Late Ming Dynasty: Summoning players from Liaodong to support the Ming Dynasty

At midnight, the night was very deep.

The hustle and bustle of Guangning City didn't stop as night fell; instead, it took on a different form, surging through every corner of the city. The shouts of people playing rock-paper-scissors in the taverns, the constant clanging of the blacksmith's shop, and the groups of heavenly soldiers loudly discussing unintelligible tasks and rewards created a strange night scene.

In the south of the city, a temporary post station courtyard was eerily quiet.

Lu Jian sat in the main room, the charcoal brazier in front of him burning brightly, but it brought no warmth to his cold face. On the table in front of him was a map of Guangning City, with the city walls, blast furnaces, and the ruins of the western warehouse marked with cinnabar.

Outside the door, four dark figures silently disappeared into the night.

They were elite guards brought by Lu Jian from the Northern Garrison Command, all top-notch fighters who had survived countless battles. Infiltration, eavesdropping, disguise, and torture were second nature to them.

Tonight, their goal is to tear open the facade of this mad city and uncover the true secrets beneath Chu Ze's divine mandate.

The elite scout, codenamed "Tanuki," moved with lightning speed, silently attaching himself to the outer wall of a bustling tavern. He was the best scout, his ears able to distinguish the sound of a mosquito's wings from fifty paces away.

He pressed his ear to the window paper, held his breath, and the conversation inside the room clearly reached his ears.

"Have you heard? Those bastards from the Divine Continent Guild triggered the research quest for high-quality stirrups in the tech tree! That grandson of Wang Han is organizing people to forge iron like crazy! Damn, the merit point reward is terrifyingly high!"

"Damn, they're moving that fast? Our Phoenix Chick needs to hurry too! I heard the quest clue about gunpowder granulation is even more awesome, the reward is a blue skill book!"

"What's the rush! Let's build the guild headquarters first! Without a headquarters, we won't even have a warehouse, and we won't have anywhere to store the materials we farm!"

The raccoon's heart skipped a beat.

Technology tree? High-quality stirrups? Particle-forming gunpowder?

Each of these words carried an eerie air. Were they coded messages for some kind of conspiracy? Or code names for new weaponry? He etched these words into his mind, each one like a red-hot branding iron.

Just then, the tavern door creaked open, and a drunken, burly man staggered out, cursing under his breath.

"Damn it, nobody's going to take this from me, I've been holding it in for ages..."

He walked straight to the corner where the raccoon was hiding and loosened his belt.

The raccoon remained motionless, blending seamlessly into the shadows of the corner. This was a technique he had honed for over a decade—the Turtle Breathing Technique—so that even if someone urinated three feet in front of him, they would have no chance of detecting his presence.

The burly man was humming an off-key tune as he drank heartily. Suddenly, he stopped, his drunken eyes fixed on the shadow where the raccoon was hiding.

"what?"

The raccoon's heart skipped a beat.

"Why is there a red-named NPC here?"

The burly man rubbed his eyes and leaned closer. A red name and title appeared above the raccoon's head, along with a suspicious black shadow.

"Bro, is this a hidden quest?"

The burly man's eyes lit up, and he instantly sobered up considerably. Without even pulling up his pants, his large, fan-like hand, accompanied by a gust of wind, slammed a punch directly at the raccoon's face!

The raccoon's pupils suddenly contracted! Without thinking, his body's instincts outpaced his brain's thought, and he raised his arm, precisely blocking the punch.

"Hey! It can even block!"

The player was not surprised but delighted, and shouted excitedly.

"It's definitely an elite monster! Guys, come quick! A wild boss is spawning here!"

boom!

The tavern's wooden door was smashed to pieces, and a dozen or so players, also drunk and staggering, rushed out yelling and surrounded the raccoon.

"Holy crap! It really is a red-name monster!"

"Kill him! Let's see what loot he gets!"

"Don't move! Let me handle this! I just learned the 'sudden blow' technique; let's see if I can control him!"

Surrounded by this group of madmen, the raccoon was speechless. His skills in stealth and assassination were rendered useless by this chaotic onslaught. In the end, he could only let out a humiliating roar in his heart, kick two men to the ground, and, taking advantage of the chaos, flee in a disheveled state into the deeper darkness.

Behind them, the frustrated shouts and curses of the players could still be heard.

"Damn it! The boss got away!"

