Quarrel and Isolation

"So you're a player from the Administration? I was wondering where I'd seen that bodysuit before."

After the long-haired woman in black admitted that she was with the Administration, the young man in the suit—who called himself Huang Yunqiang—cried out in surprise again, saying he had thought the clothes worn by this female teammate looked familiar.

"Alright, everyone's introduced themselves. Let old Han add a few more words."

At that moment, the man in the overcoat standing opposite the young man in the suit—the sniper who called himself Han Hao—waved his hand again, making the young man shut up. Then he summed up, "Based on the introductions, the five of us have two gunners, plus one Assassin, one Warrior, and one Priest. The lineup is fairly balanced. As long as we cooperate well, clearing this instance perfectly shouldn't be a problem. Next, we need to see what the enemy situation is like... Assassin brother, I may need to trouble you with scouting later."

As he spoke, the man in the overcoat turned an infectious smile toward the Assassin player in the smiling-face mask beside him.

"Sure."

The Assassin in the smiling-face mask still spoke in that somewhat detached tone, but he gave the man in the overcoat some face and immediately nodded in response.

"Next, Warrior brother. Although your level is a bit low, your equipment looks quite good. You should be about on the same level as us, otherwise the instance wouldn't have put you together with us."

The man in the overcoat smiled as he looked at Wang Zhifan and offered his suggestion.

"When we fight the bandits later, we'll need you to charge in front and draw their fire for the rest of us. The pressure on you will be greater, but the Priest lady will definitely focus on healing and buffing you..."

He spoke unhurriedly, assigning tasks like an older brother. It all sounded perfectly reasonable, but before he could finish, Wang Zhifan cut him off.

"Everyone, I need to make one thing clear in advance. Although I'm a Warrior, I don't like charging headfirst into a crowd of enemies. So I may not rush to the very front later. I'd prefer to use the firearms in my hands to attack for a few rounds first."

As Wang Zhifan spoke, he waved the silver-white pistol in his hand, making it clear that he was not limited to melee combat and was not particularly willing to fight in melee either.

This needed some explanation: why Wang Zhifan had always refused to charge into battle like a classic Warrior and instead wanted to stay in the rear was very simple. He believed that style of fighting was far too risky and perfectly embodied the cannon-fodder nature of the Warrior class. He was a cautious man who valued his life, and unless absolutely necessary, he would not put himself in such enormous danger, even if his approach seemed to violate a Warrior's duty and put more pressure on his teammates.

Ultimately, it was because instance players only had one life. If they died in an instance, they were truly dead. If players could keep resurrecting after dying in an instance like characters in a video game, he could absolutely be the bravest one there. But with only one life, he could not charge headlong into the enemy just because of some so-called Warrior duty, leaving his life to luck and the performance of his teammates in the rear. That would be extremely unfair to him, and he would not compromise.

"Come on, brother. As a Warrior, you have to charge at the front. You can't expect us gunners to rush in, can you?"

The moment Wang Zhifan finished speaking, before the man in the overcoat could say anything, Huang Yunqiang, the young man in the suit beside him, started criticizing him. He was clearly very opposed to Wang Zhifan's timid fighting style.

"No one needs to charge. We can all fight at range."

Wang Zhifan immediately refuted him, making it clear that he was not trying to dump the pressure onto his teammates, but wanted to switch to a safer method of combat.

"Warrior brother, that's not really right."

At this point, the man in the overcoat spoke to Wang Zhifan again with a smile on his face.

"Never mind how much power a Warrior like you can get out of firearms. The point is, you're the only Warrior on this team, so you have to step up and draw the enemy's fire as much as possible, giving the rest of us a better environment to deal damage. Otherwise, if you shrink back, the enemies can easily rush right up to us ranged fighters. Then this instance will be impossible to fight, and we might get wiped out."

With his words, he began pressuring Wang Zhifan through team responsibility, the bigger picture, and clearing the instance, trying to make him change his mind.

But Wang Zhifan could only sneer inwardly. He immediately raised his voice and retorted:

"Heh. Just because I'm a Warrior, I have to run over there and die? Do you think this is a video game? You're a sniper—can't you just pick the enemies off from far away? Why do you absolutely need me to charge in? In real wars, when have you ever heard of melee units being needed as meat shields? Real-world wars are all fought with ranged fire!"

Wang Zhifan had laid bare the trap in their words, exposing that combat did not have only one fixed pattern and that an instance did not need a Warrior, Assassin, Priest, and gunner lineup like some video game. He insisted on using a combat plan that was safer for himself.

"Fine. I'm not arguing with you."

When he realized the team's only Warrior had made up his mind not to charge alone, Han Hao, the sniper in the overcoat, immediately turned cold.

"You're unwilling to take responsibility for the team, yet you have so much twisted reasoning to offer. What a disappointment! Go do whatever you want later! Since you don't want to contribute to the team, don't expect the team to protect you when you're in danger!"

After sternly berating Wang Zhifan, this man, who was basically treated as the team leader, waved to the other members and tried to lead them to the side of the courtyard to continue their discussion—in other words, to isolate Wang Zhifan.

"Assassin brother, A-Qiang, and Priest lady, let's discuss the instance strategy properly. Without a Warrior's cooperation, this instance may be difficult to fight."

As he spoke, he walked toward a corner of the courtyard. Huang Yunqiang, dressed in a suit, was the first to follow him. After a brief hesitation, the Assassin player in the smiling-face mask followed second. The long-haired Priest woman in a black bodysuit simply shook her head and turned toward another corner of the courtyard, showing that she had no interest in this internal conflict and would rather stay alone.

As a result, Wang Zhifan was the only one left where they had first arrived in the courtyard. He soon saw Han Hao in the overcoat, Huang Yunqiang in the suit, and the masked Assassin walk to the other side of the courtyard and begin discussing matters. He also noticed that they occasionally cast furtive glances his way, though he had no idea whether they were looking at him with contempt or had some other purpose.