Newspaper Boy
Chapter 69: Conflict
Deacons are at the Saint stage, while Elders are Overlords. Zhang Yuanqing wasn't sure what was above Overlord, as he didn't have the authority to check, but he guessed it was the level of the five Alliance Leaders.
Furthermore, judging by the number of Deacons, the Demon Lord and the Cunning-Eyed Judge should be in the Overlord realm. If they were only in the Saint realm, the Five Elements Alliance wouldn't value them so highly.
It's worth mentioning that the difference in strength between different levels within the same stage is significant. For example, in the Extraordinary stage, level 2 can crush level 1, and level 3 can easily defeat level 2, not counting items and occupational advantages.
Illusionists are one of the peak professions, stronger than Fire Masters. Even Master Wuhen is not weak in the Overlord realm... Zhang Yuanqing had thought this Illusionist was unusual, but he didn't expect him to be so high-level.
Thinking about it from another perspective, being able to hire this Overlord-level figure for a single action is equivalent to having an extra get-out-of-jail-free card.
It's a pity it can't be used in the The Way of the Extraordinary.
"That's understandable. The Way of the Extraordinary is a single-player副本. Even high-level The Way of the Extraordinary can't break in midway. Except for native Bosses like the Three Daos Mountain Goddess."
While sighing, Zhang Yuanqing closed the page and then searched for the mechanism of The Way of the Extraordinary missions.
[After completing a trial mission, multiplayer instances open once a month, and single-player instances open once every three months. In the month a single-player instance opens, multiplayer instances will not open. The interval between each mission is no less than half a month. The pattern for The Way of the Extraordinary entering instances is: Multiplayer - Multiplayer - Single player... and so on.]
"In other words, The Way of the Extraordinary faces a life-or-death crisis every three months. If I'm lucky, I'll be matched with a low-difficulty single-player instance, and the mortality rate won't be high, at most I'll level up slower, um, that's good..."
"The interval between each mission is no less than half a month. I just cleared the Gold Water Amusement Park. I don't have to worry about a mission coming in half a month..."
He continued reading:
[Upon reaching the peak level of each stage, to advance to a higher stage, you must participate in a Large Massacre Instance. Participation in this instance is optional. Large Massacre Instances open twice a year.
[Note: The core of this instance is the mutual hunting between the Lawful and Evil factions, but the instance itself presents extreme dangers and rewards.]
Large Massacre Instance, Brother Bing left me a message, telling me to clear at least one Massacre Instance before looking for him... Zhang Yuanqing suddenly understood. He had previously thought that the "Large Massacre Instance" was some high-risk, high-reward single-player instance.
He hung around the office until 2:00 PM, took a taxi to the hospital, and tried to transcend souls to increase experience points, only to find that the spiritual bodies of ordinary people yielded negligible experience.
Zhang Yuanqing transcended ten spirits in one go, increasing his experience by less than 1%.
The mobs in the newbie village can no longer satisfy me. It seems I have to devour The Way of the Extraordinary... He sneaked into the bathroom and used the Demon Subduing Pestle once to purify the spiritual pollution brought about by devouring souls.
..........
7:00 PM, dining table.
Zhang Yuanqing summoned Little Silly and let him wander around the living room.
"Ahem!" Grandma cleared her throat and announced:
"I have an old friend. Her granddaughter is about the same age as Yuanzi and is a sophomore in college. I plan to introduce her to Yuanzi."
Auntie opened her mouth wide and stared at her mother in shock.
Grandpa and Cousin cleaned their ears.
Such a good thing? Zhang Yuanqing was overjoyed.
Grandpa frowned and said, "He's focused on his studies right now. You can't try to compensate for Yu'er and Yuanjun's lack of ambition by finding a girlfriend for Yuanzi."
Lack of ambition? Chen Yuanjun glanced at Grandpa. Grandpa usually didn't care about his and Aunt's blind dates. It turned out he was concerned all along.
Grandma waved her hand, overruling everyone, "I've already decided. I'm thinking of Yuanzi."
Grandpa's expression remained unchanged as he looked at his wife, "I'm thinking of you. Yuanzi is fickle and will have a hard time focusing on a relationship... You and your old friend have been friends for so many years, don't ruin it."
Grandpa, are you saying I'm a playboy? You must be saying I'm a playboy!! Zhang Yuanqing was indignant. He had never had a girlfriend since he was a child. There weren't many boys in the world as chaste as him.
But he didn't dare to refute Grandpa. Grandma had a bad temper but rarely hit people, while Grandpa never cursed but would suddenly give you a slap in the face.
"I object!" Aunt also joined Grandpa's camp, "Mom, why are you getting involved? If my sister finds out you're arranging a girlfriend for him, she'll definitely call and scold you. She said she's taking Yuanzi abroad to study next year."
Hearing Aunt mention his mother, Zhang Yuanqing's face darkened.
Grandma thought about it and felt that her husband and daughter made sense, so she stopped insisting, glared at Zhang Yuanqing, and scolded:
"Useless thing, it's a waste to have given you such handsome looks."
Zhang Yuanqing lowered his head guiltily and ate his meal, while Aunt and Cousin looked suspicious.
