Chapter 19 – Parallel Crossings

Perhaps all his bad luck had been exhausted at Grandpa Wang’s place, or maybe Your Uncle had wisely locked his mouth and restrained his hands. Whatever the case, the rest of the corpse herding journey, the Underground River, and even the Haunted Grove went smoothly—no deaths, no capsizing, and goddamn it, they even dropped another Haunted Forest Zombie Bracers! Last time it was a caster’s top, this time it was zombie bracers. The female boss of the Haunted Grove was practically radiating maternal warmth.

With the dungeon running smoothly, their speed naturally improved. Last time, it had taken nearly three hours to reach the Zombie King, but this time, it was only an hour.

“Same as before. Fighter Jet, pull the boss to the grass pile. Mage and healer stay at range with the blesscaller, keeping a distance of at least 20 meters. Blood Bull and I will handle melee, but this time we have a Blood Warrior tanking, so the heals and support shouldn’t be under too much pressure. When the boss goes berserk, Blood Bull, watch out and dodge. Blesscaller, keep an eye on Fighter Jet—res him immediately if he goes down. But this time, don’t use Remote Resurrection.”

Polly, for once, spoke at length, but Fang Zheng felt like everything before the last sentence was just setup for it.

Crossplayer, not daring to forget history, was now behaving with utmost seriousness: “Don’t worry, I’ll pry Remote Resurrection right off my skill bar!”

True to his word, Crossplayer didn’t make a single mistake the entire run. In fact, with his focus sharper than ever, his execution was even faster. The moment the enraged boss insta-killed 2B Fighter Jet, the resurrection was already flying out, and Milk Mom’s heals followed right after. The boss fell with a thunderous crash, and the whole run was so smooth it brought tears to their eyes.

“Laozi’s gonna loot this time!” Fighter Jet hadn’t gotten a single loot chance the whole way, and at this critical moment, he absolutely refused to yield.

His teammates didn’t object. After all, it didn’t matter who looted—as long as it wasn’t that guy. ╮(╯_╰)╭

Fang Zheng instinctively glanced at the person on his screen. Good, this guy was standing still this time, very—

“I swear I’m not doing anything this time. If it’s still shit loot, don’t blame me.”

—very punchable, now that he’d opened his mouth. =_=

Fighter Jet clicked to loot almost simultaneously. This time, the boss didn’t completely screw them over, and the system’s loot roll popped up considerately—

[Corpse King General’s Silver Leather Boots]

Level: 55

Attributes: Irrelevant.

Special Note: Holy shit, it’s a Blue-tier Gear!

In theory, leather boots were suitable for zombies and assassins, but since these were useless Blue-tier Gear that could only be sold to vendors, everyone rolled for them. In the end, the boots fell into 2B Fighter Jet’s inventory, though it did little to soothe his frustration: “Fuck, this dungeon’s cursed!”

Fang Zheng lit a cigarette, silently wondering just how dense this guy had to be to still not realize who the real jinx was.

Meanwhile, the real jinx was still earnestly lamenting: “My luck’s been kinda bad lately. Tsk, what a pain.”

[Party] Blood Bulls Don’t Graze: Just lately?

Fang Zheng wanted to bow to the Berserker!

“Uh, are we continuing?” Crossplayer had performed remarkably well today and was actually enjoying himself, reluctant to stop.

“Nah, it’s already eleven,” Polly said lightly.

Fang Zheng wanted to raise both hands and feet in agreement!

But the first to second the motion was Your Uncle: “Let’s stop. I’ve got work tomorrow—can’t stay up too late, haha.”

“Yeah,” Polly replied. “Get some rest early. Good night.”

“Good night, everyone~~~”

By then, Fang Zheng had already alt-tabbed out of the game. His LCD monitor now displayed the YY interface, where Your Uncle had already left after saying goodbye, leaving only five little avatars in the room.

“Guess I’ll log off too,” Crossplayer said, his tone reluctant. “I kinda wanted to run City of the Dead…”

Fang Zheng was about to say they could continue tomorrow when Polly’s voice cut in first: “We can.”

“Huh?” Crossplayer clearly didn’t follow.

Polly’s tone remained indifferent: “City of the Dead’s fine. It’s only eleven.”

Nah, it’s already eleven.

We can. It’s only eleven.

What was the pinnacle of shamelessness? Answer: deadpanning your own scumbaggery.

“Wait! You guys were just trying to ditch that Spirit Master, weren’t you?!” 2B Fighter Jet’s tone was one of sudden enlightenment, as if he’d discovered an Easter egg.

Polly: “He has work tomorrow.”

Fang Zheng: “…”

2B: “You guys are evil! Then hurry up and find someone else so we can hit City of the Dead~~~”

Fang Zheng continued: “…”

…

Jiang Yang had an absolutely orgasmic night—he was practically floating on cloud nine.

From early days with Street Fighter to later Counter-Strike, and then to massive MMORPGs like Legend, Jiang Yang’s gaming history was rich enough to write a chronicle of modern Chinese gaming. Even during the toughest days of his startup, this guy never quit gaming—he just cut back on time, but never on quality. For him, the ultimate thrill was simple: KO’ing his opponents.

So naturally, he’d entered Huaxia with the same glorious ambition. Who could’ve predicted his terrible luck, landing him on the hopeless Mirage Server? When he’d first created Mad Lad there, Mirage still had some life. But by the time he’d painstakingly leveled his alt to max over half a month, the server had withered. And when he finally finished his Desert Set? Mirage was a full-blown ghost town. It was like sharpening your blade, ready to ambush travelers, only to find the road deserted—leaving you standing in the swirling sands, desolate, frustrated, and aggrieved.

