Chapter 171 - 131: Confiscating Your Horse

Qi Xin Chapel.

THUD!

Le Ti, who had been tossed into the sea and washed clean several times over, landed heavily on the ground. The power of the Spirit Candle surrounded his body, crushing him with an immense oppressive force.

Luo Ge crouched down, stared at him, and spoke slowly.

"Speak. What faction are you from, and what is your objective?"

Of course, Luo Ge had been watching this Le Ti fellow for a long time.

But at first, he hadn’t made a move, wary that his target might have some special means of escape.

It wasn’t until Le Ti’s true intentions were revealed—when he saw his chance and tried to seize Li Miao’s Candle Spirit Body—that Luo Ge took the opportunity to strike, decisively capturing him.

His actions were cautious yet decisive. He had not chosen for his main body to Descend, naturally as a precaution against the faction behind his target.

But now, it seemed the faction behind this guy was... rather pathetic?

No, perhaps it would be more accurate to say that the faction behind him didn’t care about Le Ti at all...

"HUFF... HUFF..." Le Ti gasped for breath, his terror unabated. Gone was his previous sinister and cryptic demeanor, replaced by a mixture of shock and rage as he glared at Luo Ge. "Who are you?"

CRUNCH!

An invisible force directly crushed his foot. A bloodcurdling scream echoed through Qi Xin Chapel.

"Wrong answer. Try again."

"You have two more chances."

Luo Ge said calmly.

He had no intention of giving prisoners preferential treatment. He was already furious about the Pottery Man stealing a Candle Spirit Body before.

And after he burned the Pottery Man, the feedback he received from the Spirit Candle was very limited. The target had clearly been just a puppet, or a Summoned Creature.

But Le Ti, the one he’d caught this time, was definitely not that simple.

If this guy didn’t talk, he would just burn him to Ashes and let the Spirit Candle investigate.

Interrogating him was just to see if there might be any unexpected surprises.

"AH... AH..." Le Ti was drenched in sweat, his screams not yet ceasing, his eyes filled with terror.

"I... I..."

He seemed about to speak, but then his eyes and expression suddenly changed, becoming detached and icy, as if he had become a different person.

"Master of the Candlefire, your Moment of Extinguishing is fast approaching..."

With that, he began to struggle frantically, completely ignoring the Spirit Candle’s power that was restraining him.

Luo Ge’s brow furrowed. Without hesitation, he released the Candlefire, swiftly burning the man to nothing.

"No, don’t listen to him! I’ll talk! I’ll—AHH..."

Le Ti’s terrified struggles were gradually drowned out by the roaring Candlefire.

A few blood-red pieces of Candle Charcoal were left in Luo Ge’s hand.

After burning them,

Luo Ge closed his eyes, sensing the feedback from the Spirit Candle.

「A moment later.」

He opened his eyes, narrowing them slightly.

’A real nest of vipers...’

...

[Spirit Candle Version 0.7 Update Announcement]

[Announcement: Esteemed Candle Spirit Warriors...]

[Update contents are as follows:]

[1. Game slots will continue to be released...]

[2. Added a new major story character, "Burton Mage." Players who meet certain Attribute requirements can pay a certain amount of Wax Oil to Burton Mage to learn new Skills. (Burton Mage will be guarding the anchored Jinghai Islands.)]

[3. Added a world chat channel for anchored regions. Added a "Leave Message" function at Milestone Spirit Candles inside dungeons.]

[4. Added special items "Signal Wax" and "Candle Charcoal." After lighting a Signal Wax, other players can use Candle Charcoal to enter that player’s dungeon for a limited time to provide assistance. These can be purchased at a Spirit Candle with Wax Oil.]

[5. Story character statuses updated. New story information can be obtained by speaking with the Candlekeeper.]

[6. Sensory system adjusted again...]

[7. Fixed some critical bugs...]

Aside from the official Spirit Candle update announcement,

there was another announcement posted simultaneously on the forums: the second update to the official information cards.

[Shadow of Deceit]

[Danger Level: Medium]

[Explanation: A faction located in the "Land of Foolishness." They survive through deceit, theft, and conspiracy. They also covet the Candle Spirit Body and have intricate connections with the Firewood Thieves.]

Once the two official messages from Spirit Candle were released, the players on the forums immediately erupted into heated discussion.

Bron Really Not Deaf: "There’s a chat channel now! I don’t have to keep logging off anymore!"

My hamster’s name is Guagua: "But it looks like it doesn’t work inside dungeons..."

I do Bull’s Push-ups: "Hehe, but there’s the message function, right? That should be enough."

Sitting and Not Forgetting the Dao: "This Signal Wax and Candle Charcoal must be for dealing with these dangerous NPCs, right?"

My Son Failed, But I’m On Shore: "Burton Mage! A Mage! A Mage who teaches Skills! HAHA, HA, the heavens have eyes! Dev, I hereby announce your mom has been revived!"

Nine-tailed Fox: "Dev, I was a little loud before, don’t mind me. I’ll chug one for you! (GLUG GLUG GLUG)"

Eagle’s Fierce Flame: "Don’t celebrate too early, bros. We don’t even know if this NPC is any good... What if he just teaches a light spell..."

ThisLordQuellsAll: "Silence! How dare you, whelp, disturb this lord’s Dao Heart!"

