Chapter 144 – The Perfect Pentagon

The world channel messages were for outsiders to see. Once they closed the door and entered YY—

Mad Lad: “Why aren’t you dead asleep yet?”

2B: “How can I die before you do?”

Mad Lad: “Is everyone else dead?”

2B: “Probably. The healer and the zombie might have already fought 300 rounds by now.”

Mad Lad: “I think you overestimate zombies.”

2B: “Huh? Why is my account name gone? Did YY glitch?”

Mad Lad: “Damn, what’s up with your luck? YY can glitch too? Hold on, let me check.”

Birdy: “No need. I stripped it. Disrespecting leadership—three days of public shaming.”

2B & Mad Lad: “Fuck, you’re not asleep yet?”

Birdy: “Just finished 300 rounds. Going to take a piss now.”

2B & Mad Lad: “Since when do you need to detour to your computer and put on headphones to take a piss?!”

Birdy: “Your Commander said to check who’s still online and see if anyone’s badmouthing leadership behind their backs.”

Commander, you win!

Five minutes later, YY fell silent. The monitor seemed to have left, but the two snake-bitten companions still cautiously created a secondary channel requiring a password—their private chat shack.

In the real world, they were forced into private chat under the Commander’s tyranny. In the virtual world, their shared grievances against leadership and 2B’s righteous defense sparked the faint glow of friendship—they formed a party.

After teaming up, the two gathered at the entrance of the Team Arena, searching for suitable teammates—

Mad Lad: “How are you only at 380?”

2B: “Someone at 350 has no right to ask.”

Mad Lad rephrased: “How many teams have you been in?”

2B, unsuspecting: “Three.”

Mad Lad: “Ah, won 5, lost 4.”

2B: “…”

Mad Lad: “No wonder you’re willing to team up with me.”

2B: “You don’t sound too happy about it. Feel free to leave. I won’t stop you.”

Mad Lad: “If you’ve ever experienced a team that charges ahead without a healer, you’d love me too, just like I love you.”

2B decided to jot this down and tweak it later to tell Blood Bull.

[Sky] No Birds Over a Thousand Mountains: “Are you two just standing there flirting?”

The Ghost Server duo adjusted their perspectives and finally spotted Thousand Mountains, sitting on the city wall with a score of 350. This guy seemed to have a thing for walls.

[Sky] 2B Fighter Jet: “Just got in?”

[Sky] No Birds Over a Thousand Mountains: “Yeah, probably right after your Assassin.”

[Sky] Mad Lad: “Clarify ownership. I’m not his, but he could be mine ^_^”

[Sky] 2B Fighter Jet: “…”

[Sky] Mad Lad: “We’re looking for teammates. Wanna join?”

[Sky] No Birds Over a Thousand Mountains: “Sure.”

And so, the trio formed an alliance. Since Mad Lad had sent the invite when teaming with 2B, he was the default party leader. Now with Thousand Mountains added, the leader’s crown remained on his head. With a tank, DPS, and healer, the squad only needed two more members. Mad Lad was about to shout in world chat when two join requests popped up—a Berserker and a Spirit Master, the perfect additions for extra DPS and some crowd control.

After brief introductions, Thousand Mountains and the other two joined the “MadB’s Private Shack” in the Ghost Server YY. Without further ado, the group entered the city’s arena.

Five minutes later—

Berserker teammate: “Fuck! Healer, where’s your healing?! Stop solo-healing yourself! AoE heals, can’t you do that?!”

Fallen Spirit Master teammate: “Sorry, I couldn’t wait for your heals…”

2B: “Brother, aren’t you DPS? Know your role!”

Mad Lad: “No Birds Over a Thousand Mountains!”

Thousand Mountains: “Yeah, here.”

Entire team: “Fuck…”

Even the worst teams usually stick it out for three matches, but the two strangers were traumatized by Thousand Mountains’ dry heals. Sure, his DPS was one-and-a-half or even two people’s worth, but damn, if you love DPS so much, why play a healer?! This wasn’t deception—it was outright fraud, bloody fraud!

Watching the two leave YY and quit the party without a word, Mad Lad and 2B felt a wave of sorrow.

“Sorry, got too carried away, haha.” Thousand Mountains sensed the faint guilt in the silence—very faint. “Next match, I’ll heal you for sure, absolutely!”

2B and Mad Lad acknowledged Thousand Mountains’ skills as a solo healer in PVP. Back at Huaxia Summit’s city gates, he’d effortlessly juggled healing himself and damaging enemies, his skill combos near perfection. But their confidence in his teamwork as a party healer wasn’t just low—it was subterranean. For comparison, if their faith in Milk Mom as a raid healer was the Pacific Ocean, their faith in Thousand Mountains was a teardrop on a note inside a drifting bottle in that ocean.

