Chapter 56: Second-Tier Zerg Borer Spotted Again!

I was completely astonished, mentally exclaiming that the Crimson Heaven Alliance truly lived up to its name with such profound resources and heritage!

At the current stage, player supply items were exceedingly rare and precious, especially high-end supplies like first-aid kits and medical boxes. Using a first-aid kit could heal a player's minor injuries, while a medical box could heal severe injuries!

However, these healing props could not simply be obtained from a hospital nurse; recovery items in Star Abyss required crafting by a player with the secondary profession of "Packer." By investing a large quantity of medical drugs and directly bundling them together through synthesis, one could obtain high-end recovery items such as first-aid kits and medical boxes.

Consequently, the market price of recovery items remained exorbitantly high at this stage. A single first-aid kit fetched as much as 5,000 Star Coins, while a medical box commanded a staggering sky-high price of 20,000 Star Coins!

Furthermore, there were far too few advanced Packers at present, making them unavailable even for those with money.

For Spear Like a Dragon to gift me three first-aid kits all at once was remarkably generous!

...

"Well, naturally, the more the merrier." I nodded with a smile.

"Hah, minor details!"

Spear Like a Dragon immediately opened the trade interface, handing me three first-aid kits, along with 5 adrenaline shots, a bunch of hemostatic agents, and bandages. At long last, I finally possessed a decent reserve of recovery items!

"Many thanks, Alliance Leader Long!"

I said with an excited expression, "This is truly providing charcoal in the midst of a snowstorm. Life is bitter for us solo players—where on earth could we get our hands on so many resources?"

Milk Tea Extending Life Immortal chuckled and said, "Look, this is the benefit of joining a guild. Yet you stubbornly refuse, simply because you are unrestrained and love your freedom."

I smiled awkwardly and said nothing more.

"Boss, when are we moving out?" asked the somewhat impatient-looking young man on the opposite side.

"Tomorrow,"

Spear Like a Dragon replied. "At eight in the morning, gather at the black market teleportation array, and then we will head to the Wailing Hive together. What does everyone think?"

"Agreed!"

Everyone nodded in unison.

After a slight hesitation, I nodded as well.

Shortly after, everyone dispersed to get some early rest.

On the way back, I placed a voice call to Lu Xiaobei.

"You..."

After she answered, her voice sounded somewhat fearful. "You're not planning to ask for time off again, are you?"

"Xiaobei, you're so smart..."

I nodded. "Tomorrow I'm doing some small business with these friends to earn some private pocket money. Do me a favor and cover my day shift, will you? Thanks a lot, I'll treat you to something delicious later."

"Something delicious?"

Lu Xiaobei asked in surprise. "The pie in the sky you've been drawing for me is almost filling me up; I can't possibly stomach any more delicious food."

"..."

I felt a twinge of shame. "I really mean it this time, no more pie in the sky!"

"You said it, huh~~"

"Of course!"

"Alright then, make sure you stay safe. People out there are terribly wicked these days, and there are plenty of folks who specialize in scamming acquaintances."

"Got it~~~"

...

Returning to my residence, Lin Qingying was not back from work yet.

After washing up, I fell fast asleep. When I woke up, it was already seven o'clock the next morning. I quickly got up, freshened up, bought breakfast downstairs, and ate on my way to the player black market deep within the ancient city.

In front of the phase teleportation array, Spear Like a Dragon and Milk Tea Extending Life Immortal were already there, along with two other key members. One was named Chaos Demon King, a Level 21 sword-type super warrior—the somewhat hot-tempered young man from yesterday. The other was named Lu Xun Deleted Reviews at Midnight, also a Level 21 sword-type super warrior who looked like a seasoned veteran.

The crowd from the Crimson Heaven Alliance was growing larger, all of them Tier 2 players, which showed just how terrifying this guild's strength truly was.

Not far away, some players were even pointing and whispering in this direction, their gazes filled with a mixture of awe and envy. I could even overhear their loud hushed discussions—

"It looks like the guesses of those people on the dark web were spot on. The Crimson Heaven Alliance is indeed going to challenge the Purple BOSS first kill!"

"Crap, how come even Shadow Chaser is here?"

"Isn't that normal? It's only a matter of time before a high-tier player like Shadow Chaser gets recruited by the Crimson Heaven Alliance."

"No, wait, there's no Crimson Heaven Alliance emblem under Shadow Chaser's ID. He's probably just collaborating with them for this once."

...

"Everyone is here, let's move out."

Spear Like a Dragon instructed, "Everyone listen up, select the Nightmare Roots map. The teleportation fee is 2,000 Star Coins, don't try to skimp on it. If we can secure some super rewards from this trip, there will definitely be a dividend payout within the guild!"

Instantly, everyone's expressions turned excited.

As for me, I calmly followed the crowd and teleported across.

"Whoosh!"

A flash of light appeared before my eyes, and a rich, pungent scent of decaying dead wood hit my nose. This turned out to be a Level 25-35 map, belonging to one of the current "Nightmare" grade maps.

Outside the phase teleportation array stood a simple market. The Crimson Heaven Alliance members had rented three flatbed carts. A total of thirty-plus people boarded the three carts separately: one cart led the way at the front, ten of us higher-level, high-combat-power players sat in the middle cart, and the remaining people took the third cart at the rear to provide cover. It looked extremely orderly.

By this time, everyone had switched to combat morphology, and I too revealed my health bar, cradling the blue Roarer in my arms.

"Let's divide into squads in advance."

