Conquering OtherWorld Starts With a Game

Beneath Indahl's west city gate, a tall, burly, bald man dressed in the uniform of a high-ranking servant, standing by the road, looked over at the noisy crowd gathered in the mule and horse market just outside the city gates.

As the sky gradually darkened, villagers heading out of the city and townspeople coming in formed a queue at the gates. The bustling noise of the crowd did little to drown out the wails emanating from there.

A well-dressed man on horseback with servants in tow, seemingly returning from a hunting expedition on his estate, glanced toward the mule and horse market and asked the guards at the gate, "What's going on there?"

One of the gate guards, recognizing the crest of nobility on the carriage, bowed respectfully. "Those are unruly soldiers being exiled by the city defense force, sir."

"Oh?" The gentleman raised an eyebrow, reining in his horse and gazing in intrigue toward the market.

Several seconds later, the guards heard him mutter, "Never mind, there's no need," before he spurred his horse into the city.

Commoners squeezing to get into the city instinctively made way for the clearly distinguished nobleman and watched as he disappeared into the city.

Ben silently watched this scene before he turned to enter the city. Being a native of the Rhine Kingdom and having worked for his previous employer in Weisshem for several years, he understood why the noble had thought about intervening.

The young soldiers being dismissed by the city defense force could have been easily recruited as personal guards for a small price.

However, the severity of the Bartalis family's "exile" punishment meant that it would be costlier to recruit them. After all, they were merely some commoners with a slightly cleaner background (sons of good families) and some fighting ability. It wasn't worth offending the Bartalis family just for this.

The west gate was a fair distance from Prant Street, and it took Ben a brisk half-hour walk to reach 063.

On hearing Ben's report, Zhao Zhenzhen couldn't help but laugh. "This really… When lacking manpower, the enemy provides them."

Young Brook chuckled, and even Ben, with his fierce appearance as a former bouncer, cracked a smile.

The shortage of hands in Weisshem was clearly not just to the "punished" soldiers but also to those "within the system" like Brook and Ben.

"We'll wrap up our tasks here quickly and then head back to assist," Zhao Zhenzhen said, turning to Brook. "Young Brook, any news about your comrades?"

Mentioning this excited Brook, and he nodded vigorously. "Yes! The owner of the Oak Tavern saw them last week. They took a job outside the city. I've asked people from Tavern Street to keep an eye out, and they'll inform me as soon as my friends return."

"Good." Zhao Zhenzhen nodded with a pleased smile, then added, "Vivian, whom you brought in to help, is great. See if you can try her job when you have the time."

"Got it, Sis Zhao, leave it to me!" Brook exclaimed, thumping his chest confidently.

Zhao Zhenzhen always appreciated such enthusiastic youngsters and gave Brook an approving thumbs up.

As the three were talking, the sound of bones clacking came from the adjacent "makeup artist's preparation room."

"Eh? Where is everyone?" A player came out from the preparation room, her two hollow eye sockets scanning the seated trio that were conversing. Naturally, her gaze passed the two human NPCs and landed on Zhao Zhenzhen.

"Sis Zhao, where are the others?"

"Given the time, they've definitely gone with Vivan to make some extra money," Zhao Zhenzhen replied.

"Am I late again?" Blossoming Strokes' eyes widened in dismay. "Why did they have to go without waiting for everyone? I wanted to go too!"

"You and your procrastination," Zhao Zhenzhen chided Blossoming Strokes. Then, she turned to Ben. "Ben, could you make another trip please?"

"Of course." Ban quickly got up, went to the storeroom, and pulled out a handcart.

"Thanks, Sis Zhao!" Blossoming Strokes chuckled as she hopped into the cart, adeptly pulling the canvas cover over herself.

Players with makeup skills had been busy during the day, helping middle-class women with their makeup, earning them 50 points of reputation with the Undead Merchant Association with each job, which was extremely lucrative.

When night fell in the "game" and the photo studio was closed, players still continued to log in. After all, it was impossible that players would not play just because it was night in the "game." Thus, Zhao Zhenzhen had devised another way to keep them busy: she got Vivan to bring the players out to do makeup for locals enjoying the nightlife.

This makeup work offered no reputation rewards but did earn "NPC" currency. While this money couldn't be used to purchase "system" equipment, it was good for buying things from "NPCs"—a win-win for everyone.

Ben, ever the one to shoulder the heavy work, wheeled the late Blossoming Strokes away. Zhao Zhenzhen checked the time, instructed Brook to keep an eye on the shop, then donned her cloak and stepped out alone.

