Chapter 173 – Love in Eden (Part 4)

“Oh, your man sure picks apples fast.” Ray-Ban managed to notice Drink Till You Drop’s system message even while yelling himself hoarse trying to gather allies.

“And whose fault is that?” After the War Banner duo left, only Ray-Ban and Your Sister remained in the YY channel, so she didn’t bother pretending to be polite anymore.

Ray-Ban didn’t mind. He probably knew he was in the wrong for dragging people over so casually, but he still wanted to get a few verbal jabs in: “Drink should be thanking me for swapping you out. Otherwise, forget picking apples—who knows how many times he’d have died by now.”

That really set Your Sister off: “Us dying over and over is because I suck?! No, it’s because you’re an idiot who insisted on challenging a 3S-ranked monster!!”

After partnering for this long, Ray-Ban knew full well that Your Sister wasn’t bad. Not just “not bad,” but actually quite skilled. Among male players, she’d just be considered decent, but among female players, she was definitely a pro. At the very least, Ray-Ban hadn’t met a better female healer than her. Her voice over the headset wasn’t bad either—soft and clear like water, yet with a stubborn edge to it…

Receiving no response to her complaints, Your Sister frowned and listened closely. Ray-Ban seemed to be whistling a tune now. If she wasn’t mistaken, the melody sounded like “Pigsy Carries His Bride” =_=

Too lazy to deal with him, she muted her mic, took off her headset, and called Drink Till You Drop—her boyfriend was suffering so much; how could she just sit back and do nothing?

Drink answered immediately and didn’t even wait for her to speak, already knowing why she’d called: “I’m fine.”

Your Sister knew Drink was just comforting her. The guy treated gaming the same way he treated studying—always giving his best effort for the best results. And now, just like having his textbooks taken away before an exam, he couldn’t even review. But the problem was, her limited brainpower couldn’t come up with a solution. Every point-earning activity in Eden required two players. With Madam Dog offline, even if she, Madam Drink, wanted to step in, there was no way to do so.

Though her original intention had been to comfort him, any words of comfort now would be useless. Holding her phone, she fell silent before finally mumbling, “When we get to Lover’s Constellation, your guildmates are definitely going to gang up and hunt me down.”

Drink chuckled. Coming from Your Sister, this was basically her way of saying, “I’m sorry, I know I messed up, you can scold me all you want.” In the past, she’d been the type to stubbornly refuse to admit mistakes, but since starting this game, she’d become more and more adorable… Ugh, what to do? He suddenly felt like moving up his plans to pounce on her >_<

“Hey, even if it’s insincere, at least say something like ‘I won’t let them hurt you’!” Not getting a response made Your Sister feel embarrassed, and she turned tsundere.

“Mhm, I won’t let them gang up on you,” Drink suppressed his laughter, not wanting her to notice, “Anyone who wants to attack you will have to step over my cold dead body first.”

Your Sister: “Dead body?”

Drink: “When a Blood Warrior dies in-game, they fall face-down with their back to the sky.”

Your Sister: “Why not just say ‘corpse’?!”

Drink: “Too blunt. Lacks artistic flair.”

What to do when your boyfriend has inexplicably high standards for the weirdest things?! Urgent, waiting online TAT

[Ray-Ban whispers to you: What are you doing? Can’t you hear me?]

About five minutes into the call, Brother Ray-Ban finally noticed his teammate seemed to be mentally AFK.

Your Sister and Drink had also finished their sweet nothings, reaffirming their revolutionary optimism that “200 points may be tragic, but without enduring the bitter cold, how can one appreciate the fragrance of Lover’s Constellation?” They agreed that Your Sister would keep grinding points while Drink AFKed and waited. If Madam Dog came to her senses and logged back in, they’d keep playing. If not, then after three days when they entered Lover’s Constellation, they’d figure out how to make up for it—with Your Sister naturally doing her best to help, if she even could.

With everything settled and Ray-Ban nagging her, Your Sister was about to hang up when Drink suddenly had a breakthrough—

“She’s online!”

Your Sister had expected Madam Dog to eventually cool off and return, but not this soon. Just as she was puzzling over it, Drink added—

“Seems like it’s her husband.”

Your Sister didn’t ask further because she could hear Drink rapidly typing, clearly communicating with the other party.

Sure enough, the typing soon stopped, and Drink spoke again: “It’s her husband, Old Dog, on her account. He said his wife told him to log in and issued an ultimatum—if he doesn’t swap her back to his side, she’s quitting the game.”

