Chapter 41 – An Abrupt End

No one had expected that luxurious cruise ship to actually split in two in the most ridiculous way, sending the battling players tumbling into the water like dumplings.

Switching to the spectator mode underwater, the audience’s gaze was instantly drawn to that flying fish. Sharp-eyed players recognized it as similar to the catfish monster from the Underground River of the Corpse King Necropolis, but they were quickly corrected by those with screenshots proving that the catfish monster didn’t have wings.

438 naturally wouldn’t reveal the god-tier fusion between the catfish monster and the Gale Pet in front of everyone. In any case, they were underwater now—it didn’t matter that he couldn’t swim because his pet had absolute dominance with perfect timing, terrain, and advantage. Forget attack power for a moment; just the attack speed alone was enough to insta-kill everyone.

In the end, Meteor Blitz’s dual healers were devoured by the fish, while the rest were wiped out by the Ghost Server Legion under Birdy-kun’s lead.

Of course, the Ghost Server Legion wasn’t without casualties—at the last moment, 438 drowned, and 748 retired after completing its mission.

The series of blows left Meteor Blitz completely overwhelmed. To be precise, they had been in a daze ever since the ship split in half, until they finally limped back to the spectator seats—

[Contestant] Big H: Commander, I feel so wronged TAT

[Contestant] Greatsword: Don’t talk to me. I need to calm down. [smoking]

[Contestant] Gentle Blade: 438, what kind of pet is that? Share it with us, quick~\(≧▽≦)/~

[Contestant] Kill All Who Block Me: Gentle Blade, have you no dignity?!

[Contestant] Gentle Blade: What’s that? (⊙o⊙)

[Contestant] Water Phantom: ……

[Contestant] Kill Gods If They Block Me: Why did I even join this guild…

[Contestant] Milk is Mom: You can still leave now. Join us instead! ^_^

[Contestant] Kill Gods If They Block Me: =_=

[Contestant] Milk is Mom: I’m serious! Come to Mirage Server. We’ll clear out any place for you, and World Bosses will serve you alone!

[Contestant] Kill Gods If They Block Me: Screw off.

[Contestant] Milk is Mom: He cursed at me TAT

[Contestant] Polly: They lost so badly, just let them vent.

[Contestant] Kill Gods If They Block Me: ……

[Contestant] Milk is Mom: I feel soothed~\(≧▽≦)/~

[Spectator] Green Plum Simmered in Wine: Every time I watch the Ghost Server Legion in a match, my moral standards drop another two steps into the abyss…

[Spectator] Snow Reflecting on Emerald Mountain: At a speed of a hundred miles per hour…

[Spectator] Fair Maiden: More like a freefall of three thousand feet.

[Spectator] Bermuda: Damn it! All this time, I thought they were the Ghost and Monster Legion!!

[Spectator] Lolicon: Actually, you’re not wrong…

The organizers didn’t give the crowd much time to discuss, because soon, the Anti-Romance Alliance made their debut. And it was this debut that taught the world a lesson—just when you think the bottom line can’t sink any lower, the god of thunder will swing his hammer to smash it down even further.

“Despicable” was too mild a word to describe this guild’s style, and “shameless” was downright inadequate. When an entire guild, decked out in premium gear, came at you with a dirty, underhanded playstyle, any opponent could only scream in despair. Eternal God Domain lost almost instantly—six to zero, without even a chance to struggle.

The Ghost Server Legion didn’t fare much better, with only Birdy-kun, Your Uncle, and Crossplayer managing one win each in the solo matches before being knocked out in the third round.

Gear was their biggest weakness, but even in terms of awareness and skill, the Ghost Server Legion wasn’t superior. And most importantly, the opposing team was clearly tightly-knit—whether in solo or team battles, their positioning and coordination were flawless.

At first, the Ghost Server comrades were a bit frustrated. The momentum from their first two matches had been sky-high, and suddenly being doused with cold water was hard to adjust to. But as the tournament progressed and they saw other teams suffering the same fate, the sentiment of “If I’m not doing well, but others aren’t either, then the world is still alright” gradually surfaced, and they slowly let it go.

