Original and most updated translations are from volare. Please don’t read elsewhere and stop supporting theft.

TL: Zhao

Editing: Krisaia

Li Yiming stood in front of his own nexus, staring blankly at the chip in his sword. ’Well, at least I get revived whenever I die, but...’

Li Yiming pulled his hair in frustration and ran toward the river once again. He was being beaten in every aspect by his opponent. Even worse was his reliance on Thunderflash for teleportation at a moment’s notice, which was a luxury he could no longer afford.

The enemy’s minions marched down the lane and knocked on Li Yiming’s tower vigorously. What made matters worse was that Wukong had already proceeded to the next wave of friendly minions and was beginning to dispose of them.

’You!’ Li Yiming could no longer endure such humiliation. He clenched his sword and dashed toward the monkey. The latter brushed the zombie minions to the side with ease and stared at Li Yiming challengingly.

Li Yiming let out a low roar and launched a deadly stab aimed at Wukong’s throat.

Ding!

Li Yiming’s sword collided against the golden staff. Li Yiming quickly spun around and came back with a slash on the left side. Although he managed to drive his blade right through the monkey’s chest, he wasted no time in pulling back his sword and spinning.

Poof!

Of course, Li Yiming pierced just another clone.

Li Yiming retreated back to his own tower while maintaining his spin. He knew that his foe was looking for an opportunity in the shadows. As he approached his tower, Li Yiming lowered his guard and began clearing the minions in range.

Just as he shifted his attention to the minions, a golden staff suddenly appeared and struck at Li Yiming’s forehead. Li Yiming, who had not been anticipating the strike, quickly dodged to the side, but not quickly enough to avoid being hit on the right shoulder.

Ding!

This time, Li Yiming’s tower responded and targeted the monkey, who did not have time to fall back after his attack.

’Now!’ Li Yiming grabbed his sword with his left hand and stabbed Wukong’s back.

’Shouldn’t have attacked me under my tower’s range!’ Li Yiming could almost taste the sweetness of revenge.

Just as the tip of his sword grazed the monkey, it suddenly vanished. Right after, it appeared outside of the tower’s range, showing off its armor and laughing at Li Yiming.

’What, teleportation?’ Li Yiming was baffled. It was no surprise that Wukong could create clones of himself or go invisible, since that was part of his skillset in the actual game. However, he did not recall Wukong having the ability to teleport.

’Wait a second... Flash?’ Li Yiming suddenly remembered the skill which was given to all of the players of the game, allowing them to teleport a short distance. ’But why can’t I do that?’

"Li Yiming, now!" Before Li Yiming could ponder any more about the situation, a small silhouette suddenly jumped out of the bushes. It was Chen Quan, who held a bamboo blowpipe. He brought his weapon to his lips and blew out a silver needle that glowed green, hitting Wukong and producing a small puff of black smoke around the target.

’Why is he here?’ Li Yiming wondered.

As the silver needle hit Wukong, the latter’s laugh quickly went from a mocking laugh to a raging roar and he smashed down at Chen Quan with his golden staff.

"Watch out!" Li Yiming cried out. There was no chance of survival if Chen Quan was to get hit by that attack.

Chen Quan, however, ignored the monkey’s attack completely and stayed in position. He continued to blow out one poisoned needle one after another, all hitting Wukong over and over. The latter let out a scream as he pushed down his staff at a dangerously fast speed.

Li Yiming froze in horror at the sight of the staff striking Chen Quan, however, to his surprise, the attack completely missed Chen Quan, who made no efforts to dodge at all.

"What are you waiting for? He’s blind!" Chen Quan yelled at Li Yiming.

Li Yiming quickly started to rotate with his blade in hand. This was the only attack he could think of that allowed him to hit Wukong. His sword cut through the monkey’s body like a giant spinning saw.

Poof!

The result ended up being the same as every previous attempt; his attack only managed to land on a clone. However, Chen Quan quickly threw a crystal lantern onto the ground which shone with a blue light.

"Over there!" Chen Quan said and shot out another needle. A shadow appeared right behind Li Yiming and was slowly making its way toward the latter.

Li Yiming let out a yell as he hit the monkey’s left arm with his sword. At the same time, Chen Quan’s three needles landed, causing Wukong to roll sideways. With the monkey locked in his motion, Li Yiming finally made ready to seize the opportunity to deliver a fatal blow. Just as he leaped into the air and landed down with his sword beneath him, the monkey quickly rolled back and began spinning on himself, just like Li Yiming had been previously doing.

’Ultimate?’ Li Yiming’s chest was struck by the staff before he could react and was thrown into the air while the monkey made for his own tower.

"You think you can leave?" Chen Quan ran toward the monkey while continuing to shoot out projectiles.

’Fast!’ Li Yiming noticed how quickly Chen Quan was moving. ’He’s as fast as I am!’

"Aahh!" A scream of pain was heard as the spinning monkey finally fell to the ground.

"Chen Quan has slain an enemy. Assist awarded to Li Yiming." An announcement was heard.

"Phew. He almost got away with it." As the monkey’s corpse disappeared, Chen Quan walked toward Li Yiming.

"Why are you here?" Li Yiming was wondering why Chen Quan came to him.

"She told me to come help you. Didn’t think that you were also fighting against a monkey." Chen Quan rubbed his nose and put his blowpipe back around his belt.

"Also?" Li Yiming was surprised.

"Yeah. We’re also fighting two monkeys. One is on fire, and the other one has green smoke all over its body..." Chen Quan looked at the enemy tower in front of him.

"They’re all monkeys?" Li Yiming looked at where the corpse disappeared and tried to remember the rules.

"Yeah. He was also doing that fake clone thing, and it was working until Shao Xian bought a crystal lantern. They call it the Eye of Truth." Chen Quan pointed toward the ground.

’Wait... that item... how did I not think of it?" Li Yiming was ashamed of himself.

"How’s Shao Xian doing? Are you sure she’s okay by herself?" Li Yiming changed the subject.

"Oh, she’s good. She’s doing great with her magic. Even the two monkeys together can’t do much. Otherwise, I wouldn’t leave her alone." Chen Quan looked at the sky and said with admiration.

"Magic?" Li Yiming was surprised. ’Is she a guardian...?’

He then suddenly remembered the extraordinary speed with which Chen Quan dashed toward the monkey just moments earlier. ’Wait, him too, he also blinded the monkey... Wait a second...’

"That’s a skill of mine. It makes my enemy blind. Shame it only lasts for two seconds." Chen Quan shrugged his shoulders and reached out for his blowpipe.

’Blowpipe... Blinding... Wait a second... Teemo?’ Li Yiming suddenly remembered that just like the Mario game previously, they were bound to be assigned a role.

’So Chen Quan is Teemo, and Shao Xian knows magic. But what about me? Why don’t I have anything? Is it because I’m a guardian? What about Fang Shui’er and Yu Runkai?’ Li Yiming thought confusingly as he looked at the chips on his sword.

"Can you keep an eye here for a while?" The game had only recently just started and he could not rely on Chen Quan and Shao Xian for too long.

"Alright. I should have no issues if it’s just defending against the monkey." Chen Quan said with confidence.

"Be careful." Li Yiming looked at Chen Quan and dove into a bush in the river.