Chapter 202 177、World Tree 4th Layer, Dark Night City
Level Four, Dark Night City.
The sky was pitch black, with clouds churning, brewing a storm.
On a highway in the wild outskirts, a carriage raced toward the city ahead.
Inside the spacious carriage,
Lin Da felt terrible.
He had iron shackles on his hands, and his damp clothes clung to his back, with the carriage floor beneath his feet soggy and wet.
Mud and disordered footprints were everywhere, a mess that was frustrating to look at.
The surrounding people, wearing the same gray short sleeves as him, hadn't bathed for a long time and emitted an unpleasant body odor.
Meanwhile, Lin Da and his teammates, probably taken care under the care of the World Tree Goddess, were relatively clean, with Monica smelling of milk as usual right beside him.
In such a gloomy environment, one would long to hug Big Lolita and sleep blissfully in a warm bed.
Lin Da looked around,
their starting point in this plot-driven Mystic Realm was a moving carriage.
The roles they played were... prisoners? Slaves? Anyway, their status seemed quite low.
They had lost their equipment, but their Attribute Points remained. Lin Da opened the panel and glanced over it, and his Dual Attack was still 953.
A normal adult would have a strength value fluctuating between 8-10, while top warriors could reach 30.
In this low-magic world, without accessing hidden mystical forces, the strength of the Phoenix Tail Flower Team was overwhelming.
A cold wind blew in from above, and Lin Da looked up. The black canvas of the carriage was torn in several places, and through these holes, one could see the dark sky and thick clouds outside, with flashes of lightning twinkling among them.
The storm was about to hit.
This shabby carriage would surely turn into a drenched chicken.
Both Monica and he looked at each other with inquiring eyes.
Lin Da shook his head, signaling everyone to hold off on any rash actions for now.
A flash of light in his hand revealed a palm-sized leaf.
It would appear as long as he called for it with magic power.
Lin Da instructed his teammates to call forth their leaves as well, which detailed the adventure objectives set by the World Tree Goddess.
"Damn it, I don't want to be attacked by werewolves. Let's hurry and try to reach the city before midnight!"
A burly man with a red armband and a goatee popped his head out from the carriage and yelled at the coachman.
Immediately afterward, the burly man, with a gloomy face, returned to the carriage, glancing at the people sitting on two long benches who looked ashen and wore tattered clothes. Your next read awaits at empire
Those were the slaves purchased by the organization; they included men, women, the elderly, and children, all wearing iron shackles, trembling under the rubber baton at his waist.
"Listen up, my name is Reis, the officer in charge of overseeing you!"
"All of you must obey me as if I were a god! Otherwise, I'll let you taste the stick!"
"We'll start roll call now!"
"Jack, Amy..."
"Present."
"Lin Da! Monica! Kafni!"
Reis was pleased with everyone's performance. When he shouted the names of these lowly slaves, they responded in fear, as if rabbits terrified of being preyed on by eagles.
So, Reis liked escorting slaves; it made him feel like a god of Dark Night City, allowing him to catch a breather from the deadly oppressive atmosphere.
However, Reis had encountered tough nuts to crack this time.
Three individuals, not only did they not respond 'Present,' but they also ignored him, busying themselves with looking at something in their hands.
A vein popped on Reis's forehead in an instant.
He swore to give these people just ten seconds; if they didn't respond 'Present' within ten seconds, he would let them taste what it was like to be beaten by a stick!
All the slaves in the carriage wore looks of astonishment.
Officer Reis had already spoken of punishment, yet why weren't they fearfully begging for mercy?
This Officer Reis was a retired warrior who could break hard cow bones with a baton.
If those three got injured now, during the 'feast' later, they would definitely be brutally torn apart by fighting beasts!
So what exactly were Lin Da and the others doing?
The answer was, they were looking at the 'Leaf of the World Tree' in their hands.
A palm-sized leaf, resembling a maple leaf.
Formed by the Divine Power of the World Tree Goddess, only adventurers could see it.
On the Leaf of the World Tree were written Lin Da and his team's identities, and the adventure objectives. If completed, they could return to White Dove City within seven days.
In the fourth layer of this role-playing Mystic Realm, the identities of the members of the Phoenix Tail Flower Team were... slaves.
They were bought by an organization known as Dawn of Hell and sent to a cruel arena to fight wild beasts.
[Adventure Objective: Identify and kill the instigator behind multiple homicides in Dark Night City, the werewolf, within seven days.]
[Additional Objective: Kill 5 hidden magical beings/transcendents.]
[Extra Objective: Kill a 'god']
These were all the texts on the Leaf of the World Tree.
It was identical to Lin Da's last entry into the fourth level. The only difference was that the role he played had changed, from an ordinary passerby last time to a slave sold to Dawn of Hell.
The start might have been poor, but it was exactly to Lin Da's liking.
Last time, when the Snow Goose Squad entered the fourth level to search for the werewolf in Dawn of Hell, it was Lin Xi who did it.
Lin Xi had made a discovery there; she killed the werewolf and helped the Snow Goose Squad complete their mission.
