February 1, 2049, Chinese New Year's Eve.
Game Time AM06:03.
Northern Misha County, outskirts of Baiyu Town.
A fairly large contingent was moving slowly. Ten low-ranking Holy Knights in heavy armor rode at the forefront, followed by hundreds of civilians... civilians, all looking well, men, women, old and young, with sorrow and reluctance in their eyes as they frequently looked back at the town.
These fortunate individuals were found by Xia Lian without encountering any Mutant. Although they followed the Holy Maiden's words and left their homes to go to Mida City, they still held a deep affection for their homeland, which was already surrounded by danger. Some even struggled and refused to leave after the rescue team arrived...
"They're crazy," Tirio Windfury, the Half-Orc Shaman at the end of the line, whispered to the beautiful Elven Female Knight beside him. "Wife, what do you think these people are thinking? We're here to save them, but they're all so reluctant..."
Putao, who was struggling to maintain her balance on horseback, glared at him and snorted, "Do you know why you're still just a small manager?"
"Because I'm always thinking about my wife when I'm at work, which leads to low work efficiency," Tilio immediately puffed out his chest and said loudly.
Then he was slapped off his horse by a sword.
"It's because you don't understand human nature at all! All you think about is how to trick your wife!" Putao, riding past Tilio, gracefully gave him the middle finger.
Further back, a human Female Ranger in a green cloak shivered, still feeling a lingering fear, and whispered, "I hope I don't become so violent after I get married... Huh?"
A message flashed, and the girl named Robin Han immediately opened her friends panel. After quickly reading the message, she sprinted to the front of the team without a word.
"Emergency!" she shouted to the leading Holy Knight. "Change course now, head west, and tell everyone to speed up, as fast as possible!"
The other party paused, then shook his head, "But we should be heading directly north back to Mida City..."
"I said, it's an emergency," Robin Han shook her head vigorously and pulled out a magic crystal infused with Holy Healing from her pocket. "Think about why Tairo arranged us into the team. This is a secret communication method for special circumstances!"
The Holy Knight was still hesitant, "But we..."
"If you don't believe me, send someone to check the west now, anyone will do, but hurry," the young girl raised her hand and gestured around, seriously saying, "Your comrades and dozens of civilians desperately need support!"
The other party looked at the magic crystal, which Yu Cheng had personally enchanted, and then remembered that Tairo had indeed said these low-level professionals 'had a special mission' when he arranged them into the team. Finally, he nodded and said to a slender Half-Elf Female Knight behind him, "Go check over there, as fast as you can."
"Understood," the latter nodded slightly, then turned her horse and galloped west.
【I didn't expect the excuse Yu Ying taught me to actually work... Phew, so exciting!】
Robin Han secretly wiped away a sweat, then retreated back to the rear of the team and opened her friends list to edit a message...
At the same time.
North Misha County, Baishi Trail.
Low-ranking Holy Knight Carl raised his hand and sent out a scorching golden ripple, restraining two Mutant in place. Then, while slowly retreating with the emblem shield imprinted with the sun god's holy symbol in his hand, he turned to the Dwarf Monk not far away and shouted, "Are you sure we should retreat to the east? According to the original plan..."
"Flowing Strength Penetration!"
The white-bearded Dwarf Monk, jumping up and down, shattered the skull of the Mutant in front of him with a palm, and without turning his head, shouted loudly, "The original plan didn't include encountering such a large wave of zombies! If we continue north now, at least half of us will die, so stop talking nonsense!"
"But Tairo didn't tell us before..."
"Stop talking nonsense! I told you it's a secret communication method. You don't believe something the Holy Maiden personally made?"
"No, no..."
"Then that's that. I've eaten more salt than you've eaten rice, so stop talking nonsense. While everyone's still in decent shape, hurry up and speed up."
"Oh."
【Damn, this bluff is so exciting! It turns out being an old person is more fun than being an adult!】
The Dwarf Monk, who looked at least sixty but was actually just sixteen, chuckled, then turned and elbowed half a Mutant flying, and opened his message bar...
...
Twenty minutes later.
Mida City, Holy Church United Chapel, Mo Tan's room.
Mo Tan, Yu Cheng, and Yu Ying stood around the long table in the room. On it was an extremely detailed map of Misha County, not only marking various main roads, paths, cities, and towns, but also meticulously depicting even unnamed places like wild forests and small lakes.
Four translucent chess pieces of unknown material were placed on top of the map, one of which was emitting a faint red light.
"The Fourth Squad and the Second Squad have successfully converged," Yu Ying, who was in a 'dazed' state, suddenly knocked on the table and looked up at Mo Tan. "The Mutant haven't suffered many casualties; there are still at least sixty left."
