Dispute for Commander’s Position

When the Rogue retreated to a distance about 10 yards away from the food, an angry voice rang out, "Shameless fools, do you think this will make me happy? I'll punish your insolence!"

The voice was not loud, but it echoed around the enclosed space, causing headaches to the players. Their hit points even dropped a little.

The Rogue who placed the food wasn't as lucky. He was turned into a giant popsicle and died instantly.

The Rogue didn't drop any equipment, as he had removed everything before placing the food. He revived himself and continued to try different types of food. He tried 10 times, and was killed each time without finding the correct type of food. After his 10th attempt, he looked at Little Dan and shook his head, "Brother Dan, I have no food left."

Little Dan nodded and said to Evil Winds, who had also removed all his equipment, "Evil, it's your turn."

It didn't take long for Evil Winds to die for 10 times as well. He also indicated that he ran out of food.

Little Dan sighed, "Seems like these 20 foods are no good." He then turned towards Thousand Sunsets, "I'll ask Crimson if they made any progress." Judging from Little Dan's facial expression after contacting Crimson Millions, they had failed as well.

"Forget about it, we'll try again tomorrow. We've exhausted all the food we brought." Thousand Sunsets was annoyed. He stood up and was about to leave the dungeon.

Ye Ci wrinkled her eyebrows. They were going to try again tomorrow? How long would it take with such trial and error method? Ye Ci let out a breath. She no longer cared if she was not the person in charge. They were ultimately wasting her time as well. She would rather spend her time doing something else. She stood up and spoke softly, "Let me try."

Thousand Sunsets was momentarily stunned. He had not expected Ye Ci to act. He was also curious at the same time. Had this Huntress figured out the problem that they'd spent a whole day trying to crack? He the asked, "You've prepared some food?"

"It dropped from a monster." Ye Ci replied with a random answer, and it cleared any suspicions that Thousand Sunsets had. He pursed his lips. It appeared to him that Ye Ci was only good in solving the smaller dungeons that were not so difficult, and she was less experienced than Little Dan when it came to the larger dungeons.

After all, she was an 18 year old girl.

Little Dan had been staring at Ye Ci ever since she spoke. He watched as she moved with careful steps towards a position entirely different from where the previous 2 Rogues had placed their food, "Gongzi You, your position is wrong. You can't do it from there."

Wrong position? Can't do it from there? Ye Ci's lips almost twitched. She had placed the Fragrant Seafood countless times in her last life, and now somebody was telling her that her position was wrong.

"I'm just trying it out."

Little Dan was a little unhappy after hearing Ye Ci's answer. He did not remind her to unequip her gear, and was even looking forward to watching her die and drop her equipment.

Despite doing the same thing, the vast difference between their skills was obvious. A Hunter's Perception was lower than that of a Rogue's, and they do not have the Detection skill. Despite that, Ye Ci's steps were light as feather, and she was able to reach the spot in no time.

After quickly placing the food, Ye Ci bent her knees and leapt onto a rock. Using it as a springboard, she leapt gracefully into the air and landed amidst the party members.

She completed the action within seconds, and her grace attracted countless pairs of eyes.

Just as she landed, a hoarse voice sounded, "Mortals are always the most pretentious. Do you think I'll let you live just because you brought my favorite food? No! You mortals only deserve the embrace of death!"

Ye Ci immediately shouted, "Back off now, as far as you can!" She chose not to include the safe distance of 35 yards to avoid the attack, as it would be very hard to explain herself later on.

Most of the players in the first squadron had the experience of being under Ye Ci's command and were able to react immediately. Little Dan was surprised that Ye Ci had survived after placing the food, but he was also annoyed when Ye Ci immediately instructed the party to back off right after landing in their midst. Who's the one in command here?

Little Dan's anger increased when he realised that most of the players have reacted to Ye Ci's instruction. He spoke loudly, "You guys, hurry up and back off, listen to my commands!"

Ye Ci had warned the players out of reflex, and had not put much thought in it. She was momentarily stunned by Little Dan's words.

It was like a slap to her face.

Somebody patted her shoulder. It was Thousand Sunsets. He smiled at Ye Ci, "Don't mind him, he was supposed to be the one in charge, after all."

Ye Ci twitched her lips. Little Dan's reaction was totally unnecessary. She did not have the intention to steal all the glory. It was very ungraceful for a such a big guild to act so stingy over something so trivial. Ye Ci's anger was ignited. She made the decision to never intervene no matter how high the casualty of the first squadron was.

