Cursed Gambler's Second Mutated Heart

Mechanical Arm Girl knew Ji Xun had Witch's Gaze in his hand and had vaguely guessed how to kill the monster.

What if it didn't work on the monster?

He dared gamble with his life just like that?

Ji Xun knew his teammate was stunned, but he pointed at the monster's corpse and reminded her, "I think this monster dropped materials."

The hard part of this stage wasn't figuring out how to break it, but daring to actually try.

Mechanical Arm Girl watched his utterly unconcerned expression after having just gambled with his life, suspicion lingering between her brows.

Still, she drew her dagger and efficiently cut open the monster's chest, pulling out a heart covered in green crystals.

Cursed Gambler's Second Mutated Heart

Quality: Excellent Brilliant Silver

Description: A rare Mystic Type material containing an extremely dense power of cursed contamination. It carries the explosive strength and speed of the body pushed to its limits.

With the heart in hand, the girl could clearly sense the immense energy surging within it, and she found it unbelievable.

She had never seen a first-tier material with such intensity.

This was not the least bit inferior to the Witch's Pituitary Gland she had obtained before. She said, "This is a top-grade material suitable for almost any flesh-based Profession Card. If you want to advance into a melee Professional Sequence, I've never seen a better material of the same tier."

As she spoke, she glanced at Ji Xun and added, "I'll contain it for you."

Containing such high-grade material required an equally high-quality Containment Card. Clearly, even if this teammate of hers sold all his equipment, he still couldn't afford one.

"Thanks."

Ji Xun didn't stand on ceremony.

The material was valuable at a glance. Whether it proved useful or not, he could sell it after getting out and build up some capital for himself in this new world.

Besides, his teammate was decent enough. She hadn't taken part in killing the monster, so she had made no mention whatsoever of dividing the spoils.

The questions in her heart only grew.

After containing the heart, the girl handed the card back to Ji Xun and finally couldn't help asking directly, "How were you so certain that Witch's Gaze could kill that monster?"

Her tone was calm, but her curiosity had already exploded.

A man who wasn't even a transcendent had actually killed an A-Class Calamity. It was practically a miracle.

At that moment, she fully understood what Ji Xun had meant earlier by "taking a gamble."

Judging from the result, her teammate's confidence had not simply been a gamble on luck.

Hearing her question, Ji Xun had no intention of hiding anything from such a compatible teammate. "Try thinking about it from another angle."

He said directly, "If you think like an adventurer, you'll naturally focus on how to clear the stage. But if you stand in the designer's position, you'll think about how the stage was designed. It has to be ingenious and challenging, but it can't make it completely impossible for players to pass. This is the only method I could think of that could kill the monster."

"You can think of the witch as the guardian of the second floor. It guards a relevant clue. To keep that clue from being useless, its existence must be crucial to later puzzles. That skill card is the key linking to the next stage."

"..."

Mechanical Arm Girl frowned thoughtfully at those words.

Behind her teammate's composed tone lay extreme calmness, wisdom, and meticulous logical thinking.

And madness.

Ji Xun continued, "From the moment I discovered something was wrong with the walls, I guessed that this Alternate Dimension had an exceptionally clever and logically rigorous stage design. The bunker has four floors, and every floor has a B-Class Calamity obviously stronger than the other monsters. With this level of difficulty, the bosses absolutely shouldn't have been unrelated."

The girl was intelligent too. She seemed to immediately guess what he was about to say, but she interrupted him anyway. "What if—what if they really are unrelated?"

Ji Xun smiled mysteriously, as if there was another meaning behind his words. "If the stages weren't connected, then all those ingenious designs would be meaningless."

Then he added, "And if they really weren't connected, with this level of danger, do you think anyone could survive against a mutated A-Class Calamity? If I'm right, the normal clear sequence was for someone to kill the A-Class Corrupt Giant on the first floor and obtain some crucial item, which would allow them to kill the Fallen Witch on the second floor, then the Curse Gambler on the third floor. The stages are like iron doors, each requiring a corresponding key to open. And those calamities carry the keys needed to clear the stage."

"But we don't have them."

The girl had wanted to say that they hadn't gone to the first floor, but she stopped halfway through.

Ji Xun explained the reason for her. "Because you're too strong."

His teammate had been strong enough to directly kill the calamity on the second floor, which was why they had skipped a stage.

From that perspective, his teammate's strength really was abnormal.

