Chapter 109 – Each to Their Own Role

Although it was basically a full wipe, with the help of the flaming hat, Mad Lad and Hu Yifei still managed to make their way out of the corpse-strewn alley, turned a corner, completely left the coal mine behind, and entered an underground cave with no man-made traces.

The moment they stepped into this area, the map fully lit up. Of course, the overall environment was still dim, but for a dungeon, this was definitely normal brightness, so there was no longer any need for Jiang Yang’s flashy hat. However, the mobs also became denser. By the time Jiang Yang and Hu Yifei cleared the fourth enemy, they were finally overwhelmed by the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth that came rushing over upon hearing the commotion.

If there had been thirty people, these mobs would’ve been a matter of just lifting a finger, but with only two, even a normal dungeon run turned into hell. Fortunately, everyone was mentally prepared—or rather, their fallen comrades had long chosen to respawn at the revival point. By the time the two of them got out, the other twenty-eight had already scoured the Huaxia Forum inside out and basically grasped the progress of the level 70 vanguard teams across all servers.

First, regardless of which server, no one had reached max level yet. Second, 90% of the teams were still stuck at the Coal Sprite stage, showering the mobs with elaborate, ID-ban-worthy curses in all directions. Nine percent of the teams had gotten past the Coal Sprites but, just like them, were completely wiped out in the pitch-black darkness. The remaining 1% claimed to have cleared the dark zone, but the only team with actual screenshot proof was from the Holy Light Sanctuary server. Judging by the IDs of the team members in the screenshot, the three allied guilds were called Sunflower, Windmill Faction, and White Chapel. However, the uniformity in style made it hard not to suspect that they might belong to the same organization, like the Dutch Chamber of Commerce or something.

Someone was ahead of them, which put a lot of pressure on the self-proclaimed elites from the so-called god-tier server.

White Dragon Horse: “Holy Light Sanctuary, the new server that launched after the update?”

Summit of Mount Tai: “Yeah. New servers are always popular, but several heavyweight guilds migrated there, so now it’s not just about popularity—their strength is undeniable.”

Fire Cloud Evil God: “This feels a lot like the peak server back in the day. Damn, we gotta work harder. Can’t let them actually surpass us.”

This wasn’t just about who reached max level first—it was an important standard for measuring the quality of a server. Just like how middle schools love dividing students into advanced and remedial classes, those in the advanced class always had a sense of superiority, even if they were at the bottom of the class.

However, the Ghost Server Legion Leader had a different perspective: “Relax. The ones who keep calling the peak server a ‘god-tier server’ are the ones under pressure. Standing at the top is lonely, you know? The nail that sticks out gets hammered down. Being number one is dangerous—number two is the safest~~~”

Kill All Who Block Me disagreed: “If everyone thought like you, the world wouldn’t progress, and games wouldn’t get updates. You gotta have ambition, understand? Ambition!”

Ghost Server Legion Leader: “Ambition isn’t about defeating others—it’s about surpassing yourself. Defeating others might give you a thrill, but defeating yourself is how you win at life!”

Marilyn MengPing: “This isn’t about winning or losing—it’s about a sense of belonging to your server, about collective honor!”

Ghost Server Legion Leader: “If you put it that way, then I agree…”

Leaves Fall on Chang’an: “So, for Huaxia Summit…”

Ghost Server Legion Leader: “But my heart has always belonged to Mirage Server~~~>_<"

Somehow managing to convey an emoji in voice chat was a highly advanced technological feat. The comrades from Five Peaks Pavilion and Meteor Blitz believed that current world technology couldn’t even explain it. Like creatures such as Milk is Mom, they belonged to the wonders of creation.

The 24-hour cooldown made the level 70 dungeon feel like Cinderella’s pumpkin carriage—it only came once a day, at the same time and place. The only difference was that the unknown boss in the coal mine was far harder to conquer than the prince. The next day, when they returned, they ran into the War Banner, Huaxia Dominion, and Burn Books and Bury Scholars teams for the third time. They had mocked them at the dungeon entrance for not even clearing the Coal Sprites, but upon entering, the discriminated-against NPCs hit them with ten new questions. Sister Blood Bull answered from one to six but ultimately failed on the seventh question, which was related to cooking.

The realm of femininity was Sister Blood Bull’s fatal weakness—the twenty-seven male comrades silently reached a consensus in their hearts.

On their fourth attempt, aside from old friends like War Banner, a few new teams had also gathered at the dungeon entrance. New and old teams were easy to distinguish—the new teams were full of fighting spirit, their thirty characters jumping around at the entrance as if they could clear the dungeon in one go. The old teams, having deeply experienced the anti-social tendencies of the designers, had already entered the “whatever, I came, I saw, I tried, that’s enough” phase of resignation.

“Ready?” Drink, as usual, asked in YY. Though his enthusiasm had waned compared to their first and second attempts, there was still a faint trace of positivity.

“Let’s just get this over with, stop wasting time~~” The epitome of negativity, Big H.

Pessimist Bastard Zeng: “Please don’t let us get blocked at the entrance again.”

Radical Hu Yifei: “Shut your crow’s mouth!”

“I didn’t say anything…” And then there was Your Uncle, whose entire gaming life was shrouded in thick guilt and atonement.

