Chapter 71: The Lock of the Evil God Believer

Crimson Courtyard, Scarlet Wave Space, instance waiting hall.

After hearing what Cotton had to say, Lei Huo wore an expression that said, "Are you f***ing kidding me?"

"You mean to tell me that our people got dragged into the Quiet Town because Jian Xing snuck in among the newcomers and queued for an instance with them?"

Cotton looked back at the big shot behind him, and only after seeing the big shot nod did he say, "Yes."

Jian Xing is a genius in whom the Evolution Faction has placed high hopes, naturally possessing an exceptional affinity for the Sword Dao profession.

Not only did he obtain the hidden profession Sword Sect, but he also unlocked the prerequisites for the Sword Cultivator class transition while still in the Desolate Realm.

In the second layer of the Abyss, the strength of a Sword Cultivator is recognized as being in the top ten.

It can be said that as long as Jian Xing grows up, there will definitely be a seat for him at the table of the Administration's big shots in the future.

Such a genius is the future of the Administration.

When it came to Jian Xing, the expressions of Lei Huo and Meng Yawen turned grave.

Although the veteran sent by the Evolution Faction to hold the fort had seniority, his talent was already set in stone, and he had lost his drive; he would be eliminated by the times sooner or later.

The two of them could afford to ignore the veteran, but they could not ignore Jian Xing.

The world is just that realistic; absolute fairness has never existed. Even in an organization like the Administration that emphasizes rules and order, when it comes to certain special existences, the rules must make concessions for them.

Lei Huo asked, "What is Jian Xing doing sneaking in with newcomers? Don't tell me his class transition quest is to carry newbies through an instance."

Cotton wiped the sweat from his forehead, his tone slightly aggrieved as he said:

"The higher-ups ordered me to find a few trustworthy newcomers to lower the instance matching rating for Jian Xing, and to coordinate with reward permissions to enter a low-level instance."

The instructions from above were that the lower the level of the instance they could match into, the better.

He had thought it would be an easy task; with six rookies responsible for lowering the rating, even if they couldn't get a D-rank instance, it would at most be a weak C-rank.

Who is Jian Xing? A level 20 genius player with a hidden profession, an expert who walks sideways in B-rank instances and has even cleared an A-rank instance once. Wouldn't he just slaughter his way through a C-rank instance?

But who could have guessed that out of the hundreds or thousands of C-rank instances, they would end up in the most lethal one: the Quiet Town?

Now, not only is the credit gone, but he is also going to be hated by the entire Order Faction.

There must be a jinx, there definitely is a jinx!

Cotton's answer did not satisfy Lei Huo; instead, it left him even more puzzled.

"You mean to say that Jian Xing is so weak that he doesn't even dare to enter an instance by himself?"

Cotton's expression stiffened, and he looked back at the big shot behind him.

This time, he wasn't asking for the big shot's meaning; he didn't know why either.

"Let me explain the rest."

The middle-aged man from the Evolution Faction waved his hand, signaling Lei Huo and Meng Yawen to go to the lounge to talk.

Upon entering the lounge, they found that two people were already sitting inside.

They were very familiar with the bald, burly man among them; he was their own Director Gao.

As for the other person, they had only seen him from afar a few times.

That man looked to be only in his early thirties, yet his aura was as steady as that of a fifty or sixty-year-old man. He was not wearing flashy clothing or props, but a standard military uniform.

Even the middle-aged man from the Evolution Faction, whom Cotton called a big shot, had to respectfully ask after "Old Xu" when he saw him.

Xu Dejun was one of the first batch of Administration members to enter the Abyss game twenty years ago when it began large-scale recruitment of players; he was a true big shot.

He is one of the three highest-ranking officials of the Administration in the Desolate Realm, a neutral party who does not care whether the future path is the Evolution Faction or the Order Faction; he only cares about the results.

If it can make the Xia Kingdom stronger, if it can make the Administration stronger, that is enough.

Only by bringing out a big shot of this caliber could today's matter be suppressed. Otherwise, given the prickly nature of Lei Huo and Meng Yawen, coupled with the sly Director Gao sitting behind them, it would definitely have escalated until the entire Administration knew about it.

Xu Dejun looked at everyone and said, "Lin Jiang has already told me the basic situation. They had problems but didn't report them, and they adopted an inappropriate method of handling it; they are indeed at fault."

"But that child Jian Xing is truly a good seed, so we must find a way to save him. I didn't come here to take sides. Lin Jiang and the others will admit their mistakes and accept punishment. For those who can come out alive, they will pay compensation; for those who die, they are willing to pay a pension. The amount will be double the maximum standard for the corresponding rank. If he doesn't pay, I will demand it for you."

In just a few short sentences, Xu Dejun had already defined the direction for resolving the problem. Lei Huo and Meng Yawen glanced at the middle-aged man named Lin Jiang and cursed him as an old fox under their breath.

As soon as the matter was exposed, he had invited Xu Dejun to step in. Even though the two were dissatisfied, they dared not go against Xu Dejun and had to swallow their pride and accept it.

