Mu Shan’s heart skipped a beat, and she subconsciously retreated.
Teleportation? Flight ability?
Why was he so fast…
The white-haired man whose profession was named [Rogue] straightened up, impatience flashing in his eyes. “Speak up. You can observe all collectible resource locations in the current scene, right, Collector?”
Mu Shan kept a straight face. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“If you want to search this villa, I can let you have it.”
Cheng Kaiwen let out a “heh,” his tall, muscular body radiating aggression as he took two steps toward her, forcing Mu Shan to raise her axe horizontally in front of her.
The man’s narrow eyes narrowed further, and he lightly tapped the tip of her axe with one hand. “Little sister, asking questions when you already know the answers isn’t fun. I like talking to smart people.”
Perhaps seeing how overly guarded her expression was, Cheng Kaiwen tugged at the corner of his mouth into a smile. “Don’t be so tense. I just want you to help me with a small favor. I won’t hurt you. Finding resources—that’s your specialty, isn’t it?”
Mu Shan stayed silent.
This man definitely had some ability to see through others’ skills. In that case, her only combat skill 【You’re Actually a Good Person】 would certainly be guarded against.
Perhaps she could use the Peashooter to catch him off guard…
She calculated her odds of winning in a direct confrontation. The smile faded from the white-haired man’s face, his light-colored pupils cold like those of a reptile.
“Don’t think staying silent means I don’t know what you’re thinking.” He slowly circled to her side, his left hand gently gripping the handle of Mu Shan’s axe and forcefully pressing it down.
“Don’t even think about fighting me, newbie.”
As the unfamiliar man drew close, Mu Shan felt an icy, oppressive aura enveloping her—a pressure from absolute superiority.
The axe was still in her hand, yet it felt like she had lost control of it.
The outdoor light cast their shadows on the floor. She suddenly noticed a long, thin tail extending from behind Cheng Kaiwen, flicking flexibly. The sharp tip of the tail was like a stinger, right against the back of her head.
It wasn’t hard to imagine that any sudden move from her would result in that stinger piercing straight into her skull.
Mu Shan stared straight ahead, cold sweat dampening the stray hairs at her temple. “What do you want me to help you with?”
Cheng Kaiwen nodded in satisfaction. He reached out, hooked his arm around her shoulder, and led her step by step down the stairs. “Simple. Find a certain resource.”
Mu Shan struggled, breaking free of his hand. “Let me make this clear first: I’m just a weakling newbie. I can’t offer you much help, and I can’t even beat a mutant zombie.”
“If it’s equal mutual benefit, I’m willing to help to a certain extent. We’re all players fighting this instance. But if you have any dangerous ideas, even a desperate newbie will bite.”
The man burst into loud laughter. “Relax. I know you’re pure support. I’m not counting on you to use skills like [Hoarding Addiction, Trash Sorting] on the front lines.”
Mu Shan’s heart sank at his words, and she gritted her teeth inwardly.
He had indeed figured out all her details.
If she had acted rashly earlier, she would have been the one to suffer.
The two reached the first floor. Cheng Kaiwen opened the villa’s front door with practiced ease, dragging her outside.
Mu Shan’s face was grim. “What resource are you looking for exactly?”
Cheng Kaiwen grinned, lowering his voice. “Gunpowder.”
There was actually a church in the villa district.
Mu Shan couldn’t believe it when she stood at the entrance.
A typical Gothic building with a pointed spire roof, lifelike figure reliefs, and a rusted iron gate that swung open with a push.
Cheng Kaiwen lightly tapped the air with his right hand, as if accessing a system interface, though she couldn’t see its contents.
Mu Shan peered into the church. “Is there gunpowder inside? You sure you’re not looking for fireworks?”
Cheng Kaiwen’s gaze turned cold. “That’s for you to tell me.”
Mu Shan silently rolled her eyes at him, walked under the eaves, removed her rain cape, and shook off the water droplets. At the same time, she carefully discerned the resource distribution inside the church.
