I, the prince in distress, send money

Chapter 490 The Value of Players (Part 1)

Looking at the man sitting in front of him, who claimed to be the governor of Casarina Island and the highest-ranking official on the island, Bu Shuang Bu Wan felt a mix of emotions.

There are many things he has to say about.

First, how did the situation develop to this point?
The players did not coordinate anything while on the ship. The conflict arose entirely because of the unnecessary mockery from the dockworkers.

In normal times, such an incident would at most result in a fight, not a rebellion.

The players were already seething with anger on the ship, and when they encountered this situation after getting off, they were bound to explode.

It's just a game, who wants to be wronged?

Being sent to this place was partly because I was unhappy and didn't want to play, and others made mistakes first. Secondly, being on Casarina Island, where I can fight snake people, means I can at least participate in activities faster than other players.

Therefore, although many players were unhappy, not all of them quit the game.

But what happened at the docks was something the players weren't going to tolerate... How dare the NPCs be so shameless!
The major's words and actions also triggered the incident. If no one had intervened after the sailor was killed, the matter would have ended there. But this conspicuous guy had to jump out and show off.

This player couldn't stand it anymore.

Chris is the NPC leader on our side, and I've never seen him do anything like this, causing players to suffer. What gives you the right to treat us so carelessly?

Therefore, it's only natural that such a thing would happen.

Secondly, he was unhappy and didn't want to play, lamenting how he had become the leader of the first advance team.

The reason for this is entirely due to Bu Xing Bu Wan's performance today, which everyone has witnessed. Therefore, he was chosen in the election to represent Bu Xing Bu Wan in negotiations with the governor.

While marveling at the sight, Bu Shuang looked down at the man who claimed to be the governor of Almeida, and the pile of gold he had placed on the table.

The gold pile, composed of twenty small gold bricks stacked together, still reflected an alluring yet serene light under the dim lighting of the governor's conference room.

Each gold brick here represents unimaginable wealth, enough to drive any mercenary or outlaw in the world mad.

Governor Almeida carefully observed the displeased expression on the other's face, hoping to see surprise, greed, or at least hesitation... these were the natural reactions of a human being when faced with such immense wealth.

He intended to use the gold to bribe the leader of the mercenaries, hoping to bring these unruly bandits back on the right track.

However, he was disappointed.

Unhappy and unwilling to play, he merely glanced at the pile of gold with a calm expression, as if he were looking at a pile of ordinary stones, and even less interested than when he saw a new flintlock pistol.

The reason is simple: if he's unhappy, he won't play. Not only are other players watching him, but he's also now streaming it!

Hundreds of people are watching this negotiation, and if he shows even the slightest sign of something amiss, the clip will be labeled with all sorts of titles and circulated on the internet.

Shocking! A streamer, blinded by greed, groveled before an NPC for ten kilograms of gold!

That's it? A mere amount of virtual gold made this man forget the blood feud with his brothers?

"On the Self-Cultivation of a News Anchor: How to Maintain a Positive Expression in the Face of BRICS"

Just thinking about these possible bullet comments and video clip titles, and the ensuing social death, makes me feel a chill down my spine if I don't play.

This is not what he wants to see. He is a tough leader who represents all the advance team players in negotiations. How can he be moved by this little bit of "gold"?
However, Governor Almeida hasn't explained the nature of this gold; it's unclear whether it's for him alone or a supplement for all players...

Therefore, he deliberately remained calm, showing no emotion on his face or in his eyes.

For a moment, this caused the negotiations to fall into silence... If you're unhappy, you won't play or speak, and Governor Almeida didn't know what to say.

This was the first time he had ever encountered something so strange and embarrassing.

It's bad enough that the regular soldiers of the Macon Union clashed with the mercenaries they hired, but the worst part is that they lost the fight!

This is very fatal.

Having more people is not an excuse; they are unarmed. It would be shameful to lose to an opponent when you are fully armed.

It was so embarrassing that even Governor Almeida doesn't know how to describe what happened today.

Just as the awkward silence between the two sides continued for a while, and Governor Almeida was about to speak, the conference room door was suddenly flung open, and a player stumbled in.

"Holy crap, the event has a storyline!"

"What, something's out of the plot?"

"The snake-men are coming! They're swimming in from the sea!!!"

Everyone in the conference room, from Bu Shuang Bu Wan and Governor Almeida on the other side, to the others behind them, was stunned.

Then, the players reacted immediately, rushing towards the door. In an instant, even the ones who were annoyed and didn't want to play disappeared, leaving only Governor Almeida and his men standing there in a daze.

As Almeida and his men hurriedly left, he noticed that the Bagnian mercenaries outside were surging towards the docks.

When Governor Almeida arrived at the dock with his adjutant and a few trusted guards, the sight before him almost suffocated him.

The snake-man has really arrived.

The docks were in chaos, but it was quite different from the chaos that had occurred during the previous conflict with the mercenaries.

