T0 Gaming Guild Saves the World.

Chapter 121, 120. Jailer Bro = Char Siu
The boundary between reality and illusion was unexpected; the saying "looking at a mountain makes a horse run itself to death" could happen in a game instance.

The massive trial arena, a culmination of the efforts of the enlightened ones, appeared in everyone's sight that morning.

They advanced toward the small black dot, and it wasn't until nearly nighttime that they finally made it to the vicinity of the city.

Based on the scale of the ninth-level city observed from the platform, entering the arena would inevitably involve fierce street battles with the Eternal Night Cultists.

The main style of the ninth level can be summarized in one word: "war".

Since the platform was launched, it has come into contact with countless groups of cult members, blurring the lines between the virtual and real worlds.

The French fry counter also became messy after 468.

Conservative estimates suggest that the number of lives lost at the border between the virtual and real worlds has already exceeded one thousand.

I've gained a lot of experience and honed my skills to a great extent, but... it's just too tiring.

Most of the Eternal Night Cultists are ordinary people with average physical abilities. They would die if their flesh and blood were killed, but with the blessing of magic and their fearlessness, they can still make the well-trained boundary between reality and illusion suffer.

Demi-human dolls are quite troublesome. Based on our current encounters, they come in a wide variety of types and possess a large number of special skills.

The butterfly-type demi-humans witnessed include three specialized types: hallucinogenic, paralyzing, and highly toxic.

Werewolves also encountered three different types specializing in strength, speed, and defense.

The other puppets also possess unique skills; they even encountered a mushroom-like creature that could self-destruct with considerable power.

After a difficult journey to the edge of the city, Jiang Heyi recorded the coordinates and led the team to retreat.

Although there were still two hours left in the game, they had to take a break.

Back at the guild, Mint rushed over to ask what powerful character they had encountered on the ninth floor.

"We haven't seen any formidable opponents yet, but what we're seeing is a human wave tactic." The jailer took off his equipment and lay sprawled out in the guild hall, not moving an inch.

Orange Tea wondered, "Is manipulating zombies really that tiring?"

It's clearly the zombies who are doing the work.

"A sea of ​​people? What sea of ​​people?" After a few seconds of stunned silence, Mint realized, "A lot?"

"There are so many, our weapons are all chipped and dulled." The bed sighed, "And this is only on the edge of the ninth floor, not even in the core of the city, let alone the trial arena."

"Gaining experience points is so satisfying," said Plain Fries.

"If I could grind experience points more efficiently, I would feel much better," commented the jailer.

After listening to everyone's experiences, Mint tilted her head.

"Sounds like you want to increase your killing efficiency. That's easy enough. Where's the improved version of the elemental Molotov cocktail I gave you?"

Those who navigate the boundaries between reality and virtuality have naturally not forgotten this treasure, but players' hamster-like tendencies remain unchanged.

With only 3 bottles left in their backpacks, everyone figured that since they could solve it manually, they shouldn't waste the items, so they started hacking away from start to finish.

"You guys are being way too frugal..." Peppermint Mom was speechless. "Does my potion lay eggs? You just leave it in your backpack and don't even glance at it!"

After saying that, Mint grumbled and beckoned the priestess Red and White, as well as Jiang Heyi's doll Garlic Sprout, to gather at the potion workshop. She wanted to let these two observe her process of refining a basic version of the Elemental Flame Bottle and accumulate experience.

It looks like they'll have a few more good items in their backpacks when they go online tomorrow.

What does it mean to say that there's no one better than a mother in the world?

"He Yi, give me the contact information for those professional players," Zhong Zemo said.

After sharing, he asked, "What's wrong?"

"I obtained a cooking recipe from Khorne that can enhance the speed of physical recovery, which requires some special ingredients."

Guild wars and high-intensity dungeon raids have kept Zhong Zemo away from the game's cooking system for quite some time.

Besides changing up the food for the mint, they usually just chew on a few pieces of baked flatbread and eat a few steamed buns before going down to the field.

These kinds of recipes usually need to be obtained from specialized players in the game at a considerable price.

The Chosen of Khorne and the Boundary of Reality have a good relationship. As teams aiming for the World Championship, they should help each other out, so they announced it directly in the group chat.

After the squid left, the blankets and orange tea also left.

Their destination is the Royal Colosseum of the Anna Empire. They can't miss this week's "Trick or Treat" betting session; what if they win another big prize?

Jiang Heyi began to reflect on whether his pace in leading the team was too tight, filling every day with activities.

Since focusing on dungeon strategies and PVP practice, they have hardly experienced any other interesting aspects of the game.

