Building a sect from scratch.

Chapter 59 The So-Called Serendipitous Encounter

[Congratulations to player [Shiba Inu Cai Cai] for triggering the adventure [Enduring the Retirement]! The world is vast, seasons change, and countless strange and wondrous events await discovery across the ten continents and three islands. What wondrous stories will [Shiba Inu Cai Cai] experience this time?]

The announcement flashing on the public screen shocked many players. Veteran players were green with envy, and even newbies who didn't understand what was going on started to express their envy of the lucky player after seeing all sorts of jealous comments in the world chat.

"Hurry up and join the boss's team, all the wages will be split equally!"

After posting the recruitment message, Jia Xiaoren simultaneously broadcasted the message in the world chat while privately messaging his relatives and friends one by one.

Within minutes, a 50-person raid was formed, with even newbies who had just entered the game and were only level 1 managing to get about twenty kills.

Zhen Junzi typed in a private message: "Why are you recruiting so many newbies?"

Jia Xiaoren replied, "What do you mean by 'newbie'? This is called 'boss'! Understand? With so many bosses, don't you think about how high the salaries must be?"

"Okay, okay! What's the procedure this time?"

"Let's not follow Brother Gou's approach, I don't think it's reliable. How about we just copy that player's strategy from last time?" Jia Xiaoren thought for a moment and typed, "I'll ask my apprentice first. She's the one who triggered this adventure. You hurry up and head to the quest point!"

"Good heavens! He's even got an apprentice behind my back!"

On the other side, Chai Gou Cai Cai was still in the countdown to her resurrection. She was lying in the small dark room, idly browsing game forums, while waiting for her master Jia Xiaoren to form a group. After a while, she received a private message from Jia Xiaoren.

"Apprentice, how do you want to fight? I only know two methods so far. One is Er Gou's method, which is to directly blast out the Yin Corpse and fight it. You only need to kill one. The other method is to fight Huang Gong first, and then fight the Yin Corpse. The drops are about the same, but Er Gou's method may reduce Huang Gong's favorability, which will affect your daily tasks later... Or you can explore other methods yourself. After all, you triggered the task, so it mainly depends on your ideas."

Shiba Inu Cai Cai, who always listens to advice when playing games, quickly replied, "Then how about the second method? What do you need me to do?"

Jia Xiaoren immediately took charge: "You don't need to worry about anything, just stay by my side for a while, I'll guide you through the plot."

"Great! Master is the best! I'll run there as soon as I'm resurrected!"

"Row!"

After Jia Xiaoren finished communicating with his apprentice Chai Gou Cai Cai, he started shouting in the newly added community: "Receive the wind-fixing talisman, and release the private goods!"

The Wind-Fixing Talisman is an essential item discovered by another player, besides Wang Ergou, who triggered the "Enduring Old Age" adventure. That player, after triggering the adventure, used the Wind-Fixing Talisman to destroy the three black tornadoes released by Huang Gong, successfully activating Huang Gong. After a brief battle with Huang Gong, the story begins, activating the final boss, the Yin Corpse. Defeating the Yin Corpse ends the entire adventure, and most importantly, it doesn't decrease Huang Gong's favorability!

This guide had already been posted on the game forum. Although no one had used it until Chai Gou Cai Cai triggered the adventure, almost all veteran players knew the process. Last time, almost the entire team went to fight the BOSS. Although the auctioned equipment was not as expensive as the first time, the wages were still quite considerable, which made the players talk about it for several days. The memory is still very deep!
Having acquired five Wind-Fixing Talismans from a talisman-wielding player and prepared several emergency pills, Jia Xiaoren, confident that everything was in order, confidently spoke up in the team chat—this opportunity to demonstrate his abilities as a master in front of his apprentice was one he couldn't possibly miss!
"Attention everyone, head to the mission point! Hurry up, we'll start once my apprentice is revived!"

The team chat exploded: "Holy crap! A newbie triggered this serendipitous encounter?! Your apprentice's got some good luck! Are you looking for a mentor?" The newbie player chimed in with his own banter: "Can I be your apprentice? Does being your apprentice trigger serendipitous encounters? If I don't, will I get paid?"

After enjoying the praise and envy from the crowd for a while, Jia Xiaoren pretended to be nonchalant and said, "I won't take on any more disciples for now. I'll train one first."

As he spoke, he even joked, "As for whether my apprentice needs a master or not... well, I think you probably can't beat me in the job competition!"

"Wow! I'm so jealous! Let's put on a show for the troupe leader later and show him how treacherous society can be!"

"Workers should act like workers. Please hurry up and finish this, I'm in a rush to chop down trees to level up!"

"Yes, boss! No problem, boss!"

After a long string of banter, the group finally gathered together and sat in an open space not far from Huang Gong Temple to listen to the group leader's instructions.

"I'll go through the story first. After Huang Gong is released, let Er Gou kite the BOSS while the others deal damage. Then, for the Yin Corpse BOSS, it's the same old routine: Lao Han and Jie Ran will switch aggro back and forth."

Wang Ergou angrily typed: "I object! Why am I the only T?! And why am I the only T?!"

Jia Xiaoren retorted confidently, "You have the highest aggro! A stable -100, who can compare to you! Have you forgotten how you got chased and beaten up last time?"

Indeed, because Huang Gong's hatred towards Wang Ergou remained consistently at -100, when everyone fought the adventure boss Huang Gong last time, no matter how much aggro they tried to draw, Huang Gong relentlessly pursued Wang Ergou and killed him twice before stopping—this was only because the other players had whittled down the boss's health bar. If they had fought any slower, Wang Ergou would probably have died several more times.

Therefore, in the "End of Old Age" adventure, Wang Ergou has become a recognized tank with a very stable aggro – although it only targets Huang Gongba, it still makes it much easier for other players who are unlikely to take damage!

After everything was ready, the players began to enter the adventure storyline in an orderly manner. However, Huang Gong, who should have been participating, squatted on the roof of the stone temple with great interest, watching Wang Ergou being brutally beaten by the puppet under the cover of invisibility.

That's right, the "Huang Gong" that the players activated was actually a puppet that the real Huang Gong asked Fang Xianyu for, specifically for reuse in the illusionary realm arranged as a serendipitous encounter. Even the "Yin Corpse" that followed was a fake created by Fang Xianyu based on the previous Yin Corpse.

The entire adventure involves creating an illusion under Huang Gong's supervision, obscuring the real Huang Gong Temple area. After the players defeat the two puppets in the illusion, Huang Gong bestows some "rewards," and finally, the illusion closes, completing the "adventure."

Although Huang Gong couldn't understand why the Goddess of the Moon made him do such a thing—it seemed like such a big deal, but it was just for the pleasure of those self-proclaimed players and disciples of the Moon Sect.

But such a well-paid job (several Taiyin Essences per month), easy (9-to-5, with overtime only once every ten days or so), and safe and secure is truly rare. Therefore, Huang Gong is extremely loyal and dedicated, and sometimes he will even give players some small trinkets he made himself as "rewards." Whenever this happens, the Taiyin Sect disciples will be as happy as 300-pound fools, which is quite amusing.

Of course, the enthusiastic praise from players and the delicious food they offer every now and then are also reasons... well, only a small part of the reason.

Sometimes I'm lazy and type on my phone, so I might miss some typos. If you find any, just leave a comment! I'll correct them as soon as possible!
I bow again to all my dear readers~~~
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(End of this chapter)