Chapter 23 – Heavily Laden with Sins

The one ultimately chosen by the system was Mad Lad. The poor guy had barely transformed when Polly landed a Backstab on him, followed by 438’s Tengu pet pouncing on him… and biting him to death.

At that moment, the DPS Healer 2B Fighter Jet had just finished equipping his gear.

“Damn, Assassin, you died way too fast! Don’t you have any dignity as a boss?!” Fighter Jet, who hadn’t even gotten a chance to attack, was thoroughly frustrated.

On the screen, the Demon Refiner patted his dog pet’s head, while 438’s sigh echoed through the headset: “I really wish you could come back in a Desert Set…”

The Assassin, who had already been auto-revived by the system and was sitting on the ground recovering HP, glared furiously: “You guys got lucky, and now you’re rubbing it in?!”

Polly, who had somehow already gotten drumsticks from Squire Chen, calmly said, “Healer, give him a heal.”

Fang Zheng snapped out of it and quickly cast a Trickling Stream.

Mad Lad’s HP bar was soon full again.

The group reorganized and stepped out of the courtyard.

The streets were no longer empty—they were now filled with wandering spirits of all kinds. The team fought their way through mobs and soon arrived at the Yamen gates. Three drumbeats later, the imposing doors swung open.

Judge Lu sat in the main hall, flanked by ghostly bailiffs. Above them hung a plaque with large characters: Life and Death Are Predestined.

Polly stepped forward to talk to Judge Lu while Fang Zheng yawned and studied the four small doors on either side of the hall—Heavenly Path, Human Path, Beast Path, and Ghost Path. Every squad entering this dungeon would be judged by Judge Lu and sent through the corresponding door. Though all paths ultimately led to the first miniboss, the difficulty varied drastically between them. The Heavenly Path was undoubtedly the easiest, but the path assigned depended on the team’s total Infamy Points (earned by killing other players in-game). It was rare for a team to be clean enough for the Heavenly Path; most ended up in the Human or Beast Path. Only a handful of particularly notorious teams were sent to the Ghost Path…

Fang Zheng was still mulling it over when a system message popped up—

[System] Judge Lu: Your sins are too grave to be pardoned! Hell has no door for you!

What the hell is this?!

“Damn! What the hell is this?!”

The sudden outburst in the headset startled Fang Zheng—was the game somehow translating his inner monologue now? And with a female voice, no less?!

Before he could process it, the bailiffs swarmed the squad from all sides!

The first to react was Blood Bulls Don’t Graze. The Berserker wasted no time swinging his greatsword in a wide AoE attack! Fighter Jet followed up with a group Taunt, firmly locking aggro, while the Zombie and Assassin moved in to pick off the stragglers. 438 released his pet and even managed to Capture a bailiff in the process =_=

“Shouldn’t we be going through a door?!” The Assassin’s voice rang out amid the chaos.

“Who the hell knows what bug this is!” Fang Zheng dodged stray attacks while frantically healing his teammates.

438 was on the verge of tears: “Nothing’s ever normal when I run dungeons with you guys!!”

Polly sighed. “Probably because our Infamy is too high.”

“Can you guys focus on what’s important?!” Fighter Jet exploded. “What about that girl who yelled just now?!!!!”

Ah, right. When he reminded them, everyone realized that… yeah, a girl had indeed just cursed at them =_=

But Judge Lu had no interest in girls. Seeing his bailiffs slaughtered, he wasted no time joining the fray himself!

438 cast Capture at him, but the system declared it invalid. So it was clear—this was a hidden boss!

The group perked up. Fighter Jet muttered “girl, girl” under his breath like he was afraid he’d forget, while spamming every Taunt skill he had to hold aggro. Mad Lad went wild with DPS, the Demon Refiner’s pet kept pace with Polly’s attacks, and 438 stayed glued to Milk is Mom… living the easy life.

“Uh, you don’t have to stand that close to me,” Fang Zheng said, noticing his teammate. Healing wasn’t too demanding at the moment, so he had time to observe.

438 remained snugly nestled next to the healer: “I’m afraid you won’t be able to feed me.”

