Chapter 25

## Chapter 25

After completing the guild patrol mission, Shen Gali gained some XP, finally going from level 1 to level 3 and unlocking a new map.

Guild leader Mu Yan led an eight-person squad to take a plane to the supposedly super creepy Chuiyue City.

As soon as they got off the plane, pouring rain made it hard to see a thing.

The entire Chuiyue City was wrapped in a creepy, shifting darkness. Everywhere in the city were dilapidated, dangerous buildings. Pale moonlight hit the cold-looking ruins, like something out of a horror movie. The thick trees along the streets made it even creepier.

On the crisscrossing roads, occasionally a few players could be seen hurrying by, quickly taking planes to leave, along with severely injured solo players lying on the ground waiting for passersby to lend a hand.

Members helped up a few badly hurt players, who thanked them and then quickly got the hell out of that cursed place.

One member suggested: "Let Tieniu Ju stay near the plane. We'll go in and do the quest. He doesn't have any equipment, his level is low, and he'll just be dead weight."

Shen Gali felt grateful: What a thoughtful bro. Thanks, bro, for calling me dead weight.

"Guild Leader Mu Yan: If Tieniu Ju himself doesn't take part, it won't count as completing the quest."

Another member: "While that's true, we don't have the extra steam to babysit him."

"Mu Yan: Just handle yourselves. Don't worry about him."

Since the guild leader kept insisting, the members had no choice but to go along with it.

Shen Gali lost his chance to goof off. Hate, pure world-shattering hate.

"Guild Leader Mu Yan: @Tieniu Ju, stay behind me. I've got your back."

SUN also piped up right away: "@Tieniu Ju, stick close to me. Don't wander off."

Shen Gali: Who the hell am I supposed to follow? Can you two get on the same page?

"Mu Yan: Follow me. My equipment and level are high."

"SUN: Wait for me for one minute."

She ran off toward the plane. Exactly one minute later, on the dot, SUN returned, hauling a massive rocket launcher on her back... a rocket launcher... which cost 1999 bucks in the market. That's like two thousand yuan in real money.

The members were dumbfounded.

Damn, they've got a whale here.

"SUN: @Tieniu Ju, stick close to me."

This scene was weirder than Chuiyue City itself. Two top-tier players, arguably among the best in the entire server, were fighting over a dumb, dark-skinned dude in a tank top and flip-flops.

Weird things happen every year, but this year takes the damn cake.

Shen Gali followed the squad to Chuiyue University, a place the virus had wrecked. Everywhere he looked was a mess. Monster bodies were strewn all over the ground. Surrounding the university's central giant, tangled century-old redwood tree, the bark had ferocious human faces screaming and trying to break loose.

Behind the tree, something grayish-blue was squirming, but most of its body was hidden by the trunk, making it impossible to tell exactly what it was.

Their task was to chop down the tree. Besides XP, there was a chance to get rare minerals.

Everyone pulled out stone axes and swung fiercely at the trunk.

Stone axes were the easiest item to craft. Go to the forest, chop down two trees, and collect two stones to synthesize a stone ax.

But Shen Gali didn't have one. He had gone to the forest earlier intending to make a stone ax, but his inventory was full, so he dropped some wood there, and then completely forgot about it.

So big dark Tieniu Ju used his fists like sandbags, whaling on the trunk like he was trying to crack a rock with an egg. Punch after punch, XP kept going up by +0.1...

Suddenly, a violent earthquake struck. The fruits on the redwood tree rained down like falling water.

The grayish-blue fleshy mass behind the trunk squirmed even more violently. The next second, a hoarse scream cut through the night. The mass suddenly emerged from behind the tree. Everyone's eyes bugged out and they instinctively backed off.

This freakishly huge creature was three men tall. Its bluish-gray skin was covered in a bloodstained, tattered wedding dress. Flesh stuck to it, smeared across her rotting, bloated face, making her extremely terrifying.

Over the monster's head, its level showed as "???". That meant its level was unknown, maybe even higher than the max player level of 100. One person couldn't take it; you needed a team.

For the sake of the task, everyone went all out—

Members raised their weapons and laid down heavy fire.

But the monster could heal itself. Even if its health bar was halved, if the damage chain got broken, it would start steadily regenerating health.

Moreover, its movements were very agile. One second it was yards away, the next it vanished and teleported right in a player's face, unleashing a viral shockwave.

Shen Gali hit the ground in one second.

Perfect. He'd been staring at the screen too long anyway, eyes sore. Might as well catch some Z's.

