SWDnovel Chapter 3: They're ripping off their fellow villagers!
Chapter 3: They're ripping off their fellow villagers!
"That's about it..." Wang Gou Dan shivered as he finished speaking by the stove, whether from the cold or from being shaken.
After hearing the description, Bright remained silent for a long time. According to Wang Gou Dan, she had started following the believers of those sects last night, especially those few who had shown some extraordinary power. Last night, they suddenly left the city in a daze.
The crucial point is that, in the dead of night, the soldiers guarding the north gate actually opened the city gate to these believers as darkness fell, which made Wang Gou Dan feel increasingly uneasy.
Dressed as a believer, she followed behind, trying to appear dazed, and then the soldiers actually opened the city gates.
After leaving the city, she hurriedly followed the tracks to find those people. In the winter snow, the short footprints were easy to track, and she soon found the group of people. But when she saw those people again... they could no longer be called human.
On the dense trees, she could vaguely see human faces. On the outermost trees, she saw a group of people pierced by the trees. Their bodies were roots, half of them buried in the ground, their faces torn in two. The trees with countless arms grew rapidly, and in less than a quarter of an hour, they grew into ten-meter-tall trees, making Wang Gou Dan's scalp tingle!
What horrified her even more was that she had sneaked into Holy Stone City half a month ago, and in order to blend in, she had also sneaked in from the refugee crowd at the North Gate. At that time, she clearly remembered that this forest was at least ten miles away from the city, but now it was probably less than three miles away!
Don't the people in Holy Stone City feel such an exaggerated change?
Moreover, what would happen if this eerie forest were to get completely close to Holy Stone City?
Thinking about how those people had their mouths ripped open and plants piercing their genitals, Wang Gou Dan didn't want to experience the agony of their deaths. Luckily, he encountered this mysterious corpse collector and obtained some inside information; otherwise, he might have drunk the rewarded extraordinary potion without hesitation.
Even if someone were to be resurrected after dying this way, they would likely still be traumatized. The key issue is that they died in that eerie forest, and if they were to run back to their corpse to resurrect, the resurrection point would also be in that forest. Wouldn't that mean they were being camped by the corpse?
Seeing that Bright remained silent for a while, Wang Gou Dan said, "You must have known about the situation here all along, right?"
As he spoke, he pulled out a bunch of items out of nowhere.
"This is my reward for the successful assassination. You gave me crucial information that allowed me to escape disaster. According to your rules, it's twenty percent. You can choose for yourself."
Bright's heart skipped a beat when he saw the huge pile of things on the table. It seemed that tricking players into completing tasks and acting as an intermediary... was a viable scheme!
The other party brought out quite a few items, among which ten gold nars caught his eye the most. Gold is the most stable spellcasting material in this world, so it has a very stable circulation attribute. Gold nars of any empire are hard to depreciate. As a corpse collector, even when the market is good, his monthly income is only two to three silver nars. It would take him about three years without eating or drinking to earn one gold nar.
Although his profession was lowly, his income was much higher than that of ordinary farmers. The average peanut farmer's monthly income was at most one silver nar. Under the heavy pressure of life, many ordinary people, including himself, never collected a gold nar in their entire lives.
My current savings amount to 231 silver nars. With a little more money, I can buy a small wooden house in a remote area in the west of the city. This is the result of four or five years of frugality before I transmigrated. In order to avoid attracting attention, I never went to the bank to exchange it for two gold nars.
Tsk tsk...
It's true what they say, "A horse won't get fat without night grass." Years of hard-earned savings are not as valuable as this one instance of foreign exchange.
Swallowing hard, Bright looked at the other items: a red dagger, a bottle of black, misty potion, and some rare mystical herbs.
"Can you tell me what these things are?" Bright asked directly.
Dog Egg nodded and said, "This dagger was given to me by the missionary elder of the Heart of the Forest. He said it has an enchanted effect, is lighter than paper but extremely sharp, can easily pierce chainmail and has a poison effect. Now it's confirmed that the poison should be that terrible curse that can make people sprout. If you want this, you can only get one gold nar."
"Anything else?" Bright continued to ask.
"This..." The other party pointed at the potion and said fiercely, "Shadow Potion. It's said that drinking it gives you a one-third chance of entering the extraordinary realm and gaining the power of shadow. After completing the trial, you'll have a chance to become a Shadowsong Assassin. I dare not drink it in the current situation, but this is, after all, the main reward for this mission. If you want it, you can't take Jinnar!"
Bright's eyes lit up. His sixth intelligence item contained a method to break the curse of the Heart of the Forest. If this thing could really grant extraordinary power, he might as well give it a try.
"And what are these herbs?"
