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After taking off the gaming helmet, Zane only felt a dull ache pressing into his back.

That was hardly surprising. Sitting on a small chair with his back against a cabinet for several hours would be unbearable for anyone.

‘It’s been several hours…? Damn it!’

He had gotten so absorbed in the game that he completely forgot he had come here to keep Zina company. Turning his head to the right, he saw his younger sister staring intently at her phone.

Were patients even allowed to play on their phones?

Noticing his gaze, she continued scrolling without pause and spoke as if nothing were amiss. “Brother, were you playing that game called Dreamscape? It looks pretty interesting.”

“Yes.”

Just then, the door was pushed open.

It was that nurse again. She shot him an annoyed look and said, “Coming to the hospital just to play games, you’re really something as a brother.”

“You can’t put it like that. I play games to make money,” Zane replied righteously. “Right, Zina?”

“Mm, my brother works really hard!” Zina nodded enthusiastically.

“…” The nurse forcibly restrained the urge to smack him. “Alright, I’m here to do a checkup. Your sister has been recovering well these past few days. If everything goes smoothly, she might even be discharged tomorrow.”

“ “Really?!” ” Both of them exclaimed in delight.

“Well… that still depends on the examination results. Miss Zina, come with me.”

“Okay.”

***

With nothing better to do, Zane started browsing the forums. They were practically flooded with information about today’s battle. One of the hottest threads contained an official response regarding the monster siege.

The post was made by an administrator account with the ID “Skywalker,” using a rabbit fiend as their avatar.

In the reply, he mentioned that the monster siege had originally been designed as a storyline scheduled for one month after the server opened. However, once the game went live, the progression of the plot was handed over to the system itself, with the developers only making adjustments to values and fixing bugs. In other words, players had advanced this segment of the storyline on their own.

Although it was an obvious attempt to shift responsibility, many players still linked it to the first Unique Boss kill that had occurred just moments before the world announcement.

And Blindeye happened to be a player based in Flowerdance City.

It could not be definitively stated that the two were related, but until the truth came to light, most people would probably assume as much.

So it really looked like this person was the cause, Zane thought. He just did not understand how someone could manage to kill a Unique boss. A health pool exceeding a hundred thousand was no joke.

On top of that, Starry’s skills, as well as the forms of the Wishkeeper and the Swiftshadow Wolf, had been exposed. Fortunately, no one knew about the existence of the main body.

Ten minutes later, the door opened.

Zane quickly stood up and looked at the two coming out, saying in surprise, “That was fast?”

“It was just a routine check. It didn’t take much time,” the nurse said. Then she added with a sigh, “Your sister’s physical recovery is excellent. She can be discharged tomorrow.”

“That’s good.”

“Why are you reacting so calmly?” the nurse asked in confusion.

How could he not be calm? He had known this all along. Starry had already told him. When she woke up, she had connected her consciousness to Zina’s, but she could only observe and was unable to control her own body at all.

Quite a few things had even gone wrong in her original world.

However, during the period of connection, Zina’s physical condition had steadily improved. More precisely, her immune system had gradually recovered to a level close to that of a normal person.

“Brother, I don’t want to stay here anymore… Let’s go home,” Zina said with a pitiful expression when she heard she still had to stay another day.

“Alright.” Zane nodded.

“Hey, you really should stay one more day for observation! What if something goes wrong?” the nurse said anxiously.

***

In the end, they still went through the discharge procedures. Sitting in the taxi, Zane soon drifted into a drowsy sleep.

Zina looked through Dreamscape’s official forum and clicked into a wildly popular thread. The cover image was a girl with purple hair and crimson eyes.

“…!”

***

At some point, Zane realized he could no longer control his body.

In front of him were several people bound tightly with ropes. Judging by their clothing, Zane immediately understood. It was happening again, that familiar dream.

“Hah… finally dealt with them. The trouble Zina caused this time was really…” Starry let out a weary sigh.

Zane tried to ask questions, but none of his thoughts could be conveyed. He wanted to know why he had woken up a few days ago with tear marks on his face. But no matter how much he tried to speak, Starry showed no reaction at all.

‘She can’t hear me…?’

“We’re here,” the driver said, his voice sounding especially sharp in the silence of the car.

Zane shook his head. Sleeping in a car was truly uncomfortable.

***

The next day.

“Yawn~”

Zane had slept incredibly well. Their parents had already gone to work, and Zina was reading a book.

‘What is she reading?’

Curious, Zane walked over and glanced at the title. It was Blazing Flame Palm. Not only that, there were several similar books placed beside it, such as Head of a Sect and Wind Severing Gate…

“…”

Did girls really like reading things like this? He honestly did not understand.

‘Forget it.’ Zane did not disturb her and quietly went off to eat. After finishing his meal, Zane checked the time on his phone. Counting it out, the twelve-hour maintenance period had already ended. ‘Time to log in.’

**Whoosh!**

The familiar figure appeared at the northern gate of Wynwater City.

Yesterday’s battlefield devastation had already vanished without a trace. The guards atop the city walls stood solemn and silent. Anyone unaware of what had happened would think the siege had been nothing more than a rumor.

Aegis paced back and forth along the wall, his brows tightly furrowed.

Looking more closely, Zane realized that the guards’ information had actually changed.

More than half of the Epic-rank soldiers who had originally been level 25 were now elites ranging from level 30 to 35.

As for Aegis himself, he had reached level 35, a faint yet imposing aura radiating from his body. At this rate, he might have already broken through into the Legendary rank.

“Warrior, I remember you,” Aegis greeted Starry with a nod.

“Ah…? I’m honored…” Starry’s main consciousness had not yet appeared. She was probably still asleep.

“Whoa! It’s Stardust herself! I want a photo with the goddess!” A sharp-eyed player noticed the commotion.

“No way, it really is her! Me too!”

In an instant, the crowd erupted into chaos. Not only players, but even ordinary NPCs tried to come over for a look. Starry hurriedly mounted the Swiftshadow Wolf and fled the scene in a panic.

**Beep!**

A friend message arrived. It was from Shiu.

“Shiu? What’s up?”
“Have you seen today’s update notes?”
“Not yet. I just woke up.”
“Then you should check them now. They’re probably aimed at you… and Starry.”
“Uh… let me take a look.”

He pulled up the update contents.

First, various cities had undergone repairs and personnel replenishment, with a large number of reconstruction-related quests added.

Second, with the appearance of the first Guild Creation Token, the guild system and the adventurer party system had officially been unlocked.

Guilds needed no explanation, while adventurer parties were essentially a more concrete and fixed form of a small team. Unlike guilds, no matter the level, an adventurer party could hold at most fifty members.

By continuously completing adventurer party quests, a party could increase its reputation among NPCs. Once it reached a certain level, NPCs would proactively seek them out, and such opportunities were often rare. As a result, adventurer parties represented an entirely new way of acquiring quests, making it crucial to choose like-minded teammates.

As a side note, each person could only join one adventurer party, and this did not conflict with guild membership.

Third, optimizations had been made to boss level restriction.

The so-called optimization meant that, on top of the original hidden attack and defense bonuses, additional armor-breaking and damage-reduction effects had been added. In other words, attempting to forcibly defeat bosses at a higher level had become even more difficult.

“…”

No matter how he looked at it, this was clearly targeting him. The battle at Wynwater City had been far too abnormal, to the point that it had even prompted the developers to adjust the data.