The two little kittens finally snapped out of their daze and quickly pawed through the rubble on the ground, picking out the most ordinary-looking stone before placing it in Qi Xu’s palm.
"Good luck!"
"Sure thing, I’ll treat you both to a feast."
Qi Xu left a pile of delicious treats for the two kittens, then turned away with a flourish—only to immediately faceplant into the dirt.
Qi Xu nearly cursed out loud. It felt like a massive boulder was weighing down her chest, making it impossible to stand straight.
The two kittens scrambled to help her up. "Sweetie, you’ll get used to it! Hang in there, hang in there—Little Cat and Little Kitten will always support you!"
Any hope Qi Xu had of looking cool was utterly crushed. She left in a humiliating, hunched-over mess.
Once she was back on the main road and sure the kittens couldn’t see her, she collapsed onto the ground to rest. As for why she didn’t lie down flat? Probably because staying on all fours better suited her "big shot" persona.
Qi Xu stayed sprawled out for over an hour, dozing briefly before forcing herself back on the move. The hundred-pound stone pressed against her chest made it impossible to travel as fast as before.
Even if the weight had been on her back, it might’ve been slightly more bearable. But the kittens were right—she’d get used to it eventually.
By dawn, Qi Xu had stumbled upon the second anomaly. From a distance, the road ahead looked like it had been patched up with a crude patch.
Up close, it turned out to be a manhole cover, with faint cries for help coming from below. After prying it open, the pleas grew clearer.
Qi Xu lowered a long rope. "Hey, friend! I’m here to save you. Climb up!"
"Hey, friend! I don’t have arms—does that mean I can’t climb up?"
Qi Xu instantly understood. She tied one end of the rope to a tree on either side of the road and, just to be safe, secured ten ropes in total.
One was wrapped around her waist, while the rest were left dangling down the sewer. Then, gripping the edge, she slowly descended.
At the bottom, she found… a weasel?
It hadn’t lied—it really didn’t have arms.
The moment it saw a human descending, it opened its mouth, ready to launch into a dramatic speech—only to be abruptly tied to Qi Xu’s back in the next second.
Surprisingly, Qi Xu found this more comfortable than just carrying the weight on her chest.
"Oh, you wretched human! I promise I’ll—"
Before it could finish, Qi Xu stuffed a roast duck—courtesy of Master Chef—straight into its mouth.
The weasel’s tongue made contact with the sudden burst of flavor, and saliva instantly flooded its mouth. With no hands to hold the duck, it clamped its jaws shut, terrified of dropping it. Any thoughts of its "plot mission" vanished instantly.
Qi Xu’s guess was spot-on. After just a few steps upward, one of the ropes snapped.
Luckily, she was prepared. She swiftly switched to another rope, and by the time she reached the top, all ten ropes had snapped—just in time.
But Qi Xu was utterly exhausted. She’d barely slept all night, pushed herself relentlessly, and now the weasel on her back was growing heavier by the second…
By the time she climbed out, she realized she could actually stand straight again. The weasel and the stone on her chest balanced each other out perfectly—what a ridiculous setup.
After untangling the weasel from her back, the creature was gone, but the weight remained.
Qi Xu held out her hand. The weasel flinched, thinking she was going to steal its roast duck, and promptly devoured every last scrap—bones and all.
"All gone!"
Qi Xu pulled out another roast duck from her backpack, along with a roast chicken, their aroma even richer than before.
"The stone."
Without hesitation, the weasel yanked the stone out from its backside and happily traded it for the new chicken and duck.
Then—whoosh!—it bolted into the distance, leaving Qi Xu standing alone in stunned silence.
After a deep breath, she found a plastic bag, wrapped the stone, and continued on her way.
Over the next two days, Qi Xu never stopped moving. She helped an elephant recover its lost trunk, guided a monkey across a tightrope, coached a husky through a flaming hoop, and even judged a "leap over the dragon’s gate" diving competition for a fish.
When she finally reached the eastern edge of the zoo and spotted a dilapidated courtyard, Qi Xu nearly teared up. It had been an exhausting, mind-numbing journey.
Now carrying at least 220 pounds of extra weight, every step felt like a struggle for survival—like she couldn’t possibly take another.
Qi Xu pulled out the seven oddly shaped stones, which fit together perfectly to form a key.
[Human Forbidden Zone Pass]
"Humans who enter face near-certain death. Proceed with extreme caution. The forbidden zone is packed with monsters, and its internal conditions bear no resemblance to the dungeon’s description."
Qi Xu remembered the dungeon’s description clearly—it claimed there was "no combat in any form."
Which meant, of course, that it was nothing but combat.
After a quick meal and a nap under her anti-fatigue blanket, Qi Xu didn’t hesitate. She inserted the key and turned the lock.
The moment she stepped into the forbidden zone, all the weight on her body vanished. The sudden lightness made her stumble—she’d almost forgotten how to walk normally.
See? When life’s been too hard, even happiness feels unfamiliar.
The forbidden zone was a desolate wasteland, dotted with tiny graves. Qi Xu roughly gauged her direction and kept heading east.
But then, right in front of her, a monstrous figure appeared—a grotesque, flesh-twisted abomination. Its skin folded like melted wax, with grotesque lumps bulging sporadically, oozing toxic fumes.
Where its neck should have been, three misaligned human faces sprouted. It crawled on four uneven limbs, knees bending backward, fingers ending in serrated bone spikes. Every movement left dark red bloodstains in its wake.
The moment Qi Xu gripped her twin blades, the monster seemed to master the art of copy-pasting—one became a hundred, swarming from all directions.
They gave her no time to react, charging at her simultaneously.
Qi Xu had no choice but to lunge forward—if she waited for them to surround her, the fight would be hopeless. As she reached the first monster, her blades slashed deep, splitting its flesh open in a spray of thick black blood.
A sudden dizziness hit her. She didn’t need to check her status screen to know she’d been poisoned. She grabbed a handful of antidote pills, shoved them into her mouth, bit one open, and kept the rest in reserve.
Within moments, monsters had closed in from all sides.
Some charged head-on, while others used the towering trees to flank her in unnatural, contorted movements. They even coordinated their attacks.
Qi Xu hurled a thunderfire bomb into the horde—a group-attack weapon she’d obtained from her latest vehicle upgrade. The moment it hit the ground, the explosion erupted in a ring of flames, instantly vaporizing the surrounding monsters...
..........
