Chapter 8: The Detestable One, The Map Territory

After Hua Tian finished her infuriating comment and Xiao Yu was just about to teach her a lesson, the two of them arrived at the teleportation array in the main city. This time, the dizziness and the discomfort of being buffeted by wind vanished quickly. Hua Tian grumbled about how slow the teleportation was—slower than a snail compared to last time—then glanced back at Xiao Yu and said, “Finally, that stretch is over! Where shall we go? Oh my, sweet daughter, what’s with this pose? No need for such a grand salute, your dad’s heart can’t take it.”

Xiao Yu was standing there, adorably dumbfounded, her tiny fist pressed to her pouting lips in mock anger, covering her face. She looked like a fierce yet irresistibly cute portrait of the Holy Maiden of the Azure Lotus. Was she trying to melt his heart with cuteness?

When Xiao Yu noticed him staring at her, she nearly burst into tears of frustration. Just as she raised both fists to her chest, the teleportation array suddenly accelerated, sending a gust of wind straight into her newly bared teeth before she could spread her hands. She hurriedly shielded her mouth with her clenched fists. And then—they’d arrived. So abrupt! She felt dizzy, as if a thousand wild horses thundered by, spelling out: “You slowpoke teleportation array.”

At that moment, a guard captain stepped forward to break the awkward tableau.

“Dear players, you haven’t paid the gold fee yet, so you can’t leave the array.”

Hua Tian turned to the captain in confusion, then looked at Xiao Yu. “Wait, isn’t this teleportation array bought by our team? Why do we still have to pay?”

“Um… I don’t know either. We never had to pay before,” Xiao Yu replied, hands covering her face, shaking her head in embarrassment.

The captain explained, “Here’s the situation: this array was rented for one year, and yesterday was the last day of the term. You can renew for ten years with a million gold coins—no discounts for shorter terms—or buy it outright for ten million gold coins, which comes with full maintenance, returns, and exchanges. Or, you can go back now free of charge. For teams of two or more, it’s just ten gold coins per day to exit.”

“Oh, so it’s just the lease expiring. All right then, here’s your ten gold coins.” Hua Tian, showing surprising generosity, handed over the only ten coins in his pack.

“Xiao Yu—no, adorable girl—let’s go! Dad will take you for a stroll in the Death Forest!” But the female player seized him by the hair without hesitation. “Still think I’m cute?” she growled, thumping him mercilessly. When the disciplinary guards arrived, Xiao Yu flashed their team insignia, and the guards, realizing they were a squad, left them be and went off to look for other rule-breakers.

Meanwhile, two onlooking pixie pets, hearing the word “adorable,” thought they were being summoned. They conjured their favorite snacks, watching their two owners squabble, wide eyes plotting to out-cute each other. One of the pixies, belonging to the female player, suddenly looked on in disdain.

“Stop, stop, I get it! I was wrong!” Hua Tian clutched at his imaginary wounds, lifting his gaze to the bustling street filled with people and their beautifully dressed pixie pets. He couldn’t understand why the pets’ clothing colors kept changing. He glanced up at his own anxious pixie, perched on his shoulder, still clad in her last outfit—a tight-fitting green-and-pink suit. Comparing her to the others, he realized she looked rather plain. But why should he feel aggrieved? Still, something felt off.

According to his pixie’s telepathic chatter, they were all female, reproducing by self-fertilization. Male players dressed their “sisters” up as their girlfriends, and whoever had the worst-dressed pet got the most embarrassment. Female players, of course, took this even further. “But you’re so stingy!” the pixie’s voice echoed in his mind. “You haven’t bought me a single outfit!” Hua Tian coughed awkwardly, opened her shop, and glanced at the clothes—only to find the best ones were outrageously expensive. He quickly promised to buy one. Now he understood: even if he didn’t level up, raising these docile pixies every day wasn’t so bad. Still, those outfits… the holes! In any case, the tight suit was impossible to remove, so no one needed to worry about any funny business; the pixies could be admired but not touched. Would players really quit over this? He grinned wryly.

…

The two of them arrived at the Death Forest teleportation point, where they overheard some nearby players talking under a tree. They edged closer to listen.

“Did you hear? Apparently, someone killed a level-two zombie in Death Forest.”

