“You’re going off to do something dangerous again…”
Q-chan just complained a little, and when He Wuning glanced at it, it immediately whispered, “I can’t scan nearby monsters, but I can quickly consolidate forum information—maybe you’ll get the intel you need.”
He Wuning lazily murmured, “Mm.”
Q-chan laid out a table: “These are the abnormal-strength monsters everyone posted about on the forums today. I highlighted the ones mentioned more than three times. Then, considering your level, I temporarily removed all above level 10. That leaves just three targets.”
“Two Stone Giants, and the remaining one should be the new field BOSS. There’s not much intel yet, only that it looks like a Minotaur wielding a giant axe.”
He Wuning marked the destinations on the map. “Any news on the new ordinary monsters?”
Originally, level-10-and-below ordinary monsters included only Slimes, Wild Rabbits, and Mud Men. Among them, Slimes were non-aggressive, while the others attacked on sight.
“Yes,” Q-chan answered dutifully, “they appear alongside the new field BOSS—it’s a herd of wild oxen.”
“They’re aggressive monsters and mostly cluster around the Minotaur. It’ll be hard to get past them and challenge the Minotaur solo…”
The Stone Giants they had encountered before were level-10 wild BOSSes, but you can’t judge a field BOSS by level alone. Humans had figured out how to handle the Stone Giants, but no one could predict if this newly appeared level-5 BOSS had any deadly tricks.
Moreover, He Wuning’s level wasn’t high. Even after selling eight cups of milk tea to Yi Luo, he had barely reached level 4.
Q-chan worriedly said, “Sweetie, don’t try to show off.”
“Mm.” He Wuning got out of the car, flicking a slime lightly with his skinner’s knife. “Let’s test where the monsters have been enhanced—maybe it moves faster than before?”
“Their agility seems slightly increased…” Q-chan had just replied when it immediately covered its mouth in shock, “Ah! I’m only judging by my wise eyes, not cheating or anything!”
He Wuning glanced at it silently. Q-chan cautiously looked up and patted its chest, still startled, “Scared me to death—I thought my boss was going to catch me red-handed.”
It quickly perked up, lively again. “Sweetie, if you want to see monster stats, you could add a ‘Stat Identification’ skill to the milk tea. That way, after drinking it, you can see the stats of the monsters in front of you.”
“Now I’m level 4, and I still have several skill points unused. How about I spend them before fighting?”
“You can unlock new recipes too!”
He Wuning expressionlessly said, “You talk too much.”
Q-chan clutched its chest, heartbroken: “Waaah, you’re so mean! I’m just caring about you!”
“Sweetie, you have to trust me—I’m on your side. It was risky enough telling Yi Luo about the fragments. Aren’t you afraid we’d get caught and studied?”
He Wuning glanced at it: “Who said ‘we’?”
“I’m on his side.”
Q-chan froze, then jumped up like a farmer whose cabbage was stolen: “You’ve only met him a few times! This is a conspiracy! Sweetie, it’s definitely a conspiracy! Handsome men can’t be trusted! You’re too young…”
He Wuning expressionlessly interrupted its “it’s raining, children should marry” lecture: “I meant we’re all humans.”
Q-chan seemed paused, deflated, bobbing up and down as if nodding: “Oh… true, I’m not human, so I can’t compare.”
He Wuning gave it a look. “Open the map, mark the approximate monster distribution.”
Q-chan: “No problem! Sweetie, tonight should we check how much the monsters have been enhanced, or just look for the new ones?”
“Both. One by one.” He Wuning had already sat in the driver’s seat.
Amid Q-chan’s exclamations, he pressed the accelerator. The pink milk tea car’s headlights lit up, slicing through the dark night like a pink lightning bolt, leaving behind a trail of milk tea ingredients no one bothered to pick up.
A few hours later, at 4:30 a.m., the sun had just begun to show a hint of golden edges. He Wuning squatted by the river, expressionless, wiping the blood seeping from the wound on his back and wrapping it with a bandage to stop the bleeding.
His nearly empty health bar finally crept upward, then slipped back a bit, but overall it was slowly rising.
Q-chan, who had been holding its breath earlier, afraid that even one breath from He Wuning might make him lose health, finally exhaled in relief and collapsed beside him. “Sweetie, you scared me to death!”
They had just completed the first kill of the Minotaur.
The Minotaur had extremely high attack and speed but was prone to entering a berserk state. It wasn’t very smart; once it got into a slightly complex terrain and shook off the herd of wild oxen guarding it, it could easily be outmaneuvered by players.
The trickiest part was its final strike before death—after its health dropped to zero, it released a last forced control skill and threw its giant axe. He Wuning was completely immobilized for two seconds, forced to watch the spinning axe fly toward him.
Although he rolled out at the last moment, he still got a long gash across his back and was inflicted with a “Bleeding” status.
Bleeding: Reduces 5 health points per second.
Even someone fighting to the last drop of health might be killed by this 15-second status effect.
He Wuning closed his eyes and reflected on the battle, giving it an honest assessment: “A bit tricky.”
With his low health bar, he especially feared forced control skills—they were downright unfair.
Fortunately, after drinking all flavors of milk tea in a solo run, he restored his status and unlocked two new recipes: Pearl Milk Tea: +10% Attack; Red Bean Milk Tea: +10% Health
Along with the original milk tea, he now had three buffs active. That extra 10% health really helped.
He had also unlocked Q-chan’s highly recommended “Delivery Service” skill, giving him a public number, 99999995, so others could contact him without being friends. He could locate anyone who dialed this number.
