“Don’t get carried away—fall back!” Frontline commander Rong Jiu stood at the shore, watching the players holding the shallow waters against the monsters, reminding them not to overextend their pursuit.
“Yeah, yeah, stay calm.” Yi Luo lounged lazily in the driver’s seat of the milk tea car, slowly loading bullets and occasionally firing a shot. “After all, this is their event domain. Even if they die, they’ll just exit the event and respawn at the monsters’ revival point. No need to get too emotionally invested.”
The players at the front line, blocking the stragglers, suddenly paused—their momentum noticeably dropping.
Everyone knew that the side initiating the event had the advantage of not truly dying, but once the fighting heated up—especially with two events running simultaneously—it was easy to forget.
“Compared to them…” Rong Jiu cast a complicated glance at Yi Luo, who was sprawled lazily in the driver’s seat. “Aren’t you being a little too relaxed?”
“Hm? Not really.” Yi Luo shrugged innocently. “We fragile ranged types are just like this—nothing we can do.”
He glanced at the sea crackling with electricity. “Besides, maybe it’s just me, but ever since we expanded the battlefield, the monsters’ offensive hasn’t been as intense as at the start. Even if I don’t act, they can handle it just fine, right?”
“Still, it’d feel a bit awkward to just watch, so I help out now and then.”
He let out a casual laugh.
Rong Jiu: “…”
Even though he was right—the monsters’ offensive was indeed showing signs of weakening—it still somehow felt irritating.
Meanwhile, He Wuning stepped on the face of a giant-winged manta-like monster, gliding briefly across the shallow waters before forcing it back under the sea just as it tried to leap ashore.
He lifted his foot in mild disgust, shaking off the water, then turned—meeting Yi Luo’s head poking out of the car window. Yi Luo leaned there, smiling at him. “Want to come back and rest a bit?”
He Wuning gave him a once-over and scoffed. “So this is how your ranged types operate?”
Then he turned and charged toward another monster.
Yi Luo: “…”
He immediately raised his gun, switching to sniper mode, and fired a rapid burst of shots, precisely blowing apart the heads of several monsters in front of He Wuning’s target.
Yi Luo gracefully stepped out of the vehicle, smiling. “Misunderstanding—this is how ranged types usually operate.”
He Wuning didn’t bother looking at him and went after another monster, while Yi Luo happily followed behind.
Rong Jiu twitched his lips. This guy really changed attitudes faster than flipping a page.
Still, Yi Luo had a point—these monsters wouldn’t truly die here even if defeated. If they wanted to truly eliminate them, this wasn’t the real battlefield.
He turned and looked toward the safe zone.
……
At the same time, in Zone A’s research lab, Li Liangzi calmly observed the game screens before her.
Seven dungeons were running simultaneously, but under her control, all monsters were held steadily at a safe distance from the core.
She raised a hand to adjust the glasses on her nose—a habitual motion when thinking. Zuo Qianming often joked and called it her “tactical glasses push.” Li Liangzi let out a faint smile.
Reflections flickered across her lenses—player IDs and statuses flashing rapidly—before she acted again, pulling a critically wounded player into a dungeon instance.
The injured player felt the surroundings shift abruptly. While staying alert, he couldn’t help but relax a little—he knew he was no longer in mortal danger.
He had already prepared himself to be killed by monsters in the event and respawn at the revival point. Even if it wasn’t real death, no one wanted to experience dying.
But the expected pain never came. Confused, he opened his eyes to find a beam of light shining down on him.
He turned back in surprise. Within the light stood a hazy figure. Just as he was about to smile gratefully, the figure spoke: “You’ve got arms and legs, and I’ve already restored your HP to half—why are you still sitting on the ground?”
The stern voice startled him. Instantly reminded of the fear of being under Teacher Yan’s care in the treatment center, he scrambled to his feet. “I—I’m fine, Teacher Yan! I can still fight!”
“This is the safe line.” Teacher Yan, hands clasped behind her back, slightly hunched yet dignified, glanced at him. “Monsters can’t reach here. You can recover slowly.”
She sized him up. “You’re a ranged unit?”
“Y-Yes!” The player nodded quickly, raising his weapon. “I can still contribute!”
Teacher Yan nodded and gave him another look. “Young man, do you think Li Liangzi pulled you into this dungeon just to save you?”
The player thought that was exactly why—but didn’t dare say it.
“Don’t underestimate her. She always maximizes efficiency. Even if she has enough coins, she won’t waste them.” Teacher Yan glanced at him. “If you’ve been assigned here, it means you’re useful here.”
“They’re still waiting for you to fight. Don’t sit around like you’re waiting to die.”
“Yes!” The player immediately straightened up.
“Hmph. You’ve still got over a hundred HP left. There are people who survive with just a few HP and still fight like nothing happened.” Teacher Yan withdrew her gaze. “Don’t worry, I’ll heal you.”
The player nodded repeatedly, thinking those famous low-HP survivors probably got scolded by her just the same.
