Chapter 17 : Chapter 17
Chapter 17: Pushing the Stages, Getting Stuck
Chenxi glanced at the floor beside the bed, where Hongxu was lying without any sense of dignity.
He lay down as well.
Did she really not realize how… alluring she looked?
Right now she was only wearing a pair of shorts and one of his short-sleeved shirts.
That was it.
Yes.
Apart from those two pieces of clothing, she wore nothing else.
Deep breath. Deep breath.
After forcibly calming himself down, Chenxi closed his eyes.
It was time.
Time to continue challenging the stages.
With the bonuses from two purple pieces of equipment, perhaps the fifth stage truly had a chance!
Once he cleared it, the leveling function would unlock, and his strength would undergo a qualitative leap.
It was honestly infuriating.
What kind of game locks the leveling function behind stages?
In every other game, leveling is available from the start. If even leveling is locked, what exactly am I supposed to play?
Calm down. Calm down.
He tapped 【Start Challenge】.
The familiar visual style unfolded.
Hongxu stood in front of him, wearing red armor on her upper body. Her lower half was clad in white plate armor, and her helmet was also white.
…Hmm.
It looked rather strange.
Strange or not, the stat increase was undeniably real.
Enemy Goblin A attacks: 【Club Swing】
-11
With the help of the Red Wolf Knight’s Breastplate, although Hongxu’s health bar still dropped, at least it no longer lost a quarter of its length in a single hit like before.
Did he think he had never challenged it before?
The little avatar representing Chenxi raised the gun in its hands.
Bang!
-322
The front-line Slime was instantly killed.
Then the monsters launched their round of attacks.
Hongxu endured them with relative ease.
After the round ended, her health bar still remained fairly high.
Chenxi basically killed one enemy with every shot.
It should be noted that special bullets like the gold ones could only be used in reality.
Inside the game, firearms were simply stat bonuses.
Stage Three cleared.
The probability of green equipment appearing increased.
The probability of attribute points appearing increased.
Continue!
Stage Four.
Continue!
By Stage Four, the pressure became noticeably heavier.
The monsters drained Hongxu’s health much faster, and Chenxi’s attacks no longer hit as hard.
He could no longer kill enemies in a single shot.
Chenxi’s mouth twitched.
What kind of idle game has such ridiculous stage scaling?
Other idle games have tens of thousands of stages, even hundreds of thousands.
And yours has fewer than a hundred?
Although it was difficult, he still managed to push through.
When the stage was cleared, Hongxu had less than one-fifth of her health remaining.
“Hm?”
Did something drop?
【Equipment: Refined Steel Bracer】
Defense +3
Strength +1
Quality: Green
Chenxi immediately equipped the bracer onto Hongxu’s game avatar.
One point of Strength was already quite good.
Nice.
Very nice.
The screen changed.
The battlefield seemed to be the entrance of a narrow mine tunnel.
Enemy formation appeared:
Front line — two shield-bearing Skeleton Warriors.
Middle line — two crossbow Skeleton Archers.
Back line — two Skeleton Mages.
One mage wore a blue robe.
The other wore a red robe.
Ice and fire?
This might actually be impossible to beat…
Six enemies.
A tank line, ranged attackers, and mages.
The coordination would be troublesome.
The key question was whether Hongxu could withstand the concentrated attacks and whether Chenxi could quickly eliminate the mages.
Battle begins.
Enemy Skeleton Warrior A attacks:
Shield Bash on Hongxu.
-24
That damage was not low.
Hongxu’s game avatar triggered a counterattack and swung her axe.
Blocked!
-0
The smile on Chenxi’s face froze instantly.
Wait—what?
Hongxu’s massive axe was deflected by the shield.
You can do that?
You can block?!
Seeing the counterattack had made him hopeful.
And then the enemy blocked.
Children.
The sky had fallen.
Enemy Skeleton Warrior B attacks.
Another shield bash on Hongxu.
-18
The damage itself was not outrageous.
But for a tank monster to deal that much damage—
That was abnormal.
Next, the enemy Frost Mage attacked Hongxu.
A flash of cold light.
-79 (Slow)!
Ice crystals appeared above Hongxu’s head along with the slow status icon.
Her health dropped to about two-thirds.
What kind of damage is that?
And it applies a debuff too?!
Chenxi’s turn.
He immediately targeted the Frost Mage.
Crowd control had to be eliminated first.
It dealt terrifying damage and inflicted debuffs.
The scope opened.
Silent Hunt triggered.
A brief stealth icon appeared.
Gunshot.
Critical Hit!
-98!
The Frost Mage’s skeleton shattered as it collapsed.
One headshot.
Instant kill.
What more needed to be said?
The critical strike saved the situation.
Good.
There was still hope.
Enemy Fire Mage attacks.
Still targeting Hongxu.
Chenxi’s mouth curled upward.
Typical AI behavior.
A fireball flew forward.
-331!
Hongxu’s health bar instantly dropped to a sliver.
His smile froze again.
Can we negotiate?
A Skeleton Archer drew its bow.
A targeting icon appeared above Hongxu.
【Locked】
What are you doing?
-177!
Hongxu’s massive pixel figure wavered and collapsed.
AI Teammate Defeated.
After Hongxu’s death, all enemy aggro naturally shifted toward Chenxi.
The familiar icon appeared again.
【Locked】
What?!
You can still perform normal attacks after using a skill?
Isn’t that cheating?!
That’s not how this should work.
You hit me once, I hit you once.
You use a skill, I use a skill.
Wouldn’t that be fair?
That’s how idle games are supposed to work!
-341!
His health bar vanished instantly.
His AI avatar died.
The familiar red defeat screen appeared once again.
“…”
Chenxi had nothing to say.
…
“Tsk.”
Chenxi exited the battle screen and rubbed his temples.
He had failed.
The problem was obvious.
Hongxu could not withstand the first round of concentrated attacks, especially the damage from the two mages.
Even though Chenxi instantly killed the Frost Mage, the Fire Mage’s burst damage was simply too lethal.
Once Hongxu fell, his own glass-cannon character was instantly erased under the focus fire of five enemies.
No.
Actually, if any enemy in the back line even touched him, he would die immediately.
Try again.
Try again!
Several minutes later, Chenxi opened his eyes.
Forget it.
After two more attempts, the result was the same.
Once he gambled on killing the Frost Mage first and hoped the Fire Mage would not crit.
The Fire Mage still dealt massive damage, and the Skeleton Archer finished Hongxu off.
She still could not survive two rounds.
Then he tried killing the Fire Mage first.
This time Hongxu barely survived the first round.
But the Frost Mage immediately entered phase two.
Freeze.
Self-speed boost.
Hongxu could not move.
Then it slowed Chenxi as well.
His turn dropped to the end of the round.
And at that moment—
The enemies suddenly remembered they could attack him.
Apparently the AI had been underestimated.
Two arrows flew.
Thwip! Thwip!
Hongxu collapsed again.
Then the enemy front line—
Bang! Bang!
Chenxi collapsed as well.
He exited the game interface.
Helpless.
He truly could not win.
For now, the only option was to wait until he obtained a full set of green equipment before trying again.
Or hope for a mission that unlocked the teammate slot.
Or another mission that rewarded purple equipment.
Farm equipment.
Stack attributes.
That was the only path forward.
The leveling function was locked behind Stage Five.
It was an unavoidable wall.
Perhaps tomorrow the idle rewards would give seven or eight attribute points.
In just a few days, he might soar.
Overwhelming power would crush everything.
Chenxi caught himself daydreaming again—
Imagining his system suddenly boosting him like crazy.