70: Chapter 70, Double Dragon III, is filled with Apobos—is this kind of level suitable for high school students?

Lunch was clearly not going to be very peaceful.

Especially for the Jack-of-All-Trades Squad trio, who had just received a certain degree of information shock from Chen Yu, their thoughts were still lingering on that 65 km/h Afterimage Raider.

The number 130,000 credit points weighed on Hu Jinsi like a giant mountain, making even the cafeteria food taste bland to him.

Originally, Su Wan wanted to invite Liu Betti and Zhou Wen to eat with them, but both politely declined.

After all, it was the first day of school, and they wanted to chat and have lunch with their other friends; they didn't want to make the first day tense and dive straight into combat-ready mode.

With two companions missing, the lunch table for the Jack-of-All-Trades Squad turned into a battlefield for the three of them to plot out their vehicle.

Lin Rui's initial idea was to just buy a motorcycle with a sidecar.

He took out his phone, searched through the professional mall, and found a few suitable models.

"Look, quite a few dungeons drop these military or police motorcycles with sidecars. Especially since this year, new dungeons have started appearing in that gunfight world, so the drop rate for these types of vehicles is quite high."

He handed his phone to Hu Jinsi to look at. On the screen was a dark green three-wheeled motorcycle with a sidecar on the right side of the frame, lined with leather seats that looked fairly comfortable.

Next to it was a white version with police livery, featuring blue and red stripes on the body.

"It can be picked up for about 6,000-plus credit points, though that doesn't include any accessories or add-ons," Lin Rui explained. "Su Wan can sit in the sidecar and be able to sing and aim during combat. Hu Jinsi, you sit in the back seat; if you encounter a battle, you can jump off the vehicle to disengage, which offers high flexibility."

Hu Jinsi looked at the picture carefully and then proposed another plan.

"An electric tricycle."

"What?"

"You know, those electric passenger tricycles common in the countryside." Hu Jinsi gestured. "A decent one can be had for 1,200 to 1,500 credit points. Although it's not as comfortable as a sidecar motorcycle and it's slower, it can carry more people. Your sidecar motorcycle can only carry three people in the squad. What if we need to operate with four or five people later on? We'd have to get an additional vehicle."

He paused and continued: "And that kind of passenger electric tricycle, commonly known as a 'dog-riding rabbit,' can easily seat four people in the back. Even if a five-person squad sets out, it can travel unimpeded in most dungeons. As for the price difference, we could totally ask Chen Yu to help with modifications—boost the speed, add a rain cover, or add an enclosed cabin so it can serve as a temporary shelter in case of heavy wind and rain."

"An electric tricycle is just too ugly..." Lin Rui hesitated. "Driving that thing into a dungeon feels like going to a market to sell vegetables."

"So what if it's ugly? As long as it's practical." Hu Jinsi said. "If you want something flashy, you can buy a better one later when you have the money. Right now, what we need is cost-effectiveness."

The two originally wanted to solicit Su Wan's advice, but Su Wan clearly didn't have many thoughts on the matter. Facing their inquiry, she said with a blank expression: "I just wanted to buy a four-seater car from the beginning. Anyway, I don't understand these things, so you guys decide."

Thus, the two didn't get any valuable input from Su Wan. In the end, Hu Jinsi and Lin Rui temporarily set aside the dispute and planned to go back and ask for Lin Rui's father's advice. After all, Lin Rui's father had experienced those dungeons filled with hails of bullets and might have better suggestions for vehicle choices on such large-area maps.

Besides, the school couldn't possibly only provide one dungeon for them to choose from. Even if the vehicle didn't arrive this week, they could just go to other dungeons first and wait for the vehicle to arrive in two weeks.

"That settles it for now." Hu Jinsi decided. "We'll ask Uncle Lin tonight and finalize it tomorrow."

The first class in the afternoon was to introduce the new dungeons for the next semester.

