LWGP - Chapter 186
Chapter 186: The Fall
"Damn, my Master is ruthless as hell."
After receiving her reply, Wang Shu, who was collecting spoils of war over by the optical drive, honestly repeated Wang Jiu's words to Xie Lu, Fang Cun, and the others.
No one was really surprised. Fang Cun even chuckled, "Consistent style, her character setting holds up. It's great."
Zhao Si smiled faintly. "Those territories are definitely reluctant. Help them? If we win, the greatest benefits of this battle would go to their territories. We'd just get some kill credits. While that's not a loss, if the win-win split is eighty-twenty, are they treating us like the twenty percent fools? Let's make a bet. In a bit, a lot of lords will surely band together and start spouting nonsense about the survival of humanity, how the Undead Race will completely annihilate humans, and that if we don't come to the rescue, many people will die, and so on."
He was an extreme egoist who had no patience for this kind of moral blackmail, which was why he didn't get along with many territories. By saying this now, he was also testing the others.
But as the saying goes, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
It wasn't that they were becoming bad by following Lao Wang, but rather that they all shared a certain trait—they knew their own opinions made not the slightest impression on Lao Wang.
In common slang, they knew their place.
Since that was the case, what more was there to say?
Lin Guiwan and Qiao Xuejing both offered no comment on the matter.
And Zhao Si's judgment was precise. The social channels for the Henan region indeed grew agitated, with many people jumping out to condemn Gobi Territory.
But no one from Gobi came out to argue with them. This emboldened some to stand on their moral high ground and point fingers, and then… one of their territories had war declared upon it.
The social channels fell silent.
Until a Hong Kong socialite, lurking from another region, slowly surfaced and floated a comment: "Why bother Wang Jiu has surfaced."
Wang Jiu wasn't some protagonist with plot armor who went everywhere. Although she was a bit unlucky at times, she wasn't the only one. The Undead expansion was fair. Gobi might have been the first to get stabbed, but countless other territories would be next.
The fate of the many territories in the Henan region was the fate of the entire Ninth District, and indeed, all the districts.
The Undead Race crawled out from underground and began a massacre.
As for Wang Shu and the others, after securing the optical drive, they went on to raid another territory. In the end, they paid no mind to the few territories being attacked by the Undead and returned directly to their city.
Upon returning to the city, they saw Wang Jiu, who had just finished a bath and was watering flowers, her wet hair draped over her shoulders.
Honestly, after being out and about twice, they truly felt that Gobi was better. It was well-established and orderly. And Lao Wang's residence seemed much larger than before, with even finer details inside—small bridges over flowing water, flowerbeds along the banks.
For a moment, Wang Shu felt as if he had returned to Wang Jiu's residence from before the apocalypse loaded.
The residence of that time, the Lao Wang of today—it seemed as if nothing had changed.
A beauty that outshone the flowers.
The group briefly reported on the two battles, and then they all went their separate ways to rest.
Dressed in a long gown, Wang Jiu tapped the watering can with her finger, her gaze shifting lightly to Xie Lu, who had stayed behind.
"Hasn't your superior contacted you? It seems he's quite sensible."
Xie Lu had just endured two fierce battles and was still travel-worn, as if from a different world than this person of peerless beauty and subtle, clear-eyed charm.
"He probably knows I don't carry that much weight. Besides, anyone who can reach his position knows a thing or two about discretion."
Discretion. That word was indeed a reflection of a good upbringing.
Wang Jiu's gaze slid across Xie Lu's cheek. She smiled faintly, her finger lightly tapping a tender, emerald-green Siam leaf, dislodging a rolling droplet of water.
"Not necessarily. If you were to really cry and beg me, my heart might ache for you a little."
Xie Lu froze, but he only saw her calm expression, as if she didn't find her own words the least bit seductive.
He fell silent for a moment, then said, "Did you know the state is preparing to intervene?"
Although he was in Gobi, he hadn't severed contact with his superiors.
He knew the state's current strength. The officials over in Zhengzhou were capable of taking action. They might not be able to support every territory attacked by the Undead indefinitely, but for now, it was manageable.
In response to his question, Wang Jiu's answer was somewhat off-topic.
"I remember going with the old lady to burn incense every New Year's Day. Every time she drew a fortune stick, she only prayed for one thing."
Xie Lu asked, "To find her daughter?"
Wang Jiu turned back to him and smiled. "For the mountains and rivers to stand eternal, and the nation to be prosperous and its people at peace."
Xie Lu was taken aback and asked subconsciously, "And you? What would you pray for? Or perhaps, you wouldn't pray at all."
She seemed like someone who never believed in gods or Buddhas.
He guessed wrong. A smile still hung on Wang Jiu's lips as she said, "I'm not so noble. What I want is—to live a little longer."
A little longer, and then a little longer still.
Please, just give me a little more time.
The state did indeed intervene, striking with lightning speed and overwhelming force.
The twenty people from Nevernight Territory had caused quite a stir, but they weren't an isolated case. People with flying pets began to appear in various places, some in greater numbers, some in lesser, but none were as breathtaking as the state's forces.
The official major territory in the Henan region alone deployed a flying army numbering in the thousands.
By dominating the ground-bound Undead from the sky, dispatching experts, and coordinating with various territories to form a loose alliance, they managed to hold the line. The scale of these Undead forces was actually far smaller than the wave that had attacked Gobi—only about a third of the size. At first, they could indeed defend against them, but the casualties were significant.
