Chapter 295: Pain Does Not Disappear, Only Shifts (Request Monthly Tickets)

Origin Altar.

Qi Sheng's gaze shifted among the players.

Output from players of different schools appeared in his mind as percentage data.

The Monster World has been open for nearly two years.

At this stage, the highest-yielding activity remains Hunting; top players battle the Tyrant Alliance in the Emperor's Tomb Mountains, while reserves skirmish with the Fake Catastrophe Legion under the Patron of Welfare on the Frostwinter Snowfield.

The second-highest-yielding activity is the newly launched Adventurer Dungeons.

The Blue Lanterns, who disregard various spiritual resources, offer generous dungeon rewards, granting players substantial resource gains.

Even the forum's resource compendium underwent a major update.

Many of the resources awarded by the Blue Lanterns are types players cannot yet find in the regions they've explored.

This indirectly spurred the development of many playstyles.

For example, the Spirit Chef and Alchemist Guilds, among others.

The number of Dungeon Party players now far exceeds the former Di Ku Shi Jie "Blind Box Party."

New dungeon content is posted on the forum daily for discussion.

During this time, a group of Speedrunners emerged.

These players never challenge high-difficulty dungeons; instead, they earn profits by repeatedly clearing low-difficulty dungeons.

Although the probability of dropping high-value items in low-difficulty dungeons is extremely low, the advantage lies in minimal pressure.

They simply grind through the entire game with pure enjoyment, tally their gains, then list them on the trading market or consign them to the Coin Guild.

The emergence of Speedrunners also caused the popularity of Painful Painful Minghun to skyrocket.

Among dungeon teams of equal combat power, those with Painful Painful Minghun achieve over 30% higher clearing efficiency than those without.

Many dungeon teams now tag their recruitment posts with "Captain has XX-level Painful Painful Minghun" to attract powerful players to join their squads.

The rise of the Dungeon Party also propelled the Coin Guild's growth.

They earn steady profits daily from consignment fees.

Correspondingly, the Coin Guild's expenditures on intelligence gathering have also grown proportionally.

Recently, information on two new domain nodes and one Meng Yuan Chu monster was shared on the forum, and many players have already gone to contain them.

Next, the recent performance of the Arena Party players is also remarkably impressive.

This once-niche playstyle has received a surge of new blood as fresh players from the Dawnland leave their starter village and expand to other nodes.

"Phase Kill," the leader of the Arena Party, has successfully broken his own record, setting a new 10-win milestone.

Daily arena battle videos are edited and posted on the forum, attracting more players to join this group.

They are also the most skilled combatants among all player factions.

In group battles, even under equal strength, they are no match for the combined battalions honed in the Emperor's Tomb Mountains.

But in 1v1 mortal duels, even under equal or slightly inferior strength:

Even top players from the Divine Hall Guild may not be a match for the pinnacle Arena Party players.

The combined battalions study warfare; Arena Party players study how to break through an opponent's defense by the narrowest margin.

They know precisely which muscle to strike to instantly disable an enemy, and which angle can cleanly sever the opponent's bodily force chain, repeatedly testing lethal combat techniques in actual combat.

In combat, the smaller the scale, the greater the advantage of Arena Party players.

But on the scale of large-scale warfare, even two equally strong Arena squads combined cannot match a single composite battalion from the Divine Hall Guild.

Each holds absolute superiority in its own domain.

Beyond the mainstream playstyles, data reveals that many niche playstyles also yield extremely high output, though their player numbers are small.

Leading among them are the Strategy Party and Research Party players on the forum.

They study game content to assist other players' development, earning profits through livestream donations and post donations.

The rapid growth of the player faction owes much to these two groups, saving countless players the time of independent research—they can simply "copy answers" from the forum.

Next are the Spirit Chef Party players.

This group greatly enjoys crafting various spiritual delicacies and studying exotic dishes, holding a prominent place on the forum.

The spiritual meals they produce are a hard necessity for all playstyle players.

