Magic, Evil Gods, and the Fourth Calamity

Strange mission description, strange mission requirements.

Nan Qu stared at the task pop-up window in front of him, unsure of what to do.

Everything that's happening now has deviated from his original plan; all he wanted to do was play games with his partner!

"Honey, how's it going? How's the limited-time mission?! Curious.jpg"

When Wuwei Dapaozhang sent a message, Qu Nan immediately sent the game screenshots he had just painstakingly created to the other party.

Nan Qu: "I don't know, but the scenery is quite nice."

Fearless Firecracker: "Ah, this is a city I've never seen before! Honey, where are you now? What's your mission?"

Looking at the inexplicable task, Qu Nan could only vaguely reply, "I don't know, I'm still figuring it out."

Fearless Firecracker: "Alright, enjoy your game time! If you make any interesting discoveries, be sure to tell me right away!"

Qu Nan: "Okay!"

After replying, Qu Nan looked at the chat interface, which had remained silent for a long time, and finally turned his gaze forward.

So, what's so fun about this game?

Qu Nan pondered, his gaze falling on the city not far away. He stepped forward and soon arrived at the city wall, where he was blocked by a force in front of the open city gate.

Can't get in? There's an invisible wall? This game doesn't offer much freedom!

Qu Nan looked at the city wall with suspicion, but found several well-equipped human soldiers on the top of the wall.

The soldiers were also curiously looking down at the city wall. The moment their eyes met Qu Nan's, they immediately stood up straight and pressed the back of their right hands tightly against their foreheads.

Is this the human military salute in this game?

Qu Nan could see the respect in the eyes of those NPCs; it seemed that his existence was very special to them.

However, at this moment, there is no indication of who Qu Nan is playing, nor is there any text describing Qu Nan's situation.

All that was there was that inexplicable task prompt and the countdown that was constantly jumping in the center of the top of the screen.

【0:23:55:17】

【0:23:55:56】

According to the mission description, it seems that the mission ends when the countdown reaches zero.

So, what do I need to do in 24 hours?

Since we couldn't get into the city, we decided to explore the surrounding area.

Thinking it over, Qu Nan randomly chose a direction and then walked towards that place.

As he walked, Qu Nan unknowingly started running and discovered that the character's body in the game fit him just like his real body, and was even stronger and more agile than the original body in reality.

Before long, Qu Nan reached the top of a small hill.

This is a high-lying spot with a wide view, where you can better observe the surroundings from above.

Unbeknownst to him, Qu Nan had already begun to immerse himself in the game, searching for the meaning of his character's existence.

And he seems to have successfully found the meaning of his role.

It was a stray dog, with a black tail and black back, and a ferocious appearance.

He was lying in the shade of a tree, enjoying the sunshine, unaware that a crisis was quietly approaching.

In the game's challenging visual perspective, the wild dog was highlighted in bright red, with countless tiny, bright red "kill" characters writhing and trembling at the edges of its model.

The bright red text "+10s" was prominently displayed above the stray dog's head.

In an instant, Qu Nan seemed to understand something, gripped the rusty sword tightly, and rushed towards the wild dog in one stride.

With a swift stroke of the sword, the wild dog was instantly killed, and the countdown in the game's view indeed increased by ten seconds.

Kill 1 wild dog, experience points +1000, game time +10 seconds.

The game system popped up a notification. Looking at the wild dog lying in a pool of blood, Qu Nan felt that the nameless anger in his heart had been released—it was the fatigue and helplessness that had accumulated in the company on a daily basis in reality.

At this moment, Qu Nan felt an indescribable sense of comfort and couldn't wait to find the next victim to test his longsword.

He seemed to have understood the game's mission description; all he had to do to complete the mission was to kill.

However, while feeling comfortable, Qu Nan still had doubts in his heart.

Is this really all there is to the task?

Is this mission really just about killing for the sake of killing?

Looking at this incredibly realistic game world, I felt the unparalleled sensory feedback from controlling the character.

