TuxedoTranslations

Chapter 75

Lin Mingfei reviewed the game categories on 1234games, recalling the levels they’d encountered earlier in Scorpion’s Eye Trench. Combining both, he sorted all those infernal minigames into different types, then assigned each category as a “mission” to specific teammates.

“Everyone here is a seasoned gamer,” Lin Mingfei said sternly, arms crossed as he addressed them in the living room. “If we can conquer the full-dive game King’s Tomb, there’s no reason we can’t handle these so-called ‘stupid’ minigames too! My requirements are simple: clear every game under your assigned category. Any objections?”

The room fell into dead silence — only Xia Tong clapped enthusiastically and said, “No! Ob! Jec! Tion!”

Lin Mingfei narrowed his eyes. “If anyone does have an objection, now’s the time to speak.”

Zhou Yanjun sat with his phone in his hands, a dark cloud practically swirling over his head. “It’s not exactly an objection… but could I please change my assigned category? I’m really bad at ‘Spot the Difference’! I’ve been staring at the screen till my eyes are about to fall out and I still can’t see what’s different!”

Lin Mingfei said, “You can switch among yourselves.”

Zhou Yanjun turned to Shi Ya. “Timer, would you—”

“I’d love to,” Shi Ya said flatly, already numb as he tapped away at a cute-dress-up game on his phone, “but judging by your taste level, I’m afraid you’d never meet Zero’s standards for those outfit games in this lifetime.”

Zhou Yanjun: “……”

Lin Mingfei: “Sounds like everyone’s fine with their assignments, then.”

Zhou Yanjun shrank back miserably. “Fine, whatever.”

Lin Mingfei said, “Tonight, we’re not doing anything else. The only goal is to clear every mini-game under categories 1 through 4. By tomorrow noon, we’ll start farming Scorpion Eye Trench again.” He paused. “We’ve already fallen behind at the starting line. That’s both a bad thing and a good thing — at least we have nothing left to lose. But we cannot let the other teams look down on us. Dismissed.”

When he finished, no one moved. Lin Mingfei stood up and went back to his room alone.

Xia Tong lowered his eyes thoughtfully, then nudged Zhou Yanjun with his elbow.

“Fatty,” he said softly. “Don’t let it get to you — Zero gave you a tough set, sure, but he assigned himself even more. Snake, Tetris, Huarong Road puzzles… those aren’t things you can master overnight.”

Zhou Yanjun kept hammering his phone screen, sighed deeply, and muttered, “Of course I know that. I was just venting, not actually refusing to do it.” After a moment, he added in a low voice, “This is when we’ve all gotta go all out, stay in the same boat together… ah, forget it. Less talking, more gaming. Damn this page is so cheap — color keeps glitching, ads keep popping up, who designs stuff like this!”

Xia Tong burst into laughter and buried his head in his own Sudoku.

That night, everyone thought the whole Polaris team was slacking off and “taking care of their health.” But in truth, they pulled an all-nighter together.

Lin Mingfei even canceled the morning workout. By 7:40 a.m., Xia Tong, who had been grinding through Link Link and jigsaw puzzles, was so out of it that he collapsed on the armrest of the sofa for a nap. He had barely closed his eyes when Zhou Yanjun suddenly screamed beside him.

“I CLEARED THEM ALL!!!”

“Holy crap!” Xia Tong jolted awake from his light sleep, nearly scared out of his soul. He froze stiff on the couch, clutching his chest, gasping for breath. Zhou Yanjun, with dark circles under his eyes, grabbed him by both arms and shook him wildly. “Shorty, I finished them!! I’M FREE!!!”

“You… you’re amazing…” Xia Tong said weakly, forcing a smile. His eyes rolled back, and he flopped against the couch again. “I can’t… I’m so dizzy, Fatty, stop shaking me.”

Zhou Yanjun was the first to finish; soon after, Shi Ya and Bo Yu cleared theirs too. Xia Tong followed their example, poured himself a cup of bitter black coffee, pinched his nose, chugged it, and barely managed to finish his last game.

“To be honest, I still don’t understand the joy of PVX players,” Zhou Yanjun said lifelessly. “What’s fun about these dumb games? I feel sick from playing them!”

“I’m warning you, don’t go dissing casual players again,” Shi Ya yawned. “They might come after us next. I’m actually full of admiration for PVX players now — nothing but respect, really. By the way, where’s Zero? We’re all done except him.”

“Wait… you don’t think he made us stay up all night doing stupid mini-games while he sneaked back to his room to sleep, right?” Zhou Yanjun said suspiciously.

