Chapter 106: Abyssal Formations and Creations
When Zhou Ji led the twelve Players out of the dense forest, an open field appeared before their eyes, with vast farmland, scattered dead trees, and farmhouses. In the distance, a city with an ancient charm stood tall in the thin mist.
“City!”
“It’s a city!”
“We finally found a city!”
The Players all cheered excitedly.
The city walls were tall and sturdy, evidently having been reinforced and heightened multiple times.
They were about twelve meters high and a full twenty-five meters thick, with corner towers and watchtowers built on top. In addition, many anti-cavalry obstacles were set up around the city, making the whole place resemble a small military fortress exuding a cold and hostile aura.
Without a doubt.
This was the ancient city of Sanxiang.
The city sat slightly higher than the surrounding terrain, shrouded in mist, with the Abyss plane’s sky as the backdrop, giving it a bizarre and majestic atmosphere filled with mystery.
“Quick, group photo!”
“Take a picture!”
“This is a memorable moment!”
“After all, this is the first real city discovered in the Twisted Three Kingdoms of the Abyss!”
“Even though it’s just a small city, it’s still way more impressive than villages like Hexi Village!”
“……”
This mission was originally very simple. Regardless of the method used, as long as one managed to step into this area, they could complete the mission without doing anything else.
However, out of sixty-one Players who joined the operation, only twelve made it. The journey was anything but easy.
Fortunately, they completed the mission in the final few hours.
That should be enough to avoid affecting the trigger for subsequent missions, right?
Chimera Wraith scanned the area around Sanxiang Ancient City, seeing no travelers or pedestrians nearby. Not only had the surrounding farmland been abandoned, but most of the outer farmhouses had also been burned down, making the place look lifeless and desolate.
Ye Li Meng said, “This place doesn’t look like it has much vitality.”
Zhou Ji explained, “The Dragon-Lizard race invaded this place about a year ago. They successively took over most of the nearby villages and have been attacking Sanxiang City repeatedly for the past six months, causing heavy losses and severely disrupting agricultural production.”
Black-Eyed Rui Ge replied, “So that’s what happened. No wonder the farmland’s all abandoned.”
Little Bell immediately said, “Lord said that the natives don’t drop loot when they kill Abyss creatures, so resources mainly rely on regular production or hunting normal creatures. But now that all the villages are controlled by the Dragon-Lizard people, isn’t the city’s food supply incredibly tight?”
Zhou Ji nodded with a solemn expression. “The Dragon-Lizard’s rampage has not only prevented tax collection from the villages, but even hunting has become extremely difficult. The food in the city is already running low. If things keep developing like this, there might be civilians starving to death soon!”
Chimera Wraith said, “Don’t worry. Our Lord is powerful and resourceful. As long as we can persuade Sanxiang City to surrender, he’ll definitely resolve everything with his methods!”
Zhou Ji said, “I think the same, but it won’t be that easy.”
“Why do you say that?”
Zhou Ji said, “The Lord of Sanxiang is Wang Zhi, formerly the county constable of Sanxiang. He used to be someone who cared for the people and was kind-hearted, but he drastically changed ever since he started practicing some unknown evil sorcery over ten years ago.”
Sanxiang was once a county under the Han Dynasty court, but it had been disconnected from the outside world for forty years. The official titles of county magistrate, constable, and assistant had long lost meaning. In such an environment, naturally, whoever had the strongest fist became the boss.
That Wang Zhi became the city lord.
He must be someone not to be underestimated.
According to Zhou Ji, he used to be the Sanxiang County Constable, a local military officer. So now he must be at least sixty or seventy years old, right? Could someone that old still fight like this? And what’s up with the evil sorcery he practices?
Whether he surrendered willingly or they seized the city by force, the Fourth Calamity Army was determined to take this place!
It wasn’t just for a larger territory or more people.
They needed a strong foothold at Woniu Mountain to confront the Dragon-Lizard race—without it, they’d be too passive in battle.
Black-Eyed Rui Ge asked, “Old Zhou, got any suggestions?”
Zhou Ji said, “Don’t be hasty, everyone. Let me enter the city and contact a few brothers. Then we can plan together.”
Upon hearing this, the Players felt reassured.
Having native NPCs helping really made things easier. Otherwise, if even the Dragon-Lizard people couldn’t take the city head-on, what chance did the measly Calamity Army have?
