The men ran in panic while screaming in fear.
Some of them tripped and fell in the mud, but they did not let go of their umbrellas. They crawled and rolled nervously as they tried to get into the village as if Fang Yue would eat them alive if they did not escape in time.
Their reaction stunned Fang Yue.
"D*mn, am I that scary?"
Aside from Fang Yue's thoughts, the other refugees reacted similarly when they saw the patrol team's reaction.
Terrified, they screamed in fear. They covered their heads with their clothes and ran madly towards the village.
The commotion caused a chain reaction amongst other refugees. Even those who camped beside the fireplace ditched it and ran together with the crowd.
The sleeping refugees were also startled. They bolted up nervously and grabbed a wooden plank as a shield from the rain before dashing out.
All the refugees gushed into the village like the rising tide, as though they had seen a ghost that terrified them to their cores.
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The refugees continuously lost HP under the rain, and the damage numbers were popping up above their heads ceaselessly.
The damage numbers appeared like a reverse waterfall. The impactful scene shocked Fang Yue once more.
"D*mn it. Are they trying to compete to see who loses HP faster?"
The refugees who ran into the village first were the ones to fall first.
Thud!
One of them fell and plunged into the ground as they ran. He no longer showed signs of being alive after falling to the ground. He must have lost all his HP and died on the spot.
Then, the second one appeared, followed by the third, the fourth, and so on.
The refugees died one after another before even getting close to the village. The furthest one made it halfway but was still quite some distance away from the entrance.
The others were terrified when the first batch of refugees died while running. They quickly turned around and ran back to the shed as fast as they could.
"D*mn it! I've never run so fast before even during gym class!"
"The world champion, Liu Xiang, is nothing! My hundred-meter dash already breaks his record!"
"D*mn it! F**king game! You piece of lousy sh*t! We are sandwiched between the rain and the Wicked! Is there a way out of this?"
"F**king system! Are you done? I've just started the game and you've been trying to kill me ever since! What am I supposed to play?!"
"*********! BACK! BACK! We will die before making it to the village entrance in the rain!"
The refugees cursed out loud as they looked at Fang Yue in fear.
The familiar tone, the familiar presence, everything suddenly felt warm and loving.
Fang Yue teared up because those so-called refugees were actually players! He finally found someone from the real world!
Overjoyed, he immediately turned from running towards the village to the group of newfound players.
Fang Yue's sudden shift in direction terrified them all again.
"Don't come near me!"
"Aaaaaah! I've had it! It's either me or you now!"
"Brother! Don't be stupid! It's a Rain-level Wicked!
"What's a Rain-level Wicked anyway?"
"Who knows, but look at the patrol team! They ran like they saw a ghost! Do you think this Rain-level Wicked is something we can handle?"
The group of players immediately realized the gap in strength because the patrol team defeated them easily and could kill them like squashing ants.
They had no choice. What else could they do? Although they felt bitter inside, there was no way to vent their emotions.
The lousy game brought them in as refugees; they did not even get to create their own character.
Aside from that, the status of the refugees they played was the lowest of lows. The villagers treated them badly, and they did not get food or water at all. Instead, they were thrown into the makeshift shed and left to die.
Some of them thought it might be a test for beginners. As players, they should try to win over the villagers and get into the village to complete the first part of the game.
Someone else speculated that they would be granted access to the village in the morning, but the game time actually followed the real world's time, meaning it was a 1:1 time conversion.
If they could go into the village in the morning, what should they do for the whole night? Sleep?
They literally slept in the real world using the game watch to get into the game, and now they had to sleep in the game just to progress?
What about tomorrow? Some of them had to go to work, so who could afford to sleep in the game for a whole night?
Ridiculous!
While the majority of the players were still in a panic, a small group of them started to analyze the situation and did all kinds of unusual things.
Some of them tried to kill the patrol to prove their strength; some of them tried to sneak into the village. Some of them tried to steal and bribe while some of them tried to move on and search for another way.
Every player had their own thoughts and they acted according to what they felt was right.
After all, they were in the game. They had already succumbed to reality in the real world, so why would they even be scared in the game?
In the end, the patrol team managed to defeat 20 to 30% of the players with most of them ending up dead. A small group of the players successfully snuck into the village, which garnered jealousy and envy.
Amongst all, Shi Wuliao was the most jealous.
"F***! I pre-ordered the game watch with the lucky gift! That scalper told me he got insider news about the distribution and got a dozen more scalpers to queue up at Jianghai City's Station No. 399. He said he would get one, but in the end, he simply gave me a normal game watch without the gift!"
"If it's not for that b*stard, I would've been on the winning path in the game! Getting first blood of that Wicked would've been mine!"
The other players were jealous of those who got into the village, but Shi Wuliao almost got mad because of it.
Meanwhile, the third heir in line to Shitian Corporation sent a message to his group of wealthy friends and boasted that he would do something big in Blue Ocean. In the end, he was on the verge of being killed by a Wicked and being kicked out of the game.
If this news got out, he would lose his position and status among the wealthy second-generation circle.
"Brothers, don't just stand there! Run!"
"Yeah! Let's just avoid the rain first! The patrol team said something about a Lord Han! That NPC will surely have a way to deal with the Wicked!"
"That's right! There's no way a boss would appear at a newbie starting point to slaughter us all!"
The words of encouragement from the other players lifted Shi Wuliao's spirits.
"Yeah, there's no way the game would try to kill a beginner at the start of the game! Let's go! The pigsty shed must be a safe area!"
While the group was running back to the shed, they suddenly heard a frantic laugh from the Rain-level Wicked.
"D*mn! D*mn it! My brothers, you guys are being too generous about welcoming me! Hahaha!"
"Oh, guys, what level are you at? Oh, wait, I forgot that this lousy game doesn't have a level system. How high are your stats now?"
"I'm also a player—a newbie as well! This is a mistake!"
A player?
The group of players was rather shocked, but Shi Wuliao quickly noticed something strange.
"Guys, don't listen to him! I have some insider news of the game. The Wickeds in the game have the ability to impersonate a player to lie to you! Don't fall for it!"
The players were hit by a sudden epiphany.
"D*mn! Are the Wickeds that smart?"
"F***! It's a noob killer!"
If they did not lose HP rapidly in the game, they would have run the other way towards the village instead of in the direction of who they thought was a Wicked.
In the end, before their HP reached 1, they got back under the pigsty shed. They grabbed whatever they could as a weapon and surrounded the fireplace.
They looked at the 'Wicked' further away cautiously. Despite being together, they were still shaking.
"What are we going to do next?"
The group looked at Shi Wuliao who spoke earlier.
Annoyed, Shi Wuliao retorted, "What else can we do? Just sit back and wait for it to kill us!"
"I thought you have insider news?"
"F**k you! I only know that much! If I got so much insider news, I wouldn't be here with you guys!"
The group fell into despair again because Shi Wuliao was right.
It was then that a voice shouted from the village entrance.
"Audacious Wicked! I, Lord Han, am here! Stop whatever you are doing now!" The strong voice was so loud that it hurt the ears.
The group of players turned around and saw an elderly man in green. His hair was snow white, and he was pointing at the 'Wicked' with a broken wooden sword.