408: Chapter 408 There was an unexpected bonus.

The golden holy emblem was pressed onto the contract silk.

A burst of blinding light traveled along the ancient fabric's texture, and the sixth complex totem slowly took shape.

The system notification sounded punctually in Chen You's ear.

[Ding! contract silk progress updated: 6/7.]

Chen You rolled up the silk with satisfaction and casually stuffed it into his backpack.

He stood up, patted the non-existent dust off the hem of his robe, and turned to look at the center of the hall.

The bronze scales had completely snapped, and the trays at both ends crashed onto the stone floor with a dull thud.

That ten-meter-tall Source God statue was now shedding stone skin in rustling flakes.

Golden liquid flowed down the statue's cheeks, pooling on the ground into a small puddle that emitted an eerie glow.

The players in line stopped what they were doing.

A warrior who was about to headbutt a pillar scratched his head and turned to Chen You: "God You, should we keep hitting?"

"No more hitting, we're done."

Chen You snapped his fingers, pulled up the bounty interface, and clicked "Settle."

"Ding-a-ling—"

A series of crisp sounds of gold coins entering accounts instantly rang out within the cathedral.

Hundreds of players, wearing only their underwear, stared at the extra 20 gold coins, their breathing collectively stopping for a second.

In the next second, deafening cheers nearly blew the roof off the cathedral.

"God You is so generous!"

"God You, I can die ten more times! Give me a chance!"

"God You, you're my real father!"

The players jumped around frantically, some so excited they hugged each other and wept on the spot.

These weren't the fake tears from before; this was a genuine outpouring of emotion brought about by hard cash.

Very Good slumped on the ground, staring blankly at this group of reveling outsiders.

"Ruined... everything is ruined..." His lips trembled as he stared fixedly at the cracking statue.

"The gods weep blood, and the principles of law collapse... this is an omen of the end of the world..."

Before he could finish his sentence, the ground suddenly sank.

Boom!

A muffled, massive roar echoed from deep beneath Qirui City.

The entire cathedral shook violently, stained-glass windows shattered one after another, and shards of glass poured down like a rainstorm.

Chen You stabilized himself, his eyebrows arching slightly.

The Source God statue in the center of the hall let out a tooth-grinding crack and completely collapsed from the middle.

Billowing black smoke surged from the cracks in the statue's base, instantly obscuring the holy light from the dome.

In the black smoke, countless shrill roars could be heard faintly.

Following that, a blinding beam of blood-red light shot up from the direction of Qirui City's South Gate, piercing straight into the clouds.

The originally clear sky was dyed dark red at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Ear-piercing system alarms echoed throughout Qirui City.

[Qirui City Regional Announcement: Warning! Warning!]

[Due to an unknown energy impact, the Source God Seal has been broken! The Demon Bartos has broken his shackles and is leading an abyss army in a full-scale assault on Qirui City's South Gate!]

[Hidden Regional Event Triggered: Demon Siege!]

[All players in Qirui City will receive a 200% experience bonus for killing abyss monsters, with a very high probability of dropping rare equipment and Abyss Treasure Chests!]

Blood-red words flashed frantically on every player's retina.

Inside the cathedral, the players who had been celebrating their twenty gold coins instantly went silent.

One second.

Two seconds.

Three seconds.

"Holy crap!" Mad Blade Slashes the World, who had run back after respawning, slapped his thigh hard, his eyes turning red.

"A hidden event! A monster siege! Double experience!"

"God You is awesome!" a mage roared at the top of his lungs. "This overwhelming fortune has finally come my way!"

"He's not just God You, he's the turtle in the wishing well... wait, no, he's a true god!"

"Brothers, gear up! Grab the mobs!"

The sound of clashing metal rang out everywhere.

The players who had stripped naked earlier were now frantically throwing on their equipment with the hand speed of someone single for thirty years.

Some even put their helmets on backward as they charged out with their greatswords.

"South Gate! To the South Gate! If we're late, we won't even get a drop of soup!"

"Mage units assemble! Warriors to the front, don't let the NPCs steal our kills!"

In less than half a minute, nearly a thousand players charged out of the cathedral like crazed dogs, howling as they went.

They knocked over countless pews along the way, kicking up clouds of dust.

The entire Qirui City was in an absolute frenzy.

In every street and alley, countless players sprinted toward the South Gate with eyes glowing.

In their eyes, those weren't terrifying abyss demons; they were walking experience packs and shining pieces of top-tier equipment.

Silence returned to the cathedral, leaving only the whistling wind and the rolling black smoke.

Very Good knelt on the ground, clutching his hair tightly with both hands, screaming in despair.

"The demon seal is broken... Qirui City is finished... hundreds of thousands of civilians will die in the flames of the abyss..."

Chen You walked up to him and looked down at the city lord.

"Alright, stop wailing." Chen You pointed outside the door. "Look closely. Of those people charging out, which one isn't putting their life on the line?"

Very Good looked up blankly.

"Instead of wasting time lamenting here, you should hurry up and lead your men to guard the gate."

After saying that, Chen You also walked toward the door.

Standing on the steps, Chen You looked up toward the South Gate.

Under the dark red sky, dense swarms of flying abyss monsters were circling above the city walls, while various brilliant magic skill effects exploded on the walls. The roars of the players could be heard from halfway across the city.

"Quite a spectacle," Chen You rubbed his chin.

He hadn't expected that he would trigger a monster siege as a side effect.

A main city defense battle had extremely high monster density and incredibly rich experience rewards.

For ordinary players, this was a meat grinder where they threw away their lives, but for Chen You, it was a massive all-you-can-eat buffet.

But he wasn't in a hurry to rush over.

Chen You opened his friend list, clicked on Lin Miao's avatar, and sent a party invitation.

...

Meanwhile, on the East Street of Chuxin City, Lin Miao was being watched by hundreds of people.

Lin Miao's current state could be described in only one word: despair.

About a minute ago.

She just wanted to turn in a quest and casually clicked "Auto-path" on the quest panel.

As a result, a system voice boomed in her ear: "Noble Chuxin Sovereign, Supreme Travel Mode has been activated for you."

In the next second, eight muscular men, two meters tall and covered in gold powder, appeared out of thin air.

They carried a huge palanquin on their shoulders and lifted Lin Miao directly into the air.

That wasn't all.

At the front of the procession, two NPCs dressed in festive red were puffing out their cheeks, blowing a suona and playing an extremely jubilant tune.

Two other NPCs held a banner with blinding gold letters that read: "The Chuxin Sovereign descends, everyone clear the way!"

"Di-di-da-da—Du—"

Then, unsurprisingly, the eyes of the entire East Street converged on her.