Train a Hero… How does that work? Jian Xingyi clicked 【Train】 with some curiosity. 

—Then, he felt his spirit leave his body right where he stood. 

Specifically, it was much like when he had empathized with and controlled the Heroic Spirits during the previous zombie tide. He had been sitting on the sofa, but now he simply collapsed, his body going limp as his consciousness entered a new void. 

In the void, he could see nothing, but he could sense the presence of the Heroic Spirits and even pinpoint their locations—a completely new experience. 

Although he was supposed to practice, he didn’t know where to start, so he simply moved through the void, observing his surroundings. He thought to himself that it would be much easier if this group of Heroic Spirits had a leader. 

He remembered… Level 1: 1 hour of agonal state, can summon 100 foot soldiers 

Level 2: 3 hours of limbo time, can summon 300 foot soldiers 

Level 3: One day of limbo time, can summon 300 foot soldiers and 50 vanguards 

Level 4: 3 days of lingering time, can summon 500 foot soldiers and 100 vanguards 

Level 5: 3-day lingering period; can summon 500 foot soldiers, 100 vanguards, and 1 general 

He is currently at Level 3, but hasn’t used it yet, so he doesn’t know how powerful the Vanguards are. However, since the Foot Soldiers were already able to help him withstand the final battle of the second zombie tide, the Vanguards must be even more formidable! 

And if there’s a General at Level 5, that means this group of spirits definitely has a leader. But right now, the area is filled with identical white shadows, and Jian Xingyi can’t find the leader.

And he doesn’t know if the leader will even appear before he reaches Level 5… 

After walking around for a while with no results, Jian Xingyi exited training mode and asked the system how to proceed with training. 

【Spirits require actual combat to gain battle experience. To conduct training, simply synchronize the battle with the Spirit. For example…】 

After reading the instructions, Jian Xingyi understood. 

In other words, the next time he fought, he just needed to carry the talisman with him and sync his battle to the Heroic Spirits so they could practice and learn. 

But… 

Jian Xingyi scratched his head. This made syncing seem pointless, didn’t it? Although he had a combat rating of 206, he was actually still far from the mark. After all, he was currently in the Rainforest map, tackling S-rank dungeons filled with S-rank monsters on high-difficulty maps—challenges even T1 players would struggle with. As a result, Shanhai handled most of the fighting, while he was responsible for… cheering him on. 

Jian Xingyi asked the system if it was possible to sync anyone other than the Savior. 

【Only those with a high bond with the Savior, aside from the Savior themselves, can complete 【Proxy Play】.】Jian Xingyi entered Shanhai’s ID. 

【System checking…】 

【Player 【Shanhai】 and player 【Xinghe】 have a high bond value.】 

【Player 【Shanhai】 has combat power exceeding T2.】 

【Player 【Shanhai】’s identity is 【】【】.】 

【Player 【Shanhai】 identity verification passed. Successfully bound to the Spirit Training System!】Yay! 

Successfully bound! 

But what is that 【】【】 that’s been pixelated out…? It’s kind of making me curious. 

Jian Xingyi shook his head, stood up, and told Shanhai about it. Shanhai didn’t have any objections; in fact, he’d been practicing his Spirit combat skills all along. For instance, he hadn’t gone out at all these past two days—he’d been practicing the whole time. 

Now it was just a matter of syncing—all he had to do was turn the Spirit Talisman into a necklace and wear it. A piece of cake.

The next day, the rain finally stopped. 

Once Jian Xingyi and Shanhai were ready, they headed to the Rainforest Mountain dungeon.

Along the way, they encountered quite a few players who had come out to gather resources after the rain stopped, and each one greeted Jian Xingyi warmly. Everyone was deeply grateful to Jian Xingyi now; after all, it was he who had given them the confidence to venture out. 

But Jian Xingyi felt… that besides gratitude and joy, there was something else in the way people looked at him… Gossip? Curiosity? Scrutiny? 

What was going on? 

What Jian Xingyi and Shanhai didn’t know was…the public chat was buzzing with activity at that very moment. 

【Oh my god??? According to players in the Rainforest Zone, that mysterious man by Xinghe’s side is actually Shanhai?】 

【Huh??? Shanhai is working as a bodyguard??? What kind of crazy story is this!】 

【We’re talking about Xinghe here… Shanhai working as a bodyguard is outrageous, but when you think it’s for Xinghe, it suddenly makes sense. Doesn’t the top resource tycoon deserve protection from the server’s number one player? Is Shanhai just protecting one person? He’s the savior of the entire server!!】 

【As a Rainforest Mountain player, reading your conversation almost killed me with frustration. Are we even talking about a bodyguard here?! Shanhai is Xinghe’s boyfriend! They’re a couple, and they’re really close, you know!】 

【Exactly, exactly! Every time I see them together, I start believing in love again. There’s a sparkle in their eyes when they look at each other!】

【Huh???】 

【Huh?????】 

This is even more shocking than a bodyguard. 

