Chapter 20 – The seek for Xiao Bao

“Why would they ship poisoned tofu to the washerwoman?” Aotian mentioned. “Do they not need Widow Yang’s son to get higher? Might Widow Yang’s son be the Xuan Sword’s wielder that we’re searching for?”

“The washerwoman put away such a delicious-smelling rooster to eat along with her son, although she’s ravenous. I’m so touched,” Qingyue mentioned.

“When she regarded on the tofu, her eyes appeared a bit like the best way the individuals I had beguiled checked out me, mrow,” mentioned Black Cat.

“Didn’t Dugu Zhuo trick the veiled staff into going to the yamen?” Ye Zhou mentioned. “Who got here right here to ship tofu?”

Every member of the celebration checked out Dugu Zhuo, awaiting his evaluation.

“When will Xiao Bao be again?” Dugu Zhuo requested the washerwoman.

After rigorously putting the roast rooster onto the still-warm range to keep up its warmth, the washerwoman answered, “Widow Yang often grinds beans within the morning. Since he’s introduced the tofu again, he should’ve already returned. Xiao Bao is an effective baby and by no means goes operating about, so he have to be selecting wild greens now. We gained’t want wild greens immediately, so are you able to younger heroes convey him again to eat the rooster? I don’t need such good meals to go chilly.”

“Discover Xiao Bao” was now added to the group’s job checklist.

Accepting the duty, the celebration left the home, and Aotian opened up a map. “That is thoughtful. They’ve identified the place the place Xiao Bao often picks greens, so we gained’t must ask NPCs all the best way.”

They have been about to go to that location, however Dugu Zhuo, because the chief, headed in a totally totally different path.

“The place are you going?” Aotian requested.

“Widow Yang’s house,” Dugu Zhuo answered.

“Huh?” Aotian mentioned. “However the map we got exhibits the vegetable selecting location.”

Abruptly, Ye Zhou understood Dugu Zhuo’s intention. He defined for him, “The washerwoman thinks Xiao Bao is selecting greens as a result of she assumed Xiao Bao introduced again that plate of tofu. However what if it wasn’t delivered by Xiao Bao? Weren’t we guessing earlier that the veiled staff had introduced it over?”

“Is smart,” Qingyue mentioned. “Possibly whereas Xiao Bao was working for Widow Yang, he witnessed somebody poison the tofu to be given to the washerwoman, and now he’s in peril!”

“It’s most likely not that severe,” Ye Zhou mentioned. “However there’s an opportunity there’s really hazard. In any case, Xiao Bao is in a extra perilous scenario at Widow Yang’s place, so let’s test there first.”

After ending their dialogue, the group picked up their velocity and rushed all the best way to Widow Yang’s tofu stand.

It was now 11, near midday, so Widow Yang had already closed her stand and gone house. The 5 break up as much as discover NPCs, asking anybody they met the place Widow Yang lived.

Widow Yang was fairly well-known on the town and many individuals knew the place her house was. Nonetheless, Aotian, Ye Zhou, and Black Cat returned with no luck, whereas solely Qingyue and Dugu Zhuo had gotten solutions.

Qingyue had requested a feminine NPC, who gave her instructions instantly.

The NPC Dugu Zhuo bumped into had mentioned, “Younger hero, seeing your righteous air, I do know you will need to not be the kind of individual to harass a widow. It’s essential to have enterprise, so I’ll let you know the place to go.”

“What’s occurring right here?” Aotian requested. “Me and Qingyue requested the identical NPC, however she didn’t inform me, solely Qingyue.”

“Should be your gender and Righteousness Factors,” Ye Zhou mentioned. “The NPC I simply requested mentioned to me, ‘Widow Yang is just not that kind of individual, so don’t be silly.’ I suppose if a male participant requested the place her house was, the NPCs would assume they’re planning one thing improper. Solely a feminine participant or somebody with excessive righteousness would get a solution.”

“Is smart,” Aotian mentioned. “It appears like Righteousness and Sin Factors can be necessary on this sport.”

Widow Yang’s house was close to the tofu stand, in order that they arrived after a brief stroll. It was an unusual residence, with a big gate and a excessive wall surrounding it. The courtyard was giant with three buildings inside. There was a principal and aspect wing, in addition to a big tofu workshop to the west.

Aotian was about to hop proper over the wall, however Dugu Zhuo held him again.

“Let Black Cat go first,” Dugu Zhuo mentioned. “Yao concentrate on stealth. Neither NPC nor participant will have the ability to see him.”

There have been stray cats wandering throughout Zhulong City, so nobody would have the ability to inform which was an actual cat, which was a participant, and which was an NPC yao.

“Do you see what I’m good for now?” Black Cat gave his paw a lick and leapt nimbly up, reaching the roof of the home in only a few bounds.

His actions have been fast and soundless. If this have been evening, he would actually be an murderer at nighttime.

Pattering over the roof tiles with not a whisper of sound, he first took a go searching the principle home, and located a younger boy mendacity unconscious on a mattress within the central bed room. A material was positioned over his brow, and his face was flushed, like he was sick.

Black Cat despatched a message to the remainder of the group, describing the scenario as he noticed it.

“That have to be Widow Yang’s son,” Dugu Zhuo mentioned. “Test the opposite rooms.”

Black Cat went to the tofu workshop and solely discovered a donkey munching on hay, no individuals.

Lastly, he got here to the aspect wing. He rigorously lifted a roof tile with one paw, making solely a slight noise, however a tough voice yelled, “Who’s there?”

“Meow,” Black Cat mentioned in an unconcerned tone.

