Chapter 57 Cross-Dungeon Speedrun Begins, Qin Wentian Spends Money to Climb to the Top

The matter of the Anti-Unscrupulous Alliance had just settled down for a few days, and players across the server were still gossiping about the disbandment of the Iron Blood Alliance when a sudden system-wide announcement popped up, instantly drawing everyone's attention.

[Server Announcement] The first "gods domain: origin" Cross-Dungeon Speedrun event will officially begin in three days. All players can participate in teams to challenge the highest difficulty dungeon, [Space-Time Rift]. The team with the shortest clear time will be crowned champion and receive the server's only SSS-grade artifact, [space-time judgment]. This artifact comes with special effects: Ignore Defense and Time-Space Imprisonment. Please check the official website for specific rules.

The entire server instantly exploded.

[world channel]

[Player "Wocao Wuqing": An SSS-grade artifact? The only one on the server? People are going to fight like crazy for this, right?]

[Player "Brick-Moving Expert": space-time judgment? The name alone sounds badass! Ignore Defense? Doesn't that mean one-shotting everyone?]

[Player "Invincible Sword God": Don't even think about it. An artifact of this level is definitely going to be in the pockets of the big guilds and whales. We solo players should just watch.]

[Player "Milk Tea Without Sugar": That's not necessarily true. Brother Ye is here too. If he participates, who could possibly beat him to it?]

[Player "Yes Little Follower": Brother Ye must participate! Take the artifact and crush the Goryeo War God Temple!]

Lin Ye sat by the window, watching the excitement on the world channel with a wicked smile on his face. An SSS-grade artifact? Ignore Defense? Time-Space Imprisonment? This equipment was practically tailor-made for him. His Decay Debuff could reduce an enemy's attributes to zero, but when facing opponents who also had defense-ignoring capabilities, he still had to rely on raw strength. The defense-ignoring property of the space-time judgment would perfectly cover his shortcomings.

"Brother, are you going to participate?" Fatty Wang ran up from downstairs, his eyes sparkling.

"I am. Why wouldn't I?" Lin Ye said while cracking melon seeds. "It's the only artifact in the server; it would be a waste not to take it."

Su Qinghan walked over, holding a document about the dungeon: "The Space-Time Rift is at the highest difficulty. The mobs inside start at Level 50, and the final boss is the Level 60 Space-Time Overlord. It has five hundred thousand HP and skills like Time Stagnation, Time Reversal, and Parallel Clones. Since the server opened, no one has been able to clear it."

Lin Ye took the document, scanned it, and laughed: "Five hundred thousand HP? That's just a matter of a thousand stacks of my debuff."

"It's not a matter of HP," Su Qinghan shook her head. "The Space-Time Overlord's 'Time Reversal' skill can reset its own state, including clearing all debuffs. Your Decay effect might be useless against it."

Lin Ye raised an eyebrow: "Resetting debuffs? Interesting. Then I'll have to change my tactics."

He thought for a moment, stood up, and walked to the window. In the distance at the Main City Square, many players were already forming teams. Recruitment ads from major guilds were flying everywhere, with shouts like "Top ten player leading the team, looking for DPS," and "Need Healer and Tank, artifact shared upon clearing" rising and falling one after another.

"Fatty, sign us up. The four of us are enough."

Fatty Wang nodded excitedly and ran off to register.

Meanwhile, in another corner of the main city, a figure was staring blankly at the system announcement. He was wearing a set of white-tier novice equipment, his level was only 35, and his ID was "Heavenly Temple Qin Wentian." He had quit the game several days ago; after smashing his gaming pod, he thought he would never return. But when he saw the words "space-time judgment," his heart still skipped a beat.

SSS-grade artifact. Ignore Defense. Time-Space Imprisonment.

If he got this artifact, could he turn the tables? Could he defeat Lin Ye? Could he rebuild the Heavenly Temple?

Qin Wentian sat on the bed in his rented room, staring at the announcement on his phone screen, his palms drenched in sweat. He was out of money. The last time he sold his assets to scrape together fifty million gold coins to give to Lin Ye, it had already emptied his coffers. Now, he couldn't even afford a single piece of Blue equipment.

But he was unwilling to give up.

He opened his contacts and scrolled to a number he hadn't contacted in a long time. It was his father's.

"Dad, lend me some money."

There was a long silence on the other end, followed by a weary voice: "How much?"

