Chen Lun noticed that these "refugee" players were only wearing their own linen robes and carrying all kinds of scrap metal in their hands.
They should all have rushed to Emerald Town from the "Novice Village" in the suburbs.
After observing silently for a while, he found that these players had formed teams and were heading in one direction in groups of three or five.
Chen Lun hid in the dark and followed them to see what these newbies were trying to do.
Along the way, he saw that the town was very desolate and every household was closed.
The streets were littered with all kinds of garbage, blood-stained cloth and tattered clothes.
A breeze blew in, bringing with it a slightly fishy smell that made people nauseous.
There were some Moon Church monks in black robes, expressionless and taciturn, carrying sacks of corpses as they walked along, ignoring the group of "refugee" players.
The players soon arrived at the west side of the town, which had been cordoned off by wooden fences. Many soldiers wearing leather armor and iron helmets, holding daggers, were guarding the area.
Seeing the player coming, the leading soldier captain seemed very happy.
He said something, and with a clang, he opened the fence and let the group of players enter the block behind the fence.
There came a beast-like roar and a strange humming sound from the other end, as if someone was humming some kind of nursery rhyme. A strong stench and smell of blood rushed out from the fence, causing the soldiers outside to cover their noses and retreat.
After a few urgings, dozens of players, with excitement on their faces, poured in through the narrow fence gate and arrived at the block behind.
With a bang, the fence gate was closed again.
Chen Lun took out the [Star Veil] and put it on himself, then slowly walked out of the shadows.
The soldiers then noticed that a well-dressed gentleman had appeared in front of them at some point, and they were all startled.
"What happened to the block behind the fence? Why did they let those people in?"
Chen Lun asked aloud.
The shell necklace on his chest flashed a faint light, which made the leading soldier captain slightly stunned.
“Oh, sir, that’s the plague area… The residents inside have been infected with the plague and turned into bloodthirsty madmen.
The commander issued an order to clear the epidemic area. The group of people just now were newly recruited soldiers who volunteered to enter the epidemic area to eliminate the plague patients. "
Chen Lun nodded silently.
"This is a beginner's task..."
Two months ago, through the news brought back by Maggie, he had already learned some information about the plague.
Among the three diseases, the most core and terrifying one is "red dance".
People infected with this disease are like being cursed. They will unconsciously attract other people, and dance with them with smiles on their faces and joy. The scene is very strange.
"They rarely stop dancing until they die... Most of the time their legs break and they fall to the ground and squirm and die. All the while, the dancers are screaming, laughing or crying, and some are singing strange songs."
These are Maggie's exact words.
"If you watch them and refuse to join the dance, you will be subjected to violence... they are bloodthirsty and cruel, and will even eat you.
However, this disease, after being infected for more than 24 hours, means the destruction of the spirit, leaving only a mad shell. "
Chen Lun hypnotized the soldier captain, intending to let him open the fence gate and then go in to take a look himself.
But at this moment.
BANG!!
There was a loud bang, and the wooden fence suddenly shook violently.
I don’t know what happened afterwards, but I heard screams and strange laughter.
The soldiers drew their swords and prepared for battle as if they were facing a formidable enemy.
Crash-bang! !
There was another tremor, and the wooden fence was knocked over with a loud bang.
Chen Lun looked up and saw a dozen residents with crazy faces, holding rusty and bloody kitchen knives, rakes or sickles in their hands, chasing the players who had entered earlier.
These infected residents were dressed in ragged robes or suits, and were dirty. They always had unnatural smiles on their faces, and laughed strangely, or sang inaudible songs.
He raised his hand and swung his weapon, blood splattered everywhere, and the players screamed and turned into white light and disappeared.
Even after killing all the players, these plague lunatics did not stop.
Some of them held hands, hummed some strange tune, and danced in circles. Other plague madmen carried kitchen knives and sickles and chopped at the soldiers.
They laughed shrilly, as if chopping people was something fun and interesting.
“Ah! Ahhh!!”
