Chapter 22: Crisis of the Mountain Bandits

In Starter Village #10021.

Most of the players were gathered in the Starter Village.

The congregation of a large number of players nearly occupied the small village to its fullest capacity.

“Darn it, are those Mountain Bandits mentally unbalanced? If this continues, the players in Starter Village #10021 will fall behind the rest of the players from the other starter villages!” Cao Hong roared in fury in a temporary meeting room.

He was really angry now.

He had been killed seven or eight times in less than three days. It seemed like his stage was permanently stuck at Martial Entry-Level Zero.

Cao Hong couldn’t understand the problem, no matter how hard he thought about it.

The Mountain Bandits were like stubborn, vengeful spirits. When he strayed too far from the Starter Village, he was always surrounded and killed.

As a Martial Entry-Level Zero fighter, Cao Hong couldn’t even win against a lone Mountain Bandit if he encountered one.

The rest of the players who were present also had ugly expressions on their faces.

“Right now, the players of Starter Village #10021 are basically limited to a two-mile radius around the Starter Village. With the number of players and the limited space, there is no way that there are enough resources for all of us,” Lu Shoujia, who was sitting by the side, said in a deep voice.

There was a gap between the respawn times of wild monsters.

There were thousands of players in Starter Village #10021. With the small area and the lack of resources, it was hard for every player to have one monster to fight.

“Furthermore…” Lu Shoujia changed the topic, “I’m not sure if you guys have noticed this, but the abilities of the Mountain Bandits seem to have gotten stronger over the days. Does this mean that the NPCs can also level up by killing players?”

The expressions of the other players changed immediately when they heard those words.

They might have never noticed this phenomenon if Lu Shoujia hadn’t told them about it.

The Mountain Bandits were hard enough to deal with as they were.

Just over 100 Mountain Bandits were enough to dominate them to the point that they couldn’t leave the village.

If the Mountain Bandits could level up by killing players, the players would be permanently imprisoned in the Starter Village if the situation continued this way.

At this point, a player who was more on the pudgy side said with a low voice, “What can we do about the Mountain Bandits leveling up? All of us know of the strength of the Liangshan Stronghold Chieftain.”

“Thousands of us formed a group to attack him, yet we were all annihilated by him alone.”

“If we don’t kill the Liangshan Stronghold Chieftain, we won’t ever be fully free of the threat, even if we dealt with the rest of the Mountain Bandits.”

While the players were unafraid of death, they were also unwilling just to be surrounded and killed.

Thus, under the rally of a few influential players, over 1,000 other players joined forces and attempted to surround and kill the Mountain Bandits of the Liangshan Stronghold.

Unfortunately, they hadn’t managed to show off their power when they encountered the Stronghold Chieftain, Qin Shujian.

As for the outcome, it doesn’t need to be said. That massacre was so significant that it genuinely impacted the players’ psyche.

“Judging from our current circumstances, there are only two ways to deal with the calamity that is the Mountain Bandits!” Someone said.

Hearing this, the rest of the players turned to look at that person. The gazes of several people became grave for no reason other than it was Wang Renbin.

The Wang family was famous in the real world. Not only had their businesses spread throughout the country, but they also held immense power in the bureaucracy.

Many factions swarmed forward when this game world was activated.

The Wang family was one of them.

Thus, everybody else kept their silence when Wang Renbin spoke.

No one here could compete with Wang Renbin in terms of status and background.

There was a faint smile on Wang Renbin’s handsome face when he saw the scene quieten down, “Even though the Mountain Bandits are surrounding and killing us, they haven’t pushed us into a corner.”

“Even though it is impractical to equally distribute the resource of wild monsters in the two-mile radius around the town to every player, I believe that we could quickly nurture a few players to high levels if we concentrate resources on them.”

“The Mountain Bandits are powerful mainly because they have the Liangshan Stronghold Chieftain.”

“As long as we can nurture a player who could resist the Liangshan Stronghold Chieftain, then the crisis of the Mountain Bandits would naturally be resolved.”

The expressions of several people changed when they heard those words.

They had to admit that Wang Renbin’s idea could resolve the issue they were facing.

After all, they didn’t believe that the NPCs are faster in terms of leveling up and battling monsters than the players.

But…

“Your idea is rather good, Sir Wang. But do you also want to say that we should nurture only the players from the Wang family?” A coquettish voice rang out. The voice was laced with a hint of mockery.

Wang Renbin followed the voice and looked over. He saw a graceful female player.

She had fair white skin that looked like snow, long black hair, and large black eyes as alluring as pearls. Her dark red, peach-like mouth formed a faint, flirtatious smile.

“You’ve misunderstood me, Xiaomeng. Since we have to find a few players to nurture, we naturally have to find those who have potential,” Wang Renbin was not angry. Instead, he spoke with a smile on his face.

“Sir Wang, you should call me by my full name. “Xiaomeng” is not a name that anyone can address me by,” Zhao Xiaomeng seemed to not reciprocate the friendliness.

The rest of the players had to treat the Wang family with respect, but she didn’t have to.

The Wang family was incredibly influential, but the Zhao family she was a part of was nearly as strong.

“Moreover, don’t forget that we’ll be dragging down the progress of the other players considerably if we focus all our efforts on nurturing a select few players. We’ll still be much weaker than the players from the other starter villages even if we solved the problem of the Mountain Bandits.”

“Any disadvantages we face at the start of the game will hold us back in the future.”

“Sir Wang, did you really come into the game to fool around?!”

Hearing this, Wang Renbin’s smile disappeared.

“Since that is the case, there is only one method left,” Wang Renbin said gravely.

“A member of the Wang family had obtained a teleportation amulet somewhere else. As long as we know the target coordinates, we will be able to teleport people to that place.”

“According to my knowledge, other than this Starter Village, many of the players from the rest of the Starter Villages have leveled up to Martial Entry-Level Two. The high-level players have even managed to level up to Martial Entry-Level Four.”

“As long as we can teleport those players over to us, the crisis of the Mountain Bandits should no longer be a problem.”

“But…” Wang Renbin paused before he said, “This teleportation amulet is a one-time-use item. After the teleportation time is used up, all of the players that were teleported over will be forcefully transported back to their original location.”

“The Wang family had to use the influence of major figures to obtain this item.”

“The crisis of the Mountain Bandits is not my individual responsibility. Thus, if all of you wish to resolve this problem, there’s no reason for the Wang family to suffer this loss alone.”

Even Zhao Xiaomeng’s expression changed when she heard those words.

She didn’t expect the Wang family to have obtained such a treasure before the game even started.

The other players also had a weird expression.

Wang Renbin’s intentions were clear. He wanted everyone to bear the cost of the teleportation amulet.

One of the players asked, “Then, according to your estimates, how much do we have to pay?”

“I know that the people who are sitting here are the heads or representatives of the factions in Starter Village #10021,” Wang Renbin surveyed the area, then finally extended a finger and said, “One million. If all of the factions here hands over one million dollars to the Wang family, then this matter will become the responsibility of the Wang family.”