The King's Avatar Chapter 1104-1107

Translator: Nomyummi  Editor: Nomyummi

Changing Spring's target shifted back to the guild leader chat group, where everyone was trying to cheat each other.

He wasn't someone who liked to chat through typing, so after there was nothing really important being talked about, he stopped paying attention to the group.

The guild leader chat group suddenly became quiet at some point. If one looked through the chat log, guild leaders talked less and less as time went on. Something urgent seemed to have happened and every guild leader suddenly left the discussion, one by one. Up until the end, one of the sentences was left hanging as if it had suddenly been cut off.

No way!

The strangeness in the chat group made Changing Spring realize that the tragedy of getting their raised monster stolen wasn't unique to just Blue Brook Guild. Where did those guild leaders, who suddenly stopped chatting, go? Could they all have received emergency alerts, reporting that their guild's wild boss was being stolen?

They couldn't all have been Happy, right?　

Thinking of this point, Changing Spring suddenly felt frightened.

How? Their guilds had been searching for the raised monsters of other guilds the entire time. Even if they had focused more of their attention on Kansas City, they hadn't relaxed their searches for monsters in other cities. Why? Why was Guild Happy so efficient? How did they find out where every raised monster was located?

"What information do we have on Guild Happy?" Changing Spring couldn't help but turn his head and ask one of his subordinates.

"Happy? Information?" This subordinate stared blankly, "None."

"None?"

"We don't have enough manpower. Everyone's busy searching in the other cities for raised monsters!" The subordinate reported.　　

Changing Spring suddenly froze.

He suddenly realized something. Happy had found these raised monsters so efficiently through a certain method.　

It was very simple: send a message in the guild and have everyone in the guild pay attention for any powerful monsters.

Why didn't the other guilds employ such a simple method?

One word: slow.

The guilds had moved too slowly. From when Lord Grim suddenly jumped to number one on the leaderboards to the guild leaders trying to cheat each other in order to set their own plans in motion. They figured that they had to be discreet, so that the others wouldn't figure out their plans.　

In reality? Unnecessary! It was completely unnecessary. In this sort of situation, which guild wouldn't want to steal other people's monsters. Wasn't it pointless to hide their intentions from one another?

The guild had been thinking too much. Not only did they want to take advantage of others, they were also afraid to take losses, so they hoped to catch the others off guard and kill them in one go. They didn't want to encounter a well-prepared defense.

But it turned out that if everyone was being sneaky, no one was being sneaky. Everyone's intentions were laid bare in the end. Despite having reached this step, their thoughts still hadn't changed. They still hadn't thought of directly getting their entire guild involved in the search. News of just a single Kansas City had made them excited enough to all start chatting about it.

Ha, what a joke.

Changing Spring actually laughed out loud.　　

While their chat group had been bickering about Kansas City, everyone in Happy had already mobilized for who knew how long already. Happy might have already found all of their monsters' locations by that time.

The guilds had tried to catch each other off guard and do things in secret. Guild Happy, on the other hand, brandished their swords for everyone to see, directly calling out to everyone in the guild. And the outcome? Happy's large-scale movements actually became secretive, completely catching the other guilds off guard.

Because they had to act discreetly, they needed trustworthy helpers. The guild spies were naturally trustworthy, so with them temporarily being assigned elsewhere, there were no spies left, leaving them unaware of Happy's movements.

Was it their stupidity that allowed Happy's plan to work beautifully, or was it Ye Xiu guessing that they would act stupidly? Changing Spring didn't know. The silence in the chat group let him know that their guilds had paid the price for their stupidity. After having waged war with each other for so long, it was as if they were now all carved from the same mold. Changing Spring once again couldn't help but laugh.

In the chat group, someone had finally discovered how abnormal the chat group felt and typed in chat, breaking the ice.

"Happy." Herb Garden's Arisaema typed just one word.

Emojis followed one after the other.

Petrified…

Sweating....

Anger…

Fuming...　　

Sadness….

(Replace these with QQ emojis for better effects)　　

Everyone suddenly had a gut feeling that there was an 80-90% chance that everyone had been duped by Happy. Whether or not someone had escaped from Happy's clutches was no longer their concern.

Everyone ran to check the leaderboards.

Everyone had been checking it constantly. If someone had instantly shot up like Lord Grim had, they would have definitely noticed it. No one had noticed anything when Happy had cleaned up another raised monster because it was Happy's team that went. Lord Grim killing the seaweed monster alone gave him 625 points, which would obviously make him shoot up the leaderboard. The seaweed monster was equivalent to killing 6 monsters, but for Happy's team, since the points were divided amongst everyone, the point increase wasn't as big. These ups and downs happened all the time in the leaderboards. It was nothing particularly noteworthy.

They hadn't noticed Team Happy's rise in the leaderboards until they, who were originally at who knew where, had squeezed into the top 200, top 100, top 50, top 30 rankings. And from this, they realized that Happy hadn't stolen just one raised monster.

