After bidding the Element Controller farewell, Murong Shanshan said with a smile: "This should be considered completing two tasks simultaneously. I never thought that after having left the city so many days ago we would still receive such high-quality task."
"Then to express your grat.i.tude, how about you invite me to dinner?"
Murong Shanshan sweetly smiled: "As long as you manage to come over, I"d be okay inviting you to eat at food stalls all night!"
"Uh, the quality is a bit… you can eat it slowly by yourself…" [1]
The pair quickly arrived at the village, which had already been occupied by undead. Strictly speaking, the village should only have counted as one of Undead Valley"s exit"s many small leveling spots. Compared to the ma.s.sive Undead Valley, it was truly too small.
There were not few monsters and all of them were level 58 zombies. The experience and equipment were both not bad. However, the most important point was that Murong Shanshan and I already had orange weapons equipped by now. My attack"s upper bound was at 1150, while Murong Shanshan"s attack was also nearly at 1100. Subject to the pair"s abnormally high attack, those undead zombies that should have had defensive stats there were not low were slaughtered in manner similar to cutting melons and vegetables. [2]
Before dinnertime, we had already cleaned half of the village of monsters. Moreover, Murong Shanshan had become the city"s first player to surpa.s.s level 50. Who knows how many level 50 players would drool over being level 51. Looking at the little beautiful lady in high spirits, I cannot help but sigh. If I had not dropped a level, how could the t.i.tle of first have gone to you?
We agreed to continue fighting after eating dinner. Afterwards, Murong Shanshan logged off to cook dinner. Because I had ready-made food to eat and there were still thirty minutes before dinnertime, I continued killing monsters by myself for a while. It can be said that after switching to the Red Blood Sword, my attack values had become abnormal to the point that it would cause others to feel terror. Speaking conservatively, a level 58 undead zombie would have at least a defense value of 300. However under my attack, it would lose half of its health bar. If this were to spread to the forum, many people would definitely go crazy. [3]
Because the mobs" drop rate is universally low, most fighters still only had green weapons. Moreover, there have always been few fighters" weapons while there are many fighter-cla.s.s players. Under these sorts of conditions, there are many people who are leveling with white weapons. Blue equipment is still a very rare thing. Some players over level 40 still wear blue equipment for players leveled in the tens. Whenever I see these sorts of situations, I usually do not dare to laugh because Murong Shanshan will definitely say that as a full person I do not understand the hunger of a hungry person. [4]
Half an hour later, my experience bar has already reached level 50 and 32 percent. It could be said that this sort of leveling speed still makes me very satisfied. After all, I had dropped from level 46 straight to level 37. Now that I have already abruptly caught up to the same level as Red Blood, for what else can I ask? However, it is not as if one can arbitrarily level up to this point. I only slept 6 hours a day for the past few days. The devotion of the rest of my time to crazily leveling even moved Xin Yu. She has repeatedly expressed admiration towards my spirit of putting my life on the line and many times excessively suggested giving me some sort of reward… … [5]
I tidied up the medicinal liquid in my inventory and then very happily logged off. After not seeing her for a long time, I do not know how Xu Lin"s attempts to increase her reputation have gone. [6]
Xin Yu"s lovable laughter spread over from far away in the hall. It looks like the situation is definitely a good one. I left my room, sat down next to Xin Yu, and asked smilingly: "How"d it go? After all this time, how much reputation has Lin-jie attained?" [7]
Xin Yu straightened up her towering twin peaks and whispered: "Pretty good, the three of us managed to kill two bosses in one afternoon. Lin-jie"s reputation is already almost 8000 now. Plus, the two bosses actually gave us four purple equipment. Logically speaking, because one of the bosses had already been killed once by other players, it should only have dropped blue gear. I did not expect that it would give 3 pieces of over level 40 equipment. Now we"re rich… …"
I immediately sighed: "With that sort of luck, not buying lottery tickets is such a pity…"
Xu Lin rubbed her chest a bit and said while smiling: "I have already bought ten tickets. G.o.d bless me to win 30 million!"
I was dumbfounded and snappily replied: "If you auction those 4 pieces of over level 40 purple equipment at the auction tomorrow, I can guarantee that there will be at least two that sell for 30 million!"
Xu Lin and Xin Yu were immediately exultant: "If that is the case, then haven"t we really become rich? At least we can buy a BMW to go out and race!"
