Chapter 281: July, Black River, Blood Moon

Time flew by.

Wang Zixuan spent a full month finally transforming herself from a frail young woman into a Quasi-Martial Artist.

When Wang Yuehui saw his little sister grow stronger, he was deeply gratified.

But...

The time had already come to July.

Wang Yuehui noticed that in the Lingji Studio building where he worked, every floor had been outfitted with more than a dozen additional security robots. Outside the building, the number of security robots had increased by at least threefold.

All of his coworkers were extremely surprised. The atmosphere at work had instantly become far more tense and heavy.

Wang Yuehui vaguely sensed that something was wrong, so after logging in, he contacted Hong Kaibao and Chen Hong to ask about the situation on Warring States Studio’s side.

Chen Hong answered quite frankly:

“Our Warring States Building had already added a large number of security robots a long time ago, right after taking over Red Moon Studio. Last time, we bought five hundred security robots in one go.”

“Is something big about to happen?”

Wang Yuehui voiced his concern.

Chen Hong did not know about the Blood Moon Incident in the middle of the seventh month, so she did not think much of it.

“Is it?”

“If something big were really about to happen, would the Helm Leader still be training offline every single day? Only coming online symbolically to eat a meal and take a quick walk around?”

Chen Hong was clearly far less alert than Wang Yuehui.

That was also the main reason Wang Yuehui, despite being an outsider, had been able to become a Deputy Helm Leader.

In Wang Yuehui’s view, if something major were not happening... would the Helm Leader have shut himself away in bitter seclusion for three straight months? And even deliberately suppressed his cultivation instead of breaking through to the Third Rank?

Wang Yuehui knew that with the Third-Rank martial arts manuals and silver in Wangchuan’s possession, the resources needed to break through to a Third-Rank Martial Artist had long since been gathered. He should have advanced already.

The reason he still had not broken through...

There was definitely a reason for it.

Chen Hong and Hong Kaibao did not have that depth of insight. They were simply focused on training and saving money... saving money and training!

...

Time moved forward to July 10.

In the real world, at the Warring States Building, Su Wan gazed at the moon hanging high in the night sky outside the window... her expression unusually grave.

“Why does the moon outside feel exactly the same shape as the moon in the game?”

“Is it just a coincidence... or is there really a connection?”

“Damn it.”

“My head hurts.”

Su Wan rubbed her slightly tightening temples, her eyes flickering with worry and unease.

After a while, she picked up her phone and made a call.

“It’s me, from Warring States Game Studio...”

“I want to place another order.”

“I want five hundred security robots! Yes! Lately, all the major studios have been increasing their security robots, so I’d better keep up as well.”

“It’s fine as long as they can be delivered before the fifteenth.”

After hanging up, Su Wan finally let out a slight sigh of relief.

Five hundred security robots, bought for a little peace of mind.

“The Blood Moon Incident in the middle of the seventh month... please, don’t let it spiral out of control.”

Su Wan sighed deeply.

...

At the same time.

Another studio in the same city currently had only a little over a dozen people.

It was a studio that had only just received its license.

Despite having only a dozen or so staff, more than a hundred security robots had already been deployed outside the building.

Inside a small meeting room, three people were attending the meeting.

“Black River Studio will officially begin recruiting outsiders tonight!”

“Time is tight. We must obtain first-hand information on the Blood Moon Incident, so... even if you have to hand out flyers on the street, you must recruit one hundred new people into the team within a single day. The monthly salary can be appropriately raised to twenty thousand.”

“And one more thing!”

“When the second batch of security robots arrives around this time tomorrow, deploy them immediately!”

“If our Black River Studio can survive this Blood Moon Incident and obtain important intelligence, then we will no longer have to remain muddle-headed in the third or fourth tier in the future. At the very least, we must enter the second tier.”

The owner of Black River Studio had a distinct spider tattoo on his neck, colorful and lifelike.

After the two subordinates left the meeting room, the spider on his neck actually began to crawl. It moved along his shoulder and arm until it reached the back of his hand.

“My little darling.”

“Come on, I’ll take you to eat something good.”

He took the elevator down to the fourth floor.

A huge amount of pig squealing could actually be heard from inside.

This floor was raising several thousand domestic pigs.

Further in, there were even black-skinned wild boars penned up one after another, all reeking foully. They were still small, but they were wolfing down their food while staring sharply and warily at the uninvited guest outside the metal fence.

The owner of Black River Studio smiled faintly and placed the spider in his hand onto the metal railing.

The spider immediately circled around excitedly to the rear of a wild boar and crawled toward it.

The wild boar sensed nothing.

Even when the spider climbed up from its leg onto its body and moved to the back of its neck, it still kept its head down and ate.

Only when the spider sank its fangs into the skin did the wild boar cry out in pain and jerk its head.

The spider clung firmly to the back of its neck.

The wild boar whipped its head from side to side, but it had no way of hurting the spider.

After roughly a dozen seconds...

The wild boar’s movements became sluggish.

A little while later...

THUD!

The wild boar crashed to the ground, its limbs rigid.

The spider fed until its abdomen was raised high. The wild boar’s entire body turned black, and black froth mixed with blood trickled from the corners of its mouth. Only then did the spider crawl back in satisfaction.

The man in charge of Black River Studio stretched out his hand.

The spider squeezed a drop of black liquid into his palm, then crawled back onto his neck and settled there in a swollen lump.

Looking at that single drop of venom in his hand, he revealed a smile and sat down cross-legged to refine it.

As thread after thread of venom entered through his palm, finally condensing there and slowly solidifying into a black handprint, his smile grew ever more frenzied.

“In just a few more days, I’ll be able to cultivate 《Five Poisons Palm》 to ‘Entry-Level Mastery.’ At that point, even a Fourth-Rank Martial Artist will have no choice but to bow his head in submission after taking my poisonous palm.”

“So what if those studios are in the first and second tiers? In the end, they are still just a bunch of rigid-minded fools. Training inside the game—how could that ever be as convenient and efficient as doing it in the real world?”

“The Quasi-Martial Artist-level beasts in 《spirit realm》 can be raised with a bit of time. They are no different from livestock! Heh heh...”

“Just wait. The strongest studio in this city will ultimately be none other than Black River.”

...

July 12.

Wangchuan’s 《Black Tortoise Art》 had already advanced to 1300/2000.

After more than two months of bitter seclusion training, that progress was already quite good.

But he was still a little over a month away from breaking through.

To make sure nothing went wrong,

Wangchuan decided to suspend his training and return to 《spirit realm》 first to make preparations.

And he made a decision.

On the day when the middle of the seventh month arrived, the people of the Sanjiang Branch Helm would travel as little as possible.

The convoys of the Qingfeng Escort Agency would also go out as little as possible.

Everyone would remain in Hejiang Town as much as they could, so as to avoid the threats and impact brought by the Blood Moon Incident to the greatest extent possible.

Under Captain Bai’s leadership, all members of Warring States Studio temporarily went to Sanhe Commandery.

Tianxia Studio, Black Panther Studio, Lingji Studio, and the others all coincidentally reduced the number of people they kept stationed in the villages. Part of their Land-Clearing Teams went to the County Seat, while another part was sent to Sanhe Commandery.

On July 14, Wangchuan discovered that every faction, including the major families, was pulling back its manpower, including the county yamen officials.

At dusk, Wangchuan received a Carrier Pigeon Message from Old Seven:

Come to the hall tomorrow morning to discuss matters.

Damn it!

Wangchuan’s face turned grim.

Sure enough, there were some things you simply could not avoid.