Even the poorest players will save some Shou Shou Jili to occasionally treat themselves.

Spirit Chef players are also a vital node in the player faction's economic cycle.

Spiritual fish, spiritual beast meat, spiritual plants, Jin Hua Dan, rune-resonant weapons… these are all consumables for Spirit Chef players.

While earning Shou Shou Jili, they also spend it extensively.

As for Jin Hua Dan, they buy them to upgrade their Painful Painful Minghun levels.

Though Spirit Chef players do not crave power gains as desperately as mainstream Hunting or Dungeon Party players, they remain an indispensable part.

Without sufficient power, one cannot even process ingredients.

Many spiritual beast meats cannot be breached without adequate personal strength and a suitable rune-resonant weapon.

Among Spirit Chef players, there is a saying used to judge players who lack power yet force themselves into cooking:

Cutting vegetables feels like scraping skin, mincing meat resembles embroidery—better go to the forum and become a Strategy Hero.

To process high-quality ingredients, Spirit Chef players' own power is also crucial.

Thus, part of their spending goes toward improving their strength.

But most of it is still consumed on spiritual materials in the trading market.

When new spiritual plants appear on the trading market, Spirit Chef players commonly pay premium prices to acquire them for researching New Dishes.

In terms of income, Spirit Chef players rank among the top-yielding playstyles.

Among these playstyles, the lowest-yielding are the Exploration Party players.

Their contributions to the player faction primarily involved map exploration, intelligence gathering, and background data filling; the fogged regions of every spatial node were mostly cleared by Explorer players.

But their earnings fluctuated greatly.

Explorer players' pets were commonly Treasure-Rats, and during exploration, they had a chance to obtain substantial rewards.

In the Monster World, every inch of soil was soaked in the Blood of Life; the probability of acquiring hidden rewards from alien races during exploration was not low.

But earnings depended mostly on luck.

One might go a month without a single significant income, scrimping and saving along the way.

One might earn in a single day the Shou Shou Jili that other players struggled to accumulate over months.

Only an extremely small number of Explorer players achieved stable, high earnings.

For example, the Explorer faction's leader in the forum players' eyes, "The Explorer," earned Shou Shou Jili through livestreaming to boost his strength and cover daily expenses during exploration.

In contrast to Explorer players, the Trainee faction was the only one that enjoyed both stable earnings and the highest income among all Wanfaliu Sects.

The Trainee faction referred to players who passed the Reverse Tide Legion's assessment and entered the Reverse Tide Legion training camp.

These players' earnings even surpassed those of the top players in the Divine Hall Corps, and the later their training phase, the higher their earnings.

The Reverse Tide Legion possessed vast territories and abundant resource output; most of these earnings were invested into the War Legion, followed by the various training camps.

The Reverse Tide Legion always spared no resources for this expenditure.

The only requirement was to train warriors with powerful willpower and combat strength.

Any player who became a Reverse Tide Reserve Warrior embarked on a stable path toward high Shou Shou Jili returns.

The outstanding performance of the Gantry Corps back then opened the channel for later players to join the Reverse Tide Legion as reserve trainees.

Now, the Reverse Tide Legion periodically sent teams to select players for assessment.

To date, 940 players have joined the Reverse Tide Training Camp.

And every single one was among the elite of players, including former top players from the Hunter Sect, Arena Sect, and other Wanfaliu Sects.

Their earnings within the Reverse Tide Training Camp surpassed those of all other Gedaliu Sects.

Aside from the limited number of slots, it had no drawbacks.

And leading the Reverse Tide Training Camp was still Li Zheng's Gantry Corps.

They had already advanced to Zhi Wu Qi training camp and would be sent to the frontlines within a few months to become members of the War Legion.

Reviewing the statistics and thinking of the Gantry Corps, these veteran players who had been here since server launch, Qi Sheng's gaze shifted to the Reverse Tide Training Camp.

……

Reverse Tide Training Camp, Shattered Throat Valley.

