"Damn it, is this some kind of joke? This is ridiculous." Lin Chen was speechless.
But soon, he thought of a solution.
He didn't recognize the writing, true—but that didn't mean Jia Lou and Lilith wouldn't.
The former was a human knight, the latter a human priest—both hailing from the Galan Empire.
Surely, they could read this.
So Lin Chen called out to the four heroes and had them come over.
They looked confused but still obeyed.
"Lord, is there something you need?"
Lin Chen handed Mo Er's Investigation Diary to them.
"Take a look—what does it say?"
Jia Lou took it and started reading.
Her brow quickly furrowed.
Lilith also seemed to catch something and her expression shifted subtly.
The two flipped through the pages rapidly.
Lin Chen's curiosity spiked. He asked immediately:
"What does it say?"
Jia Lou finally paused and began explaining:
"This is a diary written by someone named Mo Er. He was an investigator dispatched by the Galan Empire. A year ago, he left on a mission to investigate the case of the Corrupted Insectoids."
"Corrupted Insectoids?" Lin Chen raised an eyebrow.
"Yes. The insectoid race is a neutral faction that dwells in the subterranean world. But at some unknown point, a number of insectoids began appearing within the borders of the Galan Empire, wreaking havoc on its citizens. So the Empire sent Mo Er to uncover the truth."
"And what happened to him? Why did he end up in that village? How did he die?" Lin Chen pressed further.
Jia Lou and Lilith exchanged glances and continued:
"Mo Er was bitten by a Thousand Venom Insect and fled to the village. But he inadvertently brought the Corrupted Insectoids trailing after him. The village was wiped out, and Mo Er, who had been hidden in the cellar by the village chief, died from the poison."
"As for the investigation, it seems to be linked to a faction called the Demonic Race."
Lin Chen now had a general grasp of the situation.
The Demonic Race caused the emergence of Corrupted Insectoids.
These creatures infiltrated the Galan Empire and harmed its people.
The Empire dispatched Mo Er to investigate how the corruption began.
But he was killed before he could report back.
And now, Lin Chen had stumbled upon the diary, triggering this Unique Quest.
Forget how to complete the quest or what the rewards might be for now—just the mention of Corrupted Insectoids and Demonic Race stirred something in Lin Chen's memory.
He vaguely recalled that the Galan Empire, the Anurui Empire of the Dwarves, and the Noel Kingdom of the Elves had all posted quests asking players to eliminate Corrupted Insectoids—with very generous rewards.
Even later in the game, players had witnessed those three empires jointly launching a campaign into the underworld.
As for the Demonic Race mentioned in the diary—that was a dark faction.
They resided in a realm called the Abyss of Corruption.
They were a common enemy to all the empires.
There had been multiple wars between the Demonic Race and the empires throughout history—each suffering great losses. The enmity ran deep.
It was a complex background—too much to explain all at once.
And besides, Lin Chen wasn't strong enough yet to involve himself in that level of conflict.
For now, his top priority was to complete this Unique Quest.
Perhaps along the way, he'd uncover even more secrets.
With that in mind, Lin Chen exhaled and put the diary away.
He glanced at the sky—still a few hours before nightfall.
No time to waste—time to continue farming resources.
"Keep exploring. We return before nightfall," Lin Chen instructed.
The heroes nodded and led their troops back into action:
killing monsters,
opening chests,
sealing resource points,
gathering all types of loot.
Hours later, they returned to the Divine Realm Territory.
The haul from this trip was massive—just the basic resources alone totaled 30 million, not to mention the various other rewards.
After tallying up, the territory's resource stockpile was:
[Divine Realm]
Level: 10
Alliance: None
Sub-Territories: None
Population: 150,000 / 150,000
Daily New Citizens: 1,500
Available Troop Classes: Windrunner Archer, Griffin Knight, Furious Blood Orc, Dwarf Miner
Wood: 79.146 million
Stone: 78.216 million
Iron: 77.982 million
Gold: 31.262 million
Food: 6.313 million
Upgrade Requirement: 1.17 million of Wood, Stone, Iron, and Gold
Wood, stone, and iron were nearing 80 million each.
Gold sat comfortably above 30 million.
He had over 100 Subject Refresh Cards.
Time for a major troop expansion.
But before that—Lin Chen needed to upgrade his Lord Hall.
The population was maxed out.
The resources were ready, so there was no reason to wait.
"Spend Wood, Stone, Iron, and Gold—1.17 million.
Lord Hall upgraded to Level 11."
"Spend 1.755 million—Level 12."
"Spend 2.632 million…"
Golden beams of light rained down as the Lord Hall's level soared.
Eventually, it reached Level 15, and Lin Chen stopped.
Now the max population capacity was 290,000—nearly double.
That would hold him over for a while.
Next, he spent 1.35 million resources to upgrade the Elf Altar to Level 10.
At this level, it produced 1,000 elf citizens per day.
He still had 500 unused citizens left for today.
Might as well use them.
"You have trained 500 Windrunner Archers. Cost: 300,000 Gold."
Whoosh—500 archers emerged from the Altar's gate.
After wrapping that up, Lin Chen returned to the Lord Hall.
Sano came over to report on the day's developments:
"Today, the territory encountered three enemy attacks—all successfully repelled."
"In addition, 20,000 Dwarf Miners gathered from 16 resource points, bringing in:
1.05 million Wood, 1.25 million Stone, ...and so on."
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