Chapter 179 – The Long Waterway (Part 2)

Although Ghost Server Legion Leader’s idealistic peace proposal sounded more like a provocation, the two legions that successfully rendezvoused in the Perfect Storm chatroom didn’t end up fighting. Because the moment they stepped into the chatroom, new players boarded the ship—

[Server] Silent Fortress

[Legion] Midnight Scream

[ID] Rock N Roll Will Never Die (Commander), 17 Moon Street (Deputy Commander)

[Level] 70

Fang Zheng thought the newcomers were acquaintances of Silence, since they were from the same server, Silent Fortress. Even if they weren’t close, they’d at least recognize each other. So, he temporarily reined in his radiant charm, considerately giving them time to catch up while he observed from the sidelines.

The two newcomers quickly made their way into the chatroom and indeed began warmly chatting with Silence—

“Wow, Dead Silence, you guys are really fast.”

“Tone-deaf, you’re not far behind either.”

“Nah, we weren’t following you. We’ve always marched to our own beat.”

“+1. Unlike some people, rushing to be the second to board the ship didn’t even earn them any points.”

“Damn, are you guys professional instigators or what? Come on, let’s duel!”

“Bring it, who’s scared of you!”

Oh ho, so they weren’t acquaintances—they were rivals~\(≧▽≦)/~

Fang Zheng was thoroughly enjoying the show from the sidelines. If he hadn’t been in the middle of a weight-loss cycle, he’d have grabbed a bag of sunflower seeds to munch on.

Just as the two teams were about to start a duel right then and there, a furious roar erupted through the headphones—

“Trick or Die, are you a firecracker, exploding at the slightest spark? Keep yapping and I’ll kick you out of the legion!”

Fang Zheng didn’t recognize this voice, but from the chat member list, it was clear that the Silence ID had the strongest signal when this was said.

The entire Silence team fell silent instantly—so quickly and uniformly that it was almost awe-inspiring. To the uninformed, this might look like a military unit rather than a gaming guild =_=

Fang Zheng gulped, even his keyboard tapping unconsciously softening—

[Perfect Storm] Milk is Mom: Was that just now… your legion leader?

[Perfect Storm] Polly: Friendly reminder—that wasn’t speaking, that was Midnight Screaming.

[Perfect Storm] 17 Moon Street: Don’t plagiarize our legion name =_=

[Perfect Storm] Rock N Roll Will Never Die: That’s just how he is. He’s all gloomy and weird, yet he can’t stand others making noise. Back when we teamed up with them for a dungeon run, if anyone got a little too loud in the voice chat, he’d lose it. Total unstable element in dungeons.

[Perfect Storm] 17 Moon Street: Yeah, he’s just messed up. Rumor has it his biggest hobby before the game update was farming monkeys on Mount Emei.

[Perfect Storm] Milk is Mom: ……

[Perfect Storm] Milk is Mom: And now…?

[Perfect Storm] Rock N Roll Will Never Die: Now he solos Nazi Zombie Hitlerot in the Glacier Cavern.

Fang Zheng silently turned to Meng Chudong, who looked completely clueless and innocent.

Fang Zheng asked weakly, “You’re not gonna turn out like that later, are you?”

Meng Chudong thought for a moment, then frowned. “Has Hitlerot ever dropped any particularly OP gear…?”

Brother, I’m already decked out in gold and silver. Please spare that poor zombie TAT

After Dead Silence’s outburst, the chatroom fell into a deathly silence, punctuated only by the occasional sound of keyboard tapping—perhaps the poor members were communicating via fingertips. Even the ultimate chatterbox Fang Zheng was powerless without anyone to engage with. The two from Midnight Scream quietly began studying the ship’s structure, while Meng Chudong alt-tabbed to the forums to research Hitlerot.

Fifteen minutes later, Fang Zheng was nearly driven mad by the silence…

“Oh, you’re all in the chatroom? But why’s it so quiet?”

“Big H~~~~~~~~~~~~~~” Finally, after so long, salvation had arrived!! TAT

Big H: “Who’s talking? Milk Mom?”

Fang Zheng: “Yeah yeah!”

Big H: “What’s going on? I feel like you’re about to pounce on me. Let me make this clear—I’m not interested in you.”

Fang Zheng: “Hehehehe~~~~”

Big H: “No, seriously, can you not laugh like that? I’m getting chills…”

Fang Zheng: “Whatever you say. I love hearing you talk right now.”

Nicknamed White Dragon Horse: “Polly, what did you do to him?”

Polly: “Hmm, no posts say Hitlerot drops OP gear, but it’s possible the info is still kept secret because very few know about it.”

Nicknamed White Dragon Horse: “……”

War-Snow Wolf: “The crew hasn’t hit 50 yet, has it? Has the battle already started?”

