Who Designed This Underworld Dungeon?
Chapter 56: Beating, Only Beating

Chapter 56: Chapter 56: Beating, Only Beating

The good news was that, under Leon’s Ghostly Dash, the Horror Dispelling Powder was delivered to his companions in time to remove their abnormal statuses.

The bad news is...

Since their condition after returning from the Dungeon was extremely abnormal, many had poked holes in their temporary excuse of not entering the Sain Dungeon. Their secret competitiveness had been exposed.

The reputation of the Strategy Group became somewhat delicate overnight.

This matter was neither too big nor too small.

At most, it shattered the myth surrounding the Strategy Group. It seemed that even the mighty Strategy Group could be broken by the Dungeon. "Hehe, looks like I’m not much different from them; we’re all losers who die inside."

Some who blindly idolized them also had their illusions shattered, casting strange glances at Leon.

He was on his way home to get money, and when passing by the adventurer’s guild, he encountered some people whose gazes told him everything.

Good news takes a long time to ferment before people hear of it, but bad news spreads like wildfire in less than an hour.

It wasn’t a big deal to be secretly competitive, but showing off in front of everyone, packaging yourself as a one-try conqueror of the Dungeon, that did some damage to your reputation.

Far from being morally corrupt, but for Leon, it was undoubtedly a devastating blow.

He had three major hobbies in life: showing off, acting cool, and playing the saint in public.

(Aren’t these all the same thing?!)

Due to childhood trauma among other reasons, he became someone craving attention, hoping to receive cheers wherever he went, like a star.

So he diligently practiced his swordsmanship and earnestly studied adventurer knowledge, making a name for himself through numerous adventures, becoming an experienced Silver Rank adventurer.

He earned his fame through sweat; a motivational story, but he had a flaw—he loved to boast, and the more he boasted, the bigger the tales.

The most typical was bragging about solo-clearing the Dungeon when in actuality, he was secretly practicing.

Once the lie was punctured, the other members of the Strategy Group weren’t too bothered, but for Leon, it was as if the sky had fallen.

"Boss, the money..."

Leon walked into the Madar Magic Tool Store with a faltering gait, absentmindedly placing a bag of coins on the counter, even forgetting to take back the change before turning to leave.

A hand held his shoulder, a voice from behind said, "Since you’re here, take a seat."

He was almost helplessly pressed into a chair, staring blankly ahead with a distracted look.

The Lion Ape’s mechanism is pretty terrifying, traumatizing the kid into stupidity, Gong Qiying mused.

Ever since his magic tool store opened, most customers were average, buying trivial trinkets.

He didn’t want to sell his treasures to those customers who obviously lacked potential, firstly because even if they bought them, there wouldn’t be much promotional effect, and secondly, they were not Yuan people with money.

He didn’t expect his shop to boom; it was more like a medium to stay connected with the outside world, and also served as a promotional channel.

He found recently that interacting with people alleviated his mental state.

From the memories of the Animated Corpse Gedwin, he knew that many Dungeon Lords had been driven mad by solitude, including himself who had become demented and nearly died in the prolonged loneliness.

Aside from natural tendencies, most intelligent creatures need social interaction.

Interacting with others is like leaving anchors in the world; these anchors stabilize their spirits. This was the finding of a certain school of thought, which Gong Qiying agreed with.

These days, apart from repairing the Dungeon in real-time, he spent most of his time at the Bed City Public Library, greedily absorbing knowledge of this world like a Gluttonous Demon Dragon.

He kept his interactions with people to a minimum, just enough not to get too involved; at most, he haggled with customers when he felt lonely.

He realized that the real use of his body was to understand the outside world and to interact with a few promising individuals, not to make a spectacle, roaming and showing off everywhere.

Today, Leon had stumbled into Gong Qiying’s shop by accident, which took him by surprise.

It was a coincidence that met the books, as he was the only one who had the Horror Dispelling Powder, probably the only cure for the Horror State—probably because magic in this world might also heal it.

