Chapter 147: Temptation of Merits

Killed Forager (Level 45 Elite). Contribution: 100%. Obtained 480 experience and one Merit!

“Merit!” After Feng Luo killed the first Forager and read the system notification, it was inevitable that he was pleasantly surprised.

As previously mentioned, Merits were not obtained easily in War. They could only be obtained by completing an incredible solo kill or through some unique monsters or certain special missions.

Based on the information in the game, Merits were, in fact, something given by the Federation to express their gratitude to adventurers who made significant contributions. For adventurers, it was a sort of recognition and a record of their contribution.

So, what were the uses of Merits? Naturally, their uses were not insignificant!

For one, Merits allowed players to exchange for unique equipment or rare materials that could not be obtained elsewhere at the office set up in the Federal Government and the military. For example, the blueprints of equipment, medicinal formulas, unique energy crystals—even the hardest item to obtain, decorative badges—many rare items of the game could be found in the warehouse of the Federation.

Secondly, Merits could be used to exchange for positions in some departments of the government and military. Through this, players could obtain positions of authority in the game!

For example, once a player exchanged for a military rank using Merits, the player would be able to obtain authority similar to that of NPC military officers, and from that, they would be involved in military missions and play their part in these missions, such as in the Guard Bureau of Roguetown. Since the guards in the game actually had the authority of being the police as well as the army, the military rank system would also be effective here.

For example, Harley was a corporal, and the fat Director Locke was also a corporal. The two of them had the highest military rank in this small town.

This small mountain town was, after all, not a military base like the Town of Exiles, so the military ranks of members of the guard were relatively low. Under such circumstances, if a player were to have the military rank of a sergeant, then he or she would undoubtedly be the highest-ranking officer.

Military ranks did not represent actual authority; being a sergeant did not mean that one would be able to directly command Harley or the soldiers in the guard team. However, all the members of the guards would definitely show him respect. And if Harley and Locke were to die, if one seized the opportunity, one might even obtain command of the guards!

This would depend on the player’s ability. However, from what Feng Luo knew at the moment, the military rank of sergeant wasn’t worth mentioning, as he had never even met a corporal before.

Merits could not be earned like contribution points to cities, which one could earn by completing missions. They were difficult to obtain through conventional methods and could only be obtained through merit missions, something a player could only wish for!

Feng Luo had played the game for a very long time. He had never used Merits to exchange for anything, and still, he had only accumulated around 350 points. This amount of Merits was enough for him to get a military rank of only a medium-class soldier.

The military rank system of the Federation was not complex. It was categorized by soldier, sergeant, lieutenant, colonel, and general. Five levels. From the lowest to the highest military rank, the total Merits required were as followed: Low-class Soldier (100), Medium-class Soldier (250), First-class Soldier (500); Corporal (1000), Sergeant (2500)…

As such, exchanging for a military sergeant rank required 1,000 Merits, unless one encountered a hidden mission. Otherwise, at the moment, it was basically impossible to get that!

However, the system actually awarded Merits for solo-killing this sort of Forager?!

Moreover, it was not by chance. Feng Luo had already killed three Foragers, and he had actually gotten three Merits consecutively.

This means that it is very likely the Resident Evil/Biohazard story mission is related to Merits.

Feng Luo could instantly imagine just how many players the “Biohazard” series of missions would attract. The temptation of Merits was extremely strong!

Bang!

−4533

In his vision, he did not find any trace of a Forager for the moment. Feng Luo raised his M110 and began to quickly kill the normal zombies outside the wall.

Possessing the 40 percent increased firing rate of the perfect Eye of the Thunder Gun Magazine, the gap between Feng Luo’s shots was only a little over one second.

Facing these zombies that moved slowly and did not even know how to dodge, this rate of fire could undoubtedly be utilized to its maximum potential. Paired with the double armor-piercing round, he would, at most, need two shots to kill a zombie.

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At that moment, the ground outside the wall surrounding the Guard Bureau was filled with the “corpses” of zombies. Apart from that, there were also countless shiny blood tonics, magazine clips, MP potions, energy crystals, and other supplies that only players could see. There were even two green one-time-use T-virus treatment potions!

However, no monster had dropped the blue T-virus enhancing potion. Even those hidden among the zombies that had evolved to become Elite-grade infected only dropped healing potions, at most. This was enough to prove the value of enhancing potions. They were vastly superior to healing potions.

