"What's wrong?" Su Li glanced at the other person's avatar frame, where the words [Lv. 5] were displayed in plain sight.
"Huh? You're level 5 too?!"
You had to understand, Su Li had survived a life-or-death battle, blown up a pile of shit, stabbed someone in the back, and even had to outwit thin air just to barely level up. Had this spider been cheating?
[Pansi Dawang (Lv. 5): That's right, Big Boss! At first, I was pretty scared too. I wanted to hide whenever I saw anything. But then I realized that as long as I kept eating and eating, my experience bar shot right up! And it tasted pretty good, too!]
[Pansi Dawang: I accidentally ate a passing Luminous Beetle just now, and I went straight to max level!]
Su Li: "..."
"You can evolve just by eating? That's way too easy! Why do I have to risk my life doing quests and killing monsters above my level?"
Is this the difference in racial talents? Sure enough, in this looks-obsessed world, skeletons have no rights. After all, skeletons don't have faces...
Though he was seething with envy, he couldn't afford to lose his Big Boss aura.
[Su Li (Anonymous): Ahem. Good, you've got plenty of spirit. So what did you want to ask me?]
[Pansi Dawang: It's like this, Big Boss! You're the highest-level player around, so you must have seen a lot. I wanted to ask your advice about choosing an evolution path. I'm terrible at making decisions!]
Su Li was at a loss for words.
[Su Li (Anonymous): Uh, you're a spider and I'm a skeleton. We're different species, so it's hard for me to give you professional advice. It's like if you asked me how to spin a web—I wouldn't know either.]
[Pansi Dawang: That's okay, Big Boss! Please, enlighten me! These two options are giving me a headache!]
Su Li sighed.
[Su Li: All right. Since you asked so sincerely, I'll tell you, out of the goodness of my heart.]
[Su Li: We're at a disadvantage early on, so to deal with any adventurers or powerful monsters we might run into, I suggest choosing an evolution path with special abilities. Poison, control, or extreme speed, for example. All three are lifesaving skills in the early game.]
The other side was silent for two seconds, then replied at once:
[Pansi Dawang: Okay, Big Boss! I understand! I'll start evolving right now! I want to get strong just like you!]
Looking at the eager reply, Su Li shook his head.
This kid's so easy to fool. Hope he makes it to the next chapter.
After checking the time, he realized it was already evening in the real world.
"Pipi Axe, Pipi Finger, you two guard this coffin for me. If anyone dares come in, beat them to a pulp!"
After settling his two guardians, Su Li lay peacefully in the stone coffin that had once belonged to the Ghoul Tyrant and pulled the lid halfway closed.
"The bed's a little hard, but at least it feels safe."
"Module, activate! If anyone comes in, give them a righteous group beatdown!"
Then he logged out, and Su Li's consciousness gradually faded.
Elsewhere, in a dim tunnel.
A spider was perched on a huge web, muttering as it stared at the evolution panel before it.
"Big Boss is right. Special abilities are the way to go!"
"Option Two, [Venomous Wolf Spider], isn't bad, but it's way too ugly. It's basically turning me into a monster. Being a spider is a novel experience, but if possible, I'd still like to turn back into a human."
Its compound eyes gleamed with longing.
"I'm so jealous of that Slime. I heard it got the [Mimicry] skill at just level 3. It can only turn into a jelly-like Slime Girl, but at least that's humanoid! I want that too!"
Finally, it gritted its teeth and selected Option One.
"Let's take a gamble! [Phantom Dream Weaver]! Just the name sounds like it has a lot of potential!"
At the same time, inside a mine.
A blue Slime was devouring a pile of glowing ore.
Suddenly, it let out a huge sneeze, its whole body wobbling like jelly.
"Huh? Can Slimes sneeze too? Could Spider Girl be thinking about me?"
It reached out a tentacle to scratch its round head, then sent Pansi Dawang a private message:
[Hey, hey, Spider Girl, what are you doing? Why aren't you replying to my messages?]
It waited a long time, but there was no response.
"Ah, whatever. I'll just keep eating. This rock tastes amazing—like chicken, and so crunchy!"
