Late Ming Dynasty: Summoning players from Liaodong to support the Ming Dynasty

The army rested and reorganized its camp.

Inside the temporary command tent of the [Rebellious Scale] guild, the tallow torches crackled and popped. The cheap smell of grease mixed with the cold wind and snow outside, making one's head ache.

Long Shuo, draped in a heavy bearskin cloak, sat imposingly in the main seat. He stared intently at the rough map of Liaodong on the table, his knuckles tapping the table with a resounding thud.

irritable.

Extremely irritable.

Four full days had passed since Wu Jingjing's squad broke away from the main force. According to the original plan, these guys should have already made contact with the Later Jin scouts. As long as they released the half-true, half-false script of "Chu Ze's rebellion and firearms blueprints," and infiltrated the Later Jin camp as defeated soldiers, the plan would be set in motion.

But now, the guild channel is completely silent. Wu Jingjing's private chat avatar remains grayed out.

"Could Chong and the others have really frozen to death in that lousy forest?" The guild's vice president, "Iron-Blooded Ruthless," rubbed his frozen hands and leaned over to lower his voice. "The hunger and cold penalties in this lousy game are too cruel. Those guys didn't take much food with them when they left."

Long Shuo snorted coldly, not even lifting his eyelids.

"Frozen to death? At worst, they'll just lose a level and respawn in town. And after respawning, they don't even bother to send a message? These idiots probably messed up and got their heads chopped off on the spot by the Tartars."

Long Shuo grabbed the teacup on the table and gulped down a mouthful of the now-cold, bitter tea. Tea leaves got stuck in his throat, causing him to cough violently.

This was a meticulously planned grand scheme of "benefiting from the rise of the dragon"! As long as they could get on Huang Taiji's good side, the [Reverse Scale] guild could hedge their bets in the upcoming defense of the capital. They'd gain military merit on Chu Ze's side and hidden rewards on the Later Jin side. That's called winning both ways!

As a result, they got stuck at the very first step.

Drop drop-

An extremely abrupt system notification sound exploded in my mind.

Long Shuo paused, then abruptly brought up the player system panel. A dark blue screen unfolded in front of his retina, and in the encrypted private chat list in the upper right corner, the name "Wu Jingjing" with a dog head avatar was flashing wildly.

not dead!

Long Shuo perked up and immediately opened the private chat box.

What greets the eye is a screen full of characters riddled with errors, even the punctuation marks exude a hysterical madness.

"Long Shuo, you son of a bitch!"

The first sentence hit Long Shuo squarely in the face.

Long Shuo's brows furrowed instantly. Had this kid lost his mind? Daring to speak to the guild leader like that?

He suppressed his anger and continued reading.

"The script is completely ruined... These Tartars are out of their minds... They won't listen to me..."

"I shouted that I was a traitor... Hu Yongqiang said I was acting... that I was a suicide bomber delivering false information..."

Seeing this, Long Shuo's face darkened completely. He had indeed botched the performance. These NPCs were ridiculously intelligent; Wu Jingjing's exaggerated acting couldn't fool a high-ranking general at all.

Just as he was about to type out a tirade against Wu Jingjing, telling him to find a chance to commit suicide and be resurrected, his gaze swept over the next few lines of text.

"Chasing the Wind couldn't withstand the torture...excessive pain forced me offline...and I turned into white light and flew away..."

"The NPCs mistook this for sorcery... believing we're all invincible celestial soldiers..."

"Strip us naked, tie us to horses... and send us before Huang Taiji as live specimens..."

"Live specimens! We're going to do slice studies! The shamans are going to skin us alive!"

"They won't even let me die... They've been given ginseng soup to keep me alive..."

"Find a way to kill me... otherwise I'll have to delete my account!"

The last few words, almost dripping with blood and tears, pierced Long Shuo's retina.

The entire tent fell into a deathly silence.

Iron-Blooded Ruthless stood to the side, watching his boss stare at the empty panel in mid-air, his expression shifting unpredictably. First, it turned grim, then astonished, and then his facial muscles began to twitch uncontrollably.

"Boss... what happened? What did Brother Chong say?" Tie Xue Wu Qing asked cautiously.

Long Shuo ignored him.

He stared intently at those few lines of text, once, twice, three times.

He broke down and dissected every single word, chewing it over and over in his mind.

Transformed into light and ascended to heaven. Demonic magic. Heavenly soldiers. A living specimen. Presented to Huang Taiji.

Sudden.

"Ha ha ha ha--!"

Long Shuo suddenly sprang up from his chair, threw his head back, and burst into an extremely shrill, even morbid, maniacal laugh. He kicked over the solid wood table in front of him, and teacups, maps, and sand tables clattered all over the floor.