Misty Castle's raised monster had been stolen first, but instead of telling others, Misty Lock had kept it a secret. Now, the fruits of their efforts had been reaped. Even though Misty Castle lost their raised monster, seeing the other guilds suffer lifted Misty Lock's mood. And relatively speaking, the earlier a raised monster was stolen, the smaller the losses were.

After these emojis were spammed, the chat group returned to silence. No one knew what to say. Condemn Happy? Condemn Ye Xiu? Everyone was dealing with shady business. The only difference was that Happy had succeeded and they had failed. Condemning Happy or Ye Xiu was the same as slapping their own faces.

This time, the guild leaders didn't explode in fury amidst this silence. They simply left. They told the unfortunate news to their teams. The teams didn't criticize them too excessively either. It was just that, after Happy had swept their pots clean, sending their characters up the leaderboards, the outcome was too stunning. Who knew how many pro characters had been left in the dust by them.　

On the leaderboards, of the first ten places, Team Happy had stolen away five spots, monopolizing the top three.

Lord Grim, Deception, Dancing Rain.

After those three, it was Huang Shaotian's Troubling Rain, who was spamming the pro player chat group in anger.　

At this point, there weren't many monsters left. Many players weren't able to find anymore. The fluctuations in the leaderboards became less and less frequent. Even though the system showed that there were still 21 ghosts left, the Heavenly Domain was so vast. Twenty one was too few. Many players didn't want to waste their time wandering around for a chance to encounter one. Some of them directly logged off, while others started doing their normal day to day routine.　

Most of Guild Happy's players had left to do their own things too. However, their most trusted members were all called together.

The play had come to an end and now it was time for the audience to go?

Ye Xiu didn't think so. He believed that the other club guilds didn't think so either. As the end neared, there were fewer and fewer monsters. As soon as a monster was discovered by a guild, that guild would certainly start raising it, and it would be easier to protect too. After all, the event could practically be considered over already.

As a result, Ye Xiu had called Guild Happy's most loyal members and tasked them with watching revival points. If a guild was going to raise a monster, a revival point must be used. Watching a revival point would reveal their activities. At the same time, an announcement was made in the guild chat. Players who hadn't logged off yet should be mindful for any monsters, as well as movements from the other guilds.

For normal players, the event had ended, but for the club guilds, it was just the beginning. The remaining targets might be the key to their comeback on the leaderboards. These 21 monsters became the deciding factors for their victory. The guilds were sending out their forces, searching or monitoring their competitors' movements. There weren't just Happy's players at the revival points. All of the parties involved had made arrangements.

It was just that this time, even with their enormous resources, they failed to make any progress.

21, 20, 19, 18…

The number of ghosts continued to decrease, but these ghosts were killed by players, who just happened to encounter one on accident.

Soon afterwards, announcements were made by the various guilds in the global chat: spend money to buy the location of these ghosts.

After one guild sent it, the other guilds followed suit. How could a club guild not afford these types of rewards? With everyone offering rewards, players either compared offers between several guilds or looked for the one they liked the most. The guild leaders didn't directly shout out an exact offer in the global chat. If not, if everyone kept raising the bar and entered a price war, when would it stop?

Although they were unwilling, in the end, midnight struck. The system announced that today's Ghost Parade was over. There were still 17 ghosts remaining, but when the system event ended, the system automatically removed them from the map.

Yes, after the guilds started offering rewards, no one managed to find any of the 17 remaining ghosts all the way until the system removed them. The leaderboards didn't change.

The drops from killing ghosts was one portion of the rewards for the event. The other rewards came from leaderboard rewards. The leaderboards were split into daily rankings and overall rankings. The daily rankings would reset every day, while the overall rankings accumulated over the course of the event. When the day ended, the rewards could be given out. The rewards would obviously be given out according to the rankings on the leaderboards. There was no luck involved. Someone at a lower ranking wouldn't get better rewards than someone at a higher ranking.

An event was an event. Just killing ghosts gave good rewards. The leaderboard rewards were even more resplendent, especially the top ten rankings. The system publicly announced those in order to excite players. Five of Happy's characters, Troubling Rain, Cloud Piercer, Demon Subduer, and Peaceful Hermit received brilliant rewards.

Translator: Nomyummi  Editor: Nomyummi

What was the significance of the leaderboard?

Most directly, of course, it was that the system used to distribute rewards. Even the club guilds couldn't disregard these extremely valuable rewards, so they too actively strove for the top spot.

Aside from this, the leaderboard was also a way of proving the strength of an individual or a guild. An in-game event like Ghost Parade was partially based on luck, but when the top of the leaderboard was entirely occupied by pro level accounts, it was clear that luck only mattered when skill levels were similar. In front of the crushing power of pro players, no matter how good an ordinary player's luck was, he simply couldn't compete with the raw skill of the pros.

The club guilds paid close attention to leaderboards, whether it was for the first wave of dungeon records for new servers, the records for the highest-level dungeons, or the rankings for in-game events. The rewards were part of the motivation, but aside from that, ranking higher meant showing off their strength and expanding the influence of the team.