Fang Zheng’s call was like a shot of adrenaline. A guild-wide bounty? Now that was something to celebrate! So after tossing and turning on the massage bed for a few minutes, Jiang Yang decisively got up, bid his friends in the next rooms goodbye, and headed home.

Half an hour later, Mad Lad logged into Huaxia Summit.

Half an hour and two minutes later, Mad Lad was killed outside Beijing’s Sixth Ring Road.

The culprits were two max-level players who’d been gathering herbs there. When they spotted Mad Lad, they paused for a second, then recalled this was the name on their guild leader’s hit list—and without hesitation, they abandoned their herbs and pounced.

Jiang Yang had only been testing the waters, but the results made him want to weep with joy! The most frustrating thing about PKing was needing a righteous reason. Otherwise, even if you became the PK King, you’d just end up with a reputation like Polly’s—hardly praiseworthy. But now? He wasn’t the instigator—he was fighting for his life! The moment he logged in, he was getting jumped, the moment he logged in, he was getting jumped… Finally, the day I’ve waited for has come! Finally, my dream is realized!

With such a golden opportunity before him, Jiang Yang didn’t hesitate. He Town Portaled back, spent 9,000 Huaxia Coins on a set of high-tier (though not top-tier) Yellow-tier Gear. He’d wanted Orange-tier, but couldn’t find a full set for sale, and he was in a hurry, so he settled. Next was a weapon—he spammed the World Chat, causing a stir as players whispered among themselves: What’s going on? Is the guy with the bounty finally fighting back? But where there was demand, there was supply. Soon, several players PM’d him, and Jiang Yang ended up with a handcrafted, gem-socketed, near-Orange-tier weapon.

With everything ready, he logged into the in-game mall and bought a Red Ribbon for Mad Lad.

Jiang Yang always felt like this thing was product placement for an anti-AIDS campaign, but regardless, the 300-yuan effect was undeniable—any player wearing the Red Ribbon had all their gear bound for a month, preventing item drops even if they died.

Preparations complete, the whale charged back into the wilds.

The two herb-gatherers were still there, clearly not expecting the familiar face to return. This gave Jiang Yang the chance to stealth and sneak up behind them. Then, the little assassin struck at the perfect moment with a Backstab + Bloodseal Strike combo—made even more shameless by the fact that he’d popped a 15% attack boost pill from a gold-user lottery. The squishy Spirit Master dropped instantly, leaving only the other assassin. The Spirit Master had gone down so fast it was barely a blink, so the other guy was still crouched in gathering stance. Jiang Yang was no chivalrous hero like Guo Jing, who’d say, “Come on, stand up first so we can fight fair!” No, he hit the guy with Heartstab to shave off a chunk of HP, then immediately leapt back, swapped to his bow, and fired a Frost Arrow!

The poor guy had just stood up when he froze solid—exactly what Jiang Yang wanted. Two seconds was more than enough for him to jump behind the guy and land another Backstab + Bloodseal Strike! And as luck (or rather, unluck) would have it, this Bloodseal Strike critted, wiping out the guy’s HP bar in one go. As he fell, he even generously contributed an Orange-tier bracer.

Since they were both assassins, Mad Lad could technically use the bracer, but a single piece was hardly worth breaking up his current Yellow-tier set. So as he looted, he couldn’t help but complain—

[Local] Mad Lad: Either drop the whole set or don’t drop anything. What’s the point of just one piece?

The guy on the ground, already dead, spat metaphorical blood before quickly turning into white light to cry to his guildmates.

Mad Lad stood in the wind, deeply annoyed that his victim hadn’t left behind a “Just you wait!” Now he didn’t know whether to stay put for the next wave of villains or go hunt them down himself.

Sigh, villains these days… ╮(╯_╰)╭

The rest of the night’s events need not be detailed—just the usual back-and-forth of killing and being killed, with casualties on both sides. Jiang Yang even dropped to Level 54. But one thing was certain: he didn’t lose any gear, while he walked away with two Orange-tier bracers, an Orange-tier top, Orange-tier boots, and a godly Orange-tier spear.

The guy who lost the spear was utterly devastated and took to World Chat to vent—

[Huaxia] Chaotic Clouds: Fuck your mom, Mad Lad!!! You sneaky bastard!!! I farmed that spear for a whole damn month in the Corpse King Necropolis!!!!

Jiang Yang leisurely lit a cigarette, totally satisfied.

[Huaxia] Mad Lad: You guys are ganging up on me, and you’re the ones doing it wearing such good gear?

[Huaxia] Mad Lad: [General King’s Frostiron Spear], selling cheap. Serious buyers PM.

…

Fang Zheng was spamming for party members in the desolate expanse of Mirage when his phone vibrated on the desk.

Puzzled, he picked it up—a text message:

Your bank card ending XXXX received a deposit of 392 yuan on X/X/XXXX.

The message itself was ordinary—he usually got a dozen or so a month. But the amount was baffling. Had he even had any business lately? There was that one whale client, but that had ended in disaster…

Wait!

392 yuan?

Add that to the earlier 100, and it was 492 yuan.

The client hadn’t blamed him for the power-leveling mess—he’d even paid in full! (⊙o⊙)

Only deducting the 5 yuan Fang Zheng had spent on gear for Polly >_<

And the 3-yuan long-distance call fee for the apology consultation text =_=