To be honest, this was the last dungeon Qi Xu wanted to encounter. He couldn’t help but rub his wrists and knees vigorously—the last round of the game had really screwed him over in this dungeon...
[Hey, dear players, how’s everyone doing? Come on, shout it out loud for me! Ah, knowing you’re all miserable puts my mind at ease!]
[That’s right, it’s time for another glorious dungeon moment! Players who skip this one, listen up! You might as well go bash your heads against a wall right now!]
[This dungeon is a five-star dungeon: [The Princess’s Party].
Rest assured, players, you’re not here to enjoy the party—you’re here to work. You might be a chef, a waiter, or a servant attending to the beautiful princess, depending on your skills.
One important note: No items from your backpack are allowed in this dungeon!!!
But! This dungeon provides food and lodging. If you work well, you’ll even get paid. Slack off, though, and your supplies will be deducted. So go ahead and sign up boldly.
Of course, if you’re all thumbs and can’t do anything right, this dungeon might not be for you. You’d be better off smashing your head into a wall. Wishing you a pleasant death~
Note: Monsters in this dungeon won’t kill players. I guarantee that not a single player will die by the time the dungeon ends!!!
This dungeon lasts five days. During this time, no supply crates will appear on the highway.]
[Will you sign up?]
[Yes/No]
All the players were practically losing their minds with excitement. For the first time ever, they read the dungeon notice without hesitation and immediately clicked "Yes."
Then, the chat lobby’s screen erupted into a frenzy.
"I knew this survival game couldn’t be that cruel! If it drove us all to death, who’d even play this damn game?"
"Exactly! We can hide in the dungeon for five days, then tough it out for another two or three days after, and this disaster will finally be over!! Hell yeah!"
"Free food and lodging! That alone makes me sign up! It’s rare for this survival game to show some mercy. I can’t wait—I’m skipping dinner tonight to feast like crazy tomorrow."
Some more cautious players found it odd that such a simple dungeon was rated five stars and raised doubts.
"If it’s just manual labor, why is it a five-star dungeon? Feels like there’s a catch. I don’t think it’s that straightforward."
"Bro, as a modern-day wage slave, you’re seriously asking what the catch is? What’s worse than your pre-game boss?"
"Damn right. As a fellow wage slave, I’m not scared of hard work. As long as it doesn’t kill me, I’ll grind day and night for five days straight! No fear at all."
The small group had a habit of holding off on signing up for dungeons, waiting for their top player, Whirlwind, to drop some hints first...
Qi Xu was still lost in bitter memories. In the last round, he had no special profession and was assigned janitorial duties—forced to kneel and scrub floors for days, only to have all his supplies deducted...
Other dungeons gave you a fighting chance if you pushed hard, but this one? Pure despair.
It took Qi Xu a while to finally speak up in the group chat. "Who here has a profession? What do you do?"
Chinese Master Chef: "Advanced chef."
Old White Dragon in the Waves: "Drinking contest champion."
Retired Magical Boy: "Junior makeup artist."
Watch Me Cut You Down: "Professional troll!"
Tonsils Never Speak: "Wordcaster."
Bubbly Girl Guo Degang: "Driver."
Whirlwind chimed in: "My advice—if you don’t have a profession, don’t sign up. If you’re not confident in your skills or it’s not suited for labor, better skip it. This dungeon isn’t as simple as it seems."
Chinese Master Chef: "Boss, should I go? I’m confident in my cooking, but... your warning’s making me nervous. Not sure if I dare sign up now."
Old White Dragon in the Waves: "What about me? Should I sign up?"
Retired Magical Boy: "I’m leaning toward it. Before this survival game, I was a beauty blogger—pretty good at makeup. Any advice, Whirlwind?"
Whirlwind replied: "Master Chef, you’re good to go. Your skills are solid. Old White Dragon, think it over—your drinking contests depend on who and how many you’re up against. A party’s gonna be packed.
Magical Girl, if your makeup game’s strong, then sign up. Bubbly, it’s up to you—driver requirements will be high, so weigh if you can handle it.
As for Cut You and Tonsils, this isn’t your arena. Save it for the next dungeon. I’ll hook you up with extra cooling spray and fans—here, one each."
Qi Xu was worried Cut You wouldn’t last half a day before getting booted for running out of supplies.
Tonsils... was just too fragile. With no shortage of supplies, there was no need to suffer.
In the end, the group decided to split up the next day.
Master Chef and Magical Boy would brave the dungeon, while the others stuck to their original plan and skipped it.
As for Qi Xu? Still torn.
He reminded everyone: "If you’re really joining, I suggest handing your current supplies to someone who isn’t participating."
Chinese Master Chef: "Whirlwind, what about you? If you’re not going, can I stash all my stuff with you?"
Qi Xu hadn’t made up his mind yet. In the last round, he’d joined "The Princess’s Party" as a lowly janitor, so he had almost no useful intel.
Even now, he remembered his dungeon evaluation, displayed on the screen:
[Stupid, broke nuisance. Get lost—don’t even breathe near me...]
Back then, without any special profession, Qi Xu was assigned cleaning duty. The monsters didn’t kill players, but they were foul-tempered and hard to deal with.
He endured, worked his fingers to the bone, didn’t rest a single minute at night—yet still had his supplies deducted over and over.
The only reason he wasn’t completely ruined was that he was already dirt-poor. Once the game couldn’t take anything else, it kicked him out.
Other players with decent supplies? By the end of the five days, they’d been stripped bare too.
The dungeon didn’t take lives, but... imagine this: In the middle of an apocalyptic disaster, all your supplies are gone, your backpack empty. Would you even want to keep living?
At the time, Qi Xu didn’t care much—he never had much to begin with. But plenty of players had their spirits shattered, with some even choosing death.
Even those who didn’t... starting from zero again, they slowly got weeded out anyway.
.........
