Volume 4, Chapter 22 – Reliable Players

Yaxi City.

It was the largest transportation hub in the central part of Canyon Continent.

Located on the shores of Lake Neiya.

A corner of its natural scenery still remained, making it a good place for sightseeing as well.

But right now, the entire city was in no mood to be cheerful.

Rain poured down in sheets.

As if it meant to fill Lake Neiya to the brim and drown Yaxi City beneath it.

Aside from this dreadful, almost apocalyptic weather, the news coming from the east was also making it impossible for the city’s residents to sleep peacefully.

Although the special forces’ surprise attack had caused Morningstar some losses, the government army had lost the offensive and defensive battle at Wutong City.

They had practically been beaten into not daring to provoke Morningstar anymore.

The hydroelectric station was in grave danger.

And as for the next target—

Everyone feared it would be Yaxi City.

Inside an off-road vehicle parked by the street.

The car was trembling slightly.

Clack-clack-clack—

Ping-ping-ping—

Hiss-hiss-hiss—

A small arthropod limb quickly took shape in Anran’s hands. Satisfied, she set it aside.

Then she started making the remaining limbs.

Six in total, plus the central body section.

Small arthropod-type robots were comparatively easier to make.

Partly because of cost, partly because of the power source, and lastly because of the programming.

Small arthropod-type robots did not possess combat capability, and their intelligent programs were correspondingly much simpler.

Anran had spent 3,300 EXP to raise Basic Programming to Lv. 4, and that was already more than enough.

Meanwhile, Aila sat in the back seat, staring at the laptop they had just bought and hammering away at the keyboard.

Tap-tap-tap…

Her ten pale fingers seemed to turn into afterimages as they kept striking keys on the keyboard.

On the screen was a webpage with a black background covered in red and green text. It looked distinctly creepy.

“OK!”

“Anran, Anran, I successfully registered as a member of that dark web site!”

Like she was asking for praise, Aila leaned over the seatback, smiling so hard her eyes curved into crescents.

“Impressive!”

Anran gave her a thumbs-up, then patted Aila on the head.

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Aila was as docile as a cat dozing in the sun.

Should she rub her belly too?

Forget it.

There was no time for that now.

Remember, Anran, your time is precious!

Once the world was at peace, she could do whatever she wanted.

“First, see if there are any bounties for assassinating Morningstar people,” Anran said.

“Mhm.” Aila nodded vigorously.

Only over these past two days had she started to feel like she could really help Anran.

Before, it had always been Anran helping her. She had to repay Anran properly too.

Tap-tap-clatter.

Clatter-tap-tap.

Rain beat against the car.

Anran worked methodically.

Very quickly, she finished making a small “spider-type” arthropod robot.

Then Anran took out another computer and plugged a data cable into the robot’s “butt.”

The computer and the chip began their transaction.

She opened the software and transformed into a lady coder.

Tap-tap-tap…

For a while, the only sounds inside the off-road vehicle were faint breathing and the tapping of keyboards.

Outside, there was only the sound of rain.

Even the lightly trembling off-road vehicle stopped trembling.

“What the hell kind of weather is this?”

Inside an ordinary single-story house, one “employee” of a certain internet company stared at the window glass rattling under the rain, his expression unpleasant.

“You’re heading out now?”

He turned back to look at his “coworker,” who was preparing rain gear.

“No matter how bad the weather gets, work still comes first.”

The coworker put on rain boots, threw on a tightly sealed raincoat, tucked a briefcase under his arm, and pushed the door open.

“Work really is endless. At least this year we’ve finally started to see a bit of hope.”

…

[Small Arthropod Robot] (Spider-Type) (Recon Version)

Armor: 5/5.

Equipped with a micro camera capable of storing 24 hours of ultra-high-definition video.

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Diameter: 7.3 cm.

Movement Speed: 30 m/min

Battery Life: 24 hours

Transmission Range: 3 km

Anran watched the spider robot crawling back and forth over her arm.

On the computer screen, the view was two constantly swaying mountain peaks.

She pinched the spider robot by the abdomen and set it on the seat.

Then she clicked the control button with the mouse.

The spider robot switched to manual mode.

She controlled it as it crawled down from the seat and adjusted the camera angle.

What came into view was—

Emmm…

Blue-and-white stripes and a pert little butt.

Cut—

Switch camera.

The spider robot crawled up onto the window.

It could even climb glass. As expected of a blue-grade blueprint.

Seeing that it was still not yet noon, Anran made another identical robot.

She gained 4,500 EXP.