Fang Zheng: “Of course! From the moment you stepped onto the Perfect Storm, the battle began! Let’s introduce ourselves first.”

Big H: “Do we still need introductions?”

Fang Zheng: “Well, there are players from other servers here too.”

Nicknamed White Dragon Horse: “We already saw each other on the way. Nothing much to talk about.”

Fang Zheng: “It’s different! Before, we were opponents—now we’re teammates…”

War-Snow Wolf: “Milk Mom, has no one ever told you that you’re really talkative?”

Fang Zheng: “……”

Even the deputy leader of Ghost Server had his pride. He couldn’t keep clinging to people who clearly found him annoying.

Another long, dead ten minutes passed.

“Uh, I’m Big H, deputy leader of Meteor Blitz from Huaxia Summit. Our leader quit the game.”

“I’m Milk is Mom…”

Even the most tightly sealed plastic bag will fly away once torn open.

At first, the Silence members were cautious, but when Dead Silence didn’t explode again, they gradually joined in the self-introductions—though they avoided any provoking remarks to prevent another violent shutdown by their leader.

Fang Zheng realized Dead Silence didn’t hate people talking—he just hated arguments. As long as the atmosphere stayed civil, he lived up to his name and remained silent.

Most of the familiar faces from Huaxia Summit had arrived. While the leaders of Meteor Blitz and Huaxia Dominion had respectively retired and gone off to the Arena, their deputy leaders, Big H and Carved in Bone, were holding the fort. The leader of Five Peaks Pavilion, Drink Till You Drop, had also gone to Eden with his wife, but he’d wisely promoted Summit of Mount Tai as a temporary replacement, pairing up with White Dragon Horse for a solid leadership duo. The War Banner family, of course, were comrades from Easy Mode. Silent Fortress seemed dominated by Silence, as aside from the two from Midnight Scream, no one else came to challenge them.

Thus, the self-introduction segment concluded smoothly, and the chatroom settled into a friendly, harmonious atmosphere.

Big H: “Listening to you, Easy Mode really does sound simple…”

War-Snow Wolf: “Unless you run into a team of professional casual players who’ve been at it for a hundred years.”

Fang Zheng: “Oh no, don’t make me relive that TAT…”

Polly: “Was Skull Island hard?”

Birdy rarely participated in these discussions, but the all-pro lineup on the Flagship had piqued his interest.

Carved in Bone: “The boss wasn’t too bad.”

Insidious: “But players could PK each other. Rock N Roll got me a few times.”

Rock N Roll Will Never Die: “Screw you, that’s just you ganging up on me! And don’t abbreviate my ID =_=”

Polly: “Did killing players drop gear?”

17 Moon Street: “Yeah, Rock N Roll lost his pants.”

Rock N Roll Will Never Die: “Whose side are you on?!”

Polly: “Could you pick up the dropped gear?”

Insidious: “Nope. Same as on the servers—gear you crafted or got from Open-World Maps can be picked up, but dungeon drops are reclaimed by the system. But nowadays, all the best gear comes from dungeons. Who even wears crafted stuff?”

War-Black Gold: “So, are there a lot of people running around naked on Skull Island now?”

17 Moon Street: “Not really…”

March to Liangzhou: “The drop rate was adjusted lower.”

Polly: “The normal PK drop rate in-game is already low.”

March to Liangzhou: “This server adjusted it even lower—only 39% of the original rate.”

Polly: “How do you know?”

March to Liangzhou: “Just a feeling.”

Polly: “Oh. Too bad. Huaxia doesn’t encourage PK.”

March to Liangzhou: “Heh, yeah.”

Silent Fortress members: “……” How the hell do you “feel” a precise 39% drop rate?! And that “Oh” from the zombie—did you even understand?!

Huaxia Summit members: “……” And what’s with the “Too bad” afterward?! Why do we all feel a chill down our spines?!

Fang Zheng: “……” Who cares about drop rates?! What I wanna know is why you’re suddenly so enthusiastic?! Can’t we just live peacefully?! TAT

[Whisper] Polly: Just remembered—I chatted with him about zombie mechanics on the forums before. We’re kinda half-acquaintances.

Tch, explanations won’t help.

[Whisper] Milk is Mom: So, how is he? Strong? Is his legion OP?

[Whisper] Polly: Back then, his legion was big. But after the server went ghost, it disbanded.

Makes sense. If it hadn’t been big, March wouldn’t have qualified for Hard Mode. But likewise, if it hadn’t disbanded, he wouldn’t have struggled to gather a full team for endgame dungeons.

The passion cools, the excitement turns to disappointment—only those who’ve experienced a ghost server would understand.

Expectations fade, disappointment becomes despair—only those who’ve endured a ghost server and still stayed would understand.

Ghost Server Legion was lucky because Mirage Server merged with Huaxia Summit.