"Ten million. Real currency."

"What about the thirty million you borrowed last time?"

Qin Wentian fell silent. He couldn't say. Could he say he smashed twenty gaming pods? That he was crushed by a player named Ye? That he had fallen from being the leader of the server's number one guild to helping noobs grind mobs in the Novice Village? He couldn't afford to lose that kind of face.

"Dad, this time is different. This time I can turn things around."

Silence followed again on the other end. Then came a sigh.

"Send me your account number."

Qin Wentian sent the account number, and five minutes later, ten million arrived. He took a deep breath, opened the game, and logged in. His character was still there—Level 35, white-tier equipment, 99% Drop Rate Nullification, and NPC favorability reduced by 50%. But he didn't care. He had money.

He opened the Trading House and began a shopping spree. Epic equipment, buy. Legendary weapons, buy. Limited items, buy. With ten million in real currency thrown in, he directly bought a set of top-tier gear. Not enough level? There were experience potions. Not enough attributes? There were attribute scrolls. He spent money like a madman, and in just two short hours, he had re-armed himself to the teeth.

[world channel]

[Player "Wocao Wuqing": Holy shit! Qin Wentian is online! And he's bought a whole set of god-tier gear!]

[Player "Brick-Moving Expert": Didn't he quit the game? Why is he back?]

[Player "Invincible Sword God": He's definitely coming for the space-time judgment. He wants to turn the tables.]

[Player "Yes Little Follower": Turn the tables? Him? Brother Ye is here, can he even manage that?]

Qin Wentian gritted his teeth and said nothing as he looked at the mockery on the world channel. He opened his friend list and sent messages to several core members of the former Heavenly Temple.

"Po Jun, come back. Do the speedrun with me."

"Ling Tian, come back. I need you."

"Kuang Zhan, Ying Ren, all of you come back."

Messages were sent; some replied, some didn't. Po Jun replied: "Guild Leader, I don't want to go back. I'm in the Daybreak Guild now, and it's pretty good." Ling Tian didn't reply. Kuang Zhan replied with one word: "Beat it." Ying Ren blocked him directly.

Qin Wentian felt like his heart was being cut by a knife as he looked at these replies. The brothers he once trusted most now all refused to acknowledge him. But he couldn't give up. He opened the recruitment channel and began looking for people. He sent private messages to the top fifty ranked players in the server one by one.

"Join my team, ten million gold coins per person. Another ten million once we clear it."

Under heavy rewards, there are bound to be brave men. Soon, he had assembled a five-man squad. He was the leader, the DPS were two Berserkers ranked in the top thirty, the support was a Holy Priest ranked in the top twenty, and the tank was a Guardian Knight ranked in the top ten. From its paper strength, this team indeed had a hope of winning the championship.

Qin Wentian stood in the Main City Square, looking at the glowing Epic set on his body, a fire igniting in his heart. He still had a chance. He could still turn the tables.

Meanwhile, Lin Ye was sitting by the window of the Commoner Supermarket, watching Qin Wentian in the square. Su Qinghan stood beside him, also looking in 그 direction.

"He spent ten million in real currency to buy a full set of god-tier gear. He also hired four experts ranked in the top fifty of the server," Su Qinghan said.

Lin Ye smiled: "Ten million? He's quite willing to spend."

"Aren't you afraid he might actually get the space-time judgment? That artifact is said to be able to counter your Talent."

Lin Ye stood up and brushed the dust off himself: "Counter? No one can counter my Talent. The defense-ignoring property of the space-time judgment is useful against others, but useless against me. Because my debuff isn't defense; it's a rule. Within the rules, I have the final say."

He turned to go downstairs, leaving behind a sentence: "Did you sign up?"

"Yes. Tomorrow at two in the afternoon, the first round of the qualifiers."

"Good. Tomorrow, let Qin Wentian see what true crushing power looks like."

The next afternoon, the Cross-Dungeon Speedrun qualifiers officially began. Over a hundred teams across the server entered the Space-Time Rift dungeon simultaneously to compete for a spot in the next round. Lin Ye brought Su Qinghan, Fatty Wang, and Qin Wentian—wait, Qin Wentian (the former guild leader) was in the opposing team. Lin Ye's side only had three people: Su Qinghan, Fatty Wang, and himself.