Teacher Fan walked into the classroom with a stack of materials, followed by two teaching assistants pushing a projector and sound equipment. He stood on the podium, scanned the students in the classroom, and let his gaze linger on each person's face for a moment.

"How was your vacation?"

"It was alright—" came a scattering of responses from below.

"It seems none of you have settled your minds yet." Teacher Fan put the materials on the podium. "That's perfect, I'll help you settle them."

He turned on the projector, and the titles of three dungeons appeared on the screen:

[Double Dragon III]

[Entry Level: 11 to 18]

[Recommended Number of People: 1 to 4]

[The Cathedral]

[Entry Level: 12 to 20]

[Recommended Number of People: 1 to 5]

[Dragon King Warrior I]

[Entry Level: 10 to 18]

[Recommended Number of People: 1 to 5]

Teacher Fan tapped on the blackboard to bring the students' attention back: "Let's start with the first dungeon, [Double Dragon III]."

"Since this dungeon is called [Double Dragon III], you surely have questions: were there [Double Dragon I] and [Double Dragon II] before? I can confirm to you that there were. These two dungeons appeared five years ago and three years ago, respectively."

"The main enemies in this third-generation dungeon are all humanoid enemies, or to be precise, all human martial artists or fighters. The dungeon consists of six scenes; after passing each scene, a portal will automatically appear to transport you to the next scene."

"At the same time, this dungeon has a certain memory function. For example, after you pass the first scene, the next time you enter, you can choose to enter directly from the second scene, or start over from the first scene; it's your choice. Because it's unlikely that 72 hours will be enough to fight directly from the first scene to the sixth scene."

Teacher Fan paused, and the expression on his face became serious: "Regarding this dungeon, the warning I can give you is: do not underestimate any enemy you encounter. Any inconspicuous enemy might be a martial artist possessing unique skills."

He picked up the remote control and pressed it. The projector screen switched, and a photo appeared: a burly man standing two and a half meters tall, with knotted muscles all over his body, a bald head, a ferocious face, and wearing a pair of ragged martial arts pants.

"This type of enemy is called 'Abobo'. In [Double Dragon III], Abobo appears as an elite monster, and often they don't appear alone, but two, three, or even four at a time."

A collective gasp of cold air echoed in the classroom.

"Don't look down on them just because they are elite monsters or because there are many of them," Teacher Fan said. "This is the Abobo combat skill data that our official scouts explored while using test dummies that didn't fight back. See for yourselves."

The image on the screen began to switch, and a video started playing:

(In the center of the screen, an Abobo was standing in an abandoned building. He was working his neck, and his bones made a cracking sound. Next to him was a dummy made entirely of steel, its surface covered with sensors used to record impact force.)

Narrator (calm, serious): "Test subject: Abobo. Objective: Evaluate its destructive power against heavy armor units. Recording starts."

"First is the basic strength test."

(Abobo punched the steel dummy in the chest, emitting a tooth-aching metallic impact sound. A dull "thud" echoed in the testing ground.)

"Look here, the dummy's armor has a visible dent. Although the Block was successful, the impact force was transmitted directly to the internal structure. If this were flesh and blood, this arm would already be ruined."

"Pay attention to his charge-up action. Single arm raised high; this is his signature 'Hammer Strike'."

(Abobo roared and smashed his heavy fist from top to bottom onto the top of the dummy's head.)

"Clang—!"

"This blow is no longer a blunt strike, but a piercing strike. The dummy's helmet is deformed; the previous dent has now become a crack. This is the terrifying aspect of the Super Armor skill—it cannot be interrupted, you can only take it head-on."

"Now entering the close-quarters grappling test. This is his most dangerous normal skill."

(Abobo grabbed the dummy's legs and hoisted it upside down as if it were straw. The two-meter-tall steel dummy was as light as nothing in his hands.)

"Ultimate Bomb."

