92: Chapter 92: Dagger, Beer Bottle, Bicycle Chain, Trash Can Lid

The class bell rang.

The students gathered around Hu Jinsi dispersed, returning to their seats in twos and threes. The classroom quickly returned to tranquility; the sounds of turning pages and the rustle of pen tips across paper intertwined, as the familiar rhythm of campus life once again enveloped the room.

The Jack-of-All-Trades Squad was also getting into the zone.

They were set to depart the day after tomorrow to conquer the Double Dragon III dungeon, and the most urgent task at hand was gathering intelligence. Hu Jinsi, Lin Rui, and Su Wan utilized their spare time to split up and collect information about this new dungeon from the school's database and various strategy forums.

Double Dragon III had one significant difference from previous dungeons: it had mostly indoor settings.

This meant the trio would have to honestly rely on their own two legs to walk; they could not count on any vehicles to save time.

The dungeon's background was set in a modern society, especially the first level, which featured streets, alleys, martial arts gyms, and factories—all urban environments.

Such a setting had both advantages and disadvantages.

On the positive side, just as the Pear Garden Squad had mentioned before, the equipment dropped in modern dungeons was almost never hard to sell. Whether it was bracers, belts, or weapons, there was always someone who could use them; it was just a matter of the selling price.

Moreover, the dungeon would drop various general items, such as food: instant noodles, chocolate, burgers, pizza, and the like, allowing them to try otherworldly delicacies along the way. There were even drops of various modern technological products, like batteries, light bulbs, and radio parts, which could be considered a supplement to the local industries of Water Blue Star.

On the negative side, they could no longer use vehicles to save time.

There were no magic brooms, no all-terrain vehicles; they could only rely on their two legs to advance level by level. According to the average progress on current guides, it would take them at least three weeks to clear the entire dungeon.

However, the squad did not have much else going on lately, and their course schedule was not too packed, so slowly improving themselves within this dungeon was a good choice. Steady progress was actually better suited to their current pace.

---

That afternoon, the three gathered in a corner of the training field, took out their terminals, and began to compile the intelligence they had gathered over the past few days.

Su Wan spoke first, summarizing the information she had found on the caster forums. Lin Rui added some precautions from the perspective of a melee class. Hu Jinsi compared his memories of the original game with the online guides, removing some outdated information.

After compiling everything, the three reached a common conclusion: Double Dragon III could be called a treasure trove of skills.

Not only would the bosses at the end of each level drop their signature skills, but various monsters with diverse styles would also drop their corresponding specialty weapons and skills.

From street thugs' dagger combat techniques to martial arts masters' punches and kicks, and even ninjas' exclusive ninjutsu displacement skills, everything was available.

This was completely different from the Dragon King Warrior I dungeon, where you played through six levels and barely saw any changes in the mobs other than their skin color. Every level of Double Dragon III had a unique mob configuration; the enemies' designs, weapons, and attack patterns changed constantly as the levels progressed. If you had specific needs, you could only farm the corresponding level repeatedly; there were no shortcuts.

What was even more interesting was that a team had already cleared the normal difficulty of Double Dragon III a week before the holiday. During the break, some had tried challenging the 150% difficulty and discovered an astonishing phenomenon: the boss guarding certain levels had changed.

A new boss meant a brand-new loot list; the skills, weapons, and equipment could all be different. This discovery was a pleasant surprise for many challengers, and it also significantly increased the dungeon's replayability value.

Besides the boss changes, the increased difficulty also brought a subtle change: the combat level of the mobs had significantly improved.

They were no longer mindless enemies that only knew one or two moves; their street fighting level had risen to that of a novice who had received at least a year of professional martial arts training. Their move sets became fluid, their transitions between offense and defense had structure, and they no longer blindly charged in to throw their lives away.

This was both an opportunity and a challenge for the challengers.

The three each found what they were hoping for in the loot list.

Hu Jinsi was most concerned with bracers. Ever since he had accidentally destroyed the bracers of Lightning Kaelo, he had been looking to replace them with a new pair.

He had originally planned to use credits to buy a common pair of bracers dropped in the Double Dragon III dungeon to use for now, but upon hearing that the squad was going to this dungeon, he dismissed the idea of buying them. After all, bracers that added unarmed attack were quite common items in this dungeon; he figured he could get a free basic pair on the first day, so there was no need to waste money.