Your Sister was confused: “But he didn’t need to log into her account for that. Old Dog could’ve just collected Golden Apples on his own account and used the designated partner swap.”

Drink: “Madam Dog can quit, but the points on her account can’t stay stagnant.”

Your Sister: “…”

Whether his partner was Old Dog or Madam Dog, Drink Till You Drop’s fate of 200 points had been reversed. After ending the call with Your Sister, he threw himself back into the grind. In contrast, ice Iceborn’s little sister… first got swapped out by Ray-Ban, then by Drink Till You Drop. Let’s be clear—being obviously rejected like this was devastating for any girl, let alone twice in a row. And then her third partner didn’t even swap her out—they straight-up ghosted!

Enough was enough. ice Iceborn’s little sister didn’t even bother properly quitting the game—she just held down the power button and shut off her PC! Naturally, she then went to complain to her brother. As for ice Iceborn’s exasperated facepalming and how he’d symbolically avenge his sister in Lover’s Constellation, those were stories for another time.

For now, Your Sister, having put her headset back on, and the impatient Ray-Ban finally welcomed their new teammates—

ID: Half-Idle; Class: Demon Refiner; Server: Holy Light Sanctuary; Guild: Sunflower.

ID: Lamb Doesn’t Stay Silent; Class: Blesscaller; Server: Silent Fortress; Guild: Silence¹Originally in English. First mention in the raws is a typo (Slience), but all other mentions are spelled correctly..

Half-Idle: “Hey hey, can you hear me?”

Ray-Ban: “Yeah.”

Lamb Doesn’t Stay Silent: “How about here?”

Ray-Ban: “Yeah, that too.”

Half-Idle & Lamb Doesn’t Stay Silent: “Then let’s start.”

This duo was a bizarre combination—different servers, different guilds, different character genders, but same IRL gender =_=

Probably real-life friends, Your Sister thought. That’s why they could team up across servers.

But male players had their advantages—clean, efficient, and sparing with words. What? Healers like Milk Mom, White Dragon Horse, and Big H? Please ignore those non-mainstream oddballs. Your Sister quite liked this setup, so she stayed silent the whole time. The moment Ray-Ban initiated combat, she immediately dashed to the right rear of Mr. Crystal Orb—based on their previous trial-and-error deaths, this was the most cost-effective position for a healer.

Little did she know someone else arrived at the same time, and as luck would have it, wanted the same spot. So while the Assassin was slashing and the Demon Refiner was summoning pets in a world-shaking battle, the main healer and off-healer silently fought over the high ground in the back.

Your Sister was annoyed. She was the main healer; this off-healer was just support at best. Where was the hierarchy here? The most infuriating part was that she was actually losing this positioning battle, inexplicably getting pushed aside bit by bit. Ruling out the possibility of her own misplays, there was only one answer—the other player was simply better than her. At least in terms of positioning, being able to drag others into your own rhythm and make them unconsciously follow your lead was skill.

While the healers fought over positioning, the DPS couldn’t take it anymore—

Ray-Ban: “You two so close you trying to make out? Heal us, bro and sis!!”

Snapping back to reality, Your Sister hurriedly checked her teammates’ HP bars and accurately cast a small HoT—Trickling Stream—the next second. But the moment she pressed the skill key, the pale yellow glow of Trickling Stream went whoosh—directly enveloping Ray-Ban and Half-Idle! Your Sister froze. Even with her APM, she couldn’t possibly override the system’s skill cast time. This wasn’t even Insta Cast anymore—the skill had false-started, damn it!

Of course, the answer was no.

Because soon after, a second identical glow whooshed over in the same way, layering another aura over the two nearly full-HP teammates.

Only then did Your Sister realize—that earlier yellow glow had been Lamb’s heal!

Blesscaller heals worked differently from Wandering Physician’s, but their support skill effects looked similar—both warm yellow hues. So Your Sister hadn’t distinguished them at first.

Now the situation was clear—both the Blesscaller and Wandering Physician had cast their skills the moment Ray-Ban initiated combat. The Wandering Physician was quick, but the Blesscaller was quicker.

Your Sister never considered herself a pro, because true skill ultimately came from accurately assessing battle conditions and making the right judgments—only then came technical execution. Poor judgment meant fast execution just hastened defeat. She was confident in her APM, but as a newbie, she wasn’t as sure about her “game sense.” Yet now, Lamb Doesn’t Stay Silent had given her a lesson in the one area she’d felt confident about—speed.

