prynovel Chapter 56 The Gap Between a Novice and a First-Time Job Recruit
Chapter 56 The Gap Between a Novice and a First-Time Job Recruit
The door to the underground casino was kicked open with a loud thud, the heavy copper-clad wooden door crashing against the wall.
The fat steward, accompanied by dozens of his followers and several bodyguards who had previously guarded the treasury, poured into the hall.
There was no fierce firefight as expected, nor were there any patrols cordoning off the area. The hall was a mess, with splinters of wood and scattered chips everywhere.
But most importantly, the "corpse" used to frame them has never been found.
The portly manager strode forward, his leather shoes crunching crisply on the chips. He stared intently at the empty ruins, his face contorted with rage.
Not right.
Something is very wrong.
In a place like Pearl Harbor, where people are ruthless and cannibalistic, if a murder were used to lure patrols into raiding properties, the scene would definitely be staged as a gang shootout. But these people smashed things up too deliberately; it looked more like street thugs venting their anger.
"This technique is too crude..." the fat steward muttered to himself, his previously congested brain seemingly doused with a bucket of ice water, instantly calming him down.
Immediately afterwards, a chill ran down his spine and straight to the top of his head.
He had previously felt that this method did not conform to the meticulous logic of high-level political assassinations, so he ruled out the possibility of a diversionary tactic, but now he suddenly realized something.
It's not that the other side is pretending to be rough; it's that these people are inherently rough!
He overestimated the other party's abilities, and his cleverness backfired! These people had no intention of framing the patrol team; they simply wanted to lure him out of their base!
"The official residence! Their target is the account books!"
The fat steward's eyes widened in fury. His obese body burst forth with astonishing speed as he turned and sprinted away, yelling, "Go back! All of you, get the hell back!!!"
…………
Meanwhile, in the lobby of the financial steward's residence.
"Hurry up, where's the basement entrance? Let's break down this wall and see!"
Little Snail and Wraith were leading several players, ransacking the hall. Luxurious Persian carpets were overturned, and valuable oil paintings were roughly torn down. Lynn stood in the center of the hall, his eyes quickly scanning the building structure, trying to find the secret door leading to the underground vault.
Just then, the sound of rapid hoofbeats and wheels screeching against the ground suddenly came from the end of the street.
Lynn's pupils contracted.
Too fast! The fat steward's speed in returning to defend far exceeded his expectations. Before they could even find a trace of the account books, the enemy had already reached the door.
"Bang!"
The half-open gate of the official residence was kicked open, and the fat steward, who had returned, bumped right into the players who were smashing things all over the place.
Looking at his luxurious hall, now in ruins, and the thugs still holding his expensive vases, the fat steward completely lost his mind.
"Slaughter them all! Leave no one alive!"
Without any preamble or probing, the most intense direct confrontation erupted instantly.
Facing the attacking assassins, the little snail instinctively took the lead. He raised a wooden shield covered in iron that had fallen to the ground, preparing to block the gate as usual.
However, this time, the one who stepped out from the crowd was no ordinary opponent.
A burly warrior, a first-tier warrior, stared at the little snail. He took a deep breath, and the muscles in his arms seemed to swell up a little.
Immediately afterwards, a burst of sword energy erupted from the heavy, broadsword in his hand.
[Powerful Attack]!
"clang!!!"
With a deafening clang of metal, the little snail felt an overwhelming force surge through the shield.
His tiger's mouth split open, and blood seeped out. For a moment, he lost some feeling in both arms.
A deep crack was cleaved into the thick iron shield. The little snail's knees buckled, and it was pushed backward several meters by the terrifying force, crashing heavily into the stone pillar behind it. Its face turned deathly pale instantly.
"Holy crap... So it's this hard to fight someone of a higher level head-on!" The little snail gritted its teeth and spat out a mouthful of blood, clearly unable to hold its own and at a complete disadvantage.
Before the players could recover from this unreasonable power, two mages in gray robes raised their short staves from the rear of the enemy camp.
The magic in the air converged violently, forming two blue demonic claws.
【Magic Double Strike】!
"Whoosh! Whoosh!"
Two beams of demonic claw-like light shot out one after another like bullets. Before Xiaoyu, who was hiding behind the sofa, could even peek out, the sofa back and his shoulder were instantly pierced through, and blood and flesh flew everywhere.
Another beam of light slammed into a load-bearing stone pillar, blasting up a shower of rubble. The debris, like fragments of a hand grenade, slashed the faces of several players nearby, leaving them covered in blood.