But there's always that kind of passionate player—like Mu Yan—who absolutely won't abandon any teammate.

He rushed to Tieniu Ju's side, healed him fully, used his own flesh and blood as a shield in front of him, guarding him closely, and unleashed furious output on the monster.

Shen Gali sighed.

Forcing a slacker to work, huh.

Reluctantly, he had no choice but to bring out his sandbag-sized fists and punch the monster, one punch at a time.

Then he was sent flying ten meters away by a big slap from the monster.

"SUN: @Mu Yan, do you even know how to play? Hand Tieniu Ju over to me. You just take care of yourself."

SUN healed Shen Gali to full health, moved left and right with his movements, precisely shielding him seamlessly, while also managing to fire rocket launcher shots at the monster.

The other members were speechless. Wasn't this black, rough guy a burden? Damn it, what exactly did the guild leader and this big spender see in him? Was it his dark, rough, and hard skin that tickled their fancy?

It seemed the monster had some kind of level-locking skill. It refused to attack high-level players and instead focused on tormenting a level-three newbie.

But SUN and Mu Yan were unyielding, firmly blocking in front of Shen Gali. While switching ammo clips, one was responsible for output, and the other used their own body to withstand the monster's viral damage.

Finally, under the combined assault of the teammates, the monster's health bar ran empty, and it dissolved into bluish-gray particles in the air.

Meanwhile, Mu Yan and SUN's health bars were already down to the neck, their stamina at rock bottom. If they couldn't be healed in time, they would end up like the players they saw when they first arrived, collapsed in a pool of blood.

To fight the monster, everyone had used up all their health packs and supplies. So SUN and Mu Yan, with their last bit of stamina, chopped down the redwood tree and obtained rare minerals.

Immediately after, both

"Mu Yan: Rare minerals can be used to craft tombstones. Here, take them."

Shen Gali blinked and clicked "Yes."

The other members sighed, biting their tongues, claiming they were already exhausted and needed to return to the guild camp to replenish their health, promising to bring blood packs and supplies for the two fallen players later.

The group dragged their battered bodies onto the plane, without even asking if Shen Gali wanted to come along, abandoning him and the two bodies in the dangerous Moonfall City as they headed back to the guild camp.

"Mu Yan: @Tieniu Ju, it's dangerous here. You should go back first."

"SUN: I was about to say the same. You go back."

Shen Gali silently watched them, then turned and walked away.

Though it was just a game, the sight of Tieniu Ju's resolute departing figure still hit both of them with a twinge of disappointment.

Lying amidst the corpses strewn across Moonfall University, gazing up at the starry sky after the rain, neither spoke.

Go, just go.

...

A plane landed at the entrance of Moonfall City, and two players disembarked.

"Player A: Damn, every time I come to Moonfall City it's so freaking scary."

"Player B: I told you to log in early, but you had to play ranked. Now we're late. The quest is over. My rare minerals... TAT"

"Player A: What's that over there? A monster NPC?"

"Player B: Hmm, looks like a player?"

On the eerie roadside, a Black dude in a white tank top, shorts, and flip-flops was collecting berries from the bushes. Suddenly, an infected wolf lunged at him, letting out a fierce bite and chomping wildly. The Black dude's health bar dropped fast.

The two players exchanged glances, drew their guns, and killed the infected wolf.

The Black dude got up from the ground, covered in blood, and continued collecting berries.

"Player A: Dude, go pick berries in the forest, why here? It's dangerous."

The Black dude said nothing, just kept his head down picking berries, his movements clumsy yet stubborn.

On the other side.

SUN and Mu Yan had been lying on the ground for a long time with no one coming to help, so they decided to go AFK and attend to other things.

Suddenly, a notification popped up on the interface: [Player "Tieniu Ju" has sent you berries. Accept?]

Rotating the camera, they saw Tieniu Ju's face—dark, rugged, with a hint of simple-mindedness.

Tieniu Ju was battered and covered in blood, one of his tank top straps had snapped off, hanging loosely off him, with his stamina bar already in the single digits.

The two were silent for a long while before accepting the berries. After recovering a bit of health, they were finally able to stand.

"SUN: How'd you get hurt? Did you get hurt picking berries for me?"

"Tieniu Ju: ."

"Mu Yan: Thanks for the hundred berries, Little Ju."

He noticed that Tieniu Ju had given SUN eighty-eight berries but given him a full hundred.

Win.

Even though Tieniu Ju just handed them out randomly without thinking much.