While Your Sister was reflecting, Mr. Crystal Orb didn’t wait. Whether by design or coincidence, it waited until the HoT effects faded before unleashing an AoE attack that blasted everyone down to 25% HP.

This move had been used in their many previous attempts. There was no counterplay—no positioning could avoid it; you just had to tank it. This time, for some reason, the AoE came earlier, but Your Sister still reflexively used Ten Thousand Blossoms the moment she saw the colorful light waves, instantly refilling the empty HP bars. This round, Lamb was surprisingly chivalrous—Blesscallers didn’t have such powerful group Insta Heals.

“Your DPS isn’t bad,” Ray-Ban commented. Teammates’ performance was best judged by opponents, but since their opponent was an NPC, Ray-Ban had to do the honors.

Half-Idle had already summoned his second pet—the first had died in the AoE—but didn’t seem thrilled, as their prospects looked bleak: “Two people DPSing is still rough.”

Ray-Ban sighed too: “Yeah, but I have a question…”

Half-Idle: “Hm?”

Ray-Ban: “Why are we using two healers?”

Half-Idle: “…”

[Combat] Ray-Ban has died.

[Combat] Half-Idle has died.

[Combat] Drink Your Sister 3X has died.

[Combat] Lamb Doesn’t Stay Silent has died.

Death wasn’t the issue—the issue was how frustrating the deaths were =_=

Ray-Ban: “Out of four people, only two are DPSing—are you messing with me?!”

Your Sister: “I’m a healer—if I’m not healing, what should I be doing?”

Lamb Doesn’t Stay Silent: “You could go DPS Healer.”

Your Sister: “Sorry, only have healing staff and healing gear.”

Half-Idle: “Silent’s mechanics are solid—he can main heal.”

Ray-Ban: “But Your Sister can’t DPS!”

Lamb Doesn’t Stay Silent: “Women are so troublesome.”

Your Sister: “Lamb, say that again!”

Half-Idle: “…”

Your Sister: “Half-Idle, don’t think I don’t know you’re silently +1’ing!”

Women might lack mechanics, but their intuition was sharp ╮(╯_╰)╭

Their first attempt at teamwork had failed, but remarkably, no one wanted to disband. Each had glimpsed the others’ skill during combat—despite the wipe, there’d been flashes of brilliance. But their second attempt couldn’t rely on feel alone. In guild wars, individual skill alone was never enough.

“We need three DPS,” the long-suffering Ray-Ban cut to the chase, “Decide now—who heals.”

True to his ID, Half-Idle remained unfazed, whether when getting blasted by the NPC or during this tense discussion: “If the healer can sustain, we can grind the Crystal Orb down. So I think Lamb should heal.”

“Brother, just because you two are close doesn’t mean you should vote for him,” Ray-Ban said half-jokingly. Having fought alongside Half-Idle, he was relatively polite despite his displeasure, “With two healers just now, we still wiped. Proves grinding won’t work.”

Lamb Doesn’t Stay Silent: “That’s because your healer distracted me. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have wiped.”

This wasn’t even thinly veiled—it was a direct attack. Your Sister gritted her teeth, about to retort, when Half-Idle calmly interjected: “I’m not recommending him because we’re close. Actually, we’re not.”

Your Sister & Ray-Ban: “Huh?”

Lamb: “I got paired with him through the random apple swap. Seemed decent, so we kept teaming up.”

Half-Idle confirmed Lamb’s explanation and tirelessly campaigned for him: “Even though he’s just a Blesscaller, he’s no worse than a Wandering Physician.”

Your Sister rolled her eyes. She didn’t want to keep emphasizing her lack of DPS, but had no choice: “This Wandering Physician has no DPS gear.”

“Tch.” Lamb’s tone wasn’t just dismissive now—it was outright contemptuous.

Your Sister took a deep breath. The world was beautiful, and she must not rage.

Glancing at Lamb’s healing gear, Your Sister asked the most useful question of the day: “Then do you have DPS gear?”

Lamb: “Of course. It’s standard for Blesscallers. I just prefer healing, but that doesn’t mean—”

Your Sister: “Great! Do your best, sweetie!”

And so, the healer position was settled.

Sometimes, men were pettier than women, and women more decisive than men.