Spear Like a Dragon said, "The main team will be divided into two groups, providing cascading cover for each other as we push deep into the map. The first group will be under my command, and the second group will be under Milk Tea's command. We will each coordinate firepower and frontline cover..."

With that, he looked at me. "Ding Han, your submachine gun is blue, right? What level is your shooting skill at now?"

"Advanced."

"Huh?"

Spear Like a Dragon slightly tightened his gaze.

One had to know that basic shooting skills were extremely difficult to upgrade. Even with infinite ammunition, aiming at targets and firing blanks would not yield skill experience. Only by landing hits on hostile targets could proficiency be generated. Therefore, the vast majority of players currently had their basic shooting skills lingering between Levels 4 and 7.

"Advanced so quickly?" Milk Tea Extending Life Immortal was taken aback. "So fast? I'm only at Level 8, and even with the boss working as hard as he does, he's only at Basic Shooting Level 9..."

"Such a freak!"

Two other team members looked at me simultaneously.

Given this situation, I dared not reveal that my advanced shooting skill was already at Level 10. That would be too hurtful to others!

"Alright."

Spear Like a Dragon only expressed a brief moment of shock before continuing, "Then Ding Han, you join Milk Tea's group, acting as the firepower output for Group 2. You don't need to tank monsters, just keep up a continuous output."

"Can do."

I nodded, feeling a slight surge of joy. Firepower output was a sweet gig; after all, the more damage dealt during the monster-killing process, the greater the returns—this was a fundamental rule in Star Abyss.

In addition, Chaos Demon King and Milk Tea Extending Life Immortal were also assigned to Group 2, along with a Level 20 Tier 2 shield-type super warrior serving as the shield bearer. Thus, the entire combat squad was formed.

As for Spear Like a Dragon's side, it consisted of four other elite players from the Crimson Heaven Alliance.

...

After bumping along in the vehicle for about two hours, it finally stopped in a desolate, bird-forsaken deep forest region.

Everyone cradled their weapons and leaped off the vehicle. Spear Like a Dragon walked ahead, pulling aside several vines in the forest with a few other players, and instantly, a cave reeking of foul corruption appeared before our eyes.

Sure enough, it was a hidden map. Ordinary people would never be able to discover a place like this!

"Let's move."

Spear Like a Dragon said in a deep voice, "Groups 2 and 3 will keep watch outside the Wailing Hive, strictly forbidding anyone from coming in to disturb our raid process. Groups 1 and 2 of the main strike team will follow me into the hive. Once inside, obey the squad leaders' commands."

"Understood!"

Everyone nodded one after another.

I clutched my submachine gun and leaped into the hive, then slowly descended. The stench and smell of decay in the air instantly grew more intense—which made sense, as hives naturally smelled this way.

...

Ahead, at the end of the subterranean cavern, appeared a blood-red portal, looking very much like the entrance of a dungeon instance.

Spear Like a Dragon walked in first, and I followed closely behind. The moment I stepped through the portal, a chime rang out in my ear:

[You have entered the hidden map [Wailing Hive]. This map is a restricted map. For every player exceeding 10 who enters, the attributes of all hostile units within the map will increase by 10%! The Wailing Hive is a secret base established by the Zerg at the edge of the Crimson Dragon Kingdom. These bugs have not fed for a long time; be careful, these famished and eager creatures will be extremely tricky!]

...

No wonder Spear Like a Dragon only organized a ten-person main force. So the map had this kind of setting.

The level of the monsters here already exceeded that of the players. If their attributes were to increase further... even a 10% boost would probably be enough to give players a hard time. If more players were to rashly enter, pushing this attribute increment to over 30%, there would simply be no point in playing—coming in would merely be sending rations to the bugs.

"Everyone be careful!"

Spear Like a Dragon clutched his submachine gun, gazing deep into the hive, where he saw endless blue starlight dots. Those dots were all egg sacs incubating zerglings, looking somewhat chilling.

The outer perimeter was entirely Tier 1 brood bugs, posing no great threat to players.

"Charge!"

Milk Tea Extending Life Immortal raised a hand and pointed forward, saying, "Trigger the brood bugs slowly, kill them batch by batch, and don't be impatient at all. Make sure your magazines are full so you don't panic when things get hectic."

Ahead, the shield-type super warrior of Group 2 was a young, robust man carrying a heavy shield glowing with a green light as he walked forward. Instantly, the spore sacs ruptured one after another, and brood bugs charged out—all of them Level 30 common monsters!

"Bang, bang, bang~~~"

The Roarer's bullets whistled through the air, and I immediately began sweeping fire. The heads of the brood bugs were simply too small, only about the size of quail eggs, making it exceedingly difficult to score headshots. Moreover, with only 1,500 health points, there was no need to aim for the head!

After a coordinated barrage of fire, a pile of brood bugs collapsed into pools of blood at our feet.

"Advanced shooting is truly fierce..."

Milk Tea Extending Life Immortal exclaimed in admiration.

"Watch out!"

I looked ahead. The shield-type super warrior of Group 2 was acting a bit rashly and had actually directly triggered a second batch of monsters. Among these monsters was a bug whose embryo shell was jade-green in color—that was no Tier 1 brood bug, but a Tier 2 baneling!

The baneling burst out of its sac, its body rolling and transforming into a green sphere as it charged straight toward us!

I was profoundly shocked, and the shadow from my initial entry into the game once again shrouded my heart—it was under this kind of baneling that General Manager Chen had perished back then!

"Careful, it's a self-detonating baneling, dammit!"

Milk Tea Extending Life Immortal cried out in alarm, "Quick, focus fire and burst it down instantly, don't let it get close!"