A Dead Adventurer

"Then let's go." Zhang Ruofeng and Xin Mu stood at the entrance to Babel Tower, watching the adventurers constantly coming and going.

"Mm." Xin Mu replied quietly. Then the two of them set off for the Dungeon, made their way down the staircase passage, and arrived at the first floor.

"If nothing unexpected happens, let's check out the fourth floor first this time." Zhang Ruofeng and Xin Mu discussed their plan, and Xin Mu had no objections.

"Although this world is very similar to the various RPGs and action RPGs we usually play, what I'm actually most curious about—aside from the stats for abilities—is equipment." Zhang Ruofeng looked at the simple clothes he and Xin Mu were wearing. He had changed into a linen shirt, but was still wearing sweatpants and sneakers. Xin Mu was dressed in entirely modern clothes: although they had been washed, she was still wearing simple cropped jeans and a white short-sleeved shirt, with her hair casually tied into a ponytail. "We've seen all kinds of equipment, but their descriptions always seem so vague." Recalling what they had seen over the past few days, Zhang Ruofeng found it most surprising that weapons in this world seemed to have very basic descriptions. Aside from their ornate designs, high-grade weapons seemed to offer little beyond sharpness and durability. Higher-grade staves apparently made mana flow more smoothly, but their effects on the wielder's magic were just as unclear.

"Accessories," Xin Mu quietly added. No matter how skilled they were at games, girls always seemed to care about attractive designs. Xin Mu had often noticed that aside from ornaments clearly tied to a race or religion, almost no one in this world wore distinctive jewelry.

"Maybe jewelry is difficult to make in this world." Zhang Ruofeng thought of the adventurers known as jack-of-all-trades, whom he had seen in anime. They seemed to make all sorts of strange tools, but apparently not jewelry.

"Two Paralysis Mushrooms on the left." Xin Mu stood one step behind Zhang Ruofeng. He said nothing, darting forward to the two Paralysis Mushrooms and smashing them with both hands. They were slammed into the ground. Zhang Ruofeng crouched and struck again, leaving nothing but two piles of fine sand.

A sudden gust of wind brushed past Zhang Ruofeng's ear. He looked over and saw Xin Mu's dagger stab a Paralysis Mushroom that had just emerged from around the corner.

"The first floor's still too easy." Zhang Ruofeng sighed as he picked up the Magic Stones. Any adult could handle the first floor of the Dungeon, even without God's Blessing. Unless an adventurer had exceptionally poor aptitude, the first floor was hardly worth considering.

The two of them made their way along, stopping now and then, and soon reached the second floor. Without hesitation, they continued deeper in. The more powerful the Magic Stone, the higher its value.

The second floor gave them no trouble either. They had already been there once, and their abilities had improved considerably since then. They encountered no more elite monsters this time, so they rested briefly at the stairs between the second and third floors before setting off for the third.

Most of the monsters on the third floor were Cave Spiders, with the occasional Goblin. The most troublesome thing about the Cave Spiders was that, after appearing, they dug pits into the Dungeon maze floor and buried themselves. Whenever an adventurer passed by, they leapt out and attacked. They weren't poisonous, but their forelegs were as sharp as sickles. From the third floor onward, an adventurer's dangerous journey truly began. On the first and second floors, most adventurers died because of various accidents. But the Cave Spiders on the third floor were killers of many new adventurers.

"Stay alert." Zhang Ruofeng and Xin Mu weren't too worried. Although adventuring became dangerous from this floor onward, they had no choice but to keep moving.

A faint hiss sounded. Zhang Ruofeng looked up and saw a spider drop from above, its color almost indistinguishable from the gray-brown wall. It was about the size of a plate. Though small, it moved quickly, and its nearly silent attack was already closing in on Zhang Ruofeng's head. He didn't dodge. Judging the distance between himself and the Cave Spider, he abruptly crouched about half a person's height and punched upward. The Cave Spider was knocked flying. As it fell, Zhang Ruofeng struck it again, and in an instant it crumbled into fine sand. Xin Mu caught the pale gray Magic Stone.

