Chapter 127: A New Hidden Map—The Corpse King’s Hall?

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Lin Jia and his companions each led a squad following the main force, but it quickly became clear that babysitting newcomers was no easy task! Take Lin Jia’s mage, for example. He gathered a group of low-level players, the highest being around levels 8 or 9, and took them to the Zombie Cave near Biqi for training. However, some of these rookies hadn’t even grasped the basic gameplay yet. They kept asking Lin Jia why they couldn’t cast lightning like him. He explained that the “Thunderbolt” skill only unlocks for mages at level 17. Then, moments later, they asked when their warriors could learn the thunder skill, driving Lin Jia nearly mad.

Some ran out of potions almost immediately and begged Lin Jia for HP potions. But how many HP potions could a lone mage realistically carry? He had to shell out 10,000 gold coins from his own funds for them to buy minor healing salves themselves. Yet they claimed not to know where the shop was and demanded Lin Jia buy the items for them. Speechless, Lin Jia realized these ten newbies would likely all be dead within five minutes.

There were countless such problems, and Lin Jia’s head was spinning. But the biggest issue was that he himself got lost! Lin Jia had never been to the Biqi mining area before. He only knew it was swarming with zombies suitable for players around level 15 to level up. Wandering around with a group of novices, he somehow stumbled into the eastern part of the abandoned mine where monsters appeared frequently.

Lin Jia thought, “Now I can finally train properly, right?” But the unexpected happened. He underestimated the enthusiasm and recklessness of the new players. Upon seeing monsters spawn, the ten cloth-clad rookies charged forward like rabid wolves, each hacking fiercely at the zombies.

What frustrated Lin Jia was that while he admired their courage, they left no gaps for him to target the monsters. The ten newbies surrounded each zombie so tightly there was not even a space directly beneath it. Lin Jia had to struggle through the crowd just to aim properly, and his lightning bolts often missed, hitting friendly players instead. If it weren’t for the peaceful attack mode, Lin Jia would have been red with anger like a ripe tomato.

As everyone knows, “Legend” is a 2D game with a 45-degree isometric view. When new players surround a zombie, their characters block Lin Jia’s line of sight to the monster. Hovering the mouse usually highlights the player’s name, not the zombie’s.

Veteran “Legend” players understand this well. To target a monster, the mouse must hover over it until its name appears; otherwise, the attack won't register. There’s no concept of “splash damage” here. Even if the lightning visually strikes the monster, without the name displayed upon aiming, no damage is dealt.

This posed a huge problem for Lin Jia, responsible for the newbies’ safety. He had to aim carefully for a long time before casting lightning at zombies, during which the monsters could easily kill several of the surrounded rookies.

Watching a newbie fall to the ground with a scream, Lin Jia was so angry he almost wanted to finish them off himself. But before he could, the zombies—alerted by the fleeing novices—spawned 4 or 5 new ones nearby. Two yellow-robed zombies resembling mages unleashed twin beams of rapid-fire light, wiping out 5 or 6 clustered newbies in a chorus of screams, dropping a pile of minor health potions. Lin Jia nearly blacked out.

Out of the ten newbies he had brought in, two had died fighting zombies themselves, and five were killed by the electric zombies. Only three slightly higher-level warriors and flying nets Taoist novices survived. Their survival owed not to skill, but to their higher levels and greater HP, allowing them to withstand a hit without being instantly killed.

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After slaughtering the zombies around the eastern abandoned mine with a whip-like determination, Lin Jia realized he was out of potions! Dejected, he told the remaining three, “I have no potions left. You guys should head back.”

Hearing this, the three newbies immediately ran to a freshly spawned zombie, screamed a few times, and then used the newbie-only “Death Return” to teleport back to town, clearly showing disdain for Lin Jia’s leadership.

“Damn! Can you blame me?!” Lin Jia was thoroughly frustrated, just about to teleport back himself when suddenly a zombie monk emerged from the ground.

