In Position, Attack Incoming

Wang Zhifan did not care much about being isolated. He then headed toward the courtyard's exit, a closed wooden door, intending to first check the situation outside.

But before he had taken two steps, the wooden courtyard gate some distance away was pushed open from outside. An old man in a cyan cloth robe, with a white goatee and a hunched back, walked in.

The old man's face was clearly full of sorrow. As soon as he entered, he bent his already hunched body deeply, nearly prostrating himself on the ground. Then he raised his head and shouted at the players in the courtyard:

"Everyone, strong warriors! The Blood Wolf Bandits are almost at the village! This old man begs you to lend us a hand and help Qingping Village wipe out these evildoers!"

"Please rise, sir. We will definitely help."

Wang Zhifan, who was closest to the old man—clearly a Dungeon NPC—immediately stepped forward and spoke to him.

He had already learned while browsing the Player Forum that NPCs could appear in Dungeons, so he was not at all surprised that this old man had come to invite them into battle.

"Then I must trouble you, strong warriors! Please make your preparations and quickly head to the village gate to meet the enemy! The able-bodied men of Qingping Village have already formed up. With your assistance, we will surely eliminate those lawless bandits!"

"Alright, sir. Take us there now."

After hearing the NPC out, Wang Zhifan did not waste any time. He directly asked to go to the battle position, since he was already fully armed and ready to fight at any moment.

"Strong warrior, follow me!"

The old NPC swept his gaze over Wang Zhifan before him, then glanced at the other two groups in the courtyard—the three led by Coat Man and Black Dress Woman. Seeing them all walking over, he answered Wang Zhifan and turned to lead the way.

Following him through the wooden door leading out of the courtyard, Wang Zhifan arrived at a place resembling an ancient Xia Kingdom village. On both sides of the gravel road beneath his feet stood ancient houses of gray brick and black tiles, no more than two stories tall, along with several buildings resembling mills and granaries. Beyond all those buildings stood a ring of tall wooden fencing, and at the end of the gravel road was the fence's only exit: a Great Stronghold Gate built from thick logs.

The Great Stronghold Gate was tightly shut. On an open patch of ground inside it, over a hundred able-bodied villagers wielding sickles or hoes had already assembled. Above the gate, several people dressed like hunters with bows slung across their backs were watching the situation outside.

"Looks like this will be a defensive battle. I'll hide behind the fence first."

After arriving near the Great Stronghold Gate with the old NPC, Wang Zhifan quickly decided on his starting position. He chose to crouch behind a section of fence neither too close nor too far from the gate, waiting for the approaching bandits. He planned to fire Fine Grade Bullets from his Fine Grade Handgun through the gaps in the fence at the enemies outside. That would keep him relatively safe.

Once Wang Zhifan was in position, he quickly observed that the other teammates who had followed over had each made their own choices.

Coat Man, carrying a Sniper Rifle, soon asked the old NPC for a ladder. He climbed it onto a rooftop over two hundred meters from the Great Stronghold Gate, one roughly closest to the village center. He then braced his Sniper Rifle against the roof's black tiles, lay flat, and peered through the scope, waiting to pick off the incoming enemies from afar.

Suit Youth, another Gunner Class player whose weapon was a rifle, did not retreat as far as Coat Man. He directly hid on a rooftop closer to the Great Stronghold Gate, ready at any moment to provide long-range fire support to the village's able-bodied men below.

The Long-Haired Black-Clothed Woman, who carried a Handgun like Wang Zhifan, made a similar choice. She hid behind the fence on the other side of the Great Stronghold Gate, also intending to fire outside through the gaps.

As for the only melee player besides Wang Zhifan—the Smiling Mask Assassin Player—Wang Zhifan only saw him arrive near the Great Stronghold Gate before he suddenly vanished from sight. He had probably already entered an invisible state.

"There are over a hundred sickle-and-hoe-wielding able-bodied men for pure melee, several archers for closer firepower, Long-Haired Woman and me with Handguns, Suit Youth with his rifle on a nearby roof for mid-range firepower, Coat Man with his sniper rifle for long-range firepower, plus an Assassin for sneak attacks. Wouldn't this lineup crush a Dungeon with an ancient setting?"

Though he had not yet seen the enemy, Wang Zhifan, hidden behind the fence near the Great Stronghold Gate, was already rather confident. He knew very well how terrifyingly modern firearms could overwhelm ancient bandits. As long as there were not thousands or tens of thousands of them, their current lineup could handle the fight.

Speak of the devil, and he appeared. Just as Wang Zhifan was thinking this, he suddenly heard hoofbeats coming from the sloping dirt road outside the Great Stronghold Gate. Then five fierce men on horseback emerged from below and charged up quickly, followed by nearly two hundred running bandits.

"Good... There are only about two hundred bandits in total. This shouldn't be too hard."

As he watched the enemies approaching outside the village, Wang Zhifan, hidden behind the fence near the Great Stronghold Gate, made his judgment inwardly.

"Loose the arrows!"

Then he heard the Hunched Old Man NPC, who had been observing the situation outside from behind the Great Stronghold Gate, suddenly give the order. The several archers crouching atop the gate and drawing their bows released their arrows together.

These archers, perhaps hunters, were all fairly skilled. At the old man's command, the arrows on their bows flew toward the five mounted bandits closest to the Great Stronghold Gate and most conspicuous, especially the Bald Scarface Bandit standing in the center, who received half the arrows' attention.

But to Wang Zhifan's surprise, rather than retreating under the arrow fire, these bandit leaders all spurred their horses and accelerated toward the Great Stronghold Gate! In particular, the four mounted bandits on either side of the bald, scar-faced bandit in the center suddenly leaped high from their horses. As though running through the air, they crossed more than twenty meters in a single bound, directly evaded the arrows in the air, and charged before the hunters shooting arrows atop the Great Stronghold Gate! "Fuck! How can those mounted bandits jump that far?! Do they know Light Body Technique?!"

Wang Zhifan's expression immediately turned grim. He had thought that his group would easily crush the bandits outside with technological weapons, but who would have expected that these were not the sort of bandits found in ancient Xia Kingdom in the real world? They apparently knew martial arts too!