[“That damned mainframe AI!”]

Moving Bricks, what does that mean?

Frog realized he’d agreed too quickly.

Free-Spirited Wanderer piped up, “Moving bricks? What kind of bricks? Need help?”  

“Just go in and move bricks,” Zhou Sui said.

The others, used to Zhou Sui’s concise way of speaking, didn’t question him. With their first-place record already on the leaderboard, this run was bound to go smoother than the last. Everyone got ready, eager to dive into the dungeon, but then Zhou Sui added, “Once we’re in, don’t trigger the mechanic yet.”

The team: “?”  

What? Aren’t they supposed to rush in?

In speedrun dungeons, the timer only starts when the mechanic is triggered. Without triggering it, the clock doesn’t run.  

As soon as the dungeon loaded, nobody moved. They watched Zhou Sui step ahead, heading straight for a corner of the Liuli Palace. The palace was filled with piles of treasures, with an open space in the center for players to maneuver, but the corners were stacked high with mountains of gold and silver. Zhou Sui was facing one of those glittering piles.

The palace’s ceiling was incredibly high, and the steep stacks of chests posed no challenge for Zhou Sui to climb.

The others wondered what he was up to. Then they saw him leap up the gold pile in a few steps, reaching the top.  

Wait—those are the bricks he meant?!

Little Bunny 123 followed his lead, watching as Zhou Sui nudged the gold, causing pieces to tumble to the ground.

“They’re movable,” Zhou Sui confirmed.  

Little Bunny 123, catching on, asked, “Need help?”  

Zhou Sui glanced down at the healer standing by the gold pile and nodded softly, “Mm, help me keep watch.”

The skills had a strong knockback effect. As he struck, he quickly carved out a hollow in the gold pile. Little Bunny 123, watching the trajectory of the scattering gold, intercepted it before it could reach the monkey in the center of the palace.

The scattered gold littered the floor, making it hard for the others below to move. They could only look up, completely clueless about Zhou Sui’s plan.  

Slack Bro and Rich Bro didn’t idle either, joining in to help stack the gold.

Soon, a concave clearing about three meters wide and tall was carved out in the gold pile.  

The others were baffled, but Little Bunny 123 carefully studied the setup. “Is the height enough?”

“It’s enough,” Zhou Sui replied, scanning the surroundings. He turned to Frog: “Memorize how this looks. When the gold bricks and chests fall, you’ll move them to specific spots.”

Frog let out a stunned, “Me?”  

Zhou Sui: “You’ve got the most mobility.”

Frog, the fastest in the group with the most movement skills, went silent. What’s that supposed to mean?!

With the space cleared, Zhou Sui didn’t waste time. He was about to head out but paused to tell Little Bunny 123, “I’ll focus on the boss. You handle the rest.”  

With that, he turned and started the fight.

The other players remembered their roles. As Zhou Sui engaged the boss, the ranged players grouped up near Little Bunny 123, while the two melee players stuck close to the boss for DPS.

This time, Little Bunny 123 was more vocal. Unlike the first run where he barely spoke or directed, the healer used the team’s marking system to place several points on the palace’s minimap. He instructed Rich Bro, the beastmaster: “Place your four pets at these spots. Summon them there every time.”

Rich Bro immediately positioned his pets at the marked locations without hesitation, not wasting a second or worrying about whether the healer could keep up with the pets’ support from that distance.  

With four pets and six players, the scene got crowded.  

Once Rich Bro’s pets were in place, Zhou Sui sprang into action. His eyes flicked to the marked points on the map. As the boss prepared to move, he swiftly positioned himself to its left. The monkey boss was a mobile, mechanic-driven monster, and its landing point was usually unpredictable. Zhou Sui’s sidestep made the boss jump in the opposite direction, just as planned.

Slack Bro and Frog, who had been following Zhou Sui’s movements, froze—what’s going on? The strategy had changed.

After the boss finished jumping, it resumed attacking, and Zhou Sui kept pursuing it.

