[Raid] [Baicao Zhe]: Relax, no need to tie anyone up. With Chenxi here, he’s not going anywhere. And if he’s not running, I’m certainly not running either.
Baicao Zhe sent a big laughing emoji. Even though it was his first time interacting with the other Zhanming Hall members, his easygoing attitude immediately closed the distance between everyone. None of that unapproachable top-player arrogance — he just made people feel comfortable.
[Raid] [Juhua Guniang]: Baicao, god-tier player, requesting a screenshot together — everyone else step aside, I want the screenshot.
[Raid] [Fujia Hongniang]: Don’t hog him, I want one too.
[Raid] [Wumei Qianlan]: Wait… am I really the only one who caught the key part of what Baicao said?
[Raid] [Xiao Dongxi]: Wumei sis, you are absolutely not the only one…
[Raid] [Juhua Guniang]: Ahem… okay fine, I caught it too actually…
[Raid] [Fujia Hongniang]: +10086
[Raid] [Xiao Dongxi]: But why are you all only taking screenshots with Baicao and not with Canmo?
[Raid] [Juhua Guniang]: See, you just don’t understand yet. Come here, let big sis explain. Post a screenshot with Baicao on the forums and you get people envying and being jealous of you. Post a screenshot with Canmo on the forums and you’re straight up drawing aggro!
[Raid] [Xiao Dongxi]: So by that logic, doesn’t Chenxi sis draw aggro every single day?
[Raid] [Fujia Hongniang]: Bingo, got it in one. The most consistently stable aggro-puller on this server is Chenxi — and no risk of over-aggroing either.
[Raid] [Chenxi]: …
Canmo Wuhen wasn’t saying anything in the raid channel, but he was sending Xia Zichen a constant stream of private messages.
[PM] [Canmo Wuhen]: Your guild members are very lively.
[PM] [Chenxi]: They’re actually pretty normal most of the time. They’re just a little excited because you showed up. Don’t mind them.
[PM] [Canmo Wuhen]: Sure. I prefer the calm type, relatively speaking.
[PM] [Chenxi]: Hm?
[PM] [Canmo Wuhen]: Like you.
[PM] [Chenxi]: …
Even though that kind of exchange between them was pretty normal, Xia Zichen couldn’t quite explain why he somehow detected a faint hint of flirting in it… He quickly dismissed the inexplicable thought. Even though Canmo Wuhen wasn’t the type to go completely silent and let things get awkward, the unshakeable aura of cool detachment he carried really was very difficult to associate with the word “flirting.”
When he’d first met Canmo Wuhen, he genuinely hadn’t known what caliber of player the other person was — he’d only thought the mechanics were impressive. As they gradually grew closer, even after knowing just how good Canmo Wuhen actually was, it seemed like he had just naturally accepted it without much surprise or shock.
That was probably related to his own personality. Things that would make most people excited, he tended to take in stride. Maybe that was precisely why he and Canmo Wuhen got along so well.
[Raid] [Shenye Qianxing]: Done admiring? Let’s get into the dungeon. Opportunity like this doesn’t come often, make the most of it.
[Raid] [Juhua Guniang]: Let’s go, let’s go!
Under An Jing’s coordination, all fifteen players entered the dungeon together. The new players were set up in a voice chat room, with An Jing directing them in real time — far faster and more practical than typing. Xia Zichen was sitting right next to him, so there was no need for him to join voice chat. The veterans who had run this dungeon plenty of times didn’t need it either — everyone already knew the drill.
Once the new players were positioned, the main tank called “pulling” and charged in to hold the BOSS. DPS started hitting hard, and the healers maintained HP from the back line.
For new players running a dungeon for the first time, going down was basically a given. Even with An Jing in voice chat telling them when to dodge the BOSS’s abilities, their reaction speed might still be half a second behind — and for a new player with low gear and thin HP, half a second was more than enough to put them on the floor.
Nobody was going to blame the new players for it. Everyone had been a new player once, and everyone understood. The main thing was to handle your own role properly, maximize your contribution, and keep the rest of the team alive. Chenxi was assigned to the first group, topping off the tank and the melee players. The new players were beyond his reach — he had to leave them to the other healer.
The dungeon wasn’t exactly hard, but it wasn’t simple either. Five BOSSes total, all requiring team coordination and heavy damage output. Zhanming Hall members ran carry sessions in this dungeon regularly, and with Canmo Wuhen and Baicao Zhe bringing the firepower, the run moved forward one exciting near-miss at a time.