The pro teams relied on their performance during the season to demonstrate their strength, but the club guilds, their representatives in-game, were a presence closer to home. Unlike pro players, the guilds didn't exist in a separate space; they existed right alongside the numerous ordinary Glory players.

Expanding the team's influence through activities in-game was one of the most important jobs for every club guild. And the leaderboard was the main battlefield for all of this.

Thus, after the first day of the Night of a Hundred Ghosts leaderboard battle, the club guilds were unhappy. Very unhappy.

It had been a rare opportunity for the pros to mobilize in-game, but in the end, the various guilds had been unable to coordinate well with their respective pros. Ultimately, of the top 27 places, 9 were occupied by members of Guild Happy. They managed to steal a third of the top spots. Of the top 10 places, Happy had snatched 5. First, second, and third place, Happy dominated, not leaving a single chance for the other guilds.

The big guilds discovered that they had never tasted such a victory before.

This result was a lively topic of discussion in the pro player group as well, after Huang Shaotian's angry spamming, of course. Happy's elegant victory had earned even their respect. And, from the reports of their guilds, they essentially understood how Happy managed to pull it all off.

Tang Rou, Steamed Bun, and the others still hadn't joined the pro player group; from Happy, only Ye Xiu and Su Mucheng were in here. Ye Xiu was obviously targeted from all sides. After Huang Shaotian's spam, everyone directed their spearheads toward Ye Xiu, half-jokingly calling him sneaky, dirty, treacherous.

"Hahaha," Ye Xiu laughed. "If you're jealous, then just say it directly!"

They had no words. They were all pro players, after all. They didn't need this leaderboard to prove themselves, and they didn't care too much about particular rankings. They did care about the earnings that came with each ranking, but aside from that, it was all for fun. Would they really be jealous over something like this?

"Jealous my ass you fucker you fucker you fucker!!" Huang Shaotian responded instantly, chaining together so many swear words that it seemed like endless echoes.

System: Troubling Rain has been kicked out of [Glory Pro Players] by the group moderator.

Everyone sweatdropped. Several of the rookies in this group didn't even dare to say a word.

The mighty Sword Saint, Glory's number one Blade Master, was kicked out of the group just like that. Sure, this senior was very noisy, but if these rookies had been in Ye Xiu's place, none of them would have the courage to treat a God like that!

Was this the power of Glory's former king, God Ye Qiu?

This was the first time the rookies had really felt the power of this former king. After all, the retired Ye Xiu had been playing in the Challenger League during this past season, and hadn't surfaced in this group often. And now, the king made his grand return. In one move, he ruthlessly assassinated the noisy God Huang Shaotian.

How powerful! How tyrannical!

The rookies quietly admired God Ye Xiu and sympathized for God Huang Shaotian.

"Anyone else?!" Ye Xiu called.

"Childish!" In fact, someone did still have the courage to speak out. Everyone saw the name, Desert Dust - it was Han Wenqing, a rare participant in the group chat. Was it that only someone like God Ye Xiu could induce him to speak here? And was it that only he, who had toppled Excellent Era's dynasty, dared to directly call Ye Xiu out like this?

No!

Some seniors corrected the rookies. The main reason that Han Wenqing dared to confront Ye Xiu was that he, too, was a group moderator.

Moderators had no way of moderating each other, so neither feared the other. The reality was often this ordinary and boring.

"Then, what about the group owner?" one of the rookies asked. Only the group owner was more powerful than a moderator.

"Group owner? After joining this group, have you ever seen the owner?"

"No…"

"The group owner is a long-retired player and left this circle long ago. All we have left is this group."

"The group owner must have been a really incredible person," the rookies marveled.

"Eh, he was alright," was the response of the seniors. Because, in reality, this group-making senior really wasn't all that special. Of course, this person had made it to the Glory professional scene, one person out of millions of players - from that angle, he could be considered a remarkable person. However, comparing him to other pros, he really was a very ordinary person. He just made this group, that's all. There were no requirement necessary to do something as simple as that. Once again, the reality was disappointingly ordinary for the rookies.

"Ye Xiu, you bastard!" At this moment, Huang Shaotian crashed back into the group chat. His first sentence after returning was a shout at Ye Xiu. The rookies couldn't help but feel awe at Huang Shaotian's fearless spirit.

"I'll let you off for today," was Ye Xiu's indifferent response. After that, despite Huang Shaotian's provocations, he didn't say another word, having either muted the chat or gone offline.

The group had to wait a while for Huang Shaotian's ranting to subside. There was a moment where everyone thought, kicking out Huang Shaotian was actually pretty nice, why was he let back in?

Of course, these were just their thoughts. Kicking members, letting them back in, that was a battle for the moderators, a battle of gods. The rest of the ordinary members, no matter how important they might be in the pro sphere, were just insignificant little monsters in this group.

The group eventually quieted down, and everyone was finally able to discuss some more serious topics.

The pro players joked light-heartedly about Happy's huge victory today in the event, but in their hearts they were all shocked by the outcome.