Perhaps it would be more appropriate to leave one or two hours for everyone to have free time to work on or experience other parts of the game?
Just as I was thinking, a private message notification popped up.

He vaguely remembered the ID "Shadow Currency," which referred to a player who would casually distribute a purple material in Wind Pod City when the game first launched.

At the time, his level was among the top tier, but he didn't seem to stand out in subsequent guild wars and other events.

Strange, I don't remember when he added [Shadow Kingdom Coin] as a friend.

With a bit of confusion, he opened the private chat.

The name of the "Shadow Currency" has started to change.

Chen Shaoyu: "Sorry, I forgot to change the nickname. You should recognize it now."

Jiang Heyi suddenly realized: "Wow, so the Shadow Currency is you!"

No wonder, during the first week after the game launched, purple materials were extremely scarce, yet some people were able to distribute them in large quantities in Fengjia City at irregular intervals every day.

At the time, players were so blinded by the "AI management and operation" promotion that they didn't even think about it in detail.

"Are all your administrators' game names this unique?"

“Those kids who were die-hard otaku back then have all grown up,” Chen Shaoyu said. “When I was eight years old, I watched my family play online games. The naming style back then was completely different from now.”

Chen Shaoyu messaged Jiang Heyi privately, simply to remind him that he was now his friend, so that he wouldn't be unable to contact him if he wanted to play the game in the future.

"The ninth floor is a very unique level, have fun."

After saying that, Chen Shaoyu stopped sending messages.

Is it unique?
The demi-human dolls that appeared from the teleportation channel were all well-designed, many with special mechanisms, making them very interesting to deal with and very satisfying to counter.

But most of the time they are fighting against crazy cultists, and this part can be quite tedious if you don't approach it with the mindset of honing your skills.

Jiang Heyi couldn't help but recall the design of the previous floors.

The first level features a terrifying, eye-catching frog-headed stitched monster that is an adrenaline-fueled feast delivered directly to your mouth after dealing with a few minor monsters along the way.

To defeat him, players will be in a state of high tension and excitement throughout the entire process, with a variety of actions, strange attack methods, and a surprising Word of Power system in the second phase.

Although I was getting beaten up, every kill gave me a sense of satisfaction, like, "Wow, this is amazing!"

If players don't get the lantern on the second or third floor, they will have to solve puzzles and break through formations, as well as face a square of deformed puppets.

As hordes of deformed dolls, twisting in bizarre poses, surged in from all directions, players felt as if they were on a horror movie set, the immersive fear effectively stirring everyone's emotions.

The puzzle isn't too difficult, making it perfect as a dessert.

The third layer, with its accompanying Nafiel, serves as a catalyst for introducing the main figures of the Church of Eternal Night; her underlying madness also provides a thrilling experience.

The fourth level goes without saying, with the Slime King in charge. It's a place where players on servers worldwide get stuck, leading to numerous fan-made versions of the Slime King across various platforms.

Players who suffered so much that they were deformed never complained that the level was too difficult, leaving them penniless and unable to maintain teleportation.

Instead, they would rush to offer tribute as soon as they had enough money.

The reason is simple: the level design is ingenious, and players are willing to pay for it.

It's difficult, but it's not difficult for the sake of being difficult. Everyone has the hope of getting through it by relying on the system.

The fifth floor is also full of strange mechanics. The design of the vengeful spirit aggregate is ingenious. If players who are unaware of the mechanics do not clear away the small spirits in time, the aggregate will inevitably descend in full force.

It is a guardian that requires a high level of skill in attacking spirits quickly, group attacks, and teamwork, and the overall strategy is also quite fun.

The eighth floor was probably the main reason why Jiang Heyi found the ninth floor somewhat boring.

The black cat design is superb.

Or rather, this level is on par with a temple boss battle.

A dream-within-a-dream gaming experience, cybernetic cricket fighting, where the player ultimately delivers the decisive blow, resulting in an overwhelming sense of accomplishment.

Although they only had a chance to defeat the black cat because the Slime King restrained it, they didn't feel frustrated at all after clearing the game. Instead, they felt that this was how it should be designed.

Ninth floor...

Chen Shaoyu specifically mentioned "unique features," what was he trying to imply to them?
Is it not as simple as "mowing the lawn" as they perceive it to be?
Just then, someone in the group asked about the progress of the ninth level of the Virtual-Real Boundary tonight, and Jiang Heyi casually replied.

"Blessed are those who love mowing lawns."

Khorne's chosen people were overjoyed.

【Nurgle Soup】: "Finally, it's not a weirdo anymore. Let's fight to our hearts' content!"

[Afterlife Battlefront]: "Yay! I love mowing the lawn!"

