Chapter 112 What to Do

Time, returned to the present.

Eleven twelve, Feng Bujue had returned to the Throne Room.

In fact… getting to this room was very simple. For example, Ruoyu and Xiaoling rode their magic broomsticks to get up here, while Feng Bujue simply used Moon Steps to jump all the way from outside the castle.

Of course, there was a prerequisite for using this method of entry, which was… Dracula had to “let” you in.

Jue-Ge also mentioned earlier that this castle was covered by two layers of enchantment. Specifically… the outer layer of enchantment was in the shape of a semi-circular dome, covering the moat. The inner layer of enchantment covered the surface of the castle’s outer wall, like a protective film.

The Blade’s trio did not come into contact with the outer layer of enchantment because when the “old house” was transformed into a castle, they were already within the enchantment. As for the inner layer of enchantment… since they didn’t try to invade the castle through the high windows, but went straight through the gate, they didn’t encounter it either.

“Yo, I’m back.” Feng Bujue greeted Ruoyu and Xiaoling as he jumped in through the window, “How’s the surveillance work going?”

“Just two minutes ago, Long-Ge and the others successfully lured the werewolf, the gill man, and the mummy to one spot, and then unleashed a super combination skill…” Xiaoling replied.

“We don’t know the exact effect of the skill…” Ruoyu took over the conversation, “Anyway, judging from the feedback from the crystal ball, they blasted a data gap in the map… Those three monsters must be in dire straits.”

“Oh…” Feng Bujue nodded, “What about the Count?”

“I’m here.” Before Jue-Ge could finish speaking, Dracula’s voice came from above.

Feng Bujue looked up and quickly spotted an upside-down bat in the corner of the ceiling.

“Heh… your three top generals have been wiped out. Aren’t you going to go out and control the situation?” Feng Bujue looked at the bat and asked with a smile.

“It doesn’t matter.” Dracula replied as he transformed back into human form and slowly floated down, “Your so-called ‘wiped out’… is only temporary. We, the Dark Clan… do not truly die.”

“Oh? What do you mean by that?” Feng Bujue asked with interest, “Do you possess the ability to ‘revive on the spot as long as the other party leaves this room and comes back’?”

Jue-Ge’s words were obviously a jab at the monster refresh method in the Castlevania series, but Dracula didn’t know that, nor did he delve into the statement. He just replied seriously, “When you humans die, you become spirits, entering Heaven, Hell, or wandering the world. When our race dies… we enter Purgatory.” He paused, “For you, death usually represents eternity. But we… are ‘eternity’ itself. When our physical body in this world is destroyed, our consciousness returns to Purgatory, where we await our next return to the world.” At this point, he raised one arm and flicked his red cloak behind him, “As long as darkness exists in the hearts of humans in this world, we will continue to be resurrected. In fact… many times we are passively summoned to this world. Those evil religions, power-hungry groups, mad scientists… are never lacking in any era.”

“I see.” Feng Bujue smiled and continued, “Simply put… your subordinates have just been sent back to the respawn point, so you don’t care, right?”

“I don’t understand what you’re saying.” Dracula replied, “But I feel… you seem to want to get me out of the way?”

“Huh?” Feng Bujue raised an eyebrow, his tone changing slightly, “What makes you say that? I don’t mean that at all.”

“Hmph…” Dracula gave Jue-Ge a deep look, snorted coldly, and then continued, “Since you want to communicate privately with your companions, then I won’t disturb you.” After saying that, he actually left…

After the Count left the Throne Room, Xiaoling whispered, “I always feel like this guy is acting weird…” She turned to look at Jue-Ge, “Could it be that our plan has already been seen through by him?”

“That possibility exists, but it’s not high…” Feng Bujue replied, “Dracula isn’t a derivative. He can’t see our ‘side quests’.”

Right now, the [Side Quest] that Jue-Ge was talking about was undoubtedly the follow-up to the Hell Front team completing [Find a way to meet up with your teammates].