After dinner, Zhang Yuanqing's eyes wandered around the house, and finally found the koala-like Infant Spirit on Aunt's calf.
For some reason, this little guy was especially attached to Aunt, probably because she was the most like his mother in this family?
Now that he had received enough Lunar Force nourishment, the little guy could control his abilities and wouldn't "exchange" things aimlessly.
.........
12:00 AM, Zhang Yuanqing played a game, turned off the game console with satisfaction, got into bed, and forced himself to sleep by counting sheep.
A long time later, he finally felt sleepy. In a daze, he suddenly woke up, and a feeling of fear inexplicably rose in his heart, a strong fear.
This fear was similar to the female receptionist he had seen at the Wuhen Hotel this morning, but it was even more immense and more distant.
What's going on? He lifted the blanket, feeling somewhat bewildered and frightened, went to the window, pulled back the curtains, and gazed at the brightly lit city nightscape.
About five minutes later, that immense fluctuation disappeared, and everything returned to calm.
Lacking experience, Zhang Yuanqing couldn't judge what had happened. He muttered something silently, climbed back into bed, and continued to brew sleepiness.
Seriously, I have to start counting sheep again...
At 7:30 the next morning, he got up on time and saw Jiang Yuer sitting listlessly at the table, looking pale and unwell.
"What's wrong?" Zhang Yuanqing asked.
"My period came..." Aunt said aggrievedly.
Zhang Yuanqing looked around. Grandpa wasn't there, and Grandma was in the kitchen, so he leaned over and whispered, "Come on, I'll rub your stomach for you."
"Get lost!" Jiang Yuer angrily smacked him on the head.
At this moment, Grandma came out, and the two immediately fell silent.
After breakfast, Zhang Yuanqing pretended to go to work and took a taxi to the office.
Only Wang Tai was in the office area.
"Brother Wang Tai, where's the Old Driver?"
"In the squad leader's office."
"Oh!" Zhang Yuanqing sat down at his desk. A dozen minutes later, Guan Ya came out, looking grave, with a slight frown between her eyebrows.
"Yuanshi, I was about to call you."
Guan Ya picked up her teacup, took a sip, and leaned her round butt against Zhang Yuanqing's desk, saying:
"Did you notice anything strange last night?"
You mean almost getting scared shitless?... Zhang Yuanqing said, "Yes, I was startled awake, but I'm not sure if that's what you're referring to."
The Old Driver nodded lightly:
"Last night, the experts from the Xiahou family clashed with the Palace Lord of the Killing Palace. The location was in the Kangyang District Industrial Park. The fighting between the two sides caused an office building to collapse. Fortunately, it was at night and there weren't many people there.
"But the security guards inside, as well as a few employees working overtime, were killed. Sigh, honestly, these high-level The Way of the Extraordinary get carried away and don't care about the lives of ordinary people at all."
But I didn't receive a wanted notification from The Way of the Extraordinary. Hmm, no notification, probably because neither side's morality value was below 60... Zhang Yuanqing's expression became serious.
Morality value has no upper or lower limit. Evil people have no bottom line, and saints have no upper limit.
High-level The Way of the Extraordinary of the Lawful faction accumulate merit over the years, so they must have a certain foundation, but for it to escalate to this level, it's not just a matter of deducting morality value. The official side won't let it go.
"What has the organization decided to do?" Zhang Yuanqing asked. That industrial park wasn't far from his home, which explained why he felt such terrifying fluctuations last night.
Guan Ya fiddled with her teacup and said:
"The member of the Xiahou family has been temporarily taken into custody, but the punishment won't be too severe. Money and a warning, I guess. After all, the Xiahou family is a behemoth of the Lawful faction, practically an official entity, and has close cooperation with the Five Elements Alliance and the Taiyi Sect.
"As for the Palace Lord of the Killing Palace, the Elders' Council has ordered her arrest. They haven't yet identified her real-world identity and are communicating with the Xie family."
Zhang Yuanqing said "Oh" and stared at her delicate face, asking, "But how does this concern me?"
The Old Driver said helplessly:
"The Xiahou family borrowed the information on file about unregistered The Way of the Extraordinary from our branch, and identified several members of the Killing Palace, including Wang Qian. The Xiahou family might come looking for you later. I was just discussing this with the squad leader."
Seeing Yuanshi frown in confusion, she explained:
"The Xiahou family wants to force the Palace Lord out by capturing members of the Killing Palace. This approach is too extreme. The high-level officials of the Songhai branch haven't explicitly agreed, but they've tacitly allowed it. Anyway, it's best if they find her, and if they don't, the Xiahou family will bear the responsibility."
"But they already got Wang Qian's identity information, why are they looking for me..." Zhang Yuanqing's heart skipped a beat and he understood, "Oh, the Xiahou family wants me to help them lure out Wang Qian?"
Guan Ya nodded.
Wang Qian isn't stupid, how could he be easily lured... Zhang Yuanqing refused outright:
"Impossible, I won't betray informants."
Guan Ya thought for a moment and reminded him, "The Xiahou family can be a bit overbearing. Don't say anything later, the squad leader and I will help you withstand the pressure."
......
ps: Thankfully, I managed to finish a chapter.