Conquering OtherWorld Starts With a Game

December 5, Thursday, 4 a.m., Earth time.

As per usual, Yang Ying got up when her alarm clock beeped, put on her U-shaped neck pillow, donned her login helmet, connected her phone, and then laid down in bed to continue sleeping.

As she fell asleep, her soul was projected to OtherWorld through the mental imprint on the login helmet…

This was standard practice for the game's hardcore players. In the game, human NPCs were only active during the day. Unless they wanted to grind zombie quests in Exile Town or chop wood at Desolate Outpost, most hardcore players prefer to use their limited online time efficiently.

Yang Ying logged into the game in Weisshem town hall's courtyard, and then teleported to the frontline encampment. There were already many players that had come online at the set time, and the entire area in front of Indahl's west gate was bustling with the undead.

"Sis Ying, over here!" Tang Jia's distinctive loud voice rang out.

When Yang Ying turned to look, she saw that all her usual companions were already gathered.

"You're all logged in already? Am I the last one to show up?" Yang Ying said in surprise as she ran over to her friends.

"Of course, it's a territorial war, after all," Fallen Mulberry Leaves, a casual player in the group, said with a grin. "My regular team even announced a temporary pause on activities. Brother Meds said we'll continue grinding after the war is over."

"Give Me Medicine still hasn't given up on clearing the whole Poisonous Marshlands?" Orange Cat, who hadn't participated in their activities for a while, asked.

"It's mainly to compete with Lahong's team, I think. Brother Meds wants to prove that we can grind monsters in the depths of the Taranthan wilderness even without a teleport point," Fallen Mulberry Leaves explained.

"How ambitious, as expected of a closed beta veteran!" Orange Cat gave a thumbs up.

"How are we playing today? Continue searching for hidden quests?" Yang Ying turned toward the strategist of their team.

"Yes." Unceasing Entropy nodded. "There's a high probability that the new map of Indahl has hidden quests. After completing [Suspicious Hunters] yesterday, both Blossom's side and ours triggered it. No one can tell if the trigger probability will suddenly change in the future, so we might as well take advantage of it now before that happens."

The group nodded in agreement. The developers of this game had always been devious, and making secret changes was definitely something they were capable of!

"There are too many people over here at the west gate. Let's go around the slums toward the south gate," Unceasing Entropy suggested again.

"Ah, there's no need to go to the south gate," Orange Cat interjected. "After you posted the hidden quest guide on the forum yesterday, many players ran to the south gate to camp out. Anyway, when I was playing management mode, I saw droves of players heading there."

Unceasing Entropy suddenly stiffened.

Both Blossoming Strokes and Unceasing Entropy were modern youngsters that had a strong spirit of sharing. Not only had they shared the detailed process of the hidden quest [Suspicious Hunters] on the forum, they also disclosed the initial triggers for the said quest.

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The key points to triggering hidden missions had been also analyzed by these two female strategists methodically—follow NPCs entering and leaving the city closely and tail anyone who acted suspiciously.

How much trouble this annoying behavior caused natives aside, even Unceasing Entropy was not troubled; if there weren't any hidden quests to do, why had she logged in so early?

"Let's go further and take a look. Oh, we can go to the north gate," Unceasing Entropy said awkwardly.

"Is it the gate we used when doing the 'Redwall Farm' quest?" Tang Jia's eyes lit up. "Let's go, there must be good quests there!"

Indahl City was massive, and going from the west gate to the north gate still took several miles. Of course, this was nothing for the undead, just a few minutes of full-speed running.

The terrain near the north gate wasn't as flat as the area outside the west gate. However, it seemed to be more developed, with quite a few residential houses built on the slightly flatter land outside the city, forming a considerable and much more decent residential area compared to the slums. Not far from the north gate, there was also a platform that looked very much like a European railway station from the early 20th century, with straight tracks extending northward from the platform.

Seeing the "nostalgic" station and the wooden tracks from afar, Yang Ying was shocked. "There are train stations in this game?"

"That's normal. World of Warcraft has them, too," Orange Cat said nonchalantly. "When Cthulhu mythos came about, there were not only trains but also subways. It's not that strange for this kind of game to have such a mixed background."

And thus, Yang Ying immediately accepted this setting… Although she had only finished high school, she knew that the London Underground started operating in the 19th century, and Arthur Conan Doyle, who created Sherlock Holmes, lived in this era.

"Previously when I was transported out in a cart, it felt like we passed by a place with a railway. It must have been this one," Unceasing Entropy said, looking around with keen interest. "There are fewer players and more NPCs here. Surely there are some hidden quests; we'll camp here today."

"Let's go!" Tang Jia, with her preference for action over contemplation, immediately took the lead with a wave of her bony claw.

The "district" outside the north gate was a suburban village with scattered houses and spacious dirt roads that could accommodate three carriages side by side. Many households had their own courtyards with fruit trees, scallions, and garlic planted within.

Tang Jia excitedly rushed into the suburban village… and immediately faced disappointment.

Undead! Clusters of undead everywhere!

At the village entrance, alongside the riverbank, and even the compacted dirt square beneath the north gate were chock-full of undead roaming about!

It was daytime in the game, and a few NPC villagers were out and about, though not as many as the wandering undead… or perhaps, the sheer number of aimless undead had scared most villagers into staying indoors.

