The noisy rescue operation continued until the first rays of dawn light spilled across the city.
The good news was that the chaotic astral energy surrounding Cadman City kept the sunlight from getting through, so a proper vampire like the young lady could still move around freely. And last night's rescue had been a great success!
After three consecutive search operations, they had rescued an astonishing 409 people, doubling the population of the survivor camp.
The bad news was that the easy part was over.
The areas ahead were all heavily shrouded in astral shadow. Murphy's little players called them "monster territory." The astral shadow there was dense enough to snuff out torches, so sending ordinary people in en masse was out of the question.
The worse news was that, according to the young lady's thorough reconnaissance, there were at least 200 signs of life even just on the outskirts of the shadow-drenched area.
In other words, at least 200 people were still waiting for rescue out there.
That left Murphy with a choice to make.
"We've already rescued enough people to call this a success."
Mirian, who hadn't slept all night, was yawning nonstop. She spoke quietly to Murphy, who was studying the map.
"I just spoke with a few of the militia captains. The survivors are extremely grateful for your help. They saw those dangerous astral beasts and shadowspawn with their own eyes last night.
"Going farther into the city would be dangerous. Someone also reported seeing a lot of people flee into the maze of sewers. In the current situation, a large-scale rescue is simply impossible.
"So they'll understand whatever choice you make.
"One of the sisters even asked me to tell you not to push yourself too hard."
"How's morale?"
Murphy asked. Mirian nodded vigorously.
"Higher than I expected!
"I thought an operation like this would make them even more frightened, but rescuing more of their fellow citizens didn't make them uneasy at all. Instead, it gave them courage and helped everyone stay calm.
"Some of the younger people even volunteered to join the search-and-rescue team. They still have family in the city and refuse to give up on them."
"That proves we made the right call, Mirian. We've already begun to forge a sense of solidarity. It'd be a shame to give up now."
Murphy looked at the three marks on the map.
They showed the locations of three family storehouses Triss had told him about. They overlapped almost perfectly with the areas they hadn't searched yet, and the thought immediately gave Murphy an idea.
He said to Mirian:
"Have your militia captains pick out the people with the strongest will to fight. Organize them and put Maxim in command. We'll officially establish the 'Cadman People's Self-Rescue Army.'
"Don't worry. I'm not sending them to their deaths.
"I plan to burn the areas we've already searched to completely eliminate the remaining astral shadow. I need them to set up a defensive line outside those areas, so they can support my warriors during their next assault.
"The people surrounded by monsters are still alive!
"We have to try one last time to save them.
"Explain the purpose and plan for this operation to the people, and make sure they understand their duties.
"If they retreat before my warriors have withdrawn, they'll be executed as deserters! There will be no discussion."
He glanced at the crimson hand cannon at Mirian's waist.
It hadn't fired last night, but that might change soon.
"Understood."
Mirian let out a long breath.
"I know time is precious. I'll have everything ready in two hours. I'm going to catch a little sleep first."
"Sure. Go ahead."
Murphy patted Mirian on the shoulder encouragingly, then called Maxim over.
The man had led the charge during last night's operation. Astral beasts had raked his cheeks with their claws, leaving cuts across his neck and face, but he was in no danger. His strength was decent, and he had better armor and weapons.
"Max, I need you to command the 'Cadman People's Self-Rescue Army' Mirian's organizing and build a defensive line ahead of the areas we've explored."
The vampire drew a line on the map and spoke to the exhausted Maxim.
"You're to hold out until my warriors finish breaking through 'monster territory.' Then you'll shelter the people they rescue along the defensive line and stay there until the operation is over."
"Understood, sir."
Maxim answered with a proper Blood Eagle salute, but then frowned.
"I have no doubt about your warriors' determination or courage, but they're still a little weak, and there are so few of them. Sending them in there is practically sending them to their deaths."
"The young lady, Lady Adele, and I will be going with them."
Murphy waved a hand.
"My warriors are meant to do great things in the future. They need to get used to intense combat as soon as possible, and I want to see what their limits are.
"Look, here they come!"
The vampire pointed at the ramshackle hut. Meow Brother and the students inside had already gotten up.
They'd logged on just as Lumina and the other four were about to run out of game time. It was the perfect moment to switch shifts.
"Hey, Lumina, what are you doing? Where'd all these little mud monkeys come from?"
Meow Brother strode over with his halberd on his shoulder, rubbing his eyes. He spotted the bedraggled Lumina playing with a group of children.
She was also holding a little girl covered in gray dust.
The girl seemed frightened and clung tightly to Lumina.
At Meow Brother's question, Lumina raised her head with a proud look. She gestured toward the children and declared:
"I rescued all of them myself last night. Pretty impressive, huh? Thirteen of them!"
