65: Chapter 65: The maze is disgusting, but the loot is surprisingly good.

After completing registration at the entrance of the dungeon, Hu Jinsi stepped into the Mass Grave dungeon.

The moment he entered the dungeon, a stench, even more potent than what was outside, rushed to meet him.

It was the sweet, sickly smell of rotting corpses mixed with the raw, earthy scent of soil, laced with a hint of sour rot from aged, fermented blood. The three scents intertwined to form a foul odor that made one's stomach churn.

Hu Jinsi had to hold his breath, and it took several seconds before he could barely adapt.

His vision gradually cleared. The scene before him was even more desolate than he had anticipated.

Countless dilapidated grave mounds were scattered haphazardly across this greyish-white wasteland. Some tombstones had snapped and were stuck crookedly into the soil, the inscriptions on them eroded and blurred by the elements.

Dead trees twisted and stretched toward the greyish-white sky, their branches like countless withered arms silently clawing at the air. Scattered on the ground were broken coffin lids and rotting burial shrouds, and occasionally, one could see white bones half-buried in the earth.

But then again, if the environment were pleasant, the dungeon wouldn't be called the Mass Grave.

Before starting his actions, Hu Jinsi first recalled the intelligence on the Mass Grave's enemies he had reviewed last night. Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated; when facing an unfamiliar dungeon, figuring out the enemy's details is always the top priority.

The types of minor monsters on the surface of the Mass Grave weren't numerous, but each had its own unique characteristics.

First, there were zombies. This was normal; it would be strange if there were no zombies in a Mass Grave. Unlike the zombies Hu Jinsi had encountered in Western-style dungeons, the Eastern-style zombies' attacks carried a corpse poison status effect. Being bitten would cause continuous loss of HP and reduce movement speed.

But that didn't matter. Hu Jinsi had the detoxifying skill [Emergency Medical Treatment] and detoxifying medicine. As long as it wasn't a White-Haired Zombie or a Flying Zombie like Master Ren, he felt he could handle it.

Besides ordinary zombies, there was a type of monster called a "Half-Zombie." This type of zombie only had an upper body and crawled on the ground using its hands.

In addition to carrying corpse poison, their attacks included a single-target spell—the Frenzy Curse, which caused the enemy unit to fall into a frenzied state, attacking indiscriminately regardless of friend or foe.

Hu Jinsi thought about it; he was alone, so even if he were afflicted by the Frenzy state, he would only attack enemies, which actually had no impact on him.

Furthermore, his own mental resistance had been stacked to a considerably high level; he could even hard-tank the projection of the Sha of Doubt, so this level of spell was almost impossible to take effect.

But Hu Jinsi couldn't help but complain: "Why would a zombie learn magic just because it lost its lower body? This simply violates both biological and magical laws. Could it be that the lower body is a burden, and cutting it off actually allows the upper body to focus on casting spells?"

"This setting is too absurd." He shook his head.

Besides that, there were two other melee units. One was the "Ripper Ghost," an enemy wielding a sharp blade. Its attack style was simple hacking and slashing; it knew no spells and didn't inflict poison, relying purely on physical output.

The other was the "Flying Head," which belonged to the flying unit category—a head that had transcended the base pleasure of having a body, dragging long entrails as it floated around in the air, constantly harassing its target.

The Flying Head was quite disgusting. Hu Jinsi didn't have any specialized anti-air methods right now, so he could only rely on his long staff for precision strikes or the long-range attack of [Spinning Crane Kick] to deal with such enemies. Fortunately, the Flying Head still had to be in melee range to attack Hu Jinsi. As long as it wasn't a ranged flying unit, he felt it was acceptable.

The last type of minor monster was called "Cleaver Granny." Looking at its attack ability alone, it was very average and also melee. The problem lay in its summoning skill; during battle, it would summon additional Flying Heads and Ripper Ghosts to assist. If it wasn't dealt with early in the fight, the number of enemies would keep increasing as the fight dragged on, eventually leading to being overwhelmed by a swarm of minor monsters.

"Summoning-type enemies are the most annoying." Hu Jinsi silently noted, prioritizing solving the Cleaver Granny first.

Having mentioned so many shortcomings of the Mass Grave, this dungeon also had its advantages. After entering, Hu Jinsi discovered that there was actually a path here.