Perhaps their prayers reached God, because this time, the Coal Sprite’s questions were all within Sister Blood Bull’s wheelhouse, and the team smoothly cleared the stage, arriving at the mine cart. Though there was no concrete evidence, picking up the climbing pickaxe seemed to be the precursor to the screen suddenly going dark. The item 438 had picked up last time had automatically disappeared after the dungeon failed, so this time, no one dared to recklessly grab it.

First, they spread out evenly across the map to ensure every corner had comrades, then they focused on something even more important than picking up the item—

“Mad Lad, light it up!”

Jiang Yang really wanted to protest the similarity between this command and “Close the door, release the hounds!” but time didn’t permit it. He could only open his inventory and replace his top-tier necklace with the flaming headgear.

Their previous failure hadn’t just brought pain—it had also yielded experience. Since Mad Lad’s headgear could light up the map after clearing the mobs, why not use it while clearing them too? Without consulting the person in question, the twenty-nine comrades directly decided—so what if the headgear had no stats? If it could light up the team’s path, you were going to equip it.

What could Jiang Yang say?

Truth be told, back then, he’d flaunted this headgear to impress someone… okay, to coax a little boy he’d met in-game. But a rival had beaten him to it by topping up the kid’s game card first. Only when basic needs are met do people start wanting luxuries. Jiang Yang paid the price for his rash, market-research-lacking actions. After that, he’d kept the headgear in his inventory, glancing at it every time he took something out, feeling his soul being cleansed and chastised anew.

Back then, he’d never imagined that one day, this thing would become a key factor in turning the tide of battle.

But replacing his top-tier necklace with the headgear immediately lowered his defense, so Jiang Yang couldn’t help but speak up: “Healers, you’d better protect me.”

Fang Zheng, being the closest to him, replied on behalf of all medical personnel: “Don’t worry, bro. I’ll make sure you become an eternal flame lamp!”

Jiang Yang stubbed out his half-smoked cigarette in the ashtray and slowly exhaled the last puff of smoke.

The words… sounded well-intentioned.

But they were really awkwardly morbid¹The term ‘eternal flame lamp’ is overwhelmingly associated with a funerary object in Chinese culture. It’s the lamp placed beside a coffin to guide the soul of the deceased in the afterlife. While he meant it literally (a lamp made of hat flames that won’t flicker out), it still sounded morbid.…

Once everything was ready, Drink picked up the climbing pickaxe. Before long, the screen suddenly flashed!

The screen went dark, but the Flames of Mount Kanas withstood the test! Mad Lad stood in the exact center of the map, a flame of life burning atop his head. The light spread outward from him in layers, weakening with distance but still bright enough to cover the entire screen!

Now, everyone could see it—the moment the map darkened, countless vines burst out from the ground! The things that had attacked them earlier weren’t mobs—they were these vines! Twisting together in groups of three or five, forming seaweed-like clusters, they began moving rapidly. As long as their distance to a player was one meter or less, they would attack!

Though their numbers and speed were astonishing, with light, this level of attack was no match for thirty elites. Based on their positions, they automatically split into four groups moving toward the northeast, northwest, southeast, and southwest corners, while a fifth group stayed in the middle to act as meat shields for the Eternal Flame. The vines also split into five groups, chasing the closest players.

Finally able to face the enemy head-on, the comrades’ blood boiled, their APM skyrocketing. The clicking of mice in YY almost formed a heavy metal rock concert. At first, Mad Lad kept itching to contribute, but during the fight, he accidentally strayed slightly from the center, causing the light on the map to shift westward, leaving the east darker. The eastern comrades weren’t happy and scolded, “Does the energy-saving lamp on your ceiling move around?!” thoroughly deflating the Assassin’s restless heart.

The cost of clearing the vine mobs was 50% of the team wiping, with some individuals dying more than once. But the healers, with their superb skills, kept everyone alive, ensuring the team’s eventual victory and survival.

Next up was the underground cave maze that Mad Lad and Hu Yifei had traversed before.

Thirty people stood in the completely natural cave, discussing their strategy—

Drink: “Should we explore together or split up?”

Big H: “Split up. More efficient.”

Polly: “Stick together. Safer.”

Whitey: “How about a vote?”

[System] Strange Stone: I’ve seen the girl you mentioned. She went northeast, but she left some things behind with me. Move me aside, and you’ll find them.

[System] Refined Into a Demon 715 obtained Dagger, Axe, Crossbow, Hand Grenade.

……

“Are these really things a normal exploring girl would leave behind…?”

“I told you, you can’t assume the script designer is normal.”

“I think we should first discuss why you and Hu Yifei didn’t find this strange stone earlier.”

“Do you really think that’s worth discussing?”

“Uh…” Big H adjusted his camera angle, zooming in on 438’s position, then decisively concluded, “Sorry, my bad.”

The so-called strange stone didn’t look strange at all. Lying in a corner of the cave, it blended seamlessly with the surroundings, with no sense of incongruity. The only way to spot it was by noticing the Demon Refiner standing there =_=

The allied team consisted of ten members from the Ghost Server. Five of their roles were now clear—Lucky Charm was in charge of misfortune, Blood Bulls Don’t Graze handled knowledge, the Commander was responsible for being shameless, Refined Into a Demon picked things up, and Mad Lad was in charge of money.

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  The term ‘eternal flame lamp’ is overwhelmingly associated with a funerary object in Chinese culture. It’s the lamp placed beside a coffin to guide the soul of the deceased in the afterlife. While he meant it literally (a lamp made of hat flames that won’t flicker out), it still sounded morbid.