Lords of the Heavens

Chapter 175 Cause and Effect
"How is the High Priest doing?"

Ron asked again, but his gaze was fixed on Li Wei. His originally firm gaze even showed a hint of confusion. Damn, is this the luck of the new king?
What a load of crap luck.

They spent four or five days grinding monsters in Kahe City, being extremely careful and cautious, but didn't gain much. This kid rescued a level two priest as soon as he arrived. Could he have some kind of cheat code or golden finger?

Is there any justice left!
"The High Priest is out of danger and should wake up before evening. Teacher, I'm more worried about the front lines in Kahe City. The Great Witch Luna clearly has the ability to continuously create corrupted soldiers. The longer this drags on, the worse it will be for us!"

Hathaway said worriedly, "They have indeed noticed something is wrong. In the past five or six days, both sides have killed at least twenty Fallen Guardian Knights. As a result, Kahe City is like a monster spawn point. If this continues, they are doomed to lose."

For the first time, she truly felt things were out of control. Why was a four-star lord quest so difficult? Waaah!

I've made such a huge sacrifice this time, even letting someone sleep with me for a month for nothing, and I'm still going to fail?
"George, what do you think?"

Ron sighed and looked at Li Wei.

Li Wei was a little surprised. "Oh dear, even you experienced four-star lords are helpless. What can I do?"

However, he still had to follow the logic of the plot and quickly analyzed: "The Great Witch and the Mad Baron seem to have obtained some incredible information from the caravan in Vidor Town. I saw the caravan leader, and he was also tortured, but he is already dead. This is very strange, so should we ask Sir Tuk if his caravan is carrying out any special mission?"

"Based on my analysis and observation, this caravan should have been able to return smoothly three months ago. However, something happened in the south and it was delayed for two months. As a result, they were caught when they returned this month, and their bodies were still fresh."

"Furthermore, my personal suggestion is that we should start building the One-Star Temple now. The priests have all come, and it's not appropriate to have no temple. Do you really want to send Lord Joseph back to Victoria Town?"

Li Wei spoke only what he had seen, telling the truth, and adding his own analysis. As a result, Ron and Hathaway's expressions changed drastically after hearing this, as if they had thought of something terrible.

Without saying a word, Ron left the fortress, and Hathaway followed closely behind with Li Wei. The three of them went to a double room on the second floor of the tavern. The moment they closed the door, Ron threw out a four-star conspiracy card.

As the gray fog enveloped the room, Ron immediately questioned Levi about the details he had seen in Kah City, including whether the body on the gallows really had signs of being beaten, and whether the deceased in the interrogation room was the caravan leader.

Even Hathaway repeatedly asked about some details.

Finally, Ron and Hathaway's eyes turned pained and desperate.

They must have actually confirmed something.

"So, what exactly happened? Do you know something?"

Li Wei was also anxious. "My two bosses, don't be like this. If the sky falls, you have to hold it up. My little arms and legs can't take it."

Ron gave a wry smile and looked at Li Wei.

“Brother, things have become complicated and troublesome, so we have to join forces. Whether we can complete the four-star lord mission is no longer important; we need to find a way to survive. Therefore, the three of us need to work together.”

"No, you two are both big shots who can dominate the chaotic killing battlefield. You're giving me too much credit. Even if I become a three-star lord now, I'm still not as good as a single hair on any one of your subordinates!"

Li Wei was very surprised.

"George, stop making sarcastic remarks. You've gotten the benefit and you're still acting innocent!"

At this moment, Hathaway angrily spoke, looking utterly defeated by life. Indeed, she had broken down; even someone as calm and composed as her had broken down at this moment.

"So what exactly happened? Tell me!" Li Weizhen said anxiously.

At this moment, Ron and Hathaway exchanged glances, and finally Ron spoke up with a sigh: "This matter is complicated and abstract, but considering what you just said, and the fact that the Mad Baron and the High Witch's allied forces are not heading north or actively pursuing us, this restraint is too strange. So we have reason to suspect that a new camp has been discovered in the south, and the Mad Baron and his men are now preparing to farm in the wild."

"What? A newbie camp, in the south? You mean the caravan from Victor Town was delayed for two months because they discovered a newbie camp, and this information was extracted through interrogation. So now the Mad Baron and the High Witch's allied forces are preparing to head south, destroy the newbie camp first, obtain enough job cards to make them stronger, and then deal with us?"