Everyone felt like they were listening to a fairy tale, so they started tagging Long Live for a Hundred Years and the Grapevine Peak Guild to verify. 

Le Ke: It’s true! Shanhai has completely fallen for him!】 

Haihai: 【It’s true! Xinghe has always been under Shanhai’s care!】

【????】 

【Holy crap, so Grapevine Peak and Long Live for a Hundred Years weren’t merging—they were getting married?!】

【Private message, I’m still in shock—this is just too shocking…!】 

Neither of the two main characters is aware of this gossip; they’re on their way to the dungeon—Whispers of the Jungle. 

What makes this dungeon unique is that it has three paths representing three difficulty levels: S, A, and B. As luck would have it, the carnivorous plant they need is hidden on the S-level path. 

Jian Xingyi accepted his fate. With Shanhai by his side, he’d already cleared several S-level dungeons. This one wouldn’t be a problem. 

The dungeon entrance was located within the trunk of a massive tree—a thousand-year-old ancient tree. Though not as colossal as a divine tree, its sturdy trunk was thick enough to form an opening large enough for several people to pass through. 

After entering the opening, when he opened his eyes again, he found himself in a whole new world and space. He and Shanhai had been teleported to… a wooden boat. 

The wooden boat drifted slowly along a river winding through a dense forest. Trees lined both banks, and many branches extended all the way to the river’s center, forcing the two of them to duck their heads to avoid bumping into them. 

【Ding!】 

【Welcome, players, to the Rainforest Mountain Dungeon—【Whispers of the Jungle】 S-Difficulty Path!】 【S-Rank dungeon rewards will be customized based on the player’s wishes! System listening to player’s wishes…】 

【Ding! Listening complete. The three items that player 【Xinghe】 desires most have been detected. Please select one as your reward for completing this mission!】 

【1. 300 million dawn coins; 2. 50 Combat Power Points; 3. 3,000 Essence Points】 Jian Xingyi froze. 

These three wishes… are all so tempting! Damn it! 

I can only choose one! 

Jian Xingyi pondered. His top priority right now was to establish the guild, and what the guild currently lacked were plots of land and essence points. He wasn’t short on Dawn Coins at the moment, and Combat Power Points were merely icing on the cake for him, not a lifeline.

So, after hesitating for quite a while, Jian Xingyi finally chose Essence Points. Once he made his choice, the system continued explaining the mission. 

【The rainforest is honest.】 

【Trees, soil, and grass do not lie; born of the heavens and earth, they naturally sense the world around them. Should disaster strike, the rainforest will be the first to respond. This forest will tell you everything.】 

As soon as the voice fell silent, a torrential downpour began all around. 

The sound of the rain was deafening. Jian Xingyi struggled to wipe his face and covered his ears. 

The rain blurred his vision, and the raindrops were so heavy they nearly knocked him off balance. The boat’s drain couldn’t keep up, and it quickly filled with water, nearly capsizing. 

Jian Xingyi mused, “How come *Dawn Descends* is clearly a high-tech holographic game, yet almost every map and dungeon in it is so full of mystical nonsense? Some maps even have a strong religious undertone, and there are plenty of rumors and lore about heroic spirits and the dead.” 

It’s quite mysterious… 

The system continued its explanation. 

【Too many things have happened on this land where there are no secrets. Please, player, spread the word…】 A scroll appeared on the wooden boat. 

Before they arrived, Shanhai had already told Jian Xingyi about this dungeon’s main quest. 

Most of the dungeon storylines in this game are set in the past eras of the NPCs—like the story of soldiers and medics fending off zombie hordes in Flag-Raising Mountain, or the tale of snow-mountain villagers who retreated from the world to worship gods and created a “Holy Son” to evade the zombies… 

【Whispers of the Jungle】 is no exception. 

Players must take on the role of a rainforest intelligence officer and relay information about the disaster in the rainforest to the outside world—that is, send intelligence to military headquarters. The process is simple: just toss the scroll into the mailbox at the end of the river. 

