Chapter 52 – The Eighth Account

Fang Zheng stared at that single word “Sure” for a full two minutes, petrified as if hit by a boss’s Berserk Ultimate—his HP bar completely empty, with no way to reason about it. Who told you to be so damn nosy, deliberately provoking others? And to do it single-handedly at that, without even the sense to form a small three-man team. Damn it!

[Whisper] Polly: Regretting it now?

This guy just wouldn’t let it go, TAT.

[Whisper] Milk is Mom: Brother Birdy, I was wrong ╮(╯_╰)╭

Meng Chudong slowly exhaled a puff of smoke at that completely insincere emoji. In his daze, the emoji seemed to morph into a chubby face, one that made him want to pinch it hard.

[Whisper] Milk is Mom: I was really wrong, I won’t tease you anymore, I swear!

[Whisper] Polly: Too late.

[Whisper] Polly: Item sold, no returns or exchanges.

[Whisper] Milk is Mom: Brother Birdy~~~~~~[crying]

Sometimes, acting cute can’t save the world—

[Whisper] Polly: Do you always tease men like this?

The question was so blunt that even Fang Zheng’s thick skin couldn’t handle it. He found himself blushing at the cold, unfeeling monitor.

Actually, upon reflection, he didn’t do it often.

Well, probably not that often…

[Whisper] Polly: You’re the leader of the guild now. Mind your manners.

He’d just been lectured by his Deputy Commander, TAT.

Damn it, when you tease girls, how come you never remember you’re the Deputy Commander?!

If they weren’t still in the dungeon, Fang Zheng would’ve called over City Toppling Beauty for some undercover sting operation.

Five minutes later, the combined team was fully restored to full stats. Looking back at the boss, it had also fully regenerated its HP along with its Queen (In Huaxia, bosses reset to full HP when they exit combat, which usually happens when the party wipes. Occasionally, if players stay too far away for too long, the system resets the boss’s aggro, and the boss regains full HP).

White Dragon Horse: “Now it’s twelve against two.”

Drink Till You Drop: “At least the boss won’t go Berserk again.”

2B: “Why?”

Polly: “Unless he has a second Queen.”

No further explanation was needed. Sister Blood Bull charged in first to attack again, making the other guys feel ashamed of themselves and quickly follow suit.

With their previous experience, this attempt went much smoother. Though the Queen fought desperately to protect her husband, the squad adopted the strategy of focusing their firepower to take them down one by one. First, they lured the unchained Queen outside the prison cell, rendering the King’s attacks useless against them. Thus, the poor Queen met her demise under the relentless assault of twelve fully restored players.

As a summoned creature, the Queen naturally dropped no loot. But the comrades were too hyped up to care about drops, immediately turning back to gang up on the King with renewed vigor. Bereft of his beloved wife, the boss was left heartbroken—no, more like absolutely defenseless—and soon fell without a fight.

Almost simultaneously, a bright yellow notification appeared in Huaxia:

[System] Polly, 2B Fighter Jet, Refined Into a Demon 715, Suave Not Sleazy, Fire Cloud Evil God, Nicknamed White Dragon Horse, Crossplayer’s Blessing, Summit of Mount Tai, Unintentional Mistake, Blood Bulls Don’t Graze, Drink Till You Drop, and Milk is Mom have conquered the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, successfully slaying Nebuchadnezzar II!

Though the earlier equipment notifications had already revealed that the Ghost Server Legion had entered the new dungeon, entering wasn’t the same as clearing it. Those who hadn’t entered were watching smugly, while those who entered late clung to the hope that they might finish first.

But facts proved once again that the early bird gets the worm. The only twist was that everyone had assumed the Ghost Server Legion was the only group in the dungeon, only to suddenly see a roster of twelve names—half of which belonged to Five Peaks Pavilion. The implications were staggering.

[Huaxia] Clear Wind: Holy shit, they cleared it already? One-shot?!

[Huaxia] Elephant Moves Diagonally: Twelve people… a large dungeon?

[Huaxia] Don’t Worship Me: Ghost Server Legion… never heard of them before. Where did they come from?

