Chapter 24 – Built-In Cheats

Before stepping onto the Path of Infamy, the squad had a discussion about responsibility allocation.

More than half of the search results were inaccurate—it should have been half or more—so in the end, everyone revealed their Infamy Points. Only three met the criteria—Polly, 2B, and Blood Bull.

Fang Zheng was shocked: “Assassin, you’re not on the list?”

Jiang Yang was frustrated: “How many times do I have to tell you? After finishing the Desert Set, the server went ghost. Laozi didn’t even have time to show off!”

2B Fighter Jet’s focus was always on the ladies: “Sister Blood Bull, you’re such a badass. We’re a match made in heaven~~”

Blood Bulls Don’t Graze understood immediately: “I’ll relay your feelings to my ex-boyfriend. Want me to include a photo of you?”

Turns out this account was a breakup gift Blood Bulls Don’t Graze demanded from her ex-boyfriend. What kind of girl would ask for an account as a breakup gift was beyond Fang Zheng’s understanding, but that was Fighter Jet’s problem to figure out. He just couldn’t understand why Blood Bull had stayed silent at first but later revealed herself.

“Staying silent was to avoid unnecessary trouble,” Blood Bull calmly explained to her teammates. “But then I realized you guys are walking disasters. If I kept quiet any longer, I might’ve ended up slapping each of you one by one.”

Blood Bull’s voice remained gentle and scholarly throughout, making the losers only dare to silently curse in their hearts—You contributed to the 999+ Infamy Points too, damn it!

With the discussion concluded, the six of them steeled themselves and cautiously stepped onto the Path of Infamy.

The legendary path wasn’t particularly unusual—just a bit darker, narrower, and with more mobs…

Poor Fighter Jet was constantly swarmed by over a dozen mobs, clinging to him like fleas. Teammates would kill the old ones, only for new ones to replace them, effectively cocooning the Blood Warrior. If the Path of Infamy hadn’t been so short, his teammates might’ve forgotten what he looked like.

Despite the Healer’s non-stop HP spam and Blood Bull’s Shield Ally sharing the damage, Fighter Jet still died twice.

But he had no one to blame for that. Since he’d contributed to the “heinous crimes,” this could be considered his penance.

At the end of the Path of Infamy, a beam of light shone down, illuminating the first boss, Zhong Kui, as it did for all pathway bosses.

Zhong Kui had high defense, thick HP, and terrifying attack power—honestly, he was a bit wasted as the first boss. But as long as the team positioned correctly, grinding him down wasn’t too hard, since the guy was straightforward and didn’t pull any tricks. Even during Berserk, he only used one AoE attack. Survive that, and it was smooth sailing.

Without needing prompting, Fighter Jet was the first to aggro the boss, followed by Birdy, Assassin, and Blood Bull. 438, as usual, stood with the Healer, remotely controlling his pet.

Everything proceeded as usual. After about six or seven minutes, Zhong Kui fell with a groan.

Birdy did the looting again—and another red drop!

[Hell Judge Leather Legguards] Level 55, Orange-tier Gear.

Two oranges and one yellow in half a dungeon run—the crowd was electrified…

“Damn! Did you buy the City of the Dead or something?!”

“I propose banning the leader from looting from now on!”

“You’re not alone…”

Amid the chorus of complaints, Polly calmly picked up his loot, then leisurely equipped it without a shred of guilt.

Zhong Kui’s corpse slowly vanished. Just as the squad was about to move forward, a system message popped up:

[System] Bell Maiden: Who dares bully my brother?!

There’s a side quest for this thing?!

In an instant, the screen was bathed in colorful light as a stunningly beautiful woman gracefully descended.

“Whoa, a hidden NPC~~~~” 2B’s voice slipped into his signature “enchanted by beauty” mode.

“You can try talking to her,” Polly casually suggested. “Might trigger something… interesting.”

Following orders, 2B stepped forward and double-clicked her.

But the beauty was faster. With a flick of her sleeve, the Blood Warrior lost half his HP.

