Chapter 33
Jing Huan: “…”
Is it starting again?
He looked at the helpless little fox spirit sitting alone on the sea and sighed, “Okay, big brother, shall I go AFK for a while?”
Xiang Huai Zhi: “Mm.”
The others in the room, hearing their conversation, felt a subtle sense of unease.
Lu Hang chewed over those two sentences: “Old Xiang, are you trying to flirt with some girl here?”
Xiang Huaizhi didn’t even turn his head: “Stop looking at me with those playboy eyes of yours.”
Lu Hang: “…”
After trying every button and even contacting customer service, Jing Huan resigned himself to minimizing the game interface upon confirming he couldn’t spectate Heart’s Yearning’s battles.
He logged into WeChat on his computer and clicked open the dorm group chat.
Xiao Jing: How’s your dungeon progress going?
Gao Zixiang: Don’t even ask. This game keeps getting more ridiculous. What kind of crappy dungeon is this? Designed specifically to make raiding harder, right? After all my preparation, I get thrown straight into jail the moment I enter? [Image]
Jing Huan opened the image to see Gao Zixiang’s game character idly sitting in the middle of the ocean.
He chuckled—apparently he wasn’t the only one having bad luck.
Lu Wenhao: Come on, aren’t you happy just lying through the dungeon? If you want the gaming experience so badly, then why don’t you play my account?
Gao Zixiang: Screw you, you stinky Fox Immortal Cave.
Jing Huan felt personally attacked.
LittleJingYa: You’re truly inhuman, still engaging in faction discrimination in 2019—serves you right to be banned.
Lu Wenhao: Yeah, yeah!
Gao Zixiang: ???
Gao Zixiang: Let’s be honest, who in this game doesn’t discriminate against the Fox Immortal Cave?
Xin Xiangwangzhi doesn’t.
This thought flashed through Jing Huan’s mind but was quickly dismissed.
It’s quite a skill for these two to be arguing in the group chat despite being in the same room.
Jing Huan sowed discord and added fuel to the fire with a few words, then left the group chat, disappearing quietly with his deeds unknown.
He opened a video streaming app and played the most popular theater movie at the moment. After watching for a few minutes, he found it boring and simply closed it.
No one had spoken in YY for a long time. When he checked, he realized the room only had him and Xiang Wang Zhi left—everyone else had gone to other rooms to play.
At the top of YY was a “Karaoke Hall.” Players who failed dungeon challenges couldn’t start new ones for two hours, so those who failed their raid kills stood there idly. One small room had over seventy people.
Jing Huan glanced at it a few times before closing it. He knew he wouldn’t be playing this account for long, so there was no point making friends—better to avoid getting attached before selling it off later.
Bored out of his mind, he opened Nine Heroes’ official forum, hoping to find strategy posts from players who had achieved the first kill.
But strategy posts were nowhere to be found. Scrolling through the entire front page, all he saw were threads cursing out the game developers.
Just as Jing Huan was about to close the site, his peripheral vision caught a glaring red-titled pinned post at the top.
[The 7th Nine Heroes Singing Contest is now open~ Click for details. NEW~]
The post was made just two minutes ago, and there were already over a hundred replies, which shows how popular this forum is.
This event has been around since Jing Huan played on his old account. Because of the good rewards and high level of attention, it is held with great enthusiasm every year.
Jing Huan casually clicked into the post and glanced at the competition process. The format was no different from previous years. Anyone can sign up, and other players can listen to the songs and vote directly through the event interface in the game.
He skimmed through the content in a few glances and jumped straight to the rewards section.
[First Place: A prize of 30,000 yuan, an exclusive in-game mount “Purple Phoenix,” and the opportunity to perform the new theme song for “Nine Heroes.”
Second Place: A prize of 20,000 yuan and an exclusive in-game mount “Purple Phoenix.”
Third Place: A prize of 10,000 yuan and an exclusive in-game mount “Purple Phoenix.”
Participation Prize: Each contestant whose audio passes the review will receive the latest limited-edition fashion item, “Bubble Koi.”]
Jing Huan finally understood why this post had become so popular.
Scarcity increases value. By adding the word “limited” to any item, it easily sparks consumers’ interest.
The same goes for games—limited-edition outfits, mounts, and pets are all highly sought after. This time, the official launch of a “participation prize” clearly aims to encourage players to join and sign up enthusiastically.