Failed Man: "Kid, you better not jinx it! (Husky pointing meme)"

Battle Bliss: "A Mage? Can I learn too? (innocent face)"

My hamster’s name is Guagua: "Is there a Polymorph spell? Can we ride brooms? (hopeful)"

Iced Lemon Tea: "AHAHAHAHAHAHA! I got into the game! And at such a good time!!!"

"..."

Some players discussed the new features.

Meanwhile, the Mage players were over the moon, celebrating the arrival of the new character "Burton Mage" from the announcement.

They felt that the dark age of the Low IQ Knights was over, and the era of the Mages was about to begin!

Thirty years east, thirty years west; never underestimate a poor Mage!

This time, they would take back everything they had lost, knock those arrogant Low IQ Knights and Warriors off their high horses, and restore the glory of the Mages!

In response, players of other classes were actually also looking forward to it.

Although it seemed like a victory for the Mage class, what if they could also learn the skills taught by this Burton Mage?

What if?

Besides the players focused on the new NPC, there were, of course, those who focused on the story.

Crafty Frog: "Obtain new story information through dialogue? What story information? @Storyteller, get in here."

Storyteller: "...How should I know? I’m a lore-digger, not a prophet..."

Brother Miao Won’t Fail the Exam: "Maybe it’s about Le Ti? After the Candlekeeper helped me deal with him, he doesn’t show up when I call for him anymore..."

The story information seemed to be quite mysterious. The players discussed it, but not in great detail.

Additionally, the newly released official info card also sparked a round of heated debate.

Cappuccino: "Shadow of Deceit? That sneaky bastard Le Ti has such a badass title? By the way, what’s this Land of Foolishness?"

Storyteller: "Didn’t Le Ti say he was going to sell Miaozi for a good price? Sell him to who? And where?"

Brother Miao Won’t Fail the Exam: "I wonder where the Candlekeeper took that bastard Le Ti. Damn, I really want to punch him a couple of times myself!"

Time to Eat Mushrooms: "Brother Miao, you ran into an NPC again. What goodies did you get this time?"

Brother Miao Won’t Fail the Exam: "Fuck, don’t even fucking mention it. I get pissed just thinking about it. Last time I ran into an NPC, the Candlekeeper even gave me a quest with a reward. This time, not only was there no reward, I even lost Wax Oil... Forget it. It’s all because of those damned Firewood Thieves. Nothing good ever happens when you run into them. Such bad luck!"

"..."

The thick-skinned Prison Players had a higher tolerance for this sort of thing.

But the comments that followed were a bit hard to take.

"YOU FUCKING CUNT! Dev, I’m confiscating your mother, and the mothers of those guys who said there were surprises in the well! What kind of moronic under-the-well map is this? It’s so fucking disgusting, the smell made me puke up last night’s dinner! Are you seriously sick in the head or just mentally unstable?"

"I held back my nausea and searched through a pile of corpses for half a day, and what do I get? A lump of shit? Huh? Dev, say something! FUCK!"

"Hey, dev, come over here. I’ve got something good for you to eat..."

"Why would you give a piece of dung-shell equipment such good Attributes? Are you messing with us?"

"And this underground maze design is the dogshittiest of dogshit, designed by an absolute subhuman. Not only can you not find your way for ages, but there are also random pits. If you’re not careful, you fall right in, straight into a cesspool below. I’VE FUCKING HAD IT!"

"I’m begging you, open up a top-up channel. Add a jump-scare warning feature. I’d even pay one yuan per warning!"

A day had passed, and many of the Prison Players had flooded into the peninsula map.

And then... a strange phenomenon occurred.

After a group of Prison Players were tricked by their curiosity into suffering at the Bottom of the Well, they adopted a ’misery loves company’ attitude. They all gave a thumbs-up to the players who came after them, praising the well’s design and claiming there was treasure at the bottom...

This naturally led to a group of duped players becoming furious and starting to flame the forums...

Of course, where there were curses, there was also praise.

"Hey, you know what, this soul and body dual combat is actually pretty fun. I just find an opening and lay down the DPS, and the boss stays stun-locked the whole time."

"Right? I think this place is great too."

"Bullshit! This level is another subhuman design. You get hit once and you just keep getting hit. There’s zero margin for error. Great my ass!"

"So you definitely haven’t beaten it, right?"

"No shit, why else would I be flaming it?"

"Classic."

"Before beating the level: ’This level is dogshit, the dev is a subhuman!’ After beating the level: ’A well-designed level, a stroke of genius from the dev!’"

"Cringe."

"..."

Looking at the slew of ’friendly greetings’ on the forums, Luo Ge silently averted his gaze.

’...I clearly didn’t design this game map, yet I, the dev, still have to take the blame for it. It’s like a mute eating bitter herbs—I have to suffer in silence.’

’But then again, there are many kinds of devs. The map design is the world’s fault, and it has nothing to do with me, a dev on the operations side, hehe.’

However...

’These players are cursing so happily. They must have too much Wax Oil on their hands with nowhere to spend it...’

Luo Ge thought with a deadpan expression, then went to find Burton Mage in the Jinghai Islands.

"Mr. Burton, regarding the amount of Wax Oil required to exchange for skills... let’s raise it a bit."