Team up to clear

Traveling was currently the most criticized aspect by players of "salvation."

If it weren't for the Hearthstone everyone had in their inventory from birth, allowing them to return to town, they would probably waste more than half their time running around.

However, with Yang Jian chatting and laughing with four beautiful women along the way, traveling didn't seem so arduous anymore.

Among the women, Bai Youyou had the highest personal rating; Yang Jian would give her 90 points.

Although the Xia Family's Three Daughters' looks were a notch below, they were still a trio of beauties!

Plus, there was a pair of almost identical twins among them, which was a huge bonus, bringing their overall rating to 91 points.

After all, three is greater than one!

An extra point, so they wouldn't get too proud.

The Great Xia's order still existed now, but when the apocalypse descended, there would naturally be young ladies requesting protection!

No rush, absolutely no rush.

This time, just for the sake of traveling, Yang Jian and his group didn't go to the coast first and then walk along it.

They went in a straight line, directly towards Hai Chao Village.

This route required crossing mountains and valleys... For a team like theirs, was crossing mountains and valleys even an issue?

Yang Jian cleared out the wild monsters they encountered along the way.

Whether they were level eight or level ten, one arrow, one kill—none survived!

Of course, the 'one arrow' mentioned here was Arcane Shot; this skill delivered the damage of one Arcane Shot plus a normal attack!

Currently, a pure normal attack couldn't instantly kill a level ten monster!

But... it would be soon!

They arrived at the outskirts of Hai Chao Village at 3:30 PM.

Looking at Hai Chao Village, which covered dozens of acres, everyone in the team fell silent.

"They should be living beings too, right?" Xia Minglan asked hesitantly.

"So what?" Yang Jian was unmoved. So what?

We're fighting for our lives against fate, boss!

Don't let those people in Newbie Village fool you with their happy-go-lucky attitudes; whose family didn't die according to their family tree?

Only they themselves managed to escape into "salvation" through the main city, and once the main city was destroyed, they would remain in this world forever, bound by the gods... Now, they couldn't even protect their relatives' graves!

Although Yang Jian was still alone, he wouldn't blindly show compassion because of it.

After all, there were many people he cared about in this world too.

Yang Jian was determined to be a launch player; in the future, he had to at least carve out a world for his children.

"Don't be so fierce; I was just speaking my mind!" Yang Jian softened his tone.

"This place is quite remote, but you know about the human settlements near Moon River, right? They've killed who knows how many players. Why don't you feel bad for those slaughtered members of your own race?"

"They're playing a game!"

"You know it's a game? And you're overflowing with sympathy while playing a game?" Xia Minglan fell silent.

Her two older sisters didn't dare to speak up for her or argue with the boss at this moment.

Talk is talk, laughter is laughter.

Don't joke about serious matters!

Seeing that the other party was silent, Yang Jian also quieted down.

However, the Xia Family's Three Daughters' rating quickly dropped from 91 to 85!

Fear not a god-like opponent, but a pig-like teammate!

No one can be a stumbling block to my becoming the first-generation boss, not even beauty.

Yang Jian checked the system time; it was 3:30 PM in game time.

Yang Jian decided to log off now and fight after the Blood Moon appeared and the buffs were applied.

Ignoring the bewildered group, Yang Jian found a safe place and logged off.

"Why so fierce? I just said a few words!" Bai Youyou looked at Xia Sanmei, then at Xia Dajie.

"Your talents are all purple. Logically speaking, you should be able to get a lot of hidden information, right?"

"I've heard skill mentors and NPCs in the village mention it... but precisely because they are living beings with flesh and blood..."

Bai Xiaobai was young, but her mind was mature; she was starting to feel uncomfortable listening.

You're sympathizing with your enemies? Are you that much of a Holy Mother?

However, she was young, so many things were difficult to say aloud.

Looking again at the Murloc village in the distance... you have to admit, these monster locations with mixed populations and clear divisions of labor were indeed quite deceptive.

Ignoring the conversation over there, Bai Xiaobai logged off directly.

After Yang Jian exited the game, he immediately instructed Zhou Yue to lower Xia Minglan's ranking and future expectations.

Originally, as purple talents, all of the Xia Family's Three Daughters were on the priority list for focused training.

Now, there was one less spot!

After Bai's aunt and niece both logged off, Xia Mingwei patted her sister's shoulder, feeling a bit speechless.

University students these days are truly pure and foolish!