The land filled with supplies was very tempting to the players because although they were happily killing monsters right now, they were faced with a very serious problem: the supplies they had were running out.

Apart from Warriors, Gunners and Manipulators were professions that consumed a lot. They needed energy crystals and bullets in order to fight. The group had initially prepared sufficiently for the current mission, bringing a decent amount of supplies in their backpacks. However, the anti-grav backpacks were limited, after all, so they could not bring too many things. The battle in the afternoon never really stopped, so the expenses were naturally not low.

This was especially true after the zombies began to surround them. By now, although it had not yet been an hour—and the real full-scale attack had not yet lasted more than 20 minutes—the consumables on most people had already been used up.

If the Machine Gunners, who consumed the most bullets, could not replenish their ammunition from the armory of the Guard Bureau, Sister Rui and Lin Aotian’s firepower might have already been extinguished, and they would only be able to rely on their pistols.

The only thing was that the few Manipulators on the team lacked MP at the moment. They could no longer ignore calculating their MP recovery rate so that they could cast a skill at the most critical moment.

As such, the supplies sitting on the ground outside had a strong allure. It was unfortunate that hundreds or even thousands of zombies were surrounding them outside and did not provide them with the opportunity to go out. Feng Luo even wondered if he should release 24K and send the Gatherer Beetle out to see if there was a chance to gather these supplies. However, after some thinking, he decided it was best to forget it. He still did not want to reveal his pet in front of everyone just yet.

At that moment, Mu Zi, holding an assault rifle and huffing and puffing came running up the stairs of the building and said, “Brother Feng. The NPC called Harley is calling for you. He has something he needs to talk to you about!”

Bang!

After Feng Luo blew off the head of a female zombie wearing seductive and revealing clothing who seemed to be in a certain unique profession, he put away the M110 and went downstairs.

******

“So, here’s the thing. We’re running out of ammunition. Even if we use it sparingly, we can last another half an hour at most before everything gets used up!”

Amid the gunshots and chaos outside, inside the emergency meeting room within the building stood Feng Luo, Young Master Ling, and Harley. At that moment, as the actual commander of the guard team, Harley’s tired expression seemed even more tired. There was even a hint of despair.

“The communicator still cannot be used,” Harley said. He slammed his fist on the table angrily. “Damn it! Those bastards probably set up a jamming device in the town a long time ago. We cannot contact any Federation cities. They have no idea what’s happening over here!” He shifted his gaze toward Feng Luo and Brother Ling. “So, I’ve asked for the two of you here because I hope to hear your advice. How should we continue to defend the place after we use up all our ammunition? Or perhaps more accurately… How do we survive!?”

Feng Luo and Brother Ling exchanged glances with each other.

The situation really did change!

One of them was the captain of the small player party while the other was one who met Harley earliest. Harley had called them, and clearly, what the two of them said next had a high probability of influencing the development of the storyline.

“How about we tell him about the bomb right now?” Brother Ling whispered softly to Feng Luo through the party channel.

Informing Harley of this piece of intelligence would imply that their next move would be to break out of the place! It was because a bomb threat paired with the fact that no backup would be coming from the outside meant that for these NPCs, escaping Roguetown was the only choice.

As for the players, the breakout option also had some risks. For one, if they chose to break out, there was a huge number of zombies outside, so the probability of being caught and bitten was higher.

Second, and more importantly, the previous mission mentioned “enemy players,” and until now, these people had yet to make their appearance. Were they already surrounded by these players? Or perhaps they had been observing them in secret all the while as they waited for the right opportunity? It was hard to say.

If they had the wall and the Guard Bureau building as their base, by borrowing the strength of the NPCs, fighting the enemy players who had the help of the zombies would mean that they would not be in an extremely passive situation, even though it would also not put them in an advantageous position.

And the moment they chose the breakout option, they would be vulnerable to an enemy ambush in the midst of their journey.

“Let’s break out!” Feng Luo suggested after thinking for a while.

Without their communicator and the Scout Beetles, it was certainly quite difficult to judge the situation. However, if they stayed there and used up all their ammunition and supplies, they wouldn’t be able to break out even if they wanted to.

So, they might as well begin the battle against these players that was bound to happen anyway while they still had some combat strength. It would also help them gain the initiative!