Yes, a path. Not the kind of wilderness where one had to grope for direction, but an actual, tangible path. Although it was a dirt road with gravel and weeds, it was at least discernible as a passage trodden by people, winding its way into the depths of the Mass Grave.

This was likely a common advantage of the Legend of Sword and Fairy series dungeons.

Hu Jinsi couldn't help but think of the dungeons in the Cold Plains and the Blood Moor further back. Those had absolutely no paths, the type where you had to find your own direction out of thin air.

Comparing his miserable life before level 10, and then comparing it to the current dungeon that had paths, he had to voice the same complaint he made when he first entered a dungeon:

"Why is the quality of the newbie dungeons in Wei City so poor? It's abysmal. Not only is the environment cold and lacking path guidance, but the enemy drops are also stingy."

These past few days, besides checking the dungeon he was going to, he had also incidentally checked the dungeons for this year's freshmen in Bin City. The dungeon that Bin City's freshmen went to at level 1 was called "Shilipo," the very first map from the Legend of Sword and Fairy.

Comparing the Shilipo from Legend of Sword and Fairy 1 with the Blood Moor, one knew that the difference between these two couldn't just be called the treatment difference between a biological mother and a stepmother; it was simply the difference in treatment between a princess and Cinderella.

Shilipo had paths, temples, progressively difficult monsters, and rich drops. And what did the Blood Moor have? A vast, blood-red plain, a wilderness with no roads, Fallen Shamans that could resurrect, and elite monsters that would cast ice rings upon death.

"What kind of evil did the Awakened in Wei City commit in their past lives..." Hu Jinsi muttered to himself.

Even the newbie map in Daibei City was Lorien, which only contained clumsy Goblins and Tauren. They didn't know any tricks, were silly, and had no skills other than basic attacks. The difference was simply hard to describe.

Stopping his meaningless rambling thoughts, Hu Jinsi began to follow the path through the Mass Grave.

Come to think of it, this map was quite interesting. The entire map only had one boss, the Zombie King. But finding this boss would take quite a bit of effort. First, one had to find the entrance to the Generals Tomb within the Mass Grave, and then the Generals Tomb was a three-level underground maze, requiring one to walk to the deepest part of the third level to face the Zombie King directly.

In other words, this map was actually quite different from the dungeons Hu Jinsi had experienced before.

Previous dungeons didn't take much time to find the way; it was nothing more than clearing minor monsters and then facing the boss, picking them off one by one. But most of the difficulty of this dungeon lay in finding the path.

As long as one could directly find the shortest path, they could clear the boss and leave the dungeon as quickly as possible. If one happened to have no sense of direction, then this dungeon was simply hell.

Fortunately, it was said that the minor monsters in this dungeon would drop a special item called "Guiding Bee." This was an item that could only be used within this dungeon; it provided a 5-minute guiding service, and after use, it would lead you along the optimal path.

Hu Jinsi didn't have much confidence in his sense of direction, but his mindset was relatively good. After all, he didn't come to this dungeon to deal with the boss, grind for experience, or farm equipment.

His purpose was to fight more minor monsters and collect some Chinese medicinal herbs or prescriptions. So, getting lost a little or taking a detour was acceptable to him.

Besides, Hu Jinsi was a Monk, and when dealing with a map like the Mass Grave, if all else failed, he could directly activate [Parkour] and take a shortcut along the hillside.

---

In a little over half an hour, Hu Jinsi found the entrance to the underground Generals Tomb.

It was a stone staircase hidden behind a cluster of collapsed tombstones, extending downward and disappearing into the darkness. The air at the entrance was even colder and more humid than outside, and one could faintly hear low growls coming from below.

But Hu Jinsi didn't go down immediately. He spent nearly another hour cleaning up all the minor monsters in this area of the Mass Grave on the surface.

Mainly because the minor monsters here were too generous.

They not only dropped the cloth robes that Hu Jinsi urgently needed, various colors and styles of coarse cloth robes, although they had no attribute bonuses, they were at least much more decent than his tattered Raccoon City police uniform. This perfectly solved Hu Jinsi's current predicament regarding his police uniform being about to run out.

At the same time, they also dropped many practical items.

[Hemostatic Herb]: Instantly restores 15 HP during combat; chew and swallow to take effect. The taste is bitter, but the effect is immediate.

[Celestial Master Talisman]: Thrown during combat to deal 10 points of Earth-type damage to enemies in the current area. The moment the talisman leaves the hand, it transforms into a giant boulder and smashes into the target.

