Infinity, The Arcade Age

Chaotic footsteps echoed as a large group of soldiers rushed toward the main outpost. But as they approached, they were met with a horrifying scene—the outpost was engulfed in flames, and bodies were scattered everywhere.

The soldiers' faces turned pale as they frantically searched through the corpses for their leader.

Eventually, they found him—Kaido, the heavy-armored swordsman commander—lying in a corner, his face beaten beyond recognition. His eyes were wide open, filled with disbelief, as though he couldn't comprehend that he had been beaten to death by a blunt object.

Staring at the bullet holes in Kaido's armor, the adventurer Flying Snake twitched, his face contorting in frustration as he clenched his fists.

"A gun! It was a gun! This had to be the work of another adventurer!"

But this wasn't supposed to happen. This wasn't part of the plan. Who did this?!

Before Flying Snake could recover from his shock, he felt a sharp pull at his collar, yanking him off the ground. A sharp sword pressed against his throat.

Standing beside him, Kaile, another heavy-armored swordsman, glared at him with murderous eyes, his teeth grinding with rage.

"It was you, wasn't it? You're working with the militia to set us up, aren't you?!"

"No! It wasn't me!" Flying Snake protested.

"Not you? You said they wouldn't attack until nightfall! You said we'd wait for them to walk into our trap! So what the hell is this?!" Kaile roared, raising his sword to strike.

The surrounding soldiers also drew their weapons, their hostile gazes turning toward Flying Snake.

Seeing the imminent danger, Flying Snake desperately screamed for his life, trying to explain.

"It wasn't me! I swear! If I was involved, why wouldn't I have joined them in killing you all right now? You can't kill me! Kaido's dead, and our priority should be dealing with the militia! If we don't take action, Skorne won't spare you for letting his right-hand man die! I have a way to fix this!"

Hearing his words, the soldiers hesitated, exchanging uneasy glances.

Skorne, the brutal duke who had bestowed the title of knight upon Kaido, was known for his short temper. If Kaido's death wasn't avenged, Skorne would undoubtedly take out his anger on everyone involved.

None of them had fought so hard to climb the ranks just to lose everything now.

With this in mind, even Kaile reluctantly lowered his sword, his face grim.

"What's your plan?" he demanded.

Flying Snake took a deep breath, gritting his teeth.

"We need to gather everyone. Tonight, we'll stick to the original plan—ambush the enemy when they sneak in."

"But the commander's dead!"

"Exactly! That's why we need to succeed! If we take down the village militia, we can cover up Kaido's death. You might even get promoted, taking his place. If you don't take this chance, Skorne will punish all of us. But if we fight, there's a chance we'll come out on top. It's a simple choice—risk it or face certain punishment. It's your call."

With Kaido dead, Flying Snake's plan had been thrown into chaos. He had no choice but to gamble everything.

What was his gamble? He bet that the person who killed Kaido—the fourth adventurer—had acted alone, without coordinating with the others.

If that were true, the other three adventurers would still be following the original plan, unaware of the chaos that had already unfolded. If they could wipe out the militia, they could still retake the village and salvage the situation.

As for what would happen if he lost this gamble? There wasn't really a choice. The soldiers wouldn't let him live if he didn't try something.

With grim determination, Flying Snake and Kaile quickly gathered the remaining soldiers from the other two outposts, preparing for the ambush. However, Flying Snake made a few... adjustments to the plan.

As night fell, Qin Ming returned to the village as promised, arriving at the village square where he met the other three adventurers and their so-called "ally"—the militia captain.

Once there, Qin Ming finally understood how White Wolf had managed to manipulate the militia captain into helping them. It was a truly underhanded tactic.

White Wolf had kidnapped the militia captain's daughter and secretly left her near one of the outposts.

By the time the captain found his daughter, she had already been violated and killed.

Driven by a thirst for revenge, the militia captain had no choice but to act. He wasn't the only one. Several of his close friends, enraged by the tragedy, also joined the fight.

As for White Wolf and the other adventurers, they presented themselves as wandering merchants who had heard of the incident and decided to intervene on behalf of justice, posing as "heroes" offering help.

Not only did this earn them the militia captain's trust, but it also boosted their favorability with him.

Standing off to the side, Qin Ming glanced at White Wolf and couldn't help but smirk.

He had to admit, anyone who survived in the Nightmare Space wasn't someone to be trifled with. White Wolf was a ruthless operator, using such despicable tactics to get what he wanted.

While Qin Ming prided himself on being a shrewd businessman, he still had a sense of morality. White Wolf, however, seemed to have none.

Successfully blending in with the militia, Qin Ming was able to confirm his faction alignment and open the faction's exchange menu.

Unfortunately, his favorability with the three main protagonists was still at zero, which meant he couldn't exchange anything with them.

However, the village favorability system was different, and it had some interesting rewards.

For example, with 50 favorability points, Qin Ming could exchange for a Black Bread, which had the same effect as a croissant.

For 100 favorability points, he could get militia armor and a militia sword, both low-tier items.

For 250 favorability points, he could exchange for the village's specialty—Malt Beer, a blue-tier consumable that could increase his Spirit stat by 10 for a day.

And at 500 favorability points, he could get a Certificate of Honor, which could increase any NPC's favorability toward him by 150 points, up to a maximum of 500.

But the best reward, costing 1,000 favorability points, was...

Name: The Village's Best Sword

Category: Weapon (Common Silver-tier)

Effect: +10 Strength, +5 Constitution, +5 Agility

Description: Every village has a legendary heirloom, right?

Seeing this impressive weapon, Qin Ming couldn't help but click his tongue in admiration.

As the militia finished donning their gear, preparing to set out, Qin Ming quickly fell in line with them.

A group of about a dozen men marched forward, with the goal of attacking one of the soldiers' outposts.

Their destination: a military outpost.

(End of Chapter)