As Hua Feihua collapsed, the swarming zombies closed in around him.
Hua Feihua didn't drop any gear, but his potions were scattered all over the ground—individual bottles, bundled flasks, at least a dozen or so items in total.
"Hands off!"
Xiao Yueya wiggled her hips and darted forward with a *whoosh*, slipping right behind the zombies and sweeping the ground completely clean of loot in the blink of an eye.
A few surrounding players who had stopped to watch the spectacle had also planned to grab some easy pickings. Items dropped upon death in a PK had no protection whatsoever—anyone could pick them up. But they were a fraction of a second too slow and ended up empty-handed.
"Was that really necessary? Just a few potions..."
Xiao Yu had intended to grab some loot too, but a cluster of zombies blocked his path, leaving him to watch helplessly as Xiao Yueya scooped up a small mountain of supplies.
Xiao Yueya: "I wanted to! Didn't get any, did you? Sucks to be you! Hmph."
Ceng Jing Shu Guang: "Quest first!!"
Xiao Yueya: "I finished my quest ages ago!"
Ceng Jing Shu Guang: "Then what was that just now?"
Xiao Yueya: "I lied, so what?"
Xiao Yu was left speechless; when a woman wants to act spoiled and unreasonable, the smartest choice for a man is to shut his mouth. Still, he breathed a sigh of relief. At least the outcome was good—the apothecary trial was finally complete.
"Then I'm heading out. I helped you kill the guy, so you can go back and turn in your quest. You should be able to learn alchemy now. The apothecary profession is super lucrative in the later stages, so go for it. My future might depend on you supporting me." Xiao Yu didn't want to waste any more time. He sent Xiao Yueya a message while leading his train of zombies on a stroll.
"Really? Is it that profitable?"
"Yup, no lie. I won't speak for other games, but in this one, apothecaries are definitely the most sought-after class. By then you can open an apothecary shop, and I guarantee you'll make more than Tongrentang. Your name is bound to be on the global wealth leaderboard."
"How do you know?"
"I designed this game, how could I not know?"
"Go on and brag."
"Believe what you want."
"I'd have to be crazy to believe you!"
Despite saying that, Xiao Yueya was tempted. Hearing there was money to be made, she chatted as she bolted toward the cave exit, rushing back to turn in her quest and leaving Ceng Jing Shu Guang all alone in the mine.
Just then, a friend request popped up.
Xiao Yu checked it and saw it was Hua Feihua. The moment he clicked confirm, the other player fired off a message.
"I yield nothing! I yield nothing! I yield nothing! I yield nothing! I yield nothing!"
A rogue player didn't necessarily lack basic decency. Judging by the fact that the guy hadn't started out swearing, Xiao Yu figured this kid wasn't all that unlikable.
"Oh." Xiao Yu tapped out a single character to let the other guy know he'd seen the message.
Hua Feihua: "Where are you? Let's go another round!"
Ceng Jing Shu Guang: "No time."
Hua Feihua: "No time means you make time! I wasn't familiar with your class and you caught me off guard. The zombies killed me, not you! It's so unfair, I refuse to accept this! To the Arena, map of your choice. If you're a man, don't back down! You dare?"
Ceng Jing Shu Guang: "Dare."
Hua Feihua: "Then get over here right now!"
Ceng Jing Shu Guang: "Not going."
Hua Feihua: "Damn it, are you even a man?"
Ceng Jing Shu Guang: "Yes."
Hua Feihua: "Can you type three words for once?"
Ceng Jing Shu Guang: "I can."
Hua Feihua: "..."
"The Arena, I'm waiting for you right here. If you don't show up, I'm going to spam chat and curse you out as a coward, a spineless wimp, a gutless wonder, with erectile dysfunction and premature ejaculation!"
"Whatever."
……
Hua Feihua was depressed. He felt like a petty hoodlum who had run into a total pervert—he had met a true master. No matter how he tried to provoke the kid, the guy replied with at most two characters. Not only could he not detect a shred of anger, but the sheer nonchalance between the lines made him feel like a monkey being played at a circus, and he was the monkey.
"Xiao Yueya is your wife, right?" Hua Feihua thought of a dirtier trick.
Ding!
System notification: The other player has blocked your private messages.
"What the fuck!" Hua Feihua felt like he was losing his mind. He still had a whole stack of backup plans ready to go, and the bastard had actually disabled private messages!