……

Meanwhile, in the resettlement area for displaced people in the west of the city.

The elite guard codenamed Bee Sting had changed into tattered refugee clothes, his face smeared with soot, and was huddled in a corner of a shack, shivering. He was a master of disguise and even more adept at reading people's minds. At this moment, he was playing the role of a pitiful person who had lost his family and escaped from outside the city by sheer luck.

His target was a seemingly kind-looking young girl who was distributing hot porridge to the refugees.

He timed his actions perfectly. When the girl approached him, he spoke in a hoarse, tearful voice, recounting a tragic story he had rehearsed countless times. His hometown had been massacred by the Tartars, his wife and children had perished in the chaos of battle, and he had barely escaped to Guangning City by the skin of his teeth.

The story is so tragic and moving that it could touch even the most hard-hearted person.

The girl with the ID "I am a Little Colorful Cat," Qian Lele, stopped in her tracks after hearing this.

Bee Sting was overjoyed, knowing that his plan had succeeded.

But what happened next made all his prepared explanations go to waste.

Upon hearing this, the girl's eyes didn't gleam with sympathy, but rather with a gossipy light he'd never seen before. She quickly pulled a black cube from her pocket and excitedly said to the air:

"Family members! Family members! Look what I triggered! A brand new story NPC! His backstory, just listen to it, it's so tragic! This is definitely the beginning of a large-scale quest chain! Come on, let me show you the real person!"

She pointed the black cube at Bee Sting's bewildered face.

"Uncle, don't worry. Tell me about your family's misfortunes again, with more emotion! I'll start a live stream for you, and the viewers in the live stream will crowdfund some start-up capital for you. I guarantee you'll live comfortably!"

The bee, huddled in the corner, was completely bewildered.

He stared blankly at the girl gesturing wildly and talking animatedly into thin air.

Live stream? Crowdfunding? Story NPC?

What kind of inhuman and lewd words are these?

He felt that his professional skills, which he had cultivated for twenty years, had been insulted like never before.

……

In the north of the city, there is a dead-end alley so secluded that even stray dogs wouldn't bother to visit it.

From the depths of the shadows, the elite guard codenamed "Groundhog" silently dragged in a lone celestial soldier. He wasn't tall, but he was sturdy, his hands covered in thick calluses. He was Lu Jian's sharpest interrogation knife, specializing in prying open the toughest bones. He firmly believed that no one's will in this world could be harder than the branding iron of the Northern Garrison.

A cold dagger was pressed against the player's throat. The blade was coated with a special Western Region anesthetic, capable of killing instantly upon contact with blood; a single drop could bring down a strong ox.

"Speak! Who are you demons? Who is commanding you?!"

The mole's voice squeezed out from between its teeth, hoarse and low, carrying a chilling aura that could seep into one's bones.

The player's body visibly stiffened for a moment.

A sinister smile curled at the corner of the mole's mouth. It was done. He thought. Even the most fearless warrior, when the chilling touch of death reaches their skin, will...

"Holy crap! Are we going to go this far?!"

The exclamation was filled with excitement, not fear.

The player suddenly turned his head, his eyes shining frighteningly in the darkness. Far from showing any fear, he seemed like a child who had discovered a new and exciting toy.

"The feel! The atmosphere! And your expression, bro... damn, that's so professional!"

He was so excited that he was incoherent, and his spittle almost landed on the groundhog's face.

"Dude, could you say that line again? I'd like to record it. If I posted it on the forum, it would definitely be the best NPC interaction of the week, bar none!"

The mole's hand, gripping the dagger, froze in mid-air.

"Oh, right."

The player seemed completely oblivious to the weapon around his neck that could kill him at any moment, and continued talking to himself with great interest.

"Shouldn't you give me a choice now? Usually, these plot-driven deaths offer two options: one is to die a martyr's death, and the other is to be cowardly and confess everything. Bro, can you give me a heads-up? Which option offers the better reward? Are there any hidden achievements or special titles I can get?"

The mole's brain went blank with a buzz. His interrogation process, which was enough to drive any hardened assassin to the brink of insanity, his terrifying art that had been the culmination of half his life's work, was stuck at this inconceivable first step before it could even begin.

A sense of absurdity and a furious feeling of being mocked filled his chest. Without another word, he flicked his wrist, and the sharp, poisoned dagger swiftly, accurately, and ruthlessly sliced ​​across the other man's neck.

puff!