Lu Xue Han said while smiling: "Lin-jie, don"t you already have a car?"
"Don"t bring up that car. The running sound is louder than a tractor"s and it sometimes randomly just stalls. I"ve long since had enough of it… …"
After finis.h.i.+ng dinner, I estimated around this time Murong Shanshan should currently be was.h.i.+ng dishes.
After logging in, I appeared at the edge of the village that was occupied by undead. Several level 58 zombies were currently wandering around between the residences in front. Fortunately, I am already used to it or else I would surely be frightened by this sort of scene.
Not long after, Murong Shanshan logged in next to me. She rubbed her belly and said: "I"m so full. Yesterday, I found that I gained another kilogram. It looks like it"s time to diet.
I lowered my head to look below her breastplate at her small belly. I could not help but laugh and said: "If like this you still need to lose weight, then hibiscus jj may as well commit suicide." [8]
Murong Shanshan raised her beautiful eyebrows: "Could it be that you have already put me and her into the same category?"
"No, I just think that it"s bad for girls to be too skinny."
"Really?"
"En, if she"s too skinny then you can"t feel anything when you touch her!"
I did a quick check of the items in my inventory. After killing for an afternoon, I got a total of 4 pieces of around level 50 green equipment. The amount equipment that Murong Shanshan got could only be more than mine not less. This girl"s speed of picking up equipment is truly too fast. I sometimes suspect that she might have practiced it somewhere before.
I still had tens of stacks of medicinal liquids. Most of it I crafted myself. After all, players have gotten too few big bottles of medicinal liquid as drops. Moreover, the prices of medicinal liquids in pharmacies are sky high. They are not something an ordinary player can afford.
Murong Shanshan dealt with a guild related matter for a bit. Two core guild members formed a party to fight monsters and they ended up getting a blue equipment drop that both members coincidentally needed. They created a big dispute that was even brought to the attention of their Guild Leader here. Murong Shanshan waved her big brush and judged: "Both players deserve a chance to seize fortune, best two out of three, whoever wins gets the equipment." [9]
After turning off the guild chat system, Murong Shanshan helplessly said: "This bunch of fellows. They bother me over nothing. Do they think of me as their wet nurse?
I laughed: "Wet nurse? You don"t have enough material!" [10]
Murong Shanshan gritted her teeth: "How does this grandmother not have enough material? Speak less c.r.a.p. Hurry up and kill monsters to level up!"
I laughed a bit and then said with a serious expression: "Shanshan, my family is going to create our own guild. I thought it would be best if I mentioned it to you first."
Murong Shanshan was slightly surprised before she quietly said: "So soon?"
"Are you not willing?" I said with a smile.
"That"s not it… …" Murong Shanshan lifted her head to look at me and said: "Anyways, I know where you live, so it"s not like I need to be concerned about you running away."
"Okay okay, let"s continue leveling. After all, Lin-jie"s reputation still hasn"t reached 10,000. I figure I can still stay in Sword and Rose for at least one more day."
"En."
After cutting apart several zombies at the entrance to the village, Murong Shanshan looked at the monsters inside, could not help but s.h.i.+ver, and said: "Everyone in this village has become an undead creature. According to the size of this village, that would mean there are at least a few thousand such zombies. There"s enough for us to fight for a full day. However, we just don"t know where that zombie king is."
I pointed towards the foremost plaza and said: "Over there has highest concentration of monsters, so it should be right there."
The zombies issued a burst of low growls. Once they smelled scent of living people they immediately formed flocks and flowed over.
Murong Shanshan immediately hid behind me and sweetly smiled: "These zombie monsters disgust me. Toil a little and withstand them. I"ll support you with sword qi."
Accordingly, I blocked in front and entered into close combat with those zombies. Murong Shanshan hid behind me and released shockingly powerful sword qi from time to time. Wherever we went, even if they were level 58 monsters they were still killed very easily. Also because my Black Ice Sword had already reached level 6, the activation chance had risen to 28 percent. It would occur once approximately every three attacks. Thus its attack output did not lose to Murong Shanshan"s sword qi in the slightest. [11]
After nearly two hours of crazy killing, we finally killed all of the level 58 zombies in the square. Moreover, the notes that the Element Controller tasked us with finding had already been completely collected. Murong Shanshan and I each held a portion. However, it was a pity that the zombie king that the task wanted us to find was still missing.