As for Dalton, the boss guarding the first level, Hu Jinsi was completely indifferent.

In the original game, this character belonged to the type of enemy whose martial arts skills were mediocre and who was purely there to fill space. What kind of serious person would name their skills Mans Power, Mans Blade, or Mans Ki Blast?

Just based on his skill names, if this were after 2010 in Hu Jinsi's previous life, he would have been ruined by LGBT organizations, and in the game, he would have definitely been pixelated.

Of course, even in this current world, the skills he dropped were all of that type, which held no appeal for Hu Jinsi's current Monk system.

However, Hu Jinsi had some ideas about Cheng Hu, the boss of the second level.

In the original game, Cheng Hu was a martial arts master skilled in Drunken Fist; his moves were elegant, and despite his staggering gait, they hidden murderous intent. The Monk class itself had a special Drunken Fist combat style. When Hu Jinsi was level eleven, he had considered taking this path. This style could incorporate performance and brewing skills into the class abilities, offering a unique combat style with highly aesthetic moves.

However, considering the regulation that minors were not allowed to drink alcohol, Hu Jinsi ultimately abandoned this choice.

But if he could get some scattered Drunken Fist moves from Cheng Hu, it might bring new inspiration to Hu Jinsi's current Monk skill system. He did not have to follow a pure Drunken Fist path; taking a few of its essence moves and incorporating them into his existing system was also a good choice.

Su Wan's goal was much clearer.

She had her eye on the ninjutsu and displacement skills dropped by the ninja AMON in the third level.

Displacement skills had always been a regret for Su Wan. The Bard's second-circle spell list did not include Misty Step, a fact she had privately complained about for a long time.

As a caster, being unable to quickly adjust one's position on the battlefield was a very frustrating thing. When facing melee enemies right in her face, she could only rely on running with her legs, which was quite embarrassing.

The appearance of the ninja AMON obviously gave Su Wan new hope.

After testing and verification by a few lucky individuals, AMON dropped a displacement skill called "Shadow Shift," which had a very low learning threshold and almost no restrictions for either casters or non-casters.

Caster-type professionals would convert this "Shadow Shift" skill stone into a second-circle spell; after learning it, non-casters would achieve a similar effect based on their own professional resources. Even for classes without special professional resources, like Warriors or Soldiers, they could achieve displacement by consuming HP or stamina.

Although there was a bit of a threshold, for such a noble displacement skill, there was nothing to complain about.

Su Wan had made up her mind to farm the third level repeatedly until she got "Shadow Shift."

Lin Rui said there was nothing there at the moment that caught his eye.

But this was only temporary. Hu Jinsi, who was familiar with the game, knew that since the increased difficulty would bring changes to the bosses, Fire Pig Bunov would sooner or later appear on the boss list.

Bunov in the original game was a massive fighter with astonishing strength; his moves were wide and sweeping, and his destructive power was extremely high. His skills were almost 100% compatible with Lin Rui's current heavy-armor melee combat system—powerful and forceful, suppressing others with strength, simple and crude yet extremely effective.

Besides that, many enemies in this dungeon would drop skill stones similar to "Rising Dragon Fist," and he believed no melee professional could refuse the temptation of "Rising Dragon Fist."

That iconic uppercut, with the energy aura brought up by the fist, could blast enemies into the sky; its power was astonishing, and its visual effects were top-tier.

However, looking at the weight Lin Rui was currently carrying, Hu Jinsi felt that even if he got a martial art like "Rising Dragon Fist," Lin Rui might not necessarily be able to jump. That heavy armor weighed at least a few dozen catties; wearing it while performing a rising dragon move... the image was a bit jarring just to think about.

The three discussed until evening, roughly finalizing their strategy plan.

Until they departed on Sunday, the three did not do any extra preparation work.

This modern-background dungeon had a very complete variety of drops, covering almost everything related to food, clothing, housing, and transportation. According to the Pear Garden Squad, who had been pioneering this dungeon for the past month, the burgers and pizza dropped inside tasted pretty good, and the members had inexplicably gained noticeable weight.

Therefore, the three also had preliminary expectations for this dungeon trip; at least the food should not be too bad.

---

On Sunday morning, the sun was bright.

