Chapter 17 : Pay Attention to Mechanics When Running Dungeons

“So it was you guys.”

The human knight Duan Yue’s greatsword slammed into the ground with a “thud.”
“I’m really sorry about logging off suddenly yesterday.”

Bai Ling, outside the screen, had just twisted open a bottle of Coke.
The brown bubbles burst finely in the bottle.
Who could resist a bottle of happy water on such a nice day?

“So you have to repay us with a dungeon run today!”

On the screen, the half-demon assassin relentlessly circled the human knight.

‘I wonder who was the first to log off yesterday. It seemed to be her.’

“I’ll compensate you for the dungeon entrance ticket.”

The human knight sent an email.
It was a golden, sparkling gift box.
When the lid popped open, a golden ticket jumped out.

This was a reward only available to closed beta players.

‘No wonder his skills were so good. He probably figured out the boss mechanics during the closed beta, right?’

Bai Ling pouted and clicked “claim.”

Although the White Snake Cavern was a novice dungeon and didn’t require an entrance ticket, having this item guaranteed that the dungeon would drop a high-level material at the very least, which everyone needed.

“You said yesterday your family had an emergency. Is everything okay now?”

Bai Ling suddenly typed on the keyboard.
She still remembered the reason this human knight ‘daddy’ had given for logging off yesterday.

“Thanks to you, everything is fine now.”

The human knight’s reply was steady and old-fashioned.
It had to be said that he was really role-playing.
If there really were such a world, Bai Ling felt that a human knight should have his personality.

“How’s your childhood friend doing?”

Ye Yuan posted a gossip emoji in the channel.
Bai Ling had mentioned in the group chat before that she was going to meet her childhood friend.
She just didn’t expect Ye Yuan to remember.

“We kind of met yesterday…”

Thinking of this, Bai Ling’s mood darkened a little.
“There was a bit of a misunderstanding.”

Bai Ling rubbed her neck.
The spot where the blade had grazed her last night was faintly itchy as the wound healed.
‘In fact, when she saw Xu Zhi a few hours ago, not only did he not recognize her, he even held a knife to her throat.’

But that was in the past.
The current Bai Ling didn’t want to dwell on those unhappy things.

“Maybe because you’ve changed too much?”

The human knight Duan Yue suddenly interjected.

The half-demon character and the half-human character both turned their heads in unison.
A flustered speech bubble popped up above the human knight’s head.
“You’re in the party channel…”

This plainly dressed knight hurriedly explained that he wasn’t trying to eavesdrop on their private chat, but that these two silly girls were using the wrong channel.

Bai Ling suddenly burst out laughing.
‘That change was indeed huge. Wasn’t it a big change to go from a boy to a girl, from a human to a demon?’

The gloomy mood from just a moment ago suddenly improved a lot.

The moment the stone door of the dungeon opened, the Snake Demon Swordswoman and the half-demon assassin both strode towards the narrow stone door.

As a result, the two characters’ collision boxes got stuck together, and their character models got tangled up at the dungeon entrance, causing passing players to take screenshots, saying that there was a reward for reporting bugs on the official forum.

Duan Yue sighed and swung his sword, pushing the two silly girls’ characters out of the stone door.

Pixelated osmanthus flowers floated in the ancient temple scene.
Moonlight spilled down from the cracks in the grotto above, illuminating the three people entangled with a giant white snake in front of the hall.

“Hey, hey, hey! Phase two! Lure it to the stone lantern!”

The half-demon assassin yelled while jumping and dodging the snake’s tail sweep.
Before she could finish, the white jade stone lanterns on the east and west sides “poofed” and lit up with a faint blue flame, making the boss’s shed snakeskin look like a semi-transparent gauze.

Post-shed, the serpent’s pearlescent scales shimmered like mother-of-pearl. Its tongue flicked as it locked onto its new target: the closest player—Qin ling, the snake demon swordswoman.

This was a core mechanic of the White Serpent boss fight. At the end of phase one, the serpent would molt, and the lanterns would ignite. Breaking the lanterns triggered a special fire effect that forced the boss into a “fear” state.

The mechanic was designed based on real snake behavior. After shedding, snakes need external heat to regulate their body temperature. So the boss targets the nearest player to the fire source—but being a serpent, it’s also afraid of fire. The targeted player must lead the boss close to the flames to trigger its fear.

