Chosen Evolution: I can load the protagonist template

Chapter 676 Pavlov's Sneaky Bird

As leaders of their respective factions, the Grand Master and Merlin, who already had many things to do, could only entrust the tasks to their trusted members. However, this did not stop them from keeping a close eye on Cheng Tian's every move.

For Cheng Tian, ​​who possessed a humanoid mental radar, all the hunters' disguises were meaningless. So when the hunter who had copied the Crystal Bird brought Cheng Tian's message back as quickly as possible, both factions immediately took it very seriously and contacted the Commander-in-Chief.

Although the rule of soul sacrifice split the hunter community into two opposing factions, in reality, the differences only lie in the means of maintaining ecological balance. Before they went mad, their essence and purpose were still basically the same.

Therefore, when the Commander-in-Chief learned that two factions had simultaneously reported the same information, and that the source of the information was a certain Cheng, whose reputation was as high as 5 points, he naturally took immediate action.

At this moment, the special nature of the legendary status becomes apparent.

It is precisely because Cheng Tian's legendary status is so high, and his reputation far exceeds what ordinary players can possess, that his "unfounded" information has a very high degree of credibility in the minds of others.

However, this guarantee, which relies entirely on personal reputation, can only be maintained through continuous "authenticity." Once Cheng Tian spreads false information and it is subsequently exposed, the guarantee of the authenticity of the information brought about by his personal reputation will be shattered.

But now, the Commander-in-Chief prefers to believe that Cheng Tian's information is true and reliable.

The white-haired commander-in-chief summoned all the members still at the Starry Sky base overnight, waking everyone, whether they were awake or not, and began a manual screening based on the expedition reports.

The screening criteria are "whether you have ever been in contact with a stag spirit" and "whether you have been scratched by an unknown wild monster".

Those who have already been dispatched cannot be recalled immediately, so we can only use the current members.

Many investigation missions are actually derived from extracting and filtering elements from these post-event reports. The Starry Sky Outpost also obtained its information on the beasts of the New World bit by bit in this way. Sometimes, even in gathering missions that are not dangerous, there is a high chance of encountering some random beasts.

The Crimson's enormous maw was once one of the biggest problems for Starry Sky Stronghold.

Soon, the guild identified two low-rank hunters, one high-rank hunter, and one field investigator, all of whom were suspected of having come into contact with and been injured by the Leshen.

Their mission reports all mention key elements such as the slender humanoid form, sharp claws, dead wood, crows, and thieves.

As the leader of the Sacrifice faction, and also the one with the highest degree of corruption, Merlin raised his arm, revealing his right arm with mutated eyeballs, and began scanning the four selected individuals.

Sure enough, Merlin discovered deeply hidden soul marks on their bodies, or more precisely, on the wounds they had suffered.

While it cannot be definitively stated that this is the mark of the stag-headed spirit, there is no doubt that they have been pre-selected as sacrifices to some being, and extremely cruel ones at that. Once the power within the soul mark is unleashed, these four people will not even have any soul fragments left behind.

As someone who inherently follows the path of sacrifice and is capable of ruthlessly annihilating his demonized companions from the soul level, Merlin shouldn't have experienced much emotional turmoil. However, after Cheng Tian successfully demonstrated that he could cope with the side effects of sacrifice without incurring any cost, Merlin's heart, hardened by his experiences and the many sacrifices he had made, inevitably softened. He couldn't bring himself to kill the four of them directly to prevent the Leshen from rebirth through possession.

"The power of redemption is ineffective! What should we do?!"

The Grand Master's left arm, now glowing with divine light, faded, and he asked Merlin with some urgency.

His power of redemption could not affect the soul marks within these four people, or rather, his individual power could not affect the marks released by the Leshen, who was the embodiment of the will of the Ancient Forest.

"Go find Mr. Orange! Take these four people with you!"

Merlin made a judgment immediately. ...

Cheng Tian regained command of the scene. There weren't many people there, just Cheng Tian, ​​Bazett, Giran Earth Dragon, Geralt, and a few individual players who deliberately stayed in the Ancient Forest hoping to get a share of the profits.

More precisely, these individuals made their choice after hearing the name of the "Sun Legion," an independent faction that has recently been among the top three most discussed topics in the Chosen Ones space.

Players at this stage are generally well-informed, and based on what Cheng Tian has shown, they can deduce that he is definitely a high-ranking member of the Blazing Sun Legion.

While they wanted to gain some kill points from defeating the Deer-Headed Demon, they also wanted to take the opportunity to observe Cheng Tian and find out the composition of the Blazing Sun Legion.

Therefore, when Cheng Tian gave the instruction to change the method of attack, they carried it out accordingly instead of deliberately going against him.

Cheng Tian's plan was simple: stalling. He would use his low attack power, while ensuring that the Deer-Headed Spirit wouldn't have another chance to sacrifice other life forms, to buy as much time as possible for the Starry Sky Stronghold to select living sacrifices.

This is a comprehensive judgment made by Cheng Tian based on the increased maximum health bar of the Deer-Headed Spirit, the remaining Thief Dragon Corpse Powder around it, and the temporary health and mana bar bonus obtained from the previous sacrifice of miscellaneous fish.

As a result, the hunters' methods became primarily based on control and harassment.

Cheng Tian also unleashed the Judgment Arrow, which had a very strong judgment but only single-digit damage, after a long time. For the Deer-Headed Spirit, the damage caused by these small light arrows was almost negligible, but it was unexpectedly painful!

Your own crow will be punched through and nailed to the ground!

However, the most annoying enemy here is undoubtedly the Crystal Bird, who has turned against them.

This sassy bird that followed Cheng Tian around was carrying the crystal and relentlessly smashing the deer-headed spirit. The damage wasn't high, but the stun value was extremely high.

In the Crystal Bird's even simpler thought process than that of the War Elephant and Mammoth, if it could chisel a deer's head with crystals to get two dragon eggs, would it be able to get more dragon eggs if it could chisel more deer's heads?
It has become Pavlov's seductive bird!

Now the Leshen was in trouble. Its own health had dropped so much that it was not enough to trigger the forced transfer quickly. It wanted to summon the Thief Dragon to sacrifice, but the opponent would take it out in advance. It could also burn the Root Spikes with fire. When it tried to control the opponent's summons, it felt a backlash of mental energy like needles.

And so, Cheng Tian and his group dragged things out until Mei Lin and his men arrived at the scene.

Without any preamble, the Grand Master directly took over Cheng Tian's position, while Merlin quickly explained the current situation of the four sacrificial offerings.

Cheng Tian was also somewhat perplexed by this.

He's good at killing monsters and taking their souls, but he doesn't know how to deal with the living sacrifice markers that are closer to the rules and mechanisms of the game.

After all, redemption is not perfect purification; the priest of the heart is only good at defense, not healing.

But soon, Cheng Tian was startled, and his gaze shifted to a pesky bird that had jumped to his side, or more precisely, to the crystal of etheric light it was carrying.

This thing can grant the Slug immunity to abnormal effects and traps... Could it also remove the Sacrifice mark?

(End of this chapter)