The next day.
Game time AM 07:03.
“Your mental connection has been detected, personal information is being synchronized…”
“Connection complete, personal information is being read.”
“Welcome back, chaotic neutral Tan Mo, Innocent World will be loaded soon, good night.”
… …
Eastern Innocent Continent, outskirts of Vienne City.
Mo Tan appeared behind a tree beside a small path. There was no other reason; there were people on the path.
“It’s truly peaceful,” he said with a sigh, strolling out from behind the tree. The atmosphere here was completely different from the oppressive and desolate Misha County, which was ravaged by Plague. Early in the morning, many caravans and travelers could be seen on the road. Occasionally, a Bard could be seen squatting by the roadside playing music, surrounded mostly by children with few coppers in their pockets. Although these little ones couldn’t offer a single penny as a reward, the anecdotes they occasionally heard from their families were often enough for the Bards to exchange for a drink in the inn.
A scene of peace and harmony…
“But it’s a bit boring~”
Mo Tan picked his nose, then casually wiped his hand on a child who ran past him, thinking idly.
He yawned widely, then planned to find a secluded, unpopulated place to change his clothes. After all, it was still a long way to the northern border of the Violet Empire. If he wanted to travel at full speed, a Thief’s attire would be less conspicuous than the flowing robes of a Bard.
But…
“Hello, mate~”
A cheerful and kind voice suddenly sounded behind him.
Mo Tan slowly turned his head, finding a Dark Elf man standing behind him with a smile.
“Few people take this road. Are you planning to go to the Violet Empire?” the other party asked with a chuckle, then extended his right hand: “Let me introduce myself, my name is Kloi, Crow Illumina.”
Kloi was a typical Dark Elf. He had silver-white Mohawk hair, a slightly feminine face, pointed long ears, and a pair of red pupils. However, he seemed like the easygoing type, giving off a very cheerful impression.
Mo Tan laughed heartily, shook the other’s hand, and said, “Hello, my name is Cordoba Ruby, an unlucky Bard. Do you know me?”
He didn’t give a name like Grand Fard, after all, Mo Tan didn’t know whether the Kloi in front of him was an NPC or a player, so he cautiously gave Cordoba’s name. This way, even if he accidentally or intentionally offended the other party later, the trouble wouldn’t immediately fall on him.
“No, I don’t,” Kloi shook his head as expected, then smiled and said, “But Bards are one family. I also happen to be planning to go south to broaden my horizons. Seeing that you, Brother Lu Wei, also seem to be heading that way, I came up to say hello. If it’s convenient, we can travel together for a while.”
This young Dark Elf wore a white robe, with a pair of exquisite triangles hanging at his waist, and held a common Black-Skin notebook in his left hand. He indeed looked like a graceful Bard in every way.
“I have no objection at all, mate.” Mo Tan raised an eyebrow slightly, then pointed to his trembling legs and said with a smile, “Provided you’re willing to accompany me to find a caravan to give us a ride. I really can’t walk anymore.”
So, a few minutes later, Kloi stopped a rather large Goblin caravan heading to the Fernan Territory. With just two gold coins, he persuaded the sharp-faced, monkey-mouthed manager to invite them into an empty carriage, which was meant for cargo on the return trip.
“Sorry for the expense.” Mo Tan stretched comfortably in the carriage and chuckled sheepishly at Kloi across from him: “I’m a bit short on cash lately~”
The generous Dark Elf shook his head: “It’s always good to have company. I like a lively atmosphere.”
Then the two casually chatted, mainly exchanging their experiences. Mo Tan recounted a few low-level anecdotes he had heard from Jun Wu, mostly about ‘sows having difficult births’ and ‘chickens laying duck eggs’, but there was also information about a Paladin furiously X-ing Evil Cultists appearing in Pato City, as this matter was no longer a secret and could be easily inquired about if one was interested.
Kloi, however, knew a lot. He mentioned the new God-blessed one who appeared in the Light Capital, a famous adventurer in a certain place who annihilated a certain monster, the Bard Beao Lucanus who was very famous in this area recently, and a natural disaster in the west. The value of his information was many times higher than what Mo Tan had rambled about.
