WTYTIAAN Chapter 163

## Chapter 163

At the same time, a prompt box popped up in front of the two players.

【[???] has issued you the quest “Explore Hawthorne Village”. Do you accept?】

【Explore Hawthorne Village】

Description: While passing through a village destroyed by a monster attack, you discovered that something was wrong with the village. Questioned by a mysterious person [???], you decided to accept the challenge from the mysterious person to explore the truth behind the deaths of the people in Hawthorne Village, and you have a certain ability to deal with danger.

Completion conditions:

1. Exploration progress of Hawthorne Village reaches over 80%.

2. Level reaches 25 or above.

Completion time: 15 days

(Failure to complete within the specified time will be regarded as a quest failure, with a penalty of -1 level.)

Completion reward: Unknown

(This quest allows team sharing, and the completion reward will be divided according to the degree of participation in the quest.)

【Accept?】

Did this even need to be considered? Of course, they accepted!

Nansu and Lin reacted in unison. The moment the panel popped up, they didn’t even see the quest details clearly before clicking “Accept”.

This made the mysterious person take another look at them, “Your courage is commendable.”

He paused and continued, “I await the answer you give, Skyfallers.”

The mysterious man turned around. Before leaving, he pretended to mention casually, “Some of your companions seem to be in danger. Perhaps you should try to find your companions.”

After leaving this sentence, the mysterious man left without looking back, without any other hints, leaving Nansu and Lin looking at each other in confusion.

“Was that last sentence a quest hint?” Lin asked curiously, “Some of our companions are in danger, what does that mean? Ah!”

As she spoke, she suddenly thought of something, Lin exclaimed, and quickly opened the team list, pasting the IDs of her two roommates.

[Lin]: [destin] [Computer Sleepy Cat] Are you okay!

There weren’t many people who could be called their companions. The other two roommates who came with them happened to be in the category of companions. Could it be that they were in danger because they were acting alone?

Who knew that as soon as Lin’s message was sent, the two of them replied in the team chat.

[destin]: What’s wrong? We’re fine? Are you coming to find us? [Location coordinates] We’re here!

[Computer Sleepy Cat]: Did something happen on your side?

Lin was stunned to find that her two teammates who were acting alone were fine.

That was strange. The companions the mysterious person was talking about weren’t Mianmian and A Ming, so who were they?

[Nansu]: We encountered an NPC here, the black shadow that Lin just mentioned. He gave us a quest. I think it should be a pre-quest for this hidden quest. This is a team-sharing quest. I’ll share it with you first.

[Nansu]: This quest has strict requirements. Let’s discuss how to complete it together first!

[Nansu]: (Quest sharing)

*

After successfully handing over the quest to the players, Yan Yunqing also put on a grand act to pave the way for his identity.

It was best to create an image of a big boss behind the scenes in the players’ minds.

After observing the movements of the two players, Yan Yunqing brought up the map and prepared to find the next player to “bump into”.

There was still one player’s spawn point he hadn’t found. He had to send out more quests to more players so that they would go to the forum to look for clues, and at the same time find out the locations of those players who had been captured.

After successfully “bumping into” several players who had come out of the Newbie Village, and saying a few ambiguous words, Yan Yunqing concealed his merits and fame, and left with a flick of his sleeve.

Next, he just had to wait for the quest to ferment in the player community. When they couldn’t find any quest clues, players wouldn’t be stingy about sharing a quest that could be shared by the team.

At least this way, there was still a chance of completing it.

Just as Yan Yunqing thought, the quest quickly spread among several top players.

Unknowingly, the game forum actually opened a separate section for “The Road Home”. It was clearly just a game that had just started its internal beta test, and not all of the 3,000 players in the internal beta test were posting on the forum, but several posts a day forcibly created a separate section.

【I heard that players in the Romunike Newbie Village have received the pre-quest for a hidden quest, is it true? Are there any Romunike players who can chat about it?】

0L: rt, the poster is Norman 01, so far I’ve only received daily quests, and haven’t seen any signs of hidden quests. I heard from my friend that there are hidden quests in Romunike?

1L: What a coincidence, poster, I’m Norman 02.

2L: Hidden quest? What kind of quest is a hidden quest? I just accepted a quest to deliver a love letter to an NPC named [Arnold]. I searched for a long time but couldn’t find Arnold anywhere. I almost thought there was no such NPC in the Newbie Village, but the next day I found him next to the blacksmith shop and asked him why he wasn’t there yesterday. Do you know what he answered?

3L: ? What did he answer? It’s really annoying to talk halfway and then run away!

4L: I’m Bato Vita 01, and I haven’t seen any hidden quests either. However, I seem to have received a series of quests. The NPC speaks in riddles, and it always feels like he has some secrets.

