Chapter 199: Oh dear, this freeloader causing trouble is actually a good thing!

I said, why does Aurora look so utterly troubled the moment she sees Fei Ying!

I said, why does Fei Ying suddenly start emphasizing that Aurora is a patient and needs special care!

Ji Ming: "Haha, turns out you're relatives, why didn't you tell me earlier?"

Fei Ying hesitated for a moment, then spread his hands.

"This... we should respect the patient's personal wishes, and I don't even know if she's told you about her situation; overstepping would be bad."

Aurora simply stepped aside.

"Mainly because I remember my second cousin's identity is still quite complicated, so rashly recognizing relatives would be dangerous, and besides, didn't I tell you later? When have I ever kept anything from you, brother!"

Fine.

Netizens, comrades-in-arms, second cousin……

"Don't look at me like that; if I break your water bullet gun, I'll definitely compensate you... Or how about you take this tiger squat cannon now?"

... and there are creditors and debtors.

"Wai Shu, can't you be more filial and take the initiative? Can't you carry your dad and walk?"

【Hey, you say if we take this coal to trade with him, can we get weapons for free?】

"I said I'm a beta-test nobody, but am I really just a beta-test nobody?"

Then he raised his voice again.

"What a load of crap, shut up already, this place is way too scary!"

Meanwhile, Cang Lang was clutching his fingertips, but no matter how he rubbed them, he couldn't produce a spark.

But upon seeing the excited players swarm in like bees, they all screamed and fled at a speed far surpassing a charge.

"President, if we really can't, let's just split the team up a bit more; we've gone down too many side paths, it's really hard to get back."

【No way, Envoy Sir, this group of Pioneers is just too weak; any little setback will stop them in their tracks】

Ji Ming turned his head.

But so what?

Even if Code Name: Yangyue is just a game, its ultimate purpose is forever to cultivate strong individuals who are willing to stand for order and goodness and do more good deeds.

Those who enter the game and are still stuck at level one or two after three days, spending all day either twisting pliers to harass NPCs or idly streaming themselves singing, dancing, and rapping in front of webcams while not knowing how to play basketball—might as well just log off.

However, even though Ji Ming had secretly imposed a level limit on the dungeon, by the time Fei Eluo closed the passage, the number of players who had entered the cave had reached over sixty groups, totaling more than three hundred.

【(Picture) Friends, I'm studying geology—look, I discovered a coal mine that had been mined in this cave.】

There's no way around it; the purpose of the dungeon is to let players clear it. Since they can't, Ji Ming also had to step in and lower the difficulty a bit.

Moreover, the dungeon came so suddenly that the vast majority of players weren't prepared to explore the cave; even if they still had some stored wood in their packs that could be used as torches, it's mostly been used up.

【I've noticed some players saying we're a mercenary guild just out to make a quick buck—whatever, a mercenary crew is a mercenary crew; as long as we can solve the big guys' problems, that's fine—participants can get a raise.】

And at the rear of the team, Fei Ying has been keeping notes on paper all along.

Bai Yesheng was never the type to dwell on emotions, or even if there was a surprise, she'd have gotten over it long ago, so she just muttered a curse.

Of course, the official line would definitely be:

Knowing nothing, assuming he was hired by the Brocade Night Walk Game Studio as the Crooked Neck Tree, he actively dragged his friend Aurora Dance along to join the team……

【Given the current situation, I'm afraid we players can't clear this dungeon if we each go our own way, and anyone familiar with this game should be able to see that the officials have actually been emphasizing and promoting player unity and solidarity all along.】

And as one of the top strategy authors for Code Name: Yangyue, Death God's influence is still quite strong.

【Hello everyone, I'm Crooked Neck Tree, I have a word to say, please listen quietly.】

These technicians are used to looking at all kinds of drawings; they're quite skilled at analyzing and making various three-dimensional objects, basically a semi-professional match.

【And now a coal mine that's easy to pick up in the dungeon has popped up here—surely it can't be anything but an official setup!】

At the critical moment, it was still the good tradition left by the beta-test players that came into play.