Jing Huan looked at the event interface and suddenly felt a headache coming on—the reason the account he bought was so expensive was precisely because it possessed all the limited-edition outfits released since the launch of “Nine Heroes.”
This also meant he would have to acquire any future limited-edition outfits released in “Nine Heroes,” or else the account’s value would plummet.
But… participating in singing contests or the like was never part of his plan. Even back when he played on his old account, he had never joined such entertainment-focused events.
“You there?” The voice of “Heart’s Desire” came through the headphones, snapping Jing Huan out of his thoughts.
Jing Huan reached out to close the webpage: “I’m here, brother… What’s up?”
“Getting ready to head out.”
Jing Huan froze for a moment, then immediately opened the game interface, just in time to see several system announcements pop up.
[Dungeon Announcement: Congratulations to player Xin Xiangwangzhi for successfully clearing the 9th level and completing this dungeon mission!]
……He had only dawdled for less than half an hour, and Heart’s Desire had already finished the kills?
Jing Huan was still surrounded by the ocean. He tried clicking his mouse but still couldn’t move.
Just as he was about to ask, he saw the black-robed man wielding a greatsword shrouded in ghostly light, striding step by step into the scene, coming straight toward him.
[Xin Xiangwangzhi has invited you to join his party. Accept, Decline.]
Jing Huan clicked “Agree,” and the little fox spirit leaped up, landing behind Heart’s Desire.
[System: Congratulations to Heart’s Yearning, Road to Afar, Love is Sharing with You, and Don’t Ask About the Return Date from the Carefree Pavilion faction for defeating nine consecutive barriers and rescuing Little Sweet Scene from the Clam Spirit Princess! They have achieved the first clear of the “Clam Spirit Uprising” dungeon on the Mirage server!]
Only seconds after the system message appeared, their YY voice channel was immediately flooded with spectators joining the room.
Lu Hang, who had been too busy listening to someone singing to watch how Xiang Huaizhi cleared the dungeon, exclaimed: “Holy shit? You finished it in just twenty minutes? And it’s the first clear… Xiang Xiang, you’re a god!!”
Jing Huan snapped out of his daze and chimed in: “Brother, you’re amazing!”
“How did you kill it?” Autumn Maple was also shocked. “Isn’t the eighth level a double-resistance BOSS? How did you get past it?”
The double-resistance BOSS significantly reduces damage from both physical and magical attacks, and if sealed, it will flee within three turns.
Xiang Huai said, “It wasn’t that resistant. I could still deal damage.”
Autumn Maple was speechless for a long moment.
They had already wiped, right at the eighth level. It was the team’s second physical DPS who charged in, lamenting in YY that each of his hits on the boss only took off 300 HP.
“Hurry up, hurry up,” Lu Hang urged. “Click the NPC to claim the rewards.”
The first clear guarantees high-value drops, but how many and who gets them is entirely up to chance.
Jing Huan wasn’t the least bit interested in the reward claiming process and was just about to brew himself a cup of coffee to perk up when several lines of system notifications popped up on his screen—
[You have gained 7,718,372 experience points]
[You have gained 433 copper coins]
[You have obtained “Amethyst” X1]
Jing Huan was stunned. Before he could react, their entire party was automatically teleported back to the main city gates by the system as the dungeon had ended.
The room fell silent for a few seconds before LoveIsSharingWithYou screamed, “Xiao Jing! Ahhh! Share the loot!!”
“Damn, amethyst…” Lu Hang’s eyes turned red with envy. “Jing-jing, you’re too damn awesome.”
Amethyst, a high-tier material for enhancing equipment, guaranteed to boost equipment attributes—a rare find even on the exchange market.
Jing Huan was also stunned. He opened his inventory, double-checked several times, and murmured, “Bro… I dropped a high-tier material.”
“Yeah, I saw it.” Xiang Huaizhi said.
“Holy shit… your luck is insane.” Lu Hang said, “Seems like the buns from killing the Demon King before and that trash loot from yesterday were all just setting the stage for your good fortune today.”
Xiang Huaizhi disbanded the party and was about to restock on potions to prepare for the 20-player dungeon.
[Little Sweet Jing gave you Amethyst x1]
[Private Chat] SweetScenery: Today I also want to give my love and good luck to you, big bro! ^0^//
Xiang Huaizhi wanted to throw it back but found the other party had enabled the item rejection function.