The party retreated 35 yards away from the invisible monster, the Wasteland Lurker, and dodged its ultimate thanks to Ye Ci's warning.

But another challenge immediately arose. As the Wasteland Lurker devoured the Fragrant Seafood, a layer of frost seeped up from underneath a slanting clock tower not far away.

The layer of frost spread towards the crowd with a slow but steady speed. If players in the dungeon did not position themselves according to the clock hand, they would be frozen. There were also skills that could counter the frost, such as a Cleric's Expel Frost, a Warlock's Resist and a Hunter's Feigned Death.

Unfortunately, Expel Frost and Resist had very low drop rates, and players from Steel-Blooded Battle Spear were not outfitted with such skills. However, this was none of Ye Ci's concern. She would not be harmed by the creeping layer of frost as she had learned Feigned Death.

She activated Feigned Death the moment the layer of frost touched the sole of her feet.

"Immune."

As expected, the entire party was annihilated, with the exception of Ye Ci.

The frost would disappear after all the frozen players in the dungeon were dead.

"Cuck! Not again!" Some of the male players began to curse under their breath, but they did not dare to raise their voices. The game promoted civility. If the players cursed with vulgarities recognised by the system, they would be struck by lightning, or even have their stats reduced at random. That was why the players did not even dare to curse loudly despite their anger.

Ye Ci rose up from the ground after the party disappeared into flashes of white light and the frost disappeared. She then waited silently for the party to revive themselves.

The Wasteland Lurker turned back towards the clock tower and disappeared after the system registered that all the players were dead (Ye Ci had cast Feigned Death, and was counted as being dead.)

The members of the party re-entered the dungeon moments later, and Little Dan asked, "Gongzi You, where is the Wasteland Lurker?"

"It exited combat."

Little Dan clenched his fists. They'd found a solution to draw out the Wasteland Lurker, but why would something like that happen? Wasn't the dungeon supposed to be "simple?"

The death of the party was not in vain. They had managed to discover the Wasteland Lurker's favorite food. Little Dan immediately passed the information on to Crimson Millions, while the guild's Life Players began their preparation.

If the Fragrant Seafood was not one of the dishes that could be learned from an Life Instructor NPC, Ye Ci would be able to make a huge profit out of it.

The preparations were finished at around 10pm. Although they'd tried countless times to deploy the Fragrant Seafood just like how Ye Ci did, the party was still annihilated time after time, to the point where several members of the party had died 20 times. Little Dan could only call off the exploration temporarily.

Noticing that the commander for the next day was not announced, Ye Ci couldn't help but ask aloud, "Who will be in command tomorrow?"

Little Dan shared a look with Thousand Sunsets. Remembering Thousand Sunset's words the day before, he remained silent. Zero Arsenic knew of the deal between Little Dan and Thousand Sunsets. But before he could confirm with him that Ye Ci would be in charge, Thousand Sunsets spoke up, "We're still exploring this dungeon. Since Little Dan and Crimson Millions have been leading the party for these last few days, I think it'll be best to keep them in command. You'll be placed in command of the next 25-man dungeon."

Ye Ci furrowed her eyebrows. She had been waiting patiently just because she wanted a Disrupting Shot skill book dropped from this dungeon. But with Thousand Sunsets' sudden decision, her patience was at its limit. Disrupting Shot was a Hunter's only way of interrupting a BOSS skill in the early stages of the game, and it would only be dropped in the Frosty Wasteland. Aside from the 100% drop rate in the event of a First Blood, the drop rate of the skill book was very low.

The decision to not place her in command meant that her rights to have priority on the skill book was taken away.

If that was the case, Ye Ci had no more reason to continue wasting time with the bunch.

Ye Ci nodded, "Alright, then I won't be coming tomorrow."

Ye Ci's words were like a pebble cast into a pond, the ripples spreading long after she finished speaking.

The party members showed different reactions. Some were astonished, some remained calm, while there were others who were whispering amongst themselves.

Thousand Sunsets was momentarily taken aback, he then said with a smile that did not reach his eyes, "Gongzi You, this is a guild activity. It's not good for you to just go absent like that, right?"

Ye Ci raised her eyebrows. She was not asking for their permission. She was simply informing them about her decision. [EN: Finally!]

"Little Blue, would you tell her what is the 4th rule under the Guild Activity Regulations?" Noticing Ye Ci's expression, Thousand Sunsets gave his instruction to Peacock Blue who was standing behind him.