Volume 1, Chapter 59: Terror from Within the Palace!

Lin Yaoyao puffed out her cheeks and stared at Li Chuan with a puzzled look.

"Mmh."

"What are you counting?"

The bell ceased after the eighth chime, leaving only the lingering echoes vibrating in the air.

Fortunately, there were only eight chimes, falling short of twelve, and not reaching the most dangerous category identified in the appraisal entry.

"Counting the number of times the bell rang."

Lin Yaoyao tilted her little head.

"Why count that?"

Li Chuan turned his gaze toward the magnificent golden palace.

"I don't know, but I always feel like something bad is about to happen."

"Bad?"

Lin Yaoyao hurriedly shoved a large mouthful of food into her mouth, then bolted out of the tent in a flash.

Li Chuan directly raised a hand and retrieved the giant marching tent.

Li Chuan had previously thought this item was destroyed by the bastards from the Tri-Sect Guild, but it turned out Lin Yaoyao had packed it away beforehand.

Above the oasis.

Amidst the gazes of countless players, the hundred-meter-tall giant gates of the magnificent palace were slowly swinging open.

Some players exclaimed in surprise.

"Holy shit! Look, why is that palace gate suddenly opening?"

"No idea. Could it be related to the main quest?"

"Quite possibly! Does this mean we can enter the palace now to collect quest items?"

"I don't think the timing is right. We'd better stay away from that gate!"

...

At this moment, the players whose oases were closest to the palace gates were all somewhat panicked.

This had originally been the most sought-after location, but now it had turned into a perilous danger zone that everyone wanted to avoid.

Those whose plant spirits had fast movement speeds were relatively fortunate and could scramble to get far away from the palace gates.

However, those whose plant spirits moved slowly could only grit their teeth and wait for the unknown danger to arrive.

Under this immense pressure, several players gritted their teeth and stepped outside the safety range of their plant spirits.

"Damn it, I refuse to believe this! Can the system really pull some bizarre stunt on the very first day of the quest?"

"That's right! Maybe opening the palace doors is just a routine operation to remind us that we can enter the palace at any time to complete the quests."

"Let's go! Let's head inside and check it out so we have some peace of mind."

There is strength in numbers. More than a dozen players grouping up gave them a surge of courage. One by one, they drew their weapons and strode toward the giant gates that were not yet fully open.

Some players shouted warnings, and others tried to stop them, but the overwhelming majority of players chose to remain silent.

Faced with unknown danger, most people hoped someone else would scout the path for them, yet none of them wanted that person to be themselves.

Li Chuan, with Lin Yaoyao in tow, had long since left the vicinity of Little Green and arrived at a spot relatively close to the opening gates.

This position was advantageous for observation.

Once the bell chimed, what on earth was going to happen in this ghost place?

Li Chuan thought to himself with doubt.

Beside him, Lin Yaoyao suddenly widened her eyes.

"Ah! It looks like there's, there's, there's a face behind the door!"

Li Chuan hurriedly focused his vision past the opening giant doors.

The dust kicked up by the opening of the hundred-meter-tall giant gates slowly dissipated as an unimaginably huge head with a bizarre expression suddenly thrust out from behind one of the doors.

Yikes—

Oof—

It was the face of a middle-aged man, massive! Enormously huge! The head was at least a meter wide, its mouth split wide open in a half-smile, emitting piercing cries of astonishment as it lunged out toward the exterior.

It was precisely this action that allowed all the players to catch sight of its full appearance.

It was a naked giant! Its body was several times larger than that of an ordinary human, but bizarrely, its two arms were exceptionally slender and short, resembling the deformed limbs of an underdeveloped infant.

The daring scouts were now frantically fleeing backward.

"Help!"

"Monster! There's a monster! A giant!"

...

Though the giant was massive in size, its movements were by no means slow. In just a few large strides, it caught up to the dozen or so players who were running for their lives.

Then, it lunged fiercely!

Thud.

A player whose speed was slightly slower was knocked down by the impact.

Just as that player was preparing to roll and evade the monster's attack,

Snap!

A giant mouth abruptly engulfed his body, and two rows of teeth clamped down violently. Instantly, blood splattered everywhere! His upper body and legs were severed in a gruesome, bloody separation.

