Chapter 108 – Why shouldn’t a real man carry a Wu sword?

Hearing Wu Yu’s words, the young guy also looked frustrated and said:

“Yeah, tell me about it. I thought working at a big publicly listed company would be amazing, but this is it?”

“I chatted with some folks from the garment factory yesterday. They already moved into the employee dorms.”

“They even video-called me to show off that huge LCD TV and the air conditioning. It’s enough to drive you mad.”

An older guy on the top bunk chimed in:

“Exactly. I can’t stay in this place any longer. And that food? They actually dare call it ‘the best cafeteria’? What are they thinking?”

“I’m dying for a bite of the garment factory’s braised pork.”

“Day sixteen of missing the garment factory cafeteria!”

The young guy echoed:

“Day sixteen of missing the garment factory dorms. I just wanna live there already!”

Wu Yu sneezed again and joined in:

“Day sixteen of missing Boss Chen.”

Man, I really want to go back to doing sales—that’s where I belong.

Sigh.

Sigh.

Sigh.

A string of sighs echoed through the dorm room.

…

Late at night, in a rented apartment.

Jiang Jiu sat in front of the computer, holding a bucket of instant noodles while staring intensely at the screen.

It had already been over two weeks. By logic, the third piece of gear should’ve dropped by now—but nothing.

He had a gut feeling the drop rate had been nerfed again.

But so what if it had?

Jiang Jiu smiled confidently.

Did they think the nickname “Grind King Jiu” was just for show?

He slurped down the noodles and got ready to keep farming gear.

Ring ring ring!

His phone suddenly rang.

It was Hao-ge calling. He hurried to pick up.

“Hao-ge, what’s up?”

“What are you doing? Got a minute?”

“Farming gear. Feels like the drop rate got nerfed again.”

“No need to guess—it was nerfed,” Chen Cong confirmed. He had gotten 8 pieces in less than a month before, but in the past two weeks, only 4. And two of them were duplicates.

He still only had 8 pieces of the Dragon Slayer set. Two more to go.

“Forget that for now. Stop farming gear. Come over and lead the world boss raid. From now on, all guild battles and world boss fights are under your command. Fifty grand a month. I’ll just pay someone else to get you the rest of your Dragon Slayer set.”

Chen Cong spoke quickly. Jiang Jiu was a hardcore gamer with serious talent. He had a deep understanding of class roles and skill mechanics.

Every time Jiang Jiu had led a guild raid, as long as the power difference wasn’t huge, they always came out on top.

That’s why Chen Cong valued him—and why he was willing to pay top dollar for his gear.

He had just organized two world boss raids with his guild—both had failed.

No choice but to call in Jiang Jiu.

“Alright, Hao-ge,” Jiang Jiu agreed immediately. He had known Hao-ge for years. Since he was obsessed with gaming and jobless, Hao-ge had helped him many times. Even if he wasn’t getting paid, he’d still help lead the world boss raid.

And he had seen some chatter about this boss in forums and game channels.

The toughest part of this boss was its insane attack power. A single tank couldn’t hold up. You needed several tanks rotating to draw aggro. But if the aggro pulling got messed up, the boss could one-shot the backline.

So this time, the key was timing the aggro shifts.

…

[World Announcement: (Rich Beyond Heaven) Guild has claimed the first kill of world boss Black Armored Turtle. All participants have been awarded the (Black Armored Turtle First Kill) title.]

A banner slowly scrolled across the top of the game interface.

Again and again.

Huh?

Rich Beyond Heaven Guild.

World boss first kill?

Interesting.

Didn’t expect to run into my old flex-happy rival on my first day back in Tianlong.

In a luxury presidential suite,

Du Ziteng looked at the scrolling announcement and smiled slightly.

There was a trace of nostalgia.

But since I’m back, I’m not letting you hog the spotlight.

He opened the guild interface—his guild was named Hall of Heroes.

To his surprise, quite a few of his old guildmates were online. He froze for a second.

He had only re-downloaded Tianlong out of curiosity after seeing some forum posts about the game’s overhaul.

And then immediately saw his old rival snag the world boss first kill.

And even more shocking—his old guildmates were still around and active.

That old familiar feeling hit him. It felt just like when Tianlong was in its prime.

He quickly typed in the guild chat:

“Brothers, your king has returned.”

The chat immediately exploded.

“Holy crap, Teng-ge is back!”

“Teng-ge, you finally came back. Rich Beyond Heaven has been walking all over us lately.”

“Yeah, their guys keep ambushing us in the wild these days.”

“Teng-ge, if you hadn’t come back soon, I was about to blow up your phone.”

“Welcome back, Lord Teng!”

“Welcome back, Lord Teng!”

…

Du Ziteng watched the chat flood in and felt emotional.

Lord Teng—

That was his in-game ID.

He’d always been fond of the Tang Dynasty, which is why he named the guild Hall of Heroes—after the historical pavilion that honored Tang dynasty heroes.

And “Lord Teng” was part of his own youthful fantasy.

Back then, his favorite poem was by Li He:

> Why shouldn’t a real man carry a Wu sword?,
And seize back fifty states of borderland?
Ascend for now the Hall of Heroes—
Which scholar will be the next great lord?
With a nostalgic gleam in his eyes, he typed in the chat:

“You guys play on for now. I’ll reacquaint myself with the game, then lead us… on a comeback.”

He closed the guild window after sending the message.

Time to re-familiarize himself with the revamped Tianlong. Back when he quit, the level cap was 150. Now it was 160.

Looks like I need to grind levels again!

He clicked around the interface, finally stopping on a guaranteed gear package costing 100,000 yuan.

If he wanted a comeback, he couldn’t afford to be undergeared. He also found out the best gear was the Dragon Slayer set—but that only dropped in the wild, and the drop rate was insanely low.

He checked the power rankings. Only one player, “Snowfall(Xue Luo),” had the full Dragon Slayer set.

Not sure if that was an old rival with a new name, or a new whale on the scene.

Second place in power? His old rival “Big Money Laozi,” who only had 8 out of 10 Dragon Slayer pieces.

Even that guy hadn’t completed the set yet.

No way he could gather the full set fast.

One tier below the Dragon Slayer gear was the guaranteed 100k set—or the grind-for-free alternative.

But grinding took too much time.

If money could solve the problem, why waste time?

And it was only 100k anyway.

With that, Du Ziteng opened the recharge interface without hesitation.

————

—”Why shouldn’t a real man carry a Wu sword?”

It comes from a Tang poem and expresses a heroic spirit—calling on men to take up arms and achieve greatness, especially in battle. The “吴钩” is a type of sharp, curved sword from the ancient Wu state, symbolizing martial valor and ambition.

—Changed Gamer ID from I’m a Rich Guy ->Big Money Laozi

—Snowfall – MC’s Gamer ID