(Accompanied by a loud bang, the dummy was smashed head-first onto the floor. The tiles shattered, and a pit half a meter in diameter appeared on the ground.)

"Look at the floor! The tiles are broken. The dummy's neck joint has been shattered, and its head is tilted to one side. But he hasn't stopped yet."

"Warning! Abnormal energy fluctuations detected. The Abobo in the video has abandoned single-handed attacks and clasped his hands together."

(Abobo jumped into the air, hands clasped tightly, as if raising a giant axe, aiming at the dummy's spine.)

"This is his true trump card—'Double-Handed Downward Slash'."

(BOOM!!!)

"My God... Students, look clearly."

"The dummy, it's broken."

"From the waist, neatly split in two. The power of this move surpasses so-called 'Super Finishers'; there's nothing flashy about it, it is pure, absolute physical annihilation."

"Even though the dummy is already totaled, he is still attacking."

(Abobo flared his energy, his muscles bulging another size, and grabbed the remaining upper half of the dummy's wreckage.)

"Forced Compression Explosion."

(He slammed the dummy's wreckage into the ground, the steel body completely twisted and exploded, with parts flying everywhere. The testing ground was filled with metal fragments and sparks.)

"Test complete. Steel dummy, completely destroyed."

"Remember, in the [Double Dragon III] dungeon, if you encounter him, absolutely do not let him touch you."

"Block? It's useless. That layer of steel armor couldn't stop him just now."

"The only survival strategy: kill him before he jumps up."

"If you can't... good luck."

The video ended, and the classroom fell into a deathly silence.

For a full five seconds, not a single person spoke. Only the humming sound of the projector fan echoed in the classroom. A girl sitting in the front row turned pale and subconsciously grabbed her desk mate's arm.

Several boys in the back row exchanged terrified glances. Among them, someone had previously joked that "Double Dragon sounds like a children's game," and now that person wished they could bite off their own tongue.

Teacher Fan watched this scene with satisfaction. The intimidation plan had worked.

Hu Jinsi, who had been somewhat nonchalant when he originally saw the dungeon name [Double Dragon III], suddenly became uneasy.

This goddamn world fragment, you call this dungeon [Double Dragon III]? This is clearly Abobo from [Double Dragon Fighting]! Although they are characters from the same worldview, isn't this kind of crossover a bit rude? If the elite monsters inside start at this level, then who could possibly beat the rest of the dungeon?

Although Hu Jinsi was now confident that he could single-handedly take on one Abobo without any issues, if things were as Teacher Fan described and four Abobos appeared at once, Hu Jinsi would have no choice but to run for his life.

If four martial artists of that caliber surrounded him, even with his nineteen points of Agility and a pile of movement skills, it would be hard to guarantee he wouldn't get caught.

Once hit by that "Ultimate Bomb" or "Double-Handed Smash," he would be either dead or crippled.

Teacher Fan glanced at the reactions of the students in the class and nodded with satisfaction.

His deterrence plan had worked; the moment the video was shown, it instantly pulled the students' minds back from their relaxed holiday state.

Many turned pale, and some even subconsciously touched their own necks, as if they had already been struck by Abobo's iron hammer.

He cleared his throat and continued: "You can rest assured that the Abobo shown in the video was tested in the fourth stage. If you only fight in the first three stages, Abobo will not be that strong."

Hearing Teacher Fan's words, most of the students in the class breathed a sigh of relief.

Indeed, they felt much the same as Hu Jinsi; if an elite monster were truly as strong as it appeared in the video, then this dungeon would definitely be a forbidden zone.

At the same time, Teacher Fan said mysteriously: "Because the enemies in this dungeon are all martial artists or fighters, the equipment that drops, besides regular clothing and weapons, includes quite a few skills related to combat."

"These humanoid combat skills are universal to most classes; whether you are a Mage or a Gunner, you can learn and use them without restriction. For example, all the combat techniques Abobo demonstrated in the video have a chance to drop."