The second attempt began with all four in their roles. Your Sister stayed in her spot while Ray-Ban, Lamb, and Half-Idle surrounded the Crystal Orb. With three lives in her hands, Your Sister focused like never before, mentally reviewing their countless previous attempts.

Barring surprises, the Crystal Orb would soon unleash its first AoE. She usually countered with Ten Thousand Blossoms, making it seem like the attack did little damage. In reality, the Crystal Orb’s subsequent ST attacks were devastating—she’d have to use almost all her skills on the main tank (Ray-Ban, whose HP pool was naturally thicker than Half-Idle’s).

Lamb’s Defense and HP were balanced, but due to his class, no matter how much he specced for DPS, it’d be hard to steal aggro from a fully geared Ray-Ban. Rather than risk over-aggroing, it was better to let Ray-Ban handle it.

But then came the next problem—by the time half her heals were on cooldown, the Crystal Orb would unleash its second AoE. With Ten Thousand Blossoms still cooling down, she’d have to use ST heals to save Ray-Ban at the others’ expense.

The first to fall would be Half-Idle’s pet, and Lamb would likely be near dead (though he could self-heal). Half-Idle could resummon, but the Crystal Orb gave no breathing room—the third AoE would come even faster.

Whether Ray-Ban could survive was questionable, but Half-Idle’s second pet would definitely die, and Half-Idle himself wouldn’t be in great shape. Lamb would be struggling to stay alive, and the healer would be stuck with all teammates bleeding out while she had no skills left…

And that wasn’t even the end—the fourth AoE’s interval would be shorter, its lethality more terrifying.

So far, Your Sister’s experience only extended to the fourth AoE. What came after remained unknown. But just these four waves were already a nightmare…

The first AoE arrived on schedule.

Your Sister used Ten Thousand Blossoms as usual while staring at the stopwatch on her phone, counting silently: 1, 2, 3…

The second AoE came around 7-8 seconds.

Ray-Ban was left with one-third HP. Without hesitation, Your Sister gave him an Insta Heal. Half-Idle’s Earthfire pet died, though he himself didn’t lose much HP. Lamb was in better shape than expected, still at half HP, and immediately healed himself while buffing. Your Sister had used her skill on Ray-Ban—if she wanted to heal herself, she’d have to use an HP potion. But potions had cooldowns too. Looking at her half-empty HP bar, she gritted her teeth and decided to tough it out one more round.

The third AoE came 4-5 seconds later.

Ray-Ban’s HP bar emptied instantly, but he didn’t die—a nearly imperceptible sliver remained. Clearly, the AoEs were coming faster but hitting harder. Lamb was down to one-fifth HP. Surprisingly, Half-Idle’s turtle pet was tanky enough to only lose 50% HP, but the attack pierced through to hit the summoner—Half-Idle died. The moment the AoE ended, Your Sister used her freshly off-cooldown Ten Thousand Blossoms. Withered trees could bloom, but dead numbers couldn’t—so Ray-Ban and Lamb recovered to 75% HP while Half-Idle stayed down. His turtle, though still alive, withdrew to join its master in death.

The fourth AoE came 2 seconds later.

It hit just as Lamb was casting Blessing of Resurrection on Half-Idle. Your Sister had retreated to a corner, praying to dodge the AoE while casting her big ST heal—Revival of the Withered.

The AoE arrived right on schedule. Your Sister’s timing was perfect—the attack and her heal landed within 0.5 seconds of each other.

But the attack hit everyone, while her heal only targeted Ray-Ban.

So Your Sister died. Lamb, mid-cast, died. Half-Idle, waiting for salvation, stayed dead. Ray-Ban was the most aggrieved—he didn’t survive the fourth AoE at all, getting insta-killed. Revival of the Withered, already in flight, found no target and dissipated with a sigh.

Second wipe.

The YY channel was silent—this time, no one had messed up.

Ray-Ban, the aggro-holder, had done his job—a leather-armored Assassin traveling far to battle, fearless, treating the plate-armored Blood Warrior’s duty (main tanking) as his own. What spirit was this?

Half-Idle, summoning pets left and right, hadn’t slacked either, DPSing his hardest until falling—a fate owed purely to the Demon Refiner’s squishiness.

Lamb Doesn’t Stay Silent was even more blameless—not only had he not erred, he’d even managed to sneak in heals for others while DPSing. This “suffer alone, benefit all” mindset was truly moving.