They too had participated in this event; they too could direct their guilds to accomplish the tasks they wanted, but why couldn't they do what Ye Xiu had managed to accomplish?

"This guy, seriously…" One player wanted to talk about this, but couldn't find the proper words to express what he wanted to say.

"The Glory Textbook…" In the end, it was Xiao Shiqin who brought up Ye Xiu's long-time title. He then added, "An extremely comprehensive textbook."

"Xiao Shiqin, you faced off directly with Happy. How is their team, really?" someone asked.

"What do you all think?" Xiao Shiqin asked. Even though these people hadn't directly fought Happy, he knew that they had all paid close attention to Happy's players. Happy was really in the spotlight right now!

"Some of the players on that team really do have skill," said Lin Jingyan.

"Tang Rou?" Someone said. Indeed, Tang Rou, aside from Ye Xiu, was the most attention-grabbing member of Team Happy.

"A hot girl!"

"Yeah, when I saw that picture of her in Esports Home last time, I almost fell right in love!" Someone sent a rather shameless drooling emoji.

"It looks like you've already fallen in love?"

"You know, Happy really has a lot of hot girls!"

"Yeah, that's not fair!"

"Misty Rain's two new sisters aren't too bad looking either!"

"Twin flowers!" Drooling, it was the drooling emoji again.

"Could you all be any more despicable?" Finally, a table-slapping emoji - Chu Yunxiu of Team Misty Rain spoke up.

The group instantly fell dead silent.

In the eyes of the fans, the members of this group were refined, high-minded, all-powerful professionals, but in reality, they were just ordinary people who happened to be a little better at playing Glory. Like anyone else, they had normal thoughts and desires, good ones, bad ones, noble ones, dirty ones… Not to mention, this was a male-dominated world. So when a pretty female player was mentioned, it was inevitable that her gender and appearance would become the topic of discussion. Fortunately, Chu Yunxiu appeared at the right moment and cut short the vulgarity of this group of males.

"Tang Rou is an extremely outstanding player. It seems like lots of teams are interested in her, but in the end Happy was still able to hold on to her." The discussion quickly turned back on-topic.

"She's very strange, it's unclear what she wants…" Wang Jiexi said. He was the first to offer her an invitation, and was also the first to be confused by her desires. Honor? Status? Money? He couldn't figure out what would move her. These three things were the main motivations for most pro players!

After Wang Jiexi said this, Team Void's Li Xuan added, "Happy's Ghostblade is also pretty good! Wasn't that kid on your Tiny Herb before? Why'd you just let him go?"

"You're interested in him?" Wang Jiexi didn't directly answer Li Xuan because he knew Li Xuan wasn't really asking, it was just a casual comment. Every transfer period would have the transfers of good and even God-level players. Being a good player didn't guarantee that one would be able to remain a part of the team.

"Us? For now, no," Li Xuan said. But, he had said "for now." Void's Ghostblade Duo was still at their peak, they weren't yet ready to retire, so they didn't need another Ghostblade. However, did Li Xuan's "for now" suggested that Void already had an idea in mind?

"Did anyone pay attention to that Brawler in Happy?" Samsara's Jiang Botao suddenly spoke up, inserting himself into the conversation.

The group chat wasn't like a competition onstage. During a competition, everyone could just battle to their fullest without holding back, but communication in the group involved feelings. There was less talk between those that didn't know each other well, while veteran players who had interacted with each other more were much more familiar with each other, and thus tended to speak more. This was a normal pattern for any human interaction.

So, most of the time, veteran players took the initiative in conversations, while newer members of the group, even God-level players, found it difficult to open conversations in an unfamiliar setting, but this Jiang Botao was an exception to the rule - even though he couldn't really be considered an old player, he had integrated with the older players early on, and he was able to communicate naturally with all types of people.

"Oh, that guy, you noticed him too? What do you think?" Lin Jingyan asked.

"Don't know. I can't understand him." Jiang Botao said.

Translator: Nomyummi  Editor: Nomyummi

The Gods certainly wouldn't overlook Steamed Bun's strength, but after a close investigation, they all shared the same thoughts as Jiang Botao: incomprehensible.

"His mechanics are pretty solid, but his decision-making is rather fleeting." Lin Jingyan commented as the most experienced Brawler player in the chat.

"That's what makes it incomprehensible!" Jiang Botao sighed.

"To quote Zhang Xinjie: an excessively random player." Lin Jingyan said.

"That sounds like something he would say." Li Xuan laughed. Zhang Xinjie was known for his strict manner, so randomness was his greatest enemy.

"All these assessments are very good! He is indeed very random, and his movements are very hard to predict. He doesn't seem to use his experience and fights by relying on some sort of innate instinct." Jiang Botao said.

"A natural destructor of balance." Wang Jiexi said.

"Were there any other players like him before?" Jiang Botao asked.

"Look at who typed before you." Lin Jingyan laughed.

"Uh… the Magician was never this random." Jiang Botao said.