The challenges and creatures encountered along each path vary. On the path they chose—known as the Carnivorous Flower Path—Jian Xingyi saw carnivorous flowers of various colors and sizes lining both banks. They had thick stems, with a massive flower head hanging from the tip—large enough to swallow a person whole. 

Jian Xingyi wasn’t particularly eager to find out what they looked like with their mouths open.

Although the path was lined with man-eating flowers, the one Jian Xingyi and Shanhai were looking for wasn’t here. According to the scroll’s clue, it should be near the mailbox—the “King of Flowers.” 

But before the wooden boat reached the mailbox, the path ahead was bound to be…filled with all manner of monsters, each displaying their unique powers. 

For instance, at this very moment… 

“Splash—!” 

Amidst a downpour, crocodiles appeared all around the wooden boat, attempting to capsize it. Jian Xingyi and Shanhai began firing their guns. 

Since this is an S-rank route, the crocodiles here are just as ferocious as those in the swamp—huge in size—and the fragile wooden boat actually capsized. Thud—! 

The two fell into the water. Jian Xingyi choked on a mouthful of water, but before he could sink, Shanhai grabbed him. Shanhai held him tightly in his arms, drew his spear, and swept away all the approaching crocodiles. 

Jian Xingyi stared in astonishment at the sheer force with which Shanhai used a single silver spear to send a pack of massive crocodiles flying. He couldn’t help but think that if he ever got into an argument with Shanhai in the future, he might just get punched right out the door. 

Just as they were dealing with the crocodiles, Jian Xingyi spotted a creature in the distance and felt a chill run down his spine. 

“Piranha…!” 

Beneath the river, a school of piranhas was swimming rapidly toward them. 

Seeing their sharp teeth and the sheer swarm of them, Jian Xingyi thought to himself that if they got close, there would be nothing left of them! Shanhai’s gaze hardened as he sent the nearest crocodile flying, then scooped up Jian Xingyi and swam toward the shore. 

With the crocodile distracting them from the front and the piranhas chasing from behind, they didn’t have time to steady the wooden boat and could only evade the danger for the moment. But there was another danger on the shore.

The man-eating flower sensed their approach and immediately opened its gaping maw. Now Jian Xingyi finally knew what it looked like inside. 

Disgusting. Absolutely disgusting. 

That massive floral sphere was filled with slime, sulfuric acid, undigested animal carcasses, and sharp barbs and fangs.

The man-eating flower gaped at them. If they didn’t deal with it, they wouldn’t be able to reach shore, so Shanhai had no choice but to thrust his silver spear into the flower’s mouth. 

“Eeek—” 

The silver spear was lodged between the carnivorous plant’s upper and lower jaws, forcing its mouth open so it couldn’t close. Shanhai then took out his rifle and fired a precise shot at the tiny center of the flower. 

“Bang!” With a loud crack, the flower’s center was shattered, and the carnivorous plant finally drooped its head, lifeless. The two immediately scrambled ashore. 

A crocodile that had been relentlessly chasing them was also taken out by Shanhai with a single shot to the head. 

Jian Xingyi swallowed hard. He couldn’t shake the feeling that… Shanhai wasn’t in a very good mood right now. His moves were even more ruthless, his expression colder, and the aura around him seemed murderous. 

Those crocodiles had simply become the big shot Shanhai’s punching bags. 

Jian Xingyi glanced behind him. Although the man-eating flower was dead, the silver spear had been nearly corroded away by the sulfuric acid and was beyond recovery. 

It seemed Shanhai was upset because he’d lost a cherished weapon. The rain was still falling. After eliminating all threats, Shanhai turned to 

look at Jian Xingyi. Jian Xingyi met Shanhai’s icy gaze, and his powerful frame trembled. 

“W-what are you doing?!” 

The next moment, he found himself in a warm embrace. 

Shanhai held him close, covering his head with his leather coat. “Are you cold?” 

“Ah, ah… Oh! I’m not cold!” 

Shanhai shielded Jian Xingyi, squinting as he searched for a path through the rain. Shanhai felt that rather than taking the water route, it would be better to walk along the shore. 

The wooden boat was too fragile; no matter how high his combat prowess was, he couldn’t overcome the inherent fragility of the vessel…

And there were too many dangers in the river; if the boat capsized, there was no guarantee Jian Xingyi wouldn’t get hurt. 

Although there were even more dangers on land—like carnivorous plants every few steps—and they were currently stuck in place, knowing that taking just a few more steps forward would lead them to another one, at least he could use his combat strength to clear a path through them.