From high above, it was a canyon torn apart, hundreds of li long, with sheer cliffs plunging vertically on both sides, their rock faces covered in dark red fissures like dried blood vessels.

The valley floor was unfathomably deep; thick black mist continuously rose from below, occasionally punctuated by flickering pale-blue will-o'-the-wisps.

Standing at the edge of Shattered Throat, one felt an invisible, terrifying suction.

The wind here twisted unnaturally, and faint metallic clanging echoed from within, like the trembling of chains.

At the valley's deepest point lay the Zhi Wu Qi training ground of the Reverse Tide Legion.

At this moment, Li Zheng and the Gantry Corps brothers were bound to the cliff walls, their bodies entwined with iron chains embedded in the rock, enduring the agony of the Sha Wind scouring their flesh.

Chief Instructor Mo Dun hovered before the bound Gantry members and spoke in a cold voice:

"Listen, scraps—before you become full-fledged warriors, this is the final trial of your willpower."

"Here, your stomach will burn through, your throat will crack, your bones will scream—but this is the only path to becoming a Reverse Tide Warrior, and this path, you choose yourselves."

Mo Dun's voice sounded like the valley itself roaring; every word carried suffocating pressure.

He hovered in midair, his black armor gleaming coldly under the pale-blue will-o'-the-wisps, like a god of slaughter risen from hell.

"For the next month, no food, no water." He grinned, revealing rows of stark white teeth. "Either learn to extract energy from the Sha Qi—or become part of it."

With that, his gaze swept over every trainee bound by chains, finally settling on Li Zheng's face:

"I know your player race has the ability to respawn—but if you fail this trial, whether you respawn or not, I will deem it a failure, and you will never return… Understood?" Mo Dun's voice suddenly rose.

"I know your guild possesses the ability of death and resurrection, but if you cannot pass this trial, regardless of whether you can resurrect or not, I will consider it a failed assessment, and you won't need to come back in the future... Do you understand?" Instructor Mo Dun's volume abruptly rose.

"Good. Then… we'll meet again in a month." As his words faded, Mo Dun's form dissolved into a wisp of blood mist and vanished.

Once Mo Dun was gone, Li Zheng and the others exchanged glances, then suddenly howled.

They couldn't scream while Mo Dun was there.

Now that he was gone, and only brothers remained, they finally broke.

Compared to previous training drills, the pain of Sha Wind scouring their bodies was way beyond normal for players.

The Sha Qi also carried a spiritual corruption effect; under the dual assault on body and mind, they could only vent their agony through screams.

"Shut up, you're making too much noise—it's only just begun!" Gui Tong, bound nearby, bellowed.

"You player idiots, keep screaming and you'll regret it when we get back!" roared a burly figure, muscles straining with pain, veins bulging.

Li Zheng and the Gantry Corps ignored them and kept screaming, showing no sign of stopping.

Even with pain perception reduced by 90%, this agony was unbearable.

They had been in the Reverse Tide Training Camp for one year and six months.

They were now one step away from the final graduation trial; the training intensity had grown ever higher.

This was the ultimate trial of willpower.

It was also, aside from the graduation "Random Teleport Trial," the deadliest training regimen in the Reverse Tide Training Camp.

Mo Dun claimed every Reverse Tide Warrior needed willpower as unyielding as Dragon Stone (a high-hardness spiritual material in the Reverse Tide Legion); if you couldn't endure it, you died.

Among other Reverse Tide Reserve Warriors, the Random Teleport Trial was considered the hardest.

But to Li Zheng and the Gantry Corps players, this training was far harder than the Random Teleport Trial.

But in Seeing Li Zheng and the Liver Emperor Group players' eyes, this training project was far more difficult than the random teleportation trial.

This pain never broke through the "purification" safety limit, yet it was harder to endure than any pain he had ever felt before.

Li Zheng's temples throbbed, as if a dull blade were churning back and forth inside his skull.