The latter nodded, lightly flicked one of the chess pieces, turning it a faint red as well, then placed the two red pieces together, frowning slightly. "How are the casualties of the Second Squad?"
"Wait a moment," Yu Ying quickly replied, then fell into that unique 'dazed' state players get when sending messages. After a while, she shook her head. "Two Holy Knights are lightly injured, the civilians are temporarily safe, and the five players with the team are also fine."
Mo Tan unconsciously tapped the map in front of him, and after a brief thought, said in a deep voice, "Tell them to stop and clear out the Mutant."
"Okay," Yu Ying simply replied.
Yu Cheng looked at Mo Tan with some concern. "Can they handle it? There are too many Mutant this time, and they also have to protect the civilians..."
"Theoretically, they can win. There are three healers in these two teams, and the Second Squad is mostly composed of Dawn Sect Holy Knights, so their endurance is very strong," Mo Tan rubbed his forehead and narrowed his eyes, pondering, "But it's certainly not very safe... Yu Ying, how are the other two squads?"
Yu Ying shrugged. "The Third Squad arrived at the small official road north of Mida City five minutes ago. The First Squad just sent a message; they encountered a dozen Mutant and are currently engaging, but it doesn't seem to be a big problem."
"Ten Holy Knights of the God of Justice, plus five player warriors, of course, won't have any problem dealing with a dozen Mutant," Mo Tan nodded, then placed a chess piece a little north of Mida City on the map and looked up at Yu Ying. "Have the Third Squad dispatch five Bountiful Knights to... uh, to the south to support the Second and Fourth Squads. The rest of them should take the civilians back to the city for rest as soon as possible. Also, among the five players, I remember there's a Priest. Have him go with those Knights too. If they travel at full speed, they should arrive within half an hour. That way, it'll be stable."
"What about the excuse? The Holy Knights of the Third Squad don't know about this 'secret communication' thing," Yu Ying scratched her hair, spreading her hands with a headache. "Even with the Holy Maiden's token, our explanation has too many loopholes, it's super troublesome..."
Yu Cheng smiled shyly, "You can just call me by my name."
"There's nothing we can do about the loopholes," Mo Tan sighed helplessly. "As long as there are no problems at this stage, it's fine. And after confirming the authenticity of those 'secret communications,' those Holy Knights probably won't actively seek verification from Tairo. For now, let's just do this and deal with it when we can no longer hide it."
Yu Ying rolled her eyes, "Got it, got it. Anyway, it's not you who taught them how to trick people..."
Mo Tan smiled apologetically, then picked up the quill beside him and made a few marks on the map, picking up the red tea in front of him and letting out a long sigh, "For now, there shouldn't be any major problems..."
"Oh, this is cold," Yu Cheng patted Mo Tan's wrist, then took the cup and refilled it with hot water, smiling gently, "Drinking it hot in this weather is better for your stomach~"
Mo Tan gave a dry laugh, "This is in the game..."
"Uh, because Mom always doesn't take care of herself, I just got used to it by accident," Yu Cheng paused, then stuck out her tongue, "But it never hurts."
Yu Ying stood beside them with her arms crossed, looking at the two with a subtle expression. "I feel a bit full."
Mo Tan was about to say something when he heard a system prompt from beside his ear...
【Dear player, there are fifteen minutes until the server closes today. Happy New Year in advance. Also, please pay attention to the official announcement after going offline.】
Mo Tan: "?"
The Holy Maiden and the Assassin beside him also froze slightly, apparently having received the same message.
"What's going on?" Yu Ying blinked in confusion, looking at the other two. "Has there been a prompt like this before?"
Yu Cheng gently shook her head, "I don't remember..."
Mo Tan also stated that this was the first time he had heard such a message.
"Whatever," Yu Ying shrugged and smiled at Mo Tan, "The Third Squad has already sent people to support, so we probably don't have anything else to do in the remaining time, right?"
Mo Tan nodded slightly, "Theoretically, yes. You've worked hard today."
The Assassin, who had no money, chuckled, "It's not hard at all. It's so blissful to just stay in the room and send messages and get quest contribution points. I'm finally almost rich enough to change the string on my hand crossbow! If I'm lucky, I can even buy some new molds. Holy Maiden, can you ask the blacksmith in the city for a discount?"
Yu Cheng shrunk her neck, "But I'm not very familiar with them..."
"Haha, just kidding~ Happy New Year."
"Happy New Year."
"Happy New Year, see you this afternoon."
"Mm~ See you this afternoon."
Yu Ying watched the two who were saying 'see you in a bit,' pouted, and muttered again, "I really want to burn something."
...
