Happyending: "The grudge between us shouldn’t warrant a fight to the death, right? I admit it was wrong of me to ambush you, but didn’t you hire assassins to retaliate?"
"I don’t know where you heard that I have the treasure map, but spreading the news was clearly just your way of forcing your way in. Couldn’t we have talked this out properly?"
"Now that everyone knows, I have to deal with endless waves of people every day... What good does that do you? This is pure spite with no benefit to anyone! And to this day, I still don’t even know what I did to offend you."
"This treasure map requires the top rankers from four zones to unlock it together. I can give you a spot—no more underhanded tricks, deal?"
"If you agree to join, you must swear not to turn on your teammates during the treasure hunt. We help each other, and if we succeed, we split the treasure four ways."
"So? Care to reply, oh exalted Rank One?"
"Ugh, fine. Tomorrow at 8 AM, Pine Breeze Room on the second floor of Qīnxiāng Zhāi. If you don’t show, I’m giving your spot to someone else."
Invincible Black Whirlwind: "See you then, [smile]."
Xie Shaoning, seeing Invincible Black Whirlwind finally reply, kicked the dashboard in frustration. He had originally planned to sell the three remaining slots at a high price—now that plan was ruined.
Dealing with Emberkiss Starlight Moon was hard enough; she had chased him for nearly a month over the treasure map. Now this even crazier one had gone and leaked the news publicly.
"Accidentally slipped up"? No one would buy that. It was absolutely deliberate.
Xie Shaoning couldn’t help but overthink. After hesitating for a long time, he ended up giving the last slot to another zone leader at a discount—no choice.
Invincible Black Whirlwind and Emberkiss Starlight Moon were unreliable, each more ruthless than the other. He needed an ally in advance.
Still... maybe he could try to stabilize things with Invincible Black Whirlwind first. He quickly sent another message.
Happyending: "Partners? I still don’t think there’s any life-or-death feud between us—just misunderstandings, and we’ve settled them. Emberkiss Starlight Moon is absolutely unhinged. If we don’t prepare, she might flip the whole table on us."
Invincible Black Whirlwind: "No problem. We’ve got history—of course I trust you."
Happyending: "Good call. That lunatic Emberkiss is capable of anything!"
Invincible Black Whirlwind: "Learned that the hard way. You’re right."
At night, a silver bolt of lightning split the sky, and thunder exploded overhead like a colossal drum struck with immense force, rattling the windows.
Torrential rain pounded down, driven by gales. Even with the vehicle’s soundproofing, the drum-like hammering was audible...
Compared to other complex disasters, thunderstorms were relatively mild.
As long as you didn’t get struck, there was practically no danger.
The rolling thunder even sounded kind of cute now. On a whim, Qi Xu climbed to the top level and brewed some tea.
Noticing the two robots resting by the wall, Qi Xu suddenly remembered—she still hadn’t given them the primary spatial stones. Without storage, the ripe fruits and vegetables couldn’t be harvested.
Better to leave them hanging. Unpicked, they wouldn’t spoil, though no new ones would grow either.
The robots trembled as they accepted the spatial stones. Why did vacations always feel like they were on fast-forward? Suspicious...
Qi Xu leaned back in the recliner, watching the downpour slam against the transparent roof—oddly satisfying.
Seizing the moment, she contacted Emberkiss Starlight Moon.
Invincible Black Whirlwind: "8 AM tomorrow."
Emberkiss Starlight Moon: "Pine Breeze Room, second floor of Qīnxiāng Zhāi."
Xie Shaoning would definitely reserve a slot for Emberkiss—he’d already hinted as much. Sending this message was just fulfilling their prior agreement.
The thought of her getting scammed out of 10,000 survival coins by that little goblin was... deeply satisfying. At least it evened the score for the "failed poisoning attempt."
Back then, Emberkiss hadn’t actually meant to kill her, but the provocation was still disrespectful. Still, 10,000 coins made them square.
Emberkiss Starlight Moon: "Partners, darling? Happyending is a snake—he’ll definitely team up with someone else in advance."
Invincible Black Whirlwind: "No problem. We’ve got history—of course I trust you."
Emberkiss Starlight Moon: "Wise choice. That two-faced Happyending only looks out for himself."
Invincible Black Whirlwind: "Learned that the hard way. You’re right."
Qi Xu casually replied, then paused. That phrasing sounded familiar...
Oh well. Alliances built on mutual benefit were inherently untrustworthy. Once they set out, the only one she could rely on was herself.
She just hoped the treasure hunt wouldn’t clash with the next dungeon cycle. Having to choose would be annoying.
As drowsiness set in, Qi Xu unfolded the bedroom. The bed was a disaster—sheets and blankets tangled, the mattress even torn open near the headboard.
The egg had buried itself inside, pretending to be a groundhog, only the very tip peeking out.
Qi Xu yanked it free. "You’re gonna answer for this when you hatch! Look what you did to my bed!"
The egg tilted innocently, feigning ignorance. Resigned, Qi Xu stripped the bedding and tossed it into the washer, replacing it with fresh linens. The mattress stayed—no point replacing it when the egg would just tunnel through again.
She fell into deep sleep almost instantly. Beside her, the egg began emitting a faint, shimmering glow, particles of light drifting like fireflies before silently merging into her skin, blending with her breath.
Lately, Qi Xu had noticed her sleep quality improving drastically. Each night, her spirit energy rose by seven or eight points—now nearing 900.
Blessing’s abilities were unique, requiring passive triggers, and her own spirit energy had always been fixed at 6000, offering no reference.
Little Master had only recently awakened his powers, with a mere 200 spirit energy and no growth—also useless for comparison.
So Qi Xu had no idea whether her daily increases were normal or not...
The next morning, after her usual training, breakfast, and wash-up, the distance she’d traveled was nearly covered. As 8 AM approached, she locked onto Qīnxiāng Zhāi’s coordinates...
