"The Abyssal Demons in Cuiqing Mountain, Black Bone Forest, Icy Pond, and Thunder Cloud Village have all been cleared out." Wang Linchi counted his gains, feeling somewhat unsatisfied.

Apart from the Snake Demon, an outsider in Cuiqing Mountain, which was a level 70 BOSS, the remaining three indigenous Abyssal Demons were all level 60. He wasn't sure if they hadn't matured or if there were other reasons, but they were a full 10 levels lower, leaving Wang Linchi in an awkward position.

But it wasn't entirely without gain.

Wang Linchi picked out some correspondence, all of which concerned the Demon Suppression Alliance.

The contents held many secrets, such as Wang Linchi's main mission: the Abyssal Demon, Ten Evil Demon, sealed beneath Qing State.

This Ten Evil Demon possesses ten Divine Skills formed from ten evil deeds, which means it has ten top-level and powerful Talents.

More importantly, it was unkillable. As long as any of the ten evil deeds existed in its surroundings, no matter how severely it was injured, it would not die.

This was indeed a tricky matter. These ten evil deeds were impossible to eliminate, and even Wang Linchi possessed some of them.

Murder, theft, sexual misconduct, lying, slander, abusive language, frivolous talk, greed, wrath, and erroneous views.

Wang Linchi had killed, which meant that the Ten Evil Demon might lock its Health at 1 point after being damaged to that extent.

I wonder if the Qingfrost Ancient Sword Card can force a kill? The Card in his hand could inflict 1 point of damage; he just wasn't sure if it would work against a health-lock.

If not, he could only continue to Plug in. What else could he do?

There must be mission items capable of handling this situation in Qing State. It's just that locating them is quite difficult.

This time, the range was an entire state, making it the freest instance he had encountered so far. However, such excessive freedom made him uneasy. Without any clues, how could he proceed?

The clues he had were dwindling. The leads from the Zheng Family were coming to an end, and the City Lord's trail now led to the Demon Suppression Alliance. But he suspected the Demon Suppression Alliance would be looking for him soon.

He had killed three Abyssal Demons nurtured by the Demon Suppression Alliance. This was tantamount to killing their masters. As servants, they were sure to retaliate.

So, Wang Linchi didn't need to go to the Demon-suppressing Alliance Branch himself. The Demon Suppressing Sorcerers might already be on their way to seek retribution.

The Abyssal Evil Demons in Black Bone Forest, Icy Pond, and Thunder Cloud Village were probably subordinates of the Ten Evil Demon. They had no loyalty. Like most Abyssal Demons, they respected power and acted chaotically and evilly, so they were likely here simply to indulge their desires.

But their objectives probably included releasing the Ten Evil Demon. The strong command respect, so they would naturally align themselves with the powerful.

If the Demon Suppression Alliance comes, the City Lord will likely switch sides immediately. The Zheng Family, to avoid paying, would probably turn against me too.

Should I wipe out the city first?

A crazy thought crossed Wang Linchi's mind. It seemed like eliminating all future threats would be more advantageous for him.

If I killed everyone, wouldn't all their things become mine?

Consequences? I don't care. After all, it's just a game instance. These people are just echoes.

When he cleared the instance, the Game System would annihilate the entire instance area. Essentially, even if Wang Linchi committed such an atrocious act, it wouldn't be much different from destroying a bunch of projections.

What, ask the Game System to save these people? A nice thought, but many issues would need to be considered: the high cost of resurrection, the challenges of resettlement, cultural conflicts, resource supply and demand, and so on.

It's tantamount to sacrificing one's own resources for a group of strangers. The Game System isn't that foolish. It has to take responsibility for its own world, not pay for the echoes of a world that has already been eradicated. The people within these echoes aren't real, but the people in its world are.

If you met someone you fell in love with at first sight in an instance, made a high contribution, and cleared an Abyss Difficulty instance, the Game System wouldn't mind giving you a reward, such as resurrecting that native as your follower. But that's the limit.

The Game System favored its Players and wasn't stingy with rewards, but it wouldn't give even a single feather to outsiders and could be cruelly ruthless.

A city massacre is a bit difficult. If I don't Plug in, it'll be too slow. Wang Linchi quickly dismissed this crazy idea. If it weren't for the Game System's rules in the instance, there wouldn't be many issues. Whether through poison, disease, or plague, it could all be easily resolved.