If anyone was truly bitter, it was probably Five Peaks Pavilion and Huaxia Dominion, fellow players from Huaxia Summit.

No one had expected this seemingly unremarkable gossip guild to transform into high-tier elites with skill, gear, awareness, and gold coins. They say the dog that bites doesn’t bark, but this wasn’t a dog—it was freaking Godzilla!

In the end, the Anti-Romance Alliance became the dark horse champions of their bracket.

And then, as expected, they took the overall championship.

Just when everyone thought the Anti-Romance Alliance would rise to become a powerhouse after their victory, the guild posted a disbandment announcement on the very night of the finals. The reason was simple yet helpless—they were graduating college and going their separate ways.

Outrage erupted immediately, with players accusing them of shamelessly competing for rewards despite knowing they’d disband.

Guild Leader Hu Yifei remained unfazed, opening a thread titled “I’m Shameless and Proud, Sue Me If You Dare,” welcoming players to comment and vent.

But in the disbandment announcement thread, only guild members were allowed to post.

After dozens of replies, people realized that the guild wasn’t actually that big—just twelve or thirteen members, likely from the same college department. The comments and screenshots were all nostalgic memories of their time in Huaxia Online.

Many of the screenshots were from Mirage Server, and Fang Zheng suddenly realized that the Anti-Romance Alliance had also transferred from here to Huaxia Summit. He even spotted his own chat messages in one screenshot about gossip.

The feeling was hard to describe—strangely poignant, but mostly melancholic.

Myths say a day in heaven is a year on earth, but in reality, a year on earth could be half a lifetime in-game. You meet friends, join guilds, run dungeons, and gank enemies together—then the server dies, friends drift apart, and sometimes it doesn’t even take a year. For hardcore players who chase novelty, new games and new comrades will always come along. But for the average person, this might be their first and last battle. Everyone has their youth, their passion, but unlike games, life doesn’t freeze in place until the next update. So, willingly or not, they return to reality, and on some quiet night, they pull out old memories to reminisce about the fiery days of the past.

Six years in Huaxia, four and a half in Mirage—Fang Zheng had seen too many people and guilds come and go. Even Diamond Players had cycled through four different operators behind the scenes.

Closing the Anti-Romance Alliance’s post, Fang Zheng sighed softly.

438, with his sharp ears, heard it and quickly tried to console him in YY: “Commander, even though we didn’t do well, we ran into the champions in the third round. Don’t take it too hard.”

“Alright, I’ll try…” Though the sentiment was off, the intention was good, so Fang Zheng accepted the comfort sincerely.

“But why can’t they keep playing after graduation?” Your Uncle muttered in confusion. “Did the whole department sign contracts with a company that doesn’t provide internet in the dorms?”

Damn it, can’t this guy think like a normal human being?!

“What the hell, there’s no one left on Huaxia Summit to PK me anymore!” Comrade Jiang Yang, after switching to his new account, strutted around the Summit Server. Instead of running into enemies, he got recruitment offers from several guilds, leaving him frustrated. “I don’t wanna join a guild—I wanna kill people!”

Fang Zheng, now hyper-sensitive to any talent drain, immediately asked, “Did a guild from Huaxia Summit recruit you?”

“Are you kidding?” Jiang Yang preened at this. “I’m a hot commodity now. Everyone loves me.”

As a guild leader, he had to nip talent loss in the bud. But how? Threats? Damn it, that guy was definitely the type to resist force! Bribery… Never mind, forget it =_=

“Come back to Mirage. I’ll PvP you,” Birdy suddenly chimed in.

Jiang Yang was surprised. “Oh? That’s rare. Not farming monkeys anymore?”

Birdy smoothly replied, “Nope. Farming you now.”

Jiang Yang: “…”

Fang Zheng was comforted. He wasn’t alone in this—he had fellow victims of Birdy’s sharp tongue!

