The submachine gun’s rapid burst halted the mudmen’ advance. Yi Luo retreated slowly, widening the distance between them as he backed all the way toward the highest row of the spectator stands.
He stopped at the very last step. The mud figures, as if drawn to him, began to close in from all sides. Behind him was nothing but a massive billboard—there was nowhere left to retreat.
The billboard displayed an advertisement for some beverage. The smiling athlete flashing a mouthful of white teeth was either procedurally generated by the system or copied wholesale from somewhere back on Blue Star. Yi Luo gave it a cursory glance, then very rudely stepped on the guy’s face and climbed up to the top of the billboard.
He felt around behind it. There was an invisible wall there—probably the boundary of this dungeon.
First, back up to the edge of the dungeon to avoid being flanked. Then—
Yi Luo sat cross-legged on top of the billboard, waiting for the mudmen to approach.
They weren’t fast to begin with. These monsters—like something hastily slapped together by dipping into a mud pit—were extremely crude. They couldn’t compare to the earlier mud players at all; one hit was usually enough to blow them into a splatter of sludge.
Which made sense. With their numbers already so overwhelming, their offensive power had to be limited somehow. Otherwise, that would really be too much.
Yi Luo pulled a grenade from his jacket, hooked a finger through the pin, and casually swung it around a couple of times. He was waiting for the monsters to bunch up a bit more.
Strangely enough, even though he’d been left alone in this dungeon, his mood was actually pretty good.
He tilted his head back slightly, holding the gifted item in his hand, propping his chin up as he sighed. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched the approaching monsters, then opened his fingers and let the grenade slip down through them.
A loud explosion erupted beneath the billboard. Yi Luo barely paid it any mind. Instead, he was wondering whether he should give this item to He Wuning later.
Not giving it would make him feel a little guilty. Giving it, on the other hand…Yi Luo frowned at the words “unspeakable affection” engraved on the item.
He’d always thought He Wuning was a pretty great partner. He never seemed particularly interested in other people’s business. Even if he knew you were hiding something, as long as you didn’t tell an obvious lie, he couldn’t be bothered to dig deeper.
Yi Luo had always felt there was something especially likable about his “none of my damn business” aura.
Though occasionally, it could catch people completely off guard.
He shook the item in his hand, tucked it into his pocket, and reluctantly spared a bit of attention for the monsters below.
The grenade hadn’t packed them tightly enough yet. Using the submachine gun now would be a waste. Yi Luo drew a handgun from his side. He barely needed to aim—his arm lifted at just the right angle, and the nearest monster’s head slid neatly into the sights.
The bullet, carrying the sulfurous scent of gunpowder, burst from the chamber and punched straight into the monster’s body. It collapsed instantly into a puddle of muddy water.
For him, this was no different from target practice. The feel of the trigger was deeply familiar; before every shot, he could almost tell whether it would hit. Cold-eyed, he picked off the advancing monsters, carving out a safe zone in front of him with minimal expenditure.
He even had the mental bandwidth to drift off and reminisce about his not-so-short chuunibyou phase.
…Though it was hard to say whether that phase had truly passed. Back then, his family—his stern father and his serious mother alike—had both opposed his becoming a sniper.
Their reasoning was that he stood out too much.
A sniper needed patience. Concealment. Endurance. The ability to wait for the perfect moment to deliver a fatal shot.
Yi Luo hated waiting. He preferred to create the opportunity to fire that bullet himself.
Which was why his father had often scolded him for being a reckless brute.
In that respect, He Wuning actually suited him quite well.
Being so casually left alone in a dangerous dungeon was a novel experience for Yi Luo. At least in the combat division, they would never use a tactic like this.
And yet, he found himself oddly pleased. It felt like… a long-lost illusion of being trusted.
Of course, he was quite certain that if he shamelessly asked He Wuning whether he trusted him, the man would probably scowl and flip him off.
The person he’d just imagined flipping him off contacted him over comms. Yi Luo answered, his hands still moving as he shot down another approaching monster, and drawled lazily, “That was fast.”
“It’s pretty lively over here. I can hold out for a while.”
The reply came without the slightest bit of courtesy. “Then should we go grab a meal and come back later?”
Yi Luo choked. “...It’s the middle of the night. What meal are you eating?”
“Midnight snack.” He Wuning’s tone made it hard to tell whether he was serious or joking. “The cafeteria made vermicelli soup. I snagged your portion.”
Yi Luo clutched his stomach in pain. “You heartless bastard!”
He Wuning chuckled softly. “Less nonsense. Place your order.”
Yi Luo sighed. “Watermelon juice.”
From the other end of the comm device, Q-chan emphasized, “It’s Cheesy Gua-Gua Crunchy Pop-Pop!! Say the full name properly!”
The call disconnected.
Yi Luo stood up and looked thoughtfully at the mud splattered near his feet. After hesitating briefly, he reached down and smeared a bit of it across his face.
The moment he finished, a portal opened in front of the billboard. A milk tea car burst straight out, plummeting from midair into the densely packed crowd of mudmen in the spectator stands. It used the monsters’ bodies as a buffer and barely managed to come to a stop.
The anti-aircraft machine gun mounted on the front of the car fired nonstop, mowing down mudmen that tried to climb up toward the billboard. Yi Luo holstered his gun and smiled.
