Licker (Thanks to Alliance Leader Li Xuanmeng!)

After getting in, the old Santana slowly rumbled into motion, its innards clattering with the sound of various parts knocking together, making us seriously doubt whether it could carry all five of us to our destination.

"You must be Shadow Chaser, brother?"

While waiting at a red light, the handsome man driving turned around with a smile. "I'm Chen Jinnan, captain of this raid team and the one responsible for arranging and planning this leveling trip. I'm currently level 11, with a combat energy level of 92 points. Starry Sky Super Weapon."

"Greetings, Chief Helmsman Chen." I immediately nodded.

"Hehehe~~~"

Chen Jinnan laughed. "You kid..."

The burly man in the Front Passenger Seat turned around as well. "Brother, I'm Axe. Like you, I'm level 10, but our classes are different. I'm a Gene Warrior."

"Gene Warrior?"

My heart tightened, but I said nothing more, merely smiling and nodding. "Not bad~~~"

"Hehe!"

Axe Nodded and Smiled.

Ruolin said, "All right, I'm Ruolin. We already know each other well enough, so there's no need to say much. Um... the person beside me who calls herself Wuxi's number one beauty—weren't you quite the chatterbox just now? Why have you gone quiet now that you've met a newcomer? Social anxiety?"

"Cough, cough..."

The beauty shot her a glare and held out her hand. "Hello, Ding Han. I'm Xiao Bai from the team. My real name is Ling Baiwei, I'm from Wuxi, currently level 11. My class is Psionicist, and I handle the team's psionic damage output."

"Mm, pleased to meet you."

I shook Xiao Bai's hand and immediately let go. "Our team is pretty strong..."

"Of course!"

Chen Jinnan laughed. "Not to brag, but although we're only a small group for now, before long we'll develop into a real society. I've even thought of a name already: the Heaven and Earth Society."

"Damn..."

I was astonished. "Is the passphrase going to be 'Overthrow the Qing and restore the Ming'?"

"I have indeed considered it."

Axe turned back with a grin. "Brother Shadow Chaser, I really envy you... Sitting in the back with two gorgeous women. Unlike me, stuck in the front with the boss, this big rough guy..."

"Oh?"

I smiled. "You can ask to switch seats with me and sit in the back. I don't mind."

"You think he hasn't asked?"

Zhang Ruolin glanced at me. "Xiao Bai and I just rejected him."

"So that's how it is..."

I secretly gave Axe a thumbs-up. "Brother Axe is a man of true temperament!"

Axe's old face reddened.

"Brother Shadow Chaser."

Chen Jinnan said, "Have you gotten used to life in Creek City?"

"It's all right..."

After a moment's thought, I said, "At least I've settled down and haven't starved to death."

"Hahaha, if players like us starved to death, we'd become a complete joke."

Chen Jinnan said, "But now that we've formed a team and become teammates, there are some things I need to remind you of. The three major factions in the Star Abyss World right now—the Star Maple Federation and Dark Tide—are absolutely hostile toward us players. Once they discover someone is a Descender, they'll kill them without reason. Crimson Dragon Country's attitude, meanwhile, is rather ambiguous."

He frowned. "Although Creek City is a neutral city, it has very close ties with Crimson Dragon Country, and its current stance is hard to predict. So we must never expose our identities as players. You can treat Creek City as a safe zone and the area outside the city as a wilderness leveling zone. Leveling outside the city is important, but every word and action inside the city is just as important."

"Mm, I've learned a lot!"

I nodded.

"Ding Han."

Xiao Bai leaned over and glanced at me. "There's a saying circulating among players lately: inside the city is life, outside the city is the game. You can ponder the deeper meaning yourself."

"Got it."

I really was like a complete newbie. After entering the Star Abyss World, I had interacted with too few other players, so there were still many things I didn't know.

"Also."

Ruolin said, "This Group of Us don't live together. We're afraid of getting wiped out in one go. Other than going out to level, we rarely stay in contact. You need to remember that too."

I nodded slightly.

Not long afterward, the old Santana, which had begun shedding parts, reached the outskirts of Creek City. Before us stood a towering wall bristling with military force, enclosing the entire city within its protection. Quite a few vehicles were currently lined up to leave the city.

"The Wall of Life..."

Chen Jinnan looked up at the high wall Before One's Eyes and smiled. "In the setting of the 2D version of Star Abyss, the Wall of Life was only briefly mentioned. But seeing it here, it looks so magnificent. It's precisely this wall, together with three thousand elite members of the Flame Wielder Regiment and five thousand military police, that allows the people inside the city to live so peacefully."

"That's not quite right..."

Axe said, "Don't the city's residents also provide the upper ranks of Creek City with a huge amount of manpower and resources through their daily lives and production? The two sides support each other."

I learned a great deal listening from the side; these two big shots understood the setting far better than I did!

Just then, military police stepped forward to inspect everyone's resident permits.

"Where are you headed?" one of them asked.

"Going on a trip." Chen Jinnan answered calmly.

"Be careful."

The young military policeman frowned. "Recently, not only have quite a few bug nests sprung up in the wilderness, but the Dark Tide has also been stirring. Don't stray too far from the city."

The vehicle slowly drove out of the city, and everyone inside finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"The bug nest coordinates aren't close. It'll take about two hours by car, so you can get some sleep."

"Alright!"

The others were fine, but I was genuinely exhausted. Working the night shift was inhuman. Although I spent most of my time sleeping in the internet café manager's chair, I was constantly being woken up—sometimes because a machine had problems, sometimes because someone wanted instant noodles—so the quality of my sleep was terrible.

