Chapter 5 Black Clouds

At five in the afternoon, black clouds covered the sky, and thunder rumbled restlessly.

The local city government had issued a red alert for thunderstorms, canceling all outdoor Halloween celebrations and advising citizens not to go out on foot.

At this very moment, the three members of Saber… arrived at the old house on Dark Creek Road.

Naturally, the three of them were unaware that someone from Hell's Frontline had also died. From their perspective, they were now at a disadvantage of three against four. Therefore, Greed Wolf's chosen strategy was to temporarily avoid direct confrontation, explore the plot as much as possible, and make up for the disadvantage with the benefits from the script.

"Looks like someone beat us to it…" Seeing the ambulance parked in front of the old house, Long Ge muttered.

"I have a feeling… this vehicle might be a trap…" Qisha warned.

"We'll find out if we try," Greed Wolf said, already walking forward. "I'll search the front, you guys check the back. Be careful when you examine it…"

At this time, the man in the suit whom they had captured to show them the way had already driven back. Before turning around to leave, the guy even rolled down his car window and cursed at the three players. However, Long Ge and the others didn't really care… Considering that this man in the suit was threatened by three "kids," not only did he lose a lot of food he had just bought, but he was also punched and kicked… Letting him curse a few times to vent was fine.

"I didn't find anything here." Two minutes later, Greed Wolf had finished inspecting the driver's seat. He immediately jumped out of the car and said to his teammates, "How about the back?"

Long Ge just happened to jump out of the back of the car, holding something in his hand. "There's a body bag here that's covered in blood and fur…" He showed the bag to his teammates and added, "As you can see… the 'person' who was originally lying inside is gone."

"Hmm…" Greed Wolf approached and looked at it. After thinking for two seconds, he said, "Could it be… this bag contained a werewolf?"

"Huh? How did you come to that conclusion?" Long Ge scratched his head, puzzled.

"It's not hard to guess…" Greed Wolf replied. "Generally speaking, body bags are only used to hold human corpses, but the thing in this bag has animal fur, and…" He pointed to a few tear marks on the bag, "...sharp claws."

Long Ao Min raised the body bag in his hand and looked at it sideways. "Oh… you're right…"

"Look at these tear marks again…" Greed Wolf continued. "If an animal scratched it, that means this animal has five fingers on its forelimbs, with sharp claws, and the spacing between the fingers is similar to that of humans… In addition, it's covered in fur and its size is just right to fit into a body bag…" He paused for a second. "Instead of thinking about it as an animal, it's better to consider a monster, combined with the setting of this script."

"I understand." Long Ao Min understood when he heard this. "When it was put into the body bag, the werewolf shouldn't have transformed yet, and it was seriously injured… But when it came out, it already had fur and claws."

"Yes, that's right." Greed Wolf nodded in agreement.

"Then… how do you explain this?" While they were talking, Qisha poked his head out of the ambulance and waved at the two of them.

Long Ge and Greed Wolf looked at each other, and then followed him together.

"Look… here, and on the seats over there…" After his teammates came in, Qisha guided their sight with his hand. "Do you see it? There are two puddles of wet, sticky stuff…"

Greed Wolf observed for a moment and said, "Following our previous train of thought… could this be from some kind of monster that can secrete liquid on its body surface?"

"That's probably it," Long Ge spread his hands and said, "Judging from the opening CG, the demons and monsters in this script are definitely more than just vampires. Since werewolves have appeared, it wouldn't be surprising if some kind of water monster appeared, right?"

"So the conclusion is…" Qisha continued, "Someone… or rather, some monster, stole an ambulance… carrying a car full of demons and monsters, and came to this house?"

"Sounds reliable to me." Greed Wolf added, and then took out a piece of parchment from his bag. "This also confirms my previous reasoning…"

The parchment in his hand at the moment was the task reward that he and Po Jun had spent nearly an hour shoveling leaves to obtain. According to their "dad" in the script, this was a "treasure map drawn by his two sons when they explored the old house on Dark Creek Road in first grade."