The “zombie monk” is a type of zombie. There are several zombie types: the common crawling ones, the wandering upright ones, and the yellow-robed bald zombies resembling monks with prayer beads around their necks—likely former devout practitioners before turning undead. Then there’s the most dangerous “electric zombie,” sometimes called “zombie mage” by newbies due to its long robes resembling mage attire and its use of the “Rapid Light Beam” skill, which normally only level 26 mages can learn, dealing massive damage.

Besides these, players have mentioned a “Corpse King”—a boss-level zombie dropping top-tier equipment and high-level skill books. Lin Jia had never ventured into this labyrinthine mine and thus never seen one. However, he had slain a “Corpse King” in the Fragrant Stone Tomb near Alliance City, though he wasn’t sure if it was the same creature players referred to.

The zombie monk burst from the earth, shrieking and clawing at Lin Jia. Thinking “every zombie counts,” Lin Jia took a few steps back to create distance and planned to electrocute it before returning to town.

But once he started moving, the unexpected happened.

Lin Jia stepped into a hole left by the zombie monk’s emergence. Usually, such holes don’t affect players—they’re just map decorations for realism. But this time, the screen went black, and with a swoosh, Lin Jia found himself in another realm!

Before he could take in the scene, deafening monster roars filled the air, accompanied by clanging metal sounds. The screen turned black and white!

Mouth agape, Lin Jia stared dumbfounded at the screen. Nearby, Old Four looked at his profile and said, “What are you doing? Did a fly fly into your mouth?”

Blinking, Lin Jia closed his mouth and replied, “I think... uh, I found another hidden map...”

“No way!” Old Big and Old Four jumped up and rushed over, abandoning their own newbies. They couldn’t blame themselves for the excitement—hidden maps were incredibly alluring! The benefits they’d gained from the Fragrant Stone Tomb were enormous.

“Holy crap! So many Corpse Kings!” Old Four stared in shock at Lin Jia’s screen. Unlike Lin Jia, who was famously bad with directions, Old Four and Old Big had been stuck in the Zombie Cave for two days, unable to find a single Corpse King. Without the mage in their three-person team, they couldn’t fight higher-level monsters effectively. It was exhausting and expensive to keep buying potions. So they had longed to find a place like this.

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Corpse Kings meant far more to their group than the Woma Overlord, a boss so protected by layers of fortress walls that only dozens of players could hope to approach. The Corpse King, however, could be challenged solo if skilled. Its drops—top-tier gear and skill books—were exactly what high-level players needed. Most importantly, Corpse Kings were “friendly” bosses, spawning randomly in the mine, unlike the Woma Overlord, who dwelled in a heavily guarded palace where even getting a glimpse was nearly impossible without a large group—and poor coordination meant death.

Lin Jia’s screen was filled with Corpse Kings milling about, trampling over the mage’s corpse like it was a bustling market square. How could there be so many here?

Glancing at the map name in the lower-left corner of the screen, Lin Jia read “Corpse King Hall”!

“How did you get in here? Wow! So many Corpse Kings! That’s going to drop tons of great gear!” Old Four’s voice was thick with excitement.

“I was leading newbies in the abandoned mine and suddenly ended up here!” Lin Jia replied, bewildered.

“Is there a path from the abandoned mine to this Corpse King Hall? Could it be another secret passage?” Old Four speculated.

“I don’t know! I don’t remember the way at all! All I know is I was in the eastern abandoned mine. I honestly have no idea how I got here...” Lin Jia scratched his head.

“Ahhh! I’m going to strangle you, you hopeless navigator! Come back now! We’re going again!” Old Four lost it, gripping Lin Jia’s neck and shaking him wildly.

“Cough, cough!” Lin Jia frantically pushed Old Four’s hands away, clutching his throat, just about to retaliate when Old Big glared at him. “Hurry up! I’m ready!” Sweat dripping, Old Big had already returned to town, bought potions, and prepared to set out again while they were still talking!

“What about those newbies?” Lin Jia asked, eyeing the swarm of little figures running around on Old Four’s screen.

Old Four glanced back and decisively used a dungeon escape scroll. “Let them fend for themselves!”

Lin Jia was speechless. Leaving level 10 newbies to fend for themselves in an area swarming with electric zombies was practically the same as abandoning them to die.

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