"Is it because the Magician's innate instinct is more precise?" Lin Jingyan said.

"That's a pretty accurate explanation." Jiang Botao was in a worshipping state.

"But do you still have this kind of instinct now, Wang Jiexi?" Lin Jingyan asked.

"Would you like to see for yourself?" Wang Jiexi said.

"Haha, I wouldn't dare." Lin Jingyan laughed.

"What will Steamed Bun Invasion's future be like?" Jiang Botao sent another thinking emoji.

Wang Jiexi was able to help Tiny Herb win the championships because he had adjusted his playstyle. Steamed Bun didn't have the same talent as Wang Jiexi though. Could he continue to persist with such a random fighting style?

This kind of problem was difficult to answer, so the pro player chat fell silent. It was unknown what everyone was thinking. Perhaps it was about time for them to go to sleep…

The first day of Ghost Parade came to an end.

On the second day, the ghosts spawned again at the same time. However, some attentive players would notice that the number of ghosts that had spawned on the second day seemed to be greater than the first day.

Kill kill kill!

After gaining experience from day one, everyone no longer stumbled over fear before these weak ghosts. Although the ghosts had strong attacks, they had their own unique weaknesses. Even if the players couldn't fully grasp their weakness, everyone could just group up and help one another.

As for the big guilds? They no longer hid or stayed on the conservative side. The moment the event started, they publicly announced in the guild for everyone to take note of the existence of any raised monsters.

Raising was no longer a method in this type of environment, so all of the guilds gave up on this thought.

Since they no longer had any strategical confrontations, it was natural for the leaderboards to have rises and drops on a large scale because everyone's point totals were very close. Of course, the ones in the lead were the pro players. In the end, the ranking was no longer important because it depended on a person's luck and the number of mobs they were able to find.

Third day, fourth day, fifth day…...

The event progressed mundanely. The headstart the characters from Happy had achieved on the first day couldn't serve as a strong foundation. Their ranks fell in the overall ranking. After all, effort was useless in this case because luck was something that couldn't be explained.

The guild leaders of the big guilds finally let out a sigh of relief. They had been very worried if Ye Xiu had any demonic tricks up his sleeve. Now that a few days had passed, their hearts were at peace. They saw Lord Grim's rank fall from first to seventh in the current overall ranking, so all the guild leaders felt an unspeakable happiness from inside.

However, they were still unhappy with the player on the top of the list.

Deception!

Mo Fan's luck in the event for the past few days was pretty good. He was even able to pull a decent lead over those behind him in the rankings. The event only had two days left. Unless someone had an extraordinary boost in luck, first place seemed to be Happy's.

The guild leaders were also racking their brains and wanted to use different methods to help their pro players. However, during the few days of peace, they had discovered a truth: in this peaceful environment, Ye Xiu didn't seem to be so fearful; it was only when they tried to play tricks that they lost everything they invested by encountering Ye Xiu.

Maybe they should gamble their luck for the next two days? If they concocted a plan, Ye Xiu might take advantage of it and send all of Happy's characters into the top ten though.

It would be better to stay cautious!

As they thought, the top guilds decided to not speak or act. On the sixth day of the event, Deception's place seemed immovable. However, Ye Xiu's luck seemed to have gotten worse; Lord Grim fell straight out of top ten. This brought happiness to all the big guilds just by looking at it.

Following Lord Grim's drop from the ranks, Happy only had Deception who was first in the top ten, the rest had fallen out of the top ten.

On the sixth day, it was the first time that all the spawned monsters were completely eliminated. No one would have thought that there was a bonus here. After the mobs had been cleared out, the system didn't announce the event's end for the day. Instead, it announced that after the monsters were all cleared, their Ghost Lair had been discovered by five heroic warriors.

These five monster-slaying heroic warriors were Peaceful Hermit, Dazzling Hundred Blossoms, Deception, Something to Hide, and Howling Fire.

Everyone saw the names. These five were definitely not picked at random. They were the top five characters who managed to gain the most points today.

The system then announced that the five warriors would each lead a small team of five to enter the Ghost Lair to find the ghost king. The team who killed the ghost king would be awarded with their choice of materials and equipment as rewards.

When the details of this announcement came out, the teams that didn't make it in today's top five stamped their feet and beat their chest. The winner had the freedom to choose their rewards! Rewards like this were too too too tempting. All teams had a clear plan of what they needed, so rewards that could freely be chosen could complete their most crucial needs. However, the ones who had this opportunity were only those five characters. This meant that only their respective teams had the chance of getting this reward.

Peaceful Hermit, Team Royal Style.

Dazzling Hundred Blossoms, Team Tyranny.

Deception, Team Happy.

Something to Hide, Team Misty Rain.

Howling Fire, Team Wind Howl.

Every character could bring five people, which meant that this was a standard team. The competition between the five teams would then unfold in the Ghost Lair, which was suspected to be a dungeon.