Unfortunately, over a thousand people is just too many for the mine shaft; the narrow, winding passage simply can't handle it.

Furthermore……

"How come there's another fork here, President? Which way should we go?"

"Stupid, just look more!"

It's not because he's on good terms with Qiang Ren, but because over there they happen to have a construction engineer and a big hand who's good at modeling and 3D printing.

Now the players' enthusiasm for exploration has increased even more; one route after another's information has been gathered and sent to Ji Ming, who then passed it on to Qiang Ren.

But even if they had ample supplies, how could such a complex cavern be easily conquered by just a few people?

Although quite a few players chose to record routes, as long as Ji Ming doesn't give effective guidance, they can only barely maintain their sad state of not getting lost.

However, having this extra connection makes things easier to get done.

Even though this is such a hasty and embarrassing challenge, there are still those who can handle it with ease and persist as long as possible.

【Has the young lady of the Bai family also agreed to join? Although we really need manpower, bothering the patient like this isn't good, and you all know that in your hearts.】

Howard just shook his head.

"Waa waa waa, brothers, hurry up and look—the game officials are bullying the baby waa waa waa……"

After dodging a spider that crawled out from somewhere unknown, Bai Yesheng also belatedly realized.

"Don't forget, I'm a star player with the titles 'Shovel Killer' and 'Dog Head Advisor'; aside from grinding the game, I like to play a little trick now and then—isn't that only natural?"

"So someone's bullying mole rats deep in this cave, right? Brothers, charge with me! Catch it and flip it over!"

Of course there will be players who complain, after all only by entering the dungeon can one gain more attention and exposure.

No matter how many players there are, they still can't withstand being split like this.

Even because he doesn't take part in guild feuds, in terms of reputation he could still rank above the spearmen.

Although it's said there are over sixty groups of players, in fact a considerable portion come from the same guild, so the initial exploration was still fairly stable.

"Hey, you guys are really going too far with this!"

Although Bai Yesheng, being a terminal patient, definitely cannot join the special operations team, under special circumstances special means allow him to temporarily assist them as an ad‑hoc member.

Even the weakest squad merely turned a little at the outskirts before being frightened into retreat by a lizard that suddenly darted out.

But after one fork came another, and then even more forks.

Split up! Team one goes left, team two goes right.

Having smoothly passed Director Zhao's approval, the matter was thus settled.

What, you can get it for free?

How does it feel to walk freely? Have you gotten used to it?

As for Starlight, he remains as extravagant as ever.

Yet after wandering in this cave for half a day, we still have not found even a clue to go deeper.

Impressive—our exploration range now equals that of several teams combined.

When we first entered, some brave moles even tried to pick up shovels to resist our intrusion.

Ji Ming opened it and took a quick look…

Although it took him two hours after obtaining the full map for the instance to open, any progress is still success.

Squeak!

Finally even Feiluo couldn't stand it and messaged Ji Ming to complain.

How does it feel—like you're playing in a forest?

I'm saying, Wai Shu, when did you learn firecraft? How come none of us knew?

Get lost!

To the east of the logistics center there is an iron mine, and inside the Forge Workshop there is a dwarven master and a human blacksmith…

He happened to see Bai Yesheng lightly hop, and asked in a low voice.

But this coal mine cave is essentially the moles' den; after long habitation and expansion, it has naturally become a vast underground labyrinth.

The Justice Squad, also still exploring, immediately responded as well.

Hehe, we cut this fodder to use it—just burn it; after all, when fertilizing fields we only need the remaining ash.

However, the players did not choose to give chase freely, because they were already stunned in place.

He was not stingy, directly uploading the full information to the public screen, allowing any player to download,

I don't know whether it's a change in mindset or the sheer strength of unity, but not long after they started they made new discoveries.

For example, the Justice Squad.

But as the saying goes—opportunity favors the prepared.

Not mentioning the series of enhancements against the Death God, if it weren't that the other valuables among the Challengers are genuinely good people at the player level, Ji Ming would have long sent Sylvia to blast them all to heaven.

