Chapter 22: The Bat King

On the third floor of the internet cafe where Dachun is located, the command center of the Firmament Team.

Captain Qingfeng is anxiously and intensely monitoring the live broadcast of Ironforge City. It must be said, the fact that an uncle from downstairs managed to drop a sacred artifact feels as surreal and unreal as meeting a stranger who then turns around and wins the lottery’s grand prize.

The latest situation is that the Tari team from the Iron Ore District has mobilized on a massive scale; they are abandoning mining just to seize the sacred artifact and the S-rank pet!

Average players start in Ironforge or Bronze City, while high-end players start in Silver Gem City. Thus, the Firmament Team, starting in Silver City, is powerless to intervene in the events at Ironforge. Originally, they could have counted on the Imperial Family—an amateur guild of wealthy players—but the Imperial Family was blocked at the city gates from the start. They resorted to a "suicide" tactic to inflate the opponents' red-name status, but with everyone carrying dozens of stacks of death-related debuffs, they can barely walk, so they are not to be relied upon.

If other teams truly manage to loot the sacred artifact and S-rank pet, then, if nothing else, all hopes for the first arena tournament will be dashed. If the artifact could be preserved, given the fact that they live in the same building, it wouldn't be impossible to have the team pay to buy it from him.

While he is anxious, a player releases a new video: the hunted uncle claims that the Earl’s Mansion holds even more treasures...

Is he maximizing his survival instinct?

Though unreliable, it sparks a flash of inspiration for Qingfeng: "Ningning, prepare a press release immediately. Claim that this Count Ramir Khan's mansion was secretly developed and designed by the curry-loving coders, who left behind a huge back door, and that the rooms are filled with high-end equipment!"

Ningning is stunned: "Spread rumors?"

Qingfeng smiles bitterly: "This is called stirring the pot. What else can we do?"

Ningning asks in surprise: "This won't save the uncle! Others won't be fooled."

Qingfeng thinks for a moment: "True, the intent to save him would be too obvious. Then add a supplement, saying the 'dog-releasing' incident is the key to the back door, and that the Tari Consortium is coming out to attack the Earl's Mansion; once the dog incident ends, the opportunity will be lost."

Ningning is shocked: "That's getting more and more ridiculous. Those teams are headed straight for the sewers; won't they be confused by your message?"

Qingfeng laughs: "How they think is their business, but will players worldwide believe it?"

Ningning freezes: "They probably would, right?"

Qingfeng smiles helplessly: "When the whole world believes it, perhaps it will lead those who don't believe astray as well. Anyway, let's try it; it's just a press release..."

"Understood."

...

Shenqian Command Center.

The sudden appearance of the hidden Fish King, followed by an incredible 12-second kill, has completely shocked everyone.

Because the kill happened underwater and no one saw it, they could only assume the sacred artifact was powerful. But before the Dog King was killed instantly, there was no sacred artifact, so it must be assumed that the stolen items were powerful.

In any case, the sacred artifact, the S-rank pet, and the powerful items have driven the Young Master mad. The order is to stop at nothing to surround and kill the red-named player! Exhaust his stamina, drain his hunger, or just wait until his dog bites become infected by the sewage and he dies from it!

A team member reports: "Young Master, the Tari Consortium has stopped mining. Their tens of thousands of miners have left the mines with pickaxes!"

The Young Master is furious: "They dare to snatch my equipment? Has the warrior regiment returned to the city yet?"

"They are still on their way outside the city!"

"Baka! Too slow!"

The Young Master has no choice but to call to talk to the Tari team personally: "Mr. Singh, what are you planning to do?"

Singh laughs: "This event was triggered by our team member, so naturally, we should be responsible for it."

Clearly, the Shenqian team not only failed to kill the red-named player immediately but actually let him kill another boss, which shows that the encirclement is encountering huge difficulties. At this moment, the Tari team has decisively mobilized to either snatch the red-named player or force the Shenqian team to offer some benefits...

The Young Master says coldly: "The sewer passages are too narrow to accommodate your tens of thousands—"

Singh interrupts immediately: "No, no, no. The sewers are very wide; they need tens of thousands. I see he has already learned to swim. Once the night boss appears, his chance of escaping during the chaos is actually quite high—you know, ten thousand lame chickens can't catch one swimming duck. What we need is cooperation. Now that the sewer covers all over the city have been pushed open by stray dogs, we can cooperate to seal off the area! That way, no matter where he swims, and no matter how much chaos the boss causes, he will be under the encirclement of our tens of thousands—would you refuse to cooperate?"

The Young Master's heart sinks. Although what he says makes some sense, having to deal with this rogue would be as disgusting as eating expired curry.

Just then, a team member points urgently at the screen: "Young Master! Latest news!"

The Young Master turns to look and is immediately stunned by the message above! But he has never heard of the Tari team having such a bonus package project. Could it be that the curry-descended employees are doing this privately behind their backs...

But he realizes immediately that whether it is a rumor or not does not matter; what matters is that if I believe it is, then it is!

The Young Master immediately seizes the leverage and replies to the call: "Mr. Singh, an insider just broke the news that you are actually planning to attack the Earl's Mansion. I think this is a great project for cooperation! I need a high-level red-name status; killing ordinary players makes it hard to meet the requirements, and committing crimes against a great noble is perfect. You also need treasures..."

Singh pauses for a moment, then replies immediately: "No, no, fake news! There is no such project at all!"

The Young Master sneers: "This only makes me feel that Mr. Singh is not sincere enough with his partners. At the very least, there is no doubt that there are treasures in the great noble's mansion. If you are not sincere, how can I cooperate with you in the sewers? You should know that my regiment of a thousand warriors will be back in the city soon, and your tens of thousands of miners cannot be a match."

