“Ow ow…”

My head smacked onto the stone floor while my arm was being hugged by Lin Yixin. Her situation was even more miserable than mine, since she had smashed into a nearby stone pillar and was yelping in pain.

Swhoosh!

An electric light suddenly flashed on the ground below me!

Not good!

I sprang up and used all my energy to roll away with Lin Yixin in my embrace!

Crackle!

Lightning fell and the Fire Blade let out its dying throes. It had instantly died. My Dark Wasp had thankfully escaped that calamity because it had followed me.

Lin Yixin struggled to stand. With a bright red face, she said in an annoyed tone, “What’s going on?”

I pointed at the charred ground. “You almost got struck by lightning…”

“...”

I walked several steps forward before retrieving my Beast-faced Turmoil Helmet. My equipment had actually been forcibly sent flying by a monster. I wondered what sort of thing had that kind of strength.

Lin Yixin gazed up at the end of the steps and deeply breathed. “The second floor’s mobs seem really strong!”

“Did you see what it was?” I asked.

Lin Yixin’s lips moved, but she only gave a vague answer. “I don’t know how to describe it. It’s just really ugly, as ugly as a ghost. It was holding two sharp blades in its hands so it shouldn’t be too low-leveled!”

I nodded, then ran back up to the second floor with my sword and swiftly struck at the black figure in front of me!

Ice Ray!

Puchi!

My longsword that became a cone of ice tore through the black figure’s Defense. Blood splattered as a layer of frost condensed on my opponent’s body. At this time, my field of view had also cleared up. Due to my arrival, the area had lightened up and the thing before me was truly as Lin Yixin described, ugly. But it wasn’t your typical ugly!

A triangular head and two eyes brimming with cruelty. Skin akin to fish, clad in scale armor. Though its head wasn’t too large, it had a long neck and a stooped body with a back full of barbs. Grasped in each hand was a sharp blade glinting with cold metallic sheen. It seemed to be a valiant general carrying an army banner, but it was just that it was disastrously hideous.

I glanced at the little beauty behind me. Lin Yixin’s eyes were fraught with killing intent, shockingly beautiful. I looked to my front again. This monster was just so damn ugly. The contrast between beauty and ugliness was huge. Love could turn people crazy!

Blade Demon

Level: 59

Attack: 250~480

Defense: 300

HP: 5700

Skills: Cleave, Brutality

Introduction: Guardian of the Ancient Thunder Temple’s second floor. Ever since they were tamed by the Thunder General, these strong Blade Demons have become emissaries of death, the nightmare of all adventurers.

……

Lin Yixin stuck her tongue out and grinned. “So strong. 480 Attack, no wonder your brain got knocked out…”

“Fuck, whose brain got knocked out…”

I lifted my sword and jumped into fray. The Ghost Ice Soul was flooded by dense blood-red energy and abruptly smashed onto the Blade Demon’s head. A powerful strike, right after I used Pardon.

2219!

Lin Yixin was left speechless. She swung her Snow Shadow Sword, snowflakes following its wake, and hacked away a chunk of its remaining HP. My Dark Wasp charged forward and stung thrice, followed by the Fire Blade’s one attack, ending this Level 59 Blade Demon’s life. It collapsed to the floor with a wail, only having attacked once before its sudden demise.

I stepped on its corpse and used Death Plunder but came out empty-handed. “This Blade Demon’s Attack is really strong but its Defense is inferior to the first floor’s Hellhounds. It’s a glass cannon type of mob so I don’t think we should split up. Attacking together will help us minimize damage taken!”

Lin Yixin nodded. “Mn, okay!”

The Blade Demon had low Defense so it would basically die under one round of attacks from me and Lin Yixin. Luring another one over wouldn’t be an issue either, and the experience gained from it would be amazing. My experience bar rose by 1% after 2–3 Blade Demons, a satisfying leveling speed indeed.

After a while, Lin Yixin stopped, then sighed softly.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“I told Zi Chuanyu, Qingqing, and the rest to form a party and come here but I didn’t expect that they wouldn’t even be willing to stay at the first floor. They think that the lightning formation here is too complicated, and that leveling here is too hard if a moment of carelessness can spell their doom…”

“Haha, I guess so!”

Lin Yixin raised her head to look at me and then suddenly said, “It’s 1:30 pm already. We should be having lunch at this time. Always trying to dodge the lightning is a bit tiring. Let’s log off and continue after lunch?”

I nodded. “We’ve pretty much killed almost all the mobs on the second floor. Let’s kill two more and get me to Level 54 before we go.”

“Mn, alright~”

In the blink of an eye, two Blade Demons fell to the ground, followed by a pillar of golden light. I actually reached Level 54 after killing these two!

Lin Yixin followed the second floor’s map to a corner and was searching around for a while before she suddenly said with a happy smile, “Lu Chen, over here!”

“What, found the boss?”

Lin Yixin pointed at a smooth spot on the stone floor. “No, look. There are no signs of this spot being hit by lightning at all. Mn, we can set up a tent and log off right here!”

I was stunned. “Dammit!”

“What?” Lin Yixin’s gaze shot over and smirked. “Don’t tell me you didn’t bring a tent?”

I nodded. “Right, I’ve always been sleeping inside graves so I’m not used to bringing along tents.”

