"Note to self: Psychological attacks on enemies are super effective for lowering their combat ability and general morale, but charging right at someone with a gun is stupid no matter how fast you think you are. Ow ow ow..." Li Mei muttered, slathering a layer of medicinal paste onto the bullet wound in her side. Bao nudged carefully against her shoulder, making concerned chirping noises. Li Mei laughed and patted Bao's side to reassure the distressed Fera. "Don't worry, it just hurts a little. It barely got me!"

She counted herself lucky it just nicked her, if it were just an inch more to the side it would have lodged in her body and that would have been really difficult to deal with!

Her encounters with the soldier groups were very lucky all things considered. Using the element of surprise and familiar forest terrain, she was able to take down people with strength and experience greater than her own. Li Mei fought them head-on for the sake of gaining said experience, and for the satisfaction of seeing fear in their eyes.

Those people slaughtered innocent people. Men, women, children who probably cried in fear and pain while begging for their lives. Scan clearly stated the civilian kill count each soldier had for their lifetime, and the number - often triple digits - made Li Mei grind her teeth in anger.

They were disgusting.

She couldn't resist making the soldiers feel at least a fraction of the fear they inflicted on others, but being weaker than the people she was trying to scare put her at a big disadvantage. Fighting head-on was tough enough without taking differences in strength and numbers into account!

Using horror movie tactics was fun, but the methods weren't efficient and still held an element of danger since she wasn't actually a vengeful child ghost or unstoppable alien predator. There had to be a smarter way to do what she wanted - to kill the soldiers while letting them get a taste of fear and helplessness. Even better if she could think of a way to do it without placing herself or Bao in unnecessary risk.

Li Mei wished she watched more scary movies before her transmigration. If only she'd known it would come in handy! Especially considering it turned out she was pretty strong? Those soldiers weren't weak, but she took care of them so easily!

'Maybe... I'm actually pretty great?' Li Mei thought smugly, a grin on her face.

A deep roar shook the trees nearby, air vibrating until Li Mei could feel it in her bones. Compressed air blasted Li Mei and Bao back several meters as countless trees the size of skyscrapers snapped in half, falling to the ground with a deafening crash and dragging countless plants and creatures with them. Pure unfiltered sunlight hit the forest floor for the first time in unimaginable centuries, obscured only by dust and loam thrown into the air from the falling tree trunks.

Two enormous beasts tangled together, clawing and biting and snarling, chunks of fur and scales and flesh bigger than Li Mei's entire body falling in their tussle. The pressure from Rank 4 auras and violent killing intent combined to press both Li Mei and Bao against the ground, making it painful to even breathe and reopening the wound in the girl's side.

An enormous brown and grey serpent with short vestigial limbs curled and writhed around a black gorilla with a shimmering silver back. The gorilla roared while the serpent only ever snarled and hissed, but even those relatively small noises were enough to shake the air.

-----

[Young Earth Wyrm]

Male

Rank 4 (23%)

Despite the unfortunate name, this creature is no joke. An Earth Serpent that lived a thousand years and succeeded in the Tribulation to evolve into a Wyrm, thus embarking on the eventual path to being a Dragon.

He does not care about your presence at this time.

-----

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[Gargantuan Silver-Backed Ape Sovereign]

Male

Rank 4 (20%)

Feels threatened by the strength of the not-yet mature Earth Wyrm encroaching on his territory. As an old beast with centuries of experience, the Sovereign feels he must defend his people against this potential threat and assert his dominance.

He does not care about your presence at this time.

-----

As the giant creatures tumbled away leaving a trail of broken trees behind them, Li Mei's eyes sparkled with inspiration.

Who said she had to do everything herself?

She kept making plans on what she and Bao would do against their opponents, but those thoughts were going in the wrong direction.

And maybe she was getting carried away in the feeling of being strong... But the Rank 4 fight she couldn't even breathe in the presence of knocked her pride down a few pegs. Her cheek still stung from the cosmic face slap reminding Li Mei of her place as a Rank 0 nobody.

The Ancient Elderwood Forest was full of dangers large and small. Strong creatures lurked around every tree, cunning ones too. And so many strange plants!

Cleverness was her strong suit, not melee combat. Her streak of good fortune couldn't last forever! Fighting things stronger than herself meant Li Mei could very well die if her luck ran out in the middle of a battle. Gaining more experience in fighting could wait until she wasn't on a Quest to take out several groups of stronger people.

When Bao completed a kill Li Mei got EXP even if she didn't take part in the fight. Surely making use of traps or other creatures would work the same way? She could test it on the next group, see if she got credit without laying a hand on the soldiers.