The three, carrying their respective equipment, boarded the school bus heading to the Double Dragon III dungeon. There were many students sitting in the carriage, gathered in twos and threes to chat, and the atmosphere was relaxed.

Since the semester had been going on for over a month, the number of people heading to the three dungeons was now tending toward balance, unlike the polarization at the very beginning. Previously, almost everyone would crowd into Dragon King Warrior I, but now everyone knew that each dungeon had its own characteristics, and the diversion effect was obvious.

Of course, in the team heading to Double Dragon III, the three did not see the presence of that pay-to-win squad from before.

Perhaps there was no way to cheat too much in this type of dungeon. In a modern-background dungeon, the enemies were all tough characters who knew kung fu, so the effect of crushing them with equipment was not as obvious as in fantasy dungeons.

"Outside of seven steps, the gun is fast; within seven steps, the gun is both fast and accurate"—this meme was valid in Hu Jinsi's previous life.

But in this world, this meme was not that reliable.

Hu Jinsi could definitely tell you that your seven steps were just one step for them. Even the Gunpowder Squad, that bunch of firepower enthusiasts who went "rat-tat-tat" the whole way, did not want to come to Double Dragon III. The enemies in this dungeon more or less had some skills in dodging and blocking; bullets fired often missed, the returns were too low, and the cost-effectiveness was not good.

However, for most civilian players, the returns from this dungeon were still pretty good.

There was a wide variety of equipment, high versatility, abundant food supplies, and a reasonably designed difficulty gradient; the first two levels could completely serve as a place for leveling up. As long as one played steadily and progressed step by step, one could always gain something.

The three members of the squad queued up, registered, and prepared to enter the dungeon step by step.

This time, at least a few people from the Pear Garden Squad were queuing with them, so chatting made it not too boring. Wu Yingyu, Wang Jingshan, and Mo Ming were all there, and the group even agreed that after they each cleared this dungeon, the six of them could try to team up to challenge the 150% difficulty.

The other side clearly also saw the news that the Boss would be replaced after the difficulty increased, and they showed great interest in it. With the two teams joining forces, the lineup composition was more reasonable, and they were more confident in dealing with high-difficulty challenges.

While chatting, it was the Jack-of-All-Trades Squad's turn to enter the dungeon.

The three of them walked to the teleportation vortex, took a deep breath, and stepped in together.

The moment they crossed the vortex, their vision went dark, and then it brightened up again.

--- The three members of the Jack-of-All-Trades Squad appeared in the center of a martial arts training hall.

The room had a typical martial arts hall style, with the wooden floor polished smooth and flat. Against the wall stood a row of punching bags and wooden dummies, some of which had already been beaten until they were pockmarked and dented.

A large character was hung on the wall, written as "Martial," in a flamboyant, calligraphic style. In the background were lattice wooden windows, letting in soft natural light that cast grid-like shadows on the floor.

In the corner stood a weapon rack, with a few wooden sticks and blunt practice knives inserted into it.

"A classic opening," Hu Jinsi commented internally. Furthermore, there was none of that long string of forced dialogue found in games; NPCs wouldn't pull you aside to ramble on about background stories. It was straight to the fight, clean and efficient. This made him feel quite refreshed and saved a lot of trouble.

However, before he could properly observe the environment, the side door of the training hall was kicked open.

A group of strangers swarmed in, dressed in a motley assortment of clothes; some wore tight vests, some had on cargo pants, and some were simply shirtless, revealing flashy, gaudy tattoos.

Seeing the three people in the center of the training hall, they revealed ferocious expressions and charged straight at them.

This group of enemies that had just entered was clearly not at an elite level.

Hu Jinsi stepped forward to test them out and discovered that these people only had three moves, repeating them over and over: jabs, hooks, and uppercuts. The moves were simple and crude, without any variation; they didn't even know how to throw combinations. Just as Wu Yingyu had said, they were truly only at the level of knowing a move or two, which was completely within the controllable range for the difficulty of the first level.

Su Wan also tested the effect of [Plucking·Initial Movement].

She chanted softly, and pale golden light flowed from her fingertips, plucking the "strings of existence" of those enemies. One hoodlum after another experienced various abnormal mishaps; when throwing a punch, they suddenly slipped, when kicking, their balance was off, and some even inexplicably bumped their heads into the nearby punching bags. The scene was quite comical for a moment.

Su Wan expressed that she really liked this dungeon.