[Lafrecia]: "Finally, a level that's friendly to brute force, even though I'm quite far down the map."

The guild leader, [Ready-to-Eat], said helplessly: "First, we have to deal with the Slime King."

Captain Jegan from the Funny Tree Guild reminded: "If all else fails, you can just self-destruct. I've noticed that the success rate of the self-destruct strategy has increased significantly after optimization."

A member of the same guild, [Jiangdong Iron Wall], revealed: "Let's play a few more rounds tomorrow. If that doesn't work, we'll have to resort to unorthodox methods too."

When the self-destruction strategy first emerged, many people looked down on it, considering it a completely wasteful and heretical approach.

However, many guilds that had been tortured to the point of being delirious and longed for their early release ultimately chose to "find it good."

Many relatively unknown guilds on the Chinese server are already attempting to clear the fifth floor. We should be able to see their feedback on the fifth floor by dawn.

"Speaking of which," [Crimson Music Box] asked, "where did you all go for your holidays?"

Having qualified for the World Championship, all four guilds made the same choice – team building.

Since everyone will be gathering in Guangfu on October 8th, their reunion locations are generally quite close.

Cheng Kong went to a place with the most beautiful scenery in the world, and took advantage of the hot summer and the availability of fruits to fully experience the joy of fruit freedom.

The person from the comical tree ran away to a place where it's spring all year round, and I heard they're going to challenge themselves to a mushroom hot pot tomorrow.

The chosen ones of Khorne were quite coincidentally also in Guangzhou, but they went straight to the place with the most ruthless beef, determined to experience the ultimate freshness and deliciousness of the meat while it was still trembling before it was put into the pot.

"Everyone had a great time on the first day of the holiday."

After Jiang Heyi offered his blessings, the language repeaters started working one by one.

Indeed, the essence of humanity is that of a repeating machine.

When they woke up, it was already past 6 o'clock, and everyone at the virtual-real boundary quickly started washing up.

Today is my morning tea with the jailer's father.

They simply said anytime was fine, but the jailer relayed that the date was set for today.

Inside the hotel suite, she pulled her large suitcase out of bed.

She still wore the anime-style clothing with the words "Boundary Between Reality and Illusion" printed on it as her inner layer, but she changed her outer clothes to a light gray casual jacket, and replaced her pleated skirt with a pair of denim shorts, which perfectly matched the aesthetic style of the Cantonese people, and the overall look was not so flamboyant.

"Aren't you going to wear a skirt?" Orange Tea asked, noticing several pretty little skirts in the suitcase under the covers.

"It's better to dress casually when meeting the jailer's dad, so he doesn't think the jailer only has unreliable friends." Beiwo waved her hand. "I have generation gaps with my mom too, I understand."

We met in the hotel lobby on time, and I asked them with great anticipation where they were going for morning tea.

To everyone's surprise, after asking the question, the jailer not only didn't beam with joy, but instead revealed a strange expression.

"The one... the one I asked about before, the one that sells orange tea."

Which shop did you ask about the orange tea from?

After seeing the photos, everyone realized that it was indeed a popular teahouse that most tourists visiting Guangzhou would choose to visit.

It is known far and wide... but only in the public eye.

No wonder the jailer had a strange expression.

In his words, his father, a native of Guangdong, looked down on it and thought it was beneath him.

They specially invited us to dinner, and they chose this place? What are they up to?
The prison guard couldn't figure out what his father was thinking and was a little uneasy the whole way.

During the holiday, and being a popular teahouse for tourists, the entrance was already crowded with people early in the morning.

The jailer's father, Yuan Huanye, had booked a private room well in advance and was waiting inside.

Upon learning this, everyone quickened their pace.

Pushing open the door to the private room, a sprightly elder with graying temples but still jet-black hair, exuding a somewhat dignified aura, was brewing tea with his own teapot.

His attire was similar to that of the prison guard: a dark blue t-shirt, loose gray-brown shorts, and a pair of casual white sneakers.

They looked like retirees who had just returned from a workout.

The jailer was a little stunned by this outfit.

Yuan Huanye stood up immediately.

"You're Shucheng's friend, right? It's our first meeting, so please make yourself at home. Please sit wherever you like."

The tense atmosphere dissipated the moment he opened his mouth, leaving only a kind expression on his face.

Only when his eyes swept over the jailer did a hint of helplessness and sternness remain, as if he was dissatisfied with the jailer standing there like a wooden stake.

"Sigh...Shucheng, your friend, introduce him?"

He didn't even take the initiative to speak up; he had to do it himself.

Yuan Huanye couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

"It's really a piece of char siu."

　Want some breakfast? Zhang said, "Give me some, give me some."

　　
　
(End of this chapter)