Lin Yixin was speechless. “You’ve always been sleeping inside graves? That’s pretty unique. Forget it, I have an extra single-use tent here with me. Take it!”

“How could I possibly do that?” I said bashfully as I took the tent.

“If you’re embarrassed, give me 1 gold.”

“Ah, today’s moon is so round…”

“...”

I put up the tent next to hers and logged off after I went inside.

……

The workshop’s living room was very quiet. There was a boxed meal on the table. Already cold sweet and sour spare ribs were inside. To be honest, I didn’t really like spare ribs and I liked eating sweet and sour things even less.

Right at this moment, my phone rang. It was Lin Yixin.

“Hello? What’s up, party leader?” I asked with a smile.

Lin Yixin let out a giggle, then said grumpily, “Lunchtime is over so the dining hall’s closed. You got somewhere to eat in your area?”

“Yeah, Happy House…”

“Too expensive!”

“No problem. If you treat me, I won’t think that it’s too expensive.”

“...”

After talking it over, we decided that she was asking me out, but I would be treating her. That was to repay a favor. Lin Yixin could grind in the Ancient Thunder Temple alone but she took me with her. My leveling speed soared when I went there, so I really owed her a good meal. After all, a meal only cost 100 or 200 yuan. At the rate I was leveling, if I got to Level 60 early and went through the third promotion, my gains would be much more substantial than that. I would maintain my level and gear advantage, and if a Gold or Dark Gold–grade item dropped, selling it would net me tens of thousands!

I went out and once I reached Happy House, I saw Lin Yixin’s beautiful figure appear on the campus woods’ small path in the distance. She was making her way here on foot instead of using that Benz. Seems like she was so broke she didn’t even have gas money.

I walked up and greeted her, “Beauty Yi, no parasol? Getting tanned wouldn’t be good…”

Lin Yixin smoothed her lips into a smile. “No need. I think I’m too pale, getting a little tan would be good.”

My head was drenched in sweat. This girl’s seriously arrogant!

“Eh? Why aren’t you using a parasol?” Lin Yixin looked at me with a smile.

I shook my head. “No need, today’s 36 degree sunshine feels great…”

“Oh, really?”

Lin Yixin smiled meaningfully, then said, “Let’s go. We need to finish eating fast so we can get to the third floor. There’s a boss there!”

“Mn.” I walked with her on the little path off campus. “Actually, it'd be best if we had a priest to kill the third floor’s boss. It’ll be too dangerous otherwise. The second floor’s Blade Demons are already Level 59 so the third floor’s boss will definitely be over Level 60. We’ll enter a world of pain if that is the case.”

“Yeah, but a priest wouldn’t be too willing to come to the Ancient Thunder Temple. There’s no pattern to the lightning and they’d be scared of dying if they weren’t fast enough. I asked a few priests but none of them want to come. They also said…”

She suddenly stopped talking and angrily kicked a pebble on the floor.

“What else did they say?”

“They also said that unless I agree to eat with them, they won’t come…” A trace of killing intent leaked out from Lin Yixin as she tightened her fist. “What do those garbage think I am? So hateful…”

I laughed. It seems like Lin Yixin eating with me was already giving me a lot of face.

“Forget it, it’s fine if we don’t have a priest. A priest at the current stage of the game only heal for around 200 and we both have more than 1000 HP. We’d either get one-shot by the boss or kill the boss ourselves so a priest wouldn’t matter much. Never mind, never mind.”

I comforted her and almost believed my own lies. But Lin Yixin felt good hearing that and shot me an extremely sweet smile.

…...

Happy House, first floor.

It was already 2 pm but there were still quite a few people here eating lunch.

Lin Yixin and I sat at a two-seat table and ordered a few dishes. The total was around 150 RMB, a tolerable range. I planned to use the workshop’s funds to pay this bill. Lin Yixin was still Snowy Cathaya’s guild leader so me treating her to a meal furthered our relationship. It could be considered public relations.

The dishes soon arrived. I ate like a mess while Lin Yixin remained aloof. When she saw my appalling table manners, she quietly uttered, “Slow down, my bass… I haven’t even gotten a good look at it before it was gone. Wuuwuu, Lu Chen you brute, let’s order a few more…”

When we were eating, a few people that looked like students were also having lunch, chattering on. The skinny guy of their group with bared arms said, “Did you guys hear that Dominating Heaven Blade took the Domination Clan to Frost Forest? I heard that a boss spawns there.”

Another person answered, “Dominating Heaven Blade wants a Hero’s Token so bad he’s gone mad. He has killed five bosses over Level 50 in half a week but he’s so damn unlucky that he hasn’t gotten the token still.”

“Haha, heard that he’d also been killed by Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand in Silver Moon Valley during one of those nights. How amusing!”

A guy in a red shirt asked, “Have you guys decided yet? Do we join Snowy Cathaya or Gods of Destruction? Or Mad Dragon…”

That skinny guy smirked. “Why think? Join Mad Dragon. As long as you join their main 200-unit core, you can earn at least 2000 RMB!”

“Haha, right, let’s join Mad Dragon!”

……

Lin Yixin and I looked at each other. Mad Dragon’s so popular. I wonder what Roaming Dragon does in real life. Is his dad not Lu Gang but a money printing machine? Damn!