For the past two days, He Yucheng had been grinding quests nonstop with Lengjiang. Due to version restrictions on quest progression, some shortcut leveling methods he’d used during beta testing were unavailable. They had no choice but to complete quests diligently, run basic dungeons for XP, then continue quests once they hit the required level…

He Yucheng had always wondered why Lengjiang never did daily quests or farmed item-drop dungeons. Her reply was simple: "Buy what I need. Dungeon runs are boring."

Another puzzle nagged at him: during their dungeon runs, he’d never seen Lengjiang use any offensive Cursers skills. Her explanation? "PvP’s useless—I’d never land a hit anyway. So I never learned any."

This made He Yucheng curious about how she’d leveled up initially. Then he remembered Xiaoye and instantly understood.

Over these two days, He Yucheng alternated between quests and sightseeing with Lengjiang. They chatted and laughed constantly. Since both spent entire days gaming, time flew. Amid relentless chases and hideouts, He Yucheng finally hit level 20—the day of the boss scramble arrived.

That morning, Song Qian brought breakfast for Churan. After wolfing it down, they booted up their computers.

He Yucheng was now level 20. Though still unable to learn UltimateArt skills or unleash devastating moves, he’d maxed out basic damage abilities. Mid-tier and advanced skills? Only level one each.

Sticking to Radiant Imperial City’s main quests, he always logged off hidden in crowds. Logging in sparsely populated zones meant instant aggro. Staying incognito was simply smarter…

He weaved through the sea of players at the city gates, then used Mirror Image to slip into empty terrain. Darting around clusters of avatars, he hurried out of the city.

Beyond the south gate stretched endless grasslands. He Yucheng stuck to tall grass for cover. The path stayed clear until he reached a barren wasteland.

Before him lay a vast desert dotted with hulking sandworms—level 40 monsters—crawling across dunes. He Yucheng scratched his head. Their "Sand Spray" skill had insane range. Worse, they swarmed densely, gliding through sand like fish in water. Even sprinting couldn’t outpace them.

The real nightmare? Their aggro radius covered the *entire* desert. Normal mobs gave up after 50-100 meters. But sandworms? Once tagged, they’d hunt you across the wasteland—even if you vanished from sight.

*How big is this desert?* He Yucheng estimated it’d take at least ten minutes of nonstop sprinting to cross.

Still, he had to try…

Except someone had positioned the sandworms like a living tripwire. No matter his path, he’d trigger pursuit.

Detour? There *were* no detours.

Time was running out. Level penalties slashed his damage. Killing one sandworm would take a full minute—and he had less than an hour before the boss spawned.

*Screw it… They’re probably all gathered by now. We’ll fight together… Damn it, why won’t Lengjiang learn offensive skills?*

As a Weapon Wielder, his attacks were small-scale. If he sprinted through here… he’d drag nearly a hundred sandworms behind him.

*Why am I constantly being hunted in this game?*

Grim-faced, He Yucheng charged forward. *Cross that bridge when I get there. Worst case, I sprint from one end of the desert to the other…*

Three…

Two…

One…

***"HOLY MOTHER OF—!!!"***

A sandstorm erupted in one desert corner. He Yucheng sprinted ahead, face ashen—not from the sun, but from sheer terror at the *four hundred* sandworms surging behind him.

He’d braced for a hundred pursuers. Four hundred was apocalyptic.

Tears of frustration stung his eyes. He’d swapped to his "Stellar Guardian" gear, exploiting its glitch-like evasion boost to survive. Ten sandworms could bury him in sand. Four hundred? Certain death.

Mid-sprint, he spotted a boulder field ahead. Like a drowning man spotting driftwood, he veered toward it.

"Yo, boss—something’s coming!" Four players hiding behind rocks gaped as a wall of sand roared toward them.

"What the hell is that?" A gray-cloaked player squinted into the distance…

He Yucheng didn’t hesitate. Terrain was terrain. He barreled past the four, then skidded backward. "Run!" he yelled before bolting away.

