An airplane streaked across the dark blue skies of B City, leaving a long contrail1 in its wake.
"Ah! Weâre finally back!" When they reached home, Shen Jingchen immediately tossed his luggage to the side and threw himself at the sofa.
Shen Jingbin brought their luggage over to the base of the stairwell before she walked over to Shen Jingchenâs sofa and gave him a few kicks. "Get up, get up. Bring your stuff back to your room."
Shen Jingchen grabbed a pillow and used it to cover his head before he started to howl in grief. "This is abuse, I say! Abuse! Iâm all worn out after our plane ride and yet you wonât even let me rest for a little while!"
"Fine then. Everythingâs there already, Iâll head upstairs first."
No longer bothering about him, Shen Jingbin turned around and made her way upstairs.
She wanted to log back into the game.
It hadnât really bothered her while she was in B City, but she was overcome with an intense bout of longing after they had boarded the plane.
She left her bedroom door unlocked for Shen Jingchen to bring in her luggage later, and lay down in her gaming pod.
While faced with the gameâs loading screen, Shen Jingbin suddenly realised how conscientious she was. Sheâd only just reached home, but instead of resting, the very first thing that came to her mind was to log in and play!
After the game finished loading, Shen Jingbin found herself standing in the same place she was at when she previously logged out.
The guildâs chat channel was just as boisterous as before, consisting of people who either had nothing to do, or people who had just finished a dungeon run.
She opened her friends list and found that Quiet And Steadfastâs name was greyed out.
Since he wasnât online, sheâd find her own things to do then.
Shen Jingbin cast a glance at her quest window and realized she still hadnât completed the Demonic Sectâs dungeon quest from before.
She thought for a moment, before she then typed several words into the guild chat.
[Guild] Nutjob: Looking for a carry in the Demonic Sectâs dungeon (â§Ïâ¦)
[Guild] Eight National Treasures: Ooh! Our mascot is back!
[Guild] Faint Blue Seaweed: Whereâd you run off to Nutty? Youâve been gone for so long!
[Guild] Temperate Scarlet Moon: Thatâs right, even our Leader and Dawn were gone during this time, so we couldnât enter many of the dungeons.
[Guild] Nutjob: ._. Eh? Our Leaderâs been gone as well?
[Guild] Iâm Not A Monster: You wanna enter the Demonic Sectâs dungeon, Nutty? Letâs go, letâs go. Us brothers will carry you.
[Guild] Iâm Really Not A Monster: This is the time for us brothers to shine as men! Now that our Leader and Dawn arenât around, there wonât be anyone left to hinder our epic saga of love!
[Guild] Actually, I Am A Monster: Are you looking to die, you idiot? Donât openly plot against our Leader!
[Guild] Iâm A Monster, Dare To Hit Me: You dumb f*ck, youâre finished now. Iâll report your mutiny to our Leader!
[Guild] Eternal Rest: Bring me along if youâre planning to enter the Demonic Sectâs dungeon.
[Guild] Long Life: Iâll follow my wife wherever she goes \(â§Ï\â¦)
All three of the Demonic Sectâs dungeons were large scale instances, with each instance allowing a total of ten people inside. In the end, Shen Jingbin was accompanied by the Four Monsters, the husband-wife pair; Long Rest and Eternal Life, and the two healers; National Treasures and Lingering White Clouds.
They still had one more open slot, but everyone else in the guild had already entered the dungeon before or had their own things to attend to. For the moment, they werenât able to find anyone else to fill up the last slot
[Guild] Lingering White Clouds: Letâs go to the first dungeon and see if we can pick someone up from there. With our current party composition, we can just randomly grab any lowbie we see and bring them along.
Lingering White Cloudsâ suggestion received unanimous approval and thus, their party majestically stood outside the first dungeon in the hopes of picking someone up.
The difficulty of the three Demonic Sect dungeons rose in succession. The first dungeon was called Sound Transmission Pavilion, the second was Soul Locking Tower, and the third was called Blood Soaked Hell.
Although the three dungeons were in different maps, the system would prompt the party leader and ask whether theyâd like to continue after they completed the first dungeon. If the party leader chose to continue, the system would automatically open the next dungeon for them and teleport them over, saving no small amount of trouble for the group.
As the Demonic Sect expansion had only just been released, there were plenty of players attempting the three dungeons everyday. This, coupled with the aura of an expert that their group exuded, led to Iâm Not A Monster receiving a party request in less than a minute, which he accepted without a second thought.
The nine people in the party saw the systemâs notification at the same time.
"Player Morning Glory Chime has entered the party."
"..."
Shen Jingbinâs legs nearly buckled.
[Party] Iâm Not A Monster: Morning Glory Chime, have you entered Sound Transmission Pavilion before?
[Party] Morning Glory Chime: I have! (â§Ïâ¦)
[Party] Iâm not A Monster: Alright, just be careful then.
[Party] Morning Glory Chime: Okay.
Iâm Not A Monster entered the dungeon and, after a moment of being engulfed in darkness, Shen Jingbin found herself standing within the dungeon. A short while later, the rest of the party appeared in the dungeon as well.
Morning Glory Chime was the last to enter the dungeon. Actually, I Am A Monster wolf whistled when he saw her and said, "Oh, itâs a beauty!"
Morning Glory Chime gave Actually, I Am A Monster a light slap of embarrassment and said, "No way. Iâm no beauty, the true beauties are the three elder sisters."
The three elder sisters she spoke of were Eternal Rest, National Treasures, and Lingering White Clouds. Shen Jingbin, on the other hand, was completely overlooked. Then again, it was a good thing that she was overlooked. After all, it was better for her to be ignored than to be made fun of.
Shen Jingbin also took this opportunity to size up the other girl.
Honestly speaking, Morning Glory Chime was quite pretty to begin with. The Beautification process had turned her from a "quite pretty girl" to a "knock out beauty". A single glance would allow onlookers to come to the conclusion that she bore a 70% â 80% resemblance to the famous celebrity, X Bingbing.
Shen Jingbin might have been too obvious with her scrutiny though, because Morning Glory Chime finally took notice of her.
After spotting her, Morning Glory Chime immediately cried out, "Ah! Youâre that ugly monster from before!"
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Those white trails of smoke that planes sometimes leave behind â©