Chapter Sixty: Having Settled Matters, He Takes His Leave

Defeating the final boss of the labyrinth took more than half an hour, but its respawn time was a full day. After distributing the loot, Zhao Nan led the group through the fifth floor of the labyrinth for an entire day, waiting for the boss to reappear the next day—slaying it once more. They spent another day wandering the corridors, and finally, upon reaching the entrance to the fifth floor, both the "Purgatory" and "Guardian Knights" guilds appeared simultaneously.

They bore few injuries, suggesting they had cooperated to defeat the fourth-floor gatekeeper. A trace of impatience could be seen on Ximen Yu’s face.

Zhao Nan, after quietly observing for a while, turned his gaze to the members of the "Guardian Knights." Their condition was much like that of "Purgatory." This was also Zhao Nan’s first time closely observing the president of the Guardian Knights, Nanyang Sheng.

He was a man with a scar at the corner of his right eye, hair cropped to five inches standing upright, and features so soft they almost seemed feminine. On his back rested a sword as massive as a door plank.

He was exactly as Zhao Nan had heard in the legends of Nanyang Sheng—especially that colossal sword, the symbol of the Earth Swordmaster class.

At that moment, Nanyang Sheng suddenly turned to look at the shadowy corridor ahead. Here, in a world dim as nighttime, one had to light torches or similar items to see the way forward.

This was precisely where Zhao Nan was hiding.

Nanyang Sheng’s wife frowned, but Zhao Nan had already slipped away from that spot.

His perception was remarkable. Zhao Nan moved swiftly through the maze, leaving the mark of the "World’s End" guild at certain points as he went.

As he traveled, he started recalling things he knew.

Historically, "Purgatory" was the first guild established in Dongyuan City. Ximen Yu’s origins were shrouded in mystery; it was only known that before the world transformed into a game, he was a young noble, an heir to a fortune beyond counting. But when the world became a game, his assets vanished overnight… And yet, he quickly gathered power in this new world—a mystery in itself.

As for "Blood Shadow," it was only because of Zhao Nan that they were able to take the lead for a time. The guild’s predecessor was a new recruit training camp outside Dongguan’s suburbs. Most members were rookies, trained for a year or two, indoctrinated with red ideology. It was no surprise that after the world’s transformation, they remained united.

Nanyang Sheng’s past was equally murky. It was rumored that, before the great catastrophe, he was a felon who had murdered an entire wealthy family.

Yet history was changing in unknown ways. The order of Dongyuan City had been thrown into chaos by Zhao Nan from the very start, and even he could not see what the future might hold. But one thing was certain:

"Blood Shadow" had now exited the stage of the future.

...

Zhao Nan soon located Gao Mingyang and the others, who were still leveling up. This time he did not hold back; with the power of the Ancient Arcanist and the Sky Sword Saint unleashed, they crushed the ordinary monsters in the area and felled the boss once more before having everyone wait in place.

He then disappeared alone into the labyrinth yet again.

Finina, as the main force, remained nearby to help the others continue grinding smaller monsters.

Zhao Nan, using Stealth, the Lightness of Wind, the Listening Wind, and the Flashwing Gale, was able to avoid the respawning ordinary monsters with ease.

With the boss down and the powerful members of "Blood Shadow" wiped out in the instance, the rest posed no real threat. But Zhao Nan’s work was not yet done—he could not simply leave.

There was still an enemy left here. Zhang Tian was still out there.

...

“Hurry, there’s a mark here—see if there’s another ahead,” someone said.

This was the fifth such mark that the "Guardian Knights" had found scattered throughout the fifth-floor maze.

"Purgatory" and "Guardian Knights" had run into each other on the fourth floor, and after a brief conversation between their leaders, had decided to explore together, feeling they were already far behind "World’s End."

After much effort, they reached the fifth floor only to find another "World’s End" mark. The two guilds conferred and ultimately decided to follow the trail of these marks.

Thus, they split into small teams of three or five to search for the marks at each intersection.

“Wait—I see something! A room, it’s a room! Ha ha!” A member of the Guardian Knights couldn’t help but shout with laughter.

He pointed to a pale red door ahead, which was already slightly ajar, revealing a sliver of green light.

“Be careful—some rooms have traps,” someone warned.

“You’re too timid, Zhang Tian.” The man laughed, unconcerned. “Even if it’s a trap, as long as we don’t step inside, we’ll be fine.”

He gently pushed the door open. The green glow filled their eyes, tinting everything a strange hue.

The room was empty, save for a battered wooden chest at its center.

“My luck is truly outstanding!” the man laughed even louder.

“Should we call the others?” Zhang Tian frowned, uneasy.

“I’m telling you, if we report this, it’ll just be confiscated… Why don’t we split it among ourselves?”

It was a tempting argument. Zhang Tian’s eyes gleamed, his fingers clenching and unclenching, torn between temptation and caution.

“He’s right, Brother Tian. We found this—it’s not wrong to take it for ourselves,” urged one of his companions.

Finally, Zhang Tian leaned toward greed—especially after witnessing Zhao Nan’s strength, he felt a burning desire to become stronger himself.

“All right… but let’s still be careful,” he relented with a sigh, thinking that a treasure from the fifth-floor labyrinth might be quite extraordinary. Perhaps this was fate’s chance for him to take revenge. With that thought, Zhang Tian strode forward.

“What do you think it is? Gear? Rare items? Or a hidden class scroll? I can’t wait to find out!”

Neither can I… Zhang Tian squinted as he stepped into the room. The silence eased his nerves.

The other man was about to open the chest, and Zhang Tian’s fists clenched with excitement.

A bang sounded, and the creak of the chest opening echoed at the same moment.

Zhang Tian gasped. Monsters… The entire room began to spawn monsters.

“Ah! Brother Tian, help—”

A severed head rolled to Zhang Tian’s feet, the mouth still pressed to his boot, the eyes wide open.

“Damn it, it’s a trap! Run!” someone screamed.

“This door won’t open… I don’t want to die! Help!”

“Call the guild leader, quick!”

“Messages won’t send—voice chat isn’t working… We’re—”

Zhang Tian’s face was deathly pale. He tried to resist, but alone and outnumbered by monsters three or four levels higher—monsters that usually required a group of six to take down with difficulty—he was powerless.

All he could think was to reach the door, to see if it truly wouldn’t open.

But suddenly, he couldn’t move—something grabbed him and dragged him back into the throng…

Eventually, someone else discovered the room, opened the door, and seeing only a few half-melted corpses, cursed the fools who had entered before sending out a warning.

No one ever entered that trap room again. Someone even marked it as such, and henceforth, no one would open it.

This was where Zhang Tian’s bones would lie.

...

Zhao Nan returned to Finina’s side. The young woman wiped the sweat from her brow, giving him a half-smile.

She knew Zhao Nan would slip away to do unpleasant things alone… but she never asked about them, so long as he returned to her in the end.

Gao Mingyang and the others didn’t pry either—who didn’t have their own secrets?

“All right, this instance is over,” Zhao Nan told the group. “We’ve now cleared the path through the fifth-floor maze; soon, waves of players will flood in, and it will no longer be ours alone.”

No one objected. This dungeon run had already surpassed their wildest expectations.

“First, a bath, then a huge feast. Damn, I’m about to turn into a beggar!”

“I’m in! Me too!”

At that moment, Zhao Nan and Finina had both reached level eighteen; the others were at sixteen and a half.

^^^^^^^^^^^
PS: My group number: 236389242