The boss personally led them out to level up, and not only was she not grateful, but she even questioned if he was cruel... Xia Mingwei had to admit, when she heard that, she really wanted to ask her sister if she had a screw loose!

"Sis, do you also think I was wrong?"

"No, sis... haven't you killed enough monsters? From wild boars to sea turtles, you..."

"But they're animals, not people..."

"Look at those murlocs; how do they resemble people? Besides, even if they were people, would that stop you from killing them?"

Xia Minglan turned her head away, ignoring her sister.

On Yang Jian's side, Zhou Yue had logged off early to wait for the Blood Moon.

Seeing Yang Jian's message, she immediately came to his office.

"What happened to make you so angry?" Yang Jian leaned back in his boss chair, eyes slightly narrowed, his expression a bit hard to describe.

"Don't even get me started. I didn't expect to run into a Holy Mother!"

"Who? Which one of the Xia family?" Yang Jian opened his eyes and looked at Zhou Yue in disbelief.

"I thought you'd suspect Bai Youyou..." Zhou Yue snorted with a laugh.

"Don't I know her? Don't let her glowing white skin fool you; if you cut her open, she's black inside... A Holy Mother?"

Yang Jian: ..."You have too much prejudice against Youyou!" Zhou Yue's eyes narrowed slightly, and she exuded a dangerous aura.

"Youyou, you're calling her quite intimately!" Seeing Zhou Yue's jealous expression, Yang Jian chuckled.

It was 4 AM, still early before dawn. Shouldn't they exercise a bit?

"salvation" put players into deep sleep while playing, essentially for the sake of office workers.

It might also be the power of the gods.

But for professional high-level players like Yang Jian, adjusting their schedule was quite a test.

In fact, almost all players now had either passively or actively become professional players... After all, there were many people like Lingyun Studio who were spending money everywhere to acquire others.

Especially after some players learned the truth about the game.

Although no one mentioned the apocalypse anymore, those who understood knew that the apocalypse was very close to Xia Country, or rather, to Blue Star.

Recently, no one was arguing in the world chat; the experts were all busy leveling up quickly, establishing advantages, and increasing their power.

Only those ordinary players still treated this as a game.

Of course, they themselves were being treated as leeks to be harvested!

Yang Jian got up and locked the door, which made Zhou Yue roll her eyes behind him.

'Beep beep beep beep...' As the two were in harmony, the alarm on their phone went off.

"The alarm rang. Carding the cooldown is important. Let's get to business first!"

"We are doing business right now..." Zhou Yue cupped Yang Jian's face and pecked him on the corner of his mouth.

"Be good, business is important. Go quickly and come back quickly!" Yang Jian had no choice. Without putting on clothes, he directly entered the game pod.

When he returned, his mood was a bit disconnected.

The two simply chatted under the covers.

They talked about "salvation," about the apocalypse... By the second time Yang Jian logged on to card the cooldown and came back, Zhou Yue had already dressed and left.

The studio still had to hire people today.

Yang Jian went to see forty or fifty more people, selecting usable and promising candidates... He circled eight, then logged on directly, leaving the rest to the company to handle.

Yang Jian logged on at 8:30 PM game time.

The five-person team had already arrived, not entering Hai Chao Village, but just farming sea turtles and such nearby.

After all, Yang Jian had brought them there; it didn't seem right to just go in and farm monsters without waiting for the boss... The first thing to do after logging on was to card the talent's cooldown.

【Talent: Devour (Green)】

【Description: Devour a green item no higher than your level, inheriting all its attributes. Can be stacked infinitely.】

【Cooling down: Remaining time: 59:41】

【Upgrade condition: 32/50 (Only green items count towards upgrade condition)】

【Current Devoured Attributes: Strength +20, Agility +43, Stamina +18, Attack +1370, Defense +1495, Ranged Attack Power +10, Space Slots +28, Block +580】

Since Yang Jian arrived, Bai Youyou immediately added him to the team.

"salvation" normally had five-person teams.

This made it easier to coordinate personnel, and beyond five people, the excess members wouldn't receive the experience bonus.

In other words, forming a team only increased experience by a maximum of 20%; adding one more wouldn't make it 25%.

Therefore, all experience teams seen now were five-person teams.

"Are you all ready?"

"Ready!" * 5

Perhaps she had been thoroughly lectured by her two older sisters in the morning; now Xia Minglan didn't dare to utter a peep.

As quiet as a little chick!

Seeing that this 'Holy Mother' no longer picked faults, Yang Jian temporarily acted as if the daytime incident hadn't happened.