This was a desperate clamor in the face of a terrifying invasion like a natural enemy. The harbor, which was originally filled with many merchant ships, was now mostly empty. All the ships were frantically raising their anchors and hoisting their sails. Sailors were cutting their mooring lines and even disregarding the risk of colliding with neighboring ships, desperately trying to escape the dock.

Meanwhile, a fierce and bizarre battle was taking place on the dock itself.

From time to time, twisted and slender figures suddenly leap out of the icy seawater! They are covered with slippery dark green scales, have humanoid torsos and ferocious snake heads, and hold rusty but deadly bone or coral swords and harpoons in their hands.

They hissed and moved with lightning speed, pouncing on any visible human from unexpected angles... whether it was sailors trying to escape, panicked colonists, or... Bagnian mercenaries fighting back frantically.

Governor Almeida witnessed a snake-man leap from the water, dragging a sailor who was cutting a rope into the sea; bright red blood immediately spread across the surface. Elsewhere, several colonial soldiers formed a defensive line to resist, but several snake-men easily tore through their defenses with bizarre coordination, falling to their deaths with screams.

However, the core of the battlefield was supported by those Bagnian mercenaries.

They seemed to have none of the fear that ordinary people have.

Despite the initial chaos and heavy casualties caused by the snake-men's ambush—many players were killed by the underwater attack before they even received a flintlock pistol—the surviving players quickly organized an astonishing counterattack.

Governor Almeida witnessed this scene firsthand.

About thirty players who had already received the new flintlock rifles quickly assembled behind a makeshift cargo box bunker.

Instead of forming neat lines like the soldiers in Macon, they dispersed in a seemingly loose but actually efficient manner, each finding their own firing positions.

"Those over there are suppressing the approaching ones with free fire, the guys in the back are helping the guys in the front load their bullets..."

"You guys climb up a bit and keep an eye on the water. If any of them pop up, take them out. If you can't, remember to warn the others!"

"Damn it, does anyone have a grenade? Throw one over here... Damn, I'm going to die!"

A cacophony of simple, even vulgar, shouts rose and fell as they fought the snake-men to the death, their incredible discipline and courage astonishing the governor.

A player had just shot and hit a snake-man trying to climb onto the dock when he was struck in the stomach by a bone harpoon flying from the side. The harpoon head pierced through his back, and the huge impact made him stagger backward, clearly a fatal wound.

But he only cursed once, then took two steps back, leaning against the stacked crates to keep himself from falling, and gritted his teeth, continuing to load ammunition with trembling hands, and firing at the nearby snake-men.

Another player had just fired a lead bullet from his gun when he turned around and saw a snake-man hissing as it approached him from the side. Instead of retreating, he charged forward, roaring as he swung his empty gun like a club and smashed it hard against the snake-man's head.

Although he died a gruesome death three seconds later when his chest was ripped open by the snake-man's claws, his actions bought his teammates precious time to reload, allowing the latter to avenge himself by shooting the snake-man in the head at close range.

They weren't afraid of death. They even... seemed to enjoy the thrill of being on the brink of death?

Shocked, Governor Almeida, protected by his guards, heard a short, rapid whistle. He instinctively turned his head to look at the dock not far away, where about a dozen mercenaries, fully loaded, emerged from behind their bunkers almost simultaneously.

"Aim at those trying to climb ashore, prepare for volley fire... Fire!"

The mercenary standing at the front, who appeared to be the squad leader, shouted, and a barrage of gunfire immediately erupted.

Although it wasn't a perfect salvo, more than a dozen lead bullets whistled out almost simultaneously, creating a considerable barrage.

Five or six snake-men who had just climbed onto the dock bridge from the water and were attempting to launch a new attack were immediately smashed, their scales shattered, and dark red blood splattered. They screamed and fell back into the sea, quickly staining a small patch of water red.

This small-scale but extremely precise and timely counterattack temporarily halted the snake people's offensive in the area.

Governor Almeida and his adjutant and guards were all dumbfounded.

They had never seen soldiers like this before. They had no strict formations, no rousing war drums, but they possessed combat skills comparable to veterans, almost ruthless battlefield efficiency, and a kind of... madness that completely disregarded life and death.

They would erupt in even fiercer rage when their comrades "died," but they would not succumb to grief and panic. They would efficiently collect the ammunition left behind by the dead and continue fighting.

This bizarre attitude of treating the brutal war as nothing shocked the governor, but also gave him a deep chill and... a glimmer of absurd hope.

Perhaps only a madman like this could deal with those equally insane monsters that came from the outer sea?

"Your Excellency the Governor!"

The adjutant's trembling voice pulled him back from his reverie.

"We...what should we do?"

Governor Almeida took a deep breath of the cold, blood-smelling air and looked with a complicated expression at the group of Bagnian mercenaries who were firing wildly, yelling, and even shoving each other for a better shooting position.

"...Go and ring the bell!"

The governor's voice was hoarse.

"Go and summon the colonial soldiers in the city, and have them bring artillery and mage advisors to support us. These snake people are just the vanguard; based on past experience, their attacks will not be limited to this number!"

