When Ji Shanshui received a serving of garlic oysters traded over by A Leaf Boat, he was dumbfounded.
"What is this?"
He had never seen a healing item like this before.
Jiang Ye couldn't be bothered to explain and just gave Ji Shanshui a slight lift of her chin.
Looking skeptical, Ji Shanshui gingerly held the garlic oysters, brought them closer, and took a sniff. His brows instantly furrowed in disgust.
"It smells terrible!" Ji Shanshui pinched his own nose. His voice came out all nasal. "Is this really edible?"
"It is. Believe it or don't. Up to you whether you eat it or not." Jiang Ye glanced at his constantly dropping HP.
Ji Shanshui knew he was almost out of time.
He grit his teeth, clenched his eyes shut, grabbed the oyster shell, and swiftly slurped it down.
A rich wave of garlicky aroma hit him, the burning kick of chili exploded in his mouth. Just as he thought he'd have to suffer through it, the plump and tender oyster slipped right into his mouth.
The heavy flavor of the seasoning erased any fishy taste, leaving only a pure, soft, salty-sweet note.
It was a strange sensation.
Ji Shanshui couldn't quite articulate what exactly he had just eaten, but he could feel something slippery slide into his mouth—kind of like swallowing a whole egg—and before he could process the taste, it was already in his stomach.
It was like someone had performed a magic trick right in front of him, dazzling his taste buds, but when it was all over, he couldn't even be sure what he'd eaten.
A little voice whispered in his mind: Try another one, just one more.
One more! I need to figure out exactly what this stuff is!
Ji Shanshui's home planet was so short on water that they hardly ever had Seafood, and he was tasting oysters for the very first time.
"Where did you get these?" he asked urgently.
"From the Stream room," Jiang Ye replied off-handedly.
"The game Stream room? Which Streamer? Can I buy more?" Ji Shanshui pressed.
"Can't remember, I think the Streamer's name was something like Streamer So Poor Won't Chat." Jiang Ye put on a look of utter ignorance, then impatiently asked, "Your HP's all back, right? Can we go now?"
Ji Shanshui secretly memorized the Streamer name she mentioned.
There were less than three minutes left before this stage would end.
Ji Shanshui was anxious.
"Boss, are you sure we can clear this stage?"
He'd switched back to calling A Leaf Boat "Boss" again.
Jiang Ye didn't really care; it wasn't as though she saw herself as a true boss anyway. If she made a fuss asking people to change how they addressed her, it would feel even more awkward.
"We can. You stay here and wait for me, I'll go ahead first."
As soon as the words left Jiang Ye's mouth, she initiated teleportation.
She disappeared right before his eyes.
Ji Shanshui blinked, stunned, and swore, "The hell."
"Is she scamming me again?!"
He had no idea the only reason Jiang Ye didn't teleport him along was to stop him from witnessing her special methods.
Jiang Ye arrived at the correct exit marked by the sea snake, but it didn't mean she could clear the dungeon easily.
She had to solve the puzzle in front of her.
Jiang Ye had been worried it might be tough, but after one glance, she smiled.
Wasn't this the River Diagram?
The River Diagram, also known as the Turtle Script, was the origin of yin-yang and five-element numerology. Legend said a divine turtle emerged from the Luo River, its shell bearing this pattern, reflecting the heavens.
But for modern Blue Star folk, this was essentially just a number sequence.
Jiang Ye handled it with ease.
Meanwhile, the World Channel was already chaos.
All because Ji Shanshui was spamming like mad.
[World • Ji Shanshui: Server-wide Level Board No.1!! id: A Leaf Boat! Scammer! Takes money and does nothing! Absolutely vile!]
[World • Ji Shanshui: Server-wide Level Board No.1!! id: A Leaf Boat! Scammer! Takes money and does nothing! Absolutely vile!]
[World • Ji Shanshui: Server-wide Level Board No.1!! id: A Leaf Boat! Scammer! Takes money and does nothing! Absolutely vile!]
[World • Melon Field Mistake: Holy crap!!! Big drama!!!!]
