【Xu Youyou: I wonder what the higher-ups want with these unsolvable specters. They're worth 5 Contribution points each! That's equivalent to wiping out a whole team of players five times!】
Zuo Lin'an also found it strange.
However, as long as he got his Contribution points, he didn't care about the details. He had no intention of asking too much anyway; once he became stronger, he would naturally find out.
【Zuo Lin'an: True, but the wait for retrieval is quite long. It might take about ten days or so.】
Xu Youyou had resigned himself to his fate by now and stopped messing with his player.
The two of them chatted idly back and forth.
While taking the time to message Xu Youyou, Zuo Lin'an also gradually shifted his attention to the forum. However, there weren't many posts yet.
After all, he had completed his dungeon quite early this time.
Once it was about time, he got up and went to the kitchen to prepare a meal.
Even though he didn't strictly need to eat anymore, having three meals a day was a habit formed over decades in his previous life and more than ten years in this one. It wasn't something he could easily change.
“What should I eat?”
Zuo Lin'an spent his time leisurely like this. By the afternoon, he noticed that the number of new posts on the forum was starting to increase.
【Guys, I'm so miserable!】
Intrigued by the title, he tapped into the thread and saw that the poster was level one, a One-Star dungeon boss just like himself.
【I ran into a new player here whose identity is a prince. He's got a Xiantian Rank expert with him who's also a veteran player—a Dark Dragon Guard named Xuan San!】
【Do you know what I just went through?】
【They each have two dolls on them! And Xuan San even has a powerful specter item!】
【That bastard Xuan San didn't just repel me—before I dissipated, he actually called me small fry!】
【He called me small fry!】
Zuo Lin'an thought to himself that this was quite a coincidence. He had encountered Consort Rong, while some other boss in another dungeon had run into a prince.
Huh?
Wait a minute!
When he first opened his dungeon, why hadn't anyone been protecting Princess Jinyang?
Logically speaking, that shouldn't have been the case.
They were both the Emperor's children.
“Was she just unfavored? How pitiful.”
Zuo Lin'an hadn't paid much attention to it initially, but he didn't expect a flood of replies to quickly appear below the post.
【Brother, I feel your pain. I'm in the same boat, except I ran into a noble heir! He had an expert with him who completely thrashed me.】
【Me too. I ran into a princess consort.】
【Hmph, you guys are all weak. I ran into the Emperor himself! He had the head of the Dark Dragon Guard, Xuan Yi, with him!】
【Holy crap, brother, that's incredible! Even if they cleared your dungeon, that's still epic. By the way, what does the Emperor look like? Around how old is he? Is he handsome?】
A barrage of questions immediately followed.
However, the boss who claimed to have encountered the Emperor didn't post again.
Zuo Lin'an found it surprising, but it also made sense upon further thought.
An emperor was still human, so it was perfectly normal for him to be selected as a player.
What he hadn't expected was the Dark Dragon Guard. Counting the ones mentioned in the forum, there was Xuan Yi, Xuan San, and Xuan Liu, who had previously committed suicide. That made three he knew of.
Zuo Lin'an searched for "Dark Dragon Guard" on the forum, and a lot of related posts popped up.
He filtered through them to find what he wanted to see.
Xuan Yi through Xuan Wu were all in the Xiantian Rank. However, only Xuan Yi and Xuan San had become players. The other three were not players, or at least, no dungeon boss had encountered them yet.
As for the rest, excluding the deceased Xuan Liu, counting down from Xuan Qi, there were about eight other Dark Dragon Guard players.
“That's actually quite a few.”
Zuo Lin'an knew he would likely have to wait about ten days or so for the staff to retrieve the unsolvable specters before he could open his dungeon again.
Thus, he wasn't in any rush. Instead, he browsed the forum slowly with great interest.
Princes, princess consorts, noble heirs, high officials, generals, foot soldiers, righteous martial artists, demonic cultists, unorthodox path practitioners, and all kinds of outlaws and heroes.
The sheer variety of players was dazzling.
Whenever the mood struck him, Zuo Lin'an would casually leave a reply. Just like that, night fell before he knew it.
Xu Youyou sent another message.
【Xu Youyou: Brother An, guess what I'm doing right now?】
Zuo Lin'an's hand paused slightly as he went to type. The guy's tone seemed a bit off.
Could it be...
【Zuo Lin'an: Has there been a turning point on your end?】
It had to be.
Otherwise, Xu Youyou definitely wouldn't have sent such a message. Just reading the text, Zuo Lin'an could already picture his smug, cheeky expression.
【Xu Youyou: Why? Why do you always guess what I'm thinking? Can you read minds? Telepathic mind reading?】
Zuo Lin'an was speechless. Why else?
Because he was just too easy to read.
【Zuo Lin'an: Did you kill him?】
【Xu Youyou: Not yet, but soon. This guy's technique isn't fully mastered, and it looks like he's about to wake up.】
【Zuo Lin'an: Then pay close attention.】
After a brief thought, Zuo Lin'an gave him some detailed advice.
【Zuo Lin'an: When he's half-awake, lean in and whisper, 'You've cleared the dungeon.' There's a certain probability he'll respond to you. Of course, I only said a 'certain' probability.】
【Xu Youyou: OK! Got it! From now on, I'll keep my eyes glued to him. Don't message me so I don't get distracted. I'll message you once I succeed.】
Zuo Lin'an nodded quietly.
A turning point on Xu Youyou's end was a good thing. He just hoped nothing went wrong.
If a player actually cleared his dungeon, he would have to wait a whole year.
By then, Zuo Lin'an would definitely have become a Two-Star dungeon boss. Wouldn't Xu Youyou be unable to hold his head up in front of him?
When Zuo Lin'an imagined that scene, he felt...
Hmm?
Actually, that sounded pretty satisfying?
“No, how could I think that?”
“Xu Youyou is my good friend of many years!”
Zuo Lin'an silently scolded himself, though he still very naturally picked up his phone to continue playing.
Several hours later, late at night.
It was less than two hours away from midnight.
Yet, there was still no message from Xu Youyou.
Zuo Lin'an was still worried.
Normally, he would have been asleep by now, but he didn't feel sleepy at all and kept waiting for updates.
Although he held his phone, his mind wasn't on it. He checked the time almost every other minute.
“What's taking so long?”
“It's been several hours. Did it still not work?”
Zuo Lin'an also knew about Xu Youyou's main quest. Initially, the guy had wanted to keep it a secret, but Zuo Lin'an had easily coaxed it out of him in just a few sentences.
When it came down to it, it was the same as his.
The player needed to complete the main quest and survive for a full day.
And now, there was only a little over an hour left.
“Is it going to end in failure after all?”
Zuo Lin'an didn't want to message Xu Youyou and disturb him now. Perhaps his friend was at a critical juncture right now.
He leaned back on the sofa and waited for another hour.
Finally, with only a few minutes left before midnight, Xu Youyou's long-awaited message arrived.
【Xu Youyou: Brother An, I did it! I actually did it!!】
Rate on N.U.