"Of course, as your teacher, I must give you appropriate advice: I do not recommend attempting scenes beyond the fourth act before you reach level fifteen. Because as the dungeon progresses, there are not only strength-based enemies like Abobo, but also agile ninjas and other styles of martial artists. For most students, without sufficient experience and preparation, it is very easy to fail right from the start."

Although Teacher Fan was still explaining and giving advice on the previous video, Hu Jinsi's mind was clearly no longer on that.

Based on his previous understanding, he had thought that World Fragments were just scenes from individual games; he hadn't expected that content from the same worldview could also appear linked together in one dungeon.

In the Double Dragon III plot dungeon, characters from Double Dragon fighting games were mixed in; this kind of crossover made Hu Jinsi have a very bad premonition.

If a dungeon based on Mortal Kombat were to form, would he, Hu Jinsi, have to face Homelander one day?

He genuinely couldn't beat that beef-hating A-Zu.

Then, a super old arcade game suddenly popped into his mind, one where you could control various mutants and Avengers to fight against various villains from Marvel.

He had already controlled his brain not to let his imagination run wild with such bizarre and dangerous associations, but he still couldn't help but think: if that game were presented as a dungeon and linked to Marvel, the difficulty inside would truly be world-destroying.

He wouldn't go to a dungeon like that even if it killed him—if he went in, he might not come out.

"Hu Jinsi!"

Teacher Fan's voice pulled him back from his brainstorming.

"Pay attention and don't let your mind wander."

"...Yes."

Hu Jinsi was still lost in all sorts of wild thoughts, while Teacher Fan had already started explaining the second dungeon.

"The [The Cathedral] dungeon is a follow-up scene to the Blood Moor and Cold Plains you experienced last semester."

"I believe I don't need to show you any more videos or graphic materials for this dungeon; you can already feel the intensity and style within it yourselves."

Teacher Fan switched the projection, and a huge map unfolded on the screen, marked with the dense Dark Forest, the desolate Black Marsh, the towering Tamoe Highlands, and the magnificent yet eerie The Cathedral located at the end of the highlands.

"Regarding this dungeon, I need to point out that although the dungeon is named [The Cathedral], the place you actually land in is an initial map called 'Dark Forest.' That forest never sees the sun all year round, the trees are so tall they Block out the sky, and the ground is covered with thorns and poison ivy. You need to cross the Dark Forest, pass through the Black Marsh soaked by eternal rain, and then find The Cathedral standing on the edge of the cliff in the Tamoe Highlands."

"And The Cathedral itself is divided into inner cloisters and outer cloisters, with several levels of space underground. Each level has different types of monsters and environmental traps, from the zombies in the Catacombs to the torture devices in the Prison, and finally to the poison pool altar where Andariel resides in the deepest part."

"In short, this is the largest map you might have experienced so far. According to official surveys, the total area is roughly ten times that of the previous Cold Plains."

There was a commotion below. Everyone knew what that number meant. The Cold Plains were already headache-inducingly large; ten times that area was practically larger than a city.

"The slightly better news is that there are Waypoints in this dungeon. You can find a Waypoint in every specific scene or map; once activated, you can teleport between activated points via any Waypoint the next time you enter. Of course, this requires Energy Crystals, which you must prepare yourselves."

"The advice and warnings I can give you are: First, prepare transportation and camping supplies. Because you are all aware of the style, scenes, and environment of this map, pay attention to keeping warm and rest well at night so you can fight normally the next day."

"Secondly, you should have noticed that this dungeon has the highest entry level and the highest cap of the three. My warning is: do not venture deep into the lowest level of The Cathedral. Even if you think you have the strength, you should stop at the third or fourth underground level."

Teacher Fan's tone became more serious: "Our official scouts are already transcendent existences, and when they faced the final boss of this dungeon, Andariel, they almost failed due to being overly careless."

