"If they take us up to the stronghold, won't it be awful? How about we just kill ourselves instead?"
"Yeah, let's kill ourselves. The pain only lasts a moment. What if they take us to the stronghold and torture us inhumanely?"
"Maybe there's some hidden quest? How about this: two of us don't kill ourselves and follow them to take a look. If things go wrong, we can kill ourselves then."
"That works. I'll stay."
"I'll stay too!"
Seeing the bandits charging at them viciously, the players panicked briefly before quickly calming down, exchanging words and making a decision.
To them, this was just a game. Death was death.
Other than dropping the items they carried, there was no real loss, so they had nothing to fear from dying.
Thus, when Jiang Dali ordered the bandits to rush in and capture them, the players began pulling ridiculous stunts. They started attacking one another, using either rusty short sabers or short swords that looked like iron bars, directly sending their companions on their way.
The bandits watched as the players slaughtered one another and died screaming. Only two players remained standing, while the corpses of the dead players had vanished, leaving nothing but tattered clothes scattered across the ground.
Some bandits had witnessed such a scene before and could still accept it. Those who had never seen it were stunned, their faces as pale as if they had seen ghosts.
At that moment, the two remaining players grinned and stepped forward without the slightest sign of nervousness.
One of them said ingratiatingly, "Bosses, we've actually wanted to become bandits for a long time. A wise man submits to circumstances. Especially you, Great Mountain Lord—I could tell at a glance that you're a dragon among men, no ordinary man. I've decided that I'll follow you through the Jianghu and conquer the world."
The other player hurriedly echoed, "Right, right. That's what I think too."
The bandits stood there holding sabers and hand axes, somewhat dazed.
These two seemed pretty sensible. They were voluntarily asking to join Black Wind Stronghold. Could they really become comrades?
All the bandits looked toward Jiang Dali.
"Bind both of them. Don't let them kill themselves."
Jiang Dali waved a large hand, his expression cold.
The two players froze.
This Great Mountain Lord was really hard to talk to. Was he actually going to drag them back to the stronghold and torture them?
One of the players immediately tried to kill himself.
But the bandits swarmed forward and captured both players, even yanking their jaws out of place to prevent them from biting off their tongues and killing themselves.
Although a normal person who bit off their tongue was unlikely to die—death from excessive blood loss was only a slim possibility—the precaution was still necessary.
"You. Take some men to the nearby City God Temple. The people who just died will reappear there. Capture every last one of them and bring them back!"
Jiang Dali pointed at a bandit squad leader and issued the order.
"G-Great Mountain Lord, those people who died can really come back to life? Th-then wouldn't they be ghosts?"
The bandit squad leader asked in terror.
The surrounding bandits all changed expression at his words.
The two captured players were also dumbfounded.
This bandit leader was strange. He actually knew that players would revive at the City God Temple, and he even wanted to capture them again.
What kind of grudge was this?
"Useless fool!"
Jiang Dali snorted coldly. A sinister gleam flickered in his eyes as he glared like a wolf and an eagle. "These people are Otherworlders. They may have seemed to kill one another just now, but they actually escaped using a very special secret technique. It was only feigned death. How could there be ghosts in this world?
If there were ghosts, would they need to fear us?
Get to the City God Temple and capture them immediately! Otherwise, I'll let you see a ghost."
"Yes, yes, Great Mountain Lord! Please calm down!"
The bandit squad leader looked at Jiang Dali's thick arms and huge saber, swallowed hard, and nodded frantically. He took a group of bandits as obedient as quails to carry out the task.
Their jaws dislocated, the two players could not speak. They could only stare at Jiang Dali in astonishment.
He was the only NPC they had encountered who was so strange.
He actually seemed to understand players very well.
He had even explained their deaths as some special escape technique. It was absurd.
In that instant, neither of them wanted to kill himself anymore.
Such a strange and powerful NPC was also the boss of the largest evil force within several hundred li. Though he could only be considered a minor early-game boss, perhaps he really could trigger some strange quest.
After returning to the stronghold.
Jiang Dali ordered his men to throw the two players and Hu Ling directly into the black prison. The other players captured from the City God Temple were also imprisoned for the time being.
His next step was to turn all the captured players into members of Black Wind Stronghold and bring in fresh blood.
That way, he could complete the task of strengthening Black Wind Stronghold and obtain a large amount of Cultivation Points and Potential Points.
But he knew full well the bad nature of players: they feared neither heaven nor earth, and they were greedy, bold, and rebellious.
So before bringing them in, he first had to establish his authority and instill the majesty of Black Wind Stronghold's Great Mountain Lord in the players' hearts.
He had to prevent these troublemakers from joining and then failing to appreciate it, coming and going as they pleased with no regard for rules.
Meanwhile.
Inside the City God Temple outside Mengyin County.
Ten players, almost all wearing nothing but underwear, revived inside the City God Temple. Each strutted out with an arrogant, swaggering gait.
"Damn it, that hurt like hell. Everything about this game is great except that it's too realistic. Every time I kill myself, it's practically a nightmare."
"Enough. There's no real penalty for dying yet. We just feel a little weak, like our bodies have been drained after entering sage mode three times in a row. Still, it's not too bad. I can accept it."
"Hehehe, that fucking Great Mountain Lord of Black Wind Stronghold thought he could capture me? He's just a trash minor early-game boss. Once I learn some powerful martial arts, I'll come back and beat him up hundreds, thousands of times until he shits himself."
"Speaking of which, Master Hu from that martial arts school was way too weak. We were planning to learn martial arts from him, but he couldn't even beat a bandit leader."
The players came out of the City God Temple cursing, carrying themselves as if Hu Hansan had returned. They talked loudly and fearlessly, looking down on everyone.
Suddenly, they all heard shouts of battle and pounding footsteps.
Then they saw a swarm of bandits charging down the road ahead, wielding hand axes and short sabers with murderous momentum.
When the bandit squad leader saw that the players had truly emerged from the City God Temple, he was overjoyed and roared, "Brothers, grab your weapons and get them! Cut down these bastards and drag them all back! Damn it, they're really good at running. Catch them and treat them to a sip of aged brew!"
The players' faces changed, and they panicked so badly they nearly pissed themselves.
"Holy shit?!"
"What's going on? How did these bandits know we'd revive at the City God Temple?"
"Quick, quick, quick! Run!"
"Run my ass! Fight them! We can't die anyway. Take them down! If we can kill even one of them, maybe we'll get something good."
The players were initially frightened out of their wits, but then greed suddenly welled up in them. Empty-handed, they roared and charged forward.
The result was that the bandits, like wolves among sheep, quickly chopped them down as easily as cutting melons and vegetables.
Those who had not died were tied up and restrained. The dead ones were even weaker; having just revived at the City God Temple, they were knocked down again by bandits who charged inside and forcibly captured.
"What happened? Why is this happening?"
"These NPCs aren't playing by the rules! How do they know we have respawn points?"
"This game is way too hard, isn't it? The NPCs even know to camp respawn points?"
The captured players were full of confusion and had no idea what was going on.
In their current state, unless they sent messages by carrier pigeon, they could only use the Jianghu Forum to find out what was happening and ask for help.
Before you continue