Shanhai sat down where they were, holding Jian Xingyi in his arms, waiting for the rain to stop. Jian Xingyi curled up in Shanhai’s arms. Covered by his coat, he got a little less wet and felt warm all over. Fortunately, rain in the rainforest comes and goes quickly; it stopped in no time. 

Once the rain stopped, the two could see their surroundings more clearly. 

…A dense swarm of man-eating flowers. Oh boy. 

Jian Xingyi felt hopeless. 

But what made him even more desperate was… he was already a fully-fledged management player; using skills on new living creatures had become a reflex, etched into his DNA. 

Even in a situation as dangerous as the one just now, he had actually used his skill on all the crocodiles and piranhas— including that carnivorous flower they’d killed. 

Jian Xingyi felt that one day, when he was dead and lying in his coffin, he might just lift the lid at his memorial service and cast a skill on the flowers people had brought to pay their respects. 

But that… was actually a good thing. 

Jian Xingyi opened his backpack to check. Aside from Essence Points, the crocodiles and piranhas had dropped quite a few standard lambs and pigs… Wait a minute? 

Fish!! 

There are fish! 

Not loaches, not tadpoles—real fish fry! 

And just like the little snakes, these fish fry are also A-grade! Yay! Fish to eat, and I’ve added another A-grade item to my collection! Jian Xingyi happily stowed them away. 

Then it was time to move forward. Jian Xingyi glanced at the carnivorous plants all around and blinked, asking, “Are we… supposed to fight our way through like this?”

Shanhai pondered for a moment… 

“Xinghe, do you still have that container from before?” 

Huh? 

Five minutes later. 

Shanhai and Jian Xingyi got back on the wooden boat. Jian Xingyi placed the interdimensional container on the shore, activated the skill for all the man-eating flowers to harvest a batch of essence, and then activated the container. 

Whoosh— 

Instantly, the entire riverbank was engulfed in lava, and one by one, the man-eating flowers were reduced to dust under the scorching heat. Jian Xingyi exclaimed, “You really are a genius.” 

He’d completely forgotten he had that cheat item. 

Jian Xingyi then stowed the container away. Once the heat of the lava had dissipated, the two of them strolled leisurely across the barren ground. 

An S-rank dungeon? 

Pfft! 

Just a measly S-rank dungeon! Jian Xingyi was brimming with pride. 

The two dared not venture deep into the forest, for fear of encountering wild beasts, so they simply walked along the riverbank. Every now and then, they’d come across crocodiles trying to harass them. Jian Xingyi would readily activate his skills, and Shanhai would just as readily take them down—a smooth collaboration. 

Just then, Jian Xingyi noticed a glimmer on the riverbed. 

Hmm…? 

Seeing Jian Xingyi stop in her tracks, Shanhai asked, 

“What’s wrong?” 

“There seems to be something at the bottom of the river…” 

Shanhai paused. 

Shanhai was now well aware of Jian Xingyi’s abilities. Based on what he said, there must be something special down there, but…

Shanhai said, “It’s dangerous to go in the water. Wait here on the bank; I’ll go down and get it for you.” 

“Hey…!” Jian Xingyi grabbed the hem of Shanhai’s shirt. “Let’s go together.” 

Jian Xingyi scratched his head and said, “If you go down alone, it’ll take you a while to find it. It’ll be faster if I come with you, and I want to see what it is with my own eyes.” 

“Alright.” 

After all, Shanhai rarely ever refused Jian Xingyi. Once they were in the water, however, Jian Xingyi was startled. It was a skeleton. 

The flesh had been completely devoured by piranhas, and the clothes and backpack on the skeleton were in tatters. The bones were overgrown with seaweed and moss; Shanhai estimated they must have been there for at least thirty years. 

The light was emanating from the seaweed. Jian Xingyi collected the essence points. 

【Harvest Successful, Absorbed 【Essence】 x300】 

……?? How much?! 

It’s already turned to bones—how could it still yield such high essence, just like a living person?! 

Perhaps it was because the skeleton had granted Jian Xingyi such a generous reward, or maybe he felt sorry for it having been devoured by piranhas, but an idea suddenly crossed his mind. 

—Let’s take these bones ashore and give them a proper burial. 

Jian Xingyi didn’t even know why this thought had popped into his head. It was completely unreasonable—after all, they’d seen plenty of corpses by the roadside before, but this one left Jian Xingyi with a strange, bittersweet feeling—he just couldn’t bear to leave it there like that. 

Seeing Jian Xingyi start to hold his breath underwater, pushing aside the bones and clearing away the seaweed, Shanhai jumped in to help. 

