Whose world-class drama are they criticizing?

During the White Night, under the illumination of the [Azure Eclipse], all the withered beasts will increase in level, and some may even be reborn.

Players are unaware of this mechanism, and after grinding all day, they'll all be wasted at night.

Collecting corpses is like harvesting vegetables; it's always filled with the joy of a bountiful harvest.

The sky was getting a little dark, and wild dogs kept rushing out from the depths of the jungle. Ryan drew his sword and slashed. He was using a silver sword now, which still did not meet the equipment requirements and he could not use sword techniques. But he did not need to use sword techniques to deal with these wild dogs by the roadside.

The wild beasts in the mountains behind Chuguang City, apart from Brother Bear, are generally not high-level, but their numbers are enormous and they reproduce rapidly. If they are allowed to continue to multiply, it is likely that, as Kiri said, a beast tide capable of overwhelming Chuguang City will form within ten days.

Lost in thought, Ryan faintly heard the sounds of swords clashing.

The player isn't there; the player is in another direction.

Ryan followed the sound and saw Viscount Kiri.

He was covered in blood, perhaps from an old wound that had reopened; his skin was cracked like dry tree bark. At Viscount Kiri’s feet lay the carcasses of wild beasts, and even two bears could be seen.

Standing amidst the mountains of corpses and seas of blood, he lit a cigarette. As the smoke rose, his ugly face, cursed by the withering disease, revealed no expression.

Ryan had to admit that Viscount Kiri was a tough guy now, capable of taking down two bears single-handedly... something Ryan certainly couldn't do.

Ryan still has a long way to go before he can kill the corrupt Kiri in a month.

Kiri also watched Ryan silently, and he had to admit that Ryan was tougher than him.

I've never seen anything so hard.

Ryan wasn't far from him, and Kiri had overheard the reprimand.

What does it mean to 'treat the blind as sons'?

Of all the cursed creatures without light, only the Lightless are directly descended from the primordial curse, the Silver Eclipse.

They are brutal and twisted, endlessly resurrected and growing, attacking all living things without any rationality, and are known as 'maggots that breed from the soul'.

But Ryan could treat these monsters like his sons, and the monsters didn't even dare to talk back.

That's way too hard!

In the past, Kiri would have thought it was a dream, but recalling how Ryan's words a few days ago caused the Dark Ones to commit suicide, he could now accept the situation.

Ryan's identity is definitely not simple.

Kiri had also suspected that Ryan was an apostle of the Azure Silver Witch or something similar.

But when Kiri thought of the invisible bridge, with bows mounted on it, making it impossible to open from this side... he dismissed the guess. Without a doubt, Ryan was on the human side.

For Kiri, who had been cursed with the withering disease, the source of Ryan's power was irrelevant; all he cared about was defending the city.

Everything I've seen these past few days is still vivid in my mind.

Yesterday, when Kiri saw the Lightless Ones cross the Invisible Bridge, he thought that the City of First Light was about to fall.

But unexpectedly, they headed straight for the Church of Radiant Fire, only to be stopped by a lock that Ryan had set up in advance, as if Ryan had already guessed the target of the Dark Ones.

After all, this was originally a task assigned by Ryan.

Ryan provided clues about the key: the back mountain, the tower, and Blighttown.

Based on today's observations, Kiri understood that Ryan was using a double-edged sword, borrowing the infinite regenerative power of the Dark Ones to first deal with the impending beast tide in the back mountains, and then resolve the curses on the tower and Blighttown in turn.

For a thousand years, hundreds of lords of the Darklands have dared not use the Dark Ones to remove the curse, but Ryan dared, and he succeeded.

This sixteen-year-old boy seems to be incomprehensibly crazy.

But in this already crazy world, perhaps only the mad can survive.

"Want a cigarette?" Kiri coughed and took a paper cigarette out of his pocket.

Ryan was somewhat surprised; he hadn't expected Kiri to offer him a cigarette, as if he wanted to improve.

