Chapter 63: Quiet Town

Zhao Yan wiped his face, shaking off the alcohol sprayed by Mianhua, then reached back to grab Mianhua by the collar, snarling:

"You dog, what have you done!"

Mianhua was drenched in sweat, muttering to himself: "Impossible, this makes no sense."

"Still playing dumb with me!" Zhao Yan, completely disregarding that they belonged to the same organization, raised his fist and struck.

Mianhua remained in a daze, but his body suddenly expanded twice its size, like a mass of fluffy cotton, absorbing all the force of Zhao Yan's blow.

After several ineffective punches, Zhao Yan did not stop; instead, a faint fire ignited on his fist, and he delivered a heavy uppercut to Mianhua's abdomen.

With the added power of the fire attribute, he broke through Mianhua's protective ability, landing the punch solidly.

Mianhua cried out in pain, which snapped him back to reality. The moment he regained his senses, he grabbed Zhao Yan's fist.

Zhao Yan sneered, "Good lad, you dare to fight back, you..."

Before he could finish his sentence, Mianhua suddenly hugged him tightly, as if grabbing a life-saving straw.

"Brother Fire, we're in big trouble. You have to help me, otherwise I'm dead!"

Mianhua's strength was immense, almost kneading Zhao Yan into his expanded body.

Zhao Yan used all his strength to barely break free. Sensing the gap in power between them, he stopped attacking and demanded: "I knew you lot weren't so kind-hearted. What is your scheme for giving my people an upgraded reward dungeon?"

Hearing this question, Mianhua's panicked gaze drifted. He looked aside and whispered: "I can't say."

Seeing Zhao Yan about to lose his temper again, he quickly added: "But I can swear, I didn't tamper with the permissions, nor did I intend to harm them by sending them into a C-rank dungeon."

"Brother Fire, we must find a way to get them out. I know your Order Faction has methods to send people into a dungeon mid-run. You have to help me."

Zhao Yan was so angry he laughed: "Mid-run entry? For a player joining temporarily, their level cannot exceed the recommended clearance level of the dungeon, and only one person can join. Are you going, or am I?"

"Have you forgotten why Quiet Town entered the Special Attention List?"

Mianhua said in a panic: "That's exactly why I'm so panicked. A normal C-rank... as long as it's not this dungeon, there's always a chance in others."

Quiet Town had only appeared recently and did not have much presence, having only appeared on the Dungeon Danger Escalation List, ranked twenty-eighth.

Because Quiet Town had appeared so recently and little information had leaked, there was not much discussion about it in the outside world.

But those in the know would never underestimate this newly appeared C-rank dungeon; the Administration had even listed Quiet Town as a special attention dungeon so all members would take note of it.

The reason it was held in such high regard was because five days ago, a second-tier organization called Deep Water Society attempted to clear Quiet Town.

The Deep Water Society was determined to break the dungeon. After locking onto the coordinates of the true Quiet Town dungeon, they dispatched an entire B-rank exploration squad to clear it.

A B-rank exploration squad, as the name suggests, is a team capable of exploring and pioneering B-rank dungeons. The members were all at least level 18, well-coordinated, and experienced.

For a standard C-rank dungeon, that was a dimensional strike.

But the fact that Quiet Town still existed intact today already explained the result of that attempt.

Out of a full team of ten players, only three left the dungeon alive.

One of them suffered a mental breakdown and was still in critical condition.

Two others suffered severe trauma, their willpower dropping below 3, losing the ability to speak and all their memories, and becoming extremely aggressive, attacking everyone within their line of sight.

These two returned to the real world and caused multiple indiscriminate violent attacks. After being contained by the Administration, they followed the trail to the Deep Water Society, which was how they learned of Quiet Town's existence.

The official recommended exploration level for a C-rank dungeon is 10-20.

This meant that even if the Order Faction could send someone in mid-run, the entrant could not exceed level 20.

An entire B-rank exploration squad had been wiped out inside without a single person coming out unscathed; what was the difference between a single level 20 player entering and committing suicide? Not to mention having to act as a nanny to drag out a group of noobs under level 10. No player with a functioning brain would take this rotten job.

Zhao Yan's scalp tingled. This matter was beyond his ability to resolve; he had to escalate the situation to find a turning point.

Personally, Meng Yawen had just entrusted him with taking care of Wu Chang, and in the blink of an eye, Wu Chang had been tricked into a C-rank dungeon to die, betraying Meng Yawen's trust.

Officially, he was the instructor for everyone; failing to protect the newcomers was his dereliction of duty. If word got out, who would still trust the Administration's training of newcomers? This was ten or a hundred times more shameful than losing to Wu Chang in the arena or the Director running naked! He hurriedly notified Meng Yawen, then roared at Mianhua: "Your Evolution Faction is truly something, plotting against your own people! If you want to make a scene, we'll accompany you to tear the sky down, and we'll see who can't handle the fallout when it collapses!"

The Administration acted quickly. A few minutes later, the people in charge from both sides had arrived.

Representing Wanghai City were Lei Huo and Meng Yawen; both had fiery tempers and could not tolerate any nonsense.

Sending them to solve the problem already indicated the stance of the Wanghai City Administration branch, and even the Order Faction.

If no explanation was given, they would resort to force on the spot.

Contrary to the Order Faction, the usually aggressive Evolution Faction sent a middle-aged man with a calm demeanor and greying temples.

The middle-aged man's seniority was high; even Director Gao of the Wanghai branch would have to bow and call him senior upon meeting.

However, Lei Huo and Meng Yawen were not pushovers either. Even upon seeing him, they gave no pleasant looks, clearly not buying his act.

The middle-aged man gave Mianhua a look, signaling him to step forward, and said: "Since there is a mistake, you must admit it. Continuing to hide it will only ruin the relationship between both sides. Just tell the truth."

Standing in the center of the crowd, Mianhua took a few deep breaths and spoke slowly.

"Actually..."

Quiet Town dungeon.

On the beach, after the initial anger and confusion, everyone gradually resigned themselves to their fate and accepted reality.

Since things had reached this point, even if they wanted to settle scores with Mianhua, they had to survive first.

Taking advantage of the safe time before the dungeon started, the players who entered gathered together.

Counting Wu Chang's true self, there were twelve players in total.

Five newcomer assistants from Wanghai City and two from Dongyang City—it was these seven noobs under level 10 who had triggered this team dungeon.

As for the remaining five, besides Wu Chang's true self, the other four were players supplemented by the system because the strength of the original players was too far from the dungeon's difficulty.

This point made Wu Chang very dissatisfied.

The system was quite capable when it wanted to be; why hadn't he enjoyed this treatment when he matched into dungeons himself?

The four supplemented players were divided into two groups.

Among them, a young man wearing a black trench coat, looking like a melancholic literary heartthrob, stood alone in the distance, eyeing Wu Chang's true self as if wanting to go over and talk.

The other three were a group; they were well-equipped and had a fierce aura, clearly veteran players.

The three exchanged glances, stood in a triangular formation, and walked toward Wu Chang and the others with ill intent, half-surrounding them.

While controlling his true self to coldly reject the literary man's attempt to talk, Wu Chang observed the three newcomers.

Oh, the dungeon hasn't even started, and they're already having internal strife?

(End of chapter)