Chapter 316: Windfall

The Life of the Lurker Lord dropped to zero. It collapsed with a thud, its massive body crashing to the ground and causing the entire cave to tremble slightly.

Nie Yan dodged swiftly. Seeing the Lurker Lord fall, he felt a wave of relief. He had thought it might self-destruct, so he had previously saved Li Hua Sha. It seemed he had worried unnecessarily, as the Lurker Lord didn’t explode.

The corpse of the Lurker Lord lay sprawled on the ground like a giant whale.

Nie Yan was enveloped in waves of white light as his level skyrocketed to level 35. The other team members also gained at least one or two levels.

“Boss, did it drop anything?” Xia Chong Yubing asked from behind.

Nie Yan was about to look for the Lurker Lord’s dropped equipment when he noticed the corpse beginning to swell, like a balloon. A network of blood vessels covered its surface, with blood surging through them. A surge of turbulent energy burst forth.

“Everyone, quickly hide!” Nie Yan shouted, his expression changing.

This was a corpse explosion—an extremely rare phenomenon among monsters.

The team quickly realized what was happening and began retreating toward the exit.

The Lurker Lord exploded with a tremendous boom, sending a powerful shockwave outward.

They had no time to dodge and were caught in the blast, collapsing to the ground one by one.

No player in the area was spared.

Nie Yan was also unable to escape. The shockwave from the Lurker Lord was too intense to evade. Instead of immediately releasing his soul to respawn at the graveyard, his surroundings transformed into an endless expanse of wilderness bathed in dazzling white light, as if he were in a heavenly realm. Nie Yan couldn’t help but feel a sense of curiosity—what had happened?

Looking ahead, he saw a solitary, hunched figure. Its face was indistinct, entirely composed of clusters of white light.

It wandered through this vast space, occasionally pausing to gaze blankly forward, its thin silhouette evoking a sense of desolation and distance.

It looked at Nie Yan with confusion, and an unusual emotion welled up inside him. Flashes of images rushed through his mind—scenes of the spider-like creature, Phenas. Nie Yan seemed to feel the endless sorrow deep within the Lurker Lord’s heart.

Nie Yan’s heart stirred. These images of Phenas must be one of the clues he needed to find Phenas.

The figure transformed into a streak of white light, flying toward Nie Yan. It entered his backpack, circling around Bennett’s Diary before disappearing into it.

Nie Yan checked the diary’s attributes, which had changed.

Bennett’s Diary: Immortal Spirit, Love of the Humble.

Item Properties: The holder can open a Dark Portal to travel between the surface and the underworld. The portal’s location is random. The Dark Portal can be opened once every five days and lasts for twenty minutes.

Bound item, non-tradable, non-dropable.

The Dark Portal is a highly unpredictable skill. It can be activated once every five days for a duration of twenty minutes. If not used within that time, another five-day cooldown applies. The exit location of the portal is also random.

Nie Yan wondered when he would have the chance to visit the dungeon and bring back some good equipment to sell, and perhaps complete this quest.

After an unknown amount of time, a system message appeared.

System: Player Li Hua Sha is casting a resurrection spell on you. Do you accept?

Yes!

A dazzling streak of white light flashed, and Nie Yan was resurrected.

Looking around, Nie Yan saw Li Hua Sha and Daotou La Ge Qizi reviving the team members one by one. The entire team had been wiped out. When Li Hua Sha arrived and saw the carnage, she was stunned. She first resurrected Daotou La Ge Qizi, and together they revived the rest of the team.

Nie Yan searched the area and picked up three items from the ground: a robe, a pair of gauntlets, and a gemstone—all level 50 Dark Blue items.

The robe and gauntlets were Arcane Mage gear, part of the level 50 Dark Devotion set, a high-damage spellcasting set. The robe added 220 spell damage, and the gauntlets added 120.

These two items had excellent stats. Among all level 50 sets, the Dark Devotion set’s spell damage bonuses were outrageously high.

If a full set of Dark Devotion could be assembled, the total spell damage bonus would likely exceed 1000!

Nie Yan shared the items’ attributes in the team chat.

Shuise Yantou asked in the team chat, “The Lurker Lord respawns once a day. Should we collect the full set before leaving?” He understood well the value of a complete set.

“We might need to farm here for a few days. Let’s try to collect the full Dark Devotion set,” Nie Yan replied after a moment’s thought. They would need several days to clear their wanted status anyway.

The Lurker Lord was already dead, so they would have to go outside and grind on regular monsters until the Lurker Lord respawned the next day.

There were too many Arcane Mages in the guild, so one set of Dark Devotion wouldn’t be enough. With more people than gear, only a couple could be equipped initially. How to coordinate this would depend on how Nie Yan and others handled it. Such situations were common, and if not managed fairly, could cause resentment among guild members.