"666! Amazing! I salute you, heroine!"
Happy Rod immediately gave her a thumbs-up.
They'd already heard about last night's major rescue operation in the group chat. Brother Black Silk had even written an emotional account describing how brave Lumina had crawled into a ventilation shaft to rescue two children.
That had completely changed the guys' impression of this brave and capable international student.
"A heroine among heroes, Lumina!"
"I'm impressed, I'm impressed. Truck's impressed! No wonder getting into grad school was a piece of cake for you. You're Truck's idol from now on, Lumina!"
"Lumina, give me a hug!"
"Get lost, you creep!"
Ge Bao and his dormmates came over, laughing and teasing Yang Hen.
They were all students around the same age, so it was easy for them to become friends.
Coo-Coo Chicken and Meow Shark crouched down to greet the children, but the kids stayed gathered around Lumina, looking at the "big uncles" with curiosity and fear.
Modern people were so well-nourished that none of the players' game characters were under 165 centimeters tall. Niu Niu, who stood 194 centimeters, looked like a giant to these children.
In Transia, with its dreadful productivity and the vampires' exploitative rule, malnutrition was the norm.
"Ah, my time's up. I have to log off."
Lumina glanced regretfully at the two minutes left in her daily game time. She yawned, set the little girl in her arms on the ground, and patted her head.
"Say 'big sister'!"
The girl looked at Yang Hen reluctantly and said in a strange accent:
"Jie jie jie."
"Good girl. I'll come play with you again tomorrow."
Lumina rubbed the little girl's nose, then stood up and spoke to Meow Brother.
"I'll leave them in your hands. They may be NPCs, but they're way too lifelike. Don't do anything weird, okay?"
"Don't worry."
Meow Brother might have been an older bachelor, but he wasn't heartless. Every now and then, he even took part in charity events. Looking at the NPC children with their vivid expressions, he thumped his chest and said:
"Go get some rest. We'll handle things from here. A whole bunch of grown men like us won't let a young girl like you down."
Brother Black Silk and Jie Chong were exhausted too. They told their boss they were taking the day off to rest.
Meow Brother cheerfully approved.
It wasn't that he was a bad boss—he was exploitative enough to deserve being strung up from a pretty lamppost. The main reason was that business had been slow lately, and their software outsourcing studio hadn't gotten any contracts. It was only fair to let the guys relax for a change. Besides, for a small-time boss, letting his employees lie around at home playing games cost less than taking them out for a team-building event, right?
"Meow, we can't share the hidden quest we triggered."
Before logging off, Mud Truck made sure to remind Meow Brother and the others.
"But based on our experience, you'll need to dig into the details of your own quests.
"The dev team for this game is sneaky. They've hidden a lot of clues. If you find them, you can get hidden quests. We don't know what the rewards are yet, but I figure they'll be better than the ordinary quest rewards."
"Thanks for the tip. Go get some rest—you've been up half the night."
Meow Brother was friends with Mud Truck in real life, so they spoke casually. Nearby, Shovel rubbed his lower back and grumbled:
"By the way, isn't the testing team going to get more people? What can we do with this few? If we'd had fifty fearless brothers out there last night, we could've explored at least two more blocks."
"Having fewer people is a good thing, too."
Meow Brother narrowed his eyes.
"Look how great the atmosphere is in the game right now. A few idiots running wild would ruin it. Just think: those chaotic troublemakers who draw their weapons and attack every NPC they see would be an unpredictable bomb in a game like this.
"Besides, I'm sure the official team has something planned. Just be patient."
A few minutes later, the 11 newly logged-in players received three exploration quests from Murphy.
Test Quest · Explore the Secret Storehouses 001 Quest Description: This quest is part of the game test and does not count toward the main story, but it still offers rewards. Lady Triss, whose origins are shrouded in mystery, has shared the locations of three secret Blood Eagle Clan storehouses in the outer districts of Cadman City. All three are in densely populated areas, and astral beasts and fearspawn have overrun them since the disaster. Murphy has decided to launch a surprise assault, reclaim the resources in the storehouses, and search for any survivors. This operation will be led by the last three sons of the Blood Eagle Clan and will take place at all three locations simultaneously. Quest Objectives: Reclaim the underground vaults 0/3, rescue the trapped Quest Reward: Blood Eagle Clan Recruit Armor 6/6 Hint! This quest requires groups. After forming your groups, report to the three NPCs to begin the operation.
"I'll go with Sānwǔdǒu and Old Qu. Give us Niu Niu from your group."
Meow Brother immediately turned to discuss it with Leading Pigeon, the leader of the student group.