After all, it was a purple healing talent. Until a superior alternative was found, he had to use it even if he had to hold his nose... As for what happened later, that could be discussed later.

Compared to the Murloc Village at Moon River, Hai Chao Village felt more like a regular army!

Organized and disciplined.

From a distance, as soon as the six-person team showed their heads, a murloc in a watchtower let out a cry.

Immediately after, a dozen murlocs rushed out of the village, charging towards Yang Jian and his group.

Yang Jian intentionally wanted to observe the team's coordination and current strength, so he didn't attack first.

After all, just by looking at the village's size, he knew there must be a BOSS!

Yang Jian wanted to confirm. If they were strong, he would take them to get a taste of the BOSS... It turned out that this team was indeed very overpowered.

Xia Mingwei engaged the monsters, stomped a Consecration, and then applied a Seal!

The area-of-effect damage and healing effects brought by her talent, fighting a group of level ten murlocs, felt like they could even hold their own.

After all, she was like applying iodine to a wound, disinfecting while fighting!

Or rather, dealing Holy damage while healing with Holy power... It felt like Xia Mingwei's talent and profession would struggle against a BOSS, but soloing wild monsters of the same level was very easy.

As for the strength of the other few people, they weren't far off.

At most, Bai Youyou's talent wasn't combat-oriented, which dragged them down slightly.

Of course, none of this was an issue!

While they were clearing the first wave of murlocs rushing out of the village, Yang Jian wasn't idle either.

Two consecutive arrows took down the murlocs in the watchtower.

Among the group, everyone else's professions were quite familiar, mostly common ones.

Only Bai Xiaobai, the Elemental Summoner, was relatively rare, causing Yang Jian to glance at her a few more times.

"Your three Fire Elementals deal splash damage? That's quite effective, isn't it?" Bai Xiaobai's proud little face tilted up.

"Hmph, it's only because there's a healer in this team. Otherwise, I could summon Water Elementals to heal too!" Yang Jian showered Bai Xiaobai with flattery and PUA, making the little girl beam with joy.

"Keep it up, I have high hopes for you!"

"Don't worry, Uncle, with me around, there'll be no surprises!" As they continued to clear deeper into the crowd, Yang Jian for the first time saw a different murloc profession.

【Nightstalker (Elite)】

Looking at the attribute description, in a nighttime environment, their movement speed, attack speed, and damage would all increase significantly.

Additionally, they could draw strength from the darkness to restore their own status.

It looked impressive, and it was indeed quite impressive in a fight!

But this team was full of people who could initiate combat!

There was even a cheat-like player: a normal elite monster... Hunter's Mark applied, a Misdirection, and an Aimed Shot.

One hit instantly took away half of its health.

The Nightstalker tried to escape, only to find itself marked.

Yang Jian directly singled it out, shooting it dead with three arrows!

After clearing this small patch of murlocs, everyone started collecting the spoils of war.

"There's a wooden treasure chest here!" Bai Xiaobai rummaged through the small thatched huts.

It really was a normal village where ordinary families had lived for generations.

Then, one day, a group of demons rushed in without explanation or reason, burning, killing, and plundering... Don't even mention it, when you put yourself in their shoes, this group of ours truly wasn't good!

Thinking of this, Yang Jian quickly shook his head, casting aside any pity for the murlocs.

Are you kidding? These things eat people too!

Why were murlocs, despite having group consciousness and subspecies intelligence, still classified as wild monsters?

It was because their diet was varied; they ate whatever they could find.

"Boss, there are two level ten green items here..." Although only Zhou Yue knew about Yang Jian's talent, everyone knew he needed green items, they just didn't know what for.

Any items Yang Jian could use, they would directly trade to him.

The remaining materials and such would be sorted and organized, then mailed to Zhou Yue for categorized storage.

He checked his level: 9 at 48%.

Tonight, he would clear Hai Chao Village, level up to ten, go to the main city to buy a house, and bind a guild!

As they delved deeper into Hai Chao Village, danger began to strike from all directions.

Cold arrows from Murloc Hunters.

Charges from Murloc Guards.

Assassinations from Nightstalkers.

Wave after wave attacked.

By this point, everyone realized.

The monster mechanics of Hai Chao Village were very different from those dull-witted wild monsters outside... They guessed that if there wasn't some restriction preventing them from escaping, this village would probably move overnight!

Indeed, otherwise, how could it be a hidden benefit!

The benefits were delivered; whether they could grasp them depended on their own abilities!