February 1, 2049, Chinese New Year's Eve.
Real-world Time AM07:08.
Mo Tan, holding a bucket of fresh shrimp and fish noodle soup, opened the official homepage of Innocent World and was immediately stunned...
A new announcement appeared on it:
Dear player,
Wu Zui Zhi Jie will undergo its first large-scale system maintenance and upgrade starting at 2047:00. This maintenance will last until 20419:00. The upgrade content is as follows:
I. Fixes and Optimizations
1. Fixed a bug where some players were incorrectly teleported to nearby septic tanks or other locations upon logging in if an NPC was present at their last logout location.
2. Fixed a bug where individual players, upon logging out, would enter a comatose state and be repeatedly slapped if an NPC was active nearby.
3. Fixed a bug where the divine punishment for inappropriate remarks made by individual players to their deities was too light.
4. Fixed a bug where players would not be struck by lightning when harassing the opposite sex in Public Space.
5. Slightly reduced the stamina recovery speed of players aged 55 and above when out of combat, and increased their stamina consumption speed in combat.
6. Slightly increased the stamina recovery speed of players aged 16-25 when out of combat.
7. Slightly increased the base strength and stamina of male players (an additional 0.3% increase compared to female characters of the same age).
8. Slightly increased the base skill value of female characters and the experience gain rate for tailoring and cooking. (Cooking certain overly bizarre foods will not grant additional experience.)
9. When players lose parts of their limbs during gameplay (such as hands, legs, kidneys), their attributes will permanently and significantly decrease.
10. After a player dies and is reborn, they will receive corresponding talents based on their level, profession, and skills at the time of death.
Example: If a 【Profession: Warrior】 is reborn, they may gain the talent: Combat Instinct: When upgrading Warrior-type profession specializations, combat attribute experience gain speed is increased by 1% - 100% (depending on the profession level at the time of death), until your profession of the same type reaches the profession level obtained in your previous life.
II. Public Space and Public Arena
1. Player rankings are now open, including: individual combat power ranking, individual comprehensive strength ranking, individual Arena ranking.
2. The Public Space will be moved to the center of the You'an Dense Forest within the game. Any player can choose to log in to the game or log in to the Public Space on the login interface. Players who choose to log in to the Public Space will have restricted movement and cannot leave the area; players who enter the Public Space through normal in-game movement methods are not subject to this restriction. (Public Space is invisible to NPCs).
3. New facility: Public Arena, located above the Public Space, accessible directly via teleportation from the Public Space (for details, please refer to Appendix 1, which may be updated after the New Year).
III. New Functionality: Adventuring Party
After players establish their own teams (such as mercenary groups, Thief groups) within various guild organizations, they can submit a system application to convert the team into an Adventuring Party. After activating an Adventuring Party, all Adventuring Party members (players only) will unlock a new chat channel: Adventuring Party Channel.
Adventuring Party:
1. When applying for Adventuring Party conversion, the team must have no less than 10 members, and NPCs must not exceed 30% of the total number of people at the time of application (this restriction will not apply after successful conversion).
2. A certain amount of gold coins must be paid upon application, depending on the number of team members.
3. An Adventuring Party must have its own headquarters. This headquarters requires the team to own property under its name (Thief group headquarters can be established in illegal industries).
4. When any Adventuring Party member (player only) dies, they can forcibly select the Adventuring Party headquarters as their birthplace upon rebirth by accumulating Adventuring Party points (costs 1000 Adventuring Party points).
5. Each time an Adventuring Party member completes a quest in cooperation with another Adventuring Party member, they gain 1 Adventuring Party point and contribute 10% of the quest reward gold coins to the Adventuring Party treasury. Providing valuable weapons, equipment, potions, items, skill books, etc., to the Adventuring Party can be exchanged for corresponding Adventuring Party points.
6. When an Adventuring Party member leaves the Adventuring Party, their accumulated Adventuring Party points will be cleared.
7. Adventuring Party members can apply for financial or equipment assistance from the Adventuring Party by paying a certain amount of Adventuring Party points.
8. An Adventuring Party has an Adventuring Party Construction Progress. When the Construction Progress is full, the leader can choose to expand the Adventuring Party. Expanding the Adventuring Party requires paying corresponding gold coins.
9. The leader can issue Adventuring Party quests to all Adventuring Party members. Completing Adventuring Party quests grants Adventuring Party points. (Quest content needs to be verified by the system).
IV. Some people always complain that we give too few benefits.
So, for the New Year lottery event, please click → *Hyperlink*
With this, the Innocent World Official Operations Team, wishing everyone a Happy New Year and preparing to pack up and go home for the holidays.
Mo Tan: "..."
Chapter 221: End.
