Chapter 65 – The Prodigal Returns

The unfamiliar girl’s shout was no small matter—it instantly shattered the stagnant calm in Ghost Server Legion’s YY channel like a bomb.

Crossplayer’s Blessing: “Who’s talking?”

Fighter Jet: “Did the channel glitch?”

Mad Lad: “The ID ‘Ning Xiaoke’ is kinda cute, though.”

Refined Into a Demon: “No, we’ve got a spy! Commander, don’t panic, I’ll alt-tab and check right now!”

Commander: “…”

With that level of intelligence, how dare they tell him not to panic? He was about to lose his mind from anxiety!

Blood Bull: “Your Sister?”

Polly: “Report coords.”

Thankfully, there were still reliable teammates who could raise the IQ average TAT

But Your Sister didn’t respond, and even the roommate’s voice was gone—seemed like she’d switched to push-to-talk (F2).

Frantically typing, he copied and pasted the brutal news of Your Sister getting ganked into every member’s whisper. It wasn’t that he couldn’t say it in YY or the guild chat, but knowing something and having it said outright were two different things. With Your Sister’s stubbornness, she might just quit the guild on the spot.

Blood Bull and Birdy understood the situation and didn’t react after receiving the whisper. The others, however, fell into a strangely synchronized silence, each lost in their thoughts. The YY channel, which had earlier been filled with the sound of Your Sister smashing her keyboard, now fell completely silent, the atmosphere turning oddly tense.

[Whisper] Crossplayer’s Blessing: Commander, check the group chat.

Crossplayer suddenly sent a whisper, and Fang Zheng immediately alt-tabbed out of the game. Sure enough, the group chat icon in the bottom-right corner was flashing violently. He quickly opened it—Crossplayer had added all members except Your Sister.

Mad Lad: “Who ganked her?”

Crossplayer’s Blessing: “How many people ganked her?”

2B Fighter Jet: “One or a group?”

Refined Into a Demon 715: “Where’s your dignity?!!!”

Blood Bulls Don’t Graze: “Fed to the dogs. Is the Commander here yet?”

Milk is Mom: “Here, here.”

Blood Bulls Don’t Graze: “Where’s the newbie?”

Milk is Mom: “I don’t know the coords either! She won’t tell me!”

Mad Lad: “Then let her do her own thing. Why are we forcing ourselves to kiss her ass?”

Crossplayer’s Blessing: “That’s… not very nice, is it?”

Mad Lad: “Women are spoiled by people like you.”

2B Fighter Jet: “Damn, acting like you’re some celibate saint.”

Mad Lad: “Whether it’s women or men, it’s like the saying—money is to be desired, but acquired honorably.”

Milk is Mom: “Honorably your sister!!! Is now the time to debate gender relations?!!!!!!!!”

Milk is Mom: “Rally at the respawn point!!!!!!”

The Commander’s roar had dire consequences.

Though they’d been griping, the team assembled without hesitation. Even if Your Sister had been punching kindergarteners and kicking old folks in nursing homes, that was an in-house matter. If bystanders didn’t like it, killing her once or twice to “serve justice” was one thing, but this was clearly a targeted griefing spree. How were the selfless heroes who’d dragged her through dungeons and leveled her up supposed to feel?!

Not long after gathering, Your Sister’s towering male character slowly materialized in front of the Respawn Master. As the white light faded, the male character clutched his chest, panting. His shoulder armor and bracers were gone, leaving only his top, exposing two thick, bare arms. But the player seemed oblivious, immediately running to the Teleport Master to initiate dialogue. In the blink of an eye, she was soaring away on a translucent phoenix.

The Main City’s Teleport Master only had a few destinations, and based on the direction, it was easy to guess where she’d gone. Fang Zheng led the seven-man squad to the Teleport Master and followed suit, soon flying off in the same direction.

By the time the squad arrived at the destination, Your Sister had just finished talking to the second Teleport Master and was already flying off again. Fang Zheng repeated the process, chasing after her. After several transfers, they finally reached the real battlefield—the Aegean Sea.

Under the bright sun, the azure sea seemed capable of melting anyone. Even the most exquisitely cut diamond couldn’t rival the clarity and brilliance of its waves, especially when the wind was calm—those gentle ripples could intoxicate the deepest corners of your heart.

Truly, a holy land for secret rendezvous.

But damn, it wasn’t a holy land for ambushes!

