DADH Chapter 35

Because being stuck at the entrance of a dungeon and pulling someone was such an exhilarating fact, after being killed off, the streamer Papapa didn’t log back into the game but lay flat, letting the fans mock him.

Barrage: [Hahaha, afraid of spicy food?]

Barrage: [Chickened out, huh?]

Barrage: [Scaredy-cat, lost the bet, right? How about I give you an extra day, considering how miserably you were wrecked? Tomorrow, I’m going for some insane spice! Insane spice!]

Seeing the barrage filled with “insane spice,” Papapa’s face turned pale. He struggled to sit up and argued, “It doesn’t count, it doesn’t count. Initially, I bet that I’d cry because of an NPC. That guy just now was a player!”

While saying this, the young man returned to the live-streaming setup, cutting out the game footage from earlier. He tagged the official account and openly criticized this insane game. A perfectly fine handsome food streamer had been forced into playing the role of a “robber” and died tragically at the dungeon entrance!!!

Fans swarmed in with giggles and laughter, bringing with them well-organized mockery, quickly pushing this post to the top of the trending charts.

As a fairly well-known food streamer, almost anyone even remotely interested in the food scene could recall Papapa upon seeing the three words “afraid of spicy food” and clicked on the post out of curiosity.

However, more and more passersby discovered that this time the content wasn’t about food but rather a game, Dragon Slayer!

Soon, on StarBlog, a segment of Papapa’s game livestream recording became explosively popular, shooting up to the top of StarBlog’s trending charts. However, although the trend started because of him, the topic could be said to have nothing to do with Papapa.

#I heard the Dragon Slayer planner has finally become a person!#

During the live stream, Papapa’s stream wasn’t even in the game section but in the food section, so not many players noticed at the time.

Moreover, now the mutated mechanics of criticizing the dragon slayer had pushed the players to their limits, causing it to go mainstream.

So, Papapa’s video, where the streamer met three random teammates, waited for a long time at the dungeon entrance, and then rushed at someone who came out of the dungeon due to the long wait, probably looking too creepy, was mistaken for a robbery, and got killed instantly.

At first, it didn’t create much of a stir, just some passersby coming in and laughing along.

Until a clever user named Watson suddenly spotted a blind spot.

Comment: [Wait a minute! Am I the only one who noticed that only three people came out of the dungeon? Does this mean that the NPC and BOSS in this dungeon aren’t as brutal?]

Reply to Comment: [Makes sense! Does anyone above level 25 want to comment on this dungeon?]

Reply to Comment: [I’m level 26, and I ran this dungeon this morning. It’s definitely not as insane (strange) as before.]

Reply to Comment: [Tsk tsk tsk, if it’s really that simple, are they still dragon slayers? I don’t believe it!]

…

In short, the news that the level 25 dungeon seemed to have returned to normal spread like wildfire. Dragon Slayer players started sharing the information, and it quickly became a hot topic.

[See that? A five-player level 25 dungeon can be completed with only three people! It seems like the game designers have finally lowered the difficulty!!!]

[The game designers have finally become reasonable!]

[Hurry up! If you don’t hurry, who knows if it might mutate again!]

Strangely enough, what was originally a race to level up among high-level players has now sparked a leveling frenzy among lower-level players. Even the laid-back newbie players in the beginner’s village have started leveling up like crazy because of this news.

—

On the other side.

Jing Nian was lifted up by Uncle Pipilu. Although he had the thought, ‘Could this NPC be displeased with me again and wants me to complete a quest for him?’ he was also afraid of being thrown into the poisonous swamp. So, after being lifted up, he quickly had a bright idea. He curled up his body, imitating the appearance of a baby dragon, and, following the man’s arm, skillfully climbed into the NPC’s embrace. He clung tightly to the man’s neck and even discreetly extended his tail to wrap around the NPC’s wrist, all the while using his cape as a disguise.

Anyway, from the last meeting, judging by this NPC’s skilled dragon-stroking technique, Jing Nian suspected that the other party had probably known long ago that he wasn’t a human form.

So, Jing Nian played the role of a timid dragon baby without a care in the world.

Players who had initially sympathized with Jing Nian, watching him being picked up by the devilish NPC, were left dumbfounded by Jing Nian’s seductive and provocative maneuvers.

