Chapter 345: Conspiracy

Tieshi Mountain.

There were corpses everywhere on the ground.

A group of bandits led by One-eyed Dragon had ambushed the camp of players on Tieshi Mountain, only to be completely Slayed by the players.

Of course, among the players, seven unlucky fellows had also fallen.

This was a great victory.

Although this battle looked quite comical.

To the players, however, it was an immersive battle that made their blood boil.

"Get lost, I killed this One-eyed Dragon, the equipment he dropped is mine!" Ye Di stood guard over One-eyed Dragon's corpse, feeling around on him to search for loot.

In past games, Slaying a boss would cause equipment to drop, and players only needed to click to pick it up.

Now, however, they had to loot the corpse themselves, which gave Ye Di a different kind of novelty.

He looked at Heiniu: "Your Assassination Dao is truly impressive; I'm even tempted to become an Assassin. When I log off, I'll transfer the money to you."

"No problem." Heiniu didn't mind at all.

Today, he had also killed several bandits and had a bountiful harvest.

Of course, he felt his biggest harvest was still the money he received from Ye Di.

"Killing him, I've reached level six. Among us players, I am now the second to reach level six!"

Speaking of this, Ye Di was incomparably delighted.

Level six, in this world, was already considered an Intermediate Professional, and could be counted as a decent adventurer.

Ye Di was very happy, and at the same time, he took the long blade from One-eyed Dragon's hand.

This long blade looked well-crafted at a glance.

"You were the one who hacked him into a crippled state, so this blade is for you." Ye Di was very generous and gave the long blade to Heiniu.

"Thanks." Heiniu took the long blade, his face beaming with a smile.

He also needed a good weapon.

This would be of great help to him in killing monsters.

"I wonder when I'll be able to reach level ten. I feel that after becoming an Intermediate Professional, leveling up has become slower." Ye Di lowered his head, frowning.

When he was a beginner professional, leveling up was incredibly fast; perhaps he could go up a level in a day or two.

But after level five, the experience required to level up was far more than before.

He had stayed at level five for a long time, Slaying many monsters, and only after Slaying One-eyed Dragon did he barely reach level six.

"To reach level seven, I estimate it will take half a month, or even a month." Ye Di said, stretching his back, "If only there were a massive amount of monsters for me to kill."

"Where would there be so many monsters? The monsters here don't respawn. I'm afraid the game designers would have a headache just setting up one monster." Heiniu spoke up.

"These monsters must all be randomly generated by AI; otherwise, with such a huge workload, how could a few designers set them all up?" Ye Di said.

Just at this moment, Lin Chao's figure appeared before everyone.

"Warriors, through your heroic fighting and tenacious resistance, all the enemies have been completely Slayed.

This time, we have Slayed these heinous bandits, eliminating evil for the people and punishing the wicked to promote the good, achieving a great victory.

All those who participated in the battle will receive a Copper Heroic Badge as a reward.

Among them, Ye Di, who Slayed the bandit leader, will receive a Silver Heroic Badge."

"Holy crap, a badge! I got a badge!"

"A Silver Heroic Badge, what a huge profit!"

"This kind of badge is a non-tradable item, right?"

Things are valued for their rarity; in the game, badges were rewards for the players.

These players immediately opened their game panels, and sure enough, there was a medal inside.

The badges Lin Chao issued to them were certainly not real badges, but rather badges issued to them through the Manager System.

For Lin Chao, setting up a few badges was too simple, and it was very easy to gain the players' favor.

"Every badge is an exclusive item, non-tradable." Lin Chao said.

Sure enough, hearing Lin Chao's words, the players present cheered.

Lin Chao's gaze was calm.

Slaying these bandits this time was his greatest harvest.

He had gained a massive amount of experience.

"The next batch of players should be coming in soon." Lin Chao decided to first increase the number of players to 200.

This would be equivalent to having 200 players working for him every day, grinding monsters for him.

If all 200 players became professionals.

Then, he could truly be considered to have a foothold in Koya City.

Meanwhile, at the foot of Tieshi Mountain, Shivana looked at the scene before her, an expression of disbelief on her face.

"One-eyed Dragon is dead? Died at the hands of that group of strange people?"

Shivana was extremely astonished.

She had seen those strange people before.

It could be said that those people were all Ordinary Commoners, or even worse than Ordinary Commoners.

The strongest among them couldn't even beat a maid.

