No matter how indignant Jack felt inside, he didn’t dare confront the lead archer directly. He shifted his gaze toward Mo Yang, hoping to find an opportunity to ask about the NPC affinity boost this person had.
However, before he could act, the leading NPC archer had already instructed his group to prepare and was ready to charge out of the stone house.
Mo Yang turned to shout at Zhou Api and Wan Mei. Zhou Api quickly stood up, but Wan Mei didn’t move; he was staring at a wooden altar inside the stone house, with a thoughtful look in his eyes.
Following Wan Mei’s gaze, Mo Yang raised an eyebrow. Wan Mei then, in front of everyone, used his small, dark-lined silver dissecting knife to poke a hole in the wooden altar, creating an opening. He reached in and pulled out a plump, juicy-looking… apple?
Wan Mei put the apple in his lab coat pocket and continued retrieving apples. After obtaining three apples, he casually walked over to Mo Yang and handed him the largest apple.
Mo Yang’s face almost burst into a smile like a flower. Wan Mei watched him smile, a smirk playing on his lips.
Zhou Api: “…” Following the big shots always meant gaining crucial extra information and being less likely to be cannon fodder. But the downside was glaringly obvious; right now, he felt like he was shining brighter than the sun.
At that moment, a player suddenly exclaimed, “Items!”
“The Dream World’s item shop has been canceled; to get various necessary items or equipment, we can only find them in the game!”
Other players also realized this and immediately looked at all the jars and items in the room, their eyes shining with greed. They wished to start rummaging through everything, but the archer had already led nineteen companions out of the stone house. Another fruit-eating time had passed, and it would be challenging to escape the city now.
Mo Yang, Wan Mei, and Zhou Api closely followed behind them. Jack, the middle-aged man with glasses, their captain—level four player “Golden Fist Zhang,” along with over twenty other players who had joined their group, trailed behind Mo Yang’s group of three.
With three-quarters of the people in the stone house now gone, the remaining players swiftly followed Golden Fist Zhang’s group. Some still greedily searched for items. When a female player joyfully found a valuable-looking necklace from a crack in the wall, boom! A deafening sound echoed as a meteorite from the sky finally hit the overlooked stone house, obliterating the players who hadn’t escaped.
At this point, Mo Yang and the others had already run out of the city called “Cui City.” Since the young girl who had eaten the rice ball from Mo Yang seemed weak, apparently a bit frail, the archer’s group took turns carrying her. However, the intense running consumed a lot of energy. When a young woman nearly stumbled while carrying the girl to avoid a small meteorite, Mo Yang reached out and caught the young girl.
As a level four player, Mo Yang’s basic physical abilities were almost maxed out, especially in speed and agility, so carrying the girl posed no problem. Initially concerned about Mo Yang’s endurance, the archer, Xis, remained silent after seeing Mo Yang easily carry the girl without falling behind.
The young girl, Xiya, told Mo Yang that the city struck by the sky fire was called “Cui City.” She introduced herself as Xiya, with Xis being her brother, one of the powerful guards in the city.
Mo Yang began coaxing information out of Xiya, who seemed to know everything.
“The sky fire suddenly appeared. According to the queen and the elders’ joint investigation, it seems our world has entered the edge of another constantly exploding larger world, so sky fire and meteorites keep coming.”
“We can’t take our world away, so we can only tough it out. It’s said that in ten days, the sky fire will reach its peak intensity. But as long as we endure the final ten days, our world will gradually move away from that exploding larger world, and then we can rebuild our homes and live on!”
Mo Yang nodded, translating the world into planets and universes to understand Xiya’s meaning.
However, it seemed the lousy game had a different plan, throwing them into the game world during the most dangerous ten days of sky fire. This might mean a massive casualty wave for them.
“Our world’s inhabitants evolved from plants. There might be a few who evolved from animals, but they’re undoubtedly very rare. During the initial stages of evolution, the world was suddenly filled with various poisonous mists. Most of the animals didn’t survive through that time and died. However, we plants closed our stomata to the outside world, forcefully drove our roots into the ground to absorb nutrients, and managed to get through that difficult period.”
“So you guys are quite peculiar! I think you must have evolved from animals, right? Doggy, you look so good; what kind of animal did you evolve from?” Xiya inquired.
