Chapter Seventy-Four: The Master of Plugging Holes, Foolish Huang

Those who survived were all players with displacement skills—warriors and knights dashed forward, archers leaped, mages turned ethereal—recklessly fleeing toward the rear.

“Cheeky, are you? Let me show you cheeky,” Huang Yunshuo barked, charging ahead. He fired a rocket launcher at the spot just before the players who had exhausted their displacement abilities; the blast hurled them through the air, leaving them to land in the midst of the flock of little roosters behind.

The clinking and clattering of items dropping rang out—a fate for these players that was both amusing and satisfying to witness.

Huang Yunshuo scrambled atop a small stone mound, lying low so the little roosters wouldn’t spot him. He waited patiently for them to reset once no players appeared in their sight, and for his knockback skill to cool down.

The ten little roosters, refreshed and lively, clucked back to the entrance of the mine. Huang Yunshuo poked his head out and fired a shot at the rooster leading the flock, brimming with excitement.

Two minutes later, Fox Soft led her team of players into the mine. Morning Dew Frost followed with her own group, and Huang Yunshuo brought his team in as well.

“All of you, head to that mining pit—don’t wander off,” Huang Yunshuo instructed, pointing to a not-so-large entrance that opened into a spacious mining cavern.

“Alright,” everyone nodded, thrilled as they pulled out their pickaxes and charged in, eager to begin digging, the sound of their picks echoing through the cavern.

Cradling his rocket launcher, Huang Yunshuo stood guard at the mine entrance, an unyielding sentinel, waiting for the little roosters to respawn.

Outside, over a thousand players had gathered; some ventured up the stone mound where he’d previously stood, cautiously peering his way. Seeing Huang Yunshuo blocking the mine entrance, disappointment clouded their faces.

A few assassins who had learned stealth skills pressed themselves against the mountainside, attempting to slip unnoticed into the mine.

But the entrance was only so big; Huang Yunshuo’s ears twitched, sensing something amiss. He quickly retreated a few steps and fired a shot at his previous position.

When the explosion cleared, the damage and shockwave forced the three stealthy assassin players into view.

Combo.

Seizing the nearest assassin, Huang Yunshuo switched to his iron sword and unleashed a flurry of attacks, leaving his target barely clinging to life.

Serpentine Strike.

Another assassin, farther from the cave, was stunned as Huang Yunshuo pursued him. Within a second, the first counterattack landed—four sword strikes, one critical hit, and the assassin perished on the spot.

The last assassin had learned both Stealth and Thrust, and seeing the dire situation, he lunged into the cave, widening the gap between himself and Huang Yunshuo by five meters.

Unhurried, Huang Yunshuo finished off the wounded assassin, swapped back to his rocket launcher, and fired a knockback shot ahead of the fleeing assassin.

The assassin, who’d managed to escape, suddenly felt an irresistible force push him from the front. He landed flat on his rear in a “falling wild goose” pose, crashing right at Huang Yunshuo’s feet.

Huang Yunshuo pressed the rocket launcher to the assassin’s lips and pulled the trigger.

Boom!

-152!

A critical hit and double damage triggered simultaneously; the assassin was instantly reduced to a streak of white light.

The blast’s shockwave and recoil tossed Huang Yunshuo as well, slamming him into the mountainside several meters away. As he landed, a “stun for 1 second” marker floated above his head, and bleeding damage continued to tick away.

His health, which had been at 200, dropped below 150 in the blink of an eye. Huang Yunshuo coughed twice, stood up, brushed the dust off his clothes, ignored the -3 bleeding damage per second, and nonchalantly walked to the entrance, waiting for the little roosters to respawn.

The players atop the stone mound: “……”

Their faces darkened—was this guy insane? He even blew himself up!

But no matter what, none dared to venture into the cave again. Huang Yunshuo’s savage firepower had truly frightened them.

Judging that the time was about right, Huang Yunshuo slowly moved back from the cave entrance lest the little roosters spot him immediately upon respawning.

Less than a minute later—shwoosh!

Ten little roosters respawned almost simultaneously within ten meters of the mine entrance.

Failing to see Huang Yunshuo, who had hidden away, they immediately spotted the crowd atop the stone mound and became excited, clucking and charging toward them.

“Damn!” The players on the mound were terrified, scattering in all directions. Angry curses, screams, and the sound of equipment and items dropping filled the air.

“Ha! You think you can sneak in without paying? Bunch of brats,” Huang Yunshuo sneered. With the little roosters now guarding the entrance, he had nothing to worry about.

No player could slip past their watch into the mine, so Huang Yunshuo could finally dig in peace.

He entered the mining pit where everyone was gathered, switched out his pickaxe, and surveyed the scene.

Mining favored those with high strength and constitution; agility was of little use.

With identical pickaxes, the higher one’s strength, the deeper the pick could burrow into the mine wall, increasing efficiency and ore yield. Greater constitution meant less fatigue, working hand in hand.

Few players had both high strength and constitution like Huang Yunshuo.

Take Morning Dew Frost, for instance—her intelligence and agility growth meant she had invested most of her stats into strength, leaving her with only 140 health, not much higher than the average player. Her mining speed couldn’t compare to Huang Yunshuo’s.

“Any good finds yet?” Huang Yunshuo asked casually. Of the twenty-nine, only one had mined a grade-nine ore, which was enough to excite them all.

“Master, how long can we mine here?” one player asked nervously.

“You may leave whenever you wish. I’ll be here for quite a while,” Huang Yunshuo reassured them.

“Ah, ah, ah, ore!” Huang Yunshuo raised his pickaxe high and brought it down with force, embedding it deeply in the mine wall.

With a twist, a crisp “click” sounded, and a chunk of ore rolled to the ground.

Grade-eight iron ore!

“Ha! A promising start,” Huang Yunshuo laughed heartily, tossing the ore into his backpack.

Everyone: “Whoa…”

If each swing of the pickaxe was a cycle, Huang Yunshuo’s messy, vigorous movements amounted to about five seconds per cycle.

Morning Dew Frost took seven seconds, Fox Soft and the others averaged around ten seconds—an evident difference in mining speed.

Over the next fifty minutes or so, Huang Yunshuo wore out one pickaxe and had only half the durability left on his second, but had already found five grade-eight ores.

Beside him, the ore yield was much lower for Morning Dew Frost, whose first pickaxe had just broken. She sat on the ground, sweat-soaked, resting with bread in hand to stave off hunger.

“Is mining fun?” Huang Yunshuo, ready for a break, asked her.

Morning Dew Frost smiled wryly. “Would you believe me if I said it was?”

“It’s not fun, that’s true. But the copper coins are real. I’ll go fetch the second batch of players—come with me, both of you.”

Fox Soft, equally exhausted, followed the two out of the mine. Outside, they saw the ten proud little roosters strutting about.

As for the stone mound, not a single player remained.

“Don’t show yourselves,” Huang Yunshuo instructed the two women, then cautiously edged his way to the entrance.