Jiang Yang moved fast. Within seconds, the system announced Mad Lad had entered the game.

Fang Zheng checked the time at the bottom right of his screen. There was only an hour left before the last day of May ended. Thinking back, these past days had been pretty fulfilling. Even without competing, just spectating had been fun.

Humans are like that—constant loneliness is bearable, but once you’ve tasted excitement, going back to solitude feels unbearable.

Before, he thought Mirage Server was dead. Now, he realized Mirage Server was FUCKING dead!

Huaxia Summit, on the other hand, was the complete opposite—players were fighting over World Bosses with gusto. Fang Zheng left his alt idling in the Blacksmith, but the chat was already exploding—

[Huaxia] Big H: Five Peaks Pavilion and Huaxia Dominion teamed up to 2v1 us! Have you no shame? Bullying a new guild, huh?

[Huaxia] Drink Till You Drop: Next time, come talk to us earlier. We can team up too.

[Huaxia] Big H: Oh, that could work.

[Huaxia] My Blood for Xuanyuan: Maybe focus on this fight first.

[Huaxia] Nicknamed White Dragon Horse: Hey hey, watch how you talk to our commander!

[Huaxia] My Blood for Xuanyuan: Then show me how it’s done?

[Huaxia] Nicknamed White Dragon Horse: Maybe focus on this fight first~\(≧▽≦)/~

[Huaxia] Nicknamed White Dragon Horse: Like this, got it?

[Huaxia] My Blood for Xuanyuan: ……

[Huaxia] English Gentleman: White Dragon Horse, you’re the deputy commander of Five Peaks Pavilion?

[Huaxia] Nicknamed White Dragon Horse: Yeah, what about it?

[Huaxia] English Gentleman: As a newcomer, I think I can cross one wrong option off my list of potential guilds.

[Huaxia] Nicknamed White Dragon Horse: =_=

[Huaxia] Drink Till You Drop: Whitey, go home.

[Huaxia] Vivian: Drink, if you keep stealing my lines…

Spamming isn’t free, you know! Fang Zheng mentally scorned these shameless people before returning to the Ghost Server with a sense of moral superiority. There, he saw Mad Lad sitting frustrated on the Guild Hall floor—clearly, defeat after defeat.

“Your positioning is so damn shameless, always aiming for the waist,” Mad Lad grumbled, his metaphors always requiring some decoding.

Polly, however, understood. “I’ll pick a different spot next time.”

Jiang Yang mulled over how weird that sounded before his gaze involuntarily drifted downward, mentally helping Birdy successfully tease himself =_=

Fang Zheng was about to seize the chance to mock Jiang Yang when a private message from Your Uncle popped up—

[Whisper] Crossplayer’s Blessing: Commander, I might not be able to come online anymore.

[Whisper] Milk is Mom: ?

[Whisper] Crossplayer’s Blessing: I’m giving the account back to Crossplayer. I might start fresh on another server.

[Whisper] Milk is Mom: Is Mirage no good?

[Whisper] Crossplayer’s Blessing: ……

[Whisper] Milk is Mom: Okay, yeah, it’s kinda dead.

Fang Zheng took a deep breath and steadied himself. Your Uncle had mentioned leaving before, so it wasn’t too hard to accept—

[Whisper] Milk is Mom: Which server are you going to? I can power-level for you! 500 for a week to max level! 800 for three days! 1,200 for one day!!

[Whisper] Crossplayer’s Blessing: C-Commander, calm down…

[Whisper] Crossplayer’s Blessing: I’d rather level myself…

[Whisper] Milk is Mom: I despise you!

[Whisper] Crossplayer’s Blessing: Commander TAT

[Whisper] Milk is Mom: Still despising you!

[Whisper] Crossplayer’s Blessing: You profiteer!

[Whisper] Milk is Mom: ^_^

That night, after logging off, Your Uncle kept recalling that little smiley face and thought, The deputy commander has sharp eyes—the commander really is a masochist.

But he’d have to call him former commander now. The thought brought a faint melancholy to Your Uncle’s heart.