Constantine couldn’t find the courage against the young man’s cold gaze and arrogant tone.

He was frozen in fear.

The young man swept his gaze again and saw that the hamlet was not only pillaged but the poor citizens were already beyond saving.

He turned around and left.

But he left a warning to Constantine.

"Pretend you didn’t encounter me."

Constantine watched his back, while feeling his legs turning jelly.

As much as he wanted to drop to the ground because of how weary he was, he couldn’t afford to do so when his subordinates were watching him.

If he showed weakness, they would lose moral and their loyalty towards him would drop significantly.

He gritted his teeth and tightened his fist.

He turned towards his subordinates and was about to reprimand them when he realized they were more terrified than him.

He shouted, "Snap out of it! We’ve survived and that’s more than enough! We must report this to our master!"

His subordinates snapped awake and hastily flee, believing that the young man might changed his mind and slaughtered them...

...

Max returned to the main road while in deep thought.

Baron Patrick’s raiders... I forgot about the provincial quest that would occur in two years.

Since Max chose a different village in his past life, he had a different provincial quest.

He didn’t participate in the provincial quest in the Mirefall Province out of its difficulty.

To fight against the raiders.

After the Empire’s provinces were recovering from the demon invasion, the raiders in the Mirefall Province took advantage of the situation by pillaging the villages and even towns.

With the players participating, some even joining in the raiders group, who was on the momentum of pillaging even cities.

But, in the end, they failed.

Baron Patrick was exposed. He accumulated massive wealth, enough for even a Marquis to envy him.

But they wouldn’t definitely envy a man who instantly lost everything just as he had it all.

Once Max realized the raiders’ background and confirmed no Malveris’ intervention, he decided to let them go.

He might have contributions by capturing them and reporting them to the Imperial Family, but it was inadequate compared to the contributions during the provincial quest.

Max’s decision was also a form of investment.

If he also subdued them and possibly got rid of the provincial quest in the future, the timeline he was aware of would definitely be affected.

He had to be meticulous in his decisions.

At this point, since he was leading the player not only in terms of level but on the exploration, he began encountering large-scale quests on their inception.

As much as possible, he must not hasten them, or else he would fail to keep up.

Max soon distracted himself by enjoying the scenery until he was forced to log out, barely just arriving in the Silverflow Riverbanks.

...

It was currently 8pm in the evening and Max was now cooking for his dinner.

Enzo didn’t cook for him, for he was aware that his brother liked the food he cooked.

Ever since they had a conversation from their last dinner, they hadn’t spoken to each other, not even once.

It wasn’t that it was awkward, both brothers had their own personal matters to invest their mind into.

After Max ate and exercised for the next four hours, it was finally 12 am in the morning.

It was now March 31. The last day of the month that Apocalypse Online was launched.

For a single month, many events had occurred.

Max was aware how his perception about NPCs changed after discovering their true origins.

Max smiled while reminiscing.

Now that he had gained his SSS-Class and his foundation was solid than before, he didn’t hesitate to choose sleep over diving into the game.

...

March 31, 2028. 8am in the morning.

Max didn’t set an alarm clock, intending to fully take a rest.

Suddenly, the door was knocked.

It was soft.

Such soft knock wasn’t enough to awaken Max from his slumber.

The knocking noise continued, but not once its tone intensified.

It remained consistent.

Soft and deliberate.

As if the person behind was deeply respectful to Max and his brother.

Eventually, after fifteen minutes of knocking, Max woke up.

His mind remained blank for a while, until another soft knock snapped him awake.

He frowned. He finally realized that the person had been knocking for fifteen minutes straight.

He had simply neglected it, believing that it would eventually stop.

The person didn’t call his name, so probably, it was someone Max didn’t know.

Max rubbed his eyes and stretched his limbs, shouting in the process.

The knocking noise had finally halted.

Max stood up and walked towards the door.

He opened and was shocked the discover there was a group of people standing in front of him with a terrified face.

The person in the middle was someone Max was familiar of.

He was none other than the loan shark his parents had gotten involved with.

He was tall and bald. He has a broad shoulder and a scar in his right eye.

He wore sunglasses and from a distance, he emitted an intimidating aura.

It was no wonder Max was forced to be their slave until the apocalypse descended.

Max was about to ask when the loan shark said in a stern voice, "Your debt has been paid."

He turned around and was about to leave as fast as he could, when Max suddenly said, "Hold on."

The loan shark was frozen.

His subordinates, including the three individuals who burst through the door on the exact moment Max had regressed, were petrified.

The loan shark tried to compose himself and turned around.

Despite attempting to hide how scared he was, Max had already seen through his emotion.

However, he didn’t want to deal with him.

He glanced at the loan shark’s three lackeys and grinned at them.

"I have to pay my debt on them, as well. You can only leave once our matters are settled."

The three lackeys hastily shook their heads and wanted to deny Max.

But they found the words stuck into their throat.

Max had already opened the door wide, seemingly inviting them in...

===

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