34 - Mechanical City (III)

Chapter 34: Mechanical City (III)

After being slapped in the face, Taizi Touhou behaved much more obediently in the next half hour. He kept a close eye on Xiao Ran, noticing that Xiao Ran used his crowd control skill only after using Ink Bamboo. Taizi Touhou desperately wanted to cover up his earlier immature behavior, proving that he was still competent and wouldn’t make mistakes!

“I have to prove myself,” Taizi Touhou thought stubbornly.

Hard work always pays off. Over the next half hour, the team’s efficiency was remarkably high, thanks to Xiao Ran’s powerful combination attacks. They managed to defeat nearly a hundred mechanical puppets in such a short time, and everyone’s experience had increased significantly. The speed was much faster than before Xiao Ran joined the team.

Watching his teammates’ excited faces, Taizi Touhou was relieved that he hadn’t caused trouble for Xiao Ran.

However, Xiao Ran shook his head. “Too slow. We can go faster.”

Taizi Touhou couldn’t help but widen his eyes. “Faster? Are you kidding?”

From his perspective, the current efficiency was already about twice what it was before. He was quite satisfied with it.

The other team members also looked puzzled, clearly thinking the same.

Xiao Ran paused his actions and carefully considered the details of each wave of monsters. In his revised plan, approximately eight mechanical puppets would be lured by Mingyue Qingge’s puppets, then intercepted along their designated path by the pets of the other two puppeteers. Xiao Ran, Taizi Touhou, and Luo Yan would focus on dealing damage. Though Luo Yan was primarily a healer, his role in this strategy didn’t require much healing except for occasional situations where a puppet died or Taizi Touhou took damage from mechanical puppets. Thus, despite his lower damage output, he would join the offensive team. No matter how small the leg of a mosquito is, meat is still meat.

After careful consideration, Xiao Ran made some adjustments. He organized everyone into a large circular formation. Mingyue Qingge and the two other puppeteers positioned themselves at the twelve o’clock, four o’clock, and eight o’clock positions, while Luo Yan and Taizi Touhou stood at the center of the circle, ensuring equal distance between them and the other three players. Xiao Ran himself stood alongside Mingyue Qingge at the twelve o’clock position.

He explained his tactics to the team over the channel, surprising Mingyue Qingge. “This…… is it possible?”

“With everyone cooperating well, it should be fine,” Xiao Ran affirmed.

Apart from Mingyue Qingge, the others accepted Xiao Ran’s command with some skepticism.

As the new round began, Mingyue Qingge resumed directing her puppets towards the densest concentration of monsters. However, this time, she commanded not two, but three Iron Bear puppets.

The Iron Bear puppets had high health and defense but low mobility. They were the basic and most reliable shields for puppeteers, though not as agile in maneuvering to target mobs compared to the bronze or copper inkstick puppets. However, due to their durability, they could bring back more small monsters at once compared to the thinner-skinned copper inkstick puppets. Following Xiao Ran’s instructions, Mingyue Qingge commanded three Iron Bear pets to unleash their attacks from both sides, successfully pulling a whole fifteen mechanical puppets in one go!

Despite the impressive protection of the Iron Bear pets, facing more than twice their usual load of mechanical puppets put immense pressure on them. By the time all fifteen were pulled back to the twelve o’clock position, all three pets were ruthlessly torn apart.

Mingyue Qingge didn’t have time to mourn; Xiao Ran, stationed at the twelve o’clock position, had already unleashed his combo technique, stunning all fifteen mechanical puppets with precision. With no clear target for their aggression, the puppets immediately turned their attention to Xiao Ran, gears whirring louder as they closed in.

“Xiao Taiyang, go! Luo Yan, Taizi, go all out!” Xiao Ran calmly commanded over the team channel.

At the four o’clock position, Xiao Taiyang promptly directed her three Iron Bear puppets to charge back into the pile of monsters. Seeing Xiao Ran use his combination technique against the mechanical puppets, Luo Yan and Taizi Touhou followed the circular path towards the four o’clock direction. They exchanged a glance, questioning each other’s doubt: all out? Has this guy securely pulled the aggro?

Both of them hesitated as they threw skills into the puppet group. Initially reserved, they were later seriously questioned by Xiao Ran over the team channel: Did they skip lunch today? Infuriated, both of them threw all their skills into the puppet group without holding back.

Didn’t have lunch, ba? OT won’t let you off! 1

They thought viciously to themselves.