He tried messaging Xiao Yueya instead, only to receive the exact same system notification about blocked messages.
So ruthless! Damn it, I'm furious. Words couldn't capture how stifled and frustrated Hua Feihua felt.
"Ceng Jing Shu Guang, you spineless coward, I hope you get mugged the moment you walk out the door!"
Ding!
System notification: The other player has blocked your private messages.
"I hope you pee on your own shoes!"
Ding!
System notification: The other player has blocked your private messages.
"I hope the toilet paper rips when you wipe!"
Ding!
System notification: The other player has blocked your private messages.
"I hope your instant noodles come without seasoning packets!"
Ding!
System notification: The other player has blocked your private messages.
"I hope your kids are born without an asshole!"
Ding!
"I'll ding your mother!"
Ding!
……
Regardless of whether Ceng Jing Shu Guang could see them or not, Hua Feihua vomited out every malicious curse he could possibly think of in one breath.
He kept firing off these messages for a full five minutes until he literally ran out of insults, and only then did he close the private chat window.
"Dungeon?"
The moment he closed the window, a reply actually came back from Ceng Jing Shu Guang. Hua Feihua froze, feeling as if someone had shoved a lump of shit right into his mouth—he couldn't swallow it, and he couldn't spit it out. The sensation went straight to his brain...
"No! No! No! No!"
Hua Feihua hadn't even choked down that surge of foul air when another wave hit him.
"Oh."
Oh? That's it? After waiting ten seconds, the guy had sent a single "Oh" and gone completely silent.
"What the..." Hua Feihua wanted to unleash a torrent of abuse, but after typing just two characters of *What the hell are you—*, he suddenly stopped. Was he lowering his status by cursing such a scumbag?
Just then, a system chime sounded. He opened it to find a party invitation. The sender appeared to be... Ceng Jing Shu Guang!
He hesitated for a long time, wanting to hit reject, but as if possessed, his hand twitched, and Hua Feihua clicked accept.
Ding!
System notification: Welcome to [Ceng Jing Shu Guang]'s party.
"Spider Cave, waiting for you."
The moment he joined the party, a message from Ceng Jing Shu Guang landed.
"Why'd you invite me!" Hua Feihua felt like he would suffocate if he didn't vent this rage right now.
Ceng Jing Shu Guang: "Dungeon."
Hua Feihua: "Did I say I was going?"
Ceng Jing Shu Guang sent a tiny screenshot. Hua Feihua took one look and nearly passed out. The screenshot contained only two words followed by an ellipsis—it was precisely the unfinished half of the curse he had just been typing.
Should he explain? Should he tell the bastard that he originally meant to curse him, but then his conscience kicked in and he only typed two words? Hua Feihua stood there completely frozen and motionless, convinced that if he stirred even a little, he would vomit blood and drop dead on the spot.
Listlessly, he opened the party panel and stared straight at the words "Leave Party." Leave? Stay? Leave? Stay? The agonizing indecision was killing him.
This was a dungeon!
As a gaming veteran, getting all your preparations done before entering a game was the most fundamental prerequisite, and the most crucial part of that preparation was thoroughly digesting online guides.
Especially when it came to acquiring and crafting ultimate gear—that was top priority.
Even though *God Tribulation*'s operator, Tenglong, had inexplicably broken with past habits and scrubbed their website cleaner than the face of a teenage girl who had undergone eight chemical peels, the drop locations for divine artifact crafting materials were still laid out clearly.
The [Black Silk Spider Web] dropped by the Spider Cave boss was precisely one of those essential materials.
On top of that, the gear dropped inside dungeons was at least one or two tiers higher than what wild monsters of the same level dropped. However, entry was limited to three times a day, and you had to be led by someone specific. This high-difficulty setup naturally added an air of mystery to an already alluring dungeon. Pride or gear—which one should he choose? That was the question...
"I'm coming! Wait for me!"
Hua Feihua finally thought it through. Compared to gear and materials, what was pride worth? Besides, he had harassed the guy's wife, yet not only did the man let bygones be bygones, he was even inviting him to run a dungeon. What was that called? That was returning kindness for resentment! Letting go of old grudges! If it were him, could he pull that off? Just looking at this noble moral sentiment, this magnanimity big enough to steer a boat in, and remembering how he had just cursed the guy for ages... Sigh, it was embarrassing just thinking about it. Compared to him, he was just a firefly beneath the sun, a tiny grave mound beneath the Himalayas, an old dung-collector in front of Confucius. He might as well just run headfirst into a wall and die...
