My lord, spare his life!

"A close relative?"

She remembered that when the game developers finalized the NPC models, especially those of blood relatives, they would always consider giving the NPCs similar features in their eyes and eyebrows. Easter Egg Bro and Guan Zong looked completely different; it would be believable to say they were half-brothers. Real brothers? Were they sure their parents hadn't switched them at birth?

"You two brothers look completely different..."

Zhang Yang showed Guan Zong absolutely no respect.

Commenting on his face-pinching: "You look a bit older than your age."

"He looks like an ordinary passerby in a rag-print ad."

Easter Egg Bro's art style is like that of a domineering regent from a powerful alien nation. Every day, as soon as he opens his eyes, he tries to take advantage of the female lead. When he's bored, he raises big birds and wolves. If he disagrees with her, he uses these cute little pets to scare her into throwing herself into his arms.

Guan Zong: "..."

He didn't say anything, but the green name turning yellow above his head said it all. Whether he was angry at Zhang Yang's shallowness or at his own looks not being as good as the "Easter Egg Guy's," Zhang Yang asked another question: "Are you all from the same family?"

This is a very important question.

If NPCs who share the same parents don't resemble each other at all, based on Zhang Yang's many years of experience, there must be hidden storylines in their backgrounds.

Guan Zong: "..."

The moment he asked the question, he felt the air freeze. A cold sweat broke out on his back, washing away the bloodstains on his undershirt. Guan Zong didn't need to look up to know that Brother Cai Dan's expression was grim, and his murderous intent had intensified.

If Zhang Yang can't beat him, they'll both die.

Just as beads of sweat were about to drip from Guan Zong's forehead onto his eyelashes, a hawk's cry came from above the three of them. A familiar-looking large bird swooped down towards Eggman, interrupting his murderous intent. Eggman raised his arm, causing the hawk to land above him.

"What?"

The man and the eagle communicated using unknown means.

A cold glint appeared on the man's face. Under the puzzled gazes of Zhang Yang and his companion, he raised his hand and deflected the weapon in his hand, clearly indicating that he wasn't going to fight. Just as Zhang Yang had guessed, before leaving, the man asked him, "What's your name? Where do you live?"

Zhang Yang pointed to himself: "Ask me?"

"Otherwise, could it be this useless piece of trash beside you?"

Guan Zong: "...I apologize for the offense."

"Zhang Boyuan lived in the prefectural seat of Weiyin County."

Easter Egg Guy said, "I'll leave this human skin with you for a few days. I'll come back to get it back after I deal with those bastards. And while I'm at it, I'll also take care of this piece of trash next to you."

Guan Zong understood immediately.

As Eggman rode his falcon soaring into the sky, Guan Zong whispered gloatingly, "Oh, our hideout's been attacked."

A glint of cold light pierced through the sky.

Zhang Yang: "There was a sneak attack!"

Even faster than her words came the warning thrown at Guan Zong's feet.

Guan Zong curled his lip: "He only got angry because he was right."

Perhaps because they had gone far enough, this remark did not provoke a second warning. With the crisis averted, Guan Zong's tense back completely relaxed. He hadn't felt anything when he was nervous, but now every part of his body ached terribly, and he had lost count of how much blood he had lost.

"Thank you, my lord, for saving my life."

If Zhang Yang hadn't arrived, Guan Zong would have truly lost his life.

He has already played all his trump cards to save his life.

That one blow was enough to send him to meet the King of Hell.

Zhang Yang replied, "You wouldn't have died even if I hadn't come."

The messenger falcon arrived at the perfect time—not too early, not too late—just shortly after she rescued Guan Zong, bringing news that it had lured the Easter Egg Guy away. What does this mean? It means that's how the plot is arranged. Zhang Yang couldn't even remember how many dungeon bosses had been swarmed and nearly killed by players, only to have the powerful plot intervene at that moment, either by a more powerful mastermind appearing out of nowhere or by forcibly suppressing the players' actions, forcing them to watch helplessly as the boss escaped.

Therefore, Zhang Yang was certain that the falcon would arrive before Guan Zong died, and that Zhang Yang was merely a passerby who triggered and witnessed this event. Guan Zong, however, remained noncommittal.

"Are you really brothers?"

Zhang Yang found a cave where he could take shelter from the wind and snow.

She crossed her arms behind her head, leaning against Zhang Dami's lap, while Guan Zong sat opposite her, tending to his wounds. Zhang Yang examined his face closely, still finding it amazing: "The rough, system-created face is just different from the one created with a lot of money."

Guan Zong couldn't understand, but he guessed that she disliked his appearance.

"It's only natural that he's good-looking. His mother was a famous courtesan, once the top courtesan." Guan Zong smirked and said, "If he wasn't good-looking, how could he have been chosen as the top courtesan? This is all his mother left him."

Zhang Yang: "A prostitute? A courtesan? What's that?"

