Traveling through the game world

After collecting the items dropped by the giant black scorpion Moss, Lian Yang forcefully shoved a piece of purple plate armor into Arthur's hand, who had refused to share Lian Yang's spoils. Lian Yang suddenly asked, "Arthur, how did you suddenly end up here? See this?" He then pointed to the homemade mask on his mouth and continued, "I only dare to be in this disgusting place because of this."

Hearing Lian Yang's question, Arthur composed himself and said, "I am a paladin from the survivor squad of the Huttonmar Ruins, but not long ago, our captain, Akainu Bugatti, seemed to have been infected by the Black Nightmare. I was the first to discover his mutation, and then I ran away. But the others..." Arthur couldn't finish speaking before tears streamed down his face. His brothers, with whom he had fought countless days and nights, had turned into mindless monsters before his very eyes. He couldn't accept it.

"Akainu Bugatti?" Lian Yang thought for a moment and said, "I remember him. I recall that he seemed to be fighting against mutated monsters in the ruins of Huttonmar. I didn't expect that he was also infected by the Black Nightmare."

In fact, Akainu Bugatti is quite famous. He is a powerful swordsman. Reality is not a game; those afflicted by the Kazan Curse find it difficult to grow strong, and many who do grow strong become evil due to their childhood experiences. Therefore, truly skilled swordsmen roaming Arad are extremely rare.

Akainu Bugatti is one example; relying on the power of his demonic hand, he has been fighting against the mutated monsters in the ruins of Huttonmar, but unexpectedly, he himself mutated just like in the game. Lian Yang couldn't help but marvel at the powerful inertia of history.

Of course, Lian Yang knew this was inevitable, because the plot of the original work vaguely revealed that the Delos Empire seemed to be using the intense black nightmare of the Huttonmar ruins for experiments, and Akainu Bugatti happened to be one of the test subjects.

Arthur seemed still immersed in the grief of losing his companion. Lian Yang's expression changed when he thought of Akainu Bugatti, and he hurriedly said, "Hurry, the City of Misfortune is in danger!"

Originally, Akainu Bugatti, who was on the front line holding off the monsters, has mutated into one. Guided by the Black Nightmare, he will surely attack the City of Doom, a human settlement. The unprepared residents of the City of Doom will suffer heavy casualties. Lian Yang cannot stand idly by and watch this tragedy unfold, so he must return to the City of Doom as soon as possible to warn everyone to prepare.

Albert Hotel

"Ugh!" Albert saw Lian Yang return and was about to greet him when he was choked by the stench emanating from Lian Yang and began to vomit. He weakly said in a broken voice, "Ugh... Lian Yang... you... ugh... you should go wash up... ugh! I'm suffocating!"

Lian Yang, rushing back in a hurry, didn't notice that everyone he passed was vomiting violently. Albert, however, seemed to be vomiting even more severely.

"It's urgent!" Lian Yang said anxiously, his self-made shiny World Instrument brand mask still on his mouth, completely oblivious to his own foul odor.

“No! Ugh…” Albert said, his face pale. “We can’t communicate at all like this… Ugh! This is so disgusting!”

Albert's reaction made Lian Yang realize that he was wearing a mask. He quickly ran out of the City of Misfortune, found a stream, and plunged in to wash himself.

His mask was accidentally knocked off, and the stench emanating from him made Lian Yang vomit. He muttered to himself, "Ugh... damn, this smells even worse than in the Rotten Land!"

As for Arthur? Of course he could smell the stench emanating from the two of them, but with the Holy Light protecting him, his reaction was similar to Lian Yang's when he was wearing a mask. So, although there were no protective measures, his reaction was not intense.

Of course, Lian Yang smelled worse now than he did in the Rotten Land. He couldn't stand the stench as soon as he entered the edge of the Rotten Land, but now he was covered in the stench from the deepest part of the Rotten Land!

After washing for a full hour, and finally returning to Albert's hotel when the stench of decay was gone, Lian Yang saw Albert still spraying water to clean the hotel and said, "This is a big problem."