At least in this level, her abilities had found a place to be useful again. Unlike when dealing with various strange and peculiar enemies before, where her skills seemed so powerless—for instance, when fighting the Minotaur, plucking strings was basically useless against an entity of that size, and she could only stare helplessly.

After finishing off the enemies in the training hall, the three of them briefly checked their surroundings.

The punching bags were only filled with bran and rags, the wooden dummies were just ordinary wood, the wooden sticks on the weapon rack didn't even have stats, and the pennants on the wall were purely decorative. Confirming there was nothing worth collecting, the three of them pushed open the large door and left the training hall.

As soon as the door was pushed open, the scene outside came into view. --- The door to the training hall opened into a small alley, not facing the city's main street. The alley wasn't very wide, just enough for four or five people to walk side by side.

The environment was at a level bordering on the brink of ruin; the cement ground was pockmarked, mixed with mottled brick walls, the plaster peeling off to reveal the red bricks inside. Along the side of the wall stood rows of trash cans, emitting a faint, lingering smell of rot.

Overhead, a few electric wires crisscrossed, looking like some kind of irregular spider web.

Arriving in the alley, before the three of them could determine whether to proceed left or right, the dungeon very thoughtfully arranged the answer for them.

Several hoodlums were seen swaggering over from one side of the alley, carrying various weapons in their hands. The other side, however, was completely empty and excessively quiet.

It was clear that heading in the direction the enemies were coming from was the right choice.

The enemies rushing up this time were no longer the rookies from the training hall who only knew two or three boxing moves; they were armed to the teeth. Some held daggers, the blades glinting coldly in the sunlight; others carried half-broken beer bottles, the jagged, uneven glass at the bottle's mouth looking incredibly dangerous.

Some brandished bicycle chains, the iron links clattering as they collided; there were even some who grabbed a nearby trash can lid to use as a shield, propping the tin lid in front of them, looking quite decent.

Although the three of them had learned the information in advance, they were still a bit unaccustomed when truly facing this group of enemies with such casual equipment.

This art style... how should one put it, it was too down-to-earth.

Hu Jinsi gestured directly toward Su Wan, signaling for her to act.

It was rare for the enemies to be so cooperative, standing so densely in such a narrow environment; it was simply the perfect scenario for [Shattering Sonic Wave]. In this kind of terrain, one sonic wave blasted over, and the enemies wouldn't even have a place to dodge, taking full damage—it was both effortless and efficient.

Su Wan understood and cleared her throat.

She raised her staff, and after a brief chant, a [Shattering Sonic Wave] erupted from the tip of the staff, transforming into a visible ring-shaped shockwave that blasted toward the group of lackeys gathered at one end of the alley.

Boom— Wherever the sonic wave passed, the air vibrated violently, and scraps of paper and empty cans on the ground were swept into mid-air. That group of gathered lackeys was impacted and fell to the ground one after another, collapsing like harvested wheat.

Some were knocked unconscious directly, some rolled on the ground in pain while clutching their ears, and others were flipped over by the shockwave and slammed into the wall, emitting a dull thudding sound.

Seeing this situation, Hu Jinsi dashed out in a stride, charging straight toward the group of fallen people.

He took a deep breath, his figure leaped up, rotating in mid-air, and he channeled [Spinning Crane Kick]. The shadows of his legs were like the wind, sweeping across with sharp, fierce energy, ensuring as much as possible that these fallen people wouldn't have the chance to stand up and be people again.

The coordination was very successful. It was mainly because the alley was just too narrow, and the opponents were standing too densely, so the full damage of [Shattering Sonic Wave] was poured onto them without a single bit of loss. If they were on the main street outside, with the enemies scattered, the effect of Su Wan's magic would be greatly reduced.

What was even rarer was that, barely half an hour into the dungeon, these street hoodlums had actually dropped loot.

The three of them were obviously somewhat happy about this. After all, it had been a long time since they had seen small fry drop anything; the drop rate of the mobs in [Dragon King Warrior I] was simply touching, especially the destitute Harpy, who seemed to be possessed by the god of poverty.

However... the dropped items were not exactly mainstream. Lying on the ground was a rusty bicycle chain, and next to it was a dusty skill stone.

