“No way, it’s really that rough? You guys...”
Qi Xu didn’t finish his sentence, but everyone understood what he meant—basically “you all suck”...
After all, four people combined barely managed to hold off the Cat-Snake Monster for the same amount of time as Invincible Black Whirlwind did solo.
Anyone else, sure, they were used to Invincible Black Whirlwind’s personality—sharp tongue, soft heart.
But Third Brother—this time he finally wasn’t stuck undercover—had to prove his worth. He’d just earned himself a meal of the Young Master’s cooking, and if he got sent out again, he’d probably cry.
“It was because the Cat-Snake Monster went berserk.”
Endless Longevity coughed and nodded weakly. “It’s not that we’re useless—the enemy was just too cunning and powerful... I almost coughed myself to death just now...”
Qi Xu nodded immediately. “Where’s Shadowkill? I’ll go back him up.”
“He should be running this way soon. Each of us could hold it off for at most one round before we had to switch.”
Threeking spoke up gloomily, “I lasted two rounds.”
Ā Shé (the big snake) was still hiding not far away and couldn’t show itself around other players. Qi Xu went back to tell Ā Shé to keep searching for Ingrid, and that if he got the chance, he’d come back to “save her” one more time.
Just then, Shadowkill showed up.
Gone was all his usual gentlemanly elegance. His glasses had only one lens left, and even that was cracked like a spiderweb. His clothes were torn to shreds—looked like he’d just crawled out of a mud bath.
He was covered in either blood or red welts, limping hard as he sprinted frantically. When he spotted Invincible Black Whirlwind, his eyes lit up briefly—then he saw the giant black snake behind her.
Even without a Truth-Seeker Detection Tool, he could sense with a bit of thought that this big black snake was far stronger than the weird hybrid chasing him.
Invincible Black Whirlwind already had a hard enough time fighting one. If he dragged this thing over as well... she’d probably die.
So he gritted his teeth, changed direction on the fly, and tears practically sprayed from his eyes.
“That teammate of yours isn’t bad.”
“Just average. He’s only recently improved.”
After Ā Shé left, Qi Xu chased after Shadowkill and the Cat-Snake Monster. He roughly estimated the monster’s weak point—the so-called “seven inches”—and flung a mist blade at it. He didn’t expect to break through its defense, but at least he could draw a little blood as a sign of respect.
Unfortunately, all he got was a furious roar from the Cat-Snake Monster. It didn’t affect it at all.
Qi Xu once again confirmed: Ā Shé and this Cat-Snake Monster showing up here meant there was no hope of players killing them. Both their attack and defense were far too high.
When facing an absolute gap in stats, no amount of cleverness or fancy skills mattered—your damage was basically like tickling it.
Shadowkill didn’t have time to wonder where the big black snake had gone. All he knew was that his boss had come to rescue him. He immediately launched himself into a flying dive, perfectly flopping into a mud pit, then lay there playing dead, completely holding his breath.
This was a trick Wang Buyu had figured out from the monster’s behavior: as long as you didn’t breathe, use skills, or use your spiritual power, and stayed out of its line of sight, the Cat-Snake Monster couldn’t pinpoint your location.
Aside from that, every two hours, the Cat-Snake Monster could unleash its true full power for two minutes.
That was exactly those two minutes that had just crushed Endless Longevity’s group of four.
It was probably some restriction the secret realm imposed on the monster—otherwise, the gap was way too unfair, since the players couldn’t even use weapons from the start.
Wang Buyu had managed to uncover the critical info, but she was so weakened that her limbs had no strength—she couldn’t even stand up. She relied on the other three rotating to keep it going until she managed to join the hit-and-run team.
But at least they’d figured out a perfect handoff system! Safety had improved a lot.
When the Cat-Snake Monster saw Qi Xu, its eyes lit up with excitement. Finally—the most hateful human of them all. The Chinese monsters had already killed four players, but it hadn’t managed to kill a single one...
That was embarrassing. But these ants just wouldn’t fight head-on—they only ran and ran. If it weren’t for this stupid treasure map secret realm’s restrictions, it would’ve slaughtered them all long ago!
Qi Xu kept kiting it, and even boldly lured the Cat-Snake Monster toward Ingrid’s direction, as if to say: “Baby, I’m not ignoring you on purpose—I’ve got my own monster to deal with too!”
Ingrid had already been repeatedly whipped by the big black snake for a while. More than once, she thought she wouldn’t make it through this secret realm.
Then she heard movement behind her and saw Qi Xu being chased. She frowned hard, took a hit from the Colossal Black Ice Python on her back, and still charged forward head-on to block an attack from the Cat-Snake Monster for Qi Xu.
Qi Xu promptly led the big black snake away again, making a huge ruckus with crackling sounds—but in reality, he spent zero spiritual power. It was all smoke and mirrors...
On Ingrid’s side, though, she was genuinely and sincerely duking it out with the Cat-Snake Monster!
The Cat-Snake Monster rarely met a human who wouldn’t run and would actually fight it head-on. It got so excited it went berserk—its attack power spiked, visibly a notch above the Colossal Black Ice Python.
Ingrid had no chance to complain, and felt even more grateful that Invincible Black Whirlwind had saved her in that critical moment earlier.
Because her opponent seemed even harder to deal with.
While Qi Xu was putting on his flashy fake fight with Ā Shé, he kept watching Ingrid.
Her mastery of the “Light Wall” technique was completely on par with his own Crimson Strike—probably at level 3 or even level 4...
Right now, pushed to her absolute limit by the Cat-Snake Monster, she was unleashing far more strength than she had when fighting with him earlier.
Qi Xu let out a sigh. He really didn’t want to admit it, but... if he couldn’t use his weapon or any tools or tricks, he probably couldn’t beat her.
But there was no “if” in real life—brains and monster veins were part of one’s strength too.
Qi Xu saw that Ingrid was about to be beaten to death, so he teleported straight to her side, tucked her under his arm, and carried her off into the distance again.
The Cat-Snake Monster, seeing its kill being snatched away by that most hateful human again, shrieked in fury and thrashed its snake tail wildly.
As luck would have it, a stray pebble happened to hit Ā Shé as it was passing by. Ā Shé used that as an excuse to “lose its mind,” spun around, and laid into the Cat-Snake Monster with a beating.
How dare you attack our nation’s number one player right in front of me—I’ll beat you flying! Unfortunately, the rules prevented Ā Shé from just killing it outright.
Both were site bosses, so there were naturally differences in strength. Coincidentally, Ā Shé was the ceiling among them, and having prepared proper countermeasures for the punishment, it could afford to go mad with confidence.
“You... saved my life again. Thank you.”
Ingrid couldn’t get a read on this woman at all. At first, she’d thought this woman was petty, cunning, and hard to deal with. Now... having been saved twice, she found her completely unfathomable.
...........