“I don’t smoke.” Ryan shook his head; he wouldn’t smoke anything other than Liqun cigarettes.

“I didn’t touch this cigarette with my hands,” Kiri thought for a moment and explained. “It was wrapped in paper, so it wasn’t tainted by any curse.”

“I’m a minor, I don’t smoke.” Ryan was a good kid; he seriously refused Kiri’s offer of a cigarette, then added, “What are you doing here?”

“As you can see, the rats are being cleared out,” Kiri said. “The beast tide is less than ten days away.”

The stunted bear is not a rat.

After fighting two withered bears, Kiri also seemed to be seriously injured, with a large gash in his abdomen. However, the curse of withering healed his aged body. The wound in his abdomen was stitched up and filled by withering hyphae, and his flesh and blood turned into withered plants.

The more wounds he suffers, the further he drifts away from humanity. He is already racing down a path of decay, unable to turn back or stop.

Ryan remembered what Kiri had told him: when the city of Chuguang had plenty of funds, mercenary groups would regularly clean up its coffers, but now it had been without funds for a long time.

But the fact that Chuguang City still exists says a lot.

"As expected of Mr. Kiri, a survivor of Strawtown."

Ryan looked at the two bear carcasses on the ground, gave a polite exclamation of admiration, and then asked casually, "Speaking of which, what exactly was in the deepest part of Blighttown thirty years ago?"

Because the town of Blight was a semi-abandoned project, only the Blight villages on the outskirts of the town were opened in the previous life.

Blighttown was too gloomy and was abandoned after one test. Ryan never even reached the deepest part of Blighttown.

The final boss I fought at the end of the first test was the fallen Viscount Kiri.

"Apostle of the Disease" - Kiri Blair.

That was truly an exhilarating battle against the Red Stone boss...

But Ryan always had a lingering sense of unease; his years of intuition and instinct told him that a much larger one was hidden deep within Blighttown.

That should be the final boss.

As for what exactly happened thirty years ago, and what is hidden in the town of Blight, Ryan has no idea.

All that is known is that the Straw Knights were wiped out, with only Kiri surviving.

Perhaps Kiri knows the answer.

"Survivors?"

Kiri's tone was sarcastic, and after speaking, he remained silent for a long while.

When he thought of the expedition thirty years ago, and of the town of Blighttown, his pupils trembled. Ryan could see fear in the man's eyes.

Kiri took one last drag of his cigarette, coughing violently, a hoarse sound escaping from his withered throat.

“No, I didn’t go deep.” After a long while, he said hoarsely, “I’m just a deserter… the only deserter of the Straw Knights.”

"I merely noticed that person's presence."

Kiri lowered his voice: "She is the youngest princess of the four pillars [Plague], the last heir of the Plague, the embodiment of withering and disease, the original sin of the world's withering - the Withering Princess."

The moment those taboo words were uttered, a chilling wind rustled through the forest, and Ryan fell silent.

After a long while, he broke the silence.

"so."

Ryan asked earnestly, "Is she a good girl?"

Kiri remained silent.

He managed to hold it in with great difficulty.

Ryan thought to himself, "It can't be."

After all, Kiri gets syphilis just from a glance.

"It turns out to be a lottery symbol."

Chapter 54 Ryan: No way, I got caught!

“Ninth day’s wages, Mr. Ryan.”

As dawn broke, Ryan opened his eyes and saw Miss Jasmine standing by the bed, while the half-elf girl tilted her head and leaned forward, her hands outstretched as if demanding her wages.

A week has passed since his conversation with Kiri in the back hills, and now it is the ninth day since he has been without visitors.

For the past nine days, every time I open my eyes, I see Jasmine demanding her unpaid wages.

"Don't even think about withholding your daily wages," she declared vehemently. "You wicked capitalist."

