Unceasing Entropy crouched down while hugging her knees as she studied the two orcs lying on the wool blanket laid out on the ground. Then, she turned to Blossoming Strokes and said, "The orcs in this game… are quite different from what I imagined."
On the official site of "Otherworld," the page about the game world's background mentioned that besides undead and humans, there were also races like orcs, elves, halflings, and more. However, there weren't any accompanying images.
From the perspective of gamers, the players naturally assumed that the game developers hadn't yet completed the modeling for these races, and the descriptions on the official website were just painting a rosy picture.
As a result, many players and non-player forum users had proposed all sorts of ideas on the forum, from hoping that elves would resemble those from Lineage 2, wishing halflings to look like the Lalafell (Final Fantasy reference), to wanting orcs to have Japanese-style cat ears…
Unfortunately, the devs never respond to these suggestions. So, players had already mentally prepared themselves for Horde-like orcs (Warcraft orcs) and halflings resembling goblins.
The "art style" of this game had always been whimsical, after all. Apart from the undead race, which were all skeletons, the count of NPCs players found aesthetically pleasing to date was one and a half—Lord Yang accounted for half, while his black-robed pretty-boy companion accounted for one.
Blossoming Strokes could empathize with Unceasing Entropy's reaction and nodded. "I feel the same way too." There was a short pause before she added, "At least it's a new race. Though not cute, they aren't ugly either."
While these two were discussing, Ji Tang and Give Me Medicine lifted the tent flap open and entered.
"How is it? Can your healing skill be applied to these two NPCs?" Give Me Medicine asked as soon as he entered the tent.
"Nope." Unceasing Entropy stood up. "When I try to cast Dark Blessing on them, the system shows the prompt, 'Are you sure you want to attack an orc civilian?'"
"Damn, does that mean all new races in the future are hostile to the undead? Can't we share healing?" Give Me Medicine groaned in frustration.
"That's not necessarily the case. Healing skills may be non-transferable, but they can use our medicinal items," Blossoming Strokes said. "I've been practicing my skills, so if I apply an ointment, it should work."
Ji Tang silently bypassed his fellow gamers and crouched down to take a closer look at the two orcs.
Two orcs, one large and one small. Their physique wasn't much different from humans, with body proportions perhaps even closer to the golden ratio. Their green skin and prominent upper canines looked slightly out of place, but their facial features and contours didn't make them appear scary or strange.
Were it somebody else who didn't play the game, it might seem as though two human actors were hired, covered in green body paint and attached with fake ears, teeth, and lizard-like tails, to perform a hardcore cosplay…
Of course, these details weren't important. What mattered was that these two orcs, just like the human teenager he had examined earlier, were suffering from severe, long-term malnutrition. They were practically just skin and bones.
Fresh scrapes and scratches on their faces, arms, and legs. Blossoming Strokes had already used medical items from her lifestyle class of apothecary to stop their bleeding, and their larger wounds were covered with bandages.
In addition to these recent injuries, the two orcs also had quite a few old scars on their arms, particularly around the elbow areas. The skins on their wrists and ankles were also rather worn down, which was a sign of long-term restraints.
Ji Tang's frown deepened the more he looked.
The human teenager who had been placed in the neighboring tent also had similar scars, but the extent of his restraint injuries wasn't as severe as these two orcs.
Having experienced the [Birth of the Undead Race] quest and the previous expedition, Ji Tang already had some understanding of the dark nature of this world. From the fresh surface wounds, Ji Tang couldn't help but suspect that these three might have escaped from some illegal detention facility.
"Ji-God, what are you looking at?" Give Me Medicine, seeing Ji Tang crouching without moving for some time, also became curious and joined him.
The most interesting thing about players as a group was that regardless of whether at odds or fighting against each other, they could still come together to play. While both sides were competing to be the top in territory prestige, it didn't stop Give Me Medicine from respecting Ji Tang, the expert in both actual combat and commanding group battles.
"I was just thinking, these three… NPCs have likely escaped from somewhere nearby," said Ji Tang. "Look at their wrists; the surrounding skin is all scraped. This is a sign of long-term restraints being used."
"Does that mean there's a black brick kiln or something similar around here?" Give Me Medicine's eyes lit up. "Wait a moment, does this mean we've stumbled on a major quest?!"
"Eh? That's possible!" Blossoming Strokes exclaimed excitedly. "Our undead race's origins quest also started with illegal detention. If we can complete this quest pertaining to orcs, we might unlock them as a playable race! I'm so gonna reroll my character this time!"
