Sword Among Us

The Town of Kui was a small town in the north with little resources. There were scarcely any people there, and very few players started their game in this place as well, but it was precisely because its barren lands and turbulent waters that practically no one set up their sects or branches here.

There were a lot of allied sects in the north who did not want to move through this desolate place as well.

The Town of Kui was a dead town.

Even the players who started their game in this town had this opinion. Most of the players will choose to go out and explore the lands one month into the game, and only a handful of people will choose to stay in this town in peace because of certain reasons, and their qi cultivation was only at average level.

There were too few places that had any sort of lively spirit in the town.

Only the weapons shop, the outdoor pergola that served as the commission shop, and the restaurant were the most popular places in the town. Around ten people can be seen in them every day, and the other places will actually look haunted at night.

On this night, the town was incredibly lively.

There were at least seventy people gathered in the restaurant in town, and their cheerful laughter as well as the cries for wine rose and fell. Their voices traveled far and wide, and even when someone stood on the desolate land outside the town, they can hear those voices clearly.

“Haha! Silver Extinguisher, we worked in the same shop last time, but we weren’t from the same sect, and now, we’re also not in the same player sect, but we can still be considered as people who came from the same town. You ran off later and now, you actually look like someone amazing… but here I am, still working in the shop. I only log in to play after I finish my work in real life… Urgh… Haha, let’s not talk about all that sad stuff. Based on all your feats, let’s toast three times!”

A man with a pockmarked face was already drunk in the restaurant. He stood up and toasted to a man sitting by the table at the center of the restaurant.

“Cheers!” A man with a strong build stood up and smiled, but the amusement was not reflected in his eyes. Their winecups clashed against each other clearly, and without another word, they drank three cups of wine.

Silver Extinguisher was a player who got out of the Town of Kui.

He could be considered successful in his endeavors in the game, and he had decent strength. He even joined the strongest sect in the north—Class One Hall—and became its outer hall member.

Originally, Silver Extinguisher did not want to return to this place for the rest of his life.

But unfortunately for him, due to this Emperor’s Announcement event, Class One Hall was unable to act as they pleased on the plains, and everyone was sent back. He and a group of people were made to stay in this place by their hall master for a few days. Their higher ups said that it was to prevent the people from the four sects from sneaking away from the north.

After downing three cups, Silver Extinguisher wiped his mouth, panted harshly, and said, “Pock Face, I told you in the beginning to leave with me, but you just refused to listen. What’s the point of guarding those few items you have over here…? Urgh! If you want to do great things… then you have to set your sights further ahead.”

“Do what great things? My life outside is a mess, and playing the game is just for my entertainment. I don’t want to be controlled by someone when I’m already controlled by someone else in reality. I’ll do what I want in the game and scold whoever I please when I feel like it.

“By the way, are you and your group thinking about not leaving once you set up your branch in the Town of Kui?” Pock Face might look drunk, but he still sounded very articulate.

At that moment, all thirty or so local players in the restaurant perked up their ears and looked over.

The Town of Kui had always been a dead town, and there was not much life in it, but during the past three days, the greatest faction of power in the north had suddenly set up a branch in town.

Even though it was a very small branch, the people sent to the branch was still a lot to the Town of Kui, which was a poor place with only around one hundred people in it.

A total of three hundred people were sent over.

It caused the population in the Town of Kui to instantly increase by four hundred percent!

The local players who originally hoped that they could have more people in their town suddenly became uneasy.

Class One Hall was powerful, if Class One Hall decided to stay here for a long period of time in the future, they will definitely have to live at Class One Hall’s mercy, and they might have an even harder time in the game.

Hence, when Silver Extinguisher invited those he was familiar with to drink with him, those who were invited all came over.

They wanted to get some information on what Class One Hall wanted to do and whether the Town of Kui had some sort of resource that no one knew about.

Silver Extinguisher naturally knew that these people were thinking about.

“Don’t worry.” He cast him a sidelong glance in displeasure before he bent his body and sat down. “Class One Hall will not pay attention to what little you have.”

“Then why did you come here…?” Pock Face became a little sober now, but he still looked a little uneasy. It was as if he was the local lord of the Town of Kui.

The person beside Silver Extinguisher could not hold back from speaking. “I don’t know what you’re being so nervous for. There isn’t any crystal or ore mine in a circular area within dozens of miles in this place, and neither do you have any mountain forts to serve as resources. You don’t have any plot relevant characters here either.

“You forced my friends to be so bored that they can only drink wine and daydream over here. I don’t want to continue with this life!

“Don’t worry about it, we’re just staying here for a few days, and once the Emperor’s Announcement event ends, we’ll leave. At that time, even if you want us to stay, we won’t want to stay even for half a second longer! Look at how disgusting you’re acting…”

No one said anything.

Pock Face and the group of local players exchanged a slightly relieved gaze.

But soon, someone asked curiously, “Why must you wait until the end of the Emperor’s Announcement event?”

“That’s right.” A few of the local players in the Town of Kui put on expressions that said that they did not know what connection those two things shared.

“Don’t ask about that, it’s a secret,” Silver Extinguisher said impatiently.

The people in the Town of Kui had basically become removed from the game, and they lived the lives of people living in seclusion, as if they were in paradise and could provide for themselves. It was only natural that they did not know the reason for this.

However, not all the people in the Town of Kui were completely not up to date with certain information.

“I can tell with just one glance that you’re not concerned with the matters in the game.

“This is a strategic point that leads from the plains to the ports by the shore. If there are hundreds of Class One Hall members standing in this sort of barren place, they’re definitely here to serve as sentries.”

“Sentries? Who can their targets be?”

“Who else? Of course it’s Mu Clan, the only clan Class One Hall is wary of.

“Ah! What’s the point in me wasting my breath with you in this?! Come, drink! Silver Extinguisher might not come back in the future, so we must find a chance to empty his pockets!”

“True that…”

The group of people lifted their cups.

At that moment, Silver Extinguisher and the group of Class One Hall members had their ears twitch, as if they heard something, but the sounds of the people drinking and throwing their fists around in the restaurant was too loud. Hence, they did not pay attention to it.

Then, half a minute late, a man with rather decent equipment stumbled in from outside with a pale face, and his eyes burned with rage.

“Why are you still drinking?! Our brothers and sisters outside the town have all died!”

The Class One Hall members had their expressions change at the same time. They got up from their seats and left their tables.

Silver Extinguisher had his heart let out a loud thump.

‘Oh no!’

He can tell with just one glance that the person who came over was the leader who was in charge of patrolling the desolate land tonight. He also happened to be the vice branch master of the branch.

His face was pale, and he waddled over. All signs made it clear that he should have just been revived in the Guanlin Temple not too far away.

The local players in the Town of Kui will not be able to fight against an elite who had a full set of fourth echelon grade one masterpieces.

The only explanation for this was that Mu Clan had come over here!

“Captain, I heard from the people in the plains that the four sects are prepared to ambush the Mongolian camp tonight, how could they have…?” Silver Extinguisher rushed over and asked hastily.

“Enough with the nonsense!” The vice branch master rebuked him with an unpleasant expression. “Our brothers and sisters outside should all be dead by now, so hurry over and help them! The hall master has already given orders that if we all die, we are to investigate just who the four sects brought over, which sects came over, and how many people they brought over!”

Before his voice faded away, a voice that sounded like a ridicule came from the depths of the street in the dark and silent town.

“You don’t have to investigate it. I’ll tell you.”

A few men with the word “Mu” sewn on their chests and were dressed in night traveling clothes walked into the people’s view.