[Private Chat] Heart’s Desire: ?
[Private Chat] HeartYearns: Don’t casually give your good luck to others.
[Private Chat] SweetScenery: No way~
[Private Chat] Sweet Scenery: Brother, if you forge it into the divine weapon, it’ll boost so many attributes! My gear is all trash anyway, it’s useless in my hands.
[Private Chat] Sweet Scenery: Don’t give me money, I won’t take it.
[Private Chat] Sweet Scenery: But… if you really feel bad about it, you could give me something else [shy]
[Private Chat] Heart’s Desire: What do you want?
[Private Message] SweetScenery: Want to pair up with you as husband and wife in the game. [Shy] [Blushing] [Fidgeting fingers]
[Private Message] HeartYearns: Pick something else, or take the crystal back.
[Private Message] SweetScenery: QAQ *sobbing noises*—
[Private Message] SweetScenery: Then I’ll reserve this privilege for now, and ask you for it when I think of something later, okay bro T.T
[Private Chat] Heart’s Desire: Mhm.
In YY, Lu Hang was still urging: “Little Jing Jing, hurry up and share the spoils, let me get a bit of your luck before I tackle the 20-player dungeon!”
Jing Huan: “Alright, wait a moment, I’m going to the bank to withdraw some money…”
“Eh?” Mo Wen Gui Qi was taken aback. “Why did God Xiang suddenly throw money at me?”
Love Is Sharing With You: “God Xiang gave me some too…”
Xiang Huaizhi: “Profit sharing.”
Lu Hang: “You’ve got it wrong, it was Xiao Jingjing who dropped the high-tier materials.”
“That’s for giving it to her.” Xiang Huaizhi glanced at the time. “Alright, everyone go get your potions. Assemble at the guild entrance at 2:50.”
The room instantly fell silent.
Compared to the five-player dungeon, the newly released twenty-player dungeon is much easier, being the simplest dungeon mode—just clearing mobs all the way to the boss without any obstacles.
With sufficient DPS in the team, the first clear was achieved effortlessly. The first-clear reward went to Chun Xiao, another high-tier material, though far less valuable than the Amethyst.
After finishing the dungeon, everyone in the team was exhausted. After some discussion, they decided not to run any more dungeons that night.
Jing Huan packed a few servings of spicy hot pot and headed back to the dorm.
Gao Zixiang’s guild didn’t get the first kill, looking utterly dejected: “We were just two seconds behind, two seconds!!”
“Focus on eating and stop overthinking it.” Jing Huan split the chopsticks apart and glanced at Lu Wenhao in front of the computer. “Hao’er?”
The usually most gluttonous person didn’t even turn their head: “Coming soon, just let me finish this video.”
Jing Huan asked, “What is he looking at?”
“What else could I be watching? The first-kill video of the dungeon I’ve been longing for,” Gao Zixiang said.
Jing Huan paused, “…What’s so special about that? It’s just a regular dungeon.”
“The dungeon may be ordinary, but soloing it through all five stages is anything but. You didn’t see how he took down that double-resistance BOSS—two words,” Gao Zixiang raised his eyes, “badass.”
Jing Huan couldn’t help but glance at Lu Wenhao’s computer screen.
In the video, the character “Heart’s Desire” just finished the battle and walked all the way to the seabed, stopping beside the Little Fox Spirit.
Lu Wenhao closed the video and sat next to them: “Damn, Heart’s Desire is so cool. He must be the top physical DPS in the entire server, right?”
Gao Zixiang: “He’s been that for a while now.”
“Especially after killing the BOSS, when he took his sword and went to pick up that female player in his team…” Lu Wenhao shook his head, clicking his tongue. “Honestly, if I were that girl, I’d definitely want to marry him at that moment—you know, pledge myself to him, get it?”
Gao Zixiang: “Don’t get it.”
“You have no sense of romance. It’s a pity your girlfriend has been with you all these years without ever receiving a single rose.” Lu Wenhao turned his head, “Right, Huanhuan?”
Jing Huan swallowed the fish tofu without changing his expression and nodded, saying, “Yeah, if I were that female player, I’d use the amethyst as a ring and propose to him on the spot.”
Author’s Note:
A real man keeps his word.
