Chun casually chatted with everyone for a few moments before leisurely returning to the room and then hurriedly logged in. A series of system notification messages flashed across the screen:
—System Notification: Dear Player, it is currently 12:12 AM Golden Continent time...
—System Notification: Congratulations! Your muscle memory successfully recalled the Basic Mining Technique, you receive an extra achievement reward: Life +1.
—Black Iron Pioneer City Announcement: Warning! The Demonized Bat King in the sewers undergoes a midnight mutation, enhancing its strength. The Plague King Rat, Cockroach King devours the Wandering Dog King's corpse, the Cannibal Fish King's corpse undergoes a midnight mutation enhancing their strength.
—Black Iron City Pioneer City Lord's Quarantine Order: All citizens please be aware, to eliminate the epidemic spread hazard brought by the Wandering Dog Plague King and Cockroach King, a curfew is being imposed immediately, all non-workers are not allowed to be on the streets. Further notice will be given at 6 AM.
—System Notification: Congratulations! You completed the Evil Spirit Contract Quest "Handling the Vampire Bat King."
Then switches to the Little Angel clone to check.
—System Notification: You have completed today's handover task. Would you like to continue auto AFK?
What was handed over?
At this moment, Aileen's voice sounded in Chun's ear: "Just arrived? These cockroaches and rats have grown stronger and are blocking the entrance wanting to deal with me! Come over and hold off the rats."
—System Notification: You received the Evil Spirit Contract Quest "Eliminate the Threat of the Plague King and Cockroach King."
Holy Shit!
I've been red-named from mining, can't even leave, how am I supposed to do it? But the quest came, so I have to solve it! The clone should just continue AFK.
The only thing I can think of now is to contact Sherry and hope she can figure something out. But surround me are red names, there's likely a consortium monitoring...
Chun simply pretended to be exhausted and laid down, covering his collar, then finally equipped the Attendant Badge.
From the badge, Sherry's message came again: "What's going on with you?"
Chun finally replied: "Sorry for worrying you, my dear. I've been under surveillance and didn't dare reveal my attendant identity, so I took off the badge. I'm in prison now, but I really want to go to the sewers to eliminate the Plague King and Cockroach King, what can you do?"
Sherry was shocked: "So many strong ones can't go down there, how can you take them on?"
Of course, the Bat King will fight as the main force, I'll be soaking in the ditch irritating them with water! But I can't utter a word about Aileen's matter.
"I'm a Cleaner Fish not afraid of plague, and I specifically have strategies against the rat and cockroach king's weaknesses, I'm very confident."
Sherry immediately replied: "I'll talk to Fafnir! She's the City Lord's daughter, and the City Lord is hesitating whether to seal the city tomorrow morning. If you can eliminate the Plague King and Cockroach King tonight, we'll have a big credit!"
Exactly, the connections of the celebrity Mage are solid! If this gets solved, it might not just upgrade to VIP3, but VIP4, washing off the red name, and could even fix the First Guild! No, might even deal with the celebrity Mage!?
Chun was excited: "But my leg is still a bit injured from the bite, I want to bandage it before leaving!"
"Do you just want bandages? You could ask for some potions."
In this game world, potions are as available as pharmacies on every corner, but the price...
Chun simply didn't hold back: "Then I'll have some Life Potions, and also Stamina Potions!"
"If I can convince Miss Fafnir, no problem, just wait for the message."
"Understood."
Just after finishing the call, Aileen imitated with a mocking tone: "Sorry dear…then we'll have a big credit!"
Chun replied irritably: "We're here to help you, what do you mean?"
Aileen sneered: "Help me? Could she even enter the sewers? I'm fighting desperately, the credit would become hers?"
Chun was helpless: "Honestly, if you really want to take down the Count, relying on her connection with the City Lord's daughter might have a shred of possibility."
Aileen scoffed: "Take down the Count? Do you believe tomorrow morning's court trial will pin all lost property blame on you?"
Holy Shit I believe it! Those slippery devils at the shipyard put me here just like that!
