Chapter 14
“Mr. Jin, a guest wishes to visit you. He’s waiting at the door.” The servants asked cautiously.
It wasn’t their fault they were nervous—this Mr. Jin had managed to infuriate their butler Lucas and come out unscathed. That alone made the servants look at him with new respect.
This Mr. Jin really had something to him!
“Let him wait a while. Bring him in later.” Lu Chuan carefully rearranged the golden cutlery back into place as he replied.
No need to rush—true bigshots had to project authority.
If anyone who asked to see him got an instant audience, how would he establish dominance?
Only after more than an hour did Lu Chuan instruct the servants to bring the guest inside.
“Whoa, so bright!”
The player who had been waiting outside entered the room and nearly went blind from the dazzling gold everywhere.
Why was everything golden?
Was he hallucinating? Could this be some kind of mental attack skill?
“State your background.” Lu Chuan sized him up the moment he walked in, seizing the initiative.
The man’s clothes and gear all looked top-notch.
In this real world eroded by the game, natural products had become prohibitively expensive.
It was normal, really—over one-fifth of the world’s population were players, producing nothing. Many of their families didn’t work either, and the consumption burden was immense. With no strong government to stabilize order, living standards had sharply regressed.
Most people lived in shanties, surviving on farm produce they grew themselves, while eating the cheapest synthetic rations.
But the fabric this player wore was of the finest quality—ordinary folk couldn’t possibly afford it.
And besides—any player who can enter a B-rank dungeon is never poor.
“My name is Zhang Wanxi, in-game nickname [What If I Can’t See the Road], my class skill is ‘Lamp-bearer’, and I belong to the Noah Guild. Big boss, please let me tag along for this run!”
Zhang Wanxi’s kneeling posture was perfectly standard, and he wasted no time with small talk—he stated his intention right away.
According to shared player experiences, these big bosses who liked to slaughter their way through low-level dungeons usually had… issues.
The stronger the player, the less human they tended to seem.
Many high-level players, in order to keep their sanity from degrading, would deliberately enter low-risk dungeons to recuperate.
Of course, what counted as “low-level” for those bosses was already terrifying enough for ordinary players.
When facing them, the only right approach was: no questioning, no rambling—just show your attitude clearly and prove you’re not useless.
Otherwise, who knew if the boss might feel his authority was being challenged and simply use you as cannon fodder?
Plenty of players in the past had gotten themselves killed for disturbing a boss’s fun when he was putting on a show to balance his mood. The lucky ones only crawled away half-dead; the unlucky had been reincarnated who knew how many times.
Therefore, once it was confirmed a “big boss” type player was in a dungeon, there were only two choices: hide, or grovel. No third option.
If you wanted to hitch a ride, you had to have the mindset for it.
Before coming here, Zhang Wanxi had already used his skill to observe carefully.
The number of servants in this boss’s room was ten times that of his own—and none of those servants dared to utter a harsh word before him. Their attitude toward this man compared to himself was like heaven and earth.
A player might be fooled, but could dungeon NPCs fail to tell who really had power?
That was why Zhang Wanxi’s kneeling posture was flawless.
“System, what’s this ‘Lamp-bearer’ skill again? I think I bought a book that mentioned it, but I can’t recall.” Lu Chuan asked 888 casually.
[It’s the one you once wondered if could bypass infrared sensors to rob a bank.] #888’s memory was flawless.
“Ohhh, right, I remember now.” Lu Chuan had the impression again. Looking at Zhang Wanxi kneeling on the floor, he waved impatiently. “Noah Guild, huh? Well, that makes it harder to refuse—you lot have always treated me decently enough.”
Zhang Wanxi was relieved. In dungeons, as long as the Five Major Guilds weren’t openly at war, members still helped each other. But the five guilds had varying relationships—if this boss didn’t belong to the faction hostile to Noah, that was already very good news.
“Thank you, big boss. How should I address you?” Zhang Wanxi asked carefully, lifting his head and studying Lu Chuan.
This boss was incredibly handsome, though utterly unfamiliar.
He probably used some expensive disguise item.
“Just call me Mr. Jin.” Lu Chuan said lightly. “I came to this dungeon only out of boredom, not because I want to clear it quickly. You coming to me for help might not give you the results you want. You and your teammate pushing together would be faster.”
Zhang Wanxi noticed that Mr. Jin’s gaze seemed to linger on his shadow.
Was he worried his teammate would be exposed?
As expected of a true boss!