However, as they continued their onslaught, the fierce expressions on Luo Yan and Taizi Touhou gradually turned into astonishment. No matter how they unleashed their attacks, the mobs controlled by Xiao Ran completely ignored the two of them.

“Damn! What’s going on? Why aren’t they paying any attention to us?” Taizi Touhou exclaimed.

“Look at the weapon in his hand!” Luo Yan noticed something unusual.

Taizi Touhou took a look and was taken aback.

“Such high spell damage!” He opened the team’s damage output calculator, suspecting his own eyes as Xiao Ran’s output was twice that of both of them combined. “This is insane!”

“He must be wielding an orange weapon!” Luo Yan concluded.

“No wonder he was so fierce in Maigu Forest before!” Taizi Touhou immediately concluded based on the previous video. In reality, Xiao Ran was still using an older brush at that time, but Taizi Touhou and the others were just casual players who hadn’t closely studied his videos. They only knew Xiao Ran was skilled and dealt high damage. Now, seeing the astonishing power of his newly equipped Yaoguang Guzhuan 2 , they naturally assumed he had also used an orange weapon previously to achieve such amazing output.

The exaggerated output that was twice theirs made Taizi Touhou and Luo Yan completely relax. Their skills exploded like fireworks in the center of the monster group.

Three minutes passed, and according to the circular path, Xiao Ran ran from Mingyue Qingge’s position to the four o’clock direction where Xiao Taiyang’s three Iron Bears had just successfully pulled fifteen mechanical puppets. Xiao Ran repeated his technique, pulling the aggro of the fifteen small monsters at the moment the Iron Bear babies were torn apart, instantly increasing the number of mechanical puppets from fifteen to thirty!

“Gu Li!” Xiao Ran called out. Gu Li was the last remaining among the three Yan Shi in the team. Following Xiao Ran’s instructions, he stood at the eight o’clock position. Upon hearing Xiao Ran’s call, just like Xiao Taiyang, he commanded his three Iron Bears and swiftly went to pull aggro.

Although the formation was a large circle, they were within the mechanical stone array, so it couldn’t be a perfectly standard circle. Along this large circular path, there were actually many stones serving as obstacles. However, in the stretch from twelve o’clock to four o’clock, there weren’t many stones, and the visibility was wide open. Therefore, Xiao Ran was able to gather monsters very densely and neatly along this stretch of the path.

However, the second section of the path had many more obstacles. They needed to lead the monsters forward like playing hide-and-seek among the stone peaks. If a monster accidentally got stuck in a blind spot, it would be very difficult to bring it back to the team. The difficulty of gathering monsters here was much higher than in the first section of the path. Watching the puppet team behind Xiao Ran suddenly swell, Luo Yan and Taozi Touhou could only sweat nervously for him.

When Xiao Ran reached the six o’clock position, a stone peak divided the team into two halves! Eight mechanical puppets, due to Xiao Ran’s accidental change in direction, broke away from the main group and headed left!

“Oh no!”

Both Luo Yan and Taozi Touhou’s hearts sank simultaneously.

They watched Xiao Ran, seemingly oblivious, continuing to use control skills to gather the remaining twenty-two mechanical puppets, not noticing the eight puppets gradually falling behind and veering away. They were about to shout a reminder, but it was as if someone had pressed a pause button on them — they couldn’t make a sound.

Just then, Xiao Ran elegantly turned towards the left side of the stone peak. The remaining twenty-two puppets, as if afraid he would disappear, quickly followed suit. Xiao Ran’s movement caught the attention of the eight puppets, who hastened their steps. Initially lagging due to the winding path, they closed the distance significantly as Xiao Ran approached their vicinity. Under Xiao Ran’s deliberate positioning and control, the two groups of dark shadows miraculously converged into one!

“Damn, this technique is too incredible!”

Luo Yan and Taozi Touhou had never seen anyone execute mob gathering so smoothly and flawlessly. It was as if Xiao Ran held a conductor’s baton — wherever he pointed, the mobs obediently followed his command. Even when scattered, they seemed strategically placed and inevitably converged together. The technical finesse behind this mob gathering technique went far beyond anything that could be described as mere ‘beauty’.

Textbook-style mob gathering! He’s done it again!

Watching Xiao Ran’s perfect mob control technique, which had been praised enthusiastically by netizens, appear right before their eyes, Luo Yan and Taozi Touhou felt like they were dreaming. They forgot to use their skills, standing there in astonishment, marveling at Xiao Ran’s agile movements, like a swimming dragon, that seemed random yet undoubtedly commanded the mobs to their appropriate positions.