Mo Yang, carrying the little girl, dodged past a tree that was knocked down by a meteorite, thinking, I can’t tell you I evolved from a monkey, even though he idolized the Great Sage, but real-life monkeys, well, they’re not exactly handsome.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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Then Xiya brought up a critical matter.
“Unfortunately, on the first day of the sky fire’s arrival, when everyone was unprepared, a huge sky firestone, like a burning mountain, directly smashed our temple. It destroyed the ‘Heart of the Treeman’ and the three world trees in the temple.”
Xiya’s eyes turned red as she continued, “That was the hope for all of us plant people! Especially the ‘Heart of the Treeman.’ As long as it existed, more excellent beings of our kind would be born. But now that it’s destroyed, it’s challenging for the newly born plants to develop consciousness and evolve. We, we… even if we survive the final ten days of the sky fire, without the ‘Heart of the Treeman,’ our group might perish.”
Mo Yang raced while carrying the little girl, his heart pounding.
The Heart of the Treeman.
These four words were incredibly familiar. Every day, he would allocate ten mental points to nurture that beautiful-looking sapling. In return, the sapling would aid his mental recovery, making it faster. Since acquiring the Heart of the Treeman, his mental strength seemed to be slowly increasing and refining.
It wasn’t the feeling from using Dream World’s items for recovery; the beautiful sapling’s contribution to his mental strength felt like proverbs or a Phoenix Ring, conveying a power that didn’t belong to the Dream World. It was a subtle sensation, but Mo Yang was certain this power didn’t originate from the Dream World.
He was lost in thought when the little girl couldn’t help but hug his neck again. “Doggy, I feel so comfortable and energetic being with you, just like when I pray in the temple! The God of Life says this is fate. Doggy, do you want to marry my brother?”
Snap!
Mo Yang lost his footing and started to fall when suddenly, Wan Mei, who appeared out of nowhere, reached out and caught him, along with little Xiya. Then, in a terrifyingly deadpan manner, Wan Mei stared at little Xiya and stated, “Too late, he already accepted my proposal.”
Xiya: “…” Waaah! When did this scary person appear here! He’s terrifying!
Mo Yang coughed, glared at Wan Mei not to scare the kid, and then said, “It seems we’re destined to be friends.”
“Xiya, is there only one Heart of the Treeman? Can’t a new one be nurtured? Since it’s so crucial, there must be a need to nurture another one, right?”
Xiya hesitated for a moment and nodded, “Yes, after surviving the sky fire, we might have to nurture a new Heart of the Treeman. But… the cost is too high. Also, the Queen has already activated a life barrier to protect the remaining people. Perhaps… perhaps…”
Xiya didn’t continue. However, both Mo Yang and Wan Mei understood. The Treeman Queen might not survive this upcoming sky fire catastrophe.
“But right now, they don’t have any particularly good methods.”
Mo Yang touched his chest; the Heart of the Treeman was residing in his heart. Perhaps that’s why Xiya felt a sense of kinship with him.
However, how to retrieve and return the Heart of the Treeman to the Treeman Queen required careful consideration.
Boom! Boom boom boom!
At this moment, the meteorites falling from the sky became increasingly dense. The road ahead had been mostly blocked by the raging fire and huge rocks. Xis’ expression turned grave as he halted his steps. He then drew the emerald green bow he had been holding and aimed it straight at the sky.
This action was somewhat perplexing. However, soon after, the emerald green arrow he shot out actually made a sharp turn in the air and landed on a fallen tree not far ahead.
Xis sighed in relief, turning to Mo Yang. “Follow us. That’s our underground refuge. The sky fire outside is too intense now; we can’t move any farther.”
Mo Yang and the others had been dashing out of Emerald City for over two hours. Both NPCs and low-level players were barely holding on. Even Mo Yang’s own health had decreased by more than half.
No one objected.
Everyone staggered towards the fallen giant tree.
When they reached the base of the tree, everyone saw the entrance at the tree roots.
Xis wanted to lead the way, but Wan Mei suddenly reached out to stop him. It was as if Xis only noticed Wan Mei at that moment, instantly stepping back two paces with his arrow pointing straight at his heart.
Where did this person come from?!