[World • Yuchi Xi: ?]
[World • Young Master With Money: Ji Shanshui, are you out of your mind!]
[World • Ji Shanshui: Number one on the Level Board A Leaf Boat takes cash and does nothing! Scammer! I'm going to expose her! Everyone, boycott her! Stand up for justice!]
[World • Just Watching Not Talking: Hold on bro, what exactly did she scam you for? Spell it out. If you don't explain, how are we supposed to help you?]
All alone in a pitch-black cave, watching his HP steadily drop and his coin pouch much lighter after losing so many gold coins, Ji Shanshui got hot-headed and didn't even listen to his friends trying to calm him down in Private Chat—he just vented in public.
[World • Ji Shanshui: Ran a dungeon today, A Leaf Boat charged me 20,000 gold coins, promised to carry me through. Turns out it was all a scam! Now she's left me alone in here! Nobody trust this woman!]
[World • Melon Field Mistake: What kind of dungeon makes you spend 20,000 coins? Besides, paying for someone to carry you—that's complicated, bro.]
[World • Just Watching Not Talking: Eh, this is a bit much. Even as a boss, you can't just rob people in the open.]
[World • I Have a Lot of Hair: Disgusting, is this guy from the Wasteland? So desperate, why not just rob a bank?]
[World • Drizzle: Quiet, I'm here for the drama. Any updates from the main guy?]
Everyone in the World Channel was ready with their virtual bowls and chopsticks, hungry for more scandal—but Ji Shanshui suddenly fell silent.
Just as their interest started to wane, Ji Shanshui popped up again.
[World • Ji Shanshui: One sec, Boss is carrying me now.]
[World • Melon Field Mistake: WTF!]
[World • Drizzle: What the hell is going on!!!]
Truth was, while Ji Shanshui went off in the World Channel, Jiang Ye had solved the puzzle and entered the final stage of the dungeon.
Ji Shanshui was automatically sent to the last stage, now standing face-to-face with A Leaf Boat.
The atmosphere got awkward.
"Heh, about just now, Boss, I might've gotten a bit carried away." Ji Shanshui rubbed his hands.
"Oh?" Jiang Ye had glanced at the World Channel during the teleport, seeing the uproar and people cursing her left and right. She didn't care. No matter what people said, she felt her earnings were clean. She hadn't forced Ji Shanshui to buy anything, hadn't given him the runaround, definitely didn't scam him.
It was all honest business, and he was the one who volunteered in the first place.
So Jiang Ye had no guilt—just shot him a sarcastic "oh".
"Let's fight the boss. I'll pull aggro and attack, you'll stand to the side and grab opportunities for cheap shots. You do know how, right? You seem pretty good at that." Jiang Ye directed.
"Sure, sure! No problem at all!" Ji Shanshui immediately perked up at the thought of clearing the dungeon and getting a reward.
But when he took his place and got ready to attack the boss—the Giant Mountain Wolf—he suddenly realized what A Leaf Boat had really meant.
What did she mean, "pretty good at this"?
Couldn't she speak plainly for once instead of being so snide?
Ji Shanshui felt irritatingly aggrieved, so he started scheming. He calculated the chances of deliberately slacking during the boss fight, letting the boss kill A Leaf Boat, and then swooping in with his paid items to clean up the low-HP boss solo.
If he could pull it off, he could keep all the treasure chest rewards for himself.
Ji Shanshui had big ambitions, but so as not to arouse suspicion, he dutifully attacked the boss while hyping up A Leaf Boat.
"Boss! Hit harder!"
"Boss! You got this!"
"Boss! It's almost here!"
Jiang Ye was so annoyed she could have killed him herself.
"Shut up!"
She snapped, dodging a boss claw swipe, then leapt onto the wolf's back and stabbed its eye with her boning knife.
The boss howled in pain. As it did, it entered a ten-second high-damage vulnerability.
"There it is!!" Ji Shanshui cheered.
Jiang Ye sped up her attacks.
But honestly, she was struggling. It wasn't effortless—she had to keep an eye on her HP, manage her damage, and be ready to pop healing from her backpack at any moment.
