Chapter Twenty-One: The Twilight of Human Affection

Just after logging in, Lu Yang’s inbox kept beeping continuously. Opening it, he found messages from the Elder Twilight.

“Little brother, could you do me a favor? I haven’t gathered all the materials you asked for yet, but we need to start the dungeon now. Can you send me the shield in advance?”

Lu Yang smiled to himself, never expecting the grand Elder Twilight would humble himself to ask for help. This was the leader of the massive 30,000-strong guild, a renowned national war commander destined for legendary fame, yet here he was asking Lu Yang for a favor.

“Is something wrong?” Lu Yang replied.

Inside the dungeon, Elder Twilight had just fallen for the third time before the first boss. Beside him, the vice guild leader, Fierce Liquor Breeze, said, “Boss, this strategy won’t work. Without a proper shield, my main tank can’t hold out.”

The tank, or MT, is the player who draws the enemy’s attention and absorbs damage. In dungeon raids, the MT is critical for survival.

Elder Twilight said, “I know, but without Lu Yang online, I can’t buy the shield. How’s the progress on Xiongba’s side? What stage are they at?”

Fierce Liquor Breeze replied, “They’ve reached the second boss of the dungeon.”

“Damn,” the old man cursed lowly. “No wonder that brat didn’t fight me for the shield this morning—he must have already advanced.”

“Boss, we can’t let Xiongba’s team clear the first dungeon first. This achievement will be announced across the entire game, and it will greatly affect future player recruitment.”

“I understand,” Elder Twilight said anxiously, but helplessly. Every major guild was scrambling for this first achievement. As soon as any shield appeared, it was snapped up before Elder Twilight could find it. Getting in touch with Lu Yang was a stroke of luck.

Just as he fretted, a message from Lu Yang arrived.

“Little brother, you’re online!” Elder Twilight exclaimed excitedly.

“What’s going on?” Lu Yang asked.

“Don’t ask,” Elder Twilight quickly explained the setbacks in the dungeon.

“Who would have thought the dungeons in The Second World would be so tough? This is only an ordinary level 3 dungeon, yet our 20 most elite players can’t even beat the first boss. What kind of nonsense is this?” Elder Twilight grumbled.

Lu Yang wasn’t surprised. To prevent players from leveling too fast and to slow down equipment depreciation, The Second World restricted the supply of gear and increased dungeon difficulty. Even an ordinary level 3 dungeon required 20 players to coordinate, and solid equipment was essential—especially for the main tank. Without the right gear, the boss was unbeatable.

“I can give you the shield first. Have someone meet me outside the No. 7 Inn in East City. I’ll be waiting there,” Lu Yang said. He trusted Elder Twilight wouldn’t cheat him with the equipment.

Elder Twilight had been worried Lu Yang might refuse, agonizing over how to negotiate payment or a deposit. He sensed Lu Yang didn’t care much about money, and if he offered cash, Lu Yang would refuse. Yet he feared that asking for nothing would also cause rejection. Unexpectedly, Lu Yang trusted his character so much that he agreed without any collateral.

“Little brother, thanks for your help. I owe you one. If you ever need anything from me, I’ll do my best,” Elder Twilight said.

That was exactly what Lu Yang wanted to hear. “Got it, I’ll remember.”

“Wait for me a moment; I’ll send someone now,” Elder Twilight messaged, then turned to Fierce Liquor Breeze, “Go to the No. 7 Inn in East City. Lu Yang is online and agreed to lend us the shield.”

“Great! I’m heading there now.” Fierce Liquor Breeze took out a Town Portal Scroll and instantly teleported back to the main city.

Town Portal Scrolls were rare items, not sold by the system but dropped occasionally by small monsters. The teleport location was fixed at the spawn point’s plaza.

From the plaza to the No. 7 Inn in East City was no more than two minutes. Soon, Lu Yang saw a young man running over—he recognized him as the player who had followed Elder Twilight earlier that morning.

“Master, I’m here!” Fierce Liquor Breeze called out.

Lu Yang waved and said, “You must be Fierce Liquor Breeze.”

“That’s me. Elder Twilight sent me.”

Fierce Liquor Breeze sent a trade request while speaking. Lu Yang checked the name and placed the Young Dragon Battle Shield on the trade window.

Seeing the shield’s stats, Fierce Liquor Breeze’s eyes lit up. He quickly accepted the trade and said, “Master, thank you so much. With this shield, we finally have hope of clearing the dungeon.”

Lu Yang smiled. “Good luck.”

“Thanks for the encouragement!” Fierce Liquor Breeze hurried back to the dungeon, said a few words, then left.

After seeing Fierce Liquor Breeze off, Lu Yang typed the code of the helmet he had sold to Xiao Liang into the friend search bar.

Originally, this helmet code was designed by the game company to help players find each other. Unexpectedly, many players began exchanging codes casually to make new friends, turning this feature into a kind of social network.

Entering “0019852476,” Lu Yang saw the name Black Armored Warrior.

“That kid, still using that name,” Lu Yang chuckled. Xiao Liang had chosen the same name in his previous life.

Meanwhile, Xiao Liang had rushed outside the main city, joining the monster-hunting crowd. After the first day, the number of players in the level 1 wild monster zone hadn’t decreased; it had grown.

As an ambitious youth, Xiao Liang had dreamed of dominating the game ever since he heard about its launch. He had vowed that if he got the game helmet, he would do everything to level up and become a top gold farmer.

But now, looking at the huge map’s level 1 monster zone, where nearly four players stood on every square meter of the verdant grassland, each newly spawned monster was instantly attacked by six or seven wooden swords. Snatching a monster required not just speed but luck. If you roamed too far, you couldn’t hit the monster; if you were slow, you missed out. To level up, you had to kill hundreds of these wild monsters. Thinking of this, Xiao Liang felt utterly frustrated.

“Why is this so hard?” Xiao Liang sighed and opened the ranking list. Seeing that the top player—named Lu Yang—had already reached level 4, he sighed again.

“Ugh, I really don’t know how that guy leveled up so fast... Strange, he has the same name as my boss,” Xiao Liang muttered.

At that moment, a friend request popped up—from a player named Lu Yang.

Xiao Liang compared the names and confirmed they were identical. He quickly accepted, excitedly saying, “Boss, are you the number one on the leaderboard?”

Lu Yang smiled. “Of course.”