But he only dared think it.
“The fourth wave is coming.” Teacher Yan glanced at the countdown and paused her healing. “Help out. I’ll monitor the front line and heal you when I can.”
The player quickly prepared for battle. “No need, Teacher Yan! You said this is near the safe line—the monsters won’t reach here. Half HP is enough!”
Only then did he take in his surroundings. The ground resembled a grid of stone tiles. When he tried to step forward, he realized he was confined within a single tile.
Behind him was the glowing “Dungeon Core Defense Battle.” If monsters reached and destroyed it, players would lose control of the instance.
He glanced back—and a strong sense of responsibility rose within him.
Monsters entered from the farthest gate and had to push through player defenses to reach the core. Whether they rushed forward or attacked players to clear “human tower” defenses was up to them.
“Don’t talk nonsense. I’m a doctor—I know how bad it feels not being at full HP.” Teacher Yan glanced at him. “I’ll heal you whenever I get the chance.”
“O-Okay!” He stood straighter. “I’ll hold out!”
As they spoke, the countdown hit zero. Monsters appeared at the gate—two massive slimes leading the charge. The tank players braced themselves.
“Troublesome…” Teacher Yan frowned. High defense, fast regeneration, slow but relentless—they were difficult enemies.
The tanks exchanged glances and stepped forward.
“Backline, give us some firepower!” one shouted.
The DPS players looked troubled—they wanted to, but stats were stats. These enemies would take time.
Just as they thought the battle would drag on, a rocket arced overhead and scar the slime. It began to boil and shrink rapidly.
Everyone's gaze fell on the newly arrived injured player, and for a moment their expressions froze.
The player nervously scratched the back of his head. “W-What? Was I not supposed to attack it?”
“No, no, no!” The tank player grinned. “That was great! Man, I was worried about that slime. Li Liangzi really is incredible—how is she always right about everything? I thought you got sent in because you couldn't hold out anymore, but it turns out you're actually super useful!”
Another player couldn't help praising her as well. “Director Li is seriously amazing. How did she even think of this?”
Their spirits immediately lifted, and they once again raised their shields and charged forward.
Outside the screen, where she could hear every word of their conversation perfectly clearly, Li Liangzi fell silent for a moment. Her gaze drifted to the preview for the next wave of monsters displayed in the lower-left corner of the dungeon interface. She wasn't sure whether she should remind these players that the dungeon literally showed what monsters would appear next.
A moment later, she looked away. Forget it. Even if they didn't use their brains, as long as they followed instructions, nothing would go wrong.
Now that he knew there was a way to deal with the situation, Teacher Yan relaxed slightly, though he still frowned as he explained to the newly arrived injured player: “At first, the monsters seemed determined to rush straight toward the dungeon core. They ignored the players around them and just pushed forward.”
“It wasn't until the third wave that they suddenly started targeting players.”
“Even though killing players in this dungeon doesn't result in real death. I have no idea what they were thinking.”
Teacher Yan shook his head helplessly.
“Who knows what monsters are thinking?” the injured newcomer replied, scratching his head casually. “Maybe their original goal was the dungeon core, but after realizing they couldn't reach it in one push, they decided to use the earlier waves to wear down the players instead. Maybe they wanted to drain more of our HP and, even better, force us to spend more gold so the later monsters would have a better chance.”
“Either way...” He tightened his grip on his bow. “All we have to do is stop them from reaching the dungeon core!”
Teacher Yan couldn't help looking at him again. Then he nodded approvingly.
“Young people really do have spirit. That's exactly the attitude we need. We won't lose.”
……aaaa
Across the entire game world, the struggle between monsters and players had settled into a delicate stalemate.
On the monsters' side, they deployed high-health, high-defense creatures in the Dungeon Core Defense battle, focusing on stalling tactics. Meanwhile, throughout the game's open-world zones, they desperately tried to seize the ocean region as quickly as possible and dye the sea red.
The players did exactly the opposite. Using the ocean region as a boundary, they blocked the monsters' advance and passively endured wave after wave of attacks, buying time for the players fighting inside the Dungeon Core Defense battle.
Yi Luo fired another shot to finish off the monster in front of He Wuning, then thoughtfully looked toward the ocean region.
The entire area had already turned red. The blood-red corruption that had begun in the aerial zone and spread to Ghost Island had finally crossed the sea and started advancing toward the rainforest region.
Yet Yi Luo showed no sign of concern. Instead, he raised an eyebrow. “Do you feel it?”
He Wuning nodded. “Yeah. They're exhausted.”
“Looks like Li Liangzi was right,” Rong Jiu said, adjusting his glasses. “Their forces can't support two battlefields at the same time. As the dungeon progresses over there, there'll only be fewer and fewer monsters over here.” He glanced at his communicator and laughed. “The timing of this message is impeccable. Are we sure she's not some kind of multi-core AI?”
“Friends,” he announced, “it's about time we started our counterattack.”
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