The Start of a New Story?

"Wanderers from other races want to take over our abandoned district?"

After hearing this, Lin Qi's expression grew much graver. He had never expected such conflicts to exist even in the abandoned district.

City of Light Chasing was jointly governed by multiple races. Within the city, things were quite peaceful, but once one reached the outskirts, everything changed. The area was practically controlled by the major gangs, and bloody clashes broke out from time to time.

Gang battles were exceptionally brutal. On his way to the Azure Crystal Weapon Shop, Lin Qi had personally witnessed one such clash. More than a hundred people had fought until one side was completely wiped out. Lin Qi still had not forgotten that gruesome scene.

Because the gangs fought so fiercely, few people were willing to join them unless they truly could not survive any longer, had nowhere left to go, or wanted to gamble on a future. After all, the gangs controlled considerable resources and were generous to their members. Those who survived generally lived far better than ordinary people in the city.

"Don't worry too much." The one-eyed middle-aged man noticed Lin Qi's concern. He stepped forward, patted Lin Qi's shoulder, and said with a smile, "Even if a fight really breaks out, we won't be like those gangs. This is the abandoned district, just a place where we rest day to day. It isn't worth risking our lives over. We're going over mainly to bolster our side's momentum."

"..." Lin Qi felt even more worried after hearing the one-eyed man's reassurance.

The wanderers living in this abandoned district could leave, but how was he supposed to leave?

Was he supposed to carry the martial arts hall on his shoulders while running away with his legs?

"Alright, let's get over there quickly." The one-eyed middle-aged man had no idea why Lin Qi's expression had worsened. He consoled him again, saying, "If things look bad, we can just turn around and run. We may be different races, but we're all wanderers. We won't go so far as to grievously hurt each other."

"Big brother, go on ahead. I'll get my weapons and bring a few more people over." Without waiting for the one-eyed man to respond, Lin Qi turned and rushed toward the martial arts hall basement to fetch his bow and arrows.

As Lin Qi ran toward the lounge, Fang Zhen and the other two emerged from the basement because of the commotion. Each carried an alloy shovel, their eyes constantly scanning the wanderers gathering on the street, afraid of missing a single one.

"My god! This game actually has so many NPCs!" Fang Zhen stared at the growing crowd of wanderers on the dilapidated street, his eyes shining as he spoke excitedly. "If we can get quests from them, that'd be awesome."

"These people are made so realistically!" Twilight of the Gods was equally thrilled. "Look at them. Not only are they all dressed differently, even their facial expressions look so real. The game developers really put their hearts into this."

"With so many NPCs gathering, something big must be about to happen. Let's go take a look too. Maybe we can trigger some special quest again," Fang Zhen suggested.

"Brother Zhen, don't forget that the Dojo Master told us not to leave the martial arts hall's grounds. Have you forgotten what happens if we leave?" Twilight of the Gods reminded him.

"Damn it, these game developers are too wicked. We can only watch, not touch." Fang Zhen looked unwillingly at the NPCs filling the street.

High Martial Descent was currently in its beta testing phase, and the only place they could move about was the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall. Earlier, Twilight of the Gods had wanted to see how much of High Martial Descent had been developed, so he had tried to sneak out of the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall and look at the outside world.

Yet before Twilight of the Gods had even gone ten meters beyond the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, he had collapsed to the ground as though his soul had left his body, twitching violently like he had a bad network connection.

After quite a while, the Dojo Master, Lin Qi, had gone over and dragged Twilight of the Gods back. He had also issued an order: without his permission, they were forbidden from leaving the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall. Outside the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall was dangerous, and anyone who left would bear the consequences themselves.

Because of that incident, Twilight of the Gods had behaved much better lately. He no longer thought about testing the limits of High Martial Descent and focused on underground work instead.

"Even if we can't go over there, we can watch from here." Wu Shang, holding a shovel, rolled her eyes at the two of them, feeling that they lacked experience. "This game is still under development. Since these NPCs are gathering here, the developers are probably testing something. We're beta testers. If they won't let us participate, we can still find a way to watch."

"Watch?" Fang Zhen was somewhat surprised. How were they supposed to watch when it was nearly dark?

"The higher you stand, the farther you see. We just need to climb higher." Wu Shang pointed at the roof of the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall.

"That's right! We can go up and take a look." Twilight of the Gods suddenly understood.

The Obsidian Martial Arts Hall covered more than eighty thousand square meters, like a massive stadium, and its roof stood over thirty meters high. From up there, they could see at least some of what was happening. After all, the place where those NPCs were gathering was not far away.

"You three, come with me."

Just as the three were discussing how to climb onto the martial arts hall roof, Lin Qi came out of the lounge carrying a compound bow and nine Black Steel Arrows, then directly gave the order.

Although Fang Zhen and the other two were very weak right now, with Wu Shang merely a middle school student, they could not compare with wanderers who had spent years surviving in the high martial world. But as the one-eyed man had said, one more person meant one more bit of momentum. It would be good if they could intimidate the other side.

"Dojo Master, can we go too?" Fang Zhen shuddered all over when he heard that and could not help asking Lin Qi.

"I knew it! The system suddenly updated, and now so many NPCs are gathering. The officials must be making a huge move." Twilight of the Gods clenched his fist excitedly. "Good thing I don't have classes tomorrow. I can pull an all-nighter today!"

"Dojo Master, is something major happening outside?" As Heavenly Might's vice president, Wu Shang had long learned to remain unruffled no matter what happened. She went straight for the most crucial question.

"It's nothing much. A group of wanderers wants to occupy our territory, so we're going over there to fight them." Lin Qi did not hide it and simply told them the truth.

"I knew it!" Twilight of the Gods said with a hint of fanaticism on his face. "A new storyline is starting! They're even specifically testing the combat system!"

"A conflict between factions?" Fang Zhen also brightened. "That's what I'm talking about. A game called High Martial Descent had us digging dirt and farming every day—what kind of nonsense was that? Now they're finally testing the combat system."

Wu Shang, who had remained silent at the side, also showed a change in expression. Even her grip on the shovel tightened somewhat.

"Now we'll see what High Martial Descent's combat system is like. If it can be made no worse than Pilgrimage, then I can report it to the president."

Wu Shang was somewhat nervous as well. Heavenly Might was a massive guild. If changing games went poorly, it would strike at their very bones and muscles.

Although High Martial Descent's simulation quality had already utterly surpassed every virtual game on the market, Heavenly Might would still find it difficult to choose High Martial Descent if its combat system was poorly made. After all, Heavenly Might had risen through martial arts games, and the members it trained had always centered on martial combat.

"What are you standing around for? Hurry up and follow me!" Lin Qi looked at the three standing motionless with excited expressions. He had no idea what they were thinking, so he directly ordered them.

"Yes!"

The three came back to their senses and immediately followed behind Lin Qi, briskly heading toward another street outside the martial arts hall.

Old Cat knew everyone definitely wanted to see the second update, so it would be posted very soon.