Chapter 1 Something's Off

With a "ding," Mingmei saw the knife she threw being deflected by a weapon of similar metal.

"You have your mother's temper," a voice said.

Suddenly, her mother was mentioned. Mingmei looked up to see Minister Cui standing before her, holding a long sword.

"You're not Minister Cui. Who are you?"

Why would he know her mother?

Mingmei's expression changed repeatedly. She glanced at Feng Xun, whom she had pinned to the ground, and then at the "Minister Cui" who didn't seem like a good person. She began calculating how to subdue "Minister Cui" without letting Feng Xun escape.

"You have a frightening look in your eyes, young lady."

Mingmei's eyes were very bright. Although her face was a bit expressionless, one could often guess her thoughts just by looking at her eyes.

"I'm an enforcer sent by your uncle. I think you should have received the message."

Hearing that "Minister Cui" was an enforcer, Mingmei was instinctively suspicious. She remembered that this person had been here since the beginning of the game. If he was an enforcer...

"What? You don't think that enforcers like me, who hunt down Zerg, rely on information provided by you to take action, do you?"

"Minister Cui" crossed his arms and looked at Feng Xun, who was pinned down and unable to move. He said, "I naturally know his movements at all times. Then I followed the trail. As an enforcer, this is what I do.

"In the end, I think the biggest indicator, aside from the system reminding you that this guy exists in the game, should be whether I'm here, right?"

Hearing him say this, Mingmei remembered that she hadn't seen the enforcer NPC in the newbie village. Even when they reported the traces left by the Zerg, they didn't receive a response like the one Mingmei received today, with an enforcer NPC coming to investigate.

"Hahahaha..."

As soon as he said this, Feng Xun, whose face was on the ground, couldn't stop laughing. Mingmei was confused, not understanding what this Zerg was going crazy about.

"I said, why are you..." Feng Xun took advantage of Mingmei's moment of thought to finish laughing, glaring at the "Minister Cui" not far away. "So you've been in cahoots with the game designers all along. I should have known why..."

Just as Feng Xun was about to continue, the long sword in the enforcer's hand suddenly flashed with a white light and turned into a gun-like weapon that shot at Feng Xun.

Mingmei was so startled by the dazzling light from the muzzle that she immediately left Feng Xun's original position.

At the same time, she couldn't help but shout, wondering what the enforcer was doing. As a result, Feng Xun, who was shot, also emitted a dazzling light. Despite the blinding light, Mingmei didn't close her eyes. She stared wide-eyed at the human body that was merging with the light. After several changes, his body suddenly expanded...

"Holy crap, what's happening?"

The original scene of dancers and merchants assassinating the tyrant appeared again at the banquet, but this time, Mandison and Lu Gui unusually helped protect the seemingly "weak" tyrant. Just as they clashed, a change occurred that no one had expected!

"Oh my god! Zerg!!"

Lu Xiaoyao watched as the dancer she had pushed away with the back of her knife suddenly exploded.

Lu Xiaoyao subconsciously wanted to see if she had used the wrong knife and really killed someone, but she didn't expect that after the body exploded, a dark, enlarged bug was standing in front of her!

"Monster! Demon!"

Some of the native NPCs present had never seen such a scene before. They were not only frightened by the sudden assassination but also terrified that these assassins had turned into monsters!

Even more frightening things were yet to come!

The soldiers guarding the banquet rushed to protect the Chu Rong officials and the tyrant as soon as the assassination occurred. When faced with these dancers transforming, they didn't notice that behind them, some of the ministers attending the banquet had also transformed into ugly Zerg and were launching sneak attacks!

The number of Zerg and humans present instantly reversed!

"Guards! Guards! Protect His Majesty!"

Some of the palace NPCs who hadn't eaten anything that night also screamed completely. Assassins turning into monsters was one thing, but how did some of the adults also turn into this?!

"Hiss..."

At this moment, Mandison's hand holding the scimitar also trembled. It wasn't because he was frightened by the sudden reversal of the situation, but because his body felt an indescribable pain!

It was as if something wanted to burst out of his body!

Mandison rolled up his sleeves and looked at his arms, which were covered with a purplish-blue cracked pattern that spread upwards. He didn't even need to tear open his chest to know that his body should be covered in the same pattern.

"What's wrong with you..."

Lu Gui frowned, looking at Mandison and his sister, who were fighting together, and both had a look of pain on their faces. He turned his head and saw the cracks on Mandison's arm. He immediately turned to look at Lu Xiaoyao. Because they were dressed as dancers, the light纱 couldn't completely cover their bodies, making it even more direct to see.

Lu Xiaoyao's body, except for her face, was now covered in glass-shattering patterns, which was terrifying!

"There's something wrong with the food tonight..."

Perhaps it was because his physique data was good, or perhaps it was some kind of protection mechanism in the game that prevented them from suddenly exploding like those NPCs.

Mandison chuckled softly. Although his body was suffering great pain, he was glad that his mind was still clear and he could continue fighting.

"Your Majesty, Emperor of Chu Rong."

Mandison suddenly turned to look at the tyrant, who was still calm despite facing such a scene, and called out to him.

"What is it?"

"If we help you solve these assassins today, do you think Hua Liang can have room for negotiation with Chu Rong?"

"Good, I promise you. If you solve these assassins, Chu Rong is willing to negotiate with Hua Liang again."

Even if the plot had been ridiculously altered, their final mission was still to protect Hua Liang. Hearing the tyrant say this, Mandison squeezed out an even more ugly smile on his twisted face. He turned his head and looked at the Zerg in front of him again, chuckling.

"Sure enough, the name of this game is just a lie. The emperor of Chu Rong has to live... ha~"

Mandison didn't expect that the game he had been miserably abused in before could be played to this point after being re-entered after the modification.

His game mission had changed from [Protect Hua Liang] to a line of small words added later - [Save the Tyrant of Chu Rong].

"Can you still hold on?"

Lu Gui had just heard the conversation between Mandison and the tyrant. He looked at the group of Zerg in front of him, who were fierce-looking, and whose dark carapaces made it clear that they were difficult to fight. He was concerned about the remaining combat power on the field.

"Also, where's Julian?"

"I won't die for now. Julian seems to have discovered traces of the Zerg and went out to track them..."

As he spoke, Mandison looked at Lu Xiaoyao, who seemed to be in the worst condition on the field, and then looked at Lu Gui, asking, "Didn't you eat anything tonight?"

"Yeah..."

Realizing that there was something wrong with their food, Lu Gui looked at Lu Xiaoyao, whose hand holding the knife was already trembling with pain. He said, "Just guard His Majesty and prevent anyone from sneaking up on him. Leave the rest to us."

After Lu Gui finished speaking, he pushed Lu Xiaoyao behind him and then turned to look at Mandison, asking, "Did you eat the boxed lunch?"

"Of course."

Hearing Lu Gui's question, Mandison suddenly smiled. Meeting the faint smile on Lu Gui's face, he thought that this time they had probably thought of the same thing...