Chapter 41.1: Tricycle Expedition
———
[Brave Jean]
While passing through Third Street as per usual, Hugh Potter called out to you.
You learned about a former member of the Duchy of Shiga's border guards by the name of Gold. Hugh Potter greatly missed his comrade from Camore.
Obtain more information about Camore: 0/1.
———
Shortly after Ji Tang received the quest, the others in their small team were called together, and they gathered at Butcher Manan's place.
When Jia Luo heard that one of their own had received a hidden quest, she got really excited. "Fantastic! It's our turn to receive a major quest! Ji Tang, you're a real lucky star!"
"Oh…" Ji Tang and Yang Ying at this new understanding.
Zheng Qingyue (Unceasing Entropy), the undisputed strategist within the group, had meticulously inquired about the dialogue with the zombie NPC that triggered the quest. She said, "Both 'Gold' and 'Hugh Potter' who are mentioned in this quest are members of the border guards. Previously, when we did the worldview breakthrough quest, the zombie general himself said that some of 'them' were members of his troop, while others were part of the Pioneer Corps.
"From the perspective of NPCs, 'us' that they refer to isn't just the players but also zombie NPCs too. If we seek and converse with a zombie NPC that used to be a border guard, we should be able to obtain information."
"That's simple. We just have to interact with all the zombie NPCs. There aren't that many of them altogether," Tang Jia rubbed her fist and declared confidently. "We can skip the one near the riverbank, Bierda. That NPC is a former member of the Pioneer Corps."
It was currently 11 P.M. real-time and 9 P.M. in-game. The advanced NPCs had already "knocked off work," and many reputation-grinding players had logged out. However, there were still plenty of players online. The first batch of players who had leveled up and completed their job advancements were increasing, which stimulated players who had enough reputation but lacked Potential to work harder. Even some laid-back players had begun to put in extra effort.
In their little five-person team, everyone apart from Unceasing Entropy had successfully completed their job advancements. As the saying went, the boldness of execution stemmed from superb skill. Thus, this small team hadn't considered asking any others for help and started to get busy on their own…
There were a total of 15 zombie NPCs, including the zombie general. Excluding Bierda, who had been confirmed as a member of the Pioneer Corps during the breakthrough quest, and Hugh Potter, who had issued this hidden quest, there were only 13 NPCs left to interact with. The four girls accompanied Ji Tang as they interacted with each zombie NPC one by one. By the seventh NPC, they received a response.
This particular zombie NPC, named Raphael, who usually assigned players with a quest of manual labor, spoke slowly, "Brave Jean? That's a truly nostalgic nickname. Comrades, why have you become interested in Jean?"
"Um… Actually, we wanted to ask about Jean's hometown, Camore," Ji Tang made an effort to mention the keywords he believed would be useful.
"Camore? I know that place. It's known as the 'Cotton Country' in the eastern region of the Duchy of Shiga," Zombie Raphael replied stiffly, with a hint of mockery in his tone. "As long as enough taxes and tribute are paid, neither the Grand Ducal Court nor those of the faith would care if the people there had their land taken or if the Goddess of Prosperity's doctrines were desecrated."
The five players were taken aback.
While they knew a little about the various gods in the game's background from how NPCs like the Treasure Expert Finley would often exclaim, "O Lady Gold Coin," much like how people on Earth shouted "My God," a mere zombie NPC caring so much about the Goddess of Prosperity's doctrines and getting upset about the desecration of said doctrines was a little absurd…
Zombie Raphael continued fervently, "The divine duty of the Goddess of Prosperity is wealth and contracts, and her doctrine grants believers the power to accumulate wealth and engage in fair trade! Those scoundrels in Camore have taken away the people's opportunities to accumulate wealth and are nothing more than heretics and blasphemers. They out to be sent to the guillotine!"
The five players: "…"
"Well… Does this mean that the dispute in the Duchy of Shiga, related to our undead background story, involves the orthodox and new interpretive factions?" Jia Luo said with a wry smile. "It's just a game. We don't have to get involved in any religious conflicts. I despise movies with strong religious themes. No matter how exciting the plot is, if it gets tangled up in religious undertones, it inevitably goes down the path of absurdity."
"You're overthinking it. It's obviously a story about local tyrants hiding the truth and taking advantage of the common folk!" Tang Jia objected. "It's common for them to deliberately misinterpret scriptures when it suits their interests. For centuries, whenever a child does something wrong, it is always the child's mother that is blamed even if the Three-Character Classic says, 'It is the father's fault if a child is not taught.' Even our own history is filled with such hypocrites."
Yang Ying remarked with astonishment, "Hey… I never realized that despite your usual boisterous behaviors, you two actually had such a depth of cultural understanding."
