MMORPG: Crowd Control

Before Jessica could act as a drama queen and plop to the sand, Lei Zhen kindly gave her a warning.

"The sand right now is probably at least 100-something Fahrenheit. So by all means, if you want to be cooked alive, then you can lay on the sand." Lei Zhen said calmly.

"Can't you be more gentle to a woman?" Jessica twitched her brows when she heard the cold-hearted Lei Zhen's words.

"Aren't I being gentle to you by warning you not to lay on the sand?" He replied in a confused tone. Sometimes, he really couldn't comprehend women's thoughts because they are just too unpredictable.

He was trying to warn her out of goodwill so that she wouldn't lie on the hot sand, but it seemed like his kind gesture was mistaken as teasing or taunting her.

Meanwhile, Candice merely patted Lei Zhen on the back to console him.

"Master, women are like that. Even in my clan, some high elves are unreasonable, but there was nothing the men could do to argue back. They could only accept their fate." She said softly.

Lei Zhen nodded his head.

"Next time, I'll just keep my mouth shut and not bother with their business." He said, unwilling to become a target again.

Sometime later, the group began to walk around to avoid the quicksand trap.

But little did they know, walking around doesn't help either since the quicksand trap seemed to be covering a wider range than they had initially thought.

"Okay, walking around doesn't work, so there should be some sort of mechanism here for us to work with." Lei Zhen paused his footstep and gave up mindlessly walking around in a circle.

Typically, if a dungeon showed a dead-end to the players, then it means there are some other methods that the players needed to do to advance to the next stage.

It was just that the method constantly changed in Magnolia, making it quite difficult for the players to grasp a dungeon fully to farm for loot.

Some of the basic stuff remained unchanged, but the middle and end stages would always rotate in terms of the clearing condition.

Of course, it was an exception in the hell mode difficulty since the level was so extreme that not many could clear the dungeon again even if they had done so already.

"Hmm, does it mean that we are supposed to jump into the quicksand?" Jessica suddenly asked.

"I mean like, only those quicksand are a pain for us whereas the rest of the area is just hot sand. So isn't the quicksand our only clue right now?"

Lei Zhen rubbed his chin, seemingly in deep thought after hearing Jessica's suggestion.

"Hmm, that might work." He nodded his head and said calmly.

"Then as a gentleman, there's a saying that ladies first. So please, Jessica, may you kindly jump into the quicksand and showcase your prowess."

"No no no, how can we still say ladies first in such a day and age. We are in a modernized era where genders are equal. You should jump in first, Zhen."

"But this brilliant idea was suggested by you, so how could I dare take the credit for your hard work?" Lei Zhen feigned innocence and continued to urge Jessica to be the bigger person to demonstrate the solution.

Jessica showed a panicked expression as she glanced at her friend, Bella for help, and then at Candice.

Alas, Candice remained silent and didn't have any intention of butting into the conversation.

As for Bella, she closed her eyes to avoid the stare of Jessica.

"I-I…" Jessica felt her eyes become watery as she turned around to glance at the menacing quicksand.

From her mind, there was a mental image created in which a monster was formed using the quicksand as it smirked evilly at her, seemingly echoing for her to jump in already.

She hurriedly shook her head to destroy the mental image she was forming and nervously took a step forward. Though it was just that one small step because she dared not take another step forward.

It was clear that she was thoroughly frightened by the sight of the quicksand, but with no one helping her out of the situation, she felt her legs turn into jelly.

Closing her eyes shut, Jessica bit her lips softly as she faced the inevitable fate.

And right when she was about to jump in and prepare to face certain death, Lei Zhen extended his hand and grabbed her back.

"Just a jump and you stall for so long. Wait in the back for my news." Lei Zhen swiftly said, pulling her back and jumping toward the quicksand in her stead.

Jessica couldn't even comprehend the situation until she felt her body caught by Bella, whose attention was focused on Lei Zhen.

Under their watchful eyes, Lei Zhen had fallen straight inside the quicksand.

"Huh? He really listened to my suggestions and trusted me?" Jessica opened her eyes slowly and witnessed the heroic moment of Lei Zhen taking the fall for her.

"And aren't you worried that my suggestion might be wrong and that it would have cost his life?" She then asked Candice, who was standing by the side.

Candice shrugged her shoulders and smiled slightly.

"My master is not the risk taker and would always do things that he has a certainty of. Not to mention, he might sound cold, but he's not rude to people and wouldn't have let you jump in either way. Master was just teasing you." She said confidently.

To those words, Jessica didn't rebuke it at all since actions speak louder than words.

Just seeing Lei Zhen's figure disappear into the quicksand was enough for her to know his personality and behavior.

'If it were those three men previously, would they have really listened to my suggestion and jumped inside without hesitation?' Jessica began to wonder about the three men that she had originally teamed up with.

And thinking about their disgusting behavior and attitude, Jessica doubted they would even listen to her nonsensical suggestion and might betray her just like Lei Zhen had stated.