My Misfortune Crushed Instances-Chapter 37: I Took Down Both the Qi Union and the Elder Council
"Brother Rui? Did you just fight your way in like this?"
When Zhang Xiaoguang voiced his question, the others also turned to look.
Li Rui replied, "Yes, I just needed a bit more experience to level up. I leveled up to 7 while fighting halfway, restoring my status. There were some events and quests ahead, so with the corpse demon’s experience, I barely reached level 8."
He Chengli leaned on his shoulder and asked, "What should we do after we get out?"
"Don’t worry, after we get out, I’ll take you to grab some goodies first," Li Rui said. No matter what, he definitely needed to let He Chengli complete those side quests and settle the experience points first.
As for the main quest, anyway, they had to eventually face the shadow boss in the Yujiang Ghost Garden. As long as they didn’t go to the deepest part of the garden, they wouldn’t trigger it.
His explanation left the four of them puzzled; they didn’t know what they were supposed to get, but just as they left the Ghost Garden, Zhang Xiaoguang exclaimed, "The main quest has updated."
"What is it?" Li Rui asked.
"It’s a choice. It wants us to gather information about the Ghost Garden in town. According to the walkthrough, it’s about choosing between the Qi Union or the Elder Council and getting them to help us take down the boss in the garden."
All four of them were now taking cues from Li Rui, even waiting for him to decide how to handle the main quest.
However, upon hearing this quest, he gasped, "Hiss, this is bad."
The group was taken aback, "What’s wrong?"
Li Rui looked a bit troubled, "It’s hard to explain, just follow me, and you’ll see."
Before long, the group had followed him to where the old melon farmer was, and then they were dumbfounded to see a field full of Qi Union disciples.
"..."
"Brother Rui, did you clean out their base?" He Chengli said dryly from his shoulder.
Li Rui let out an awkward chuckle, "They were the ones who provoked me."
"Ahem, it’s fine," he added, "You all just need to slap a few faces, kick a few butts, pick up the quest, and don’t feel bad. This lot bullies the common folk and aren’t good people."
The group had never seen such tactics before, but after trying it...
"Oh, I got a side quest!" Wu Xing exclaimed joyfully. She immediately realized that Li Rui had subdued these people purposely to let their group earn rewards.
Though she had guessed wrong in one aspect; it wasn’t just a benefit for the two of them, Li Rui did it as a favor for He Chengli and his colleague Zhang Xiaoguang.
Once Li Rui had rounded them all up and expelled them from town, the Secret Realm finalized their rewards.
Mei Meng timidly said, "We, we can still find the Elder Council people."
After she spoke, the group looked back at Li Rui, only to see his expression turn awkward once more.
"Sorry, I took down the Elder Council too. They likely won’t assist us, but on the bright side, there are rewards to claim over there as well."
"...."
The others didn’t know what to say.
This heaven-sent savior was simply beyond normal logic. Usually, others would clear the Secret Realm by ensuring the main quest was completed before trying to unlock as many side quests or events as possible for more rewards. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎
But not him; he came and opened a bunch of side quests first without finishing them completely, just waiting for others who entered the dungeon with him to earn the rewards.
The four of them were full of admiration, thoroughly touched.
"Brother Rui, you’re really a good person!"
With all tasks settled, the plot with the melon farmer continued. He came forward with many thanks, bowing repeatedly to Li Rui.
The latter expressed his gratitude, then immediately pinned him to the ground.
!
Everyone there was startled.
The melon farmer lay on the ground, yelling, "Young hero! What’s wrong!"
Li Rui chuckled, "Let me ask you, you’re the contact for Huang Zhonglu’s business, right?"
Actually, it was simple; earlier at the Huang Mansion, the steward mentioned that the place where kidnapped people were held was near a watermelon field.
He recalled meeting the melon farmer and thought that the Qi Union disciples who had a conflict with him might not just be looking for trouble but had other motives. From this, he guessed that this old man might have links to the Elder Council’s kidnappings.
In reality, making such a connection might seem presumptuous, but in the game, Li Rui knew that the system wouldn’t randomly assign tasks. If the same clue appeared in two different quests, they were likely related.
The melon farmer naturally wouldn’t admit it, "Young hero, I’m wronged! I’m just a farmer outside, how could I know Master Huang? Young hero, it hurts! Ouch, ouch."
"Hurt?"
Li Rui, supporting He Chengli with one hand, held the melon farmer, "Hurting is right, you know my ways."
He released his grip and instead clamped down on the other’s jaw, his gaze as sharp as a knife.
The menacing influence once more took effect, and the melon farmer recalled the thunderous methods with which this grim star had dealt with the Qi Union disciples. His fear levels rising, he immediately began shivering.
"Young hero, I’ll tell, I’ll tell, Master Huang gave me silver to pretend to sell watermelons in town. At night, I’d take a cart to transport the kidnapped people out and hide them in an outside dungeon, without anyone knowing. I’m just an honest man; he forced me."
Bang!
Li Rui raised his hand and gave a big slap, missing skills, "Bullshit, he has servants, why use a melon farmer? Don’t talk crap, I don’t care who you are, just lead me to where he keeps the prisoners and then get lost, don’t come back to town."
He had Zhang Xiaoguang bind the melon farmer and took him to the Huang Mansion first.
Seeing the ground littered with the dead and wounded servants, the guy turned pale and didn’t dare to utter a word.
Once they finished settling the reward for that task, Li Rui had the melon farmer lead the group to the watermelon fields outside town. If the old farmer’s information wasn’t unlocked, that area couldn’t be explored.
Before long, they located the dungeon where people were held and unexpectedly acquired another batch of rewards.
At this moment, He Chengli exclaimed happily, "Brother Rui, I leveled up! I reached level 10, and I can change jobs now."
With every level increase, the required experience significantly rises. He hadn’t been level 9 for long before, and sticking only to the Yujiang Ghost Garden main quest, reaching level 10 was nearly impossible. Yet now, through Li Rui’s maneuvering, he had leveled up without even dealing with the final boss.
Not just him, after harvesting so much side quest experience, everyone benefited in some way, and Li Rui also reached level 9.
"So, it means we now have to defeat the shadow boss in the Ghost Garden without relying on Qi Union or the Elder Council?" Zhang Xiaoguang asked.
Actually, the main quest was initially designed to lower difficulty, suggesting collaboration with those two factions. But it wasn’t necessary; with the guide, players could defeat the boss independently if strong enough.
At this point, Li Rui scratched his head, "I’m still quite a bit away from level 10. Before fighting the shadow, can I try and see if I can trigger the bosses for the other two main quests as well?"
