BXBX NOVEL Chapter 33 - “Day 9”
Last time, on Apocalypse Lord: Yun Ling upgrades the Mission Hall.
This chapter has been brought to you by me and Smash10101.
Chapter 33 – Day 9
Day 9.
Just as Yun Ling got up in the morning, the system spawned a new NPC.
[Name: Paul]
Level: 7 Attributes: Strength 7, Agility 16, Stamina 10, Intelligence 5, Spirit 5.
Combat Skills: B-rank Penetration
Life Skills: None
Employment Price: 950 copper coins.
Combat skill at B-rank, level 7, and with stunning attributes. This NPC was greatly stronger than normal players.
Yun Ling confirmed the hire, and gave the name “Archer B”. She decided to take him along when she went out.
The sun rose in the east, and the sky grew bright.
Yun Ling used the bonfire to roast the sweet potatoes for a hot and sweet breakfast.
“You can go to the restaurant to eat,” she said to Guard A and the others. “One bowl of porridge per person, two mixed grain vegetables, the kind not made from game materials.”
“Yes.” The NPCs left.
Yun Ling thought she would give the hundred bags of rice and flour to the all purpose NPCs to take care of! She would collect game materials, and make delicious food for herself….
**
Just after 8, Yun Ling took the NPCs and left the territory.
She wandered, and found many players that stopped and were foraging nearby. Straw, wheat, wild grass, berries, potatoes….they were all targets.
Yun Ling thought, yes, compared to fighting monsters, digging for supplies was much safer.
In a team, the ones with high levels and strong combat ability would go hunt. The lower levels would be responsible for foraging. This was called division of labor.
To avoid conflicts with people, Yun Ling went far away. She saw a field of rice, and then stopped. She waved a hand, indicating for Guard B, and Assassin A to go and help work.
Ten minutes later.
The last stalk of rice was harvested. In total, she gathered 40 portions of rice.
Nearby, Guard A, Mage A, Archer A, and Archer B were fighting a group of tree demons.
Yun Ling ordered, “Go and help. Finish the battle as quickly as possible.”
“Yes.”
Guard B and Assassin A went to help without a word.
Yun Ling organized her backpack while waiting for the NPCs to win and return.
“Save me!!”
There were suddenly cries for help.
She looked over, and saw one person fleeing. There were seven or so people following him, their expressions vicious, and they were clearly not good people.
Was this another team hunting players? Why were there so many scum in the world, and she encountered them all? Thinking of her previous experience, Yun Ling frowned, and shielded this person.
With Yun Ling’s NPCs, there were 7 people in the team.
Seeing that this was a difficult enemy, the other side backed down.
“Are you okay? It is fine,” Yun Ling said. The enemy had retreated. She slowly took out the Fish Scale Shield from her backpack.
The person standing in front of her was a youth of sixteen or so. He wore white cloth armor, a white belt, and had a pair of blue quality shoes on his feet. His expression was nervous, his face pale, and his eyes filled with terror.
Yun Ling thought that this was likely a calamity caused by the blue equipment. The other likely saw the youth was alone and an easy target so they chased him all the way.
“Stupid.” The youth sneered, his voice low.
“What?” Yun Ling was still looking in the direction of the enemy withdrawing, and did not hear clearly.
In the next moment, a purple ring appeared on the index and middle finger, and an orange dagger stabbed towards her heart.
The youth had a disdainful expression and he mocked, “Let me teach you, in the apocalypse, you can trust no one!”
The dagger entered the soft armor, and created nearly 220 points of damage. If this was anyone else, they would likely be dead.
But Yun Ling was standing there intact, and looked back coldly. “Then let me teach you, be kind.”
Insane! The youth cursed inside.
His attack failed and he wanted to leave, but he found his HP dropping.
“Damn! Tank, damage reflect!”
The youth put all his points on strength, and his HP relied on his equipment bonuses. But the attack was so strong the reflected damage surpassed his max HP. In the last moment of his life, he realized, but it was unfortunately too late.
The player died. An orange card, an orange equipment, purple equipment, and copper coins dropped over the ground.
[Name: Fatal Strike]
Quality: S-rank
Skill Effect: When attacking the target’s head, heart and other vital parts, creates triple damage.
[Name: Venomous Dragon Fang (Dagger)]
Quality: Legendary
Durability: 98/100
Equip Effect: Strength +20.
Special Effect: The attack has a 30% chance of creating extra toxin damage.
[Name: Power Ring]
Quality: Rare
Durability: 68/70
Equip Effect: +10 Strength.
Special Effect: +20% attack power.
[Name: Bull Ring]
Quality: Rare
Durability: 68/70
Equip Effect: +12 Strength.
Special Effect: +3 Stamina.
45 x copper coins.
It could be seen the youth was not as weak and harmless as he appeared. He wore three pieces of equipment, 2 white and 1 blue, to get the trust of others and lower their guard.
But he never thought that he would choose the wrong target. He hadn’t been able to kill Yun Ling, and died instead.
Taking the Venomous Dragon Fang, the Power Ring, and the Bull Ring to replace her original equipment, “Send a head a thousand miles, gifts may be light but the feelings are great. I will not be polite and accept them.”
**
It was almost noon. The players were coming back and waiting for the rain of light balls to come.
On the way back, Yun Ling sighed countless times. Fight monsters? Get drops? In the future, she could just wear 5 white and 1 purple to go everywhere. Then, she could get rich by relying on being ambushed (not).