[Huaxia] Stairway to Heaven: Five Peaks Pavilion’s friends and family squad?

[Huaxia] Sword Energy Soars: Never heard of them.

[Huaxia] Love Beibei: So they really did enter the dungeon… Liars! It’s so cold in Eskimo land, TAT.

The combined team had no time to spare for the World Chat spam. Their full attention was glued to the King’s corpse, desperately hoping for an orange-tier gear wardrobe to pop open, stuffed with loot.

This time, Sister Blood Bull was closest. After getting everyone’s approval, she acted as the representative to loot the corpse.

The comrades held their breaths.

The loot roll finally appeared, but instead of gear, it was a material—the Heart of Nebuchadnezzar II!

[System] Polly rolled 100 points.

[System] Polly obtained the Heart of Nebuchadnezzar II.

In Huaxia Online, if two or more players roll the same highest number in the party, the system defaults to the first player who rolled that number. But if someone rolls a 100 first? No contest—it’s an instant win.

And just like that, the combined team was brutally robbed of their chance to roll.

Before they could even react, =_=

Nicknamed White Dragon Horse: “Holy shit, this isn’t scientific—”

Suave Not Sleazy: “This guy must be hacking…”

Fire Cloud Evil God: “You can’t play like this~~~~”

Drink Till You Drop: “Nice roll.”

Staring at that blinding 100-point roll, the Ghost Server Legion Leader couldn’t fathom why he’d ever recruited Birdy as his Deputy in the first place. He told himself, Fang Zheng, you’re amazing. You’ve got the eye for talent, you’re the ultimate judge of character!!

Some were elated, others disheartened, but the system gave them no more time to dwell. It quickly displayed the second roll—Amytis’ Blue Soulstone!

Two top-tier materials from one dungeon run—worth it!

This time, Five Peaks Pavilion rolled up their sleeves, ready to fight—

[System] Summit of Mount Tai rolled 78 points.

[System] Suave Not Sleazy rolled 49 points.

[System] Fire Cloud Evil God rolled 60 points.

[System] Unintentional Mistake rolled 81 points.

[System] Nicknamed White Dragon Horse rolled 52 points.

[System] Drink Till You Drop rolled 89 points.

[System] Refined Into a Demon 715 rolled 90 points.

Five Peaks Pavilion collectively: “…”

Fang Zheng: “Comrades, still rolling?”

2B Fighter Jet: “Roll what? It’s already in our guild’s pocket, hahaha~~~”

As Polly was the first to forfeit his roll, the remaining comrades followed suit. Soon, the system announced to the world once more:

[System] Refined Into a Demon 715 obtained Amytis’ Blue Soulstone.

At the same time—

[Legion] Summit of Mount Tai: I feel like we’ve been humiliated.

[Legion] Unintentional Mistake: Deeply humiliated.

[Legion] Fire Cloud Evil God: Why do we always lose the rolls to them?!

[Legion] Suave Not Sleazy: Didn’t accumulate enough good karma.

[Legion] Unintentional Mistake: Actually, our Commander’s karma isn’t bad.

[Legion] Suave Not Sleazy: Yeah, but the Deputy…

[Legion] Nicknamed White Dragon Horse: Can’t you guys just use whispers?!?!?!?!?!

Five Peaks Pavilion was fuming, but the onlookers had no clue—

[Huaxia] Big H: Drink, are you working for Ghost Server?

Big H’s question wasn’t mocking—he seemed genuinely curious. Statistically speaking, a dungeon yielding four roll-worthy drops that all went to one guild defied probability. The only logical explanation was that they were hired as mercenaries. But would Five Peaks Pavilion really take gold to work for some no-name guild? That wouldn’t sound good either.

On one hand, there’s greed; on the other, sheer bad luck. Choosing either would be…

[Huaxia] Drink Till You Drop: Just helping out some friends.

[Huaxia] Big H: Oh, how chivalrous. When are you gonna help us out?

[Huaxia] Drink Till You Drop: Meteor Blitz is short on hands?

[Huaxia] Big H: No way, pfft. Just messing with you.

[Huaxia] Drink Till You Drop: Heh, figured as much.

