Chapter 107 – Tracing the Clues

Chapter 107 – Tracing the Clues

Since they weren’t looking for people, they must be searching for something. What in Xiangcheng City could be worth such a large-scale operation?

Suddenly, Cheng Yang thought of something and immediately said to Yu Kai, “Let’s go check out a place.”

“Where to?” Yu Kai asked.

Cheng Yang replied as he walked, “The tavern.”

Although Yu Kai didn’t understand Cheng Yang’s purpose, he followed along. He had heard about the tavern’s functions from Cheng Yang before, but couldn’t see how it related to the main city army’s current operation. Would Yuan Jianze really allow someone to post the main city’s deployment on the forum? Unless Yuan Jianze had gone mad, he would never do such a thing.

Ignoring Yu Kai’s confusion, Cheng Yang spent a minute bringing him to the tavern, then spent 100 points of spiritual energy to buy two cups of a drink called Heavenly Water Pure Brew.

Cheng Yang’s generosity was simply to browse the forum thoroughly, as 50 points was the minimum consumption to enter the world section of the chat board. With Cheng Yang’s current wealth, he didn’t mind spending 100 points.

“Yang, this place looks pretty high-end!” Yu Kai said, using Cheng Yang’s name directly since there were no outsiders around.

Cheng Yang smiled, “It is nice, but the cost isn’t something ordinary people can afford. We just spent 50 points each, and we can only stay here for half an hour at most.”

“Damn! That expensive?” Yu Kai looked around in surprise, “This place can hold nearly a thousand people at once. At 50 points per person, wouldn’t the tavern’s daily revenue be in the hundreds of thousands?”

Cheng Yang explained, “It’s not that exaggerated. But when Luofeng Village becomes prosperous, a tavern could earn tens of thousands of points. After all, this is a shop opened by the gods, its functions are far beyond ordinary taverns, so it’s understandable that the income is higher… Alright, the drinks are here. You should take a good look at the forum too, you might find something interesting.”

As soon as Cheng Yang finished speaking, the tavern attendant brought two exquisite crystal glasses and placed one before each of them.

Yu Kai took a sip and immediately grimaced, “Boss, this is the 50-point drink? It’s not much different from fruit wine!”

Cheng Yang took a small sip and said, “If you don’t want to stagger around when fighting monsters later, you could order a strong drink.”

Yu Kai immediately chuckled awkwardly, “Then forget it.”

Next, both of them opened their respective virtual screens to browse the contents. This screen was very special, only visible to those sitting at the table, which was why Cheng Yang had to order two drinks.

Cheng Yang quickly opened the world section of the forum. The activity here was worlds apart from the city-level forums. If the city forums were deserted, the world section was bustling with activity.

However, since the taverns had just appeared worldwide, and especially because the world section’s messages were delayed by three days, the information displayed was actually from three days ago.

The most common posts on the forum were questions about why this disaster had occurred. Besides that, there were expressions of emotions about the apocalypse – some were excited, while others were pessimistic.

This was actually quite normal. If someone who was previously a beggar became one of the first to be reincarnated as a combat professional after the apocalypse, it would be like a crow turning into a phoenix. It would be strange if they weren’t excited.

Globally, there were definitely some lucky individuals who had entered the main city’s light barrier at the start of the apocalypse, giving them a significant advantage over others.

However, relatively speaking, there were more people expressing pessimism than excitement on the forum. Some who considered themselves rational began analyzing humanity’s way out, while others who saw themselves as saviors posted combat techniques and information about demonized beasts.

Cheng Yang scrolled through page after page. After more than ten minutes, he finally found a piece of information: “We found a light barrier about four kilometers from the main city. After testing, we determined it’s a dungeon portal. It can accommodate 50 people at a time, and the strongest demonized beast inside is at the late first stage. Proceed with caution.”

This information was posted by an American combat professional. Although their language was different, the gods were indeed powerful. Under the rules’ constraints, everyone saw the data information on the forum in their own country’s language.

This information itself wasn’t particularly eye-catching, as most people’s first reaction would be that it was just a random occurrence. However, after this post, at least thirty or forty people replied, all stating that they had found dungeon portals within five kilometers of their main cities, with similar situations inside.

Those who could access the world section of the forum were all important figures from various main cities. If they couldn’t deduce some useful information from this, they would have lived in vain.

Cheng Yang estimated that Yuan Jianze had also visited the forum and seen this information.