"Although that boss is only a projection of the original entity and has been suppressed to a certain level by the dungeon, its original entity is definitely a being that transcends legend. Even as a projection, it has some transcendent properties and is not something people at your stage can choose to attack without preparation."

"Unless it is the end of this semester or during the summer break, and all of you are level twenty or close to level twenty, and you are fully equipped with poison resistance gear, you should not make an initial attempt. Otherwise," Teacher Fan paused, "I do not wish for any more students to leave us this semester."

The classroom was silent. Teacher Fan rarely spoke in such a tone; the last time was during the Cold Plains incident, when two students died in the dungeon for certain reasons.

Regarding this dungeon, Hu Jinsi was likely more professional and familiar with it than the teacher and students present.

When he revealed information to Chen Yu earlier, he had already prepared himself mentally, guessing that they might eventually have to fight Andariel.

Sure enough, Teacher Fan's words confirmed that the final boss guarding the level was Andariel.

When he played the game before, reaching Andariel was around level twelve to fifteen.

But the problem is that in the game, you can just click a hotkey to drink potions, unlike in the real world where you actually have to take the potion out of your backpack, unscrew the cap, pour it into your mouth, and swallow it.

If you tried that in reality, switching back and forth between drinking antidotes and healing potions in front of Andariel, your throat would probably give out after two bottles, or you'd be killed on the spot by Andariel.

In any case, Hu Jinsi remembered that for the miserable melee classes fighting Andariel, the only strategy he could think of was chugging potions while trading health.

But in the real world, he couldn't fight Andariel while frantically clicking a mouse to drink antidotes and healing potions. Therefore, he would likely prevent Lin Rui and Su Wan from engaging the boss Andariel too early.

Of course, some of the earlier difficulties were manageable, and some were even quite easy to fight, like the Countess.

He just didn't know if Runewords would drop, but after such a long time, even if they did, he had forgotten the recipes.

Seeing that the class time was drawing to a close, Teacher Fan cleared his throat and sped up his speaking pace to introduce the final dungeon.

"【Dragon King Warrior I】."

"Everyone may have noticed that this dungeon has the lowest entry level of the three, only level ten. This lower level limit is even lower than some of the dungeons from last semester, so this is also the dungeon I recommend you explore in the first few weeks."

"This dungeon has a total of six stages. To be precise, the difficulty of the first two stages might not even be level ten, and the vast majority of you could even solo clear the first two stages. The difficulty of the subsequent stages will gradually increase, but it won't be impossible to fight. At around level thirteen or fourteen, most people can team up to clear all six stages."

"Of course, since the overall difficulty of this dungeon is lower among the three, it does not have the teleportation or level-skipping mechanisms of the first two dungeons. You must start from the first stage every time you enter."

"But seventy-two hours is definitely enough; if you are fast, you can even be out in less than forty-eight hours. The waves of mobs before each boss fight will not exceed ten rounds, and the scene map for each stage is not very large."

Teacher Fan paused, his tone carrying a bit of warning: "What I can advise you regarding this dungeon is: don't be too reckless. Don't actively increase the difficulty for yourself just because it looks low, challenging 150%, 250%, or even higher difficulties. This might be the biggest trap of this series of dungeons. Once you raise the difficulty, the mobs and bosses inside will be appended with various bizarre templates."

"It's possible that the silly Orc King in the first stage might suddenly be appended with a Clan Leader or even an Orc Blademaster template, and if you get slashed out of the dungeon, don't blame me for not warning you in advance."

"Regarding drops, the background of this dungeon is pure Western fantasy, so the drops are mainly for Western classes. There are more equipment types similar to Barbarian, Priest, Archer, Dwarf Defender, and Mage. Modern-leaning class types might not find much suitable equipment inside; you should consider this yourselves."

The bell for the end of class rang right on time. Teacher Fan had no intention of dragging out the class, so he packed up his materials and left the classroom directly, leaving behind a room full of students still digesting the information.