Galloping Through the Yellow Sands wasn’t. Its only stroke of luck was having a leader who stayed with it, forever stuck at Level 69, guarding it in solitude.

“Why is it still just our three servers after all this time? Where’s everyone else?” asked War-Snow Wolf. Like Fang Zheng and Meng Chudong, he knew nothing about Skull Island’s situation and could only guess based on the info he’d just heard. “Still busy PK-ing?”

“Thanks to Milk Mom, world peace was achieved long ago,” replied White Dragon Horse. “They’re probably still fighting the Skeleton King.”

Snow Wolf: “The boss? Didn’t you say the boss wasn’t hard?”

Blue Skeleton: “That was the earlier miniboss. After world peace, while we were heading to the docks, we ran into the final boss. Dead Silence wouldn’t let us fight it.”

Uh, is it really okay to call the leader by his ID like that? And that tone of dissatisfaction—what’s up with that?

Dead Silence: “Could you even beat it?”

Leader, you gotta show some love. You can’t just mock and discourage your members the moment they challenge you.

Blue Skeleton: “How would I know if we don’t try?”

Insidious: “Dead Silence isn’t talking about the boss—he’s talking about Iceborn and Dutch Chamber of Commerce.”

Jigsaw: “The Gods of Flame of the Gods was also fighting over it. Even if we took it down, our DPS wouldn’t be enough to claim the loot.”

Dead Silence: “Wasting time on a fight you know you can’t win is idiotic.”

Blue Skeleton: “Running away every time you assess a fight as unwinnable is cowardly.”

Dead Silence: “Don’t like it? Leave the legion.”

Blue Skeleton: “Why should I? No.”

Dead Silence: “Then shut up!”

Blue Skeleton: “No!”

[Perfect Storm] Dead Silence: Damn it!

[Perfect Storm] Blue Skeleton: (#‵’)凸

The chatroom fell into an awkward silence as the two shifted their battle there.

The onlookers stayed quiet—after all, this was another legion’s internal affair. But still—this really was a legion where everyone was equal.

“Hey, let’s do something,” Fang Zheng spoke up, breaking the awkward silence. “Just sitting here waiting is boring.”

One Night Resurrection: “Alt-tab and play cards?”

Fang Zheng: “Can’t you be more creative?”

Blue Skeleton: “Duel in the Arena!”

Fang Zheng: “If it’s not fighting bosses, it’s fighting people. Do you have to be so violent?”

Nicknamed White Dragon Horse: “Roll dice and bet Huaxia Coins?”

Fang Zheng: “No gambling, drugs, or vice.”

Rock N Roll Will Never Die: “Song chain?”

Fang Zheng: “Haven’t played that since I was ten.”

Big H: “If this is no good and that’s no good, then you come up with something!”

Fang Zheng: “Roll dice, lowest roll sings~\(≧▽≦)/~”

All players: “……”

The sheer number of alpacas stampeding through their minds left them momentarily speechless, missing the golden window to refuse. If they had known even a little more about the Ghost Server Legion Leader, they’d have realized they should never give him a chance to breathe—

Fang Zheng: “Alright, I’ll start us off with a song.”

You just wanna sing yourself, don’t you?!

“Brothers one two three four five! Brothers tens hundreds thousands! Brothers meet, three bowls of wine~~~ Brothers talk, two cups of tea~~ Brothers bond, friendship across the seas~~ Brothers heart-to-heart, five carts of words…”

[Perfect Storm] Rock N Roll Will Never Die: As much as I hate to admit it… he’s kinda killing it. Haha.

[Perfect Storm] Big H: This guy’s definitely lip-syncing! Or… he IS lip-syncing!! Where’s your ‘Pretty Girl’? Where’s your ‘Oh Lover’? Why must you torment us Summit players? Give us back the real Milk is Mom!! TAT

[Perfect Storm] Trick or Die: What song is this?

[Perfect Storm] 17 Moon Street: Theme song of the new Water Margin series.

[Perfect Storm] War-Black Gold: Fitting. Aren’t we just a bunch of brothers gathered together now?

[Perfect Storm] March to Liangzhou: The rebellion failed in the end.

[Perfect Storm] Rock N Roll Will Never Die: ……

[Perfect Storm] March to Liangzhou: Song Jiang drank poisoned wine.

[Perfect Storm] Trick or Die: ……

[Perfect Storm] March to Liangzhou: Wu Yong hanged himself.

[Perfect Storm] Nicknamed White Dragon Horse: ……

[Perfect Storm] March to Liangzhou: Lin Chong died of illness.

[Perfect Storm] War-Snow Wolf: ……

[Perfect Storm] March to Liangzhou: Lu Junyi drowned.

[Perfect Storm] Carved in Bone: ……

[Perfect Storm] March to Liangzhou: Lu Zhishen passed away peacefully.

[Perfect Storm] March to Liangzhou: Oh, but that one’s a good ending.

