"What's going on?!" Zhou Diao roared at Fang Ye. "How can your buddy still talk after he's dead?!"
Fang Ye looked scared stupid, staring wide-eyed at the corpse on the ground without moving.
Seeing this, Zhou Diao grew even more irritable. He stepped forward and kicked Fang Ye to the ground!
Though he had held back, Fang Ye still curled up in pain and cried, "It was that monster! That monster... it, it can speak in human voices..."
Feng Ling also asked Huangfu Miaomiao beside her, "It can do that?"
Huangfu Miaomiao's face had gone deathly pale from the scene just now. "I-I don't know either..."
She might have been a Player, but she was one who had not seen much of the world. She knew far too little about Contaminants.
Feng Ling said, "Read your Zone Quest again."
Huangfu Miaomiao opened the Virtual Screen and stammered, "I-in the depths of the pitch-black cave, the monster is already starving... You need exceptional judgment and astonishing courage... Silence is the Overture to Death; light is the prelude to victory. Those who conquer their fear will receive generous rewards—accept the A-Rank Subjugation Task?"
Feng Ling immediately said, "Accept it."
Huangfu Miaomiao said, "Huh... huh?"
Seeing how blankly she stood there, Feng Ling nearly wanted to follow Zhou Diao's example and kick someone. "Accept it, now."
Huangfu Miaomiao hurriedly pressed confirm!
"I-I-I accept the A-Rank Subjugation Task!"
A progress bar appeared in the quest area, displaying current quest progress: 0%
Huangfu Miaomiao's feelings were indescribable. An A-Rank Subjugation Task required at least five or six Players even in a team. Most of the corpses in the cave had surely belonged to Players. Could she and Feng Ling really handle this?
Then she thought of Feng Ling's thrill-seeking personality, and her unease deepened.
If Feng Ling died here, where would she find another protector?... Though honestly, even if Feng Ling survived, could she possibly live peacefully while following a Boss like her?
Maybe seeking out Feng Ling in the first place had been a mistake...
No, no, no, no! She could not think like that! Without Feng Ling, she would have been tortured to death by that fat man long ago! Or caught by the Inspectors and sent off for experiments! With tubes stuck all over her body!
Huangfu Miaomiao's face turned pale, then green, as all sorts of images in her mind terrified her half to death.
Feng Ling had no idea what chaotic thoughts Huangfu Miaomiao was having. Bone Spikes extended from her shoulders, and two translucent Bone Blades rose high, eager for battle.
Killing those bugs just now had not given her any feeling at all. It was like eating a bowl of plain noodles in clear broth—bland and tasteless.
This big one should be fun to kill, right?
"Move aside!" Zhou Diao swung a claw at her without ceremony, looking ferocious. "This is my home ground. Get back, all of you. I'm using my ultimate!"
"Using your ultimate?" The Bone Blades on Feng Ling's shoulders trembled as she studied Zhou Diao curiously.
How was he going to use it?
Before her eyes, Zhou Diao's shoulders and back rapidly swelled. His shirt was quickly torn apart, thick silver-gray fur sprouted from his pores, and his entire head underwent a drastic transformation—
His pupils turned gold, fangs grew in his mouth, and six beast ears tore through his skin. Suppressing a roar, he transformed into a...
Dog?
"See that?" Zhou Diao bared his teeth proudly at Feng Ling. "My Card, Hellhound!"
Feng Ling said, "..."
All right.
She admitted the name sounded pretty intimidating, but this appearance... did not quite match her image of a Hellhound.
It was a little ugly.
And a little small.
Though two extra dog heads had appeared on his rear shoulders, their eyes were closed and they looked listless. It was hard to judge.
Like an underdeveloped Werewolf.
Feng Ling could not help glancing at Huangfu Miaomiao.
—If even Demons were this lackluster, then perhaps it made sense for a Hellhound to look like this?
Huangfu Miaomiao froze. In a flash of insight, she understood Feng Ling's look in an instant and said angrily, "High-level Cards have enormous room for growth!!!"
"That's right!" Zhou Diao unusually sided with a Xenomorph he despised most.
Feng Ling, besieged from both sides, muttered, "Then show me that growth."
The rustling sound of bugs crawling rang out again. Everyone stopped talking and entered combat mode.
They had expected the Contaminant above the cave to appear again, but instead, blue-black crawling insects came swarming in from all directions!
Zhou Diao was furious. He would rather fight the Contaminant one-on-one than clean up these bugs scurrying everywhere.
"Everyone, fall back into the passage!"
Zhou Diao shouted. The silver-gray fur over his body trembled, and then he pounced into the swarm, slaughtering in every direction!
His strength and speed had undergone a qualitative leap. The bugs beneath his Beast Claws were as fragile as paper. Within a few breaths, he had already torn apart three or four Bug Monsters.
Feng Ling guarded the other side, covering the Special Forces members as they retreated.
Her Bone Blades were slender and nimble, with a wider controllable range. Without much effort, she sliced the lunging Bug Monsters into two.
"Oh no! The Detector!" Qin Liang suddenly cried out.
As if drawn by the light, a Bug Monster opened its gleaming black mandibles and lunged at the display screen.
In his panic, Qin Liang ran back and hugged the precious Detector tightly to his chest!
The Bug Monster's mandibles pierced through his backpack and stabbed into his back. Qin Liang groaned in pain, but his hands still clung desperately to the Detector.
"Get moving!" Zhou Diao rushed over, grabbed the Bug Monster, and ripped it straight into two with steel-like Sharp Claws!
Foul blackish-green mucus sprayed from its abdominal cavity, drenching Qin Liang. He did not even stop to wipe it off, grabbing the Detector and sprinting desperately into the passage!
Feng Ling remarked, "You're pretty considerate."
Zhou Diao stared coldly at the remaining Bug Monsters and said, "On my ground, I won't allow anyone to get hurt in front of me."
Feng Ling had wanted to mock him for being melodramatic.
But he had spoken so quietly, as if he were not speaking for others to hear but making a resolution to himself. She lost the urge to tease him.
The flares went out one by one, and darkness closed in on them.
Zhou Diao's field of vision shrank smaller and smaller, and he grew increasingly anxious.
The Underground Cave was far larger than expected. The team desperately needed supplies and had to return to the surface as soon as possible.
Fortunately, the swarm had mostly been defeated. They successfully retreated into the passage and headed back the way they had come.
The passage grew more and more rugged and difficult to traverse.
Feng Ling remembered that there should have been a protruding rock overhead on this path, one that had struck a team member's head. But they had walked for a long time without seeing it.
Just as she felt something was wrong, she heard Fang Ye at the very front let out a scream!
"What happened?!" Zhou Diao was at the back of the group and could not see the situation ahead.
Xiao Li said anxiously, "This isn't the right path! There's a pit ahead. Fang Ye and Old Cao fell in!"
"Fuck!" Zhou Diao cursed furiously.
"Save me! Save me!!!" Fang Ye screamed in terror!
Feng Ling squeezed forward to look. This truly was not the right path. At the end was a deep pit, at least seven or eight meters deep by estimate. Fang Ye had fallen hard enough to split his head open and bleed profusely. Cao Hongyi was not looking good either, lying on the ground and holding his leg bone.
Had it broken?
Feng Ling was about to ask when Cao Hongyi seemed to notice something. He suddenly raised his gun and fired behind Fang Ye!
Bang!
The bullet struck Brother Chao in the forehead!
Before you continue