As soon as the other three players caught up, the monkey’s movements subtly shifted, as if it were about to run again.
Before the monkey could act, Zhou Sui anticipated its move and changed direction right before the muscle shift that signaled a jump.

The intelligent monkey had already locked onto the players’ movements. Seeing them go right, it suddenly jumped left.

Before the others could react, the monkey leapt directly onto the gold mountain—the exact pile they had hollowed out in advance. This was what Zhou Sui had been waiting for. The monkey had a gold-scattering skill that would only trigger if it touched gold. Once it did, it would stop jumping and begin that skill.

Zhou Sui immediately leapt up the gold mountain, and the weapon in his hand transformed into a short pestle.

The round-headed pestle had a heavy strike effect—when timed correctly, it would trigger the boss’s defensive reaction.

Zhou Sui swung the round head of the pestle at the monkey boss’s waist. At the moment of impact, the monkey reeled back in defense. That retreat, combined with the knockback effect of the heavy strike, forced the boss more than a meter backward—right to the edge of the hollowed-out pit! It stepped off balance!

Standing atop the gold mountain, the monkey slipped and fell into the pit, dislodging some gold as it went.

Zhou Sui’s gaze sharpened: “Assassin—move the bricks!”

Frog snapped to attention, used a movement skill to dash to a pile of gold, and lifted a gold chest to rebuild the wall.

Since the pit had been reinforced with gold chests earlier, stacking things now was easy—especially with those massive gold bricks.

As soon as the gap opened by the boss was sealed, the boss reached out, trying to dig through the gold again, but Zhou Sui’s pestle was off cooldown. He delivered another heavy blow, knocking the boss deeper into the pit.

“Ranged, switch positions for output. Don’t mess up the pet placements,” Zhou Sui instructed concisely.

Only then did the ranged players notice: right behind their starting positions was the gold mountain. From that high ground, they had a clear view and could easily hit the monkey boss trapped inside.

The boss had a contrarian AI—it always moved opposite to where players were. That’s why Cycle of Eternity and Little Bunny 123 had everyone pre-positioned, spaced widely apart. The smarter the boss, the more it would try to find an “optimal” jump location. The more scattered the players, the fewer options it had, making its landing spot easier to predict.

Cycle of Eternity was using that logic, paired with his own reverse movements as the aggro holder.

As long as the boss jumped onto the gold mountain even once, their pre-dug trap would come into play.

“You can actually do that?!” Free-Spirited Wanderer said in surprise.

Just then, the monkey trapped in the pile of gold and silver began to struggle, and the teammates, initially delighted, suddenly realized—wait, the boss can still jump out!

Three meters wasn’t really that high. The monkey’s head and shoulders were already visible. There was no way they could completely trap it.

They’d seen this boss’s jumping power before—it could chase melee players around the entire arena. How could a pile of gold possibly hold it back?

“It won’t get out,” Little Bunny 123 said calmly, not even blinking as he dropped a damage-boosting potion pool at Cycle of Eternity’s feet.

The others froze. Just as the boss prepared to jump, the gold and silver beneath its feet seemed to trip it slightly, slowing its motion. At this moment, Cycle of Eternity—still on the pile—moved again. As the boss began to jump, he slammed it with another heavy pestle strike, knocking it back into the pit.

“It can be done! The monkey’s feet are getting tangled in the gold!” Rich Bro’s eyes lit up. “Its jump speed’s slower now!”

Zhou Sui didn’t have many control skills. Interrupting the boss once was hard enough—trying to chain stuns would quickly exhaust his cooldowns.

Plus, the boss wasn’t stationary. Getting teammates to coordinate a control chain was too risky. If they wanted to shorten the boss kill time, time efficiency was key. And there was no better way to improve team DPS than to slow the boss’s actions.

If they wanted to pull this off, Zhou Sui couldn’t do it alone.
First, they needed favorable terrain—like the palace’s mountains of gold and silver. Second, they had to ensure there were enough obstacles around the boss to slow its movements.