[Guiding Bee]: Provides 5 minutes of guiding service within this dungeon. A golden bee the size of a thumb that flies in front to guide you after use.

[Sticky Rice]: Removes statuses such as poisoning and corpse poison. Sprinkle a handful on the wound, and the dark green toxin will immediately sizzle and dissipate.

[Realgar Wine]: Thrown during combat to deal 20 points of damage to specific monsters like snakes and spiders. Once the bottle is smashed open, one can smell the strong aroma of alcohol.

[Spirit-Restoring Pill]: Instantly restores 3 Qi during combat. A brown pill the size of a mung bean that melts upon entering the mouth, and a warm current immediately surges in the Dantian.

There was even a Ghost Granny in blue clothes who dropped a [Meng Po Soup]—resurrects a teammate who died within 1 minute and restores 10% HP and Energy, limited to use within level 30. This was a liquid with a pale blue fluorescence, contained in a rough pottery bowl, and it smelled of a faint mint fragrance.

Looking at so many items, Hu Jinsi didn't know what to say. Damage, healing, guiding, Qi-restoring, and even resurrection items.

Although he didn't know the specific drop rates of each item, this Meng Po Soup must have a very low drop rate. Hu Jinsi had scoured the entire Mass Grave and only found this one Ghost Granny in blue clothes.

But even without the Meng Po Soup, the rest of the items were already worth more than the cost.

Especially items like [Spirit-Restoring Pill] that could restore Qi during combat, which were simply artifacts for Hu Jinsi.

As long as he had enough Qi, he could slap even a god to death if they were on the other side. Unfortunately, the recipe for the Spirit-Restoring Pill didn't drop; if he could have the recipe, Hu Jinsi felt he would be terrifyingly strong.

Hu Jinsi patrolled the Mass Grave one last time, and since there really wasn't a single active minor monster left, he finally had to enter the Generals Tomb along the entrance.

---

There was nothing to say about the first level of the Generals Tomb; there was only one path. Just keep rushing down the path, and you would see the entrance to the second level.

But the minor monsters inside the Generals Tomb were completely different from the Mass Grave outside, having been replaced by new types.

The first type is the "Zombie Soldier," which can be understood as an evolved form of the zombies outside.

They wear tattered armor, some wielding swords, others carrying hammers, but they all use melee physical attacks that inflict a zombie poison effect.

However, this poses no threat to Hu Jinsi; he is not lacking in detoxification medicines or skills.

The second type of mob is quite funny: it's a broom.

Yes, the kind of broom that floats in the sky.

They perform melee physical attacks on targets while in the air.

Their so-called "attack" is just whipping people with the broom handle.

Hu Jinsi feels quite helpless about this setting; being chased and beaten by a broom is a memory from his past life.

He remembers that this monster existed in the original game, and he didn't expect it to be replicated exactly in the dungeon.

"What kind of ridiculous setting is this? How much childhood resentment must one have to design such an absurd monster?"

He swatted a flying broom to the ground with his staff; the broom twitched a few times before turning into specks of light and dissipating.

The third type is an undead monster that looks similar to a monk.

According to the forums, this monster is called an "Earth-Crouching Arhat," and it mainly uses wind-attribute spells to attack, dealing about 10 points of damage each time.

However, its health is not very high, and it dies easily when focused by a multi-person team.

For Hu Jinsi, it is even less of a problem: dash, close in, and finish it with one strike of his staff.

The last type is also the most dangerous mob—the "White Impermanence."

It sounds very imposing, and it is indeed the most dangerous.

White Impermanence uses ranged magical attacks, and these magical attacks have a chance to cause an instant-death effect.

According to forum statistics, Awakeners with a Constitution of 17 or higher can almost ignore this effect.

So far, not a single Awakener with a Constitution of 17 or higher has been triggered by the instant-death effect.

Other triggering cases mostly occur when Constitution is below 16 and health is already below 50%.

But even so, even though his Constitution exceeds 17, he does not want to gamble on the probability.

Taking it out the moment he sees a White Impermanence is his No. 1 principle in the Generals Tomb.

Facts proved that this strategy was correct.

During the exploration of the first floor of the Generals Tomb, Hu Jinsi encountered a total of three White Impermanences.

The first time was in a narrow passageway.

