The woman immediately put her daughter in her arms, looked at the players in front of her with vigilance, and said firmly: "This is impossible! I will not betray my daughter!"
The Advent mercenary named Chen Jun sneered: "This npc is quite brave. Let's do this. I'll pay you a thousand gold coins and buy it for you and your daughter. How about it?"
"No... we don't need it," the woman replied cautiously, "I will find a job in Falkenridge and we will live here..."
"How can Falconrich have a job?" Chen Jun said again, "You see people like you everywhere on the street, why don't you beg for food like you? Why don't you take your daughter and follow me, I guarantee you Eat well and drink spicy food!”
"No, no..." The woman kept shaking her head.
"Hmph, you're tough," Chen Jun said displeasedly, while winking at his companion beside him.
The descendant next to her took a step forward and threw a gold coin in front of the woman.
The woman immediately went to pick it up, but the moment she leaned over, the descendant who threw the gold coin pulled out the dagger and held it forward.
The sword blade penetrated under the woman's collarbone and went straight into the chest. Because of the tricky position, not much blood even spattered out.
The murderer's attack was quite fast. When Li Ran rushed over, the other party had already drawn out his dagger and kicked the woman to the ground.
"what are you doing!"
Li Ran held down the opponent's sword-holding hand and asked angrily.
"What are you doing? Just kill an NPC. Who else cares about this?"
The murderer and Chen Jun looked at each other and were quite surprised by Li Ran's reaction.
"Brother, I advise you not to mind your own business..." Chen Jun drew out his weapon and threatened. Just as he was about to attack Li Ran, his expression suddenly changed.
A group of patrolling Falkenridge guards squeezed out of the crowd and surrounded the scene with long guns.
"Who committed the murder in the street!" the guard captain said angrily.
"It's him!"
Before Li Ran could accuse the murderer, Chen Jun on the side pointed out his companion.
"Didn't you participate?" Li Ran asked, "You are an accomplice in the murder!"
"What evidence do you have?" Chen Jun looked at Li Ran and joked, "I have nothing to do with him. I just want to help this poor woman."
Chen Jun looked at the girl who was kneeling next to her mother and crying, and said seriously: "It's so unfortunate, Captain. This lady was unfortunately killed. I will take in her daughter."
"Okay! Don't make any noise. The murderer has been caught at the scene of the crime. The evidence is conclusive," the guard captain announced on the street. "According to the "Adventor Code" promulgated by the Casting Star Council, those who commit murder as an Adventer shall be sentenced to death. All property will be confiscated, and we will throw him into the dungeon to die, so you can take care of yourself."
Li Ran was dumbfounded by the handling of this incident.
But having just created a character, he was alone and unable to do anything in this enemy nest.
If he killed Chen Jun outright, he might end up being thrown into the dungeon together with the murderer.
"Damn, what bad luck, the guards moved too fast today," the murderer spat on the ground and winked at Chen Jun before being escorted away by the guards.
Li Ran knew the meaning of that look——
That girl is yours.
Chen Jun came to the woman who fell to the ground, blatantly carried her daughter on his shoulders and walked out.
Most of the descendants around him looked at it with cold eyes - to them, such things happened from time to time, and the perpetrators had already received the punishment they deserved.
What's the big deal if players kill NPCs?
After all, Amber Technology, the publisher of Broken Star, insists that all NPCs in Broken Star are weak artificial intelligence, just a stream of soulless data.
Since it is an NPC, it is only natural to die for the entertainment of players.
Li Ran watched Chen Jun leave coldly, without stopping him, and allowed him to take the girl away.
...
Aria fell to the ground.
It hurts, it hurts so much.
Blood flowed into the punctured lung, surged up her trachea, and trickled out of her nostrils, suppressing her breathing.
What was even more frightening was that the intense pain that made her soul tremble clearly told her that her heart was broken and was gradually stopping beating.
But none of the pain was as intense as the pain of losing her daughter.
That adventer stole her daughter!