No matter what, the Rat King must be dealt with.
Sherry's reply came quickly: "Miss Fafnir agreed, someone will come to the prison to get you out, the potion money is advanced to your account, if the task is successful the potion cost will be waived! And you have the Count's theft case on you… so you must succeed!"
Holy Shit! Prepayment!! This player wants to take advantage of NPCs, which really is hard, this is what normal NPCs are.
Chun steeled himself: "It will definitely succeed!"
Soon, several supervisors arrived: "It's this kid, take him away."
And so Chun was taken away under the curious gaze of a crowd of red-named players, first arriving at the infirmary to receive his wounds treatment, then obtaining two boxes each containing 10 vials of life and stamina potions.
Stamina Potions, these 10 might cost as much as a bottle of wine?
Then the nurse smiled and said: "Does it seem insufficient? You can take a few more boxes of Life Potions! They can save lives at critical moments!"
What they said made sense? Chun shivered a bit: "Mission advance?"
"Yes!"
Ultimately, completing the mission means getting them for free!
Chun chose bravely: "How many boxes do you have?"
"10 boxes"
"Then 10 boxes!"
The nurse was surprised: "10 boxes take up a lot of weight."
"I can handle it!"
Just kidding, my carrying capacity is 4 times a normal player's!
Then Chun, escorted by several guards, came to the street. The street now lacked the usual bustling night market crowds and lights, except for some workers watching manholes, there were indeed no players and NPCs.
This means there's no player surveillance, feeling much better—wait! There's actually a group of wandering dogs!
Chun found it unbelievable: "Even at this time, no one handles the dogs?"
The guard snorted: "We only care about people, not dogs!"
Holy Shit!
Chun arrived at the manhole cover, which was covered with white steam-rising lime.
The staff slowly moved the lid while constantly pouring limewater into the cracks to prevent the cockroaches from flying out, showcasing their expertise.
As soon as the lid was open enough for a person to enter, Chun was quickly pushed down without any chance to react, falling into the pit—clang! The lid seemed to scrape his scalp as it swiftly closed!
Then, thud, Chun fell into the lime sludge water.
At this moment, the surroundings were veiled in dark mist, but he saw the bats' light clusters in the distance and heard a large number of squeaking sounds nearby.
Rat swarm! Without the Suppression Aura of Sacred Artifacts and S Pets, he had no choice but to jump into the ditch and swim to move forward.
But he hadn't swum far before something swam over.
——System Alert: Warning! Your purification skill has detected the presence of filth!
Holy shit, more cannibal fish! Chun suddenly felt a déjà vu reminiscent of the morning.
Fortunately, as a Cleaner Fish, he had an inherent 5 points in defense; as long as it wasn't a special attack mode, he could hold out for a while. However, both rats and cannibal fish have a special attack mode called "gnaw," which immunity is initially possible through defense, but after gnawing for a while, it breaks the defense.
Before long, more cannibal fish surrounded him.
Seeing danger, Chun quickly got ashore to shake them off.
Once on the shore, the rat swarm flooded over. Chun had no choice but to leap into the ditch ahead, creating a splash among the fish swarm, then continue this alternating water-land jumping advance, neither rat nor fish could block him!
The closer he got to the cave entrance, the more his vision converged with the bats', and the more piercing the sonic booms became, until he clearly saw the surroundings like an infrared night vision device. The place where the Dog King and Fish King's corpses had piled up was now a Mouse Mountain steeped in rolling mist! Five cat-sized rats with tails entwined were jumping on the Mouse Mountain toward the cave!
Chun was disgusted: "Is this the Rat King?"
Aileen said: "All five! Actually, there were thirteen in total; the other eight have died and turned into zombie rats, but their tails are still entwined, living together. The Rat King's movement is inconvenient; it's carried by this swarm of little rats. The Cockroach King is in the cave confronting me—you have to find a way to restrain the Rat King, don't let it climb up."
