veins. "You said that we only needed to meet them. Don't push your luck!"
Miaobishenghua said with a "tsk" sound, and stretched out his voice: "It's hard for me to deal with you, Halsan~ Please cooperate~ Otherwise we will have to go to talk to Tuttle~"
Hal's hand went to the sword at his waist.
"It's useless to kill me." Miaobishenghua said calmly, "Even if you kill all of us here, it's useless. Let me tell you bluntly, there are more people who know your secret than just us. Do you understand?"
Hal endured it again and again, and took his hand back in frustration...
After all, this guy is a citizen of the Kenyan Empire. As for the Orcs... he doesn't think much of them. After all, in the environment where he grew up, Orcs can only be regarded as a kind of domestic animals. His worldview has been formed since he was a child and it is not so easy to change.
After filtering out the two orcs, the only person Hal could barely talk to was the black-haired boy: "You, kid, what's your name?"
The players didn't care about Hal's murderous aura, but Hal frightened the black-haired boy so much that he trembled with fear before stammering, "My name is Brooke."
"Where are you from?" Hal glanced at several players and continued the conversation irritably.
"I'm... from the Rhineland. I used to live in Innadri." The young boy Brook said tremblingly.
"How did you end up in Westram?"
"My companions and I went to the outskirts of the Sorenson Mountains to capture long-eared red foxes, but accidentally...we got separated, and then we were deceived by a caravan coming from the south. We wanted to follow them back to the city, but the result was..."
"——Are you an idiot?" Hal was immediately irritated and roared, "You live in Innadri, but you don't even know what these caravans are like? And you still follow them?!"
Young Brooke: "Σ(っ°Д °;)っ"
"I've seen too many half-grown brats like you who don't know how to do anything. After reading a few legendary novels, you think you can become the protagonist in the storybook. You dare to leave the town rashly with some shabby rookie team, and you still think you can make a name for yourself!" Hal pointed at the child and cursed angrily, "I'll tell you what the end of these damn kids is. They either become the excrement of wild beasts in the wilderness with their so-called brothers and friends, or they are used by others to do stupid things that will definitely lead to their death, and their final destination is still the excrement of some wild beast!"
After scolding the young Brook, Hal glared at the players with veins on his face: "Are you satisfied, bastards?"
Players: “…”
"Satisfied, satisfied, of course satisfied." Miaobishenghua said with a twitching mouth.
The players couldn't understand the language of the black-haired boy, but they could hear Hal's swearing clearly. With his excellent emotional intelligence, it was easy to tell that although Hal seemed to be scolding the kid, he was actually resenting his past - since his past could be made into a copy, this guy must have a story.
Regardless of whether Hal was taking the opportunity to vent his emotions or reflect on his past, this guy's sudden rampage met the players' requirements for "NPCs following the plot". The highly mobile and quick-witted writer did not hesitate to take the opportunity to speak seriously, saying, "Westham is a really evil place. What do you think, Hal?"
Hal instinctively wanted to blurt out "None of my business", but at the critical moment he remembered that the last time he said this, he was threatened by these bastard undeads. He gritted his teeth and forced himself to hold back: "Yes, yes, so what?"
The group of players had never thought that Hal was afraid of them and so he just followed their words. Seeing that Hal's attitude was very different from before, they thought it was the effect of "going off the plot". They all became excited, clenched their fists and stared at Hal nervously...
"Hal, I think we need to destroy this devilish place and save the people there. What do you think?" Miaobishenghua was so excited that his breathing began to become heavy.
Hal irritably said "of course" perfunctorily. Only after he finished speaking did he realize what the undead in front of him had said. He no longer cared about being angry, and the expression on his face quickly changed from astonishment to surprise...
"It's done, it's done!" Mingfeng Chunsim, Entropy Does Not Increase, and Only Hard Work Can Win were all equally surprised.
"Hal, let's attack Westram!" Miaobishenghua said excitedly.
"That's right! This is exactly what we should do. This is the purpose of our coming out!" Hal agreed without hesitation.
He was also worried about how to trick these undead into causing such a huge trouble for Yang under Rex's surveillance - these guys actually took the initiative to kill themselves, it was like a sleepy man meeting a pillow!