Wanting to reach deeper parts of the cave, to find the hidden moles and such… still presents considerable difficulty.

【I can boldly speculate that these moles stay here because there is a coal seam here】

The passages are intricately intertwined with extreme slopes, making them impossible to display properly on a map.

Walking at the front, Ji Ming flicked the flame on his fingertip, letting it dim a little more as it wavered.

Moreover, to satisfy the alchemists' ever‑growing greed, the Mouse Kids have been digging frantically lately, wildly expanding the cave; many passages even they themselves don't know where they lead.

Opening the public screen, he spent five exchange points to buy a chance for a conspicuous message.

Furthermore, according to the system map display, the final boss—from the alchemist to his two lackeys—are all entities above level ten.

What a pity—these logs were meant to be dried for use in a catapult, but now they can only be burned.

【We've been waiting for someone to say that—no problem, the Gunblade squad loves team combat most, and we'll definitely help you!】

Since the three big heads have confirmed their stances, the remaining players are even more blindly picking sides, flooding into the map to begin violent exploration.

【So I propose that we all join forces to share our exploration routes, combine them into a relatively complete cave map for further analysis, and seek an entrance to deeper levels】

For example, the Challenger Squad.

Thanks to this map, the players finally broke through the Tribe's external maze defenses and entered the cave interior.

"Do you know who I am? I'm the CEO of the Divine Lamp Network! I shelled out three million to get in here!"

"Haven't you seen the White Eagle adventure movies? Lone wolves in a team meet a grim fate, friend—this is just a game, but still try to be as safe as possible."

Moreover, even the teams that announced their withdrawal gave more players a chance to enter the instance.

【I've consulted Master Vermo; he said that to get better ironware, what's lacking is high‑quality coal】

As soon as they entered the cave, they were collectively given an uplifting buff, and the players surged forth in a throng toward various directions.

But seeking only death: 【Support, this is the route (document) our Challengers have already explored】

"No, I thought that schematic was the Production Team paying tribute to *The Mole's Story*—turns out mole people really look like that."

The trembling shadow was terrifying beyond belief, and Bai Yesheng couldn't help but let out a startled cry.

"The state may be gone, but do the moles still remain here?"

In other words, players whose professional rank hasn't reached apprentice level are basically cannon fodder even if they enter the boss fight.

Even so, as the people around dwindled and fatigue made them reluctant to speak, falling into collective silence, this gloomy, deep mine—seemingly bottomless—gradually grew terrifying.

Even if they were truly split up by team, they could hardly keep pace with the increasing number of forks.

"How's it going? I'm about to drop dead from walking!"

Is this what a fated team formation looks like!?

Thus, after the more diligent players formed teams and entered the cave to explore, Feiluo, under Ji Ming's command, closed the instance's entrance.

But since they weren't the first batch, it shows they are far inferior in level, will, and initiative compared to others.

Moreover, outside the cave, as the first major event after the closed‑beta began, the number of players wanting to enter the Earth‑Digging Tribe instance is naturally countless.

【Although our Justice Guild's overall strength isn't great, we still have a fair number of members, so we'll immediately dispatch extra hands to record the map】

Fan Taozhu pinched their chin, took a look, then simply waved their hand.

Of course, if your low level is because you're using your life to scout the map for everyone, running around to give the team a quicker strategy, Ji Ming wouldn't be stingy about opening a backdoor for you on the design side.

Helpless, this grand adventure that set off with enthusiasm could only end in disappointment, as the participating teams one after another announced their challenge failures and collectively withdrew from the dungeon.

"I said, 'How could you set off a thunderclap so nonchalantly? Turns out you just sneakily flicked it with your fingertip.'"

So as long as they speak up, the spear-blade will definitely have to give face.

Although the mole people are lacking in both attack and defense, they can still be rated first in escaping.

But now, having their exits blocked by the players and trapped in the residential area, they are truly with no way to escape.

Helpless, they could only huddle in place, frantically kowtowing under the leadership of a large white mole.