Chapter 78: My Great God Strategist Has Never Been So Wronged

“Was I asleep back then, or what?”

“Can you even fall asleep standing up?”

Chen Xiaoyan didn’t answer Mu Qingxue, because she had already gotten the answer she wanted.

She wasn’t asleep—that meant it wasn’t a dream, but very likely a hallucination.

But that hallucination was just too real.

Everything was so vivid and lifelike.

That said, if it really was a hallucination skill, why weren’t Mu Qingxue and the others affected, and only she was hit?

Chen Xiaoyan scratched her head, completely baffled.

“Since you’re awake, should we get going back?”

“Qingxue, I suspect the Demonflower has a skill that causes hallucinations.”

“Really? How come we didn’t notice?”

“You guys weren’t hit—only me. So I guess it’s a single-target skill, meaning it can only cause hallucinations in one person.”

“And it must have a range; outside that range, it’s ineffective.”

Mu Qingxue pondered for a moment and agreed that Chen Xiaoyan’s theory made sense.

“So, what’s your plan?”

Chen Xiaoyan looked troubled.

“Let’s go back first. If anyone gets hit by hallucinations again, immediately move them here to break the effect.”

“Alright.”

Chen Xiaoyan and Mu Qingxue hurried back, just in time to run into the five who were fleeing in disarray.

Behind them, the Demonflower pursued relentlessly, rooted to the ground.

“Captain, you’re awake?” Hongchen Rumeng’s eyes lit up when she saw the familiar figure ahead.

“Xiaoyan sister!” ×2

Chongchong and Xianyun, upon seeing Chen Xiaoyan, also quickened their pace with excitement.

Still, Chen Xiaoyan sensed something was off.

Why were they moving so slowly?

Looking at their health bars, besides Hongchen and Liudao, no one else was near death.

Mu Qingxue seemed to notice her doubt and explained, “When the boss’s health drops to 49%, it releases a pink mist in conjunction with the surrounding flowers. This mist is poisonous; we’ve all been poisoned and our stats have been nearly halved.”

“Then why am I unaffected?”

“Not sure.”

“Li Yuan Sword Formation.”

As soon as the Li Yuan Sword Formation’s cooldown ended, Liu Yue immediately struck the Demonflower with a move that left it immobilized.

Its movement, already slow, now felt as if it had taken sluggishness potions—covering one meter took over ten seconds.

Chongchong and Xianyun were the first to reunite with Chen Xiaoyan.

Chongchong immediately threw herself into her arms, quietly sobbing.

“Xiaoyan sister, you really scared me just now.”

“It’s okay, it’s okay.”

Chen Xiaoyan inhaled the peach blossom fragrance on her and gently patted Chongchong’s back, comforting her softly.

“Captain, what happened just now? Why didn’t you move at all?”

“Hit by a hallucination.”

“Hallucination?”

“Yeah. Now’s not the time to talk. Everyone should exit the dungeon and then we’ll discuss.”

Chen Xiaoyan had initially wanted to keep fighting, but seeing their stats nearly halved from poison, she knew there was no chance.

If you’re near death and weakened, you can still heal to remove the status, but poison—no matter how full your health is—doesn’t help.

“What? Why? We fought for so long, isn’t leaving now just wasting it all?”

Hongchen Rumeng looked despondent.

“At your current state, even I couldn’t win.

Don’t forget the boss goes berserk when near death.”

Hongchen Rumeng nodded gloomily.

This whole beating was for nothing.

When the Li Yuan Sword Formation’s duration ended, the Demonflower charged back aggressively.

“The boss is here, everyone exit the dungeon.”

Everyone nodded, opened the map, and clicked to exit.

With a flash of light, “whoosh,” they disappeared.

The Demonflower, furious at these annoying humans vanishing inexplicably, slammed the ground and howled at the sky.

“Yah!!!”

A piercing scream echoed throughout the basin valley.

Three seconds later.

The Demonflower’s fierce pink eyes flickered with confusion.

It couldn’t understand why it wasn’t sleepy and what it was doing here.

But after thinking long and hard, it still couldn’t figure it out.

So it decided to go back and continue sleeping.

Then, the Demonflower swayed back to its little nest, curled into its flower bud, and fell into a sweet slumber.

To it, this world only held food and sleep as priorities.

However, less than an hour later, someone attacked again.

***

Outside the dungeon.

All ten of them were teleported out together.

Hongchen Rumeng sat on a step with a sullen face, hugging her knees, a once fierce heroine now reduced to a bullied little pitiable.

Who knew how much beating she had taken on the way?

No one.

Everyone only cared about themselves.

If she could go back, Liu Mengmeng would never have entered the God Strategist Mansion.

But on closer thought, since the game’s classes were randomly assigned, even if she went back, she’d still end up in the God Strategist Mansion.

That thought made Hongchen Rumeng hurt even more.

Liudao sat silently beside her, gently stroking her head.

“What’s wrong, Xiaomeng?” Chen Xiaoyan came over to ask.

“Nothing much, just a kid who worked hard but got no candy, sulking.” Liudao replied calmly.

“Uh,” Chen Xiaoyan twitched at the corner of her mouth, speechless.

In anger, Hongchen Rumeng grabbed Liudao’s collar and said the harshest words with the most wronged expression.

“Liudao little brother, I’ve told you many times, call me Sister Meng, got it?”

Liudao turned his head away, looking utterly helpless.

The arrival of Chen Xiaoyan and her group instantly gave the waiting players outside the dungeon something to talk about.

“Even Chen Xiaoyan the big shot failed? Looks like this dungeon is really tough.”

“Yeah, that Rock Lizard is damn sneaky, only targeting the healer. Our team’s healer was scared to even enter.”

“Let me see how many heroes have died at the Rock Lizard stage?”

“That monster isn’t actually strong, it just maxes out its counters.”

“If the healer dies, it’s over.”

“Look, the God Strategist in the big shot’s team was even made to cry, you know how messed up this dungeon is.”

“Ah, what do we do then? Wait till later?”

“No chance at the first clear, gotta wait for guides to come out before we can survive in the dungeon.”

Chen Xiaoyan gathered the nine teammates together to discuss the Demonflower boss.

“So, Xiaoyan sister was immobilized because of the boss’s hallucination?”

“Right,” Chen Xiaoyan nodded and continued, “So far, we know the Demonflower has two confirmed skills: hallucination and poisonous gas.”

“Let’s talk about how to solve the poison gas problem.”

Hallucination was single-target and obviously less important compared to poison, which was a group-wide weakness debuff.

“Urine detox? Can that be used in this game? Like covering your mouth and nose?”

Hongchen Rumeng raised her hand, suggesting a method that threw everyone into confusion.

“No way.” Chongchong immediately opposed without hesitation.

Players in the game don’t have bladder emergencies, so collecting urine would mean going to find an NPC.

Just imagining using someone else’s urine to fight a boss was disgusting.

“I also refuse,” Mu Qingxue voted no.

No need to say more, except for Liudao, who was a man, everyone else present was a neat little beauty.

“So what do you suggest for the poison gas then?”

Seeing her teammates’ refusals, Hongchen Rumeng didn’t get mad; in fact, she also found it hard to accept.

“I’ll head back to the sect for a moment.”

At that moment, Chen Xiaoyan suddenly stood up and spoke.