"Most of them are precious herbs needed for mysticism, and there are quite a lot of them. I was wondering before where they got so many herbs as payment, but now that I see them, I'm not sure if there's anything wrong with the herbs this person grows. Anyway, I don't dare to use them or sell them easily. If you want these herbs, I can pay you three more gold nars."
Upon hearing this, Bright quickly began to think. The Shadow Potion was the most tempting option, but upon closer inspection, it had many drawbacks. First, the potion might not be genuine. Even if he cleared the flower poison from it, it might still be a fake. Most importantly, if he chose this potion, the other party would lose their extraordinary obsession and might leave this dangerous city as soon as possible.
During their conversation, he also learned that the other party came from the bustling metropolis of Mirandil. Without extraordinary clues, the other party would have no reason to operate in this obviously dangerous outlying town, and he himself could not easily leave the city.
Putting aside the fact that the guards would be suspicious, even if they managed to leave, once they escaped the distance of the noble seal, they would become refugees without status. Even if they managed to make it to the next city alive, their future would be uncertain.
However, staying here is extremely risky. According to the other party's description, the strange forest in the north of the city will likely be completely close to the city in the next few days. There are obviously important figures in the city cooperating with the cultists of the Heart of the Forest. No one can say for sure what will happen then.
As a corpse collector with no fighting power, he had no way to change the situation. His only hope was Wang Gou Dan, who could run away and resurrect corpses.
"I have a way to remove the toxins from this shadow potion."
"Really?" Wang Gou Dan, who was originally very discouraged, suddenly became excited. It was a real relief! He thought he had made a wasted trip!
"But first, let me state two points." Bright held up his finger: "First, I only guarantee to remove the toxins from your Shadow Potion, but I can't guarantee that the potion is genuine. Second, you have to stay and complete at least three tasks, and I will detoxify you from the Shadow Potion for free."
"This..." Wang Gou Dan hesitated. The first point was fine; it was just a fake product. As long as there was no danger, he would definitely give it a try. But the second point was a bit troublesome.
This city may not be large, but it's far more dangerous than many missions in Mirandil. If I were to stay and get trapped in that eerie forest, I'm afraid I'd be doomed.
"I promise that if any signs of danger are detected in the city, I will let you leave in advance. And at that time, regardless of whether the three tasks have been completed, I will provide an antidote to your Shadow Potion!"
"Okay, deal!" Wang Gou Dan pondered for a moment. The other party had made such a guarantee, so even if it wasn't necessarily reliable, he still had to take a chance in order to advance to the extraordinary realm. After all, he didn't have many chances to be resurrected, so he had to quickly enter the extraordinary realm to obtain more chances to be resurrected.
"And what's the reward? Do you want a dagger or...?"
"You can keep the dagger and continue your mission. I'll take the herbs and three gold coins."
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[Dog Egg, how's it going? Did running that far yield any results?]
Not long after Wang Gou Dan left the incinerator, he saw someone else's question in the player-specific area channel.
[Yeah, Dog Egg, you've been gone so long, and the mission's still not finished? I knew it! That supernatural clue that came so easily was a trap, wasn't it? Maybe it's just a way to make up for lost travel expenses?]
Seeing his fellow schadenfreude, Wang Gou Dan gritted his teeth and lost all desire to go back immediately. He had spent all his money on this trip, and if he returned empty-handed, he would be laughed to death by those guys!
"There's some hope; it's probably all right!"
【Wow, really?】
[Don't brag, Dog Egg! If there really was something going for you, would you have told everyone? Wouldn't you have kept quiet and made a fortune instead of hiding it?]
[I don't believe it either. Gou Dan is definitely exaggerating. How could such a supernatural clue be so simple?]
Wang Gou Dan curled his lip, thought for a moment, and simply said, "It really has potential. Believe it or not, those who believe it, come quickly! All of us brothers have a chance with this extraordinary clue!"
【What the hell? Are you kidding me? I don't believe you!】
I don't believe it either. Isn't a city as big as Mirandil more promising than your godforsaken place? I'm going to stay here and hide.
[You got scammed and want to drag your buddies down with you, huh? You're dreaming.]
"Believe it or not, those who said Mirandil had a good chance, it's been so long, have you found any clues? How many resurrection chances do you each have left? This is a rare opportunity, miss it and you'll never have another!"
Suddenly, the players who had been making sarcastic remarks fell silent.
Inside the city of Mirandil, players looking at the chat logs all wore conflicted expressions, their previous mocking mood gone.
Just as Wang Gou Dan said, their chances of being resurrected are slim...
Having traveled to this world, no one knows what will happen if they run out of resurrection opportunities, but no one wants to try such a thing.
Even if they guessed that Gou Dan was tricking them, some people still couldn't help but wonder... what if it was true?