Fortune God's Only Daughter was stunned. "I don’t know, I’ve never seen anyone win. But your luck is pretty good—getting this kind of reward in the second level. Maybe you really can clear all five levels. Let’s go for it. The first five levels’ monsters shouldn’t be a problem."
But the moment she finished speaking, Bian turned directly to Qi Xu and said, "I refuse the ‘chess immunity’ reward. I don’t want it."
"Hey, sis, don’t mess around. Qiuqiu is an AI! How could anyone win against it in chess? Let’s just clear the five levels and finish this dungeon! No need to plan too far ahead—there’s no way to fully clear it anyway!"
Qi Xu had originally intended to choose the "chess immunity" reward, but... she was willing to trust Bian. It was rare to see the kid so serious, so of course she wanted to encourage her confidence! With Bian’s sharp mind, she wouldn’t be this firm unless she truly believed in herself. And besides... was an AI really always stronger than a human?
When Fortune God’s Only Daughter saw Qi Xu nod, she was dumbfounded. "You’re not actually agreeing, are you? You’re the leader—she’s just your strategist. She has to listen to you! If you can’t even make a decision, what kind of leader are you?"
Qi Xu responded with action. "I choose Reward One."
The moment she spoke, Dongfang Yuan and Fortune God’s Only Daughter both felt a change in their basic attributes—their three core stats each increased by 10 points. The difference was too obvious to ignore.
But one little teammate completely lost it. "I give up! Just when I finally saw a glimmer of hope for clearing this, you all turn out to be idiots. You’ll regret it once you hear the rules."
Luo Xinpan smiled and shot back, "Don’t assume everyone’s brain works the same as yours."
She wasn’t worried at all. Playing chess against an AI? That was something she’d studied every day before the survival game. She was sick of it—winning wouldn’t be hard.
Fortune God’s Only Daughter, though insulted, was used to it. This was daily life for her—she’d feel weird if she wasn’t being scolded. Still, she felt a twinge of regret. It had been rare to see even a sliver of hope.
But she was too busy arguing with Bian to dwell on it.
Bian wasn’t good at outright shouting matches, but she excelled at sarcasm. Fortune God’s Only Daughter was no match for her and was soon left stammering, "You—you—you—"
Qi Xu ignored their bickering and turned her gaze toward the three large fish tanks.
After two rounds of flooding, the water level had risen to knee height. Still, the three inside remained optimistic, waiting to catch Qi Xu’s eye. The moment their leader looked over, they started wiggling their eyebrows and making silly faces, signaling that they were fine and not to worry.
For some reason, Qi Xu’s eyes reddened. This feeling of being trusted—especially with someone’s life—was intoxicating.
Even Fortune God’s Only Daughter, who had been fuming moments ago, quieted down. Whatever. Crazy people had their own way of getting along. If they weren’t all crazy, they wouldn’t mesh well anyway.
Though she didn’t realize it herself, her guard was slipping...
The 10-minute break ended quickly. The third wave of monsters was different from the first two—instead of attacking from four directions (east, south, west, north), they now came from only one front. However, their numbers had increased significantly.
[Third Level: 200 Mixed-Type Monsters]
Now, they just needed to arrange their formation. Qi Xu and Dongfang Yuan would take the front, while the far left and right flanks were assigned to Pojian Chengdie and Lala.
Yuanzhubi would support Fortune God’s Only Daughter in the center, maintaining a semi-circular defensive line in front of the fish tanks to prevent the monsters from attacking them.
With a collective roar, the monsters appeared. Leading the charge was a three-meter-tall green-furred beast, standing nearly five to six meters ahead of the rest.
Qi Xu and Dongfang Yuan seized the opportunity, charging forward swiftly. They split their attack—one high, one low—striking in perfect sync.
But hidden beneath the green beast’s thick fur were dozens of tiny black ants, so small they were almost indistinguishable from grains of dirt.
With a violent shake of its body, the beast sent the ants flying through the air from all angles.
Forced to switch from offense to defense, Qi Xu quickly targeted and killed one, revealing its stats:
[Itchy Ant – Attack: 100 | Defense: 100]
Seeing how low the stats were, Qi Xu immediately knew these things were pure annoyance.
The Itchy Ants were too small to block effectively. Even through clothing, their touch sent an unbearable, deep-seated itch crawling under everyone’s skin...
Pain could be endured, but itching? That was torture.
Lala’s chairback proved invaluable, flapping wildly to crush swarms of ants. But even with most of them dead, the lingering itch was maddening, distorting their movements.
Qi Xu knew they had to end this fast—the longer it dragged on, the worse it would get.
So he actively chose to bear the injuries—right now, pain was far more tolerable than itching. As for healing items and tools, they were in no short supply.
He’d already tested it earlier: this dungeon only prohibited drawing out weapons, but everything else could still be accessed.
As a gash split open on Qi Xu’s arm from the wolverine’s claws, he finally felt some relief!
Nothing disgusted Qi Xu more than itching. Before joining this survival game, likely due to his blood type, he’d become mosquitoes’ favorite meal every summer, making them his lifelong nemesis.
But these itching ants were a thousand times more vile than mosquitoes!
Seeing his approach, the others followed suit, trading injuries to numb the itch while swiftly wiping out the monsters.
For a moment, the scene looked downright gruesome—blood pooled everywhere—yet oddly, everyone wore expressions of lingering satisfaction.
After slaying the last monster, the group could endure no longer. The once-graceful young women now scratched themselves frantically, completely abandoning any semblance of decorum.
Fortune God’s Only Daughter clawed at her skin while rummaging through her backpack, pulling out a small jar of herbal anti-itch ointment. "I’ve only got one dose of this—barely enough for two people. Hey, leader, how’re we splitting it?"
Her glare made it clear: if she didn’t get a share, she’d stare him to death.
This herbal ointment wasn’t exactly rare, but it was notoriously hard to come by. Since the start of this round, even with deliberate effort, she’d only managed to hoard two jars—just for this moment.
She’d planned to use it herself, but given the group’s cooperation, she reluctantly offered it up.
Before Qi Xu could wrestle with the dilemma, Bian tossed down a dozen or so jars of the same ointment.
"One per person. What a rare treat… tsk tsk."
Fortune God’s Only Daughter gaped. "Holy hell, how’d you get so many?!"
..........