Unfortunately, that wasn't possible here. He could not use methods that violated the game rules, or he would face a compulsory nullification by the rules themselves.

He was controlling a game character.

Even though these rules appeared to limit Players everywhere, in reality, they were more in place to protect them.

If the game didn't have such rules, then when Players faced Abyssal Demons and Demonized Creatures, these enemies wouldn't be suppressed. Instead, they would be at full strength, and the Players couldn't possibly defeat them.

A thousand-level Player might not even be able to compete with a 20th-level True Magician from back then.

Therefore, the current situation existed not because the Players were strong, but because they relied on geographical advantages to maintain it.

Since massacring the city is out, then I'll just exterminate a family.

My thought process is relatively simple. Since you might betray me, and the probability is quite high, why not strike first? If I guess wrong, we can always restart the game.

I'll go back and think carefully first. The Demon Suppressing Sorcerers shouldn't arrive so quickly. Even if I killed the Abyssal Demons now, and they received the news immediately, it would still take them a day or two to get here.

After making some arrangements, Wang Linchi quickly returned to the city.

After hesitating between going to the City Lord's Mansion and the Zheng Mansion, he finally chose the Zheng Mansion.

This isn't about which house I choose to stay in; it's about which family I choose to exterminate first.

Upon his return, Zheng Li, unlike his usual self, was full of warmth, and Wang Linchi faintly sensed that the other party was a little uneasy.

"Master Zheng, you seem to have a lot of free time today, even coming to welcome me in person," Wang Linchi joked.

The reason must be because I was taken away by the City Lord. Otherwise, his previous attitude would have been dominated by fear.

Now he must be even more afraid. He just has no choice but to adopt this posture.

"I have no way to repay your life-saving grace, Master Mage. This is only right," Zheng Li said, though his tone was somewhat strained.

Wang Linchi didn't dwell on this. He's not visiting for no reason; he must want something from me.

"Please, follow me..." Zheng Li said, leading Wang Linchi into the Zheng Mansion. After quickly having tea served, he shouted towards the doorway, "You worthless son, get in here now!"

Zheng Lin came in trembling and then promptly knelt.

"My son was momentarily confused and, after some foolish thoughts, made a mistake. I beseech you, Master Mage, to forgive him."

"I am willing to add another 40% of our family's assets as compensation." Zheng Li had been around long enough to know that when dealing with someone like Wang Linchi, a mere verbal apology wouldn't suffice; he had to offer tangible assets.

The previous 50% combined with the current 40% meant they were essentially giving away the entire Zheng Family fortune.

Indeed, only a mere 10% remained. But this remaining portion of the family's assets probably wouldn't amount to much, effectively reducing the Zheng Family from a Big Aristocratic Family to merely a wealthy household.

"As expected of someone who managed to preserve such a large family estate, you certainly know the right time to kneel," Wang Linchi couldn't help but remark.

This made Zheng Li pale. He understood that Wang Linchi had not returned merely to stay the night, but to wipe out his entire family.

If it weren't for my quick apology and sincere compensation this time, I might already be dead.

Hearing this, Zheng Lin clenched his teeth and remained silent. At this moment, he hated Wang Linchi to death but didn't reveal any trace of it.

"Alright then. Pack up your remaining 10% of assets, leave the city tonight, and I'll let bygones be bygones," Wang Linchi said. He saw no need to drive them to complete ruin; as long as they didn't bother him, they could live out their days as wealthy individuals elsewhere.

"Leaving the city at night is too dangerous. I implore you, Master Mage, to be lenient," Zheng Li quickly pleaded.

"No, it won't be. I cleared out the lairs in Black Bone Forest, Icy Pond, and Thunder Cloud Village outside the city today. You don't need to worry about any problems," Wang Linchi stated calmly.

Letting them stay would make me uncomfortable. After all, I prefer to nip things in the bud.

"This... Yes!" Forced to agree, Zheng Li and his son rose desolately and departed.

"Once those two leave the city, kill them," Wang Linchi instructed the Saint Master. Two-faced? Going back on my word? So what? I'm not a good person. It's not surprising I'd do something like this. If I were a villain who insisted on sticking to some moral bottom line, the protagonist would definitely kill me.

Huh? The protagonist seems to be my friend. Well, then it's fine.

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