Dragging the steel cable, Number Zero finally pulled everyone out of the cavern's area.
Everyone slowly regained their mobility.
Taking advantage of the brief moment before everyone fully recovered, Li Xiuman swapped places with Number Zero and put her back into his storage space.
At the same time, he retrieved the information gathered by Number Zero inside the cavern.
As expected of Number Zero, whom he had crafted with his own hands—she possessed a fraction of his wisdom and capability as her master.
However, Li Xiuman soon couldn't smile anymore.
Number Zero's appearance had been exposed!
For such a thing to happen... he had truly been too careless.
What was worse, everyone present now believed he was a silver-haired, red-eyed young beauty!
This was definitely not a good thing!
Filled with a sense of despair, Li Xiuman looked toward the group.
Everyone shrank back, implicitly avoiding direct eye contact with him, behaving with timid, gentlemanly courtesy.
“Xiuman... No, Miss Xiuman.”
“I'm so sorry for making you save me again, and for forcing you to take such a huge risk this time.”
Li Xiuman opened his mouth, but no words came out.
He was even considering whether to speak with his own voice or use Number Zero's cool, mature female tone.
Seeing that Xiuman didn't answer, Brad felt a bad premonition in his heart.
It seemed there was a reason why Miss Xiuman disguised herself as a man to travel. Now that they had accidentally seen her appearance, Miss Xiuman was probably deeply distressed.
Thinking of this, Brad hurriedly spoke up.
“Miss Xiuman, please rest assured.”
“We won't utter a single word about your secret to anyone.”
He patted his chest to guarantee it, though he couldn't stop the image of Number Zero's face from floating into his mind.
For some reason, his heart fluttered slightly.
“...”
“Miss Li, please don't worry, we won't tell anyone either.”
“You are our savior. We would never return kindness with enmity.”
“If Miss Li has any difficulties or secrets that are hard to speak of, we can help.”
“Sister Xiuman, even though I'm a woman in this party, I didn't notice at all. I'm really, really sorry.”
“...”
Everyone spoke carefully, appearing deeply considerate of Li Xiuman's feelings.
Damn it! Damn it all!
He had been thoroughly screwed over by Number Zero.
“It's fine.”
Li Xiuman hesitated for a long time, but in the end, he decided against using Number Zero's voice.
After all, if he kept using a female voice, he was genuinely worried about his mental health.
He was already a skeleton; he didn't want his mental state to degenerate even further.
“...”
Silence fell over the area for a good while.
Everyone began to feel a bit awkward.
Some of them even wracked their brains, trying to remember if they had said or done anything offensive during their time together over the past few days.
In the end, Brad changed the subject, bringing it back to the crystal cave.
“Ahem... It's my fault this time. I was too careless and reckless.”
“I apologize to all of you. I failed to fulfill my duties as a captain.”
Brad sincerely apologized to his party members.
“No, it's not the captain's fault.”
“We failed to notice the problem right away and jumped into the trap one by one. Our actions were flawed as well.”
The party members didn't push all the blame onto Brad; instead, each admitted their own mistakes.
Ah, what a dazzling bunch of people.
They were as clear as a pure spring, completely unlike Li Xiuman, who was a total mud puddle.
As everyone took turns admitting their faults, the awkward atmosphere gradually dispersed.
“Everyone saw it just now—there are a vast number of crystals inside the cavern.”
“This place is very likely the entrance leading to the Spirit Spring.”
As Brad spoke, he pulled out the floor map and the treasure map.
After locating their current position on the floor map, he overlapped it with the treasure map.
Looking at it like this, sure enough...
They didn't match at all—they were completely irreconcilable.
“Look, they're identical!” Brad declared in a suppressed, excited tone, pointing at the two maps.
“...”
Li Xiuman didn't know what to say.
They were completely different, okay?!
Is there something wrong with your eyes, or is there something wrong with mine?
Li Xiuman glanced at the others out of the corner of his eye.
Everyone else had thoughtful expressions, as if they all saw the connection between the two maps.
He was the only one who felt they didn't match at all.
Looking at it this way... Could it actually be my problem?
“Captain, even though we've found the entrance, with that crystal statue in there, we can't get inside at all,” someone raised a concern to Brad.
“Miss Xiuman already found a solution just now.”
“That is to block our line of sight.”
“Next, as long as we block our line of sight, we can pass through the crystal statue and reach the interior of the crystal cave.”
As Brad spoke, he started drawing on the ground.
“The Heavy Warriors will form an outer ring to block the crystal statue's attacks.”
“The inner ring will consist of Swordsmen to intercept any attacks that leak through.”
“And in the innermost layer will be Mia and Miss Xiuman.”
I really want to kill these guys right now.
Every time they say "Miss Xiuman," Li Xiuman's killing intent surges.
“Then, Captain, if we do that, what do we do about having no vision?” someone asked again.
“We only need one person to open their eyes and guide us.”
“When Miss Xiuman entered the cavern to save us earlier, she forced the crystal statue to attack.”
“At that moment, all of us regained our ability to speak.”
“I surmise that the crystal statue cannot attack and fully control people at the same time.”
“As long as the crystal statue attacks us, the person with their eyes open can speak and provide guidance.”
“And the rest of us will protect that person as we advance.”
“I have a question,” Li Xiuman spoke up.
Everyone's expressions turned awkward once again.
For the current Li Xiuman, this was like adding fuel to the fire. He could barely resist drawing the Crystal Orchid and slaughtering everyone on the spot.
Damn it, if there weren't a skeleton under this cloak, I'd really take off my hood and show you whether I'm a man or a woman!
“What is your advice, Miss Xiuman?”
Li Xiuman gritted his teeth and spoke.
“Before that, I hope you can drop the 'Miss' suffix.”
Brad was startled, his mind instantly racing.
Just as I thought! Miss Xiuman is indeed a woman with a past.
Was she once looked down upon or hurt because of her gender or beauty?
Is that why she hid her gender and used magic to alter her voice to prove herself?
Surely, along the way, Miss Xiuman endured many painful things that caused her to close off her heart.
Yet despite all the hardship, Miss Xiuman still strove to improve herself, walking forward with strength and determination.
A Miss Xiuman like this is truly cool and full of charm.
“Alright, Xiuman.”
Rate on N.U.
