Chapter 57: Personal Citywide Mission Acceptance

When Wu Shaochen logged in again, his character was still inside the War God Temple. He had just walked out and was considering where to hunt monsters when a soldier suddenly walked up to him and respectfully said, “Honored adventurer, the city lord has asked for your presence.”

“Oh? The city lord wants me to come, could it be there’s a mission?” Wu Shaochen’s eyes lit up. He had no plans yet, so he quickly followed the soldier to the city lord’s mansion.

After arriving at the mansion, Wu Shaochen saw the city lord walking back and forth anxiously. When the city lord saw him, he immediately came up to greet him, saying, “Chenfeng, you finally came.”

“City lord, did you call for me? Is there something important?” Wu Shaochen asked, confused.

The city lord sighed deeply and then said, “This matter starts with the parchment scroll you brought back from Liu Family Village last time. At first, I had no idea, but deep in the Tiger Roar Forest, there was actually a sealed portal to the demon realm. The demon realm! It’s an incredibly terrifying place, so this portal must not be allowed to open.”

The city lord’s face showed fear when mentioning the demon realm. Wu Shaochen didn’t say anything, quietly listening. He felt that he was uncovering something serious, as the official information given was too little, and from the city lord’s words, the game’s background seemed to be vast.

The city lord steadied himself and continued, “Liu Family Village has been guarding the seal for generations, but after their patriarch and elders died in the great beast war five years ago, their strength diminished. Without their power to suppress it, the seal has started to weaken. I sent a sealing master to reinforce the seal, and everything went smoothly on the way to Liu Family Village. However, when approaching the seal site, they were attacked by the Jungle Tiger King. I had sent two 20-level golden-tier guards from the city lord’s mansion to deal with the Jungle Tiger King, but I didn’t expect that with the seal weakening and the demon energy leaking, the 21-level Jungle Tiger King absorbed the demon energy and its strength rose to level 30. In the end, after heavy losses, the team had to retreat back to Liu Family Village.”

Upon hearing this, Wu Shaochen realized why there was a boss in the 21-level Jungle Tiger area that couldn’t be seen. It had mutated! He had experienced the Jungle Tiger King’s strength himself. If he hadn’t run fast enough, he would have been dead.

At this point, the city lord looked at Wu Shaochen and said, “Chenfeng, to be honest, most of the strong experts in the city were dispatched on special missions some time ago. So now, we don’t have anyone powerful enough to deal with the Jungle Tiger King. Among the adventurers, I only know you. Do you think you could handle this mutated Jungle Tiger King? If not, I’ll have to release a citywide mission to recruit all adventurers to help. But such a mission would come at a great cost, and I would prefer to avoid it if possible.”

Wu Shaochen was stunned. “Is this difficult just to help clear the Jungle Tiger’s domain?” he thought to himself.

“Normally, the city lord would just release a citywide mission in this situation, but since he is asking if there’s any chance I can deal with it first, that means if I can handle it, this mission will become a personal one. If it becomes a citywide mission, the reward will probably be huge,” Wu Shaochen thought with excitement.

But thinking about the terrifying mutated Jungle Tiger King, Wu Shaochen’s face darkened. He still couldn’t even check its attributes, so how could he dare fight it? Last time, a roar from it nearly reduced him to a sliver of health. He could still remember that clearly. But now, his strength had improved a lot. He figured he could check its attributes once he reached level 20 and then decide whether to take action.

Wu Shaochen then asked, “How long do I have to complete this mission?”

The city lord thought for a moment and replied, “The portal seal cannot wait any longer. I can give you a maximum of two days.”

“Alright, let me think of a way. Please don’t release the citywide mission just yet. With the current strength of adventurers, they wouldn’t be able to handle the mutated Jungle Tiger King. If they go, it’s basically a suicide mission,” Wu Shaochen replied. For him, reaching level 20 in two days wasn’t difficult. What he was worried about was the city lord not being patient and releasing the citywide mission prematurely.

“Alright, I’ll wait for your good news,” the city lord said.

After leaving the city lord’s mansion, Wu Shaochen opened the map, thinking for a while. He set his target on an area called the Abandoned Mines. There were monsters ranging from level 20 to 30 there. He didn’t want to go to the Rocky Mountain Forest, even though it had plenty of monsters. Their skills were too annoying and greatly limited his hunting speed. The Abandoned Mines, however, had monsters at the right level, though it was a bit far—about fifty kilometers away. On the map, it was displayed as black, with only the name of the area shown and monster levels between 20-30.

The map only displayed detailed information within a 10-kilometer radius. Areas beyond 20 kilometers were blacked out, showing only general monster levels without any monster details. Beyond that, it was completely black, leaving players to explore. The good part was that areas players had already visited would light up on the map, like Liu Family Village, which Wu Shaochen had previously visited.

Wu Shaochen checked his potion supplies, finding nothing to replenish, and then set off towards the Abandoned Mines. It was in the north, so he exited through the north gate. This time, there were no surprises, and his path was clear. The troublemakers from the World Domination Guild were likely busy leveling up after most of them had fallen behind the average level of Jinling City.

Wu Shaochen hurried on his way to the Abandoned Mines. It took him more than half an hour to get there, despite his speed of 573. When he reached the entrance, a large cave greeted him. The mine extended deep inside. As soon as he stepped into the mine, a cold wind blew, making Wu Shaochen feel uneasy. The monsters here probably weren’t friendly.

The entire mine was very dark. Before him was a long, twisting tunnel that led to unknown depths. There were no monsters in sight. Wu Shaochen felt a bit uneasy and summoned Silver Wolf to give him courage, letting it go ahead while he followed cautiously.

After walking for a few minutes, he suddenly heard a sound from beneath his feet. Wu Shaochen quickly retreated, and then saw a skeletal hand suddenly reach up from the ground.

“Shit! What the hell!” Wu Shaochen jumped in shock, and he quickly backed up. The sound startled Silver Wolf as well, making it shrink its body and run after him. After running a good distance, Wu Shaochen turned around and saw a skeleton slowly crawling out of the ground, following him.

“Is this the kind of monster here?” Wu Shaochen asked, his heart racing. It wasn’t that he was scared, but this game felt so real that he almost forgot it was just a game. When a skeletal hand suddenly popped up, anyone would be scared.

“Ugh, what kind of place did I pick?” Wu Shaochen knocked his head in frustration, but after regaining his composure, he wasn’t as afraid anymore. After all, he was a grown man. It was just a little skeleton. No big deal. He used his “Insight” skill to check the skeleton’s stats and saw it was a level 20 monster. Wu Shaochen immediately lost interest and casually threw two daggers at it, letting it slowly await its demise while he and Silver Wolf continued on.