Then she spent 1,000 EXP to combine the tactical goggles blueprint with the night-vision goggles blueprint she had obtained earlier at the Morningstar base.

After combining them twice, she finally got the Improved X10 Tactical Goggles.

They looked somewhat like windproof goggles, but with a sleek technological style, and a chip integrated along the edge of the metal frame.

Long-range vision, night vision, and even distance-marking functions out to around 1 kilometer.

A sniper’s best fri—gir—friend.

…

“It’s still way too slow leveling up by grinding quests here!”

Four players walked side by side through the rain.

“If I’d known earlier, I should’ve gone to Twinmoon City from the start. I thought Yaxi City was bigger, so it’d be easier to grind quests here!”

“That was my fault. I didn’t think it through back then.”

“Let’s wait a little longer. Didn’t they say Morningstar’s next target is Yaxi City?”

They turned the street corner, trying to walk on the higher steps as much as possible. As for the middle of the road, most of it was already underwater.

And there, beside an off-road vehicle parked by the roadside,

stood a girl holding an umbrella on top of a raised traffic bollard.

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Not tall, but with very large breasts.

At least a C cup.

The girl’s gaze roamed over the street.

“What’s that NPC doing standing there?” He Fuyu, the temporary leader of the four-man squad, asked in confusion.

“Who knows.”

“The rain’s so heavy. If we don’t find anything after another round, let’s go somewhere and wait it out.”

“Once our levels get a bit higher, we might as well register as mercenaries instead of running around everywhere like this looking for quests.”

“Sigh.”

“Huh? Wait a second!”

He Fuyu grabbed his three companions.

“What is it?”

“There’s a quest!”

That’s right.

A quest icon had appeared above Anran’s head.

She had been observing them in the rain for quite a while.

The four players who had just passed by looked pretty damn solid.

Level 11, level 12, level 11, level 12.

Disciplined in their movements.

Clearly elite players.

This was exactly the kind of moment to make use of them.

He Fuyu stepped forward first.

The rain easily submerged his shoes, but he moved through it without the slightest hindrance.

“Is there anything you need help with?”

Anran did not stand on ceremony at all.

After explaining the situation, she immediately issued the quest.

[Harass the Morningstar Contact Station]

Multiplayer quest.

Quest Reward: 6,000 EXP.

Harass the Morningstar contact point operating under the alias “Zhanxun Network Technology Company.”

Additional reward for successfully stealing the contact list: Improved X9 Tactical Goggles and two sniper rifles.

Never mind the quest EXP alone. Tactical goggles were exactly the sort of thing He Fuyu’s group lacked, and the two sniper rifles were also better than the generic junk they were currently using.

“We guarantee the mission will be completed!”

He Fuyu clenched his fist.

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A 100% quest completion rate since the server opened was no joke.

Although the four of them were only a temporarily assembled squad, they had each played one or two virtual reality games before. Even if they were not at the top of the rankings, they were still the backbone of the player base.

That was exactly the sort of drive Anran wanted.

Smiling, Anran watched them leave.

She now had an entire plan in place, and it required players to cooperate.

Since they’d put a bounty on her, they could just wait for her to hit back hard a few times.

Anran turned around, closed her umbrella, and got back into the car.

“Aila, it’s time to get busy.”

“Mhm!” Aila hugged the Crimson Blade tightly in her arms.

Anran had just handed it to her a moment ago, wrapped in thick black cloth. At first glance, it looked rather like a long-handled umbrella.

Anran started the car.

With Aila helping, many things became much easier to do.

For example, right now, she had Aila keep watch near the alley by the back door of the internet company.

Meanwhile, with a sniper rifle slung over her back, Anran slowly made her way up a tall building across from the internet company.

Anran crouched down, fixed the umbrella in place above her, and put on the newly made X10 Tactical Goggles.

Then she narrowed one eye.

…

“I never thought this place would actually be one of Morningstar’s contact points!”

He Fuyu lowered the brim of his hat.

Espionage really was everywhere in life.

Now that a quest to attack Morningstar spies had appeared, did that mean Yaxi City was about to get lively too?

“Let’s go.”

He Fuyu walked in front.

Zhanxun was on the third floor, and getting there meant passing through a wide-open stairwell.

The four of them started going upstairs while pretending nothing was out of the ordinary.

Just then, someone wrapped from head to toe in rain gear came down from upstairs.

They passed by each other.

“Zhanxun?”

He Fuyu spotted the logo.

…

He Fuyu made a slashing gesture.

The three people behind him immediately understood and, without drawing attention, moved toward that person.