Zongman, Rebirth of the Heaven-Defying Kirito

As we all know, if you see a cockroach, it means your home has been overrun by cockroaches.

And this statement... seems to apply to SAO as well.

Just then, the food that everyone had thrown on the ground suddenly started moving.

Countless tiny black figures emerged from beneath the bread crumbs, chocolate chunks, and maple syrup, their oily compound eyes staring at the crowd.

Everyone's eyes widened in surprise.

Before long, they gathered in dense clusters, like a black carpet, completely surrounding the fifteen-person team.

"Holy crap?!" One of the team members stared wide-eyed, his voice trembling. "How can there be so many cockroaches?!"

At a glance, there were at least seven or eight hundred cockroaches around. They moved slowly toward the group, their wings occasionally flapping and making a faint buzzing sound that sent chills down their spines.

Some people swallowed hard, and cold sweat poured down their backs.

"Boss... Boss! What should we do now?" A team member gripped his weapon tightly, his voice trembling with tears.

At this point, Patton himself was also panicking!

He's fine leading a team to fight monsters, but when it comes to dealing with hundreds of cockroaches... he has no experience at all!

Barton forced himself to calm down and quickly scanned his surroundings.

Finally, he pointed to a relatively open area not far away and said in a deep voice, "There's no other way. We need to find a way to break out! When I give the order, we'll all run that way!"

"Understood!" the team members responded in unison, but their bodies involuntarily shrank back.

Seeing this, Barton picked up a piece of cheese from the ground, threw it forcefully in the direction where the cockroaches were densely packed, and shouted, "Run!"

But after he shouted, he found that his teammates were all standing still and no one moved.

Faced with so many cockroaches, no one had the courage to be the first to rush out.

"What are you all standing there for! Run!" Patton shouted anxiously.

One of the team members, with a pained expression, whispered, "Boss, you make it sound so simple, but the first one to run is the first one to be attacked by cockroaches, isn't he?"

Patton understood instantly.

These guys don't not want to run, they just don't want to be the first to run.

He sighed and said, "Well, there's no other way at times like this. If I don't go to hell, who will? So it'll be me..."

Hearing this, everyone was deeply moved and tears welled up in their eyes.

Unexpectedly, in this moment of crisis, it was their captain who stepped forward to save everyone from disaster. He truly deserves to be called the boss by everyone!

But Barton continued, "Let our 'little shrew' step up and offer himself!"

Everyone was speechless for a while.

The clever little boy, who was moved to tears in the crowd, suddenly froze, pointed at himself tremblingly, and exclaimed, "Huh? Me?!"

Barton strode over, grabbed him from the crowd, and said matter-of-factly, "If it wasn't you, who else could it be? You know, if it weren't for you, why would we be eating the food on the ground!"

Everyone thought it made perfect sense!

The team members then chimed in:

"Yeah! If you hadn't been so nosy, we would have finished grinding and leveling up by now!"

"People always have to pay the price for their actions! Just make a sacrifice!"

"It's up to you!"

The clever boy tried to argue, "No...we're comrades! How could you possibly sacrifice your comrades?"

In reality, they might feel depressed, but in SAO... sorry, hesitating for even a second is disrespectful to yourself!

Everyone nodded in unison: "Of course we can do it. After all, sacrificing one of you to ensure everyone's safety is a great deal!"

The clever little guy was completely speechless.

Then, Patton lifted the little smarty up high.

"Boss! What are you doing! Don't you care about brotherhood anymore?" The clever little guy struggled desperately in the air.

"There's no point in saying more, just grit your teeth and bear it!" After saying that, Barton used his arm to throw the young player into the swarm of cockroaches.

"what--!"

A piercing scream rang out, and as soon as the young team member landed, swarms of cockroaches rushed towards him like a tidal wave, instantly engulfing him.

His body was seen struggling amidst the swarm of cockroaches. First, his hands and feet were covered, then his body, and finally only one hand remained, raised high as if trying to grab something, but it was quickly overwhelmed by the cockroaches.

Taking advantage of the cockroach swarm being distracted by the young team members, a gap appeared in the previously dense encirclement.

"Now!" Patton shouted, and charged ahead towards the open area.

Seeing this, the team members didn't have time to sympathize with the younger players. They all followed behind Barton, running forward as fast as they could, afraid of being left behind.

Even though most cockroaches were attracted, quite a few still noticed their movements and chased after them.

Patton ran in the lead, crushing several cockroaches with each step, but soon they would swarm up at an even faster pace.

He could clearly hear the panicked shouts of his teammates, the sound of them falling to the ground, and the buzzing of cockroach wings behind him.

Clearly, someone else has been caught by cockroaches.

But Patton dared not turn back, nor could he turn back.

He knew that if he stopped, he would become cockroach food, just like the other team members.

And so, he led the remaining team members in a frantic run for a full fifteen minutes, until they could no longer hear the buzzing sound behind them, before daring to stop.

Patton turned around, panting, and looked at his teammates behind him.

The original team of fifteen has now dwindled to six, each of them pale-faced and their eyes filled with lingering fear.

Patton pounded his chest in fury: "Damn it! A mere cockroach has cost me ten brothers!"

After hearing this, someone timidly suggested, "Then... how about we fight our way back?"

Everyone looked at him as if he were an idiot.

Good grief, we just escaped death, and you want us to go back and die? Anyone who didn't know better would think the cockroaches were your brothers!

Barton coughed lightly, suppressing his emotions: "Let's not think about revenge anymore. After what happened today, I'm sure everyone is exhausted, both physically and mentally."

The remaining people nodded in agreement, indicating that they did not want to experience what had just happened again!

Being surrounded by hundreds of cockroaches—just thinking about it makes my scalp tingle and triggers my trypophobia!

Barton sighed, "That's all for today, let's log off and rest."

Everyone nodded and then went offline. Today's experience had truly left them physically and mentally exhausted.

Suddenly someone spoke up: "Um... why didn't we log off when we were surrounded?"

Barton: "......"

Can he say that he forgot?

Surrounded by such a large swarm of cockroaches, fear took over the main part of my mind, and no one could have imagined that I could go online under such circumstances.

Clearly, the twenty-fifth floor had become a shadow in their hearts.

Presumably, they won't be coming here to grind monsters and level up for some time to come.