[Host, what are you looking at?] #888 double-checked—since the host hadn’t activated Eye of Wealth, he shouldn’t be able to detect anything odd about this player.
“This guy’s an idiot,” Lu Chuan muttered. “With my room this brightly lit, how could his shadow possibly fall in that direction? Clearly something is hidden in it. The more I glance at him, the guiltier he looks—makes it even easier to guess.”
#888 was stunned. [Host, you’ve studied this stuff too?]
“It’s all from the past. I once worked on set as a lighting double, so I understand light and shadow very thoroughly. Plus, it paid well.” Lu Chuan felt a little nostalgic.
Back then, he’d eaten well, slept well, and earned an hourly wage in the triple digits. The director even wanted to sign him as an actor because of his good looks.
Unfortunately, before he could sign the contract, the director got handsy. Lu Chuan couldn’t restrain himself and punched him—half the money he’d earned went straight to hospital bills.
Sigh, not pleasant to recall.
But thanks to all those odd jobs, he’d picked up plenty of strange knowledge—knowledge that now gave him a real edge in dungeons.
[Host, you’re truly the chosen one for dungeons!] #888 said sincerely.
Such powers of observation might not mean much in the normal world, but in a dungeon, they were priceless.
No wonder his initial skill stats had been so high.
“Mr. Jin…” Zhang Wanxi knew his teammate had been exposed and could no longer hide it. Gritting his teeth, he admitted, “I do have a partner, but our skills are linked—we’re a pair. She’s waiting not far away. We didn’t come together because we were afraid of disturbing you.”
He waited.
But Mr. Jin said nothing more.
Silence spread through the room.
How long had it been?
Seconds? Minutes?
He couldn’t tell.
He only knew his heart was racing, and he was breaking into a cold sweat despite the room not being cold.
So this was the oppressive aura the guild veterans spoke of, the kind that high-level players unconsciously exerted on low-level ones.
It was real!
[Host, this player seems really afraid of you.] #888 was puzzled—Lu Chuan hadn’t done anything, just kept quiet.
“He’s scaring himself. The unknown is always the most terrifying,” Lu Chuan replied.
[But he keeps sweating…]
“This room’s cold, the floor’s hard, the lights are blinding—and he’s been kneeling forever. How could he not be sweating?” Lu Chuan countered.
#888 fell silent.
The host really did know everything.
“You two should stop exploring the castle for the next couple of days,” Lu Chuan finally said. “The place is huge, and the servants are everywhere. How much longer can you keep searching? The lack of a time limit is the dungeon’s greatest threat.”
If there was a clear time frame, they could gauge the danger and plan accordingly. Without one, it meant disaster could strike at any moment.
“Yes, Mr. Jin.” Zhang Wanxi didn’t ask questions. He was secretly delighted—if Mr. Jin was giving orders, it meant he had acknowledged them.
“Your Noah Guild players seem to have wide connections,” Lu Chuan remarked softly.
“Not too wide, but I’ve at least heard of most of the players in this dungeon. Haven’t interacted much, though,” Zhang Wanxi replied quietly.
“You and your teammate will do something for me.” Lu Chuan’s tone was calm. “If you can manage it, I’ll believe you’re worth keeping around.”
“Your command, Mr. Jin.” Zhang Wanxi lowered his head.
*
“Zhang Wanxi, even if you’re from Noah Guild, you can’t just spy on us like this.” The other players in the dungeon all voiced their displeasure.
If not for his status in the guild and his knack for running fast, they’d have already dealt with him.
“You don’t understand. It’s already the second day—what have you discovered? Nothing. I just made a round and found one player already gone. If we don’t unite, this dungeon will wipe us all out.” Zhang Wanxi scolded them directly.
“Wait—you found a clue to clearing it?” one player asked.
They had all been testing things for two days—interrogating NPC servants, tailing the butler Lucas, using items and skills to explore the castle. But none of them had seen the supposed master of the place.
Instead, their explorations had triggered one danger after another. They had burned through a ton of items just to barely escape.
This castle might look like a paradise of luxury, but it was riddled with deathtraps.
For example, the massive swimming pool—at first it was just water. But if a player stayed in it for over half an hour, the temperature would start to rise imperceptibly, releasing a strange odor. Anyone who inhaled it lost their sense of pain. One player was nearly boiled alive before his companions managed to drag him out.
Or the garden, full of beautiful flowers—touching them left bloody stains on your hands, and tiny poisonous insects hid in the petals. One bite required a high-grade potion to cure.
