The borders of Huaxia were now engulfed in flames. To the north, the Tsar Empire watched with covetous eyes; to the south, the nations of Little Viet encroached; to the west, the twenty-three nations of Little India posed a threat; and to the east, Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla provoked Huaxia. Oda Kamiya, led by descendants of Oda Nobunaga, was also eyeing Huaxia.
Far away, the mighty Ancient Roman Empire was reviving, while the Holy See had begun forming the Crusader Army in the name of faith. And then there was the most legendary king of the West, King Arthur. His descendant, Arthur Tina, was said to have already taken up the Sword of the King.
Meanwhile, the Land of Pharaohs had been established, and numerous tribes were expanding through savage conquest.
The entire Apocalypse World seemed to be in chaos, with all restraint gone. Some fought because they belonged to different nations, others because of different faiths, and still others because of different races. The slightest pretext was enough to set people at each other's throats. The border system cities were the most fiercely contested places, and blood had already begun staining the ground. Huaxia was by far the most chaotic.
Huaxia had once been the hegemon of the East, and throughout history had made plenty of enemies. Countless people coveted it, and its territory bordered countless nations. Conflict was inevitable.
Zhao Fu had read several posts about Huaxia's people being bullied at the borders. Some even mocked Huaxia's weakness and incompetence in posts on the real-world forums, stoking tensions there as well.
This had thoroughly enraged the inheritors of Huaxia's various states. Zhao Yang, the inheritor of Zhao State, happened to be at one such border. He gathered all the players and slaughtered ten villages in a row, earning a great deal of renown.
That was more or less how things were at the borders now: if you didn't kill me today, I'd kill you tomorrow. They were filled with endless slaughter and darkness. The game had yet to begin, but the board was already in disarray.
Things were already like this now. There was no telling what they would be like later.
After returning to Apocalypse World, Zhao Fu spent several days sealing off most of the passages into Bone Space, leaving a few open to explore later. He also ordered his people to keep scouting the area around Great Qin Village for other villages they could annex and use to grow their ranks.
He had no choice. The threat posed by those five thousand Orcs was simply too great. If Great Qin Village was unlucky enough to be discovered by them, Zhao Fu had no way to fend off five thousand Orcs.
At the research lab, Zhao Fu saw that there had still been no news about the Teleportation Array after all this time. He decided to put it aside for now and research a skill that could assess the aptitude of corpses. A lord could inspect the aptitude of his own subjects, but not people who weren't his subjects. Now that he had acquired the Heaven and Earth Refining Array, this skill seemed especially important.
As soon as he entered the research lab, Bai Shan came over with a delighted expression and said, "Your Highness! We've succeeded in researching the Teleportation Array."
Zhao Fu was pleasantly surprised. He immediately ordered his people to build a Teleportation Array beside the village hall.
This was only a basic Teleportation Array, capable of transporting just two or three people at a time. More advanced arrays would require further research. But this one already met Zhao Fu's needs, so he had Bai Shan and the others continue researching a skill that could assess the aptitude of corpses.
Now that he had a Teleportation Array, Zhao Fu changed his mind and decided to visit a system city. Once built, the array could connect to a system city's Teleportation Array and send him there directly.
He called Bai Qi along and brought the 236 silver coins he'd saved up over the past few days, along with several blue-quality weapons, in case he came across something good and found himself short on money again.
Zhao Fu stood on the Teleportation Array. A list of options appeared before him: "City of Holy Light," "Forest of Soldiers," and "Demon Tree City."
After thinking it over, he and Bai Qi each put on a black cloak to conceal their faces. Zhao Fu didn't want anyone discovering what he or Bai Qi looked like. As for which city to choose, he thought of the undead in the passage and chose the City of Holy Light.
After a brief bout of dizziness, Zhao Fu and Bai Qi arrived on a huge platform. Heavy crossbows had been set up all around it, and heavily armed guards stood watch. If anything went wrong, they could shut down the Teleportation Array and kill any intruders.
After taking a quick look around, Zhao Fu and Bai Qi headed out onto the main street. The road was wide, lined with shops, and crowded with people milling about.
There was one other interesting sight: all kinds of players had set up street stalls, hawking equipment and skills. Most of it was ordinary, of course.
Zhao Fu looked around with interest. He had no particular plans and intended to explore the system city first.
As he walked along the street, Zhao Fu realized just how enormous the City of Holy Light was. It was large enough to rival the great cities of ancient times and could easily hold more than a million people. It would probably take several days to explore on foot.
He arrived at the quest board!
There were five stone tablets here, each four meters tall and two meters wide, displaying quests of different levels from left to right. Quests came in five ranks: Easy, Normal, Hard, Extremely Hard, and Hell.
Normal quests mostly involved finding materials or helping someone with a simple task. The original inhabitants could post one here for a few copper coins.
The first tablet was surrounded by people waiting to snatch up quests. A single copper coin was worth ten yuan now, so even a few coins could be worth more than their wages. That was why so many ordinary people spent all their time in Apocalypse World.
The second tablet, for Normal quests, was also surrounded by people. Zhao Fu couldn't squeeze his way in.
There were far fewer people at the third tablet, which listed Hard quests. These included killing the leaders of various foreign races or searching for rare materials.
Zhao Fu went to the fifth tablet, which listed Hell quests, and examined them with interest.
1. Kill [Six-Eyed Demon Flood Dragon]. Quest details: The Six-Eyed Demon Flood Dragon is a monster that lives in the deepest part of Terror Forest. It is a lord-level creature with a terrifying power capable of inspiring despair. Reward: 100,000 merit points and one legendary piece of equipment.
2. Kill [Orc Kaji]. Quest details: Orc Kaji is the lord of a small city located in the northern part of Terror Forest, with more than 40,000 Orcs. Reward: 50,000 merit points and one semi-legendary piece of equipment.
3. Find [Holy Source Fruit]. Quest details: The Holy Source Fruit is a seventh-tier spirit herb that can heal any injury and improve one's aptitude. Reward: 20,000 merit points and one gold-grade piece of equipment.
Looking at these quests, the first one was undoubtedly for the biggest boss in Terror Forest. Even the system city probably wouldn't dare provoke it. Who could possibly complete that quest?
The second quest, killing Orc Kaji, was obviously no more feasible. Those more than 40,000 Orcs weren't pushovers. Zhao Fu also understood why there was no system city in the northern part of Terror Forest: powerful foreign races lived there.
The third quest depended entirely on luck. You might get lucky, fall into some cave, and find the fruit. But Zhao Fu wasn't very interested in the reward. Bai Qi already had a gold-grade weapon, so gold-grade equipment didn't appeal to him all that much.