He paused, watching as yet another player used a bayonet to stab the snake-man who had climbed onto the dock back into the sea, before being dragged into the water and disappearing, and added.

"Send someone to the governor's mansion and bring over all the remaining rum and wine from the cellar!"

"Uh, for whom?"

"Fool! Give it to whoever needs it. First, defend the dock area!"

……

Unhappy, I'm not playing anymore, and I'm stuck in a tough battle.

As a new player, his marksmanship was quite accurate for a mercenary. He fired five shots and hit four snake-men that darted up from the dock, drawing cheers from the other players.

Melee players all hope to have a sharpshooter behind them, so that the latter can cover their flanks and rear, and avoid being attacked by friendly forces.

However, his dissatisfaction with the marksman's performance quickly caught the attention of a snake-man warrior.

This snake-man, which stood upright and was a full two meters tall, wielded a large sword and cut down two players in succession before turning around and lunging at BuShuangBuWan, who was a hundred meters away.

"Not happy, I won't play!" Amidst the exclamations of other players, he immediately noticed the large snake that clearly harbored ill intentions towards him. He quickly turned his gun and fired at the snake-man.

However, the latter, with its amazing agility, dodged the bullet that was aimed at its head with a somersault.

"Holy crap, this is bad!"

Upon seeing this, he knew he was no match for this obviously stronger and incredibly agile elite monster, so he tossed his flintlock pistol aside and jumped down from the high ground made of boxes.

Then he shouted loudly.

"There's a boss here!!!"

After shouting, he rolled around like a lazy donkey and hid behind a pile of overturned barrels and broken fishing nets. His movements were clumsy but effective.

The moment Bu Shuang Bu Wan had just dodged, the barrier made of the wooden crates he had been standing on was smashed apart by the snake-man, sending wood chips flying everywhere!

At the same time, "I'm not happy, I won't play!" shouted, like cold water thrown into boiling oil, quickly attracting the attention of nearby players. Especially after the loud noise of hitting the box, it made people even more eager to look over.

The eyes of more than twenty players all focused on the snake-man warrior who had just shown amazing aggression and whose size far exceeded that of ordinary snake-men.

It's obvious that this is indeed a mini-boss, or at least an elite monster!
This snake-man warrior is incredibly powerful. Not only does he wield a fine steel knight's greatsword that was clearly captured, but he is also wearing a chainmail that was obviously made specifically for snake-men, capable of withstanding sword and blade strikes.

But all of this was useless. Under the siege of more than twenty players, the elite snake-man monster quickly died.

Although the snake-man took the lives of five players before it met its end, it served no tactical purpose whatsoever... It could have used its formidable individual combat prowess to tear a small opening in the players' loose defenses.

As a result, this elite snake-man, wanting to ambush and kill, decided to leave the game and ventured deep into the player group, where he was surrounded and killed by them.

After the snake-man warrior fell, Bushuangbuwan breathed a sigh of relief and looked around.

The battle on the docks had reached a fever pitch, with players fighting individually yet supporting each other, gunshots, shouts, and curses mingling together.

Despite the chaotic battle, the players miraculously withstood the snakemen's first and fiercest attack thanks to their numbers and reckless fighting style.

But he noticed that the snake-men in the sea seemed endless; as soon as one area was cleared, new twisted figures would emerge from the deep water.

"This can't go on. If supplies don't keep up, we'll be worn down sooner or later."

He grumbled, feeling annoyed and unwilling to play, subconsciously searching for a breakthrough or key point on the battlefield.

This is his gaming habit; he prefers observation and command to mindless charging. There's no way around it; he's never been good at controlling characters he doesn't enjoy, which makes him prone to dying in close combat.

He used both his hands and feet to climb to the top of a taller, relatively safer wooden lighthouse.

The view from here is expansive, overlooking most of the dock area and part of the bay. Not happy, I crouched down inside, vigilantly observing my surroundings to prevent any snake people from launching a long-range sneak attack, while quickly scanning the battlefield.

His disgruntled gaze swept past the intense fighting nearby and landed on the turbulent sea a little further away.

Snake-men kept emerging from there, but they didn't seem to be attacking aimlessly.

As he watched, his brows furrowed with displeasure and a desire to stop playing.

"Something's wrong..."

He discovered that the vast majority of the snake people appeared around a particularly dark, almost inky, body of water outside the dock.

The waves in that area were also unusually turbulent, with unusually large bubbles surging up from time to time, bursting up with a wisp of barely perceptible...mist?
What made his heart sink even more was that he vaguely saw an extremely large, slowly writhing shadow beneath the surface of that dark water.

The shadow's outline was indistinct, but it was definitely not a reef or a regular marine creature. With each subtle movement, it seemed to be accompanied by more snake-men separating from the surrounding seawater, like an endless ant colony spreading out of its nest.

"My day..."

"I'm not happy, I won't play!" He gasped, a chill running down his spine to the top of his head. He immediately climbed down to inform the other players what he had seen.

At this moment, the reinforcements from the Macon Alliance finally arrived, belatedly, running towards them from the distant castle road.

(End of this chapter)