Chapter 52: May the Lord bless you!

“Treatment?” Boyang frowned, looking confused.

“We’re not even that badly injured. What treatment do we need?”

Even the one who looked the most wounded had mostly surface-level injuries.

A few bandages would be enough.

“That’s right. Treatment,” Ye Lian said with a soft nod.

“We don’t need treatment.”

Realizing the other party had no intention of offering them shelter, Boyang saw no point in staying.

He turned to leave.

“Is that so? Once your contamination levels get high enough, you won’t be saying that,” Bai Xue said coldly.

Boyang paused mid-step.

He wanted to say something, but the words wouldn’t come.

In the end, he simply kept walking and exited the alchemy workshop.

***

Outside the store, the surrounding mechanical puppets had long dispersed.

The moment Boyang appeared, a player ran up to him and asked, “Captain, how did the negotiations go?”

“What do you think? They completely looked down on us!” a player fluent in Huaxia replied before Boyang could speak.

“Let’s talk somewhere else,” Boyang said, shooting the player a glare.

The player shrank his neck and didn’t dare say another word.

The group left the Silver Alchemy Workshop and entered a nearby house with its door wide open.

It was only three storefronts away from the workshop.

Even if they hadn’t secured protection from the other side, staying close couldn’t hurt.

That was what Boyang thought—and that was exactly what he did.

“Captain, what should we do next?” a fellow player from the Black Gold Organization asked nervously.

“Wait and see,” Boyang said expressionlessly, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.

“What the hell is with those two? We already swallowed our pride and came to ask for help, and they still turned us down!”

A red-necked player was fuming.

“Exactly! They’re so strong, yet they won’t lend us a hand!”

“Too heartless!”

“Why does this world have such cruel and cold-hearted people? My Yawei!”

“Ah, this must be a trial from Yawei! May Yawei bless us!”

Boyang looked at them and couldn’t help but let a mocking smile tug at the corner of his lips.

But it vanished quickly, and he returned to his usual emotionless expression.

‘Still as brainless as ever,’ he thought to himself.

“Captain, did you notice how ridiculously good their equipment is?” a player named Jimite leaned in and said quietly.

Jimite was a fellow member of the Black Gold group.

He looked about twenty-five, with a thin frame and an unremarkable face.

“I did. And it’s powerful,” Boyang nodded slightly, doubts swirling in his mind.

“Captain, do you think… could they be part of the Savior Organization?” Jimite asked.

As soon as he said that, the entire room went silent.

All eyes turned to him.

“Why didn’t I think of that?” Boyang slapped his forehead, his confusion instantly clearing up.

That had to be it.

They were definitely part of the Savior Organization.

‘Otherwise, how could they have such top-tier gear? How could they control the city’s robots?’

“So that’s it. I knew there was something strange about them. Turns out they’re cheating players!”

“Tsk. We nearly died out there, and meanwhile, they’re enjoying themselves in the city? This really proves the saying: comparison only leads to despair!”

“Those damn cheaters!”

“Wait—if we know they’re cheating players, shouldn’t we be trying to ride their coattails?”

“Ride their coattails? Weren’t you listening to what they said earlier?”

[Limited capability, unable to offer protection]!

“Heh. So cold. So cruel!”

“Yeah, true.”

“Anyway, we shouldn’t stray too far from them.”

“There’s so many of us. If we launched a surprise attack, we might be able to take them down!” one of the players muttered darkly.

“Keep dreaming,” Boyang shot down the idea.

“That white knight is way stronger than I am. Even if all of you charged in at once, you’d just be marching to your deaths.”

Silence fell once again.

***

After a moment, Jimite spoke up. “Captain, are we just supposed to sit here and wait for the end?”

Things might seem safe for now, but he had a nagging feeling this beta test wasn’t going to stay that way.

‘Maybe… something huge was about to happen!’

“Wait,” Boyang replied.

Whether they were waiting for an opportunity—or for death—was up to each person to interpret.

He honestly didn’t care.

‘Pollution value, huh.’

Suddenly, Boyang remembered what Bai Xue had said earlier.

He couldn’t help but open his panel to check his pollution value.

It was a shocking 70!

He clearly remembered that before the wolf encounter, his pollution value had only been 25.

‘Why had it jumped so much, so fast?’

‘Could it be…’

His eyes snapped to the wounds on his body, and he noticed something odd—around the places where the bleeding had stopped, a faint grayish-black color had spread, like the signs of poisoning.

“Captain, what’s wrong?” Jimite asked, seeing the change in Boyang’s expression.

“Jimite, let me see your pollution value!” Boyang said urgently.

He didn’t know exactly what the pollution value did, but his instincts were screaming—it couldn’t be anything good.

“Yes, Captain!” Jimite obediently opened his panel.

Boyang glanced at it, and his eyes went wide.

Jimite’s pollution value was a staggering 69.

They had something in common—both were heavily injured.

“Could it be… the wounds got infected?” Boyang muttered, frowning.

“What do you mean by that, Captain?” Jimite tilted his head, confused.

Boyang didn’t answer.

Instead, he turned to the group.

“Everyone, open your panels and report your pollution values to me!”

The players hesitated for a moment but eventually complied and started reporting their numbers.

This level of information wasn’t too sensitive, so no one objected much.

Boyang had judged things perfectly—if he’d demanded to see their panels directly, people would’ve definitely resisted.

After listening to everyone’s reports, Boyang’s brows knitted together even tighter.

***

“Too high,” he said flatly.

“Captain, what’s too high?” Jimite asked, puzzled.

“The pollution values. They’re way too high.”

“And that’s bad?” Jimite looked even more lost.

“It could be nothing. Or it could be fatal.” Boyang swept his eyes across the group.

“The pollution value has an upper limit of 100. That likely means once we hit that number, something will happen. Possibly… death.”

At the word “death,” everyone’s faces changed.

Only now did they start taking the pollution value seriously.

“N-No way, Captain. You’re just guessing, right?” Jimite said, feeling a chill run down his spine.

He was at 69 pollution points.

Only 31 away from the limit.

That didn’t feel safe at all!

“I…” Boyang tried to speak, but suddenly his head spun.

Not only that, his eyes were bloodshot, filled with red veins—he looked almost frightening.

***

Meanwhile, at the Silver Alchemy Workshop, Ye Lian was in the middle of brewing a low-grade life recovery potion.

The potion had just been completed, and its effects were still unknown.

But based on her past experience, she was sure its effectiveness would be far beyond expectations.

“Master, those players are so ungrateful,” Bai Xue, who had been silent until now, finally spoke.

“They are rather ungrateful,” Ye Lian replied with a calm smile.

“But they’ll come crawling back soon enough.”

Cradling the blood-red potion in her hands, Ye Lian smiled from within her armor—like a blossoming peach flower.