The Adventurer of Death

"Let's head out, then." Zhang Ruofeng and Xin Mu stood at the entrance of Babel Tower, watching the constant stream of adventurers passing by.

"Mm." Xin Mu responded faintly, and the two began their journey toward the Dungeon, passing through the stone-stair corridors until they arrived at the first floor.

"If nothing goes wrong, let's check out the 4th floor first." Zhang Ruofeng shared his plan with Xin Mu, and she had no objections.

"Although this world is very similar to the various RPGs or ARPGs we usually play, aside from the ability stats, what actually makes me most curious is the equipment." Zhang Ruofeng looked at their simple attire. While he had changed into a linen tunic, he was still wearing sweatpants and sneakers, and Xin Mu was dressed in purely modern clothing—though washed, she was still wearing simple capri jeans and a white short-sleeved shirt, her hair tied back in a casual ponytail. "We've seen all kinds of equipment, but the descriptions always seem so vague." Recalling what they had seen and heard, Zhang Ruofeng was most surprised by how simple the weapon descriptions were; high-level weapons, aside from being ornate, seemed only to be sharper and more durable. Staves supposedly allowed for smoother mana flow at higher levels, but their actual impact on one's own magic remained unclear.

"Accessories." Xin Mu added softly. Regardless of skill level, the pursuit of aesthetic beauty in games seemed to be a constant for girls, and Xin Mu had always been bothered by the fact that, aside from items clearly tied to racial beliefs, no one in this world seemed to wear unique jewelry.

"Maybe jewelry crafting in this world is just very difficult." Zhang Ruofeng thought of the "all-around" adventurers he had seen in anime who could craft strange, exotic items, yet even they seemed to lack jewelry.

"Two Paralysis Mushroom on the left." Xin Mu stood one step behind Zhang Ruofeng. Without a word, he lunged forward, slamming his hands down to pin the two Paralysis Mushroom to the ground. Following up with a crouch and another downward strike, only two piles of fine sand remained.

Zhang Ruofeng heard a sudden rush of wind, only to see Xin Mu's dagger strike a Paralysis Mushroom that had just emerged from around the corner.

"The first floor is still too easy." Zhang Ruofeng picked up the Magic Stone with a sigh. For any adult, the first floor of the Dungeon was manageable even without God's Blessing, and as long as an adventurer wasn't exceptionally untalented, the first floor wasn't even a consideration.

The two walked and stopped along the way, quickly reaching the second floor. Without hesitation, they prepared to head deeper; higher-grade Magic Stones fetched a better price.

The second floor didn't give them any trouble either. Having seen it before and having improved their abilities since their last visit, they encountered no elite-level monsters. They rested briefly at the stairs between the second and third floors before setting off for the third.

Most monsters on the third floor were Cave Spider, with the occasional Goblin. The most troublesome aspect of the third floor was that Cave Spider would dig holes in the Dungeon floor to bury themselves upon spawning. Once an adventurer passed by, they would jump out to attack. While they weren't poisonous, their front claws were as sharp as scythes. For adventurers, the dangerous journey truly began at the third floor; while most deaths on the first and second floors were due to accidents, the Cave Spider of the third floor were the killers of many novice adventurers.

"Stay alert." Zhang Ruofeng and Xin Mu weren't overly worried, but they knew that while the journey was becoming dangerous, they couldn't stop moving forward.

"Hiss." A faint sound reached them. Zhang Ruofeng looked up to see a spider, perfectly camouflaged against the grey-brown wall, dropping from above. It was about the size of a plate—small, but fast. Its silent attack was already nearing the top of his head. Zhang Ruofeng didn't dodge; gauging the distance, he dropped half a head in height and threw an upward punch, sending the Cave Spider flying. As it fell, he struck again, and it instantly turned into fine sand. Xin Mu accurately caught the pale grey Magic Stone.

Just as Zhang Ruofeng was about to move forward, Xin Mu threw a dagger into the ground a few steps ahead of him. The ground trembled slightly, turned to fine sand, and revealed a pit.

"You can actually tell them apart?" Zhang Ruofeng asked, surprised by the pit he hadn't even noticed.

"It has a very pretty pattern on its back," Xin Mu explained. "I quite like the look of it."

"..." Zhang Ruofeng hadn't expected the primary factor allowing Xin Mu to identify the monsters to be the pale white pattern on the backs of the Cave Spider.

After walking for a while, they reached the middle section of the third floor on their map, where Zhang Ruofeng caught the scent of heavy blood.

"Watch out!" Zhang Ruofeng immediately went on high alert. While the monsters on this floor were good at timing their attacks, they hadn't harmed them yet. However, the smell of blood meant someone was here; this person was either dead from blood loss or severely wounded.

"There are no elite-level monsters on this floor." Xin Mu carefully checked the Guild map; there were indeed no markers for elite spawns here.

Zhang Ruofeng cautiously peeked around the corner to see a male human leaning against the wall. A large amount of blood was pooling from his abdomen onto the floor, and his eyes were already glazed over—he was clearly dead.

"Nothing we can do." Zhang Ruofeng shook his head. They were traveling light, lacked modern medical skills, didn't even have bandages, and healing magic was something they would likely never learn. There was no way to help someone injured to this extent. "No weapon found; it was probably taken by someone else." Zhang Ruofeng wasn't surprised; the young man looked like a newcomer, and his weapon had likely been pilfered by some black-hearted adventurer after his death.

Zhang Ruofeng felt a pang of regret. The deceased was young, perhaps even younger than him. Death was just that sudden. When he turned to look at Xin Mu, he noticed she was trembling. Both of them were somewhat detached by nature, but Zhang Ruofeng didn't feel a deep fear of death—or perhaps he simply refused to confront the issue, his mind always switching to other topics whenever the thought arose.

But he had forgotten about Xin Mu. She was a young lady who had been pampered since childhood. Though she didn't talk much and had a strange hobby of playing with knives, she had never faced the loss of life. Looking at the corpse slumped across from them, the hollow eyes seemed filled with sorrow and resentment, and the thick stench of blood made her feel nauseous. Though she had prepared herself in her heart, the first time seeing a real dead body still filled her with intense unease.

"It's okay, it's okay." Zhang Ruofeng quickly stepped between her and the sight, forcing her to look at him, then took her hand and walked in the opposite direction.

"Are we... not going to bury him?" Xin Mu asked.

"We don't know him, and we don't know which Familia he belongs to, so bringing him up might make it difficult to claim the body. Besides, our special status could already bring us unimaginable trouble; we can't add to it. You should also know that most adventurers are impulsive, and many Main Gods are indifferent or even encouraging. If we handle this poorly, we could attract trouble we can't deal with." Zhang Ruofeng said calmly. "And my top priority right now is to protect you and make money. Nothing else matters."

Xin Mu knew he was right. Most of the time, Zhang Ruofeng didn't let his emotions cloud his judgment. She also knew she was only this flustered because of the initial shock, but she felt as if she had caught a glimpse into his heart—it was very strange. Yes, she felt his heart was like a Yin-Yang diagram: one side dark and cold, the other straightforward and gentle.