[Sky] Mad Lad: “Blood Warrior + Assassin + DPS, seeking god-tier healer + anyone else.”

[Sky] Mad Lad: “Blood Warrior + Assassin + DPS, seeking god-tier healer + anyone else.”

[Party] No Birds Over a Thousand Mountains: “I said I can heal!!! Next time I won’t DPS!!! [crying][crying][crying]”

[Sky] Mad Lad: “Blood Warrior + Assassin + ultra-violent extinct-level DPS trio, seeking god-tier healer + anyone else.”

[Sky] Mad Lad: “Blood Warrior + Assassin + ultra-violent extinct-level DPS trio, seeking god-tier healer + anyone else.”

[Party] No Birds Over a Thousand Mountains: “Holy shit, this tagline is badass hahahahaha!!!!!!!!”

After spamming world chat, Jiang Yang leaned back, stretching before taking a leisurely sip of tea.

Q: What kind of employee do bosses love most? A: One who’s easily controlled, following orders without question. (See example above.)

Perhaps because all three were at 350, onlookers assumed they were perpetual losers. Nearly ten minutes passed without a single applicant.

The squad wasn’t discouraged—because the crowd’s assumption was correct =_=

After tea, Jiang Yang lit a cigarette. It was 3:45 AM, but he wasn’t tired—if anything, he was more alert. With his hands free, he revised his recruitment message to make it more enticing.

Before he could finish typing, a join request silently appeared—from a familiar face.

Thousand Mountains didn’t check the party, only glimpsing the system notification about a new member.

[Party] No Birds Over a Thousand Mountains: “Healer?”

[Party] Everything Breaks: “Sorry, no. I’m the ‘anyone else.'”

As he spoke, Everything Breaks entered the private shack with the channel number and password Mad Lad provided—

2B: “How are you still at 350? Half wins, half losses?”

Everything Breaks: “No, 5 wins, 7 losses.”

2B: “My condolences.”

Everything Breaks: “Never found a reliable fixed team. But with you guys, maybe my luck will change.”

2B & Thousand Mountains & Mad Lad: “…”

Everything Breaks: “Why are you all at 350 too?”

2B & Thousand Mountains & Mad Lad: “…”

In the ocean of silence, Everything Breaks sensed a chill.

The reunion of four old friends seemed fated, but the final piece of their victory puzzle remained missing past 4 AM. Healers were always in high demand in Huaxia, and those skilled in team PVP outside dungeons were rarer still. Rather than waste time on another Thousand Mountains-tier “healer,” they’d rather wait for a true expert.

But idling at the arena entrance wasn’t productive. They agreed to spectate matches instead, scouting potential opponents.

The ongoing match list spanned over a dozen pages, but the top entry stood out in bold red: Alps & Sigh of the Gods & Brother Eastwind & Festive Lantern & Dutch Souvenir VS Demon Mirror & Mount Caucasus & Shadowless Blade & Silkworm Mutation & Windchime Garden.

The list was ranked by total team scores—specifically, the higher of the two competing teams’ totals. The top five scorers dominated the leaderboard’s spotlight.

Was there even a choice?

Of course not.

Without a word, all four clicked into the ongoing match.

Before the spectator view loaded, the observer list appeared. As the newest arrivals, their IDs were at the bottom, beneath over 400 others.

In a blink, a dozen more IDs appeared below them, but the total remained steady—people came and went. Understandable, since everyone was racing for points. Spectating was fine, but they’d leave once they’d seen enough. Yet the stable total proved the top team’s allure.

Finally, the battlefield came into focus.

Like cross-server PVP, Sky Arena’s team battles used random maps. Both sides could strategize based on the terrain, but unlike before, spectators no longer had free-roaming camera control. The default was a god’s-eye view, showing the entire map as colored dots. To see actual combat—skills, damage numbers—spectators had to zoom in on specific areas. The only advantage was the ability to jump between viewpoints without fighting.

The current map was Snowy Highlands, a blinding expanse of interconnected peaks under glaring sunlight, making direction impossible. Worse, the PVP map lacked the usual mini-map for orientation.

“Turn up your monitor’s contrast,” Thousand Mountains was the first to notice. “They all dyed their gear white.”

Though gear dye’s white was close to the snow’s, the latter was brighter due to sunlight. Maxing the contrast revealed ten faint dots scattered across the map.