The follow-up that Blade received for the same quest was [Enter Dracula’s Castle]. By the way, this follow-up was crossed out when Blade’s team members arrived at the [Desolate City Corridor], and was immediately changed to [Explore Dracula’s Castle]. The reason why I didn’t write it back then was obviously because I forgot.

So, looking at the Hell Front’s side quest follow-up, their quest was updated after Ruoyu and Xiaoling arrived at the castle’s high platform and met Jue-Ge. The content was—[Complete the ritual recorded in Van Helsing’s diary to open the Gate of the Border Prison].

To be honest, the moment he saw this quest… Feng Bujue was quite depressed because he had already joined the villains’ camp at that time, and the content of this quest was obviously contrary to his position, forcibly increasing the difficulty of completion.

But Jue-Ge wasn’t the kind of person who would give up when he saw difficulties. He was a man who took pleasure in overcoming difficulties… Therefore, on the way back to the Throne Room, during the time when he and his two teammates exchanged information, he had already thought out the layout and countermeasures for the next step, and told his teammates as concisely as possible.

After returning to the Throne Room, Jue-Ge first pretended to chat with the monsters for a few words, and then asked Hill to find the diary. In fact, in his original plan… he wanted to send a monster to follow Hill to get the diary, but due to the side quest that had just been refreshed, he changed his mind… In order to ensure that nothing went wrong, Jue-Ge followed him himself.

It could be said that… every move Feng Bujue made in this scenario was both planned and adaptable. While leaving room for maneuver in his actions, he always maintained the upper hand.

“To put it another way, even if Dracula really sees through my intentions…” Feng Bujue continued, “So what?” He turned to look at Ruoyu, “The amulet is in our hands.” Then, he patted his bag, “Van Helsing’s diary is also in our hands.” He looked at Xiaoling again, “Even if I didn’t retrieve the diary, we still have the phonetic symbols Xiaotan copied…” He spread his hands and said easily, “The key items that determine the direction of the plot are all in our hands. The enemy team members have fought the villain Bosses to the point of mutual destruction; and the three of us are waiting in ease, almost fully prepared… In this kind of situation, there are not too many variables left.”

“Mm…” Xiaoling put her finger to her lips, thought for a moment, and then continued, “Even in the worst-case scenario… we only need to give up the side quest and focus all our efforts on dealing with Blade, and the possibility of defeat is indeed very slim…”

“Hey hey… it’s okay for me to say it, but that sentence of yours is setting up a fLag.” The next second, Feng Bujue pointed at the crystal ball on the table with a smile, “Look… the moment you said that, trouble came…”

Bang—

Before Jue-Ge could finish speaking, the door of the Throne Room was pushed open.

Standing at the door were figures of one meter seventy, and two of about one meter twenty.

Without dialogue or hesitation, Xiaoling took out the MP5 and KRISS Super V from her bag the moment she heard the door open… She could use these two light submachine guns freely even in her loli form.

In an instant, a burst of gunfire erupted, and a barrage of bullets ruthlessly swept towards the three people at the door.

“Hmph! Just as expected!” Seeing this, Long-Ge smiled confidently and raised his shield to block.

Greed Wolf and Seven Killers flashed behind Long Aotian at the same time.

“Huh? What’s going on!” But four seconds later, Long-Ge’s expression suddenly changed, “I’m actually losing health?”

That’s right, he was losing health… Although he was hiding behind the Oriharukon Shield, and facing two gun-type weapons without any special effects, his Survival Value was still decreasing at a rate of 2% per second.

“Holy crap! Quick, dodge!” After holding out for a few more seconds, Long Aotian finally realized why this was happening, “She actually filled the submachine guns with special ammunition!”

After saying this, he and his two teammates jumped sideways to either side of the door, leaving the enemy’s firing range.

At the same time, the audience watching the live broadcast also reacted…

“Are you kidding me… How much of a tyrant is this…”

“Just now, in less than ten seconds, she probably used up hundreds of RMB…”

“I’ve never heard of anyone loading special ammunition into rapid-fire weapons, that stuff is sold by the ‘bullet’…”

“Could it be… homemade?”

