PFRG: Chapter 27

The bright sun shone on the ground, and two people walked out the door of the Adventurer’s Hotel. What caught their eyes was the lively scene of people coming and going in the city. All the explorers devoted themselves to the search for treasure. It was in an active and enthusiastic manner, as if everything that happened last night was just an illusion.

Chi Ting heard the person behind him yawn. This made him also instinctively open his mouth.

It was true that he was a bit sleepy.

There was no need to mention Yue Ren, who didn’t sleep well last night.

The walls of the iron prison were quite cramped, and there wasn’t much room to turn over.

He woke up in the morning and found that his finger was still held in Yue Ren’s mouth. This sleeping position was undoubtedly not very elegant, no matter how he looked at it.

Chi Ting stroked the teeth marks that still remained on his fingertips and asked uneasily, “Are you sure it is okay?”

Yue Ren laughed silently and sent his forehead over. “At the very least, my body temperature is already normal. Do you want to touch it?”

Chi Ting placed his hand on it.

Last night, Yue Ren’s whole body was so hot that his blood was boiling. Now he regained his usual cold feeling.

However, Chi Ting just asked casually. In fact, when he woke up this morning and checked the other person’s information, he could already tell that Yue Ren had calmed down.

What was known so far was that in this instance, after 8 o’clock was the time when the bloodline of the demon descendants, the slaves, awakened. During this time, they would attack everyone indiscriminately. Excluding those with special circumstances like Yue Ren, leaving them to the hotel to store was probably the best option.

But in this case, players obviously needed to face another problem. Just as Chi Ting felt yesterday, there were definitely other things in this city. For players who had lost their personal skills and item effects, their slaves were basically their only source of combat power in the instance. Once the slaves were sent away to ensure safety, the period after 8 o’clock was undoubtedly their weakest period. If something happened, it wasn’t an exaggeration to say that they would be at the mercy of others.

The more Chi Ting thought about it, the more he felt that the design of this instance was very problematic. He looked up at this city with a long history, thought for a while, and decided to continue looking. He took out the sightseeing map that he just requested from an employee in the hotel lobby.

He had completed the contract signing yesterday. Today’s daily task refreshed again after dawn, asking him to go to ‘Coleridge’s Store’ to participate in an adventurer activity.

Perhaps due to the so-called master-servant relationship, but Yue Ren also received the same task as him. This was much more convenient.

Coleridge’s Store was on the other side of the old city. From the Adventurer’s Hotel, he needed to cross most of the ancient city of Aleran.

Facing this situation, Chi Ting and Yue Ren unanimously felt there was no need to rush over.

In any case, the so-called daily task only needed to be completed on the same day as the name suggested. There was no need to rush at all.

They hit it off immediately and simply wandered along the way.

The ancient city was rumored to contain treasures of the heroes and developed the adventure-themed tourism industry very well. The stores in the business district had very different styles. The only thing that remained unchanged was the notice board hanging under the door number of each store. There were diamond patterns of different colors printed on it.

These diamond patterns represented the quality of the chests rewarded by the events in the store. It was green for low-level chests, yellow for intermediate chests, and red for high-level chests. The difficulty of the adventure varied from chest to chest.

The progress of the chests required for the main task at this stage was 42/50 low-level chests, 15/20 intermediate chests, and 1/3 high-level chests.

From time to time, he could see that the progress continued to increase.

Obviously, in order to push the main task to the next stage as soon as possible, the players mixed among the explorers were very active in the treasure chest collection.

This reminded Chi Ting of something. He stopped and glanced at Yue Ren. “In order to buy you, I seem to have paid on credit?”

Yue Ren behaved without a sense of morality as always. In addition, he didn’t sleep well last night, and he frowned in a bad mood. “Will it have an impact? What will happen if you pay it back?”

“It seems like it doesn’t really matter. “ Chi Ting said this, but he didn’t like the feeling of owing credit. He just happened to pass by an adventure store and directly dragged Yue Ren to it.

If conditions permitted, he suggested that this person redeem himself on his own.

The pattern at the entrance of this store was a green gem, which represented that low-level treasure chests could be obtained after completing the adventure project.

The moment he dragged Yue Ren through the door, Chi Ting heard a heartbreaking scream.

He looked up and happened to see an explorer walking out with a low-level treasure box in his hand and a satisfied expression. However, Chi Ting’s attention soon fell on the slave behind him.

