Ming Dynasty: Summoning game players at the beginning

Chapter 314 Pull out the carrot and bring out the mud

From the outside, Heitun Fort looks magnificent and is on par with the luxurious mansions of dukes and marquises. Unexpectedly, there is a different world inside.

The spiritual light in the castle hangs on the wooden pillars and emits long bright light.

Chen Jing'an tried to explore the secret of the "spiritual light", but after looking at it for a few more times, he found that his eyes were dizzy and he felt uncomfortable, like a zombie suddenly seeing the sunlight.

Countless strangers came and went under the lights.

They were wearing colorful and diverse outfits, basically the same as what he saw in the "Diversified Film and Television City".

To put it nicely, it is all-encompassing; to put it bluntly, it is a mess.

These strangers paid considerable attention to him, and whenever someone passed by, they would look at him with attention, as if he were some kind of monster.

He was clearly dressed similarly to the "escort", so how did the other party know he was a stranger at first glance?
Chen Jing'an became increasingly certain that the monsters could indeed accurately distinguish between mortals and monsters in a vast crowd.

Chen Jing'an guessed it was the smell, just like people have human smell and dogs have dog smell.

Fortunately, these monsters were quite kind and showed no ill will towards him. He only felt a sense of novelty, as if a domestic dog had entered a pack of wolves.

At first glance, they were "good demons" who had been influenced by worldly habits for a long time, and their questions were all polite and courteous.

What are you talking about? You bring up the "who should I punish" again.

Which group of "who is favored" should be developed into the steel seal tribe today?

Should we persuade them through civilization or through the use of force?

Chen Jing'an was puzzled when he heard this, and the monster next to him asked what civilization was and what force was.

Perhaps he said it on purpose for Chen Jing'an to hear, or perhaps this evildoer really didn't understand.

Civilization relies on skill and a series of technological shocks, while force is used, first by giving them waterboarding and 24-hour continuous light exposure, and then for those who are really stubborn, they get the electric chair...

Chen Jing'an could understand every word of these words, but he had no idea when they were put together to form sentences.

But there is one thing he understood. The monster mentioned the three words "Enpi Shui" many times in his conversation. Presumably, this is the special name that monsters call mortals.

Although the monsters spoke Chinese, and even their accents were extremely similar, their common "monster language" habits betrayed their habits.

Suddenly, there was a sound of bell ringing above his head. Chen Jing'an looked up and saw a tower of medium height appearing in front of him.

There is a round plate hanging vertically on the upper floor, and three pointers of different thicknesses are moving slowly on the plate.

Chen Jing'an was immediately shocked.

He had seen a similar scaled-down version of this thing when he was entertaining people in Nanzhili.

That was a Xiyi bell purchased by a wealthy businessman, who said it could confirm the current time.

However, Chen Jing'an prefers to use a sundial, as the traditional twelve-hour clock is more in line with daily habits.

Comparing the time after dark, Chen Jingan estimated that it was probably the hour of Hai.

During this time, most people have gone to bed.

After a tiring day of work, and lighting a lamp at night was too wasteful, I could only go back to bed to recuperate and prepare to work again the next morning.

In contrast, the nightlife of the gentry and wealthy merchants was much more colorful, with either banquets, poetry gatherings, or a night of listening to music in brothels.

These "soldiers" were very strange. Although there was a brilliant "aura" illuminating the fortress, they did not enjoy themselves all night long, but continued to work in a methodical manner.

Chen Jing'an saw the workers working in the workshop during the day, but why were there still "soldiers" working late at night?

Every "demon soldier" had an expression of entertainment and concentration on his face, without any sign of fatigue from working in the middle of the night.

Even if they were working in shifts, they wouldn't be so enthusiastic. What kind of work required continuous work for twelve hours?
This was very puzzling to the Jinyiwei, who lived in an agricultural society and were accustomed to a slow pace.

Chen Jing'an boldly judged others by himself, and these monsters must be divided into high and low levels.

Low-level monsters can only work day and night, while high-level monsters can enjoy themselves day and night.

It is impossible that after practicing for decades and transforming into a human form, you would voluntarily work around the clock, working day and night like a miserable ox or horse. Wouldn't that be a waste of practice?
Moreover, every monster would occasionally utter some strange lines, such as "Daily quest rewards are in hand", "Give me some more SeSe tickets", "I'm going to work hard all day today", "After completing daily tasks, go do the side quests", "Save up a few more lives to go on adventures", "Limited edition equipment, wait for me, I'm almost saving enough merits"...

Chen Jingan thought that these monsters must have been bewitched by the big demon, forcing them to work happily every day.

Alas, although humans and demons are different, Chen Jingan couldn't help but feel pity for them. They were both wanderers in this world...