“I’ll go check!” Xia Tong volunteered cheerfully and ran upstairs before anyone could stop him.

Zhou Yanjun groaned. “Wow, why’s he so happy to go into Zero’s room?”

A moment later, Xia Tong leaned over the third-floor railing and called down, “Zero’s not in his room!”

“Huh??” Everyone was stunned.

“You guys see him go out?” Shi Ya turned to Bo Yu and Zhou Yanjun.

“No,” Bo Yu said.

“Me neither,” Zhou Yanjun said anxiously. “I’ve been awake this whole time. Didn’t see anyone leave the living room. Where the heck could he have gone this early?”

Shi Ya rubbed his chin, thought for a moment, then his eyes lit up. “Come on — let’s check the training room.”

“Huh? The training room? At this hour?? You think he already finished all his games?” Zhou Yanjun asked.

“If it’s Zero…” Shi Ya said, pushing open the glass door, “I wouldn’t put it past him.”

Sure enough, just as he expected, inside the spacious training room, five “cocoons” stood in neat rows. One of them — the one marked with Zero’s gun pattern — was still glowing softly, a ring of lights rotating elegantly to indicate it was in use.

“What a monster…” Zhou Yanjun muttered. “Can’t compete, can’t compete…”

“Even if we can’t match him, we can’t lose too badly,” Shi Ya said with a small smile. “Let’s go. We’re logging in too.”

Before long, all five members of Polaris were online together.

The forum always had people camping 24/7, and the moment they logged in, someone noticed.

New posts immediately popped up:

[The supposedly “grandpa” team Polaris actually has a healthy sleep schedule??!!!]

[What the hell… they go to bed at 9 and get up at 6?? What kind of cursed routine is that???]

[Old people shouldn’t play pro games! Go retire already!!]

[I can’t breathe, being a fan of this team is so exhausting…]

[I’m genuinely worried for them!! You guys aren’t the champion team you once were—can you please try harder!!!]

[Don’t tell me it’s because there’s an omega on the team that everyone’s just decided to “skip morning court” now?]

[The person above, your mind is filthy.]

[Hey, not impossible though? I’ve seen that omega before, and, well… let’s just say he doesn’t look like the “quiet and well-behaved” type.]

[To be honest, I think Blink’s had plastic surgery.]

[Yeah, no way someone’s eyes are that big naturally. I don’t buy it.]

[So what are they even doing now?]

[Am I seeing things, or did they go back to grind Scorpion Eye Trench again?]

After the four members of Polaris came online, they immediately teamed up with Lin Mingfei.

“Are you for real? You’ve got way too much energy,” Shi Ya said. “You finished all those mini-games already?”

“Yeah,” Lin Mingfei answered curtly. “I didn’t come up too long ago—just recently.”

That “just” probably meant anywhere between one to three hours. Shi Ya didn’t believe him for a second.

“So what’ve you been researching all this time?” Shi Ya asked.

“Checking if Scorpion Eye Trench has any hidden modes or easter eggs.” Lin Mingfei’s voice was calm.

It was only then that Shi Ya noticed the Hunter’s avatar was dripping wet.

“So you went down there alone again?” he asked, feeling a pang of guilt. “Find anything?”

Lin Mingfei: “No.”

Shi Ya: “……”

“Forget it,” Lin Mingfei said easily. “You guys finished your tasks?”

“Yeah, we’re ready to go another round with you.” Shi Ya smiled.

“What do you mean with me?” Lin Mingfei chuckled. “Let’s go.”

The group entered Scorpion Eye Trench again.

The official livestream hadn’t even started yet, but Lin Mingfei’s personal stream was already full of viewers—just waiting to watch them make fools of themselves again.

[They’re going again? They only cleared four levels yesterday!]

[Guess they’ve gotten addicted to being PVX players.]

[Seriously, they’d be better off practicing their PVP coordination in the arena!]

[Have you guys forgotten you’re a pro PVP team?! I’m losing my mind here!!]

[Don’t tell me that omega said he doesn’t want to fight in the arena and just wants to grind dungeons?]

[Exactly! Polaris was fine before Blink joined—back then they actually played PVP!]

[What the hell, can someone just get rid of that omega already? He’s dragging them down!]

While the forum was busy tearing Polaris apart, the team’s latest run through Scorpion Eye Trench went so smoothly it was almost miraculous.

Maybe it was because they’d spent the entire previous night grinding weird mini-games—now all five of them were hyper-attuned to their respective skill categories. Whenever a flashy NPC appeared, they could instantly tell whose specialty it was.

“This one’s mine, mine, mine!”