A soldier without a helmet screamed.
His face was caught by the rake, and dense scratches scraped across his head, tearing off a large piece of flesh and blood.
The soldiers began to resist, but they had little morale.
They fought and retreated, and seemed not to want to get entangled here too much.
Chen Lun knew that they were worried about contracting the disease... After all, fighting at such close range, with weapons covered in dirt and rust, and blood from someone unknown, it was really easy to get infected.
So far, there is no possibility of cure for the patients and the only way out is death.
This is so demoralizing!
Two more soldiers were knocked down by the plague madman, but their counterattacks failed to stop the opponent for even a moment.
The patients seemed to have no sense of pain. They were slashed by the soldiers' daggers and bleeding profusely, but they did not scream or wail... They still laughed strangely, hummed songs, and raised their weapons to kill.
The soldiers were defeated.
At this time, a large group of "refugee" players came . There were more of them than before, some of them had just been resurrected, and some had just arrived in Emerald Town and were pulled together to "kill monsters".
"Cong! There's a monster ahead!"
"Save those guards, otherwise if the position is lost, your contribution points will be deducted!"
"Don't grab the monster! I'll do it!"
The players shouted noisily and rushed forward in a swarm.
They were holding weapons such as iron rods, wooden sticks and hatchets, and looked almost the same as the local residents who were infected with the disease, just like two groups of villagers in a fight.
But soon, the players suffered another heavy blow.
Because they found that their output was not enough to kill a "resident monster". After the other party was infected with the plague, his body did not collapse, but seemed to be strengthened. He was hit by seven or eight sticks, but he was just fine.
He still carried a machete and chopped the players' melons.
As the players died one by one, the remaining players followed the soldiers and retreated.
Some people couldn't help but wail -
"What the hell is this 'little monster'?! Several people beat him up for a long time but couldn't kill him!"
"Isn't this game too difficult?! It's not for humans to play!"
"Gou Ba persuaded me to quit. I'm leaving and going back to the countryside to hunt stray dogs!"
A considerable number of these players thought that the plague district in this town was not something they could go to at their current level. So they began to think about quitting and returning to the suburbs to kill beasts and gain experience.
"Ha, it's time for me to perform!"
At this time, a player wearing a leather coat and a wide-brimmed hat stood up.
Everyone looked at him and saw that he had a dagger on his waist, a spear in both hands, and an ID "Lan Shi (God's Love)" on his head.
He seemed to enjoy the attention of the crowd. He performed a cool gun dance, rushed forward and started fighting with those plague lunatics.
With a few clangs, he relied on his equipment advantage to pick up the kitchen knife in a madman's hand with his spear and stabbed it into the man's throat.
The face of the sick madman was covered in blood, but he was still grinning, which made Ranshi feel creepy. He gritted his teeth and gripped the gun handle tightly, then pulled it out and swept it across, slicing the neck of the sick madman.
Then he kicked out, and with a bang, hit the opponent's abdomen, and the latter fell to the ground.
When the kill notification popped up, he heaved a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat off his face while leaning on his spear.
"Wow! This dude is a bullfrog!"
"Why does his outfit look so familiar?"
"Isn't this the guard uniform of the Red Apple Church? How did you get it?!"
Rotten Persimmon felt the "envy" of other players and felt good about himself. He admired his decision more and more, which was so correct.
As a member of the God's Love Guild and one of the first players in the public beta, he immediately went to the abandoned farm in the suburbs to kill wild monsters and level up.
According to the official plot, the plague swept through the suburbs, and people died or fled. Only a few farmers survived, but still guarded their farms.
At that time, Rotten Persimmon accepted a mission from a farmer to help clear out the wild beasts nearby and the strange people who were running around with the disease.
After reaching level five and earning some money, he went directly to Emerald Town as planned, and then found a way to join the Red Apple Church.
This process sounds simple, but it is actually very difficult.
As one of the seven orthodox churches, the Red Apple Church is very attractive to players. But if you want to join, you need to meet some harsh conditions and complete a series of difficult tasks.