Chen Jing'an followed the demon officials through hundreds of moving crowds, and suddenly saw some demon soldiers walking out of some iron cages one after another.

Then he followed the demon into an iron cage, like a dog returning to its nest.

There was a click, and the iron cage made a clanging sound as if it was locked by metal tools.

The iron cage filled with dozens of people began to rise on its own as if driven by some secret technique.

Chen Jing'an looked down in disbelief. The flat stone pavement was gradually moving away, and the people he once saw at eye level were now only visible up to their heads.

He really rose!

What kind of magic is this?
The light from each floor flashed before his eyes, and Chen Jingan's face brightened and dimmed.

As the iron cage where Chen Jingan was located rose to its destination, it stopped with a click and the door opened. The environment on this floor was quieter than that on the ground floor.

There are relatively few pedestrians here, but there are still sporadic demon soldiers appearing in twos and threes.

Some of them were dressed in coarse cloth, some of them were holding swords in their hands. Their simple attire made them look more like the people of the Ming Dynasty than the lower-level demon soldiers.

A strong sense of familiarity arose spontaneously, and Chen Jing'an wondered if these people were also "captives" captured by the demon?
However, before he could say a few words to the captives, he was surrounded and "taken away" by the demon guards.

The style of this floor is still bizarre. From time to time, various sounds can be heard from the closed rooms: growls, strange cries, whispers, and cult-like chants...

Even though he hadn't entered the room, Chen Jing'an still felt an eerie sense of terror coming over him.

It felt like I was moving from the "history section" to the "science fiction section", the "fantasy section", and even the "horror section", and the lights in the aisles gradually dimmed.

Chen Jing'an turned his head to look to the right. The town in the distance was completely shrouded in darkness, with only the torches near the fortress emitting spots of light.

The demon escort who was escorting him came to the door of a large hall, where a bright light shone through the bottom of the door.

"Watch out, don't throw up all the dinner you just had..."

The demon introduced in a serious tone, and then, under Chen Jing'an's blank gaze, he slowly pushed open the heavy door.

As soon as the door opened, the bright light in the room shone into Chen Jing'an's eyes.

He narrowed his eyes slightly, trying to adapt to the contrast from dark to light.

When his vision gradually became clear, he saw the shocking scene again, and this time it completely touched his soul.

Living men and women slowly emerged from the stone floor like mushrooms after a rain, and the stone floor that looked very solid was like paper punctured by steel.

Until these neatly dressed men and women stood firmly on their feet, the stone slabs that were originally as "soft" as mud gradually closed up, and no trace of cracks could be seen anymore, as if they had never been damaged.

The clothing style of these people was almost identical to the "captives" he had just seen. Some were bare-handed, while others were armed with swords and spears. They were all dressed like ordinary people of the Ming Dynasty. The monsters were actually transformed!

Chen Jingan was stunned.

He couldn't help but kneel down, and the pain of his knees hitting the stone slabs came back to him.

What's under the legs is real hard stone!
The constant pain told him that what he saw, heard and felt was real, not an illusion created by an illusion.

These captives who look like "mortals", or demon soldiers, can emerge from the stone slabs as if out of thin air.

Even during the time when Chen Jing'an was confused, sporadic demon soldiers still appeared from the room.

Some of them crawled out of strange-shaped "soft objects", as if they were produced by insect monsters, some crawled out of coffins, some walked out of scrolls, some walked out of the empty shells of plate armor like pushing open doors, and some pushed open a cover and actually crawled out of the toilet.

There are so many instruments and media that produce monsters that Chen Jingan is completely confused.

Tears streamed down his nose, and Chen Jingan didn't even know whether he should cry or laugh.

The intimidation I experienced several times before has become one with today, just like after eating five steamed buns and becoming full, it cannot be said that the first four steamed buns were useless.

If there were only today's horrifying scenes, he would have been scared into a fool.

But a series of shocks combined together made him feel a sense of awe and worship as if he had stepped into a "new world".

Only then did he realize that all the information he had collected before was just the tip of the iceberg, and the absurd scene before him was only the last piece of the puzzle.

Any doubts were answered at this moment.

Chen Jingan understood.

Why are the elite veterans of the Black Flag Battalion so fearless of death? Why do the Black Flag Battalion gather enough strength to fight, but kill each other at the cost of their lives?

Why did the Black Flag Camp store up food and build high walls, but still do things in the deep mountains? Why did they offend the scholars without fear?

Why did they dare to cross thousands of miles of land to fight against the Tartars?

Why are they still neither loyal nor disloyal and still have no intention of taking over the world?

