Conquering OtherWorld Starts With a Game

Viscount Darcy had just finished breakfast when Steward Ford brought news of the west gate falling.

"Cough, cough, cough—" Viscount Darcy put down his cup and wiped the corner of his mouth with a napkin still around his neck.

"So soon? Didn't the city police conscript roughly eight thousand militia? It shouldn't have ended this early even if it were just eight thousand chickens that were released!" he exclaimed in astonishment.

Steward Ford awkwardly explained, "Well… the entire area around the west gate is swarming with the undead, and none of those who were on the walls have returned. It's really unclear how this battle went."

Viscount Darcy went through another round of violent coughing. "Hold on, what do you mean by none have returned?"

"Lord Adra III, the city hall staff, and the city police. All of them have been captured," the steward said with a strange expression on his face.

"Wh-what?!" The well-nourished old man nearly ripped off his bow tie and napkin in disbelief. "Are you saying that the bastard not only captured Adra III but also took everyone from the city hall and the city police?"

"Yes, sir," Steward Ford said, his expression grim.

Viscount Darcy paused for a moment and sucked in deeply, holding his forehead. "This is unbelievable… What kind of new lord has come to Indahl?"

"Indeed," the steward agreed, also confused. "It makes sense to replace the city hall officials with his own, but why would he target the city police?"

In the Rhine Kingdom, urban enforcement was typically composed of three aspects:

First, the National Guard was usually responsible for city gate defense and patrol duties across the territory. However, if a lord preferred to establish their own armed force, like Indahl's city defense force, then the National Guard's role became negligible.

Second were staffers employed by the city hall, often selected from mercenaries or professional fighters that had had long-term cooperation with official institutions.

Third was the urban enforcement system, including the prison, court, and city police department which did not oppose the lord. Unlike the bureaucratic groups that occasionally banded together to oppose the territory lord, city enforcement systems of this world didn't. This was because city police weren't accountable to the local populace or bureaucratic groups; they only needed to answer to the lord himself—the urban enforcement designed to maintain city order and was akin to the militia in towns.

In other words, city police were the lowest tier of the world's ruling power, the tool among tools, and a "loyal dog" solely devoted to the lord. Whoever occupied the position of the lord could command them at will.

"Could it be that this… Rex is planning to staff the entire city police with his own people?" Viscount Darcy could only interpret it this way, shaking his head. "Temporary replacements are not as familiar with the environment as the local veterans. It seems there will be chaos in the streets for a while."

"Charlie Rex looks to be quite an assertive person," Steward Ford echoed.

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When a territory underwent a change in ownership, it was normal for officials to be changed. Administrative officers needed to be replaced, and it was likely that many clerks were replaced as well. After all, every new noble had their own team, and those in the employ of others would never be as handy as one's own.

But replacing the city police as well seemed rather nonsensical. When buying a new manor, it was commonplace to replace the steward and higher-ranking servants, but who would bother to replace even the lowest stable hands?

Viscount Darcy scoffed in disdain, with the intention of mocking that illegitimate son, but then, he remembered that the latter was now the lord of Indahl and swallowed his words.

Instead, he instructed, "Stop all business except for the ones in Saint Joseph Street for now. We'll see how things develop."

Steward Ford promptly acknowledged.

Everwish Town, to the east of Indahl, was Viscount Darcy's domain. Besides this domain with a population close to a hundred thousand, the Darcys also owned two manors, six farms, a horse farm, and a mine in Indahl territory.

With such resources, it was only natural for the Darcys to own many businesses in the city, including three upscale restaurants in the Indahl's south district alone, along with a plethora of leather workshops, grain and oil shops, and clothing stores.

Of course, all these businesses combined couldn't match the profits from the two establishments on Saint Joseph Street. Like many old-fashioned nobles, Viscount Darcy looked down on openly operated red-light districts, but that didn't mean they shunned the profits from flesh trades; they were just more discreet, ensuring no public links to the establishments on Saint Joseph Street.

Before the steward could leave to convene with his men, Viscount Darcy's second son, the middle-aged Adams Darcy, rushed into the dining room, pale and panicked. "Father, it's bad! Saint Joseph Street i-is being attacked by the undead!"

"Stop panicking!" Viscount Darcy was irritated by his usually unreliable second son. "Those undead are brought by Charlie Rex. If he's not targeting the city hall, why attack Saint Joseph Street? What's there to attack? The church?"

Adams Darcy turned even paler, urgently saying, "No, Father, the undead aren't attacking the church; they're heading straight into the club district, raiding all the establishments there!"

"What?!" Viscount Darcy stood up abruptly.

As an elderly viscount, he couldn't risk visiting the streets with the undead, so Steward Ford, accompanied by a group of robust male servants, hurriedly headed to Saint Joseph Street.

Located in the northern midsection of Saint Joseph Street, the club district was filled with upscale clubs, lounges, inns, brothels, strip clubs, dance halls, and large performance bars; a sin city even more bustling than Weisshem's red-light district, though not as accessible to the general populace, hence slightly less popular.

Now, this place of entertainment, which coined Indahl's pleasure district, had turned into a living hell…

Steward Ford and a group of Darcy family servants arrived at the entrance to the street when they saw a bunch of undead carrying six or seven bound, half-naked men out of a building and brutally lining them up on the cold ground.

Before Steward Ford and the servants could digest the shocking scene they had just witnessed, they saw several individuals in garb that identified them as private troops of nobility being chased onto the street by another group of undead, who then pinned them down in public, stripped them of their clothes, and robbed them of their equipment.