Drink Your Sister didn’t seem to notice the tailing squad, perhaps too consumed by rage. When she arrived at the Aegean Sea, she sprinted straight to a massive sand sculpture, where the ambusher—no, at this point, they could hardly be called an ambusher—was leisurely leaning against the sculpture. The moment they saw Your Sister, even the character’s on-screen expression seemed to light up with joy.

[Local] Bad Omen: “Ugh~~ Took you long enough~~”

[Local] Bad Omen: “Why are your arms bare~? Out of spare gear or just too scared to lose more?”

Your Sister had no time for chatter and attacked immediately—still with zero technique.

Bad Omen had One Cut Killed her too many times and was bored of it. This time, he decided to toy with his spirited opponent a little longer, like a cat playing with a mouse—endless fun. But just as he circled behind Your Sister, before he could strike, he was suddenly and inexplicably lifted into the air! The next second, Crimson Lotus Holy Fire rained down on him! He landed amidst the flames, and before the fire could dissipate, three more icy slashes came his way. By the time he recognized the signature weapon of a Zombie, his world had already turned black and white.

Though ambushers are often ambushed in turn, being completely helpless was a first in Bad Omen’s not-so-short gaming career. Even in past deaths, he’d at least struggled a little. This time? He didn’t even see his attacker before Game Over.

[Local] Milk is Mom: “Do you have to keep shearing the same sheep until it’s bald?! Who’s gonna marry it then?!”

[Local] Mad Lad: “Dammit, couldn’t you leave some HP for me to land a hit?!”

[Local] 2B Fighter Jet: “Something feels off. A grown man relentlessly targeting a girl to kill her over and over—doesn’t that seem sketchy?”

[Local] Polly: “If he could tell Your Sister’s a girl from this character, that’d be the real surprise.”

[Local] Refined Into a Demon 715: “Regardless, killing someone weaker than you is wrong! And killing them so many times! You’re the worst!”

Bad Omen nearly spat blood. His cultivation on the path of shamelessness, already at its peak, cracked for the first time—

[Megaphone] Bad Omen: “So you eight heroes ganging up on Laozi alone isn’t ‘the worst’?!”

The players of Huaxia Summit were all busy grinding dungeons, leveling up, and farming mobs. But gossip spreads like wildfire, especially when someone like Bad Omen—usually the one dishing out kills, never receiving them—suddenly spammed the megaphone with such entertaining content.

[Huaxia] Invincible Tian: “What’s up, dude? Got cooked?”

[Huaxia] Soul Reaper: “Calling someone ‘the worst’…”

[Huaxia] Xu Naonao: “Kinda feels like he’s trying to be cute [chin stroke]”

[Huaxia] Flying Pig: “Bad Omen, did you get hacked?”

[Huaxia] Glorious Golden Throne: “This guy got griefed, I saw it LOL, I’m at [Aegean Sea]”

The World Chat was soon flooded with “LOL,” “Yay,” and “The weather is so nice today, everything’s beautiful~~”

The consequence of never doing good deeds? Being hated by the masses.

[Megaphone] Bad Omen: “Fuck, if you’ve got the guts, 1v1 me! Eight against one, what kind of skill is that?!”

The carefree tildes were replaced by rigid punctuation, betraying Bad Omen’s shifting mood. Fang Zheng was about to buy a megaphone to retort when someone beat him to it—

[Megaphone] Polly: “We would’ve gone eight against one, but you only took three hits before your HP was gone.”

[Megaphone] Mad Lad: “Just respawn already, stop whining. Laozi’s waiting to 1v1 you, hurry the hell up!”

Bad Omen was used to making others rage, not being on the receiving end. Today, he’d clearly forgotten to check the almanac before logging in—now he felt like he was losing his mind…

Not bothering to spam more megaphones and humiliate himself further, Bad Omen respawned and teleported back to town.

Everything happened so fast that even after it was over, Drink Your Sister remained dazed. The proof? When Fang Zheng asked if she was okay, she didn’t snap back with her usual aggro-pulling “I don’t need your help!” Instead, she asked blankly, “How… did you know I was here?”

It was such a low-effort question that Fang Zheng ignored it entirely, cutting straight to the point: “What gear did you lose?”

“Huh?” Drink Your Sister was very confused, her voice thick with nasal confusion.

Fang Zheng took a deep breath, struggling to remain patient. “Didn’t you notice something missing from your shoulders and arms?”

