Shepherding Humanity

Chapter 107: Conflict.

The express delivery should arrive by tomorrow.

Xu Zhis shopping trip into town took about 2 hours, which was equivalent to 8 years in the game.

For Xhu Zhi, this was just enough time for things to get rolling.

The majority of those who lacked ability had been eliminated by now, leaving over 20 players in the sandbox, 7 of which were the mass murderers.

In this time, the Council of Thirteen had pinpointed which among them were the culprits.

Top of the Food Chain Pell.

Ittoryu.

Nameless Dragon.

Everyone was furiously cursing these 7 players.

To think that there were 7 of these mass murderers!

This is horrible! Theyve gotten rid of most of the remaining 6 muscle players, leaving only Learning is a Waste of Time and Akinas Speedster.

The discussion was quite heated.

While its impressive that the two big-shots managed to escape death, bright stars have also appeared among ordinary players.

Whats most unbelievable is that, before they got caught, they were writing books, recording music, brewing wine, and spreading bar culture all over the Magic World. There are taverns everywhere now, where music is always playing, and you can drink ale while listening to the bards tell the story of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone! (?)

This is a Copyright Violation! They were committing a felony with their blatant plagiarism of books and music, which led to their getting caught by the PKers! (?)

Down with plagiarists! (?)

Most people were actually quite excited.

Though they werent a match for the PKers, their time inside was equivalent to going on a vacation for 1-2 years, and they were already satisfied. Bringing culture to a Magic World that was lacking in entertainment was quite the feat, and they were proud of their accomplishment.

After 2 hours, most of them had been eliminated, leaving about 20 left. Xu Zhi brought his bag of rice into the kitchen and put it away. Theyve gotten quite good at hide and seek over 8 years. There are more of them left than I thought.

Chen Xi had already left the game a while back.

Like Xu Zhi thought, she only lasted about three months before being found.

At that time, she had been in a tavern, telling an excerpt from Journey to the West. She was just getting to the good part, and the merchants and witches were loudly cheering and throwing money at her, when a terrifying giant beast attacked.

She was forcefully kicked out of the game and had just called Xu Zhi to complain. Xu Zhi had comforted her by saying that she should just treat it as a 3 month vacation in another world.

In the past 8 years, most of those 7 muscle players had become Level Three Mages, and 3 of them had even reached Level Four.

Xu Zhi frowned. Thats quite worrying? Even Grantham took 20 years to reach Level Four.

The Hive Mind replied: The research institutes backing them had come up with the most efficient method for them to proceed. As players in charge of the muscles, theyre collecting other organs and coming up with various special abilities.

Oh? Xu Zhi was startled for a moment. His interest piqued, he leisurely returned to his chair and started watching.

*Crash! Bang!*

A colossal 70 meters long beast was trampling through a lush forest, knocking over giant trees. The ground shook.

It was a twisted amalgamation of rotten body parts that had been stitched together, giving off a horrendous stench, like an Abomination out of legend. Hook in one hand and sickle in another, it was smiling viciously.

A giant beast that was armored in countless white bone plates was desperately running away from it, while crying out fearfully:

Sh*t! I've been found by the worst PKer of them all, Pell the Butcher! Hes considered the top of the food chain in this otherworld! He could eat any kind of giant beast or turn them into a part of his body!

Pell was one of the most infamous Evil Gods, and the witches called him Nyarlathotep, the Wriggling Chaos.

Think you can run?

Pell sneered. He swung the hook with his gigantic, clumsily stitched together body.

*Swish.*

The ghastly bloody hook flew over a dozen meters, a crimson chain of muscle tissues trailing in its wake.

Bang!*

The bone plated giant beast was hooked. Though it struggled to run away, it was quickly dragged back.

Decay.

Pell laughed.

Instantly, an acid mist that radiated horrifying power rose from his body of rotten flesh. It dissolved the body of the giant armored beast, quickly immobilizing the creature.

Dismantle.

He bowed down and swung the sickle in his other hand, quickly dismembering the giant armored beast. In no time at all, it was reduced to a pile of flesh. He picked up a piece, took a big bite, and chewed carefully while savoring the taste. Not bad at all. 8 times the protein of beef.

*Crackle.*

Suddenly, lightning flashed in the sky, accompanied by the roar of thunder.

The Abominations body was instantly torn into pieces, leaving behind only blackened clumps.

A Legendary Mage descended from the sky and studied the Abominations body. Damnit! Did I get him?

Deep below ground, an earthworm-like crimson strand of muscle sneered. Its a good thing that I was remote-controlling my species. Now that Ive killed another player and gotten what I wanted, its time for me to leave. Ill avenge myself later The day that I rule over the Three Great Magic Kingdoms is not very far away.

Meanwhile

Why wont they let me use my Ittoryu sword style? Im a traditional swordsman, damn it! Yamada was furious. He was one of the smaller giant beasts, and wore a giant leather bundle on his back. Those accursed researchers are turning me into a walking cemetery. Thats not cool at all.

At this moment, he felt a commotion in the distance.

Sh*t. Im surrounded. He grumbled and unwrapped the leather bundle on his back. Inside was a bright-red pile of flesh.

Tombstone.

The pieces of flesh wriggled and combined, gradually turning into a black 3 meters tall gravestone.

The fleshy gravestone acted as a giant breeding nest, scattering cancerous lumps of flesh on the ground as it wriggled. These hatched into ghouls the size of a puppy.

Go forth and plunder! Harvest nutrients for the grand tombstone! Well make more of your kind!

Reproduction is art.

*Swish.*

In an instant, the sky above the forest turned dark. Countless pup-like creatures swarmed the land, turning it into a hellish killing ground where plants and animals alike died one after another.

Their remains were dragged back to the gravestone, and barely half a day later, grotesque zombies emerged. They flooded the mountain range, charging at any witch who entered.

The witches, who hailed from Great Magic Academies and Sects, had an ugly expression on their faces. This Evil God might not be the strongest of them all, but its definitely among the hardest to deal with. Shub-Niggurath, The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young.

They silently looked up. The black tombstone had grown gigantic. It was like a darkly majestic mountain from hell, built from so many corpses that it piled high above the clouds.

These monsters are also creations of the Evil God Cthulhu's scattered organs. But, since this thing is so fertile, its tens of thousands of offspring should not be as frightening as those evolved demonic beasts, right? Their throats were dry with unnamable terror.