DADH Chapter 38

Because the sudden bounty mission had caught everyone’s attention, the players doing their tasks by the river had all left.

Even Jing Nian’s three laid-back teammates were very curious about the bounty mission and began to discuss it.

Jing Nian was concerned about what might happen if the pufferfish item that seemed to trigger the pearl’s reaction was used, considering it was described as a disposable item in its description.

He didn’t dare to dwell on it too much. Now, he listened to his teammates’ suggestions and thought that it might be a good idea for everyone to go and tackle this rare bounty mission.

Jing Nian: This suits me perfectly.jpg

So Jing Nian followed his teammates to go to Aunt Wang’s house. Since he couldn’t see the World Channel or Nearby Channel, he pretended to know nothing and gathered information from the casual chatter of his teammates.

In summary, this bounty mission is the first large-scale “Adventure Quest” in the history of Dragon Slayer’s server launch. Many players who had already left the newbie village had heard about this news and rushed to the Small Fishing Village. The World Channel was already buzzing with activity.

Rumors had it that some players had even logged off to call offline friends and family to come and witness this, so the bounty mission was currently receiving attention from all over the network.

The level of attention was so exaggerated that whoever completed this mission first would likely become famous on the StarBo.

For some reason, Jing Nian had a bad feeling about this.

When they arrived at the scene of the incident, Aunt Wang’s house, Jing Nian’s bad feelings became a reality!

“Damn it! Good-hearted people, you must help me catch that shameless little rascal!”

A plump lady with the name “[Aunt Wang]” above her head was tearfully pleading. In the middle of her tears, she suddenly blushed and shyly covered her face as she continued, “I don’t know which scoundrel it was, but they stole my pants while I was taking a bath!”

The lady who had just been shouting and demanding retribution suddenly became bashful, leaving the first batch of players on the scene utterly flabbergasted.

However, what they didn’t expect was that Aunt Wang’s shocking statements weren’t over.

“If you catch that darn little thief, I hope you’ll hand him over to me~ Hoho~ It’s so embarrassing~”

“He’s a tall and skinny man, remember that~”

After saying this, Aunt Wang covered her face with a handkerchief and couldn’t bear to look at everyone anymore.

Players: “…”

Just as the players were preparing to ask further questions, Aunt Wang’s face suddenly emerged from behind her handkerchief, and added, “Remember~ don’t hurt that poor little soul~ Otherwise…”

The bashful aunt instantly turned into a fierce demon, glaring menacingly at the players.

After her threat, Aunt Wang returned to her shy demeanor, covered her face, waved goodbye to everyone, and left.

The players left behind were collectively petrified: “We have a reasonable suspicion that you’re not trying to catch a thief but have ulterior motives for the thief QAQ.”

Although the mission content was a bit offbeat, players were even more excited because of its novelty. Compared to the rewards of the purple mission, the quirky storyline was more appealing.

So, for the time being, everyone gathered together to discuss.

In the holographic game, the Nearby Channel had a wider range and clearer communication compared to voice communication, so many players preferred to communicate through the channel. However, since everyone was in Aunt Wang’s yard now, most of them decided to use the public voice channel to talk.

“Haha, could this thief be a secret lover? Why else would someone steal an old lady’s pants?”

“Exactly, and we initially thought a purple mission would require a fierce battle. I heard a guild has gathered dozens of level 25+ players for this task, but they haven’t all arrived yet and are still recruiting. It’s hilarious.”

“And then the old lady says, ‘Don’t harm my little sweetheart~'”

“Hehe, middle-aged and elderly people sure know how to have fun.”

“You lousy son of a gun!”

“Aren’t you a lousy son of a gun too?”

“Haha, the use of ‘little’ before thief and sweetheart is quite clever, suggesting they might be young?”

“Brilliant analysis! So, we’re looking for a tall and skinny young man?”

Jing Nian’s three teammates also joined in on the discussion in the live chat. Only Jing Nian remained inconspicuously in a corner, silently listening and facepalming.

Stolen a pair of pants, plus tall and skinny…

In Jing Nian’s mind, the image of the culprit was already perfectly pieced together.

Because the focus of this group’s discussion was mostly on the pants thief, with little mention of the game itself, the tiny dragon in Jing Nian’s Dragon Soul Space also heard everything.

Although it couldn’t understand most of the conversation, the tiny dragon was always the best at picking up the essentials in any situation.

So, within the Dragon Soul Space, Jing Nian faced the tiny dragon’s curious and questioning eyes. What did “lsp” mean?

He was in a dilemma.

Glancing at the players around, their faces filled with perverted and increasingly bizarre topics, Jing Nian silently covered the tiny dragon’s eyes in his Dragon Soul Space and held down its frantic little paws. He walked away while having a brilliant idea. Taking advantage of the lack of communication between the game world and the real world, he explained to the tiny dragon with a straight face.

“Lsp means… a gentleman. It’s usually used to describe someone who is very polite and moral.”

Seeing that the tiny dragon had indeed stopped struggling, Jing Nian, who was now far away from that place that could easily corrupt a child, released the dragon’s eyes.

Meeting its seemingly half-understanding yet learning expression, Jing Nian quickly added, “But you’re still young, so you shouldn’t learn from those adults, okay?”

