[PM] Godly Tycoon : [You’re with Ink Seeker?]
‘Dude, you’re focusing on the wrong thing!’
[PM] Wooden Bellz : […didn’t they say he was being attacked with me? of course I’m with him]
[PM] Godly Tycoon : […I’ll go give them a call, wait a moment.]
[PM] Wooden Bellz : [bro ah, big bro, pls hurry]
Godly Tycoon didn’t respond. He was probably calling the Undermoons.
Shi Sheng opened up the game’s official website to check the background and lore of the game. The story was rather simple. The world was set a thousand years after the Great War of Gods and Demons had ended.
The deity faction’s main quest was to find the God King, while the demon faction’s main quest was to rescue their Demon God, who had been sealed. There wasn’t much useful information, though…
Godly Tycoon has invited you to join the Party “Didn’t Earn Money Today”. Do you accept?
Shi Sheng hurriedly accepted the party invite.
Drunkalone Undermoon and Windsong Undermoon were already in the party. After she entered, Crabapple Undermoon joined as well. However, Snowfall Undermoon, who usually always showed up, wasn’t around.
[Party] Windsong Undermoon : [eh? how come snowfall’s not on yet? Tycoon-ge, i think you kept him up too long last night and now he can’t get off the bed]
[Party] Godly Tycoon : [He’s still asleep.]
[Party] Wooden Bellz : [……]
‘Can’t get any filthier than that…’
[Party] Drunkalone Undermoon : [he’d be useless even if he was here. lil musey wanted people with IQ]
[Party] Windsong Undermoon : [that’s true… *ahem*, let’s get back to the main point]
[Party] Crabapple Undermoon : [lil musey, you’ve already entered the hidden map?]
[Party] Wooden Bellz : [en, found that npc but she doesn’t react no matter how i respond to her]
[Party] Crabapple Undermoon : [what’d she say?]
[Party] Wooden Bellz : [she asked “Did he send you?” yet the only two logical answers of “Yes” and “No” weren’t correct… are the devs planning on toying with the players to death?]
[Party] Crabapple Undermoon : [i checked the game’s website. the stuff that’s been updated are only the things you can see in the game now. a lot of the background story and lore haven’t been completely revealed yet. but, we do have something to use as a reference]
[Party] Drunkalone Undermoon : [the source material of land of demons and gods]
‘Source material? This game was adapted from a novel? There was nothing about this in Chu Yunxi’s memories of the plot…’
[Party] Windsong Undermoon : [land of demons and gods was created from the storyline of a novel, we went to read it. tbh… other than the world-building part, everything’s a bit jack sue]
[Party] Wooden Bellz : [……]
‘You’re going to get hit by the author if you talk like that. Even if it’s too Jack Sue, that’s still their heart’s blood! What’s more, this novel even got adapted to such a successful game…’
[Party] Crabapple Undermoon : [lil musey, the npc you’re talking about was a rather tragic side character. she was the princess of the deity race, yet she fell in love with a great general of the demon race, Xiao Jing. the demon race used her to make attacks on the deity race. Xiao Jing had lost his memories because of some matter, so their misunderstanding only grew. in the end, when the war between deities and demons broke out fully, the two met again on the battlefield, on opposing sides. the result was Xiao Jing regaining his memories, but only when the war had reached the most crucial point and when he could no longer pull out. he made a plan to capture the princess and keep her locked up somewhere. but in the end, he died, and the place the princess was kept in was sealed. you should be at that place right now.
[Party] Wooden Bellz : [got it]
Since “Yes” and “No” had been ruled out as answers, the only other option would be the name of the “him” Xi Li was referring to.
‘The devs sure know how to play around! If a retard received this quest instead, they can forget about ever getting it to succeed!’
Shi Sheng switched back. Ink Seeker’s message had just arrived.
[PM] Ink Seeker : [Xiao Jing.]
[PM] Music For Miles : [……]
‘How’d the fuck he know?’ Shi Sheng’s mood was glum as she clicked Xi Li and typed in “Xiao Jing” into the chat window.
It was probably because of the fact he was a demon that Xi Li wouldn’t pay Ink Seeker any mind. Only Shi Sheng’s answers would work.
[PM] Xi Li : [You’re his accomplice! Die!]
And the result was Xi Li flying into a rage out of nowhere, catching Shi Sheng and Ink Seeker off guard. ‘That was a quick change of attitude! Even if you’re an NPC, you can’t be this arbitrary, okay?!’
Shi Sheng and Ink Seeker worked together to beat her down to a sliver of health. Yet just as they were about to finish her, Xi Li’s appearance reverted back to normal, and she collapsed on the ground, seemingly on the verge of death.
Now, no matter how much they hit her, her health wouldn’t drop.
‘Well aren’t you NPCs just amazing? Only letting your HP drop when you feel like it and throwing tantrums as you please… simply disrespectful to us players! 0/10!’
[PM] Xi Li : [I loved him for so many years. Why did he treat me like that…? I want revenge! I won’t accept this!]
Hidden Quest : Xi Li’s Resentment
And… there was nothing else.
She and Ink Seeker were teleported out of the cave.
‘Your grandpa! Suddenly started a fight, then called it quits after issuing some quest without a description?!’
[PM] Ink Seeker : [What quest?]
Ink Seeker still couldn’t see the quest on his screen.
[PM] Music For Miles : [Xi Li’s Resentment. no description]
Shi Sheng felt like she was undergoing a mental split as she switched back to the other computer.
[Party] Wooden Bellz : [xi li suddenly flew into a rage. after the fight, she issued a quest called Xi Li’s Resentment, but there’s no description]
[Party] Windsong Undermoon : [……]
[Party] Godly Tycoon : [lil musey, just how’d you get such a freakish quest? don’t do it!]
‘You can tell who this guy is just from the tone…
Honestly, the other three Undermoons are fairly normal. It’s only when Snowfall turns up that they all turn cray cray.’
[Party] Wooden Bellz : [this isn’t about whether or not i want to do this quest anymore, it’s about whether the system wants to let me off or not…]
Just think about it, the development team had set such an eccentric condition of someone killing someone else 99 times as the trigger for the quest. If the trigger was already so harsh, you could imagine what horrors they had in store for players next.
The party chat fell silent. After around 10 or so seconds, Crabapple Undermoon sent another message.
[Party] Crabapple Undermoon : [Xi Li misunderstood Xiao Jing, so he must be the one regret she has. Go try finding him.]
[Party] Wooden Bellz : [lemme see]
Shi Sheng looked around. The darkness outside the valley had receded, so she should be able to go out now?
Shi Sheng and Ink Seeker left the valley. As expected, it wasn’t like before. Just as they were about to continue on though, Ink Seeker vanished.
[PM] Music For Miles : [wtf, what’re u doing?]
Apologies but your friend has logged off.
‘Logged off? This unreliable pig teammate…
Knew it’s best to rely on myself.’
Shi Sheng continued forging ahead. After around 10 or so metres though, she was suddenly unable to proceed any further.
System Alert: Player Ink Seeker is currently offline. You are unable to proceed further.
‘Wtf? He’s not online so I can’t go ahead?’
She continued to try making her character move forward, resulting in system alerts popping up constantly.
She tried testing out the range in all directions. It was around 20 metres or so. She was unable to move further than that.
Shi Sheng was fed up. ‘Just what the fuck is up with this quest?! Ink Seeker that idiot! The fuck did he just log off for?!’