2B: “She hit me…”

Polly: “So this is probably a boss. Everyone, attack.”

2B: “Fuck me, am I the test subject…?”

At the word “boss,” everyone perked up. The earlier Zhong Kui had been as good as a black drop, but now they were being handed a rare one—clearly a reward triggered by the Path of Infamy. Who knew what it could drop? Anticipation was the greatest temptation!

But this Bell Maiden wasn’t to be underestimated. Despite her glamorous outfit, her defense was even higher than Zhong Kui’s. 2B’s attacks only did half their usual damage! Jiang Yang loved this kind of challenge, throwing himself into the fight without restraint! Fang Zheng also got fired up, his APM unconsciously skyrocketing as he frantically healed and cleansed debuffs left and right!

“What do you think this’ll drop~~=_= Oh~~ Maybe something for Blood Warriors~~=_=”

“It better be a Healer weapon!”

“You’re a Healer, what do you need a weapon for? Give us an accessory—I need Magic Resistance.”

“Your Desert Set is already OP as hell!”

“Blood Warrior gear gets my vote.”

“Blood Bull, have you and Little Fighter formed an alliance?”

“Usually, what Blood Warriors can use, Berserkers can too. Double the prayers, double the odds.”

“…”

“Sorry to interrupt your fantasies, but—the boss is about to Berserk.”

As Polly’s words faded, Bell Maiden suddenly began spinning in place, her fluttering skirts nearly covering half the screen! No one thought the boss was just spinning for fun, but the visual obstruction was so severe that no one could assess the situation, let alone react!

When her skirts finally settled, everyone realized all melee characters had been Airborne! Even someone as sharp as Polly could only predict the Berserk, not the skill, much less dodge it.

Being Airborne meant the boss used a skill to suspend players mid-air, rendering them completely unable to act—leaving them at the boss’s mercy!

Only the long-range Healer and Demon Refiner were spared. Fang Zheng quickly tossed out a Restoration to dispel the debuff, but as expected, it had no effect on the Airborne status. Airborne was the perfect setup for combos, and the boss knew it. A few ST¹Single Target. Only targets one player, as opposed to AoE which targets any and all players within the area of effect of the skill. Attacks followed by an AoE wiped out most of the party’s HP.

The AoE heal had a long Cooldown. After using it once, Fang Zheng could only spam single-target heals in between. By the time the Cooldown ended, the boss gave no breathing room—Polly and Mad Lad, with their relatively lower defense, were on the verge of death!

The Demon Refiner could only watch helplessly. His pet was Airborne too, and unlike the Healer, he couldn’t heal. He suddenly felt completely useless, overwhelmed by shame. In desperation, he threw out a Capture as a last resort!

The skill’s unique glow enveloped Bell Maiden, paling in comparison to the Airborne’s visual effects. Yet, the lady seemed to adore this unremarkable light. She instantly stopped the Airborne, smiled sweetly, and—poof!—turned into a white streak that shot straight into 438’s inventory.

The teammates, now back on the ground, were baffled—

“Where’s the boss? Dead? Then where’s the corpse? Who the hell looted it? So unlucky!”

Fang Zheng, who’d witnessed the whole thing, was still stunned, unable to muster more artistic language: “She, uh… got captured by the Demon Refiner…”

2B, Mad Lad, and Blood Bull: “Wait, you can capture bosses??!!”

The Demon Refiner weakly explained: “I just… wanted to try…”

“So,” Polly sighed deeply, “this probably wasn’t a boss.”

Mad Lad grasped the key point: “You’re saying we nearly wiped to a non-boss mob?”

The leader didn’t answer, silently gazing into the distance.

Blood Bull made the call for him: “Let’s keep this quiet.”

Mad Lad, Healer, and 438: “Yeah.”

2B tried to defend: “I mean, it wasn’t just a mob. At worst, it was an elite mob…”

The other five: “Shut up!”