Drink Your Sister had an epiphany. “No wonder I was losing so much HP when he hit me later! My gear was gone! You can lose equipment when you die?!”

Fang Zheng facepalmed. Had no one taught this girl the basics of Huaxia?! Drink Till You Drop, couldn’t you at least let your wife sit on your lap while gaming so she could absorb some knowledge?!

“Not just gear—you lose XP too. Didn’t you notice you dropped to Level 57?” Birdy suddenly interjected, his calm tone betraying no emotion.

“Oh, right.” Drink Your Sister replied, but there was no real reaction. Clearly, losing gear or XP meant nothing to her—just numbers on a screen.

Birdy could tell, of course, but he simply said, “People play games to have fun. Dungeons are fun, PvP is fun, farming rare drops from bosses is fun. But I’ve never heard of anyone having fun being griefed. Oh, ‘griefed’ means being killed over and over, dying repeatedly.”

“Of course it’s not fun,” Drink Your Sister snapped. “I was so pissed!”

Birdy didn’t argue, only asking lightly, “Then when have you had fun?”

Drink Your Sister fell silent.

Birdy suddenly said, “Just quit. This game isn’t for you. I think Audition Online would suit you better. Or maybe that other thing… oh right, Plants vs. Zombies. I played it recently—pretty fun.”

Fang Zheng sweatdropped. “Played it recently”? What kind of argument was that? =_=

The other members wiped their brows. When the Deputy Commander advised someone to quit, he was terrifyingly serious…

But no one interrupted, because everyone agreed with Birdy.

Except, of course, the person being advised—

“Who are you to say this game isn’t for me?”

“Didn’t I just explain? You’re not having fun.”

“If I could beat that Assassin just now, I’d have fun! If I could kill him a thousand times, I’d have the time of my life!”

“The reality is, you can’t.”

“…”

Deputy Commander, you’re ruthless…

Amidst the intervention, the entire Ghost Server Legion let their guard down. No one noticed that Bad Omen had returned—with his guild in tow. Birds of a feather flock together, and Bad Omen, being universally disliked and constantly hunted by various guilds, naturally understood the principle of “a single chopstick breaks easily, but ten are unbreakable.” So he’d long since started his own guild, recruiting fellow outcasts. Like-minded and similarly behaved, they named their guild Madhouse and lived happily ever after.

The first to notice something was wrong was 438, because this guy had secretly run off to gather herbs a dozen meters away while the Deputy Commander was lecturing Your Sister. When he straightened up, a Green Wraith turned him into a cactus. Fortunately, the in-game cactus didn’t block 438’s Spectator Mode, and he immediately sounded the alarm: “Commander, Bad Omen’s back! He brought over a dozen people!”

“This guy actually managed to recruit people?” Fang Zheng marveled while adjusting his camera angle. Sure enough, a dozen or so figures were charging along the coastline toward them.

The fastest ranged attacker had already entered firing range and was chanting!

“Oh shit! Now this is fun, HAHAHA!!!” Jiang Yang, who’d missed his chance earlier, downed a Speed Scroll and lunged at the enemy like lightning.

Fang Zheng hurried after him, ready to heal at a moment’s notice in case he got into trouble.

The others reacted too, rushing to engage. Soon, the two groups clashed head-on, with ultimate skills flying everywhere. It was impossible to tell who was who—as long as party targeting prevented friendly fire, that was enough.

If there was one regret Ghost Server Legion had since its founding, it was never getting to participate in a Guild War. In Huaxia, the only Guild War was the battle for Desert Stronghold, where two or even N guilds fought for control—pure adrenaline! Any man would get pumped. Unfortunately, conquering Desert Stronghold required at least fifty members, so they’d probably never have a shot. But something was better than nothing—eight versus a dozen still counted as a small-scale Guild War.

In classic battles where the few defeat the many, victory rarely comes from head-on clashes. Most rely on unconventional tactics, catching the enemy off guard. But the Aegean Sea offered no cover or hiding spots, leaving no room for strategy. As the two teams collided, members of both Madhouse and Ghost Server Legion began dropping like flies. Fang Zheng initially focused on healing, but his teammates were too spread out, forcing him to switch to DPS gear and become a lethal damage dealer.

By chance, he ended up closest to Bad Omen and decided to focus on him. Bad Omen was happy to duel, but after a few exchanges, he noticed a Zombie flanking him and began retreating to the outskirts of the battle. Fang Zheng, unaware, chased relentlessly—only realizing too late that he’d been lured to a secluded corner.