As for Your Sister—her performance had actually surprised everyone. Half-Idle and Lamb were stunned by her mechanics. During the first wipe, with Lamb as off-healer, Your Sister’s true skill hadn’t been obvious. But this time, she’d solo-healed from start to finish—stable execution, APM bordering on godly.

Ray-Ban had seen her APM before; what shocked him was how much her game sense had improved since they’d first partied. Amidst that chaos, she’d remained clear-headed, knowing exactly when to use which skills with pinpoint timing.

If not coincidence, then this girl had truly learned to think critically and rapidly translate that into tangible improvement. The former was attitude; the latter, talent.

“Any thoughts?”

Silence couldn’t last forever, or the game would be unplayable. So after a knowing pause, Ray-Ban broke the ice.

“Switch to full DPS gear and burn it down fast,” Half-Idle’s voice remained calm, but if you listened closely, there was a hint of despair.

Lamb: “Full DPS means low Defense. We barely survived the fourth AoE with normal gear—with low Defense, we might not even make it to the second.”

Ray-Ban: “If we burn it like Half-Idle said, maybe we can kill it before the fourth AoE.”

Ray-Ban had a point—this was precisely Half-Idle’s plan. The so-called burn phase involved using extreme DPS to rapidly deplete the boss’s HP before it could unleash later mechanics. In dungeons, if a boss’s enrage was too OP, most parties used this strategy—denying the boss its chance to attack. One second, the HP bar was at 20%, not meeting the trigger condition; the next, it hit zero, and just as the boss prepared to attack, it turned to dust—the OP move never seeing daylight.

But every strategy had trade-offs. High DPS, low Defense for burning meant—well, high DPS was the pro, low Defense the con. Low Defense meant a boss slap that normally took one-fifth HP might now take half. For DPS classes, HP loss didn’t matter—as long as you didn’t die, keep attacking. But for healers, it was a monumental test.

Ray-Ban, Lamb, and Half-Idle all knew where the crux of this plan lay.

They didn’t say it, just waited for their healer to volunteer.

Never before had Your Sister felt so… needed. A sudden excitement rushed through her veins, heating her blood. She realized Huaxia wasn’t Audition Online—she wasn’t here just to date Drink in a different setting. Here and now, beside three strangers, she wasn’t a woman but a comrade-in-arms.

“How much does your Defense drop with full DPS gear?” Your Sister asked first.

Ray-Ban: “30%.”

Lamb: “60%.”

Half-Idle: “My Defense is already negative, but I can summon two more DPS-focused pets.” Implication: Mr. Turtle was getting fired.

“How much does your DPS increase?” Second question.

Ray-Ban: “20%.”

Half-Idle: “30%.”

Lamb: “47%.”

Ray-Ban: “How’d you get that precise estimate…”

Your Sister stopped asking. Grabbing pen and paper, she started jotting down data—recalling each attack’s damage, each AoE’s interval, the trio’s adjusted DPS and Defense stats…

“I can’t sustain past the third AoE.”

Her verdict.

No one said “Why are you so useless?” or “You can do it!” They just silently geared up and pulled again—practice was the sole criterion of truth.

Reality proved Your Sister had overestimated herself—she didn’t even make it past the second AoE.

But her teammates didn’t blame her—not even a sarcastic remark. All that gender-discriminatory snark seemed like ancient history. Now, this squad—regardless of class or gender—was just a group of comrades united in crushing the Crystal Orb!

Two more burn phase attempts followed. Both times, Your Sister held out until the third AoE, but as predicted, couldn’t sustain further. Bringing Lamb back as off-healer might’ve worked, but losing one DPS defeated the whole point of burning.

Thus, the burn phase proposal hit a dead end.

With unconventional tactics failing, they had to return to convention—but without changes, the outcome was inevitable.

But where to change?

No ideas. Just keep fighting, keep observing, and keep dying.

Teammates had changed, but like with the War Banner duo, they died and revived. This squad was different, though—no complaints, no quitters, just dogged persistence.

Then, during another wipe, Your Sister saw light.

The key—a sconce on the wall.

Mr. Crystal Orb resided in a toy room—small but filled with whimsical playthings. Of course, these were just background art with no actual gameplay impact. That sconce, too, seemed purely decorative—a platform jutting from the wall, lined with colorful candles.

