The other party's change in attitude was too sudden. Even Qin Chuan himself didn't have time to react before his character was already lying on the ground. The screen flashed red, and the message "You have been knocked down by player Shield of Zeus" appeared.

He subconsciously clicked 'revive.' After spending some copper coins, his character stood up from the ground, recovering half his health at the same time.

Almost at the same time, "Shield of Zeus" charged over again.

Qin Chuan was already prepared. He dodged, causing the opponent's lunge to miss, but the tail end of the sword qi still scraped off a layer of his health.

His character was instantly left with only ten percent of his health.

This was the gap between high combat power and low combat power.

Qin Chuan had already experienced this kind of gap when he was insta-killed by "You Get On My Nerves" before.

Even though his control skills had improved a lot, when the gap in realm and combat power between the two sides was too large, it was still an effortless matter for the enemy to insta-kill him.

What's more, the skills of "Shield of Zeus" couldn't be considered bad.

Just as he was about to be killed again, Qin Chuan had already prepared himself to stay down, when the shadow of an arrow came whistling past. It flew over his head and directly pierced the opponent's.

Swoosh, the opponent's health dropped by more than half!

Qin Chuan quickly healed himself to full health.

In those two seconds, the main characters on the battlefield had become "Shield of Zeus" and "Peppermint Tea."

"Peppermint Tea" played a ranged class. An archer had to maintain distance, dealing maximum damage to the enemy from the furthest official range allowed.

Although this class was also equipped with a dagger, the dagger was ultimately a secondary skill, and its damage wasn't as high as that of other melee classes.

Right now, however, "Peppermint Tea" abandoned his bow, switched to his dagger while running, and swept towards "Shield of Zeus."

"Shield of Zeus" quickly pulled away and sent his longsword flying, but he misjudged "Peppermint Tea's" position, and his AoE skill missed. "Peppermint Tea" seemed to have anticipated that the opponent would use an AoE skill, landing just on the very edge of the skill's maximum range, perfectly avoiding the attack.

Qin Chuan almost wanted to cheer out loud!

This dodge from "Peppermint Tea" was clearly not a coincidence or good luck, but a judgment call based on familiarity with the opponent's skills. For ordinary players, reaching the operational level of someone like "Eight Whiskers" was already quite impressive. Only professional players or streamers would, based on the vague descriptions provided by the officials, tirelessly test the range and power of game skills over and over again.

Obviously, "Peppermint Tea" not only knew his own class's skills by heart, but he had also put a lot of effort into studying other classes and schools. This was definitely not just armchair strategy learned from watching videos.

So, even though there was a realm gap between him and "Shield of Zeus," the two could still skirmish for a while. "Shield of Zeus" couldn't gain the upper hand for a moment, and was even seized by "Peppermint Tea" as an opportunity to leap up and pounce on him.

"Shield of Zeus" was startled. Thinking the enemy wanted to assassinate him with the dagger, he quickly pulled back to the maximum distance. Who would have thought that at this moment, "Peppermint Tea" would draw his bow with the speed of a thunderclap that leaves no time to cover one's ears. His actions were so fast that before anyone could see clearly, the arrow had already pierced through the skull of "Shield of Zeus"!

One arrow, one kill!

"Shield of Zeus" slowly fell to the ground.

The surroundings fell silent.

For the next three or four seconds, not a single person spoke or typed.

Even "Shield of Zeus" himself seemed stunned by this turn of events, utterly disbelieving that he had actually lost to a Core Formation realm player—although "Peppermint Tea" had a reputation, before experiencing it firsthand, people would always harbor some doubt.

"Shield of Zeus" was confident his skills weren't bad. Even if he couldn't kill "Peppermint Tea," he shouldn't have been reverse-killed by him.

This time, he had truly lost a great deal of face.

The two players on the best terms with "Shield of Zeus" came to their senses, enabled PK mode, and rushed "Peppermint Tea."

The three random players who had temporarily joined the team had quietly left at some point, not wanting to get involved in this chaos.

As for the others, perhaps feeling that they were in the wrong, or perhaps wanting to continue watching the drama unfold, they neither joined in nor left the team, but instead hid far away, watching the commotion from a corner.

Seeing this, Qin Chuan and "Eight Whiskers" also joined the fray.

With more people, the scene became even more chaotic. No matter how good one's positioning and technique were, they no longer mattered as much.

There were three people on the opposing side, and three on Qin Chuan's side, but the opponent's average combat power was much higher than theirs. The disadvantage was obvious.

That night, Qin Chuan couldn't remember how many times he had died.

He just watched "Peppermint Tea" and "Eight Whiskers" fall again and again, only to get up again and again.

Like candles refusing to be easily extinguished, they struggled to survive in the wind, desperately clinging to the last bit of wick, refusing to let go.

In the end, this whole affair was caused by Qin Chuan.

He private messaged the other two, telling "Peppermint Tea" and "Eight Whiskers" to leave the instance dungeon directly and not to worry about him, since the other party only wanted to kill him anyway.

"Peppermint Tea's" reply to him was also concise and to the point.

You are my disciple.

The battle finally ended when the instance dungeon's closing time arrived.

The group of people was automatically kicked out of the dungeon and randomly scattered across various maps in the game.