But now, in the forest, there were bandits everywhere who had been stripped of their clothes.

One-eyed Dragon, too, had died without a burial place.

"These people... how did they defeat the bandits?"

The scene before her eyes was truly bizarre.

While Shivana watched this group of players, many of the players were also sizing her up.

"The female knight is here!"

"So cool and beautiful!"

"I really want to fall in love with her!"

"Don't even think about it. Based on my years of gaming experience, she is the official couple of Manager."

"Official pairing?"

"Are there any fan-made comics? I want to see them."

"Keep your voices down. I feel like this Manager isn't just a simple NPC; he might be someone from the game company.

Last time, a player spoke ill of the Manager, and the Manager kicked that person out of the game directly and revoked their permission to enter the game."

"Holy crap, Manager has such great authority!"

"Don't ever offend the Manager. If you can't play a game like this, that would be too much of a loss."

After all, a game like this was a first in reality.

Playing this game even added breadth to their lives in reality.

These players looked at Shivana with smiles on their faces.

A look of shock also appeared on Shivana's face.

She saw a person... Ye Di!

If she remembered correctly, according to the reports that flooded in last time, hadn't this person fallen into the sewer and died while trying to Slay a Shadow Rat?

How did he revive?

And how did he become a Professional, and it looks like... he seems to be an Intermediate Professional?

Wasn't this person very useless?

Could it be that the Prince saved him from the God of Death?

Shivana immediately discarded this thought.

The God of Death was a god even more powerful than the God of Song; even the God of Song might not be able to demand the soul of a living person from the God of Death, let alone the Prince.

Perhaps he didn't die that time.

It was just that, what was going on with his current strength?

The more Shivana looked, the more surprised she became.

The group of people before her eyes all seemed to have become Professionals.

Weren't they all Ordinary people? How did they all become Professionals?

This group of people was too strange.

Shivana was puzzled; she walked through the crowd and met Lin Chao.

"Your Highness, you... repelled One-eyed Dragon?"

Lin Chao looked at Shivana, his gaze calm: "Yes, with the help of these warriors, we Slayed all of One-eyed Dragon's subordinates."

"Prince, that group of people... how did they become Professionals?" Shivana asked the doubt in her heart.

"Didn't I say? They are a group of special warriors, so naturally, they have unique qualities."

Regarding the origin of the players, Lin Chao only told Shivana briefly.

He only said that these players were warriors he had contracted, coming from a distant tribe and teleported here through the contract.

This origin was not rare.

On the God Continent, contracts and summoning were very common.

However, what was usually summoned were powerful creatures.

Summoning beings of the players' level like Lin Chao did was rare, though it did exist.

"The Prince actually has such a fortuitous encounter." Shivana said this, but she was still puzzled in her heart.

No matter how unique, it was impossible to improve strength so quickly.

Otherwise, with this kind of ability, this tribe would definitely count as a powerful force on the God Continent.

Yet, in Shivana's memory, there was no tribe that resembled this group of people at all.

"Prince, are they reliable?" Shivana accepted Lin Chao's explanation in her heart.

"With the contract in place, don't worry, it's fine," Lin Chao replied.

He indeed had great authority over the players.

At worst, he could just kick them out of the game.

In that case, they would be unable to enter the game.

Even if they changed their identity to reserve and were selected for beta testing qualifications, they still wouldn't be able to enter the game.

Shivana nodded, feeling slightly at ease.

This group of strange people was not strong, but they had a certain amount of combat power and could be considered the Prince's manpower, which was also a good thing.

Of course, in Shivana's view, having only this power was not enough.

Compared to other Princes or Princesses, it was still too meager.

Putting aside this thought, Shivana began to face the incident of One-eyed Dragon's attack squarely.

"Your Highness, One-eyed Dragon and his men suddenly attacked Tieshi Mountain; there must be something fishy about this."

One-eyed Dragon was just a mountain bandit; under normal circumstances, he would not know that the Prince was at Tieshi Mountain.

Moreover, how would a mountain bandit have the guts to attack a Prince?

"Who do you think is pulling the strings behind this?" Lin Chao asked, his gaze cold and stern.

He is not stupid, so he naturally understands that the attack by One-eyed Dragon must have been planned.

Perhaps it was just to eliminate him.

It might even be the handiwork of his brothers and sisters behind the scenes.

"I suspect it is City Lord Morei," Shivana spoke up. "Today, I went to collect the tribute won by His Highness the Prince, but Morei made all sorts of excuses... He is openly making things difficult for the Prince."

