Chapter 186: Pah, shameless scoundrel!

Using the momentum to rise, Cang Lang had intended to immediately follow up with a finishing blow, but the second tortoise-backed beast had already arrived, forcing him to retreat a few steps and temporarily create distance.

However, Fei Ying's long-range fire support also arrived; although the tortoise shell was thick, it couldn't cover the whole body, and the sharp crossbow bolts whizzed past, startling it into shrinking straight into its shell.

As for the third one…

"Ao ao ao!"

Clearly no one had touched it, yet it was the one letting out the most miserable cry.

Its bean-like eyes widened, its limbs trembled, and in the despairing howl it dropped to its knees on the ground, neck stretched out, face full of pain.

Ji Ming stood to the side with his hands behind his back, speaking righteously.

"Heaven and earth conscience, surely someone has damaged the environment! Look, this little tortoise is banging its head straight from a stomach ache, as if its whole body is cramping."

After harshly criticizing it, he picked up an axe and walked over.

"Ah, I'll just help it myself."

With good intentions, Ji Ming raised his hand and brought down the blade, sending the tortoise-backed beast to bliss.

【Experience 20】

At the same time, a new prompt popped up in the lower-right corner of every player's view.

【Congratulations·Brocade Night Walk Guild 【Crooked Neck Tree】 first slayed the tortoise-backed beast, successfully expanding the Pioneers' monster bestiary】

【Reward: Exchange points 10】

To encourage players to go out and explore, Ji Ming deliberately imitated competitors, adding a series of collection-like systems and setting up corresponding rewards.

Who would have thought the first to reap the benefits would actually be himself—how extraordinarily odd.

Seeing that there could be an extra reward of ten points, Cang Lang naturally mustered his strength and hurriedly swung his hammer.

Unfortunately, this achievement can only be obtained by the first person to accomplish it, so aside from the twenty experience, his player system gave no further hints.

Both tortoise-backed beasts were easily slain, and the remaining one couldn't stir up any trouble.

Under Cang Lang's restraint and Ji Ming's underhanded tactics, it was quickly shot down precisely by Fei Ying, dying with eyes unclosed, utterly pitiful.

But just as everyone prepared to step forward to examine them closely, the three corpses vanished into thin air, leaving only a pool of blood.

Picking up the crossbow bolts that had fallen on the spot, Fei Ying wore a look of regret.

"Ah, what a pity; I originally wanted to take off the back plate to see if I could make armor."

You really wanted to whip the corpse, huh…

There's no way around it; one precondition of the resurrection technique is that the corpse's parts must be basically intact.

If monster corpses really fell into players' hands, they'd likely be chopped up that very night, and within three days even the ashes would be scattered—this doesn't fit the low-carbon environmental theory of recycling.

"Is that it?"

Seeing the monster they had been chasing all over the place so easily wiped out by others, the few ordinary players with considerable courage looked a bit dejected.

But after a moment's thought, remembering they were just here to play the game, there was no point comparing themselves to those power‑grinding veterans, and they perked up again.

"Thanks, everyone, but I still recommend you don't keep heading that way—I earlier vaguely saw a large crocodile lurking about."

But what good is such a reminder?

"According to my overnight research, there's an upper limit to experience gained from farming a single monster, and the more you kill, the less experience you get, so it's best to keep finding new monsters to farm for maximum efficiency."

"Yeah, and there are still extra Pioneers rewards; if we don't act now, in an hour or two the big guild's bunch of livestock might snatch them all."

"Eh, then let's go!"

In short, it's "We've come all this way—can we really go back empty-handed?" So the three continued downstream along the creek.

But after the players had scattered and left, a green figure gradually emerged from the dense tall grass.

"Feng Wang, you saw that, right? We Pioneers are a strong bunch—don't keep fantasizing about your boring revenge plan!"

【Bastard, the one who repeatedly insulted and wiped out the tribe isn't you; my clansmen are still being repeatedly whipped in that damned newbie training camp!】

If it had been last night, Lin Luo might have choked up for a moment, but now he would only…

"Stop playing the victim here, invader!"

Then he added another sentence.

"Everyone has figured it out—raging beasts are just a bunch of walking corpses! Your clansmen are already dead; those aren't them at all!"

【You!】

【You heartless villain, you violently seized my body and still dare to mock my soul!】

Hmm…

How come this feels a bit off?

"If you've got evil in your heart, don't bother playing cosplay—orcish female knights can at least give it a try, but a big goblin really can't."