“I just played something like this last night—leave it to me!”

“I got this!!!”

They advanced effortlessly. Even when they hit combat rounds, they breezed through them. Compared to the high-difficulty raid bosses they’d faced before, these fights were laughably easy—and since everyone was itching to vent their frustration, they charged in together. The poor NPCs didn’t stand a chance; it was a brutal slaughter.

Their efficiency had easily doubled since the day before. By noon, they’d already cleared around ten levels. When Lin Mingfei finally called for a lunch break, they found He Youjin standing in the doorway of their training room.

“Are you all trying to die before the tournament starts?” He Youjin scolded, face stern. “If you don’t log off right now, I swear I’ll cut the power myself! Go eat—now!”

The entire Polaris squad yawned one after another, dark circles heavier than ever—but their spirits were high.

“Not gonna lie,” Zhou Yanjun said, animatedly, “as soon as those two mermaids showed up, before they even started dancing, I knew it was a spot-the-difference round! Man, all those hundreds of images I studied last night really paid off!”

“It really feels different,” Bo Yu nodded. “Yesterday I was clueless, today I could play blindfolded. I think we can finish all 39 levels in less than 48 hours.”

Xia Tong clapped. “So this Scorpion Eye Trench isn’t that hard after all, right?”

Shi Ya chuckled helplessly. “You realize PVX players do this for fun, right? Meanwhile, we look like ascetics on a pilgrimage. Full-dive pro players staying up all night grinding browser games… we’re definitely gonna get mocked on the forums again.”

Lin Mingfei was unfazed. “It’s just mini-games. What’s there to mock? Besides, no one even knows our club stayed up all night clearing categories 1 through 4.”

He Youjin, walking ahead of them, nearly tripped over his own feet.

“Whoa there!” he yelped, catching himself on a chair.

“What’s wrong, Old He?” Lin Mingfei asked.

“Uh…” He Youjin rubbed the tip of his nose guiltily. “So… I was browsing the forums last night, and, uh, there were quite a few people badmouthing you guys.”

“Badmouthing us? Why?” Shi Ya asked.

“Because all the other teams were online until after midnight, but our team wasn’t. They thought… you guys went to bed early.”

“No way!” Shi Ya said, exasperated. “And then?”

“And then… I made a smurf account to explain things for you…” He Youjin mumbled. “Anyway, long story short… I think everyone knows by now that you spent the whole night grinding categories 1 through 4.”

Lin Mingfei: “……”

He Youjin’s words turned out to be prophetic — by lunchtime, posts had already appeared on the forum.

[Shocking! The once-holy fatherly support player stayed up all night studying how girls change clothes!]

Shi Ya almost choked to death on his rib soup. “Cough, cough, cough, cough!!”

[A 200-pound man arguing all night without rest! Is it the distortion of human nature or the fall of morality?!]

Zhou Yanjun: “……How the hell did I become morally corrupt?????”

[The Fall of Glory — the once three-time-champion wolves stayed up all night playing 1-2-3-4 mini games just for lust and pleasure! Sunny skies!]

Lin Mingfei slammed his bowl on the table, holding back his anger for a long moment before finally bursting out in the midst of dead silence:

“Absolutely fucking ridiculous!”

“I don’t even know how it turned into this,” He Youjin said, looking utterly defeated, his hands dragging down the corners of his eyes. “I just took a few candid photos of timer and fire grinding the game last night — wanted to prove you guys weren’t slacking or sleeping… But seriously, why are the public’s attention spans so messed up?!”

“That lust—Sunny, couldn’t you have blurred that word out?” Lin Mingfei groaned.

“I was afraid if I censored it, they’d accuse me of faking the photo!” He Youjin said bitterly. “Fans are impossible to please these days!”

“……”

Xia Tong finished eating, put down his chopsticks, and said calmly, “I think they’re just too bored. If we were fighting someone right now, all they’d care about is whether we win or lose. They wouldn’t be nitpicking the details.”

“Xia Tong makes sense,” Bo Yu nodded.

“You two fish with holes for brains actually sound reasonable this time,” He Youjin snorted.

“But it’s something we have to do,” Lin Mingfei said. “Before dawn arrives, we have to walk through the darkness.”

“Ugh, enough already! Eat up! We’ll finish eating and get back to grinding the Scorpion Eye Trench!” Zhou Yanjun said irritably. The sudden gloomy atmosphere at the table was making him uncomfortable. “The sooner we finish, the sooner we’re free!”