Leaning against the seatback, I soon fell asleep.

Who knew how long had passed? I woke amid a bout of jolting, only to find my face pressed against Ruolin's sweet-smelling shoulder.

"Slurp..."

I hurriedly sucked back my drool, looking utterly embarrassed. "Are we there?"

"We're here."

Ruolin was somewhat speechless. She wiped the drool from her clothes, but unfortunately couldn't get it all off. Then she glared at me. "You guy..."

I gave her an apologetic look.

"Let's Go!"

Chen Jinnan parked by an abandoned highway overgrown with weeds and said, "Switch to Combat Form. It's already very unsafe here. Everyone, be careful!"

"Alright!"

He was the captain, so what he said went.

After getting out of the vehicle, I directly switched into Combat Form. A Green Roarer submachine gun immediately appeared in my hands, while Ruolin opened the trade window and traded me 1,000 rounds of 9mm ammunition.

Before long, green health bars appeared above everyone one after another, with their IDs floating above them.

At that moment, it finally felt like a game!

My blood was starting to boil!

"Be careful!"

Axe sniffed the air and said, "Something's here..."

"Rustle, rustle..."

Not far away, leaves shook within the bushes, as though something was approaching.

"Stay alert!"

Everyone instinctively lowered their bodies and aimed their guns.

The next moment, a figure burst out of the bushes. It was a humanoid creature, but it had no skin. Its entire body was covered in greasy slime, a long tail extended from its spine, its mouth could open incredibly wide, and its hands had mutated into claws!

"Careful, it's a mutant!"

Chen Jinnan shouted.

It was my first time seeing a mutant in the game, and I was a little excited. At that moment, its stats finally appeared on my information panel—

[Licker] (Elite)

Level: 15

Attack: 35-70

Defense: 20

Health: 1500

Skill: [Bite lv3]

Details: Licker, a mutant born of nuclear radiation. Extremely vicious, it feeds on the flesh and blood of humans and beasts.

"Hisss~~~"

The instant the Licker rushed out, it suddenly opened its bloody maw and shot out a tongue at least fifty centimeters long. It looked utterly ferocious.

"Fire!"

Before Chen Jinnan could give the order, I had already pulled the trigger. Muzzle flashes erupted as I fired in precise five-round bursts, every bullet striking the Licker's flesh.

In an instant, the Licker endured a coordinated volley from all five of us. Its health bar dropped straight to the bottom, and its body suddenly collapsed in paralysis.

But at the same time, two more figures charged out from the bushes. One of them headed straight for Xiao Bai, its claws slicing through the air with a sharp explosive shriek.

"Watch out!"

Zhang Ruolin suddenly leaped forward, a heavy shield appearing in her Left Hand. With a bang, the shield slammed onto the ground, and the ambushing Licker's claws raked across its surface in rapid succession, producing sharp, piercing screeches.

Xiao Bai was so frightened that she did not dare move from where she stood.

Zhang Ruolin was a shield-type Super Weapon Master and received defensive bonuses from her shield specialization. She had actually saved Xiao Bai just now; otherwise, taking a hit like that from a level 15 Licker would have left her in quite a bad state.

"Don't just stand there..."

I dashed to the right and unleashed a burst of precise fire at the Licker's head.

Compared to Zhang Ruolin and me, Chen Jinnan, Axe, and Xiao Bai had reacted a little slower. Zhang Ruolin and I looked more like seasoned gamers, while the other three had failed to react in time.

The moment the second Licker fell, another one adopted a flanking tactic, burrowing out from the trees incredibly close to me!

"Hisss~~~"

With a shrill hiss, its mouth full of sharp teeth lunged for my throat.

"Ding Han, watch out!"

Zhang Ruolin was horrified. It was already too late for her to save me!

Yet in that split second, I instinctively activated Step Slash!

"Buzz~~"

Three points of energy burned away, and sword intent instantly wrapped around my body. At the same time, a terrifying force shoved against my back as my body shot five yards diagonally forward to the right, almost perfectly evading the Licker's attack!

The Vanguard Bee Sting in my hand became a blazing streak, plunging into the back of the Licker's head with a squelch.

"312!"

The huge damage number was immensely encouraging.

"Holy crap..."

Axe stared in shock. "Ding Han, y-you actually learned Step Slash? That Skill Tome is a hot commodity at this stage..."

"Just luck."

I switched to the Roarer and continued firing precise shots as I modestly replied.

"Awesome..."

Chen Jinnan also raised his Submachine Gun and fired away.

A few seconds later, the corpses of all three Lickers lay Before One's Eyes, but sadly, not even a single Ability Crystal chest had dropped.

In truth, elite monsters should have had a fairly high chance of dropping Ability Crystal chests. It could only mean that our luck was average.

"Let's Go."

Chen Jinnan said, "I didn't expect us to be attacked by mutants before we even entered the insect nest. Things aren't going too smoothly this time, so everyone be more careful."

Everyone nodded.

As I followed the group forward, I replaced my magazine with a full one, then refilled the half-empty magazine. There were five spare Roarer magazines in my Dimensional Storage Space. Fully loaded, that only amounted to 250 rounds, so I still had to conserve ammunition. After all, when monsters swarmed us, there would be no time for players to reload their magazines.

Ahead, a tunnel appeared amid the bushes, and an intensely foul stench of decay wafted up from below.

Our destination for this trip had finally arrived!