His breathing rhythm quickly fell into chaos; each inhale felt like swallowing scorching iron sand, burning his throat and lungs.

His skin prickled with fine stabs of pain, as if millions of ants had crawled through his pores and were frenziedly gnawing through his flesh and blood.

The other players of the Ganyi Team were no better off.

Every player's muscles twitched uncontrollably; each spasm brought tearing pain, as if someone were using sharp hooks to pull their muscles out strand by strand, their sweat long soaked through their clothes.

The pain spread from his fingertips to his entire body, then seeped into his consciousness.

This pain did not explode like a blade's cut, but crept like a slow poison, gradually eroding their will—dull ache, sharp stabs, and burning agony intertwined into a dense, suffocating net of suffering that trapped them tightly, making even breathing a luxury.

"Big Bro Li, I can't hold on much longer," Chi Tu gasped, his face flushed crimson.

"Hold on—if it hurts, scream," Li Zheng replied, his lips trembling as he endured the same pain.

Amid the swirling sha energy, every breath was torture, yet not breathing was impossible.

Living was harder than dying.

"I envy the newbies—look at the life we've got. It's too hard," Sha Xin muttered at this moment.

Hearing this, Li Zheng deeply agreed.

They were the first players to enter the Reverse Tide Training Camp, carving out a shortcut for later players' growth.

Now, players are occasionally selected to enter the Reverse Tide Training Camp, but all still begin from Phase One.

But their situation is completely different from theirs back then.

When they first entered, the player system was still incomplete—even the armed vehicle function hadn't been launched yet.

At that time, players' levels were generally very low.

Entering the Reverse Tide Training Camp meant being at the bottom of the food chain as "Starving Faction" players, often bullied by other trainees.

Gui Tong is now a brother, but back then he looked down on them bitterly, believing their entry into the camp was due to connections, not merit, and that they didn't deserve to be there at all.

If they hadn't been ruthless, they couldn't even have gotten a hot meal.

Though… they still didn't get many hot meals later.

But today's trainees are different—they enter Phase One already possessing the power level to dominate it, needing no struggle against hunger or sleep deprivation.

Compared to them, their days were truly bitter.

The only thing worth celebrating was that after the alchemy system launched, they could spend Shou Shou Jili to buy Jin Hua Dan to gain Painful Painful Minghun experience.

Otherwise, without raising their Painful Painful Minghun level, they could only improve stats through body conditioning, which severely hindered their power growth.

Now they've reached the midpoint of Phase Five training.

Soon they will step onto the frontline battlefield.

This was their agreement with the God of Wealth—they would never abandon it now, just before success.

But thinking that the "Sha Wind Body Conditioning" training had only just begun, and they still had a month to endure, his heart turned bitter.

He turned his head to look at his training camp brothers.

Everyone was gritting their teeth, strands of sha energy slicing through their bodies like steel blades, leaving black marks on their skin after cutting through it.

"Stop yelling—this pain isn't even worth mentioning," the Longji tribe trainee growled again, fed up.

"Long Gen, you're full of shit—I don't believe you don't hurt," Jiating Gongxiang Yi Fu shot back immediately.

"I don't hurt—I only feel immense pleasure," Long Gen gritted his teeth and endured.

Hearing this, Li Zheng and the Sitong tribe trainees couldn't help but roll their eyes.

The Longji tribe warriors' strength was unquestionably the highest in the camp, but their obsession with honor and face bordered on madness.

Even as tendons bulged in their necks and sweat the size of beans rolled down their foreheads, they still held their heads high, refusing to bow.

"Long Gen, you'll be an excellent battle companion on the frontline, but in this training camp, you're a beast."

Watching Long Gen grit his teeth and endure, Li Zheng couldn't help but mutter.

Everyone says players are beasts, but compared to the Longji tribe trainees—especially Long Gen—they clearly fell short.

As a group assigned together in the training camp, they always acted as one—even when punished, they suffered together.

For example, during this "Sha Wind Body Conditioning" training, their entire group was assigned to the same zone.

