Chapter 77
Shepherd’s Town was a large A+ rank dungeon, containing several smaller D-rank dungeons within it.
Several player guilds were currently attempting to conquer it, spending their days gathering information.
Two or three teams, at odds with each other, almost came to blows in front of one of the town’s shops.
A crowd of curious monsters, with fish heads, green ears, and vine-like limbs, gathered around, their eyes gleaming.
“Fight! Fight!”
“Whoever loses will be my lunch! Hehehe!”
The two players, their tempers flaring, were pulled back by their team leaders.
“You just wait!”
One of the players, turning around angrily, almost bumped into a small child who had appeared out of nowhere.
“Hey, watch where you’re going, brat!”
Still fuming, he swatted the two baguettes Xing Nuo was carrying out of his hands.
Xing Nuo quickly picked up his bread, his face red with anger, his curls bristling.
“Why you do that?! Why hit my bwad?!”
Lu Qi, returning from buying water, seeing Xing Nuo being bullied, headbutted the player in the stomach.
The player, scoffing at the small child’s audacity, tried to push him away, but Lu Qi dodged, his small, hard head connecting with the player’s stomach.
“Oof!” The player doubled over in pain.
“You little brat! Your head is so hard!”
He was about to take out a prop to deal with the two children when his team leader stopped him.
“Enough! Don’t waste your time on kids! We have more important things to do. Don’t let the others get ahead of us!”
The team leader dragged the grumbling player away. Xing Nuo, hugging his dirty bread, glared at them and yelled:
“Bad men!”
Worse than the strange-looking monsters in this town!
Lu Qi took Xing Nuo’s hand and led him to the side of the street, where they started eating their dry bread.
There wasn’t much else to eat in this town, and even bread was expensive.
Xing Nuo nibbled on his bread, trying to swallow the dry crumbs, and sighed.
“I wonder if anyone has seen Qingqing, Yiyi, and Little Fatty.”
Lu Qi, seemingly unconcerned, munched on his bread, his voice muffled.
“We can pay the shop owners for information.”
Shepherd’s Town, a small town on the edge of the desert, thrived on its information brokering business.
All sorts of shops here sold information. As long as you had the money, you could find out anything.
Xing Nuo, hearing this, frowned, nibbling on his bread.
“But we have no money.”
Lu Qi only had two Star Coins. One had been used to pay for the room, and the other for bread and water.
Lu Qi quickly finished his bread, clapped his hands, and handed Xing Nuo his water bottle.
“It’s okay. We’ll find those human players. They have money. We’ll just take it.”
Xing Nuo, taking a sip of water, almost choked.
He coughed and shook his head vigorously.
“No! That’s not our money! We can’t be bad children.”
Lu Qi’s face became even more serious as he thought for a moment, then said:
“It’s okay. I’ll be the bad one. Xing Nuo be good child. I’ll be bad child.”
Xing Nuo, his face confused, gasped, almost overwhelmed by Lu Qi’s logic.
He grabbed Lu Qi’s cold hand, stopping him, afraid he would actually try to rob someone.
They were so small. They would be beaten up and end up crying together.
“Xiao Qi, let’s think of something else.”
Xing Nuo rummaged through his pocket and pulled out a small frog toy his brother had given him that morning.
“How ’bout…we sell this little fwo?”
Maybe someone would like this ugly little frog!
Lu Qi clearly hadn’t given up on the idea of robbing someone, but he didn’t want to upset Xing Nuo, so he nodded.
“Okay, we’ll find those humans and sell it to them…for lots of money!”
The human players, while gathering information in the town, had cleared a related D-level dungeon.
Emerging from the dungeon, slightly disheveled, they sat down in front of the town’s only bakery.
“I’m so sick of this dry bread! When we get back to Central City, I’m going to eat everything!”
“Let’s go to the Central Tower and splurge! I heard the service there is amazing!”
As they were fantasizing, two children walked past.
A red-haired female player, holding her prop weapon, called out to Xing Nuo:
“Hey, Curly, come here.”
Xing Nuo mumbled “Oh” and walked over, holding his half-eaten bread.
“Big sister, you called me? What’s wrong?”
The red-haired player rummaged through her pouch and took out a small bottle of medicine.
“Here. Did that big guy hurt you this morning?”
Seeing the two children, unsure if they were humans or monsters, alone in this town, she felt a pang of sympathy and offered the medicine she didn’t need.
Xing Nuo shook his head, not taking the medicine.
“I okay.”
He had dodged the big guy’s attack.
He handed his bread to Lu Qi and took out the little frog from his pocket.
“Big sister, you want little fwo? Vewy cheap.”
He didn’t have anything valuable. He couldn’t sell his bread or water, and the brooch was too easily forgotten.
All he had was this little frog toy that Shen Baizhou had spent hours making the previous night, following a video tutorial.
He was reluctant to part with it, but he knew they needed money.
He would explain to Big Brother later. Big Brother was nice and would forgive him.
A male player with a black baseball cap, sitting next to the red-haired player, saw the ugly frog and scoffed.
“That’s so ugly. Where did you get that kid’s toy?”
This kind of toy was usually sold at two-dollar stalls.
Xing Nuo, seeing that the player wasn’t interested, clenched his fists and tried to sell his frog.
“My Big Brother made it! Took long time! Little fwo vewy good. All kindygarten children want…but I no give!”
He had taken the frog to kindergarten this morning, and it had been a huge hit!
All the children had wanted to play with it.
He had protected it fiercely, keeping it in his pocket, not letting anyone touch it.
The male player chuckled, seemingly amused by Xing Nuo’s sales pitch.
He looked up, a long scar marring his otherwise handsome face.
“How much, kid?”
Lu Qi immediately piped up.
“Five hundwed.”
The male player: “…”
“Star Coins?”
He chuckled, his tone incredulous.
A player’s points and Star Coins had a one-to-one exchange rate. Five hundred Star Coins was five hundred points!
That was enough to rent a place in the outskirts of Central City for two months!
The red-haired player, looking at Xing Nuo’s sweet, innocent face, wasn’t angry. She pinched his cheek gently.
“Five hundred is too much.”
Prices in dungeons were high, and players needed to save their points.
Xing Nuo hesitated, then whispered:
“Three hundwed okay.”
Any lower, and they wouldn’t have enough to gather information.
The male player, seeing the little one’s pleading eyes, his gaze earnest and hopeful, felt a pang of sympathy.
“Fine, three hundred.” He agreed to buy it.
The red-haired player sighed but didn’t stop him.
Another player from a different team, seeing this, cheered.
“Generous, Zhuo-ge! As expected of a top-ranked player!”
Three hundred points for a stupid little frog!
The male player, Zhuo, handed Xing Nuo the Star Coins and took the ugly frog.
“Alright, kid, run along now.”
Later, when Zhuo was on the verge of failing an S-rank dungeon, this little frog would save his life.
But he didn’t know this yet. He just sat there, watching the two little ones walk away.
He flicked the frog and chuckled.
Xing Nuo, his eyes shining, clutching the Star Coins, excitedly pulled Lu Qi’s hand and ran towards the shops.
“Xiao Qi, Xiao Qi, we have money!”
They could finally buy information about Qingqing and the others!
Lu Qi also smiled, although his smile was stiff and lacked Xing Nuo’s infectious joy.
“We go to shops with blue signs. They sell information.”
Lu Qi seemed to know a lot about dungeons. He led Xing Nuo to the nearest shop with a blue sign.
The shopkeeper was a monster with horns and eyes bigger than bells.
He took their money, his demeanor still gruff.
“Those kids you’re looking for were sold to the new amusement park.”
