Chapter 493 - 192: Accepting a Mandatory Quest, Complete It or Die

They all froze, instantly entering a state of high alert. With no time to wonder how their home had suddenly vanished, they worried that the person responsible for the city’s destruction might come after them next. All of them went on high alert at once.

Unfortunately, to their bewilderment, as the howling wind rapidly swept over the city—now bereft of its Heart of the City—the attack they were braced for never came...

"What happened?"

"Who was it?!"

"Who the hell was it?!"

Countless NPCs and Super Bosses on alert saw the equally stunned personnel emerge from the now-ruined Neutral City. Clearly, even the stationed personnel who had been inside the Neutral City just moments before knew nothing about how the Heart of the City—protected by a Shield, city walls, and an immense amount of health—had suddenly been obliterated.

"Assemble!!"

WHOOSH!

WHOOSH!

WHOOSH!

After standing stunned in the cold wind for several seconds, an Intelligent NPC with the city’s highest administrative authority suddenly cried out. They no longer had a home. They had now become "Wandering People." He paid no mind to the destruction of the city, nor to the various buffs from the Neutral City that were instantly vanishing from their bodies. The first thing this highest-ranking NPC did was rally everyone together...

At the same time, he began a rapid investigation into what had happened and what might come next.

WHOOSH.

WHOOSH.

WHOOSH.

Countless bewildered NPCs and Super Bosses were gathering. Even though the beneficial buffs from the city had now disappeared, the weakest among them still had Combat Power on par with the likes of Wang Dapang and Zhang Qiqiang, whom Shen Fei knew. But even so, the loss of their home sent them all into a panic. At their leader’s shout, all the NPCs and Super Bosses involuntarily gathered together.

* * *

"Holy shit!"

In a city alley that had instantly been reduced to rubble, Shen Fei also let out a cry of surprise. He wasn’t surprised that the controlled attack from his Defense Tower had wiped out the Heart of the City’s health bar in one go. What shocked him was that after the Heart of the City was destroyed, the entire Neutral City had turned into a wasteland of ruins in the blink of an eye.

More importantly, he saw that as he instantly destroyed a city, his personal panel had automatically opened. Lines of text announcing his rewards were scrolling by. This was something Shen Fei had never expected. Outside the special areas, the Neutral Cities within Great Xia were incredibly precious. He would never have had the opportunity to destroy one, so he had no experience with receiving rewards for doing so. Of course, he guessed this might also have something to do with the recent Version 4.7 update.

WHOOSH!

Unfortunately, the situation was urgent, and Shen Fei had no time to examine the information on his personal panel line by line. When he saw the returning NPCs and Super Bosses immediately go on guard, with someone shouting and waving their arms to command the group, he instantly summoned a Detection Tower. He shifted his vision over to that group of NPCs and Super Bosses.

His purpose for entering this special area wasn’t to destroy these creatures’ city, nor was it to kill them for experience. His main objective was to investigate the secret that caused the heads of any NPC or Super Boss to explode the moment they spoke of it. He chose to launch a surprise attack on their home base first, with the goal of making these intelligent creatures lose their homes, so that they might reveal something in their conversations with each other...

WHOOSH.

With a slight shift of his thoughts, Shen Fei’s vision, aided by the Detection Tower, instantly landed on the group of NPCs and Super Bosses dozens of kilometers away from the city.

"Everyone, assemble!" a leader shouted loudly. "First, tally the casualties! See if anyone died! Then take stock of our supplies! And then, everyone, investigate what the hell happened!!!"

As soon as Shen Fei’s perspective shifted over, he heard the leader’s orders. With his God’s-eye view, Shen Fei could perfectly hear their conversation. And this was exactly what Shen Fei wanted.

Since interrogating you makes your heads explode the moment you say anything, then I won’t interrogate you. I’ll just listen in secret! I refuse to believe I won’t hear a thing!

There were so many special areas, and they were so vast. The total population of Intelligent NPCs and Super Bosses across all special areas could be in the trillions. In this one special area alone—the one closest to Qing City, and relatively small compared to the others—there were over fifty Neutral Cities. And each Neutral City housed at least tens of thousands of Intelligent NPCs and Super Bosses.

Shen Fei had more than enough opportunities to hear the information he wanted.

Moreover, he had already made up his mind. If these tens of thousands of Intelligent NPCs and Super Bosses before him didn’t discuss the secret he wanted within an hour, he would just bring out his Defense Tower and annihilate them for experience. Right now, he was only a few levels away from level 150. If these people didn’t reveal the secret, they would all just become his experience points.

"Holy fuck!!"

Just as he heard the NPC leader giving orders and was about to listen in further, Shen Fei shouted again. He saw that on his personal panel, after the text announcing his rewards for destroying the Neutral City finished scrolling, the display suddenly changed, and more text began to appear. In an instant, the text finished updating.

Then, a mandatory quest had been added to his quest panel!

The quest-centric Version 4.5 hadn’t been touched during the previous fourth inheritance of game abilities. But Shen Fei had never expected...