The boss moved by jumping, and jumping always involved leg muscle contractions, making it possible to precisely time the jump and judge the height and distance.
As long as there were enough obstacles to slow its takeoff and limit its jumping direction, Zhou Sui could make sure to pound it back down with a single blow.

Inside the spacious Liuli Palace, there were many obstacles. The boss moved quickly, and players had a hard time keeping up.
In the past, top players tried to use control chains to limit the monkey’s movement. While they could control it, the time investment made it inefficient and not worthwhile.

But no one had thought about this—if the mountains of gold and silver restricted player movement, they also restricted the hyperactive monkey boss.
You could actually use them like this?

The monkey boss seemed to notice the players’ strategy and began using its gold-scattering skill more often, flinging gold everywhere.

“Don’t stop moving bricks,” Zhou Sui said coldly.

Frog was startled by the command. When he looked up, he saw the monkey boss was still flinging things everywhere, even knocking down what he had just stacked up!

Damn it, he hasn’t even been outputting for thirty seconds yet!

Meanwhile, the monkey’s minions had been summoned. Slack Bro quickly led them on a run when Little Bunny 123 reminded him.

Frog had just managed to pile some gold bricks up, but the enraged boss swept them away again. “Come on, doesn’t this feel like a huge waste of my DPS?”
He was supposed to be a major DPS role! His smooth mechanics were being wasted on hauling bricks?

“I could do it instead,” Slack Bro offered. “How about you kite the mobs?”

‘Kite mobs, my ass! Do they even know how painful it is to take hits from that monkey swarm?’

He didn’t have a swordsman’s tanky build—what was he supposed to use to tank them?

Frog glanced around at everyone and realized—he was the only one who could do this job.

How does this happen? Isn’t he here to DPS?

Little Bunny 123 was locked onto Cycle of Eternity, healing him with precise buff pools. The team’s class composition happened to be well-matched. Close to him were a Beastmaster and a Daoist—both magic-based classes who benefited from magic buffs.
Cycle of Eternity’s weapon-type build leaned toward physical, and Slack Bro was also a physical-DPS class, needing physical-based enhancements.

smqw555888 was a magic-assassin. In the previous run when they focused on DPS, Little Bunny 123 had to buff the whole team individually, including smqw555888.
But now it was different—smqw555888 had been assigned to brick-moving, so the buff chaining became much smoother.

Zhou Sui noticed his damage suddenly spike. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a 15% full-stack physical damage buff appear under his status bar. He was slightly surprised—this was the first time he had felt the full effect of their buff synergy since working with Little Bunny 123. And it was exactly the kind of speed and physical buff he’d wanted.

The difference between an apothecary and a healer lay in their buffing capabilities. Some buff skills weren’t fixed in their effect.
One layer gave 3% extra damage, two layers gave 6%… and up to full stack. Even with the whole team’s HP constantly fluctuating, the apothecary managed to maintain full-stack buffs.

“Our damage is ramping up fast!” Rich Bro noticed his pet’s damage rising. “Looks like our time’s better this round.”

Frog looked over at the damage chart and froze when he saw the output data. Cycle of Eternity’s percentage was still far ahead—but that wasn’t the point. The point was the actual numbers!
Because their damage-per-second average had changed. During the first Liuli Palace run, their average DPS was around 8000. But now, it had shot up to 9000 and was still climbing!

What did this mean? It meant they were clearing faster than last time, and everyone’s damage and hit rate had improved.
Same conditions, only one variable: he started moving bricks this round.

And somehow, the rest of the DPS had made up for his missing output!?? That was insane!

While Frog was spacing out, the boss suddenly swayed and nearly leapt out of the trap.
Cycle of Eternity reacted instantly, spending an extra skill to block the boss again. His eyes swept coldly toward Frog. “You were slow.”

Frog jolted to attention. “I’m hauling now!”

Zhou Sui followed with another jab: “You weren’t this slow when you were DPSing.”

Cycle of Eternity rarely spoke during the dungeon, so when he did, everyone turned to look at Frog.