“My healing range is twenty…” Fang Zheng trailed off as it dawned on him. “You’re not even taking damage, you dumbass!”

Just then, Judge Lu entered Berserk mode and summoned a second wave of demonic minions!

Fang Zheng barely had time to hear 438 marvel, “Damn, these mobs are gorgeous!” before a figure zipped past him from the side!

I take it back, you do take damage—you take damage the second you stand next to me, so stop charging in, damn it TAT

Fang Zheng looked at his teammates’ status bars and wanted to cry.

438 was diving headfirst into every mob cluster, spamming Capture while his HP plummeted! This was a squishy caster, not a Blood Warrior! Squishies were the hardest for healers to keep alive!!

The tank in the middle of the chaos was too distracted to notice, only realizing he hadn’t been healed in a while. He whined, “Why’d you cut me off…?”

Fang Zheng was too busy scrambling to even respond, wishing he could reach into the screen and strangle 438. He absentmindedly reassured Fighter Jet: “Gotta prioritize the Demon Refiner. Hold on a little longer, little Ji Ji, I believe in you~~”

The trailing “you~~” hadn’t even faded when the Blood Warrior stopped attacking, letting Judge Lu’s pen stab him repeatedly as if he didn’t care.

The healer… froze.

438 finally faceplanted under a mob’s spiked club, completely confused: “Why’d the healer stop healing me?”

The response came from 2B Fighter Jet—

“What… did you just… call me?”

438: “I was talking to the healer…”

“Little Ji Ji?”

438: “Huh?”

“Damn it, 438, stop butting in like a pop-up ad!”

The innocent pop-up was already dead, and now his fragile heart was being trampled a second time T_T

“I’m talking to you, healer. Don’t play dumb!”

The inevitable had come. Fang Zheng took a deep breath and braced himself—

“Actually… are you sure you don’t wanna go tank some mobs first?”

2B: “Tank your sister!”

Blood Bull: “Tank your sister!!!”

2B: “Huh? Why the echo? And a woman’s voice?”

Blood Bull: “2B, if you don’t get your ass over here right now, I’ll carve you into a real 2B!!!”

Rawr~ A feisty one >_<

2B Fighter Jet reflexively obeyed, spinning around to Taunt and pulling aggro back from the Berserker, who had somehow stolen it.

Fang Zheng snapped out of it and cast Ten Thousand Blossoms, restoring the Berserker’s HP along with the rest of the team to about 80%.

Perhaps realizing the fight was hopeless, Judge Lu finally collapsed, his corpse faintly glowing with promise.

This time, Polly did the looting. The system rolled the dice—twice!

[Death Judge’s Pen] Lv. 55, Yellow-tier melee weapon.

[Hell Judge Leather Tunic] Lv. 55, Orange-tier.

Only the Zombie and Assassin could use the melee weapon—the Blood Warrior and Berserker wielded greatswords or broadswords, and Mad Lad already had top-tier Orange-tier gear, so he had no use for this Yellow-tier trash. Similarly, the leather armor was meant for the same two, and the Assassin had his Desert Set, so Polly got that too.

The onlookers couldn’t help but remark—

“Commander… is Judge Lu your relative or something?”

The first battle was a resounding success with great loot, but now a new problem arose: none of the four reincarnation paths had opened. Where were they supposed to go?

Of course, for some, that wasn’t the only issue.

2B Fighter Jet: “Can we get back to business now?”

Fang Zheng pretended not to hear, dutifully reviving 438 with his healer.

Meanwhile, Polly, who had been inspecting the Yamen’s walls as if searching for a hidden mechanism, casually replied, “Which topic do you want to continue?”

Fighter Jet was firm: “Both.”

Polly made the call: “Five minutes. Make it quick.”

2B turned his character to face Milk is Mom: “Healer, let’s go.”

Fang Zheng gulped: “Don’t be like this. I’m not into you. Forcing it won’t end well…”

“Go die in a fire!!”

“Okay, I’m going.”

“But first, explain Little Ji Ji!”

“Uh… Little mouse, little mouse, don’t steal the rice~~~ Squeak squeak squeak squeak squeak~~~“

“You think singing Blue Mouse and Big-Faced Cat is gonna fool me?”

