Distant Cousin

Late at night, I started grinding five-star dungeons in the city. As for the Instance Crystal sent by Left Hand, Qianli Qingqiu, and Three Cups to the Great Way, I asked Ruolin to pick them up.

I didn't sleep that night, Ruolin.

So, two days passed in the blink of an eye, and I was completely immersed in the mechanical process of grinding dungeons. It was tedious and boring, but I had no choice but to do so in order to reach level 72 as soon as possible.

On the morning of the third day, I finally finished farming all 11 Instance Crystal and successfully leveled up to level 72.

KFC under the South Ring Elevated Road in the early morning.

Are you tired?

Ruolin asked with a smile.

"Good."

I took a deep breath, opened the trade panel, and put up a Resurrection Sacred Canon and two pieces of Gold Equipment, saying, "These are the drops from the three Instance Crystal that Left Hand gave me. I'll gladly accept the Experience Points. Have someone deliver the items to BH City. Also, Qianli Qingqiu and Sanbei Tong have some here."

The drops were divided into three parts.

The best drops came from the Qianli Qingqiu dungeon. One dungeon dropped Storm Core and Phase Teleportation Core, while the other dropped a pair of S9 Chaos-rank Boots, which greatly increased movement speed and attack damage, just what Qianli Qingqiu needed.

"Yes, that's fine too."

Ruolin nodded and smiled, "I'll go to the Player Black Market to find Gun Like a Dragon, and ask a player from the Crimson Firmament Alliance to take it there."

I lowered my head and started eating.

"Ding Han, go home early for dinner and bed. Also, Ying'er hasn't seen you for days. Spend some time with her after you wake up. She agreed to be your girlfriend, so you can't neglect her."

"Don't worry, I know."

After breakfast, the two went their separate ways. Ruolin went to the Player Black Market, while I returned to the old house and went straight to sleep.

She slept soundly until about six o'clock in the evening. When she woke up, she heard the sound of stir-frying outside. Lin Qingying returned and was cooking.

As I got up and went outside, the kitchen was filled with the aroma of food, and she was busy working, wearing an apron.

"Awake?"

"Um."

"Hurry up and wash up, it's time to eat."

"Good."

I leaned over, picked up a chicken nugget with my hand, and popped it into my mouth. Amidst Lin Qingying's laughter, I rushed to the bathroom to pee first.

After washing up, Lin Qingying's meal was ready.

Her culinary skills have become increasingly refined; her braised mandarin fish is now about 80% as good as mine, so I had a very satisfying meal.

After helping her wash the dishes, a thought suddenly struck me, and I immediately heard Alice's voice. "Ding Han, I'm downstairs at your place, come down for a moment."

"..."

This girl is truly omnipresent; it seems like she can find me no matter where I am.

After greeting Lin Qingying, I went downstairs.

Downstairs, a group of elderly women were dancing enthusiastically in the square.

Alice stood under a tree nearby, watching them dance with great interest.

Yes, I'm getting old.

"Alice."

I walked up behind her and whispered, "I've reached level 72."

"Know."

Alice turned around, took out a book of Subspace Jump Slash Skill Tome wrapped in cloth, and said, "Learn it."

Pick up the Skill Tome, confirm the use, and the next moment a deep golden skill appeared in the skill list, incomparably brilliant. The skill icon showed a figure rushing out of a black hole in subspace, holding a long sword and slashing forward.

Hmm, the icon is kind of cool!

I quickly leveled up to lv10 and gained 6 points of strength. Of course, these 6 points of strength are secondary. The important thing is that this Subspace Jump Slash skill will give me the ability to teleport, deal 10 times the damage, and stun for 3 seconds. This enhancement is quite significant!

Then I glanced at the rest of the skills, oh no, I forgot to upgrade them after the seventh job advancement!

Fortunately, I had accumulated a lot of Skill Experience in the past few days, so I broke through the authority level in all kinds of basic skills such as repair, throwing, and programming, and raised them to the seventh-level "master" level!

Master-level repair, master-level Throwing Skill, master swordsmanship, master programmer...

Hmm, that sounds really awesome!

Upon completion of the upgrade, you will gain 12 points of Strength, 12 points of Agility, and 54 points of Spirit.

The passive knowledge they've acquired is too numerous, their level is too high, and their Mental Power points are severely over-optimized!

My Mental Power has now reached 1278 points, even surpassing my secondary attribute, agility... This is...

Magic damage swordsman? Dual magic and martial arts practitioner?

Not bad, not bad, that makes sense!

"Alice."

After reviewing the attributes, I looked down at Alice and asked, "When do we set off?"

"Now."

Alice said, "The Devourer has decided to linger in our world for a long time. It is currently building its lair in a secret location, and its previous injury must not have fully healed. This is a golden opportunity for us!"

As she spoke, a murderous glint flashed in her eyes. "I can't sleep peacefully until the Demon Eater is dead!"

I couldn't help but mentally complain.

Alice, watch your facial expressions! You're looking a bit like a villain!

The next second, a bell rang in my ear; the mission had begun.

