Chapter 18 Action Plan

The discussion about the poisoning plan came to a temporary end, and Feng Bujue and the others then agreed on the action plan for the day.

Young Master Atobe's main task today was to gather information. He planned to first ask the shop assistant where Murong Ying was staying, and then pay a visit to see if this NPC would be willing to let him ask for some advice.

This seemed like a good job, and there was no need to take any risks, but in practice, there were still difficulties. The immediate problem was how to get information out of the innkeeper's mouth.

The players didn't have any items that could be used as currency in this world. It would be difficult to ask for information without giving a "tip."

Feng Bujue didn't pay much attention to the silver problem. In fact, this matter was quite troublesome. If Hua Ying's Six Swords hadn't given them the Tian Zi Bing number room to use, even if there were empty rooms in the inn, Feng Bujue wouldn't have been able to pay for the accommodation. Of course, in Feng Bujue's initial plan, he hadn't considered how to settle the bill. Anyway, they would disappear in two days, so the inn's money... the shopkeeper could ask whoever he wanted. Players didn't need to care about martial arts reputation.

Also... even if Atobe found out which room Murong Ying was staying in, the wording and attitude during the negotiation would need to be carefully considered.

The so-called "professional gigolo" was naturally just a joke. Atobe also understood that Feng Bujue, the head of the dormitory, had already established the image of "whoever dares to flirt with my wife, I will kill him with one palm" in the eyes of the martial arts heroes, so it was impossible for Jue-ge to carry out this kind of thing as a separate conversation with a beautiful woman. If he really went, it would either show that he was a hypocrite, or it would show that he was prepared to be hacked to death by his wife when he returned.

To put it bluntly... not only would it not help the progress of the game, but it would also have a negative impact on the negotiation with the NPC.

As for Xiao Tan, although Atobe didn't know him very well, judging from their contact during this period, even if this kid couldn't be said to be innocent and kind, at least he didn't seem to be scheming. This kind of person was extremely unsuitable for intelligence work...

Therefore, it was inevitable that Atobe would negotiate. He was also running a studio, and his work ability, game level, and so on, even if not as good as industry experts like Xiao Wen Cang Tian, ​​would not be lower than the average level of players.

From a game perspective, from a data level, this was just testing the player's level of communication with the NPC. As long as they followed the worldview of the script, and made contact politely and rationally, there was no reason why they couldn't get any information out. Even in the TV games of seventy years ago, the NPCs in the city would at least repeat the same sentence to the players. In today's game of the optical brain era, there was no reason why they couldn't ask anything.

As for the four from Hell Frontline, today's plan was to act in two groups.

Feng Bujue and Si Yu went directly up the mountain from the north of the town to explore the "ruined temple in the mountain forest north of the village" in the plot synopsis; Xiao Tan and Bei Ling conducted a carpet search of the uninhabited houses in the town to look for items and skills.

This grouping method was proposed by Feng Bujue. Of course, his basis was not the so-called "men and women work together, work is not tiring", but considering the actual situation of the script, he made the safest and most efficient distribution.

Feng Bujue noticed when listening to the plot synopsis... the synopsis did not explicitly say whether there were ghosts in this world, but used words like "rumor", and finally followed it with a tangled sentence: "What is the result of this duel? What is the truth of Ghost Town? Is there an unknown conspiracy hidden behind all this?"

This kind of synopsis seemed to provide some information, but in fact it was more likely to be guiding or even misleading the player's thinking direction.

From beginning to end, players couldn't determine whether the town was really haunted, nor could they determine whether it was all caused by people.

So, for the sake of safety, Feng Bujue tentatively took all the content behind the "rumor" as true. Even if there were fierce spirits entrenched in the ruined temple on the mountain, the combination of him and Si Yu could handle it now. He had Death Poker, and Si Yu's title of "Spirit Swordsman" and her skills also restrained spiritual bodies. The two had strong comprehensive strength, both courage and wisdom. In broad daylight, these two would go to the temple to explore the flag; they wouldn't just go and never return, would they?

On the other hand, it was obviously very inappropriate to work alone when searching in the town. Once an unexpected situation occurred, such as the incident last night, it would be very dangerous to only have one person.

There were many abandoned and empty houses in Cang Ling Town. Apart from those houses around the inn that had already been occupied, it was hard to say what they would encounter in other houses. In case someone hid corpses, poison, weapons...etc. in a remote corner and was discovered by the players, it might be a fierce battle.

