Bai Qiu glanced at the chat channel and found that both the regional and Cross-Zone chats had completely exploded—messages were flooding in one after another, so fast that even with his speed of reading ten lines at a glance, he couldn’t keep up.
After browsing for a few minutes, Bai Qiu looked toward his only friend on the list.
He opened Zhang Shiyao’s chat window and asked, “Are you awake?”
After a moment, Zhang Shiyao replied, “I’m outside farming monsters. After the system update, a lot of strange monsters suddenly appeared—they’re all really strong!”
Bai Qiu quickly typed back: “Send me your coordinates.”
He was anxious—he hadn’t expected Zhang Shiyao to still be outside hunting at this hour.
He didn’t even have the heart to scold her.
The system had just announced the random spawning of elite and boss-class monsters.
Ordinary monsters she could probably handle, but if a few elites or a boss appeared, she would be doomed.
A moment later, Zhang Shiyao sent her coordinates—about five kilometers away from the safe zone in Area 2233.
“I’m on top of the Telecom Building. The skeletons are all below, but the Dragonfang Crawlers can climb up here.”
“Got it. Stay where you are and protect yourself. I’m coming!”
After sending the message, Bai Qiu closed the chat window and turned to the three people still deep in discussion.
“Sorry, everyone. Something urgent came up—I have to go.”
As soon as he finished, he took off running toward the Sanctuary Teleportation Device.
Within seconds, he was out of sight.
The others didn’t pay much attention to his sudden departure and continued talking about the system update notice.
Huang Qi frowned, “What does this ‘special group’ refer to? Superpowered people? Or…”
Zhao Daqiang furrowed his brow, “I think it’s highly likely referring to the military.”
Ning Xingxue nodded, “Even if modern firearms can’t grant experience points, soldiers still have far higher base stats than ordinary people. They should quickly understand the situation and start organizing rescue efforts.”
“But the reality is,” Huang Qi interjected, “there’s been no sign of any regular army units in either the regional or cross-zone chats—it’s like they just vanished into thin air!”
He raised an eyebrow, puzzled, “If the military was banned at the start, then unsealing them now means they’ll have to face monsters over level 10 right away. How are they supposed to fight those?”
Zhao Daqiang’s expression darkened.
The more they discussed it, the more dangerous their situation seemed.
The regular military no longer had higher stats than ordinary people, and since modern weapons didn’t yield experience points, their strength had been rendered meaningless.
Was this update a blessing or a curse?
How much trust did people still have left in their governments?
Would those who had survived through their own strength still obey the old authorities’ orders?
Before long, the chat frequency dropped sharply—everyone now had a limited number of messages per day, and the endless stream of chatter had disappeared.
Meanwhile, in cross-zone chats all around the world, groups of people identifying themselves as “regular army units” began to appear.
Zhang Shiyao kept pulling the string of her mithril shortbow, loosing one arrow after another at the Dragonfang Soldiers in the air and the Dragonfang Crawlers scaling the building.
“The Dragonfang Soldiers aren’t decreasing… and the Crawlers are multiplying!”
She could feel the pressure mounting.
Anxiety and fear spread in her chest as the monsters below converged into a black, seething mass.
She no longer had the time or strength to clear them all—she was completely cornered.
Situations like hers were unfolding all over the world.
Those without enough strength—or luck—were being torn apart by the waves of monsters within mere minutes.
………………..
When Bai Qiu returned to Area 2233, he immediately ran to the entrance of the potion shop, where he found Guinelia standing wearily at the door, her expression drained.
A long line of people stretched out before the shop.
Bai Qiu walked to the end of the line and asked the person in front of him, “What are you all doing here in the middle of the night?”
The man glanced back and said, “Are you kidding, brother? Don’t tell me you really don’t know what everyone’s here for.”
“I really don’t. Mind telling me?”
When the man turned and saw Bai Qiu clad head to toe in armor, even wearing a mask beneath his helmet, his attitude shifted immediately.
Clearing his throat, he explained respectfully.
“Ahem, it’s like this, big bro — the trading hall’s about to change its currency system, right? Everyone’s trying to buy up as many potions as possible to list them on the trading market and make one last wave of profit off the Dragonfangs!”
Bai Qiu frowned.
Then, with a single leap, he jumped straight over the crowd.
Just as he was about to land on someone, a faint red light screen appeared under his foot—his toe barely touched it before it pushed him forward again, propelling him several more meters.
“Holy crap! That guy can fly!” someone shouted in astonishment.
The distance from the end of the line to the counter was over twenty meters—he had actually leapt the entire way!
Bai Qiu landed on the counter with a heavy thud, startling Guinelia so much that she gasped.
The counter dented under the impact, and she cried out,
“My counter!!!”
“M-Mr. Bai Qiu, I—”
Guinelia recognized him immediately and was about to complain, but he cut her off.
“These are enhanced stamina recovery potions and enhanced mana recovery potions.”
Bai Qiu handed her two vials, then took out several dozen Purplethorn Fruits.
He took Guinelia’s hand, placing the fruits gently in her palm, then turned around and addressed the crowd:
“Listen up, everyone — the [Supporters] are people too, not NPCs, and definitely not perpetual motion machines. I get that you all want to squeeze in one last Dragonfang hunt before the update, but don’t take it too far!”
With that, Bai Qiu leapt again.
A compressed layer of magic light flared beneath his feet, propelling him past the crowd once more.
He landed lightly and sprinted out of the safe zone at a speed so fast it left everyone stunned.
For a moment, they stood frozen — then the chatter began.
“Who was that guy just now? Is he from our Area 2233?” someone asked.
“I think so. We only have two local legends here, right? That fluffy little merchant girl, and the mysterious silver-armored man favored by the Magic Merchant.”
“Yeah, I’ve rarely seen the silver-armored one, but judging from everything, he’s definitely the best-equipped person in Area 2233. The nearby elite monsters were probably all cleared by him.”
“Alright, everyone!” Guinelia called out, emerging from the potion workshop.
“Starting tonight, each person can only buy one bottle of each of three types of potions! From tomorrow onward, the daily limit will be five bottles per person! Unless you look seriously injured, that’s the rule!”
“What? Come on, that’s not fair!”
The crowd broke into protest.
None of them expected the usually gentle and accommodating bunny girl to suddenly impose limits.
Was it really just because of one sentence from the silver-armored man?
Hands on her hips, Guinelia glared down at the noisy crowd and said sternly,
“Form a proper line and come one at a time! My stock of herbs has limits too! If you keep selling everything on the market now, what will you do when you’re hurt later and I’ve run out?”
Until now, people had thought that everything inside the Black Tower of Sanctuary was created by the system—NPCs with infinite supplies, endlessly restocking goods, all purchasable as long as you had Sanctum Coins.
But tonight, starting from Area 2233—and soon spreading across all cross-zone channels—everyone would come to realize:
The [Supporters] of the Sanctuary Black Tower were living, breathing people— with thoughts, limits, and the need for rest.
— The end of the Chapter–
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