After Chu Fu finished learning, she moved away from the Wisdom Ball and reminded the players who were still studying.
“Remember to return to Thorn Town before midnight. There’s a very important event!”
“Don’t worry, Guild Leader. We know.”
Though they had no idea what the event was.
Still, following the Plant Boss could never be wrong.
Missing out would be an unbearable loss!
After greeting the guild members, Chu Fu returned to Thorn Town and began planting and cultivating new plant spirits inside the Spirit Plant Pouch before using the Forest Spirit Contracts.
If she couldn’t cultivate enough in time, she would go to Fengdu Town and contract a batch of the little spirits in the plantation area, gathering enough Forest Spirit Contracts to reach six hundred first.
Time passed little by little.
Midnight arrived.
By then, a large number of players had gathered inside Thorn Town.
Everyone knew there was going to be an event. Whether they belonged to the Thorn Guild or the War Soul Guild, they were all waiting in the central square.
The players from the War Soul Guild stood ramrod straight in orderly formations, their eyes resolute and their bearing awe-inspiring.
The players from the Thorn Guild grew serious as well. They straightened their backs almost unconsciously, no longer standing crookedly. Some even puffed out their chests and raised their heads, unwilling to lose in sheer presence.
Just as the two sides were engaged in this invisible contest, a system announcement rang out.
[The Mayor of Thorn Town has issued a quest!]
[Support Valley Pass Town! Do you accept?]
At that moment, all the Thorn Guild players were stunned. Then, they erupted in delight.
They could actually go defend Valley Pass Town?
Didn’t that mean they could challenge another Origin-level dungeon and improve their talents?
Sure enough, there were benefits to following the Plant Boss.
Not a single person declined the quest.
Everyone clicked “Accept.”
“Everyone, enter the teleportation array immediately and teleport to Valley Pass Town!”
…
Inside Valley Pass Town.
Looking at the utterly desolate town, the remaining four hundred or so players let out despairing sighs.
All four hundred of them were story-focused players.
They had developed long-standing friendships with the NPCs of Valley Pass Town. They couldn’t bear to watch those NPCs die, so at the final moment, they had been trying to persuade them to leave with them.
They wanted to fight their way out together.
As for why there were only four hundred players instead of 927…
Naturally, it was because the remaining five hundred were players from the evil faction!
After all, Valley Pass Town had once been the headquarters of the Universal Studio.
Although the studio had been destroyed and its members scattered, some people had still remained behind.
Now, looking at the number of participants, all of them felt a concealed excitement.
Because of the Mask of the Deceiver, they were temporarily recognized as defenders of the town.
But once the siege began, after the monsters stormed into the town and killed all the guards defending it, they could take advantage of the chaos to slaughter the civilians.
They had never expected such an opportunity to fall into their laps. Whoever had wanted to become the Plant Boss and destroy the Universal Studio had ended up benefiting them instead.
They would probably become the first evil-faction players to slaughter an entire town. Who knew how many attribute points they would gain, or what kind of rewards they would receive?
As for those four hundred players?
They would deal with them once they were no longer a threat.
Just as they were thinking this, three people walked out of the inn.
The inns in small towns provided players with a place to rest. One night cost around two hundred copper coins.
Players could log off while their characters rested inside, gaining one experience point per hour.
It was a way head-mounted players couldn’t afford to miss—a method of exchanging copper coins for experience.
But there was no reason for these three to stay at an inn in Valley Pass Town, was there?
Everyone recognized them—or rather, they recognized one of the three.
The Holy Healing Angel!
“Why is she here? Could she be planning to defend the town with just the three of them?”
These people actually resented the Holy Healing Angel somewhat. After all, she was a traitor.
In truth, they were simply jealous.
Jealous that the Thorn Guild had not recruited them.
But who could blame the guild? The Holy Healing Angel possessed a top-tier SS-rank talent that came with resurrection. Now, she had even reached the formidable SSS-rank.
Before they could wonder any further, a server-wide announcement rang out.
[0178888 Server—Valley Pass Town] [Twelve-Winged Holy Healing Angel]: “All evil-faction players, take note. To ensure that Valley Pass Town achieves a perfect defense result, evil-faction players are required to gather at the east gate and remove your Masks of the Deceiver. Those who refuse to cooperate will bear the consequences.”
The evil-faction players were instantly furious.
“Why should we? Just because you’ve been hanging around in the Thorn Guild for a few days?”
“Since when do you get to dictate how I play the game?”
“What if we just don’t go?”
“Are you going to send the Thorn Guild after us?”
The moment those words fell, the teleportation array in Valley Pass Town suddenly lit up.
Normally, once Valley Pass Town entered a defense battle, players could spend gold to teleport there from Linjiang City.
However, only players who had accepted the Valley Pass Town quest and left the town could use this method to return. And it cost one gold coin—equivalent to a third of the price of a piece of golden equipment.
No one was willing to do something so costly and unrewarding.
But now, countless silver rays representing spatial energy erupted from the entire teleportation array.
One player after another was teleported into the square.
The number of participants began to soar.
Starting from 927, it increased at a terrifying rate of ten thousand players per second.
It took only sixteen seconds.
The number of participants had already become an astronomical figure.
[122,873 players.]
That’s right—more than 120,000 players.
Every single player from Thorn Town had come.
“My god, we’re actually joining another town-defense battle?”
“So this is Valley Pass Town? It’s so run-down. It can’t compare to our Thorn Town at all.”
“I’m only level one! Why did I get sent on a support quest? Any big brother or sister willing to carry me?”
“Level-five player looking for a carry! Obedient and good at dodging monsters!”
“Bring some low-level babies along to soak up experience! The whole team is level twenty-five or higher and doesn’t need the experience. All of it can go to you!”
The players quickly erupted into chaos.
But they reacted swiftly and formed parties at top speed.
Chu Fu quickly issued a server-wide announcement.
[0178888 Server—Valley Pass Town] [Who Wants to Be a Plant Boss?]: “Members of the Thorn Guild will defend the east gate. The War Soul Guild will defend the north gate. The Fun-Loving Guild will defend the west gate. All unaffiliated players will split between the west and south gates. You may advance a short distance forward when necessary. After the ninth wave of monsters, we will officially enter the Origin-level dungeon.”
The Thorn Guild and War Soul Guild had arranged their assignments beforehand.
As for the Fun-Loving Guild, its Guild Leader, Lin Haowan, Really Loves Fun, had organized it as a group for unaffiliated players, similar to the Madblade Guild.
The guild offered few benefits and imposed few restrictions. Most importantly, it did not limit players based on their talents or strength.
However, as a streamer, Lin Haowan’s organizational abilities were clearly superior to those of Madblade.
After the last defense battle at Fengdu Town ended, Lin Haowan’s talent had improved to S-rank. He had then organized a group to challenge a boss and, unbelievably, obtained a Guild Token as a drop.
He resisted the temptation to sell the Guild Token and ultimately established the Fun-Loving Guild.
Anyone who loved playing this game could join. In just six days, the guild had already gathered five thousand members.
It had become a considerable force.
Naturally, Lin Haowan followed Chu Fu’s instructions without question.
Just as all the players began carrying out Chu Fu’s orders, another server-wide announcement appeared.
【0178888 Server, Guguan Town】【Who Wants to Become a Vegetable?】: “All players who wish to break away from the evil faction, proceed to the East Gate. Failure to do so will be treated as hostility; those killed will not be revived. There are quite a few of our informants among you. Anyone who refuses to cooperate will be killed on sight.”
