Chapter 6
"Think Tank, honestly, I've always felt indebted to you. How about you go join Han Huju? You know our Mountain Fortress' situation. You can guide them here, use my head as your stepping stone, and guarantee a life of wealth for you and your daughter. What do you think?"
Cheng Dalei pondered over it, but couldn't figure out how to successfully defend their fort against this impending attack. With just four of them, even digging a pit would take two days, how could they defend? The only solution might be to send Xu Shenji over and put his excellent strategizing skills to work, slipping some sabotage tactics over. He figured that after a few days, all of Black Stone City would crumble on its own. If he was lucky, he might even have a chance at becoming the new master of Black Stone City.
Xu Shenji had thought about it, too. He had contemplated it half the night. However, thinking about Han Huju's cruelty, even if he chose to join him, he would likely be killed by Han Huju upon their first meeting. Hence, sticking around with Cheng Dalei wasn't necessarily a bad choice, at least he appeared to be quite confident.
If Xu Shenji knew where Cheng Dalei's confidence came from, they'd probably both be taken aback.
Xu Shenji's face reddened, he pointed at Cheng Dalei's nose, "You, you're misunderstanding me! The old fort owner treated me like a brother. If you won't avenge him, then I'll do it! We are brothers and I don't care about dying. After I die, I'll follow our old fort owner underground!"
Watching from the side, Qin Man's eyes sparkled.
Cheng Dalei felt regretful; this was the only plan he could come up with. Any other plan, he couldn't think of anything.
"Think Tank, do you think they'll give us five days?" Cheng Dalei asked.
"How could it be possible? It just takes one and a half days from Black Stone City to here; round trip would be not more than three days. He will never give us five days." Said Xu Shenji.
Cheng Dalei nodded, so, they have at least five days. These five days were their final preparation time.
『First Mountain Fortress Defense』
This was the challenge given by the Bandit's Heart, it even specifically stated the level of difficulty. Of course, with an increase in task difficulty, the reward would be quite lucrative.
"Fort master, fort master, there's a person coming to attack our mountain fortress!" Xu Ling'er rushed over, completely out of breath and her chest heaving.
"He came so fast!" Cheng Dalei was taken aback, "How many people..."
"Just one person." Xu Ling'er patted her chest, making Cheng Dalei dizzy.
"Only one?"
"Yes, just one person, armed with a spear and quite handsome too." Xu Ling'er said shyly.
"Let's go and see." Cheng Dalei was further puzzled, who would be crazy enough to attack a mountain fortress alone?
The four of them headed towards the entrance, Xu Shenji was mumbling to himself: See, I told you we should have left earlier.
Bang!
A hand heavily landed on Xu Shenji's shoulder, Xu Shenji turned and saw Qin Man standing behind him like a metal tower.
"What... What are you going to do?"
"Good fellow, I heard what you said, I know you're a true hero too." Qin Man thumped Xu Shenji's chest, "From now on, you're my brother!"
"Cough…Cough…Sure. We're all heroes here." Xu Shenji helplessly massaged his aching chest, thinking to himself, I just can't communicate with this uncouth guy who has zero IQ.
At the front of the mountain fortress's gate, a man and his horse stood solemnly, clutching a spear.
"All you scoundrels in Frog Fort, come out and meet your fate!"
"If Miss Su has suffered even the slightest, I will kill you all!"
By the time Cheng Dalei and his group reached the gate, they saw Lin Shaoyu on his horse using his spear to knock on the wooden fence.
Upon seeing Cheng Dalei, Lin Shaoyu became even more excited: "All four of you---no, three of you, I don't fight with women. You three, come out and die!"
Cheng Dalei originally thought it was the people from Black Stone City who came over, but it turned out to be Lin Shaoyu. Cheng Dalei said to Qin Man: "Big Brother Qin, chase him away."
Qin Man complied and stepped out of the fortress. Lin Shaoyu carried his spear on his back: "Go back and get your weapons, I won't take advantage of you."
"Is that necessary?"
Qin Man casually glanced at him, suddenly lunged forward, like a panther, grabbed Lin Shaoyu's spear and yanked Lin Shaoyu off his horse, and using the back of Lin's clothing, he flung him away. Lin Shaoyu rolled down the slope, his shouts echoing from far below.
"I'll be back!"
"Wait for him to climb up, don't make it hard for him, let him take his horse away."
Cheng Dalei was preparing to return to the fortress, considering how to fend off Black Stone City's impending attack. He just stepped out when he abruptly froze. The reason was the line of text appearing in his mind.
Ding, successfully finished『First Mountain Fortress Defense』, Rewar...ds.....
Cheng Dalei paused, "Could there be a mistake? The super difficult mission specified by the special prompt is finished just like that? It shouldn't be that easy, the system won't give a difficulty hint for such a simple mission…"
Cheng Dalei suddenly thought of a possibility: the system encountered a problem, meaning, this is a.....BUG!
Cheng Dalei initially thought the "First Defense Mission" was to guard against Black Stone City, and was thus triggered by the system. Given the disparity in power between the two sides, it would undoubtedly be a super difficult mission.
But, things had gone amiss. Who would have thought Lin Shaoyu, with his overwhelming sense of righteousness, would single-handedly attack Frog Fort, substituting Black Stone City's soldiers and horses in the original mission?
Therefore, the super difficult mission suddenly became less difficult.
Cheng Dalei's heartbeat thumped in his chest, if the mission difficulty has decreased, the reward shouldn't have decreased, right? S-ranked mission, E-ranked difficulty, and the reward... it must still be S-ranked.
Reward... is...
Probably the system is also exasperated now. Cheng Dalei felt that the reward prompt was so slow, as if it was in stutters. He clutched his chest, his heart pounding.
"Just hurry up, the situation being what it is, you should be straightforward, don't dilly-dally."
Ding, reward – Excellent Iron Spear
Ding, reward – All mounts in Mountain Fortress are upgraded
Ding, reward – A well
Ding, reward – Healing skill of Mountain Fortress (Increase of recovery rate from injuries within the fortress.
Ding, skill randomly upgrades for one member of the Mountain Fortress
Ding, reward – Ten acres of farmland
Ding, reward - Ten wooden chests
Cheng Dalei's legs trembled, he fell to the ground with a thump. His hale face turned beet red, his heart pounding fervently, like a drum.
"Boss, boss." Xu Shenji picked up Cheng Dalei, "What's wrong with you?"
"It exploded, it exploded…"
Cheng Dalei murmured to himself, the sound of 'Ding' ringing in his ears, he had never found this sound so delightful before, it was the sound of happiness sheesh.
Ding, received the mission『Second Mountain Fortress Defense』, this mission's difficulty exceeds the Mountain Fortress's current strength.
This was the last prompt, Cheng Dalei knew that these rewards were originally meant for defending against the Black Stone City's attack, but Black Stone City would still attack him. Moreover, even if he successfully defended Black Stone City's assault, the rewards won't be as generous as this time.
Now is not the time to be happy, the second defense is the real challenge, the real crisis.
Just then, a silhouette clambered up from the bottom of the hill, holding a spear, his clothes in tatters.
"Haha, I'm back, didn't expect that, did you?"