Crunch, crunch, crunch.

"Good god! The giant is eating people!"

"What the hell kind of place is this? Is this Paradis Island?"

...

The players on the oasis could clearly see the flesh churning and being crushed inside the giant's mouth, with massive amounts of blood streaming down the corners of its jaw and dripping onto the yellow sand.

Li Chuan fought down his inner revulsion.

Using his Probability Glasses, he appraised the giant's attribute panel.

[Bloodline-Disordered Giant: Blue]

[Health: 5000/5000]

[Lv23, A pathetic creature whose bloodline advancement failed, possessing terrifying destructive power and endless stamina. Weakness marked!]

This was a level 23 boss-tier monster!

Although its level wasn't particularly high, its health pool and sheer size were truly too horrifying.

This thing could probably stomp a whole bunch of disease reapers of the same grade and level to death with a single step!

"Brother Chuan, if we kill it, will we be able to obtain giant bloodline factors?"

Lin Yaoyao looked eager to give it a try.

However, behind that opened gate, a second giant appeared!

It crawled out. Quite the opposite of the first giant, its arms were in proportion to its torso, but its legs were shrunk to a ridiculously tiny size.

The third, the fourth, the fifth...

More and more deformed giants charged out from within the palace!

"Fall back!"

Li Chuan whirled around and sprinted.

Lin Yaoyao did too, running even faster than Li Chuan.

She no longer brought up the matter of killing giants to acquire bloodline factors.

At this moment, the only thing that could bring a sense of security to the two of them was Little Green.

On the oasis closest to the palace—the most popular spot just a few hours ago—dozens of players watched powerlessly as their plant spirits were snapped and destroyed.

"Ah... My plant spirit!"

"Attack them! Hurry up and attack them! Someone come and help, ah!"

A player was anxiously shooting arrows at a giant that was tearing apart a small tree.

Little did he know, another giant suddenly descended from the sky, grabbed the player, and tossed him into its mouth like a chocolate bean.

Crunch, crunch, crunch.

Blood flowed wantonly.

Yet another giant uprooted a vine and picked up a player with a creepy smile.

"Help, help, someone save me... Ah!..."

...

In the territory belonging to the Illuminati.

Liu Haizhu: "President, are we still heading out?"

Gao Han decisively shook his head.

"The numbers are too massive. The rescue risk is too high. We aren't going out."

"Everyone! Those man-eating bastards are coming. Prepare your defenses for battle!"

...

Hundreds of disordered giants chased the players here like madmen. Many players, having witnessed the horror of these giants, abandoned their plant spirits entirely and dashed toward the desert.

As for the Green Lake region, the Hieroglyphic Oasis, and the oasis belonging to the Illuminati—these few larger player gathering sites—they managed to barely organize defensive forces at this moment, avoiding being uprooted by the disordered giants for the time being and forming a pocket of resistance.

"Run, everyone! Don't stay in the small oases. Head into the large oases to fend off the monsters together!"

"That's right! If you really can't save your plant spirit, you have to abandon it! At worst, becoming a dependent under another player is still better than losing your life!"

Players who had survived until now were rarely fools. Having passed through the initial panic, they shouted the correct countermeasures at the top of their lungs.

...

Also trapped in a small oasis, Cheng Nannan looked around in terror as the bizarre giants drew closer and closer.

"Ol', Boss, what do we do?"

Li Chuan stared fixedly at the nearest one-armed female giant.

"You think you can make me abandon my plant spirit! Let's do this!"

Pulling out the Fere Crossbow, Li Chuan deliberately loaded five poisoned bolts onto it.

Cheng Nannan widened her eyes, her face full of sheer disbelief.

It's over. This man has lost his mind. Is he throwing his life away just for a plant spirit?

Does he really think his plant spirit can deal with this kind of terrifying monster?

Stealing a glance at the two madmen and seeing that they hadn't noticed her yet, she bolted out of the oasis and charged toward the lake oasis nearby, which had the largest concentration of players.

Lin Yaoyao glanced at Cheng Nannan's retreating back.

"We're doomed, Brother Chuan, our chef has run away!"

Li Chuan watched a lopsidedly sprinting giant and said calmly,

"Don't worry, she'll be back!"

"Here it comes, Little Green!"