The feeling of being spaced out quickly dissipated. When Wang Zhifan fully regained his personal consciousness, he found that his current surroundings were quite ordinaryâa forest environment he had encountered several times before.
But soon, he discovered that his teammates in this dungeon were quite unusual, causing him to focus his gaze on them before they had even awakened.
They were two males, one old and one young. The older one appeared to be around sixty-five years old, relatively healthy and well-proportioned for an elderly person, though slightly hunched and overweight. His hair was almost entirely gone, leaving only a ring of short gray-white hair around the edge of his forehead. He wore a red vest paired with black shorts and large sandals. If not for the one-meter-long machete in his hand, he looked entirely like a granddad strolling around the streets.
The younger one was even more bewildering to Wang Zhifan, as he was a thirteen or fourteen-year-old boy sitting in a wheelchair! The boyâs body was extremely frail, not just skin and bones but not far from it, and his skin was an obvious, sickly paleâa clear sign of a patient with a long-term illness.
Wearing blue half-frame glasses, his eyes were vacant as he leaned against his wheelchairâs backrest, gripping a handgun tightly with his skinny arms, which were barely thicker than reeds. Like the sandal-wearing granddad not far from him, he hadnât yet recovered from the mental daze of entering the dungeon.
"These teammates look really, um... whatâs going on with this dungeon? Could it be... that despite their shabby appearance, these two are actually high-level seasoned players?"
At this moment, Wang Zhifan was full of skepticism, which was understandable; he had never before encountered teammates who were elderly or wheelchair-bound, a considerable psychological shock.
After a full five seconds under his close watch, his two teammates for this dungeon finally regained their consciousness in succession; at the same time, the text prompting the dungeon objectives flashed before them.
[Dungeon Objective: Find and eliminate a manic Treant (Lv6) in the current forest.]
"Lv6?"
Upon seeing the dungeon task text before him, Wang Zhifanâs brow immediately furrowed, as this level of Boss seemed highly inappropriate to him. He found it strange why the dungeon, which had always seemed to be trying to trick him, only assigned him a Lv6 Boss. Could it be that despite the lower level, the Boss was a major counter to him? Posing extreme danger?
"There must be an issue... I definitely canât be misled by the Bossâs apparent level. I must be cautious of the hidden dangers of this dungeon."
Having gone through the Dragon Peak Trial, Wang Zhifan no longer dared to underestimate any dungeon. Although he didnât understand why the difficulty of this dungeon seemed somewhat average, he certainly wouldnât lower his guard because of it.
"Lv6?!"
After Wang Zhifan muttered to himself, the boy sitting in the wheelchair in front of him, resting on the forest ground, also let out a slightly panicked exclamation.
Then, the pale-skinned wheelchair boy slowly turned his head, first looking at the nearby granddad with the machete squinting his eyes at something intently, then looking farther away to Wang Zhifan. To Wang Zhifan, the tall young man whose gear looked uncommon at first glance, he respectfully asked:
"Sir, I have a question. Isnât it said on the forums that newbie dungeons are supposed to fight Lv2 or Lv3 Bosses? Why does this dungeon prompt suggest fighting an Lv6 Boss?"
Upon hearing the frail boy in the wheelchair ask him this question, Wang Zhifan realized that his teammatesâ situation might be different from what he had speculated.
"Do you mean youâre a newbie player? Is this your first dungeon?"
He immediately asked the wheelchair boy.
"Yes, sir."
The frail thirteen or fourteen-year-old boy sitting in the wheelchair nodded at his question but then calmly added:
"Donât worry. Although Iâm just a newbie player with paraplegia, I certainly wonât hold you back. I will assist you in completing the dungeon as much as possible. If you need bait to lure the Boss, Iâll volunteer for the role. I will fulfill the duties of a team member..."
The pale, frail boy in the wheelchair, with calm tones and steadfast eyes, appeared confident in his role, willing to make sacrifices for the team.
After listening to him speak deliberately, while closely observing his eyes and subtle expressions, Wang Zhifan ultimately judged with high probability that he wasnât performing; he truly was a newbie disabled player.
"Ahem... rest assured, it probably wonât come to that... However, if you donât mind me asking, your physical condition is evidently poor, yet I assume you wouldnât be forcibly recruited as a player by this extraordinary game, so why did you choose to become a player voluntarily? Since you know the forums, you should be aware of the dangers of being a player, right?"
Wang Zhifan then asked his frail teammate in the wheelchair. He posed this question not for any other reason than pure curiosity upon judging that the wheelchair boy wasnât some undercover expert.
After all, people value their lives. An ordinary person faces a high risk of death upon becoming a player, not to mention this wheelchair-bound paraplegic, which essentially amounts to a suicide mission.
"You guessed right; I purchased a career card to become a player willingly."
The pale, frail boy in the wheelchair didnât shy away from Wang Zhifanâs question, first confirming that Wang Zhifanâs guess was correct; he became a player through a career card. Then he explained his reasoning:
"Like anyone else, I am very afraid of dying, but I became a player half for survival because, besides being paraplegic, Iâm also a leukemia patient.
The doctor said I had less than a month to live, and I had accepted this fate. But recently, as the country has been widely promoting player-related matters, upon learning and exploring, I began to conceive the idea of becoming a player.
I wanted to personally venture into dungeons, hoping to encounter opportunities to strengthen my body and extend my life. Even if I die on my first attempt, I wonât regret it. Having this novel experience is valuable to my monotonous life..."
The wheelchair boy spoke genuinely and emotionally, expressing his choice to become a player due to Xia Countryâs recent official propaganda and as a result of his personal contemplation.
"Alright... since youâve made such a determined decision, I wonât say more. Weâll discuss tactics according to the Bossâs specifics later.
However, I can tell you one thing for certain: there really are things within the extraordinary gameâs dungeons that can improve your body, but it depends on whether you have the opportunity to encounter them."
Wang Zhifan promptly said to the wheelchair boy.