[System Prompt: You have entered the dungeon [Space-Time Rift]. Current Difficulty: Highest. Clear time will be recorded for the speedrun rankings.]

Fatty Wang's legs felt a bit weak as he looked at the Level 50 elite mobs in the dungeon: "Brother, there are only three of us? The other side is a full five-man team."

[part:gemini-3.1-flash-lite]

Lin Ye laughed: "Is having more people useful? When I ran the Abyss Dungeon, wasn't it also with just three people?"

He raised his hand and applied 500 layers of Decay Debuff to the first wave of mobs in the corridor. Instant kill. Experience points and equipment dropped in a cascade.

Fatty Wang's eyes lit up, and he rushed forward to pick up the equipment. Su Qinghan applied shields from the back, and Qin Wentian (a subordinate of the former guild leader, now a member of the Commoner Supermarket) was responsible for keeping watch at the rear. The four of them coordinated perfectly, pushing through all the way.

On the other side, Qin Wentian's five-man team was also advancing. Their equipment was better than Lin Ye's team, and they had more people, but their progress was much slower. This was because although Qin Wentian's teammates were strong, they lacked coordination. The two Berserkers were competing for damage output, the priest wasn't healing in time, and the tank couldn't hold aggro. By the time they reached the first BOSS, they were almost wiped out.

"Coordinate better! Stop fighting for damage output!" Qin Wentian shouted in the team channel.

The two Berserkers glared at each other but said nothing. They were here for money, not to make friends. Whether they coordinated or not, they would just muddle through.

Qin Wentian gritted his teeth and continued to command. He knew his team had problems, but he had no choice. He couldn't find anyone better. Those ranked in the top twenty of the whole server either had their own teams or didn't want to cooperate with him. Being able to pull these four people together was already the result of spending a huge sum of money.

Meanwhile, on Lin Ye's side, they had already reached the second BOSS. The design of the Space-Time Rift dungeon was very interesting; each BOSS had different mechanics. The first BOSS tested damage output, the second BOSS tested positioning, and the third BOSS tested coordination. The final BOSS, the Space-Time Overlord, tested one's understanding of time rules.

The second BOSS was called "Time-Space Ranger," level 60, with 300,000 HP. Its skills were not damage-based, but control-based. Time-Space Lock, Slowing Trap, and Time Dilation. Players who were locked could not move, the Slowing Trap reduced movement speed by 80%, and Time Dilation extended skill cooldown times.

Su Qinghan was locked and couldn't move. Fatty Wang was slowed and couldn't run. Qin Wentian's subordinate was affected by Time Dilation and couldn't cast skills. Only Lin Ye was unaffected by any control.

Because his Talent priority was higher than the dungeon mechanics.

[System Notification: The target [Time-Space Ranger] is attempting to apply [Time-Space Lock] to you. Detected that the target's Talent priority is lower than player [Ye]'s Talent priority; effect has been negated.]

Lin Ye laughed. He raised his hand and applied 800 layers of Decay Debuff to the Time-Space Ranger. Its health bar dropped crazily, and its skills were completely disabled. In less than ten seconds, the BOSS collapsed.

[System Notification: You have killed [Time-Space Ranger]. Current clear time: 18 minutes.]

Fatty Wang crawled out of the Slowing Trap, dancing with excitement: "Brother, aren't we too fast? Other teams probably haven't even finished the first BOSS, right?"

Lin Ye nodded: "Possibly. But don't be careless. The final BOSS is the key."

He opened the dungeon map and took a look. The Space-Time Overlord was in the deepest part of the dungeon, with three more waves of mobs remaining. According to their current progress, they would likely see the final BOSS in about 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, on Qin Wentian's side, they had only just finished the first BOSS. The clear time had already passed 20 minutes, nearly 10 minutes slower than Lin Ye. Qin Wentian looked at the timer, his face livid. He knew he couldn't catch up to Lin Ye, but he didn't want to give up.

"Continue! Speed up!"

No one responded in the team channel. The two Berserkers had already started slacking off, the priest was coasting, and the tank was zoning out. They weren't here to win; they were here for money. Regardless of winning or losing, Qin Wentian had to pay.

Qin Wentian gritted his teeth and rushed to the front to fight the monsters himself. His equipment was good, his damage output was high, and he could do the work of two people. But no matter how fierce he was, he couldn't handle the sheer number of monsters. When they reached the second wave of mobs, he was surrounded, and his health dropped rapidly.

