My Players Are So Fierce

1581: 531.

Adel’s otherworldly bestie is showing her power!_2

1581: 531.

Adel’s otherworldly bestie is showing her power!_2

This can’t really be blamed on Old Qin.

He’s spent his whole life as a staunch atheist, and now that he’s old, asking him to believe in metaphysics is a pretty tough hurdle to overcome just psychologically.

His situation is much like Professor Chen’s.

Old Chen has been in the game for quite some time now, but when it comes to Psychic Spells, he’s only managed to learn “Fossil into Mud,” and even then he uses it terribly.

It’s not that they can’t learn, though.

“All the traps in this area have been cleared!

The next zone is no longer part of the mission area.

There shouldn’t be any traps over there, and these annoying things won’t appear on the following roads either.

Mission accomplished, boys!”

About ten minutes later, Deep-fried Sweet Potato shouted this out.

Old Qin decisively gathered the team, carrying back a batch of explosive materials to the Pioneering Group’s camp where they were resting.

Because many players had to go to work, today’s progress wasn’t very fast.

However, after work, Lady Adel was planning to start a forced march to make up for the missing mileage for the day.

This was a quasi-military operation, and there were strict requirements for daily progress.

According to the plan by the Shadow Intelligence Bureau, they were supposed to traverse the swamp within seven days.

It was a daunting task, but Adel and her intelligence personnel had a swamp map provided by Hog.

As long as they followed the paths marked by the Wolf People, they could barely ensure marching speed.

In the camp, a pot was set up, and the Martial Monk and head chef, Star Soul Eagle, was gutting a Swamp Tiger that the crew had hunted, preparing to cook a large pot of soup for everyone.

Meanwhile, the assassin Xiuhua stood beside him, peeling some swamp plants with her dagger.

Their banter and teamwork as they worked caused a group of passing players to exchange knowing glances and smirks.

Romances between players and NPCs were becoming quite common these days; characters like Dust Beater, Niu Niu, and even Stick Brother were regulars in forum discussions about “waifu” topics.

Yet romance between players themselves in the game?

That was a first.

Although Star Soul Eagle and Xiuhua denied it vehemently, their interactions made it obvious to everyone what the deal was.

Uh, of course, Lady Shui and Brother Huozi don’t count.

They were already married, officially licensed as husband and wife.

Their intimacy was too legit for anyone to gossip about.

Similarly, Sister Pomegranate and Brother Cat don’t count either; most people couldn’t beat the two of them in-game anyway and wouldn’t dare spread rumors for fear of being ambushed and bagged on the street someday by “Scarlet Valkyrie” or “Blood Blade” themselves.

But at the moment, Lady Shui wasn’t on some kind of “swamp date” with her dear husband.

As a seasoned veteran of the Pioneering Group, she had been recruited as Adel’s temporary deputy and was now waiting in Adel’s gray tent for orders while trying to piece together more intel about Dark Valley.

She didn’t even bother concealing her intentions from Lady Adel.

Upon hearing that the warriors from the Silver Moon Pride Team had plans to turn Dark Valley into a base, Adel froze for a moment before showing a thoughtful expression.

A few minutes later, she spoke to Lady Shui:

“Your idea has potential, but I can’t hand over the area where my people live to you.

That will serve as the forward army camp for Maxim and the People’s Army in the future.

However, Dark Valley is quite large, so you could choose another spot to establish yourselves.

Although it’s called a valley, it’s actually a small basin extending from the edge of the Wasteland Mountain Region.

The rocky terrain naturally divides the area into secluded pathways that are hard to discover but easy to defend and difficult to attack.

This is the piece of intel I wanted to share with you.

Attacking Dark Valley from the outside is extremely challenging.

My people would only need to guard a few strongholds at key passes, and with the advantage of the terrain, they could fend off invaders several times their number.

But, this area is not without its weaknesses.”

The “Dark Female Baron” pulled out the map she had gotten from Uncle Bella, placing it in front of Lady Shui and pointing out a few locations in the valley as she said:

“Precisely because of its rugged terrain, in extreme situations, retreating is incredibly difficult.

Dark Valley is surrounded by mountains, and its water source comes from the ‘Huma River’ in the desolate mountain area.

Its tributaries flow into Dark Valley in the form of waterfalls, which cannot be climbed.

Thus, if external forces were to invade the valley, we would have no choice but to fight to the death with no way out.

The time I had to leave my people was due to an incident where Cannibal Demons and Wolf People drove Gnolls to launch an underground assault into the valley.

For this reason, I personally don’t see Dark Valley as a flawless base.

Are you sure that you and your companions want to invest in managing that place for the long term?”

“Its location is excellent, isn’t it, Lady Adel?”

Lady Shui traced her fingers across the map and said:

“Without even considering wartime, we could station an army here to block the road to Transylvania.

And in times of peace, Dark Valley is perfectly situated along the route from Polluted Swamp through Baphomet Canyon to Brass Fortress.

If, in the future, we open a trade route, our base would become the last stop for smugglers traveling from Transylvania into the Dark Mountain Range.

If we can maintain a decent scale of trade along this route, the taxes and services we could provide to merchants would be enough to raise a new city within Dark Valley.

The terrain and environment mean its size couldn’t be too large, of course, but for a guild and mercenary corps like ours, its returns would more than cover our extravagant spending.”