5L: So where’s 2L? I can understand disconnecting while playing the game, but can you also disappear while replying to the forum?

6L: From the Free Newbie Village. I think the NPCs in our Newbie Village are also very strange. Most of them are made up of children, and there aren’t many adults. What’s going on in this Newbie Village? Are they all left-behind children?

7L: Upstairs, I’m also from the Free Village. I bet you didn’t listen carefully to the information the NPCs revealed when they were chatting. This village is originally made up entirely of orphans. Haven’t you noticed that the NPCs all have a [Children’s Group] prefix above their heads? The leader of the Children’s Group is a guy named Jeff. These children are all orphans he adopted or picked up. They used to live in the city called Free City, but later something happened, and Jeff took the children out of the city and established Free Village.

8L: I’m 2L. Because it was too scary to think about, I forgot to finish typing and sent it out. That Arnold said he had been here all day yesterday and hadn’t left. Don’t you think it’s strange? I clearly remember searching the entire Newbie Village three times and definitely didn’t see him in that place, but he said he never left! I almost dug three feet into the ground to find him!

9L: Did you remember wrongly? NPCs can’t lie to you, right? Does the program code have this function?

10L: It really does! Although I’m not sure if the NPC that 2L met was lying, the blacksmith uncle I met in the blacksmith shop is a liar! He clearly promised to repair my weapon in the afternoon, but when I went to find him in the afternoon, he was gone. I found him drunk in the small tavern! He also lied to me that he had repaired the weapon and asked me to pick it up the next day. When I went the next day, he was gone again!!!

11L: 10L is too miserable

12L: Speaking of which, this game is really realistic. So far, I haven’t found two NPCs with the same appearance. Can’t they all build models separately for each NPC? And each NPC’s personality is completely different. It’s so real that I feel like there are real people playing behind the scenes… If it’s all AI, how many servers and computing cards would it take to build it?

13L: Why do you all have Newbie Villages, but I was arrested and imprisoned as soon as I went online? What kind of game starts with being in jail! I can’t take it anymore, who will save me qaq

14L: The poster upstairs is playing abstractly, right? I haven’t heard of any Newbie Village with the function of being in jail, but I have heard that harming green-named NPCs for no reason will result in being arrested and put in solitary confinement. In severe cases, you may even be killed by the guards of the Newbie Village, and the Newbie Village’s goodwill will be directly reduced to -50, directly opening hatred, killing you every time you meet. I advise everyone not to attack green-named NPCs.

Especially in the early stage, not to mention that the death penalty has a two-day resurrection CD, and you lose a lot of experience with each death, and the only place where you can get a lot of experience in the early stage is the Newbie Village. If you don’t want to rely on killing small animals in the wild to accumulate experience points to level up, don’t attack green-named NPCs.

15L: 14L knows so much, it couldn’t be that you attacked a green-named NPC and were beaten into a blank slate by the NPC, right? (Squinting smile)

16L: …You know too much.

17L: Hahahahaha, you shouldn’t say that. You should say that attacking green-named NPCs is an achievement. You can fool as many as you can. Then everyone will be in the same boat, and you won’t be so miserable.

18L: Speaking of which, are we digressing? Was the poster’s title ignored? Are there any Romunike players who can come out and share their experiences? Do you really have hidden quests there? How are they opened? What are the differences between them and ordinary quests before they are opened?

19L: I don’t know about hidden quests, but I did encounter a strange NPC. He didn’t give me any quests, but just mumbled to me, “Your companion is in danger” and then ran away. I originally wanted to chase after him, but that guy ran faster than a rabbit and disappeared in the blink of an eye. I still haven’t figured out what that sentence means.

20L: 19L, are you from Romunike? What a coincidence, I also encountered the NPC you mentioned. It’s strange. I’m sure I haven’t seen that person’s appearance in the Newbie Village. He said the same thing to me as you.

21L: This sounds like a pre-quest for a hidden quest. Do we need to figure out who the “companion in danger” is to open the hidden quest?

22L: Is this what you’re referring to when you say Romunike’s hidden quest? What if you just encountered a madman set in the game? And the other party’s catchphrase is “Your companion is in danger” or something? It feels like a pretty common setting.

23L: I’m from Romunike. You’ve all misunderstood. The hidden quest that’s being spread outside isn’t referring to that “Your companion is in danger” thing.

The so-called hidden quest is that some players weren’t directly introduced into the Newbie Village when they first logged into the game. Instead, they spawned in an abandoned village. After waiting for a while, the NPC from the Newbie Village came to pick them up and revealed a message: This abandoned village was attacked by monsters not long ago, and all the villagers died here, which is why the village was abandoned.

Later, some players wanted to ask the NPC for some information about that village, but they couldn’t get any information at all. That’s why some people speculated that the abandoned village should be related to some quest, and the probability of it being a hidden quest is very high. It’s just that no one has received any related quests yet.

