They held out until four in the afternoon, but the anticipated drop in temperature never came.
The symptoms of heatstroke grew increasingly severe. Mu Shan’s ears buzzed incessantly, and the scenery before her eyes doubled.
Suddenly, she felt someone collapse at her feet, followed by shouts from Aunt Wang and the others.
“What’s the situation?”
“Xia Xueqin fainted…”
Mu Shan slapped her face hard to force her consciousness to clear.
The person beside her stood up. His tall frame blocked the light. Mu Shan squinted at him, and the man lowered his head, but his expression was hidden by the mask, impossible to see.
He Yuncong took a step to the side, but she grabbed him. Mu Shan’s voice was hoarse. “Don’t go to your death… I need you.”
The man reached out and gently patted the top of her head. His voice, rough as gravel, carried the last traces of tenderness.
“Shanshan, I need you more.”
For the first time, he actively shook off her hand and vanished into the jungle at extreme speed.
Mu Shan was stunned for a moment. By then, the others had already helped the unconscious Xia Xueqin up and fed her medicine to treat the heatstroke.
Mu Shan also took out a bottle of Huoxiang Zhengqi water from her emergency kit. She draped a wet towel over her neck and struggled to stand.
Zong Rui glanced sideways. “You’re going to find him? In terms of current combat power, even all of us together aren’t qualified to fight the Insect King.”
Mu Shan said, “He Yuncong’s assimilation level is too high. Attacking the Insect King will cost him his life.”
“But going ourselves is just suicide.”
“He’s the only player left with the spare capacity to fight the Insect King. To the system, he’s an uncontrollable variable. If he dies, there will be no more unknowns in the dungeon. All outcomes will be predetermined, and we’ll truly be fish on the chopping block.” Mu Shan didn’t try to persuade them forcefully. She pulled out a golf club to use as a crutch and headed alone into the depths of the forest.
Zong Rui thought calmly for a moment, then patted her clothes and stood up. “Let’s go. I’ll come with you.”
The Insect King hadn’t shifted positions. It waited in the nest for the players to come.
He Yuncong followed the lingering scents in the air. At the entrance to the nest, he encountered several giant insect monsters left to guard—spiders, butterflies, and others.
They lunged at him almost instantly. He Yuncong’s body reacted to the battle faster than his will. He pressed down on the charging butterfly with one hand while swiftly tearing off its poison-dusted wings with the other.
His lower body soon couldn’t move. Numerous webs entangled his legs. He Yuncong used his hands to fend off the poison fangs and pincers of the other giant insects. Inconspicuously, the quicksand beneath his feet spread rapidly.
The sand was like a dog following the scent of flesh. It quickly enveloped the silk-spitting giant spider. The insect monster’s bristly limbs thrashed in the sand pit before stopping.
After dealing with the “guards” at the door, He Yuncong stepped into the insect nest.
It was a huge, spacious cavern, humid and comfortable. Numerous giant insects crawled in and out, but due to their danger perception, they didn’t rush to attack him.
At the deepest part of the cavern, he saw a golden colossal creature lying comfortably on a bed of moss. Its golden carapace even glowed in the darkness. Many worker insects prostrated around it, its posture like that of a king.
Faced with the Golden Rhinoceros Beetle the size of a truck, the human body seemed as small as dust.
As the most powerful entity among the characteristic monsters of the Humid Heat Forest, the Insect King wasn’t afraid of these humans active in the forest. It knew well where most of them went each day and how many worker insects they killed.
Most were like floating particles in the air, but one or two made it wary.
At this moment, the one who made it sense danger had come alone. The Insect King looked down at him and saw through his calm exterior the chaotic, struggling, near-collapsing soul.
The Insect King let out a “hiss hiss” mocking sound. Almost instantly, all the surrounding worker insects attacked. They charged like accelerating tanks, piling up and submerging the man in the blink of an eye.
The beetle closed its sharp pincers, but clamped empty air.