This Dark Elf Bard was not only generous and refined, but also very talkative, seeming to know a little about everything. Chatting with him was like bathing in a spring breeze. Mo Tan sincerely felt that if this guy were to become a male prostitute, he would make a fortune. He wouldn’t even need to provide any special services; just chatting with lonely and wealthy ladies or aunts would ensure he lived a life of comfort.
“But at least two out of every ten sentences contain exploratory meaning… Isn’t this guy tired?”
Mo Tan chatted with Kloi with a ‘I’ve made a profit’ expression, while complaining in his heart.
That’s right, this guy’s motives were not simple, and his approaching him was by no means a coincidence. Mo Tan had seen through this from the very beginning, because there were too many flaws and points to complain about, so they won’t be listed one by one for now.
In short, from the moment they got into the carriage, this Dark Elf named Kloi had not stopped probing Mo Tan.
So, the effective information Kloi obtained was as follows:
Cordoba Ruby is a little over two hundred years old, has the mediocre strength of an apprentice ranger, is very good at cooking, has many people in his family, is the second uncle to several juniors, has a younger sister named Shuang Ye Ruby who is unable to live independently because her head was caught in a door when she was little, his purpose for traveling is to find medicine for his sister, and he is very poor.
Then, the effective information Mo Tan obtained was as follows:
Crow Illumina is his real name, his identity as a traveling Bard is real, but probably not his complete identity, going to the Violet Empire is real, having only the strength of an apprentice warlock is fake, having a wealthy uncle is fake, being from the Free City is real, having a teacher who takes good care of him is real, recently gaining a good male friend and junior apprentice is real, his identity as an NPC is confirmed, and his intelligence sources are extremely wide-ranging.
As for the reason the other party came to probe him, Mo Tan had a pretty good guess...
It was a somewhat bloody misunderstanding, but he wasn’t planning to clear it up anytime soon.
There was no particular reason; Mo Tan just found it fun.
… …
Two hours later.
“You have been emergency disconnected. Please choose whether to reconnect.”
“Yes.”
“Reconnection starting…”
“Connection complete, character information is being read.”
“Welcome back, Absolute Neutral Black Vatican, Innocent World will be loaded soon, good night.”
Mida City, Holy Church United Chapel, Yu Cheng’s room.
“Sorry, sorry.” Mo Tan pulled Yu Cheng up from the floor with an embarrassed expression, scratching his head with a sheepish smile: “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
Yu Cheng, who had just been startled by the former, stood frozen in place, still shaken. It took her a while to react before she finally let out a long breath: “No, it’s fine. I just forgot that Mo Tan Tong Xue you logged off here yesterday.”
“Something came up last night.” Mo Tan shrugged, sitting down across from Yu Cheng: “I was pulled out, didn’t have time to say goodbye to you.”
Yu Cheng nodded gently, then said with a serious expression, “It’s best to have a friend press the emergency call button in the future. It’s very dangerous to always do this.”
Mo Tan gave an awkward laugh: “I know, I’ll be careful next time.”
Yu Cheng was not exaggerating. It should be known that more than a decade ago, when mental virtual systems first emerged, there was indeed a long period of safety hazards, which was that sudden disconnections could cause tons of trauma to the mind.
Although businesses were very focused on safety measures and had passed many relevant quality inspections, virtual devices at the time could still experience accidents due to power outages or being physically disconnected by people. The specific manifestation was long-term mental Chaos, becoming an idiot or being trapped in the so-called virtual world, however, did not occur.
At that time, there were about tens of thousands of people who had accidents due to this, of which 30% were due to sudden power outages, 20% were because children were addicted to entertainment and were violently disconnected by parents in the real world, and the remaining 50% were those who, during the internal testing of various games, actively asked someone to pull the switch at home, attempting to become a BUG and remain in the game world, adventuring freely like black-clad figures with swords like snow, and building harems…
In any case, the final result was that they spent several months in a daze like simpletons, and then were notified of dismissal, expulsion, told to make up homework and notes, and told to go to a Professor Yang for electrotherapy… That last one didn’t happen.