But as time went on… the scale of the attacks grew larger, their reinforcements outpacing the rate of human player improvement. Casualties mounted, and eventually, territories began to fall one after another. Faced with this trend, the territories could only band together, some even seeking refuge with official territories and merging into one to consolidate their strength.
And during this period, Gobi Territory frantically declared war on its neighboring territories every day, its sphere of influence radiating outward in a circle.
As the social channels put it, Gobi Territory was conquering territories at twice the speed of the Undead Race.
Five days later, the new large territory Wang Jiu had added was also filled to capacity.
Her two large territories alone housed half a million people, and including its affiliates, the population had already surpassed one million.
This day was also the day Wang Jiu's weapon was ready.
The moment the box was opened, a pitch-black light emanated, suffused with dense witch power. Wang Jiu took out the staff from within.
Its base was white bone, with black patterns running through its interior and exterior. Its form was slender and long like a blade, sharp and cunning with a hidden wickedness, yet it was also gentle and complete, carrying a raw but powerful aura.
It had no name, as it was a custom-made weapon. There was only a description.
Twin Weapon (can be freely switched between staff and blade forms), HP +300, Spirit Power +5000, +3000 to each of the three attributes.
Evil Order Talent Awakened—Zhen-Xun, ability is the power of wind and thunder.
In other words, the two talents Wang Jiu now possessed, Qian-Kun and Zhen-Xun, had given her spatial reversal and the power of wind and thunder, respectively.
It had no skills, but an Order talent trumped any skill.
As expected of a newborn with terrifying potential.
Wang Jiu toyed with it for a moment, gave it a name, and clicked confirm.
System: "Little Safe? You had a rare stroke of dogshit luck and managed to craft a newborn twin weapon with such terrifying potential, and you give it this crappy name? Are you that desperate to get rich?"
Wang Jiu felt its reaction was over the top and corrected it. "I'm not that materialistic. It's not 'Little Safe,' it's 'Gilded Abyss.'"
The System fell silent for a moment, then said sullenly, "Isn't that a brothel?"
Wang Jiu put the weapon away and gently advised, "Your cultural horizons are a bit narrow. Watch fewer porn flicks and read more good books. It'll do you a world of good."
System: "..."
Sometimes, it felt it was better when this woman was being brutally violent than when she spoke gently.
It was true she didn't like to run her mouth, but when she did, her words were lethal.
After this period of high-frequency territory wars, she had saved up all the resources she had acquired, but the consumption of items like Strengthening Stones and Upgrade Scrolls was terrifying. She was burning through money every day.
Now, with her new weapon, Wang Jiu's average attributes had reached twenty thousand, her spirit power was at fifty thousand, and her HP was a full one thousand. The complete Book of Immortality had raised her constitution to the level of the Heavenly Wolf Chief, a Purple Gold-grade BOSS.
But even so, after putting her weapon away, she remained busy in the alchemy lab. If Wei Yuan had been there, he would have surely recognized that the experiment she was conducting was related to the journal from the Mist Town dungeon.
She had given it to Wei Yuan, but that didn't mean she had lost it. In fact, on the way from the town to the city mall, she had memorized the entire book, every step and every piece of data, without a single mistake.
However, this was quite difficult. After all, her major was medicine, not chemistry or biology. While the fields weren't worlds apart, she wasn't an expert. Thus, she needed to do more exploring, burn through more resources and money, and also… withstand explosions.
BOOM!!
The massive laboratory exploded again.
Protected by a barrier, Wang Jiu wore a helpless expression as the System frantically dissed her: "Activating the lab's protective shield costs 300 gold every time! How many times have you set it off these past few days? You've already sunk tens of thousands of gold into this, and you haven't produced a single thing. I think you're the real Gilded Abyss."
Wang Jiu was tidying up her things. She paused at its words, then said thoughtfully, "I suppose there were some people in the past who asked what I wanted, offering me their lives and fortunes. So you're not wrong to say that."
System: "..."
It really wanted to curse her for being so shameless, but she wasn't lying.
Before Wang Jiu could finish tidying, Wang Shu suddenly knocked on the door. As it opened, he poked his head in and said, "Master, Master, there's a visitor outside looking for you. I think they're from the government. They know Brother Xie."
Wang Jiu, who was holding a beaker, paused and raised an eyebrow slightly.
So suddenly? Trouble must be brewing.
In the restaurant under the grapevines, Pan Jinlian poured the guest a glass of water. The visitor's gaze swept over Wu Dalang and Ximen Qing, who had just led him in, standing not far away. His expression remained calm as he smiled, offered his thanks, and then began to eloquently praise Wang Jiu's manor. Wang Jiu, in turn, eloquently praised her architect, Qiao Xuejing.
Xie Lu waited quietly on the side for them to get to the point, preparing to send his superior a private message telling him not to beat around the bush too much. Unless she was dealing with a "flirting target" she found interesting, Lao Wang had absolutely no patience for idle chatter.
Fortunately, his superior had done his research and quickly got to the point. "Lord of Gobi, I wonder if you are aware of what happened over in Sichuan yesterday."
Wang Jiu looked up but said nothing. Just as Xie Lu, who was beside her, was about to speak, Wang Shu immediately brought over a plate of fruit and set it down, explaining to Wang Jiu, "Master, Sichuan has fallen."
An entire province… was about to fall?
Comments
Post a Comment