Ji Tang: "…"
With regards to unlocking a new playable race, Ji Tang found it unlikely. The "target" hadn't even been willing to accept the expert task force's offers worth several millions, and according to the speculations of those big shots, the "target" might be labouring under some restrictions they didn't know about.
Of course, Ji Tang couldn't say any of this aloud, so he changed the subject. "Did anyone trigger the quest?"
"Uh… No." Give Me Medicine and Blossoming Strokes shook their heads.
"Then, when you found these people, did they have any… quest-related items or something?" Ji Tang inquired further.
Blossoming Strokes picked up a round shield at the side. "Nope, just a longsword and a shield. I've used Identify, though these are just white-grade (common) equipment. We also thoroughly searched the surrounding area and found nothing. No quest notification popped up."
Give Me Medicine added, "At first, we thought there might be pursuers chasing after these NPCs, so we waited in place for over half an hour, but nothing happened."
"We've just got to wait for them to wake up and try interacting with them. Perhaps this quest isn't triggered by a mere encounter; it might require initiating dialogue to unlock certain plot points," Unceasing Entropy chimed in.
As soon as she said that, the few of them heard a desperate and shrill scream from the neighboring tent.
"The heck?"
"W-what?!"
"What's happened?"
They rushed out… and saw the player that had been caring for the human teenager crawling out of the neighboring tent.
"The kid inside woke up and started screaming like crazy when he saw us, and even threw the steel bottle of ointment at me," the gatherer player explained.
Blossoming Strokes and the others: "…"
"Let me take a look." Blossoming Strokes approached the tent, lifted the flap, and peered inside. But before she could fully assess the situation, a small steel bottle hit her square in the face with a loud clang.
"The heck!" exclaimed Blossoming Strokes as she held her face and stepped backward. At that moment, a furious shout came from the tent as the dark-haired teenager, who seemed like he would collapse at the slightest breeze, charged with a foldable stool in hand at Blossoming Strokes.
"What the f*ck! Is this game pulling 'The Farmer and the Viper' routine?!" Give Me Medicine exclaimed in astonishment.
"Stop blabbering! Hurry up and grab him!" Unceasing Entropy didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
A slightly miffed Ji Tang approached from behind the berserk teenager and pushed him down to the ground. While doing so, he instructed Unceasing Entropy, "Get a few straps from the tricycle and fetch a towel."
Undead creatures weren't very strong, but controlling a frail young human wasn't too much of an issue. Cargo straps were quickly used to bind the struggling teenage human's hands and feet while a towel was stuffed in his mouth, forcing him to settle down.
The group of players then kept a safe distance, surrounding the terrified kid who kept glaring at them.
"Seems like we can't communicate with him. I couldn't understand a single word when he was screaming and shouting earlier," Blossoming Strokes muttered, feeling slightly embarrassed. "What should we do? Call an advanced NPC over?"
"The NPCs' tents are armed with anti-harassment settings. Otherwise, they would already have come out with their knives drawn, given all this commotion," Unceasing Entropy pointed out.
"Why do these NPCs have such a strong grudge against us undead?" Give Me Medicine grumbled.
The others also voiced their complaints and displeasure, leaving only Ji Tang who remained silent.
In truth, had Ji Tang woken up to see a bunch of moving and talking skeletons, he would probably fight back with his all, too…
"How about this? I recall that Ranger Tuttle loves sweet stuff. There ought to be something sweet in the tricycle he and Hal share. Let's grab some to try and appease this kid, perhaps it might work?" Ji Tang suggested.
Unceasing Entropy and Blossoming Strokes exchanged glances. "Alright, let's give it a try."
Thus, without any shred of hesitation, these bunch of players immediately set off to pilfer Tuttle's supplies.
Because players were only interested in equipment, none of the advanced NPCs had ever considered that these undead would go after their food supplies. The tricycle loaded with provisions was left outside the tent, with even the tarpaulin, which was supposed to protect it from rain and moisture, left unsecured.
A few players crowded around the tricycle, lifted the tarp, and openly rummaged through Tuttle and Hal's personal stash.
"My god! So many biscuits!"
"Can you believe that bushy eyebrow Tuttle brought a backpack full of these Uncle Pop egg rolls? I'm dying from laughter!"
"Leave the biscuits, grab those wafers and egg rolls. Two bags of buns and a few cartons of milk. We might need it when those two orcs wake up."