Zhou Ji went to Sanxiang Ancient City first.
Though the Players really wanted to follow him into the city.
They had to hold back for the greater good and wait patiently.
The Artist Faction’s representative looked toward the city and said, “Although this city is much larger than places like Hexi Village, at its peak it only had about twenty or thirty thousand people. That’s less than the small town I’m from.”
Chenxi said, “After all, even at the peak of the Han Dynasty, the population only reached a little over sixty million. Places with a population of around a hundred thousand were typically regional capitals or major towns. Even a place like Chang’an usually only had about three to four hundred thousand people… That kind of number is nothing by twenty-first-century standards!”
Little Bell said, “That sounds so small!”
Salted Fish Thrust also nodded. “We also have to consider the population decline in the late Eastern Han. If Player slots in the Twisted Three Kingdoms really relate to territory and population scale, how many cities would we need to conquer to build an army of a million Calamity troops?”
“Actually, you can’t look at it that way,” Black-Eyed Rui Ge shared his thoughts. “The population may have declined in late Han times, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the population in the Twisted Three Kingdoms is also low.”
“Huh?”
“Because the Twisted Three Kingdoms’ time-space is distorted and chaotic. Each region is practically its own isolated mini-world. No one knows how many regions there are, nor whether these mini-worlds might harbor dozens or even hundreds of times more population.”
“That kind of makes sense.”
“Some areas might have several million people on a single map.”
“Thinking about that now is too far off—the urgent thing is to take control of Sanxiang Ancient City!”
“Who knows how long Old Zhou will take to return. Let’s find a place to rest first!”
Nearby, there was a relatively intact farmhouse, which was perfect as a temporary shelter for the dozen or so people to rest and recover.
“Oh damn!”
“I just realized I’ve been online for fifteen hours!”
“Same here. I’m starving in the real world. If I don’t log off, the system’s going to forcefully kick me.”
This game was just too realistic.
The Players quickly logged off or went to rest as needed!
Because not only did real life require eating, drinking, and relieving oneself, even their in-game bodies were quite fatigued.
Though they hadn’t yet hit their limit, considering the big operations and major missions that might come soon, they naturally had to take this chance to rest and restore their energy as much as possible!
Of course.
From the Players’ perspective.
The game had a hidden fatigue value setting, which not only increased the sense of realism but also served as an important protection mechanism.
If the in-game body were a perpetual motion machine that never got tired, with this game’s powerful immersion, countless Players would have become completely addicted and lost track of time, eventually causing their real-world bodies to collapse.
It was precisely because the in-game body also experienced fatigue and needed rest that Players were forced to log off for a period every day.
At the very least, this prevented extreme situations like starving or dying of thirst.
Players usually logged off inside the Crude Abyss Barracks back at the main base, because the Abyss Barracks accelerated fatigue recovery, allowing even the most exhausted to fully recover in about five hours.
Now, since they were on Woniu Mountain and there was no teleportation point nearby, it was impossible for Players to return to the main base, so they could only find a random place to rest.
As long as they did not linger too long outside, it would not cause much harm to their bodies.
Aside from the difference in recovery speed.
Logging off outside also required consideration of safety.
The area they were currently in fell within the range of the city’s barrier created by the Fate Crystal Stone, meaning ordinary Abyss creatures could not approach.
However, Dragon-Lizard people could appear nearby at any time, and there were other potential risks to watch for as well.
The twelve Players decided to divide into six groups, two people per group, and take turns staying online as sentries.
If anything unusual happened or Zhou Ji returned, they would immediately notify the offline Players to log back into the game.
...
Luoshui Main Base.
“We finally reached the first Abyssal city!”
Although the Players had already begun logging off one after another inside the ruined house to rest, any citizen of the territory could still provide vision for the Lord.
Since Zhou Ji had already pledged loyalty to the territory and received the Stars Mark, every move he made could be observed by Hang Yu whenever he wished.
At this moment, Zhou Ji had already entered Sanxiang Ancient City.
It was not just the Players.
Hang Yu himself was also very interested in Abyssal cities.
Sanxiang City had survived through forty years of the Abyss era, a span that was neither short nor long, allowing the city to retain its Han Dynasty appearance while integrating many Abyssal era elements.
