: A 3S instance???
: Holy shit, what kind of luck does this newbie have!
: Haven't there been fewer than 50 3S instances across all the servers combined?
: The last one was opened by someone from the Singing Sparrow Guild, right? I remember it took them over 70 hours to clear it.
: And the casualties were terrible... Even the vice guild leader who led the team, who was the least injured, needed over a month to recover.
: Server 1089 has it way too rough. How are they supposed to survive this?
: Sigh, they're doomed.
The barrage was full of lamentations, and the players were equally gloomy.
A tall, hot-tempered young man rushed forward and grabbed Zheng Xun by the collar.
"What the fuck did you pick that for?! 3S! How are we supposed to clear it?!"
The man in the suit and the man in the hoodie hurried over to stop him.
"Don't fight! There has to be a way!" The man in the suit played the peacemaker.
"Yeah, yeah," the man in the hoodie chimed in. Then he turned curiously to the man in the suit. "Bro, what's 3S?"
"..." The man in the suit started to speak, then stopped.
Zheng Xun, who had been forcibly lifted up and put back down, coughed twice and let the tall young man's behavior slide.
The barrage was still enjoying the show.
: Infighting already?
: Fight! Fight!
: Stop fighting, you two!
Zheng Xun's voice was still a little hoarse, so he gestured with a finger toward the lockers behind them.
Just then, Little Red Riding Hood spoke up.
"Mommy said there are lots of bad people in the Happiness Residential Complex. Please choose a weapon you're comfortable with to protect yourselves, big brothers and sisters."
Ten people, ten different weapons.
The tall young man gave Zheng Xun a shove.
"You pick last."
Zheng Xun shrugged.
All right.
No one would pick his squeaky, macho pink inflatable hammer with stars on it anyway.
As they chose their weapons, they exchanged names.
Xu Li needed no introduction. The other female player in the group was named Chen Zicheng, and she really was an office worker.
The hoodie-wearing man, who was a little out of the loop, was a college student named Zhong Yu.
The honest-looking man in the suit was Gu Yuanheng.
The tall, short-tempered young man was Meng Chuang.
Of the remaining four, two were brothers surnamed Wang.
The last two seemed rather timid and didn't trust the others much, so they didn't want to reveal their names.
No one pressed them.
Perhaps because none of them expected to survive, the weapon selection went fairly smoothly, with no fighting over anything.
After everyone had picked a weapon they were happy with, only the inflatable hammer was left for Zheng Xun.
: An inflatable hammer? There's a weapon that useless?!
: This newbie's way too unlucky! At least with an axe or a sickle, he could finish himself off if he couldn't kill anyone else!
: Is there something wrong with this Zheng Xun guy's head? Why isn't he scared...
: Could he be a White Tower NPC in disguise? I know NPCs are ranked too, from high-risk to low-risk...
Of the ten, only Zheng Xun, who didn't have a Little Genius, couldn't see what was being posted in the barrage.
Eight people shot Zheng Xun suspicious looks. The remaining one was Zhong Yu, who still hadn't figured out what was going on.
Zhong Yu moved closer to Zheng Xun.
"Bro, are you a high-risk White Tower NPC?"
His blunt question put the other eight people and everyone in the livestream on edge.
: Holy shit, holy shit! This newbie's got guts!
: Where did this dummy come from...
: Oh no, Zheng Xun isn't about to transform, is he?!
Zheng Xun stared back at Zhong Yu without expression. After a long moment, he spoke.
"Little bro, what's the White Tower?"
"..."
Zhong Yu looked down.
"Bro, the barrage keeps spamming 'Crouching Dragon and Fledgling Phoenix.'"
"They're praising us. Don't let it go to your head."
Zheng Xun picked up his pink inflatable hammer and slung it over his shoulder with a squeak.
It was completely out of place in the tense, serious atmosphere.
Xu Li couldn't help stepping forward, an iron axe in her hand.
"Brother Xun, how about I trade with you?"
"No need. I like this one."
Zheng Xun was quite stubborn about it.
Once the players had equipped their weapons, the game officially began.
Little Red Riding Hood led them out of the residential complex's security office and into the Happiness Residential Complex.
The group of nine was neither large nor small, but since they weren't familiar with one another, they walked loosely, with little in the way of formation.
: When you're teamed up with strangers, it's best to stay in the middle of the group. The suit guy and the hoodie guy have the right idea, ready to attack or defend.
: That tall guy's really reckless. Taking the lead?
: Those brothers are at the back. That's the position most likely to get swallowed up by fog or some kind of trap before they can even call for help.
: ...How come someone's walking right next to the NPC?!
The person right next to the NPC was none other than Zheng Xun.
The know-it-alls in the barrage were right: when first entering an instance, it was best not to stay too close to an NPC.