Thankfully, it was only a Level 10 mob.
So there was no level suppression for Jiang Ye.
After the ten seconds passed, the boss had lost a third of its HP.
Ji Shanshui saw hope and started fighting even harder.
This middle stage wasn’t too tough, and with Jiang Ye's boning knife secretly smeared in Venom, the boss suffered from stun and paralysis effects, giving her more chances to attack.
As the boss' HP dropped into the final third, about to enter berserk mode, both Jiang Ye and Ji Shanshui suddenly stopped what they were doing.
"Boss! Why did you stop attacking!" Ji Shanshui panicked.
"Why did you?" Jiang Ye shot back.
"My normal attack skill is still on cooldown," Ji Shanshui explained.
"Same here." Jiang Ye replied.
They stared at each other. Ji Shanshui saw a flash in A Leaf Boat's eyes that he knew all too well.
It was the same dark gleam he got when he was plotting against others.
"Oh no," Ji Shanshui suddenly had a very bad feeling. He glanced at the boss, which suddenly switched aggro and charged straight for him, mouth wide enough to swallow him whole.
"You’ve got to be kidding?!" Ji Shanshui wailed. "How'd the aggro switch to me?! What did you do?!"
"Hmm." Jiang Ye tapped her temple, "It just takes some brainpower. Can't you manage that?"
Ji Shanshui bolted, running and howling.
"You're still acting cool at a time like this!!!! A Leaf Boat, are you nuts!!!"
Jiang Ye shrugged, pleased to watch the giant wolf chase Ji Shanshui all over the place while she calmly took potshots and did the math on its HP bar.
The moment the wolf swatted Ji Shanshui to death with one paw...
A notification popped up in her group chat with A-Xing and Yuchi Xi.
[Group • Young Master With Money: Serves you right! (firecrackers)]
[Group • Yuchi Xi: Truly deserved. (thumbs up)]
Having been killed by A Leaf Boat's deliberate scheme, Ji Shanshui now felt like a turtle stuck in burning coals: fuming, stifled, and miserable.
After a tirade in team chat got him booted by A-Xing, he stormed into the World Channel again.
[World • Ji Shanshui: A Leaf Boat!! Kills her teammates!!! Go to hell!!!!]
[World • Ji Shanshui: Dungeon scammer A Leaf Boat! Kills her own teammates! Scheming A Leaf Boat! No integrity A Leaf Boat!! Ptooey ptooey ptooey!!]
[World • Drizzle: Main guy, you’re back? Finished the dungeon?]
[World • Ji Shanshui: She got me killed!! She’s the type that takes money and does nothing! Promised to clear the dungeon but killed me instead!!]
[World • Melon Field Mistake: Is it possible, bro, that she can clear it even after you died?]
[World • Ji Shanshui: No way. I already did the math, at this point if one of us dies the other can’t finish the boss.]
[World • Just Watching Not Talking: Is it normal for you guys to do these calculations while running dungeons?]
[World • Ji Shanshui: A Leaf Boat's no good! And those teammates from this party! Young Master With Money and Yuchi Xi! They're no good either!]
[World • Ji Shanshui: Let me be the scapegoat for everyone; from now on, don't ever team up with them for dungeons. Otherwise, you'll be the next one bullied!]
[World • Melon Field Mistake: This plot is getting wild, two more main characters just appeared? Those ids look familiar.]
[World • I Have a Lot of Hair: Don’t know Yuchi Xi, but I know Young Master With Money—he’s decent.]
[World • Drizzle: Main guy, is that you in the drama thread? / share link]
Ji Shanshui clicked in and saw someone had posted an exposé on the game forum.
[Exposed! Backstabbing teammate wants the loot all to himself, who do you think you are?]
[Thread starter: A Leaf Boat
Content: Today was a sunny day. I was running a dungeon when I suddenly ended up on the World Channel front page. No time to argue, so I’ve conveniently compiled the facts. Player Ji Shanshui used a swap item at the start to switch places with me, escaped danger, then used teammates as meat shields, got another player killed, then sent me a Private Chat to buy a carry. I’m clearly in it for the money and accepted the job, performed everything exactly as asked. Attached are all relevant screenshots. Say I’m greedy if you want, but don’t say I have no integrity—a fair reputation is what counts.