"Is that so?" Lin Chao stood quietly. "Who do you think is behind Morei?"

This is what matters most.

Shivana's expression changed slightly.

She understood the Prince's meaning: there was someone directing Morei from behind the scenes.

Those most likely to be able to command Morei are those... princes and princesses with real power.

"I do not know," Shivana shook her head.

"I have three candidates in mind," Lin Chao said very calmly.

Shivana hurriedly said, "Your Highness, please do not be rash. At present... our strength is weak, and it is not suitable to go to war with other Highnesses..."

It is true that among the many princes, Prince Lin is the least favored by the King.

"I understand," Lin Chao smiled; he is not stupid.

What he needs to do now is to slowly develop players, form a powerful force, and then break through to become a Legendary, or even ascend to godhood.

Once he becomes a god, what would those enemies amount to?

The night is deep in Koya City.

Morei's face is filled with anger as he looks at Beisha, who is dressed scantily before him: "One-eyed Dragon and the others are all dead!"

Beisha approaches Morei, her fingers tracing circles on his chest.

"I also did not expect that there would actually be some professionals by Prince Lin's side."

"Hmph, Beisha, you were impulsive this time; according to the Eastern saying, it was 'beating the grass to startle the snake.'

Now that Prince Lin knows someone is dealing with him, Shivana will surely stay by his side at all times, and it won't be so easy for us to strike again."

This time, planning the attack on Tieshi Mountain by One-eyed Dragon was Beisha's handiwork.

"This time... we cannot be considered to have lost," Beisha smiled mysteriously. "City Lord, there is a Space Rift on Tieshi Mountain; you should be aware of it."

"Oh?"

"That Space Rift connects to the Abyss.

According to the information I received, that Space Rift connects to the 327th layer of the Abyss, a layer named the Blood and Fire Abyss.

One-eyed Dragon and the others died on Tieshi Mountain; with so much blood flowing and Blood Qi permeating, this will accelerate the expansion of the Abyss rift.

And Prince Lin will not know about any of this.

Once the Space Channel forms and the demons come out, do you think Prince Lin will still have a chance to survive?"

Beisha's eyes carry a smile, as if victory is already in her grasp.

"Is this true?"

"How would I dare to deceive you, City Lord?"

"By how many days has the formation of the Space Channel been advanced?"

"It has been advanced by one month."

"Not bad... but will this not strengthen the stability of the Space Rift?" Morei hesitated slightly.

He had previously found someone to look at that Space Rift; even if a Space Channel formed, it could only support High-Grade demons coming through.

Since no Legendary-level demons would come, he had not paid it any mind and let the Space Rift form a Space Channel.

Then, when the demons came out to cause chaos, he would join forces with the Wealth Church to kill the demons with thunderous momentum.

He would receive rewards from the Royal Family, and the Wealth Church would gain the faith of the commoners.

This is a win-win situation.

Of course, the only ones who would be unlucky are those commoners and the low-grade professionals who died fighting the demons.

"Rest assured, it won't," Beisha smiled with her eyes narrowed. "Are you still worried about how I do things?"

"Good." Morei felt relieved and grabbed Beisha's plump buttocks with his hand.

"Don't... I have to go accompany the Priest later," Beisha's face was full of desire as she let out a coquettish sound.

"There is still an hour left..." Morei said with dissatisfaction.

In front of the Space Rift, a strange look flashed in Lin Chao's eyes.

"The rift has become stable; it seems I can even smell the scent of blood. Perhaps... this was the true purpose of the attack."

"Is there someone in the city... who has made a deal with the devil?"

Lin Chao pondered.

According to the current situation, the danger level of this Space Rift has increased by one grade.

Perhaps when the Space Channel stabilizes, a Legendary-level demon will emerge.

This will cause a devastating blow to Koya City.

Koya City currently has no Legendary Professional stationed here.

Once a Legendary-level demon appears, the entire Koya City will be reduced to ruins.

By the time other cities react and a Legendary Professional arrives, it will be too late.

"There is still one month... I estimate a Legendary-level demon will appear then."

Lin Chao also felt a trace of urgency.

"I must seize the time to improve the strength of the players."

As the players' strength increases, his strength will also increase.

Currently, the most important thing for Lin Chao is to become Legendary.

By then, the entire demon army of the Space Channel will become a grinding spot for their players!

(End of chapter)