“Awwooo!”
At the Wolf King’s roar, the entire pack instantly went berserk, like they’d been injected with adrenaline, surging after the players from the Atlantic Federation.
The shadow of death loomed over them all, bringing with it a bone-deep terror.
Only the strong and young had survived this long—those too old or too weak had already been torn apart and devoured by the wolves.
Even so, among the strong, there were still weak links.
A few players with lower stamina began to show signs of exhaustion, their pace involuntarily slowing down.
Death was drawing closer and closer.
In truth, the only reason they had managed to escape so far was thanks to the sacrifice of the weaker players.
Without those sacrifices to buy time, breaking out of the wolf pack’s encirclement would have been nearly impossible.
Throughout this brutal escape, Boyang had killed wolf after wolf, eventually reaching Level 5.
He had poured all his stat points into Speed and Endurance, and now he was running like the wind.
Even though he had no idea whether the city with its open gates ahead was a trap meant for players, he had no other choice at this point.
‘Live or die’—he had to gamble everything!
“Help! Somebody help me!” a scream rang out from behind.
But no one looked back.
Everyone just ran even harder toward the stone bridge ahead.
The scream was abruptly cut short.
Immediately after, the sickening sound of flesh being torn apart echoed through the air.
It made everyone’s scalp tingle and sent shivers down their spines.
If they were caught next, they’d be the ones screaming.
Only twenty-four players remained, each of them pushing themselves past their limits in a mad dash for survival.
Boyang was the first to set foot on the stone bridge, but he didn’t feel any relief.
The city gate was still far ahead.
Worse yet, standing in their path was a massive humanoid puppet, radiating an overwhelming pressure.
Whether it was friend or foe, no one could say.
The players sprinted across the bridge, now aware of the puppet’s presence.
But there was no time to think.
All they could do was run like hell.
***
Seconds later, part of the wolf pack stormed onto the bridge.
At nearly the same moment, the humanoid puppet’s eyes flared crimson, and its thick stone pillar-like legs thundered to life.
Then it sprinted forward with terrifying speed!
To the players, the giant was like a massive mining dump truck barreling toward them at full speed—absolutely terrifying.
In that instant, everyone was gripped by despair.
Ahead of them stood the massive puppet, and behind them, a pack of ravenous wolves.
In their minds, four words rose unbidden: This is the end.
Boyang felt a surge of unwillingness.
He had fought so hard to escape the wolves, only to glimpse a sliver of hope—now that hope was being snuffed out by looming darkness.
It was like falling into a bottomless abyss, his entire being consumed by despair.
One by one, the players stopped running, their faces pale and lifeless, their eyes clouded with hopelessness.
But the death they had braced for… never came.
The massive gray-black puppet gracefully leaped over them and slammed a fist straight into the charging Wolf King.
The Wolf King’s head exploded on impact—like a blossom of blood-red peach petals bursting in midair.
The mighty Wolf King was obliterated in a single blow!
Boyang happened to turn around at that very moment.
His eyes widened in disbelief, his heart pounding as he shouted, “So strong!”
The other players turned as well, first stunned… then ecstatic.
They had seen it clearly now—this giant was on their side!
They were saved!
Someone couldn’t help but burst into tears.
Someone collapsed to the ground, limbs limp, mouth agape—but no sound came out.
Another person let out a long breath, their clenched fists creaking with tension.
***
At that moment, a loud bang echoed through the air!
The mechanical puppet had gone berserk!
After taking down the Wolf King with a single punch, it charged into the pack like a wolf among sheep.
Its swift and brutal attacks were a perfect showcase of its title as a war machine.
In the players’ eyes, the scene was filled with blood and flying flesh.
But not a single one of them found it frightening.
On the contrary, a strange sense of relief filled their hearts.
“So strong…”
“Are we… saved?”
“I think so. We’re really saved!”
“Why did it help us?”
“No idea, but it saved us!”
“Thank you, Yahweh!”
“Glory to Yahweh!”
“Waaah! I wanna go home!”
“What are you crying for? We still have more than ten hours left!”
“This machine must be some kind of city guard, right?”
“Who knows… Wait—it’s finished killing them already?!”
While the players talked, the mechanical puppet had completely wiped out the wolf pack.
Now it was cleaning up the corpses.
“That’s incredible. If we could get our hands on a machine like that, we’d never have to fear monsters again!” one player said excitedly.
“Yeah, even half of one would be enough!”
“You’re all dreaming,” someone said with a scowl.
“What’s it to you? Can’t we even fantasize a little?”
“Alright, enough bickering!” Boyang cut in, his expression serious as he looked at them.
The two who had been arguing still burned with frustration, but neither dared defy Boyang.
They could only swallow their anger.
Seeing this, Boyang’s face relaxed slightly.
He said, “This robot didn’t attack us—it only went after the monsters. That means it’s probably an ally. There might be NPCs in this city. Let’s head inside and take a look.”
Having just escaped death, the players had calmed down a bit.
After thinking for a few seconds, they agreed to enter the city.
If that hulking machine had wanted them dead, it could have wiped them out in the blink of an eye.
Since it didn’t attack, that at least meant it wasn’t hostile.
Entering the city would definitely be safer.
***
Inside the city—
Ye Lian and Bai Xue had no idea what was happening outside.
Even if they did, there was nothing they could do about it.
The two of them rode a spider-shaped puppet into the middle of the street.
“Let’s take advantage of the fact that the players haven’t arrived yet to get things ready and open a shop,” Ye Lian said.
“A shop?” Bai Xue asked, looking slightly confused.
“Yeah. We’ve got plenty of resources on hand, but not a lot of variety. We should make some products to trade with the other players for materials,” Ye Lian explained.
In truth, she simply didn’t want to go gathering materials herself—she planned to turn the players into her resource collectors.
With no currency system in place, everyone had to barter.
As the only producer with unique goods, Ye Lian would naturally be at the top of the trading chain.
Getting materials from the players would be laughably easy.
“As expected of Master!” Bai Xue nodded enthusiastically.
Setting up a shop would definitely save them a lot of trouble.
“Let’s use this building. Eventually, we’ll turn this whole area into a commercial street,” Ye Lian said, picking out the largest house in the area as their storefront.
After all, she already controlled most of the outer district.
She could pick any building she liked.
“Master, what should we name the store?” Bai Xue asked curiously.
“How about ‘Alchemy Workshop’?” Ye Lian said.
As someone terrible at naming things, she really couldn’t think of anything better.
“It feels weird without a name attached to it,” Bai Xue commented.
“You’re right. Then let’s call it ‘Silver Alchemy Workshop.’ Silver and gold—guaranteed profit!” Ye Lian grinned.
“Pfft!” Bai Xue couldn’t help but laugh.
“Master, your naming sense is so… down-to-earth.”
“Then it’s settled.” Once the name was decided, Ye Lian sent one of the mechanical puppets to make the shop sign.
She had some others start renovating the store.
The remaining puppets were assigned to patrol the streets.
At the same time, Boyang and the others finally entered Mo City.