2B: “Isn’t the map random? Why do they all coincidentally have white dye, of all things?”

Everything Breaks: “And only white.”

Thousand Mountains: “Maybe they brought all twelve colors. I checked—the other team’s ranked seventh. Not pushovers.”

Not pushovers? More like the real deal =_=

The match had just started, and both teams were still scattered at their spawn points. Five dots from Demon Mirror’s team were converging, while Alps’ squad remained dispersed, showing no intention of regrouping.

Even with the confusing terrain, teammates could communicate via voice chat to coordinate. The top team wasn’t struggling to regroup—they chose not to!

The MadB squad wasn’t the only one to notice—

[Spectator] Miss CoCo: “They’re planning to pick off all five one by one before Demon Mirror’s team can regroup! Damn!”

[Spectator] Watase Yuu: “Damn what? Don’t you believe in their skills?”

[Spectator] Romantic Encounter: “She believes too much—that ‘damn’ was sympathy for Demon Mirror.”

[Spectator] Swarovski: “Sister, I can’t tell if you truly love Brother Mirror.”

[Spectator] Miss CoCo: “I told him all five of their positions!”

[Spectator] Swarovski: “Okay, I believe you.”

This was the flaw of online PVP, especially team battles. No matter how brilliant the strategy, spectators rendered it useless. There were no airtight walls—just gaping doorframes.

But Demon Mirror had informants, and Alps wasn’t stupid. One hid, the other hunted. The hider was always at a disadvantage, especially when cornered—

Three dots collided at the northeast corner of the mountains!

Spectators zoomed in to see Sigh of the Gods, Festive Lantern, and Silkworm Mutation!

Poor Silkworm Mutation was trapped between pursuer and blocker. Without hesitation, Festive Lantern began casting—

Everyone recognized it: the healer’s ultimate, Crimson Lotus Holy Fire!

Without Sigh of the Gods, Silkworm Mutation could’ve dodged the cast range, forcing Festive Lantern to either waste the cast or cancel and chase. Landing a long-cast ultimate in a 1v1 with no crowd control was near impossible. But now, with a healer casting behind and a Blesscaller blocking ahead, a sheer cliff to the right and a fatal drop to the left, death seemed certain.

Just as spectators wrote Silkworm Mutation off, he suddenly used a Speed Scroll, turned, and lunged at Festive Lantern!

One hit—whether skill or basic attack, no one saw—and the cast was interrupted!

“Holy shit, he’s good!” Thousand Mountains’ outburst mirrored the crowd’s shock.

But before his words faded, a flash of white lit the screen. Silkworm Mutation’s HP bar turned gray.

The private shack fell silent. So did the 400+ spectators. No one typed a word, not even an “ah.”

It happened too fast. Silkworm Mutation’s counter was visible, but Sigh of the Gods’ move wasn’t. All anyone saw was Silkworm Mutation flying off the cliff, dead.

[Arena] Sigh of the Gods: “I wouldn’t have been interrupted.”

[Arena] Festive Lantern: “Slipped up.”

[Arena] Sigh of the Gods: “Tch.”

[Arena] Festive Lantern: “You don’t need to type out sound effects!”

After their “friendly” exchange, the duo split up again.

Three minutes later, they regrouped with two other teammates to eliminate the enemy healer and Blood Warrior in the same fashion. Against the healer, Blood Warrior Dutch Souvenir merely blocked while Festive Lantern soloed the kill, denying any chance to heal.

This was a match between first and seventh place.

It was also a one-sided slaughter.

Like the leaderboard—where first and fifth were separated by 90 points, but fifth and sixth by 160.

Jiang Yang checked the time, then the leaderboard. In just an hour, the top five’s scores had each risen by 120: Alps at 860, Sigh of the Gods at 832.5, Brother Eastwind at 800, Festive Lantern and Dutch Souvenir at 770.

The top team won quickly—twelve minutes total, including search time. Having likely won several matches in a row, they took a break. The arena list’s top spot changed, but The MadB squad had lost interest—after the World Cup, who cared about kiddie soccer? They exited.

The private shack had been quiet since spectating. Finally, Everything Breaks broke the silence: “They’re strong.”

2B: “You really think so?”

Everything Breaks: “Yes.”

2B: “Then could you at least sound a little excited?!”

Thousand Mountains: “When do we get to fight them? I can’t wait!!!”

Mad Lad: “Break 400 first.”

Elites were distant; healers were the immediate hurdle. Jiang Yang opened the latest join request, feeling like he’d spotted a four-leaf clover of hope—

[Party] Passing Master has applied to join the party.