Jia Luo and Tang Jia were speechless, while Zheng Qingyue turned away to suppress her laughter.
While the players were engaging in idle chatter, zombie Raphael had already expressed his dissatisfaction with the upper class of Camore and instructed the players to seek out zombie general Lancelot as the next step.
The team went to zombie general Lancelot who was at the corner of a street a short distance away from the spawn point. The zombie general didn't beat around the bush and immediately revealed the subsequent plot. First, he reminisced about Jean, then expressed regret over not having lived and died alongside his old comrade.
Finally, he asked the five players, "Fellow compatriots, would you be willing to fulfill our late comrade's unfulfilled wish?"
Ji Tang selected "yes" on the quest interface that popped up, but strangely, the quest text didn't change. Just as he started to wonder, the zombie general suddenly started moving and said, "In that case, let's go make a request to the Lord. Follow me, comrades."
Without hesitation, Ji Tang and Yang Ying, who had less gaming experience, followed after zombie general Lancelot at once.
Zheng Qingyue, Tang Jia, and Jia Luo, who were all experienced players, exclaimed in unison, "Damn it!"
"What's wrong?" Ji Tang and Yang Ying were slightly puzzled, but they turned back to urge the others, "Come on, we've got to continue the quest at the Lord's place."
Jia Luo stomped her feet and ranted, "You two newbies still don't get it! When this zombie general moves, even idiots would be able to see that a plotline quest is underway. Our small team won't be able to reap the benefits on our own!"
"Oh…" Ji Tang and Yang Ying dawned on this new understanding.
Sure enough, five of them had only followed the slow-moving zombie general for less than 50 meters when players at a nearby construction site noticed them.
After traversing a little over 200 meters, around 30 to 40 uninvited players had joined them.
Before the languid zombie general reached the entrance of the Town Hall, even the bunch farming in the Spider Cave had rushed back. Chattering players now surrounded the Town Hall.
Ji Tang was speechless, Yang Ying looked bewildered, Zheng Qingyue remained expressionless, while Jia Luo face-palmed.
"Qingyue…" Tang Jia muttered weakly, "With things this way, how should we handle the situation?"
"…Let's form a larger group. Tang Jia, pass me the leader position. Let's activate group mode first." Zheng Qingyue was somewhat annoyed. It wasn't because they wouldn't be able to monopolize the quest rewards, but because she still had some lingering fears from the chaos during the previous worldview breakthrough quest.
Give Me Medicine had been criticized on the forums for keeping that dagger for himself, and Zheng Qingyue didn't hope to find herself in that same sort of situation.
After becoming the team leader, Zheng Qingyue activated the group mode. In this game, a team could have up to 11 members, but different teams could join a larger group, allowing them to see each other's IDs and health bars.
Once group mode was established, Zheng Qingyue stepped forward and shouted to the crowd of players, "Everyone, please quiet down and listen to me for a moment. Our team has triggered a hidden dynamic plotline quest, the same sort as the previous [Rebellion Suppression] dynamic quest. If any teams are interested in joining to complete it together, please have the team leader come to me and join the group."
Brother Lahong and Qin Guan were mingling among the other players. These two who already had the mentality of being big shots in the game had been subtle…
They hadn't come forward at the start because they noticed Unceasing Entropy was among those following behind the zombie general.
This girl had a sharp mind and was rather opinionated. She wasn't the type of person who could be easily swayed by a few words and come running over to join forces. Moreover, her few companions were all skilled players. Not to mention, Tang Jia, Yang Ying, and Jia Luo, even the newly recruited Ji Tang, had made a remarkable impression during the "night of rampaging."
Therefore, these two big shots had chosen to blend in among the players first and observe the situation. They wanted to see if Unceasing Entropy would prioritize cooperating with them; given the current state of the game, it was impossible not to at least choose their factions for any large-scale quests.
Yet, never did they imagine Unceasing Entropy would simply disregard their presence and completely overlook the need to show any special attention to these two big shots that each lead many players.
As soon as Unceasing Entropy had spoken, some parties who were originally doing quests or farming monsters had their leaders approach her and integrated their own teams into the group. Those who didn't belong to any parties quickly teamed up with people they knew and joined the group as well.
Brother Lahong and Qin Guan were still contemplating whether to hold back when they saw party leaders from their own factions running over eagerly to join the group…
"Fine, all team leaders should join the group," Brother Lahong said, observing the situation and deciding not to nitpick. He voluntarily disbanded his monster-farming party and headed over to Unceasing Entropy—he, too, was a team leader.
Seeing Brother Lahong make his move, Qin Guan silently did the same.
Follow current nov𝒆ls on freew(𝒆)bnov𝒆l.(c)om