Iron-Blooded Ruthless was so frightened that he took two steps back, his hand on the hilt of the knife at his waist, thinking that his boss had gone mad from the shock.

"Genius! Hu Yongqiang! You're a fucking genius!"

Long Shuo paced wildly back and forth in the cramped tent, his fingers digging deep into his tangled hair and frantically rubbing it. The red glow of the tallow torch illuminated his purplish-red cheeks, making his features, contorted with extreme excitement, appear grotesque and terrifying. His chest heaved violently as he gulped down the chilly air in the tent, mingled with the smell of cheap grease, and roared incoherently.

"Brilliant! Absolutely amazing! This ability to fill in the blanks, this reverse logic! It's like even God is on my side!"

"Brilliant! Absolutely amazing! This ability to fill in the blanks, this reverse logic! It's like even God is on my side!"

Iron-Blooded Ruthless stood amidst the shattered teacups and muddy sand table, completely bewildered by Long Shuo's frenzied state. He rubbed his frozen fingers and tentatively probed in a low voice.

"Boss, what exactly happened? Who is Hu Yongqiang?"

Long Shuo abruptly stopped, his leather boots slamming down and shattering a shard of porcelain from a teacup with a piercing crack. He lunged forward, his hands transforming into iron pincers, gripping Tie Xue Wuqing's shoulders tightly. His ten fingernails dug into the thick leather armor, forcing their way into the other's flesh. Long Shuo's eyes were bloodshot, a bloodthirsty, fanatical light burning deep within his pupils.

"Dude! Not only did our plan not fail, but these NPCs actually elevated it to a level we never even dared to dream of!"

Long Shuo's spittle flew everywhere in the firelight as he spoke at an extremely fast pace, each word and sentence forming a dense string of firecrackers.

"You think about this carefully! Our original plan was for Wu Jingjing to pretend to be a defeated soldier and surrender. Even if a low-ranking defeated soldier had some so-called intelligence, who could he possibly meet? At most, he could meet a Niru Zhangjing! If he was lucky, he might meet a Jiala Ezhen! Do you think a few defeated soldiers could just see a big boss like Huang Taiji as they pleased!"

Despite the excruciating pain in his shoulder, Tie Xuewuqing quickly pondered Long Shuo's train of thought, then nodded heavily. The rigid feudal hierarchy was a given; for a low-ranking soldier to bypass his rank and meet the emperor of an enemy state was virtually impossible.

"But things are different now!" Long Shuo suddenly raised his voice, his shrill tone echoing in the cramped tent, causing the torch flames to flicker violently. "What were Wu Jingjing and the others treated like! Treated like immortal heavenly soldiers under Chu Ze's command! And as living specimens!"

"Do you even know what a live sample is?! This is a strategic resource! This is a core secret that can determine the course of this war!"

Long Shuo abruptly released his grip, turned, and slammed his fist hard against the thick wooden pole supporting the tent. With a dull thud, the thick layer of snow piled up on top of the tent fell in a flurry, crashing onto the frozen ground outside.

"What is Huang Taiji most afraid of right now? He is Chu Ze's monster army, which is practically unkillable! After the battle at Guangning, the Manchu Eight Banners were already terrified! Now that Hu Yongqiang has captured a few prisoners, what do you think Huang Taiji will do?"

Iron-Blooded Ruthless gasped sharply, a chilling breath mixed with icy shards. His frozen mind snapped back to reality, and his eyes gleamed with a sharp light.

"He will definitely interrogate them personally! He might even use the most core resources of the entire Jin Kingdom to study them!"

"That's right!" Long Shuo snapped his fingers crisply, a cruel and smug smile curving his lips. "This is what you call strategic deployment! We were just racking our brains trying to drive a mole into the heart of the Later Jin's power structure, and now, this self-proclaimed clever NPC, Hu Yongqiang, personally delivered our undercover agent directly to Huang Taiji's desk in a grand sedan chair!"

A golden gate leading directly to the enemy's supreme commander was kicked to pieces by a twist of fate!

This is practically a blessing from the devil!

After the initial euphoria, Long Shuo quickly calmed down.

The brain is like a high-speed computer, frantically calculating every next move.

The biggest problem now is Wu Jingjing.

This kid's pain sensitivity is set to 100%. He's tied to a horse, exposed to the cold wind, and given a life-saving drug. He's constantly at risk of being skinned alive by a shaman. Any normal player would be thinking of deleting their character and starting over right now.

Once Wu Jingjing deletes his account, this once-in-a-lifetime "living sample" will vanish into thin air. Hu Yongqiang will be dumbfounded, Huang Taiji will be furious, and this connection will be completely severed.

We must keep him calm.

We must do everything we can to get Wu Jingjing to willingly become our guinea pig!

