As Jenjen finished editing and publishing his video, he kept an eye on official news about the game and noticed their new update.

[GreenNet Gaming --- Tutorial Zone Update]

He immediately clicked the post. It was a ridiculously long post including their apology for inconveniences, a grand thank you to their supporters, etc. He quickly read through it and found the complete recording function. He can only thank the heavens he first found it. He also found that the cooldown is reduced to 5 minutes just in the tutorial zone...

"Wait." He subconsciously uttered... His intuition is ringing hard in his mind...

He equipped the headgear and logged in as soon as possible.

When he returned to the tutorial zone, the majority of the 1000 players returned as well. It must be the long cooldown that I can't find them.

He turned on the recording function and just as he was about to speak, a loud voice rang in this humid cave.

"Everyone! Attention, please! I-"

It was a long introduction for an urgent announcement.

"-Let's recall the important details. There are two enemies: One, the Flame Elementals. Level Zero. They can partially imitate anything. Notable that they are in flames. If something is burning, it must be the flame elemental. Two, the Flame Bishop. Level One. Perfect imitation. We mean it. The voice, the actions, everything! If it decided to be human, it won't remain burning, unlike the flame elementals. It's an impostor, guys! It also has a passive soul fire ability that grants permadeath. The bishop also has a level one curse, Loyalty to the Flame Monarch. We don't know what it does.

There's also the holy temple. It randomly appears anywhere. Treat the temple like the church on Earth. Do well, the NPC there will give you either a weapon or an item. If you are lucky, he might grant you a skill!"

Just as he finished speaking, he brandished his sword. His friends beside him all brandished their weapons and items. There's even one who cast Light in front of us.

So this is what they meant...

"Be careful, guys, we heard someone angered the NPC and cursed him a whole 12-hour cooldown."

I think it's Slicer. The real Slicer. I just feel like it's him. There must be something with him.

Another batch of late arrivals of players appeared, and one of them is filled to the brim with runic characters. The one's facial features are the same with-

"Oh look! It's TwinBuildingSlicer!"

"Wahhhh, so cool! How did he get that!"

"It looks demonic though..."

Everyone else talked about him. His runes are so flashy he easily gathered their attention. Loud claps disrupted everyone's thoughts about runes.

"We're not done yet with the announcements. We have a suggestion. Let's make groups! The flame bishop is alone! If we all grouped, we can keep a check on everyone else. The flame bishop will appear alone, and then, boom!"

He swung his sword like a chuuni.

"In 15 minutes, we will go altogether in groups!"

Groups?

After he finished announcing, everyone decided to join a party. The commotion caused by 1000 people is no small amount.

Some noticed certain famous influencers and tried befriending them. Some tried making a party with people that look strong. There are also "Templars Group," lucky people who obtained blessings from the temple.

I decided to find Golden Potato in his pond but he's nowhere to be found. Unfortunately, there is now a swimming club that will just wait for the boss to be slain by others and follow them when exiting the tutorial.

I was interrupted by... Chinese? I thought this game is banned in China.

"Ah hello."

The Chinese person in front of me made his best hello + wave greeting impression.

"My name is Xiaoqi. Who are you?"

Seeing that he's kind, I decided to respond in kind.

"Jenjen."

"...Jenjen. Let's form a party."

It's awkward to talk to strangers. I'm not an extrovert. I'm also not an introvert that I would feel uncomfortable.

"Okay!"

I answered with an energetic smile.

"Hmmm!"

Xiaoqi nodded to me energetically as well.

"You are quite good at English, huh?"

Xiaoqi responded enthusiastically.

"Yes. I am playing games. They are English. I learned English to understand games."

"Oh? I am a YouTuber. Gaming Channel. Jenjen is the name."

Knowing that my new party member may not be that great at English, I decided to simplify my words.

Xiaoqi looked at me with a frown.

"Don't simplify it. I'm no baby. I can understand you fine."

"..."

What should I do? Is it offensive? What should I say?

A thunderous clap shattered the noisy commotion.

"Let's go defeat the first dungeon boss!"

"Yeah!"

Packs of people started going into the second floor. As no one maintained order, the supposed march of the courageous players turned into a black Friday sale, pushing other people just to rush to the second floor.

Xiaoqi held my hand tightly. If it were a line in a novel, it would be a sweet romantic line but in this chaotic atmosphere, it is the only way to not get lost in the sea of people. I mean, who has the funny idea to invite everyone here to this cramped cave?

... not to mention we're both boys.

"You know the way out?"

"Don't worry! There are no dead ends here on the first floor! Anywhere you go, you'll end up at an exit."

"Oh? First time here."

First time? This is your first time going online?

Xiaoqi asked another question.

"Do we need more people to party?"

"No, we don't need more! Just two is enough to make an alibi to each other! Remember, the point of forming a party is to make sure the flame bishop is the only loner!"

"Okay, nice!"

We waited for the cave to decongest. When everything returned to peace, our hands holding stopped as well... It's effing weird.