Li Mei slathered more medicinal paste onto her wound, waiting for it to harden before hopping on Bao's back.

Group 3 never even saw her. Instead of facing them herself, Li Mei spread a bunch of Walking Death mushrooms in their travel path covered by a thin layer of dirt and leaves - purple fungus caps that were harmless unless squished. Upon being crushed Walking Death mushrooms exploded into a cloud of highly toxic spores that caused slow, painful death after a series of horrific hallucinations when inhaled.

Group 3 were all dead before they even stepped on half of the mushroom caps. Confirmation of kill credit and Quest EXP popped up as the last soldier drew his final breath.

"Too bad it's so annoying to find and dig those things up," Li Mei sighed wistfully, shaking her head. She spent the entire previous night foraging mushrooms for that trap, and those soldiers didn't even have the decency to hit all of them! How rude.

Li Mei salvaged the uncrushed mushrooms, and used the same successful trap strategy on the unsuspecting Group 4.

Various special herbs were mixed with water and her own Rank 0 blood, which Li Mei sprinkled on the soldiers of Groups 5, 6, and 7 as they slept. The mixture served to lure hungry creatures looking for an easy meal, stimulating appetites and aggression. Numerous beasts broke through the camp's defensive arrays and eventually devoured the soldiers after several brutal battles.

Then she ran out of the necessary herbs and had to pick another strategy. Of course, she remembered to harvest the bodies of the edible beasts the soldiers managed to kill during their last stand. Faust already imparted the importance of dissecting kills for their Cores which could be absorbed for strength or used as currency, but many of the beasts were also delicious.

Group 8 found themselves pelted with eggs flung from the branches. Angry Verasus parents looking for their stolen eggs smelled yolk on the soldiers and flew into a rage, shredding them into pieces.

It worked well, but grabbing the eggs was dangerous too. Verasus had excellent senses of smell. They would have been able to track her through the whole forest if they weren't distracted and enraged by their young being smashed, thus losing her trail as she moved into the tree canopy.

Groups 9, 10, and 11 presented the first real problem.

They had met up and were moving quickly in a straight line toward the research facility, completely disregarding terrain or obstacles.

Li Mei frowned as she stared at the map. It took so long to move from group to group since they spread out combing the forest - while she traveled further and further in one direction, the ones on the other side were getting up to something. Were they flying somehow?

Judging by the travel times they'd arrive just after the groups did no matter how fast they ran, but thankfully the Quest didn't require her to stop them from finding or entering the place. She hopped on Bao's back and urged him in the direction of home.

Since they'd arrive late anyway, it was better to make some preparations first.

Li Mei dropped loot off at home, made sure Otto had enough food to last another week or so just in case, then left with Bao for the research facility. Going home only required a very small detour on the way, even with a few stops to forage various supplies the pair arrived just a few hours after the three groups they were hunting.

The entrance to the research facility was hidden in the roots of a particularly small tree by the Elderwood's standards, one covered in flowering vines and surrounded by ferns, masked by a cloaking array. Li Mei followed Faust's detailed instructions on how to pass, which involved using mana to draw a specific pattern on a certain root. The root shimmered then turned almost transparent like a hologram, allowing people to pass through the sheet of membranous light for two minutes.

"Bao, I want you to hide yourself and keep watch out here to take care of any escaping enemies I might miss," Li Mei said, pointing to a nearby root system perfect for surveillance. Bao snorted with indignance and started to throw an angry tantrum, but stopped when she held up a hand with an unusually serious expression on her face. "This is a research facility. The enemy groups have arrived but there's no sign of a bunch of scientists being evacuated, so they might still be inside."

To make her point Li Mei pointed at the ground around them, which showed no indication of being disturbed by crowds of fleeing people. There wasn't even a single footprint visible in the dark loam. "If the enemies are being stealthy in their infiltration and covering their tracks, and the scientists or whatever haven't been alerted that something's wrong, seeing a Fera wandering around their secret underground hideout will definitely set off some alarms.

"Not to mention I'm much better at hiding myself and staying undetected than you are." Seeing Bao's reluctant gaze, Li Mei smiled and smooshed his fluffy cheeks with the palms of her hands and touched her nose to his. "I promise I'll be careful and sneaky. I won't be cocky like I was before, since I won't have my strong Brother Bao to back up my foolishness. Okay?"

Bao heaved a long, resigned sigh. After another moment of thought he nodded, touching his nose to her brow before moving to conceal himself in the appointed location.

