Chapter 102: Mutual Destruction

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The two Taoist priests lying on the ground resembled lovers—one pressing down on the other, the other embracing in return, wrapped in a tender and lingering embrace. If it weren’t for the enormous, clumsy figure stomping over them, spoiling the scene, it would have been a beautiful back-to-back mountain vista.

But instead, the two Taoists on the ground angrily hurled verbal attacks at each other.

Lin Jia had no time to listen to their quarrel, as the surrounding monsters were far too densely packed. As a mage, Lin Jia simply couldn’t endure being surrounded by so many foes.

Normally, in areas crowded with leveling players, such a concentration of monsters wouldn’t occur. However, because of ongoing fights, most players deliberately avoided this place to prevent unnecessary trouble and interruptions to their leveling progress. As a result, the monsters had all been drawn together, leaving only six or seven scattered players on the outskirts, each trying to lure and fight single monsters. It was likely they hadn’t even noticed the pig boss that had spawned here.

Lin Jia dodged and weaved toward the gang leader who was still fighting the warrior Feng Yunxia. He had no healing potions left. Just then, the fourth brother finally returned, charging back with a group of about twenty monsters. The horde scared the few players on the outskirts into scattering, as no one wanted to get trapped amidst a sea of monsters.

The fourth brother shouted loudly, “I’m here! I’m here!”

But Lin Jia, seeing the mob behind him, panicked and shouted, “Don’t come over! Don’t come over!” If the fourth brother brought over twenty more monsters, they would be completely surrounded. Fortunately, the fourth brother stopped, but the monsters did not. Once they crowded together, the three brothers—except for the leader who had vanished to protect himself—were all scrambling wildly inside the monster horde, desperately trying to find safe ground.

The leader shouted anxiously, “Don’t move! Don’t move! I’ll cast invisibility for you!” But who dared stand still now? Even with invisibility, the monsters would still attack players once or twice. Lin Jia only had less than half his health left—how could he stand still?

In the end, despite dodging left and right, Lin Jia was bitten to death by the monsters. To make matters worse, he died right where a good man had just fallen earlier. Thankfully, that player had already logged off to respawn; otherwise, two lovers locked in an embrace on the ground would have been comically awkward.

The screams finally attracted the attention of nearby leveling players. They saw that four or five players had died here, along with a pig boss, and they charged over like rabid dogs, eager to snatch the dropped equipment. The scene immediately descended into chaos with the involvement of these six or seven players. The leader and fourth brother panicked, shouting, “Second brother! Did you drop anything? Did you drop anything?” as they rushed furiously toward Lin Jia’s location.

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Opening his inventory, Lin Jia, now flagged as a red name, found nothing left. His bag was as clean as if licked by a dog. Checking his equipment panel, most of his gear was intact—except his prayer helmet was missing!

Lin Jia sat up abruptly, shouting, “Damn it! My green hat is gone! Someone help me pick it up!” Though the green prayer helmet wasn’t visually appealing, its attributes were powerful. There was no market price for it yet, but it was worth several times more than the fourth brother’s skull helmet! Losing it was a bitter blow to Lin Jia—it was the only hat he could wear.

Fortunately, the players running amok had drawn away the wild boars stomping on Lin Jia’s body. Lin Jia wildly scanned the ground with his mouse, trying to find his green hat, but it was nowhere to be seen. He did manage to pick up one piece of gear pressed under his belly—a magical robe with 3-7 defense and 0-3 magic. It was probably dropped by the good man who died earlier.

The leader and the fourth brother’s efforts not only failed to succeed, but they were driven away from Lin Jia’s vicinity by the monster crowd and ended up near Xiao Bai. The leader quickly cast invisibility and used a town portal scroll, while the fourth brother, who had already used a random teleport scroll earlier and hadn’t prepared a backup for quick use, was knocked down and killed by Xiao Bai in the ensuing confusion.

Unexpectedly, the chaotic skirmish ended with four dead, one having fled, and one missing. The opposing warrior Feng Yunxia either died or escaped via town portal in the chaos. Lin Jia, who had lost his hat, was frustrated as he respawned in town. With six or seven players present, that pig boss was probably long gone by the time they reached the fifth level of the pig’s den. Twice they had tried to defeat the pig boss and failed both times—it was truly exasperating. Did Lin Jia and his group simply have no luck with bosses?

Upon logging in at Red Name Village, Lin Jia examined the rare magical robe he’d just picked up. He hadn’t noticed it amidst the chaos earlier, but now that he looked closely, he was thrilled. The robe, with 3-7 defense and 0-3 magic, was a very rare item.

No one had yet reported any extra attribute bonuses on their armor, much less one that added 2 points to maximum defense and 1 point to maximum magic. Who knew where that good man had gotten such a treasure?

Lin Jia quickly equipped the rare magical robe. The good man was probably even more upset than Lin Jia himself. Although Lin Jia had lost his green hat, he had at least gained a rare item—unlike the good man, who was now running around naked. No wonder the good man had refused to log out earlier.

The fourth brother glanced at Lin Jia and asked, “You only lost the hat, right? Nothing else?”

Lin Jia nodded, smiling brightly. “Yeah! But I found a rare robe!” He opened his equipment panel to show the fourth brother, who laughed heartily, finally relieved.

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The leader said, “Second brother, why are you red again? Let’s move to another place to level.”

“Okay!” Lin Jia replied. “Let’s meet at the pharmacy in Sabac City!” Lin Jia bought two potent golden wound-healing potions at a steep price from a vendor in Red Name Village. He drank one to restore the health lost from death and saved the other for the road, then dashed off toward Sabac City.

By the time he reached the city’s pharmacy, the leader and fourth brother were already there, along with the Taoist named Moonlight Endless Years and Feng Xi, who had been waiting in Earth City for a long time.

Upon seeing Lin Jia, Feng Xi ran over, playfully tapping him with her harpoon and exclaiming, “Ah! Mage brother is red! Mage brother has become a murderer!”

The Taoist Moonlight approached and asked, “Did you lose any equipment?”

Lin Jia chuckled, “Heh, just the hat.”

Moonlight was surprised. “That green hat had amazing attributes! What a pity! I’ve never seen that kind of hat before. By the way, I found a crescent blade for you. It’ll replace your crappy Sea Soul sword. It’s cursed +6, but the magic damage is only 1-4.”

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