Li Wei was almost dumbfounded. No, he knew there were ten new recruits for this year's mission, but he never expected it to be so close.

“That’s right, that’s pretty much it. Of course, we might be wrong, but we’ll know the answer when Secondary Priest Joseph wakes up.”

At this moment, Hathaway suddenly asked, "George, how long have you been on this mission?" "About eighteen months."

"Very well, do you know when your father, Anson, escaped from Kah City?"

"It's been about twenty months, I'm not sure."

“Very good, George, then do you know that your father Anson has an older brother named Dave, a third brother named John, a fourth brother who is now the Mad Baron Mark, a fifth brother named Hansen, an older sister named Luna, a second older sister named Dani, and several illegitimate siblings and cousins?”

"Wait, these people are the source of this year's ten new recruit missions?"

Li Wei suddenly realized what was happening.

"Congratulations, you guessed right." Hathaway said, then wearily rubbed her temples, a deep sense of powerlessness spreading through her.

At this point, Ron interjected, "Twenty months ago, after your father Anson experienced that family upheaval, he fled Kah City overnight. He took your mother Fila and your sister Penny with him, intending to escape to the province of Ver. However, they encountered thieves and had no choice but to settle here. You know all of this."

"And did you also know that on the same night, your uncle Dave also fled from Kah City, but he fled towards the province of Duson, with his wife Catherine, son Joffrey, and daughter Anna in his carriage!"

"Of course, that night, or rather during that period, a total of ten vehicles escaped from Kah City and went in all directions. This was the beginning of the new recruits' mission."

"We won't talk about where the other carriages went or what happened to them. What we're going to talk about now is your uncle Dave. After escaping for more than two hundred miles, he fled into a valley that was like a paradise to avoid bandits. He thought he could make a comeback, but his old illness relapsed, and after suffering for several days, he finally died with resentment."

"His son, Joffrey, had to embark on a survival journey with his mother, Catherine, and sister, Anna—we can see this information at headquarters because experienced players can choose to join based on the development index of your camps. To be honest, six months ago, Joffrey's camp development index was far ahead—"

"Wait a minute! Could this Joffrey be the guy who's number one on the newcomer list?"

At this moment, Li Wei suddenly realized what was happening, gasped, and finally understood the seriousness of the problem.

This guy managed to climb to the top of the newcomer rankings, his camp must be incredibly powerful. If it gets captured, the Mad Baron and the Great Witch's alliance in Kahe City will definitely become even stronger.

But then another question came to his mind.

"And what about the other ten newcomers?"

"One didn't make it through last winter, two didn't make it through this spring, and five others were gradually moved to the backup scripts a few months ago. They will continue to migrate to pave the way for the next batch of newcomers."

"So now, the only two camps that are still ongoing are yours and Joffrey's."

"Does Joffrey also have eight four-star players on his side, preparing to compete with you two for Kahe City?"

Li Wei, with a wild imagination, said, "If that's the case, they could totally unite. There might be a chance of victory."

"Four-star players my ass! There isn't even a single three-star lord over there right now. Once the Black-Robed Witch locks onto their location, and Baron Mark's legion presses in, Joffrey's level 4 camp will be overrun in no time! Eight players, at least 16 cards, what a juicy piece of meat!" Ron sneered angrily.

"But that's not right. Since Joffrey and I have the same mission storyline, why are we already in the final battle while they haven't made any moves yet? Doesn't Headquarters know to force them to settle their accounts early?"

Li Wei quickly discovered a loophole.

Hathaway shook her head and said, "George, don't get hung up on the details, and don't mythologize the base. The reason there are all sorts of messy rules in the newbie mission is because there are too many unknown variables that can happen. This isn't a game instance; there's no backend data to control it. The natives aren't NPCs; they have their own ideas. The factions among the natives also have their own intelligence and analysis channels. We have to integrate into this world to complete the mission. It's normal for loopholes, bugs, and even irreversible collapses to occur in this process."

"Our mission storyline has continued from hundreds of years ago to the present day, with a new mission for new characters roughly every three years. However, we still cannot avoid the occurrence of unimaginable new situations. All the rules that you find strange, stupid, clumsy, and unreasonable have been established based on painful lessons learned time and time again."

"Because this world is real, it is alive and constantly changing. If you treat it as a game, you will only end up with a 'marking the boat to find the sword' result."

"We can't contact headquarters right now, so we can't report this situation. Ron and I can only explain to you what we know, understand?"

(End of this chapter)