The Survival Rules of NPCs

Chapter 23: A Bold Decision!

Where is the solution?

Bright sat in his room, staring intently at his notebook, but this time, there wasn't a single piece of intelligence updated!

Now that the cheat code he relied on has stopped working, and Gou Dan is far away on his way to Mirandil, is he really going to be doomed?

Bright felt a pang of regret. He should have played it safe earlier. Now, there was no way to back down. The city lord's family would definitely not let him go. If everyone was infected, he would be exposed. He didn't think he would survive once the Heart of the Forest detected his presence.

What should I do?

With his eyes closed, Bright kept thinking. In his panic, all the information he had gathered was going over in his mind again and again. He knew that tonight might be the last night he would have to think.

He never expected that the prosecutor, who was so powerful before, who could monitor all the nobles in Holy Stone City and could even be considered a mastermind behind the scenes, would just disappear like that, and die such a tragic death. This made him realize even more the danger and cruelty of this world.

"Mr. Bright?"

A knock sounded at the door, and Bright let out a long breath. He knew that his excuse of needing to meditate wouldn't buy him much time. Sure enough, Martin couldn't hold back any longer.

He got up, opened the door, and outside stood Martin and Eliza, their faces weak and anxious.

The group entered the hall, and Martin, in his haste, didn't even offer them a cup of hot tea before anxiously asking, "Mr. Bright, Eliza has already told me about today's situation. Even someone as capable as Lady is dead today. What should we do now?"

"Don't panic, Lord Martin." Bright sighed softly. Sure enough, this world still values ​​bloodlines. A spineless coward like him could become a city lord, while someone like himself could only burn corpses outside the city...

"Panic won't solve anything." Bright looked at Eliza. "It's a bit chilly. Would you mind getting me a hot coffee?"

Eliza felt relieved to see that the other person still had time to order coffee. If the other person was as anxious as Martin, that good-for-nothing, then they would be truly doomed!

"Okay, the same as before, more sugar and more milk?"

Blake nodded, then looked at Martin and said, "Does my lord remember what I said yesterday?"

"Yes, you said we should first sow discord between the prosecutor and the knight commander to buy time and find an opportunity, but now that Lady is dead, what other options do we have?"

"If you, Lord City Lord, feel there is no chance of victory, you can surrender and see if that evil cult that treats people like fertilizer will accept your surrender," Bright said coldly.

"Mr. Bright, that's not what I meant." Martin quickly shook his head. Of course, he wouldn't choose such a path. The fact that the other party could use that terrible poison on nobles meant that they had no intention of controlling the nobles in a normal way. He didn't want to be infected with that virus that made life worse than death again!

Bright sighed softly and said in a low voice, "The situation may seem bad, but they are actually full of flaws."

"Why do you say that?" Martin's eyes lit up.

"If this method could control all the nobles and Holy Stone City, why wait until now?" Bright retorted.

"This..." Martin was stunned. Yes, with Allen's abilities, if he wanted to control the nobles with that kind of poison, he could have done it long ago.

"Alan isn't one of them, he's even someone we could win over, but the question now is, how do we persuade him?"

"Didn't Mr. Bright say before that Lord Allen was the mastermind behind the hired assassins?" Eliza asked, bringing over a cup of coffee.

"Yes..." Blatt nodded, "But I think that although Allen might be in cahoots with the Heart of the Forest, there must be disagreements, even conflicts, between them!"

"But even so, they're still in cahoots. They can't just side with us because of a conflict, can they?" Eliza asked.

"That's not necessarily true..." Bright said after taking a sip of hot coffee. "The forest north of the city is already close to the city. I estimate that the next step will be for Orland to control all the nobles and lead his people to pay homage. At that time, Lord Martin may be exposed."

"Sir..." Martin was so startled he almost lost his balance.

"Lord Allen sent out a letter. If he were on the side of the Knight Commander, there would be no need for him to send one out. The purpose of sending the letter is most likely to stop this matter. Kaylan received Allen's mission to deliver the letter and will not be back for at least ten days. We must find a way to delay these ten days to have any chance of turning things around."

"But... how can we afford to delay this time?" Martin asked with a pained expression.

"I have a plan, but you have to cover for me."

The two were overjoyed upon hearing this and quickly asked, "What do you want us to do, sir?"

"I am a body collector, and I can't stay away from the crematorium all the time. The flu has been severe these past few days, and with the weather getting colder, more and more people will die. If I, as the body collector, am not here, the large number of corpses piling up will definitely arouse suspicion."

"Okay, I'll have someone dispose of the body for you right away..." Martin said hastily.

"No..." Bright shook his head: "There are too many corpses piled up. We need professional corpse collectors to handle them. Adding another corpse collector would easily arouse suspicion, and I need to be near the north gate."