‘Little brat! This is not the place for you to act coquettish!’

Thinking about the players who had previously attempted unconventional strategies and suffered miserably at the hands of this NPC, the players present all showed their support for this little troublemaker.

However, to everyone’s surprise, Uncle Pipilu’s perpetually frozen icy face suddenly revealed a hint of a smile. He reached out and grabbed the tiny thing hanging around his neck before taking a step toward the neighboring cabbage field.

Sensing this, Jing Nian, who was walking alongside Uncle Pipilu, finally cautiously half-opened his eyes, he squinted to take a glance at the gradually receding toxic swamp before finally relaxing and fully opening his eyes.

Huo Yi, carrying Jing Nian, arrived at the cabbage field. He bent down and plucked two cabbages so swiftly that even the large green caterpillars in the cabbages didn’t react in time and were uprooted along with the vegetables.

Watching as the corpses of the caterpillars, slowly placed aside with the cabbages, were refreshed, the players who had been secretly watching were so frightened that they hurriedly took a half-step back: …Truly, it’s you!

Huo Yi cleared a small space in the cabbage field and then placed Jing Nian, who still hadn’t reacted, on the ground.

Because his back was to the cabbage field, Jing Nian hadn’t seen where he was placed. When he was put on the ground and turned his head to see the cabbage field, he remembered those terrifying big caterpillars and his vision darkened for a moment, nearly causing him to faint.

Seeing the little chubby dragonling frozen in place, with a faint trembling sensation, Huo Yi instantly recalled a certain little one who had been scared by caterpillars and crawled all over the place. Now, seeing it shivering, what else was there not to understand?

Huo Yi: “…” Troublesome.

Although he thought so, Huo Yi still remembered that this was just a young giant dragonling. He didn’t intend to demand too much from it. So, Huo Yi took another step, plucking a circle of cabbages around, and stood between Jing Nian and the cabbages, indicating that he was safe now.

Jing Nian, who had regained a sense of security, repositioned his scattered consciousness and stood in front of the two holes where the cabbages had been plucked, looking even more bewildered.

Although he understood the NPC’s intentions, he still felt something was strange, especially after seeing how the NPC had treated other players.

Jing Nian noticed the quest box flashing madly at the side, so he sprinkled the seeds from his palm while sneakily stealing glances at the tall NPC standing beside him.

Did this NPC seem to be showing him some special care?

Could it be because the NPC had discovered his identity? Or was it because he looked too young now?

As he thought about this, Jing Nian’s stolen glances suddenly got caught. The seeds in Jing Nian’s hand slipped all at once into one of the holes.

Life skills usually rely on proficiency to level up, so this planting task requires repeated planting many times to learn. Putting them all in one hole at once wouldn’t work, just like watching those poisoned swamps, where they had to crawl and roll while planting one by one.

Watching as the seeds accidentally slipped into the hole, Jing Nian: “…”

Jing Nian once again felt that the dragonling’s body was really inconvenient, especially with the small paws covered by black gloves. He sighed and clumsily bent his butt, preparing to go into the hole and retrieve the excess seeds.

Huo Yi on the side: “…”

When he noticed the little one sneaking a look at him, he couldn’t help but glance back. He didn’t expect the little one to be so timid that all the seeds in his paws were dropped.

He originally wanted to tell the little one that they couldn’t sow all the seeds in the same hole. But then he thought about it.

He needed to improve this young dragonling’s favorability, so he decided to let it experience the hardship of planting. When it saw the players in the poisonous swamps, it would understand how big of a favor he had done for it.

Now that it was scared off, let it be.

Hearing that soft and childish sigh, Huo Yi held back his laughter, lifted the little dragonling, and then patted the soil. Ignoring the struggling and resistant gaze of the little one, he used his foot to push the soil back over the seeds, covering them.

As the construction of the holographic world was completed, and as Huo Yi slowly infiltrated the game’s program with the identity of Uncle Pipilu, the things he could control freely without being noticed by the “creators” increased.

For example, for this small planting task, he could have actually directly given it to the young dragonling.

So, the next second, Jing Nian saw his task list display:

[Task completed, you have acquired Planting Skill LV1!]

