The so-called gold mine of a bounty Lan Lee was talking about was in an isolated part of the forest at the city borders of Rykan trying to figure out a way in. It turned out the enemy had overestimated their capabilities because they had attacked Rykan under the guise of looking for him but he hadn't even entered Rykan yet.
From Gods of Equino, he knew that every major city had a gate where players paid a toll fee to enter and had walls taller than the tower of babel surrounding them. Yes sure, they could have gone through the front desk but the problem was that they didn't have enough Qin to enter whatever city this was.
In the game, the minimum toll fee per person was 10 Qin which was gifted by the system when they first entered this godforsaken place. Now that the 10 Qin was gone due to unforeseen events for one of them while saving the other this meant they could only enter through the back door.
But that wall was too much of a challenge for these newbies. With their current strength, they couldn't leap over the wall. Believe it or not, they had tried and the best they could manage was reaching halfway before their faces plastered against it and fell back to the ground.
They were just like bugs attracted to a lamp insect killer only to be zapped and stiffly fall to the ground. It was now obvious that they needed a new plan. They couldn't climb over the wall neither could they go through the gate.
"Dage, maybe we should tunnel our way in?" suggested Fen Hao. This was indeed a good plan but the only issue was that someone had already thought of it and reinforced the ground around the wall making it very difficult for them to barrow their way into the city.
"It won't work unless your polite system has a jack hammer lying around," he said observing the wall that seemed to be taunting him.
Fen Hao opened his system panel and that little fluff ball circled around him making both Jin Lin and his system roll their eyes especially when the fluff ball nuzzled against Fen Hao's face. This was a life and death situation but Fen Hao's system had the time to act cute.
"Nope, no jack hammer in here," replied Fen Hao not at all recognizing the sarcasm in Jin Lin's voice earlier.
"How are you two friends?" asked the system in awe. The personalities were polar opposite but they were best buddies.
Jin Lin, "...."
"You know I liked you better when you didn't speak much. Your default settings were quite good," replied Jin Lin bringing the system to complete silence.
Just as the system quieted down a loud crackling sound similar to that of fireworks before they explode attracted his attention. He looked up and spotted a blue light shot up to the sky portraying a memorable scene transcended from heaven.
The beam reached a certain height in the sky and struck something with a loud boom before the light broke into several beams falling around the perimeter of the city. At some point, an intricate shield was formed spreading across the perimeter as it approached the ground.
Jin Lin's brows furrowed when he saw the speed and force at which the shield was descending on the city. He had seen it before in the game when he was a novice and lost half of his blood bar as he foolishly stood next to a city activating its shield.
This shield meant a city was under mandatory shut down which implied that no one could either enter or exit. But this shield was mostly used during guild wars or when a city was under threat but who exactly was so threatening that they had to lock down an entire city.
All he needed to do was look into a mirror and he would have his answer but since they weren't any mirrors lying around then it meant he would never know or at least for now. As the shield descended, Jin Lin grabbed his idiot of a friend, according to the system, and ran as furthest as possible.
Unfortunately for them the impact from the shield touching the ground caught up with them wreaking havoc like a tornado. A powerful wind ridden with dust pushed them forward slamming them to the ground.
For the nth time, Jin Lin had kissed the ground in just a short space of time ever since he entered Equino. It would be an understatement to say he was angry when in fact he was beyond livid.
He spat out the dirt from his mouth as the dust settled. At this point, he had no complaints as he stood up from the ground. Ever since he came into Equino it seemed the little luck he had was eaten by dogs leaving him with no good fortune.
He had not only been hunted down by a pair of crazies but also fought a Utryon for little to no worth. The amount earned from its energy was even less than the fee required to enter a city. Now he was eating dirt once more. What shitty dog luck was this?
He stood up and brushed the dust off his dirty clothes as he gazed at the glorious shield before them. A fascinated Fen Hao trotted over without warning and just like a toddler left in a room alone with a fork and a wall socket, he experimented.
Sticking out his finger onto the shield, his entire body was suddenly flung a great distance away. Jin Lin couldn't help but laugh at his misfortune as he watched Fen Hao's body twitching on the ground. He indeed looked like a bug zapped by a light insect killer.
Fen Hao who had been zapped wasn't in the best of mood as he slowly rose from the ground with Albert Einstein-like hair. "Dage, why are you laughing? You are such a pig teammate."