System notification: [Ji Luo] joined the group chat. System notification: [I'm Not Jiahao] joined the group chat.
As the notifications popped up, everyone instinctively tapped on the newcomers' profile pictures.
Ji Luo's was an ordinary landscape photo, perfectly fitting for someone about to start college.
But the moment Jiahao's avatar appeared, the atmosphere in the chat turned brooding.
It was a black-and-white anime boy.
The boy in the picture hung his head, his bangs covering one eye, radiating a wounded melancholy that screamed, "Don't fall for me. It'll never work."
Lu Ziye nearly sprayed his freshly delivered stir-fried rice noodles all over his screen.
"That's exactly the vibe! If Jiahao's past eighth grade in real life, I'll fucking eat my phone screen right here!"
Still, everyone tacitly agreed not to expose Jiahao's persona. After all, having another teammate with main-character syndrome sometimes made for unexpected entertainment in a game.
[Even Monkeys Have Dignity] casually changed the group name from "One Big Happy Bald Family" to "Top Beta Players' Top-Secret War Room."
[Even Monkeys Have Dignity]:
"Bros! Done eating yet?"
"Time for online classes! I just found a video called 'An African Bro Teaches You How to Build a Blast Furnace from Mud and Smelt Iron.' I posted the link. Everyone, check it out!"
[Ji Luo]:
"Sounds solid. Let's not go to the abandoned village first thing tomorrow."
"Based on the terrain, the village is southeast of the church, while the Black Forest is directly north. Tomorrow, we can work our way along the outer edge of the Black Forest. That way, we can avoid the elites in the abandoned village and gather new supplies."
[Kindergarten Boss]:
"Works for me. Let's sharpen up a few more spears with wood and stone first."
"More reach means more power. Beats poking things with sticks."
The more they chatted, the more excited they grew, all brainstorming ways to trap and kill the giant bug in the abandoned village tomorrow.
Before long, it was past eleven at night.
Lu Ziye let out a long yawn, rubbed his aching eyes, and sent a voice message to the group. "I'm done, bros. Can't keep my eyes open."
"Between gaming and arguing online all day, my brain's practically boiling. I'm out. Seven tomorrow morning, meet up in-game sharp!"
[Ji Luo]: "I'm going to bed too. See you tomorrow morning."
[Kindergarten Boss]: "Get some rest, everyone. Back to the grind tomorrow."
[I'm Not Jiahao]: "The physiological limits of carbon-based life-forms are fragile indeed. Good night."
After they exchanged good nights, the group gradually fell silent.
About ten minutes later, half asleep, Lu Ziye idly reached for his phone and glanced at the chat.
"Huh?"
He muttered, "Why's Ma Lou been quiet for so long? He was spamming those Kobe memes harder than anyone earlier. Did he just pass out mid-chat?"
Lu Ziye thought nothing of it. He tossed his phone aside, rolled over, and immediately began snoring like thunder.
Yet none of them had imagined what would happen.
In the world of online gaming, there was one eternal truth: never trust a gaming buddy who said, "I'm going to bed."
Because behind that bedtime excuse often lurked the most shameless secret grinding!
At that moment, it was midnight in the game world.
Outside the windows, fierce winds whipped gray mist through the Black Forest, howling like wailing ghosts.
Inside the dilapidated church, a faint white light suddenly flickered across the previously empty resurrection circle without warning.
The light faded.
A skinny figure with a shifty face appeared silently in the center of the circle.
[Even Monkeys Have Dignity] has logged on.
He tiptoed out of the circle and craned his neck to peer at the ink-black night beyond the church doors.
Though the roars outside made his scalp prickle, an utterly wicked grin spread across Ma Lou's naturally sneaky face.
"Sleep, my ass! Time to party!"
Chuckling foolishly, Ma Lou opened his stats panel with practiced ease.
His experience stood at [40/100].
Killing the Mutated Corpse when he first entered the game had earned him 20 experience, and helping Sivir build a house had earned another 20.
Just 60 more experience to reach level 1!
"Old Lu, Old Ji, and those other normies look pretty capable during the day, but once night falls, they turn into total chickens."
Clutching his sharpened wooden spear tightly, Ma Lou poked his head out and shiftily surveyed the thick, inky darkness beyond the church doors.
"Everyone says the wilderness is hell at night, but high risk usually means high reward!"
"What if lone, low-level mobs spawn around the edge of the church's barrier at night?"
"If I can sneak around and kill a few tonight for those 60 experience points, I'll scare the crap out of them when they log on tomorrow morning!"
Imagining himself flaunting a dazzling Lv. 1 tomorrow morning, one hand in his pocket as he stood before everyone and dispensed his wisdom, Ma Lou trembled with excitement.
What danger at night?
Against the modern gamer's obsessive determination to outgrind every last teammate, even the Great Old Ones would have to step aside!
"Hehehe... sorry, bros. That number-one spot on the server is mine!"
Hunching over like a weasel coming down from the hills, Ma Lou dragged his crude wooden spear behind him and vanished into the unknown darkness.
After [Even Monkeys Have Dignity] left the church, Lin En's consciousness slowly awakened inside the stone statue.
Isn't that the player called Ma Lou?
Lin En felt puzzled. Didn't these Fourth Calamity players agree to log off and go to bed? Why's one of them sneaking back online in the middle of the night?
But after another moment's thought, he understood.
This was the state of competitive grinding in modern online games!
You thought your teammates logged off to sleep?
Wrong. They were only pretending to rest while secretly logging on at midnight to grind levels, ready to amaze everyone the next day!
As a capitalist, Lin En wholeheartedly welcomed such exemplary workers, who volunteered for overtime, demanded no wages, and even threw in their lives.
Still... the darkness outside is no joke.
Watching Ma Lou's figure disappear through the church doorway, Lin En couldn't help feeling curious.
Trapped inside the divine statue and unable to leave the barrier, he actually had little firsthand understanding of the night outside. He only knew from fragments of the original owner's memories that it was far more dangerous than daytime.
This was the perfect chance to use this reckless player to scout it out.
System, can I view players out in the wilderness from a first-person or third-person perspective? Lin En asked inwardly.
[Ding!] [Activating Divine Gaze costs: 1 Faith Point/hour.]
"One buck an hour for internet access? That's a pretty decent deal!"
Lin En paid without hesitation.
Though those five poor suckers had been wiped out by the giant bug that afternoon, costing him a painful 50 Faith Points to reconstruct their bodies, the loss had made his heart ache.
Fortunately, before dying, three of those players had stubbornly swung their bricks and beaten three tier-zero Corrupted Villagers to death.
Under the system's underlying law of energy conservation, killing one tier-zero cannon-fodder enemy allowed it to extract 10 Faith Points.
Lin En shamelessly skimmed off 9 points, converting the remaining point into 10 experience and 2 Ash Coins for the players.
Those three mobs had let him claw back a meager 27 Faith Points.
He had still suffered a net loss, but at least it had stopped the bleeding.
"Ma Lou, oh, Ma Lou. You'd better pull your weight tonight. Kill a few more mobs and help your boss recoup his losses!"
Full of anticipation, Lin En activated the system panel, and his view instantly switched to a third-person holographic perspective above and behind Ma Lou.
It was like watching an immersive 3D livestream, with even the ambient sounds and wind perfectly synchronized.
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