Hu Jinsi picked it up to check the stats: [Bicycle Chain] [Type: Exotic Weapon/Street Weapon/Soft Weapon] [Damage: 2-8] [Attribute Requirement: Strength 12+] [Flexible Capture: When an attack hits, you may forgo damage and instead use Strength to disarm or bind the target.] [Concealable: This weapon will not be detected when equipped on the body but not in use.] [Item Description: This bicycle chain, approximately 1.3 meters long, is composed of rusted iron links interlocked, with oil-soaked coarse burlap grips wrapped around both ends. The surface is covered with a dark brown oxide layer, with gravel and bloodstains embedded in the crevices.]

After reading the description, the corners of Hu Jinsi's mouth couldn't help but twitch. He picked up the skill stone and checked the skill information: [Skill Stone: Chain Eight Strikes - First Form] [Effect: After use, learn Chain Eight Strikes - First Form: Mountain Splitting Strike. This skill requires the weapon to be limited to chains from vehicles with four wheels or less, such as bicycle chains, motorcycle chains, or tricycle chains.] [Mountain Splitting Strike: Hold one end of the chain with one hand, raise it high above the head, and smash it down with great force. The chain straightens into a line in the air, smashing toward the enemy's head or shoulders. It is powerful and heavy, with a chance to knock back or stun the target.]

Facing these two "rare" drops, it wasn't just Hu Jinsi; Lin Rui and Su Wan also instantly lost the motivation to speak.

The three of them looked at each other, not knowing how to comment for a moment. Although they had learned from the snippets of information from the Pear Garden Squad that this dungeon would drop some strange and peculiar equipment and moves, they clearly hadn't expected to encounter such strange and peculiar things right upon entering. This luck, it was hard to say whether it was good or bad.

In his past life, when listening to crosstalk and storytelling, Hu Jinsi often felt that the "Eighteen Strikes of the Bench" mentioned by others was quite interesting. Using a bench as a weapon, swinging it with a roaring wind, it had a sense of imagery just listening to it.

But when he saw a skill called [Chain Eight Strikes] in this lifetime, he felt that this wasn't interesting, but rather a kind of deep malice.

Even if you dropped a throat-slitting [Night Battle in Eight Directions - Hidden Blade Strike], it would be more serious than this [Chain Eight Strikes]. At least "Hidden Blade Strike" sounded like it had a bit of the martial arts world's atmosphere, but Chain Eight Strikes... what was this? An introductory textbook for street hoodlums?

He really couldn't imagine that in the future, when teaming up with others, if he suddenly pulled out a bicycle chain from his waist and started swinging it to fight enemies, how ridiculous that scene would be.

This wasn't a problem of the art style. It was that any expert who wielded a bicycle chain would make others think that their IQ had a certain degree of deficiency. If there was such a person in the team, the teammates would probably rather quit the team than be embarrassed with him.

Given this, Hu Jinsi hurriedly made his stance clear to Lin Rui and Su Wan.

"I am a Monk; this weapon is too difficult for me, and I can't use it. You know, the Monk class is very tragic; I can only use a few types of weapons like unarmed strikes and cudgels. This kind of exotic weapon is not in my weapon list, so I give up on this thing."

He said it with a straight face, his tone sincere, as if he were stating some unviolable professional iron rule.

Su Wan also became shrewd, immediately entering a state of acting. She feigned an appearance of being unable to truss a chicken, pinching her voice and saying: "This weapon is too heavy; it says at least Strength 12 is needed to wield it. Although my Strength is a little bit more than 12, I think I would run out of strength after swinging it a few times."

"Besides, the chain is so dirty; it's covered in rust and oil. Fighting with it would get oil stains all over me, it's so filthy... Therefore, I also give up on this weapon."

After finishing, she even patted her clothes with a serious look, looking at the rusty chain on the ground with an expression of disgust.

Seeing the two of them state their positions like this, how could Lin Rui not understand what kind of double act these two were putting on? Using manipulative language, singing in harmony, they were clearly intending to force this "treasure" onto him and then wait to watch him make a fool of himself.

But Lin Rui didn't intend to go along with their act. He bent down, picked up the chain and the skill stone from the ground, expressionlessly stuffed them into his backpack, and said indifferently: "I'll see if I can sell it when we get out."

After saying this, he ignored the pair of actors and strode toward the depths of the alley.

Hu Jinsi and Su Wan looked at each other and couldn't help but laugh.