They say comparison is the thief of joy, and truer words were never spoken.
Hua Feihua suddenly felt terrible for how he had treated the guy. Rogues weren't beyond redemption; it all depended on whether the other person was grand enough. Hua Feihua decided he definitely owed him an apology later. And his wife, that stunning beauty called Xiao Yueya—as a Buddhist Holy Healer, this chick hadn't bothered to cast a single heal on her husband from start to finish. From that alone, you could tell she was classy, cultured, and high-level, definitely not some third-rate player who liked to bully the outnumbered. These days, girls who were this sensible, magnanimous, and adorable were hard to come by...
With just a few thoughts, Hua Feihua talked himself into a good mood.
The distance from the mine to the Spider Cave dungeon entrance wasn't short. Without any teleport scrolls, it took at least ten full minutes of running.
The moment Xiao Yu stepped out of the mine, he began running and jumping, the proficiency of his lightness skill [Frog Jump] creeping up bit by bit. It wouldn't be long before it hit Level 2. Whenever he spotted a stray monster, he casually lobbed a bug at it—Mad Gu, Venom Gu, Blood Gu, Wind-Breaking Claw—using whatever came to hand, so he didn't find it boring at all.
While running, Xiao Yu opened his friends list and started recruiting personnel for the dungeon run.
The Level 10 dungeon [Spider Cave] wasn't very difficult for Xiao Yu. Given his current gear and level, soloing it all the way through wouldn't be a huge challenge. Aside from the hidden boss, [Scaled Wolf Spider King], whose attacks were too fierce for him to solo, the other three bosses were no problem at all—it just took too much time.
Moreover, the experience points from monsters inside the cave scaled with party size. The more people there were, the higher the experience, and the faster the clear. Plus, the hidden boss in the cave only had a maximum chance of spawning with a full party. No matter how awesome Xiao Yu was, he wasn't idle enough to solo a dungeon by himself.
Even though Hua Feihua had been effortlessly squashed by him, Xiao Yu could tell the kid was a veteran gamer. If he hadn't crossed paths with him, and if Xiao Yu hadn't possessed the manual active skill [As Maggots to Bone], who knew how long that fight would have dragged on? Now that they were heading into a dungeon, anyone would do for a group, and besides, the kid wasn't all that hateful. Anyone else whose character was killed would have cursed his ancestors down to the eighth generation; who cared about right and wrong in a game? What are you gonna do, curse me? The cops aren't going to get involved.
He just couldn't figure out why this guy kept flip-flopping on whether he was coming or not. His resolve didn't seem very firm. In games, there were no eternal enemies, only eternal interests. If he truly was a veteran gamer, Xiao Yu was certain he would show up.
With the first teammate secured, Xiao Yu stared at Xiao Yueya's name for two seconds before sending her a party invite anyway.
Xiao Yu thought this chick was pretty bizarre. He went to help her fight while she stood on the sidelines watching, not even bothering to throw him a single heal. If he hadn't been certain he had no personal beef with her, Xiao Yu would have genuinely suspected she was in cahoots with Hua Feihua. Fortunately, when he pulled his desperate bluff to trick Hua Feihua at the end, she had remained completely unfazed. Otherwise, if she had tossed him a heal right then, things would have gotten very messy.
Xiao Yueya replied quickly, saying she had finished the apothecary trial quest and was about to hit Level 11, but she had no idea where the [Spider Cave] entrance was.
Xiao Yu sent her the coordinates and gave her a few instructions. Judging by her tone, she didn't seem like someone who gamed very often.
Having contacted Xiao Yueya, Xiao Yu sent messages to Dou Ni Wan and the others. Those guys were either busy with quests or offline, and in the end, only Taiyi Zhenren showed up.
A party could hold six people. With three already here plus himself, they were still two short. Right at that moment, Wine God Huahua sent a message.
"Bro, what are you up to?"
The kid sent a text message, completely devoid of any stuttering.
"Getting ready to run a dungeon, you coming?" The Drunkard class also fell under the category of aggressive warrior. Though its defense wasn't terribly high, its health pool was large, its attack speed was fast, and having one in the party improved grinding efficiency. In a pinch, acting as a meat shield wasn't out of the question either.
"I'm coming! Where are you?"
"Newbie Village, [Spider Cave] dungeon, coordinates are X2222, Y2222..."