As a result, many players have tried the path of "joining the church", but most of them ended in failure.
Rotten Persimmon took a different approach, took Jack's wanted order, and headed straight to the church, where he happened to meet a new monk. He used his eloquence and some information from the guild...
This was a plan he had planned for a long time. He pestered two "big guys" who had participated in the internal test - Goutou Jin and Forgotten Wuji, and obtained some information about Jack.
After telling all of this to the monks of the Red Apple Church, he successfully attracted their attention and Rotten Persimmon was able to join the church.
Although he was only a low-level church guard, he was quite satisfied because he had a secondary occupation entry "Church Guard" on his panel and also got a set of proper equipment.
With the attribute bonus of the secondary profession and a set of brand new equipment, Lan Shi has distanced himself from other players. He enjoys this sense of superiority.
Rotten Persimmon even shared his own "strategy" in the guild channel, persuading other guild brothers to follow his example so that they could gain a "huge advantage" at the start.
His inspiration naturally came from Mr. Jack.
Since Jack has a grudge against the Red Apple Church, he can use this to gain the favor of the church.
Rotten Persimmon has always believed that no matter how powerful Jack is, he is still a villain after all, and the Red Apple Church, as a righteous church, will definitely get back at him!
He only needs to take advantage of the situation to reap enough benefits.
Many guild members were indeed aroused by his interest, including a few cadres. After all, this was a "strategy" that had been proven to be effective in practice.
Only Gnod of Gold and Forgotten Wuji were not optimistic about this, and even hinted to him subtly that he should stop after getting the benefits, and not do the "bounty mission" of the Red Apple Church, and not waste time on Jack.
On the surface, Lan Shi agreed respectfully, but in his heart he did not take it seriously.
After all, everything has been going smoothly since he created his account...except for his ID.
Thinking of this, Lan Shi felt a pain in his balls. When he was creating his character, he had planned to give it a resounding and domineering ID, "Greedy Bite", but in the end it said "Duplicate ID".
While secretly cursing the guy who had stolen his ID, he reluctantly changed it to the abbreviated version "馋噬". However, due to his slip of the tongue and quick hands, it ended up becoming "烂柿"!
Ding ding! Dang!
Puff——!
Lanshi danced the spear in his hand very quickly, and relying on his long arms, he deflected the sickle in the hand of the plague resident, and then fiercely stabbed several holes in the opponent's chest and abdomen.
Finally, he used his spear as a club, whipping his enemy's neck, knocking him down, and stabbed him in the eye socket to finish him off.
The kill prompt pops up.
He was very happy when he saw the generous experience value reward.
He picked up the rusty sickle on the ground and chose to upgrade it, raising his level by one level. Others were quite envious, even the NPC soldiers looked at him with admiration.
"——Rotten Persimmon, I have gathered the brothers near Emerald Town and asked them to rush to you as soon as possible... After that, you will temporarily serve as the captain and help keep an eye on things."
The president of the God's Love Guild, "Shi Ren", spoke in the guild channel and specifically tagged him.
When Lanshi saw this, he was very excited and immediately replied, "No problem."
He turned his head and looked around.
The other players retreated very far, and only a very small number of them were willing to rush forward to fight the plague madman. Those soldiers had no hope and stayed far away and were unwilling to move forward.
"Ha ha--!"
Suddenly there was a burst of shrill laughter.
Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw a red figure jumping out of an old residential building in the epidemic district.
She was a woman with disheveled hair and a crazy smile on her gray face. She was wearing a red robe and holding a sharp knife in her hand. She rushed towards the crowd like a madman.
Rotten Persimmon frowned, threw a "probe" over, and then was slightly stunned.
"Elite monster!"
He was shocked to see that the level of this woman in red was ten levels higher than his. Some of her attributes showed unknown bars, and the danger level was orange, "very dangerous".
"It's the little boss! Everyone, come together!"
Rotten Persimmon shouted.
Hearing his words, other players began to get excited.