The tiny dragon continued to look at Jing Nian, appearing bewildered. Not understanding?

Furrowing his brow, Jing Nian thought for a moment and lightly tapped the tiny dragon’s little nose. “Think about the people you saw just now. Were they good-looking?”

Ignoring the fact that those players all had lewd expressions, of course, they weren’t good-looking.

Since the tiny dragon had been cultivating its sense of aesthetics by following Jing Nian since it hatched, its sense of human beauty was almost entirely based on Jing Nian’s face. Therefore, even those players without improper expressions were considered ugly in the tiny dragon’s eyes.

However, because the tiny dragon unconsciously trusted Jing Nian, it didn’t realize the logical trap in Jing Nian’s question. It happily hopped into the conversation. Moreover, it hopped in quite earnestly. When Jing Nian seemed a bit worried, it even comforted him with its adorable gaze.

“Don’t worry, little brother, I won’t learn~”

“Good~” Jing Nian happily rubbed the tiny dragon’s head.

Then he received a distress signal from Gordon. This was an ability attached to the master-servant contract. Only the master could activate it unilaterally, while the servant could only trigger it when their life was in danger.

Accompanying the distress signal was Gordon’s unwavering loyalty. In the consciousness images that Jing Nian received, Gordon was frantically evading the attacks of a figure in black clothing while muttering desperately, hoping that Jing Nian on the other side could hear him.

“This person is very dangerous. Master, please bring Dragon Bro!!!”

Initially, Jing Nian thought Gordon had caught the attention of another player and was ready to rush over to rescue him. However, when he saw the fierce attacks of the figure in black clothing in the image, he was taken aback.

Based on the information he had obtained from his three novice teammates about the outside world, Jing Nian knew that there were currently no players above level 30 in the game. Although he was still in the small fishing village and hadn’t encountered any players above level 20, a player’s strength couldn’t increase drastically in a short time. So, according to Jing Nian’s estimate, even if a player in their early twenties came, they wouldn’t be able to defeat him.

However, the player pursuing Gordon in the image was clearly on a different level than these novices in the small fishing village.

Watching the image slowly dissipate, with Gordon’s bulky women’s cotton and linen pants still intact, Jing Nian thought to himself, “This is too embarrassing.”

Even without Gordon’s words, he wouldn’t rashly go over to rescue him.

Jing Nian quickly contacted the sand vulture, which was frolicking in the nearby forest, and instructed it to go to Gordon’s location and bring him back.

After reluctantly obtaining the sand vulture’s agreement, Jing Nian leisurely made his way to where Gordon had encountered the enemy.

When Jing Nian arrived, he heard two familiar screams coming from the forest. One was Gordon’s voice, and the other was the sand vulture’s weird cry.

The next second, with a “whoosh,” the sand vulture emerged from the canopy of a giant tree, carrying Gordon in its mouth. Upon noticing Jing Nian’s presence, the sand vulture made a turn in mid-air, released Gordon for a glide, stopped in the sky above Jing Nian, and then opened its mouth, performing a high-altitude projectile.

“Waaaahhhh—bang!!!” Gordon, caught off guard, screamed loudly and was dropped by the sand vulture. He fell in front of Jing Nian with a final crash.

At this moment, a figure in black clothing emerged from the forest where Gordon had been pursued.

Seeing the figure in black clothing, Jing Nian recalled the terrifying and fierce moves this person had displayed earlier and realized that he couldn’t currently defeat them. He prepared to have the sand vulture come down quickly so they could make a hasty retreat.

However, before he could signal the sand vulture, the tiny dragon suddenly looked at the figure in black clothing with excitement.

Seemingly aware of Jing Nian’s vigilance, the figure in black clothing stopped about ten steps away and calmly observed.

The figure in black clothing had something covering their face, revealing only a pair of cold, clear eyes.

As Jing Nian gazed into those eyes and recognized them, he froze. It felt like he had seen them somewhere before.

The black-clothed person who had pursued Gordon earlier was indeed Huo Yi. Upon seeing Jing Nian, he didn’t show much surprise. When the giant sand vulture had swooped down to snatch the thief from his grasp earlier, he had already recognized it.

It was the same vulture that Jing Nian’s tiny dragon had secretly ridden on before. That’s why he had let them go.

Now, seeing the thief dumped in front of Jing Nian further confirmed that this thief indeed knew the tiny dragon.

When the little dragon’s big eyes seemed to recognize something, Huo Yi initially thought the other party had recognized him. However, the next moment, the little dragon’s eyes displayed clear confusion.

Huo Yi shrugged. He didn’t know what he had been expecting. He silently observed Jing Nian, wanting to see the connection between this little dragon and the thief.

The thief, who had crawled to his feet after falling on the ground, interposed himself between Jing Nian and Huo Yi, anxiously pleading, “Brother vulture, please come down and save me!”

The sand vulture circling in the sky gave Gordon a disdainful look and then flew higher, completely ignoring him.

Humph, as the king of vulture, not just anyone could command it.

Realizing this, Gordon urgently looked at Jing Nian and urged him to make the sand vulture come down quickly.

As for Jing Nian…

[Prompt: Encountered a thief who stole clothes. Do you want to capture them immediately?]

[Yes/No]

Jing Nian couldn’t resist and chose “Yes.”