Wan Mei clicked his tongue. “Let me go first. There’s a high chance of an ambush down there, more than ninety percent.”
Xis frowned. “Impossible! This is a location only our people know! They wouldn’t ambush us!”
But Wan Mei completely ignored him and went straight down, leaving Xis wanting to stop him but being held back by Mo Yang. “Trust me. He wouldn’t say something irrelevant. We can go down together. What if there really is an ambush? It would be unjust, wouldn’t it?”
Xis seriously stared at Mo Yang for a moment and surprisingly agreed.
Jack: “???!!!!” Is this even allowed?!
However, when Xis and Mo Yang followed Wan Mei down, there were already seven or eight corpses lying below. Wan Mei seemed particularly indifferent as he stood in the shelter, facing dozens of players who looked like they were facing a formidable enemy.
“You’re dressed like a player, aren’t you?! Why are you killing your own people?!”
After descending, Xis first saw the bodies, then looked up to see his fellow tribespeople bound in the refuge. Instantly, his emerald eyes turned profound. He walked to Wan Mei’s side and swiftly raised his bow and arrow.
The tense atmosphere was on the verge of eruption.
However, after Xis and the others—thirty-plus in total, including their tribespeople and surviving players—came down, someone among the players finally spoke up.
“Hey, let’s talk things out. No need for violence. We’re all survivors seeking refuge from the catastrophe. Come on in, rest, and have something to eat. Lao Liu, lower your weapons; they’re not our enemies. There must be some misunderstanding.”
The speaker was a man in his forties, exuding an air of authority. From his demeanor and tone, it was evident he was the leader of the dozens of players in the refuge. Upon hearing him speak, the players in the shelter nervously lowered their weapons. However, Xis, with his iridescent bow still aimed directly at the man, hadn’t altered his expression.
The self-assured man’s face changed.
“…Sir, what’s the meaning of pointing your bow at me? Do you intend to kill us all?”
Xis interjected, “Release my tribespeople. Then scram, hm?!”
Before Xis could finish, Mo Yang covered his mouth. Xis went stiff, and only then did Mo Yang turn to the bureaucrat-like man with a smile, “Sir, we’d also like to talk peacefully. But how can we discuss when our kin who assisted us in our escape are all tied up by you? Besides, this place isn’t ours; it belongs to the Treeman Clan. It’s fine to seek refuge, but taking over isn’t quite right.”
The man’s face darkened, and his accompanying players started clamoring about their superior numbers and strength. It was then that Mo Yang patted Xis, who was frowning beside him, “Are you skilled with the bow?”
Perplexed, Xis nodded, “I’ve never missed.”
Mo Yang chuckled, “Wanna show off a bit? Otherwise, things might not end peacefully.”
Understanding Mo Yang’s plan, Xis snorted lightly. With a swift motion, a green arrow streaked past the leader’s head. Under his extremely displeased gaze, the arrow seemed intentionally to brush past the throats of the most vociferous players. Finally, the light darted toward Xis, returning to his hand.
The previously boisterous players fell into stunned silence. Even Jack and Golden Fist Zhang, who had been following along, showed expressions of astonishment, completely taken aback by the unexpected prowess of this indigenous NPC.
Mo Yang chuckled, “Now, can we sit down calmly and have a proper conversation?”
The leader’s face darkened entirely. However, he allowed Xiya and the others to rush forward and release the dozen or so injured tribespeople, beginning to administer treatment.
Now, the refuge had become a delicate balance of three forces.
Just then, a sudden scream pierced the air, “What are you doing!!!”
Everyone turned toward the source of the voice and found a teenager crouched beside the seven or eight corpses Wan Mei had stabbed, pressing his forehead against theirs in a bizarre and eerie manner.
Zheng Zhe pursed his lips, casting a slightly sinister glance at the yelling woman.
‘So annoying. And about to be deprived of his meal.’
On the other hand, Wan Mei’s mouth curved suddenly.
It seemed he had found a promising individual. Even if their intelligence was a bit lacking.
Author’s Note –
Wan Mei: Discovered a… successor.
Mo Yang: …The kind of successor to the Great Demon King?
Zheng Zhe: ???
Thanks for the chapter! ＼(≧▽≦)／
good luck, successor 🙂✊