Warm blood, with a rusty smell, spurted out and splashed all over his face.

The player's excited expression froze instantly, replaced by a look of sudden realization. Then, in a blinding white light, his entire body transformed into countless specks of light and vanished into thin air.

Left behind, only a lingering echo was carried away by the wind.

"Damn! You're awesome, bro! Wait here for me, I'm running back from the respawn point, let's keep chatting!"

The mole stood alone in the deserted alley. The night wind, carrying the stench of blood, blew past, and he felt a chill run through his body, a chill that went to his very bones.

He gripped the still-dripping dagger, his hand trembling slightly.

For the first time, he began to waver about the means by which he made a living, about the world he lived in, and about everything he believed in.

……

At 3:45 AM (丑时三刻).

In the courtyard of the inn, Lu Jian sat motionless.

Four dark figures appeared silently in the courtyard, exuding a chill and looking disheveled.

The raccoon's right cheek was swollen high, and a bluish-purple bruise was very conspicuous in the firelight. His night clothes were torn in several places.

Bee Sting's eyes were vacant, and his steps were unsteady. After entering the house, he leaned against the door frame, repeatedly muttering words that no one could understand. He looked very strange.

The groundhog's face was the most frightening, a deathly pale color of rage and fear, as he stared intently at the dagger in his hand.

The last member of the elite guard to enter looked completely dazed, as if he had been wandering outside all night and the sights he had witnessed were beyond his comprehension.

"Boss..."

Tanuki broke the silence first, lowering his head and not daring to look Lu Jian in the eye, and said in a hoarse voice.

"Your subordinate is incompetent... The strongholds of those heavenly soldiers are poorly guarded, making it easy to infiltrate. But I couldn't understand a single word of the coded language they used."

He raised his head, his eyes filled with frustration and confusion, and repeated the words slowly and deliberately.

"Technology tree... granulation of gunpowder... and guilds..."

Lu Jian's facial features remained unchanged; he simply tapped his fingers lightly on the table.

"Boss,"

The faint sound of bee stings drifted over, and he raised his head, staring blankly at the roof beams.

"I tried to blend in, using our best talking points, but they... they seemed to see right through me, pointing at me and calling me... calling me an NPC, and even saying they wanted to... crowdfund for me?"

Lu Jian stopped tapping his fingers on the table.

The groundhog suddenly stepped forward, slamming the poisoned dagger onto the table with a loud crack, making the teacups jump. His eyes were bloodshot, and although he lowered his voice, it trembled uncontrollably.

"Boss, I killed one."

Lu Jian's eyelids twitched, and he leaned forward.

The mole's chest heaved violently, as if he needed to use all his strength to say what he was about to say.

"He...he's alive again!"

He made a hoarse sound in his throat, and his pale face flushed red with excitement.

"He also told me... to wait for him where I was, to wait for him... to come back from my corpse!"

"Running back to your corpse?"

Lu Jian finally spoke, his voice hoarse.

"Yes! Run back to your corpse!"

The groundhog became excited, clenching its fists so tightly that the veins bulged.

"Not only that! I heard lunatics yelling all over the streets! They were talking about running dungeons, grinding experience, and getting loot! I even saw a crazy woman chasing a man with a knife for three blocks, screaming that she wanted him to delete his account!"

Running dungeons, grinding for experience, getting loot, deleting accounts...

One incomprehensible word after another was frantically uttered from the mouth of the empire's most elite spies, slamming into Lu Jian's face.

He listened quietly as his subordinates, whom he had personally trained, recounted their nightmares in chaotic, broken, and even tearful tones.

Their pride in infiltration, disguise, interrogation, and assassination became a huge joke in this city.

After the last of the guards finished stammering out his report on what he had seen—the strange people dancing around the campfire and shouting for the tribe—the room fell into complete silence.

In the charcoal brazier, a piece of burning charcoal emitted a soft crackling sound, becoming the only sound in the room.

Lu Jian slowly reached out and picked up the cup of tea on the table, which had long since gone cold.

He wanted to take a sip of the cold tea to suppress the absurdity and chill churning in his chest.

But his hands were trembling slightly.

Click.

A sharp crack rang out, particularly jarring in the deathly silent room.

He accidentally cracked the celadon teacup.

Warm tea seeped out through the crack, scalding his fingertips.

He was completely unaware.