Why is it that Lord Li can sometimes control the Black Flag Battalion at will, but sometimes cannot control the Black Flag Battalion's brutality?

Why do the clerks and yamen runners in southern Henan all have the same strict style, not seeking money but only wanting to eliminate evil?

Why are there so many strange legends in the mountains surrounding the Black Flag Camp?

Because they are monsters that are constantly produced from beginning to end. Without the preciousness of life, how can they fear death?

They don't care about anything, anyone, or the opinions of the gentry and powerful.

Just as humans despise ants, they never consider whether lifting their left or right feet and then putting them down will crush the ants to death. They just want to move forward along the path they have set.

They roll forward like a big cart, and any ant will be crushed into powder under the wheels.

The magic spells they were good at were displayed one by one, including a black dragon running on the ground, a sky dragon suddenly attacking from the sky, and the spiritual light that dispelled the darkness in the room.

Each of them may not have super powerful spells, but when they join forces, they can unleash amazing power.

They may be waiting, waiting for an opportunity, and while waiting, they continue to "eat away" the surrounding states and counties, turning the people in these territories into what they want.

Waiting for the spiritual energy absorbed by the monsters to break through the realm and refine more and stronger monsters.

When the number of demon soldiers exceeds the resistance threshold of mortals, they will rush out of the mountains and take over the entire world.

What has it to do with you to destroy you? What has it to do with you to save you?
Kill if you want to kill, save if you want to save, and enforce justice to the end if you want to uphold justice.

Good or bad depends entirely on the mood of the monsters, and the fate of mortals will be in the hands of these monsters.

Monsters may treat mortals as livestock, or treat the world as a blank piece of paper to paint on.

This is far more ferocious than a change of dynasties. It is truly sweeping the world and changing the world from the root.

As the saying goes, if you hear the truth in the morning, you can die in the evening.

Today, Chen Jing'an was fortunate enough to witness the "origin" of the monster with the tacit consent of the monster catcher. Even if he was beheaded by the monster immediately, he would die without regrets.

However, the monster did not kill him, but asked him if he was willing to join the Black Flag Army.

Chen Jingan gave his answer without even thinking.

Of course he would choose to join.

Not only was his soul shaken by the "strange world" created by the monsters, but he also wanted to find a place to live for himself and his family.

If you have the chance to live well, of course you should live.

However, the monsters did not trust him directly, but asked him to do a few things as a "token of allegiance".

The first thing is to give out all the Jinyiwei spies. Even if there are some unknown ones, they must be "found" out by some means, and then hired as "intelligence consultants" of the Black Flag Camp to eliminate all the hidden spies for them.

The second thing is to expose the location of his wife and children. The monsters will then "protect" his family secretly at the right time.

The third thing was to submit a mix of true and false intelligence to his superiors in the tone of the Black Flag Camp, which would not only prove that Chen Jing'an had done his job well, but would also not attract too much attention from the court to the Black Flag Camp. He would then cooperate with the "spies" to infiltrate the Nanzhili area and do things for the Black Flag Camp.

After hearing these errands, Chen Jing'an was not confused and did not think of asking.

He had already been deeply impressed by these monsters and planned to serve them from now on. The monsters in the Black Flag Camp would be his "superiors" from now on.

No matter whether they are good monsters or bad monsters, at least the lives of his family are saved.

If the grassroots clerks in the counties and prefectures in southern Henan were indeed planted by monsters, then it means that being governed by this group of monsters is at least not a bad thing.

So one day, an experienced intelligence officer came to the Political Security Bureau under Li Mu.

He assisted Li Mu in "sweeping out" all the spies around the Black Flag Camp.

Whether they swore allegiance on the spot or preferred death to surrender, they would eventually "voluntarily" become members of the Black Flag Battalion.

However, those officials in the court who were in the public eye were completely unaware of the loopholes in the intelligence network. They only thought that Chen Jing'an had been investigating the mountainous area for more than ten days and had only scratched the surface. Little did they know that a large number of "loyal" spies were being gradually corrupted...

Just as Li Mu was refreshing his intelligence team, the port far away in Tianjin suddenly received an alarm -

The government navy stopped a group of unfamiliar civilian ships.

The sailors quickly boarded the ship to investigate the passengers on the civilian ship, and discovered that the people in luxurious clothes on the ship were actually the nobles of Korea.

As witnesses, they personally took a boat to the capital to file a complaint with the emperor.

They wanted to accuse the Ming Dynasty of betraying the Wei Army, aiding and abetting the tyrant, and helping the Korean tyrant to plunder the people's wealth, causing the people of the eight provinces of Korea to live in misery.

This important information concerning the Beiwei Army was quickly sent to the capital, awaiting the decision of high-ranking officials and the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

(End of this chapter)