He muttered a complaint, and perhaps because, as fellow lurkers, they shared a keen sense, Lin Luo suddenly sensed something in the grass not far away.

He quietly flanked it for a closer look, and discovered it was actually a much smaller tortoise-backed beast.

【It seems they should be a small beast herd; the adults died outside, so it didn't dare venture out】

"How pitiful—can it survive on its own in the wild?"

【... Hard to say, this isn't a peaceful place】

Thus Lin Luo sighed, and a longsword appeared in his hand.

Actually, this is a standard two‑handed greatsword sold in the shop; it's a shame that this 1.6‑meter‑long heavy weapon, when placed in the hands of a three‑meter‑tall goblin chieftain, can only be used as a one‑handed weapon and still looks odd.

【What are you going to do?】

A flick of the sword blade, cold light flashing.

"Since it can't avenge itself nor survive, I might as well help it be free!"

???

Feng Wang was frightened into silence for a while, only speaking up after seeing that the tough guy bearing the 【Assassin Goblin】 ID started walking over.

【Humans, your way of thinking is a bit too extreme, isn't it!】

However, Lin Luo not only remained unmoved, but also shouted loudly.

"You've even had me betray my race and help you wipe out all the Pioneers for revenge—what could be more extreme than that?"

【This……】

The boomerang made a papapa sound—now it's Feng Wang's turn to be speechless.

Although the small turtle-back beast quickly noticed Lin Luo's presence, the intimidating aura brought by the hulking green monster, as solid as a wall, silently approaching was simply too strong.

Despite the negative emotions of seeing its kin killed, it didn't flee, even forgetting to shrink into its shell, merely staring blankly as he approached.

……Eh? He couldn't be an idiot, could he?

Although there are no laws or morality in the game, they still exist in the players' hearts.

Lin Luo's bringing this up was just him picking a fight with Feng Wang to create hype for the second episode of 'Electronic Pet Feng Wang Legend'—who could have imagined the other side wouldn't run?

But just as he was wondering how to give himself an out, the small turtle-back beast suddenly lay on the ground and made a strange sound.

"Hiss~ah! Hiss~ah!"

Lin Luo doesn't understand turtle language at all.

"Master, can you translate?"

Feng Wang was also used to the strange titles and terms that popped up in human speech, but he hesitated.

【This…… I don't know much about the turtle-back beast tribe; it should be…… a sign of submission?】

He thought for a moment, then suddenly realized, and exclaimed urgently.

【Come to think of it, I'm a chief‑level demi‑human—among monsters I'd count as a king‑level being; as a lone wolf, it would naturally choose to surrender!】

Surrender?

Lin Luo chewed over the meaning of that word, and a strange idea rose in his mind.

Could it be……

Besides the Ring Old Grandpa, have I also triggered a hidden pet system?

No.

Not just that!

"Feng Wang, what would happen if I saw other goblins?"

【……】

Lin Luo put away his weapons and stroked the trembling head of the small turtle-back beast.

"So this 'Code Name Sun‑Moon' is actually a farming game, huh……"

But just as he was feeling pleased with himself, pondering how to establish a goblin tribe, a chaotic footsteps suddenly sounded from nearby.

What's going on?

Players each have their own information channels, so Lin Luo habitually opened the public screen to take a glance.

Who knew that glance would frighten him so much he almost jumped up; he hastily grabbed the small turtle-back beast and ran toward outside the stream.

"Run! The humans are coming to sweep us away!"

Perhaps Ji Ming still underestimated the motivational power of the illustrated handbook system; once his ID floated into any player's view, the dungeon blew up outright.

Although the game currently has no pay‑to‑win system, the related cash flow in real life is literally "several million every few minutes."

And a large number of redemption points means developing a step ahead of others, while a server‑wide announcement means fame and personal worth.

Such hype and gimmicks, if translated into reality……

I'm copying it, I don't know how to say.

Therefore, from big guilds to lone wolves, whether they're fighters or loafers, everyone dropped what they were doing and rushed out of the city.

But the most complicated thing in this world is money—or rather, anything that touches money changes its nature!

At first it was just obsession and madness.

"Damn it, why isn't this stink‑bug counted as a new creature?"

"Archer, where the hell is your sniper crossbow? Get me a shot, damn it!"

Later, insults and arguments began to appear.

"You're stealing my monsters, you little brat—are you looking to die?"

