Chapter 31

On the road from Istanbul to the Principality of Wallachia, three fine horses were trotting slowly.

On the horses were one man and three women. Sun Ran, who was almost omnipotent but couldn't ride a horse, shared a horse with Lan Xin.

Sun Ran was in front, and Lan Xin was behind him, holding him to prevent him from falling off the horse.

At this moment, Sun Ran was very comfortable. He didn't have to control the horse, and he had a beautiful woman as a soft cushion behind him, making it as comfortable as it could be.

At this time, he held a ghost-seeking compass in his hand, and the needle pointed straight toward the direction of the Principality of Wallachia, indicating that the vampire he was looking for was within the principality.

"Xin'er, contact the game administrator and find out where Jing Ke is. Don't wait for him to complete the mission while we are still foolishly on the road," Sun Ran reached out and patted the plump legs of the person behind him.

They had left Istanbul and traveled north along the Danube River for ten days.

"Don't touch me like that," Lan Xin pinched the soft flesh on Sun Ran's waist as a warning, then began to contact the administrator.

In the space station, Hao Qiang received the inquiry and zoomed in to observe the assassin Jing Ke.

Upon seeing this, his eyebrows immediately furrowed.

Jing Ke was already in the capital of the Principality of Wallachia, Targoviste, but his situation was very bad.

Last night, he killed a mid-level officer in the bat army, trying to force out information about the vampire disrupter, but naturally, he got nothing. This action alarmed the disrupter, who then influenced Duke Dracula. Now, the duke had ordered the city to be sealed off, setting up a tight net for a thorough search.

Since last night, Jing Ke had been hiding in the sewers of Targoviste, not daring to move, let alone attempt to assassinate the disrupter.

It seemed that this Bronze Order Maintainer couldn't be relied on for the moment. His actions had made the disrupter wary, greatly increasing the difficulty of the mission.

After some thought, Hao Qiang contacted Jing Ke: "I suggest you seize the opportunity to leave the capital of the principality and join up with the Thorn Rose team. Wait for the storm in the city to subside before attempting the assassination."

After the message was sent, Jing Ke quickly replied coldly: "I am used to acting independently and don't need assistance."

Hao Qiang was taken aback and asked, "What's your plan then?"

"Raising the alarm. Targoviste is already on the move. I just need to wait; over time, the disrupter will inevitably make a mistake," Jing Ke replied and then fell silent.

During the mission, the game administrator couldn't interfere arbitrarily. Hao Qiang had no choice but to contact the Thorn Rose team and inform them of the situation in the Principality of Wallachia.

Sun Ran smiled bitterly, "This Jing Ke has stirred up the waters. It looks like we can't enter the principality normally."

The disrupter had their basic information, and with the city under strict lockdown, they would definitely be suspected as soon as they appeared. No matter how strong the four of them were, they were still mortal and couldn't possibly resist the thousands of vampires, let alone the entire city's regular guards.

"Given this, we can only infiltrate separately," Bai Tingxuan said.

The current situation was that the disrupter had their basic information, but this information was directly transmitted to the mind. In the medieval technological context, a vampire couldn't produce highly similar portraits, meaning the guards had no way to identify their faces; they only knew the most important feature of three women and one man. By acting separately, they could minimize attention.

Sun Ran was puzzled, "Can't we use your invisibility charm?" Entering the city invisibly would be easy and pleasant.

Bai Tingxuan shook her head, "It won't work. The disrupter has set up life detection spells at the city gates. Additionally, every person entering the city is given an entry ticket. Each ticket is recorded and is difficult to forge. However, our weapons are non-living and invisible, so they won't be detected."

Indeed, the disrupter was cautious.

Sun Ran suggested, "Then, when we reach the outskirts of the capital of the principality, Targoviste, we will split up. I will go alone, Ke'er will go alone, and Xin'er and Xuanxuan will go together. After entering the city, we will use Xuanxuan's paper birds to stay in contact."

Ke'er was an assassin and suited for independent action. Although Sun Ran was a mage, he had many means and extensive experience, so he could ensure his safety acting alone. This division of the team was reasonable, and the three women agreed.

From the map, they were less than a hundred miles from the capital of the principality. With the horses trotting slowly, they would reach Targoviste in about half a day.

The four of them traveled slowly, getting closer to the capital of the principality, and Duke Dracula's atrocities became more evident.

Along the road, executed bodies would occasionally appear. These bodies were impaled on sharp stakes, pierced from the lower body through the abdomen and out through the mouth. Under such punishment, the victims wouldn't die immediately but would struggle on the stake for a long time before dying, a cruelty bordering on perversion.

These bodies were either criminals who had violated the law or prisoners of war from neighboring countries. If they angered the duke, they would all meet the same fate. Because of these brutal methods, Duke Dracula earned the nickname "The Impaler."

After traveling for dozens of kilometers, Lan Xin suddenly pointed to a female corpse impaled on a stake and said, "Look, this is a member of another team. She was the worst off, caught on the spot and impaled before she could exit the game. I heard she sought psychological counseling after exiting the game."

Sun Ran sighed, thinking that being mentally clear also had its downsides. If it were a regular player with memory shielding, this painful memory would have been automatically erased by the AI.

After walking for a while, the frequency of corpses increased rapidly, and the road was densely lined with them, the stench of decay filling the air.

These were all executed prisoners of war. The Ottoman Empire had recently attacked Targoviste, and Dracula had ordered the impalement of tens of thousands of prisoners of war along the roads. This act terrified the imperial soldiers, reducing their morale to near zero, and they retreated without even attacking.

Ke'er pointed to two corpses by the roadside and said resentfully, "Look, that's me, and next to me is Sister Xuan. Fortunately, we committed suicide quickly."

Sun Ran frowned, feeling that Dracula's mind was already twisted. For regular players, being a duke was truly a disaster.

This medieval game was indeed dark and barbaric.

He turned to Lan Xin and asked, "Xin'er, how did you get kicked out of the game?"

"Me?" A trace of fear flashed across Lan Xin's face, and she turned pale. "I was chased into the forest by vampires and encountered a werewolf when I was severely injured. He tore my body apart."

The other three were silent at this, and Sun Ran grabbed Lan Xin's hand, holding it tightly and said softly, "That won't happen again."

Lan Xin smiled slightly, leaning forward a bit, seeking comfort from Sun Ran's back.

The Principality of Wallachia was small. After riding for a few hours and passing through several small towns, they were less than ten kilometers from Targoviste.

At this point, the four of them parted ways. The three women rode their horses and split up, while Sun Ran walked on foot at the end, as he couldn't ride a horse.

The three women quickly disappeared, and Sun Ran was left behind. It took him more than two hours to cover the ten kilometers, and as the sky grew dark and dusk approached, the capital of the principality, Targoviste, finally came into view.

The city was under complete lockdown, with entry allowed but no exit. At the city gate, there were over thirty guards, and a notice board posted a bounty of one hundred gold coins for the assassin.

Sun Ran steadied himself, paid a silver coin for the entry fee, received an entry ticket, and followed a merchant caravan into the city.

The atmosphere inside Targoviste was equally tense. The streets were filled with patrolling guards, and occasionally, vampires in black high-collared cloaks would appear, all searching for the assassin. If someone tried to cause trouble, the guards would take them outside the city and impale them.

Under such brutal measures, the city was sealed so tightly that not even a fly could escape.

At this moment, Sun Ran truly felt the power of the vampires. Leveraging their authority to gain the cooperation of regular players was indeed very difficult to counter.