The current actions of the combat professionals in Xiangcheng City’s main city were probably to search for this portal.

Given the location of the Netherworld Valley portal, it would likely be discovered by Yuan Jianze’s people soon.

Without a doubt, given Yuan Jianze’s strength, unless he was willing to pay a huge price, he would absolutely not be able to clear this dungeon. After all, only fifty people could enter the dungeon at a time, and when facing the final wave of monster attacks, these people would definitely need to consume a large amount of potions to survive, and casualties would be inevitable.

If this was the case for the normal difficulty, let alone the hard difficulty, so even if the military forces found this dungeon portal now, they wouldn’t be able to snatch the hard difficulty first clear from Cheng Yang.

Of course, Cheng Yang wasn’t the only one competing for dungeon first clears. If there were Netherworld Valley dungeons near other main cities, Cheng Yang’s competitors would increase.

The reason Cheng Yang was concerned about Yuan Jianze discovering the Netherworld Valley dungeon portal was that he was worried Yuan Jianze might try to monopolize the portal, which would inevitably lead to conflict. At that point, his faction’s plan to develop in secret might be exposed.

Well, what’s coming will come, and there’s no avoiding it. He just hoped Yuan Jianze would be sensible, otherwise he wouldn’t mind carrying out a major purge.

After finding what he wanted to see, Cheng Yang didn’t immediately leave but continued browsing the forum. After all, he had spent 50 points, so he might as well make the most of it.

Suddenly, Yu Kai, sitting across from Cheng Yang, looked up and said, “Yang, you said before that every main city has such a tavern, right?”

Cheng Yang replied, “Yes, as long as a settlement is occupied by humans, such a tavern will appear on the tenth day of the apocalypse.”

Yu Kai said, “So if I post something on the forum, my parents could see it?”

Cheng Yang was momentarily stunned. This was indeed a good method. In his previous life, countless people had done this, but as for how effective it was, it was hard to say. Cheng Yang immediately said, “Theoretically, it’s possible. But even in our country’s forum section, tens of thousands of posts are refreshed every day. Your post would quickly sink to the bottom, and the chance of your parents seeing it is very low.”

Yu Kai said, “I know that. But I just saw a function on the forum where you can apply to pin a post. Wouldn’t that greatly increase the chance of my parents seeing it?”

Cheng Yang smiled bitterly, “Although what you say makes sense, there are also significant drawbacks. Not only does pinning a post require a massive amount of spiritual energy every day, but once you pin a post, everyone will know that your current status is extraordinary. If your parents don’t have much influence in their main city, it might backfire and draw unwanted attention. If someone harbors ill intentions, that would be bad.”

Yu Kai hadn’t considered this point. After Cheng Yang’s reminder, he immediately hesitated.

“Then I won’t pin it. I’ll just post something, and there’s still a chance my parents will see it,” Yu Kai said after careful consideration.

Seeing Yu Kai’s low spirits, Cheng Yang comforted him, “Old Yu, don’t worry. Your parents are good people and should be fine. As long as they survive the first wave of demonized beast attacks, they’ll be among the first to be rescued once the main city is secured.”

Next, Yu Kai began editing the content he wanted to post, while Cheng Yang continued browsing the forum.

Finding useful information among the dense posts was undoubtedly a test of one’s observational skills. After spending over half an hour browsing, Cheng Yang found that most of the information listed was already known to him, with nothing particularly new appearing.

“Yang, did you find out why Xiangcheng City’s main city is conducting such a large-scale search?” Yu Kai asked as the screen before him disappeared, suppressing his worries about his parents and focusing on the matter at hand.

Cheng Yang said, “I think I found it. Yuan Jianze probably already knows about the dungeons. His large-scale search is likely for that dungeon.”

Yu Kai smiled indifferently, “That’s no big deal, right? We’ve already taken the first clear of the normal difficulty. With their strength, they can’t possibly take the hard difficulty first clear now. It doesn’t affect us at all. But… since Yuan Jianze already knows about the dungeons, the situation in other main cities should be similar. Doesn’t that mean the first clears of dungeons in other main cities will soon be taken by others?”

Cheng Yang rolled his eyes, “Don’t overthink it. There are so many dungeons worldwide, we can’t possibly get all the first clears. Besides, these are just beginner dungeons. There will probably be many advanced dungeons in the future, and those are what we should focus on.” (To be continued)