All of "Eight Whiskers's" equipment was broken, but he was still quite excited. Talking about the earlier chaos, his mouth never stopped moving as he recounted how many kills he had reaped.

Qin Chuan typed: You guys take The Kaleidoscopic Spirit Bloom, sell it, and split the money.

Eight Whiskers: Are you stupid? A whale from another server spent thirty thousand RMB to buy this thing. Our server has more people, so it can probably sell for even more. Keep it for yourself, don't be an idiot and sell it cheap. That money is at least enough for you to properly upgrade your account!

Peppermint Tea: Mmm, keep it for yourself. You earned it in the first place. If they come looking for you again, don't say anything, just tell them to come find me.

He was planning to shoulder all the responsibility himself.

To be honest, it wasn't that Qin Chuan had never met people who weren't greedy.

But among those who, when he offered to split the money, refused outright without even being tempted, there were only "Eight Whiskers" and "Peppermint Tea."

Judging from their responses and typing speed, neither of them had hesitated at all.

"Peppermint Tea" even proactively took responsibility.

The virtual nature of the game naturally magnifies human nature.

Take "Shield of Zeus" from just now. In reality, even if he envied someone for winning a huge lottery prize, he definitely wouldn't just go and rob them.

But in the game, he had no such scruples. After Qin Chuan refused to sell the item to him, he killed them over and over again, trying to make Qin Chuan submit.

Unfortunately for him, he had run into Qin Chuan.

Let's not even mention that Qin Chuan had a main account he hadn't revealed. Even if he didn't, it would have been impossible for him to back down or humble himself before "Shield of Zeus."

On the contrary, the opponent's rampant arrogance only served to highlight how rare and valuable his master and "Eight Whiskers" were.

Qin Chuan had originally wanted to confess to them that he had a main account.

After asking for his location, "Peppermint Tea" rushed over. With a bow on his back, he descended from the sky, landing gracefully beside Qin Chuan.

He didn't say anything, but his actions clearly showed his intention to protect him personally.

Somehow, Qin Chuan suddenly dismissed the idea. He deleted the words he had already typed, one by one, and replaced them with something new.

Qin Chuan: Master, that guy came to private message me again, asking if I'll sell. He said it was an ultimatum. I reckon this matter won't be over so quickly.

This "Master" was probably the most sincere one he had called out since he started playing this game.

Peppermint Tea: Mmm, Shield of Zeus's reputation wasn't very good to begin with. For the next few days, stick with me whenever you're online. Try not to act alone. Later, I'll find you a reliable buyer. As far as I know, the top ten players in the Nascent Soul realm on this server should all want this item, and they can afford the price. Once you've sold your item, there'll be no point in Zeus hunting you anymore.

Qin Chuan: I'll send you guys red packets once I sell it.

Peppermint Tea sent a laughing emoji: If you really want to thank us, just upgrade your account properly so you can deal more damage in dungeons in the future.

Qin Chuan: If that Zeus wants to kill me, just let him. My account isn't worth much anyway, so it doesn't matter if I get killed a few more times.

Peppermint Tea: You are my disciple, so you are my responsibility. Getting killed in a game doesn't really do anything, but it still affects your mood, right? Besides, you did nothing wrong. Why should you be treated like this?

Qin Chuan asked himself if he had such a sense of justice and responsibility. If "Peppermint Tea" were his disciple, he probably would have, at most, lent a casual hand. It would be impossible for him to be so utterly devoted and dutiful.

But, to say he wasn't moved or touched in the slightest would be impossible.

Qin Chuan: Didn't you have a problem with your job last time? Don't let this matter delay your real-life affairs and cause you to lose your livelihood.

Peppermint Tea: It's fine. I'm back in a familiar position now, and work is much easier to manage. Last time, I got in someone's way and was set up, but it was also my own fault for being careless.

Qin Chuan: Master, what industry are you in? Is it convenient to say?

The last time "Eight Whiskers" asked about "Peppermint Tea," Qin Chuan had little interest and was absent-minded, not participating in the discussion at all.

This time was different.

It was the first time he had become interested in the person behind a virtual character in a game.

In Qin Chuan's view, people with outstanding abilities were everywhere, but those with good character were few and far between. Even if the gap between him and "Peppermint Tea" in real life was huge, this person was still someone worth befriending.

When he heard "Peppermint Tea" say that he worked in the real estate industry, Boss Qin, who had always prided himself on acting impartially, asked for the first time ever: How about I introduce you to a new job, also in real estate? The compensation will definitely be better than what you have now.

Peppermint Tea was very surprised: You're going to introduce me to a job? Aren't you just a teenager?

Only then did Qin Chuan remember that after using the gender-change pill, when he was becoming his disciple, he had casually spun a tale for "Peppermint Tea," saying he was a teenager and still in school.

He figured that in the other person's mind, Qin Chuan was just like his in-game female character: a quiet, well-behaved little girl.

It feels good to lie in the moment, but covering it up is a nightmare.

The words were already out, and it was difficult to take them back.

Qin Chuan was silent for half a second, then typed another line without a change in expression.

Yeah, it's my dad's company. He's in real estate. I'm a rich, pretty girl.