Even when the gambling dog had chosen her earlier, her calmness had made Ji Xun almost certain that she had other means of escaping danger.

"..."

Hearing what sounded like praise, the girl felt no joy. Instead, she sank into thought.

They had barely spoken, yet she felt as though this man had seen through her secrets.

With that explanation, everything suddenly became clear.

But there was still one point.

She asked, "What if you were wrong?"

"..."

Ji Xun pondered for a moment without speaking.

At first, the girl thought he was concealing some discovery, but after that brief silence, she heard a faint reply.

"That's why there was an element of gambling."

Ji Xun's brow twitched slightly, and he soon smiled calmly.

Everything before had indeed been speculation. To verify it, there had inevitably been risks.

But in his eyes, some things were far more interesting than death.

"Bang, bang, bang."

Gunfire rang out from time to time in the dim laboratory. As expected, the group of Blackwater Mercenaries who had escaped earlier had run into trouble.

After collecting the loot from the calamity's corpse, Ji Xun called out, "Come on. Let's go take a look ahead."

They had gambled correctly on this stage. To him, the stages below were now like answering an open-book test.

Though he didn't know what they would face, Ji Xun had gained confidence.

Mechanical Arm Girl said nothing, but silently agreed.

At this point, if she still didn't understand that her teammate was absolutely not as weak as he appeared, then the problem was hers.

But the old question surfaced again. How could someone so shrewd have dared enter this Alternate Dimension alone so recklessly?

And spend an entire night with that witch?

Could it be... he sought some kind of special thrill?

No normal person would risk their life trying something like that.

But this guy was so crazy that perhaps he really would.

Besides, the facts were right in front of her. He had slept with the witch for an entire night and actually survived!

The girl didn't know what she had thought of, but she hurriedly shook those strange notions from her head.

Still, she had to admit that this guy truly had something extraordinary about him.

The two walked through the laboratory corridors, occasionally searching the various rooms. While looking for clues, they also collected loot from the mercenary corpses along the way.

They walked and picked up little things as they went.

It was as though "Survival Mode" had somehow become "Leisurely Exploration Mode."

Mechanical Arm Girl found it strange too. At some point, the feeling of a cloud of death constantly hanging over her head had faded.

Thinking carefully, it seemed to have started after they killed the gambling dog.

As if composure could be contagious, she had never once seen the man beside her panic.

Every time danger appeared, he could turn peril into safety. That feeling—

But just as her thoughts wandered, hurried Footsteps and anxious curses suddenly sounded in the distance.

"Captain, A-Kun's foot got cut off!"

"Fuck! Did any of you see where the monster is? Kill it for me!"

"No, we didn't see the monster. It must be that unknown calamity from the fourth floor!"

"Help! Captain, don't leave me behind!!!"

"..."

The laboratory was an enclosed corridor, and sound carried far.

Before anyone came into view, a wave of wailing and screaming could already be heard.

Ji Xun recognized those familiar voices. Who else could they be but the mercenaries from earlier?

Mechanical Arm Girl beside him also noticed something. Her expression turned grave. "There's an extremely powerful calamity aura nearby. Stronger than the Curse Gambler from before!"

Naturally, Ji Xun didn't dare let down his guard.

But with others testing the waters for them, they would be spared a great deal of trouble.

Thinking of something, he suddenly drew his pistol and pulled the trigger at the gas lamp overhead.

With a bang, the light went out.

One corner of the corridor fell into darkness.

Ji Xun looked at his teammate, who had entered a combat stance, shook his head, pulled her into the darkness, and said, "Let's see what happens first."

Mechanical Arm Girl tilted her head to look at him, seemingly puzzled: They weren't running?

In her view, with others drawing the monster's attention, wasn't this the best chance to escape?

Ji Xun offered no explanation.

After hesitating for a moment, the girl chose to trust him and asked no further questions.

The two quietly retreated into the darkness.

A few breaths later, the sounds drew closer and closer.

They watched as a bald, burly man and four mercenaries ran back in panic, as though some monster were pursuing them.

There had been more than a dozen of them before. Now, only four remained.

Then, as they ran, something bizarre happened.

Without any warning, the head of the mercenary at the rear suddenly flew into the air. Blood erupted like a fountain, and his body crashed to the floor.

The cut across his neck was smooth, clearly made by a sharp blade.

Ji Xun watched with complete focus, his gaze sharpening.