Offended to the Death

"Everyone, stay sharp. There might be some combat behind the door, so don't let your guard down." Seeing his team members wearing joyful expressions and blindly preparing to charge through the doorway, Ye Chen hurriedly issued a warning.

"Brother Ye, didn't they say those monsters were all lured away by that bunch from Fierce Tiger? What danger could we possibly face?" Longteng Zhanxing came to a halt, looking at Ye Chen in confusion. The rest of the team stopped in their tracks as well.

"I only said those guilds would help us draw away the majority of the monsters, but there's no guarantee that some aren't still wandering near this door. You'd better be careful; it would be a shame to die here over nothing." Ye Chen wasn't entirely sure of the situation outside the door, nor did he care to ask 2058. In any case, most of the monsters definitely weren't here. If Longteng couldn't even push through this minor obstacle, they deserved to be wiped out. Besides, he could easily escape no matter what.

Hearing Ye Chen's words, Longteng Zhanxing and the others grew cautious. Adopting the safest formation, the four melee fighters entered the luminous door first, followed by Ye Chen and the other mages, with the priests entering last.

The moment he stepped through the door and before he could even open his eyes, Ye Chen heard a flurry of combat sounds and strange, shrieking roars. He quickly opened his eyes to see Longteng Langzi and the others locked in fierce combat with over a hundred Gold-Swallowing Beasts not far ahead. Longteng's forces had clearly suffered significant casualties; their journey through the earlier tunnel had evidently not been easy. They had entered with a full one hundred and fifty people, but now, even counting Ye Chen and his group who had just arrived, Longteng's total number fell short of a hundred.

Ye Chen was not surprised that Longteng Langzi had managed to lead the breakthrough first. After all, the player quality of the Third Squad was much lower than that of the First and Second Squads. Even with his help, they could barely manage to keep pace, not to mention that he had deliberately slowed down his pace. If the Third Squad had been the first to emerge, they would have been completely wiped out long ago.

"Ha, Brother Ye and Zhanxing are here! Come and help out. These monsters are such a pain to deal with. We lost twenty or thirty brothers just getting through the tunnel, and then another dozen or so died fighting these gold frogs out here." Seeing the arrival of Ye Chen's reinforcements, Longteng Langzi's face broke into a delighted smile. Although the number of Gold-Swallowing Beasts and players was now roughly equal and Longteng was well-prepared, victory was only a matter of time; however, it would inevitably come at a heavy cost. Now, with fifteen fully intact elites from the Third Squad joining them, the balance of victory would clearly tilt in their favor, saving many of their brothers from dying.

"Brother Langzi, I'm coming!" Seeing his guild brothers fighting intensely with the Gold-Swallowing Beasts, Longteng Zhanxing immediately brandished his longsword and charged into the fray. The other melee fighters followed closely behind, and the remaining mages and priests quickly took up their positions, joining the battle.

"Brother Ye, they said you have great skills, actually leading the entire Third Squad out of the tunnel without losing a single person. Back in the tunnel, even I almost got finished off by those Gold-Swallowing Beasts, and two members of the elite special operations team even died. I really have no idea how you managed it, Brother Ye." Longteng Langzi spoke with utter sincerity. He knew the true strength of the Third Squad; without Ye Chen, whether they could have cleared the stage at all was questionable. Yet now, not a single one of them had died, and they had managed to break out in time. He genuinely admired Ye Chen.

"Boss Langzi, you didn't see it—Brother Chen is truly invincible and awe-inspiring! He single-handedly lured all thirty-eight gold frogs, and even shot down that chandelier!" Longteng Kuangniu chimed in with a wide grin, shouting with a sense of shared glory.

"The chandelier was shot down by Brother Ye?" Longteng Langzi swept away a few Gold-Swallowing Beasts with a Half-Moon Slash, glancing at Ye Chen in surprise. He wasn't surprised that Ye Chen could lure thirty-eight Gold-Swallowing Beasts, as he was well aware of the monster-luring incident in Devil's Canyon. But shooting down a chandelier—that was something only thieves specialized in, something even Longteng Langzi wouldn't dare guarantee, let alone a mage class?

"Brother Langzi, it's like this: I, Zhanxing, was blind and recruited Longteng Qingfeng into the Third Squad. Not only was that guy useless trash, but he also stabbed his own people in the back..." Longteng Zhanxing immediately recounted the incident involving Longteng Qingfeng.

"Kick him out! How did our Longteng end up with such a scumbag? Brother Ye, I am truly sorry about this." While fighting monsters, Longteng Langzi offered an apology to Ye Chen, and just as he was about to ask how Ye Chen had managed to use the hand crossbow so skillfully, he saw Ye Chen wave his hand and hurl a sheet of Blood Flames. Instantly, a wave of 900-point damage numbers floated above the heads of dozens of tightly clustered Gold-Swallowing Beasts.

Longteng Langzi's mouth opened slightly, and even the rest of the Longteng players froze in astonishment. This—this area-of-effect damage was simply too monstrous! Longteng Langzi finally understood how the Third Squad, with its severely lacking output capacity, had managed to clear the tunnel so quickly. The root cause was right here.

"Brother Ye, your skill is simply too overpowered. In a large-scale guild war, you'd be a human-shaped killing machine!" Shocked by the Blood Flame Eruption, Longteng Langzi forgot all about asking regarding the chandelier. However, the thief Thief Goes Empty had his eyes lit up. Having no Gold Elemental Stones to worry about, he had been idling in the back. Now, he sidled up to Ye Chen and asked, "Brother Ye, did you really use a hand crossbow with a tampered crosshair to blind-shoot that chandelier? Blind-shoot?"

