Wow! The item-dropping rate is really high!

[The territory you control—Li Ming Town—is under threat, triggering a time-limited event. From now on, you can issue time-limited regional quests to all players in the area through this event.]

Having just left the barracks in his Mecha, Bai E received a prompt from his panel, an event happening far away was nonetheless closely related to him.

It might be due to some "system mechanics" that he was unaware of, or perhaps because of the "connector" he had with the town that allowed him to know what was happening within his territory.

Anyhow, the opportunity to issue a time-limited regional quest presented itself once again, glaringly obvious before his eyes.

What's there to hesitate about?

To prevent the players from slacking off, a mission with benefits always encouraged them to exhibit more initiative.

[Task description auto-generation in progress...]

[Time-limited task—Defend the Town (Regional Quest): Your aggressive actions have enraged the wandering mechanical ghosts on the wasteland. Following the edicts left by the primal creator, these mechanical ghosts will relentlessly pursue any creature that has attacked them, never stopping until death. Before real reinforcements arrive, the safety of the town is in your hands!

Task requirements: Defend Li Ming Town for 1 hour, 29 minutes and 59 seconds.

Task rewards: General experience 1~400 points (individual participation reward, to be determined by the "integrity of Li Ming Town", adjustable), general experience 12,000~18,000 points (collective reward for all participants, to be determined by contribution to the battle, adjustable), item rewards (undetermined).]

[Do you want to issue the current quest?]

Set all experience rewards to the highest, and add a faction reputation reward!

[Confirm and issue!]

...

"The boss sent a reply, asking us to evacuate everyone," Kuang Xin said softly, seeking Gong Yan's opinion.

"Evacuate? With what shall we evacuate?" Gong Yan furrowed her brows, having no intention of doing so.

By relying on those old cars in the town that rattled loudly as soon as they started? Or on the legs of the civilians?

With the forces of the intelligent machines closing in, running out to the plains outside the town would only turn them into exposed targets.

In contrast, holding the town might offer a slim chance of defeating the enemy.

After managing the town for quite some time, some basic defenses and immovable heavy machine guns and such could help them fend off the enemy.

The premise was... that the scale of the approaching mechanized troops wasn't as large as the factory's intelligent machine guards that the boss fought that day.

Thinking back to the firepower of the intelligent machines that day, all the players couldn't help but shudder.

Even though they all believed in a bright future, they didn't have the boss's ability to bathe in missile fire before they had grown.

If the intelligent machines coming had that kind of strength, it would be sensible to pack up and run as soon as possible. Explore stories at My Virtual Library Empire

The pioneering benefits had ended, and they had no clue where the next set of benefits was.

Of course, they knew that among the players with them, three had become core officials of the town.

The development of a new power did indeed present opportunities, but the few available slots had already been filled by those with connections, leaving nothing for the rest. Were they supposed to stay put and wait for death?

Players were creatures without much sentiment; it was difficult to keep them around without long-term benefits.

Moreover, by nature, they were keen on exploring novelties, and unless there was a clear path to rapidly advance their strength laid out before them, everything else was nonsense.

If it weren't for the wilderness surrounding them, depriving them of any direction to escape to, many would have already fled long ago.

Gong Yan knew that these players had their ideas. The convoy filled with steel that left the town not long ago was their target for infiltration.

They had heard that this convoy would shuttle back and forth between some mysterious location and the town, and following it to leave this town, which seemed doomed to most, was the plan they had previously considered.

But now with a formidable enemy ahead, they probably no longer had the patience...

Gong Yan looked at the gathering of players who had already shown signs of disloyalty, her eyes slightly creased with concern as she asked the nearby Kuang Xin, "Has Dai not come back yet?"

"Not yet." Kuang Xin was also frowning, his two battle axes in hand itching for a fight.

The boss's remarkable battle achievements had his blood boiling, and if given the chance, he too wanted to experience that feeling.

"He's back! Dai is back!" A lookout announced from a distance.

With time, the name "Dai" had become deeply entrenched in everyone's hearts.

Dai Lian, wearing a black skin-tight suit, swiftly entered the dim light of the town, scanned the faces of all the players, and with as calm a breath as possible, he stated the facts, "I went far out to check—the intelligent machine army hasn't actually locked onto us yet."

"They seem to have only targeted a general direction. What they've sent initially are carpet-searching individuals designed for scouting suspicious targets. Those few we jointly dispatched earlier are their most basic scouting soldiers."

Dai Lian's first statement provided a momentary relief to the unstable minds of most players; no one wanted to abandon this precious land unless truly necessary.

Developing under this power was much more stimulating than their past experience in Grey Iron City.

Yet the follow-up report from Dai Lian undoubtedly cast another shadow over their hearts.