Reaching the territory, she knocked on her neighbor’s door and asked to enter.
A moment later, the system notified, [The owner has permitted entry.]
Seeing this, Yun Ling pushed open the door.
Lu Chuan was grilling meat in the room, with the smell lingering in the air and causing her stomach to make noise.
“Why have you come?” he asked.
“I accidentally got a S-rank card, do you want it?” Yun Ling took out the “Fatal Strike.”
After seeing the attributes, Lu Chuan was silent.
For an archer, hitting the target’s head, heart and other vital parts were difficult.
This card was actually more suitable for assassin players to make sneak attacks.
But by coincidence, he had the S-rank skill “Automatic Tracking.” Without needing to aim, the arrow would automatically lock onto its target.
This locked target included vital parts.
Due to this, the “Automatic Tracking” and the “Fatal Strike” were a perfect match. If he possessed two skills, even if this was a normal arrow attack, there would be terrifying damage.
“I want it, but I cannot afford it,” Lu Chuan confessed.
He had some wealth, but compared to Yun Ling who had Rising Cloud Village, it was worth nothing.
“No matter, I’ll give it to you,” Yun Ling said.
In her mind, she got the S-rank skill card for free and she did not hurt giving it away.
If she gave it to the NPCs, they could not hit the head and heart, then it would be a waste if this was not of use.
“Is there anything you want?” Lu Chuan asked.
“Game materials,” Yun Ling responded seriously.
Lu Chuan said, “You did not hoard some?”
Yun – hoarding fanatic – Ling had a heated gaze. “I will never mind too many materials.”
Lu Chuan, “……”
“I understand,” he nodded, “I will give you all the non-meat materials that come from monster drops.”
“Okay.” Yun Ling was happy. She felt that she had not made a loss in this deal.
Lu Chuan was considering a question — how much materials did he have to give to be worth a S-rank card?
**
Right at 12, the balls of light came as scheduled.
The forest grew more dense. There were more varieties of monster. The resources grew faster.
At this time, looking out from the territory, there was no trace of a modern city. The buildings had all been eaten by the burrowing beasts. The surrounding environment was like an ancient forest.
Unlike usual, after the balls of light descended, the system notified, [Transformation complete. Have a happy game.]
Seeing the text, someone spat blood. “Trash game, I am not happy at all playing this!!”
Yun Ling was coincidentally looking at her stats window. After the rain of light balls came, a “ranking” section appeared on the window.
She clicked to look.
[Global Territory Ranking (same levels ranked by upgrade time)]
Rising Cloud Village, S City.Sun and Moon Village, B City.
Green Bamboo Village, A City.
[Global Territory Existing Building Ranking]
Rising Cloud Village, 7Sun and Moon Village, 6
Peach Blossom Village, 6.
[Global Territory Prosperity Ranking]
Rising Cloud Village, 1152Sun and Moon Village, 947.
Green Bamboo Village, 944.
[S City Territory Prosperity Ranking]
Rising Cloud Village, 1152Aspen Village, 933
Basswood Village, 931
On all the rankings, Rising Cloud Village was ranked first.
“No wonder Rising Cloud Village’s NPCs have very different names.” A roaming player who travelled around and had seen a lot suddenly realized. “This may be the unique style of the top territory?”
The surrounding players, “… …”
One person complained, “Come on. Based on what you say, if you rank first, even if the NPCs are named Dog Leftovers, or Li Dog, they will have special meaning.”
The other player smiled guiltily, and did not speak more.
The residents paid attention to Rising Cloud Village’s ranking while Yun Ling paid attention to all the territories in S City. She scrolled all the way to the last page. S City had exactly 200 territories.
Based on the fact one camp could only hold 200 players, the max was 40000 people.
“In the entire city, there are only forty thousand survivors? Really?”
Just as she thought this, one person exclaimed, “Look at the map at the bottom right! All 200 territories in S City are labelled.”
Yun Ling looked and found it was so.
Was the system pointing out the safe areas for the players to motivate them to migrate?
Yun Ling went into deep thought.
**
The stream gurgled, winding and twisting as it flowed away.
There was a fence in the clearing nearby, filled with tents, and was full of smoke.
In the biggest tent, Qian Chuan was nervous. “Uncle, the game map refreshed. Over thirty people are making a fuss about going to the nearest safe area. What to do now?”
“Let them go,” Qian Chuan’s uncle, Qian Zhi Hui, said unconcernedly. “There are over 300 people, and not enough to eat to start with. If they are willing to take their old and young to leave, that would be best.”
Qian Chuan hesitated to speak. “Uncle, how about …”
Qian Zhi Hui interrupted him, “We are not going to the safe area.”
Qian Chuan had a puzzled expression.
Qian Zhi Hui sighed. “Five copper coins per person to stay one night in the camp. Think how much money it is for several hundred people?”
Qian Chuan opened his mouth but was speechless.
“Tonight, we will set up patrols, and immediately kill monsters when their tracks are discovered,” Qian Zhi Hui said solemnly. “We managed to peacefully make it through the previous days. We can do the same in the future. No need to waste copper coins on staying in the camps.”
“The money we save can be used to buy equipment and arm everyone.”
Qian Chuan felt that something was not quite right, but could not tell. After struggling for a while, he decided to listen to his uncle.
In the end, if not for Uncle, he would have died at the start of the game and not lived until now.
So Qian Chuan nodded. “I see. I will do this now.”
Translator Ramblings: So many archers …