Temporary Slacking Squad

Cheng Shuili was glad someone had bumped into her.

She was just fretting over having insufficient information and not knowing enough about the strength of others.

Cheng Shuili immediately stopped in her tracks, her body shrinking back into the deeper shadows of the pipe like a ghost, silent and still. She slowed her breathing, almost merging with the sound of the pattering rain.

The blade of Night Hunt refracted a cold, faint glimmer in the dim light.

Her gaze locked tightly onto the shipping container area.

A few seconds later, a figure also wearing lizard skin poked their head out cautiously, seemingly observing the movement near the pipe; clearly, the speed at which Cheng Shuili had moved just moments ago had caught their attention.

The person’s movements were slightly hesitant as they looked left and right, clutching a handgun tightly. Their alertness was high, but they did not appear to be very experienced.

“Just one? It seems all the teams are scattered.”

A judgment flashed through Cheng Shuili’s mind in an instant.

This guy was a great target for gathering intelligence.

Moreover, since the other party had spotted her first, letting them leave might expose her own tracks and invite more trouble.

She had to act quickly and decisively.

Cheng Shuili silently pulled her cloak over herself. Even though her agility had increased, giving her confidence that the other person wouldn't have a chance to fire, she didn't like taking risks with her own life.

Just as the person hesitated about whether to step forward and investigate, Cheng Shuili moved!

She didn't choose a straight-line charge; instead, she flashed toward a twisted metal plate to her side and rear, creating a sound that suggested she was moving in the opposite direction.

The player was indeed drawn by the sound, instinctively turning their muzzle and gaze toward that direction.

This was the moment!

Cheng Shuili surged out from the shadows like a leopard ready to pounce, her speed so fast that she left only a blurry black shadow in the gray-yellow rain curtain!

The corrosive mud beneath her feet seemed completely unable to slow her down.

The player heard the commotion and spun around, their pupils shrinking suddenly as they scrambled to raise their gun.

But it was too late!

Cheng Shuili was already upon them, Night Hunt carrying a shrill whistle that tore through the air, accurately striking upward!

With a crisp "clang," the handgun was knocked directly away, spinning as it fell into the hissing acid-corrosion mud pit in the distance.

The player was terrified, their other hand scrambling toward their waist, seemingly trying to draw a cold melee weapon.

Cheng Shuili didn't give them a chance. With a flick of her wrist, the cold tip of Night Hunt was already pressed against their throat, slightly piercing the collar of their raincoat and delivering a cold, lethal threat.

“Don’t move.” Cheng Shuili’s voice came through the rain, calm and without a ripple of emotion. “Answer my questions, and you won’t have to die.”

The player’s body went stiff instantly, their hands held high. They swallowed hard, their face filled with fear. They could feel the bone-chilling killing intent radiating from the blade tip and had no doubt the person would strike immediately.

“Y-you ask...” their voice was somewhat hoarse from nervousness.

“How many people are in your team? Did you get separated after teleporting in?” Cheng Shuili asked quickly.

“S-seven! We were separated! Everyone was separated!” they answered in a rush.

“Seven?” Cheng Shuili narrowed her eyes and threatened, “Then you must have discovered something, right?”

“What thing? I don’t know! I really don’t know! We were in this hellish place the moment we arrived. I only contacted two people from the team, and they are both quite far from me! Big Brother... Big Sister! Spare me, I just wanted to find some supplies, I didn’t mean to conflict with you!”

Cheng Shuili stared at them with sharp eyes. This was, after all, a Hell-level dungeon; the people who could get in here were absolutely not just randomly grouped together.

No group chat?

Cheng Shuili didn’t believe it.

Night Hunt pressed a little closer, and Cheng Shuili lowered her voice to ask, “What is your ID?”

“I... I...” The person seemed somewhat flustered. Finally, they swallowed their saliva and blurted out their ID, “My ID is Master of Slacking. I have many supplies; I can give them all to you, just don’t kill me, don’t kill me!”

Oh?

This ID sounded a bit familiar?

What rank was it again?

Cheng Shuili narrowed her eyes and thought for a moment, finally remembering. He was the sixth-ranked player, sixth on both leaderboards. In other words, Cheng Shuili might have hijacked a core member of a team.

Calling it hijacking was a bit impolite.

The truth should be: subdued!

That’s right!

This person wanted to attack her, but she had subdued him in advance.

Today is another day of Justice Little Cheng protecting the safety of life!

What? Whose safety was she protecting? Her own, of course.

Cheng Shuili didn't feel a shred of guilt and continued to press, “A sixth-ranked player on both leaderboards can’t even pull out a Group Leader Card? Tell the truth!”

The tip of Night Hunt moved forward by another half-inch, the stinging sensation making the player with the ID “Master of Slacking” tremble all over.

“I have it! I have a Group Leader Card!”

He practically shouted it out, fearing that if he were a second too slow, that cold blade would slit his throat.

“But our boss... our captain isn’t me! It’s Fengyun Tianxia! He’s the group leader, really! I swear! I really don’t know what’s going on! I only entered this team because I provided a Hell-level dungeon slot, really!”

“I didn’t plan on meeting up with them either. I’m not interested in the rankings; I was just planning to find a place to stay honestly and wait to collect the failure rewards!”

Fengyun Tianxia?

Cheng Shuili remembered someone exposing this ID in the regional channel, saying he was a scammer who took money but didn’t confirm.

But another question followed: why enter a Hell-level dungeon? Others avoided them like the plague, yet this “Fengyun Tianxia” wanted to enter proactively?

When things are abnormal, there must be a demon at work.

But interrogating this guy in front of her probably wouldn’t yield anything more.

Cheng Shuili was still somewhat unsatisfied.

Why was a player ranked sixth on both leaderboards so cowardly? It made Cheng Shuili feel a bit embarrassed to play rough. But if she didn’t play rough, she wouldn’t know if this guy had spat out everything he knew.

Such torture...

Why was she the one suffering?

A flash of inspiration struck Cheng Shuili’s mind, and the corners of her mouth hooked into an imperceptible curve.

Her wrist moved slightly, the blade of Night Hunt shifting away from the other person’s throat, but the cold sense of threat remained undiminished.

She lowered her voice, but her tone carried a strange, hair-raising “sincerity”: “Oh? You just want to collect failure rewards? Slacking, right? I’m very experienced with that.”

Master of Slacking froze, seemingly not expecting the other person’s reaction, and nodded nervously.

Cheng Shuili continued in a measured tone, her voice almost melting into the sound of the pattering rain: “That’s perfect, our goals are the same. I have no interest in fighting and killing; I just want to live safely until the dungeon ends.”

“Look, our meeting now is fate. How about... we form a temporary slacking squad?”