Chapter 188 – This Person Must Be Crazy!
When the spectating crowd saw the several dozen NPC guards surrounding Blackie and the others, they couldn’t help but look at them sympathetically.
Normally, Blackie and the others would have been the envy of many players since they now possessed Slumber City’s Noble status. This was because, in a certain sense, the status of players in the various NPC Cities was much more important than their strength in the Stratified Abyssal Realm’s Level 100-plus maps.
In Slumber City, players with the Civilian status would only enjoy the privilege of being able to live in the city. Without a higher status, they couldn’t take on more than a certain number of City Contribution Quests each month, own private housing, or open their own Shop. They couldn’t even enter Slumber City’s Advanced Auction House, only having access to the standard Auction House.
However, it was a different story for players with the Noble status.
Whether it was challenging more City Contribution Quests or purchasing private housing and Shops, neither of these things were a problem so long as a Noble had enough Demon Coins.
Moreover, so long as players had the Noble status, they could earn Demon Coins much more quickly than Civilian players. This was because Noble players could earn a significant sum of Demon Coins each month just by renting properties to Civilians. There wasn’t a need to worry about there being a lack of customers, either, since less than 3% of the city’s player population had the Noble status.
Of course, Nobles couldn’t purchase an unlimited number of Lands or Shops. Depending on their City Contribution Points, they could buy two at minimum and five at maximum.
Even so, a Noble with five plots of Land or Shops could retire for the rest of their lives without worrying about living expenses in the real world. Many Nobles had even relied on this method to live without working for over a decade already.
However, at this moment, this Noble status was turned into a complete joke because of Solitary Soul.
Because Solitary Soul had evoked his rights as a Vice City Lord, Blackie and the others were getting banished from Slumber City for 48 hours. Moreover, this banishment duration would not decrease if Blackie and the others went offline. The banishment period would only end after they had spent 48 hours outside of Slumber City.
With the Death Curse adventurer team’s strength, 48 hours was more than enough for its members to kill Blackie and the others at least a dozen times, causing them to fall under Level 100 and forcibly teleported back to the starting zone.
Moreover, even if Death Curse didn’t target Blackie and the others, it would be impossible for a team of twelve players to survive for 48 hours out in the fields. After all, it was extremely dangerous to roam out in the fields without a team of one or two hundred players.
It was especially true when night arrived. Not only would the number of monsters increase at night, but the combat standards of monsters would also increase significantly. Even an Upper-class Noble’s team wouldn’t dare to casually operate outside at night.
It was so dangerous at night that players wouldn’t necessarily be safe even if they stood directly outside the city. This was because a large number of monsters would attack Slumber City at night.
Seeking shelter in a different NPC City wasn’t an option, either.
The various NPC Cities in the Stratified Abyssal Realm’s Level 100-plus maps were located incredibly far apart from each other. Even if players traveled nonstop, they would still need around two days(96 in-game hours) to reach move from one city to another. If players traveled at a normal pace, the journey would take up to five or six days.
Hence, there was no way Blackie and the others could reach another NPC City within 48 hours.
In other words, getting banished from Slumber City for 48 hours was no different than a death sentence.
“Quick! Look over there! Their leader is walking over to the NPC guards!”
“Could he be trying to reason with those guards?”
“He’s just going to waste his energy if he’s thinking of doing that. The NPC guards will kill even players with the Noble status when provoked. Now that they are in the midst of executing an order, they might even kill players who enter their cordon. Not to mention, these NPCs will only stubbornly carry out their orders and won’t listen to reason.”
The spectating players shook their heads when they saw Shi Feng suddenly approaching the NPC guards.
NPC guards were essentially gods in the various NPC Cities. They were also the last thing players wanted to approach. This was because NPC guards did not listen to reason. So long as players violated the law, the NPC guards would kill them on the spot. Even Upper-class Nobles were no exception.
Even if the NPC guards weren’t in the mood for bloodshed, it was also pointless to try to reason with them. The only thing on their mind was to carry out their orders. Everything else was not within their consideration.
Rather than try to obstruct the NPC guards from carrying out the banishment process, what Shi Feng should be doing was figure out a way to amass some strength and ensure that his banished companions could survive out in the fields.
Did he lose his mind to anxiety? Night Revenant couldn’t help but laugh when he saw Shi Feng moving closer and closer to the NPC guards. Or does he think that his Upper-class Noble status is enough to make those NPC guards listen to him?
Upper-class Nobles might enjoy a high status in Slumber City, but they still lacked the qualifications to challenge the city’s laws. Even Vice City Lords like Solitary Soul and Laura Crader didn’t have the qualifications to do so. Otherwise, the Glimmering Sword wouldn’t have gone through the trouble of using the threat of war to try and stop Death Curse’s actions.
Meanwhile, when Echoing Judgment saw Shi Feng’s actions, he swiftly ran after Shi Feng in an attempt to stop him from moving any closer to the NPC guards’ cordon. Unfortunately, he was still a step too late…
Not only did Shi Feng cross the NPC guards’ cordon, but he had even approached the two NPC guard captains directly and stood in their way. If his intentions hadn’t been clear enough before, it was now very obvious that he was trying to stop these NPC guards from apprehending his teammates.
Is he crazy? Night Revenant nearly gaped in shock when he saw Shi Feng intercepting the NPC guard captains.
The difference between intruding on the NPC guards’ cordon and obstructing the NPC guard captains’ actions was like night and day.
In the former case, the NPC guards would, at most, kill the intruding player once. However, in the latter case, the NPC guards would apprehend the obstructing player and imprison them for half a month to an entire month. This was worse than getting killed three or four times.
Meanwhile, when the two NPC guard captains saw Shi Feng appearing before them, their first reaction was to reach for their weapons. However, just when everyone thought that the two guard captains were about to strike at Shi Feng, the two guard captains suddenly froze, a hint of fear appearing in their eyes as they looked at Shi Feng.
The two guard captains behaved like two rats standing in front of a mouse, neither daring to move a muscle.
“Esteemed Lord Legatee!” The two guard captains saluted Shi Feng after coming to their senses. Then, they asked respectfully, “May we know what orders you have for us?”