The Han Dynasty architectural style was characterized by simplicity, roughness, straightforward structures, and a grand atmosphere, primarily made of wood supplemented with bricks and stones.
On top of that Han Dynasty foundation, Sanxiang Ancient City had added many Abyssal era features.
Especially some very distinctive buildings.
Totally incompatible with the original era.
Before Zhou Ji even entered the city, Hang Yu noticed that at each of the city's four corners stood a tall dark-red tower, resembling volcanic glass in texture, its surfaces carved with twisted and painful human faces and contours.
【Wailing Blood Tower】, a Tier-One special building... Description: A special Abyss creation based on a certain evil Abyssal formation, capable of drawing energy from blood and pain to form a massive defensive shield protecting the city and releasing wailing spirits to attack invaders!
Wailing Blood Tower!
A fairly common type of Abyssal building!
It could transform blood and spiritual energy into a combined offensive and defensive barrier, making it highly practical.
With such defensive constructions, no wonder the Dragon-Lizard people had failed to breach the city after several attacks.
However, despite the usefulness of the Wailing Blood Tower, it came at a steep cost.
Each tower needed a continuous supply of fresh blood and souls to maintain itself.
Without enough blood, the tower’s barrier could not be sustained.
Without enough fresh souls, the wailing spirits would go out of control.
This meant that if Sanxiang City wanted to maintain order over time, it inevitably had to find ways to obtain blood, even resorting to periodic live sacrifices.
The ones paying the price would obviously be the common citizens inside the city.
Similar Abyssal buildings.
There was more than one in Sanxiang City.
In terms of the number of troops and strength of soldiers, the town was not very powerful, and it lacked any famed ministers or generals.
The reason it could still hold out was entirely due to these things.
Hang Yu’s expression grew grim.
Because it was impossible for a native from the Three Kingdoms era to create such formations and buildings out of nowhere.
Most likely, the city’s Lord had obtained Abyssal knowledge through some unknown means.
And that was extremely dangerous!
To obtain the knowledge of the Abyss meant getting close to the Abyss itself!
Even the strongest-willed individuals could be corrupted and polluted during this process!
Hang Yu recalled Zhou Ji mentioning the city lord, Wang Zhi, during conversations with the Players.
He suspected that Wang Zhi had already been tainted by the Abyss.
Although he had not yet transformed into an Abyss creature, his mind and spirit had already become twisted and distorted.
This was not an unusual phenomenon in the Abyss World.
The Will of the Abyss could not only create horrifying Abyssal nightmares and devour living beings directly.
It could also subtly influence normal beings through other means.
Countless sages and heroes across the myriad worlds who sought the Abyss’s endless knowledge or treasures had unknowingly rotted and fallen from within.
Abyssal buildings appearing inside Sanxiang City.
City Lord Wang Zhi cultivating unknown evil arts.
All these clues pointed toward a very ominous answer.
Originally, Hang Yu had hoped to acquire Sanxiang City peacefully through negotiation.
Now it seemed unlikely that this method would succeed.
He would inevitably have to use force.
Yet even the Dragon-Lizard people could not breach the city for a time.
With his current strength, Hang Yu had no chance of taking it by frontal assault.
He would have to find a way to breach it from the inside.
After careful thought.
Hang Yu created a new mission.
【Mission Name: Activate Sanxiang City’s Fate Crystal Stone!】
【Mission Content: Sanxiang Ancient City is a town of ten thousand inhabitants. The Fate Crystal Stone nurtured within it can ignite a high-level Blessing Point. Once activated, the Lord can directly descend upon this city via blessing!】
【Mission Objective: Use any means necessary to successfully activate the Sanxiang City Blessing Point within 72 hours.】
【Mission Reward: 120,000 Essence Points, 150,000 Contribution Points, Random Treasure Chest Reward, to be shared among participating team members!】
Hang Yu did not require the Players to conquer the entire city.
They only needed to find a way to approach the Fate Crystal Stone.
Such a town’s Fate Crystal Stone could light up a high-level Stars Blessing Point.
Though ordinary citizens could not teleport across regions via it, Hang Yu, as the Lord, could.
By then, he could descend directly onto Sanxiang City.
With him taking action personally.
It should not be difficult to seize the city from the inside.
The task would be quite difficult for the Players, but the rewards were generous enough.
Hang Yu had faith in the Players’ wisdom and ability to stir up trouble!