But as everyone knew, due to her early gaming experiences, Your Sister had an inexplicable fondness for protruding or recessed terrain like cliffs or alcoves. Whenever she saw such features, she instinctively hit the jump key.

This time was no exception. Seeing the fourth AoE coming (her teammates had corrected their mistake and switched back to balanced gear), Your Sister abandoned healing and went for a chain jump!

Jump failed.

Wipe.

Just another wipe among many. Teammates were lost in tactical thoughts, nobody noticing Your Sister’s little experiment.

Second attempt.

Third.

Fourth.

Fifth.

Sixth… Success!!

Again, the fourth AoE. Again, DPS wiped. But this time, the fallen comrades noticed one of the four status bars in the top-left wasn’t grayed out! Your Sister had dodged the fourth AoE! When width failed, height prevailed!!

Happiness came too suddenly—so suddenly that Your Sister didn’t know what to do. Jump down and resurrect? Or wait and observe?

Your Sister didn’t know, but Mr. Crystal Orb did—turning, it blasted the sconce with a love beam!

Poor Your Sister dodged the first disaster but not the second—she died.

Yet this was a glorious death, a death that heralded dawn—

Ray-Ban: “The hell, how’d you dodge that?”

Half-Idle: “If I saw right, it was the candle sconce.”

Lamb: “Only you’d think of something so weird.”

“Thanks, I’ll take that as a compliment,” Your Sister rolled her eyes but wasn’t really angry. A day of fighting side-by-side had taught her their quirks—Lamb Doesn’t Stay Silent: deadpan face, sharp tongue, just like this, “But dodging isn’t enough—I need to resurrect you guys, or we still can’t kill it. And based on just now, there’s no chance.”

“There is,” Half-Idle suddenly said, “If three of us can jump onto the sconce while one stays below to kite, then after the fourth AoE, only one dies. Then we can choose to resurrect or keep DPSing.”

Ray-Ban: “‘Kite’? Let’s call it what it is—holding aggro and dying.” Obviously, this job fell to the tank =_=

The tactic was clear, but “three people jumping onto the sconce” wasn’t as simple as imagined. Some overshot and fell off the other side; some undershot and missed entirely; others landed but wobbled off due to Your Sister already being there. In short, this was skilled work requiring practice—preferably off combat, because casually hopping around was worlds apart from panic-jumping with a boss breathing fire down your neck.

If Half-Idle and Lamb knew anyone from Huaxia Summit, they’d have received sincere advice to avoid detours—cliffs, sconces, whatever, you can’t just jump if you want to jump! It takes talent!

Fifteen minutes into practice—

Mentally and physically exhausted Half-Idle: “I give up.”

Spectating Ray-Ban: “Being a sacrificial tank is so relaxing…”

Twenty-five minutes in—

Hoarse Your Sister: “I’m out of words. Taught you all I can. Clearly not cut out to be a teacher… TAT”

Deadpan Lamb: “Again.”

Thirty-five minutes in—

Ray-Ban: “Success!!!”

Half-Idle: “Lamb succeeded—why are you excited?”

Your Sister: “Get down and kite! Remember to self-heal!”

Lamb: “Obviously.”

Your Sister: “#@￥%&”

Lamb: “Quick! Rez!”

Your Sister: “No kidding.”

Lamb: “…”

Ray-Ban: “Laozi is back, hahahahaha!!!”

Half-Idle: “Don’t resurrect me—group Insta Heal, now!”

The final results showed that Half-Idle, lying on the ground the whole latter half, had given the most valuable command. Your Sister, following it, made the wisest choice—avoiding a scenario where resurrecting Half-Idle got the freshly revived Ray-Ban and near-death Lamb killed, thus securing a 3v1 advantage and ultimate victory.

[Eden] Lamb Doesn’t Stay Silent, Ray-Ban, Half-Idle, Drink Your Sister 3X have successfully slain Crystal Orb!

This system announcement was extraordinary—an SSS-ranked monster’s first kill was eye-catching enough, but counting the team—just four people?!

[Eden] Six Souls: This defies all logic!!!

[Eden] Joyful Pillow: So jealous.

[Eden] Winter AC: For real? Only four people?

[Eden] Kneel on Keyboard: Wait, two of those IDs look familiar…

The first-kill squad had no time for global chat’s uproar—one war’s end meant another’s beginning: looting =_=

The Crystal Orb had fallen. Teammates rushed to loot—whoa, three Golden Apples dropped.