Of course, it was called a treasure map, but it was actually just a child's doodle… However, Greed Wolf still deduced some relatively accurate information from this "doodle."

"Monsters gathering here further proves…" Greed Wolf continued his previous words, "...the Holy Amulet is in this old house."

…………

At the same time, in the basement of the old house, the auditorium.

"Another guest has arrived…" Dracula, who had been standing silently with his eyes closed, suddenly spoke.

"Oh?" At this moment, Feng Bujue was sitting on a stone step, reading an ancient book that he didn't know where he got. After hearing this, he asked without raising his head, "How many people? What kind of people?"

"A total of three…" Dracula stood two meters in front of him, speaking respectfully, "Two are little boys, and one is… uh… a very tall little boy."

"Heh… I already know who it is." Feng Bujue smiled. "Since they've come to our door, then let's… start the 'ceremony' early."

…………

On the other hand, east of Dark Creek Road, on a certain highway.

"Damn it…" After coming back to his senses, Hill unbuckled his seat belt, opened the car door and got out of the car, angrily heading towards a Volvo a dozen meters behind him.

A minute ago, his car and that Volvo had met on the road. Because this highway was located in a remote area and had been in disrepair for many years, the shoulders of the road on both sides were damaged to some extent. Coincidentally… on the section of the road where the two cars met, the damage was particularly obvious, which meant that the two cars needed to pass through the middle section of the road one after another.

Seeing this situation, Hill took the lead in honking the horn to warn, meaning to let the oncoming car slow down a little and give way.

However, the guy driving towards him… was the man in the suit who had been hijacked by Saber.

Hill was relatively anxious, and he honked his horn first, so he wouldn't give way; while the man in the suit… was a person who was used to taking advantage of small things, cutting in line, bullying the weak and fearing the strong, and occupying parking spaces for the disabled. Obviously, a person like him… wouldn't give way either.

So, the two cars "rubbed against each other," and then the tires on one side of each car slipped off the road and stopped staggeringly.

Fortunately, both drivers turned the steering wheel and released the accelerator before the collision was about to happen, otherwise they might have both overturned…

"Hey! Bastard!" Hill roared as he walked towards the other car, "Are you blind or deaf?"

The man in the suit also got out of the car at this time, turned around and looked at the other party and said, "I was just about to ask you, how are you going to compensate me?" He waved his hand to indicate the scratched car body, "Do you know how much it costs to repair this scratch?"

"I don't know the price, but I think its injury will heal faster than yours," Hill replied.

The man in the suit didn't seem to understand what the other party meant for a while, and he asked, "What do you mean its injury should…"

Bang—

Hill's fist interrupted the man in the suit's words, and the latter was knocked to the ground.

"Oh! Ah—" The man in the suit covered his face and screamed after falling to the ground, "You… you bastard! I'm going to sue you for intentional injury… no! It's murder!"

"Sounds like you know a little bit about the law, huh?" Hill asked this question while kicking the man in the suit's arm twice.

"Ah! Ah!" The man in the suit screamed, and threatened, "I warn you! My aunt's husband is a lawyer!"

"Is that so?" Hill said, leaning down and grabbing the other party's hair, bringing his face closer and saying, "Then I'll teach you on behalf of your aunt's husband… If I really murder you, the district attorney will prosecute me! I don't need a dead man to sue!"

After saying that, Hill grabbed the car door with his other hand, propped up the man in the suit's head, and slammed it against the car door three times in a row.

After the slamming, the man in the suit fainted on the spot…

Hill spat on the other party with great satisfaction, turned around, and prepared to return to his car.

Unexpectedly, at this moment, an unexpected change occurred!

In the distant sky, a black pillar of light suddenly appeared.

An invisible energy that even Hill could feel spread from that direction, sweeping across the entire earth…

…………

At five ten in the afternoon, outside a power plant on the edge of the city.