[You have triggered the Main Quest "The Dream Eater Nightmare, the Final Battle!" (SSS-rank)! Quest details: The Dream Eater Nightmare is ambitious and has invaded the Withered Wood Forest, attempting to turn tens of thousands of square kilometers of the forest into his own territory. Please travel to the Withered Wood Forest with the Subspace Witch Alice and assist Alice in slaying the Nightmare. Once the quest is completed, you will be remembered in history and receive incredibly rich rewards!]

Okay, okay, this is a 3S certification task, a top-level task!

As one of the five Chaos Demon Lords, Evil Eater certainly deserves this level.

I went upstairs to say goodbye to my girlfriend.

"Um."

Alice nodded emphatically. She turned and sat down by the flowerbed, crossing her legs. "Say goodbye properly," she said. "This might be the last time you see each other. I'll wait for you here. Hmm... is fifteen minutes enough?"

Alice! Who do you look down on?

If I weren't 100% unable to beat you, you'd probably have a taste of my fists!

Gritting his teeth, he turned and went upstairs.

"That woman is here again?"

Lin Qingying was working on her computer when she saw me walk in, and immediately stood up.

"Um."

I reached out and pulled her into my arms, gently stroking the back of her hair. "Xiao Ying, I have to go out for a bit to help Alice out. If we succeed this time, you all will most likely stop having that nightmare."

Lin Qingying gently, but her body was trembling involuntarily.

She was terrified, afraid that I would never return.

I didn't dare linger any longer, and turned my head to say, "Give me a kiss, I have to go."

"Good."

Lin Qingying up, but instead of kissing my cheek, she kissed me directly on the lips.

The kiss lasted about 10 seconds, and Lin Qingying more engrossed in it than I was.

After the kiss ended, I patted her head again, then turned and left without looking back.

Downstairs, Alice crossed her arms and laughed, "I didn't even use my psychic powers to check what was going on upstairs, wasn't that loyal?"

"..."

I'm speechless.

How do we get there?

"Keep a low profile and go as a player."

Alice said, "Take me to the Player Black Market. We'll go from the Phase Teleportation Array to the Frigid Tundra, then head to the Withered Wood Forest. I'll use psionic energy to seal all my presence. Just treat me like a player. This time, we're going to catch the Ghoul off guard!"

As she spoke, she opened her eyes wide, her beautiful eyes filled with captivating charm.

I can understand that to some extent. Although she lived to be over 70, Alice spent most of her time in a cage, during which she had no contact with anyone and only focused on studying warp energy.

Therefore, her mental age is not much different from that of a teenage girl.

"Let's go then."

I took out my keys and turned on the S680's headlights.

Wow...

The moment Alice sat in the passenger seat, Alice exclaimed in surprise, "Ding Han, your car must be quite expensive!"

"Good."

I replied truthfully, "With your strength, if you were to integrate into human society, you could have as many of these things as you want."

A Subspace Witch can roam freely in the wilderness, a powerful being capable of instantly killing 100+ players—if she were willing to submit to the Crimson Dragon Country, I can't imagine what kind of treatment they would give her.

He might be granted the authority to command troops, Nine Bestowals, be allowed to wear a sword and shoes in the palace, and be granted the privilege of being addressed by name without being summoned!

Shortly after, they arrived at the Player Black Market.

Taking Alice upstairs, she seemed a little socially awkward when she saw a large number of players.

"Ding Han, there are so many people..."

She instinctively took my arm, clinging to me like a little bird.

"Yoho~~~"

From afar, the Chaos Demon King grinned and asked, "Ding Han, who is this beautiful lady?"

"She's my distant cousin!"

"Go to hell, is your cousin a foreign woman?"

Xu Tian also appeared, squinted at Alice, and then showed a look of awe.

Alice has concealed her power and identity; players cannot see her name, and she appears just like an ordinary person. It's unclear how Xu Tian discovered the deception, but it's likely related to his identity as Psionicist.

Without exchanging much words with the other players, I led Alice straight to the Teleportation Array, took out two teleportation fees, and said, "Fellow travelers from the Frigid Tundra!"

The administrator adjusted the teleportation node, smiling and nodding, "Ding Han, it's ready."

Thanks!

He waved his hand and stepped into the Teleportation Array with Alice.

Although summer has arrived, the Frigid Tundra in the far north remains cold.

I took out the Off-road Motorcycle, climbed on first, then glanced at Alice and asked, "Are you sitting behind me?"

"Good."

She stepped into the car and hugged my waist.

The Off-road Motorcycle drove into the wilderness, kicking up a wisp of dust in the night.

"So, how do you plan to assassinate Nightmare?" I asked.

"We need to dress up a bit."

Alice said seriously, "The Nightmare is recruiting witches to serve him in the Withered Wood Forest. I will go to see him as an unknown witch, and you will disguise yourself as my servant. Don't worry, I will use magic to conceal your player identity so that he can't tell."

"Are you sure you can handle this...?"

I suddenly felt a little panicked.

Although Alice seemed very confident and said things like, "You don't have to believe in yourself, but you must believe in me," and "Don't worry, killing the Chaos Demon Lord is as easy as taking candy from a baby," she still managed to spout nonsense.

But I always felt that her plan and our partnership were a shoddy operation, and that Evil Eater could see through it from 800 miles away!