"You're bullying me because I'm few—just wait till my brothers, the closed‑beta players, arrive; I'll blow you all to smithereens!"

Although Ji Ming's setting only has a few kinds of "wild monsters," players can't cause much trouble even if they try.

But with many monks and little porridge, the scramble still caused a noisy uproar.

The upside is that, driven by strong curiosity, the players suddenly arrived at a particularly distant place.

Iron Hoof Tribe, Spirit Tribe, the dwarves' Iron Lump Tribe, the bat‑people's Fang Tribe……

One by one, these interactive NPC locations were lit up on the map.

Moreover, the players capable of reaching that far right away tend to be core members of the three major guilds, which means they possess a certain degree of discipline and restraint, so they haven't left any bad reputation for the Pioneers.

But the downside is……

"Aminov, what level are you to dare fight me, your wild dad? Get lost and go suckle!"

"You lot wait for me, old man—let's set a rematch in a couple days; I'll definitely beat you to a pulp!"

The latent conflict among players was inflamed and erupted early, also causing the first ever player‑killing‑player vicious incident since the game's launch.

At that time Ji Ming was busy torturing a wildly wandering giant snake, and seeing that death notification left him dazed, almost getting bitten by the snake.

In any ordinary MMORPG, player deaths are nothing out of the ordinary, but this is a fully simulated cross‑era VR game, after all.

And as a certain happy‑go‑lucky guy said: "Killing is a bad habit, but I seem unable to quit."

If they get used to passionate or even deliberate killing in the game, it'd be weird if they didn't go crazy in real life!

Perhaps later I'll let go, even reward them for killing human enemies, but none of this is the chaotic present.

—This is no ordinary player; we have to strike hard!

After the battle ended, Ji Ming immediately had the system retrieve the monitoring footage from that time and delete the accounts of all players who took part in the fight.

Damn, my account's gone!

"What? Just because of this, the officials deleted my account?"

The reason these two groups can clash ultimately stems from an old grudge; they were opposing guilds in many games, recognized as arch‑rivals within the community.

But because of this, they even chose to thaw years‑old grudges, buying a water army to generate hype while stirring fans to assault the official account.

Back then, the entire internet couldn't even move the silent "Code·Yangyue", let alone a few rotten tomatoes and lousy potatoes.

On the contrary, because the incident got so big, all social accounts on both sides were blocked.

It is said they later went to the police station for a cup of tea, and when they resurfaced they issued a solemn apology and a notice of quitting the net, withdrawing from the stage of history thereafter.

But that's later; through the combined effort of all players, the first kills of all wild monsters were quickly claimed.

Yet when some opportunist tried to make a video summarizing the incident, they were surprised to find that only one‑fifth of those first kills belonged to the so‑called First Guild Gunblade.

The special task force naturally knows the reason behind all this, but the other players do not.

"No way, Gunblade bailed?"

"Could it be that You also has his own shockwave now?"

They inquired everywhere, panicking for a long while, before finally figuring out the truth behind it.

It turned out that while everyone else was busy scouring the land for wild monsters, they had already dispatched superior forces to assault the market, wiping out a group of dwarf‑type ogres that were roaming and occupying the place.

Or rather…

While other players were still busy racing around to herd sheep, Gunblade had already successfully claimed the first—perhaps even the only—gold mine on the map.

Of course, they're all shrewd; Fan Taozhu and Fu Le wouldn't foolishly make themselves sitting ducks.

Not only did they refuse to selfishly hoard, they proactively extended a cooperation invitation to all players.

Their posture was humble, their words pleasant, but without doubt, having become the landlords, they established sovereignty over this market.

But when the onlookers gathered in a crowd, they discovered that this so‑called market was actually a ruin.

There were quite a few people among the players, probably archaeology majors.

"From the weathered state and the vague patterns here, this place resembles the architectural style of a dungeon, and its construction date is probably not far off either."

"Could this be an extension of the dungeon, a… border outpost of some sort?"

"Very likely; after all, dungeons are relics from ten thousand years ago—ten thousand years… who knows what this place is!"

Immediately, some players caught the scent and began to ponder.

"Given that, then as occupiers of the dungeon, do we also have a rightful claim over this place?"

"What do you call occupying? That's inheritance! We defeated the barbarians and inherited the land from an ancient civilization!"

"Holy! A land bestowed by the gods! A land bestowed by the gods!"

That's just too shameless!

As soon as Ji Ming entered the market, he heard such shouts, and he was so angry he almost sealed their accounts again.