Ryan paid wages nine times in nine days. The first day it was an olive branch, the second day it was a rose, the third day it was a cornflower, and the next six days it was a bouquet of red roses, a sunflower, a white lily and a violet, and a rose and a lilac.

The city of Chuguang has been ravaged by the curse of withering disease, and there are not many kinds of flowers to begin with. Ryan has almost plucked all the flowers and plants off the back mountain, and it will be difficult to find the ninth day's wages. Even the capitalists have no surplus grain.

He really couldn't afford to hire this eighteen-year-old half-elf girl; he should have just paid her off.

“Oh, right, didn’t you claim to be a young girl?” Ryan suddenly remembered something and quickly said, “I can’t pay you wages anyway, employing child labor is illegal.”

“By human standards, I am an adult,” Jasmine sneered.

“Then you’re the aunt downstairs, I’m going to report you.” Ryan blurted out.

"By elven standards, I am a young girl," Jasmine said proudly, hands on her hips.

"How can you apply double standards?" Ryan exclaimed.

"Because I am a half-elf." Jasmine's pointed ears stood up, like two small flags fluttering in the wind. She could attack, defend, be a big sister or a little sister, and had extremely high magic resistance.

Too lazy to argue with Ryan, she rolled her eyes and asked, "Are you going to pay us or not?"

"The back mountain is too poor, there's nothing left to distribute." The other side's resistance was too high, so Ryan sighed and gave up struggling. He sprawled on the bed like a salted fish, with a "what can you do about it?" tone, "Whatever."

He was too lazy to go to the back mountain to look for wages again. He slept very late yesterday, working as a blacksmith until late at night, and was exhausted today.

"You said that?"

Miss Jasmine was furious. "You think I wouldn't dare?"

There was a rustling sound from beside the bed. Miss Jasmine took off her little boots, put her white socks on Ryan's bed, and flopped down next to him.

Ryan stared at her in surprise, not expecting this girl to be so presumptuous. He knew that this was illegal by both human and elven standards!

By human standards, Miss Jasmine broke the law.

According to Elven standards, it was Ryan who broke the law.

Either way, it's a dead end.

How dare she?

"...You're awesome." Ryan sighed. "I'll go find you a salary right now, okay?"

There was no sound for a while, then after a long time, the sound came again.

"No, no need."

Miss Jasmine said in a muffled voice. She deliberately turned her back to Ryan so that he couldn't see her face. Ryan could only see her drooping ears. The little flag that had been waving in the wind just now had fallen down and was hanging limply by her cheeks, as red as the sunset.

"Let's just leave it at that for now," she said.

It doesn't seem that impressive.

The half-elf lady is all talk and no action; she's so timid, yet she dares to imitate adults' speech.

Jasmine also felt a little embarrassed by what she was doing, so she added, "Of course, you still owe me one day. This morning's... is just interest."

It's all messed up.

"whatever."

Ryan turned over; he wanted to sleep a little longer too.

The rare sunshine streamed through the glass curtains, causing the blue and white curtains to flutter. He, too, took a rare moment of relaxation, sprawling comfortably on the bed. The half-elf lady lay beside him, her long white hair covering half the bed. Soon, the sound of even breathing filled the air beside him. In the years to come, he would never again find such a peaceful morning.

Ryan has had a very fruitful week.

By continuously harvesting players, his Paladin level rose by two more levels, and he unlocked the combat skill [Radiant Dagger] at LV4.

The overall level has reached lv14.

Then there's his blacksmithing skill level. After practicing day and night, he has advanced to the [Apprentice] level and can now attempt to reforge the straw sword.

By consistently running every day, I've unlocked the "Long-Distance Runner" stat, boosting my stamina to level 2. Now I'm aiming to become a "Marathon Runner."

The training progress for the "True Lu Ming Sword Technique" remains stagnant at 0.75.

It takes a truly exhilarating life-or-death battle to transform.

Personal improvement is irrelevant; what makes Ryan most gratified and satisfied is the dramatic decline in Eden's overall reputation.