Protection vanished

At the same time, the jar of tomato sauce in Zuo Cheng'an's hand also turned into a streak of light and shot into his mind.

[Muchou Brand Tomato Sauce]

[Category: Recipe]

[Ingredients: Fragrant Tomato ×1, White Sugar ×1, Electro-Stinging Honey ×1...]

[Description: The most popular sauce in Ladder City! Nobody could dislike it! Perhaps you could give it as a gift.]

--

The tomatoes used in the recipe were actually Fragrant Tomatoes? Not Wailing Tomatoes?

Had Red-Eyes changed the tomato sauce recipe without permission after taking over the farm?

Seeing that Zuo Cheng'an already knew the recipe, Red-Eyes knew it was too late.

The sauce recipe that could bring it enormous wealth was no longer secure!

Fortunately, the one who had obtained the recipe was only a player. Even if he worked himself to death making it, he could not match an hour's output from its production line.

Only by crushing this player and completely cutting off any chance of the recipe spreading further could it continue to rest easy.

But that goal was no longer achievable in the farm instance.

Players who had completed their tasks could leave a task-based instance at any time.

Inside the warehouse, Zuo Cheng'an was not worried in the slightest. He had completed his task, so Red-Eyes had no grounds to attack him.

Otherwise, it would have snatched the tin away as soon as it discovered it, rather than repeatedly raising its offer to make him willingly trade.

Perhaps, besides "no harming players without cause," there were restrictions like "no seizing players' items" and "no obstructing the normal progress of the instance."

Red-Eyes could only watch helplessly as the tin turned into a streak of light and disappeared.

The tomato sauce produced on the farm sold well throughout Ladder City, bringing it huge profits.

To expand production, it had uprooted every crop on the farm except tomatoes and replaced the tomato variety with the higher-yielding Wailing Tomatoes.

Although consumers often complained that the tomato sauce did not taste as good as before,

it had brushed them all off with the excuse that "this is a necessary sacrifice for higher output."

Put that way, the consumers stopped finding fault.

"You little brat! I oversee more instances than you think! You'd better choose carefully next time. Don't fall into my hands again!"

With that, Red-Eyes headed elsewhere on the farm. It was going to vent its anger on the other players who had not finished their tasks!

Of course, it would have loved for Zuo Cheng'an's next instance to be on its turf.

Zuo Cheng'an knew this was the so-called "Red-Eyes' hostility."

Just as the young couple had been deliberately assigned the two hardest tasks by Red-Eyes because they had said the wrong thing,

if he encountered another instance run by Red-Eyes, he would probably be deliberately saddled with a troublesome task too.

He would deal with whatever came his way. The benefits of completing the "special task" far outweighed the cost of offending a minor boss in the game.

Besides, Zuo Cheng'an felt that Red-Eyes might be strong to players who were Not Yet on the Ladder,

but to higher-level players... such as players on the third ladder, it was nothing special.

The fact that it had been beaten down to just over forty percent on its health bar proved that.

If it were powerful, it would not be in such a sorry state now.

Even a god, once its health bar appeared, was reduced to a boss that was hard to beat.

What was a rabbit that players on the third ladder had already beaten down to half health?

Zuo Cheng'an was not frightened by Red-Eyes' threat at all. Instead, it gave him a reason to grow stronger.

Now that both tasks were complete, he could leave the instance at any time.

When his gaze swept over Mo Dou, who was looking at him with his tongue hanging out, a thought suddenly occurred to him.

The Twenty-First Sheep in the instance had turned back into a dog, so Red-Eyes' statement that there were twenty-one sheep on the farm no longer held true.

Would the game invalidate the task, calculate it using the new game data, or change nothing and still go by what Red-Eyes had said?

While he was pondering this serious question,

Mo Dou suddenly sensed something and took off toward the sheep pen.

Seeing this, Zuo Cheng'an followed.

Humans formed one large group with shared interests within the game. Their common enemies were the game bosses and the "audience" hiding behind the eyeballs, who enjoyed watching humans' ugly displays as they died.

As fellow humans on the same side, he would help where he could, so long as it did not harm his own interests.

Besides, the guy had only just broken up with his girlfriend today. Having to die single too would be a little too tragic.

After the earthquake in the instance, the surviving players were astonished to discover that its name had changed!

It had changed from "Uncle Red-Eyes' Farm" to "Uncle Muchou's Farm."

Even an instance's name could change?

Mo Dou raced along the farm's paths! Before the instance's name changed, he had lived in a muddle, without a sense of self.

At one point, he had even believed he really was a sheep!

He only vaguely remembered that he had not wanted to become some game boss and would rather become an ordinary NPC in the instance without intelligence.

He had mechanically grazed and walked every day, day after day.

Only today had his mind become like a freshly polished mirror, and he had uncharacteristically done things he would never have done before.

He had jumped out of the sheep pen and run to the warehouse, seemingly knowing that something important was buried there.

Only once the instance's name had successfully changed had he completely let go of what weighed on his heart and truly moved on from the past.

Now, all that remained in his heart was utter hatred for Red-Eyes!

He wanted nothing more than to kill it!!

But Mo Dou was a clever Sheepdog. He knew that, as an NPC, he could not take on a game boss alone. To get rid of Red-Eyes, he would have to rely on players.

The twin sisters exchanged a glance and stayed put.

Compared with the young couple's tasks, theirs were much more conventional, perfectly matching the difficulty of a first-ladder instance.

Their own abilities were not weak either, so they had completed every task before the final deadline arrived.

But the sun had already sunk completely below the horizon. Why had Red-Eyes still not come?

Had something held it up? Was it because of the players who had failed their tasks?

The sisters hesitated, but ultimately decided to remain at their task locations.

Even in instances with cooperative tasks, not all players would necessarily work as one, let alone in an instance like this, where their tasks were unrelated.

Everyone had to rely on their own abilities. No one could blame anyone else.

The warehouse stored tomatoes, so it had to be placed closest to the fields to make harvesting convenient.

When checking task completion, Red-Eyes should also start with the warehouse at the farm's entrance.

At the warehouse entrance,

Youyou trembled all over, staring in terror at the rabbit before her.

For the first time, she learned that rabbits, which she had always thought of as fluffy, harmless creatures found only in pet shops or braising pots, could actually be this terrifying!

What Youyou did not know was that, because she had failed her task, the game would no longer protect her.

That was why she could feel Red-Eyes' true strength.

Even Red-Eyes' appearance had undergone an earth-shattering change in her eyes!

Its harmless, even somewhat cute rabbit face had vanished.

Its mouth, filled with sharp fangs, could open a full hundred and eighty degrees! From the side, it looked as though its entire skull had been flipped open!

Merely looking at its crimson eyes made her dizzy and set her ears ringing.