[In the Rainforest Area]
Xu Yuan was discussing the next plan with Mustard and the Pillager King.
Just then, Black Blade brought over a player, panting heavily and clearly a stranger.
"My king…"
"The forest… seems something has happened!"
Hearing that trouble had broken out in the forest, the Pillager King hurried over to the player's side, his face full of urgency.
"What happened?!"
Xu Yuan, seeing the situation, also hurriedly came close to the player.
"Catch your breath, speak slowly."
Although Xu Yuan spoke up, the player still didn't dare neglect it. While gasping for air, he told everyone in front of him about the encounter in the forest area.
When Mustard heard the player's description of the villagers and iron golems appearing outside the forest, his face was full of shock as he asked.
"Villagers?!"
"How is that possible, I was almost the last one to enter the Trial Grounds, inside this place I'm the only villager!"
"And… you said the iron golems obeyed that villager?!"
"How can that be?!"
Back when they were testing qualifications to enter the Trial Grounds, the outer field area was clearly divided into two parts.
The player camp lined up neatly on one side, while the other camps gathered on the other side.
Mustard knew well his own identity and mission. To avoid the Void's iron golems, he had always been carefully hiding among the players.
He waited patiently, until all the iron golems passed the verification, and then seized the chance.
Taking advantage of the fact that the others weren't paying much attention to the players' side, he quickly got his qualifications tested, and before the Void's iron golems that failed the test could react, he entered the Trial Grounds.
It could be said that Mustard was among the very last group of people to enter.
During this entire process, he stayed alert, closely watching every move around him.
He was certain, only he, alone, represented the villager camp and successfully entered the Trial Grounds.
However, when he heard that the attack on the forest area was actually carried out by villagers and iron golems, Mustard couldn't help but feel puzzled.
What shocked him even more was that those iron golems seemed to obey that villager's command.
Based on what he knew about the Void, this was completely impossible. Naturally, he would feel suspicious.
Hearing Mustard's doubts, the player replied with certainty on his face.
"We didn't see wrong, it really was a villager bringing iron golems, preparing to attack the forest."
"And those iron golems really were obeying that villager…"
Mustard seemed to still want to confirm the message again with that player who reported it, but right then, the Pillager King interrupted without hesitation.
"Now is not the time to argue about this!" His voice was full of urgency and tension.
Right after, the Pillager King threw out a series of questions.
"How far has their attack gone?!"
"Inside the forest, did anything unusual happen?!"
"And… where exactly did you pop out from? Why do you know so much about what's happening in the forest?!"
At this moment, what the Pillager King worried about most were naturally his people.
Even though the situation was extremely critical, his mind still remained clear, sharply noticing some odd points.
From the player's description, it seemed that villager was leading the iron golem troops and had just reached the outskirts of the forest, right about to attack, when these players noticed their movements.
That meant these players were actually able to sense the slightest changes outside the forest the very first moment they happened. Didn't that mean, they had been secretly monitoring the whole forest all along?
As the leader of the Pillagers, the Pillager King had never realized that the area he was in had already been under strict surveillance. This was utterly unbelievable.
Thinking of this, a nameless anger rushed to his heart. At the same time, he felt a chill of fear. If the other side had intended to make a move against him, the consequences would have been unimaginable…
As the Pillager King's questions came one after another, the scene fell silent. Only his string of questions echoed in the air.
Seeing the Pillager King pressing step by step, with a face that looked like he was about to act, the player who came with the report was completely stunned.
"I…"
"This…"
What could he possibly know? He was just a messenger. He hadn't even caught his breath yet, and being questioned like this by the Pillager King, he didn't even dare breathe out.
Seeing the Pillager King so urgent, Xu Yuan stepped closer, gently patted his shoulder. His voice was calm and firm.
"This is my man." Then he added.
"Watching the forest's every move was also my order."
When the Pillager King heard Xu Yuan's words, his face showed disbelief.
He stared wide-eyed at Xu Yuan, as if trying to see through his outer shell into the thoughts deep inside.
"You've been watching us all this time?…" In the Pillager King's heart, a nameless fire surged.
Though he had already submitted to Xu Yuan, he never thought Xu Yuan would actually have people secretly spying on him. This feeling of being stabbed in the back was unbearable. He felt his dignity had been deeply trampled.
"You…"
But before the Pillager King could finish speaking, he suddenly seemed to realize something.
His expression stiffened a little, his eyes flashing with doubt and unease.
After a moment of daze, he seemed to understand the reason. His impatience gradually calmed down.
He looked at Xu Yuan again, this time showing a trace of guilt and self-blame in his eyes.
Lowering his head, his voice trembling slightly, he said.
"My King…"
He paused briefly, struggling to find words to explain his behavior just now. "I… I just…"
At this moment, the Pillager King realized he might have misunderstood Xu Yuan's intention.
Originally, the forest being attacked had already made him restless.
Then hearing about being monitored, his head instantly filled with anger, not leaving him time to think.