The Longji tribe's trait is: if a test can be passed normally, they must voluntarily increase the difficulty.

Some optional exercises, they only accept the highest difficulty.

This forced their teammates to suffer alongside them.

To these Longji beasts, hunger strikes and sleep-deprivation training were child's play.

Their traits: stubborn heads, stubborn mouths—even if beaten to disability by instructors, they'd still hold their heads high and take it.

But one thing must be acknowledged.

Once a Longji tribe trainee recognizes you, you become brothers bound by life and death.

If any member of the team was bullied outside, the Longji tribe trainees would instantly follow and fight to the death.

For example, when they first entered Phase Five, he and the Ganyi Team brothers went out for a stroll after training ended, curious and wandered into a restricted room, accidentally knocking over a bottle of highly corrosive "Shi Neng Ye"—a potion used in special training. The green liquid hissed on the ground, rapidly corroding a deep pit, its pungent odor instantly spreading.

At the time, he and the Ganyi Team brothers ran straight back to the rest area.

The instructor soon tracked them down.

Facing interrogation, Longji's leader "Long Gen" clearly guessed the cause and stepped forward decisively, telling the instructor:

"I did it!"

Even after being punished until his body was bruised and battered, Long Gen never uttered a sound.

Even when he and the Ganyi Team members went to the instructor themselves to confess, when the instructor questioned Long Gen again, Long Gen still stubbornly insisted:

"It was me—none of the Brick Carriers had anything to do with it. I don't need other trainees to take the blame for me. Any further punishment? Come at me."

Long Ji is just such a tough guy; when you haven't gained his approval, he beats you like a beast, but once you earn it, he's your brother, willing to risk his life for you.

"Stop howling, it's too noisy. Try turning the pain into enjoyment," Long Gen roared again.

"Damn, tell me how to enjoy this thing. Even if there's a tiny bit that's enjoyable, I'd amplify that point infinitely right now," Baotou Lingchong couldn't help but glare.

Long Gen raised his voice to drown out the rising and falling wails around him and replied:

"I have a way. Listen to me. Focus your attention on the sensation of your muscles tearing. Imagine you are tearing the throat of a Soul Beast."

"Go to hell with your Soul Beasts, how does that even connect? My brain circuits simply can't link up with the 'enjoyment' you're talking about." Baotou Lingchong's forehead veins throbbed. He had wanted to try Long Gen's method, but upon hearing the last sentence, he couldn't help but fly into a rage.

"Then try another one. Imagine you are soaking in a hot spring; this scorching pain is natural nourishment."

"What the hell hot spring? Who soaks in a hot spring like they're being gnawed on the balls by a hundred thousand fire ants? Your imagination is useless." Baotou Lingchong's voice had already cracked.

"That's why I say you player families all have pig brains; you can't even imagine, you're trash," Long Gen said with disdain, then turned his head to look at Gui Tong, who was persisting through the pain:

"Tongzi, you should understand what I'm saying."

"Understand your ass. I'm in so much pain I don't even want to speak. Leave me alone," Gui Tong forced his mouth open and gritted out.

"Then you're trash too."

Gui Tong:...

"Hahaha." Hearing Long Gen's words, a group of trainees burst out laughing.

Amidst the hellish pain of tempering, the Reverse Tide trainees found joy in their suffering.

But as the Sha Wind suddenly intensified, the chatting instantly turned back into rising and falling wails.

Only Long Gen kept roaring, hoping everyone could persist without screaming; this was a good time to temper their willpower.

But no one paid any attention to Long Gen. Even Gui Tong let out a painful wail amidst this sudden, fierce assault of Sha Qi.

At this moment, Li Zheng felt he had also reached his limit.

This pain wasn't extreme, but it was unceasing.

The setting for the player safety mechanism is that after breaking the limit, subsequent pain is blocked, entering a state of no pain feedback.

For example, if the pain value this time is 100, the player only needs to endure 10, while the safety threshold is at 1,000 points.