This slave obviously just had one hand cut off. The fresh wound was still gurgling with sticky blood.

Nevertheless, he still tried hard to keep up with his master’s departure with a pale face. Every time he took a step, the severe pain caused every inch of his body to tremble like he was spasming.

Just passing by left a strong smell of blood.

Chi Ting looked back at Yue Ren. “This store might not be too friendly for you.”

Yue Ren laughed. “I guess that this city won’t be too friendly to me.”

Chi Ting thought about it for a moment and nodded. “Indeed.”

Yue Ren somehow took on the identity of a slave. This matter itself was difficult to evaluate.

As they spoke, another figure came out of the store.

The owner of the adventure store saw the arrival of a new customer. He took the two of them into the store with a smile on his face.

Chi Ting was also a bit curious about what type of black store could torture human slaves like this.

The moment he entered through the door, he saw only three boxes of different sizes on the table.

Since the boxes were tightly covered with black cloth, he couldn’t see what was inside the box at all.

“It is like this. The adventure project offered by my store is a very simple black box game,” the owner of the adventure store introduced to Chi Ting with a smile. “We have put emeralds in the black box in advance. Dear explorer, you just need to successfully take out the emerald without causing any damage, and you will have successfully passed this adventure project. Human beings are often full of fear when facing the unknown. What our store tests is the courage of the explorers.”

He said this and glanced meaningfully at the collar around Chi Ting’s neck. Then he looked at Chi Ting again. “Of course, due to the rules of the ancient city of Aleran, you can participate in it yourself, or you can choose to let your slave complete this adventure for you.”

Chi Ting pointed to the boxes in front of him. “What is the difference between these boxes?”

“The larger the size of the box, the more difficult it is to find the gem. Therefore, according to the difficulty, these three boxes have been arranged from smallest to largest. The number of low-level treasure boxes rewarded are 1, 2, and 3 respectively.” The boss finished answering and didn’t forget to recommend it. “Based on the previous situations, the largest box is more popular.”

Chi Ting looked at him and gave a slight smile. “In any case, there aren’t good things in any of the boxes. It makes no difference if there are more injuries or fewer injuries. Is that what you mean?”

The boss instinctively wanted to smile back. Then after realizing the deep meaning of Chi Ting’s words, his expression became slightly stiff. Soon, he also adjusted himself. “Aleran City only welcomes brave people. If even our adventure-themed projects can’t be completed, how can you meet the challenge of a true hero? Don’t you think so?”

Chi Ting nodded. “Yes, everything you said is right.”

The overly perfunctory reply finally made the smile on the boss’ face a bit unbearable.

Yue Ren was listening to the conversation between the two of them. At this time, he looked up lazily. “Since the boss recommended it, let’s choose the largest box.”

He saw Chi Ting look over. Their eyes met, and the corners of Yue Ren’s mouth rose slightly. “After all, it is an honor to serve my master.”

Since Yue Ren said so, Chi Ting smiled slightly and wasn’t too polite. “Then your master will wait for you here to return home with a full load.”

After all, his ability was currently sealed. He could still play hand-to-hand type projects, but something like this was truly not his area of expertise.

He sat down on the sofa and made a ‘please’ gesture to Yue Ren, signaling him to start the next performance.

The boss brought Yue Ren to the largest box.

“Dear explorer, no matter what you see, please don’t give a reminder. Otherwise, this adventure will be regarded as a failure,” the boss said with a smile. His eyes looked between the two of them. Then he picked up a corner of the black cloth and lifted it, showing the inside of the black box to Chi Ting. The almost sickly curve of his mouth suddenly became more distinct. “Then please enjoy the next adventure.”

As he spoke, the boss’ eyes always stayed on Chi Ting, as if he wanted to capture panic and fear on Chi Ting’s face. But in the end, he only saw the other person slightly raise an eyebrow.

It was a reaction that was more curious than fearful. It was like something that had been speculated for a long time had been confirmed, and he started to look forward to the next development.

Even so, why did it feel like Chi Ting was looking forward to it even more?

This weird thought flashed through the boss’ mind. Then the boss quickly shook his head and dismissed it. He simply didn’t pay attention to this explorer who discouraged him. He instead shifted his attention back to the unlucky servant who was about to face unknown risks.