Both of these terms were unfamiliar to her.

Guan Zong looked up at her, making sure Zhang Yang's eyes weren't joking, before vaguely saying, "Alas, she's a pitiful person forced into this situation. In short, once you're stuck in that quagmire, you can only slowly rot away."

Zhang Yang, however, understood the familiar evasiveness on his face.

Some previously observed samples also showed a familiar look.

"Streetwalkers?"

Guan Zong: "...You knew?"

Zhang Yang casually replied, "Of course I know, I've even seen him."

There are these NPCs in the Survivor Base.

A group of malnourished, emaciated men and women lingered in a certain area like zombies, their faces covered with heavy, brightly colored makeup to conceal the odor caused by some kind of illness.

Some of these NPCs genuinely use their bodies to please customers in exchange for food; interacting with them will force players into a small, pixelated dark room, resulting in the loss of money and a hefty fine. Others will complain to players about their hardships, inflicting a "soft-hearted" debuff and causing the player to lose money. Still others will be robbed by NPCs who suddenly brandish knives, stripping players down to their underwear and leaving them naked on a streetlamp...

There are as many as 999 different storylines. When players collect them all, they can obtain the rare title - [Lustful Demon]: Wear the title to make your kidneys look healthier.

Zhang Yang learned from a group of observers who were enthusiastically strolling through the red-light district that these NPCs were "streetwalkers," and the "jobs" they did were exactly the kind of lewd things that the game's official developers prohibited.

So, you're passionate about this in real life too?

The observer cried out: "Don't be wronged, I'm innocent!"

Some of the observed samples seemed to be from the lower classes, with easier access to gray areas. One person, with an undeniably cute, childlike face, spoke in a deep, weathered voice: "You don't understand. These days, there are too many people in this line of work exploiting legal loopholes."

Zhang Yang: 【……？？？】

The little girl uncle said: "The law strictly prohibits women from engaging in this line of work, but it doesn't stop men from buying quick-release devices from 24-hour QQ shops and installing them on themselves. It's even more unstoppable that non-human, country bumpkin-like individuals install them. If caught by the order patrols, they simply remove their human skin costume, and that thing is stuck to their suction cups… Ever since humanoid costumes appeared, the market has been in complete chaos."

Zhang Yang: [Install?]

The little girl uncle said: "It's still disposable."

Zhang Yang: [You seem... to know a lot...]

The loli uncle said with a weathered air, "[Hmm, back in the day, it was quite a trend... women dressed as men, men dressed as women, exploiting loopholes. Even if the law enforcement officers came knocking, it wasn't considered a crime; the law was always slow to react... Later, these loopholes were closed, and a bunch of strangely shaped alien races donned humanoid costumes and started wreaking havoc in this area. The buffs were maxed out; they were the gods of this version!]"

The law didn't specify whether it was illegal for people of other races to wear humanoid costumes and engage in this profession, which led to confusion for many years...

Zhang Yang: […In short, this is not good.]

She thought of the haggard and dejected NPCs on the street.

Her intuition told her that this was not good.

Loli Uncle: [A business that only exists in the black market, how could it possibly be good? It's only because medical technology is advanced now that some QQ stores directly sell replaceable parts, so you can install as many as you want. If this were in ancient times, hmph, it would all be disease.]

Zhang Yang: [Illness?]

Loli Uncle: [The ideal situation is when people can create value with their hands to survive, but if they are reduced to needing to use their bodies, it means their situation has reached its worst point.]

Zhang Yang: [And you?]

The young man chuckled: "He and his girlfriend have gone straight back to normal life."

Zhang Yang: [Congratulations?]

Eggman's mother was clearly not as lucky as Loli Uncle.

According to Guan Zong, she was an extremely beautiful woman who was taken in and kept by a man who came down from the mountain seeking pleasure. During that time, she only needed to entertain this one customer. The customer came less and less often, and eventually forgot about her. She unexpectedly became pregnant, and after the money for her care ran out, the madam forced her to return to entertaining customers.

As children grow older, women also lose their youth.

Guan Zongdao said, "A beautiful but really stupid woman. A man only spent a sum of money to enjoy her youngest and most beautiful body, and even let her use this body to give birth to an excellent son for him. And she still has to use her body to support herself and her son."

Zhang Yang: "There was no choice."

Guan Zongdao said, "Indeed, there is no choice."

After the woman died, the man remembered that he had a mistress outside the marriage. He came over for a look and took the child away.

Guan Zong sighed, "However, his mother is foolish, and my mother isn't much better. It's a case of the pot calling the kettle black."

Zhang Yang felt this topic was somewhat heavy.

Guan Zong didn't mince words: "These people hiding in the Dongfan Mountains, they wanted to grow stronger, so they either recruited others or had their own babies. Regardless of gender or location, if they saw someone they liked, they'd just take their clothes off and sleep with them. If they weren't enough on the mountain, they'd sleep down below. Hahaha, after all these years of hard work, guess what happened in the end? That little beast Guan Si killed most of them in a single mutiny..."