When a player suddenly endures 11,000 points of pain, the safety threshold is breached, and pain exemption begins.

The premise is that pain must breach the threshold.

And the process of tempering the body with Sha Wind is high-frequency pain; the single maximum damage isn't high, but in one second, one must endure hundreds or thousands of damages.

Having persisted for only a small half-day, he was starting to feel like he couldn't take it anymore.

Just then, the voice of Family Sharing rang out in the team chat channel:

"Brothers, I have a suggestion that might help us get through this crisis."

Hearing these words, the players of the Liver Emperor Group turned their gaze toward Family Sharing, the Godfather.

"Speak quickly, I can't take it anymore," Chi Tu wailed in the chat channel.

"Did you forget? There is a skill in the Painful Minghun Library that can reduce pain."

"Painful Painful Minghun... No, this Painful Minghun can't be used at all."

Hearing that a Painful Painful Minghun trait could reduce pain, Li Zheng's players first thought of "Painful Brand," which could transmit one's own pain to other targets.

But thinking carefully, this simply wouldn't work.

Leaving aside the fact that the Painful Painful Minghun cannot be obtained through purchase.

Even if it could be purchased, the Painful Painful Minghun wouldn't take effect at this time; after all, the essence of the Painful Painful Minghun is to bear the pain oneself and then project the pain onto the target, but the pain one receives oneself does not decrease.

"Brother Li, why are you so stupid? I'm talking about the Life Connection Painful Minghun, transmitting damage, not transmitting pain."

Family Sharing's answer made the players of the Liver Emperor Group's eyes light up.

They immediately understood what Family Sharing, the Godfather, wanted to do.

The effect of the Life Connection trait is that, when activated, it continuously consumes vitality; the more damage endured during this period, the more vitality is consumed to maintain the active state. After release, it can connect to any target to transmit damage, but the damage does not disappear.

In other words, Family Sharing wanted to transmit the damage to other trainees, thereby reducing his own pain.

"Holy crap, you really are a beast to even think of using this Painful Minghun."

"He~tui, I refuse to associate with you. Did you even consider the feelings of your non-human brothers when doing this?"

"Unfilial son, I didn't expect you to be this kind of person. I misjudged you."

"Beastly behavior among beasts. Brothers are about to faint from pain; if you transmit pain again, will they even be able to live?"

Hearing the angry rebukes in the chat channel, Family Sharing wore an innocent expression:

"Brothers, I'm just giving a suggestion. How to proceed specifically is still up to you to decide."

"I certainly won't do it."

Li Zheng said solemnly, but his gaze unconsciously turned toward a short distance away, where Brother Long Gen was gritting his teeth and enduring.

Feeling the pain inside and outside his body, and even at the spiritual level, he finally summoned the Star Pulse interface from the function list.

"I, Li Zheng, am a man of integrity... Brothers are like limbs... Friendship is priceless... Long Gen can endure so much, he certainly won't care about this tiny bit of pain."

After his thoughts fluctuated, Li Zheng found the answer in his heart.

His vision locked onto Life Connection in the Painful Painful Minghun Shop.

Click, Purchase!

Afterwards, he dismantled the "Heavy Hammer" Painful Painful Minghun in the 12th slot of his Star Pulse slot, then inlaid the Life Connection Painful Painful Minghun, adding all the evolution points obtained from the dismantling.

Instantly, the Life Connection Painful Painful Minghun reached level 46.

Glancing sideways at Brother Long Gen, he activated the Life Connection trait, injected energy into the cliff wall behind him, and slowly approached Long Gen.

When the Life Connection tether connected to Long Gen's back, Li Zheng fell into deep thought.

How much sharing would be appropriate?

10%? 15%?

My brother Long Gen's physique is fierce and mighty — giving him 15% would be an insult. If we're giving, it has to start at 80%.

In an instant, the Life Link soul-trait activated.

