Chapter 43: Exchange In The Wastelands

Chapter 43: Exchange In The Wastelands

"Do not make excuses for your sins, Black Mage!"

The knight of the Goddess of Prosperity's faith was livid. He raised his spear at Yang Qiu and declared, "Just because he had been overly intimate with a few young servants in his youth, who gave you the audacity to pass judgment on Sir Hans's entire life?! Who do you think you are?

"Sir Hans wasn't just a nobleman, but also a loving husband and father. It was your hasty judgment that ruined his life and plunged his entire family into sorrow. You are the sinner!"

Yang Qiu sneered, "You are just over a hundred years old, yet you are more confused and have a worse memory than mine. Sir Hans's intimacy with a few young servants? He paid compensation of fifty silver coins and three gold coins to six different families. Those who received three gold coins never saw their children again. How can ordinary intimacy cause lively young boys of around ten years old to perish? What kind of terrifying demon was Sir Hans?"

The knight seemed to freeze.

"In my eyes, Sir Hans, who harmed innocent young boys, is the cruel one and the sinner. Making such a person pay the rightful price for his crimes, shattering his limbs, and ensuring that he can never recover or commit further evil should bring great joy to everyone. It should be a reason for widespread celebration..."

"Nonsense!" the knight roared.

There was no way Yang Qiu would be intimidated by a "youngster." He stared at the knight and sternly rebuked, "As a local and an apprentice knight of the church at that time, you should have empathized more with those families who lost their children and felt more compassion for their cries. But what did you do? You defended that terrifying man, Sir Hans, and you bestowed your sympathy on that demon of a man?

"Deaf and blind, devoid of empathy! As a knight of the Goddess of Prosperity's faith, you do not protect the followers of the goddess; you instead treat them as worthless weeds!

"Do you not feel ashamed when praying to the Goddess of Prosperity? Have you never considered your own faults when questioning why I, as an evil black mage, have not lost control?"

The knight's breathing grew heavy, and flashes of red light occasionally flickered in his emerald eyes. His rigid face, marked with wrinkles, revealed traces of anguish.

Power in this world was poisonous. No matter how high the stature of an individual, they would be contaminated and corrupted by the pervasive influence of elder gods when a vulnerability appears in their spirit.

However, this person was, after all, a knight of the faith, and his unwavering faith enabled him to be an anchor for many followers of the Goddess of Prosperity.

The Goddess of Prosperity was indeed a good god with righteous teachings, enough to protect these devout knights of the faith, which prevented them from easily succumbing to the same fate as Rex.

In no time, this individual shook off the mental contamination and firmly declared, "Even if Sir Hans is at fault... he is, without a doubt, a nobleman whom Camore needs. His plantation provides job opportunities for numerous people and supports the livelihoods of thousands!"

Yang Qiu remained expressionless.

It was pointless to discuss class and means of production relations with this stubborn feudal knight. The greatness of the working class was sneered at even by the capitalists of the 21st century on Earth, let alone in this world.

Those who held capital and controlled the means of production would always view the common folk as mere pawns. It had to do with character or morality, just what was best for their own interests.

Therefore, Yang Qiu didn't waste his breath engaging in a fruitless debate with the knight about the origins of the plantations belonging to Sir Hans. Instead, he scoffed. "Holding such a position of significance entitles one to not be held accountable when letting young boys, who are fellow Camore locals and followers of the Goddess of Prosperity, die? Does it grant one free reign over commoners because of their lower status?!

"I never imagined hearing such a cruel and barbaric argument, so devoid of empathy and reminiscent of the law of the jungle, from a knight of the Goddess of Prosperity's faith. I am truly disappointed!

"There's simply no need for justice and righteousness in this world since all disputes can be resolved by comparing status, huh? According to you, those of lower status should never hold the upper echelons accountable for their transgressions. Is that how you think, knight of faith?!"

The knight stiffened up.

Then... this knight, who intended to confront the evil black mage, turned his steed and, without saying another word, took off.

Yang Qiu, who had subdued the enemy without fighting, sneered.