Forty minutes later, all fifteen players stood before the final BOSS. This one was the most challenging in the dungeon. Beyond its AoE attacks and its focus on the player holding highest aggro, it also had an instant-cast ability that targeted whoever had the lowest aggro. Even more brutal — once its HP hit twenty percent, the BOSS would unleash a massive attack on whoever had the second-lowest aggro. If that player had less than thirty-five thousand HP, they would be one-shotted.
Just as before, the new players were briefed on what to watch out for, and the pull happened. The run was going well. The new players honorably hit the floor after a few minutes of struggling. Xia Zichen kept constant watch on the main tank’s and Canmo Wuhen’s HP — it was his first time running a dungeon other than dailies alongside Canmo Wuhen, but the chemistry built through all those arena sessions seemed to carry over naturally. With Canmo Wuhen around, Xia Zichen felt completely at ease, even in a fifteen-person dungeon with nothing to worry about.
He threw big heals onto players hit by the instant-cast ability when needed, then went back to stacking HoTs on everyone else. Xia Zichen kept close watch on his own aggro level, maintaining Chenxi’s threat somewhere in the middle of the pack. Canmo Wuhen’s spectacular skill animations were the other thing constantly catching his attention — watching him deal damage in a dungeon was just as beautiful and clean as in the arena. Hard not to notice.
[Raid] [Xiao Dongxi]: No wonder the sisters all worship top players — the skill animations are genuinely stunning.
[Raid] [Zili Gengsheng]: Agreed. Even lying on the floor doesn’t feel boring anymore.
[Raid] [Hei Qiaokeli]: Canmo is magnificent, Baicao is elegant. But Chenxi is still my personal favorite — absolutely beautiful in every way. (drooling emoji)
[Raid] [Xiao Dongxi]: Same!
[Raid] [Zili Gengsheng]: Enthusiastically same!
…
The fifteen-or-so players were in the thick of battle while the three new players currently lying on the floor broadcast their admiration from the raid channel.
“Watch out!” Right in the middle of what had been a smoothly running fight, An Jing suddenly shouted from where he was sitting.
Xia Zichen’s attention snapped away from the healing. A saber-wielding player attacking the BOSS had failed to dodge the floor-based lightning attack, and the second group’s healer hadn’t noticed in time to top them off — the result being that the already low-HP saber user immediately went down. At that moment, the BOSS had twenty-two percent HP remaining. With the saber player — who had been sitting at second-lowest aggro — now dead, Chenxi instantly became the player with the second-lowest threat.
“Oh god, we’re done…” An Jing groaned in exasperation.
Normally, the second-lowest aggro slot would be assigned to a high-HP player, or in a pinch, sacrifice a DPS — but under no circumstances would you want a healer sitting in that position. Healers had low base HP to begin with, and between the BOSS’s AoE constantly draining them and trying to maintain thirty-five thousand HP, it was nearly impossible. If the healer went down, there was no way to push through the remaining twenty percent. No matter how much damage output you had, you couldn’t take down a BOSS without healing. If the healer died, the only option was a full wipe and reset. With only three healers in a fifteen-person run, losing one was already brutal for the others trying to cover the entire team — and the one about to go down was Chenxi of all people.
The other players in the raid had also spotted the situation, and were still at a loss for what to do when Xia Zichen quickly typed two words in the raid channel.
[Raid] [Chenxi]: Keep going.
Then Chenxi dashed into the melee cluster with a movement skill. In the span of a heartbeat, Canmo Wuhen rapidly activated his threat-transfer skill on Chenxi — a flash of golden light later, Canmo Wuhen, who had been sitting at third-lowest aggro, had taken Chenxi’s place at second-lowest. At the exact same moment Canmo Wuhen made the transfer, Xia Zichen rapidly stacked two HoTs on him and threw out a large heal.
Right then, the BOSS’s HP was pushed down to exactly twenty percent. Taking Chenxi’s place, Canmo Wuhen absorbed the BOSS’s devastating attack — his HP bar plummeted by eighty percent in an instant. Xia Zichen immediately fired his single largest remaining heal at him, stacking on top of the HoTs already in place, and Canmo Wuhen’s HP bar shot all the way back to full.
Immediately after, Canmo Wuhen and Baicao Zhe unleashed everything they had. One minute later, the BOSS crashed to the ground.
Everyone went still, as if frozen in place. Nobody moved. Nobody went to loot the body.
[Raid] [Wumei Qianlan]: Holy — the coordination between Chenxi and Canmo was absolutely incredible!!! I genuinely thought we were about to wipe and start over.