Under the effect of 【Hoarding Addiction II】, different resources appeared to her as colorful blocks. For example, water resources were blue, clothes were earthy yellow, food was brown, weapons were silver.
Unless they were laid out on a large scale, these colors were hard to distinguish, densely packed like puzzle pieces.
Mu Shan searched meticulously and finally spotted a bright golden block underground, as indicated by the system feedback.
She had never seen a resource point of this color before.
—It was just like the firelight produced after an explosion.
Seeing her expression grow serious, Cheng Kaiwen leaned in. “There really is some?”
Mu Shan told the truth. “I can only sense the general location. It’s underground.”
The man smiled, baring his white teeth.
“That’s enough.”
Cheng Kaiwen had no intention of letting Mu Shan go first, but he also feared she might run off midway, so he tried to grab her arm to hold her hostage as they entered.
Mu Shan shook him off. “Relax. I can’t outrun you.”
Rogue: “It’s dangerous inside. You’d better not try anything.”
The two entered the church.
The chapel was eerily quiet, without even a single zombie converted from parishioners.
It was too clean.
Mu Shan walked past rows of redwood pews and saw many oil paintings hanging on the walls on both sides—all portraits.
Lifelike human bodies, expressions full of emotion.
The figures in the paintings had bloodless faces, arms raised high, pierced, trampled, with only black-and-white features left.
The colored glass windows refracted dim light, and accumulated dust danced in the air.
Under the high vaulted ceiling, a crystal chandelier hung from a single steel wire swayed in the wind, emitting creaking sounds.
The chapel carried a powerful religious oppression, especially in this instance’s context. Mu Shan’s body tensed as she constantly scanned her surroundings, fearing some monster might lunge out suddenly.
“There’s a door here.” Cheng Kaiwen turned into a wooden door, beyond which was a long corridor lined with rooms like offices.
Mu Shan’s sharp eyes spotted many long candles, books, and sundries on the desks. Without thinking, she swept them all into her collection.
Cheng Kaiwen crossed his arms, watching coldly as she rummaged through everything. “Are you that poor?”
Mu Shan ignored him, focusing intently on collecting trash.
If not for this man’s threats and intimidation, she would still be happily gathering supplies in the villa right now!
At the end of the corridor, there was an unassuming stone door on the wall. Cheng Kaiwen pushed it open forcefully, peeked inside casually, and said, “It leads to the basement. Let’s go.”
The space inside the stone door was narrow, with no light source. He turned on his flashlight, illuminating a small patch of stone stairs ahead.
Under the pale light, the stairs spiraled downward endlessly into the depths.
Just one glance made Mu Shan’s scalp tingle. This ghostly place didn’t seem like anywhere a normal person would go; her whole body rejected it, her instincts screaming to get out.
The two walked for who knew how long—Mu Shan felt it had been at least ten minutes—and the stone stairs still hadn’t reached the bottom.
How deep was this church’s underground…
In that instant, her vision flashed red, and the long-absent system survival countdown reappeared.
【Instance Remaining Survival Time: 10:00】
【09:59】
Mu Shan’s expression changed. “My countdown is down to ten minutes! I can’t go down!”
She had just turned around and taken half a step when a thick arm suddenly barred her way.
Mu Shan slapped it away. At this point, she didn’t care about his five-digit senior player status. She directly took out the Nine Linked Rings and tossed them at him.
【This player’s mental value >35. Use failed.】
The Nine Linked Rings clinked as they fell onto the steps.
The next second, a sharp blade was already at her neck. Cheng Kaiwen narrowed his eyes. “Fear stems from insufficient firepower. Relax, I won’t let you die.”
Seeing Mu Shan silent, just panting heavily with a grim face, he said, “Stopping here would waste all our effort. Either go in, or…”
Or you die here.
Mu Shan took a deep breath and gave the man a deep look.
The two continued downward.
In the pitch-black underground passage, the flashlight’s beam gradually receded. After reaching a certain depth, the rough stone stairs suddenly turned into wooden steps.
The rotten wood occasionally missed a section, creaking underfoot from years of disrepair.
