In the agreement, Qi Xu had written not only that they would cooperate twice, but also that during this treasure map secret realm, Ingrid would not take the initiative to attack their own people.
After reading it, Ingrid found it truly stifling. She glanced out of the corner of her eye at every possible escape route, only to find that the members of the Invincible Black Whirlwind had already taken up all the key positions.
They looked casual, but were in fact all coiled and ready to strike at any moment.
Ingrid understood in an instant that her team had more than just her as a talented fighter—even if the others weren’t as powerful, they could still be useful.
So she let out a deep sigh and signed the agreement with an air of calm.
It wasn't that I, Ingrid, lost to the Invincible Black Whirlwind, but that my team lost to her team.
When Ingrid turned to leave this time, no one blocked her path. Qi Xu even called out in a cheerful tone, “Bye-bye, see you next time.”
Only after Ingrid had completely disappeared did Qi Xu let out a huge sigh of relief and slump directly to the ground to rest.
She had spent the entire night locked in a standoff with the white-robed monster, her spiritual energy pushed to the brink repeatedly. Upon arriving at the treasure map secret realm, she had gone through two consecutive battles in a row.
Although she had rested a bit in the afternoon, her overall condition was still not great. The Mist Blade was too weak, but if she increased its strength, her teleportation would suffer—simply put, her spiritual energy was insufficient.
She had been fighting Ingrid for so long just now that she was already struggling to hold on, even though she kept a calm and composed look on her face the entire time...
After Ingrid left, Qi Xu stayed silent and lay there for nearly half an hour before she felt like she was alive again.
The others were equally exhausted. Each person was responsible for guarding one direction, resting while keeping watch for any unexpected trouble. A tacit silence fell over them; no one said a single extra word.
Until everyone suddenly caught a whiff of a... indescribably delicious food aroma.
The Third instantly jumped up in excitement. Was the most important moment of every Invincible Black Whirlwind team operation—the food tasting—finally about to happen? And this time, he actually got to be there for it?
“All rested up? Come have something to eat.”
The moment the table, chairs, food, and drinks were set up, the four well-behaved little ones had already taken their seats around the table.
Qi Xu was used to this sight by now. It couldn’t be helped—Master Chef’s charm was irresistible to anyone.
Rested, well-fed, and in high spirits, they finally had the mind to chat.
“Boss, we’ve killed all the ones we needed to kill, and we got the remaining one to sign an agreement. What do we do for the last two days? Just take a complete break?”
Qi Xu shook her head. “How could that be? Bad Ball has a petty streak—would it really design such a simple treasure map secret realm for us? If it gets a chance, it’ll definitely try to squeeze us for more. Also, the one we just signed the agreement with is Ingrid, not R·D’s entire team. Their team still has four other members left, and those four are slightly stronger than the other two teams, but nowhere near Ingrid’s level. If they ambush us or set a trap, we could easily be caught off guard. We need to stay alert.”
Qi Xu guessed that Ingrid had probably figured out there was someone on their side who could read minds. Judging from the frequency of Wang Buyu’s thoughts, after her escape attempt failed, those thoughts had clearly dropped off a lot.
So even if Ingrid had any ideas, she kept them in check, completely refusing to think about them.
On the first day, they took turns keeping watch through the night. The sun had barely risen when Bad Ball proved Qi Xu’s speculation with action.
A bizarre monster appeared right in the middle of the group. Its appearance looked utterly torn apart, and the moment it landed, it launched a direct attack—its tail swung out with force, scattering everyone’s positions in an instant.
Qi Xu immediately recognized where this monster came from.
The lake monster Storsjöodjuret, said to dwell in Sweden, specifically in Lake Storsjön in Jämtland County in central Sweden. It was first mentioned in a manuscript from 1635, and local legend has it that it was created by two trolls, with a cat-like head and a black serpentine body.
That matched the monster in front of them perfectly.
If that was the case, then does that mean A-Snake was also here in this treasure map space?
Each country’s monsters attack the players of the other side—that’s fair enough. Qi Xu recalled A-Snake’s combat strength, which could send Sister Yuan flying like a punching bag, and suddenly felt... quite pleased. Ingrid was in for some fun!
She used her Fiery Eyes enhanced scanner to check the cat-snake monster’s stats, and sure enough, it was a full tier weaker than A-Snake. Strange—then why couldn’t she get a read on the Snow Woman’s stats?
Before she could think further, Qi Xu had already started leading the team in a retreat.
This level of opponent wasn’t meant to be killed; it was meant to be escaped from. Fresh out of the Big Mystery’s death run, both Qi Xu and her teammates had plenty of experience when it came to fleeing through dense forests.
Without needing Wang Buyu to relay their thoughts, everyone made the same move simultaneously.
Qi Xu fled while seizing every chance to study the cat-snake monster, racking his brain for any way to take it down for good.
There were still nearly forty-eight hours to go. Trying to counterattack now would be pure foolishness, so he had to wait.
The rotting leaves under the forest were crushed into hasty, frantic sounds by the group’s footsteps. The cat-snake’s low, guttural hiss slammed against their backs like a hammer, and the scraping noise of its scales dragging across tree trunks grew closer with every second.
Qi Xu fell slightly half a step behind, heaving loud, ragged breaths, pretending his stamina was giving out. Meanwhile, his four teammates had already caught on to what he meant and picked up their pace ahead of him.
In Qi Xu’s view, a monster having intelligence wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. The truly troublesome kind at this stage was the one with no brains at all—heedless of anything around it, refusing to retreat even at the cost of death, charging straight ahead to fight to the bitter end.
If something had intelligence, then it feared pain, feared death, and would calculate the cost and weigh whether it was worth it.
Soon, the cat-snake was directly above Qi Xu’s forehead. A massive shadow fell over him, and the dark green viscid liquid stuck between its razor-sharp fangs dripped down with its heavy breathing.
Qi Xu condensed his mental energy. Just as the cat-snake, convinced it could land a kill strike and swallow the human whole, lunged through the air—he spun around and released a pink mist-blade at maximum power, the strongest he could muster.
It struck precisely, slicing perfectly into the cat-snake’s open mouth!
Qi Xu teleported away without looking back. But a spray of warm blood splattered across his back—possibly slightly corrosive, stinging fiercely against his skin—yet he had no time to turn around and check, not even for a second.
All he heard was an agonizing, desperate screech. Even after putting distance between them, it felt like his eardrums were about to be punctured, a roaring buzz ringing endlessly in his ears.
...........