Qin ling, being nearest the lantern, was the unlucky chosen one.

Duan Yue slammed his sword down on the lantern base. The oil-soaked rope snapped, and flaming oil spilled outward like a lotus blooming in fire.

Qin ling’s white skirt fluttered as she dashed past the flames, with the white serpent screeching to a halt behind her, both of them leaving scorched marks on the temple floor.

Then…

She turned tail and ran. No hesitation. Like she’d made up her mind to flee for her life.

The white snake boss chased her all over the field, making it so that the other two couldn’t even use the mechanics to deal damage, let alone touch the boss’s tail!

“My dear granny!”
Ye Yuan was so anxious she was about to hit her forehead with the hilt of her dagger.
“Lead it towards the fire! The fire doesn’t burn your feet!”

She lifted her foot and stepped on the leaping flames as if to demonstrate.
Not even a puff of white smoke rose from the sole of her shoe.

This flame wouldn’t cause damage to players, but just by getting the white snake close to the flame, they could create a long window of opportunity for damage with the fear state.

“I’m a snake too! I’m also afraid of fire!”

But at this moment, Qing Lin had already run three miles away with her long sword.

In fact, she had just instinctively moved away from the fire when she saw it.
This was a snake demon’s instinctive reaction.

“You’re a player, not a real snake demon!”
The half-demon assassin stomped her feet in anxiety, three crying cat head emojis continuously popping up above her head.

She chased after the rampaging Qing Lin, trying to grab the aggro, but the boss’s targeting mechanic wasn’t based on who ran the fastest.

“It’s about to go berserk. Let’s wipe…”

Duan Yue looked at the berserk countdown in the upper right corner, which was about to hit zero, and directly gave up resistance.

“Heal me!”

Bai Ling, in front of the screen, wailed vaguely through a straw, watching as the berserk white snake raised its head.
Three white lights flashed, leaving only Duan Yue’s greatsword sticking out of the scorched brick floor.

On the screen, Qing Lin, who had just emerged from the resurrection point, was munching on a steaming meat bun, her cheeks puffed out.
A green recovery marker lit up on her body.

Even though her health was already full, she was still munching, saying that she thought the game character looked cute when it was eating a bun.

“This is a novice village boss, my dear…”
Ye Yuan sat cross-legged by the bonfire at the resurrection point, twirling a strand of her hair around her fingertip.
“Even that NPC selling candied haws at the entrance is a better fighter than this!”

Duan Yue, who was squatting on the eaves, suddenly poked his head out.
“*I think she was running from the fire like her life depended on it…*”

As soon as he finished, half a bun “smack”ed him on the nose.

Qing Lin wiped her mouth and jumped up, the tassels on her sword hilt swinging in a beautiful arc with her movement.
“Next time! I’ll definitely clear it next time!”

“This girl seems a little off…”
Chengzi poked her head out from behind her chair, her hair sticking up from sleep.
She sneakily watched Bai Ling’s back.
“Yesterday, she was like a wilted eggplant…”

In front of the computer, Bai Ling was tapping the keyboard rapidly.
The blue light of the screen reflected the corners of her mouth, which were almost stretched to her ears.

“She looks pretty normal, but I think she’s been crazy for a while…”

Two other heads suddenly popped up above Chengzi’s.
The three heads were stacked on top of the chair back like a skewer of candied haws: Lin Xiao Xia was on tiptoes on Chengzi’s slippers, and Su Jiu Li’s face was wedged between Lin Xiao Xia’s chin and the cowlick on Chengzi’s head.

“She feels like a concubine in the cold palace. There’s a kind of calm madness about her…”

Lin Xiao Xia had half a cookie in her mouth, her words mumbled.

“On the surface, she’s all peaceful and quiet, but in reality, she’s the type who could pluck all the koi in the imperial garden bald.”

Su Jiu Li in the middle shook her hair.
The three-layered stack made the chair creak in protest.
“According to Chapter Seven of ‘Introduction to Psychiatry,’ this kind of intermittent silly laughter belongs to…”

The three pairs of eyes exchanged opinions.
Bai Ling’s sudden “hee hee” silly laugh startled the three detectives, and they all shrank back their heads.

“Could it be…”

Lin Xiao Xia’s suddenly lowered voice carried a bubbly excitement.
“She got dumped?”

The three heads nodded heavily in unison.