Going Easy?

Run!

Qian Lai's shout came from within the pitch-black cave, accompanied by a flickering light drawing closer.

Smokemon floated beside Qian Lai, releasing smoke along the way to confuse the enemies' vision.

Whoosh—whoosh!

Boom!

Qian Lai leaped forward and threw himself out of the cave as two fireballs flew out behind him and struck the ground.

Run!

Qian Lai glanced at Smokemon and only relaxed after confirming it was unharmed.

But recalling the plan they had made earlier, he hurriedly called out a warning.

In truth, Liu Jie's Horned Beast, Ma Xingyu's Bukamon, and Su Xiu's Seedmon—three Digimon at the second stage of the In-Training level—were not particularly suited for battle.

But Qian Lai had taken it for granted that only the two Goblinmon that had fled back remained in the cave.

Since they had come prepared, their chances of winning were actually not low.

Unfortunately, they had plunged headfirst into the enemy Digimon's headquarters. What a thrill!

"Wooo—wooo—wooo—"

The Goblinmon's incoherent shouting echoed from inside the cave as Liu Jie and Ma Xingyu gripped their wooden boards tightly.

They could not understand why Qian Lai kept shouting for them to run.

Everything was clearly proceeding as usual, and the Goblinmon's voices inside the cave were getting closer and closer.

The two little ones gritted their teeth. No matter what, they could not run away now!

Smack!

A Goblinmon charged out of the cave, only for two wooden boards to suddenly swing in from either side and strike it squarely in the face.

Bubbles!

The stream of bubbles had limited destructive power, but after being struck in the face by the boards, the Goblinmon fell flat on its back. The bubbles immediately followed, disrupting it. Seeing that the two little ones were preparing to press their attack, the two Goblinmon really did start to panic.

Children that age were surprisingly strong when they hit people.

And because the feedback from striking projections was not that intense, the two little ones adjusted slightly and prepared to chase their advantage.

Don't! Move aside, now!

As the only girl on Qian Lai's team, Su Xiu had not managed to claim an ambush position—the two boys would not allow her to take part in such a dangerous activity.

So, having nothing else to do, she immediately came over to help Qian Lai up.

Qian Lai had hurled himself onto the grass, and that hurt far more than a Digimon's attack.

—Though it was really only a scrape.

To be honest, Qian Lai's jump had terrified the camera crew.

He had really thrown himself into it!

Fortunately, the cave itself was a temporary structure, with the scene created through Holographic Projection coverage.

The area had been specifically chosen, and even the stones and other objects on the ground nearby had been dealt with beforehand.

Of course, Qian Lai had no time to notice such details.

"You run first."

With no time to explain further, he pulled Su Xiu away while loudly warning the two little ones at the cave entrance. He also tried to provide support himself.

Fortunately, Liu Jie and Ma Xingyu listened this time, and they reacted quickly.

Their wooden boards were already raised, but without another word, they dodged to the side.

After all, the Goblinmon were having trouble fighting back now, yet Qian Lai had repeatedly shouted warnings. That made them wonder whether something had gone wrong.

And if something really had gone wrong, the danger had to be coming from the cave.

So the two little ones cleverly moved away from the entrance. Ma Xingyu even reached out and poked a Goblinmon with his board.

Normally, Goblinmon bullied the weak and feared the strong. Once they had been knocked to the ground like this, they would most likely already be thinking of retreating.

But these two Goblinmon were different.

They were thugs specially controlled by Impmon with Black Gears.

The sneak attack and bubbles had only rattled them slightly. Without any follow-up attacks, the Goblinmon soon became even more frenzied.

Ma Xingyu's poke made that Goblinmon flip itself upright—and then it got hit.

Poison Mushroom Bomb!

"Ha ha—ha ha—hahaha—"

Qian Lai had guessed that the Digimon inside would attack outward, but he had not expected this result.

Run! There are more enemies inside!

Liu Jie and Ma Xingyu had not quite processed it yet—why had it suddenly started laughing uncontrollably?

But when they heard Qian Lai shout again, they did not hesitate. They hurriedly grabbed their Digimon and ran.

More Goblinmon then emerged from the cave entrance, along with two new Digimon.

The first was a purple mushroom with arms and legs that looked poisonous at a glance.

The other was a gray stone man with half a Black Gear stuck in its head.

It had to be admitted that Liang Xing's use of network viruses and redundant data to breed Goblinmon had directly led to Goblinmon overrunning the Digital World.

Impmon had not needed much effort to find these eight thugs.

In fact, even without Black Gears, the Goblinmon would still obey Impmon's leadership.

But as Goblinmon's evolved form, Impmon knew Goblinmon's nature all too well.

So, to save trouble, Impmon had Hagurumon control them all.

"Didn't you say there were only two?"

Su Xiu ran at the front while carrying Seedmon, but when she looked back, she found that they were not chasing after them at all.

"Hiss... These should be all of them. There's an even tougher one inside! Good thing I ran fast."

Now that their safety was assured, Qian Lai finally felt the pain from the scrape on his elbow.

"What a shame. My backpack's still in there."

Qian Lai's backpack was no small thing!

He had prepared many things for this autumn outing—not just self-heating hot pot, but plenty of other daily necessities as well.

If he could retrieve it, it would really save their team a great deal of time.

But there was no use hoping for that now.

With those Digimon guarding it, there was no way he could bring the backpack out.

And if Liang Xing had not told Impmon to go easy on them, Qian Lai himself would not have been able to escape!

"What do we do now?"

Liu Jie also looked back. The Goblinmon at the cave entrance that had been laughing wildly had already stopped.

They too were looking toward Qidian Village, as though waiting for something.

Perhaps that was the tougher Digimon Qian Lai had mentioned?

"Let's go back and warn them first. The Digital Eggs absolutely cannot stay in their original room!"

Qian Lai still did not understand why the Goblinmon had stolen the Digital Eggs.

So he did not know that compared to the Digital Eggs, their Digimon were actually far more desirable.

Before, there had been no choice.

The Goblinmon could not catch Elecmon, so they could only steal eggs in an attempt to seize their data.

Now that the opponent had changed to Impmon, it did not have a habit of bullying the weak. It preferred challenging powerful enemies.

That also happened to fit Liang Xing's principle of having it put pressure on the Digimon.

As for going easy on them, the Digimon still had to prove themselves!

Impmon could send thugs to provide an environment for growth, but at most, those thugs could help them evolve into the Rookie stage.

As for the Champion stage, they could only achieve that through the Digivice's ability to absorb conviction.

Impmon had already asked Liang Xing about it.

If they ultimately could not evolve Champion-level Digimon, there would be no point in going easy on them.

It was not the shame of Champion-level Digimon!

A bunch of Rookie-level Digimon, without the support of Ability Enhancement Cards—what right did they have to fight it?

At the cave entrance, Impmon pointed its wooden club toward Qidian Village.

The eight thugs scrambled to be first, charging out with wild cries.

This was how Impmon went easy on them.

The environment for growth had already been prepared for them.

It looked forward to the birth of powerful enemies!

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