"Thank you, boss, cough... let me know how I should cooperate in a bit... cough cough... just give your orders."

The wheelchair-bound boy replied to Wang Zhifan, and as he spoke, he couldn't help but start coughing. A few strands of bright red blood trickled from his pale lips.

"This boy really seems like he won't live for many more days; perhaps becoming a player is wiser than waiting to die at home."

Wang Zhifan somewhat understood the boy's choice upon seeing this. He had more compelling reasons than others to become a player, but the hope of survival was extremely slim.

After talking with the determined wheelchair-bound boy, Wang Zhifan looked towards the other side, at the bald, vest-wearing old man squinting at something in the sky.

The sixty-five-year-old man with a large machete seemed to notice the shift in attention towards him and quickly spoke:

"Young fellows, technology is so advanced these days, games are made so realistically! It's just that my presbyopia makes it hard to make out the words in front of me, can you help see what it says?"

The old man had been staring at the dungeon prompts in front of him, but unfortunately, the dungeon mechanism wasn't particularly clear, and he couldn't make sense of it even after a long look.

"Old man, if you can't see clearly, then don't bother. Just start fighting when the monsters come out later."

When the old man made such a remark, Wang Zhifan immediately judged that he was also a newbie influenced by Xia Country's promotions, seemingly unaware of the extraordinary game's dangers.

"This time, the dungeon teammates seem to be pure novices, the really weak kind, and the main combat strength is just me alone."

Wang Zhifan contemplated the strategy for the dungeon. Originally, he should unite the team's power to seek clearance, but with such outrageously weak teammates, he had little hope and had to think of a way by himself.

"Since that's the case, I'll use my 'dream self' to scout around first."

For safety reasons, Wang Zhifan wouldn't rashly enter potentially dangerous areas, even though he knew he could now face many attacks directly. He couldn't underestimate the dungeon's treacherous intentions, and he had to proceed cautiously wherever possible.

Thus, he skipped the strategy discussion with his two teammates, and soon, a slightly translucent shadow emerged from his body, quickly entering the forest ahead.

Wang Zhifan's dream self was entirely under his control and shared his five senses. It wasn't long before he used it to conduct reconnaissance in the forest, spotting large swaths of thick trees and discovering some peculiar individuals among them.

These were particularly tall trees, more than thirty meters high, with trunks thicker than three people's embrace, and quite thick branches extending from the trunks, swaying gently in the air. Upon closer observation, one would find that these tall trees had moving branches, not due to the wind but their own activity!

"These big guys must be the so-called tree creatures... but the dungeon requires defeating a Lv6 'Mad Treant'... there are more than one, and none appear particularly mad at the moment."

Wang Zhifan quickly pinpointed the first challenge of this dungeon: how to find the mad one among the numerous trees and treants, which seemed not easy at present.

"Both of you, we have work to do now."

Realizing that he was inefficient at finding the boss alone with his 'dream self,' Wang Zhifan turned to his teammates, who were both amazed after seeing him release the 'dream self.' The old man even asked about the figure, but he hadn't responded at the time.

"Boss, let me know if there's anything I need to do, feel free to instruct."

Hearing Wang Zhifan call out, the pale and frail wheelchair-bound boy swiftly replied while wheeling himself over thick fallen leaves towards Wang Zhifan.

"Young fellow, did you not hear me earlier? What was the shadow that emerged from your body? It looked quite frightening."

The old man holding the machete continued to question Wang Zhifan for some reason.

"It's just a basic skill, don't pay too much attention to it, old man."

Wang Zhifan naturally wouldn't explain the mechanism of the 'dream self' to this old man in detail. He casually brushed it off and then assigned the elderly teammate a small role.

"Old man, the three of us will each cover a direction to look for a 'mad treant.' If any of us finds a target or struggles to find one, return to regroup, and remember to leave markers so you don't get lost."

He began distributing tasks, though the two teammates' abilities were questionable, any help was better than none.

"Young fellow, what exactly is a 'mad treant'?"

Immediately after Wang Zhifan finished speaking, the old man with the machete curiously inquired, possibly because he had no concept of tree creatures as a fantasy life form.

"It's a large tree that looks somewhat human-like, but it's a big tree that's gone mad, and we have to find it in this big forest."

Wang Zhifan then briefly described what a 'mad treant' might look like. Although he hadn't seen such a being, he assumed it was similar to a classic image in fantasy novels. However, he wasn't sure how the madness manifested, so he spoke quite generally.

"Alright, young fellow, I have a bit of an idea now, I'll go look for it."

The bald vest-wearing old man didn't ask further questions after Wang Zhifan's unremarkable description and headed into the forest with his machete, which surprised Wang Zhifan.

"This old man... quite proactive, huh... I thought I'd have to persuade him more."

With the elderly teammate not causing any trouble, Wang Zhifan was glad, so he assigned the wheelchair-bound boy a scouting route. This eager-to-follow-orders disabled teammate slowly wheeled himself into the forest in search of the target.

Wang Zhifan himself covered three directions, with his true self and two 'dream selves' each responsible for one scouting direction, starting an efficient search through the forest.

The next half hour or so was a rather dull period of searching for the enemy. Wang Zhifan explored many tall trees, discovering many that appeared to be treants but failed to find any 'mad treant.'

All the treants he discovered seemed quite peaceful, rooted like ordinary big trees in the forest, with no inclination to attack anyone or any unusual behavior.

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