In the mountain jungle with streams trickling, three figures suddenly appeared out of nowhere in the forest.
One of them was a young girl in sportswear, full of curiosity on her face. She was holding a silver-white pistol and wearing an incongruous steel helmet, looking just like a two-dimensional gunfight girl descended into reality.
Another was a slightly short middle-aged man. Although not tall, he wore a black cape and a gray hood, giving an overall image that felt both comical and ruthlessly strange.
The last one appeared much more normal compared to the other two. He was a tall and handsome young man with neat short hair, dressed in a silver-gray wolfskin armor, holding a silver-bright long sword already drawn, and began calmly and meticulously observing the surroundings as soon as he appeared.
[Dungeon Objective: Kill a nearby forest tiger (lv3).]
As soon as Wang Zhifan entered the dungeon, a translucent screen flashed before his eyes, informing him of the main task of this dungeon.
Seeing this, he immediately began to carefully and meticulously observe the surrounding situation and quickly determined that there was no hidden tiger within at least thirty meters of their current position, meaning their initial position was relatively safe.
While Wang Zhifan was observing the surroundings, the other two also reacted in turn.
The short, middle-aged man with the comical hooded cape quietly pulled his cape, wrapping his body and quickly merging into the darkness of the forest. If Wang Zhifan hadn't noticed him earlier, it would be difficult to tell that a person was standing at that spot now.
The sportswear girl with a silver-white pistol and a steel helmet was probably the most lively and excited of the three. After glancing back and forth between Wang Zhifan and the short middle-aged man several times, she was the first to speak:
"Hello, brother and uncle! I'm a beginner player doing a dungeon for the first time, hope I can..."
"Shh... keep your voice down."
Before the girl, probably a gunslinger, could finish her sentence, she was interrupted by the hooded middle-aged man hidden in the forest darkness. He reminded the self-proclaimed first-time player to lower her voice to avoid unexpected situations.
"Uh... sorry, that was my excitement talking."
The girl seemed to have a good personality. She immediately lowered her voice to apologize after being interrupted by the hooded middle-aged man. It was clear that she was indeed a first-time dungeon player, otherwise, she wouldn't have made such an obvious mistake, but fortunately, as far as the current situation was concerned, no serious consequences had occurred yet.
"Ahem... seeing as you two are young, I'm more than ten years older and have some dungeon experience, how about letting me be the team leader for this dungeon?"
The hooded middle-aged man coughed twice and lowered his voice toward the gunslinger girl and Wang Zhifan. He intended to leverage his experience to gain leadership in this dungeon.
"No problem! I agree!"
The gunslinger girl was the first to agree again, her excitement almost made her speak too loudly again.
However, Wang Zhifan was not as quick to agree. Although he wasn't someone who liked to be in the spotlight, if anyone wanted to lead him, they would need to earn his approval first.
"May I ask what level you are, uncle? How many dungeons have you cleared?"
Wang Zhifan then inquired of the man.
"I'm lv3, and this is my seventh dungeon."
The hooded middle-aged man hidden in the darkness immediately looked at Wang Zhifan and calmly replied.
As he spoke, he deliberately highlighted his player level above his head, which was indeed "lv3".
"Wow! Uncle, you're lv3, I'm only lv1!"
The gunslinger girl, probably seeing an lv3 player for the first time, showed signs of losing control of the volume she had just suppressed.
"Young man, what about you? Lv2?"
The hooded middle-aged man ignored the excited young girl and instead deliberately eyed Wang Zhifan.
"I'm just a beginner, lv1."
Seeing this, Wang Zhifan immediately shook his head. In this dungeon, it was very unwise to lie about one's strength to teammates, which could easily lead to some severe consequences.
"Oh... then just listen to me from now on."
The short middle-aged man with a hooded cape immediately responded to Wang Zhifan.
Although he was merged into the forest darkness and his facial expressions were hard to discern, Wang Zhifan always had the feeling that this guy had been staring at him, seemingly showing some interest.
"Little girl, your profession is gunslinger, right? How many bullets did you bring? Is your shooting skill lv2?"
The hooded middle-aged man then turned his head towards the steel-helmeted sportswear girl, starting to confirm some basic information.
"Yes, uncle, I'm a gunslinger. I have twelve bullets in total, and my shooting skill is lv1."
The girl apparently trusted this high-level teammate, answering truthfully right away.
"Young man, what about you? Are you a melee fighter?"
The hooded man then turned and asked Wang Zhifan.
"Yeah, I use a sword."
Wang Zhifan nodded but then asked the middle-aged man:
"Uncle, what about you? Are you an Assassin?"
Based on this middle-aged man's style and his previously demonstrated stealth abilities, Wang Zhifan naturally made this assumption.
But the middle-aged player acted as if he hadn't heard Wang Zhifan's question, giving no response, instead starting to mutter to himself in a slightly puzzled tone.
"It's a bit strange... The strength of the teammates this time is a bit weak, is the dungeon making it harder for me?"
The hooded middle-aged man didn't answer his question. Wang Zhifan didn't pursue further, but the man's arrogant attitude made him feel somewhat displeased.
Considering that currently they are all teammates, tied together by a shared fate, and due to the dungeon's penalty mechanism, it was basically impossible for them to become enemies. Wang Zhifan decided to be more low-key and pragmatic, thinking it wise to secure their passage through the dungeon by relying on the experienced player.
"Alright, based on our current combat power, I make the following arrangements."
"Little girl, you quickly hide in that bush over there and get ready to shoot the tiger at any moment."
"Young man, you stay in this area, stay alert, and prepare to confront it head-on."
"I'll find that tiger and lure it over. Young man, you draw its attention face-on, and little girl, take the chance to shoot it from the shadows. At the critical moment, I will strike and kill it."
The hooded middle-aged man pondered for a few seconds and then issued orders to the other two much like a commander.