24L: Same as Romunike. 23L is right. You can only leave the Newbie Village briefly after level 10. Many players rushed to that village as soon as they left the Newbie Village, but so far I haven’t heard of anyone receiving a related quest.

25L: Wow, that does sound like a pre-quest for a hidden quest.

26L: Your information is outdated. Someone has already received a related quest. It’s the female players [Lin] on the Romunike level List top 10. I heard that it’s a team-sharing quest. They are looking for experienced players to join their team to study the quest!

27L: There really is a hidden quest!

28L: Are there any players who have received the quest on the forum? I want to sign up to join the team! I have ten years of game experience. I’m good at RPG, puzzle solving, shooting, and fighting! Please let me join!

29L: Hey! How can someone be so shameless and start recommending themselves in a forum post?

30L: Look at me too! I…

……

The “Road Home” section of the forum was very lively. When they talked about the legendary hidden quest, people who considered themselves senior players couldn’t sit still and came down to ask to join the team.

These were all seen by destin. She closed the forum, “The news about the hidden quest has been leaked.”

Computer Sleepy Cat didn’t care, “This is normal. After all, we are indeed looking for people to cooperate with. We don’t know any powerful professional players. If we want to find reliable people to cooperate with to complete the quest, we can only spread the news.”

“Professional players should come to us soon,” Computer Sleepy Cat said. “Lin, you should pay more attention to the forum backend and be careful to distinguish scammers. If you’re not sure about anything, you can ask me directly.”

Lin was full of energy, “I know! Don’t worry, I’m very reliable!”

Letting out the news that they had received a hidden quest was Computer Sleepy Cat’s idea. Of course, they could complete the quest on their own, but they had to play for the full duration every day.

The four of them are now third-year students. Although the schedule is not as full as when they were freshmen and sophomores, it is still a bit difficult to brush up the online time every day. They can only take care of one of the two completion conditions.

In addition, they themselves didn’t have much experience in this type of game. Nansu, the only one with experience, didn’t mainly play this type of game, so Computer Sleepy Cat came up with this method.

Find reliable professional players and share the quest with the big guys.

In this way, the big guys get the hidden quest, and they also get the help of the big guys, hug the big guys’ thighs and complete the quest.

Nansu browsed the content of the posts while holding the chair, “Actually, there’s one thing I’m more concerned about. Lin, when that mysterious person left, he also said to us, ‘Some of your companions seem to be in danger. Perhaps you should try to find your companions,’ right?”

“I always feel that this information is very important, and you see, there are also Romunike players in the posts who got this hint from the NPC? Is this related to our quest?”

Lin pondered, “Um… I really can’t think of what it could be?”

“So you suddenly asked me and Mianmian if something happened because that NPC said this?” destin asked curiously.

Lin propped up her face, “Yes, that’s what the mysterious person said when he left. At that time, I thought you were in danger, but you were fine.”

“But that mysterious person is obviously a very important NPC,” Nansu said. “In comics, the ones who don’t show their faces are either the big boss behind the scenes or the key figures in the next plot, and he specifically reminded us of this before leaving… It shouldn’t be just a casual mention, no matter how I think about it, right?”

“The main storyline shouldn’t be out yet, right?” destin guessed, “Maybe it’s related to the main storyline?”

Indeed, an RPG game can’t be without a main storyline. The players are still at a low level, and it’s normal that the main storyline hasn’t come out yet. Maybe this is paving the way for the main storyline!

Computer Sleepy Cat, who hadn’t spoken for a long time, suddenly opened her mouth, “Do you think that companion in danger could be referring to this?”

As soon as she said this, the other three people in the same dormitory gathered around. Computer Sleepy Cat moved a little to the side, showing the screen behind her, and tapped on the computer screen with her fingertip.

“Look at this.”

【13L: Why do you all have Newbie Villages, but I was arrested and imprisoned as soon as I went online? What kind of game starts with being in jail! I can’t take it anymore, who will save me qaq】

“And this.” Computer Sleepy Cat also pulled out several posts she had browsed before.

【I went! Is the death penalty in “Road Home” so serious? I’ve been locked in a small dark room for 48 hours!】

【I’m convinced, I was captured by savages as soon as I logged in】

【Where is the Newbie Village anyway? Why is the game I’m playing different from yours?】

The content of these posts is very similar, basically saying that they were killed or captured by savages as soon as they logged into the game. Some players even got lost in the forest and were eaten by passing beasts.

“Let’s not mention the player who was so unlucky that they were eaten by wild beasts. The previous posts all said that they encountered ‘savages’, and they were either killed or captured. Isn’t the existence of these ‘savages’ very strange?” Computer Sleepy Cat said.