That White Impermanence was mixed in among a group of Zombie Soldiers, its pale white robe particularly conspicuous in the darkness, holding a ghostly green lantern in its hand, with some kind of eerie spiritual light flickering inside instead of a flame.

Hu Jinsi reacted almost the moment he saw it, using [Chi Torpedo] to close the distance, sweeping his staff horizontally to interrupt its casting animation, and then following up with a [Flurry of Blows] triple combo; the entire sequence was finished within 2 seconds.

The White Impermanence didn't even grunt before turning into specks of light and dissipating; the lantern fell to the ground, its green light flickering a few times before going out.

The second time was at a corner.

The White Impermanence was hiding at the corner, attempting an ambush.

But Hu Jinsi's perception had been stacked to 20 points, and he sensed that cold spiritual power fluctuation before it could strike.

With a side step, he dodged its instant-death spell; a grayish-white beam passed through the spot where he had been standing and hit the wall behind, turning the stone into powder instantly, and then Hu Jinsi finished it off with a backhand strike of his staff.

The third time was the most dangerous.

The White Impermanence was standing with two Earth-Crouching Arhats; Hu Jinsi cleared the Earth-Crouching Arhats first, but he didn't notice that the White Impermanence had finished casting its instant-death spell.

The grayish-white beam shot toward him; at the critical moment, he activated [Misty Step], his body appearing in the mist on the other side, as the beam grazed his clothing and left a charred mark on the ground behind him.

"That was close." A layer of cold sweat broke out on Hu Jinsi's forehead.

Three White Impermanences, and not a single instant-death spell had been fully launched before they turned into specks of light and dissipated.

But this tense pressure made Hu Jinsi dare not relax in the slightest; in this dungeon, any carelessness could cost him his life.

"He who strikes first gains the advantage; he who strikes later suffers." Hu Jinsi sheathed his staff and stood still, saying to himself.

After passing through the first floor of the Generals Tomb, he soon arrived at the second floor.

This was also the most disgusting part of this dungeon.

Even though everyone had already discovered that the drops from the Mass Grave were so good, this was the reason why people in Bin City still had little interest in this dungeon.

The second and third floors of the Generals Tomb were a large, mixed labyrinth.

One needed to repeatedly go up and down between the second and third floors, solve puzzles, and disarm mechanisms to reach the final boss, the Zombie King.

This was also why this dungeon only had one boss; most people probably didn't have the patience to reach the boss before their time ran out, or they simply camped in the maze and left the dungeon after their rest time was up.

Hu Jinsi had a slight impression of this dungeon; after all, he had played this game before.

But the experience in the game and the feeling of entering the dungeon were two completely different things.

In the game, if you got lost, you could look up guides or check the map, but in the dungeon, you could only rely on yourself.

Hu Jinsi remembered that a maze expert in his past life once said: don't be afraid when you encounter a maze; just keep turning right while hugging the wall inside the maze—always stick to the wall, and as long as you can turn right, turn right, and you will definitely be able to walk out of the maze.

Hu Jinsi just wanted to say to this expert: the situation he described definitely did not include cases where the maze had complex mechanisms.

The lonely Hu Jinsi didn't have many ways to explore this maze, and his class itself didn't have any sense of direction bonuses for this kind of maze.

So his strategy was simple and crude: after entering the second floor, he immediately released a Wayfinding Bee, then started following it at full speed, ignoring even the surrounding mobs.

A golden bee flew out from his palm, buzzing as it flew forward.

Hu Jinsi followed closely behind, moving rapidly through the intricate passageways.

The Wayfinding Bee flew very fast, and he had to run at full speed to keep up.

The Zombie Soldiers and brooms he encountered along the way were left behind him; only the White Impermanences that blocked his path were cleared away by him.

He just followed the Wayfinding Bee like this until the 5 minutes were up, and the Wayfinding Bee turned into specks of light and disappeared.

At this time, the number of enemies that had followed him was enough for Hu Jinsi to achieve the "Leeroy Jenkins" achievement at least twice.

They were crowded in the narrow passage: in front were the Zombie Soldiers dragging heavy footsteps, in the middle were the brooms dancing in the air, and behind were the Earth-Crouching Arhats constantly releasing wind blades in pursuit.

Hu Jinsi stood still, unleashed [Crane Form: Lonely Phoenix Style], and activated [Spinning Crane Kick]!

The rotating energy formed a small whirlwind in the narrow passage.