Qu Nan's doubts deepened. What was the purpose of the game's official design for this limited-time mission?

Is it just so that players can kill to their heart's content?

It seems that it's not entirely impossible.

Qu Nan randomly chose a direction again and quickly rushed towards that place.

The journey was difficult, with frequent stops and starts. They encountered many animals and monsters, which they dealt with extremely quickly.

Along the way, they managed to gain over 300,000 experience points, while the countdown barely kept them breaking even.

Although he still enjoyed killing, Qu Nan's inner confusion remained undiminished.

He felt there was something wrong with his gameplay; he shouldn't have just been exploring aimlessly and killing everything in sight.

A notification sound rang, indicating that the chat program for external game access was difficult to open.

"Honey, how was it? Was the mission fun?"

"I killed a lot of monsters and animals, gained 300,000 experience points, and then nothing else!"

"Baby, you call this a loss? 300,000 experience points! The experience points from the time-limited mission can be carried over to your main character. As soon as you create your character and land, you'll be instantly promoted to the upper Black Iron tier!"

Keep in mind that it would take three to five days of real-world time to accumulate 300,000 experience points while leveling up normally, and that's assuming no accidental death while grinding monsters.

You've only spent three hours in the game, which is only a little over half an hour in real time!

I'm so envious! I wish I had this quest when I first started playing, then I wouldn't have had to grind monsters every day like that!

Faced with the incessant chatter of the fearless firecracker, Qu Nan was at a loss for words. He had only just started playing the game and didn't really understand how it went.

So he replied, "I see."

As soon as the message was sent, Qu Nan regretted it. Was her reply too perfunctory? Should she think carefully about how to reply?

Just as he was pondering what to do, Fearless Firecracker sent another message: "Alright! Honey, you better level up! Try to get enough experience in the timed missions. Then you'll be at the Purple Bronze rank as soon as you land, and you can take me flying!"

Qu Nan: "Okay."

Then, the chat interface fell silent again, while Qu Nan kept reviewing the conversation, trying to perform better in the next one...

"Kill! Charge!"

"Help! Help!"

"Human wretch, die!!!!"

Qu Nan, who was reviewing the situation, was suddenly awakened by shouts of killing and screams. He quickly closed the chat interface and rushed towards the direction from which the sounds came.

Soon, Qu Nan climbed to the top of a hill and saw a village at the foot of the hill being attacked by flames and green-skinned monsters.

Just like the monsters and animals before them, these green-skinned monsters also had wriggling "kill" characters around their bodies, and the time above their heads was a bright "+5min".

Without much hesitation, Qu Nan charged straight toward the village. He decided that after killing the orcs, he would log off and get a good night's sleep.

Although this game claims to have a dream simulation function, playing the game is equivalent to sleeping.

But Qu Nan doesn't really believe that kind of technology can actually allow someone to play games while sleeping.

Tomorrow the company has some fairly important work to do, and I feel that traditional sleep is a safer option.

Qu Nan's figure blurred into afterimages, disappearing into the village at the foot of the mountain in an instant.

At this moment, scorching flames are spreading through the village, and green-skinned humanoid monsters are chasing after fleeing human NPCs.

According to his girlfriend, these green-skinned humanoid monsters are a type of being called orcs. They exist on the opposite side of humanity and are mostly enemies of humans in the game.

Rusty swords flew, and blood splattered.

A green orc who was driving human children was struck in the neck by Qu Nan's sword, and his massive body crashed to the ground.

"You, no..."

He gracefully sheathed his sword, remembering that the NPCs in this game were no different from real people. He wanted to comfort the frightened human NPCs, but the words were cut off by the writhing bright red "kill" characters on the border of the human child characters and the "+10s" above their heads.

These guys deserve to be killed too!

Is this game really that daring?

Honestly, before becoming a miserable office worker, I played quite a few games.

There are many open-world games, but it's rare to see one this open.

In most games, children are either invincible units or simply do not appear in the game.

But now, this game is blatantly warning that children can be killed!