According to Q-chan, the skill would become more useful after upgrading, though it was still a bit underwhelming. Still, Q-chan responsibly posted little ads on the forum using the number, but no one responded.
He Wuning leaned against a stone by the river, catching his breath before putting on his clothes.
Q-chan shyly covered its eyes: “Ah—”
He Wuning had grown used to its flinches and glanced at his milk-tea car, which looked like it had bathed in mud. “Do you think Yi Luo can wash cars?”
Q-chan hesitated, then cautiously answered, looking at his face: “I think… even without the skill, he probably would, right?”
He Wuning: “…”
Q-chan, emboldened, asked: “Sweetie, are you okay?”
He Wuning expressionlessly replied: “I’m fine. Maybe I lost too much blood—it’s affecting my brain.”
Q-chan had probably never heard someone speak to it so harshly; it could only silently respect him.
He Wuning opened his communication and sent Yi Luo a message: “Awake? Come fix the car.”
Yi Luo responded unusually quickly: “Already broken so soon? What were you doing out at night?”
“Wait a bit, having a combat meeting. There’s something I want to discuss with you.”
He Wuning thought for a moment: “Oh.”
“Then I’ll come to the safe zone.”
He was just about to meet a “Broker.”
The Broker, Xue Xun, was a young man wearing glasses, looking somewhat refined and shrewd. He even brought two steamed buns for He Wuning.
He Wuning stayed silent for a moment but eventually took them.
They arranged to meet at the city hall. Even early in the morning, there were already many people at work, moving briskly. A few carried breakfast, but judging by their expressions, most had likely been up all night.
Xue Xun showed a pleased expression: “I still remember the first time I met you. I brought you two scallion rolls, and you didn’t even lift a hand, just said to me, ‘Thanks, I don’t eat scallions.’ I thought, this guy must be someone special.”
He Wuning: “…”
“This time it’s plain buns. That’s okay, right?” Xue Xun smiled, leading the way and opening the door to his office. Inside, it was already a mess—papers scattered all over, the printer busily puffing out sheets.
Xue Xun waved dismissively. “Let it fly. Just watch where you step, we’ll be busy a bit. Let’s talk.”
He saw it as normal and found a place to sit. Xue Xun rummaged through the cabinets, probably looking for some tea. He handed him a cup of milk tea. “No need for water.”
“Where did you get this…” Xue Xun’s eyes widened, then he realized. “Your ability?”
He nodded.
Xue Xun looked relieved. “Ah, at least that’s normal. You can make sure I get water and sugar. And you even remembered to bring me a cup…”
A hint of emotion showed on his face. He reached out his hand. “120.”
This was a new pearl milk tea, priced at 120 coins—more expensive than the original.
Xue Xun nearly choked on the milk tea. He sighed gloomily. “Fine, you’re still you.”
He looked up. “Upgrade skills.”
Xue Xun understood, rummaged in his pocket, and handed over 120 coins. Looking at his status bar, he nearly choked again. “Cough, cough!”
“10% HP bonus!”
He stared at He Wuning in shock. “Your ability actually works?”
“I already told Yi Luo. He probably reported back yesterday. Do I need to say it again?” He Wuning didn’t seem impatient. He had already trained Q-chan; if anyone wanted to ask, Q-chan could handle it.
“No, no need to report again…” Xue Xun licked his lips and then realized. “Weren’t you here to report about your ability?”
“Q.” He Wuning gave Q-chan a look. It immediately perked up, landing gracefully on the table like a ballet dancer and bowed. “Hello! I, the universe’s most excellent system Q-chan, will explain everything to you!”
“Please start recording. We’ve collected a lot of monster information!”
Xue Xun immediately switched into work mode, grabbing the keyboard and nodding. “Go ahead.”
“Level 10 and below normal monsters have been strengthened to varying degrees. Slimes are slightly more agile, wild rabbits have slightly increased attack, and the biggest trouble is mud men—they gained a slowing control skill…”
“The new wild boss, Minotaur, attacks by charging and swinging its axe…”
“The new normal monster, wild oxen…”
After Xue Xun densely filled several documents, Q-chan finally stopped, and Xue Xun exhaled in relief. He wiped the sweat off his forehead. “How much did you do tonight…”
He looked up, and the empty seat in front of him suddenly caught his attention. “Where is he?”
“He went to the treatment center on his own,” Q-chan shook its head. “You were too focused to notice.”
“But your serious work attitude deserves praise!”
Xue Xun didn’t care what kind of oddball was on the other side while working, but now that he was done, he looked at the uniquely quirky system before him with a complicated expression. Before he could comment rudely, there was a knock at the door.
The visitor had little patience, peeking in. “Yo, Xue Xun, is He Wuning here?”
Q-chan squealed excitedly. “Ah! Yi Luo!”
Yi Luo glanced at the milk tea on the desk and then at Q-chan left behind. “Where is he?”
“Treatment center.” Xue Xun sighed heavily. “He spent the whole night mapping out all level-10 monsters. It’s a huge help, but also completely reckless! You fighters really need to learn what ‘safety first’ means!”
Yi Luo’s brow slowly furrowed, face dark. “Treatment center, huh?”
He picked up Q-chan. “Let’s go. I’ll teach him what ‘pay attention to safety’ means.”
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The author has something to say:
Mini bonus skit (not canon):
Q-chan: Sweetie—they’re going to scold you! Hehe!
He Wuning: .
Yi Luo: Why are you looking at me?
He Wuning: Seeing how you plan to scold me.
Yi Luo: No point in reading it, Jinjiang won’t let me write it.
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