Experienced players all knew that an NPC could turn into a boss at any moment.
But for Zheng Xun, who had cleared the instance 1,000 times, the deathly pale Honghong was the only "person" he knew.
Their conversation was also exceedingly friendly.
"Sister Hong, how old are you this year?"
"I don't know."
"Sister Hong, have you eaten?"
"I don't know."
"Sister Hong, is Grandma Wolf's surname Wolf?"
"I don't know."
The barrage stalled for a moment, then began flooding the screen.
: What is he doing? Teasing the NPC?
: First time I've ever seen such a pointless conversation.
: The White Tower NPCs' voice packs are way too limited. Is that the only thing she can say?
: More like, what kind of pointless questions is Zheng Xun asking?
: So is Grandma Wolf's surname Wolf?
The others were also listening in on Zheng Xun and Little Red Riding Hood's conversation.
"Brother Xun," Xu Li said, edging closer, though she didn't dare get too close, "aren't you afraid of it?"
She's an old acquaintance of mine, Zheng Xun thought.
He smiled faintly.
"Don't be scared. She's such a cute little girl. Everybody loves her."
As if to back him up, Little Red Riding Hood bared two rows of chilling teeth.
She still looked like a little girl, but for some reason, that wide grin was terrifying.
Xu Li took two steps back.
Chen Zicheng tugged on her arm and whispered, "Don't get too close. I keep feeling there's something wrong with that man."
Xu Li was a college student with little experience of the world, and she hesitated.
"Sister Cheng, I don't think Brother Xun seems like a bad person."
"Do bad people have 'bad' written on their faces? Don't be so naive."
"But..."
Xu Li and Chen Zicheng returned to the group, and Zhong Yu popped out again.
He seemed endlessly curious about Zheng Xun.
"Bro, that hammer of yours is pretty nice."
"Looks good, right?"
"But it doesn't look practical."
"Tsk, tsk." Zheng Xun put on a serious, earnest expression. "Young man, you don't understand. When you've done something too many times, you get so bored you don't care about being practical anymore. You just want to try something fancy."
"Bro," Zhong Yu said, admiration plain on his face, "you're a great philosopher!"
"You understood that?"
"No."
"And you call yourself a college student." Zheng Xun was exasperated. "Aren't you a dumbass? How did you get through the college entrance exam?"
"Bro, you're overthinking it. I was the only one left alive in my class. I didn't take the exam. The admissions office called and begged me to enroll."
"..."
By then, the group had passed the first intersection and was about to leave the second.
On a side street at the intersection, a stack of delivery boxes shifted twice. No one noticed except Zheng Xun, who had already developed a conditioned reflex.
Zheng Xun held his position and continued his aimless small talk with Zhong Yu.
He stepped forward with his right foot, passing beneath half a red banner fluttering at the intersection.
Just then, a Human-Faced Wolf Spider the size of a washbasin screeched and struck from above!
The Human-Faced Wolf Spider was, as its name suggested, a combination of a twisted human face and a wolf spider. It was highly venomous; one bite could send a person into their next life.
Don't ask how Zheng Xun knew.
The wolf spider was agile and cunning, and it specifically targeted Zhong Yu and Zheng Xun while they were talking.
Zhong Yu was facing Zheng Xun, gesturing and talking excitedly, with the wolf spider right behind him-
Quick as lightning, Zheng Xun slapped the chattering Zhong Yu aside. At the same time, he swung the hammer with his left hand, switched modes, and chopped downward. The pink hammer smashed through the wolf spider's human face, sending dark red blood spraying everywhere!
: Holy shit!
: Holy shit, holy shit!
: What just went past?! A wolf spider?!
: He took it out just like that? With that crappy hammer, and it's inflatable too?!
: Where did this newbie come from? Is he really a newbie?
: No wonder they say a war god emerges from a trash server.
: That reaction speed, that fighting ability-he's definitely a genius! The major guilds are going to fight like crazy over him, right?
: Not necessarily. He might have just gotten lucky once.
: The guy calling it luck is awfully salty! Why don't you watch the replay after the livestream ends? You couldn't pull off that hammer strike without ten years of practice.
The barrage flooded the screen, and the livestream's viewership shot from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands in an instant.
After the recent viral post, "Server life-or-death battle-Server 1089 goes straight from unboxing to the grave," another new post blew up.
"Server 1089's trash-server war god"!
At that moment, both inside and outside the instance, some people were discussing Zheng Xun himself, some were discussing his weapon, and others were discussing what deeper meaning there was in his conversation with Little Red Riding Hood.
Zheng Xun himself had no time to worry about any of that.
Zhong Yu, sitting on the curb, pointed at him with one hand while covering his reddened face with the other.
"Bro... you... slapped me."
"..."
On how much damage one massive slap could do to a male college student.