Since he was here, Gong Qiying decided to give some guidance to the lost sheep.

"What’s bothering you, is it love?" Gong Qiying placed a cup of hot tea in front of Leon.

The other party dumbly shook his head.

"Money?"

Leon continued to shake his head.

"Illness?"

Leon still shook his head.

"Career?"

Leon still... no, he didn’t shake his head but instead looked at Gong Qiying with surprise, as if to say, how did you know!?

"..."

Gong Qiying almost couldn’t maintain his smile, damn how would I know? I’ve asked all the fortune-telling topics, if I couldn’t ask it out, it would be a wonder.

Leon thought Gong Qiying was a stranger who didn’t recognize "Lion" Leon, so he was somewhat relaxed in his presence and managed to engage in a conversation.

In reality, if his mind wasn’t really in turmoil, plus just recovering from a negative state and not being fully clear-headed, he would never chat with a stranger.

To put it simply, Leon was very susceptible to being swayed at the moment.

He finally spoke up haltingly:

"Boss, it seems like I’ve done something wrong,"

Gong Qiying turned to face him, like a true listener.

"As a child, my mother passed away early, my sister always bullied me, and my father ignored me—I had no playmates in my childhood..."

He practically started his tale from the beginning of creation, sharing all his childhood experiences.

"That’s why I wanted to stand out. I wanted to be noticed; I wanted..."

He lowered his head, as if confiding and talking to himself, "But I messed it up..."

Was being caught bluffing all it took to get him like this? Gong Qiying looked at him with pity, thinking that the psychological resilience of people from another world was quite lacking, nowhere near as thick-skinned as the people from the internet era.

"Do you think that in this matter, you were wrong?" Gong Qiying asked softly.

Leon hesitated and said, "I suppose it’s my..."

"No ’suppose’ about it, it is your fault!"

The sudden loud statement stunned Leon for a moment.

He lowered his head again, expecting to hear some words of reprimand for his boasting, but—

Gong Qiying was not that kind of person.

He spoke with varying emphasis:

"If your strength could smash everything, if you could blast those who doubt you into mush, who would still think you’re just bragging?"

"In the end, what you lack is this,"

He pointed to Leon’s hands.

"...My hands?"

"It’s Pawa—strength!"

Gong Qiying pointed to his temples and said, "Use your head and think, friend, really think,"

"The root cause of everything now is your lack of strength. If you had enough power, even if the King scorned you, you could—"

"Could do what?" Leon pressed.

"Beat him up," Gong Qiying slammed the counter suddenly.

Leon was completely taken aback by this outrageous suggestion.

"Beat up the King? Then I would be taken down by the guards..."

"Then beat up the guards,"

"Huh?"

"If the King doesn’t accept it, keep beating him. If the Ministers don’t accept it, keep beating them. If the guards don’t accept it, beat them too."

"Only by constantly fighting, by making them submit to your strength, will you become a real star. Everyone will love you, respect you, fear you,"

Leon appeared stunned by this speech and actually showed a look of longing, even if just a little.

Looking at Leon’s expression, Gong Qiying slowly said, "If your father doesn’t accept it..."

Leon subconsciously said, "Then beat him up,"

He finished speaking and quickly covered his mouth, astonished at why he would say such a thing.

Gong Qiying was very pleased and continued, "If your sister doesn’t accept it..."

"Beat her up!" Leon blurted out.

"If the adventurers—"

"Beat them up!"

"That’s great, you’ve even learned to jump in with answers,"

Gong Qiying patted his shoulder, contentedly saying, "So, it all comes down to training your strength, young man,"

Leon now treated Gong Qiying as a master who resolved doubts and asked, "Please tell me, boss, where should I go to train my strength?"

"You finally asked this,"

He took out three envelopes and laid them in front of Leon, saying, "The path to redemption lies within. Ten Gold Coins each—take your chance,"

Leon looked down and saw the writing on the envelopes:

[Information about the Bonfire]

[Information about the Flaming Straight Sword and "Cancellation"]

[Information about the Lion Ape]