The Zombie Soldiers were swept into it, their armor and bones making cracking sounds in the energy; the brooms were torn to pieces by the whirlwind, with wood chips and palm fibers flying everywhere; the Earth-Crouching Arhats' wind blades hit him, tearing his few remaining Raccoon City police uniforms.

Circle after circle, the energy echoed in the passage, tearing all the enemies to shreds.

[-9] [-8] [-10] [-7] [-11] [-9] ... Damage numbers jumped frantically above the mobs' heads.

In less than half a minute, these dozen or so enemies all turned into specks of light and dissipated, leaving a pile of drops on the ground.

Hu Jinsi stood still amidst the specks of light, brushed the dust off his body, picked up the Spirit-Restoring Pills and Hemostatic Herbs from the ground, and released the Wayfinding Bee again, letting it lead the way forward.

He repeated this process: Release Wayfinding Bee → Follow → Wayfinding Bee disappears → Clear mobs on the spot → Release Wayfinding Bee again.

Although this rhythm was monotonous, it was extremely efficient.

While outside, Hu Jinsi had already obtained more than 10 Wayfinding Bees.

But until all these Wayfinding Bees were used up, he still hadn't seen the final Zombie King.

However, he could clearly feel that after going up and down between the second and third floor mazes three or four times, the surrounding environment began to change; the passages became wider and wider, and the carvings on the walls became more and more exquisite.

"It shouldn't be far."

He spent another hour or so groping through the maze, retreating whenever he hit a dead end to find a new path.

Finally, behind a huge stone door, he discovered the final boss—the Zombie King.

That stone door was about three zhang high and two zhang wide, entirely built from dark cyan boulders.

The door face was covered with dense runes meant to suppress demons; those runes had become somewhat blurred after years of erosion, but they still emitted a faint golden light, as if some ancient seal was stubbornly exerting its final effect.

Wisps of black aura seeped out from the cracks in the door; those black auras twisted and spiraled in the air like living things before dissipating.

Hu Jinsi stood in front of the door and could feel the powerful pressure coming from behind it; it was the cold aura belonging to a boss-level entity, causing a layer of fine goosebumps to rise on his skin.

He took a deep breath and did not immediately push open the stone door, but instead began to organize the gains he had made along the way since entering the Generals Tomb.

It was still the same assessment: although the maze in this dungeon was truly very disgusting, very, very disgusting, and made Hu Jinsi very annoyed.

But the drops related to this dungeon were just too enticing.

During the exploration of the Generals Tomb, he had harvested a large number of practical items and equipment.

In terms of hidden weapons, there were [Plum Blossom Darts] and [Bone-Piercing Nails].

The former was a hexagonal metal throwing dart that would ricochet between targets when thrown; the latter was a slender steel nail designed to break hard armor, dealing extra damage to heavily armored enemies.

Although both types of hidden weapons were consumables, they could have miraculous effects at critical moments.

There were also many white-tier equipment: iron boots, chest protectors, iron bracers, broadswords, etc. Although white-tier equipment wasn't worth much, the quantity was huge.

Even if he just sold them as scrap metal after leaving, it would still be a profit.

Moreover, the style of some equipment was quite nice; Hu Jinsi picked out a few that looked sturdy, intending to give them away, and keeping them as backup equipment was also quite suitable.

Besides these, there were [Wind Spirit Talismans], [Earth Spirit Talismans], and [Fire Spirit Talismans]; these one-time consumable talismans allowed Hu Jinsi to occasionally experience the feeling of playing as a mage.

The Wind Spirit Talisman could create a strong wind to push enemies away, the Earth Spirit Talisman could create an earth wall on the ground to block attacks, and the Fire Spirit Talisman was just simple and crude: throw it and it explodes.

He had picked up quite a few of each, which could be used when encountering enemies with corresponding elemental weaknesses in the future.

The funniest one was that broom monster.

After death, it had a chance to drop itself.

Yes, just an ordinary broom with no attributes.

Hu Jinsi picked one up and examined it: a wooden handle, a brush head made of sorghum tassels; it looked like an ordinary cleaning tool.

"It's a pity it's not a magic broom." He sighed, "If it were a magic broom that could fly, that would be awesome."

He stuffed the broom into his backpack; although it was useless, it would still be a cleaning tool when taken home.

After checking his backpack and confirming there were no omissions, Hu Jinsi cast his gaze toward what was behind the stone door.

The Zombie King was just ahead.