The milk tea car had barely driven inside when the scenery abruptly changed. All around them were eager cheers, the atmosphere so intense it felt like they had instantly arrived at a real stadium.
“Welcome to the Greenfeld Stadium, Nightmare Level.”
He Wuning glanced out the window. Just like the dungeon’s name, they had entered a stadium covered with lush green turf. The audience passage echoed with deafening cheers, but the stands themselves were a stark contrast—the scene there was so eerie that it was hard to tell whether the moving shapes were people or shadows.
The cheering crowd was nothing but black silhouettes—not living humans. In an animated work, it might have been like a shortcut to avoid drawing people, but seeing it in real life gave off a slightly terrifying feeling.
Before He Wuning could even get a proper look at the field, the milk tea car was attacked.
Bang! A black-and-white soccer ball slammed into the cart, bouncing off, rolling twice, and coming to a stop.
Q-chan hesitated while reporting: “Durability -1… but does this count as an attack here?”
He Wuning scanned the field. Even the players kicking the balls were black silhouettes, making it hard to tell whether the ball came at them on its own or was kicked by them.
Yi Luo counted the figures left and right, slightly puzzled. “Looks like everyone’s here… surely they don’t expect the two of us to act as referees?”
He Wuning slowly surveyed the scene, eyes cold. “There’s an even bigger problem—they each have a ball.”
Yi Luo looked at Q-chan. “Then search—on Blue Star, is there a sport where both sides have 11 players and each has their own ball?”
Q-chan was speechless. “You’re asking me, a non-Blue Star AI?”
Yi Luo shrugged. “The world is full of strange things. Maybe there’s some obscure Blue Star sport where 11 players run around with individual balls.”
Q-chan searched the database. “Hmm, at least among formal sports, there isn’t one.”
He Wuning lifted his knife and frowned thoughtfully. “Looks like they’re about to kick off.”
All the black silhouettes struck a kicking pose. He Wuning noticed a huge countdown above the field—3:00.
A whistle sounded. The countdown jumped to 2:59 and began rapidly decreasing.
Almost simultaneously, all the black silhouettes aimed at the milk tea car in the center of the field. They raised one leg high, then forcefully kicked their soccer balls. Black-and-white patterned balls rolled toward them at high speed.
Yi Luo, ever cautious, stomped on the gas and shot forward. Behind them, balls collided with a loud clatter, rolling everywhere.
Yi Luo raised an eyebrow. “Bad news.”
He Wuning replied, “There’s also good news.”
Yi Luo chuckled. “I just tried running into one of the shadow players—it went straight through them. Looks like they can’t attack.”
He Wuning nodded. “They can only attack again after retrieving their own ball.”
He added thoughtfully, “Three minutes isn’t too bad, either.”
The milk tea car narrowly turned, dodging a large cluster of incoming balls, but still took a few hits.
Q-chan dutifully reported: “Durability -3…”
He Wuning looked out again. “See that shadow player?”
“Where? Where?” Q-chan leaned against the window, looking out with him. “Ah! He has a ‘1’ above his head!”
Yi Luo looked at him with a complicated expression. “Indeed. If I’m not mistaken, he was one of the three shadow players who just kicked at us.”
“Mm,” He Wuning nodded. “Besides him, two other players also have a ‘1’ above their heads.”
He frowned. “Try to dodge as many as possible. I have a bad feeling something terrible will happen if we get hit.”
“Good things don’t usually happen anyway,” Yi Luo said, smoothly turning the wheel and weaving left and right across the green field. “Using soccer balls for dodgeball—impressive, guys!”
Without the milk tea car, the overwhelming ball attacks of this first stage would have been extremely difficult.
He Wuning seemed thoughtful, still uncertain how much damage these attacks could cause. For now, it seemed the three-minute window would allow them to pass without major harm, but he still frowned after glancing at the numbers above the shadow players’ heads.
The milk tea car was a bigger target. Even with its agile left-and-right dodging to protect the passengers inside, it was at a disadvantage when avoiding these attacks.
The last digit of the three-minute countdown finally hit zero. All the shadow players froze, as if quietly waiting for something. Then, their bodies gradually solidified—brown mud filled in the shadows’ shapes, forming humanoid figures.
These brown mud figures wore different numbered jerseys, with roughly drawn facial features in crayon-like strokes, red mouths and white teeth, giving off a slightly macabre vibe.