"Heal me!" he shouted.

The priest slowly cast a heal on him, which barely connected.

Qin Wentian looked at the priest, his heart turning cold. He knew he had lost. Not to Lin Ye, but to himself. He thought money could buy everything, but he was wrong. Money could buy equipment, but not teammates. Money could buy levels, but not coordination. Money could buy artifacts, but not people's hearts.

He remembered what Lin Ye had said— "Not all debts can be paid off with money."

He finally understood now.

At this moment, Lin Ye was already standing in front of the Space-Time Overlord.

[Final BOSS: Space-Time Overlord]

Level: 60

HP: 500,000

Skills: Time-Space Stasis, Time Regression, Parallel Clones, Time-Space Turbulence, Judgment of the End.

Su Qinghan looked at the BOSS's panel and gasped: "500,000 HP, five skills. And there's Time Regression that can clear debuffs. Ye, can you handle it?"

Lin Ye laughed: "Whether I can handle it or not, we'll know after trying."

He raised his hand and applied 500 layers of Decay Debuff to the Space-Time Overlord.

[System Notification: Target [Space-Time Overlord] has been afflicted with Decay Debuff, current layers: 500. Deals 500% of maximum HP as true damage per second.]

The Space-Time Overlord's health bar instantly dropped by a quarter. It roared and activated "Time Regression"—a golden light flashed, the debuff on it was cleared, and its health bar returned to full.

Lin Ye raised an eyebrow: "It really can clear it."

"What do we do?" Su Qinghan asked nervously.

Lin Ye thought for a moment, a devious smile tugging at the corner of his mouth: "Then let it clear it. Every time it clears, I'll stack it again. Let's see who gets tired first."

He applied another 500 layers of debuff. The Space-Time Overlord cleared it again. Applied 500 more layers, cleared again. Applied again, cleared again. After repeating this five times, the Space-Time Overlord's "Time Regression" skill entered cooldown. Cooldown time: ten minutes.

Lin Ye laughed: "Ten minutes? That's enough."

He applied 2,000 layers of debuff all at once.

The Space-Time Overlord's health bar instantly hit zero, and before it could even let out a scream, it turned into a beam of white light and vanished.

[System Notification: Congratulations to players [Ye], [Qinghan], [Fatty Wang], and [Qin Wentian] (referring to Qin Wentian's subordinate) for clearing [Space-Time Rift] (Highest Difficulty), clear time: 28 minutes. Current ranking: First.]

The golden server-wide announcement flashed three times. Players across the entire server were in an uproar again.

[world channel]

[Player "Wocao Wuqing": 28 minutes? Brother Ye is too fast!]

[Player "Brick-Moving Expert": Other teams haven't even finished the second BOSS, and Brother Ye has already cleared it. This is the gap.]

[Player "Invincible Sword God": Can't the Space-Time Overlord's debuff be cleared? How did Brother Ye beat it?]

[Player "Yes Little Follower": Who cares how he beat it, as long as he won! Brother Ye is awesome!]

Qin Wentian watched this announcement, the sword in his hand dropping to the ground. He had spent fifty minutes just to reach the second BOSS. Lin Ye had cleared it in twenty-eight minutes. The gap wasn't just a little bit; it was a chasm.

He opened the team channel and said: "Let's disband. I'll pay as agreed."

The two Berserkers immediately left the team, and the priest and tank also left. Qin Wentian stood alone in the dungeon, looking at the empty corridor, and suddenly laughed. As he laughed, tears began to stream down his face.

He thought money could buy everything. But money couldn't buy time, couldn't buy people's hearts, and couldn't buy Lin Ye's kind of Talent. He had spent hundreds of millions in real currency, but in the end, he still lost.

He exited the dungeon and stood in the Main City Square, looking in the direction of the Commoner Supermarket. The lights there were still bright, and the queue of people was still lively. Lin Ye was standing by the third-floor window, waving at him.

Qin Wentian also waved back, then logged off.

What he didn't know was that as Lin Ye watched his ID turn gray, a devious smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. Su Qinghan walked up and stood beside him.

"Do you think he will come back?"

Lin Ye shook his head: "I don't know. But regardless of whether he comes back or not, I am standing right here."

He turned and went downstairs, leaving behind a sentence: "The finals are tomorrow. We're taking the space-time judgment."