The people, who didn't get the chance, were cursing, while the five, who got the chance, were already starting to organize their teams When the system announcement came out, the five each received a teleportation scroll to Ghost Lair. If the scroll wasn't used in ten minutes, it would self-destruct automatically. This meant that they must create a team within ten minutes.

This was too easy for a team; they only had to bring in the formation of the main force and a five-man team would instantly be ready to go.

However, Something to Hide had a bit of a problem. His player, Lu Yining, was a sub in Team Misty Rain. Especially after Misty Rain had enrolled the beautiful Sharpshooter sisters, as another Sharpshooter player, the chances of him leaving this summer were very high. Players, who were put in this sort of situation, wouldn't be in the mood to sacrifice their break to get stronger. This was because there was a high possibility that their character would no longer be theirs next season. However, each person would look at each problem differently. Lu Yining figured that the probability of transferring to another team was very high, so he joined the event with vigor. He hoped his professional and vigorous attitude would give his potential bosses good impressions, which was more beneficial for his future development.

There was no difficulty in fighting these monsters for any pro player because everyone would have the same efficiency. Lu Yining's luck was pretty good today since he was ranked fourth and even helped Team Misty Rain get an entrance ticket to the event. When he realized that he was a character about to be abandoned by the team, Lu Yining truly had the heart to throw the scroll away. However, he clearly cared more about the feedback he would receive for his actions, so he could only forcefully raise his spirits to find his teammates from Misty Rain.

Another player who had a problem was Deception.

The system announcement was very clear about the bonus event, but the entrance ticket was a teleportation scroll that was only valid for ten minutes. Only Mo Fan knew this detail.

He was waiting for Ye Xiu and the others to call for him to group up, but no one knew about the time limit, so they were taking their time in handling the tasks they had in hand. Seconds and minutes flew by. Mo Fan looked around, hoping that someone would notice him. No one did. Neither did anyone send him a message in the game.

...

Nine minutes, eight minutes, seven minutes…...

Two minutes!

Mo Fan was so anxious that he stood up. With that, he was finally able to get everyone's attention.

"Two minutes left." He said.

"Hm?" Everyone was puzzled.

Mo Fan looked at the teleportation scroll, which his mouse was hovering over. It was no longer two minutes, but 1 minute and 45 seconds.

"Form a party for the Ghost Lair." Mo Fan said.

"Oh oh, let me see who should go!" Ye Xiu looked to the left and right unhurriedly.

"Quick, one minute and half!" Mo Fan said.

"There's a time limit? Fuck, why did you only tell us this when there's only a minute and half left!" After Ye Xiu understood, he panicked. "Little Tang, Steamed Bun, Mucheng, let's go!"

The moment Mo Fan heard Ye Xiu randomly call out the names of the people he picked, he quickly sent team invitations to the characters. It was only when he was about to type their names that he realized he hadn't even added these people as friends.

The sweat on Mo Fan's head was about to fall, his hand speed increased explosively while Ye Xiu was hurrying him: "Hurry hurry hurry." Due to a slip of his hand, he messed up on of the names. Dancing Rain... such a strange name*. Mo Fan even hurried and cursed at it.

At last, the five-man team was formed when the scroll only had ten seconds left. Mo Fan didn't even dare delay for half a second as he clicked the 'use' button with a right click. Happy's five-man team entered the Ghost Lair.

"Stay alert." After they were teleported, this was the first thing Ye Xiu said. Only one team could win the prize, but the system didn't explain how they would get it. Did each team enter different dungeons and compete for the fastest speed? Or did they all enter one dungeon, so they would have to fight the ghost king as well as one another? None of this was known at the moment. Ye Xiu reminded them to stay alert beforehand in order to avoid the second situation. He quickly spun around in a full circle and began observing the situation in the Ghost Lair.

*TL Note: (沐雨橙风) Dancing Rain. It's a play on Su Mucheng's (苏沐橙) name, which makes it easy to make a mistake. The first two characters 沐雨 is a play on 沐浴, which means to bathe. The first character is replaced with part of Su Mucheng's name. The third and fourth characters 橙风 is a play on 乘风. The third character is replaced with another part of Su Mucheng's name. The name (沐雨橙风) comes from a poem (载驰载驱 , 沐雨栉风), which translates to "Gallop swiftly horses, keep moving in spite of the wind and rain." That was shortened to Dancing Rain. Fun fact, Su Mucheng/the author Butterfly Blue likes to name characters after poems. Lord Grim, One Autumn Leaf come from poems. Peaceful Hermit, Vaccaria, Desert Dust, Blue Bridge Spring Snow, Sleeping Moon, and many more also come from poems.

Translator: Nomyummi  Editor: Nomyummi

"Stay quiet for now." Ye Xiu sent this message to the team. Right now, not only did they have to watch, they had to listen, and perhaps they would hear the voices of other teams talking.

So everyone kept silent. There wasn't a single sound to be heard.

This Ghost Lair was an underground dungeon, the type where you couldn't see the sky. Ye Xiu looked around carefully and didn't hear anything, but he didn't dare to be overconfident, and sent in the team channel: "We'll use messages to communicate for now."