Healer vs. Assassin, one-on-one. Against anyone else, Fang Zheng might’ve stood a chance, but against Bad Omen? Not so much.

The first rule of being a pro gamer was knowing your limits. Fang Zheng wasn’t a pro, but he could tell from their earlier exchanges that his opponent was better.

Now that they were isolated, Bad Omen wasn’t in a hurry, even finding time to chat—

[Local] Bad Omen: “Want to spam a megaphone and apologize~~ There’s still time~~”

Fang Zheng laughed—

[Local] Milk is Mom: “Actually, I think we’re kinda alike~~ See, I like using tildes when I’m in a good mood too~~~”

[Local] Bad Omen: “…”

[Local] Milk is Mom: “But griefing low-levels? Not cute at all ╮(╯_╰)╭”

[Local] Bad Omen: “So even on death’s door, you’re still lecturing me?”

[Local] Milk is Mom: “Just a suggestion. Look, it’s a good thing the server only has one Bad Omen. If there were more, all the newbies would quit, the veterans would have no noobs to carry or girls to flirt with, and everyone would leave. Once the server’s dead, who’re you gonna play with?”

[Local] Bad Omen: “Then I’ll just switch games. You really treat this like home?”

Different paths don’t lead to the same destination. Fang Zheng couldn’t be bothered to argue further and quietly stepped back, about to cast a skill—when he was suddenly hit with a 30-second Sleep Status! Then, a figure dashed past him, charging straight at Bad Omen—

[Local] Little Lucky Charm: “Commander, sorry I’m late!”

[Local] Bad Omen: “Better late than never~~ This guy’s a commander too~~ Have fun, kill him however you like~~”

[Local] Little Lucky Charm: “Commander, killing people… maybe you should do it…”

[Local] Bad Omen: “Useless!”

The sleeping Milk Mom couldn’t do anything, but Fang Zheng saw clearly—the newcomer’s back was turned, and his ID seemed familiar. Maybe they’d run a dungeon together once or done some trading, or perhaps he’d just seen the name in World Chat. Either way, it didn’t change the fact that this guy had just helped his own commander put Fang Zheng to sleep, likely setting him up for a brutal kill.

Little Lucky Charm, under his commander’s disdain, reluctantly turned around—then froze.

Literally froze. No casting, no attacking. Even zooming in to observe another player would’ve caused slight movement, but Little Lucky Charm stood perfectly still, his character defaulting to the idle animation of staring at the sky.

Fang Zheng frowned in confusion. Just then, the 30-second sleep wore off. Without overthinking it, he turned and ran!

A healer versus a Spirit Master and an Assassin? Only if he had a death wish.

He expected the two to give chase immediately and even planned to dive into the sea for an aquatic escape. But after running a dozen meters, something felt off—the space behind him was too empty. Eerily empty. =_=

Instinctively stopping, Fang Zheng turned and zoomed out. Where Bad Omen had stood, the man was gone—replaced by a cactus.

Thirty seconds later, the cactus turned back into Bad Omen, only to be put to sleep again.

Thirty seconds later, the sleep wore off, and Bad Omen became a cactus once more.

[Local] Bad Omen: “What the fuck is wrong with you?! Why are you CC’ing me?! Whose side are you on?!”

[Local] Little Lucky Charm: “Commander, sorry >_<"

[Local] Little Lucky Charm: “Even though I’m really grateful you accepted me when no one else would, even though I’ve only been in the guild for two days… I still think your habit of killing people—especially low-levels—isn’t good >_<"

[Local] Bad Omen: “Huh?”

[Local] Little Lucky Charm: “Commander, run!”

[Local] Bad Omen: “Huh???”

[Local] Little Lucky Charm: “That wasn’t for you.”

If not for Bad Omen, then for him? Fang Zheng’s frown deepened into a crease. The situation was too confusing—could he get a lifeline or eliminate a wrong answer?

[Local] Little Lucky Charm: “Commander, run now, or you’ll really die!”

No sooner had the words appeared than Fang Zheng, having only read the first half, was struck from behind by a Madhouse Berserker who’d sneaked up. The system immediately notified him that the skill One Cut Kill’s 8% insta-death chance had triggered. The little healer had no chance of survival—Game Over.

In the black-and-white death screen, Fang Zheng finished reading the second half of the message—and suddenly, enlightenment dawned.

“Your Uncle!!!!”