Chapter 147-3: Farewell to the God of Wealth, Return to Anti-Tide (3)

Monsters Are Coming

“God of Wealth, hold on until we graduate. When the time comes, we will go to the front line to protect you.” Dirt Poor spoke solemnly with a serious expression.

Hearing this, Broken Star smiled and nodded.

“Alright, I will wait for you on the front line. Work hard to graduate.”

As they chatted, Elder You led them through a twisted, shifting, colorful spatial tunnel.

A familiar scene unfolded before their eyes.

Snowflakes mixed with a cold wind brushed their cheeks, and at the end of their sight was the Snow Valley training camp from their memories, where hunger and staying up late coexisted.

After a series of airborne jumps supported by invisible power, they landed on the parade ground of the Snow Valley training camp.

Elder You pointed his index finger forward, and near-invisible ripples of energy spread out. Before long, Mad Sand and the other training instructors arrived.

After greeting Elder You with respect, they turned their eyes to Li Zheng and the others.

“Heh heh, Instructor Mad Sand, long time no see. I missed you so much.” Dirt Poor puckered his lips, took two steps forward, and spread his arms to hug Mad Sand.

Mad Sand lifted a foot and kicked Dirt Poor in the abdomen, sending him flying like a cannonball to crash into the camp’s fence.

“You… were not dead?” Mad Sand looked utterly incredulous.

When he learned that members of the player race had died in battle to cover the other trainees, he had felt boundless regret and heartache.

At first contact, his impression of the player race had been extremely poor.

Training lazily, full of complaints, constantly crying tired and sore, and their physical aptitude was bottom of the training camp. He could not find a single strong point.

He had even considered ending the player race’s training early.

But the player race’s later performance changed his view, shifting from disdain to growing admiration.

By the time the first phase training camp graduation arrived, his impression of the player race trainees had completely transformed. They were already excellent trainees in his eyes.

So when he learned that the player race had all sacrificed themselves, he felt heartache.

Recalling the lively training camp scenes from when the player race was still there, he could not help but sigh.

This memory was destined to be unforgettable.

Yet he had not expected to see Li Zheng and the other player race members again.

Was the intelligence wrong? They were not dead?

At this moment Elder You spoke.

“You will set out from here and head again to the second phase training camp.”

With that said, Elder You lifted his head to look at Mad Sand.

“Mad Sand, they will tell you the specifics. I will go on ahead.”

“Yes.” Mad Sand nodded respectfully.

After Elder You left with Broken Star, Mad Sand and Li Zheng and the others stared wide-eyed at each other.

“Speak. What happened?”

“It is a long story.”

“Keep it short. Do not give me nonsense.” Mad Sand glared fiercely.

“Let us go to the canteen. We will eat as we talk, and I will narrate this wondrous journey in detail.”

Hearing this, Mad Sand turned and walked toward the canteen, and Li Zheng and the others immediately followed.

At night, Mad Sand and Li Zheng and the other Grind Kings players drank and reminisced, recounting their journey after leaving the training camp.

During this, Dirt Poor planted one foot on the stool and held in his right hand a half-gnawed leg of meat:

“Instructor, you definitely cannot imagine how dangerous the situation was at the time. We had already fallen into a complete dead end. If no one had covered the rear at that moment, the brothers would have been doomed.”

“At the life-or-death critical moment, we player race trainees resolutely stood before our brothers. I charged at the very front and shouted, Brothers, run, I will cover the rear… In the end, we regrettably died in battle, but the brothers successfully got away.”

Mad Sand listened expressionlessly to Dirt Poor’s bragging, while Li Zheng at the side could not help covering his face.

“Dirt Poor, you are a spellcaster. How did you charge at the very front? To get yourself killed?”

“Yeah, clearly I was the one who charged at the very front.” Family-Sharing Stepdad also said with a speechless expression.

“Heh heh, it is about the same meaning. We all charged at the very front.” Dirt Poor was not embarrassed in the slightest and took a bite of the leg meat.

