There's a skeleton dungeon connected to my basement.

Chapter 292, An Ancient Story (2)

The retaliatory actions are ongoing.

After ignoring the Silver Moon Skeleton, Xiao Yang noticed the restlessness of the rotting tree spirit underground when he arrived at the Bell Tower City Management Office once again.

It sounded like a frenzied howl.

On the ruins of the Silver Church, a crooked building has begun to take shape.

"A new clock tower?"

The clock tower was built in the center of the clock tower city.

The Consul's Building.

Xiao Yang arrived a step too late.

The armored knight, who was acting as the gatekeeper, had a large hole torn in his chest and collapsed in front of the building.

Someone else got here even before him.

"who is it?"

This question arises.

Simple thinking.

In this city, besides myself who has completed my upgrade, there is only one other person who can easily defeat this construct knight.

The answer has appeared.

"The messenger of the plague rats."

The signs of battle were fresh, meaning the construct knight had only been dead for a short time.

Should we continue exploring?

Unconsciously, a choice appeared before Xiao Yang.

If we follow up now, we might still be able to get some very important things, but the risks are equally huge, and we might run right into that messenger.

After a moment's thought, what else in this city could possibly warrant the personal intervention of an evil god's messenger, especially one so closely connected to the Governor's Building?

"Caroline, the governor of Clock Tower City."

There was a pause.

After much deliberation, Xiao Yang finally made his choice.

"Let's avoid a direct confrontation for now."

Regardless of what the messenger is looking for, or whether he is hunting down an important figure, it is something you can choose not to get involved in.

The more important thing now is to find the remaining two sets of drawings.

After making his decision, Xiao Yang turned and left.

Two of the three blueprints were obtained from the Silver Thorns and the Corrupted Tree.

The connection between these two types of creatures and the Silver Tree is quite obvious without much thought.

One is a guardian protecting those around them, the other is a corrupted terminal root.

Why is the blueprint for the Silver Crossbow also appearing on the Rotten Commander?

Next destination: Clock Tower City Library.

Upon arrival, having just taken a step inside, the advancement reward also arrived.

After glancing at the three items that appeared, Xiao Yang made a choice without hesitation.

Physical Fitness Training Manual

Quality: Epic

Effect: Randomly gain one to three points of Constitution after completing the reading.

Introduction: Muscles equal power; we need stronger muscles, we need a more muscular physique!

His physique is still two points short of the epic rank, and this physique training manual can make up for it.

After making his choice, Xiao Yang's gaze once again fell upon the tall building in front of him.

What comes into view is a huge and magnificent library.

A hazy, ethereal figure knelt at the entrance of the grand library, trembling and murmuring incessantly.

"My book, my book!"

Xiao Yang simply paused in front of him, and a mission was accepted.

Saving the Clock Tower City Library
Difficulty: unknown

Introduction: A guy playing the flute and swaying back and forth came here.

"You don't need to know that much, you don't need to know that much."

The mice appeared.

Recording and inscribing these books and knowledge would take countless hours, but destroying them all would be done in an instant.

Rewards: Rewards will be awarded based on the progress made in rescuing the Great Library of Clock Tower City.

[Remaining time until the Great Library is destroyed: 2:00]

The hazy, illusory figure merely knelt before the grand library, murmuring incoherently, ignoring Xiao Yang, who then accepted the mission.

With a hint of curiosity, they turned their gaze to the large library in front of them.

"It seems there's a serious rat infestation here."

Without much difficulty, I passed the illusory and hazy figure and stood in front of the Grand Library, struggling to push open the door.

In an instant, a dense, crowded mass appeared, seemingly endless, with rats jostling against each other—a truly chilling sight.

They were so close together that they almost filled every crevice of the library in front of them.

The Great Library was practically filled to the brim with rats.

"This is indeed a serious rat infestation."

There's some trouble.

Dealing with the rats isn't the problem; the key is how to preserve the library as much as possible while dealing with the rats.

These rats were just ordinary black-haired rats, around level three or four. Even if Xiao Yang let them bite him, it wouldn't be a big problem.

However, if a real battle were to break out, the commotion would likely be quite significant, and this great library might collapse.

While pondering, Xiao Yang thought of a piece of equipment he had placed there.

Rat Flute
Quality: Epic Effect: Play the flute to attract rodent enemies in the surrounding environment.
Introduction: You must have heard that story before, but today I want to tell you a brand new version. The one playing the flute is not a human, but a mouse. You thought you caught us, but no, no, we caught you!

This is a piece of equipment that Xiao Yang obtained from the ruins of a neighboring town. Because of its somewhat cryptic description, it has been kept in his backpack and has not been used.

Now it just so happens to come in handy.

