Chapter 14: Madness and Motives

The air is sticky, faintly foul, and the wide clearing feels inexplicably oppressive.

Yun Shi frowns upon entering.

“What’s that smell?” Jiang Shu shrinks, sidling closer to Bo He, muttering, “Creepy vibes too—not a horror game…”

“I’ve got goosebumps. And I haven’t played long—why’m I dizzy?” Cherry checks his arm.
His stream window, minimized bottom-right, doesn’t block gameplay or fan comments.
Spotting “Mental State” in the chat, he realizes his 70-point Mental State has dropped below 50.

“Is this… the dungeon’s fault?” Cherry urges his team to check.
Everyone’s lost 20 points, and the dungeon drains Mental State faster than the island.

Yun Shi’s is still above 50, but barely.

Mental State is a survival stat.
It’s stable by day but drops at night.
In the village, it falls slowly, recovering near campfires or fully after resting on a mat or in an NPC’s home.
In the wild, where mobs spawn, it plummets.
Below 10, players turn into frenzied monsters, attack power surging but attacking friend and foe alike, going red-named.
At 0, health drains rapidly, and they die as a monster.

This death grants an achievement, its experience reward offsetting the loss.
Many players have tried it.

But Yun Shi’s team isn’t aiming for that here.

Though Bo He tricked Samsara, he wasn’t lying—the hidden dungeon likely only appears at night.
Given the Mental State drain on entry, the boss will be brutal.

Mental State is the main challenge.

Testing shows a 3-point-per-minute drop.
Without recovery items, they have 15 minutes to clear before wiping—13 to hit 0 Mental State, then 2 for health to drain.
No boss needed.

The stream’s viewers are stunned:

“How do you even fight this?”
“No boss in sight, and the area’s huge…”
“No surprise, it’s a hidden dungeon—never easy.”
“Twin Islands’ NPCs are shady. Mental recovery potions and food are pricey. This’ll cost a fortune…”
“Expected. A never-cleared Twin Islands hidden dungeon? No way it’s a breeze.”

Jiang Shu’s floored.
His only Mental State potion was used dealing with Xiao Yue’s stalling.
Thinking of her, he gasps, “No way—the plot and dungeon are linked to burn our Mental State, aren’t they?”

Cherry: “Could be! That’s so dirty!”

Another day cursing the devs.

Cherry checks his inventory.
“What now? I’ve got two Mental State potions. Wind Bro, Flower Bro, you take them?”

Yun Shi opens his inventory.
“No need.”
He pulls out a dozen roasted mushroom skewers and trades them to the team.

The skewers vaguely resemble their vibrant, clearly toxic origins.

Bo He raises a brow.
“Restores Mental State?”

Jiang Shu, recalling [Bear Island]’s mushrooms, worries, “Poisoned?”

Yun Shi’s curt: “Restores 15 Mental State, deducts 15 health.”

Not that toxic.

The mushrooms, cooled in the inventory, retain their savory fungal charm, earning awe for nature’s wonders.

Bo He, curious, asks, “How’d you figure it out?”

Twin Islands’ damp climate breeds many mushrooms, but players avoid them, knowing most are toxic.
Yun Shi doesn’t seem the type to taste-test for flavor, making his discovery intriguing.

No NPC sells these skewers.
Has he learned a cooking skill?

Yun Shi explains, “I watched NPCs collect resources.
They take all mushrooms, toxic or not.
Toxics go to the potion NPC, non-toxics to the chef.
These were in the kitchen.”

Jiang Shu’s jaw drops.
That’s next-level detail.

Cherry’s impressed, tossing out praise.
But who watches NPC resource routes for fun?

No one—unless you’re Yun Shi, chasing cash.
What if NPCs make stuff he can replicate without skills and sell?
Players can grill food, but not fancy dishes.
Testing led to these health-draining, Mental State-boosting skewers.

Maybe after clearing, he’ll set up a stall for hidden dungeon runners?

With Mental State restored, the team hunts for the boss.

It’s not hard to find—deep in, no mobs en route.
They face the boss, who sees them but doesn’t attack, just watches.

“How… can this be…”

A humanoid with a serpent’s tail slithers slowly, its cold, crimson slit-eyes fixed on them.

Scales dot its face, not wholly terrifying.
Its features, unlike the grotesque tail, are strikingly beautiful—young and beautiful.

Yan Ziyun.

The sister of the red-haired man who saved players at sea.

“Mutation,” Bo He says.
“The world’s lore—besides plants and animals, humans can become monsters too.”