After a rocky journey through the Path of Infamy, the six finally arrived at the traditional, mainstream attraction—the second boss’s location, the City of the Dead’s Funeral Parlor.

Under pale funeral streamers, over a dozen coffins were neatly arranged. Usually, the tank would lift the lids one by one to pull out whatever was inside—mobs or bosses—for a test run.

Of course, there were exceptions—like the Berserker using an AoE to flip open all the coffin lids at once…

Damn it, Fang Zheng felt like his fingers would cramp if he kept playing with this team!!!

Meanwhile, Fighter Jet, who’d been gnawed on by mobs the entire time, remained unbothered: “Sister Blood Bull, if it pleases you, I’d gladly be chewed to the bone~~”

Fang Zheng didn’t give Fighter Jet a chance to show off. This time, under pressure, he managed to keep the entire team alive.

Soon, the mobs were cleared, leaving the boss, which had been hiding among them, all alone.

For a squad that had survived the Path of Infamy, Zhong Kui, and his sister, unless it was the final boss, everything else was a cakewalk. In a few strikes, the second boss was down. Perhaps because it died too easily, it shamefully dropped nothing.

The final boss, Yama, was more generous. Fifteen minutes later, he fell, dropping [Rakshasa Leather Boots], Level 55, Orange-tier Gear.

Three oranges and one yellow in a single dungeon run—absolute luck explosion.

Three oranges and one yellow, all for one person—this guy was definitely cheating =_=

[Party] Milk is Mom: Birdy, we’ve been your free labor all night [sad face]

[Party] Polly: [pats head]

[Party] Milk is Mom: Shouldn’t you share some gold as consolation? [sad face]

[Party] Polly: “Comfort” fee?

Some people aren’t usually perverted, but when they are, they’re downright inhuman TAT

…

Since it was still early, the squad half-heartedly ran Potala Palace for lack of better options. Nothing useful dropped, but in a game where leveling was stagnant, veterans mostly had similar gear anyway, so demand wasn’t high. The process mattered more than the results.

After leaving Potala Palace, the group couldn’t find any other shared objectives and went their separate ways. Polly returned to farming monkeys, Mad Lad switched accounts to show off on Huaxia Summit, 438 buried himself in the Demon Refining room with his newly acquired Gale Pet formula, Blood Bull went AFK to read, 2B went AFK to “read with” Blood Bull, and Fang Zheng set up a stall before casually browsing the Huaxia Forum.

On YY, however, all six remained, occasionally chatting.

Mostly, it was 2B eagerly asking questions while Blood Bull gave disinterested replies.

Fang Zheng caught snippets of the conversation—

“Girl, you still in school?”

“Graduating this year.”

“Found a job?”

“Staying at the school.”

“Teaching’s great!”

“Getting a Ph.D.”

“…”

“…”

“Sister~~”

“Good boy.”

As Fang Zheng wiped away a tear for Fighter Jet’s doomed romance, Mad Lad suddenly complained: “Dammit, what’s wrong with Huaxia Summit? Every time I log in, I have to queue forever!”

“It’s a god-tier server,” Fang Zheng absentmindedly replied, scrolling through forum posts—Meteor Blitz, Aiming for the #1 Legion on the God-tier Server!

Jiang Yang scoffed: “It’s only been out for a bit, and it’s already god-tier?”

“Popularity trumps everything.”

“Then the developers should upgrade the servers and increase capacity!”

“Upgrades cost money.”

“Then why run a game if you’re broke?!”

“Brother, give us lowly peasants some breathing room…”

Closing the Meteor Blitz promo, Fang Zheng was about to enter the Trading section to post ads when a pinned thread with glaring red text caught his eye—Cross-server PvP Registration Now Open! Team Battles Showcase Legion Dominance!

“No popularity, no girls, no updates—what’s this game even good for…”

Fighter Jet, in his post-heartbreak phase, served as the perfect narrator for the thread in front of Fang Zheng’s eyes.

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  Single Target. Only targets one player, as opposed to AoE which targets any and all players within the area of effect of the skill.