They no longer attempted to retrieve their balls, instead mechanically and uniformly turning toward the milk tea car at the edge of the field.
Q-chan swallowed nervously and carefully moved behind He Wuning. “W-why aren’t they kicking the balls anymore…?”
He Wuning remained expressionless. “Looks like they’re coming for us.”
Yi Luo laughed with glee. “Looks like the only ball on the field now is you.”
Q-chan reflexively protested: “Nonsense! There’s your head too!”
Yi Luo chuckled but didn’t retort. Q-chan belatedly realized this and stammered, “W-wait, I was just talking back… It… it can’t be real, right?”
He Wuning tilted his head. “I think it’s quite possible.”
Yi Luo raised an eyebrow. “Relax. Now that they have physical bodies, it means they can attack. Watch out for the ones with higher numbers…”
Before he finished, the player with a “7” above its head quickly charged. Yi Luo immediately drove the milk tea car forward and then slammed on the brakes, deliberately hitting the mud figure’s leg with the spiked rear of the cart.
A grating BANG! The milk-tea cart shook slightly, and He Wuning saw a small burst of smoke rise from the rear.
Yi Luo raised an eyebrow. “What kind of leg is that? And it explodes?”
He Wuning shot him a glance. “It had the highest number on the field, and only it runs the fastest.”
After a brief delay, the other mud players began chasing them.
Their speed was slower than the “7” figure, so their attack power was presumably weaker.
The most dangerous one was still the “7.”
From the earlier collision, its health had already dropped a bit. Even a small decrease in the health bar was a good thing.
The milk-tea cart stopped dodging and turned its front toward the chasing mud players.
“Q”
“Q.”
“I’m ready!” The milk tea car window cracked open. Q-chan leapt to the top of the cart, taking position to operate the rooftop electromagnetic cannon.
The glowing cannon fired with a BOOM, gouging a crater into the lush green field, but the mud players hit by the blast lost little health.
Yi Luo frowned. “Looks like the electromagnetic cannon isn’t their weakness.”
He Wuning casually said, “Probably the ground neutralizes electric attacks.”
He extended his long knife out the window. Yi Luo maneuvered the cart, and the blade sliced half the head off the mud player numbered “1.”
The health bar dropped rapidly, but the mud figures didn’t seem to mind running with half a head.
Q-chan shouted: “Don’t come over here!”
It fired another shot. The mud players hit by the blast were flung into the air. The cannon’s shockwave on the ground seemed even more effective than the electric attack itself.
The dual anti-air machine guns in front of the car didn’t stop either, spraying bullets at high speed. With combined attacks, a few mud players finally had their health depleted, collapsing into a puddle of mud.
Yi Luo carefully avoided running over the mud.
BOOM! The milk tea car jolted again. The troublesome “7” charged once more and gave a powerful kick to the rear.
The car withstood the strike, though the spikes on the rear gradually lost durability.
Yi Luo frowned. “This is a problem.”
After taking a round of soccer ball attacks, the milk tea car’s durability had dropped significantly. At this rate, it might be completely depleted before they even reached the final boss.
He Wuning quickly assessed the situation and glanced at Yi Luo. “I’ll draw aggro. You fix the cart.”
The dungeon’s monsters had considerable attack power. The car was their damage shield—letting its durability run out here would be a huge loss.
Yi Luo didn’t hesitate. He rammed another mud player into the ground, turning it into a puddle, and said, “Take another one, then get down.”
He Wuning was already at the door. The cart sharply turned, diagonally running over a mud player. Its cracked body gave way. He Wuning kicked the car door open and drove his knife into its head, finishing it.
Without looking back, he said, “Killed. You find a place to park. Don’t fire yet.”
Yi Luo muttered, “How can you be so eager to steal kills?”
He Wuning exited. The mud players abandoned the stubborn, hard-to-crush cart and chased him instead.
Q-chan nervously shouted: “Be careful!”
Yi Luo parked nearby and quickly started repairs. Watching He Wuning skillfully slice mud players one by one, he relaxed slightly.
He knew He Wuning’s agility was high. With the number of monsters reduced to around ten, even encirclement wouldn’t stop him.
However…
“Cut their legs first,” Yi Luo nodded approvingly, watching the mud players’ legs flying everywhere. “Your sweetie kept score on the car—slicing the exact leg that kicked the car.”
Q-chan instinctively protested: “Don’t talk nonsense! Our sweetie… just has a temper!”
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