A human hand struck first, brutally grabbing the connection between the insect’s head and body. Fingers like steel pierced in and directly snapped the neck. The insect’s innards leaked out like a fountain.
“Bang—” A hole broke through the small mountain of worker insects. He Yuncong tossed aside the casually dispatched beetle. His now pure black eyes turned to the depths of the cavern. Quicksand surged beneath him, forming sharp arrows that pierced all the surrounding insects.
Almost simultaneously, the Insect King could no longer sit still.
It unleashed a mountainous howl. Its massive limbs crushed rocks as it approached at astonishing speed.
The insect nest cavern shook like an earthquake.
He Yuncong looked up at the ever-enlarging Insect King before him, his expression unchanging like a sculpture. Not only that, his body temperature rose higher and higher, while his heartbeat slowed.
The consciousness of another existence was awakening within his body.
【Player He Yuncong (Dream Faller) used skill: Descent
Summons a legendary existence to descend upon oneself
Assimilation target random each cycle
Your body is the glass isolating It from this world. Do not break the glass】
The world turned a uniform yellow sand color.
His ears heard no sounds. Ancient chanting verses shifted from one person to ten, a hundred—their voices deafening.
He Yuncong squeezed out a few broken groans from his throat, soon drowned by the yellow sand. His clenched fist spasmed with force.
But this assimilation process was swift, allowing no tiny resistance.
Vast power like thunderclouds squeezed in through the soul’s breach, ultimately compressing to human size. The power differentiated, refined, spreading to every strand of hair, every fingertip.
A body born solely for descent.
He Yuncong saw kaleidoscopic stars streak by, like a night sky accelerated 500 times. In the black curtain, two enormous eyes opened. Everything on the earth’s surface was laid bare in Their gaze.
[In that black night counting all the years,
In that black night numbering the ages,
Please return my name to me.]
[When the watcher on the eastern heavenly steps
Lets me sit quietly by his side,
As the gods one by one declare their own identities—
I too shall remember my former name.]
His head felt heavy, his feet light.
His limbs seemed stretched, or nonexistent. One second he was flesh and blood, the next a decayed mummy.
He Yuncong didn’t remember exactly what happened. Distorted stick figures danced around him.
“Ding-ling—” A camel bell rang.
He came to his senses and realized the eyes in the night sky were his own.
The wolf-headed, beast-eared deity opened its pitch-black eyes. In his hand appeared a bizarre divine artifact. It resembled a T with a ring handle on top, the Ankh Life Symbol from ancient Egyptian civilization, emblem of life and symbol of kingship.
The Insect King paused as if struck by lightning, then emitted a shrill screech.
The cavern collapsed, rocks tumbled, and dozens of giant insect monsters surged toward him like a tsunami.
Compared to the tiny human body, the insect monsters seemed overwhelmingly powerful. They nearly blocked all of He Yuncong’s retreat paths.
The Insect King raised its forelimbs high. Its massive horn protruded like a heavy hammer, casting a shadow over his head, as if the next second it would crush the man to ash.
But the expected gore didn’t arrive.
The beast-eared, wolf-headed man raised the Ankh Life Symbol in his hand.
“Ε?μαιοΑνο?βη?.”
Bizarre holy light burst from his hand. The giant insects charging to his feet withered like waves crashing on the beach, rapidly shriveling to empty shells.
Sensing life and power draining rapidly from its body, the Insect King let out a fearful hiss.
The Ankh Life Symbol emitted steady, gentle light, but to the giant insects, it was like the horn of the Grim Reaper.
One by one, the worker insects collapsed en route. When all surrounding insect monsters ceased activity, a gush of blood sprayed from He Yuncong’s mouth.
The hot red blood flowed down his jaw to his chest.
A “puzzled” expression appeared on his face, as if dissatisfied with his body’s fragility.
Even so, there was no pain on his face, nor hesitation in his movements.
“Hiss hiss hiss!!!”