“I thought it might work.”

“Well, my IQ is offended.”

“Fine, I was the one power-leveling! What’re you gonna do about it?!”

“……”

“Come on, hit me if you can, hit me~~~~”

[Party] Blood Bulls Don’t Graze: Shameless.

[Party] Refined Into a Demon 438: No bottom line.

[Party] Mad Lad: Disgusting.

[Party] Polly: Entertaining.

2B took a deep breath, adopting a tone of magnanimity: “You all heard him. He asked for it. I have no choice.”

Before the words even finished, a Wind-Splitting Slash came crashing down on Milk is Mom!

Fang Zheng hadn’t expected the guy to actually attack in the dungeon. Even without a boss, this was too much!

Fortunately, healers had decent defense and HP, so the slash only took off a fifth of his health. Fang Zheng popped a Speed Scroll and dashed away, countering with a Willow Leaf Blade!

The tank wasn’t just for show—Fang Zheng’s pitiful attack barely scratched his HP bar =_=

2B gloated: “Just surrender. A healer trying to kill me? Hahahaha~~~~”

[Party] Blood Bulls Don’t Graze: Shameless.

[Party] Refined Into a Demon 438: No bottom line.

[Party] Mad Lad: Disgusting.

[Party] Polly: Mhm.

The ensuing brawl was far from graceful, so we’ll skip the details. Neither could kill the other, neither could catch the other, and eventually, both called a truce, panting heavily.

“Assassin, don’t act like you’re innocent. You’re next!” 2B wasn’t done yet—he had another target.

“What’s it got to do with me?” Jiang Yang was baffled. “I didn’t know the healer was the power-leveler.”

“Huh?”

“I found him on the forum, gave him my account over QQ. How was I supposed to know he was a player on Mirage Server?”

“Really?”

“Why assume the worst? Lying to you doesn’t pay.”

[Whisper] Milk is Mom: Impressive.

[Whisper] Mad Lad: Learn from the master.

[Whisper] Milk is Mom: Skills can be learned. Talent can only be worshipped.

[Whisper] Mad Lad: Good boy.

[Whisper] Milk is Mom: Screw you. I don’t owe you anything.

[Whisper] Mad Lad: Tch.

What… kind of emotion was that supposed to convey? =_=

2B was just mad that Fang Zheng had tricked him, but it wasn’t a big deal—just a bit embarrassing when he’d called the Assassin “wifey.” And embarrassment was as routine to 2B as eating and sleeping, so it wasn’t exactly devastating. After hashing it out and chasing each other around, his anger had mostly dissipated, giving way to baser instincts—

“Sister Blood Bull~~~~=_=”

Fang Zheng wasn’t sure if Blood Bulls Don’t Graze was actually a girl, but he was certain her current thoughts were all “your sister.”

“I knew it—if someone doesn’t talk on YY, they’re either a girl or mic-less~~~~=_=”

Brilliant deduction.

“Your voice is so nice. Say something else, just two more lines, please~~~~”

“Piss off.”

“I think I’m in love!”

Damn…

“I’m here to game, not to date.”

“Perfect! I’m not here to game—I’m here to date!”

Damn it…

[System] Narrator: The hearts of men are wicked; hell is eternal.

The sudden system message startled Fang Zheng, thinking another boss had appeared. But instead, a blinding light shot in from nowhere, engulfing half the screen. When it faded, the judge’s desk beneath the Life and Death Are Predestined plaque had sunk into the ground, leaving behind a pitch-black hole—like an invitation.

Path of Infamy.

The ultimate path of reincarnation of the City of the Dead, something only seen in guides, had appeared in front of this ragtag team that could hardly be called a fixed squad.

Fang Zheng knew the City of the Dead had this feature, but he’d never encountered it. No matter which path you took, they all led to the first miniboss, Zhong Kui. The paths themselves offered no special rewards, so no one deliberately chose the harder ones, and thus, info on them was scarce.

He alt-tabbed to Baidu it. Soon, the trigger condition for the Path of Infamy appeared right in front of his eyes—

Entire team must have over 999+ Infamy Points.

Had he teamed up with a gang of killers?