Chapter 229 Chapter 229 Socially anxious father 6
A chilling wind blew, ghosts howled, and the surroundings were pitch black. Zhuozhuo could see nothing, and the hand holding her vanished. The screaming creatures around her were terrifying. She mentally called out "everything!" and suddenly, a dim yellow light appeared ahead. Then, with a creaking sound, more light poured in, accompanied by a clearer, painful wail.
Zhuozhuo stared at the light, her eyes wide. Suddenly, a dark object was thrown in, and with a bang, the door slammed shut. Zhuozhuo hunched her shoulders in fear, still avoiding the shadow. In the darkness, she listened to the faint humming that had just appeared, so close, and moved in the opposite direction. Then, remembering she was a player, curiosity piqued her courage and she slowly approached.
As soon as my finger touched the sticky and warm thing, a dialog box popped up in front of me.
[Bude, a villager of Dahe Village]
Zhuozhuo only recognized the "big" character and read the remaining 9972 characters to her, explaining, "Baby, you've triggered a hidden plot. Behind that door should be the workshop of the necromancer Andrew. He's experimenting on the nearby villagers, hoping to achieve a breakthrough. Baby, you're here now, where Andrew dumps scrap and corpses. Don't be afraid if you see anything scary; it's all... fake."
"Tongtong, where is Zhong Qing's father?"
[Baby, you're in the story animation now, Zhong Qing can't come over, but it will be his turn to play soon.]
Zhuozhuo said "Oh" and asked anxiously, "Tongtong, how did you make Dade stop feeling pain?"
9972 reacted to Dade's presence and whispered, "Baby, this is a cutscene. It's something that has already happened, and the player can't change it. But you can comfort him. If he can hear it, he'll feel better."
Zhuozhuo thought for a moment, gently touched the almost silent man, and said childishly: "Uncle, wait for Zhong Qing's father to come and beat all the bad guys to death."
[……]
That’s fine. This sentence may be the best comfort to the victims at that time.
Soon, the experimental scene was over and the surrounding environment changed. A young man who hid his whole body under a black robe was setting traps in the wilderness to capture monsters, and practicing necromancy after killing them.
The third scene shows a taller youth commanding an army of undead, slaughtering an entire village and creating new undead puppets. A long, dark night of blood and wailing follows. At dawn, he clutches a black-gold staff, standing high above, gazing at the rising smoke from distant cooking fires, the background music foreboding.
The fourth scene shows a hunched, black-robed necromancer destroying towering magic towers one after another, collecting information on any breakthroughs. Finally, on a stormy night, he finds a method on a torn scroll. However, this method is flawed, with an alarmingly low success rate, so he begins to capture people for experiments, hoping to perfect the technique.
The fifth scene shows a middle-aged man wrapped in a dark blue robe and with a stern face. He holds a magic wand inlaid with a pearl the size of a pigeon egg, and summons a devastating water dragon. The dragon kills the necromancer in the collapse of the magic tower and then seals the ruins.
[Baby, this blue one is the great magician Abner. He is still alive.] He is the leading force in resisting the void monsters.
At first, Abner only killed the necromancer Andrew, but Andrew used secret techniques to reincarnate as a dead spirit. He practiced for hundreds of years under the nourishment of the resentment of the dead souls, and his cultivation level was even higher than when he was alive.
The dungeon "Andrew's Obsession" has three difficulty levels: Normal Difficulty and Hell Difficulty. Players only need to defeat the ghost and Andrew's regretful shadow to complete the level, which is similar to the dungeon settings in ordinary online games. However, the hidden plot is different, as players will fight against the real Andrew's ghost.
9972 silently sympathized with Zhong Qing for a second.
Just after the cutscene ended, a dim light appeared around them. Zhuozhuo was suddenly hugged tightly, and Zhong Qing's anxious voice filled the air from all directions. "Zhuozhuo, how are you? Are you hurt?"
Zhuozhuo was held up and turned over and over for a thorough examination, her brain almost shaking. She quickly said, "No injuries, Zhuozhuo, watch cartoons."
Zhong Qing was worried, so he asked Zhuozhuo to describe her character panel. After confirming that she had no health loss and no negative status, he breathed a sigh of relief, "You scared me to death."
Zhuozhuo immediately hugged his "loving" son's neck, kissed his cheek, and said in a baby voice while looking at the screen, "Don't be afraid, Zhong Qing Daddy, Zhuozhuo is fine. There are bad guys in the animation, and Daddy will help Zhuozhuo beat them."
"What bad guy?" Zhong Qing suddenly noticed a system dialog box that had popped up at some point and he had ignored it. He clicked it and saw, "Triggered hidden plot. Player "Love Seed" please eliminate "Undead Andrew" as soon as possible."
Zhuozhuo wanted to tell Zhong Qing what happened in the cutscene, but a sudden strange laugh interrupted their conversation. Before the two could see what had appeared, they were surrounded by a cloud of black air coming towards them.
[The player "Love" has died. ]
[The player "Zhuo Zhuo" has died.]
【All dead players will be resurrected after 1 second. 】
[The player "Love Seed" has been resurrected. ]
[Player "Zhuo Zhuo" has been resurrected. ]
The one-second cooldown on the resurrection cooldown only gave Zhong Qing enough time to recover from his shock and confirm that Zhuozhuo hadn't felt the pain of the attack and death, and hadn't been frightened. Then, they were attacked by the black energy again. This time, Zhong Qing held Zhuozhuo, dodging left and right, using all his skills, and died after only six seconds. After his death, Zhuozhuo didn't even lose a second before dying too.