Seeing that no one had any objections, Xu Dejun looked at Lin Jiang, signaling him to tell everyone the specific situation.

Lin Jiang sighed and slowly told everyone the situation.

The cause of the matter was indeed Jian Xing's class transition quest.

In an A-rank instance, Jian Xing triggered the prerequisite quest for his class transition, and the item needed to complete the quest happened to be in the hands of a player who worshipped an evil god.

While completing the quest, Jian Xing also stopped that player's plan, smashed the altar he had set up, sliced open the temporary physical body needed for the evil god's descent, and dug the quest item he needed out of the body's heart.

From then on, Jian Xing was targeted by that group of evil god followers.

According to the quest requirements, Jian Xing must carry the quest item through five instance worlds and clear at least two instances to absorb it.

However, the quest item he obtained was tainted with the aura of the evil god and was constantly tracked by the evil god's followers using a special method.

In the first instance world, halfway through the strategy, a player suddenly went insane and destroyed an important prop, causing the main quest to fail directly.

!

In the second instance world, the instance native they were protecting suddenly became possessed and went to throw their life away, causing the boss to enter its complete form, almost wiping them out.

Two consecutive failed instance clears made Jian Xing and the Evolution Faction wary.

In the third instance world, to ensure Jian Xing would not be disturbed, the Evolution Faction specifically applied for permission to seal off a C-rank single-player instance that was on the verge of spiraling out of control.

As a result, for some unknown reason, the instance, which was halfway through being cleared, completely spiraled out of control without warning. If Jian Xing hadn't used a life-saving prop to force an exit, he would likely have been trapped inside the out-of-control instance forever.

Three consecutive failed clears not only brought Jian Xing's class transition quest to the brink of failure, but the penalty for failing three times in a row also deducted 14 points from Jian Xing's Willpower cap.

If he fails a fourth consecutive clear, this time 16 points will be deducted from his Willpower cap.

Jian Xing didn't have many points allocated to the Willpower attribute to begin with; if he fails one more time, regardless of the prerequisite quest, he himself will lose control first.

Helpless, the Evolution Faction came up with this desperate plan, intending to have Jian Xing sneak in among the newcomer players, let the newcomers lower the matching rating, and then coordinate with reward instance props to enter a low-level instance.

And the lower, the better.

Facing an ordinary D-rank or C-rank instance, Jian Xing's ability could easily crush it. Even if evil god followers caused trouble, they wouldn't be able to stir up any waves in the face of absolute numerical superiority.

However, what Lin Jiang and the other radical members didn't expect was that Jian Xing would actually queue into the Quiet Town.

The real difficulty of the Quiet Town probably already exceeds that of an ordinary C-rank instance on the verge of spiraling out of control. Coupled with Jian Xing's reduced Willpower cap, he must be on guard against losing control at all times, meaning he can only exert seventy or eighty percent of his power, making it even more dangerous to clear.

Speaking of this, Lin Jiang bowed to the people from the Wanghai City Branch and said:

"Although I know it is shameless to say this, I still hope to borrow the power of the Order Faction, and use the prop kept by the Wanghai City Countermeasure Bureau, to send a helper to Jian Xing."

Before Director Gao could express his stance, Xu Dejun coughed lightly and pointed to the sky.

Under Xu Dejun's operation, the ceiling above everyone's heads became transparent, revealing the huge countdown above the Crimson Courtyard.

Wu Chang had seen this countdown before; when he first entered the public area of the Crimson Courtyard, this countdown was still at 100, and now only 80 remained.

"There are only 80 days left until the World Instance of the Desolate Realm. We need as much power as possible. If Jian Xing can transition into a Sword Cultivator in the Desolate Realm, his strength will not be much weaker than Leng Shan's."

Xu Dejun's meaning was clear: Jian Xing must be saved.

After a moment of silence, Director Gao sighed and said, "The prop can be lent to you, but you have to find a way to get people into the instance yourselves. Also, after entering the instance, I want you to do your best to ensure the safety of our newcomers."

Lin Jiang breathed a sigh of relief and promised, "No problem. Jian Xing himself has the same idea. It was only because we promised to provide intermediate reward instance permissions to further reduce the risks faced by the newcomers that he was willing to cooperate with our plan."

"I have looked at the information of the people you are sending into the instance. With Jian Xing's protection, the safety of most players should be guaranteed. For example, there is a player named Hamster inside with a full set of defensive skills; even in an ordinary C-rank instance, he might not necessarily die."

"But for this newcomer with a D- rating, level 7, only 2 skills, and no survival or defensive skills, let alone Jian Xing, even if you replaced him with anyone else, no one could guarantee he would come out alive. I'll say the ugly things first: if necessary, I will even advise the players who enter later to abandon him."

Inside the instance, Wu Chang, who was about to strike up a conversation with the player slacking off under the tree, sneezed.

Which little cutie is missing him again?

I posted a 71 before, but there was a violating paragraph that got locked. I couldn't wait for the review, so I modified it and posted it again. I will release another 71 later or tomorrow; the content is the same, so you don't need to read it if you've already seen it.

(End of chapter)