Very quickly, the group of four walked up to Lin Bei.
Among the four, apart from the man who had greeted him first, there were two other men and one woman. Judging by their outfits… Lin Bei felt the vibe of a VRMMO growing stronger.
The remaining pair—a man and a woman—both held magic staves, each topped with a gem that glowed red with fire and blue with frost respectively.
Clearly, if this were a game, they would be 100-percent Mage-class players.
The last person carried all sorts of ammo and firearms at his waist; obviously, like Lin Bei's former self, he was an Ammunition Expert.
Looking at the party composition, Lin Bei felt lost, his mind blank for a moment.
"This… is definitely the Underworld? Where's the black mist? The extinguished Bonfires? Where did everything go?"
"And… what's with this VRMMO déjà-vu?"
Lin Bei swept his gaze over the group and, after studying them closely, discovered that, just like in a game, each of them had a name floating above their heads.
The burly middle-aged greatsword user even had a title above his name: Monster Bane.
"Buddy, what do you say—want to join us?"
The Ammunition Expert Battle Tyrannosaurus asked with a grin, "Don't worry if you're not a tank; our captain's tough enough to hold the line."
"Exactly! Handsome little bro, you look so cute—join the party and big sis will look after you. I'm a hidden-class Ice Mage!"
The only woman in the party, Survivor Vanilla Nemo, batted her big watery eyes at Lin Bei, voice dripping with charm.
"Captain, this kid looks pale—probably a total rookie. If we pull him in… is that wise? We're about to tackle the Dark Forest Instance Dungeon; the mobs there hit hard. Dragging dead weight will hurt."
The Fire Mage named Yīlù Zhǒu Hǎo frowned as he spoke.
His eyes toward Lin Bei carried scrutiny and doubt.
"All right, quiet down—listen up."
The middle-aged greatsword uncle, Eighth-Level Great Gale, cut in. "We've already lost three days over the Dark Forest issue. If I'm not mistaken, this little brother is a newbie entering a King-Level Dungeon World for the first time."
"You all know there's a protection mechanism for rookies here."
"And if we act as his Guides, the monsters inside the Dark Forest will scale down. So—set your biases aside and heed my advice."
After saying that, Eighth-Level Great Gale glanced pointedly at the still-frowning Fire Mage Yīlù Zhǒu Hǎo.
"Fine, no objections here."
The male Fire Mage nodded, then added, "But Captain, don't be too sure—he might not even accept your invitation."
As expected, once his words fell, the place went dead silent.
"A-hem, well… little brother, you heard me—would you mind us becoming your Guides?"
Eighth-Level Great Gale cleared his throat and hurried on, "Don't worry; we can sign a Guide Agreement. Once it takes effect, we're obligated to keep you safe for ten days."
"As a newcomer, you must have plenty of questions; as Guides we'll answer basic survival queries free of charge."
"In return, you'll temporarily join my Wildwind Squad and clear the mobs in various Mist Areas with us."
"In short, we both get what we need. Of course, your share of the loot won't be touched."
"All of this can be written into the contract."
After he finished, Eighth-Level Great Gale looked at Lin Bei expectantly.
Lin Bei pondered a moment, then asked curiously, "I'd like to know—how did you figure I'm a rookie?"
"Haha, simple—you gave off two tells."
The Ammunition Expert Battle Tyrannosaurus spoke up. "First, your expression was shocked; veterans wouldn't be stunned by the scenery. Everyone's the same the first time they enter a King-Level Dungeon World—we're teleported to a random central plaza outside the city. I freaked out too."
"As for the second tell…"
Battle Tyrannosaurus pointed above his own head and grinned. "First-timers have to open the Attribute Panel to toggle whether to show name, title, level, and class. You've got nothing above your head. Couple that with your reaction, and bingo—we knew you were new."
That's pretty much it."
"So, now that I've answered, how about telling me your class?"
Battle Tyrannosaurus looked at Lin Bei, full of anticipation.
Among the four in Wildwind Squad, he was the most junior, and with his lively personality he was eager for a rookie little brother to join.
That way he'd no longer be the team's junior.
"Same as you—Ammunition Expert."
Lin Bei, now in the know, answered calmly.