Xiao Yang can't play the flute, but fortunately, this equipment doesn't require the user to play it very well.

The first attempt produced a sharp, chaotic, and extremely jarring sound from the flute, but the effect was remarkable.

This group of black-haired rats, densely packed together in the large library, struggled frantically in an extremely terrifying density.

Their movements stopped for a moment.

Then came the rage.

Amidst the piercing sound of the flute, the large rat shifted its target.

Turning their heads, pairs of bloodshot eyes fell on Xiao Yang, who was playing his clumsy flute, and a frenzied surge began.

Countless black-haired rats turned around and began to pounce on Xiao Yang.

He was physically overwhelmed by rats.

As expected, this Rat-Summoning Flute is a terrible piece of equipment. Its effect is really just one very simple thing: summon rats, and summon rats to rush towards the user.

How much of a masochist must one be to enjoy seeing this scene unfolding before their eyes?

Fortunately, Xiao Yang had another piece of equipment that could be used in conjunction with the Rat Summoning Flute.

The damage reflection effect of the Thorn Crown is extremely suitable at this time.

These rats couldn't break through Xiao Yang's defenses, but their bites would be killed by the damage reflected back from Xiao Yang's Silver Thorn Crown.

The Rat Caller's Flute and the Silver Thorn Crown are a perfect match for dealing with these rats.

The scene that followed can be perfectly described in one word.

"Moths fly to the flame."

Time passed slowly, and the area in front of the large library was piled high with the corpses of rats. A terrifying creature covered in blood broke through a small mountain of corpses.

The small hill built of rat carcasses began to collapse.

It's a bit of a pity that today isn't the night of the Blood Moon; otherwise, with this huge horde of rats, Xiao Yang would probably have become rich on the spot, at least leveling up.

Now, these rats, whose level has been reduced to zero and are at the third or fourth rank of ordinary level, can no longer provide Xiao Yang with any experience.

Furthermore, because they are not followers of an evil god, their career advancement is also limited.

The only things you get from killing these rats are all sorts of rat tails, rat fur, and things like that.

Fortunately, there are also task rewards.

A prompt for the God Game popped up.

Congratulations to the player for completing the mission to save the Great Library!

[Task rewards are being distributed]

[Mission reward has arrived]

Special Building: Clock Tower City Library

Quality: Excellent

Effect: Secondary profession experience gained within the territory is multiplied by two.

Introduction: This is a library, filled with a vast amount of knowledge. Not everyone is cut out for studying, but we must acknowledge that accumulated knowledge does possess real power.

A pretty good reward.

Although it seems that it can only be effective if Xiao Yang actually takes over Zhongta City.

After successfully rescuing the library in front of him, the hazy, illusory shadow gave Xiao Yang some guidance, revealing the birth of the Rotten Commander and some potentially useful information.

The surname and family of the Rotten Commander possess a unique kind of glory.

Vitas González

The Gonzalez family was the first city guardian in Clock Tower to sense the presence of the Silver Tree.

They were connected immediately. All three blueprints for the Silver Crossbow came from someone closely associated with the Silver Tree, and the remaining two blueprints should follow the same principle.

In other words, if Xiao Yang wants to collect all the blueprints for the Silver Crossbow, he only needs to find two more people who are related to the Silver Tree.

Once again, I pushed open the door and entered the magnificent library before me.

Everything in sight was a mess.

The bookshelf collapsed, the books were gnawed on, and there was droppings and urine left by black rats.

Guided by the illusory shadow, Xiao Yang ventured deeper into the grand library before him.

Deep inside the library, Xiao Yang saw a familiar stone mural.

The flames were firmly held by the dragon; the darkness was dangerous and cold.
People found the budding sprout.

As time passed, the tender bud sprouted leaves and grew into a seedling.

One day, a person tells a seedling that they are going on a long journey.

Why must people travel far away?

The person didn't tell the seedling why; they simply left one day.

Long, long afterward, the wounded man returned.
The seedlings believed that people would never leave again.
But the person had made up their mind.
The second time, the third time.

The man, who had returned on the verge of death for the third time, finally told the seedling what he wanted to do.

"I want to go and find the light."

The person said this to the seedling.

The second part of the story appeared before Xiao Yang in a very sudden way.

The second part of a long-ago story.

Coming to his senses, Xiao Yang looked at the stone wall in front of him, which was also stained with dirt from the swarm of rats.

Not focused on the story, he drifted off into thought about another, somewhat irrelevant question.

"This stone slab must have been taken from another ancient temple."

There should be a corrupted tree spirit guarding the ancient temple.

Now that this ancient stone slab has appeared in the library, what about the corrupted tree spirit?

(End of this chapter)