—

After lunch, all the blood in their brains had gone straight to their stomachs. The sleep-deprived “Five Tigers” were so drowsy they all went back to their rooms to nap. By evening, they gathered again to log in and continue their quest.

The controversy outside was still raging on, but they each turned off the live chat and stopped checking the forums. Instead, they pushed deeper into the abyss, fighting together in perfect sync — faster and faster — until by noon the next day, they finally cleared the thirty-ninth level.

The NPC Scorpion King, who ran the equipment shop, emerged from the darkness.

[Congratulations, brave adventurers! You’ve broken through the thirty-ninth level. Your team has accumulated 4,399 points. You may exchange these points for powerful equipment as rewards.]

Zhou Yanjun was almost moved to tears. “Oh my god! We finally made it! I could cry! I never want to come back here again! And I never want to touch PVX ever again!”

Lin Mingfei walked over to the display stand, seeing rows and rows of level 1500 gear.

“Let’s let Xia Tong upgrade first,” he said. “He’s still got a bunch of quest gear — his stats lag way behind the rest of us.”

Shi Ya shrugged. “No objections.”

Zhou Yanjun: “No problem.”

Bo Yu: “Agreed.”

So Lin Mingfei selected a wizard’s belt.

[You have successfully spent 4,200 points to redeem ‘Duncan’s Blessed Belt.’ Warrior, may you and your comrades grow ever stronger!]

A vein throbbed violently on Lin Mingfei’s forehead. “……How many points did you just say???”

The Scorpion King went dead silent.

Everyone behind him froze.

“No way… We worked our asses off for three days in the Scorpion Eye Trench, earned over four thousand points, and it only gets us one belt???” Zhou Yanjun’s eyes bulged. “What kind of scam is this???”

Bo Yu started counting on his fingers. “In a 25-man raid, there are seven bosses, each dropping one piece of gear, and the last one drops an extra hidden treasure. That’s seven or eight pieces per run… Captain, I think we’ve been majorly ripped off!”

Lin Mingfei didn’t respond. His face was dark as he quietly traded the belt to Xia Tong.

“Let’s head up first.”

They returned to the entrance of the Scorpion Eye Trench, dragging themselves onto the shore, dripping wet.

“Oh my god…” Zhou Yanjun flopped onto the sand like an overturned sea turtle, limbs sprawled out. “All that for nothing. I’m dead tired.”

“Well, not completely for nothing,” Shi Ya said teasingly, sitting down beside him. “At least Xia Tong’s new belt looks nice.”

“Pretty doesn’t help!” Zhou Yanjun rolled his eyes. “And he’s the only one who’s pretty!”

Shi Ya smirked and glanced at Xia Tong beside him. The little wizard was hugging his knees, staring off toward the hunter standing a short distance away.

Lin Mingfei had been silent ever since they came out, standing by the sea with his arms crossed, gazing into the distance.

“The Scorpion Eye Trench has been open for about a month and a half now, right?” Xia Tong murmured. “Has anyone cleared all thirty-nine levels? Other than us?”

“Hmm… If you’re soloing, it takes a long time. The last record I saw in the guides only reached level thirty-one or thirty-two,” Shi Ya said.

“So that means… no one knows what happens after you finish all thirty-nine levels,” Xia Tong said.

Shi Ya was startled — something about Xia Tong’s words carried a strange weight. Then, as he looked up, he saw the sharp-eyed hunter ahead of them turn his head, his gaze locking with theirs — intense and bright.

“Zero!” Xia Tong suddenly blurted, springing to his feet, just in time to see Lin Mingfei charge into the whirlpool ahead and dive straight in.

A moment later, they found Lin Mingfei—who had “drowned”—at the respawn point.

“Are you okay, Zero?!” Xia Tong rushed over in a panic, full of concern.

“I’m fine, I’m fine!” Lin Mingfei looked absolutely thrilled, laughing loudly. “All thanks to you, little Xia Tong! All thanks to what you said!”

“I… what did I say?” Xia Tong asked blankly.

Lin Mingfei didn’t answer him. Instead, he looked up, eyes shining with excitement, and turned to the other three teammates. “The Scorpion Eye Trench has a hidden mode! We’ve unlocked its hidden mode!”

“Hidden mode?” The three of them were all surprised. “What hidden mode?”

“Fight the Scorpion King! Every time we win, we earn points—and we can use those points to exchange for equipment!” Lin Mingfei said. “We don’t have to waste time going from level one to thirty-nine anymore! And—” He cracked his knuckles with a sharp snap-snap. “I’ve been wanting to beat that guy up for a long time!”

Feel free to buy me a coffee/show your support on ko-fi! Thank you ❤