Chapter 65

Tonight, while playing the game, it was the end of the lunar month, and the sky was under a waning crescent moon. The moon was small, almost a sliver, and was almost completely obscured by dark clouds. Cool breezes kept blowing through the night, and Su Peng, holding the blunt sword, used his lightness skill to dash towards the Thousand-Eyed Swamp, as mentioned by Zhang Jin during dinner.

Worried that Ling Xiaoyu might not be taking this route, Su Peng did not hurry too much, fearing he might inadvertently overtake her. He moved at a normal pace but still noticed that many martial artists were heading in that direction.

Looking at the weather, Su Peng knew it was bound to rain heavily tonight. He tidied up his blue robe, which he had obtained from the Purple Mist Sect. The robe was dustproof and waterproof, suitable as a raincoat. However, he thought it would have been better to buy a bamboo hat if he had known he would be going to the Thousand-Eyed Swamp tonight.

While thinking about these things, Su Peng's pace did not slow down. He ran without stopping for over forty minutes and finally saw the mangrove forest of the Thousand-Eyed Swamp that Zhang Jin had mentioned.

The terrain here was very distinct, with low mangrove trees everywhere. Every few steps, there was a puddle, and it seemed to be a semi-swamp, semi-wetland area stretching for dozens of miles. In the distance, he could see night birds startled by the forest.

Su Peng looked around. Although there was no light source in the sky, he could vaguely see that many martial artists had already gathered near the Thousand-Eyed Swamp, all preparing to enter.

"If Ling Xiaoyu has already arrived, she might be unfamiliar with the area and might look for someone she knows. Since Zhang Jin said she would definitely come here tonight, perhaps the two of them are together," Su Peng thought. He then jumped onto a not-too-tall tree and looked around.

However, in the darkness, it was hard to see clearly. Su Peng sighed, thinking that Zhang Jin had not returned to the inn after dinner and might have already entered the swamp. Ling Xiaoyu might have entered as well, so he would have to explore the swamp.

"Let's enter the swamp... Perhaps with good luck, I can not only find Ling Xiaoyu but also glimpse the true face of the ancient tomb's treasure," Su Peng thought, took a deep breath, and walked into the mangrove swamp.

"You have entered the Thousand-Eyed Swamp, gaining 25 points of combat experience. This area is a wild dungeon zone; be cautious."

A light yellow message appeared in the lower left corner of Su Peng's vision as soon as he entered the mangrove swamp.

"Huh? A wild dungeon zone?" Su Peng's spirits were lifted when he saw this.

Su Peng had once heard Lei Ming, who used the new player room with them, mention casually that the main task of the Hu Ben team was to clear various wild dungeons or random dungeons. After entering these dungeon maps, there would be prompts. Generally, these maps contained monsters or humanoid NPCs with similar attributes, and there was a high chance of encountering a wild boss. The Hu Ben team would clear these wild bosses to obtain valuable items, which they would submit to the company for additional rewards.

As for the Long Ya team, they tackled special closed-area dungeons. Generally, the bosses in closed-area dungeons were stronger than wild bosses, and the loot was better, so the Long Ya team had a higher status than the Hu Ben team.

These were things Su Peng had heard Lei Ming mention casually while guiding him and others to use the machines. However, Su Peng had never encountered such a situation... Perhaps the Green Dragon Mountain Bandit Camp was a dungeon area, but at the time, he was with Han Tuo and others, and the main combatants were not Su Peng and the other players. It was more like going through a plot, and Su Peng, being new to such plots, was too excited to notice the system prompts.

But now, upon entering the Thousand-Eyed Swamp area, Su Peng received a dungeon prompt, and he immediately became alert.

Looking at the system message, Su Peng noticed that the area was marked with four silver stars.

"Four silver stars..." Su Peng felt slightly relieved. According to his knowledge, dungeon areas were divided into nine levels: gray, white, light blue, dark blue, silver, gold, dark gold, diamond, and sun.

Moreover, these areas had more detailed classifications.

Gray and white dungeons had no star ratings, light blue had a maximum of three stars, dark blue had a maximum of five stars, silver had a maximum of seven stars, gold had eight stars, dark gold had nine stars, diamond had ten stars, and the sun level was unknown.

Each color had a minimum of one star, and the difficulty increased with each additional star. For example, gray and white dungeons without stars might be just a room or a basement, while light blue and dark blue dungeons with three or five stars were roughly the size of a village. The Green Dragon Mountain dungeon could be considered a silver dungeon, and this area, being a four-star silver dungeon, was slightly more challenging than the Green Dragon Mountain Bandit Camp but might be less dangerous due to the complex terrain.