Xiao Yue knew of Yan Ziyun’s mutation.
Her nighttime visits weren’t guilt or mourning but fear—checking if the monstrous sister left the island, no threat to her.

With such a monster here, the NPCs hid the truth from Yan Ziyu and feigned ignorance to players, likely because they caused her mutation.

Tied to the plot, Cherry tries addressing the passive Yan Ziyun: “Do you remember Yan Ziyu?”

The words flip a switch.
The calm boss goes berserk, charging Cherry.
He dodges too late, swept up and killed, crumpling by her tail.

Stream viewers:

“…What do I even say about this guy?”
“Yup, instant death. Not shocked.”
“No wonder the last team died so fast.”
“One-shot! Hidden dungeon boss is nuts!”
“Embarrassing. Can’t admit I’m a Peach Bro fan.”

“Cough,” Cherry deflects.
“Just showing off our big shot’s glory from a prime angle!”

Flawless excuse. Fans are speechless.

Joking aside, losing a teammate instantly—on a four-man team—ramps up the pressure.

The boss is level 20, with lower health and defense than [Bear Island]’s, but its attack speed is blistering, and its damage—well, Cherry’s corpse says it all.
Slow reactions mean death before dealing damage.

The team: Yun Shi (wind), Bo He (mist), Jiang Shu (space), Cherry (fire).
Cherry’s the main DPS, but he’s down fastest.

Unlike [Bear Island], this boss offers no trap setup.
Combat locks trap skills, rendering Yun Shi’s extra skill useless.
His physical damage buff boosts Jiang Shu, but—

Let’s be real—Jiang Shu’s bad.

With a wide displacement range for backstabs and crits, he somehow teleports to the boss’s tail, landing weak hits.
Yun Shi and Bo He kite, giving him openings, but he fumbles them.

After several rounds, the boss’s health is down a quarter, mostly from Yun Shi and Bo He.
Jiang Shu follows Cherry, dead on the ground.

Cherry, earnest: “Cousin, maybe consider a [Class Change Card]?”

Jiang Shu: …

Mid-fight, Yun Shi and Bo He’s Mental State dips below 30.

Mental State is critical—entry deduction, fast drain in the dungeon, faster in combat.

They can eat to recover, but with two players, damage plummets.
The boss’s speed rises, and prolonged failure triggers frenzy—its skills’ damage skyrockets geometrically.

This won’t do.

Yun Shi asks, “Mental State at 10—how much attack boost?”

Bo He catches on: “300%. We can work with that.”

“Good!” Yun Shi plans fast.
“I’ll go first.”

Bo He nods. “Got it.”

In sync, they kite and fight.
Bo He eats a skewer, boosting Mental State, while Yun Shi’s drops to 10, turning red-named.
Bo He pulls back, out of the boss’s and Yun Shi’s range.

Cherry and Jiang Shu, dead: ???
Stream viewers: ???

Suicide tactic?

Below 10 Mental State, visuals distort wildly, further draining sanity.
Dodging the boss and dealing damage in that chaos is near-suicidal.

Yet the cyan figure doesn’t die.

Yun Shi uses the 5-second frenzy to deal massive damage, eating a skewer before hitting 0 to restore Mental State.
Then, Bo He goes red-named, repeating the cycle.

They trade off, grinding the boss’s health down with seamless coordination.

The extreme moves and perfect teamwork stun the stream and their teammates.

Are they exploiting a bug?

Minutes later, the boss falls.
Cherry and Jiang Shu revive at the entrance, rushing back.

The boss, briefly lucid, rasps, “Who… are you?”

Safe to say “Yan Ziyu” now, Cherry explains the backstory.

Yan Ziyun doesn’t buy it: “Words mean nothing.
How do I trust you’re sent by my brother?”

Cherry scratches his head.
The NPC’s demanding a quest item to verify.
But Yan Ziyu was dragged off by fish monsters—leaving nothing.

Wait. Cherry eyes Yun Shi.
“Wind Bro, that sock…”

Yun Shi’s face stiffens.
“Threw it out.”

Cherry’s desperate—they beat the boss, but without the item, the dungeon won’t count!
“Really gone? Anything else?”

Yun Shi, stone-faced, pulls an old shoe from his inventory.
“This?”

Yan Ziyun inspects it, shocked.
“That’s my brother’s shoe!
A gift I gave him five years ago.
He never threw it out—why’s it with you?”

Yeah, a five-year-old shoe, kept by the cold, pragmatic wind user?

The team casts odd looks at Yun Shi.