“Even if it’s not a store-bought item, but made with Mechanics specialization, the cost of the raw materials is equally high.”

The audience was abuzz, and comments and video bullet screens ushered in a wave of excitement.

To this day, Thriller Paradise had been in operation for more than half a year, and “special ammunition” was already a very familiar commodity to players. Most players would go to the system store to buy a few fixed types of ammunition, anyway, the store goods were all fair and honest; while some higher-end, or players with special needs, would go to the auction house to buy special ammunition made by others. As mentioned earlier, many studios were now making money from this kind of Mechanics specialization product; there were even some organizations engaged in reselling or with large ammunition needs, who would conduct large-scale customized wholesale on third-party trading platforms…

Of course, no matter which type of buyer, which type of user… there was one common sense that was well known. That was—"Special ammunition" should be loaded into guns with slower firing rates, higher power, or special effects. If there were really no such conditions, then just find a sniper rifle of ordinary quality to load it with.

As for the basis of this common sense…

For example… if the penetration power of a sniper rifle firing ordinary bullets is 10, then a submachine gun is about 3 (this is a broad statement and does not represent specific gun types and bullet calibers); when a sniper rifle fires special ammunition, even without any skill or item effects, 10 will be transformed into 20, 25, or even higher; but when a submachine gun fires special ammunition like this, it’s just turning 3 into 6 to 8…

In short, in general, firing special ammunition is regarded as behavior similar to ‘activating a skill’. Considering that the price of this kind of bullet is not cheap (in terms of bullets), loading it into a gun with a high firing rate, low power, and no special effects is undoubtedly a waste.

However, Xiaoling’s actions and thinking were obviously contrary to common sense…

Friends with good memories may remember… Xiaoling was already doing this when she fought Jue-Ge one-on-one in the "Peerless Martial Tournament" scenario. Now, she was showing off her money-burning behavior of "using special ammunition as ordinary ammunition at will" in front of countless viewers.

For nothing else… just to deal a little more damage with every shot.

That’s how ruthless, that’s how rich, willful.

“What’s the situation?” Seven Killers, who had rolled once outside the door and stood up, immediately looked up at Long-Ge and asked, “Aren’t you supposed to be able to block bullets like a [BEEP]?”

“It would be easier to deal with if she really used a rifle to fire special ammunition at me…” Long Aotian replied dejectedly, “The firing rate of the submachine gun is super fast. I don’t have time to use the Oriharukon Barrier to convert the force of every bullet, and the power of those bullets is just enough to break my ordinary defense… Holding out like that would cause me to continuously lose health.”

“Tch… If we had a little more funding…” Greed Wolf next to him heard this and replied with an unhappy expression, “…we could squander it like her…” He clenched his fist and said fiercely, “When the time comes, I’m going to install two TVs in the conference room, one to watch the news, and one to watch animal documentaries.”

“Hey! Is that the point?” Seven Killers and Greed Wolf didn’t jump to the same side, so his voice was a little louder, “Commissar, cheer up! I don’t know whether to complain about your lack of ambition or the programs you watch!”

Swoosh—swoosh—

Just as they were shouting, they saw… two fast shadows flash out from inside the door.

In that instant, the three of Blade instinctively thought that some kind of explosive was flying out… so they all made defensive and evasive postures.

But two seconds later, they took a closer look… and found that it was actually three people flying out.

At this time, Feng Bujue and Ruoyu were flying in the air together on a magic broom, while Xiaoling was riding one alone.

After the three of them flew out of the Throne Room, they rushed into the city, completely ignoring the three enemy team members behind them.

“Crap!” After another two seconds, Greed Wolf was the first to react, “Quick, chase after them! They’re going to run!”

With that, he had already rushed out in one stride, running at the front.

But…

[Side Quest Progress Updated] At this second, the system prompt sounded coincidentally.

And the new quest that appeared in the Blade team members’ quest logs was—[Kill the Demon King Dracula].