Chapter 128: Poaching and Tearing Down the Base

Just as Lei Yao was preparing to deliver another impassioned speech, even intending to draw his Dark Gold Longsword to bolster his credibility, an adjutant rushing from the observation post once again interrupted him.

Upon hearing the news that they were surrounded by Aberrant Beast Demons, Lei Yao was so shocked that he stumbled, lost his footing, and fell to the ground.

As the saying goes, in battle, momentum is everything: the first charge is fierce, the second wanes, and the third exhausts.

Now, after the maneuvers by Kamiyu and Jack, Lei Yao’s speech had been interrupted twice. This time, Lei Yao was even so enraged that he fainted, causing morale within the Sanctuary to become extremely unstable.

On the training ground, murmurs and whispers could be heard, mostly from Newcomer Players questioning Lei Yao.

“Is this Lei Yao even capable? Fainting just like that—is he really the highest-level Player in this game?”

“I told you, those who do evil will meet their doom. Making us attack the Main City alongside Aberrant Beast Demons—what kind of brain-dead decision is that?”

“Exactly. Why don’t we just go Offline? Following someone like this will only lead to disaster sooner or later.”

Streaks of blue light appeared as many newcomers secretly slipped away, going Offline to hide in Reality.

Some veteran members also began to doubt. Earlier, they had seen Lei Yao’s adjutant leading a group of core members, hastily leaving the Sanctuary.

They wondered: Could the situation have collapsed?

So, they too followed the crowd and went Offline.

Taking advantage of Lei Yao’s fainting and the absence of anyone to take charge—and with Ye Feixuan, who usually barked orders left and right, not stopping the Soldiers from going Offline—nearly half of the Players logged off.

Now, only about 300 to 400 greedy Players with no sense of justice remained.

Those who stayed behind complained: “Is this Lei Yao even up to the task? He said we could take Kaijistan, have our way with the women, and loot the Guild and Squad Storages as we pleased.”

“I joined because I heard we could slaughter the city and kill Players. I haven’t even started having fun yet. Is Lei Yao capable or not? If not, I’ll just start killing the people here first,” a madman said.

“Kill if you must, but don’t mess with the equipment. The Invincible Guild has been grinding Instance Dungeons for a week or two straight. Their Guild Storage is now packed with equipment, Armor, and materials. Our Squad has dibs on that. And the rest of you, don’t even think about competing with us,” said the captain of a notorious Bandit Team.

Ye Feixuan used a Skill to finally rouse Lei Yao.

Pale and gasping for breath, Lei Yao saw that the once-crowded training ground now held fewer than 300 to 400 people.

He exhaled and asked, “Where are the others? Where did they go?”

Several adjutants nearby lowered their heads, not daring to speak.

“Speak up.”

“Cough… cough…”

Gritting her teeth, Ye Feixuan whispered, “Lord Lei Yao, they… they’ve all left.”

“What? Left? But the Sanctuary is sealed shut!” Lei Yao’s eyes widened.

Lei Yao was so enraged that his mind grew muddled. Even if the Sanctuary were sealed, Players could still leave by going Offline.

Although they would reappear in the same location upon logging back in, the Sanctuary might not be sealed next time, allowing everyone to leave anyway.

“First, help Lord Lei Yao away and take him to rest,” Ye Feixuan said.

Several staff officers carried Lei Yao away, leaving one staff officer behind who looked at the large group of bandit players and said, “Vice President Ye, even our most loyal official players have logged off and left now, leaving only this ragtag bunch. Our Sanctuary will be in great danger.”

Ye Feixuan blinked and said, “As long as Lord Lei Yao is alive and inside our Sanctuary, they won’t be able to cause any trouble.”

“What about them?” the staff officer asked.

“Don’t worry about them. Just lock up the storage. It’s better if they’re free to move around.” Ye Feixuan glanced toward the defense towers of the castle.

“Free to move around?” The staff officer followed Ye Feixuan’s gaze, and his eyes lit up.

The staff officer thought to himself, so Vice President Ye doesn’t support Lei Yao’s plan either. She wants these players to wear down the Hell Army and reduce the pressure on the Main City.

He looked at Ye Feixuan with deep gratitude.

Those who scheme in the shadows, engage in underhanded tactics, and harm the interests of the majority will ultimately end up abandoned by everyone.

Ye Feixuan watched Lei Yao’s retreating figure intently.

Soon, realizing that Lei Yao was incapacitated and no one was keeping watch, the bandit players began to “explore” the Sanctuary freely.

“Damn, this Sanctuary is so poor. There’s nothing here,” said a sneaky-looking player, taking advantage of the lack of supervision to ransack Lei Yao’s Sanctuary.

“Damn it, what a waste. I should’ve killed a few more players earlier to get warmed up,” the madman said.

“Do you even know how to play? What do you mean there’s nothing? Don’t you know the Invincible Guild has been buying Sanctuary construction materials at high prices? We can dismantle this Sanctuary and sell the materials to them,” said a player with a business mind.

“Gang Boss, didn’t we agree to do something big, like raiding a city? Why are we resorting to sneaky stuff now?” an underling asked.

“Raid, raid, raid my ass! Didn’t you see everyone’s gone? And Lei Yao looks so weak, like he’s drained of energy. Where would he get the strength to fight? Asking us to attack the Main City is just sending us to our deaths. We’re here to freeload, not to actually risk our lives for Lei Yao. Besides, this isn’t sneaky—we’re openly robbing, okay?” The player smacked the underling hard.

“But this Sanctuary is already built. Can it even be dismantled?” the underling asked.

“Of course it can. A Sanctuary is basically just a larger, special type of Demon. If you attack it, it’ll drop materials. When Aberrant Beast Demons attack a Sanctuary, it loses health and drops materials. That’s why after every Hell Tide, the price of materials for repairing Sanctuaries skyrockets,” explained the business-minded player.

Hearing this, the others quickly found secluded spots to secretly damage the Sanctuary and collect materials. After all, wasn’t it said that the Sanctuary was surrounded by Aberrant Beast Demons? They could just blame the damage on them.

The madman blinked and said, “Watch me kill a few Aberrant Beast Demons to liven things up.”

“Even better. Lure all the monsters over. Let the Aberrant Beast Demons’ attacks cover up our dismantling of Lei Yao’s Sanctuary.”

“Exactly. Since Lei Yao dared to join the Demons in attacking the city and betray humanity, we can dismantle his home and betray him too. We’re upholding justice.”

Some even gave themselves a righteous justification.

Once Lei Yao fell unconscious, with no one to take charge of the Sanctuary, the ragtag crew he had recruited began to wreak havoc, turning the place into a chaotic mess.

They even went so far as to dismantle the very foundations, leaving Lei Yao with nothing but a devastating loss, having gained absolutely nothing in the end.

Thanks to Su Shikong’s update talisman and thanks to Zheng Mingxin’s wife’s update talisman.