Now that’s diplomacy!

That’s how you turn danger into safety!

That’s how you snatch victory from the jaws of defeat!

That’s the mark of a clutch performer!

You shouldn’t be called Drink Till You Drop—your glorious name should be—

[Party] Milk is Mom: So shameless =_=

For Fang Zheng to call someone shameless, it spoke volumes about Drink’s skill. But after running the dungeon for so long without gaining anything, Fang Zheng couldn’t be bothered to argue over pride.

Once the World Chat chatter died down, the combined team disbanded. Polly politely bid them farewell with a “Pleasure working with you”—words so viciously delivered, it was nothing short of awe-inspiring.

This was just the beginning of the new version. As levels increased, there would surely be more joint dungeon runs. But one thing was certain: Five Peaks Pavilion wouldn’t be teaming up with them again. Fang Zheng sighed. Truly, strengthening their own team was the only way forward.

The XP from joint dungeons was substantial. After one run, despite dying repeatedly, everyone’s XP bars had advanced by about three-fourths. Well, except for one exception—Refined Into a Demon 715, who died the least, had directly leveled up to 56.

Refined Into a Demon: “Commander, I’ve put the Blue Soulstone in the Legion Warehouse.”

Fang Zheng: “Good boy.”

With such pure and kind character, it’s understandable he comes with a built-in luck aura!

Opening the Legion Warehouse, Fang Zheng saw the Heart of Nebuchadnezzar II in the slot to the left of the Blue Soulstone—clearly deposited earlier. He froze for a moment, inexplicably reminded of what 2B had said when he left Huaxia Dominion: He was an asshole to outsiders, but never to his own guild, because Parrot did everything he could for the guild. At the time, Fang Zheng thought Fighter’s passionate words were a bit melodramatic. But now, he was starting to believe them.

[System] Little Bitch Fang has applied to join the legion. Accept?

The sudden new member application startled Fang Zheng. Had they gained fans just from appearing on World Chat?

Fang Zheng instinctively wanted to accept but hesitated after taking another look at the ID.

This name was just too damn rude =_=

Recruiting guild members was like dating—first impressions were everything. And in-game, what could you judge by? Only the ID. And this ID was downright repulsive >_<

[Whisper] Little Bitch Fang: Commander? Why aren’t you accepting me?

[Whisper] Milk is Mom: You’re not in the guild yet, don’t call me that.

[Whisper] Little Bitch Fang: Then what should I call you? Little Milk?

[Whisper] Milk is Mom: “…”

[Whisper] Milk is Mom: I don’t think you’re a good fit for our guild.

[Whisper] Little Bitch Fang: Why not?

[Whisper] Milk is Mom: Doesn’t vibe with the Commander.

[Whisper] Little Bitch Fang: How would you know we don’t vibe if we’ve never interacted?

[Whisper] Milk is Mom: We’re interacting right now!

[Whisper] Little Bitch Fang: If you have any complaints, just say them outright. I’ll change.

[Whisper] Milk is Mom: Then go buy a Name Change Scroll =_=

[Whisper] Little Bitch Fang: HAHAHAHAHA

Though it was just text, Fang Zheng could almost hear the unrestrained laughter ringing in his ears, making his skin crawl.

A bad premonition seeped eerily from the monitor, enveloping him.

[Whisper] Milk is Mom: Where are you right now?

[Whisper] Little Bitch Fang: Hmm?

[Whisper] Milk is Mom: If you want to join the guild, you’ve gotta pass the interview, right?

[Whisper] Little Bitch Fang: Coords XX, XX.

Fang Zheng said nothing more, heading straight for Hainan Island after receiving the coordinates.

Three minutes later, Milk is Mom encountered the Ghost Server Legion’s eighth account in a banana grove—

[Local] Milk is Mom: Did you really think changing your disguise would fool me? Useless! A man as dazzling as you stands out like a firefly in the dark, so vivid, so striking. Your melancholic gaze, your godly blade skills—they’ve totally captivated me. But despite your brilliance, I still have one tiny request… Could you not deck out every single alt in a fully enhanced, maxed-out, attack-boosted Desert Set?!?