Legion Leader March… did your legion really disband just because the server went ghost…?

What goes around comes around. Or maybe the GM was a fan of Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Either way, March to Liangzhou rolled a 2 within four rounds. Without hesitation, he turned on his mic.

Of the three who’d sung so far—Fang Zheng was a pumped-up, energetic mess where pitch and tone were drowned out by spit-filled mic blasts; Rock N Roll Will Never Die sounded like he’d smoked ten packs of cigarettes in one go, making listeners want to grab a vacuum cleaner; and Left Eye Sees Ghosts sang a woman’s song—Fan Xiaoxuan’s “Ghost Doll”—a full octave lower =_=

So when March started singing, it was like the dawn of a new world.

“I don’t know how many summers and winters have passed, how many sunsets and sunrises I’ve seen, how long I’ve been running like this…”

Unlike his usual cold tone, his clear voice carried an unexpected gentleness when singing. That steadiness remained, making the gentleness soothing and lingering.

But this song, “Perfect World,” was supposed to ignite players’ passion, just like Huaxia’s theme song. Yet March’s rendition added a desolate, melancholic touch—though even this desolation was gentle and calm.

“Fly with me, in the perfect world, go with me, just like a bird¹Oh wow! This one I recognized right away. He is singing a soundtrack from the MMORPG Perfect World, called “Fly With Me.” I played the international release of that game many years ago. The song is actually not bad at all. I might include it.…”

No one had accompanied him to seek that perfect world in Fairy Dreamland.

He accepted it calmly and kept moving forward.

“Oh my god, am I hearing things? Is March singing?!”

Nothing ruins a moment like someone with zero situational awareness. It’s like watching a movie engrossed, only for the guy next to you to blast “Horseback Riding Man” from his knockoff phone. Or getting a room with a hot guy, only for the police to raid it for prostitution.

The singing stopped abruptly, ending as suddenly as it had begun.

“Huh? Why’d you stop?” The newcomer, oblivious, pressed on. “Was that you? March to Liangzhou?”

No one in the chatroom responded. First, because the question was directed at March, and if he didn’t answer, no one else should. Second, because this was a girl—no matter how annoying her chatter, a bunch of guys had to endure it out of politeness.

“It was me,” March said after a pause, seemingly weighing his words for two seconds. “Yuzu.”

With this woman’s arrival, seven new IDs appeared in the chatroom list, all belonging to Flame of the Gods—King of the Gods (Outer Flame, Leader), Flame of the Gods (Outer Flame, Deputy Leader), Fist of the Gods (Outer Flame I, Leader), Angel of the Gods (Outer Flame I, Deputy Leader), Mouse of the Gods (Outer Flame II, Leader), Ghost of the Gods (Outer Flame II, Deputy Leader), Dragon Wonton (SHOOL, Leader).

Not one of them was the “Yuzu” March had mentioned.

Also, Dragon Wonton kinda ruined the naming pattern =_=

“I never heard you sing in Fairy Dreamland, and you’re this good? You’ve been hiding your talents!” Yuzu—whose voice came through Angel of the Gods’ mic—continued, “But why didn’t you help us fight Dutch Chamber of Commerce earlier? You just walked right past. Flame almost got PK’ed.”

Her tone was accusatory, as if March were her servant rather than an acquaintance.

March remained unfazed: “I attacked Don’t Stop the Meds for you before leaving.”

“No way! Don’t Stop the Meds didn’t even die! I saw you walk right past!”

“I hit him…”

“No, you didn’t!”

“…once.”

“……”

Realizing she’d been teased, the princess was furious: “Ugh, you’re still as annoying as ever! Is this fun for you?!”

Having listened this far, Fang Zheng wanted to correct Angel Princess—this wasn’t teasing, it was refusing to indulge her tantrums. He was tempted to give March a thumbs-up.

“Little girl, this isn’t teasing—it’s called not spoiling you…”

Who? Who just voiced his inner monologue?

“Rein in that princess attitude, and let big bro educate you. That one hit from Legion Leader March was Miasma—once it lands, no amount of healing can save you. You have to wait until your HP drops below 50% for the debuff to wear off. You have no idea how hard I struggled. Oh, hey, horror movie buddies, you’re here too~~”

That jumpy train of thought, that familiar style…

“And you, March to Liangzhou, do your legion members—oh wait, ex-legion members—know you’re this mischievous? Next time you do a good deed, leave your name. I had to search everywhere for you.”

Don’t Stop the Meds, X, Rain Ceases, Scholar Lu, Mocha, Little Willow, War of the Gods.

Dutch Chamber of Commerce—all aboard!

• 1
  Oh wow! This one I recognized right away. He is singing a soundtrack from the MMORPG Perfect World, called “Fly With Me.” I played the international release of that game many years ago. The song is actually not bad at all. I might include it.