"Retreat! Retreat inside!"
Faced with this first-tier adventurer who truly wielded immense power, the players who relied on melee weapons were instantly overwhelmed and rendered helpless. Lynn decisively issued the order for a tactical retreat.
The group dragged the injured little snail and Xiaoyu, retreating in a sorry state into the sturdy study inside the official residence. They immediately locked the heavy inner door and completely blocked the doors and windows with a heavy mahogany desk and bookshelves.
Outside the door, the fat steward's furious roar pierced through the heavy wooden door:
"Smash it! Blow it up with gunpowder! With something this big happening, the committee's spies must have already reported the disturbance here! The Forest City's army will be here in three days at most! If we don't get the ledgers, we're all dead!"
The study was dark and deathly silent, with only the heavy breathing of the players.
Lynn leaned against the shadows of the wall, listening to the roar outside the door, her mind racing.
"Communicator... three days."
He recalled the Blood Axe Mercenary Group's previous experience arriving at Pearl Harbor. Even with elite troops marching at full speed, it would take a full three days to travel from the City in the Forest to Pearl Harbor.
The logic is complete.
If he can survive 72 hours in this inner room, the fat steward will run out of cards, and what awaits him is the swift and decisive crackdown by the arbitration committee.
Conversely, if Lynn is defeated by this fat guy at the gate within three days, the situation after the cleanup will definitely be labeled as a rebellion.
But looking at these players with low health, trying to hold out for 72 hours using conventional methods is nothing short of wishful thinking.
Lynn quietly activated the system, having not checked it for some time.
As your influence expands and your level increases, new types of items that can be redeemed and purchased within the system will be unlocked.
[Red Potion: 100 Energy Points/Bottle]
[Blue Potion: 100 Energy Points/Bottle]
Looking at his still relatively abundant energy points, Lynn didn't blindly go all in. Since the players were all still newbies who hadn't changed classes, they didn't need mana-restoring potions at all. He allocated 2000 energy points to exchange for 20 bottles of [Red Potions] as a strategic reserve.
A faint light flashed, and a wooden box appeared at Lynn's feet.
He kicked open the box lid, grabbed a few glass bottles filled with a dark red, viscous liquid, and tossed them to the injured little snail and Xiaoyu.
"Boss, what's this?" The little snail clumsily caught it with its uninjured hand.
"Red potion, you should know better than me what this is." Lynn's tone was calm, like an emotionless narrator giving a science lesson. "Don't treat it as an item that instantly restores full health. It doesn't have a specific HP recovery value. Its function is to forcibly contract your wounds to stop bleeding and squeeze your potential to restore stamina. Drink it, and then get ready to work."
Upon hearing the words "red potion," the players, who had been somewhat demoralized by the attack, instantly brightened up.
"Holy crap! Red potion! Red potion is out!" The little snail didn't hesitate to bite open the cork and pour the potion down its throat.
The drug took effect quickly; the muscles in his cracked tiger's mouth began to writhe and contract, and the intense pain made him gasp for breath, but his previously depleted strength surged forth like a volcano.
Just as the players were feeling curious and excited about the red potion's design, Lynn casually opened the system task panel.
Faced with the relentless attacks and magical double strikes pounding on the wooden door from outside, Lynn had to offer these working-class people the most irresistible temptation.
He typed rapidly on the keyboard in his mind, slamming a top-level defense mission onto the emblem on the left hand of all the players.
[An Epic Defense of the Area: 72 Hours at Pearl Harbor!]
Mission Objective: Defend the stronghold and survive until the countdown ends.
Below this quest, Lynn highlighted the ultimate reward that drove all players wild in striking scarlet font:
[Core Contribution Reward: Winning this defense battle will completely restore the connection between Pearl Harbor and all major cities! After the battle, you will officially unlock the "First Job Advancement" class! (Selectable areas: Warrior's Village, Magic Forest, Abandoned City, Archer Village)]
Quiet, a brief moment of quiet.
Immediately afterwards, greed and an extreme desire to fight overwhelmed the players' fear of death and pain.
"A warrior's first job advancement skill..."
The little snail got up from the ground, picked up the broken shield again, and its eyes were as red as those of a hungry wolf.
"Holy crap! Job advancement! Damn it, the developers finally let us into the job advancement system!"
"Those natives on the other side are using a first-tier skill! I'm going to learn it after I finish defending this wave!"
"Brothers, those monsters outside are walking experience packs and job change tickets! We'll overwhelm them with our lives!"