[You fought alongside Uncle Pipilu, establishing a friendly relationship, favorability +10!]

[Received 200 experience points, level up from lv2 to lv3]

[Received 100 copper coins]

[Hunger value +5]

The moment he was lifted, his body skillfully followed the reflex memory and climbed into the man’s arms. Jing Nian stared blankly at the man’s jawline.

Suddenly, the team messages started flashing wildly, and he clicked on them.

[Team-Not into Fitness Anymore: Little buddy! How did you manage this!]

[Team-Eating Full, Still Dieting: Honestly, did you spend a fortune? What’s the favorability value between you and Uncle Pipilu?]

[Team-Not into Fitness Anymore: Spending money doesn’t work. Remember that rich lady on StarNet who spent tens of thousands? Well, this devilish NPC got annoyed with her, her favorability dropped to zero, and the system warned that if it dropped further, it would turn into a hostile mode. The rich lady went crazy and almost tried to shut down the game… It took the studio’s apologies and mediation to resolve it.]

[Team-Not into Fitness Anymore: So, little buddy, spill the beans on how you managed this! As long as it’s not money, I can do it too!!!]

[Team-Flash: Big bro! You’re my bro from now on! This is no longer just a backdoor. Look at those folks in the Poisonous Swamp; their eyes are probably bleeding. They’ll be here soon to interrogate you on how you raised Uncle Pipilu’s favorability! Why not spill the beans to us first!]

In fact, the nearby channel was full of cues about Jing Nian. However, Jing Nian’s player system was different from others. His chat channel now only had one team channel, and he couldn’t see what those players were saying on the nearby channel.

However, since they were all nearby, those players could click on Jing Nian’s profile and send friend requests like crazy.

Jing Nian glanced roughly, and almost all the players present had sent him friend requests.

The verification messages ranged from directly calling him “daddy” to some offering hefty sums for favorability points, and there were all sorts of strange and bizarre threats.

Jing Nian: “…”

Upon seeing the favorability points, Jing Nian suddenly remembered and tilted his little head to click on the name above Uncle Pipilu’s head. Sure enough, he saw his favorability points displayed: 61.

Thinking back to the previous task, Uncle Pipilu had only increased his favorability by 1 point. So Jing Nian lowered his head and did some calculations, discovering the crucial point.

The initial favorability was 50!!!

Unsatisfactory!

Jing Nian looked at Uncle Pipilu in shock. Before he clicked on the favorability points, he thought this NPC was charmed by him, considering how he helped him in many ways. His favorability should have been quite high, right?

Who would have thought it had just passed now.

He thought for a moment and asked in the team channel:

[Team-Jin Nian: What’s your favorability value? How much did it increase after doing tasks?]

[Team-Eating Full, Still Dieting: …? Increase? It’s already good if that thing doesn’t drop, right?]

[Team-Flash: I’m quite European, 12. It didn’t drop even after doing two tasks.]

[Team-Not into Fitness Anymore: I’m at 1. I had some luck; it dropped a bit after two tasks, and now it’s at 0.]

At this point, the innocent Jing Nian still didn’t know Uncle Pipilu’s reputation on StarNet. However, from the words of his three unlucky teammates, he could piece together some clues.

So, Jing Nian, who had 61 favorability points, felt content without knowing the full story.

Huo Yi, who was still holding Jing Nian, suddenly had a cold gaze. He not only could see the little dragon’s task list but also the chat box, so when he saw the change in the little dragon’s expression before and after chatting, he immediately understood the meaning in its eyes.

At first, it was disdainful because 61 points were considered too low. Later, he became happy upon realizing that he was actually much higher than others.

But…

Huo Yi’s gaze swept over Jing Nian’s favorability points above his head.

…50.

The heartless little dragon, he helped it with 50 before, and it’s still 50 after, yet it had the audacity to complain that the favorability points given were too low?

Huo Yi, with a cold expression, put the little dragon on the ground and turned to leave.

Jing Nian, who was suddenly placed on the ground, looked at the man’s retreating back without a word: …?

 

The author has something to say:

Players are ecstatic: Haha! The tormentor finally got tormented. Now you know how difficult it is to raise favorability points!