Singh says coldly: "Don't even think about threatening me! Unless you come up with a sufficiently feasible and beneficial plan! Otherwise, I don't mind letting all your thousand warriors become red-named and sit in prison—these warriors are all needed to occupy the village; you wouldn't want anything to happen to them, right?"

The Young Master is indeed held hostage by this rogue, so he thinks for a moment: "First, the Earl has taken his most elite guards to attend Baron Bapon’s banquet; the mansion's defenses being weakened is a fact! You know how strong the noble's personal guards are, right? Baron Bapon's carriage driver is one! Then, my maritime trade association caught 50 barrels of fish on the first day of the server launch. I can transport all these 50 barrels to the wall of the Earl's mansion and stack them into a staircase to climb the wall, while pouring all the fish into the courtyard and streets of the mansion. By then, the hungry stray dogs all over the street will definitely step on the barrels and jump into the courtyard to lead the way for us, and then our tens of thousands will swarm in..."

At the mention of the fish, the Young Master’s heart aches. Originally, these fish were intended to be ground into meat paste and sprinkled around whales to farm barnacles.

Singh is actually interested: "Very creative! But you need a high-level red-name status, and we don't. The cost of us turning red-named is too heavy!"

The Young Master is very unhappy: "Then I will transfer 1 million to your team account!"

Singh is dismissive: "Is Mr. Shenqian insulting our team? We have tens of thousands of people mobilized!"

The Young Master says coldly: "This was your goal for the operation anyway!"

Singh is furious: "I said it already, there is no such goal!"

The Young Master says in a low voice: "There is now! I will transfer another 100,000 to your private account!"

Singh laughs: "Happy cooperation! Then let's surround the sewers first!"

The Young Master flatly refuses: "No, the Earl's Mansion has greater benefits. Attack the Earl's Mansion first!"

"No, the cost of the siege might be the destruction of the entire army and imprisonment! I can send 10,000 people to surround the sewers first."

"Too many, 1,000 people!"

"5,000 people..."

...

Inside the sewers, faced with the large team's human-sea tactic to drain his stamina, Dachun dares not let his pet engage in battle and continues to dive and swim underwater.

He soon discovers the wonders of the new skill, "Swimming Mastery": as long as he holds his breath while submerged, his swimming proficiency keeps skyrocketing!

Dachun is overjoyed! Usually, the key points of practicing swimming are speed, flow rate, resistance, and underwater fancy movements, all of which consume a lot of stamina. Only this diving does not consume stamina! It is perfect for his current dilemma where he dares not waste stamina.

In short, someone at Level 1 Swimming is on a different level from someone drowning, and someone who can dive is on an even higher level than someone who can just swim. The consortium's current encirclement consists of people who cannot swim; even if he raises his swimming to Level 2, he will open up a huge gap.

Then he will drag it out! Anyway, his wounds are immune to infection, but theirs are not.

—System Notification: Night has fallen. The nocturnal monsters in the sewers will appear. Please be prepared to respond.

Finally, it is officially dark!

Just then, the mining lights tracking him on the water surface suddenly dim, and there is a sound of players on the shore panicking and jumping into the water—System Notification: You have discovered a large swarm of bats.

Dachun is suddenly delighted. As expected of one of the "Three Giants of the Sewers," the bats move out as soon as it gets dark! So, can the boss be far behind? Flying monsters are in the sky and do not threaten the water, so they are not a problem; as long as they can create chaos for the large team, that is enough.

Suddenly, Dachun's vision shifts violently, and a rapidly moving, hazy, dark red light cluster appears in the distance.

—System Notification: You have caused the "poisoned bait in the sewer" incident, triggering the appearance of the sewer's hidden boss, the "Vampire Bat King"!

—Ironforge City Announcement: Player "Dachun" has triggered the city's hidden boss, the "Vampire Bat King"! A speed-kill of the Vampire Bat King will yield rich rewards.

Damn, I'm on the broadcast again!

He doesn't count on dealing with this flying boss, but Dachun immediately notices something wrong: "Ellen, why can I still see the light cluster of this Bat King through walls from so far away while I'm underwater? Is this your ability?"

Ellen's voice trembles slightly: "Do you want to know?"

Dachun suddenly realizes: "No, I don't!"

Are you kidding me? If I say I want to, won't you immediately issue me a quest with "Equal Contract"?

Ellen's voice becomes venomous again: "No, you do!"

Dachun is anxious: "I don't have the capacity to want!"

Ellen is furious: "I hate losers the most!"

Damn! Since the contract has already been signed, she probably can't do anything to me as long as I don't breach it, right?

Dachun doesn't indulge her: "You take medicine and use spells, and yet you haven't broken through? How dare you call me a loser?"

Ellen wails and screams: "You bastard, you peeked at my diary~~~~~~"

Sigh, the woman in the diary was such a gentle and determined person; it's unbearable to see her become an evil spirit!

Dachun silently takes off his headset and thinks of the legendary high-end brain-computer interfaces. If that kind of machine encountered something like this, it would probably go crazy, right? Low-end has its own advantages.

Watching the Bat King's light cluster fly over the water surface above him, Dachun suddenly remembers something. A bat's lair is usually a cave or something similar, right? Since he can see the bat through walls the entire time, as long as he follows the Bat King to find its lair, he might be able to find the cave to escape the sewers. Even if he dies, the equipment will drop in its lair, and the players won't be able to get it!

Decided. Follow it!