The boss was generous; the teammates, less so. Four people dividing three apples was just begging for drama.

After two minutes of silence, it was clear no selfless Lei Fengs were coming forward. The only fair solution remained—

[System] Lamb Doesn’t Stay Silent rolled 22 points.

[System] Ray-Ban rolled 74 points.

[System] Drink Your Sister 3X rolled 35 points.

[System] Half-Idle rolled 8 points.

[System] Ray-Ban obtained Golden Apple.

[System] Ray-Ban rolled 57 points.

[System] Lamb Doesn’t Stay Silent rolled 58 points.

[System] Half-Idle rolled 60 points.

[System] Drink Your Sister 3X rolled 44 points.

[System] Half-Idle obtained Golden Apple.

[System] Drink Your Sister 3X rolled 89 points.

[System] Half-Idle rolled 10 points.

[System] Ray-Ban rolled 13 points.

[System] Lamb Doesn’t Stay Silent rolled 92 points.

[System] Lamb Doesn’t Stay Silent obtained Golden Apple.

[Party] Drink Your Sister 3X: Flips table!* (╯°Д°)╯︵┻━┻ Life is unfair!!

“Hahaha,” Ray-Ban laughed uproariously, “What sins did you commit in your past life?!”

“Tsk, zero luck,” Lamb Doesn’t Stay Silent didn’t gloat—just stated facts.

Half-Idle was the true saint: “Don’t lose heart. We’ve mastered the method—we can farm it now.”

Your Sister’s hope reignited: “I get all future drops?”

Half-Idle: “Uh…”

Retracting the saint comment! >_<

Though she got no apples, downing a 3S monster granted a solid 150 points to all. But viewed another way, she only had one more shot at the Crystal Orb—another 150 would push her past 400, disqualifying her from PvE and forcing her into the next tier—PvP Zone.

The quartet’s final collaboration began smoothly, their prior victory making this one effortless. Mr. Crystal Orb fell again. Though not a first kill, being a top-tier monster still earned another system announcement.

This time, spectators weren’t shocked—they were annoyed—

[Eden] Dryland King of Hell: Not cool. Teasing us once wasn’t enough—gotta keep at it?

[Eden] Kitchen God: Relax. 3S monsters give tons of points—they’ll hit 400 in three or four runs max.

[Eden] Sudden Spring Breeze: Don’t mind the envy—what dropped?

[Eden] Lamb Doesn’t Stay Silent: Golden Apple.

[Eden] Handsome Drifter: Wow, the man himself! Share your strat—pass on the knowledge!

[Eden] Lamb Doesn’t Stay Silent: Find a healer who likes jumping around.

[Eden] Handsome Drifter: ?

[Eden] Lamb Doesn’t Stay Silent: Strat.

“Ugh, must you roast me?” Your Sister’s eye twitched.

Lamb didn’t respond, but Ray-Ban chuckled: “Only two golds this time, but two reds too—probably consolation prizes. Ready? Here we go!”

As Ray-Ban looted, dice rolls popped up on everyone’s screens.

[System] Drink Your Sister 3X rolled 7 points.

Ray-Ban: “Hahahahahaha…”

Your Sister: “Screw you.”

[System] Ray-Ban rolled 61 points.

[System] Half-Idle rolled 41 points.

[System] Lamb Doesn’t Stay Silent rolled 60 points.

[System] Ray-Ban obtained Golden Apple.

The moment that 7 appeared, Your Sister despaired. She should’ve checked her horoscope before gaming today TAT

Only one Golden Apple left…

[System] Lamb Doesn’t Stay Silent rolled 6 points.

[System] Half-Idle rolled 19 points.

[System] Ray-Ban rolled 31 points.

Your Sister’s eyes widened—was the heavens finally smiling upon her (⊙o⊙)!

What was she waiting for? Now or never…

Wait.

Wait wait wait!

Gulping, Your Sister noticed a critical detail…

[System] Drink Your Sister 3X passes.

[System] Ray-Ban obtained Golden Apple.

The YY channel fell silent. Half-Idle and Lamb assumed she’d misclicked, bracing for the fiery lass to start wailing.

They were disappointed.

No misclick. No wailing. Maybe some thigh-slapping—from joy.

Your Sister: “Ray-Ban, hurry!”

Ray-Ban: “Huh? Hurry~ with~ what~?”