Only a few kittens are still alive.

Guan Zong was one of them, and the female archer was also a lucky one. Guan Si was still like a mad dog, frequently darting around the Dongfan Mountains looking for people, treating the pursuit of lucky people as his daily amusement.

"Guan Si?"

"The one you call 'Easter Egg Bro,' speaking of which, why does the Lord call Guan Si 'Easter Egg Bro'? His face doesn't even look round."

"His face looks very expensive, like a hidden gem."

Guan Zong was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter, the movement aggravating his wound: "Guan... Guan Si, if you knew that the lord said this about him, you would be so angry that you would chase him to the ends of the earth."

Zhang Yang: "There's no point in threatening things that can't be done."

Knowing full well that she could also attack green-named enemies, Zhang Yang no longer took the Easter Egg Bro seriously; she was confident she could win!

You can kill the guy with the Easter Egg as long as he has a health bar.

"His name is Guan Si, what's his courtesy name?"

The NPCs in the Homestead side quests all seem to have an extra character in their names.

"His original name was Youzhou, but he refused and insisted on the courtesy name his mother had given him. Even if I don't go, will you not follow my name? There's nothing wrong with having the courtesy name Siyin, but now his surname is Guan... Hahaha..." Guan Zong's lisp made it even funnier.

Zhang Yang didn't get the joke at all.

He could only stare blankly at Guan Zong, who was laughing so hard he almost choked.

Guan Zong laughed for a while, then felt embarrassed and coughed lightly, saying, "These people in the Dongfan Mountains are all insane. If he hadn't killed even me, I would have supported him in ridding the people of this scourge..."

If someone were soft-hearted, they would probably think Guan Zong was an honest man after hearing this, but Zhang Yang did not soften at all.

[Title: Massacre of Ten Thousand (A fierce battle spanning thousands of miles, a thousand soldiers shedding their blood, bones used as fuel; only the most ruthless and bloodthirsty can obtain this title!)]

This is clearly recorded in Guan Zong's records.

Someone who can earn the title of "slaughtering thousands of people" must be a good guy.

You can only listen to half of what Guan Zong says.

She asked, "Have you finished your task?"

Guan Zong choked for a moment: "It's done, it's done. If it weren't for this, Guan Si wouldn't have been targeting me."

Zhang Yang: "You framed him?"

Guan Zong grinned: "Otherwise what? Why was he so eager to be called back? There must be a reason why his stronghold was attacked. Last time, our lord framed the Eastern Bandits for the murder, and the rebels sent people over again, also sending people to the Eastern Bandits Mountains to verify the facts."

Someone would naturally tell the rebels about the body.

Let it get chaotic, even more chaotic.

The thought of the war-torn landscape made Guan Zong tremble with excitement, his eyes gleaming with undisguised joy and pride.

Zhang Yang: "So, he'll hold me responsible?"

Guan Zongdao said, "Absolutely."

Zhang Yang: "..."

If I had known this would happen, I shouldn't have told the other person where I lived.

Guan Zong knew what she was worried about. While tying the last knot, he said, "There's no need to be afraid. He's not interested in hunting ordinary people. Since he's targeting the lord, he'll only target you."

When Zhang Yang appeared, Guan Si only saw her.

Guan Zong, the wounded prey, was left aside.

Zhang Yang: "...Find an opportunity to get rid of him."

If Guan Zong had agreed readily before being rescued, he could have eliminated a potential threat. But the current Guan Zong offers a different answer: "Instead of eliminating him, it's better to subdue and control him. The Eastern Bandits' resources extend far beyond the grain and treasury that our lord has seen; they also control a secret trade route! Let Guan Si live and allow him to bring all the Eastern Bandits under his control."

"Trade routes?"

"Yes, outsiders don't know."

Guan Zonghui knew this because he had also been a member of the Eastern Bandits, and was the son of the old general, having once entered the core ranks.

"Fan Shuyan should have told you that Tianyue has three trade routes to the outside world, all of which are controlled by various forces with checkpoints, and you have to pay exorbitant tolls to pass through. Actually, there's another one, right here in the Dongfan Mountains." Guan Zong dropped a bombshell, "Could the wealth that allows the Dongfan bandits to live so comfortably really be obtained by robbing a few poor places in Tianyue?"

To be fair, these Eastern Barbarian bandits did have some brains.

Back then, the old general led his men deep into the mountains, expending a great deal of manpower, to secretly open a passage that was almost impossible to open. This passage could connect several counties on the other side of the Dongfan Mountains, namely Zongzheng, Zongren, Bodu, Chesi, and Liesi.

"It's more worthwhile to sell what the lord has to them."

??|??w?`)

It seems like there are double monthly passes now?