Li Yueqiu was a good support

People had an incredible ability to fill in the blanks.

As long as they were led toward a wrong answer and given hints that it was absolutely correct,

even if that answer made no sense, humans could desperately invent reasons to convince themselves and make it seem reasonable.

Take Li Yueqiu and Zheng Ren, for example. Their abilities clearly fell short of the Dawn Moon Guild's recruitment standards.

Zhang Zhuang guessed that they both had exceptional qualities that had prompted the Dawn Moon Guild to make exceptions for them.

The woman who had stolen his first kill was probably recruited for her skill, while the man with the metal ruler was exceptionally strong.

But Zheng Ren... could it be his optimistic mindset that made him less prone to losing sanity? His cockroach-like knack for surviving anything? Connections with the guild's higher-ups?

Zhang Zhuang couldn't figure it out just yet. He could only observe him more closely in the future.

One thing was certain: now that the two major guilds were hostile toward each other, whenever an opportunity arose, they would kill as many people from the other side as they could.

The relationship between the Wavebreaker and Dawn Moon guilds was highly ambiguous.

Sometimes they teamed up for instances like best buddies; other times, they wanted nothing more than to fight to the death.

They switched between peace and hunting modes with complete freedom and casual ease.

Not long ago, the two major guilds had even assembled their core forces to take on the level 3 instance, Nowhere to Escape, together.

Everyone had been getting along when they left, talking about cooperation and mutual benefit.

Once they returned, they dropped all pretenses.

Dawn Moon said it was all Wavebreaker's fault for holding them back, ignoring commands, causing trouble everywhere, and deliberately leading danger back to them.

Wavebreaker, however, said Dawn Moon had seized the opportunity to settle scores, specifically assigning them deadly, dangerous tasks and getting many of them killed.

And so, the peace that had barely begun was once again engulfed in the smoke of war.

As for the three major guilds holding sway over Safe Zone 7, would fighting between two of them let the third reap the benefits?

Of course not.

Every member of the Thousand Hunt Guild had social anxiety. If the Instance Hall hadn't occasionally announced that Thousand Hunt Guild players had completed yet another instance first clear,

they would have kept such a low profile that everyone could have forgotten they existed. They had no desire whatsoever to dominate Safe Zone 7.

As a result, when the Wavebreaker and Dawn Moon guilds fought each other, they felt perfectly secure about their rear.

Two sides fighting while a third profited might happen anywhere else, but never among the three major guilds of Safe Zone 7.

Making people who broke into a nervous sweat just talking to strangers, looking more exhausted than they would after an all-out fight, go and unify the safe zone was simply asking too much.

Even with knives held against them, that bunch from Thousand Hunt would rather die than appear in public and deal with people.

In fact, if socially anxious loners without backing weren't so easily bullied, the Thousand Hunt Guild might not even have existed.

Apparently, its members had never even met one another. Their so-called guild building was just for show. Aside from the people watching the place, there wasn't a single guild player inside.

Thousand Hunt's true home was a large player chat group. Though the members had never met in real life, they were very familiar with one another online.

There had even been two highly skilled players who, while fighting in an instance, suddenly noticed that their opponent was using their online friend's skill or item.

Then they both suddenly recognized each other. "So you're XXX from the group!" They instantly went from enemies to companions and chatted happily.

The Thousand Hunt version of chatting happily: communicating through a chat window from three meters apart.

After the Mountain Monkeys' first probing attack, the players had little time left.

Zuo Cheng'an soon noticed that the health bars hidden among the shrubs above the cliff face were stirring again, approaching the sightseeing vehicle.

Li Yueqiu wasn't panicked at all. Ten minutes had passed, and her skill was off cooldown again.

She also had a weapon she could use against enemies now. If the Mountain Monkeys came close again, she could protect herself without Mo Dou having to lift a claw.

As for Little Flying Stone, now that she had obtained an item, she had originally intended to return it.

But Brother Zuo said she was a good support who kept her eyes and ears open in every direction, so she would keep using it for now.

Zuo Cheng'an had looked over the Willow Branch attributes Li Yueqiu reported.

Unlike items obtained by completing quests in instances or venturing into certain dangerous places,

items dropped by monsters came from highly random sources.

Willow Branch was a green item from the level 4 instance Miasma Forest. Aside from whipping people, it could also be used to find things.

It was very simple to use. The user only had to think of the appearance and name of the thing they wanted to find, and Willow Branch would point them in the right direction.

If they were looking for an item, its grade couldn't exceed Willow Branch's own, and each use required a long cooldown.

All in all, it seemed quite practical.

The Mountain Monkeys had little patience. As soon as they gathered, they eagerly launched an attack on the sightseeing vehicle.

Bang! Bang! Bang! ... The sounds of Mountain Monkeys hitting the roof came as thick and fast as raindrops.

Before any even showed themselves, everyone knew this attack was on no small scale.

A moment later, the first Mountain Monkey stretched its neck and tentatively poked its head down from the roof.

Squelch!

Holding his oversized syringe, Yang Ye stabbed it clean through the Mountain Monkey's throat.

He punctured its air sac in a single strike.

The limp corpse slid off the roof, like a signal marking the official start of the attack.

Countless Mountain Monkeys clambered down from the sightseeing vehicle's roof.

Except for the front of the vehicle where the driver sat, dense swarms of monsters filled the other three sides.

They learned quickly. Knowing that sticking their heads out would expose their weakness, they instead lowered their bodies first to draw the players' attacks.

As long as the air sacs in their throats weren't punctured, they wouldn't die even if their bodies were snapped in half at the waist or their bellies ripped open.

While the players dealt with their bodies, they would look for a chance to lower their necks.

Their necks were long, so they could do as they pleased.

Zuo Cheng'an knew he couldn't kill the Mountain Monkeys quickly while staying inside the vehicle. With that thought, he drove his ruler through a Mountain Monkey's soft abdomen, forcibly dragged it down, and hurled it over the cliff.

Then he checked that the strips of cloth on his body were secure before swiftly climbing onto the roof through the opening he had cleared.

The many Mountain Monkeys that had swung their bodies into the vehicle while leaving their heads on the roof froze, then moved to rise and fight back.

But Zuo Cheng'an was faster. Little Seven finally claimed its first blood since joining him.

[Killed 'Mountain Monkey' x1]

The bright red air sac ruptured, and another fragrant scent drifted out.

Zuo Cheng'an was closer this time, so he smelled it more clearly.

Not knowing the nature of the fragrance, he reflexively held his breath. He was just about to move farther from the Mountain Monkey's corpse when something suddenly occurred to him.

He stopped moving away and pretended to be captivated by the fragrance, taking two "deep breaths."

His movements were so exaggerated that he seemed afraid the audience might miss them.

Sure enough, seeing him sniff the fragrance, the viewers posted exactly what Zuo Cheng'an wanted to see in the scrolling comments.

--

[Look what I spotted. This player actually went and sniffed the fragrance like he had a death wish! Is he about to get "seeded"?]

[He's still a long way off. This is barely anything.]

[But if he keeps sniffing like this, he won't even need to wait for the third day's bells to trigger it. He'll be close to getting "seeded" already.]

[Honestly, I've never seen what it looks like when it finally blooms. The furthest I've seen is the bud stage.]

[None of us have. Hopefully someone in this batch of players can last until the ninth day and let us see it for ourselves.]