Chapter 11

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation

Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

“Go! Go! Go!”

“Yes, that’s the spirit!”

“F*ck him up!”

“Fatty, you’re the tank, hurry up with your corpse respawn!”1

“Yay, you’ve blinded it, perfect!”

“Oh my, this is going to hurt a lot, half of the stick went in!”

“Hahaha…we won, we won!”

In the wooden cage inside the cave, through the perspective of the Summoning Pixie, Meng Yang was able to watch the whole scene of the crowd beating up the elite pig-headed monster.

When Meng Yang saw that the pig-headed monster finally had a stick shoved up its buttocks and that it slammed onto a rock before limply toppling over, he jumped up from the ground in excitement.

“Old man, we are saved! The pig-headed monster’s been killed!”

Meng Yang swayed left and right in his excitement; it was almost as if he were dancing.

The strange old man in the long robe looked at Meng Yang’s excited countenance, and a smile appeared on his bony face. “Young man, it seems that the existence of this Other World that you summoned is really powerful.”

“Of course!”

Meng Yang danced with joy. The thrill that flooded his chest from surviving such a close encounter with death made him feel indescribably excited.

“Oh yes, old man, my name is Meng Yang. I still don’t know what your name is?” In his state of excitement, Meng Yang could not help but turn his head to ask the strange, robed old man.

“Me?” The robed old man’s aged, deeply wrinkled face seemed to display hints of attempted recollection. He pondered for a moment, then replied in a melancholic voice, “My name is Gustav. I’m an exile from the Western Continent.”

“Exile?” Meng Yang felt a little puzzled when he heard the word, but he did not give much thought to it as he had yet to figure out what was going on in this Other World. Since the transmigration had already happened, everything else was just minor details.

“By the way, after we head out, where would be the nearest town?” Meng Yang continued asking, “I have to find a place to take a good bath and get some sleep. It’s been really uncomfortable staying here. Gus…what is it again? Forget it, I’ll just call you old man. Are you a local? Do you know where the nearest town is?”

“Town?”

Gustav looked at Meng Yang again with his murky eyes, and his face expressed some surprise. “Young man, it seems you’ve never been told exactly where you are now. Have you just been exiled here?”

As he spoke, Gustav shook his head and said with a sigh, “But this is not a surprise. Over the last few centuries, many from the East and West continents have been exiled here because of persecution. There are also many who were deceived, abducted, and sold over in these parts.

“Before setting foot here, nobody believed that such a place still existed in the world. This is a land of exiles. It seems that in your ignorance, you were deceived into coming here.”

“There are East and West continents? Sounds mysterious!” Meng Yang obtained a bit more information about this Other World from the old man named Gustav. Through the faint light in the cave, he carefully examined the old man’s face again and found the old fellow had slightly different features.

To be honest, Meng Yang felt that this old man named Gustav was rather odd and mysterious, but now was not the time to consider such things. He continued and asked, “Gustav, I’m sure there are gathering places for humans here, aren’t there?”

“Of course… as I have mentioned before, we are close to the City of Despair,” Gustav replied calmly. Beneath his placid expression, however, there was a hint of melancholy hidden in his eyes.

“As long as there are places like that, it’s all good.” Meng Yang did not pay too much attention to the strange expression on Gustav’s face. Based on the circumstances surrounding them both, it was not unlikely that the old man had friends and family who had suffered, or similar.

Meng Yang was still riding on the high from his close brush with death. He was not in the mood to comfort a strange old man.

“However, the City of Despair…” Meng Yang thought over this name for a bit; it did not seem as if it were a good name at all.

Glancing at Gustav again, Meng Yang remembered the players who were about to come back and immediately said, “Gustav, the servants that I summoned might not be the same as those that you know. They will say some baffling things.”

“Of course; I can understand that.” Gustav, who stood in his wooden cage, did not give it too much thought. “The summoner communicates with the Other World. These intelligent creatures from the Other World would naturally have various strange hobbies and personalities.”

“Gustav, are you also a summoner?”

Meng Yang looked at Gustav in surprise. At that moment, Gustav’s aura seemed to have altered slightly. Even though he was still clad in a tattered long robe, his countenance was different from when the pig-headed monster was alive—he actually looked rather impressive.

Gustav shook his head slightly. “I am not a summoner.”

As they were talking, Meng Yang sensed a reminder from the Summoning Pixie. The five players whom he summoned had already started heading his way after killing the pig-headed monster.

Very soon, footsteps could be heard outside the cave.

“Where’s the mission NPC?”

Liu Chuanfeng was holding a bone cleaver, the only loot from the battle with the pig-headed monster. He charged in majestically.