Your Sister: “Don’t play dumb—you’ve got three Golden Apples now, swap me back! Drink already swapped ice Iceborn’s sister out—no worries.”

Ray-Ban: “But I don’t like Drink’s current partner either…”

Your Sister wanted to strangle him: “You said you didn’t want female teammates—I guarantee Drink’s current partner is male!”

Ray-Ban: “Drink’s male too. Actually, Drink seems nice…”

Your Sister: “…What do you even want?!”

Could they not just play normally?! TAT

What Ray-Ban wanted, even he didn’t know—until clicking “Use” on three Golden Apples revealed three options, illuminating everything—

[1] Designated Partner Swap: Designate any opposite-gender player as your teammate. Your original teammate will pair with that player’s original teammate.

[2] Marriage Proposal: Propose to any opposite-gender player. If accepted, both receive the title [Love as Strong as Gold]. When both use this title in the same party (party size unlimited), gain +10% Max HP, +10% Max MP, +2% Evasion Rate, and unlock skill [Die for Love]. Note: This title remains active after Valentine’s event ends.

[3] Convert to Points: Convert to 521 points. Note: Player point cap is 1000. Any excess is truncated.

Ray-Ban: “I’m clicking.”

Your Sister: “Hurry up!”

Half-Idle and Lamb were baffled but stayed silent, spectating.

Your Sister held her breath, awaiting the rainbow bridge that would reunite her with Drink…

[Eden] “Rather die together than live apart—players [Ray-Ban] has chosen to propose to Drink Your Sister 3X with three Golden Apples! [Heart][Heart][Heart]”

The rainbow bridge arrived—but standing on it was an Assassin.

Your Sister had anticipated the beginning… Who could’ve predicted this ending?!

[Eden] Drink Till You Drop: ?????

Your Sister exploded. Drink panicked. The masses were stunned.

[Eden] Chasing Feifei Forever: Since when was there a marriage feature?

[Eden] Kitchen God: Wait, isn’t Your Sister the one who got randomly swapped earlier? Who’s proposing? Her original partner?

[Eden] Tian Haiyu: Bad memory—it’s the guy who swapped her in.

[Eden] Kitchen God: And now he realizes his random swap was true love?

[Eden] Kneel on Keyboard: Any updates on that earlier question? Who was Your Sister’s original partner again?

[Eden] Blood Swallow: You said IDs don’t matter—just labels.

[Eden] Kneel on Keyboard: No, at this point, that ID matters hahahaha

[Eden] Lifelong Feifei: Hello? Anyone answering me? Where’d the marriage feature come from?!

[Eden] Fluttering Sleeves: Three Golden Apples can propose.

[Eden] Lifelong Feifei: But three Golden Apples are for designated swaps?

[Eden] Fluttering Sleeves: The reward has options—can swap or propose.

[Eden] Six Souls: Using three Golden Apples just to PDA—commitment.

[Eden] Fluttering Sleeves: Not just PDA—marriage gives titles that boost party stats when equipped.

[Eden] “I won’t think of you, don’t think of me—player [Drink Your Sister 3X] rejects [Ray-Ban]’s proposal! [Broken Heart][Broken Heart][Broken Heart]”

[Eden] Lifelong Feifei: …

[Eden] Kitchen God: …

[Eden] Tian Haiyu: …

[Eden] Six Souls: …Does rejecting still give the title?

[Eden] Blood Swallow: THAT’S NOT THE POINT!!!

These were three Golden Apples, not three marbles! Did he think he could just pick them up and try again if he missed?! Who proposes without discussing it first?! Even buying an engagement ring requires secretly measuring the finger first! It’s like QQ laboriously crossing the equator to the North Pole, knocking on a polar bear’s door asking, “Polar bear, wanna play?” and the polar bear opening the door saying, “No”—not even that level of facepalm!!!

[Eden] Searching a thousand times in the crowd, player [Half-Idle] has chosen Designated Partner Swap from the three blessings with three Golden Apples!”

[Eden] There she stands in the dimming lights, player [Drink Your Sister 3X] embarks on a new journey!

[Eden] Fluttering Sleeves: …

[Eden] Kneel on Keyboard: …

[Eden] Blood Swallow: …

[Eden] Kitchen God: …

[Eden] Lifelong Feifei: …

[Eden] …

Someone upgrade our processors—this octa-core era is too much!!! TAT

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  Originally in English. First mention in the raws is a typo (Slience), but all other mentions are spelled correctly.