However, at this moment, Qu Nan didn't think too much about it.

Because at this moment he is the player, the choice of whether to kill or not is always in his hands.

After a moment's hesitation, Qu Nan turned and charged toward another orc, once again wielding his rusty sword.

At this moment, Qu Nan seemed to have transformed into an orc slaughtering machine, with each strike resulting in the death of an orc.

kill!

Kill! Kill! Kill!

One, two, four, eight!

The rusty sword broke, so Qu Nan picked up the weapon dropped by the orc.

When that orc dies, he goes off to find the next one.

The thrill of taking the pills was gone; all that remained was a numbness amplified by the bloodshed and slaughter.

In the end, all the orcs were killed by Qu Nan. He stood there, somewhat dazed, pondering why he had played the game in the first place.

"grown ups……"

A gaunt old man approached Qu Nan from behind, cautiously probing in his aged, hoarse voice.

The sound made Qu Nan subconsciously turn around. The dense, writhing, bright red "kill" characters on the frame of the old man's model made his body move instinctively.

The greatsword, imbued with bloodlust, hurtled towards the old man, but was forcibly stopped just before it touched his neck by Qu Nan, who had regained his senses.

Although it was a game, killing people in such a realistic game made me feel that I was probably not prepared at all.

"Feel sorry……"

Clang!

Qu Nan threw away the orc greatsword in his hand, and then watched as the human NPC he had almost killed knelt down on the ground with a thud.

"Sir, please save us!"

The old man kowtowed to Qu Nan, as if grasping at the last straw.

As the old man knelt down, the survivors of the ordeal in the village came out one by one, and men, women, young and old all knelt down in unison before Qu Nan.

Honestly, Qu Nan had never seen anything like this before and didn't know how to react.

Even if this is just a game.

But what to say and do next is entirely up to the individual to decide.

Freedom, excessive freedom.

"Get up, all of you! The orcs are dead, you're safe now, aren't you?"

Qu Nan stepped forward, trying to pull the old man up from the ground, but met the old man's cloudy eyes and saw the endless fear hidden within them.

"Sir, those guys will come back! They've gone mad! Can you take us away from here?"

The old man pleaded, prompting Qu Nan to ask with some curiosity.

"What happened here?"

Qu Nan suspected that he had probably triggered a plot event and might be able to obtain some useful information from these survivors.

"The orcs have gone mad; their tribes are fighting amongst themselves, wanting to kill every living thing they see..."

The old man was the village chief, and the purpose of the village's existence was to provide food for a nearby orc tribe.

Orcs are violent and warlike, with almost no talent for agriculture. But orcs are still living beings, and living beings need to eat to stay alive.

Hunting, fishing, and gathering can provide food, but given the sheer number of orcs, these methods are simply insufficient to sustain their survival.

Therefore, some clever orcs thought of humans' talent for obtaining food and enslaved humans to become their farmers, thus obtaining a stable food source through the fields.

Compared to humans who are kept by orcs or forced to do dangerous work, "human farmers" have a relatively safe and stable life in the orc empire.

After all, all they need to do is cultivate the land and deliver enough grain at the designated time.

However, this security and stability are predicated on the overall stability of the Orc Empire.

There were sufficiently powerful orc tribes that provided "protection" to these human villages.

However, the Orc Empire is no longer stable, and the Orc tribes that provided "protection" to human villages have been overthrown and divided up by several other smaller tribes in the surrounding area.

For smaller tribes, "human farmers" have little value, as they don't have the time to harvest crops on a monthly basis.

In their eyes, those "human farmers" were merely spoils of war from the overthrow of large tribes, food for the banquet after the victory.

The old man, who was the village chief, understood this and knew that if he wanted to survive, he had to leave this place.

They realized even more clearly that this "human" who could easily kill dozens of orcs was their only hope for survival.

In the depths of this orcish empire, the probability of encountering a powerful human who also has compassion for his fellow humans is extremely small.

The old man understood that he had to seize this opportunity!