Ye Chen flicked out a Dark Demon Lightning bolt that struck a Gold-Swallowing Beast, paralyzing it and just in time to save a Berserker with critical health. Then, he nodded at Thief Goes Empty: "What's so strange about blind-shooting? You can do it too."

Thief Goes Empty's eyes widened immediately, and he said with an exasperated expression, "I'm a thief! A very professional thief at that! Even for me, blind-shooting is extremely difficult. For a mage like you who lacks a ranged assistance system to do it so effortlessly, there is simply no justice in this world!"

"Brother Kong, I think you're exaggerating a bit. I honestly don't believe any mage can do that. I've never even heard of it." Another higher-ranking thief walked over from the side, looking at Ye Chen with a face full of disbelief.

"Ignorant!" Before Ye Chen could speak, Thief Goes Empty glared at the thief and snapped, "You really are a frog at the bottom of a well. How many days have you been playing *God's Arrival*? Don't you know there are plenty of experts in the main server districts who can play hand crossbows brilliantly regardless of their class?"

"I don't believe it. The thief and archer classes have ranged assistance systems, but no other classes do. How formidable can they possibly be?" the thief argued stubbornly.

"Peasant! What is *God's Arrival* known as? The Second World! Although many aspects still follow game rules, many others break them. It's just like—damn it, like sex. Do you think I don't know you're always hooking up with those young girls behind the scenes? Sex is possible, so what's so strange about someone playing well with a hand crossbow without an assistance system? It's just that those who can pull it off are absolute monsters. Take our Brother Ye here, for example—he's a certified monster. Let me tell you, when I'm in Stealth, it's no different than not being in Stealth at all in front of Brother Ye. Sound localization, you know what that is? A divine skill!" Thief Goes Empty ranted passionately, lecturing his subordinate thief. However, the thief clearly remained unconvinced, though out of awe for Thief Goes Empty's authority, he dared not talk back.

As the two were talking, Ye Chen's movements suddenly paused, a peculiar look flashing across his face. On the minimap, a small red dot was rapidly approaching their direction. That red dot was actually Windless Blood.

*He's coming for me?!*

That was Ye Chen's first thought, but he immediately dismissed the idea. He was currently inside Longteng's formation; the man couldn't possibly detect him, meaning he couldn't be targeting him. So, what was he trying to do?

Ye Chen grew vigilant. A top-tier thief who roamed Fierce Mountain City like Windless Blood would never do anything without a purpose. He had come here with a definite objective. Since his target wasn't him, it could only be Longteng.

*Hmm?* Ye Chen observed the minimap, a strange glint flashing in his eyes. Windless Blood's target was actually Longteng Langzi—a tough nut to crack. That was a heavily armored player! Although not an ascetic with the thickest skin, as the leader of Longteng, Longteng Langzi's equipment and strength were not to be underestimated. Did Windless Blood really think he could kill him? Ye Chen didn't believe it, unless... unless he wasn't alone.

"Heh, your Longteng friends are in trouble. There are a lot of thieves—the thieves from the other doorway have all followed over. There are forty or fifty of them, and they're all guys with decent gear," 2058 suddenly said in Ye Chen's ear.

Sure enough, realization dawned on Ye Chen. No wonder those bastards hadn't cursed when they found themselves scammed by Longteng; they had been waiting right here. Looking through the chaotic battlefield toward the direction of the other door, the combat over there was far more tragic than here. Due to inadequate preparation, although the player count was roughly equal to the Gold-Swallowing Beasts, the heavy armor players who had lost their Gold Elemental Stones were driven back step by step, leaving corpses strewn across the ground. Out of a force of over a thousand, fewer than 300 were still stubbornly resisting. When these guys saw that Longteng had appeared at the second door and was fully prepared, how could they not realize they had been played? They probably wanted to tear Longteng apart. It was hardly surprising that they had organized the high-ranking thieves from various guilds who had followed them in to launch a sneak attack on Longteng.

Clearly, the hatred of these people had largely shifted onto Longteng. They hadn't yet had time to dwell on the actions of Ye Chen, a lone player, but once they came to their senses, they would certainly realize Ye Chen was also one of the masterminds. Otherwise, why would he have let their arch-enemy Fierce Tiger enter first? Even without solid evidence, these families would harbor a deep hostility toward Ye Chen and might even make a move against him in secret.

Since he had already thrown them all into the same pot, Ye Chen didn't mind striking them down once more—especially since many of these thieves belonged to Fierce Tiger and Spirit Fox. Not playing them to death would be an injustice to himself. Furthermore, doing so would allow him to sell Longteng a massive favor; even if he temporarily left Fierce Mountain City, they would keep an eye on Qingyu for him.

"You plan to deal with them?" 2058 seemed to have guessed Ye Chen's thoughts. Having spent a considerable amount of time together, the two understood each other's temperaments and traits to some extent.

"Well, since we've already offended them, we might as well offend them to the end. Even if I don't care how many members of Longteng die, leaving these thieves alive would still be a hassle. Dozens of thieves pose a significant threat in the Martial Soul Secret Realm," Ye Chen said, asking 2058 to help mark all the stealthy enemy thieves on the field. A glance at the result made him draw a sharp breath: right beside every single heavy armor player in Longteng, two or three thieves were gathered, and around Longteng Langzi, there were as many as five—including Windless Blood.

This was a strike at the root! Without their heavy armor frontlines, the remaining Longteng mages would simply be sitting ducks. Those thieves wouldn't even need to attack; the Gold-Swallowing Beasts alone could easily wipe them out.