I, the prince in distress, send money

Chapter 71 The aftermath of the war
Although it was early in the morning, the sky was a little gloomy, with dark clouds covering the sky. The oppressive air was almost suffocating.

"why?"

A man named Aku was standing in front of the door of a wooden house. Amid the disgusting stench of decay, he muttered to himself, as if asking himself, or as if asking someone.

"Why would they do that?"

It is now the second day since the main group of players received Chris's mission and left Beach Town.

Aku is one of these players. He did not join the Ultramarines, but joined another loose player group...Guoshanhu.

To be honest, Aku is a very Buddhist player. He entered this game just by chance. He was surfing the Internet aimlessly, occasionally entering the official website of the game and seeing the game promotional video.

Seeing that the game had content about killing by volley guns, Aku didn't think much about it and clicked to make a reservation. Then, when the internal test spot happened to appear, he clicked the application button.

As expected, Aku grabbed one of the spots.

Aku had never played any game produced by Baihu Game Studio before. When he first entered the game, he was amazed at the authenticity of the game but didn't think much about it.

In the technologically advanced 25th century, what kind of games are there?

Those big game companies have already developed many stealth masterpieces that are exactly the same as reality. Aku is not surprised by the authenticity of the games. He is just amazed that a small company like Baihu Game Studio dares to invest so much.

What else?
Aku didn't feel much about it. It was just a game, a way for him to pass the time.

To this day, within the Kingdom of Bagnia, the road from the town of Biqi to the Bolas Fortress passes through a narrow valley formed by continuous mountains.

After walking for another hour, you will see a small village with about a hundred households at the foot of a low hill, on the edge of a large area of ​​barren farmland.

There are more than fifty players traveling with Aku. They are pioneers, vanguards, and even death squads. So when they find a small mountain village here, the players have to go up and take a look.

Take a look at the situation in this mountain village and ask them if they know where the nearby troops are.

As soon as they got closer, everyone realized that something was wrong.

The village was too quiet. Not only did the players not see people working in the fields, they also did not hear dogs barking or smell cooking smoke.

"It's bad, this village is finished."

Aku heard someone shouting this nearby, but he didn't understand what it meant at the time. However, when he and others walked into the eerily quiet village, Aku understood it instantly.

The village, whose name Aku didn't know, was massacred.

In the house where Aku was now, in front of him, a woman wearing a local linen long skirt was lying in a place that might be the living room, or perhaps the kitchen. She was leaning against the wall with her head lowered, holding a baby in her arms.

Aku couldn't see the woman's face clearly because her hair was loose, blocking her expression.

But Aku knew very well that she must have been in great pain before her death, because a spear was stuck in her stomach, piercing the child in her arms and the mother together, and her skirt at the bottom of her body was torn, leaving a bloody mess.

A Ku didn't dare to get close, he didn't even have the courage to enter the house.

The player gasped heavily. The fishy air not only did not calm him down, but made his desire to vomit even stronger. When his Adam's apple moved uncontrollably, he could no longer bear it.

A Ku suddenly turned around, took a few quick steps outside, and then vomited violently into the grass by the roadside.

At some point, a man stood behind Aku and patted his back, making it easier for Aku to vomit.

After vomiting for two or three minutes, Aku finally felt much better after he vomited out all the food in his stomach.

"Are you feeling better?"

A Ku turned around and found that it was Captain Zhang of the Mountain Tiger Group, who stabbed him in the butt with a knife.

Aku was not familiar with this nominal leader of the regiment, because the Tiger Guards were very loose and anyone who wanted to join could simply submit an application.

It is also easy to quit. Just tell the administrator in the offline group group, and then go to the quartermaster department in the game to back up.

Because of such sloppiness, the internal structure of the regiment is simple and crude to an extreme... Group one and Group two correspond to offline chat groups, and players will be members of whichever chat group they join offline in the game.

Chris has very few restrictions on the war group. Apart from the upper limit of one thousand people, there are almost no restrictions. Players can set up the internal structure however they want, whether it is a company system or a chat group system, he doesn't care.

One group is the direct descendants of Guoshanhu, and is also the small circle of the regiment commander and his friends, while Aku belongs to the third group. None of them have seen Xiaodaozha's buttocks, but they are not familiar with the latter. If you don't look at the ID above his head, you really can't recognize him now.

Aku looked back at his theoretical superior, he choked up, and the expression on his face was extremely complicated...anger, shame, fear, and some things that Xiaodao couldn't understand.

Like a fan chart.

"why?"

"what why?"

"Why would this happen?"

A Ku turned around and pointed at the house that he didn't dare to enter. Xiao Daozha looked back and knew what happened inside without having to go there... because such things were everywhere in the village.

"Because it's too real, you can't stand it? Don't mind it, it's normal. You'll get better after seeing it more often. If you really can't stand it, just quit the game."

"Why would this happen?"

Aku's tone sounded a little aggrieved.

"This is the characteristic of Baihu Game Studio. It's real."

The knife stabbed his butt and hit Aku's shoulder.

"Now you know why all the games from Baihu Game Studio are rated 18+. No matter how realistic the games from other big studios are, children can still play them. Their authenticity is only in the realistic graphics and character sensibilities.

Only the authenticity of Baihu Game Studio is more reflected in other places, just like now."

Aku fell silent. He looked back at the house and then at other places in the quiet village. Apart from the players' cursing and banging on doors, there was no other sound.

There was no sound of fighting, no villagers scolding the intruders, and no children crying... This village was dead.

"Why did the village massacre happen?"

Aku couldn't help but ask again.

“Because of food shortage.”

Xiaodao said in a calm tone.

"I've looked at the granary and cellar in the deceased's home. Everything edible had been cleared out. Judging from the traces, the looters were very organized. They weren't bandits or hooligans, but regular soldiers."