Pinching his nose, Albert, still pale, said, "This is going to be a huge problem! I'm about to be suffocated by your stench! Thank goodness I'm not going to places like that! Otherwise, the pretty girl next to me would definitely hate me." Albert never forgets his pretty girl, and his fans.

"You know Akainu Bugatti, right? He was infected and mutated by the Black Nightmare." Lian Yang wasn't in the mood for idle chatter with Albert. Once Akainu Bugatti's first line of defense collapsed, the unsuspecting adventurers of Doom City would suffer heavy losses. The residents of Doom City, who were defenseless against the adventurers, would be doomed.

"What? This is impossible!" Albert was shocked and incredulous. Akainu Bugatti might not be the strongest, but he was still a powerful being. How could he have mutated so easily?

Just then, Paris walked in, looking anxious, and said, "I received intelligence from Gal that the adventurers in the ruins of Huttonmar seem to have started attacking both us and the Imperial Army at the same time."

"What?!" Albert exclaimed in surprise, turning to Lian Yang and asking, "Has Akainu Bugatti really mutated?"

Before Lian Yang could reply, Paris noticed Arthur beside him and asked, "What? Bugatti mutated? I recognize you. You're Arthur, the paladin from Bugatti's survivor squad."

Arthur was quite famous, renowned for his exceptional talent; he was a master of almost all paladin skills and a celebrated paladin prodigy in the Ruins of Huttonmar. Paris naturally recognized him.

Arthur said, "Yes, just a few days ago, my companions started acting strangely, so I became wary. Unexpectedly, the day before yesterday, the captain and the others all mutated into werewolf-like monsters. I was the only one who hadn't mutated, and I noticed something was wrong early on, so I ran away the moment they mutated." Thinking about this, Arthur still felt lingering fear and sadness.

Hearing this, Paris's face darkened: "Bugatti and his survivor squad were a great help to us, practically the first line of defense against the mutated monsters. Now it seems he's really in grave danger!"

Thinking of this, Lian Yang, understanding the power of Albert and Paris, said in a deep voice, "I need to go to Hyde's place. It will be difficult for us to stop the attacks of monsters and mutated adventurers on our own."

Hyde was an upright man. Although he disliked the revolutionary forces lurking in the City of Doom from the Empire's perspective, he was very dedicated to protecting the residents. Albert and Paris clearly knew this, but their relationship and status prevented them from asking Hyde for help.

However, Lian Yang, who is nominally under Hyde, can.

In Hyde's office, Lian Yang got straight to the point: "Captain, I've dealt with the black giant scorpion Moss in the Rotten Lands, but I've also received intelligence that Akainu Bugatti, the survivor squad leader roaming the ruins of Huttonmar, has mutated."

"These damn ragtag troops are unreliable!" Upon hearing Lian Yang's words, Hyde cursed and turned around to ask, "Then what brings my squad leader here?"

Even though he knew Hyde was teasing him, Lian Yang said seriously, "The combined strength of Paris and Albert alone is simply not enough to resist the combined attack of the monsters and mutated adventurers in the ruins of Huttonmar. I hope the Imperial Army can send some defensive forces."

“Remember, you are my subordinate. Only I can order you around, and you can’t ask me to do anything! But I find you quite pleasing to the eye!” Hyde said, then called to Reni beside him, “You, go and duel him!”

"Yes!" René immediately stepped forward and loudly obeyed.

“Meddling in other people’s business requires strength. If you win, I’ll send troops!” Hyde naturally didn’t mind whether or not he sent troops, but he didn’t dislike Lian Yang’s style of doing things. It was rare for Lian Yang to ask him for help. So he took the opportunity to test Lian Yang’s strength.

Coincidentally, René, dressed in Imperial military uniform, was also wielding a greatsword. He gripped the sword with both hands and said earnestly, "Lord Lianyang, please enlighten me!"

Ultimately, Reni was a novice knight, while Lian Yang was a squad leader, so Reni wasn't as impolite as he was in the game. On the contrary, he was always respectful to Lian Yang.

"Fight!" Lian Yang shouted solemnly, having drawn Agamzo's ronin's longsword.