"I'm gonna gobble it up!!"
Back in the real world, Su Li took off his helmet and sat up in bed.
"Whew—"
He stretched mightily, and his bones cracked all over like popping beans.
"Damn, that feels amazing!"
Su Li waved his arms, feeling strength coursing through his body. His muscles weren't huge, but they were firm and powerful.
As a shut-in who'd spent years cooped up at home, he'd always been in such poor shape that "running a few steps left him panting." He'd never felt this energetic before.
"Could this game really improve your health just like the ads say?"
Su Li hopped off the bed and went to look in the bathroom mirror.
"Hmm... still as handsome as ever! But why won't these dark circles go away? Could it be a side effect of overexerting my mental strength? I'd better try going to bed early tonight."
After washing up, Su Li took off his clothes to shower.
As the hot water streamed over him, he glanced down at his arms and chest.
"Damn, was I always this pale?"
He'd always had fair skin from staying indoors, but now it had a smooth, jade-like sheen, and even his pores seemed finer.
"My skin's good enough to advertise skincare products now, isn't it?"
Suddenly, he remembered his younger sister's words that morning—"It's bad for your health"—and the look of misunderstanding she'd given him.
His face stiffened. Could it really be because I've been playing pilot too much? Is this some kind of unhealthy pallor?
Su Li shivered.
"To avoid ending up in a wheelchair, and for the sake of my manly dignity, I've decided! From now on, I'm giving up lewd stuff and becoming a person free of lowly interests!"
Ten o'clock that night.
Su Lin Yue pushed open the door, schoolbag on her back and exhaustion from evening study written all over her face.
When she saw Su Li sitting on the sofa playing with his phone, she glared at him before heading straight to her room.
Half an hour later, the bathroom door opened, and the young woman stepped out in a bath towel, her hair still wet.
"Stupid big brother." Su Lin Yue dried her hair while staring straight at Su Li with the look she reserved for perverts.
"If you play that kind of game again tonight, I'm never speaking to you again! I'll even tell Mom in heaven!"
Su Li looked utterly innocent and hurriedly raised both hands in surrender.
"I'm innocent, Yueyue! I swear I won't play anything like that! I'm a gentleman!"
To prove his innocence, he even showed her the Game Helmet in his hands.
"Look, it's just an ordinary virtual reality game helmet, not some kind of lewd device. And it really can stimulate your body with a microcurrent to help you sleep deeply. I feel great right now!"
Su Lin Yue eyed him suspiciously, then looked at the helmet with its high-tech design.
"Really?"
"Truer than gold!" The girl narrowed her eyes and held out a pale hand.
"Hand over your phone!"
"Huh? What do you need my phone for?"
Though he felt guilty, Su Li had no choice but to hand it over obediently.
Su Lin Yue took the phone, entered the password with practiced ease, then opened some hidden folders and his browsing history.
"You perverted big brother! Isn't having such a cute little sister enough for you? You even hid so many... so many shameless things!"
Seeing all the indescribable study materials on the screen, Su Lin Yue's face instantly flushed bright red.
"Delete them! Delete every last one!" Su Lin Yue's fingers flew like a pianist's.
Watching from the side, Su Li felt his heart bleed and let out a pig-like howl:
"Nooo!! My Holy Sword!! Those were rare, out-of-print files!!"
Five minutes later, Su Lin Yue tossed the squeaky-clean phone back to Su Li and nodded with satisfaction.
"All right, go to bed early. If I catch you secretly downloading anything again... Hmph!"
She made a scissors gesture, then turned and went back to her room, shutting the door with a bang.
The living room fell quiet again. Su Li held his empty phone, his face full of anguish.
But the next second, a meaningful smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.
"Heh heh, my foolish little imouto."
"As a seasoned veteran who's played unknown hero on all sorts of forums and shared mysterious codes, how could I have only one hideout?"
"Cloud backups, hidden hard drives, encrypted cloud storage... the idea of keeping three hideouts like a wily rabbit is simple enough."
Su Li glanced at the firmly shut door. "Heh. Women only slow me down when I draw my sword."
"Aiseland Continent, I'm back!"
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