Chapter 80.1: How Incredible, Huh
Unceasing Entropy crouched down while hugging her knees as she studied the two orcs lying on the wool blanket laid out on the ground. Then, she turned to Blossoming Strokes and said, "The orcs in this game… are quite different from what I imagined."
On the official site of "Otherworld," the page about the game world's background mentioned that besides undead and humans, there were also races like orcs, elves, halflings, and more. However, there weren't any accompanying images.
From the perspective of gamers, the players naturally assumed that the game developers hadn't yet completed the modeling for these races, and the descriptions on the official website were just painting a rosy picture.
As a result, many players and non-player forum users had proposed all sorts of ideas on the forum, from hoping that elves would resemble those from Lineage 2, wishing halflings to look like the Lalafell (Final Fantasy reference), to wanting orcs to have Japanese-style cat ears…
Unfortunately, the devs never respond to these suggestions. So, players had already mentally prepared themselves for Horde-like orcs (Warcraft orcs) and halflings resembling goblins.
The "art style" of this game had always been whimsical, after all. Apart from the undead race, which were all skeletons, the count of NPCs players found aesthetically pleasing to date was one and a half—Lord Yang accounted for half, while his black-robed pretty-boy companion accounted for one.
Blossoming Strokes could empathize with Unceasing Entropy's reaction and nodded. "I feel the same way too." There was a short pause before she added, "At least it's a new race. Though not cute, they aren't ugly either."
While these two were discussing, Ji Tang and Give Me Medicine lifted the tent flap open and entered.
"How is it? Can your healing skill be applied to these two NPCs?" Give Me Medicine asked as soon as he entered the tent.
"Nope." Unceasing Entropy stood up. "When I try to cast Dark Blessing on them, the system shows the prompt, 'Are you sure you want to attack an orc civilian?'"
"Damn, does that mean all new races in the future are hostile to the undead? Can't we share healing?" Give Me Medicine groaned in frustration.
"That's not necessarily the case. Healing skills may be non-transferable, but they can use our medicinal items," Blossoming Strokes said. "I've been practicing my skills, so if I apply an ointment, it should work."
Ji Tang silently bypassed his fellow gamers and crouched down to take a closer look at the two orcs.
Two orcs, one large and one small. Their physique wasn't much different from humans, with body proportions perhaps even closer to the golden ratio. Their green skin and prominent upper canines looked slightly out of place, but their facial features and contours didn't make them appear scary or strange.
Were it somebody else who didn't play the game, it might seem as though two human actors were hired, covered in green body paint and attached with fake ears, teeth, and lizard-like tails, to perform a hardcore cosplay…
Of course, these details weren't important. What mattered was that these two orcs, just like the human teenager he had examined earlier, were suffering from severe, long-term malnutrition. They were practically just skin and bones.
Fresh scrapes and scratches on their faces, arms, and legs. Blossoming Strokes had already used medical items from her lifestyle class of apothecary to stop their bleeding, and their larger wounds were covered with bandages.
In addition to these recent injuries, the two orcs also had quite a few old scars on their arms, particularly around the elbow areas. The skins on their wrists and ankles were also rather worn down, which was a sign of long-term restraints.
Ji Tang's frown deepened the more he looked.
The human teenager who had been placed in the neighboring tent also had similar scars, but the extent of his restraint injuries wasn't as severe as these two orcs.
Having experienced the [Birth of the Undead Race] quest and the previous expedition, Ji Tang already had some understanding of the dark nature of this world. From the fresh surface wounds, Ji Tang couldn't help but suspect that these three might have escaped from some illegal detention facility.
"Ji-God, what are you looking at?" Give Me Medicine, seeing Ji Tang crouching without moving for some time, also became curious and joined him.
The most interesting thing about players as a group was that regardless of whether at odds or fighting against each other, they could still come together to play. While both sides were competing to be the top in territory prestige, it didn't stop Give Me Medicine from respecting Ji Tang, the expert in both actual combat and commanding group battles.
"I was just thinking, these three… NPCs have likely escaped from somewhere nearby," said Ji Tang. "Look at their wrists; the surrounding skin is all scraped. This is a sign of long-term restraints being used."
