The Boss King actually disguised himself as a novice village chief?!
Chapter 327 - 281: Red Spirit Invasion?

Chapter 327: Chapter 281: Red Spirit Invasion?

"Edwin, do you know why this place is called the Fox Hole, and what it has to do with the fox church?"

"Have you heard a story?"

"What?"

"A fox wanted to eat the grapes hanging from the tree, but it could never reach them, so it said, ’The grapes are sour.’"

"Sour grapes? Like Aesop’s fable."

"What?" Edwin clearly hadn’t heard of Aesop’s fables, "Aesop’s fable?"

"I’m a foreigner," I Have an Early Eight pointed to himself, "My hometown has a similar story, so that’s why this place is called the Fox Hole?"

"I’m not sure, but there are many versions of the story. It’s said that this used to be a vineyard owned by a noble, and the grapes grown on this land were particularly suitable for making wine. However, as the noble’s influence waned, some thieves settled here and took over the place. They were like rats until they were vanquished by the Knight. After that, it evolved into the Fox Hole."

Edwin explained, "Some say it’s because the fox eats the rats, so it’s called the Fox Hole. Others say that because the noble’s vineyard vanished, no one could drink that delicious wine anymore, and everyone said the wine made by the vineyard was sour and definitely not good to drink."

"What does it have to do with the fox church?" I Have an Early Eight clearly didn’t believe these disorganized claims.

The church in front of him bore the heavy marks of time, standing for at least several decades, if not hundreds of years—longer than the history of the Fox Hole.

The village’s name might have some connection to the church.

"Sorry, I don’t know," Edwin said, lowering his head in shame. All the stories he knew were hearsay.

"Don’t be too hard on yourself, Edwin. I was just asking out of curiosity."

As I Have an Early Eight spoke, he subconsciously scratched his arm, not paying too much attention to the strange itch.

But the spot his finger scratched felt odd, and upon rolling up his sleeve, he discovered it was a sprouting grapevine!

Right at the elbow where the aphids had bitten, the tooth-marked wound had slightly swollen, with blood vessels protruding from his skin and connecting to the vine sprout that had popped out of nowhere.

Without any warning, not even a loss of Health Points notification, he realized his Health Points were rapidly depleting only when he focused his attention on them.

And by the time he noticed, with every heartbeat he felt, blood was being transported precisely through the vessels to the grapevine.

What awaited him? Would he become a withered corpse, drained of blood and unable to bleed when stabbed, or turn directly into a vegetative person?

"It’s Lady’s Magic!" Edwin’s complexion changed drastically, and his reaction was even more pronounced.

But I Have an Early Eight nodded calmly, "I’ve heard about it."

He had already learned of the Scarlet Lady from the Grapevine Man.

Either he chose not to resist and became a grapevine, producing grapes bursting with rich sweetness from his own blood, or he drank fresh blood, which would turn him into a crazed monster of the vineyard Planter.

"Drink my blood," Edwin had already sliced his wrist with a small knife. The smile that squeezed out of his ugly face wasn’t pretty, but it was filled with sincerity.

I Have an Early Eight was stunned; using blood to resolve a Magic Curse might not be a secret, but he never expected someone like Edwin to cut his wrist without hesitation.

He was playing a game; death meant Resurrection, pain could be managed, but Edwin had only one life.

He gazed at Edwin’s arm, noticing it was covered in scars.

Perhaps more than once, he had tried to save others.

This feeling made him uncomfortable, and it was difficult to maintain the attitude of "it’s just a game" toward Edwin.

Do all NPCs in the game have such charisma?

[Tainted Blood: Can resolve the Blood Curse, and seems to be a prerequisite for some kind of power. You may be able to investigate and discover more information.]

Tainted Blood?

Edwin was not as simple as he appeared.

Maybe he was completely unaware of his extraordinary nature; otherwise, he wouldn’t always be so cautious.

Or perhaps, knowing full well his own distinction, Edwin might still choose to treat everyone with careful consideration.

I Have an Early Eight looked up and drank the Tainted Blood, the rich smell of blood was quite irritating to the nose, but soon the grapevines connected to his arm fell off.

After they fell to the ground, the grapevines writhed and twisted.

He lifted his bone-chopping knife and gently squeezed the grapevines, exerting a small amount of force with his wrist, and immediately the vines were pressed to release a large amount of blood.

The grapevines growing in the wound were like leeches, crazily drawing his blood, and now that the blood hadn’t turned into sour grapes, it was temporarily stored inside the vines.

"How do you feel?" Edwin carefully raised his head and asked.

"I feel fine now, don’t worry, I don’t feel like going crazy." I Have an Early Eight checked his body and then turned to look at Edwin, noticing that the wound on his wrist was already healing quickly.

Edwin, possessing the Tainted Blood, had a terrifying self-healing ability as well.

"That’s great! Truly great!" Edwin was genuinely happy for his safety, completely disregarding his own body.

I Have an Early Eight nodded, "Thank you, Edwin, but you don’t need to do this next time."

He could simply choose to kill himself; there was no need to let an NPC bear the consequences of death.

Then he heard Edwin whisper, "Stranger, if, and of course this is just a hypothesis, if you’re unwilling that’s okay, but I mean, if it’s possible, after we get through this night, can we become friends?"

His gaze at I Have an Early Eight was sincere, careful, and filled with hope.

I Have an Early Eight shook his head and said with a sorry look in his eyes, "I thought we were already friends."

Outer ugliness does not prevent the blossoming of a beautiful smile, and at this moment, I Have an Early Eight felt that he was truly in Another World, having made a new, absolutely trustworthy friend.

The message alert was flashing.

The message came from an Undead who was also exploring the Fox Hole: "Damn it, what are you doing?"

I Have an Early Eight was perplexed, "What’s wrong?"

"Why did you suddenly red-name and ambush me?" the other party asked angrily, "You killed me outright!"

I Have an Early Eight replied, "Ambush? I’ve been in the church the whole time, after we split up during the day, I haven’t seen anyone."

But soon, the other side sent a video link.

The video was short, only about ten seconds long.

The person in the video was indeed dressed in Planter’s clothes and looked exactly like I Have an Early Eight, even the style of attack, and the thought process was exactly like his.

In the video, the attacked Undead was loudly questioning why he was being attacked.

The name above the attacker’s head also flashed the bright red "[I Have an Early Eight, lv4]."

It really was himself!

Other details may be faked, but the name above the head surely couldn’t be faked, could it? If a monster could masquerade as a player, that would be too horrifying.

However, there was a faint red glow entwined around the figure, showing a slight difference from normal people.

"That really wasn’t me!" he replied to the message.

And in that short span of time, many people had sent him messages asking why he had attacked them.

"Even if I could clone myself, I couldn’t possibly fight a group all by myself," he quickly sent the video links to everyone contacting him.

Finally, he managed to clear himself of the suspicions.

Someone then put forth a new hypothesis, "Red spirit invasion?"

Players attempting to invade other players’ worlds could cause a "Red spirit invasion," entering other players’ worlds in a red-name state, with the goal of killing the original owners of those worlds.

Boom, the door was pushed open again.

A "red" person, identical in appearance and attire to I Have an Early Eight, and holding weapons in both hands, walked into the Fox Hole Church.

Things had taken a turn for the worse; the scene before him appeared to be an actual red spirit invasion!