Of course, letting the undead out to cause trouble doesn't mean they have to die with them. Hal immediately showed his "NPC" ethics and shamelessly said to the four players: "If you want to save the people who fell into Westram, you still need to do two things, undead friends."
"You say it, and we promise to do it!" The four players patted their chests.
Hal held up two fingers and said, "First, you must convince Rex. If Rex disagrees, he has the authority to cancel the mission I have assigned. Second, this mission can only be completed by you. We have a feud with the Rhine Kingdom. If we openly enter the towns of the Rhine Kingdom, we will attract powerful enemies, which will be detrimental to saving the poor people who have fallen into Westram."
"No problem!" The four players patted their chests again.
"Activating" Hal's interactive plot, in the players' view, triggering the mission is a sure thing, and convincing Rex is just the last step; as for Hal's request for the mentor NPC not to participate in the battle, it is not a big deal in the players' view... In which game isn't the NPC talking and the players running around?
Having reached a consensus, Hal and the four players were all satisfied and happy. It can be said that everyone was happy...
When Yang Qiu "came online", these eager players had already formed their teams and were surrounding Rex to ask for a mission...
After Yang Qiu "eavesdropped" on the players' lobbying of Rex for a while and found out what happened during the sixteen hours when he was "offline", his expression became very strange.
"... Yang?"
Supervisor Lowell, who was sitting opposite Yang Qiu drinking afternoon tea, was frightened by his strange expression and subconsciously sat up straight.
Yang Qiu calmed down and smiled slightly: "Supervisor Lowell, can you look after the house for me for a while?"
Rowell: “???”
The black-robed inspector thought that the undead had been gone for four days, and calculated the schedule of the tricycle expedition team: "Excuse me for making a bold guess...did your undead cause trouble in the Rhine Kingdom?"
"Of course not." Yang Qiu sipped his tea calmly. " In fact , what our undead friends are doing is what I once wanted to do. It's just that I had to deal with those crazy people in the Church of the Fiery Sun at that time and had no time to spare."
Upon hearing this, Supervisor Lowell suddenly became serious.
This is something that the "Nightmare Butcher" also wants to do, and it sounds bad!
"I think you may need a companion, Yang." Supervisor Lowell said solemnly.
"It's my honor." Yang Qiuding accepted it with a smile without any hesitation.
Rowell: “…”
The black-robed inspector suddenly felt that something was not right...
On this side, Yang Qiu used a trick to drag Inspector Lowell into the water. On the other side, Charlie Rex, who was surrounded by three layers of enemies in the camp, was in a state of panic.
Rex racked his brains but couldn't understand how Hal reached an agreement with the undead!
It was obvious that the guy didn't want to bother with these undead except for issuing tasks!
"...Please calm down and listen to me." Rex swallowed his saliva and raised his hand to suppress the undead. "I passed by Westram half a year ago. Although this town is small, it has dozens of black industries of all sizes. All businesses have hired thugs, plus the town's militia... It's not easy to take down Westram."
"Besides, Westram is only a few dozen kilometers away from Innadri, the largest city in the southern border of the Rhine Kingdom. The garrison in Innadri can arrive overnight. Even if we take it down, we will not be able to occupy it."
“Not to mention that there are thousands of civilians living in Westham who have no direct connection with the black industry. If the town is in chaos, these civilians will inevitably be implicated…”
Lahong, who had been online for a long time but still couldn't lead the team to go out, was already impatient. He waved his hand and said in a very friendly manner: "Don't worry, mercenaries are nothing. At most, we can attack at night. These people in the middle of the night are definitely not as flexible as us! Don't worry about occupying it. Once we take down the stronghold and have a resurrection point, what's the problem with the garrison?"
"That's right!" Qin Guan also said, "Leave it to us, Rex. We are not the same as those feudal armies. We will take over the stronghold and ensure that no one will be harmed. No harm will happen to the civilians!"
The two eager Blood Alliance leaders had spoken, so Ji Tang could only sincerely say to Rex: "Please believe your undead friend, Rex. Although we are dead, we are not ignorant of the value of life."
Ji Tang was more confident than anyone else that players would not attack civilians... When the identification technique was used to scan the civilians who did not even have blank equipment, if the players were willing to take a second look at them, it was because they were bored!
