Chapter 121

Mingmei had truly never seen anyone so wary of the mysterious merchant, so much so that when she went to the underground arena to pick up Mu Chen after selling all the boxed lunches, she brought it up when they were alone.

"That person even used disguise and voice alteration!"

Mingmei found the scene unbelievable just thinking about it.

"Probably got burned by an NPC before," Mu Chen said, understanding the player's mentality.

Mingmei looked at Mu Chen's somewhat sly smile and couldn't help but ask, "You know something?"

"Ah, I don't know, but I heard that because they've awakened their consciousness, many NPCs have become very fickle. While they don't exactly turn evil, get redeemed, or change their original role's stance, it's still very painful for many players."

"Yeah, I know that," Mingmei nodded, expressing her understanding. After all, she had also heard of NPC's who sell boxed lunches; the personality of the one she played and the one with self-awareness were worlds apart.

"So, not all players who enter the game are thinking about cozying up to neutral NPCs or trying to build good relationships with them," Mu Chen said, stroking his chin. "They're even prepared to be enemies with the whole world when they enter the game."

"You're making it sound like you're talking about me, like I'm some kind of monster?" Mingmei said, laughing and crying. Mu Chen smiled.

Jian Yunhe was completely unaware of their banter.

Whether it was her bad luck or her personality just didn't appeal to NPCs, Jian Yunhe had been screwed over by NPCs ever since she started playing the game in the novice village.

She didn't even want to think about those memories!

Holding the boxed lunch she bought from Mingmei, Jian Yunhe sat in her little house, her nerves on edge. Listening to the noises outside, she lowered her eyes and ate her boxed lunch in silence.

Leaving aside the boxed lunch's features, it was really too hard to eat a normal meal on the Alien Sea QvQ.

It's not like she hadn't played those kind of end-of-the-world survival, resource-scarce games before, but this setting wasn't the apocalypse. It was a normal interstellar era, and they were living like this completely by their own doing!

Jian Yunhe simply couldn't imagine that the life she was living now and her original life were in the same era.

"Long live the Empire..."

Muttering it to herself seemed to restore her HP. Jian Yunhe's thoughts began to wander as she ate.

When she transmigrated, she had actually crawled out of a pile of dead people, not remembering her character's identity or even basic knowledge.

This game playing was making Jian Yunhe live in constant fear.

She had suffered a lot for it in the early stages.

She was afraid of being recognized by NPCs who knew the original owner, and she didn't have a place to get the right information. After so many days, she had finally entered the underground city. Although she saw many familiar faces here, Jian Yunhe's eyes darkened when she thought about the time she had spent above.

Above was truly a place that devoured people without spitting out their bones, and even players who stayed there for a long time would have their minds affected.

Before, she had finally found a companion she recognized and learned a lot of useful information above, but that person actually wanted to stab her in the back?

Thinking of this, she looked down at the thigh under her skirt that was wrapped in bandages. A little more dark red blood seeped out, and she cursed softly before falling silent again...

"Heike has recruited a lot of fighters."

Lu Gui, having nothing better to do, ran to Mu Chen's treehouse again, sat at the table on the outdoor terrace, and sighed with his hands behind his head, "We have to carefully arrange the fights these days to prevent hitting 'our own people.'"

Speaking of their own people, Mingmei raised her eyes and looked at Lu Gui. Seeing the disdain in his eyes, she knew that Lu Gui didn't seem to be satisfied with this arrangement.

"Speaking of which, Oulai hasn't fought since he was recruited, and A'Chen hasn't either. Feng Li didn't ask for it, and it's been easier for us to investigate using her name."

Mingmei couldn't help but sigh at the difference between Feng Li and Heike. Lu Gui said, "You've got the order backwards, right? According to what you said before, Oulai has always been Feng Li's person. Although the audience in the underground arena said that Oulai was recruited because of his excellent record, and therefore stopped competing, that shouldn't be the reason, right?"

"Eh? Now that you mention it, I almost forgot."

Mingmei patted her head and realized the problem.

"Feng Li doesn't seem to like her people being too high profile."

Lu Gui remembered that Mu Chen hadn't continued to go there these days, but there were still people there who were thinking about Mu Chen's performance, hoping to see him on stage again.

Even Heike was a little regretful and told himself that he was one step too slow to get in touch with Mu Chen.

"The ones who are still fighting in the arena are either powerful free agents who live on the surface, or fighters who have been recruited by Heike or are close to Heike. As for the others who are nominally signed but fight very little, like Mu Chen, like Oulai, and perhaps some others who gradually stopped fighting earlier, they were all recruited by Feng Li."

Lu Gui had learned a lot of useful information when he was in contact with Heike's people.

"What about Youkelian's?" Mu Chen came out of the house with a pot of hot tea, walked to the two of them, and sat down in front of Mingmei before pouring her a cup of hot tea.

Sitting on the ground, Lu Gui glanced at him secretly, unable to bear to look.

Where did this man grow up drinking vinegar?

"Youkelian... anyway, I haven't heard of him recruiting anyone in the black arena," Lu Gui shook his head, raised his eyes to look at Mu Chen, and looked like he was asking, "What about you?"

Mu Chen slowly poured himself a cup of hot water and said, "Youkelian actually has a very good reputation in the orc settlement, even more popular than Heike."

"Huh?"

Mingmei and Lu Gui became interested. These orcs who had fled here because of mistakes actually had more goodwill towards humans of a different race?

"Are orcs very discriminatory against mixed blood?"

If it came to bloodlines, Mingmei thought Heike would be closer to these orcs.

"No, because Heike has a wife, Lisa, who is also a human-orc hybrid. Her father was once a very powerful figure in the Alien Sea, uniting many orcs in the Alien Sea.

Lisa's father married a human woman for love, and that's how he had his wife."

Mu Chen laid out the news she had found in the past two days in front of the two of them: "Although they are both mixed blood, Heike and Lisa's birth are completely different situations."

On this point, Mingmei and Lu Gui nodded in agreement, the former because of coercion and violence, the latter because of love.

"Youkelian's current power is actually left by Lisa's father. Although Youkelian is a human, there are actually many humans in their power because of Lisa's mother back then. Even because of Lisa's father's example.

There are many such cross-racial unions in their power.

However, Youkelian and his group are very low-key, whether in the Alien Sea or in the underground city. They usually don't come forward unless they are bullied."

After Mu Chen's description, the impression of Youkelian's power became even more mysterious.

"However, does Youkelian only get everything he has now because he is the daughter of the former leader? Youkelian himself should have many outstanding qualities, right?"

Mingmei thought that this group of forces was now taken over by Youkelian, his wife had died early, and his father-in-law had also passed away a few years ago. If you think about it carefully, you really can't delve into it.