In a large city like Indahl, unless there was an emergency or a special situation, curfews weren't typically enforced. However, come nightfall, and the streets were mostly deserted—nine out of ten roads lacked street lighting, leaving them pitch black and persuading residents to stay indoors.

Under the cover of darkness, Zhao Zhenzhen left Prant Street and ventured into a nearby civilian district. She walked past low-lying single-story shanty homes for about ten minutes before reaching the vicinity of Saint Joseph Commercial Street.

Saint Joseph Commercial Street, one of the few areas outside the affluent districts with street lighting, was bustling at night—the red-light district was full of streetwalkers, small vendors, thugs, mercenaries, and the homeless. The center of the street where the Free Market and inns were concentrated was reminiscent of the nightlife in Chinese cities of the 1990s.

Zhao Zhenzhen stopped at the edge of the Free Market, where the street lights didn't encroach. Looking around to ensure no one was watching, she crouched down and lifted a wooden sewer manhole cover before swiftly jumping in.

Waterways crisscrossed the territory of Indahl, which, while providing abundant water resources, also led to frequent flooding. Apart from Weisshem, situated on higher ground near the Sorensen Mountains, other parts of the Indahl domain were often battered by floods every few years.

In Zhao Zhenzhen's view, the Bartalis family's greatest achievement over their hundred-year rule of Indahl was probably the relatively well-maintained underground drainage system beneath the city's main districts, especially under Saint Joseph Street, the lowest point in the city. If not for the flood risk, the sewers here could be converted into subway tunnels.

However, while an earthling like Zhao Zhenzhen considered it a merit, the underground drainage beneath Saint Joseph Street held no such prestige to locals. It was a place avoided even by the homeless due to the peculiarities of this world.

Zhao Zhenzhen climbed down the ladder into the tunnel-like sewer and walked along the pedestrian pathway for a short distance. Soon, she saw dense bubbles surfacing in the murky water, accompanied by the low growling of something large.

Glancing at the disturbed water surface, Zhao Zhenzhen didn't hesitate… and turned, sprinting away.

The nimble body of undead skeletons was incredibly efficient. Within seconds, Zhao Zhenzhen sprinted a hundred meters and smoothly turned into another curved sewer tunnel.

The dull growling continued for about ten seconds before gradually subsiding into silence.Follow current ɴᴏᴠᴇʟs on ɴovᴇl(ꜰ)ir(e).nᴇt

Zhao Zhenzhen emerged from the curved tunnel, walked about another 60 meters or so, and arrived at a platform that resembled a subway station. This platform, probably meant for maintenance workers to place their tools and rest, was cluttered with various items and several piles of bones covered with T-shirts or fish scale armor.

Zhao Zhenzhen glanced at the piles of bones and muttered under her breath, "Have they already started work?"

She then crossed the platform and delved deeper.

In a sewer roughly 50 meters from the platform, Zhao Zhenzhen found her target: the players without makeup skills.

A bunch of players, divided into two groups, were bizarrely confronting a strange, dark black stain on the wall of a pipe.

As Zhao Zhenzhen approached, a player waved at her. "Sis Zhao is here!"

"Mm." Zhao Zhenzhen nodded and strode over. "What are you all doing?"

Phantom, holding a thick wooden staff at the back of the group, excitedly said, "We've found that goddamn thing that's been constantly troubling us, Sis Zhao! The one that comes and goes without a trace and always tries to push us into dirty water!"

"Oh?!" Zhao Zhenzhen looked surprised at the players crowding around the wall, then pointed at the stain. "Wait, it's that thing?"

"It's definitely this. We can't be wrong!" Warrior player Fallen Mulberry Leaves, equipped with Qin Guan's top-tier equipment and standing right at the front, nodded earnestly.

"Several of us have seen this stain. It appears and disappears. At first, we thought it was a glitch in the game. But we noticed that when this stain is on the wall, we don't have any disruptions when farming monsters, but when it's gone, there's always disturbances!"

Zhao Zhenzhen: "…"

"We just don't know how to kill this damn thing." Yang Ying, also in the front row, chopped at the wall in frustration. "Sis Zhao, look, cutting it does nothing! It's so annoying!"

As a now semi-professional player, Yang Ying's equipment couldn't compare to Qin Guan's or Orange Cat's, but she had upgraded too. The weapon in her hand was no longer a plain steel blade but a finely crafted broadsword with a sharp enchantment bought from the Undead Merchant Association.

Her strikes left clear white marks on the stain, but in just a moment, these marks darkened again under everyone's watchful eyes.

Zhao Zhenzhen: "…"

Zhao Zhenzhen, a materialist at heart, involuntarily gulped.

Sometimes, not knowing whether this world truly existed or just treating everything here as part of a game could actually be a blessing in disguise…