“What’s going on, man? You were slow?”
“Shouldn’t hauling bricks be faster than outputting?”

Frog: “?”

Damn it! Time to show them how fast he could haul bricks!

Just then, Rich Bro narrowed his eyes, controlling his pet while watching. “Why does this sound familiar…?”
“Does it?” Little Bunny 123 replied calmly, expression unchanged. “He’s just stating the facts.”

Frog didn’t hear the quiet chatter on comms. He went all out, darting around the boss so fast he was practically a shadow. It was as if moving any slower would insult his abilities.
He rapidly stacked the surrounding obstacles and shot a confident look toward Cycle of Eternity. “Boss, fast enough for you?”

Zhou Sui didn’t even look sideways. “It’s fine.”

Frog felt like he was about to sweat through his armor. “…I’ll go again!”

Everyone else: “?”

‘Bro, you’re working way too hard!’

They were just thinking this when they glanced at the damage chart—and froze.
Cycle of Eternity’s output was still far ahead. They were confident in their own hit rates, but no one came close to his insane 99% accuracy. Is this man seriously controlling the boss while also putting out that kind of damage?

Seeing that, everyone fell silent—even Rich Bro quietly summoned five pets.

Time ticked down second by second in silence, while everyone’s numbers kept climbing. Frog’s brick-hauling saved Zhou Sui time on controlling the boss, and all the time saved was poured entirely into output. Every single skill and damage combo seemed to flow as muscle memory—damage stacking, armor breaking, combos, precision hits—he locked onto the boss’s waist, each blow landing with pinpoint accuracy on the same spot.

Little Bunny 123’s gaze fell on the damage chart. He saw the DPS stat steadily climbing from 9264…
It jumped to 9876… creeping closer and closer to 10,000.
Without realizing it, his eyes landed on the man standing at the top, filled with unmistakable understanding and admiration.

The percentage above the boss’s head began dropping faster and faster. Everyone in the team stopped looking at the scoreboard entirely, fully focused on their own skill rotations.
Suddenly, the boss—trapped near the mountain of gold—let out a final shriek. A heavenly chime echoed from above, and the next second, a notification flashed across their screens:

[Server-wide Announcement]
Players Cycle of Eternity, Little Bunny 123, Mortal World’s Noble Grass, Slack Bro, Free-Spirited Wanderer, and smqw555888 have stormed the Liuli Palace, slain the Liuli Monkey, and returned all the Liuli Palace’s treasures.
They completed [Liuli Palace] in 28:44:12, setting a new all-time record!

When the announcement popped up, everyone in the dungeon went still.
So did everyone in the world channel.

[World] Flying Flying Flying Flying: Holy crap, all-time highest record!
[World] Passerby B: ??? Back-to-back runs?? Didn’t they just top the leaderboards?

The world chat exploded. This run had beaten the previous best by 30 full seconds, and in one of the most RNG-heavy dungeons, Liuli Palace.

The leaderboard hadn’t been updated in over a month, and the moment it did, players started posting the new record all over the forums.
Dozens began shouting in world chat, asking if Cycle of Eternity’s team needed DPS.
Back in the dungeon, the players were still dazed—especially Frog, who had already received who-knows-how-many messages from his studio’s underlings. He collapsed to the ground, exhausted, staring at the record in a daze.

Did they actually pull it off? This strategy… actually worked?

As the boss of a boosting studio, Frog had cleared countless records—but never the all-time highest.
Even if he spent the entire run hauling bricks, this was still the top record!

Zhou Sui, meanwhile, didn’t even glance at the server-wide message. He turned toward Little Bunny 123, who was now showing him his inventory panel—right at the top, it displayed a drop: [Mysterious Letter].

[Mysterious Letter: A strange letter found on the Liuli Monkey’s body. It seems to come from the distant East.]

It dropped. The ticket to Mirror Maze Town.
Just like Little Bunny 123 said.

At this moment, Little Bunny 123 initiated a trade with Zhou Sui.
Zhou Sui paused, opened it, and saw the mysterious letter sitting in the trade window.