[Images]]
The screenshots showed full party info, including the system’s announcement of Ji Shanshui using an item, messages after he got A-Xing killed, plus his Private Chat where he made the deal with A Leaf Boat—all clearly marked.
Ji Shanshui felt his blood pressure spike.
The thread instantly drew hordes of spectators.
2nd reply: "Let it go, just let it go. Even bosses can’t be this cocky, right?"
3rd: "Dude, what? Ji Shanshui started all this! A Leaf Boat just went with the flow, that's all."
5th: "Neither of them is that great, really. Final verdict."
9th: "The real victims here are the innocent teammates. Killed in the dungeon, no rewards, then Ji Shanshui drags them into this mess."
14th: "Yikes, so the one you really can't party with is Ji Shanshui, huh? After seeing this I’d never run a dungeon with him. Who knows if I’d get screwed next?"
15th: "+1 to the comment above."
The comments were relentless, stabbing Ji Shanshui in the heart, burning his eyes so badly he could hardly stand to keep reading.
The public opinion was about to swing.
At first, thanks to Ji Shanshui's instigation, players thought A Leaf Boat was in the wrong, but now most were taking a neutral view. To them, this was just villain versus villain, and Ji Shanshui had it coming. After all, if you start trouble, you asked for it.
Unwilling to accept it, Ji Shanshui replied in the thread.
Floor 38, Ji Shanshui: You wrote all that, made your excuses, but did you actually clear the dungeon? Did you do what you promised? Did we split the reward? In the end you’re just a scammer!
A Leaf Boat must have had nothing to do, because she replied instantly.
Floor 39, A Leaf Boat: In the process of clearing.
Ji Shanshui saw those words and was so furious he nearly spat blood.
Floor 42, Ji Shanshui: Quit showing off! You really expect me to believe you’re posting on the forum while fighting the boss? You have nothing better to do?!
He was convinced A Leaf Boat was bluffing.
Unbeknownst to him, after his death, A Leaf Boat—Jiang Ye—was basically an unbridled wild horse, instantly summoning her sea snake pet and two humanoid companions to join the boss fight.
She barely had to lift a finger.
If anything, she really was so relaxed that she could post on the forum mid-battle.
With so much free time, she couldn't stand watching Ji Shanshui badmouthing her on the World Channel, but what really bothered her was him dragging down A-Xing and Yuchi Xi. She simply changed to her usual forum alt, revealed herself, and posted the exposé.
Seeing her actions, A-Xing and Yuchi Xi grew concerned.
"Isn’t this a bit high profile?" A-Xing said in team chat.
"Boss, didn't you always want to keep your identity hidden?" Yuchi Xi asked.
"Just call me by my name," Jiang Ye said, slurping a garlic oyster and sipping coconut water as Fan Xiaoche, with his tanky HP bar, drew the boss, while He Xiaoshang, bald and wielding a stick like a monk’s wooden fish mallet, hammered away at the wolf boss’ head.
Thud, thud, thud.
The sound was deafening.
"A Leaf Boat?" Yuchi Xi tentatively tried out the name.
"Yep, that's me." Jiang Ye patted her hands after eating and drinking, let out a small burp, and sprang up to attack the boss again. Now with pets on her side, battle was much easier. While fighting, she even had energy for team chat: "Anyway, you can't hide forever."
"I used to want to avoid trouble, but now that it’s come looking for me, might as well make a splash and do a little advertising while I’m at it."
"Advertising?" Yuchi Xi was confused.
"Xiao Ye, you don’t actually think anyone will want to pay you to carry them after what you did to Ji Shanshui, right?" A-Xing guessed what Jiang Ye meant.
"It’s not just what I think," Jiang Ye dodged a wolf pounce, rolled on the ground, leapt up, and kicked the wolf in the jaw, "Someone actually did reach out to hire me."