Chapter 80.2: How Incredible, Huh
Thus, without any shred of hesitation, these bunch of players immediately set off to pilfer Tuttle's supplies.
Because players were only interested in equipment, none of the advanced NPCs had ever considered that these undead would go after their food supplies. The tricycle loaded with provisions was left outside the tent, with even the tarpaulin, which was supposed to protect it from rain and moisture, left unsecured.
A few players crowded around the tricycle, lifted the tarp, and openly rummaged through Tuttle and Hal's personal stash.
"My god! So many biscuits!"
"Can you believe that bushy eyebrow Tuttle brought a backpack full of these Uncle Pop egg rolls? I'm dying from laughter!"
"Leave the biscuits, grab those wafers and egg rolls. Two bags of buns and a few cartons of milk. We might need it when those two orcs wake up."
"How about instant noodles?"
"No, it's too oily. People who have been starving for some time might have trouble with greasy food."
"Hey! There's a bag of cakes here! It's hidden so deep that we nearly missed it! How sneaky!"
"Take it, take it!"
In under ten minutes, these players had made off with snacks that Tuttle had painstakingly hoarded for over half a month, chortling gleefully as they fled the scene...
While the players were carrying out their "operation," the dark-haired youth that had been left behind scanned the campsite fearfully.
Unlike the undead, he didn't possess full night vision, but the moonlight tonight was ample.
Under the moonlight, he made out several scattered tents and dozens of tricycles filled with goods. Nearby, in an open space, were the clear remains of a campfire. Several stones serving as makeshift seats surrounded the already extinguished fire, and there was a kettle and a few cups on the ground.
When the boy had opened his eyes, all that he saw were undead. And undead didn't need to make fires nor drink water... Clearly, there were living people residing in this undead camp.
This discovery eased the pounding in the boy's heart to a certain extent.
But he still couldn't shake off the fear. He realized that he and the two orcs, weak as they were, couldn't run very far. Before they fell asleep, they had at most been about 10 kilometers away from Weisshem.
Why had these undead come so close to a human town? What were they planning?!
If Weisshem, this sort of hellish place, fell to the undead, it wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. But getting himself caught up in it was an entirely different story.
How is Lyka and that other guy? No, what about my comrades? They should be nearby! Have they been discovered by these undead?!
The teenage boy's thoughts gradually turned to despair. Why am I so unlucky? I was only briefly separated from my companions, then deceived by a merchant caravan and sold into Weisshem. I just wanted to escape, but ran into a horde of undead?!
As he wallowed in self-pity, the players returned with a pile of food.
Seeing this bunch of undead in scale armor (it was a stretch considering it was just iron plates strapped to leather) with knives strapped to their sides, making strange raucous noises as they approached, the black-haired youth felt a shiver run down his spine.
The teenager had only heard of undead creatures in folktales and legends.
In tales concerning times of Old Gods throughout the Navalon Continent, it was said that the final act by a blasphemous spellcaster against the Goddess of Fate was to desecrate an entire continent, transforming all living beings within it into wandering undead. Ships at sea that accidentally deviated from their course would sometimes see a strange continent glowing green and, if failing to turn back in time, would forever remain there.
At this time, the reason there weren't many people around camp was because the NPCs had all gone to sleep. With no NPCs to interact with, players online had wandered out of the camp to practice their lifestyle profession skills. Unceasing Entropy and Ji Tang were only here because Give Me Medicine had personally gone to find and recall them.
It was also about time that some players would be logging out, and if someone returned and stole the fruits of their labor while this bunch was playing around outside camp... then that would be really bad.
Blossoming Strokes and Unceasing Entropy groaned, "Ummm..."
Ji Tang: "..."
Ji Tang couldn't agree to let these three individuals be bound up and hidden away somewhere. After mulling for a bit, he suggested, "How about this. I'll stay here and keep an eye on these three NPCs..." To avoid any misunderstandings, he added, "One of you should stay with me. I'm afraid I won't be able to watch over three of them alone."
A player from Blossoming Strokes' group raised his hand. "I'll stay. I didn't take up gathering, so I won't really gain much gallivanting outside."
Give Me Medicine was about to nod when he saw the flap of the tent behind the dark-haired teenager being lifted slightly.
A somewhat gaunt face appeared beneath the tent cover, and a pair of amber-colored eyes scanned the surroundings cautiously.
This pair of amber eyes met the dark and hollow eye sockets of Give Me Medicine.
The lifted tent flap was gently put back down.
"F*ck—" Give Me Medicine cried out.
With a muffled thud, a slender figure dashed out through the tent flap and sprinted desperately into the distance...
"Quick, catch—!" Give Me Medicine yelled out while immediately springing into action and leading the chase.
The adult orc who had woken up and immediately sensed something off made a decisive choice to escape. He had reacted quickly enough and made a far smarter decision than the teenage human. However, his body was rather weak, and he was easily outpaced by the players' "nimble" undead bodies. It didn't take long for them to catch up and bring him back.
Ji Tang used the same technique of allowing the adult orc to smell the food before feeding him. And after feeding him mid-way, he stopped and made an attempt to interact.
However, the result was still the same... This NPC couldn't be communicated with.
Thus, Ji Tang didn't wait for the child orc to wake up and fed Lyka while she was still in a drowsy half-asleep state...
———
As per usual, Yang Qiu, following his Earth-time healthy routine, woke up in the morning, washed up, and had breakfast before putting on his mage robes and casually opening the rift to the other world.
On arriving, he greeted Inspector Lowell, who was already enjoying his afternoon tea. Yang Qiu chatted with Lowell for a bit while casually immersing himself in the imprint matrix to check the activities of online players...
And he nearly sprayed out tea all over Inspector Lowell's idol-like face.
What. The. F*ck?!
In the expedition campsite, a teenage kid about the age of 15 had appeared along with an adult and child orc at some point.
Weapons Master Charlie Rex was sitting together with the first-tier and second-tier players, having a serious discussion about whether to attack Weisshem.
Yang Qiu: "..."
You guys, huh... How incredible... To think you guys can even expand the plot while I was away...