Xu Zhe, Zhuang Dafa, and Sun Shuai followed rather cautiously behind Liu Chuanfeng. All of them were gaming veterans. Who could guarantee that even after all the hard work they put into killing an elite monster, the evil masterminds from game development would not arrange for another little monster to pop up?

As for the beautiful live streamer who had delivered the fatal blow to the pig-headed monster, she was still waiting outside the cave. Even a horror movie enthusiast might not be able to bear the horrific scene within the cave. With the putrid smell of blood and rotting flesh in the air, most people would beg to be excused.

“Is it you? Have you all finally arrived?”

Meng Yang reached his hand out from the wooden cage and began his performance in an operatic tone mixed in with some translationese from some miscellaneous game. He looked at the four people who walked in with a pleasantly surprised expression. “Adventurers from the Other World, are you here to save me?”

“We’re here!”

The few gamers who came into the cave felt their spirits lift when they heard Meng Yang’s voice. They walked to the front of the wooden cage but did not immediately rescue him. Instead, they all studied him and started chatting with one another.

“Hey, this NPC is very human-like. But why does the character feel so normal—is this also the protagonist?” Zhuang Xiaofa1 looked Meng Yang over from top to bottom, his expression indicating his disbelief. 

“The plot has just started; this isn’t the protagonist. It’s not gotten truly awesome yet.” Xu Zhe’s expression displayed some interest. “Hmm, the modelling is very good; it looks just like a real person.”

“The pig-headed monster from just now was definitely very real; you can’t see any flaws in this NPC.” Sun Shuai was thinking from the perspective of a professional gaming enthusiast.

Liu Chuanfeng did not think as much about the matter as the others. He hoisted the one-meter long bone cleaver and thumped on the thick wooden bars of the cage. “What do you guys think—if we kill this NPC, will we gain any equipment?”

“Uh…”

Listening to the chit-chat between the gamers before him, Meng Yang was at a slight loss for words. Fortunately, they did not take any drastic action. After all, there was a connection between the summoner and the summoned creature; Meng Yang did not really need to worry about someone having a brain fart and attacking him.

In the same operatic tone combined with translationese, he continued with his previously prepared lines, “Adventurers from the Other World, I need your help to free me.”

The players chatted for a while; in the end, they did not attempt anything like killing the NPC to see if they dropped good equipment. Finally, after Xu Zhe heard Meng Yang repeat his lines again, he reminded the others, not wishing to delay any further.

“Let’s do this!”

The heavy wooden door opened slowly under the combined efforts of all four people. Meng Yang scurried out without further delay. As he took in the free world outside the cage, Meng Yang suppressed the joy in his heart and turned to face his four rescuers. “Brave adventurers, thank you for saving my life.”

As he spoke, Meng Yang pointed to the wooden cage next to him. “Our adventure has just begun. Now please help me; let’s rescue Gustav together. Only he knows where the nearest town is.”

“There’s another NPC?”

Only after Meng Yang had finished speaking did the few of them notice that there was an old man in a long robe standing inside the wooden cage indicated.

“Please continue.”

The players exhaled helplessly. They looked at the wooden door next to them and continued to work. These thick wooden bars looked crude and simple but they were abnormally heavy. If it were not for the strength of four people, they might not have succeeded in their task with just one or two players.

Of course, Meng Yang did not do anything. As the protagonist, summoner, and mission NPC, the hard work had to come from the players.

After Gustav was freed from the wooden cage by all four people, Meng Yang stepped forward and thanked the four panting players, “Thank you, adventurers!”

After that, without further hesitation, he immediately issued a reminder through the Summoning Pixie that the task had been completed.

“Mission: Battle Line Rescue (Completed)”

“Reward: NPC affinity +10”

“Adventurers, through your efforts, our protagonist has finally been rescued. In return, you have received his gratitude and favor. Next, the protagonist will begin his real journey…”

After the task completion reminder was over, Meng Yang followed it up with a reminder to force quit.

“Dear players, the first internal test mission has ended. The server is now undergoing emergency maintenance. You will be forced to log off after five seconds. 5, 4, 3…”

This series of announcements quickly appeared in front of the four people inside the cave as well as Ma Xiaoling, who was outside the cave. The players, who have yet to recover from their hard work, were dumbfounded.

“What the hell, all we got from our mission was a tiny bit of affinity?”

“Why is the server maintenance happening at this time!”

“Yeah, f*ck you too, I’m going to kill you! Wait till the next round, I can still do it…”

“How long do you think maintenance is going to take?”

The players’ figures gradually faded and finally disappeared amid the clamor of their discontent.

“You wanted to kill me for equipment? I’ve kicked you out of the game, bye bye you!” Meng Yang looked over to where the players had disappeared, extending his finger and waving it slightly. He had no guilt or attachment to any of them, immediately disposing of them after he had used them.

This was just like love!