"SUN: Ju'er knows I'm a freelancer, so he gave me 88 berries, hoping I'd get rich, right?"

"Tieniu Ju: ...?"

One calls him 'Little Ju,' the other 'Ju'er.' It really makes you wonder—could people on this planet have a little less wishful thinking and a little more self-awareness?

Both of them were now on their feet when the guild members finally showed up with blood packs, late as always.

Back at the camp, Shen Gali looked at his experience, which had risen to level 5, and decided to log off for a nap.

But then Mu Yan stopped him: "So, where are you from?"

"Tieniu Ju: Earth."

"Mu Yan: I mean, which city do you live in?"

"Tieniu Ju: Jinhai."

"Mu Yan: What a coincidence, I'm from Jinhai too. So, if you're free, wanna meet up in person?"

"Tieniu Ju: No time."

"Mu Yan: I want to give you a rare tombstone recipe."

"Tieniu Ju: I have time."

"Mu Yan: Then how about tomorrow at 3 p.m. at the first themed cafe on Huaihai Road? [smile]"

"Tieniu Ju: ."

Although the grand "Life's Afterlife Garden" plan in reality had made almost no progress, acquiring such a fancy but impractical tomb in the game would at least soothe his world-worn and battered heart a little.

Suddenly, he felt a hint of anticipation.

At Huanhai Electronics Headquarters—

"Snap!" Nan Liujing closed his laptop with a loud click. Even though he didn't use much force, it still made a sharp sound.

He had bought a high-level game account, renamed himself SUN, and ordered Shen Gali to quickly level up his new account so that Shen Gali and the rich, gentle big shot would soon hit it off after spending days together, and he could easily gather evidence of Shen Gali's cheating for a divorce.

To get out of the divorce case unscathed, apart from the countless trivial issues, the strongest evidence would be cheating.

He thought this would be a long battle, but unexpectedly, within just two days the two had already arranged to meet offline.

On top of that, Shen Gali had given Mu Yan a hundred berries but only given him eighty-eight.

His long fingers slowly clenched, faint veins bulging on the back of his hand.

Good, nothing wrong with this. The plan to call off the engagement is within reach now.

Since the Shen family dared to send a defective fake to marry in his place, they must be prepared to face the consequences.

Secretary Yan came out after delivering the documents, patting her chest, still shaken.

President Nan's expression was absolutely terrifying. It was reasonable to suspect that the company's operations had gone wrong—otherwise, how could a person's face be so dark and sinister, like an evil ghost crawling out of hell, exuding a black aura?

*

That evening, Nan Liujing stared at the pile of unrecognizable black substance on the dining table, slowly tightening his grip on the knife and fork.

"I have no appetite. Uncle Li, help me upstairs."

Uncle Li acknowledged, not daring to breathe loudly as he looked at the young master's dark face.

What is it this time?

Out of the corner of his eye, Nan Liujing glanced at Shen Gali, who was resting with his eyes closed, face down on the table. His gaze darkened.

After entering the room, he told Uncle Li to go about his business, then opened his computer and opened the divorce plan 5.0. Under the column for Shen Gali's offenses, he typed the word "adultery."

But a moment later, he pressed backspace and deleted those two words.

His private lawyer had already drafted the divorce agreement for him—a long list of accumulated offenses, ensuring the Shen family wouldn't dare utter a single complaint.

Holding that divorce plan, Nan Liujing was silent for a long time. Steeling himself, he slapped the agreement on the table, pulled out a fountain pen, and prepared to sign it first.

But in that split second, his peripheral vision landed on his water glass.

There was a small red dot on the white cup. Upon closer inspection, it was a strawberry sticker.

His signing hand froze in midair.

Not long ago, Shen Gali had suddenly gone crazy and plastered all the stickers Nan Liujing had bought onto the headboard. It was a dense, chaotic mess, and Uncle Li had gone to great lengths to clean them all off.

He never expected there to be one left behind.

This person, like these pervasive stickers, seemed to have quietly encroached on every tiny aspect of his life.

In a corner of the room were piles of shoddy works. There was clearly someone blind enough to pay a high price to collect them. Why didn't he just put in a good word and sell them? Why keep them here, an eyesore?

Sure enough, Shen Gali had to go. He only ever subtly sabotaged all his plans. He hated having his plans disrupted.

Nan Liujing's gaze shifted back to the divorce agreement.

Forget it. He would sign only after obtaining solid photographic evidence of Shen Gali's adultery. No need to rush this.

He shoved the agreement back into the drawer and slammed it shut.