Wumei Qianlan broke the raid’s stunned silence, and the channel came alive again.
[Raid] [Juhua Guniang]: I thought we were wiping too — I’ve been holding my breath this whole time, oh my god, that was intense.
[Raid] [Xiao Dongxi]: I don’t know what to do, I’m just admiring Canmo and Chenxi sis more and more.
[Raid] [Bei Da Dao De Nanzi]: Sorry, I lagged out — my ping suddenly spiked to red, just recovered.
[Raid] [Fujia Hongniang]: Good lag! Keep it up!
[Raid] [Wumei Qianlan]: Good lag +1.
[Raid] [Wenrou Shenlan]: +2. Standing with wifey.
[Raid] [Zili Gengsheng]: +3…
…
“Oh my god, what kind of coordination was that between you two? How did that even work?” An Jing turned off voice chat to give his ears a moment of peace, then reached over and smacked Xia Zichen on the arm. “You two are on another level.”
Xia Zichen smiled faintly and said nothing. The sync between him and Canmo Wuhen seemed to have formed on its own, invisibly — no need for words to anticipate each other’s next move.
One of the Duanyuan Sect’s abilities was a threat-transfer skill — it reduced the user’s own threat and was normally used on the tank to avoid over-aggroing. Effective range was eight feet. Chenxi had been positioned in the ranged group the whole time, more than ten feet from Canmo Wuhen, so the only option had been to dash into melee range and let Canmo Wuhen use the skill. Fortunately Canmo Wuhen had read his intent, and the rest had followed.
The downed players were revived. An Jing went to loot the BOSS and distributed the gear evenly among those who needed it. The raid channel was still scrolling with everyone’s excited chatter, which eventually spilled over into the guild channel as well.
“Hey, Little Zhen-zhen — could you ask Canmo Wuhen how he builds his gear stats? That burst damage is completely insane. Baicao Zhe would work too.” Out of the dungeon now, An Jing threw him a look that brooked no refusal — the look of someone who absolutely had to know.
Xia Zichen had been watching healing output the whole time and hadn’t paid attention to anyone’s burst damage numbers. He switched over to check — Canmo Wuhen was first, no surprise there, Baicao Zhe was second. An Jing came in third, but nearly ten thousand damage per second behind Baicao Zhe. The fourth-place DPS was less than half of Canmo Wuhen’s output.
“Ask yourself — I wouldn’t know how to explain it properly.” He had a solid grasp on healer gear theory, but DPS classes were a different matter entirely.
“It feels awkward to ask out of nowhere, like I’m making up an excuse to talk to him…” An Jing was sociable by nature but still had his pride, and occasionally a little bit of a petty streak.
Xia Zichen looked at him, then sent Baicao Zhe a private message asking if he’d be willing to discuss gear optimization with An Jing. Even though An Jing was melee and Baicao Zhe was ranged, Baicao Zhe’s approach to building out gear was definitely more cost-efficient than Canmo Wuhen’s, and far more suited to students like them.
Baicao Zhe agreed without hesitation and sent An Jing a private message. An Jing glanced over at Xia Zichen with a grin and dove into the conversation.
All fifteen players came out of the dungeon, but nobody seemed in any particular rush to leave. The raid channel was still going strong with “top player this” and “top player that.” Right in the middle of all the noise, Canmo Wuhen — who hadn’t said a word the whole time — finally spoke up.
[Raid] [Canmo Wuhen]: I think you can give Chenxi back to me now.
[Raid] [Chenxi]: …
[Raid] [Fujia Hongniang]: Handing her right over, take her, take her, she’s all yours.
[Raid] [Wumei Qianlan]: Do you want a dowry? We’ll send the entire guild along with her.
[Raid] [Chenxi]: …
[Raid] [Xiao Dongxi]: Chenxi sis is blushing.
…
Watching these people spin their own little narrative, Xia Zichen was at a complete loss for words. Though… Canmo Wuhen’s line had been a little… well… ambiguous…
[PM] [Canmo Wuhen]: Bring out the two-seater. Let’s go for a ride.
Xia Zichen summoned the two-seater horse, ready to leave this “place of chaos and gossip.” They both mounted up, and the reins were passed over to Canmo Wuhen.
[Raid] [Canmo Wuhen]: Going forward, if you need anything, have Chenxi come find me. Taking off now.
With that, he spurred the horse forward, and the two of them rode off together, leaving behind a whole crowd of people staring wide-eyed at their retreating figures…