However, this safety hazard was eliminated two years after mental virtual devices became widespread. Although there was still a very small possibility of accidents, at least the game cabins produced by Wu Zui Company would never have such problems; the probability of one in ten million did not exist.
Back to the main topic…
“Holy Maiden has already left.” Yu Cheng didn’t dwell on the previous topic for too long, but simply said to Mo Tan seriously: “She went to the camp outside this morning to cast a group purification on the infected commoners, and then left with four hundred Paladins.”
Mo Tan’s gaze sharpened: “Did the people who went to scout return? Have those ‘Mutants’ appeared throughout the entire region?”
“Yes.” Yu Cheng nodded gently, sighing, “And it is said that the situation is already difficult to control. Many people have died in the two other cities north of Hofur City and Mida City. In addition, many villages and towns that were originally inhabited have also fallen, and a large number of monsters are roaming in the wild. Now, there is no safe place left in the entire county.”
Although he had long anticipated this situation, Mo Tan’s expression was still not good. He could guess how bad the current situation was without even thinking. Even with an optimistic estimate, the less than forty-eight hours of game time from the night before yesterday until now would have been enough for those Mutants to kill tens of thousands of people!
“However, the cities that those knights visited are still holding on.” Yu Cheng whispered, “And Holy Maiden also wrote a letter this morning through the Mage Guild here, requesting support from the Holy Church United. If they act quickly…”
Mo Tan rubbed his forehead: “How long would ‘quickly’ take?”
“At least half a month.” Yu Cheng spread her small hands helplessly.
“It’s too late.” Mo Tan immediately shook his head: “Absolutely too late. After half a month, there won’t be many tens of thousands of people left in the entire Misha County.”
Yu Cheng whispered, “But Holy Maiden she already…”
“She alone and four hundred knights can’t solve any problems.” Mo Tan gave a wry smile, spreading a map of the entire Misha County, which he had obtained from the City Hall yesterday, on the table: “Xia Lian suffered a very severe divine power backlash in Hofur City before. Although I don’t know much about this, just by looking at her performance these past two days, I know the problem is huge. If she were truly in her prime, then those Paladins would not have needed to appear before yesterday. Look at this map…”
Yu Cheng leaned closer and glanced at it, her expression blank.
“Eleven cities, an area that would take two or three days to cross from south to north even on horseback, with a population of over three hundred thousand.” Mo Tan tapped two places on the map, his face bitter as he said, “Even excluding Hofur City and Mida City, there are still nine entire cities that need to be saved. Such a large area, one heavily injured Holy Maiden plus four hundred low-level Paladins, it’s too late… This is already a desperate situation.”
Yu Cheng stared at him blankly: “Then what should we do?”
Mo Tan didn’t answer, but instead asked, “What did Xia Lian say before she left?”
“Holy Maiden told Mr. Tairo and the remaining knights to protect Mida City, and while ensuring the city and…” Yu Cheng shrank back, whispering, “and me, to take in as many refugees as possible, and then she instructed me to try my best to heal the infected commoners during this time, and wait for her to return.”
Mo Tan sighed, and continued to ask, “Since I disconnected last night, how many people have turned into monsters?”
“Less than a hundred people.” Yu Cheng, who had not logged off since before the server shutdown and logged in immediately after 7 AM, quickly replied: “A total of less than a hundred people across several instances, the situation is much better than before…”
“Only less than a hundred people, huh…” Mo Tan bent his index finger, lightly rubbing his chin: “You’ve been treating them, right?”
Yu Cheng nodded: “Yes, but this morning Holy Maiden forcibly brought me back from there and also had Mr. Tairo watch me. She said that if I kept using interfered divine spells on myself, something might go wrong, and told me to wait until you woke up…”
“How did you explain my Disappearance?” Mo Tan looked at the girl in front of him curiously.
“Uh, I said you were sleeping in the room.” Yu Cheng answered hesitantly.
Mo Tan gave a dry laugh: “But I disappeared on the spot when I logged off, so what then?”
“Then she said she wanted to go in and wake you up.”
“And then what?”
“In a hurry, I said you weren’t wearing clothes and stopped her from going in… As a result, Holy Maiden overthought it again. I… I didn’t realize it when I said it.”
“…”
Chapter 188: End