"what!?"

"What's so shocking? You thought all the armies fighting in the war were the People's Liberation Army. Not to mention the ancient armies, just look at the modern armies of various countries other than the People's Liberation Army. They often make news about looting their own colonies.

It goes without saying that for the feudal armies of ancient times, sending out foraging teams to forcibly collect food from nearby areas when food was scarce was a daily task.

Aku felt upset and subconsciously wanted to refute, but when he looked around, he was speechless... Facts speak louder than words.

Aku could argue that this was just a game, that the plot was deliberately created by the game planners to disgust the players, and that this was definitely not the case in reality. However, such remarks were purely arguable, and Aku could not say them.

It is easy to deceive others, but difficult to deceive yourself.

Everything in this game is so real. The graphics, the senses, the joys and sorrows of the NPCs, all tell Aku... all these things are real, and this is how things should develop.

A Ku thought of the scene he had just seen, the scene of the mother and son dying at home, and he held his head in his hands and muttered to himself.

"It shouldn't be like this, it shouldn't be like this..."

Okay, the game is too real and it drives this kid crazy.

Xiaodaozha thought about it and decided to enlighten him to prevent the player from going crazy.

Quitting the game is a small matter, but I’m worried that he’ll be stimulated offline and make some big news, that would be troublesome... You guy, don’t make it so that no one can play the game!

"You know, among the fifty or so players here, including me, there are more than twenty veteran players. They've all played other games from Baihu Game Studio and are die-hard veterans. The ratio of new to veteran players is nearly one to one."

Aku was subconsciously attracted by what Xiaodao said.

“Why are there so many old players?”

"Because playing Baihu Game Studio's games gives players a sense of mission."

Xiaodao Pi's butt explained.

"Do you know Prince Chris? He's the NPC who gives us quests, the one with the golden logo on his head."

Aku shook his head.

He's just a tool for issuing tasks. Why bother with him? It would be a great honor to give him face if we don't draw our sword and chop him a few times to test it out.

Xiaodaozhabuti can understand Aku's emotions. As new players, they are always attracted by the fighting and killing content, and they are dismissive of the game background and story.

But little do they know that there is a lot of fun in it.

"You know what? Chris's character can be considered a good person in modern times."

Xiaodao stabbed his butt and said.

"Have you noticed where Chris has been living until now?"

Before Aku could recall, Xiaodao solved the mystery.

“The barracks… He has always lived in the barracks, eating and drinking like an ordinary soldier, he has no maids to serve him, he has to do his daily life by himself, and he has no luxuries. He lives in a big house and is always working.

He has always worked hard for his promise of "not letting people starve to death." Chris is like a savior in a novel. This march is an effort to prevent more people from starving to death or being massacred by the army.

"Really?"

Aku was skeptical and looked around.

"Chris's army, his soldiers won't massacre the village?"

"Will you massacre the whole village?"

Xiaodaozha asked Aku back, he was silent for a moment with a complicated expression.

"I've done it before when I was playing single-player games, but it was just a few paragraphs of text and a few deaths through character models. I thought I was hard-hearted and a bloody butcher, until now... I, I can't do it."

"So, that's it. Players are Chris's soldiers. You wouldn't do that, and neither would I. So how could Chris possibly do that?"

"What if he did it?"

"Then kill him."

Xiaodao Pi's butt said nonchalantly.

"We're all players. Are you afraid and restrained by your so-called prince status?"

That's right.

Aku touched his nose, his attention had been completely diverted.

"The main plot of this game is to quell wars, stop fighting, save lives, and save the world. It allows players to become great and glorious heroes. It's that simple.

What we must do now is to defeat and kill the forces and armies that massacred the village, so that peace can be restored to this country to the greatest extent possible and to prevent a recurrence of what happened in this village. This is our mission.”

"I understand……"

A Ku took a deep breath, and his expression gradually calmed down, and he even had a sense of mission. Xiao Dao Zha Pi Pi felt relieved when he saw this... Yay, my ability to fool people has improved again.

However, no matter how good Xiaodaozha's rhetoric is, or how naive Aku is, bragging is no substitute for action... There is a real problem facing the players: what should be done with this village?
"We'll conduct a second search, this time more seriously. We're not looking for food or money, but for living people. Judging by the blood on the bodies, the massacre must have happened yesterday.

If you're lucky, there should be some seriously injured people still alive among the corpses. There may also be living people hiding in corners or very hidden secret rooms in the village. Look for them."

Outside the village, Xiaodao instructed other players.

"Since we're here, we can't just ignore it. Let's spend half a day looking for it. Oh, and the rest of you go and keep watch nearby. Don't let the enemy attack us by surprise."

"What to do with the body?"

Someone asked a question.

"They're all starting to stink."

"Move them out and gather them together and burn them."

"They're disgusting."

"When you're offline and your character is idle, you can let the smart butler take over and do the work. Although this is a bit dull, it's not a battle. The smart butler works more diligently than a living person and isn't afraid of the smell."

That's all we can do. After all, we can't just ignore the plight of this village.

Not to mention the possible non-existence of survivors, the corpses themselves are troublesome things. If they are ignored and allowed to rot, they are very likely to cause a plague.

This village is right next to the road, so players and other teams will definitely be unable to avoid it when passing by. It's best to clean up the corpses before they start to rot to the most disgusting state.

When the large group of players behind arrived, they also stopped and joined in the search.

I don’t know if the soldiers were too meticulous or if the survivors ran away last night.

Nearly four hundred players wasted more than an hour searching, but didn't find a single person breathing. In the end, they could only burn the piled-up corpses and continue on their way.

Xiaodaozha recorded this incident, wrote it down on a piece of paper, asked the two players to take it, and ran back to deliver the letter.

(End of this chapter)