After the two of them brought the bones ashore, they happened to find an open patch nearby that hadn’t been overrun by the man-eating flowers, so Jian Xingyi decided to bury the bones there. 

Shanhai asked, “What’s going on?”

Jian Xingyi shook his head. “I don’t know. I just felt like doing it, so I did.” 

“Alright.” 

Just as the two of them were halfway through digging… 

【Congratulations to players 【Shanhai】 and 【Xinghe】 for unlocking the hidden achievement in “Whispers of the Jungle”—【The True Hero of the Dungeon Story】!】 

Huh? 

Shanhai and Jian Xingyi exchanged puzzled glances. 

Jian Xingyi chuckled mysteriously, “Well, well! Hehe! Now I know what’s going on. Looks like my sixth sense kicked in! It detected a hidden achievement!!” 

Shanhai was at a loss for words. 

All in all, this is a good thing, but… the true protagonist of the dungeon? 

Before sealing the land, the two opened the backpack left behind by the skeleton and found a scroll inside. 

The scroll was inside a bamboo tube, so it hadn’t been ruined by water. Jian Xingyi carefully unrolled it and saw that the writing was already faint, but he could still barely make out a few keywords. 

To 01, the Doctor, and the Colonel: 

I’m doing well here… The situation in the rainforest… The disaster has worsened, the plants… 

—Botanist Domini 

Most of the content was illegible, making it impossible to piece together the information, but at least the signatures at the top and bottom were still there. Jian Xingyi was somewhat shocked. 

Botanist Domini is the one who drew those six scrolls of plant species and explained how to activate the procedure to reach the outside world!! The scrolls he found inside the Sacred Tree even have Domini’s signature on them! 

“Shuixi… I think I get it. The intelligence officer we’re playing in this instance… is Domini! We are Domini, the one delivering the message! No wonder there’s an NPC named Domini in the map information, yet no one has ever encountered a quest related to him—because Domini is already dead!” 

Shanhai nodded.

It’s truly ingenious. 

But… 

Shanhai raised an eyebrow. “01 is the logistics officer from the story, right? Both 01 and the Doctor are among the heroes buried in Peace Mountain Cemetery.” 

“That’s right.” 

Jian Xingyi now had a rough outline of this world’s story. Those five heroes were the leaders when the zombie tide struck; they were the so-called “Military Headquarters.” Everyone on the map—whether soldiers, medics, or this Domini—would relay messages to them. 

Shanhai furrowed his brow. “Then who is this colonel?” 

“Huh?” 

Right. 

They only knew there was another heroic commander in Peace Mountain, but a colonel… they’d never heard of him? Jian Xingyi scratched his head. “Maybe he’s a character from the story too… I don’t know. Maybe we’ll find out later.” “Hmm.” 

After dealing with the skeletal remains, the two continued on their way. 

Jian Xingyi was still thinking about the question from earlier. He asked, “Shuixi, you were a soldier before you entered the game, right?”

“Yeah, to be precise, a retired soldier.” 

“So before you retired, there must have been a colonel in your unit, too?” 

“Yes, he was also my mentor.” 

As if recalling something joyful, Shanhai’s expression softened. “He was very kind to us—a mentor, a friend, and a father figure. He was a very dependable and gentle person. Bai Jie, Le Ke, and I were his only three students.” 

As the two walked on, Shanhai shared many amusing stories with Jian Xingyi. 

Like the time he and Le Ke threw a cat into Bai Jie’s room, or the time Bai Jie and he stole his clothes while Le Ke was taking a bath… “Oh…”

Jian Xingyi thought to himself, so he hadn’t been wrong—the colonel mentioned in the letter must be the commander at the military headquarters, the one who worked alongside those five heroes… A hidden character? 

After a moment, Shanhai turned to ask, “What about you? What did you do before you entered the game?” 

Jian Xingyi paused; it was the first time anyone had asked him that question. 

Jian Xingyi replied, “There’s not much to say about my old life. It was ordinary—very ordinary. I kept to myself, had no friends or family, and was just a programmer who clocked in and out on time every day.” 

Shanhai said, “Then why did you suddenly decide to play this game? You don’t seem like the type who likes fighting games.” 

“Yeah… if my friend hadn’t dragged me into it, I wouldn’t have played. I prefer management games.” 

“So what about your friend?”

Jian Xingyi froze in place. Huh? 

A friend… 

Seeing Jian Xingyi’s pale face, Shanhai stopped in his tracks and furrowed his brow. “What’s wrong?” 

Jian Xingyi’s lips trembled, but he couldn’t bring himself to speak. 

“I… I don’t remember…”