The air was turbid, filled with a stifling rotten smell that made her dizzy.
Mu Shan didn’t dare make too much noise. She kept trying to hug the wall as she moved, while the man beside her moved silently as if he didn’t exist.
Her eyes fixed only on the area illuminated by the flashlight; everything else was pitch black.
Staring too long, even her brain started anticipating something jumping out.
But when a huge mouth actually appeared in her view, Mu Shan still jumped in fright.
“Grah—”
Some red, mushy monster lunged suddenly. She didn’t even get a clear look before instinctively leaning back to dodge.
The flashlight flickered, and in the darkness came a “bang”—the sound of flesh slamming into the stone wall.
The flashlight beam swung over quickly, illuminating a crawler zombie on the ground, only half its body left.
“Ao ao!”
Its skin was peeled off, exposing red muscles.
Its arms were deformed. Having lived long in the dark, its eye area was pitch black; it probably couldn’t see. From the waist down, it was severed by some sharp weapon, leaving only a bloody spine dragging behind.
Mu Shan felt a chill down her spine, goosebumps rising on her arms.
Cheng Kaiwen leaned lazily against the wall, arms crossed, watching her. “A gold coin delivered right to the door. Brother’s letting you have it.”
He even took two steps back.
Mu Shan’s eyes nearly split with rage: This idiot!!!
The next instant, she grabbed the Viking battle axe and charged.
The half corpse had no legs and could only attack from a crawling position, but the mental pollution it caused far exceeded its physical damage.
Just looking at that skinless thing wriggling on the ground—impossible to tell if it was male or female—made Mu Shan’s hairs stand on end.
With several fierce axe swings, the half corpse’s neck was severed. The dark cross-section didn’t spill a drop of blood.
Mu Shan averted her gaze, feeling a bit nauseous.
Cheng Kaiwen sidled over, his tone infuriating. “Kitty’s pretty fierce. Turns out even kittens bite when angry.”
Mu Shan just wanted to punch that face.
She gnashed her teeth. “Is your profession really called Rogue?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing.” You should be called Lunatic.
On the remaining wooden stairs, Mu Shan hacked down three more half-body crawler zombies. All were skinless, severed at the lower half.
She didn’t know if they were signature monsters of this eerie church…
After getting used to the stairs, when a doorway suddenly appeared ahead, Mu Shan didn’t react at first.
“What’re you spacing out for? We’re at the end.” Cheng Kaiwen grabbed her collar and pulled her forward.
The two stepped into a vast space.
Already so deep underground, the ceiling was still nearly two meters high. Doorways connected one after another, like an underground palace for mysterious religious ceremonies…
As far as the eye could see, it was pitch black and endless.
Mu Shan gripped her axe tightly, her whole body screaming rejection.
“Which direction?” Cheng Kaiwen asked casually.
Mu Shan pointed into the darkness. “That way.”
The man strode ahead with the flashlight. Mu Shan followed closely behind, every step cautious, seeing threats everywhere.
The death countdown hanging over her head ticked away steadily, second by second.
Suddenly, the pale flashlight beam swept over something colorful, and Mu Shan shuddered violently.
The man ahead turned back. “What’re you scared of? Just a pile of clothes.”
Under a nearby doorway lay a jumble of assorted clothing, utterly out of place.
Men’s and women’s clothes and pants, all torn, splattered with blood that had turned black.
Mu Shan covered her nose.
From the amount of blood, the owners of these clothes and pants could not possibly still be alive.
The two turned left and right, bypassing one door opening after another of varying heights. They occasionally glimpsed square stone rooms.
Inside each was only a stone bed, no lamps—it did not seem like a place for long-term habitation.
Mu Shan intermittently harvested some iron tools from the stone rooms, including iron tongs, crowbars, and wrenches. Rogue raised no objection to her claiming these items.
“Drip—”
“Drip—drip—”
In the absolute silence, aside from their footsteps, the inexplicable sound of dripping water was infinitely amplified by the vast underground palace, becoming especially sharp.
