Late at night, Lind was still awake, lying in bed browsing posts.
Through some posts and videos on the official website, he discovered that the current state of the players was not optimistic. Although some players were naturally optimistic, without the positive feedback from the game, their only reliance to continue playing might just be the far superior gaming technology of "Doomsday Magic Ring."
If another gaming company broke through the related technologies, "Doomsday Magic Ring" would definitely lose the vast majority of its players in a very short time.
Without the world's favor, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that the players found it difficult to advance even a single step.
Furthermore, he discovered that the players mainly appeared in the Rand Kingdom area.
A small part appeared in other kingdoms.
Unfortunately, the players' level was too low, they couldn't even figure out exactly which area they were in, they only vaguely knew it was within the Rand Kingdom.
Rand Kingdom, it's quite large indeed.
"My Lord," the voice of the Soldier accompanied by a knock on the door came through.
Lind sat up, draped on his clothes, and casually grabbed his Longsword.
When he opened the door, a gust of cold wind smacked into his face, forcing him to squint.
Lind, now a Great Knight, had a very strong body, his muscles as hard as rock under his clothes, barely disturbed by the biting cold wind.
But, it's human nature to fear the cold, and the night wind always carried a hint of the deathly stench of calamity, keeping one in a state of constant fear and trembling.
Before the Doom, people worshipped the night.
After the Doom, no one liked the darkness.
"What's up?"
The visitor was Soldier Peel, one of his nine Soldiers, his nose red from the cold.
When he opened his mouth to speak, large plumes of white steam poured out, engulfing his head, then swept away by a gust of wind.
In the darkness, the difference between the living and the dead is, perhaps, who can breathe.
"Those four Undead, they brought back a corpse."
The Traveling Frogs really never rest, always managing to find themselves something to do.
"A corpse?"
"They also mentioned they spotted traces of Scavengers."
Lind's spirits were slightly lifted.
It has been only two or three days since the city wall was breached, and the players had arrived just two or three days ago.
In this time, Lind and the players had exterminated wolves, promoted to a Great Knight at Prey Town, and wiped out a gathering of Wanderers.
There were so many things done that even the investigation of the breach right before them had to be postponed.
In his plans, of course, there was the intention to have the players investigate the Scavengers, but perhaps they were a bit too quick to act.
Even Lind himself was puzzled: was I like this when I played games? Not following quests obediently, running around everywhere.
Suddenly recalling a memory in his mind, "Let's explore this area later."
Who is playing audio clips in my brain?
Oh, I used to be like this too, so no worries then.
Even proper main quests in games can't control players, a NPC without any authority like himself shouldn't expect to be able to restrain players.
Lind nodded expressionlessly, "Let's go have a look."
"Yes."
When Lind saw the four Undead, they were excitedly chatting about something. The night's cold wind, sharp enough to penetrate thick fur coats, didn't seem to bother them as they were gesticulating wildly, especially excited when they saw Lind approaching.
"My Lord, while we were patrolling outside, we stumbled upon this corpse, and then discovered that Scavengers had targeted our territory."
The Undead were already coming forward to claim their achievements.
The expressions on the faces of several Soldiers nearby shifted slightly, even though they had heard about the Scavengers before, they were still somewhat worried now.
Scavengers = Calamity.
Doomsday disaster, unkillable, who wouldn't be afraid?
Lind looked at the corpse on the ground.
Having seen it often, he wasn't going to vomit.
He crouched down to examine the bitten head, searched other parts, and turned over the stiff hands of the corpse.
The right hand was covered with calluses, and although the left hand was similarly coarse, the placement of the calluses was completely different. This was someone who had used a bow for many years.
He tore open the clothes and found scars on the chest and back.
An old soldier.
In the times of Doomsday, soldiers were among the strongest, and those who had undergone life and death training and exercises were also skilled at sticking together.
As far as Lind knew, several corps had established private forces on the spot after the collapse of the Rand Kingdom's regime, forcibly maintaining all operations with their own military power.
Compared to his own status as "Old Nobility," those who held real power as "New Nobility" were the true Dominus.
At the eastern region of the Star Dragon Ridge outpost, there was a New Noble. He was to him what a chick is to a tiger.
So seeing the corpse, Lind wasn't in a very good mood.
The territory was now surrounded by the mysterious giant-hoofed horse, a group of fleeing Wanderers, possibly a Two-Headed People of Great Knight rank leading more Wanderers, an unknown number of Scavengers, and possibly a squad of soldiers. This didn't even include Prey Town's defense corps or the eastern New Nobility Lord.
If seen through the eyes of the players, if Prey Town really was "Newbie Village," then he was merely a Monster Stronghold.
Times were indeed turbulent.
The Star Dragon Ridge outpost glinted brightly on the horizon as if provoking something.
Under everyone's watch, Lind stood up: "It's the Scavengers."
With his statement, he essentially set the final tone—near the Star Dragon Ridge outpost, Scavengers truly existed and were very close.
The soldiers and players showed a clear polarization of states.
Player: "I knew it, haha! Does this mean a new mission is available?"
Soldier: "Sigh!"
They were different from the players in that they could die and couldn't level up by fighting monsters. They really didn't want any contact with Calamity.
"Danger is right before our eyes."
Lind spoke again, drawing everyone's attention to him. As an "NPC" who also understood "players" very well, he could easily grasp the situation of both sides.
Although he could sacrifice the players infinitely, in this situation, the true combat strength was not the players but his nine Elite Soldiers.
Players might seem formidable battling and killing at the Wanderer's Camp, but those were just a bunch of poor sods unable to even fill their stomachs. If the four soldiers from the Star Dragon Ridge outpost were sent to kill today's Wanderers, they wouldn't need to struggle so desperately and could go through nearly unscathed.
If it were Lind... he alone could turn the ground littered with charred corpses in very short time.
Players, naturally weak, were each "useless" at the start.
Therefore, the main force to eliminate the Scavengers was destined to be him and his nine soldiers. However, the players were not useless—they could use their lives to scout and gather intelligence on the enemy.
Including himself, the players, and the soldiers, they were a total of 14 people.
A force not to be underestimated, possibly insufficient against Wanderers but likely more than adequate to exterminate the Scavengers.
Lind had a suspicion, and he had read posts. One player, called @Long Live Sister Li, always mentioned being near the Scavengers' Nest north of the Star Dragon Ridge outpost.
It was almost certain that the information about the Scavengers came from there.
He remembered the numbers weren't large.
"Immortals, for the peace of Star Dragon Ridge outpost, go investigate the Scavengers and report back to me as soon as possible! I need to know where the Scavengers' Nest is located."
He turned to the soldiers: "Everyone else, be prepared to engage at any moment!"
The soldiers could sense the gravity in Lind's tone.
"Yes!" The soldiers obeyed, holding up torches and disappearing into the night wind.
The flickering flames struggled like fireflies in the cold wind, knowing that there would be no sweet dreams tonight, but in order to sleep peacefully in the future, tonight they must stand firm.
But the players were completely different. Lind watched as the four players looked at each other and then left his sight, only to come running back.
"Lord, we have fully investigated!"
Lind: "..."
You're not even pretending, just skipping me, huh![Note]