Lin Da and the others also found a few. Together, they barely completed the first two objectives.
The final one, "Goddess," was considered the hidden boss of this level, which Snow Goose failed to uncover.
After achieving their main adventure objectives, they waited for Lin Xi to join them, but after seven days had passed, the Snow Goose Squad was forcibly transported back to White Dove City.
Lin Xi disappeared from then on.
"Dawn of Hell, there must certainly be clues about Lin Xi there."
Lin Da thought excitedly.
"Dammit, don't you hear, the officer is calling your name!"
A roar exploded beside his ears.
Lin Da glanced sideways and saw a burly man with a beard, his eyes wide with anger, smashing a rubber club onto his own shoulder.
Lin Da instinctively defended with his forearm.
He forgot that he still had handcuffs on, and almost broke them with the nearly 1000 points of strength difference.
Startled for a moment, having been accustomed to staying in the Mystic Continent, coming to this low-magic world felt somewhat uncomfortable. It's all iron, but the iron from Mystic Continent is much harder.
Handcuffs? They are almost like being made of paper.
If it wasn't that Lin Da still needed to sneak into Dawn of Hell on this carriage to investigate, he would have kicked the bearded man flying with one kick.
Excitement twisted in Officer Reis's eyes as the rubber club fell with a thump, eagerly anticipating the sight of Lin Da's forearm breaking.
However, Reis felt as if he had hit steel. The rubber club bent from the tremendous force, and the man called Lin Da was unscathed, calmly retracting his arm.
"Here."
"Here." Kafni and Monica, having finished with the leaf of the World Tree, called out following Lin Da's lead.
When they raised their heads, the fury in Reis's eyes suddenly dissipated.
How could there be such pretty girls in the world?
They shone like stars!
The other people in the carriage were also dumbfounded; how could such beautiful girls have gone unnoticed until now?n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
These slightly illogical aspects were all corrected under the rule power of the World Tree Goddess.
Everyone briefly felt dizzy and then accepted the presence of Kafni and the others.
Kafni glanced at Reis, who was gaping, and sneered: "Ant, what are you looking at, believe it or not, I'll take you down!"
Reis snapped back to his senses, his first feeling not anger, but dejection. What was the deal with these three? Didn't they realize they were about to enter hell?
As an officer, he should be someone whom these people desperately need to please; a little bit of planning could greatly increase their survival rate in the upcoming 'feast.'
"You three, very well, I'll arrange a wonderful spot for you."
Reis sneered maliciously.
Hearing this, everyone showed a schadenfreude expression.
The few kind-hearted individuals sighed and shook their heads unwillingly.
Lin Da observed the reactions of those around him, pondering: It seems the first challenge of the Mystic Realm trial is to get through the 'feast' mentioned by Reis.
After calling the names, Reis went outside to smoke a cigar, chatting with the coachman.
Taking this opportunity, Lin Da needed to find someone to learn about the details of this 'feast.'
Last time he hadn't explored this place in the Mystic Realm, and once ordinary adventurers leave the scenario-based Mystic Realm, the memories of their experiences there are blurred by the World Tree Goddess, leaving no detailed strategies.
In this aspect, Lin Da was an exception; he vividly remembered the last exploration of the fourth level. But those areas he hadn't explored could not be understood through other adventurers' strategies.
Lin Da was pondering whom to talk to when a skinny man uninvitedly nudged him with his knee and whispered, "Buddy, want to cooperate?"
"Cooperate?"
Lin Da looked at the man.
He had a horse face with protruding buck teeth and curly brown hair.
"All lambs to the slaughter, you still want to go it alone?" The skinny man disdainfully looked at Lin Da's physique, muscular but not big enough.
If this were the adventurer's world, such an idea would be laughable—muscles and strength are not equivalent.
But the people here had no Fighting Spirit Magic Power, and naturally, Lin Da wouldn't clarify but simply smiled reservedly and asked, "Excuse me, what are 'lambs'?"
"You don't even know that? Weren't you one of the tribesmen caught in the wilderness?"
The skinny man regretted scratching his head but, having started, decided to spill everything:
"I'm Mark, a warrior from Serpent's Tail Gang. Most people here are losers in gang conflicts, captured to be slaves, and lambs are…"
"Haha, it refers to us poor souls who are about to be fed to the beasts."
Mark said bitterly, "We will be thrown by the bastards of Dawn of Hell into the arena, where the VIPs buy tickets to watch various beasts tear us apart! Buddy, your group offended Reis; that guy will definitely arrange you closest to the beasts."
Lin Da: "So, what do you mean by cooperating?"
"Pushing others forward, letting those poor devils satisfy the beasts. Once the number of survivors is down to one-tenth, this feast will end, and we will become 'fighters,' fighting three rounds in the arena to regain freedom." Mark sneered sinisterly.
This type of person made Lin Da uncomfortable, and he frowned, "I refuse."
With the strength of the Phoenix Tail Flower Team, there was no need to cooperate.
Mark's expression changed: "You'll regret this; no one can survive on their own."
The assumption was, you were not an adventurer. Lin Da added in his mind.
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