John Carter sighed. Even if there was some secret behind all this, someone as insignificant as himself probably had no right to investigate it.

John Carter shook his head, pushing these thoughts aside. Right now, he just wanted to know—how could he enter the game?

The customer service lady had said that his game account had already been recovered, but he still couldn’t log in. Could it be a problem with the helmet?

So John Carter tried using Xiaoyin’s helmet. He hadn’t held out much hope, but to his surprise, John Carter actually managed to enter the virtual world!

Then what about his own game helmet? Was it bound to Mingjian?

John Carter exited the game and tried his own helmet again. Sure enough... that was the case. Now he was dizzy—if he wanted to play “Gods and Demons” in the future, he’d have to buy another game helmet, which would cost another eight thousand yuan...

Eight thousand yuan—who could he borrow it from? Luozi was out of the question; he’d already borrowed twenty-eight thousand from him. Even though he knew that if he asked for another eight thousand, Luozi would scrape it together for him, John Carter just couldn’t bring himself to ask.

John Carter decided that before he figured out a way to make money with Mingjian, he’d clear the new dungeon first. For one, he’d already promised the others, and for another, getting the system’s rewards could also strengthen Mingjian.

As soon as he logged in, his message box started flashing nonstop—over a dozen messages waiting to be dealt with. Opening them, he saw they were all from the Tianzun squad.

John Carter gave a wry smile. He really had let them down this time. Luckily, since it was a new dungeon, the death penalty was relatively light.

He sent a message to the leader of the Tianzun guild, who was also the captain of the Tianzun squad, “Broken Saber,” and lied that he’d had acute appendicitis yesterday, had been hospitalized for surgery, and was still in the hospital today.

After John Carter sent his message, the other party replied immediately: “Where are you?”

“Pangu City, coordinates (730, 680)”

“Stay put, don’t move. I’ll be right there.”

Three minutes later, Broken Saber arrived. He was a man not yet thirty, of average height and slim build, with ordinary looks, but he exuded a calm and steady aura.

“Twelve o’clock dungeon—are you physically up for it?”

“I’m good.”

Chapter 004: Striking Again

“Alright, this time the Europeans have formed a dream team—every player is level 34 or above, the weakest is in epic gear, and they even have three sub-artifacts, plus the so-called world’s number one player, Moscow’s level 36 ‘Terrifying Ivan.’ They’re also going to challenge the twelve o’clock dungeon. Our strength is much weaker than theirs.”

To ensure fairness, “Gods and Demons” opens each dungeon at the same time worldwide. Right now, it was four in the morning London time—these foreigners sure were dedicated...

“Level 36 already, that’s really fast.”

“We’ll gather in an hour and a half. We have to get ahead of him. For now, we wait.” From start to finish, Broken Saber didn’t blame John Carter with a single word, but John Carter could still feel a sense of pressure from him.

Even though it was a virtual world, some of a player’s aura could still be revealed through their demeanor and speech. John Carter guessed that in real life, Broken Saber was probably skilled in ancient martial arts, maybe even a master.

Broken Saber sat down cross-legged on the spot, closed his eyes, and rested. After a moment, the second member of the Tianzun squad arrived—the level 32 mage “Little Bunny Candy.” Little Bunny Candy was decked out in a full set of epic mage gear, her legendary staff glowing purple, and with her cute face and petite, delicate figure, she was certainly pleasing to the eye. However, in “Gods and Demons,” appearances could be slightly modified from one’s real looks, so beautiful women weren’t all that rare.

When she saw John Carter, Little Bunny Candy wrinkled her little nose, clearly still holding a grudge about him standing them up yesterday.

The third to arrive was also a woman, the level 33 warlock “Grace Carter,” who was in charge of healing. Grace Carter looked about twenty-two or twenty-three, also very attractive, and carried an air of elegance and nobility. She just gave John Carter a slight smile and didn’t say much.

These people were probably all wealthy or high-status in real life, because without investing a lot of money in the game, it would be impossible to have such levels and equipment.

In contrast, John Carter was decked out in trash gear, only level 20, and as for his family background, it wasn’t even worth mentioning. John Carter understood that these people teamed up with him out of necessity, but deep down, they looked down on him—they weren’t from the same world.

At this moment, the fourth person arrived—a handsome young man, the level 34 archer “Logan Carter.” He looked just over twenty, wearing half a set of epic warrior gear and half a set of legendary gear. Judging by that, he was probably some rich young master in real life.

He glanced at John Carter indifferently, his eyes carrying a natural sense of superiority. Being looked down on like this made John Carter very uncomfortable.

Just then, John Carter received a system prompt: player Logan Carter is eyeing you with ill intent. John Carter knew Logan Carter was checking out his gear. Let him look—he didn’t care.

Other than a barely passable Ghostfire Ring, all of John Carter’s gear was trash. Logan Carter snorted disdainfully, then sent a message to John Carter: “You really enjoyed screwing us over yesterday, didn’t you?”

The words were full of hostility, but since John Carter was in the wrong, he patiently replied, “Sorry, I had no choice.”