"Near the North Gate?" Eliza asked curiously. "Didn't you say that eerie forest was near the North Gate? Why are you approaching there now...?"

"In the current situation, no one in Holy Stone City can directly confront the Heart of the Forest. The only solution is to target the source of their power."

"What does the gentleman intend to do?" Martin asked curiously.

"You don't need to know that." Bright stood up. "You just need to continue to hide and not give anything away. Mrs. Eliza should also stay home and tell everyone that her condition is serious."

Martin frowned. He sensed that the other party might be trying to escape, but he dared not ask. In this desperate moment, if he offended this extraordinary wizard, he might truly have no chance left.

"If anything happens, have Dr. Jack find me at the crematorium. Remember, if you want to live, don't easily reveal your current condition!"

--------------------------------

Back at the crematorium, after confirming several times that there were no followers, Bright sat inside and opened his intelligence notebook once more.

There is still no new information available.

Based on the patterns he'd observed from using his notes these past few days, he'd now determined that whenever he participated in certain events and caused changes, important intelligence would be updated. However, when he lacked the ability to participate, the intelligence wouldn't develop in that direction.

The lack of updated intelligence is most likely due to a lack of in-depth involvement.

Indeed, since Dog Egg left, the focus of events here has been on Allen, the people behind the Heart of the Forest, including the Knight Commander, and Prosecutor Lady, among others. They are the key figures, and since I have no contact with them, I naturally cannot update the intelligence.

Even now that he knows the pattern, he still can't get close to these people. They're not like the cowardly Martin; they're truly ruthless. His little tricks are no match for them. Without Gou Dan around, if he confronts them personally, they'll seize him without hesitation and interrogate him. He's simply not qualified to compete with these people.

In terms of the situation, it was almost a dead end, but Bright suddenly remembered that when he burned those sprouting corpses a few days ago, he heard some strange language.

I initially thought it was a hallucination, but afterwards, the intelligence notes clearly indicated that there was a very important secret inside the Heart of the Forest.

This might be my last chance.

I tried hard to recall the words I heard that day.

It seems like... [Is there anyone alive?] [I have plenty of supplies and water here!] [Please, someone alive, I'm going crazy...]

This information... is in Chinese!

Either what I heard that day was a hallucination, or there were people from my hometown in this forest...

Taking a deep breath, Bright made a bold decision. He slowly closed his dark eyes, and a blurry shadow slowly rose from his body.

Corpse Whisperer's Talent Skill: Soul Separation!

The Corpse Whisperer can leave their body to hear the voices of all things, but it is not recommended to stay away from the corpse for too long, as they are easily attacked by evil spirits.

In his spirit form, Bright saw the entire world as gray and could vaguely hear some terrifying murmurs.

Looking back at his body, Bright finally made up his mind, turned around and walked towards the door, and his direction... was the nearby forest outside the North District gate!

--------------------------------------------------

[Two hundred and ninety-one days in my sixty-first year of life. Today, I woke up naturally before dawn again. Without my phone and short videos, I still went to bed early every night. As usual, I first collected the morning dew, then tried to see if I could catch anything good. Winter is here, the bighead carp in the river are plump and delicious, and the flower shrimp are ready for harvest. My fishing level is almost over 100, but I'm hesitant to eat many of the strange things I catch. Maybe I should try them, after all, I've lived for decades.]

Today, I still hear many cries for help. Through the tree's heart, I can feel that I'm getting closer to those who ask me for help. This is good news. Despite the heavy snowfall and the cool, comfortable atmosphere in this tree hollow, I still long for a living person to talk to at times like this. Well, I'm lonely again. I regret my wish. I said that as long as I didn't have to work, wasn't exploited by my boss, and wasn't pressured by my family to go on blind dates, I could stay home for a hundred years with enough to eat and drink. It seems I overestimated myself. I regretted it in the first year, and I've regretted it for sixty years now. Heaven doesn't seem to be giving me another chance.

[Mom, I regret it. I should have listened to you. Actually, the chubby guy Aunt Mei from next door introduced wasn't bad. He's only ten years older than me and twice my weight. Thinking about it, it's not so bad. Maybe it'll feel good to cuddle him in bed... Mom, I miss your stir-fried green peppers and shredded pork...]

In the heart of the forest, among a towering tree, a round, plump girl with translucent skin once again writes in her diary using tree bark and a homemade pen.

As she wrote, tears began to fall from her chubby, translucent face like raindrops. Strangely, the girl's tears, when they fell to the ground, were like green pearls. The next moment, they were absorbed by the plants underground and turned into green light that spread across the land.

"I'll stop here for today..."

The chubby boy seemed unable to continue writing when he got to the part about shredded pork with green peppers. He choked up as he finished writing the date and his name.

Sixty-one years and two hundred and ninety-one days, name: Chen Xiaoting, game ID: Loves to eat cabbage!