"Why are there so many people here too!" Tang Jia nearly teared up from anger. "Can't these people do something of more value, like moving bricks in the encampment?! Why neglect our battlefield quartermasters! Wagner and Kenn must be so lonely!"

Unfortunately, the players who were here first didn't understand Tang Jia's frustration. When they saw her group, two waves of players approached excitedly.

"Boss Unceasing Entropy, are you here for a hidden quest? Take us with you! I'm super obedient!"

Unceasing Entropy: "…"

Unceasing Entropy exchanged awkward glances with her companions and silently created a raid group…

Following that, Unceasing Entropy had to diligently lead hundreds of players around the north gate in a massive effort to find hidden quests…

Though the bulky group wasn't as agile as a smaller team that could instantly decide where to go, strength in numbers was an undeniable concept. Soon enough, a player that had forced his way into the raid group called out in the channel, "Boss Unceasing Entropy, I found a suspicious NPC!"

Unceasing Entropy quickly asked the player to share the location in the group channel and instructed nearby members to rush over to prevent the suspicious NPC from escaping. She also swiftly led her team to the scene.

By the time their squad arrived, several dozen undead had already surrounded a small farmhouse, sealing it off completely.

"Over here! Boss, it's here!" The player who discovered the suspicious NPC was beaming with pride. "Other NPCs just walk around us, but when the one in this house saw me standing outside, he tried to attack me! Luckily, I'm a fast runner!"

Unceasing Entropy's eyes lit up, and she made a quick decision, "Let's go in and check it out. If we can get in, there must be a quest!'

Players quickly climbed over the walls. They couldn't break through the gate with the minuscule strength as skeletons, but climbing over the wall was much easier…

Back in Exile Town, "on duty" Old Geng quietly removed the "protective measures" from this civilian house—the GM authority settings included preventing players from entering civilian houses; if a player forcibly approached a house they couldn't enter, a warning would pop up on their interfaces. One of his tasks as an "online GM" was to temporarily open the way for players who found "hidden quest clues."

It wasn't peak online time, but there were still over a thousand players online due to the territorial war. Excluding casual players (like king of casuals Ou Huang leveling up his butcher class skills), gold farmers, and the manual labor questers in the main encampment, there were still over six hundred players roaming around the outskirts of Indahl city. Monitoring that many people at once wasn't at all practical.

However, spellcasters had their own methods. Adding a warning function that all Mage Towers had to the imprint matrix solved the problem—when a player entered a combat state passively (was attacked) or encountered a creature or non-creature with a mental strength beyond a safe value, that player's "field of view" would actively appear in the "online GM's" eyes.

Players who climbed over the wall opened the gate from the inside to let their compatriots in, and the noisy mass rushed into the only house.

The person hiding inside knew there was no escape and suddenly charged out, turning the leading players into white light.

With Lv2 (100 Potential value) being the average for players, facing Radiant Sun Church knights of Lv4~5 (Potential value 400~800) required a tactic of throwing bodies.

The Lv3 monster (Potential value 200) in front of them was just a mini-boss with smarter AI, with nothing much to be feared. After losing four or five compatriots, the players managed to subdue and bind it.

Next came the looting process that players were all too familiar with…

"Whoa damn, this Lv3 monster has an Uncommon-grade sword! Monsters in Poisonous Marshlands are poor AF!"

"Holy crap, this monster has a special accessory that adds mental resistance!"

After taking the Lv3 monster's drops, players began searching the house and then found a family, tied up tightly in the kitchen.

Witnessing this, Old Geng quickly sent out the mission text to the player who "triggered" this "hidden quest"; Lord Yang provided the template, and he only needed to change a few words based on the situation before issuing it:

———

Player Unceasing Entropy's raid group has triggered the hidden quest [Suspicious Kidnapper]

While wandering outside Indahl's north gate, you noticed something strange about the residents of a household.

This was clearly an ordinary suburban village, so why is there a man here much larger than most and carrying an uncommon weapon?

After discovering you, the man attacked you aggressively and dangerously. Such a person is too dangerous, and you decide to investigate further.

Sure enough, this man is not the homeowner but a kidnapper who has taken the family hostage!

You are outraged and decide to take the kidnapper back to Charlie Rex.

Suspicious Kidnapper: 1/1 (complete)

Bring The Kidnapper Back: 0/1

———

Fifteen minutes later, the "kidnapper," now stripped to his undergarments, was joyfully carried into the Weisshem camp by players.

Charlie Rex accepted the person in good faith, paid out the territory prestige to send the undead away, then turned to scrutinize the "captive"… then he called Wagner over.

"He's from the city defense force," Wagner said after a mere glance. "If I'm not mistaken, he should also be a spy from the scout division."

"Traitor!" The "prisoner," whose identity had been exposed, cursed angrily at Wagner.

Wagner didn't react much and personally sent his resentful former colleague to the prisoner camp.

Just as he entered the expanding prisoner camp, the constantly cursing "prisoner" was stunned.

There were a lot of familiar faces among the over one hundred "quest monsters" caught by players…

After dumping his former colleague in the prisoner camp, Wagner returned to his quartermaster post and said to Kenn, "Since the undead have already surrounded the city, what's the use in sending out more spies? It's just entertainment for these undead."

Kenn nodded silently in agreement.

Several hundred undead besieging a city sounded bizarre, but these undead did have a knack for identifying enemies from the masses. In any case, since the previous night, the undead had already captured dozens of scouts and spies from various noble families, including those from the city defense force…