Just as Zhang Ruofeng was about to continue, Xin Mu flung a dagger onto the ground a few steps in front of him. The ground trembled slightly, crumbled into fine sand, and revealed a pit.

"You really can tell them apart." Zhang Ruofeng stared at the pit he hadn't noticed at all, astonished.

"There's a tiny pattern on its back," Xin Mu explained. "I quite like the way it looks."

"..." Zhang Ruofeng hadn't expected that Xin Mu's main reason for identifying the monsters so accurately was the pale markings on the Cave Spiders' backs.

After walking for a while, they reached roughly the middle of the third floor, according to the map. Then Zhang Ruofeng caught the strong stench of blood.

"Watch out!" Zhang Ruofeng immediately went on alert. The monsters on this floor were good at choosing when to attack, but so far they hadn't managed to hurt him or Xin Mu. The smell of blood proved someone was here. With a stench this strong, the person had either already bled to death or was gravely injured.

"There aren't any elite monsters on this floor." Xin Mu carefully checked the Guild map. Sure enough, it didn't indicate that any elite monsters appeared here.

Zhang Ruofeng cautiously peeked around the corner and saw a human man slumped against the wall. Blood pooled from his abdomen and spread across the floor, and his eyes were already completely vacant. He was probably dead.

"Nothing we can do." Zhang Ruofeng shook his head. They had come light, and neither of them knew modern medicine. They didn't even have bandages, and healing magic was something neither of them might ever learn. They couldn't help someone injured this badly. "I don't see a weapon. Someone else probably took it." Zhang Ruofeng wasn't particularly surprised. The young man looked like a rookie, and some unscrupulous adventurer had probably snuck off with his weapon after he died.

Zhang Ruofeng felt a pang of regret as he looked at the dead young man's face. The man was probably younger than him. Death came so unexpectedly. But when Zhang Ruofeng turned back to Xin Mu, he noticed that she was trembling. Zhang Ruofeng and Xin Mu were both somewhat reserved, but death didn't frighten him that deeply. Or perhaps he'd simply never wanted to think about death. Whenever the thought came up, his mind would switch to something else.

But Zhang Ruofeng had forgotten that he'd been ignoring Xin Mu's feelings. Xin Mu had been pampered since childhood. Although she wasn't very talkative and had the unusual hobby of playing with knives, she had never experienced the loss of a loved one. Now, as she looked at the corpse slumped across from them, its vacant eyes seemed full of sorrow and resentment. The heavy stench of blood made her feel as though she might vomit. Xin Mu had prepared herself to face anything, but seeing a real dead person for the first time still filled her with intense unease.

"It's all right, it's all right." Zhang Ruofeng quickly stepped in front of Xin Mu, blocking her view and making her look at him. Then he took her hand and led her away in the opposite direction.

"Shouldn't we... take his body back?" Xin Mu asked.

"We don't know him or which Familia he belonged to, so even if we took him back, it might be difficult for anyone to identify him and claim the body. Our unusual situation could already cause us unimaginable trouble. We can't add to it. Besides, you know that adventurers often act on impulse, and many Main Gods turn a blind eye or even encourage them. If we handle this badly, we could get dragged into trouble we can't deal with." Zhang Ruofeng spoke calmly. "And right now, my top priorities are protecting you and making money. I'm not considering anything else."

Xin Mu knew Zhang Ruofeng was right. Most of the time, he spoke without letting his emotions get in the way. She also knew she was this flustered because seeing the body had shocked her so badly. Still, for a moment, she felt as if she'd glimpsed something inside Zhang Ruofeng. It was very strange. Yes, she felt that Zhang Ruofeng was like a yin-yang symbol: one side dark and cold, the other straightforward and gentle.