Although having his territory monitored was unpleasant, thinking carefully, if Xu Yuan hadn't arranged people to keep watch on the forest, news of the attack would never have reached them so quickly.
And that reporting player also said, they were doing their best to delay the villagers and iron golems.
Judging by their actions, there was no doubt they were helping the forest get out of danger.
That must be why Xu Yuan had people monitor the forest.
Thinking of this, the Pillager King couldn't help but feel ashamed. He had just been too impulsive.
Fortunately, he came around quickly, without rashly taking extreme actions. Otherwise, the consequences could have been disastrous.
The Pillager King was just about to apologize for his rashness, but Xu Yuan interrupted him.
"They came this time for the emerald."
"But you don't need to be overly worried about the Pillagers' safety. They won't threaten their lives."
After saying this, Xu Yuan thought for a moment, then continued.
"This time, they won't leave themselves any retreat."
After a pause, Xu Yuan looked at the reporting player and asked.
"Fat Cow gave the order to delay as much as possible, not to kill as much as possible, right?"
The reporting player clearly hadn't yet recovered from the Pillager King's harsh questioning.
After being dazed for a moment, he suddenly nodded hard.
Seeing this, Xu Yuan rested his chin in thought for a while, then analyzed.
"Since Fat Cow's order was to delay… then right now, the villagers and iron golems should have already entered the forest."
"After entering, to avoid alerting the enemy, the safest method would be to burrow underground…"
Thinking of this, Xu Yuan looked at the Pillager King and asked.
"Your barracks, how many layers underground are they?"
Xu Yuan didn't take the Pillager King's rash behavior to heart at all.
After all, the other side had only spoken a bit harshly, he hadn't said anything too excessive.
Actually, the Pillager King's reaction just now was completely understandable. After all, the forest area was under foreign attack, feeling panicked was only natural.
And when he heard that someone was monitoring the forest area, losing control of his emotions in the moment was reasonable too.
Even if the Pillager King really had done something extreme, Xu Yuan could still have understood. Not to mention, he had only been a little offensive in tone just now?
Besides, Xu Yuan wasn't the type to fuss over such little things.
He wasn't some feudal emperor who'd chop off heads just because someone offended him with words.
The most urgent matter right now was obviously solving the crisis facing the forest area.
When Xu Yuan heard the words "villagers" and "iron golems" from the player's mouth, he basically already guessed the true identity of the villager attacking the forest.
Without a doubt, that villager had to be HIM from the Annoying Village.
The reason he was so certain was because Xu Yuan already had a fair understanding of the real HIM.
The real HIM created the Trial Grounds with the original intention of making a fair and just competition.
That fairness was for everyone.
So when everyone stepped into the Trial Grounds, they were all shocked to find their original unique abilities had disappeared completely.
This was, without question, the real HIM showing all participants absolute fairness.
However, to ensure fairness among the three HIMs themselves, the real HIM also carefully devised some extra arrangements.
He knew well that the three HIMs couldn't appear in the Trial Grounds as their original selves, so he gave each of them a different identity.
Xu Yuan himself lived in this game world. No matter the identity, he could adapt easily. To weaken Xu Yuan's innate advantage, the real HIM deliberately gave him the identity of a player.
After all, the players who entered the Trial Grounds didn't know Xu Yuan's real identity. And those new players would often be inclined to follow the already famous ones, like Steve and Grief, and so on.
So, as just an ordinary player, Xu Yuan couldn't quickly gather enough fighting strength.
But just weakening Xu Yuan's advantage wasn't enough. The other two HIMs' disadvantages also had to be balanced.
The other two HIMs came from the outside world, knowing very little about this world's native creatures and players.
To make up for this disadvantage, the real HIM would surely place them in relatively comfortable domains.
So, their identities couldn't possibly be players, nor could they be animals, which were relatively weak groups.
That left only monsters and villagers.
Xu Yuan could be sure that Tyrant HIM's identity must be a monster.
Tyrant HIM was the undead leader, monster identity was his comfort zone. To reduce his disadvantage, the real HIM would definitely give him an identity he was skilled with.
Then this villager who suddenly appeared in the Trial Grounds was naturally Annoying Village's HIM.
And, from the player's words, the villagers and iron golems were in an alliance right now.
Xu Yuan and Tyrant HIM had been trapped in the gray space together for a long time, and Xu Yuan had revealed some information about the Void to Tyrant HIM.
Tyrant HIM didn't like the Void at all.
But Annoying Village HIM was the last one to enter the gray space. Naturally, he didn't know about the Void's matters, and so he was the one most likely to ally with the Void.
Since it was already confirmed that Annoying Village HIM's identity was villager, and that he had allied with the Void's iron golems, then Xu Yuan also knew very well what his next plan would be.
That was why Xu Yuan could analyze the situation so clearly.
Annoying Village HIM came this time with absolute determination.
If he couldn't take down the Pillagers, it would mean he lost the qualification to win.
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