"Okay," the others answered.

"There are two paths, which should we take?" While Ye Xiu had been examining the surroundings, the others had as well, and Su Mucheng saw that they could take either a left or a right tunnel from their start point.

The situation was entirely unclear and there were no clues, so right or left didn't matter.

"Either's fine!" Ye Xiu said. His Lord Grim was already headed toward the left tunnel.

"Will there be small monsters?" Tang Rou asked.

"Still not clear, let's just all be careful!" said Ye Xiu.

As he spoke, the five characters had all entered the left tunnel.

"What's that sound?" Ye Xiu immediately sensed something.

Everyone listened closely. There was indeed a sound, a sort of rumbling that seemed to be getting closer and closer, and then their cameras began to tremble, as though the ground itself were shaking. At the end of the tunnel, there was a shadowy mass that kept approaching, until they could finally see what it was.

"What, how cliche!" Ye Xiu yelled.

"Run!" Su Mucheng said, already using Aerial Cannon to retreat. The other four also turned their characters and began to sprint back along the path they came. Behind them was an enormous boulder rolling toward them, so large that it filled the entire tunnel.

With this, the issue of which path to take was resolved.

They returned to their start point and charged into the right tunnel, but that boulder was persistent. The system must have helped it move, because it also rolled into the right tunnel, and continued to chase them.

"Watch your rhythm!" Ye Xiu reminded everyone, seeing the boulder's perseverance. How long would they have to run along until this was over?

So they ran and ran, the boulder behind them. There was still no way for them to get rid of it, and the road ahead didn't show any new opponents. It was just one tunnel, continuing on.

"What's that new sound?" At this moment, Su Mucheng heard some new movements.

"Echoes?" Ye Xiu guessed.

"No… ahead… it sounds like the same thing is happening," Tang Rou said. With her ear training, her ability to distinguish sounds was quite high.

"No way? That shameless?" The five were dumbfounded. They hadn't even done anything since entering the Ghost Lair! Sending boulders from the left and right tunnels to squish them dead, wasn't this design just too unreasonable?

When they thought of that, the five couldn't be bothered to continue running. Their footsteps slowed to a halt, but then they heard very clearly, aside from the sounds of a boulder up ahead, there was also the sound of hurried footsteps.

"Oh hey, another group as unlucky as us?" Ye Xiu said.

"There has to be an exit. Let's continue forward!" said Su Mucheng.

The five once again began their frantic running.

At last, they could clearly see the boulder ahead that was rolling toward them. But more clearly, they could see the five characters running ahead of it, almost like the opening credits of the animation Saint Seiya.

The five now discovered Happy's five, or perhaps they had heard their sounds earlier, but they didn't falter in their steps, because the danger of getting flattened by the boulder was much more pressing than the danger posed by Happy. If they hesitated for just a second, the boulder would crush them.

"Yo, it's the old bros!"

As they neared, Ye Xiu called out. The five that were approaching were none other than Team Tyranny, and the characters were the five on their main roster, including the four Gods.

"Is there no path on your end?" Someone from Tyranny shouted toward them.

"Nothing," Ye Xiu replied.

"Is this system actually as shameless as you are?" Zhang Jiale exclaimed.

But right at that moment, the two approaching teams simultaneously discovered a thread of hope. Right between the two teams, there was an indentation on one side of the tunnel.

Did it lead to an exit? They couldn't tell.

But this was the only choice they had, unless they just waited to be crushed by the two boulders!

Lord Grim dashed forward and was the first to get into this temporary hiding spot.

Zhang Jiale's Dazzling Hundred Blossoms was the second to enter, and immediately raised his guns toward Lord Grim. He didn't fire, but kept a close watch on Lord Grim's movements. Afterwards, the characters of the two teams jumped in one by one. This wasn't any exit, it was just a nook in the wall. With ten people squeezed inside, it suddenly felt like a crowded elevator.

"Zhang Jiale, what are you so nervous for? Are you claustrophobic?" Ye Xiu ridiculed Zhang Jiale's distrustful attitude.

Zhang Jiale hadn't relaxed a single bit, and neither had Han Wenqing, Lin Jingyan, or Zhang Xinjie. They all paid close attention to the actions of Ye Xiu's Lord Grim.

"You ran quite fast, you were the second to enter." Ye Xiu continued to talk. The word "second" stung Zhang Jiale, and he was absolutely sure that Ye Xiu was doing this on purpose, because that guy added, "What place were you on the leaderboard again? To get the teleportation scroll."

For today's leaderboard, Zhang Jiale had gotten second place.

"Fuck you!" As Zhang Jiale swore, Dazzling Hundred Blossoms finally lowered his gun. Not because Ye Xiu's taunting made him forget his wariness, but because just now, there was a giant crash as the two boulders finally collided, just outside of the nook. Just like that, the two teams, ten people, were shut into a nook that was about as large as an elevator.

"What's going on?" Someone said, confused.

"There should be an exit," Zhang Xinjie said.