"Xuerou...my Xuerou..."
The woman tried her best to open her tear-filled eyes and watched Chen Jun escape into the crowd with the girl in his arms.
The street ground was as hard and cold as ice.
The cold reminded her of a week ago when the village where she lived was robbed and burned down by a group of bandits.
The villagers were massacred. Her husband used a hoe to cover her and escaped with her daughter, but he was hacked to death by the bandits.
Those robbers are another group of descendants.
In order to survive, she took her daughter and fled to the city of Falkenridge to beg.
She couldn't understand why such a thing would happen in the capital of the principality...
Is it possible that no matter where you are, you can't escape the fate of being killed by the descendants?
The descendants kill people, giving life for life, claiming to be fair.
But on her deathbed, Aria was confused.
Are the lives of Adventers and Ashanites equally valuable?
Can the world where the descendant comes from also easily take the lives of others?
Is there... as full of sin as Ashan?
If that's the case, what's the difference between the great, glorious, righteous descendant who came across the distant void to save Ashan, and the Star Breaker?
"Elrath, please have mercy...save my daughter..."
Aria muttered as she coughed up blood, tears flowing silently.
Suddenly, in her increasingly blurred vision, a warm figure appeared in front of her.
It was a young man with a handsome face, wearing a red priest's robe.
For some reason, Aria could see that his body was emitting a dazzling golden light.
...
Li Ran squatted down in front of the woman, put his hand on the woman's wound, and released the priest's apprentice's only initial spell, "Healing".
Because of the talent of "Heart of the Sun", his magic power rating reached level C. Li Ran's healing effects were equivalent to those of a second-level priest, which was extraordinary.
But a broken heart is not a wound that therapy can repair.
This type of damage to the source of life cannot be saved even if a high-level priest comes.
"I'm sorry, madam," Li Ran said in a low voice, "I can't save you."
"I'm not important...Save my daughter...Sir..." The other party squeezed out a breath of strength from his throat and begged.
"I will, madam," Li Ran held the woman's hand, "I will save her.
"I believe you..." the woman's voice became softer and softer, "you must be... Elrath's messenger..."
Li Ran's clenched hand dropped weakly, and the woman in front of him completely lost her breath.
Apart from tears, there was also a smile on her lips, as if she had seen a miracle before her death.
Li Ran stood up, and most of the players watching had indifferent expressions on their faces.
"So, that's it."
Li Ran looked at the crowded bustling neighborhood of Falkenridge.
Vendors are hawking enthusiastically, players are full of interest, and Falkenridge's commuter troops are in a hurry.
Lively, prosperous, exciting, full of fun and hope for the average player.
But it felt strange to him.
Selina was waiting for him outside the city. After reuniting, they could quickly fly around and cross the border of the occupied area to Starwind City.
The agreed time was coming soon, but Li Ran didn't mind letting Salina wait a little longer.
He quickly left the scene, went to a nearby pub called "Black Blade", and pushed in the door.
Because the franchise sells Starwind beer produced in the Wolf Principality, the business of this pub is surprisingly good. Drinkers sit around the dimly lit small round table and drink happily.
The hall was surprisingly chaotic. Li Ran came to the bar and started chatting with the bartender who was mixing cocktails.
"Customer, do you need anything?"
Li Ran said straight to the point: "An Ke told me before that if I encounter an emergency in Falkenridge, I can come to you."
The bartender immediately put down the wine glass in his hand and looked at it carefully to confirm Li Ran's identity.
He looked around and found that no one was paying attention here, so he lowered his voice and said, "Of course, today is a special day, and the leader has already given instructions."
"The environment is special, please forgive me for being rude," the bartender's eyes flashed, "My name is Algernon, I come from Hongkrest in the occupied area of the Bucks Principality, and I am the third grader of Starwind City Military Academy. It’s a great honor to meet you, the twelfth batch of information science graduates.”
"The Falconrich branch of Starwind Shadow is at your service at any time, Lord Li Ran."
