"Madam, leave this kind of thing to us!"
"Madam, be careful not to hurt your hand!"
As the two maids cried out, Madam Chen's five fingers had already touched the shards of the cup.
She applied a little pressure and grabbed a shard.
But the shard was terrifyingly sharp. Her fingers passed right through it and separated from her palm, dropping to the floor.
Madam Chen froze. She stared blankly at her hand, blood spurting from where her fingers had been, then screamed.
"Madam! Madam, your hand!"
"Ahhh!"
Amid the screams, the shards of the cup shot toward the necks of all three women.
Their clear eyes turned completely black in an instant, as if a drop of ink had fallen into each one. They fell silent at once.
Madam Chen calmly picked up her fingers from the floor, put them in her mouth, and chewed a few times before spitting them out.
She frowned, as if to say they tasted bad.
After a pause, she gave a strange smile and looked toward the room Fang Yue had stayed in.
Crack!
The door suddenly shattered into pieces and fell to the floor.
Seeing that the room was empty, Madam Chen frowned and turned her gaze ahead.
Wherever Madam Chen looked, lines of knife marks appeared across the floor. The wooden doors had all been cut into several pieces, and the lanterns hanging from the ceiling dropped to the ground.
The entire corridor looked as if someone had hacked through it with a flurry of wild strikes. It was a complete mess.
"What was that sound? Wha—"
Two servants hurried over from a distance. Halfway there, one of them suddenly dropped to the ground, his upper body separated from the rest as blood stained the corridor.
"A m-monster!"
The other man was stunned. He scrambled backward and ran.
One of the maids beside Madam Chen rushed out without a sound and reached the man in an instant. She placed a hand on his head and lifted gently. His body came apart like a mud figure, his head separating from it, and his corpse fell silently to the ground.
More people heard the commotion and hurried over from a distance.
Beneath the great banyan tree in the center of Ancient Moon Village.
Five people gathered together, anxiously watching the sun as it was about to set.
When they saw a figure slowly approaching from afar, they all brightened and hurried over to greet him.
"Brother Ye, what took you so long? It's almost you hour! Niu Niu said the Patrol Team stops offering this mission after nightfall."
Fang Yue wanted to hurry, too, but his body wouldn't let him.
Of course, Fang Yue would never say that out loud.
"Don't rush. Haste makes waste."
Shi Wuliao had no mood to listen to Fang Yue lecture him. He transferred the money, then took out the 50 coins they had painstakingly earned from the five of them.
"Brother Ye, these are the coins we earned from NPCs while doing missions today. It's not much, just 50 coins. Don't think too badly of us."
Fang Yue had never seen the game's currency before.
He took the 50 coins they gave him and examined them. They looked like ordinary ancient copper coins, nothing special.
He weighed them in his hand. They were unexpectedly heavy.
No, my body's just too weak...
He put the money away, and the transfer came through.
"Dear user, 5,000 yuan has been credited to your virtual account 5203!"
5,000 yuan! An easy profit!
Fang Yue beamed.
"Come on, let's go take the mission."
"Okay!"
The others answered happily, too. With Fang Yue, a professional gamer, there to guide them, they felt as if they had a steadying pillar to lean on. They were much calmer.
When they reached the Guard Team's station, they were surprised to find someone they knew sitting inside.
"Captain Lin? What are you doing here?"
Lin Ling was even more surprised to see Fang Yue.
"I should be asking you that. What are you doing at the Guard Team?"
Shi Wuliao, Niu Niu, and the others had been delighted when they saw that Fang Yue knew the captain, thinking they might get some extra benefits or something.
But when they saw Lin Ling's attitude, the two men didn't seem to get along. They promptly shut their mouths.
Fang Yue said, "Uh... I'm here to take the night patrol mission."
"What?"
Lin Ling raised his voice.
"Lord Han went all the way to the next village to look for medicine for you, and you're recklessly trying to take the night patrol mission?"
What?
Lord Han had gone looking for medicine for him?
Fang Yue was stunned, feeling a little moved.
Lord Han really treated him well. Even after he'd become useless, Lord Han still hadn't given up on him.
But when Fang Yue thought it over, something felt off. Lord Han was being unusually kind to a stranger like him.
Still, Fang Yue couldn't think of any reason why Lord Han would treat him so well.
Could it be that he really saw me as his successor?
Had a windfall just fallen into my lap?
"Just so we're clear, I don't mind if you go get yourself killed. If you want to patrol at night, I fully support you and won't stop you. But I warned you: going out there is the same as asking to die."
Lin Ling grumbled a couple of times, making sure he'd done his duty, then cheerfully processed Fang Yue's paperwork.
"System notification: Congratulations, player! You have accepted the daily mission Ancient Moon Village Night Patrol."
"Mission Name: Ancient Moon Village Night Patrol."
"Rank: Village, Mid-Grade."
"Time: You hour–Mao hour."
"Party Size: 6 people."
"Mission Rewards: Unknown."
That was what the system said, but it didn't mean the mission rewards were truly unknown.
Fang Yue asked, "Captain Lin, what do we get for completing the patrol?"
"Get? Lifespan, of course."
As he spoke, Lin Ling tossed Fang Yue and Niu Niu a bronze token.
"This is called a Bronze Lifespan Token. It contains six hours' worth of Lifespan. In other words, the Guard Team has covered the Lifespan you'd consume while on patrol. Once the patrol is complete, we'll put another six hours' worth of Lifespan in the token as your reward. If you encounter an anomaly and help kill it, you'll receive additional Lifespan."
Fang Yue and Niu Niu exchanged a look, both delighted.
Six hours wasn't much, but they hadn't encountered an anomaly yet. If they put in enough effort, they could definitely earn more.
Shi Wuliao and the other three were instantly green with envy. They stared at Lin Ling, waiting for him to hand them tokens, but Lin Ling ignored them completely.
Instead, he tossed Fang Yue an unlit torch and a yellow talisman.
The talisman looked ordinary. Someone had used some kind of pigment to draw three dots in the middle, and that was it.
"The Anomaly Detection Talisman. You can only get one a month, so use it sparingly. The Soul Fire torch can be lit by burning human souls. You won't need it unless you leave the village, but if you encounter an anomaly, burning a human soul to light the Soul Fire torch will improve your chances of survival."
After explaining what the two items were for, Lin Ling ignored them.
Now Shi Wuliao was getting anxious.
"Um, Captain Lin, what about our equipment?"
"You?" Lin Ling raised an eyebrow, looking disdainful.
"Anyone who isn't a member of the Guard Team can only take a mission with a Guard Team member leading the party. You're not allowed to use Patrol Team equipment during the mission. Come back to me for your reward once you've completed it."
Although Lin Ling's attitude was poor, Shi Wuliao's eyes still lit up when he heard there was a reward.
"Is the reward Lifespan?"
"You'll get a reward of three hours' worth of Lifespan. If you make it back alive, we'll talk."
Lin Ling curled his lip, clearly not optimistic about their chances.
Before you continue