The Giant Insect Queen struggling in the quicksand shed pieces of its back armor. Several limbs melted like plastic. Its terrified hisses echoed through the valley far away. Even as it crawled outward, the life-draining power pursued relentlessly.
The Insect King teetered on the edge of death.
But the cost of using the Ankh Life Symbol was too high. Before it killed the Insect King, He Yuncong’s body would collapse first.
His body’s self-preservation instinct made him tremble uncontrollably.
Blood oozed from his eyes, ears, mouth, and nose, soaking his black clothes almost entirely. Even the yellow sand at his feet stained with winding red.
Before completely losing his hearing, a female voice suddenly rang from outside the cavern.
“He Yuncong—!!”
A name was the shortest spell in the world.
He abruptly opened his eyes. His now entirely black eyes, without a trace of white, trembled slightly. His lips moved, as if to say something.
But he only “wah”-vomited a large mouthful of black blood mixed with clots.
His left arm spasmed nearly out of control. The Ankh Life Symbol seemed fused to his palm. His right hand gripped his left wrist fiercely, veins bulging.
Amid the body’s near-death resistance, the Ankh Life Symbol still glowed, but the light weakened.
At the same time, attacks from other players appeared on the dying Insect King: bursts of fire, explosions, blade lights.
“Ah!”
Zong Rui roared and hurled her invincible bamboo pole broom. It turned into a javelin, piercing straight through the Insect King’s skull.
Yu Da followed closely with two heavy punches on the Insect Queen’s half-melted forelimb. Its massive horn became a burden now. The body slumped to the ground, mobility zeroed.
Taking advantage of the opening as the two besieged the Giant Insect Queen, Mu Shan leaped over the scattered insect corpses on the ground.
He Yuncong stood rigidly in place, not dodging at all.
“Are you okay?!”
The man was covered in blood, more wretched than ever, but the expression under the mask was calm and cold.
The bizarre life symbol in his hand had vanished, but his body still emanated a strange, powerful, void aura.
“You…”
As if finally seeing the person before him, he lowered his head, his gaze carrying a condescending scrutiny.
The eyes under the mask were pure black. When Mu Shan met them, it felt like her body plunged into an icy sea, countless dead souls tugging at her limbs.
Yet the corners of the bleeding man’s mouth curved slightly. His thin lips parted, uttering incomprehensible words.
As Mu Shan puzzled over it, the pointed tip of the canine-kiss mask gently touched her forehead, like a distant kiss.
The next second, the man collapsed weakly, his heavy upper body slumping onto her shoulder.
Mu Shan exerted all her strength to support He Yuncong. Suddenly, she heard a shrill, miserable hiss from behind. Under Zong Rui and Yu Da’s assault, the golden armored beetle, drained of massive life force, crashed down, utterly still.
The heavy stone in everyone’s hearts finally fell.
Mu Shan breathed a sigh of relief as she watched the refreshed system prompt.
【Players successfully cooperated to kill Giant Insect Queen (Golden Armored Beetle)
Strength +5
Agility +5
Defense +5
HP +5
Spirit +3
Gold Coins +1000
Giant Insect Queen: Tyrant of the Humid Heat Forest, player approval rating (death rate) 80%】
Mu Shan hadn’t yet noticed anything wrong when she suddenly heard the rumble of colossal movement, like dozens or hundreds of elephants charging.
Zong Rui: “What sound is that?”
Yu Da stood at the shattered cavern mouth, pointing below. “Look.”
Mu Shan took out the binoculars. First, she saw thick smoke. Then, in the smoke, she spotted familiar figures—giant cockroaches, Rock Moths, all types of giant insect monsters…
“They’re fleeing downstream.”
“What’s going on? Today shouldn’t be an assault day.”
Zong Rui realized it belatedly and said in shock, “Wait, why hasn’t Side Quest 2 prompted completion even though we killed the king bug?!”
Mu Shan’s heart sank.
The dungeon boss wasn’t the giant insect queen at all!