Ruo Yu and Xiao Ling had just completed all the follow-up tasks of an entire side quest and came out of the power plant with the task rewards, when… they felt the impact of that energy.

Although they had both been turned into little lolis, they were not easily knocked down by the impact. They only staggered slightly before regaining their balance.

"I have a feeling…" Ruo Yu looked at the black pillar of light on the horizon and pondered, "...what happened over there must be related to Bujue."

"Anyway, we've finished all the quests in the chain…" Xiao Ling continued, "...let's go take a look."

"Ah… let's use that." Ruo Yu nodded in response.

The "that" she was talking about was the reward they had just obtained—[Magic Broom*2]

[Name: Magic Broom]

[Type: Other]

[Quality: Excellent]

[Effect: Clean dust or serve as a vehicle]

[Can it be brought out of this script: No]

[Note: Generally speaking, regardless of whether you are wearing a skirt or pants, we do not recommend ladies to ride this vehicle in a straddling manner, that is a very unladylike behavior.]

These two brooms were the final reward for the "Tea Party" quest line.

Ruo Yu and Xiao Ling ran from morning to night, and also encountered a battle with Saber. Finally… in the ninth hour after the script started, they completed this super long quest line.

And these two reward items they obtained would undoubtedly give them a huge advantage in the upcoming script…

…………

At five twelve in the afternoon, Dark Creek Road, the original site of the "Old House."

At this moment, the "Old House" no longer existed, and in its place… was a black castle with a strong Gothic style.

"This is… what's going on…" Qisha looked at the scene in front of him with a pale face and muttered blankly.

"Yeah, Greed Wolf, what's going on?" Long Ge, standing in the middle, threw the question to Greed Wolf on the other side like a relay.

"Although I really want to say 'you ask me, who am I asking'…" Greed Wolf's expression was similar to the other two, "But considering that I am at least the team's counselor and current commander, I'll give you a clear answer…" He paused, "...this is all special effects."

Half a minute ago, the three of them were still cautiously advancing in the corridor in front of the old house's front door.

Suddenly, a black turbulence came from nowhere, obscuring their vision. Then, they felt an earthquake-like shaking and the noise of neighbors renovating next door.

Half a minute later, when their vision returned, they found themselves standing inside the gate of a castle. Behind them was a drawbridge gate hanging halfway down by chains, and there was even a moat below the gate…

And in front of them was an arched, tall double wooden door, the inner gate of the castle.

"You might as well say it's an illusion," Long Ge replied.

"I'd even believe it if you said I was under a Mirror Flower, Water Moon spell," Qisha also complained.

"You guys are the ones asking, and you're the ones complaining…" Greed Wolf squinted his eyes, "Keyboard warriors? Write a report and switch to being a 50 Cent Party member tomorrow."

"Counselor, be a little low-key…" Long Ge continued, "This is a live broadcast, don't say it like it's easy for us to switch to being 50 Cent Party members, that will attract jealousy…"

"Stop talking nonsense, lead the way." Greed Wolf used the stature of a ten-year-old child to put on the airs of a regimental-level cadre and issued an order to Long Ao Min.

"Okay, okay…" Long Ge, this "big guy" of one meter seven, could only obey, who told him that the other party's level in the unit was indeed higher than his.

In short, under the leadership of Long Ao Min, the three pushed open the heavy wooden door and entered the first room in the castle.

Standing at the door, it was a vast space eight meters high, more than ten meters wide, and more than a hundred meters long. The four sides of this space were completely cast with blue-gray stone bricks, and the walls on both sides were broken and mottled, with light from unknown sources constantly penetrating through the walls.

In addition… for some reason, when the three members of Saber stepped into the door, they heard a system prompt in unison: [Desolate City Corridor].

This prompt came out of nowhere. Long Ge and the others opened the game menu to check, but found no task updates, and there were no changes in the status bar and item bar.

It seemed… the system was simply reporting the name of this place.

They had never encountered this phenomenon in any previous script. Today… was also the first time.