Murong Shanshan a.n.a.lyzed: "Since the task said that the boss is at this location, then that is the ironclad truth. However, we have already rummaged through every residence in the area without finding the boss. Thus there is only one possibility: there is a picture within a picture here."
"Picture within a picture?" I was extremely surprised. Even after playing so many years of video games, I had never heard of this phrase.
Murong Shanshan smiled slightly: "That"s right. Basically what I"m saying is that in one map there is still another pa.s.sageway to another map. Moreover, that second map doesn"t exist singularly. Thus I call it a picture within a picture." [12]
"Ah. So it had that sort of meaning…"
Murong Shanshan blinked her beautiful eyes and said: "Right. Do you remember what the NPC said? The first person infected by the undead toxin was a drunkard. I think we should start from this drunkard, the zombie king might just be him."
"Right, why didn"t I think of that? Before we left the Element Controller, do you still remember how he described this village?"
"I think he said that in the village is a terrifying little house by the tavern. Those without sufficient strength should not approach it."
"Right, that"s the one – the little house near the tavern."
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[1] The raws say 汗，这档次 which means he literally said "Sweat, this grade"
[2] I may have restructured this paragraph a bit from the raws. Granted, "paragraph" is being a bit generous to the raws as that entire English paragraph is just one super-long Chinese sentence.
[3] His sword is called 血红之剑 which directly translated as "Red Blood Sword". There is also a guild with the name "Red Blood". Does anyone remember if there is a relation between the two?
[4a] The raw phrase is 爆率 which probably has some sort of colloquial meaning to Chinese gamers. It translates directly as explosion rate/burst rate. I"m just guessing in the context that it means drop rate.
[4b] Does anyone recall how the cla.s.s system works in this story (it has been a while since I"ve read the earlier chapters)? He talks about 战士 which can mean warrior/soldier/fighter. In other words, a.s.suming you had three separate sentences for "most warriors/soldiers/fighters still only had green weapons", which sentence would be most fitting in the context of the story (remember he is referencing his own weapon)?
[4c] The author uses an idiom 饱汉不知饿汉饥 that essentially means (at least from the little that I understand) full people do not know starving people"s hunger.
[5a] Can someone please remind me who Xin Yu or 欣雨 is supposed to be?
[5b] For any translators/native Chinese speakers out there, what does 三郎 mean? It was used in this phrase 拼命三郎, of which I know 拼命 means to put one"s life on the line.
[6] Uh… the same goes for Xu Lin as well. Who is this person again?
[7] He calls her 琳姐 which translates as Elder Sister Lin. It"s very similar to how the j.a.panese would say something like Lin-chan or the Koreans would say Somedude-oppa. Thus, I"m going to leave it as Name-Suffix since it just sounds less stupid than calling someone "Elder Sister Lin".
[8] I haven"t the foggiest idea what that means. The raws state 那芙蓉jj不直接自杀算了 which directly translates as "then 芙蓉 (translated as Hibiscus, read as FuRong) jj should directly commit suicide."
[9] I"m a.s.suming this is metaphorical as they are in a game and rush she has no reason to be waving a big brush.
[10] Wet nurses breastfeed babies. I"m a.s.suming "material" here is referring to breast milk.
[11a] The author again uses this phrase 摧枯拉朽 that I still do not know. The words translate directly as "destroy withered pull decayed" which maybe is a colloquial phrase of some sort.
[11b] The phrase in the raws is 玄冰剑. It translates as "black ice sword" or "mysterious ice sword". It is p.r.o.nounced as Xuan Bing Jian. If anyone can find out what the previous translator decided to name it, please let me know. I"d like to stay consistent with previous translations for coherency.
[12] The phrase she uses is 图中图 which is picture within picture. In her explanation, she says map within map which is 地图中地图. In short, in Chinese a lot of words will be shortened to only include part of the word while retaining a similar meaning. Here the meaning changes a bit since even the main character is a little confused by how she phrased it.
TL Note: Uh… I may have used a ton of footnotes on this chapter. Let me know if it’s too much. Sometimes I just like to note things that I find odd or that I do not entirely remember. I can cut down on the number of less important footnotes though.
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