A big man sporting a conical hat ran out of the east wing, and upon seeing there was a cat on the roof, scrutinized it for some time, seemingly attempting to differentiate whether or not it was an precise cat or a yao participant.

Black Cat licked a paw, seeming completely like a cat in his actions and mannerisms.

“Is… that an actual cat?” the participant mentioned doubtfully.

Seeing his suspicions slowly fade, Black Cat strutted brazenly away alongside the wall to the place the remainder of his celebration hid, every step elegant and swish.

The participant within the hat let go of his considerations and returned inside the home.

Seeing him go, Black Cat despatched his celebration a message in a rush. “Fuck! Your entire staff of 5 is inside that room! There’s an unconscious little boy on the ground, and Widow Yang is holding a knife and crying.”

“Once we have been serving to the washerwoman along with her garments, they need to’ve already realized that the duty to go to the yamen was faux and gotten the true job,” Ye Zhou mentioned. “It appears like we’ll must battle.”

This sport was actually intriguing. The opponent they needed to fight in the principle questline wasn’t an NPC, however different gamers.

“Maintain on,” Aotian mentioned. “Which means that there could possibly be two endings to this questline, and two plots for this online game. This can be a VR sport, not an RPG. Every character, every body, and every particular impact prices cash. Are you aware how costly having two totally different plots can be?”

Qingyue clapped Aotian’s shoulder. “That is how the sport is, although. Let’s full the mission first.”

“What number of spirit stones do you all have?” Dugu Zhuo requested.

Everybody counted up their complete and got here up with 136 low-grade spirit stones.

“The Misdirection Array will be created with 99 of them,” Dugu Zhuo mentioned. “Black Cat, you lay out the array.”

Due to Dugu Zhuo’s generosity in giving the Misdirection Array to his celebration members at no cost, all of them knew easy methods to use it and will transfer freely inside it.

Obeying his order, Black Cat took 99 spirit stones and returned to the courtyard.

He didn’t create the array like Dugu Zhuo, first laying all of the supplies in place after which utilizing non secular vitality to activate it.

Since he had the jade slip gifted by Dugu Zhuo, which recorded all the main points of the array, he solely wanted to supply 99 spirit stones and press the ‘verify’ button, and by paying 50% of his well being and 80% of his non secular vitality, the array can be fashioned.

Proper now, Jet Black was the one participant who had skilled the Misdirection Array, and the feeling of continually operating in circles in that bamboo forest was hauntingly acquainted to him. It was like there was one thing incorrect together with his mind, and irrespective of which path he went, he ended up again in the identical place.

If even utilizing bamboo stalks to type the array led to such an impact, he couldn’t guess what an array created with low-grade spirit stones can be like.

“In the course of the day, your combating capability is low, so that you’re answerable for the array,” Dugu Zhuo mentioned. “The array will eat spirit stones, so you must always watch its situation and complement it with spirit stones. Everybody else, observe me.”

Because the Misdirection Array activated, the courtyard was enveloped by thick fog. The celebration may see usually inside it, however individuals who have been unfamiliar with the Misdirection Array would run into a variety of illusions.

Black Cat took a couple of purple capsules to replenish his well being and blue capsules to replenish non secular vitality, then lay throughout the roof to look at the battle.

Dugu Zhuo and Ye Zhou had leapt ahead, aspect by aspect. Ye Zhou stood in midair and swung his sword down, cleaving aside the home in a single stroke.

Everybody: “…”

Wasn’t Ye Zhou’s sword too good? If he market it, it appeared like it might be value quite a bit.

Even when the in-game forex trade wasn’t open but, a sword like this might nonetheless be offered privately, simply at a higher threat.

Trying on the elite gear that had been leaked by gamers up so far, Ye Zhou’s sword have to be the strongest weapon at the moment within the sport.

Inside the home, Widow Yang held a knife, shaking her head as she sobbed. “No, I can’t do it. I simply wished to avoid wasting my son, I didn’t need to hurt every other kids!”

“We’ve been attempting to persuade her for thus lengthy,” mentioned the veiled celebration’s Ghost One impatiently. “Possibly we must always simply assist her do it.”

“The duty was to entice Widow Yang to do it, not do it ourselves,” mentioned the jiangshi. “Plus, this sport doesn’t permit gamers to do that kind of factor. It’s too violent, it gained’t go the filters.”

“It will be nice if we had a yao,” Demon One mentioned. “With the yao Beguile capability, we may make Widow Yang act.”

“That jogs my memory!” mentioned Demon Two. “We are able to simply exit and discover a yao participant. The willow tree yao on the village gates appears sturdy. Possibly we are able to borrow a department.”

As they mentioned casually amongst one another, the entire home instantly cracked open, they usually discovered themselves engulfed by fog.

“Who did that?” Ghost Two hollered.

Regardless that Ye Zhou and his celebration had launched a shock assault, the veiled staff reacted rapidly. Demon Two instantly took out an merchandise and threw it into the air, inflicting an unlimited black material to blanket the whole courtyard, blocking out the solar.

The battlefield immediately fell into darkness. Each ghosts had vanished, lurking inside the fog to assault opportunistically.

Qingyue, Aotian, and Ye Zhou confronted the 2 demons and the jiangshi head-on. With their information of the Misdirection Array, they hid after making every assault, their maneuvering flawless, whereas the veiled staff turned in circles within the courtyard and almost attacked their very own allies.

Sadly, with the fabric blocking out the solar, the human gamers’ fight energy was decreased whereas their opponents’ defenses had elevated considerably. Every strike took away little or no well being.

The battle was on!