Seeing that he was being isolated, Wang Zhifan didn't care much. He continued walking towards the exit of the courtyard, which was a closed wooden gate, to first check the situation outside.

But before he could take two steps, the courtyard's wooden gate was pushed open from the outside, and in came a stooped old man wearing blue cloth and sporting a grayish-white goatee.

The old man's face was visibly worried. As soon as he entered, he bent his already stooped figure sharply, almost crawling on the ground, and then raised his head to shout loudly at the players in the courtyard:

"Brave warriors! The Blood Wolf Bandits are already near the stockade! This old man beseeches you to lend us your aid and help Qingping Stockade eliminate these villains!"

"Please, elder, stand up. We will surely lend a helping hand."

At this moment, Wang Zhifan, who was closest to the old man that was clearly a dungeon NPC, stepped forward and said.

He already knew from browsing player forums that there might be NPCs appearing in the dungeon, so he wasn't surprised at the old man inviting them to battle.

"Then I shall trouble you brave warriors! Please promptly prepare and head to the stockade entrance to face the enemy. The youth of Qingping Stockade have already formed their battle lines; with your assistance, we are bound to be able to eliminate these outlaws!"

"Alright, elder, you can lead us there now."

After listening to the NPC, Wang Zhifan didn't dawdle. He quickly asked to be led to the battle position, as he was already fully armed and ready for combat.

"Warriors, please follow me!"

The old man NPC then glanced at Wang Zhifan, along with the other two groups in the courtyard, the three men in overcoats and the woman in black, noticing that they were all walking towards him, and turned to lead the way.

Following him out of the courtyard, Wang Zhifan found himself in a place resembling an ancient village of Xia Country. On each side of the gravel path under his feet were ancient blue brick and black tile houses no more than two stories high, as well as several buildings like mills and granaries. Around all these buildings was a tall wooden fence, and at the end of the gravel path was the only exit in the fence, a large gate made of sturdy wood.

The large gate was tightly closed, and on the open space inside it, about a hundred young and strong villagers were gathered, holding sickles or hoes. Above the gate, a few people dressed like hunters with bows and arrows were gazing outside.

"Judging by this, it should be a defensive battle. I'll hide behind the fence first."

After arriving near the large gate with the old man NPC, Wang Zhifan quickly selected his initial position, deciding to crouch behind the fence, neither too close nor too far from the gate, waiting for the impending bandit attack. He planned to use his fine layer pistol to shoot fine layer bullets through the gaps in the fence at the enemies outside, thus keeping himself relatively safe.

Having settled his position, Wang Zhifan observed that the other teammates who had come along were also making their choices.

The man in the overcoat with the sniper rifle quickly asked the NPC old man for a ladder, which he used to climb onto a rooftop about two hundred meters away from the large gate, close to the center of the village. He then set up his sniper rifle on the roof tiles, lying prone and aiming through the scope, ready to snipe the approaching enemies from a distance.

The suit-clad young man with a rifle, also a gunman, chose not to go as far back as the man in the overcoat. Instead, he took up a position on a rooftop closer to the large gate, ready to provide long-range fire support to the young villagers below.

The long-haired woman in black, also armed with a pistol, chose a position similar to Wang Zhifan's. She hid behind the other side of the large gate's fence, planning to shoot through the gaps just like him.

As for the only other melee player besides Wang Zhifan, the smiling mask assassin, Wang Zhifan only saw him arrive near the large gate, and then he suddenly disappeared, likely having entered stealth mode.

"With about a hundred young villagers armed with sickles and hoes close for melee, several bowmen for nearby archery support, both I and the long-haired woman using pistols, a suit youth with a rifle on a nearby rooftop for mid-range, and the overcoat man with a sniper rifle for long-range, plus an assassin sneaking around, aren't we well-configured to crush this ancient setting dungeon?"

Though he hadn't seen the enemies yet, Wang Zhifan, hiding behind the fence near the large gate, was feeling confident. He knew well how devastating modern weaponry could be against such ancient bandits, unless they numbered in the thousands, their current setup should be formidable.

Speak of the devil, and he shall appear. As Wang Zhifan thought this, he suddenly heard the sound of hooves from the downhill dirt road outside the gate. He then saw five formidable horsemen emerge from below, charging up rapidly, followed by nearly two hundred running bandits.

"Fortunately... there are only about two hundred bandits, it shouldn't be too hard to handle."

Wang Zhifan, hiding behind the fence near the large gate, was observing the approaching exterior enemies while assessing the situation internally.

"Release the arrows!"

Next, he heard the NPC stooped old man behind the large gate suddenly order the bowmen squatting on top to release their arrows.

These supposed hunter bowmen were skilled. With the old man's command, their arrows flew towards the five most prominent horsemen near the large gate, especially the bald, scar-faced bandit in the middle, who received half of the arrows' attention.

However, what Wang Zhifan did not expect was that instead of retreating from the incoming arrows, these bandit leaders urged their horses to charge at the gate with increased speed!

In particular, the four horsemen flanking the bald, scar-faced bandit suddenly leaped high from their horses, seemingly stepping through the air over twenty meters, dodging the arrows mid-air, landing right in front of the hunters on the gate!

"Damn! How can these horse-riding bandits jump so far?! Can they use lightweight skills?!"

Wang Zhifan's face turned rather concerning at this point. He had thought that they would easily overpower the bandits with modern weapons, never expecting the enemies weren't like the ancient bandits of Xia Country he imagined—they seemed to possess martial skills too!

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