“You said you were going to grab some vermicelli soup first, but you showed up pretty fast anyway.”
The first person to jump off the car was Xue Xun. He pointed angrily at Yi Luo, who was standing on top of the billboard. “Are you trying to get us killed, standing that high up?!”
Yi Luo shrugged innocently. “Isn’t that how fairy tales usually go? A princess waiting for her knight at the top of a tower and all that.”
“What kind of princess are you?” Xue Xun took one look at the situation—there were far more mudmen than expected—and immediately, with admirable self-awareness, retreated back onto the milk tea car. He leaned out the window to shout at Yi Luo, “Get down here!”
Yi Luo sat on the billboard, swinging his legs. “What, you don’t deliver all the way to the door when you bring takeout?”
He Wuning glanced upward, slashed through the mudmen crowding in, and cleared a narrow path.
Only then did Yi Luo notice there were two more people in the car—familiar faces from Team Seven: Ji Ou and Tang Yu.
Ji Ou was probably there as a mascot. The one specifically brought in to handle a situation like this was clearly Tang Yu.
She smiled at He Wuning. “Then… shall I begin?”
He Wuning nodded and charged toward the billboard himself.
Clinging to the car window, Xue Xun widened his eyes. “Hey—Brother He, where are you going?!”
He Wuning raised the milk tea in his hand, expression blank. “Delivering it to a certain princess on a tower.”
Yi Luo had been about to jump down, but at that, he pulled his feet back up again and waited atop the billboard with interest.
Xue Xun opened his mouth to say something. Q-chan patted him on the shoulder. “It’s fine, you’ll get used to it. They often act on impulse and do whatever they feel like.”
“Don’t be scared~ The car is very safe! I’ll protect you guys!”
Xue Xun and Ji Ou exchanged a glance at Q-chan, then silently stepped behind it.
Xue Xun nodded solemnly. “We’re counting on you, Q-chan.”
Ji Ou nodded as well. “Please.”
Tang Yu stood outside the car. The path that had just been forced open wouldn’t last long; new mudmen were already closing in. She reached into her pocket and scattered a handful of seeds of various kinds. This was clearly not a direct attack. Even the weakest mudmen didn’t fall—but the seeds were visibly swallowed by them.
Tang Yu smiled. The mudmen, still unaware, suddenly stiffened. Their bodies seemed to twist for a split second.
In the next instant, tender green shoots burst through the mud.
Fine roots and sprouts rapidly wrapped around the mudmen. Plants branched and budded at astonishing speed; buds bloomed, rotted, bore fruit, and the fruit fell back into the mud, releasing new seeds…
Green energy flowed in Tang Yu’s palm. She watched the plants—accelerating their growth, expanding territory, spreading at incredible speed—with gentle eyes and a smile. “As expected, this place is perfect for my abilities.”
The mudmen were drained by the seeds, their bodies overtaken by branches and roots competing for nutrients. Centered on the milk tea truck, layers upon layers of vegetation spread outward across the mudflat.
“Tch.” Xue Xun rubbed his arms. “If she used that move on a person… wouldn’t that hurt like hell?”
“It wouldn’t,” Tang Yu said, suddenly appearing by the window. “Human flesh actually isn’t suitable soil for plants at all. If you insist on using flesh—”
Ji Ou: “We don’t want to know how to grow plants with flesh, thank you, please don’t say it.”
Tang Yu shrugged regretfully, then smiled as she watched the rapidly expanding greenery. “Plants are actually quite terrifying. Their instincts are simply to seize more nutrients and grow stronger. They don’t care where that energy comes from.”
“And they certainly don’t care how these poor mudmen end up shattered.”
Ji Ou glanced at her, rubbed his head, and muttered quietly, “Still… it’s true she’s terrifyingly strong in places suitable for plant growth.”
“Thank you for the compliment.” Tang Yu smiled and turned toward the billboard. By then, He Wuning had reached its base. He kicked away the mudmen crowding beneath it, plunged his Tang Broadsword into the billboard to brace himself, and flipped up onto the top.
The unknown athlete’s face on the billboard gained yet another hole.
He Wuning tossed the milk tea over. Yi Luo caught it and, pointing at his mud-smeared cheek, said, “Look at this. You just left me alone in a dungeon like that—this is proof I almost got into serious danger.”
He Wuning raised an eyebrow at Yi Luo’s dirt-smeared face, scanning him skeptically from head to toe. “Why do I feel like you’re faking an accident?”
“How could I be?” Yi Luo replied righteously. “You think I’d smear this on myself?”
He Wuning stared at him for a moment. After a brief silence, he said, “We saved you a bowl of vermicelli soup.”
Yi Luo was genuinely surprised. This probably counted as some kind of compensation from He Wuning. Just as he was about to say something, He Wuning suddenly turned and glared at him. “Don’t push your luck.”
Yi Luo hadn’t even spoken yet when Q-chan chimed in loudly from the side, “Yeah, that’s right!”
“If you’re thinking of taking the chance to make weird requests!”
“I’m not,” Yi Luo said with an earnest look. “I’m just extremely shocked that you actually went to the cafeteria and got vermicelli soup without me. Isn’t that a bit too much?”
He Wuning: “…Xue Xun brought it.”
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The author has something to say:
Xue Xun: What the hell! You eat my food and still complain about me?!
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