Mu Shan felt as if the water dripped directly onto her heartbeat. She was ready to explode at any moment.
Gradually, even Cheng Kaiwen’s face lost its playful smirk.
The two steadily advanced toward the firearms resource point. As they bypassed one door opening, a thick red curtain blocked the path ahead.
Mu Shan subconsciously reached out to pull it. Halfway through, the flashlight beam swept forward.
It illuminated a rotten corpse face.
It stood pressed tightly against the back of the curtain.
!!!
Mu Shan’s breathing stopped abruptly. She subconsciously stepped back, but her heel slipped on the stairs, causing her to suddenly lose balance.
The zombie that had been standing quietly ahead opened its bloody maw and lunged forward. The terrifying rotten face drew closer and closer.
In a flash, Mu Shan only managed to raise her axe.
The flashlight beam shifted away, plunging everything into sudden darkness.
“Grr—!” Bloody claws whipped up a fishy wind past her ear but were swiftly blocked by something. Then came several heavy thuds, accompanied by the zombie’s piercing roar.
Mu Shan steadied herself and quickly retrieved the peashooter, but she could not aim steadily.
The flashlight beam flashed back and forth. Sometimes her view caught the zombie’s blood-drenched maw; other times, it was the man’s figure.
Cold sweat trickled down her forehead and into her eyes.
【Player Cheng Kaiwen (Rogue) used skill: Wandering Through Flowers
(Active) Instant movement skill, moves at the speed of sound, duration no more than 10 seconds
“Wandering Through Flowers, Not a Leaf Sticks to the Body.”】
In one instant, Mu Shan suddenly had a clear shot.
The pale beam steadily lit up a small patch of the underground palace. She saw Cheng Kaiwen holding the flashlight in one hand and a pitch-black dagger in the other as he stood there.
In front of him, the zombie that had attacked her had both arms severed. A thin, elongated thing had wrapped around its neck and pierced through its jaw. It thrashed in its death throes, mouth agape.
That thin, rope-like thing writhed. Mu Shan glanced at it twice and realized it extended from behind Cheng Kaiwen’s waist—it was his tail.
The battle ended in a flash, just as she had guessed. This zombie was no match at all for a five-digit player…
She was about to lower the peashooter when she noticed the zombie’s disproportionately huge belly, swollen like twins at eight months gestation.
She examined it for a moment and grew increasingly certain something was off about that belly. It was no illusion—the taut skin thinned further, then rippled like waves.
Mu Shan did not hesitate and fired directly.
The peas struck down the big-bellied zombie. Suddenly, with a “Pfft!”, two bloody little hands burst from its abdomen. The hands tore open the belly skin, and the thing inside tumbled out amid a “splash” of pitch-black amniotic fluid.
An infant zombie crawled out from the zombie’s belly…
Cheng Kaiwen seemed quite shocked as well and simply stood there without moving.
Mu Shan’s scalp numbed. That miniature zombie’s eyes were not even fully developed. Its mouth bristled with rows of shark-like fangs, and its umbilical cord was wrapped around its neck several times, making the neck extremely slender.
Even after hitting the ground, it did not die. Instead, it let out shrill cries as it crawled back toward its mother’s body.
The thing was pure walking mental pollution. Mu Shan did not dare approach and instead fired the peashooter.
Two peas shattered the infant zombie’s fragile skull cleanly. A system kill notification appeared.
【Killed advanced zombie
Coins +11
Perfect kill: Coins +10】
Mu Shan panted for breath twice. Perhaps, according to the system settings, this infant zombie would grow into yet another mutant zombie with overwhelming combat power, just like that little girl.
She glanced at Rogue beside her. The man appeared utterly leisurely, as if he had not just fought a battle—his clothes were not even rumpled.
She still remembered the powerful skill he had displayed moments ago.
If she killed him, could she inherit his 【Wandering Through Flowers】?
He noticed her gaze and glanced sideways. “What are you thinking?”
Mu Shan turned her head away, her face expressionless. “Nothing.”
Right now, she was still too weak to match a five-digit player.