If Xiao Tan and Bei Ling searched together, it would be much safer. After all, they were both players with guns, and they could fire in self-defense when facing humanoid NPCs as a last resort. Moreover, their combination complemented each other perfectly. When encountering puzzle elements, Bei Ling would solve them, while Xiao Tan would do the dirty work of moving things.

Even if their sneaky actions of entering and leaving residential houses were noticed by outsiders, it didn't matter. At most, people would suspect that these two were trying to find a place to do something lewd, and they wouldn't know that they were searching for game items.

In short, the plan for the day was roughly divided into three routes: one route to collect intelligence, one route to explore items, and the other route to pursue the only clue provided by the system at the moment. The five people agreed to return to the inn room before sunset. If someone didn't show up by then, the remaining people would discuss countermeasures...

…………

A morning passed quickly, and the lobby of Cang Ling Inn was even more crowded.

The bigwigs of the first-line sects usually only went downstairs for morning tea in the morning, and the other two meals were settled in the guest rooms.

The people sitting in the inn lobby for tea and meals during the day were basically martial arts people who lived outside the inn. The number of these people was much larger than those living in the inn, so the inn lobby was a bit more lively than in the morning.

Due to the limited number of seats, these martial arts people were also very sensible. Those who came to eat left after eating; those who came to drink tea also left after sitting for a cup of tea. During this period, many people came in and out.

The rumors about Broken Sword Tea House had naturally spread, but most of the people sitting on the first floor of the inn at this moment were not present in the morning, so they didn't know what Feng Bujue and the others looked like. In addition, the lobby was very noisy at this time, and there were many people walking around, so when four players walked down the stairs one after another and left the inn in pairs, they didn't attract much attention. Only a few people recognized them, but these people at most just pulled the people around them to point and point.

After Feng Bujue and Si Yu walked out of the inn, they went straight north along the main road at the entrance.

It was almost noon at this time, and the sun was in the sky. The two of them walked quickly for a while, and felt a little hot. This kind of physical sensation had an impact on physical fitness, but it was not obvious.

They moved forward quickly for about twenty minutes, and came to the northernmost edge of the village. There were almost no houses to be seen here, and the line of sight became wider and wider. In the distance, they could see a few abandoned farmlands, and the original farmhouses by the fields had long been destroyed, leaving only a pile of black rotten wood and stone grass.

Continuing all the way north, the high mountains that could originally be vaguely seen were now close at hand. The undulation of the terrain became more and more obvious, and there was an upward tilting trend. The road under their feet was also the only one left. The further they went, the narrower the path became, until it completely disappeared at the end.

At noon, the two had unknowingly entered the mountains. Under their feet were hard dry soil and weeds, and the surrounding mountain forests gradually became dense. Feng Bujue thought that entering the dense forest would make him feel even more sultry, but the actual situation was... the surrounding temperature was getting lower and lower.

"Strange... the slope of the mountains nearby is quite large, it doesn't look like there would be any buildings." Feng Bujue saw that the situation seemed a little wrong, and said.

"Try walking a little further." Si Yu quickly replied.

"Yeah..." Feng Bujue nodded and continued to lead the way. Although this situation was a little "strange", there was no reason to stop exploring at the moment. Both physical strength and time were abundant for the two of them, not to mention walking a little further, even walking for two or three more hours would be fine.

They walked for about ten more minutes, and Feng Bujue suddenly stopped and turned his head to ask, "I said... did you notice?"

Si Yu said, "What?"

"After entering the mountain, along the way... I haven't seen any animal footprints or excrement, not even a single bird or flying insect." Feng Bujue said, "In fact... there's not even bird calls or cicada chirps. This forest is unbelievably quiet." He paused and frowned, "And do you feel like it's getting cooler and cooler?"

Si Yu heard this, thought for a few seconds, and replied, "Supernatural setting?"

"Anyway, it's definitely not a phenomenon that should exist in a pure martial arts worldview." Feng Bujue replied, "It could be supernatural, fantasy, or science fiction. In short... this forest in front of us is obviously abnormal." He looked around while saying, "There are no creatures... and the colder it gets, the more we go to the center..."

"Because this is the 'Forest of No Return'." Suddenly, a miserable female voice sounded.

This sudden and strange words made Si Yu couldn't help but tremble slightly, and the value of her fear rose slightly.

Feng Bujue didn't feel anything. He just quickly turned his head in the direction of the sound and looked at a big tree on the left front with Si Yu.

The tree trunk was very thick, and the speaker was completely hidden behind the tree, not showing any trace.

However, when Feng Bujue and Si Yu's eyes moved towards there, half of a waxy yellow face slowly moved out from behind the tree trunk...