Behind the hidden entrance a long tunnel led down into the earth, created of roots tangled together without any gaps between them. Bioluminescent orange fungus growing in the junction between wall and floor illuminated the way. Li Mei walked for a good ten minutes in absolute silence before her path was obstructed by a smooth metal wall.

She tapped the wall three times in different locations. After the third tap the smooth metal wall melted away faster than ice on a summer sidewalk to create an arched doorway, revealing the interior of a very modern-looking elevator.

Smooth mirrored paneling with a polished metal handrail, seemingly electronic lights across the ceiling, a panel of elevator buttons complete with an emergency phone and no smoking sign, one upper corner occupied by a little speaker in the corner playing obnoxious instrumental music. A whole tidal wave of nostalgia almost knocked Li Mei off her feet.

She cleared her throat and stepped inside.

Some of the buttons were decoys to alert on-site security if pressed. The elevator itself was a magitech device rather than a mechanical one - a Circuit carved into the bottom of the elevator would teleport the people inside to the key destination when the appropriate button was pressed.

Li Mei checked the map, and chose a spot close to the facility's security room. Such a secretive facility surely had extensive surveillance, she could make use of their monitoring one way or another. Knowing which areas to avoid, luring patrols away from one zone so she could sneak to another. Sneaking around a secret research base would be much easier if she knew beforehand where they were looking!

After the basic nausea and disorientation of being transported through space faded away, Li Mei found an entirely new reason to feel unwell.

The door to the elevator was a gaping hole, jagged edges adorned with chunks of flesh and ripped cloth. Bloody handprints and gore spatters covered the walls and floors, the lights across the ceiling flickered and spat sparks, and the little speaker in the corner was crumpled like an old cheeseburger wrapper yet still managed to release a tinny distorted string of music. Through the hole in the door she could see a hallway suffused with a red glow that did little to mask trails of viscera on the floor.

A familiar blue light popped up in her vision.

-----

[Intruders]

Quest completed! All guilty groups have been eliminated, by your hands or otherwise.

Awarded: 2750000 EXP total

-----

-----

[Escape]

★★★★★

You've wandered your way into quite the nasty situation. The facility is on lockdown, which means elevators on the inside are inoperative. The only way out is through one of the emergency evacuation tunnels which requires a Class-A Keycard to open during a lockdown. Perhaps one of the personnel has one on their person?

Stay alert and escape from the research facility without losing your head. Earn some tasty rewards for optional bonus objectives on the way, if you feel so inclined.

(Bonus): Download all information stored in the facility's database. Accessing a working computer connected to the network will be enough, Archive will take care of the rest. Information and records from a top-level research facility may prove useful to you in the future. Awards +1 STR.

(Bonus): Retrieve the Cores of at least 30 creatures from within the facility. Awards +1 DEX.

(Bonus): There's a subject of facility experiments trapped in Lab 3's holding cells. She's injured, afraid, and could use some help to escape. This may be a chance to make a potentially powerful ally if you earn her trust. Awards +1 CON.

Reward: 1000000 EXP, 50000 EXP per completed Bonus

-----

Li Mei heaved a sigh and brought the metal staff out of storage. "Awesome."

She inched her way down the empty bloodstained hallway, trying to ignore the relentless hammering of her unsettled heart. A 5-Star Escape Quest and bloodstained hallways did not inspire confidence or a sense of security. What it did inspire was a strong sense of regret for leaving Bao behind.

The facility reminded her of high tech compounds she saw in science fiction movies back on Earth - sprawling and cavernous, a map full of enormous rooms by the dozen, linked together by wide hallways big enough to drive a truck through. Lights along the ceilings, smooth polished floors, perfectly controlled climate, thick glass windows peeking into fancy labs with complicated equipment. A variety of plastic plants, photographs, and bland landscape paintings added color to an otherwise monotonous environment.

But the thick glass windows were broken, the fancy labs were wrecked, and poor innocent plants were toppled over and shredded into little plastic pieces. The smell of mixing chemicals from shattered containers and toppled beakers filled the air, thick and pungent.

And that was just the first hallway.

Li Mei rounded the corner and froze.

Hunched over the half-devoured body of some poor sap in a lab coat were three creatures like bald skinny children with unnaturally long limbs that twisted in odd directions. Their fingers were deep in the body's abdomen, plucking pieces of its internal organs and shoving them into bloody mouths lined with several rows of sharp teeth.

One of them looked up, locked gazes with Li Mei, and hissed around a mouthful of lower intestine. The other two snapped their heads around and snarled, leaving their unfinished meal to scrabble down the hallway toward her with jerking, twitching movements.

Li Mei turned on her heel and sprinted back toward the broken elevator at top speed.