"Alright, wait for me! Be right there!"
Watching this guy type, he seemed totally normal. Could he really have been dead drunk that afternoon? Xiao Yu pondered.
With five people gathered, they were still short one. Xiao Yu remembered East Sea Dragon King, the guy who wanted to buy the [Flying Cloud Sword] that Xiao Yu had given to Xiao Yueya instead, having forgotten to reply to him at the time. Judging by the way he was shouting in the world channel earlier, he seemed to be a guild officer.
"Online."
"Brother Guang? Haha, yeah, I'm here. What's up?" East Sea Dragon King replied instantly.
"Dungeon?"
"Huh? Where? What dungeon?"
"[Spider Cave]."
"Got a spot?"
"Yup."
"Wait for me!!!!"
"Yeah."
"Haha, awesome, thanks Brother Guang, hugely appreciated!" East Sea Dragon King knew the value of this dungeon. As an officer of a major guild, his understanding of the game far surpassed that of an ordinary player.
"Yeah."
Xiao Yu naturally understood what East Sea Dragon King was after. The value of a dungeon might mean little to casual players, but to major guilds looking to conquer the game, the significance was entirely different.
A single extra crafting material might allow them to forge one more divine artifact, and that very artifact could decide the victory or defeat of a professional match. Winning a professional match represented not only supreme honor, but also immense wealth. Although there were no professional teams in *God Tribulation* just yet, they were bound to pop up eventually—it was an inevitable trend in the current MMORPG world.
"Oh right, how many slots are left in the party?" East Sea Dragon King messaged again.
"Why?"
"I want to bring a friend along..."
"Full."
"Oh, alright then, I'm almost there..."
Xiao Yu wanted to send East Sea Dragon King the coordinates, but deleted them after typing them out. If a guild officer didn't even know the coordinates, he had no business playing.
Soon enough, hot on Hua Feihua's heels, East Sea Dragon King arrived second. A veteran was a veteran; efficiency was everything they did.
After waiting just a little longer, Taiyi Zhenren and Xiao Yueya arrived as well.
"Damn scoundrel, why are you here!" There weren't many players around the Spider Cave entrance, and the moment Xiao Yueya jogged over, she spotted Hua Feihua sitting on his horse.
"Ahem, sis—no, sister-in-law, my bad, okay? I won't do it again next time." Hua Feihua said, performing a bowing emote.
Xiao Yu was also baffled. Party member info was displayed right there on the screen—how come Xiao Yueya hadn't noticed Hua Feihua until she ran all the way over?
"An apology cuts it? Get your ass off that horse!" Xiao Yueya refused to let it go.
Hua Feihua reluctantly jumped down from his mount: "Sister-in-law, I already apologized to bro just now. I know I was in the wrong, and what happened in the mine was just a joke—like I'd actually XXOO you? This is a game..."
"What does XXOO mean?" Xiao Yueya looked at Xiao Yu.
"It means..." Xiao Yu was dumbfounded by the question, having no idea how to answer. He had chatted privately with Hua Feihua for a bit earlier, and the kid kept apologizing profusely, calling him "bro" and his wife "sister-in-law" over and over. Xiao Yu had repeatedly stated he had met Xiao Yueya less than three hours ago and had never even seen her face, but the brat stubbornly refused to believe it, insisting that he and she were a match made in heaven and a pair carved in earth, rattling off three baskets full of flattery until Xiao Yu had no choice but to change the subject.
What shocked Xiao Yu even more was that Xiao Yueya genuinely didn't know what XXOO meant. Was this chick faking it? How could she be this pure? Yet the way she talked sometimes made her sound like a spicy delinquent.
"You really don't know?" Xiao Yu felt he should double-check.
"Duh! If I knew, would I be asking you? Spit it out!" Xiao Yueya stomped her foot in annoyance. The game's ultra-sensitive sensory feedback system faithfully translated all her emotions into movement.
"It means... slashing you once on the left and once on the right, cutting you into an X shape, then digging an O-shaped pit and burying you..." Glancing at the frantic stream of begging-for-mercy messages Hua Feihua was spamming in private chat, Xiao Yu had no choice but to help cover for him.
"Oh yeah? Well, Mr. Hua, this lady is going to XXOO you first!"
Everyone was dumbfounded.
"Your woman is fierce!" East Sea Dragon King, who was completely out of the loop, sent a message.