“Impressive! I can’t even handle level-three or four yet, and I’ve only got a basic white-tier outfit.”

“Same here! But after they killed that level-two zombie, they thought they were invincible and ventured deeper. Next thing we knew, a flock of zombie birds was startled, and we later found out their whole group was wiped out by a plain old level-four zombie.”

“I also heard the team was led by a level-20 pro squad called Ziyu.”

“Ha, serves them right! They ganged up on that level-two zombie and still lost a player. I’d love to know where they found the nerve…”

“No way, they really dared go in? That’s hilarious! All level 20 and wiped out. I can’t—too funny!”

“All right, enough talk. Let’s find more players to team up and head for the Muxuan River. I’m not logging out today until I catch a Greenwater Sprite. You go rent the mounts.” “Got it!”

Hua Tian listened, not quite following their conversation, but Xiao Yu’s reaction was immediate.

“That Han Yu squad is courting disaster again, always rushing into the depths. Zombies don’t fight each other—they probably thought they could pull the same stunt as last season, waiting to steal the boss after everyone else did the work.”

She glanced at Kuangsha and continued, “Let’s go somewhere else. Seeing them just annoys me. Last time, that guy rushed in and stole our nearly-dead level-three zombie. Our captain was so angry he ordered all Han City players to kill him on sight. We only took his bounty down after we leveled up. Luckily, the zombie didn’t drop any gear, or else…”

“Oh, I checked the team rankings. I’m curious—how did that Han Yu squad place third last time?” Hua Tian asked.

“I don’t know the details, but I do know they hid from the start. We were in fourth, a hundred points behind first. Later, the second-place Blood Sea squad chased Han Yu all over the map. Blood Sea’s captain was level 21, making their team stronger than ours. We could have taken third or fourth, but Han Yu pulled a fast one—stole some of Blood Sea’s points, and the fifth-place team was furious. Except for Han Yu, all top-four squads had at least one intermediate leader; they were just a peak novice team, the rest were around level 20. Because their average was so low, the single boss zombie they killed was worth more than Blood Sea’s two. That’s how they overtook them.”

“Seriously? Weren’t we supposed to defend an area last time? How did they have time to kill other players?”

Xiao Yu looked at him. “Wherever you go, I’m not going to Death Forest. Just thinking about meeting him makes me sick.” She suddenly turned away.

Catching the gentle sunlight on her exquisite profile, Hua Tian smiled. “Well, grinding’s grinding wherever you do it! Let’s go farm for a weapon. I still have nothing!”

“Weapons, huh? Only two places: the Endless Sea and the Ancient City. You can get gear there. Jiliu Marsh drops pants, the Wall of the Dead drops belts, Death Forest drops armor. Other places are for skills, techniques, pets, or legacies.”

“Wait, my map’s finished downloading. Let me check it before we decide.” He produced a miniature rectangular map and unrolled it. The scale stunned him: 240,000 kilometers long, 180,000 wide. The main city sat just below the center.

In the southeast corner sprawled the vast blue expanse of the Endless Sea, its shoreline known as the Coastline. North of the eastern half of the Coastline lay the Startrace Forest, then the Ancient City (City of Man), followed by Moontrace Forest and the Bloodmad Desert.

In the far southwest was the Wall of the Dead, stretching north to meet the Sun River Plateau, then west to the Central Plains, forming a loop around the main city, Jiliu Marsh, Muxuan River, Death Forest (Muxuan Forest), and the Land of Fallen Breath. Muxuan Bridge lay at the far east of Death Forest, 10,000 kilometers from the main city. The northernmost point of the Wall of the Dead was the Sun River Plateau; all remaining lands belonged to that highland.

He searched but couldn’t find Han City. “Where’s our Han City?”

“Oh, here—underneath the Startrace Forest,” Xiao Yu pointed out.

Hua Tian spotted the tiny dot of a city, smaller than an ant. No wonder he’d missed it. He turned to her, “Let’s go hunt for weapons, then!”

“No need,” Xiao Yu replied before he could react.

“You can’t teleport to the eastern map. You have to walk in manually—but only the west side allows teleportation right now.”

“Oh, in that case, let’s head for the Wall of the Dead!”