Facing Battle Tyrannosaurus's question, he said "Ammunition Expert" without batting an eye.
"What? You're an Ammunition Expert too? Haha, what a coincidence! Don't worry, bro—I'm a seasoned one, already over level 50. Ask me anything; I'll teach you how to become a proper Ammunition Expert."
Battle Tyrannosaurus beamed, thumbing his chest in self-recommendation.
"Uh…"
Lin Bei fell silent.
Glancing at the Attribute Panel where "Ammunition Dominator" had fused into a single super-skill, he silently mourned the enthusiastic ammo-bro for two seconds.
A level-50-plus Ammunition Expert was nothing to him.
Yet his intuition told him these people bore him no ill will—except for that Fire Mage called "Yīlù Zhǒu Hǎo".
After a closer look, Lin Bei understood.
This guy named "Yīlù Zhǒu Hǎo" kept stealing glances at the Ice Mage beside him, Vanilla Nemo, looking every bit the love-struck fool.
"Well, well—turns out he's worried my good looks will steal his secret crush once I join the party."
"Heh, interesting."
Lin Bei chuckled inwardly and turned to the nervous middle-aged man.
Truthfully, having just arrived, he did need intel on this King-Level Dungeon World, so… temporarily joining their squad wasn't an issue.
But if they thought they could lower the Instance Dungeon's difficulty by exploiting his newbie status… they were in for disappointment.
After all, his Combat Power had already surpassed a hundred million; even with newbie protection, the enemies he'd attract were far beyond what this four-man team could handle.
He lacked scouting skills, but his fused Combat skill "God of War"—born from Super Intuition and others—let him gauge their strength at a glance.
Among them, the strongest was clearly the middle-aged leader; his aura felt about equal to Big Black's—roughly five hundred thousand Combat Power.
The rest were weaker: the fire and Ice Mages barely hit four hundred thousand, while the Ammunition Expert, the weakest, didn't even reach three hundred thousand.
Still, Lin Bei swept the ammo and guns strapped to the man and reckoned that, fully armed, Battle Tyrannosaurus could punch up to about four hundred thousand Combat Power.
"All right, I'll join your squad for now—let's sign the contract."
Lin Bei broke the silence outright.
Everyone except the Fire Mage brightened on the spot.
They signed; a golden thread descended from the sky, whisked the contract into the deep vault of heaven, and vanished.
"Done. The world will recognizes the pact. Anyone breaching it within ten days will be punished accordingly."
Eighth-Level Great Gale exhaled in relief. "We'll prep our gear and head to the Dark Forest to take down the Shadow Cat Demon King."
If anything's unclear, ask me—if I know, I'll explain."
He quickly assigned tasks; the others dispersed to gather supplies and gear.
"You've been stuck here for days? Won't that ruin your schedules outside?"
Lin Bei voiced his first doubt.
"Ah, that! We've spent days inside, but time density differs—ten days here equals one day outside."
"Looks like ages here, yet barely half a day passes out there."
"I'm rushing because I want to get back before the day ends and claim Survival World rewards."
Eighth-Level Great Gale smiled and explained.
Lin Bei nodded, suddenly enlightened.
"Once Combat Power tops one hundred thousand, Survivors can open the King-Level Dungeon World portal. You can idle safely in the main city; many prefer that over the endless struggle outside."
Survivors get three daily entries; death Teleports you back to your island—no true death."
"Wait—dying here isn't real death?"
Lin Bei was stunned.
If he recalled right, Big Black had said otherwise.
"Yes. Didn't your island Guide tell you? Those of us who cleared Phase-One survival earn the Survival World gods' favor and rule protection."
"So death here only costs some Combat Power, not life."
"Of course, that's if you still have entries left; run out and die… and it's permanent."
"Well, not quite—you merge with this world and become a Disqualified One."
"Know about Disqualified Ones?"
He pointed to stall-keepers outside the square. "Those are Reborn Ones evolved from Disqualified Ones."
"After absorbing enough lifeblood or meeting hidden conditions, a Disqualified One can promote to Reborn One—basically an NPC in the King-Level world."
"They supposedly have their own advancement paths, but what comes next… I don't know."
Lin Bei sighed inwardly.
Seems he'd wronged Big Black; only Phase-Two Survivors got death protection here.