We walked for five minutes, occasionally meeting other players.

"Wet."

"Ah, you mean this first floor is humid? Yeah. The second floor is different, mind you. You better enjoy the sight of plants here."

We talked for a while, and soon, found and climbed the stairs.

"See!"

"Mmhmm. Dry."

"It's dry indeed. There are all tiles here. There are no plants that light us though."

Xiaoqi raised his hand.

"How can we see?"

"Fire."

"Fire? But it's bad to fire in a closed space. Convection!"

He's having difficulty using complicated words in sentences. Well, I also have shitty grammar despite having English as my main language so it's fine for me.

Xiaoqi then tried rephrasing his words.

"We'll run out of oxygen if we use fire in closed spaces."

Oh? Never thought of it. The flame elementals are thriving here despite being in a cave so there must be the main reason.

"Game logic."

"Game logic? What logic?"

"It means that rule doesn't apply here because this is just a game."

Xiaoqi tried to refute my words but refrained from making an argument.

We heard a fight near us. A party of 18 fought a single flame elemental. It might be overkill but there's one main important detail.

"Hot! Hot!"

"My hands are burning!"

Trying to fight a burning creature in melee is a dumb idea. Ranged attacks are the best way but there's not a single news of an existence of a ranged weapon.

Xiaoqi pointed to the other members who are throwing stones at the flame elemental... Stones? Where? The floor here is smooth. Where could they get one?

I checked their surroundings and found someone using a pickaxe... mining the walls. Wait, you can do that? The other members will pick up the mined stones to throw them at their sworn enemy. Xiaoqi then speaks his mind.

"Look! They're distracting him!"

Thanks to him, I noticed another detail. To ensure the flame elemental won't attack the players who throw stones, others will distract him by acting as bait, going near the elemental to attract its attention.

It continued for a while until the flame elemental lost its flickering flame.

Xiaoqi then asked for another injustice.

"How to do stone fight fire?"

"... Game logic."

He stared at me and frowned. Is it a big deal? Surely he's not thinking this is a 100% virtual reality. There's magic after all... Magic...

"I think I know, I promise. What if those walls are magical?"

"Magical walls?"

"Think about it. Why are there no traces of burns here even if there are burning enemies?"

"... Maybe it can't be burned?"

"Sure, it can't be burned, but there will be black traces of burns. Dipping a stone in the fire won't completely burn it but its surface will be scorched."

"...Oh! I get it!"

To support my idea, I pointed out the stones thrown at the elemental. Not a single one of them is burnt despite being thrown into the fire.

Speaking of a fire elemental,

"Wahhhh, there's no drop!"

"Where's the loot?"

"Quick! Check it again!"

The party of 18 made a huge noise regarding the defeat of the fire elemental.

"Could it be that it escaped?

" No no no no no! It couldn't be! It died in front of us!"

The commotion lasted for a while.

"It must be a bug! Report it, guys!"

"There's no report option in the menu."

All 18 logged out, mysteriously disappearing in the air for an instant.

In their absence, a pickaxe appeared in the air.

Unfortunately, we are not the only players here spectating. The other 8 players are waiting for our move as well. Looks like no one is interested to form a 10-person party just for a pickaxe... They would rather own it for themselves.

Our eyes are waiting for who acts first like we're cowboys in high noon, except it's so noisy here.

In the middle of our staring contest, someone ran into the pickaxe. It was someone I'm familiar with. The runes are shining like the sun in the morning. It was the real Slicer. He just ran over the pickaxe. Now that the tension is broken, everyone else rushed to own it for themselves. They have seen for themselves how useful it is.

Even Xiaoqi decided to rush as well but I stopped him. Something is wrong.

He looked at his hand being held tightly by me. It's kinda funny it happened again. In the middle of the gold rush, a loud voice rang to us.

"YOU DARE RUN AWAY, HERETIC!"

It was an extremely familiar voice. The ashen creature at the temple.

I saw it again for the second time, but this time, it was way more frightening.

It mindlessly swings everyone who gets in his way, including all the other eight people fighting for the pickaxe.

It then suddenly stopped. Is it going to attack me?

"HAHAHA!!! DO YOU THINK GOING TO THE LOWER FLOOR WOULD STOP ME! YOU THINK THOSE CHEAP PLANTS WILL HINDER ME! Hahaha!"

It did the unthinkable. It charged into the floor and walls. To come to think of it, I heard the walls collapsing before when Slicer ran over the pickaxe. It was mixed among the noises I heard.

It's a no-brainer what's going to happen next.

"The floors are going to collapse!"

"The pickaxe!"

The pickaxe?

"No, Xiaoqi! We need to stay close!"

Xiaoqi rushed into the pickaxe.

"I got it! I got it!"

Just before he returned to me, everything collapsed. Everything became dark.

Now that there is an earthquake, there will be separation amongst groups. There will be loners who are away from the group at that time. There will also be players who died from the collapse and will revive... alone.

That way, the impostor can easily join the players...