"How about instant noodles?"
"No, it's too oily. People who have been starving for some time might have trouble with greasy food."
"Hey! There's a bag of cakes here! It's hidden so deep that we nearly missed it! How sneaky!"
"Take it, take it!"
In under ten minutes, these players had made off with snacks that Tuttle had painstakingly hoarded for over half a month, chortling gleefully as they fled the scene…
While the players were carrying out their "operation," the dark-haired youth that had been left behind scanned the campsite fearfully.
Unlike the undead, he didn't possess full night vision, but the moonlight tonight was ample.
Under the moonlight, he made out several scattered tents and dozens of tricycles filled with goods. Nearby, in an open space, were the clear remains of a campfire. Several stones serving as makeshift seats surrounded the already extinguished fire, and there was a kettle and a few cups on the ground.
When the boy had opened his eyes, all that he saw were undead. And undead didn't need to make fires nor drink water… Clearly, there were living people residing in this undead camp.
This discovery eased the pounding in the boy's heart to a certain extent.
But he still couldn't shake off the fear. He realized that he and the two orcs, weak as they were, couldn't run very far. Before they fell asleep, they had at most been about 10 kilometers away from Weisshem.
Why had these undead come so close to a human town? What were they planning?!
If Weisshem, this sort of hellish place, fell to the undead, it wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. But getting himself caught up in it was an entirely different story.
How is Lyka and that other guy? No, what about my comrades? They should be nearby! Have they been discovered by these undead?!
The teenage boy's thoughts gradually turned to despair. Why am I so unlucky? I was only briefly separated from my companions, then deceived by a merchant caravan and sold into Weisshem. I just wanted to escape, but ran into a horde of undead?!
As he wallowed in self-pity, the players returned with a pile of food.
Seeing this bunch of undead in scale armor (it was a stretch considering it was just iron plates strapped to leather) with knives strapped to their sides, making strange raucous noises as they approached, the black-haired youth felt a shiver run down his spine.
The teenager had only heard of undead creatures in folktales and legends.
In tales concerning times of Old Gods throughout the Navalon Continent, it was said that the final act by a blasphemous spellcaster against the Goddess of Fate was to desecrate an entire continent, transforming all living beings within it into wandering undead. Ships at sea that accidentally deviated from their course would sometimes see a strange continent glowing green and, if failing to turn back in time, would forever remain there.
In truth, though, undead beings were nothing like the terrifying creatures exaggerated in those folktales that were passed down. Most undead beings were actually mindless creatures, less dangerous than a pack of wild dogs.
However, the teenage boy was only an aspiring warrior. He and his comrades were just doing odd jobs at a small tavern in Indahl to make ends meet. Their most "dangerous" act had been venturing to the outskirts of the Sorenson Mountains to capture some low-level monsters rarely seen in the city and sell them as pets to wealthy individuals.
In contrast to the seasoned Weapons Master Rex and the former bandits, this youngster had no idea that undead appearing in the material world were mostly low-level minions employed by black mages, and thus, it was only natural for him to react this way.
Several undead stopped about five meters away from the teenager, and their chinless jaws moved, creating weird noises in what seemed like communication. Then, one undead walked over alone toward the teenage boy.
As the skeleton drew closer, the teenager's fear turned to despair. His body, which had been trembling incessantly, quickly became limp.
I'm going to die…
That was all that went through the teenage boy's mind as despair was accompanied by a hint of regret.
He really regretted it. He shouldn't have rashly run away from home. He shouldn't have naively believed that he was different from others. And he shouldn't have thought he could make it big outside.
Ji Tang crouched down in front of the human teen. He carefully unwrapped a small cake that had been from Tuttle's stash and, holding it by the plastic wrapping, pressed it toward the youngster's face.
The dark-haired boy: "??"
Ji Tang patiently allowed the young human to take in the rich aroma of the cake. And when the towel in the youngster's mouth was soaked with saliva, Ji Tang reached out and removed it.
With his mouth finally free, the young human immediately chomped on the small cake, the size of a fist, in one mouthful.
As if worried that the stuff in his mouth might be taken away, the youngster, who hadn't had decent food in quite a while, clamped his mouth shut, cheeks puffed, and chewed earnestly. After the cake in his mouth reached a manageable size, he immediately swallowed.
Then… the youngster's eyes rolled upward, his head tilted back… and he began to cough uncontrollably.