The three people gathered closer. Because the game was too realistic, even though the forum had specifically divided out a section, new posts were constantly popping up in this section. These posts that claimed to have encountered savages had almost no replies, and most of them disappeared without a trace as soon as they were posted.

The most replied one was still an internal beta player questioning whether the poster was a cloud player, and that the content of the post was made up.

Because they were using game helmets to play, and the devices didn’t have the function of recording videos, taking photos, or taking screenshots, the internal beta players had been boasting about how realistic “Road Home” was, and the people who didn’t get the internal beta spots treated them as water armies.

And posting game experiences that were completely different from other players and being labeled as a cloud player was also very normal.

“Ah, I’ve seen these too.” destin suddenly clapped her hands, “I also treated this as a green post before, is it not?”

“Actually, I don’t know either.” Computer Sleepy Cat shook her head, “But think about it, if these posts aren’t green posts, but there are really players who were captured or killed by ‘savages’ as soon as they logged into the game, doesn’t it match the ‘companion in danger’ thing?”

Nansu’s eyes lit up, “Yes, we players are called Skyfallers by the NPCs, so it’s normal for NPCs to call fellow Skyfallers companions!”

Lin also suddenly realized, “So, what the mysterious person wanted to tell us was: Some players have been captured?”

Computer Sleepy Cat supported her chin with one hand and continued to browse the content of the forum, casually replying, “Maybe more than that. I’ve read a lot of posts. Basically, each Newbie Village has its own special story line, such as the Free Village. Most of their NPCs are children, which involves the Children’s Group camp.”

“For example, the three Newbie Villages of Bato Vita, most of the NPCs inside are related to Bato Vita. The guide NPC in one of the Newbie Villages is even a princess of the Bato Vita Royal Family.”

“In addition, our Newbie Village, which encountered a massacred village at the beginning, is also a special story line for our Newbie Village.”

“So I think that the players who were captured by the savages, they don’t have a Newbie Village, but their Newbie Village is more special. Those savages are the NPCs in their Newbie Village!”

Computer Sleepy Cat’s glasses flashed a white light, “Since there are ordinary Newbie Villages with positive initial goodwill, there are naturally villain Newbie Villages with negative initial goodwill—”

“Um… I understand the principle, but why did you suddenly put on these glowing glasses? Is this ○nan’s peripheral product? When did you buy it?”

“Don’t expose it, Mianmian is showing off.”

After being forcibly deprived of the show-off prop [glowing plain glasses], Computer Sleepy Cat continued to express her high opinion listlessly, “So what I thought is similar to what A Ming guessed. This should be an introduction to the main storyline, paving the way for the later plot. Maybe the camp mode will be opened because of this, but this should have to wait until the public beta to be served up.”

“That is to say, there’s nothing we can do now?” Lin asked.

Computer Sleepy Cat: “Of course not.”

She switched the page to the forum and clicked on [Post a New Post], “We can also publish this guess to the public and brainstorm. I estimate that some people have already guessed that this may be the paving that the game is preparing to launch the camp mode.”

“You can also take the opportunity to find those players who were caught by the savages. They are so special that they will definitely involve one or two hidden quests. If we get more clues, maybe we can get a hidden quest?”

“And this hidden quest is definitely related to the mysterious person who gave you the quest before, so we are not afraid of leaking the clues, because we ourselves are the leaders, and we can continue to delve into the clues that other players have discussed!”

As she spoke, Computer Sleepy Cat put on the show-off prop [glowing plain glasses] again and made the classic 〇nan action.

The other three looked at each other and started doing comedy by saying: “Wow! Mianmian, you’re too smart!”

They did what they said they would do.

Computer Sleepy Cat, who was dizzy from the praise, picked up the keyboard and began to organize her words to write her post.

The others also returned to their positions and started their own tasks.

Lin, who was the only one who had left contact information, refreshed the private messages in the background, muttering, “Experienced professional players…”

……

Ermann Continent.

Yan Yunqing looked at the posts in the forum that gradually popped up as he had expected and closed these posts with satisfaction. He just had to quietly wait for the players to provide the clues and then copy the answers after brainstorming.

Sure enough, as long as the players are used well and used correctly, they are a very strong help.

There was a knock on the door, and Yan Yunqing looked up to see Merlin walking in.

He was still unkempt, but different from the one he had pretended to be before, this time Merlin clearly had dark circles under his eyes, and his beard was messy, indicating that he didn’t have time to take care of himself.

“You look very tired?” Yan Yunqing joked.

Merlin sat down in front of Yan Yunqing, heard Yan Yunqing’s words, and rolled his eyes, “Isn’t that right? I haven’t slept for four days. These Skyfallers can really toss and turn, and several people have come to complain to me.”

“Those Skyfallers even wanted to take off the blacksmith’s pants! This is really terrible!”