“Take it. This is just an alt for me. It’s useless to me,” Little Bunny 123 explained.
Zhou had no choice but to accept it.
Only after holding it did he notice a perforated line on the letter’s edge—it hadn’t been opened yet.
“Should I open it?”

The two newcomers in the party finally caught on—wait, the pros are here for a drop?? Is there some special event??

Free-Spirited Wanderer was totally fine with it. “You guys still need more people?”

Frog had no time to respond to his underlings. Hearing that, he closed every single message—now he knew just how strong Cycle of Eternity’s team was.
No way was he missing this ride.
“Take me! I can do anything!”

Cling to the carry! Never leave the team!

There were plenty of people outside lining up to steal his spot!

Some were even more focused on the leaderboard than they were. Just as the record was updated, a new pop-up appeared in the team:

[A mysterious summoning from the East has arrived. Open it now?]

—-

Back at the Wonder Zoo guild, which was keeping a close watch on the leaderboard, someone was already certain the ticket had dropped.

[Server-wide Announcement]
Player Haba Dog, residing in the East of the Continent, has discovered a mysterious summons from the Mirror Maze Town and successfully summoned Cycle of Eternity.
Special game mode [Mirror Maze Town] now activated.
Challenge difficulty: ★★★★★★
Rank rating: S+

[From the East of the continent comes a legend. In a mysterious town, each villager worships the Divine Tree. The town holds special power to nourish the tree—but three years ago, it mysteriously vanished from the continent…]
[Now, you’ve found its entrance.]

[Due to high-level player Haba Dog initiating a summons to player Cycle of Eternity from server 3145, cross-server gameplay has been activated. The team holding the mysterious letter is invited to proceed to the Forest of the Mirror Maze Town.]

[Please note: this is a special challenge mode with both rewards and penalties. Good luck!]

[World] Hit the Jackpot: ??? Holy crap, it triggered a new event!
[World] Skateboarding Shrimp: A six-star event?! A low-level area just got a Mirror Maze Town Forest!
[World] Money Matters Most: Looks like a public event—damn, the pros just unlocked a global mode!

With the server-wide announcement out, the system also displayed a new message to Zhou Sui’s party.

[A mysterious letter has been detected in the player’s possession. Team members: 6/6. A player in the team holds challenge rights. Please proceed to the Forest of the Mirror Maze Town immediately.]
[Stage One (Forest of the Mirror Maze Town): The Mirror Maze Town only welcomes special guests. If you’re too late, you might not get in~ Please have both cross-region gifted teams clear the Forest before nightfall. (Time countdown: 04:59:34)]
[Current participating teams: High-level region (1478), Low-level region ([Newbie Server] 6667)]

—-

Zhou Sui paused as he looked at the mysterious letter, carefully rereading the full-server announcement. He saw that the number of teams entering the Forest of the Mirror Maze Town was climbing rapidly.
He confirmed he hadn’t misread: “…So many people have the mysterious letter?”

Rich Bro: “?”
Slack Bro: “Bro, is the number of teams really the issue here?!”

This wasn’t what they were told.
Weren’t they invited as the only team?

Zhou Sui looked at Little Bunny 123. “Did we… farm the wrong drop?”

Little Bunny 123, uncharacteristically silent for a long while, finally said, “The Wonder Zoo people… sometimes don’t think things through.”

—-

Meanwhile, in the high-level zone, the Wonder Zoo’s fully geared team stared at the sudden world message. Their excitement was instantly doused with a bucket of cold water.

What the hell?! Isn’t this supposed to be a closed challenge dungeon?

Why does the whole server know they’re entering a special instance now?!

Fierce Tiger 123: “That damned mainframe AI!”
Wonder Zoo Player: “Brother Tiger!! Calm down!”

Ragdoll Cat: “Boss, did your storyline simulation ever show this happening?”
Haba Dog fell silent. Seeing the number of teams on both sides, he muttered, “We reached inter-server linkage… Can Cycle of Eternity’s team… actually find us?”