"Where's the exit? There's not a lot of space here, if I turn around I might hit you with my weapon!" Ye Xiu said.

"Hey don't move now, be good for once!" Dazzling Hundred Blossoms raised his gun again.

"Fuck, don't be so arrogant, you're not the only one who can do that!" Lord Grim raised his Myriad Manifestation Umbrella, now in gun form. Su Mucheng's Dancing Rain followed suit in perfect partnership, and her cannon was much more impressive than the small pistol in Dazzling Hundred Blossoms' hand.

"Everyone, look around, see if you can find anything on the walls near you." Zhang Xinjie completely ignored this squabble.

And so Zhang Jiale turned his camera to look at the walls near him, when - bang! The sound of a gun. Lord Grim had opened fire!

"My bad my bad, it went off accidentally!" Ye Xiu's voice came almost as quickly as the sound of the gun.

Would a game have accidents like this? Of course not! Zhang Jiale fumed, and Dazzling Hundred Blossoms reached for a hand grenade.

"Calm down, that can't go off accidentally." Ye Xiu hurriedly said.

"It seems like there's something over here." Lin Jingyan's voice finally drew everyone's attention once and for all.

"Oh, looks like it's nothing…" Lin Jingyan said.

"How do you know?" asked Ye Xiu.

"Because I already smashed it." Lin Jingyan's Brawler pulled his fist from the wall. His weapons were claws, after all. With one claw, he destroyed his discovery, and also got his hand stuck there...

"It looks like there isn't any trick here," said Su Mucheng.

Silence.

If there was no trick, would they just be stuck in here forever?

"Try blowing apart the two boulders." Tyranny's Captain Han Wenqing finally offered this solution.

"How tyrannical." Ye Xiu sent a thumbs up emoji.

Straight Punch!

Han Wenqing was a man of action. As soon as he finished speaking, his Desert Dust already sent a Straight Punch toward the boulder on the left, in order to try and send it rolling in the opposite direction.

But even with this punch, the boulder didn't move at all.

Collapsing Fist!

Han Wenqing's willpower was similarly unmoved. Desert Dust continued with a barrage of attacks, yet the boulder still refused to budge.

Emperor's Fist!

One of the Striker's fiercest charged attacks was unleashed. It looked the same as a normal punch, but it would be a big mistake to think that this was only as strong as a normal punch.

The Emperor's Fist burst forth! At the same time, a silhouette flashed to Desert Dust's side.

Lord Grim, a Falling Flower Palm struck the boulder at the same time as Desert Dust's attack.

With that, the boulder finally wobbled a bit, as though it were finally about to separate from its companion.

But it still wasn't enough.

Desert Dust clenched his two fists and his body tensed. Striker Level 75 status skill: One Inch Burst.

A high-end status in which the attack range was shortened to raise the power of the strike. Desert Dust released a chain of punches, the Level 70 skill "Ferocious Tiger Flurry."

Light flashed. There was the nonstop sound of strikes hitting the boulder, which continued to lurch back and forth, and finally seemed as though it were about to separate from its partner.

"Little Tang!" Ye Xiu called.

"Coming!" Tang Rou answered. Soft Mist twisted her spear, Rising Dragon Soars the Sky!

The Battle Mage's Rising Dragon Soars the Sky had a high knockback effect, and was now used by Soft Mist from a close range on the boulder. Ye Xiu's Lord Grim couldn't contribute this high-level attack, and just used another Falling Flower Palm to increase the pushing force.

Rising Dragon Soars the Sky slammed into the boulder. The boulder wasn't easily pushed away, but Soft Mist herself was pushed back from the force of the blow.

Zhang Xinjie's Immovable Rock immediately stood behind her.

Lin Jingyan, Zhang Jiale, Su Mucheng… Everyone's characters immediately clustered together, giving Soft Mist support.

Boom!

The boulder finally rolled in the opposite direction. Between the two boulders there was finally a gap through which people could pass.

Everyone let out a sigh of relief.

"It knocked away some of my health." Lin Jingyan looked at his character. Just now, when they had all gone to use their bodies to support Soft Mist, they had suffered some damage.

Zhang Xinjie sent a few heals his way, then glanced at Happy - they hadn't brought a healer.

Ye Xiu and Han Wenqing's characters had already walked between the boulders to look around and evaluate their next step.

"Are we going to continue pushing them like this?" Someone asked.

"There's a little bit of space above, we can see if we can squeeze through," said Ye Xiu, after studying the surroundings.

The boulder didn't block the tunnel entirely - in order for it to roll along, there had to be some space. At the top, especially at the two sides of the tunnel, it looked as though there were enough space for a character to pass through.

"We'll go this way." Ye Xiu pointed to the path from which his team had come.

"We'll go this way." Han Wenqing turned to face their own path.

"I hope we don't meet again."

"Likewise," said Han Wenqing.

"Alright everyone let's go, watch out for these sneaky old foxes attacking us from behind, hurry, hurry." Ye Xiu directed his team.

Chapter end