Damage, with Seeing Li Zheng as the source point, began to transmit.

Seeing Li Zheng suddenly felt his body grow light, as if a thousand-pound burden had been lifted, his whole being comfortable, as though soaking in a hot spring.

On the other side, Long Gen, who had been gritting his teeth and holding on, gave a sudden violent shudder, his eyes going wide:

"Brothers, hold on — the baleful wind is starting to intensify."

The words barely out, the veins on Long Gen's forehead bulged, a stabbing pain like ten thousand steel needles driven backward shot through his spine, his body arching uncontrollably. Sweat beaded on his forehead as he ground out:

"Hiss~ this round of baleful wind is seriously strong… though the wind direction doesn't seem to have changed much."

Hearing Long Gen's warning, the other trainees all tensed up, bracing themselves for the fierce impact of the baleful wind.

The baleful wind beneath this canyon ebbs and flows, and every sudden surge is genuinely grueling to endure.

But the violent impact they'd imagined never came — leaving them utterly baffled, and they all turned to look at Long Gen, whose forehead was still beading with sweat.

They saw Long Gen's face flushed bright red; compared to his state moments ago, he was clearly enduring far more intense agony.

The other trainees didn't know what had happened to Long Gen, but the fellow players of the Grinders squad, seeing this scene, instantly guessed the truth.

Among them, there was a beast who'd made a move in secret.

They'd been talking about it just moments ago — who would've thought someone couldn't hold back and acted right away.

In fact, most of the Grinders squad's players had already purchased the Life Link soul by now.

They just hadn't expected a brother to move this fast.

Eating Dirt activated the Eagle-Headed Demon perception trait at this moment, and instantly the surroundings — even the scene within the cliff face behind them — became crystal clear.

A crimson energy ribbon could be seen extending from Seeing Li Zheng's back, linking to Long Gen's back.

After investigating the cause, Eating Dirt's eyes went wide, and in the squad voice channel he dared not believe as he said:

"Brother Li, you were just cursing up a storm a moment ago — how'd you already get to work behind the scenes? I despise you."

"I just saw Long Gen felt the training intensity wasn't enough, so I cranked it up a notch. I want to see where his limit is." Seeing Li Zheng's expression was calm, utterly unruffled.

"You animal (x9)."

But upon seeing Seeing Li Zheng transfer the pain, the rest of the Grinders squad players got ideas of their own.

If the boss had already done it, they naturally felt no guilt.

The hesitation in their hearts turned to resolve, and one after another they chose to dismantle one soul from their Star Vein slots, then socket in "Life Link."

The preferred link targets were, naturally, Long Gen and his clansmen.

"Honestly, I also want to see just how strong the Dragon Spine clan's pain tolerance really is." Eating Dirt remarked at this moment, and as he spoke, the Life Link trait had already been released.

"Same here — though I also socketed a Scatter soul. We're all brothers in the same squad; we can't let the Dragon Spine clan brothers bear it alone." Killer Instinct chimed in.

"Makes sense — team spirit, share the blessings, share the hardships. I'll socket a Scatter too to share the pain."

……

After discussion, the Grinders squad players decided to distribute the damage, using Scatter souls to let the other trainees in the squad share it together.

Once socketed, ribbon after ribbon of Life Link spilled out from the Grinders squad members' backs pressed against the cliff face, spreading toward the other trainees like an invisible great net.

Accompanied by Eating Dirt's countdown in the voice channel hitting zero.

The Life Link network simultaneously connected to every non-player trainee present.

"Ya-ho-ho!"

"Ga-he-he!"

……

At nearly the same moment, over a hundred trainees let out pig-slaughtering howls.

Howls and wails in different languages rose and fell one after another, shaking loose bits of stone from the cliff face in succession.

Seeing Li Zheng and the Grinders squad players didn't hesitate either — they decisively followed their good brothers' rhythm and let out "joyful wails" of their own.

The night deepened.

Tonight's baleful wind was especially clamorous.

(End of chapter)