Chun recalled medieval plague legends; the Rat King wasn't a particularly large individual but a special existence with tails entwined like this.
Chun had enough of these cannibal fish on his way; directly using Cleaner's Purification for an impact, waves surged with dead fish all over!
Then he swam to the cave entrance and directly splashed the purification impact onto the Mouse Mountain, but the steam from the Mouse Mountain actually formed a fluctuating protective barrier blocking the purification water's impact.
No effect?
The rats at the bottom of the Mouse Mountain bore the most pressure, so Chun aimed at the base with water strikes, but found the bottom barrier to be the most stable and solid!
Water is too soft?
Chun grabbed a dead fish and threw it—but the barrier surprisingly absorbed the dead fish as if a colloid blocked it softly.
Too solid doesn't work either?
Then maybe a throwing skill that combines purification technique, developing a "soft and solid combination" dead fish purification technique?
Chun grabbed another dead fish, then performed a purification impact on the water, letting the wave carry the dead fish to smash against the barrier again!
——System Alert: Your skill usage failed! Throwing skill proficiency improved.
Skill failed! But it actually increased throwing skill; maybe it will break through to Intermediate!? After breaking through Intermediate, it might reverse—
Aileen was impatient: "Can you do it?"
Chun felt anxious: "Looking for the weak point of the rat pile!"
Aileen was even more annoyed: "Where's the weak point?"
Chun's heart tightened; there's no time to gamble on unreliable skills. Even gambling, it's about bets on life—the previous two Boss fights were bets on life!
Chun made a decisive instant epiphany: "The corpse beneath the rat pile must have been gnawed to white bones, right? If I draw out the skeleton from underneath, this Mouse Mountain will collapse!"
Aileen exclaimed in surprise: "You might die—"
It's rare for Evil Spirits to care for me, have I successfully touched her heart?
Aileen added the next sentence: "But you can't fail!"
Holy shit!
Chun was conflicted: "I'm just worried if I can charge in!"
Aileen said deeply: "I'll fully create an opportunity for you! But it will lead to being suppressed by the cockroach—get ready!"
Then we prepare!
The next moment, the cave entrance erupted with a sharp, piercing shock like a loudspeaker, almost making Chun fling off his headset!
Under the sonic shock, Mouse Mountain's protective barrier quivered intensely—this was the chance!
Chun lunged ashore, charging into the rat heap—boom! It was like hitting foam he couldn't penetrate, but the foam wasn't airtight; Chun's hand reached in and touched—skeleton!!
——System Alert: Warning! You suffer a rat plague attack by the Rat King, "Whale's Power" resistance to plague failed, contracted the rat plague...
What? At least I'm not instantly killed, I have plenty of potions!
Time to show the strength of 400 point burden—Chun used strength with his hands, braced his foot against the wall, and pulled the skeleton back into the ditch!
The Mouse Mountain really collapsed grandly, aside from the rats crawling all over Chun, several hundred others from the mountain also rolled into the ditch!
Success!
In the water, Chun spun around to unleash multiple purification techniques, smashing several hundred rats completely!
Imagine, without these hundreds, this Mouse Mountain even if restructured, probably wouldn't be as high, or the slopes would be steeper, so the restraining task could be considered complete?
Watching the Mouse Mountain being reassembled, Chun had no other tricks but grabbing a dead rat to try the purification throwing technique again.
And this throw, the misty protective shield of the opponent clearly wasn't as powerful and stout as before, there was potential!
Chun decided to aim at the biggest target, the Rat King, hoping to gain proficiency and beat the Boss aggressively!
Missed! Missed!!
No stamina left, drink a bottle of stamina potion—huh?
Looking at the empty bottle with a better grip he had just finished drinking, Chun had a flash of inspiration: Why use unwieldy dead fish or rats for throwing? Use bottles! No, fill the bottles with water!
Exactly, when first taking the Cleaner profession, he thought the skill limitations were vast, relying solely on water for activation! In waterless places, does it mean carrying a bucket? Now it seems, maybe use bottled water for smashing?