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The Undead returned victorious.
They even brought back 8 women and children.
Watching the three Undead's excited faces, eager for their reward, Lind was a bit bewildered.
"Are you guys Travel Frogs or something?"
Then Lind realized a serious problem: he didn't have global vision and was unaware of many important events that were happening to the players.
Just like this time, he had no clue what the players had actually done.
A real game NPC should be able to sense task completion instantly, no matter how far the players are.
He absolutely couldn't let his non-mainstream NPC identity be exposed.
"It seems I can only peek at the official website more often."
However, on the surface, Lind maintained a perfectly measured expression, a pie chart of demeanor consisting of three parts authority, three parts gratification, and four parts foresight.
"Well done, Undead!"
As for why only three Undead returned, one must have died, of course.
A minor matter, since they could be resurrected; the life of a player was the cheapest commodity.
Lind then turned his gaze to the frantic and helpless eight.
Six women in tattered clothes and two children.
They looked malnourished, timid, wearing thin clothes in the December cold, one woman's ankles so swollen from the cold it hindered her walking.
In a large camp, women and children are vital demographic resources, especially women—as not gratifiers of base desires, but as bearers of life.
Population is power.
But in a small camp where food is scarce, women and children are burdens, with many Wanderers preferring the carefree life.
Lind currently had no food crisis and even welcomed new manpower to strengthen his "Newbie Village." NPCs would be in short supply eventually, and the Soldiers were also needed to act as law enforcers, manifesting his power and serving as a backdrop whenever he made an appearance.
It was crucial to maintain a clear distinction between Soldiers and players, preserving absolute authority.
Hence, having new NPCs who could issue quests was important.
Nevertheless, a prerequisite for accepting these 8 and any other NPCs that players brought back—these people must have clean slates.
Never underestimate a woman or child; they can become "rats," roaming from one settlement to another, seeking opportune moments to turn "kind-hearted fools" upside down.
Every time he visited Prey Town, Lind would hear such tales.
Consequently, lone women and children often faced grim fates.
Save them out of kindness, and the "rats" might bring about uninvited calamities; dispatch them with a flick of the hand, and you avoid wrongfully sparing anyone at the expense of peace of mind.
Kindness? Can you eat that?
Even if the Star Dragon Ridge outpost was impregnable to an ordinary Wanderer's might, and they were disinclined to mess with its towering walls, finding a weakness within would tempt anyone not to pass up the chance at this fat sheep.
However, Lind sometimes had to show his benevolence in front of the players.
A kindly, foolish NPC always gains players' favor more easily than a nefarious, selfish one; besides, he needed to bolster the population, for the players did not truly belong to him.
The players shut their mouths, quietly watching Lind, though perhaps they were just waiting for the "plot to thicken."
"I am Lord Lind of the Star Dragon Ridge outpost."
Lind looked at the cowering group of eight: "Where do you come from?"
One of the older women in the group knelt down before Lind first, and the others followed suit.
The three nearby players whispered among themselves about things like "Is there a hidden storyline?" "If we kill them, will they drop gear or accessories?" "What if we bait the Wanderers by throwing them out and then take out the Wanderers—is that exploiting a bug to farm rescue quests?" and so on.
It had to be you guys.
Lind, as a first-tier Great Knight with sharp ears and keen eyes, heard their whispered words without missing a single one, as they didn't bother to cover up their conversation.
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Thank goodness he already knew that this was how players behaved. If it were anyone else, not to mention the law-abiding and righteous NPCs, even the chaotic and evil NPCs would get goosebumps.
Where did this living king of hell come from?
"My lord, we, we were captured by the mountains north of Banshee Lake. Before that, we wandered around with 'Hyena' Old Mand. Later, Old Mand was besieged by those terrible wanderers and abandoned us. We had only been captives of those wanderers for no more than two days when we encountered your... your soldiers, and your soldiers saved us."
Wanderer = thief, mountaineer, shameless rat.
"Old Mand?" Lind frowned slightly, indifferent to the players who were already becoming indignant beside him, his emotions weren't easily swayed, and although he hadn't been in this world for long, he was no longer naive enough to believe something just because someone said it.
He had never heard of Old Mand.
The likelihood of it being made up was not high, it was very likely a minor character.
But in the eyes of an ordinary wanderer, definitely a big shot.
"Leo, Reed!" Lind waved: "Take them to find a place to settle down. I remember we have some tents left, or set up a simple dwelling elsewhere, but not too far from the vegetable garden!"
The vegetable garden is right at the central location, not against the city wall. Even if there are "rats" among the eight, they won't be able to pull any tricks.
No need for him to arrange the rest, Leo and Reed would know what he meant, and they will separate them for questioning and investigation. If there is any slip-up, they will be able to catch them immediately, and even if they can't catch them, they will be able to interrogate for some more critical information.
Only after confirming that there really is no problem would they truly accept them.
He was indeed in dire need of people.
Not to say that NPCs outnumber players, but it's essential to have enough.
"Yes!" Leo and Reed nodded.
"My lord, we can help too!"
You see, the undead are getting anxious again.
"Don't rush," Lind shook his head, "You need to report to me what happened, what happened during this time?"
Yes, what exactly happened? I only asked you to investigate the trails of wanderers and scavengers, a shorthand for "opening the map," why was the killing so brutal?
Bringing back a group of people is one thing, but the food? Not a bit of food with you?! Don't tell me it's because you didn't want to be overburdened, watch out, I'll turn hostile!
"Wait for me, I'm coming! I'm coming!" Black Tortoise Shield shouted as he ran over, his resurrection point still wasn't at Star Dragon Ridge, and judging by his out-of-breath appearance, it must have been quite a distance.
Black Tortoise Shield was clueless: "What happened? Damn, did I miss the plot? Did anybody record it?"
Loves White Silk raised a hand: "Recorded."
"The lord needs to be briefed on the situation."
"Can't this game just have a one-click quest submission?"
"There's no gold question mark above his head and no words on his waist, it focuses on realism you know, you can't be distracted, otherwise, it's easy to miss out on the plot."
"It's too real. Who's going to do it?"
"I'm good at speaking!"
Four people reported to Lind at once, all talking over one another.
The entire process was described by them as extremely exciting and exhilarating.
"We encountered wanderers, about 15 to 16 of them!"
"It was 18 or 19, I think"
"Moon Slash Blade damn it, if you act cute again, I'm logging off to smack you right now"
"Let me continue, a sense of justice in our hearts urged us to act!"
"So we gave up on sneaking, we went in fighting..."
"Hey, I used the counter-blast at that time, and then..."
Lind: "..."
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