It seems like this is a secret code that can ignite the player's inner desire.
Amid the soldiers' puzzled looks, a dozen players rushed forward with scrap metal in their hands and stood on the same front with Rotten Persimmon.
"Come on! Those who are willing to fight the BOSS accept my invitation to form a team. This way the profits will be shared equally, and the spoils can also be distributed through ROLL points...!"
Lan Shi shouted hurriedly, directing the players to besiege the woman in red.
Others saw the "God's Love" in brackets above his ID and were willing to believe him. After all, he was from one of the three major guilds, so he was more reliable than some individual players.
Chen Lun, who was standing behind a tree not far away, was standing in the shade, watching the scene silently.
"Red Dancer... Is this a result of a deep infection from the disease, causing mutation?"
There was mist in his eyes and a hint of doubt on his face.
"This group of players is in trouble. They can't win... Their strength is comparable to that of a [Sequence 9] Beyonder."
Chen Lun shook his head.
clang!
A crisp sound.
The long spear of Lanshi collided with the sharp knife of the woman in red. He originally wanted to use the same trick again to knock the woman's weapon away, but he did not expect to encounter huge resistance.
The opponent's strength is really too great!
"Ha ha--!!"
The woman in red raised her slender arm and slapped away Ranshi's spear, then slashed at him with a knife.
With a hissing sound.
The wide-brimmed hat on Rotten Persimmon's head was torn apart, and a hole was opened on his head, with blood and brains splattering everywhere.
【You are dead! 】
His vision went dark, and then he saw this prompt box.
"I really have no idea...why should I rush to the front."
This was what he was thinking before he died.
The strongest persimmon among the players was defeated by the red-clothed woman in one go, and the others had no power to fight back. Moreover, there were other disease madmen nearby, who were desperately attacking the players.
The player alliance that was preparing to besiege the woman in red was instantly destroyed and fell apart. The soldiers were being slaughtered. The woman in red was too fast and they couldn't escape at all.
The resurrected Rotten Persimmon was furious when he saw the other players shrinking back from moving forward.
"This is not a solution..."
Rotten Persimmon was extremely anxious.
This was his first time encountering an elite monster, and he would be unwilling to let him leave like this.
It’s a pity that these individual players are just a mob and cannot be commanded. Otherwise, if it were the brothers from the God’s Love Guild, they would definitely be able to use their lives to kill this woman in red!
Just at this moment.
A man wearing a black flat hat appeared in everyone's sight at some point.
He seemed to have been standing nearby from the beginning, but no one noticed him.
"!!"
Rotten Persimmon was startled .
Other players had the same reaction.
"Hahaha--!!"
The dancer in red waved the sharp knife in her hand, stabbed two more players to death, hacked a soldier to death, and rushed straight to where the others were gathered.
And this strange man happened to be standing in front of them.
"Who is this man?!"
A player asked.
"have no idea!"
The others shook their heads.
Under the gaze of everyone, the man gently raised his right hand.
Bang!
He grabbed the sharp knife swung by the woman in red.
boom!!
A bright flame gushed out from his palm, and the sharp knife instantly burned red, then turned into molten iron and flowed down.
"cut."
The man uttered a byte in a deep voice.
He put his fingers together, and a bright yellow flame burned fiercely, transforming into a long, wide-bladed guillotine in his hand.
boom!!
He waved his hand and the flaming beheading knife swept across. The entire area above the red-clothed woman's neck was covered in flames and instantly turned into charcoal and ash.
The man turned around, pulled the brim of his hat, and slowly walked towards the players.
The red figure behind him fell to the ground with a thud and was motionless.
"Fuck! So cool!"
"So strong...?! He must be a transcendent!"
"What's the origin?! Is he the NPC mentor in the Novice Village?!"
The players looked at him, threw a "probe" at the man, and were all shocked.
The feedback information contained a series of unknown horizontal lines and a black-red "Extremely Deadly".
Only above this man's head, under "probing", an ID slowly appeared -
"Black Messenger"!