30: Cruel mission

In just a little over an hour and a half, Lin Yue had forcefully cleared the purgatory level dungeon four times.

This terrified the players outside the dungeon. They thought finishing the Hero level in an hour was fast, but when they came out and looked, the record for clearing the purgatory level had been refreshed again. This time, it was under twenty minutes.

Holy shit!

Is he even human?

If an elite group had achieved this, the players might have been able to accept it. The key point was that this was a solo speedrun time; the players outside the dungeon were losing their minds.

They even suspected that Lin Yue was definitely cheating!

By the time Lin Yue finished collecting the Materials and walked out of the dungeon, he was completely surrounded by players.

"White Emperor Boss, do you have some special speedrun technique? Could you let us know?"

"White Emperor Boss, do you want a girlfriend? My chest is big enough, please consider it."

"White Emperor Boss, can you power-level me? I haven't even cleared the Adventure level yet."

"White Emperor Boss... White Emperor Boss!"

...Hundreds of players swarmed the dungeon entrance. What was once a normal grinding spot had now turned into a celebrity meet-and-greet.

"Move aside. If you get killed, don't blame me. I'm in a hurry."

"You there, female player, put your 'lethal weapons' away."

The staff in Lin Yue's hand began to glow with a red light. In the next instant, the crowd immediately dispersed.

Ignoring the many players, Lin Yue left the dungeon immediately. He didn't have time to waste here.

Returning to the Village Chief's house, he handed over the five Mechanical Minotaur King Hearts. He put the treasure of the gods into his backpack. This time, he wasn't in a hurry to open it, planning to save a few more to open together.

One Treasure Trove might not yield anything good, but surely a few of them couldn't all be duds?

Leaving Novice Village No. 3333, he chose Novice Village No. 4444. This time, Lin Yue didn't go to the Village Chief's house but instead went to the Apothecary shop on the west side of the village.

In his past life, the treasure of the gods quest in Novice Village No. 4444 had not been made public. Furthermore, the player who obtained that treasure had quit the game immediately after getting it and never logged on again.

According to discussions among players, this quest was very eerie.

Players who had stayed in Novice Village No. 4444 had revealed a few clues: the player who got the treasure had once entered the Apothecary shop, but they didn't know what happened after that.

In short, Lin Yue was also completely in the dark regarding the clues for this treasure and could only check the Apothecary shop first.

*Creak~*

Pushing open the wooden door, he saw a room filled with bottles, jars, various colored potions, and herbs.

"Someone's here?"

The Apothecary, wearing glasses, walked out from the inner room and looked at Lin Yue curiously.

"Buying potions?"

Lin Yue shook his head. "I want to know the clues to the treasure of the gods."

As soon as he spoke, a sharp glint appeared in the Apothecary's cloudy eyes as he stared intently at Lin Yue.

After a long while, he walked to the door and closed it.

"Adventurer, your aura is very powerful. You shouldn't still be in the Novice Village."

"However, it just so happens that if you can complete my mission, I can give you the treasure."

The Apothecary's eyes were gloomy as he gave Lin Yue a chilling smile.

"No problem."

Lin Yue ignored the man's gaze, remaining calm and composed.

"Very well, wait here."

After saying this, the Apothecary went into the inner room. When he emerged again, he held a bottle of dark purple potion.

"This is venom extracted from the poisonous claws of the Shadow Cat Demon King."

"Shadow Cat Demon King?"

Lin Yue recalled the events in the Gloomy Forest. The Shadow Cat Demon King was the highest-level boss in the Novice Village wilderness, and its toxicity was extremely fierce.

He wondered how many Shadow Cat Demon Kings had been killed to refine such a bottle of venom.

This Apothecary is not simple!

"What do you want me to do?"

Lin Yue asked with a frown, having a faint, ominous suspicion.

"It's simple. When no one is around, pour this bottle of venom into the well at the village entrance. Then, assist me in killing them all."

"What?"

Lin Yue was greatly shocked. He had guessed several possibilities but hadn't expected this outcome.

This Apothecary was trying to force him to massacre the village!

"Why do this?"

Before accepting the mission, Lin Yue asked in confusion.

The Apothecary adjusted his glasses and fiddled with the bottles and jars on the table, lost in memory. "This shop once belonged to my wife. Originally, she and I lived a peaceful life in the village until ten years ago when the Demon God invaded and everything changed."

"The Demon God's messengers slaughtered wantonly in the village. They seemed to be looking for something, and that something was the treasure of the gods guarded by the Village Chief. Who would have thought that the Village Chief had actually hidden the treasure in the Apothecary? My wife didn't know; she was guarding this shop alone."

"This was all the Village Chief's conspiracy. Everyone in the village was involved. Because we were outsiders, they wanted to shift the blame to us. By the time the main city sent people to exterminate the Demon God's messengers, the treasure of the gods was intact, but my wife had left me forever..."

"Good story. I accept."

Lin Yue cut off the Apothecary's intent to continue speaking and accepted the mission directly. For the treasure of the gods, he would have to ask these NPCs to die.

Ding! You have accepted the Apothecary's mission.

Mission Requirement: Assist the Apothecary in killing the other NPCs in the Novice Village.

Mission Reward: treasure of the gods.

Mission Penalty: Unknown.

Lin Yue frowned; the mission penalty was actually unknown.

Could it be that if he didn't help kill all the NPCs, the Apothecary would retaliate against him?

Looking at the frenzied Apothecary, it was entirely possible.

However, Lin Yue thought about it and decided to proceed anyway. He had already come this far in his collection quest; there was no reason to give up now.

Thus, having obtained the poison, Lin Yue went straight to the well at the village entrance. When no one was looking, he poured the entire bottle of poison into it.

The originally dark purple liquid turned pale red upon contact with the well water, then returned to being clear a few seconds later.

Could this tiny bottle of poison, diluted by the well water, really poison all the NPCs in the village?

Of course, that wasn't Lin Yue's concern. After finishing the poisoning, all he had to do was wait for nightfall.

During this time, Lin Yue certainly wouldn't just wait around idly.

He headed back to the entrance of the Gloomy Ruins dungeon to continue grinding for Elementary Skill Scrolls and Skill Books.

In the blink of an eye, five hours passed. By the time Lin Yue came out again, the sky had turned completely dark.

During this period, Lin Yue had cleared the purgatory difficulty over a dozen times. He had obtained over 700 skill scrolls alone, along with many Materials and Skill Books—a bountiful harvest.

Lin Yue's health had also risen from over 70,000 to over 100,000, nearly 110,000.

Gaining over 30,000 health in five hours; this rate of improvement was quite terrifying.

After packing up some Materials and unused equipment to send to Feng Yun and Young Master Leng, Lin Yue headed straight for the Apothecary.

Just as he reached the door, he saw the Apothecary already waiting outside.

"There's only one hour. Let's go!"