Pulling this weary group along for over two hours until many were tottering on the verge of collapse, Yang Qiu finally ordered a rest.

Then he took out the food he had prepared in advance—a mix of fatty pork scraps, deep-fried fish fillets (made from fish that the fishmonger couldn't sell on time), deep-fried instant noodles (without the seasoning packets), and cheap cabbage priced at 1 yuan per kilogram. He cooked them all together in a stew.

This hodgepodge of a stew, which would be unwelcome to the former bandits who "enjoyed" supermarket clearance items, was surprisingly well received by the weavers. They had been walking for over 10 hours straight, after all.

Not only weren't there any complaints, but the weavers also became more obedient and compliant after that.

During this period, the players' army of skeletons and one zombie continued to slay "spawned monsters" at a rate of one every 40 minutes to an hour while steadily advancing westward.

Yang Qiu never fantasized about having the Fourth Crisis march like a regular army. At this point, there was less than a third that had endured this journey without any impatience or an impulse to kill themselves and respawn back in town. Such obsession with the quest bordered on insanity.

During his previous trip along this road to cause a ruckus in Camore, Yang Qiu had spent half his time driving away monsters that the players couldn't handle for the time being as well as searching for "small bosses" or "elite monsters" suitable for the current player army to fight; otherwise, he wouldn't have taken that long given the speed of his undead horse.

With occasional "spawns" of bosses and elite monsters obstructing the way, there were fewer cases of players throwing in the towel and forcibly going offline...

When dawn broke in the game, the players that had been fighting monsters while journeying realized that their daily online limit wouldn't be enough if they stayed with the army the entire time. Thus, online and offline schedules were mutually agreed on, and organization and planning were done to ensure a sufficient number of players were online at all times.

Brother Lahong's faction that had won the Undead Auction even came up with a clever plan upon realizing how lucrative it was farming monsters along the way:

Brother Lahong personally logged out to call the player currently in possession of the Undead Horse, gather players that hadn't been online the previous night when they were amassing manpower for the expedition, and have the rider make multiple trips to ferry comrades that hadn't yet caught up with the main host or had accidentally died on the way.

Qin Guan got envious when he saw this and sought out the player in possession of the Undead Horse in hopes that the said player could help with "transporting people."

The player agreed without any hesitation, but asked for payment.

The bustling scene of players going online and offline couldn't be captured in screenshots or videos since it all occurred outside of "save points." However, the super thrilling "Great Expedition" was relayed through a "live update" on the forum and attracted a flurry of comments:

"It was three in the morning in-game time. The army reached a place near a lake where fish-like monsters with horns on their heads, scales, and tangled hair made of aquatic plants gathered. These monsters were tough and even worked together, so attacking one would aggro the others. Several players died and had to queue in line for the Undead Horse Express..."

"The above comment didn't mention the highlight! After we defeated the fish-like monsters, one of my teammates spotted lotus flowers by the lakeside and reached down to touch them. And guess what? There were lotus roots as thick as our thigh bones, several times thicker!"

"There's literally no highlight in what you said! We're either zombies or skeletons. What's the use of finding lotus roots? Who can eat them?"

"Sell them to those high-level NPCs, of course! They eat instant noodles all the time. Won't they salivate seeing lotus roots?"

"What the heck, we're even going to do business with NPCs, 666!"

"Do we gain reputation by handing over lotus roots to advanced NPCs?"

"Step aside and let me handle it. I know how to make lotus root sandwiches!"

"To the non-player above, get your account first before talking about it."

"Account, please..."

"The game time is six in the morning. The elite monsters that spawned this time are even more badass. 'Identify' shows that the ranger players can capture them as pets!"

"Enough! I'm nearly dying from laughter. A bunch of wanderers rushed forward intending to capture them alive, but damn, it resulted in a massive slaughter!"

"I was one of the wanderers who died. I suspect the damn game developers are playing a prank on us wanderers. We weren't given any capturing skills and were tricked into going over to feed..."

"I'm begging for an account. Ahhh, I want to play too!"