"Does that mean there's a black brick kiln or something similar around here?" Give Me Medicine's eyes lit up. "Wait a moment, does this mean we've stumbled on a major quest?!" [TL note: Black brick kiln is a reference to the 2007 Shanxi Black Brick Kiln incident, a series of forced labor cases.]
"Eh? That's possible!" Blossoming Strokes exclaimed excitedly. "Our undead race's origins quest also started with illegal detention. If we can complete this quest pertaining to orcs, we might unlock them as a playable race! I'm so gonna reroll my character this time!"
Ji Tang: "…"
With regards to unlocking a new playable race, Ji Tang found it unlikely. The "target" hadn't even been willing to accept the expert task force's offers worth several millions, and according to the speculations of those big shots, the "target" might have some restrictions opening up more player slots in the short term.
Of course, Ji Tang couldn't say any of this aloud, so he changed the subject. "Did anyone trigger the quest?"
"Uh… No." Give Me Medicine and Blossoming Strokes shook their heads.
"Then, when you found these people, did they have any… quest-related items or something?" Ji Tang inquired further.
Blossoming Strokes picked up a round shield at the side. "Nope, just a longsword and a shield. I've used Identify, though these are just white-grade (common) equipment. We also thoroughly searched the surrounding area and found nothing. No quest notification popped up."
Give Me Medicine added, "At first, we thought there might be pursuers chasing after these NPCs, so we waited in place for over half an hour, but nothing happened."
"We've just got to wait for them to wake up and try interacting with them. Perhaps this quest isn't triggered by a mere encounter; it might require initiating dialogue to unlock certain plot points," Unceasing Entropy chimed in.
As soon as she said that, the few of them heard a desperate and shrill scream from the neighboring tent.
"The heck?"
"W-what?!"
"What's happened?"
They rushed out… and saw the player that had been caring for the human teenager crawling out of the neighboring tent.
"The kid inside woke up and started screaming like crazy when he saw us, and even threw the steel bottle of ointment at me," the gatherer player explained.
Blossoming Strokes and the others: "…"
"Let me take a look." Blossoming Strokes approached the tent, lifted the flap, and peered inside. But before she could fully assess the situation, a small steel bottle hit her square in the face with a loud clang.
"The heck!" exclaimed Blossoming Strokes as she held her face and stepped backward. At that moment, a furious shout came from the tent as the dark-haired teenager, who seemed like he would collapse at the slightest breeze, charged with a foldable stool in hand at Blossoming Strokes.
"What the f*ck! Is this game pulling 'The Farmer and the Viper' routine?!" Give Me Medicine exclaimed in astonishment. [TL note: The Farmer and the Viper, a tale from Aesop's fables.]
"Stop blabbering! Hurry up and grab him!" Unceasing Entropy didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
A slightly miffed Ji Tang approached from behind the berserk teenager and pushed him down to the ground. While doing so, he instructed Unceasing Entropy, "Get a few straps from the tricycle and fetch a towel."
Undead creatures weren't very strong, but controlling a frail young human wasn't too much of an issue. Cargo straps were quickly used to bind the struggling teenage human's hands and feet while a towel was stuffed in his mouth, forcing him to settle down.
The group of players then kept a safe distance, surrounding the terrified kid who kept glaring at them.
"Seems like we can't communicate with him. I couldn't understand a single word when he was screaming and shouting earlier," Blossoming Strokes muttered, feeling slightly embarrassed. "What should we do? Call an advanced NPC over?"
"The NPCs' tents are armed with anti-harassment settings. Otherwise, they would already have come out with their knives drawn, given all this commotion," Unceasing Entropy pointed out.
"Why do these NPCs have such a strong grudge against us undead?" Give Me Medicine grumbled.
The others also voiced their complaints and displeasure, leaving only Ji Tang who remained silent.
In truth, had Ji Tang woken up to see a bunch of moving and talking skeletons, he would probably fight back with his all, too…
"How about this? I recall that Ranger Tuttle loves sweet stuff. There ought to be something sweet in the tricycle he and Hal share. Let's grab some to try and appease this kid, perhaps it might work?" Ji Tang suggested.
Unceasing Entropy and Blossoming Strokes exchanged glances. "Alright, let's give it a try."
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