The star rating indicated the difficulty, while the color suggested the strength of the strongest boss in the area or the level of the rewards.

A four-star silver dungeon would have been extremely difficult for Su Peng a few weeks ago, but now, as long as he was careful and not surrounded by dense enemies like in the Green Dragon Mountain Bandit Camp, he was not in much danger.

However, Su Peng remained highly alert, his blunt sword already drawn from its scabbard, and he cautiously advanced through the Thousand-Eyed Swamp.

...

"Boom... Boom..."

Unconsciously, about an hour had passed. Although it had not started raining yet, the sky was filled with rumbling thunder, and the air had become sticky and humid. Cool breezes kept blowing, and a heavy rain was imminent.

Su Peng, holding the blunt sword, had his thin-soled fast boots stained with mud, and his blue robe had several dried mud spots that had not yet fallen off. His face showed signs of distress.

During this hour, Su Peng had moved from the edge of the Thousand-Eyed Swamp to the central area. The number of people he encountered had decreased, and he had not found Ling Xiaoyu. Instead, he had encountered two swamp crocodiles, a large water python lurking in the mud, and countless venomous insects and small snakes.

The two crocodiles were extremely tough, and Su Peng's blunt sword was not very effective against such creatures. He avoided the area without engaging the crocodiles.

The large water python, however, was lurking by a shallow pond. As Su Peng passed by, it suddenly leaped up, wrapping around one of his legs and then his body, opening its massive mouth to bite at his head!

Fortunately, Su Peng reacted quickly, swinging his blunt sword to pierce the python's head. He then infused it with internal energy to barely withstand the python's strength and managed to remove it from his body.

This left Su Peng in a rather disheveled state.

The python's blood and skin, Su Peng thought, might be worth some money and could have medicinal uses, but he did not have time to process it and left it for other creatures to consume.

After much difficulty, Su Peng reached the central area of the Thousand-Eyed Swamp. He no longer had high hopes of finding Ling Xiaoyu here and only hoped to find the ancient tomb and wait for her nearby.

"A four-star silver wild dungeon area has made me so disheveled; I underestimated this place... And after wandering for so long, I haven't seen the boss of this dungeon area. I wonder what the boss looks like," Su Peng thought.

Just then, a crack of lightning flashed across the sky, illuminating the night. With the thunder, the rain began to fall heavily.

"Finally, it's raining," Su Peng looked up at the sky, tightened the collar of his blue robe, and continued deeper into the Thousand-Eyed Swamp.

The rain grew heavier, starting as a few drops and quickly forming a curtain of rain. Su Peng walked through the heavy rain, the terrain becoming increasingly complex. A slight misstep could lead to him sinking into the swamp. Visibility in the night rain was extremely low, and he could barely see twenty meters ahead.

Fortunately, Su Peng's lightness skill had a weight-reducing effect, preventing him from easily sinking into the swamp, but he was still quite disheveled. Finding a place to shelter from the rain in the Thousand-Eyed Swamp was difficult.

Just as Su Peng was considering whether to give up searching for Ling Xiaoyu, he vaguely saw a person in brown clothing moving through the rain ahead.

The person, judging by their clothing, seemed to be a martial artist, with a weapon on their back. The swamp and wetland, made muddy by the rain, forced the person to hop and pull their legs out of the mud.

Seeing this, Su Peng's heart stirred.

"This person seems to be a martial artist looking for treasure. Although it's hard to trust people in such a place, it should be fine to just ask if they've seen a girl like Ling Xiaoyu."

With this thought, Su Peng used his lightness skill to approach the person.

"Friend, please wait a moment!" Su Peng shouted, but the brown-clothed martial artist did not turn around, continuing to walk deeper into the Thousand-Eyed Swamp, perhaps due to the loud thunder or the rain muffling his voice.

"Friend?" Su Peng continued shouting. By now, he was quite close to the person and noticed something odd.

"His clothes are too tattered..." Su Peng thought. Upon closer inspection, the brown-clothed person's clothes were covered in mud, as if he had just crawled out of the swamp.

Moreover, Su Peng noticed that the person's knees did not bend as he walked, lifting and lowering his legs stiffly.

Just as Su Peng was observing the person, he stopped.

"Friend... Can you hear me?" Su Peng asked as the person stood still.

The person's stiff body slowly turned, and Su Peng saw a pale, bony face with white hair, pale eyes, and two canine teeth several times longer than normal. At that moment, the person—no, the creature—stared at Su Peng with its pale, twisted eyes and opened its massive mouth.

"Brother, your appearance is truly frightening," Su Peng said, but he had already drawn his blunt sword.

"Roar!" The martial artist-dressed zombie roared and lunged at Su Peng.