“So after you died, you revived back in your homeland?” Mad Sand asked at this moment.

“That is right.”

“When you first arrived, I asked you about the situation of your player race, and you did not tell me there was such a thing as revival. You only said you would receive a call from the homeland and disappear for a period of time at irregular intervals, but during training I never saw any of you return to the homeland.”

“As for revival, it cannot be controlled. Even we ourselves do not know whether we can revive or not, so we did not report it.”

Hearing this, Mad Sand shook his head but did not pursue the matter. After taking a sip of spirit wine, he said in a deep voice.

“Since you have decided to return to the training camp and still want to skip the first phase training camp to resume the previous training program and directly enter the second phase training camp, you must retrace the trials you did not complete. So do you plan to stay here for a few days to rest, or set out immediately?”

Facing the question, the Grind Kings players all turned their eyes to their leader Li Zheng.

After a brief thought, Li Zheng looked at Mad Sand.

“Instructor Mad Sand, we plan to stay here for the night and set out at daybreak. As for preparing supplies, I must trouble you. Remember to put more Spiritual Food in the packs.”

“The regulations can only provide Energy Paste. You still want Spiritual Food too. How about finding a chef to set out with you so they can make Spiritual Food for you on the road?” Mad Sand could not help cursing with a laugh.

“That works. I agree. Thank you, Instructor Mad Sand.”

“A chef is great. We will have food on the road. I did not expect we could have such treatment. So delightful.”

“A word once spoken cannot be chased by four horses. Thank you, Instructor Mad Sand, for arranging a chef.”

[T/N: Basically means that once words are spoken they can no longer be taken back.]

Facing Li Zheng and the others, who were going along with the flow and about to make him agree, the veins on Mad Sand’s forehead throbbed.

In shamelessness, this bunch was still the player race in his memory. Even having died once, they had not changed in the slightest.

“Shut up. Eat. After eating, hurry to bed.”

This meal lasted several hours, and during it Li Zheng and the others also talked about the situation of this phase’s training camp.

Only at deep night did they return to the barracks to sleep, and they did not see the trainees of this phase at all.

Early the next morning.

Li Zheng and the other Grind Kings players shouldered the packs Mad Sand had prepared and left the camp, heading into the wind and snow toward the location of the second phase training camp.

Stepping onto the snow mountain, they looked back. As always, Mad Sand stood at the camp gate, seeing them off.

Li Zheng and the others waved goodbye to the camp, then plunged into the wind and snow.

The first segment of the journey took less than three days. The Grind Kings players pushed forward against the piercing cold wind without any rest in between and finally walked out of the continuous snow mountains.

The second segment of the journey was the most dangerous White Plain region.

It was on this segment of the journey that they encountered a soul beast attack and in the end all their souls returned to the Emperor’s Sign.

But this time Li Zheng and the others were confident.

After returning to the starter village, their strength had increased severalfold, and the average level of their strongest single Inherited soul had reached level 43.

Even if they encountered the soul beast from last time, they would have the power to fight.

But if they could avoid it, that would naturally be best.

Before entering the White Plain, Li Zheng and the others chose to rest by a stream, lit a bonfire, and ate to recover their strength.

As if he had thought of something, Family-Sharing Stepdad turned his head to look at Li Zheng.

“Brother Li, if we suffer casualties during the journey across the White Plain later, what do we do?”

Before Li Zheng could speak, Murderous Intent Rising followed up.

“Fool, of course we all die together. Could we possibly leave a brother behind and head to the training camp? So what we must do is ensure that absolutely no one dies. For this next segment of the journey we must be careful the whole time. If we encounter danger, avoid it whenever possible.”

Dirt Poor: Protect me as a priority. I am a squishy mage.

Li Zheng: Dirt Poor, did you not tell Instructor Mad Sand that you would charge to the front when danger came? When danger shows up I will lend you a hand by throwing you to the very front. Let me see your courage. Remember to loudly shout the line about brothers i’m going first.

Everyone could not help bursting into loud laughter upon hearing this.