And those were just the ordinary hazards.
The real terror was the servants.
They used all sorts of coaxing words to lure players deeper into the castle. Refuse, and they would relentlessly pressure and push you to move on. Only by staying in one’s assigned room could they quiet down somewhat.
Even then, the players discovered peepholes in their rooms—dozens of them.
They could all feel it: the servants were restless, just waiting for the chance to devour them one by one.
“I found a big boss. He asked me to inform you all. I only know his name is Mr. Jin,” Zhang Wanxi said, deliberately bringing him up. “The NPCs here, even the butler Lucas, treat him with absolute respect. Mr. Jin is a true powerhouse. I’ve already begged him to let me tag along.”
“Mr. Jin—who is he really?” one player asked.
“How would I know?” Zhang Wanxi shot back. “I’m just a nobody. How could I be worthy of knowing a boss’s true identity?”
Those words left the other players speechless.
Although what Zhang Wanxi said was indeed true.
“Mr. Jin said that if we search one by one, we’ll all be dead before we ever find the master of the castle.” Zhang Wanxi cleared his throat and spoke seriously. “Butler Lucas seems very worried that we might leave the castle early. I don’t mean sneaking away—I mean leaving with a proper excuse.”
“You’re called Shen Bing, right?” Zhang Wanxi suddenly turned to a certain female player. “I remember you’re a Cleric-type [Apothecary] from the Resurrection Guild. You have ointment that healed your teammate’s burns, so surely you also carry poisons that can harm players.”
“Zhang Wanxi, it’s normal for an [Apothecary] to have those things.” Shen Bing’s companion drew a greatsword and stepped firmly in front of her.
Most [Apothecary] usually partnered with a Swordbearer-type player, and this man was clearly one.
“No, you’ve misunderstood Wanxi’s meaning.” At that moment, Zhang Wanxi’s teammate finally stepped in. “Mr. Jin’s point was that we need to force Lucas to send us out of the castle.”
“What method?”
“Use the [Apothecary]’s drugs to poison us all—not lethally, just enough to cripple us.” Zhang Wanxi explained solemnly. “If a mass poisoning occurs, Lucas will definitely call in doctors to treat us. But as long as we show no improvement, we can demand that the butler send us out of the castle.”
Having an [Apothecary] was indeed the best-case scenario.
Mr. Jin had also said earlier that if there were no [Apothecary], then they should just find some excuse to fight among themselves until everyone was half-dead. Either way, they had to feign illness.
“Heh, what kind of joke is this? Once we’re poisoned, what’s to stop these NPCs from killing us on the spot?”
“What if you’re harboring ill intentions? We’d never agree to such a plan.”
“Even if we do this, will it really let us clear the dungeon? Or are you using us as test subjects? What if leaving the castle boundary triggers instant death by the rules?”
…
The players weren’t stupid. They couldn’t possibly entrust their lives based on just a few sentences from Zhang Wanxi.
“If it’s Mr. Jin’s idea, then let this so-called big shot come out in person.” Shen Bing, being directly mentioned, spoke up. “I can’t hand out my medicines to just anyone. If this Mr. Jin is willing to reveal his identity, only then will I cooperate.”
“That’s right. Why should we believe there even is a Mr. Jin just because you say so? Zhang Wanxi, you’re not qualified to speak for him. At the very least, get a guildmaster or higher-up to say it, then maybe we’d believe.”
Zhang Wanxi silently wailed in his heart.
He had already told Mr. Jin he couldn’t handle this!
But Mr. Jin had told him to just go ahead and do it.
Now he was really at a loss—surely the big boss would think poorly of him after this.
“What are you guests doing here?” At that moment, Lucas appeared with a smile. “Are you gathering here to attend the banquet Mr. Jin is hosting? Perfect timing—Mr. Jin has asked me to bring you all over.”
Just who exactly was this Mr. Jin, that even a high-level NPC like the butler could be casually commanded by him?
The players looked at one another in disbelief.
Perhaps this Mr. Jin’s words really were worth listening to after all.
*
Half an hour earlier.
Lu Chuan shook the bell again.
“Tell Butler Lucas that the other guests seem to have discovered something and are planning to gather together to escape the castle. If the butler doesn’t want them to leave, he should bring them all to my banquet instead.” Lu Chuan raised his head toward the peepholes in the ceiling used for spying. “My golden bed isn’t finished yet—I’m not about to let this game end so soon.”