Ji Tang tore open a carton of milk also taken from Tuttle's stash, pinched the young boy's jaw open, and poured half of the milk in.
After feeding him three pieces of cake and a carton of milk, Ji Tang attempted to undo the straps binding the young human's hands and feet. This time, the teenage boy didn't go berserk and sat quietly in place, his eyes fixed on the bag of cakes by Ji Tang's feet.
"Rest for a bit. Eat more after digesting. Do you understand?" Ji Tang enunciated each word slowly.
The youngster obviously didn't understand Mandarin. He glanced up at Ji Tang, who appeared to be talking to him, then returned his attention to the bag of cakes.
Ji Tang could only helplessly shrug at the other players. "This kid can't communicate either."
The other players all sighed.
"Maybe we didn't feed him enough. Should we give him more?" Give Me Medicine wasn't willing to throw in the towel just yet.
Blossoming Strokes had to advise her friend. "Calm down, Meds. These civilian NPCs are very fragile. Remember how the NPC we rescued previously suffered from heatstroke?"
Give Me Medicine could only mutter in resignation, "Then what should we do? We haven't received a quest yet."
Ji Tang: "…"
"Don't worry. Mia can't communicate with us either, but she can talk to the instructor NPCs. When it's day, and the instructor NPCs wake up, we should be able to solve the communication issue," Unceasing Entropy spoke up.
"Alright," Give Me Medicine said reluctantly. Then, after a short pause, he asked, "So, what should we do with these NPCs? We can't keep watching them all the time. Should we find a place to hide them?"
At this time, the reason there weren't many people around camp was because the NPCs had all gone to sleep. With no NPCs to interact with, players online had wandered out of the camp to practice their lifestyle profession skills. Unceasing Entropy and Ji Tang were only here because Give Me Medicine had personally gone to find and recall them.
It was also about time that some players would be logging out, and if someone returned and stole the fruits of their labor while this bunch was playing around outside camp… then that would be really bad.
Blossoming Strokes and Unceasing Entropy groaned, "Ummm…"
Ji Tang: "…"
Ji Tang couldn't agree to let these three individuals be bound up and hidden away somewhere. After mulling for a bit, he suggested, "How about this. I'll stay here and keep an eye on these three NPCs…" To avoid any misunderstandings, he added, "One of you should stay with me. I'm afraid I won't be able to watch over three of them alone."
A player from Blossoming Strokes' group raised his hand. "I'll stay. I didn't take up gathering, so I won't really gain much gallivanting outside."
Give Me Medicine was about to nod when he saw the flap of the tent behind the dark-haired teenager being lifted slightly.
A somewhat gaunt face appeared beneath the tent cover, and a pair of amber-colored eyes scanned the surroundings cautiously.
This pair of amber eyes met the dark and hollow eye sockets of Give Me Medicine.
The lifted tent flap was gently put back down.
"F*ck—" Give Me Medicine cried out.
With a muffled thud, a slender figure dashed out through the tent flap and sprinted desperately into the distance…
"Quick, catch—!" Give Me Medicine yelled out while immediately springing into action and leading the chase.
The adult orc who had woken up and immediately sensed something off made a decisive choice to escape. He had reacted quickly enough and made a far smarter decision than the teenage human. However, his body was rather weak, and he was easily outpaced by the players' "nimble" undead bodies. It didn't take long for them to catch up and bring him back.
Ji Tang used the same technique of allowing the adult orc to smell the food before feeding him. And after feeding him mid-way, he stopped and made an attempt to interact.
However, the result was still the same… This NPC couldn't be communicated with.
Thus, Ji Tang didn't wait for the child orc to wake up and fed Lyka while she was still in a drowsy half-asleep state…
———
As per usual, Yang Qiu, following his Earth-time healthy routine, woke up in the morning, washed up, and had breakfast before putting on his mage robes and casually opening the rift to the other world.
On arriving, he greeted Inspector Lowell, who was already enjoying his afternoon tea. Yang Qiu chatted with Lowell for a bit while casually immersing himself in the imprint matrix to check the activities of online players…
And he nearly sprayed out tea all over Inspector Lowell's idol-like face.
What. The. F*ck?!
In the expedition campsite, a teenage kid about the age of 15 had appeared along with an adult and child orc at some point.
Weapons Master Charlie Rex was sitting together with the first-tier and second-tier players, having a serious discussion about whether to attack Weisshem.
Yang Qiu: "…"
You guys, huh… How incredible… To think you guys can even expand the plot while I was away…