"We'll go with Lord Murphy."
"Why?"
Ge Bao rolled his eyes.
"Everyone knows you're trying to farm favorability. Besides, Niu Niu's the strongest fighter at this stage! No way. Unless we switch. Your group follows the young lady, and we go with Lord Murphy. Who wouldn't want to hang out with a powerful, cute, quiet little rich girl?"
"What's there to argue about?"
A-Cha couldn't help complaining.
"Lady Adele is the only new addition. The other two are both important NPCs, so we'll definitely need to max out our favorability with all of them eventually. Why fight over it right now?"
The short Bionic Snail next to him made a motion as if adjusting his glasses, even though his character wasn't wearing any.
Watching Meow Brother and Ge Bao bicker, he suggested:
"How about drawing lots? There are eleven of us and three groups, so one group will definitely be short a person."
"You three are with me! Everyone else, report to Femis!"
While they were noisily dividing into groups, Murphy assigned Meow Brother and his two companions directly.
Meow Brother was delighted.
He figured Murphy had chosen them because their favorability was higher.
They didn't have much time to celebrate, though. The fearspawn near the first storehouse were swarming everywhere!
There were nearly five times as many as in the outer areas, and the rolling black wisps poured from the complex ruins like a small-scale monster siege.
But the incorporeal creatures didn't interfere with the players as much as they had the day before.
Their skill proficiency was generally up to the proficient level, and they'd completed their first class changes. With their class talents and teamwork, they could often take on several enemies at once.
As for the dangerous astral beasts, they didn't see a single one from beginning to end.
Murphy guessed it had something to do with the day-night cycle.
Even without sunlight reaching the city, the astral creatures were still affected by solar psionic energy. They were unlikely to leave their "nests" during the day.
In these circumstances, reaching the storehouse wasn't as dangerous as Murphy had imagined.
Of course, it seemed easy only to Murphy, who had already triggered the Black Iron Trial.
For the little players, whose character levels were still between 3 and 4, the fearspawn bursting out from every direction put them under tremendous pressure from the very start.
Meow Brother shouted orders as his two bodyguards held their shields and covered every side. He kept hurling Psionic Impacts, seemingly determined to pursue the spellcaster path.
They were struggling badly.
They were like a spring pulled taut, liable to snap at any moment. Yet Murphy only stepped in to help when they couldn't hold out any longer. He wasn't just enjoying the sight of the players in distress; he needed to help his little players grow as quickly as possible.
Before they set out, he had given the same instructions to the young lady and Lady Adele. He'd asked them to properly observe the basic conduct expected of an NPC: help only when necessary, and above all, don't interfere too much in the players' actions.
"We've reached the storehouse. I need to cast a spell to break this seal, and I can't be interrupted while I do it!"
Murphy spoke sternly to the three bedraggled little players.
"So you'll have to hold off the fearspawn as they keep coming."
Damn!
Escort quests really were the most annoying kind of quest in every MMORPG! At least Lord Murphy was steady. He wasn't running around screaming and drawing more monsters.
"We can't hold them off, sir."
Meow Brother wiped the sweat from his face.
He'd underestimated the difficulty of this game's early dungeon test. With their current equipment and levels, they had no way to deal with an attack by so many fearspawn.
"Thump."
Murphy tossed three bags in front of them and said:
"I saw how you performed. You've proven yourselves worthy of becoming Blood Eagle recruits, and I've brought you better armor. It'll help you hold out longer in this dangerous place.
"When you can't hold them back any longer, break through and retreat. Maxim and his 'Cadman People's Self-Rescue Army' will be there to help you."
The three little players immediately perked up. They opened the bags and saw sets of finely crafted recruit armor inside, and their faces lit up.
Their retainer leather armor had been battered to pieces in the fighting. These better pieces of equipment, with their various minor enhancement traits, would clearly boost their combat ability.
"Hold on, warriors!"
Murphy walked into the storehouse passage and called back to the three little players behind him.
"The longer you hold out, the more supplies I'll be able to get from the storehouse, and the smoother our cause will go."
But what he was really thinking was:
The pressure test for players officially begins!
Haven't you been clamoring to grind dungeons?
Well, here's your dungeon. This time, I'll have you grinding until you're sick of them.
Also, you three have been making dirty jokes about Triss and me on the forums and writing lewd little stories, haven't you? Those stories were pretty steamy and quite well-written, but that's not the point!
Lord Murphy holds a grudge!
So learn to enjoy the battles ahead, little ones.
P.S. Thanks to "Summer's Recklessness" for the tip! I'll count the bonus chapter toward the chapter rush. Also, I've got news: the book will go on sale on September 1!
Before you continue