‘Shout and beg for mercy as much as you want.’ The thought of the embarrassment of this low-blooded race that was about to lose his dignity made the boss’ eyes became faintly full of excitement.

The cobwebs were entangled with the corpses of flying insects. Venom dripped from the tails of poisonous scorpions crawling around. Thorns were stained with flesh and blood that hadn’t been eaten clean in time.

The finger bones at the bottom of the box had been corroded and riddled with holes. The ground meat that was still stuck there was covered with layers of gathered ants. It was probably loot taken from a previous slave.

The box that was around the size of one cubic meter was like a miniature version of a cannibal world. Behind the calm was the predator’s anticipation of its prey.

Drip.

A drop of blood fell silently along the wall of the box. In an instant, the originally silent world went completely crazy.

The so-called adventure game had always been a transaction that consumed flesh and blood in exchange for treasure chests.

If he really put his hand into this box, it would probably turn into a hand bone with flesh and blood peeled off when he pulled it out.

However, who stipulated that this gem must be grabbed by hand?

Chi Ting looked at the ‘consumable’ that belonged to him.

It must be admitted that the current project was truly not suitable for him. But from a certain point of view, it seemed to be tailored for the man in front of him.

The shadows that existed in this store were already visible to the naked eye.

They extended and gathered bit by bit. The boss discovered it and subconsciously exclaimed. Then when he looked at it, these shadows that spread to the box had formed an invisible tentacle, silently probing down the only hole in the box.

The foreign intruders didn’t break the tranquility of the world in the box and even marched straight in ostentatiously.

From Chi Ting’s angle, he could see the shadow tentacles extending all the way to the bottom of the box and wrapping around the green gem hidden in the corner.

It came and went gently. The whole process was like taking away a cloud.

“This is it, right?” Yue Ren glanced at the disgusting mucus on the emerald with disgust. He let the shadow directly throw it on the table in front of the store owner. “That’s it. Three treasure chests?”

His tone was overflowing with contempt and disdain.

The store manager looked at the emerald in front of him and was a bit shaken for a while.

The black box project in this store had always made him proud.

It was a very ordinary, low-level adventure project, but it always made the adventurers participating in it pay a heavy price.

The real torment wasn’t the process of finding the gem but the fear of the venom that continued to remain in the body, gradually devouring life after finding the gem.

Most of the adventurers who left his store were like that slave, who were willing to give up one arm to save their lives. Otherwise, they were doomed to be immersed in the daily pain of poison gnawing at them until they died.

This should be the right plot direction. But just now…

What did he see?

The store owner subconsciously glanced at the shadow under his feet and rubbed his eyes blankly.

Shadow?

His shadow helped other shadows take out the emerald from the box?

What was this? Doing something that harmed himself?!

Bang.

The sound of a bang on the table finally pulled back the attention of the store owner. Chi Ting’s fingertips gently tapped at the table, prompting in a friendly manner, “Boss, would you like to settle the bill?”

The store owner looked at him in a daze before looking at Yue Ren next to him. Finally, he reached out and put the emerald on the table into his pocket.

Soon, he took out three low-level treasure chests and gave it to the two of them.

They directly got three low-level treasure chests. He just needed two more low-level and one intermediate chest, and he could get rid of the fate of a debt.

Chi Ting turned the treasure chest upside down with satisfaction before casually putting it in his bag. He threw his backpack over his shoulder, ignored the store owner whose worldview was suddenly subverted on a large scale, and turned away.

He walked out of the store and paused slightly. He turned back and glanced at the green gem pattern at the door of the store. Then he couldn’t help muttering, “Low-level adventure projects are already so perverted. No wonder why the progress of the intermediate and high-level treasure chest collection is so slow.”

Yue Ren was still checking if there was a disgusting smell from his shadow. Then he heard this and suddenly asked, “Do you want to go and see?”

He felt Chi Ting’s gaze and smiled slightly before pointing diagonally to the other side. “Look at that one. It is more perverted.”

Chi Ting looked in that direction and saw it. The red diamond pattern at the entrance of the store was very eye-catching.

He blinked slowly. Suddenly, he felt that the proposal itself was a bit perverted. Then he thought about it carefully and found that it made sense.

The two of them crossed the road to the high-end adventure store opposite them. They didn’t notice that the statistics of the instance had been updated again. The number of survivors in the instance was 21/50.

In the blink of an eye, there were two less players.

White Lily

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