A Phase-One newbie crashing into a King-Level Dungeon World… death was final.
"So how do you normally leave—suicide every time?"
"Of course not! We use spatial nodes. Each day one or more spawn randomly; step through and you're home."
"But… these spatial nodes are usually seized by the powerful factions of the main city as soon as they appear; ordinary people have to pay a set amount of resources if they want to Teleport through them."
"Or… get through the node before those Major Powers arrive, or be strong enough to join one of them—then you can use the nodes free of charge."
"It's just a pity our squad's strength is limited; those Major Powers don't think much of us, so getting home will most likely cost us resources."
"Generally speaking, the fee for one person is five star stones."
Eighth-Level Great Gale gave a bitter smile.
With his current 510,000 Combat Power he could easily join any of the Major Powers, but if he left, the Wildwind Squad would fall apart.
So he'd stayed, planning to raise every teammate past 500,000 before they joined a faction together.
"Isn't there any other way?"
Lin Bei frowned at the news.
He hadn't expected a mere Underworld to become so troublesome just because Survivors had gathered.
As for the star stones required for the fee—those were products of the second-stage Survival World, and he had none.
Even if he did, he wouldn't hand them over.
After all, Aleria had said the lucky goddess's pendant could be repaired by absorbing energy from star stones.
So the issue of spatial nodes gave him a headache.
Eighth-Level Great Gale had just said that in this world second-stage Survivors couldn't truly die.
That meant killing them wouldn't trigger the Plunder System or drop their belongings.
It left him feeling shackled.
"Well, there is one other way, but…"
"Fine, since you want to know—found a force recognized by the world will and you can have your own faction node."
"A faction node is stable and won't vanish."
"But creating a faction… is incredibly hard."
"First, the leader needs ten million Combat Power."
"As for the rest of the conditions—forget it."
Eighth-Level Great Gale sighed, patted Lin Bei's shoulder and laughed. "We can't compare with the backed bigshots; let's just grind and grow stronger."
"With luck we might join a Major Power and live better lives."
"Wait—if founding a faction gives you your own node, why grab the random ones?"
"Hah, what else? To squeeze more resources from other Survivors! Wherever you go it's the same: the strong prey on the weak."
"The Survival World just puts that ugliness right in front of everyone, that's all."
Bitterness and resignation filled Eighth-Level Great Gale's voice.
He seemed a completely different person from the cheerful optimist of moments ago.
Lin Bei pondered, then slowly nodded.
"You're right."
He took a bottle of Perfect Quality baijiu from his kun bag, produced two jade cups, poured and handed one over with a grin. "Fancy a couple of shots?"
"Sure, let's drink!"
Eighth-Level Great Gale snapped out of it, raised his cup and downed it.
A surge of tremendous power promptly welled up inside him.
"Holy—! Bro, what grade is this liquor? It's insane!"
"Like it? I can give you a bottle."
Lin Bei waggled the flask and shared the item info for the Perfect Quality baijiu.
"Wha—Perfect! D-damn, you…!"
"Shh—let's deal: I need star stones. How many can a bottle like this fetch?"
After mulling it over, Lin Bei decided he had to get his hands on some star stones.
They could repair the pendant's durability, yet he couldn't loot them by killing other Survivors.
So fair trade seemed the best option… In the golden hall, Aleria stared at the screen showing Lin Bei's newly sprouted hair and groaned, "Why can't this guy figure it out? I'm dying here!"
"The protection is also a shackle! You're a stowaway—you're not bound by those rules! If you kill them, they stay dead!"
"Hmph, all that work to open a path into the King-Level Dungeon World—wasted!"
"And that idiot Big Black—how could he forget to tell him something so vital!"
"He's recovered a lot lately and gotten cocky; looks like he needs a reminder!"
Aleria shut the display and paced the hall, pondering how to pass the message to Lin Bei.
Time flowed differently in the King-Level Dungeon World; the sooner he knew, the better.
"Wait… why does it feel off? That kid—he's gotten noticeably stronger?"
Aleria frowned, recalling Lin Bei's appearance on the screen in disbelief.
"Whatever, let him grow. Even if he breaks ten million Combat Power, he can't possibly hit a hundred million after a few days away, right?"
Absolutely impossible!