Rex looked up to the sky and sighed: "Okay, then let me accompany you for a trip--"
“No, no, no!” Yang Ying, Tang Jia, Qin Guan and other players who had switched to warriors were all nervous and tried their best to stop him. “Don’t make things more complicated. We have to attack the city and protect you at the same time. We don’t have the time for that!”
Rex: “…”
He actually wanted to be touched by the concern of these undeads, but for some reason he always felt something was wrong...
When the expedition team set out, Yang Qiu gave matrix permissions to all of these mentors. In addition to the original fixed "daily" tasks, there were additional options for free tasks, allowing these mentor NPCs to instruct fearless players to take the blame when encountering emergencies.
This authority was also reserved for Mia, but Yang Qiu did not pull Mia into the matrix directly. Instead, he left a back door for Rex to "pull people in". Rex would pull Mia in only when her life was in danger - it was already very challenging for professional-level strongmen to endure the mental torture of the players, so don't force Mia, who is just a civilian, to do that.
The players persuaded Rex, and Hal, who was hiding in the dark and watching the fun, led his brothers to the stage.
Under Rex's deep gaze, this guy shamelessly walked up to Rex and greeted him, pretending to be very considerate of the undead and pretending to discuss with Rex how to assign tasks in a way that would make it easier for the undead to act.
With two months of experience as "task issuing tools", this group of "senior NPCs" were already familiar with the routines and task formats of issuing tasks to the undead, whether they were willing or not. Rex's psychological barriers were cleared, and the group quickly issued decent tasks:
"Saving Westram"
"Rescue of Trafficked Civilians"
"Eliminate the Enemy"
At Rex's strong request, the task of "Destroy the Enemy" was changed to "Capture the Enemy". It was not that he was unwilling to see his fellow Chinese inadvertently stained with blood like Yang Qiu, but he was afraid that the undead would become murderous and bring disaster to the civilians as well.
The players didn't care at all whether to destroy or capture, they just accepted the mission and happily rushed towards Westram.
After watching the ecstatically dancing undead leave, Rex turned his head and looked at Hal coldly.
Of course Hal didn't tolerate it and looked at him unkindly.
"...Sometimes, I really don't understand why a short-sighted person like you can get so far." Rex's suppressed anger was released silently, and his words were quite impolite, "Do you think you can do whatever you want after leaving Tarantan? Don't be so naive, buddy. All your actions are in Yang's eyes."
Hal's face changed slightly, but he refused to show his fear. Instead, he let out a "Ha" and said more arrogantly, "Stop lecturing me here, little Charlie. Who do you think you are? Not to mention that this was originally the undead's own idea. Even if I instigated it, so what? Yang didn't say anything , which proves that Yang also agreed to do this. What qualifications do you have to fart here?"
Rex had no way to refute this. His lips trembled and he could only say bitterly: "I hope you are as confident as you say."
Hal and his group watched the angry Rex leave, and Knight Jerome couldn't help but mutter softly: "This guy is really arrogant."
Tuttle said numbly, "At this age, he is already a weapon master, so he has the capital to be arrogant."
This former Saint Crow's brain trust was obviously not in a good state after the blow he suffered in the morning. This sentence hit Hal, Pansy, and Jerome in one breath...
Hal barely advanced to the assassin level after he was over thirty, Pansy actually didn't even get promoted to treasure master, and Jerome, who was the same age as Rex, didn't even get the official knight badge - if they weren't sure they could kill Rex without getting hurt even if they joined forces, they would have gotten rid of this troublesome guy long ago.
Pansy wanted to make some small talk to get past the awkward moment, but suddenly her expression changed drastically.
"Pansy?" Jerome, who was standing next to her, was the first to notice that Pansy's face looked strange.
Hal looked back and was also frightened by Pansy's sudden pale face: "Hey, man, what's wrong with you?"
"...Wait! We overlooked a problem!" Pansy said with sweat on his forehead, "The undead went to attack Westram on their own - but they can't communicate with the locals! And they will disappear if they are killed... How can we let the locals know that they are from Tarantan?!"
Hal was stunned, then he pinched his thigh hard and blurted out the catchphrase he learned from the players: "Fuck!"