Besides the two Dark Devotion items, there was also a rare level 7 gemstone, adding 35 Agility—a top-tier gem. Nie Yan planned to socket it into his gear.

The team members rested and restored their health before heading outside to grind again.

Nie Yan followed behind the team, gaining experience while managing various affairs in Carol City.

Just then, Yaoyao sent Nie Yan a message, and he answered the voice call.

“Nie Yan, I’ve completed my quest and received a Holy Temple magic. Thank you,” Yaoyao said. Without Nie Yan’s guidance, she couldn’t have completed this quest.

“You’re welcome. You’re also a member of Bull Tribe. It’s only natural,” Nie Yan smiled.

Hearing Nie Yan’s words, Yaoyao felt disappointed. Was that all the reason? She had spent so much time with Nie Yan in the game, from their first meeting at Randuo Lake to their subsequent encounters. She hoped Nie Yan liked her in-game persona.

In real life, Xie Yao and Nie Yan had only met a few times, so she still felt somewhat unfamiliar with him. But she was very familiar with Nie Yan in the game—grinding monsters, leveling up, and running dungeons together. Was that not worth more than a few real-life meetings? Yet Nie Yan always maintained a certain distance from her.

“What Holy Temple magic did you get?”

“Holy Purification.”

Nie Yan raised his eyebrows. Holy Purification was considered one of the better high-level spells.

“Not bad.”

“The time is almost up. I’ll log off first,” Yaoyao said, her voice quivering. Nie Yan only cared about these things—Bull Tribe was his entire world!

“Alright then.” Nie Yan sensed Yaoyao’s displeasure but said nothing more. He checked the time—it was almost time to log off.

Seeing Yaoyao log off, Nie Yan reviewed the information collected throughout the day. In just one day, Assassin Alliance had earned over 1,000 gold coins, Star Pharmacy had earned around 5,000 gold coins, rent had brought in over 2,000 gold coins, and the auction house, along with the Super Trading Channel, had earned around 5,500 gold coins. In total, this amounted to about 13,000 to 14,000 gold coins. Longyue Financial Group was purchasing gold coins outside, with a daily volume of about 30,000 gold coins. These ventures were still rapidly developing, and future daily earnings would be even greater!

In addition to these earnings, Nie Yan had sold several credit point trading zones to Longyue Financial Group. Part of the proceeds was paid to the Holy Roman Empire and Ji Lan Temple, but a significant amount remained.

Bull Tribe no longer required Nie Yan’s financial support, as Longyue Financial Group had already invested sufficient funds. Nie Yan turned his attention to other guilds, with a particular focus on the War Alliance in Emerald City!

In the previous timeline, the War Alliance had received investment from the Jersey Financial Group, the sixth-largest financial group in Asia, but later the investment was withdrawn. The reason was simple: Cao Xu spent a lot of money to poach many professional players from the War Studio, significantly weakening their strength. Additionally, surrounded by major guilds like the Triumph Empire and the Light Flame, the War Alliance became precarious. Under such circumstances, the financial group’s withdrawal was understandable.

At this point, the War Alliance should not have received investment from other guilds yet, giving Nie Yan an opportunity.

Nie Yan sent a message to Guo Huai, instructing him to discuss investment matters with Ai Qing Sha Shang. Nie Yan himself couldn’t directly get involved. If Ai Qing Sha Shang agreed, Nie Yan would invest in the War Alliance in his personal name, with specific cooperation terms to be negotiated later.

Just as Nie Yan assigned the task, Tuo Ba Shi suddenly sent him a message.

“Do you have any gold coins? I need some funds,” Tuo Ba Shi privately asked.

“How much do you need?” Nie Yan asked. Tuo Ba was a wealthy guy, and tens of thousands of gold coins were probably nothing to him. His request for funds must be significant.

“Within a month, help me raise 600,000 gold coins,” Tuo Ba Shi said.

Upon hearing the figure Tuo Ba Shi mentioned, Nie Yan inhaled sharply and asked, “What do you need so much gold for?” Such a large sum could easily fund an entire guild! Nie Yan considered that while it would be challenging to allocate such a large amount from his income, it wasn’t impossible.

“If you can help me raise this amount, I’m willing to exchange 30% of the Tuo Ba family’s in-game total assets, including eleven shops, twenty-one land plots, and three auction houses!” Tuo Ba Shi continued, dropping a bombshell.

This many assets were currently worth at least 200,000 gold coins. Within a month, they would be worth at least 700,000 to 800,000 gold coins, with even greater appreciation potential in the future! Tuo Ba Shi was offering all these assets to Nie Yan in exchange for 600,000 gold coins!