…
【All dead players will be resurrected after 2 seconds. 】
This resurrection CD gave Zhong Qing a bad feeling. If everyone died during a dungeon, they would be ejected. However, this hidden CD allowed them to be resurrected over and over again. There must be a big trap.
Zhong Qing took a look at the paused game screen. The boss, whose face was completely invisible due to the black fog, had a health bar with the prefix "Undead Andrew" above his head. The health bar was so full that it was almost overflowing from the frame. The attack he had just launched had no effect on it at all.
Zhong Qing wasted no time in asking Zhuo Zhuo about the details of the cutscene. This boss was so strong, if the player relied on resurrections to defeat it, it would take forever. There must be hints in the cutscene. He couldn't help but sigh. It was a pity that Zhuo Zhuo was watching the cutscene. Not to mention whether she could remember and recall the hints, it was even questionable whether she could understand them.
Zhuozhuo was still in a daze, her head fuzzy as she listened to 9972 read the words in the dialog box to her. When she figured out what was happening, her eyes lit up, "Dad, he died, and then he came back to life. This is so fun!"
Zhong Qing: “…”
The countdown ended, the two were resurrected, and continued to be beaten by the BOSS.
Every time he was resurrected, all his skills and equipment CDs would be refreshed. Zhong Qing also gradually gained some experience in the beatings, and he could hold on longer and longer, and his resurrection CDs also became longer and longer.
…
[All dead players will be resurrected after 512 seconds. ]
Zhong Qing put down his keyboard, stretching his stiff fingers. He said gently, "Zhuozhuo, now that we have plenty of time, could you please describe the animation in detail? Let's start with the scene where the great magician Abner defeats Andrew. Don't leave anything out."
"Sure."
After Zhuozhuo died a few times, she no longer found it fun. The reason was that the resurrection CD was getting longer and longer, and it was too boring to do anything while waiting. More importantly, she wondered why they were always getting beaten, and she also wanted to beat up the ugly black thing on the opposite side!
Driven by anger, Zhuozhuo tried hard to describe the details of the animation, even including "the fallen leaves covered a grasshopper" and "the butterfly's wings are blue and pink."
However, Zhuozhuo didn't notice any details such as "what was written on the book that flashed by" and "what tricks the great magician used to defeat Andrew".
The resurrection CD was over, but Zhuozhuo hadn't finished describing this scene.
…
[All dead players will be resurrected after 1024 seconds. ]
This time, they had more time, but Zhong Qing didn't plan to ask Zhuozhuo for details, lest he get himself pissed off. He found the game backpack could be opened and pulled out a plate of cola chicken wings. "Come on, Zhuozhuo, eat some meat."
In this hidden storyline, players can revive infinitely, with their status refreshed upon resurrection. However, the boss's damage remains constant, cumulatively. Logically, if players persist, they'll eventually defeat the undead Andrew. But who among children, after nine years of compulsory education, doesn't know the power of 2 to the nth power?
Zhong Qing had reason to suspect that until Future Technology collapsed and Datong shut down, he and Zhuozhuo would be trapped in this dungeon, unable to leave. Sharing life-and-death experiences in a confined space was precisely what fostered attachment. He would quickly make Zhuozhuo treat him like his own daughter and help her escape the game. If that wasn't possible, Zhong Qing wondered, would Zhuozhuo be confined to Datong, or could she be transferred to another game?
Zhuozhuo lay in Zhong Qing's arms and gnawed on chicken wings, making both of them greasy and dirty. Fortunately, after resurrection, they were refreshed as if with one click, and faced the BOSS's beating cleanly.
Zhuozhuo's attack and defense were both incredibly close to zero. After the incident where "fighting side by side only resulted in both of them dying faster," she had learned to cling to her "lover" like a quiet rag doll. The boss laughed wildly as he struck them again, his arrogance infuriating. Before his health bar reached zero, Zhuozhuo pointed at it and shouted, "Bad guy! So many people want to beat you up! Kill you! Uncle Dade, come out and beat the bad guys!"
As soon as he finished speaking, a ghost monster that had disappeared suddenly appeared from nowhere, with a name on its head, and pounced on the BOSS with a scream.
["Undead Andrew" suffered revenge from "Undead Bud", HP -3062.]
Zhong Qing: “?!!!”
Because the level gap was so huge, every time he attacked the BOSS, he either missed or got single-digit results like "-2" or "-3"!
[The player "Love" has died. ]
[The player "Zhuo Zhuo" has died.]
[All dead players will be resurrected after 2048 seconds. ]
Zhuozhuo was confused. "Dad, that uncle, why is he so powerful?"
Zhong Qing was surprised, "Zhuozhuo, this is to summon the souls of the dead to help!"
After listening to Zhuozhuo's halting narration of the cutscene, Zhong Qing, who had rich gaming experience, immediately realized the importance of the undead. He tried to summon the undead to fight the BOSS together, but could not find the option. He thought that the triggering conditions had not been met, or that there was simply no such setting.
Unexpectedly, he made a mistake. He didn't need to do anything, just shout. This design is quite interesting and makes the player feel more involved, as if they were actually fighting bloody battles, crying out in despair, and then being helped by the dead. Everyone is united, determined, and their blood is boiling.
Zhong Qing said sincerely, "Zhuozhuo, when the fight starts, keep shouting and call more people."
"But Zhuozhuo only knows Uncle Dade's name."
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