It wasn’t until Xiao Ran sensed something amiss and called out on team chat for their output that they snapped out of it, cheeks flushing with embarrassment.

They were struck dumb just from watching him, how embarrassing.

Chastising themselves for being so awestruck, Luo Yan and Taozi Touhou hastened their output.

Another three minutes passed, and Xiao Ran arrived at the eight o’clock position with thirty mechanical puppets. At this point, Gu Li’s Iron Bears had completed their task, and Xiao Ran proceeded to gather another fifteen mechanical puppets, totaling forty-five. They moved towards the final arc of their circular formation, returning to the twelve o’clock position where Mingyue Qingge was located.

“Qingge!” Xiao Ran called out.

After finishing pulling the mobs and resting in place, Mingyue Qingge suddenly froze for a moment, clearly not expecting to be called upon right now. In her mind, Xiao Ran had mentioned that whoever’s name was called would go pull mobs, but she had already completed pulling fifteen mobs according to plan. She was supposed to wait now for Xiao Ran and Luo Yan to kill these forty-five mechanical puppets before continuing with the next wave. Why was she being called again at this moment? Her summoning cooldown hadn’t…

Eeeeeeehhhhhh!

Mingyue Qingge was so surprised that she almost jumped up.

The cooldown time for one Baby Iron Bear’s death was thirty seconds, meaning she had to wait that long to summon a new one after it died. However, when all the puppets died together, there was a shared cooldown.

The shared cooldown was quite long, and most people wouldn’t remember such details since puppet wipes were rare. Once it happened, though, it usually spelled disaster for a puppeteer. Therefore, Mingyue Qingge never kept track of how long her shared cooldown was, only vaguely recalling it was quite long. Now, she knew exactly how long it was —

Six minutes.

In the first three minutes, Xiao Ran ran from the twelve o’clock position to the four o’clock position. Nuannuan Xiao Taiyang’s summoning skill began to cool down, while Mingyue Qingge’s summoning skill was halfway cooled down.

In the second three minutes, Xiao Ran ran from the four o’clock position to the eight o’clock position. Gu Li’s summoning skill began to cool down, while Nuannuan Xiao Taiyang’s summoning skill was halfway cooled down.

In the third three minutes, Xiao Ran ran back from the eight o’clock position to the twelve o’clock position. Just when everyone subconsciously thought everyone’s summoning skills were still cooling down and no one could continue pulling mobs, Mingyue Qingge, whose skill cooldown started first, had already cooled down and was ready to continue pulling mobs!

This circular cycle… was actually continuous!!!

Mingyue Qingge looked utterly baffled, as if frozen in place by the spectacular strategy. She couldn’t snap out of it for a long while, until Xiao Ran urged her several times over team chat. Finally, she snapped back to reality and promptly summoned her cooled-down Iron Bears, turning around to pull mobs just as before.

At that moment, everyone else also grasped Xiao Ran’s tactical intent, sending shivers down their spines.

Nuan Nuan Xiao Taiyang: “Fuck!!! So that’s how it is!!!

Gu Li: “Fuck!!! So that’s how it is!!!”

Luo Yan and Taozi Touhou, not being puppeteers, were stunned to see Xiao Ran not move past Mingyue Qingge but instead instruct her to continue pulling mobs. They vaguely sensed something extraordinary had just happened, but didn’t understand until their puppeteer teammates explained it thoroughly, and the team chat was flooded with rows and rows of ‘fuck’.

Luo Yan and Taozi Touhou, not being Yanshi professionals themselves, were stunned to see Xiao Ran not ignore Mingyue Qingge but instead instruct her to continue pulling mobs. They vaguely sensed something extraordinary had just happened, until their Yanshi teammates explained it thoroughly, and the team chat was flooded with expressions of amazement.

If he was a puppeteer himself, they might have considered such attention to detail much less surprising, attributing it to Xiao Ran’s keen observation skills. But as a Shen Bi—damn! A profession that’s completely unrelated from puppeteers—such insight! Such judgment!

What defines the mentality of a great god? This must be it!

However, soon another question popped into their teammates’ minds.

Now that Mingyue Qingge had pulled back the mobs, there were sixty mechanical puppets, right… Controlling sixty mobs all at once? This guy must be a monster!

He must be a monster, ba!

He’s certainly not messing around, ba!

Footnotes

in this case, OT is using off-tank to mean that they were going to do so much damage that they will pull the aggro/hatred of the enemies toward themselves I believe this is the name of his Langhao brush/the writing he does with it since it’s seal script? Could be wrong but we’ll go with that