While stripping these unfortunate guards, the undead excitedly communicated with each other in "KABAKABA" noises as if they were enthusiastically sharing their looting experiences.

"This NPC's uniform looks flashy; I like it!"

"Damn, why is it all men's equipment? Aren't there any for women?"

"Bro, looting female gear will incur you a prestige penalty."

"Gender discrimination occurs even while we are getting equipment? Stupid sh*t devs!"

As these undead expertly stripped the unlucky guards down, several more groups of undead whizzed past in the background, noisily moving from one establishment to another.

Women's screams and men's howls filled the entire street. The wide road, spacious enough for four carriages to run parallel, was distressingly filled with victims scattered everywhere.

Steward Ford felt a chill run down his spine as he silently backed away.

The servants of the Darcy family, who usually acted rampantly with the backing of their employer's name, didn't dare step forward now…

Not long after the Darcy's servants arrived, the people from quite a few other households that had business in this district also showed up.

On witnessing the situation, these livid stewards… seemed to freeze in place, not daring to take a step further.

When the undead glanced to their direction at the end of the street, these bunch were frightened and hid behind the buildings.

Fortunately, it seemed the undead were only interested in looting within the pleasure district and appeared indifferent to those outside.

The street sign at the entrance of the club district acted like an invisible barrier, separating the inside and outside like two different worlds.

Inside the barrier, undead rampaged and looted everywhere, attacking all living beings they could see.

Beyond the barrier, passersby and residents peeking out from their nearby homes or storefronts were filled with fear, yet even when noticed by the undead, they weren't attacked…

A trembling Steward Ford took out his handkerchief from his jacket pocket and wiped the perspiration off his face. He witnessed the undead pillaging the club owned by the Darcys.

He saw the usually respectful and flattering attendants screaming miserably as they were carried out by the undead, their uniform suits stripped off, leaving them only in their underwear.

He saw the gangsters hired by the Darcys to maintain order in the club trembling with fear, extending their hands for the undead to bind.

He saw the merchandise the Darcys had painstakingly gathered panicking and fleeing outside, only to find more undead on the streets and run back screaming.

Several dozen undead emerging from the club carried sacks full of gold and silver ornaments and joyously hoisted the heavy cash boxes bearing the Darcy family crest.

Steward Ford felt faint.

This frenzied looting lasted over an hour, during which nearly every establishment in the district was plundered, and only then did the undead withdraw, moving toward their next "battlefield," the bar district.

After the undead departed, the various stewards hiding and observing couldn't go in to rescue their own or tally their losses as the security squad from Weisshem took over.

These men, who would have been considered lower than city police in the past, now arrogantly set up barricades at several intersections in the club district, hanging warning signs with red letters. Then, under the watchful eyes of the stewards and countless bystanders, they methodically moved the bound people to commandeered city police vehicles…

Ford, filled with resentment, glared at the triumphant Weisshem bumpkins for a long time, ultimately lacking the courage to assert his authority as the viscount's steward—Charlie Rex's actions as the illegitimate lord were just too unconventional, and he feared this man that lacked the air of nobility might impulsively capture him as well.

The club district, located in a relatively secluded area, didn't have many spectators during the undead's rampage. When they moved to the bustling and populous bar district, the scene was completely different.

When over two thousand undead (with more players logging in) swept through the bar district, which was larger and had more establishments than the club district, the surrounding residents were initially terrified and fled.

However, once they realized the undead were specifically targeting certain businesses in the bar district (marked by Hal and his two comrades) and ignoring others, shock turned to opportunistic spectating…

The bar district, offering overnight facilities but with poorer conditions and tighter spaces, saw a comparable number of disheveled patrons dragged out from various establishments by the undead, just like in the club district.

The players weren't much interested in the NPCs' "fashion" here, seeing fewer offensive sights. Yet they didn't miss out on "confiscating" weapons—bar security was much worse, and almost every establishment had a collection of regulated knives, which meant players' weapon choices were significantly expanded.

After another hour, the undead had devastated around 80% of the businesses in the bar district and continued to their next "battlefield." The security squad, having just finished dealing with the aftermath at the club district, took over the scene, and started moving captives…

Amid all this, Yang Qiu, shielded by a spatial barrier which made him invisible except to those linked with the imprint matrix, comfortably blended in with the player masses, effortlessly reclaiming the spoils of war using worthless game currency and prestige.

It had to be said that the seedy businesses of Indahl were really lucrative. Having just swept through the club and bar districts, Yang Qiu's spatial ring was already full; fortunately, he had the foresight to borrow Lowell's spatial tool beforehand as well…

"I hope the casino district doesn't disappoint."

Leading the undead legion to the next target, Yang Qiu caressed the spatial bracelet on his wrist.

Hal, who also participated in the crackdown under the cover of a spatial barrier, remained silent throughout. The scheme he and his good brothers Tuttle and Finley concocted—exploiting information for betting and making money—paled in comparison to Yang's method of directly stripping others of their assets… The former bandit gang leader felt thoroughly defeated.

Elsewhere, Viscount Darcy, anxiously awaiting news at home, learned that his two most profitable properties were completely cut off and coughed out a mouthful of blood in a fit of rage.

"This detestable bandit! He's a hundred times more barbaric than the Bartalises!" the elderly viscount slammed the table, cursing vehemently. "The Bartalises and Charlie Rex are the worst!"