The quartet froze, bewildered. A gust of wind whipped past—followed by a second, far deadlier gale.

"Huh?"

The cloaked player glanced back. His blood ran cold. *Four hundred sandworms.* He abandoned his squad and sprinted for his life. "WAIT FOR ME!" he screamed at He Yucheng’s retreating back.

The other three turned—just as the sandstorm swallowed them. When the dust settled, only three corpses remained…

"Huh? What’s up?" He Yucheng slowed slightly at the shout.

The cloaked player caught up, matching his stride. "Dude, what’s this? Revenge on society?"

"Nah. Just passing through. They kinda… followed." He Yucheng kept his eyes forward, arms pumping rhythmically.

"My squad’s toast! Don’t you know Gulan Wasteland’s spawning a world boss today? Mobs are extra aggressive." The cloaked player’s casual tone shattered as He Yucheng suddenly blinked sideways with Displacement Skills. Glancing back, he saw sandworms inches away—then frantically mirrored the dodges.

"Dude! You ruined our plan! What now?" He kept glancing at the relentless swarm.

"Me? Just here for the boss loot. Hahaha…" He Yucheng forced a laugh, guilt prickling his neck.

"Hey—same! Team up?" The player checked He Yucheng’s ID, then jerked his chin. "You won’t stab me?"

He Yucheng blinked. After days of paranoia, this trust felt alien. "Why would I? We’ve got no beef. And honestly? I might not even win a fight against you. Shared goal? Stronger together." The cloaked player blinked again, widening the gap between them and the horde.

He Yucheng almost believed him—until he remembered the *five hundred* sandworms now chasing them. *Boss? What boss?*

"Later! How do we kill these things?!" The sandstorm showed no sign of slowing. Escape seemed impossible without leaving the desert.

"No clue. I’m a Weapon Wielder too. Wish we had high-level Cursers spamming ‘Blazing Impact’." The player shrugged. "You know any strong Cursers? That’s why you dared enter, right?"

"Nope." He Yucheng shut that down fast. Their only Cursers—Lengjiang—only knew support skills.

"Hey, Moonshadow—your UltimateArt is ‘Flash Strike,’ right?" He Yucheng had glimpsed the player’s ID: Moonshadow Dustriver. Since he’d used He Yucheng’s name freely, He Yucheng dropped the formalities.

"Huh? Why?" He Yucheng suddenly accelerated. Moonshadow glanced back—a sandwave nearly grazed his heels. He yelped, executing a Charged Thrust to catch up.

"If you have Flash Strike, build combo points. I’ll kite them. One flash could wipe dozens. Saves time." He Yucheng panted between strides.

"Ah! Sorry—I learned ‘Meteor Sword’ instead." Moonshadow snapped his fingers.

"*What?!* Why Meteor Sword?! It hasn’t been buffed yet! It’s trash! Hardly ever hits!" He Yucheng knew the skill was still weak, unchanged from pre-patch forums.

"I know." Moonshadow grinned.

He Yucheng’s eye twitched. "Then WHY?!"

"*Style*, man! A swordsman’s creed is *coolness*!" Moonshadow flashed a thumbs-up.

*‘Cool’? I’ll show you COOL—* He Yucheng’s mental scream died as he spotted a massive boulder field ahead.

"Uh… we’re here." His voice cracked. *Please don’t let Xiaoye murder me…*

Behind him, the sandworm army had swelled to five hundred.

…

"Sis… *Sister*?! What are you doing here?!" A petite girl in a pink-and-white kimono gaped at a purple-clad woman leaning against a colossal boulder.

"Boss run. Problem?" Xiaoye arched a brow at Lengjiang.

"…" (Song Qian’s ID: Recomposed Words. He stayed silent, awestruck by the two top-ranked players.)

The trio sensed tremors. They turned toward the desert—and froze. A monstrous sandstorm advanced.

"*Heeeelp…*" He Yucheng waved weakly from the storm’s edge, his smile brittle as he stumbled toward the rocks.