Sword Among Us
Sword Among Us - Chapter 318: Shennongjia

Half a day later, Happy received a call from a liaison of the official developers of World of Martial Arts.

The liaison told him in an excited tone that the results of the pay-to-view battle replay he provided received an outstanding success. In just half a day, more than ten million people around the world had bought it, and as of then, the view count was still rising swiftly. Even with conservative estimations, they believed that the view count would pass fifty million.

Happy was naturally very excited to hear that.

The liaison said with great admiration that by then, Happy had earned more than two hundred million for himself. With just one phone call, he became a new millionaire of the younger generation in China.

Happy was stunned silent for a long while.

If more than ten million people bought the battle replay, it meant that half a day ago, he had been a person with an average net worth, but then, he was someone with more than two hundred million to himself.

It was a huge free lunch that had come hurling at his head, and it shocked him so much that he was rendered speechless for a long time. In fact, he did not even remember how he ended the call…

Even though he had long since predicted that it would happen, when he really obtained the expected result, his mind still went blank.

“Two hundred million.”

Happy sat down on the couch in the living room and sucked in a deep breath. He felt slightly lost at the wealth he had suddenly obtained. It did not feel real.

However, that feeling did not last long.

He remembered his own goal. ‘Isn’t this two hundred million basically heaven sponsoring me so that I can take my revenge?’

Class One Hall had great strength, but a gaming guild would only have so much cash flow. Right then, with this two hundred million, if he used it in the right place, even if he completely turned against Class One Hall and fought against them, he could still be confident to win.

This two hundred million and the profit he might gain later would serve as his trump cards…

When Happy thought of this, his head swiftly cleared up. He washed his face and looked at it in the mirror. His jawline was becoming more prominent, and there was a faint hint of maturity about him. He smiled and returned to his bedroom resolutely.

The great wealth did not make him lose his self, and neither did it make him forget his original goal. He continued living his life peacefully.

*****

Happy’s destination was Baokang in Hubei province.

Not far from Baokang County Town was an ancient forest that was so dense its borders could not be seen!

It was known as Shennongjia!

It was rumored that Yan Emperor, who was also known as Shennong [1], had collected herbs there, saved people, and tasted all the herbs, which was how that place got its name. It was also an indirect way to show that Shennongjia was rich with herbs, plenty of which were very valuable.

Baokang could not really be considered a famous county town, but as time progressed in the game, more players came to know about the mysterious Shennongjia and the countless herbs protected by Blood Sucking Grass, Blood Sucking Wood, and other fierce creatures. It gradually became a place for players to earn money.

However, good fortune rarely lasts.

Rich resources always attract many forces of power and their hungry eyes.

Since a month ago, many sects had began to settle down in Baokang one after another. They varied in size, and there were more than one hundred of them. However, there were not that many herbs at the borders of Shennongjia. Every day, murders happened at the regions where herbs were easiest to gather.

Sometimes, the players would kill for one hundred-year ginseng, or a large area of Lingzhi mushrooms or tuber fleeceflowers. And once the murders started, the players would fight nonstop, and it was very easy for the innocent to get dragged into the mess.

In the end, many players began to treat that place as a poisonous ground. They did not dare to approach it at will!

*****

Compared to the herb fields, there was another area in Shennongjia that was even more popular.

The mines!

Right then, there were a lot of people who treated creating weapons and armor as their occupation compared to those creating medicine. Much more people went to fight in the mines every day since in just a single night, they could get from ten to one hundred normal iron and copper ores. Sometimes, they could even get a few pieces of black iron that had a pretty good color.

Some of the lucky people could dig out gold and silver, which they had no problem selling for a few thousand or ten thousand taels of silver.

Those who were even luckier could dig out obsidian, violet gold ore, or Vajra Stones, and they got even richer!

Over the last couple months, news of people digging out supreme grade ores appeared once every few days, and once they sold it to the guilds, there were rumors that they earned hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.

Days ago, there were even rumors that someone had dug out a beautiful deep blue crystal in the crystal mine. It was apparently a grade two crystal ore, and it was known as Una-something… In the end, it was bought by a high-ranking member of some guild on the spot, and they made the trade with two million taels of silver.

Even though the people who mined had not been able to gain any sort of success during the early stages of the game, digging mines could still get them some money every day. Sometimes, if they were lucky, they could even gain some degree of wealth. Hence, the mines attracted quite a lot of people, and they lived their lives digging every day. Even though the task was boring, they still enjoyed themselves.

On that day, a group of people headed to a crystal mine to the northwest of Shennonjia.

From the distance, Thunderous Battle and his group heard the loud sounds of metal striking against rock. The sounds were frequent and very noisy, and the further they went in, the louder they became!

“Wow!”

They entered the cave and walked down the humid and dark tunnel, but in less than thirty-two feet, the area in front of them became much brighter! The group was stunned by the bustling activity inside.

It was a hall in the mining cave, and it had a diameter that was less than ninety-eight feet. Yet there were more than two hundred people squeezed in there who swung their pickaxes at the body of the mountain madly. Quite a number of people stood behind those who were mining, talking to each other while looking around anxiously for empty spots.

“… We can actually turn this place into a dieting spot.”

One Circle stared at the players who were stuck together while they swung their pickaxes and wiped off the cold sweat on his brow with an exaggerated motion. With the quality of the bodies of the people there, if he went in to mine with his body that weighed in tonnes, he would definitely be squashed so much that he would become thinner!

“Damn it, their equipment is already so good, and they still came to snatch our business?”

A group of players who were waiting for a chance to get some work in the mines noticed the ten or so people at the entrance and cursed under their breaths.

At that moment, someone by the side took note of the group entering the depths of the place and smiled as if he had been relieved of a great burden.

“They’re people headed to the second level.”

“Second level? So many people? The entrance fee isn’t cheap. Besides, will those people even agree to it?”

The people in the area showed their skepticism.

The second level of the crystal mine had only been discovered recently since it was behind a strange mechanism located in the chamber at the end of the first level. No one could dig out any ores or do any sort of mining there. However, there was a groove in that place which could contain eight Berthierites. If they placed them in there, the players could enter the second level, but only eight would be allowed through.

The drop rate of high-grade ores in the second level of the crystal mine was very high. In the first few days of its discovery, news of someone digging out a high-grade ore came out almost every single day, and they appeared at a rate that was much higher than in the first level!

*****

Half a minute later, the group moved through quite a number of mining halls while taking a lot of turns. All of those places were filled with people, and when they reached the final hall at the end, a few martial artists that were not dressed like the other miners met them there.

Thunderous Battle and his group approached the place and went straight to the chamber with the mechanism. The martial artists’ expressions changed slightly, and they got up swiftly. They raised their arms and blocked Thunderous Battle and his group before speaking in an unruly tone, “Brother, sorry to say this, but the second level is currently not available to outsiders. Go back.”

When Thunderous Battle heard that, he looked at the person who had spoken and smiled instead of flying into a rage.

Bang!

The man was sent flying away by a punch and crashed against the wall.