Long Shuo reopened the dark blue system panel, his ten fingers hovering over the virtual keyboard. He was an expert in managing people, and ordinary words of appeasement were useless against a greedy and vain player like Wu Jingjing.

We must take drastic measures.

A great reward is sure to attract a man to his death!

As the finger fell, lines of highly seductive and authoritative text quickly took shape in the private chat box.

"Jingjing, you're right to scold me. I'm sorry for what happened this time; I didn't do a good job with the intelligence, and you've been wronged."

First, lower your stance and smooth things over.

Then, the conversation shifted abruptly.

Long Shuo took a deep breath of the cold air mixed with the smell of cheap grease, his ten fingers blurring across the dark blue virtual keyboard. He was going to forcefully pull Wu Jingjing back from the brink of collapse.

"But! You absolutely cannot delete the account now! You'd better hold on, even if it kills you!"

"You thought you failed? Wrong! You've struck gold! You've triggered the biggest epic hidden main quest in the game's history!"

Long Shuo's eyes were filled with extreme fanaticism, his eyeballs were bloodshot, and his mouth was stretched into an extremely excited arc.

"Think about it, if you're a defeated soldier who surrenders, they'll treat you like a dog, and might kill you at any moment. But a living specimen? They'll treasure you! You're now the most precious treasure in the entire Great Jin Kingdom!"

"Huang Taiji will definitely meet you in person! You will be the first player in the entire 'Iron-Blooded Empire' to directly face the supreme leader of the opposing faction!"

At this point, Long Shuo paused for a second. He listened to the blizzard tearing at the felt outside the tent, knowing full well that empty promises wouldn't fill the stomach, much less alleviate the physical torment of excruciating pain. Substantial benefits were necessary.

The finger fell heavily again.

"I know you're in excruciating pain, feeling like you're living a life worse than death. The shamanic dissection is indeed terrifying. But this is a game! Every game has its mechanics!"

"They want to study you, don't they? Let them study you! The more mysterious you act, the more afraid they'll be! You must etch the fear of our player army deep into the bones of the Qing emperor!"

"As long as you weather this storm and reveal all of Chu Ze's secrets to Huang Taiji, I promise you!"

"First, take whatever you want from the guild vault! That [Lightning Chaser] spear is nothing; I'll personally lead a team to farm top-tier materials and have a custom-made legendary set of top-tier gear tailored just for you!"

"Secondly, the position of third vice president of the Reverse Scale Guild is reserved for you! From now on, you'll be the leader of tens of thousands of people!"

Long Shuo's breathing grew heavier and heavier, his chest heaving violently. He clenched his teeth, preparing to unleash his final trump card.

"Third, and most importantly."

Long Shuo typed the virtual keyboard with such force that it seemed to pierce the light screen, pressing down the last character heavily with his heavy breathing.

"In reality, I'll personally transfer 500,000 yuan out of my own pocket to you! To cover the suffering you've endured these past few days!"

"As long as you don't delete your account, and as long as you meet Huang Taiji, this 500,000 will be transferred to your account immediately!"

send.

The deep blue data stream instantly transformed into specks of starlight and disappeared onto the semi-transparent panel.

Long Shuo stared intently at the ID with the dog-head avatar in his private chat list. He was gambling. He was betting 500,000 yuan in cash and rare equipment on Wu Jingjing's inherent greed, betting that this greed could completely crush the hellish torment brought on by 100% pain.

A deathly silence fell over the tent. Only the crackling of the burning tallow torches and the increasingly fierce howling of the north wind outside could be heard. The wind whipped up snow and ice from the ground, lashing against the rough leather of the tent.

Time ticked by, second by second. Every second of waiting stretched Long Shuo's taut nerves.

A full half-incense stick's time had passed.

drop.

A crisp system notification sound rang in Long Shuo's mind.

Wu Jingjing's grayed-out dog head avatar flashed wildly for a moment.

Long Shuo suddenly held his breath and opened the private chat box.

There were no lengthy complaints or heart-wrenching cries on the screen.

Only two short, harsh words, yet conveying a resolute determination to grit one's teeth and swallow one's blood.

"make a deal."

call--

Long Shuo let out a long breath and collapsed into his bearskin cloak. It's done. This kid is a desperate man at heart, willing to risk his life for money. Five hundred thousand is enough to buy his soul in the game.

"Brother." Long Shuo closed his eyes, a smile he couldn't hide on his lips.

"Boss, what are your orders?"

"Pass down the order: all core members of the guild must immediately cease all daily tasks and exchange all their merit points for Divine Fire Oil and explosive packs."

Long Shuo suddenly opened his eyes, revealing a murderous intent in them.

"Wu Jingjing has been driven in. Now, we just wait for Chu Ze's army to set off, and then we'll give the Manchu Eight Banners a spectacular fireworks display right outside the capital!"