Hostage

Cheng Shuili’s gaze followed to Master of Slacking, and she gave a light chuckle as she answered, "A hostage."

Master of Slacking froze at these words. So he was just a hostage after all! She had called him a teammate and talked about the bonds of the party with such high-sounding words! Now, she wasn't even bothering to keep up the pretense. He could have cried.

He didn't know what expression to make, so he could only open his chat interface to hide his embarrassment.

A glance at the screen revealed truly shocking news. He had only been scanning it casually, but the moment he realized what he was looking at, his pupils dilated instantly.

"O... outside... the acid rain outside has suddenly intensified by a lot!"

Master of Slacking looked terrified. He couldn't be blamed for making such a fuss; the descriptions in the group chat were truly horrific.

They spoke of raincoats sizzling, raindrops gaining weight, and an atmosphere that seemed intent on destroying the world. Even standard metal weapons being held normally were being corroded until they were riddled with small holes, rendering them completely useless.

This was...

Those people were already in despair. They had guessed this was likely the first peak mentioned in the information, but it had arrived so quickly and with such ferocity that they hadn't had any time to react!

Master of Slacking’s voice trembled as he recounted everything. He wasn't entirely stupid, and when he met the calm gazes of the few people in the dim light, he finally realized something.

"You... you knew about this all along?"

As Master of Slacking asked this, his gaze swept over their faces hidden in the shadows. For a moment, he felt that these people were even more terrifying than the acid rain outside.

Yet, these same people had truly saved his life.

Master of Slacking’s feelings were complex. For a moment, he didn't even know what attitude he should take toward them.

"You... who exactly are you?"

Master of Slacking’s voice was dry. He wanted to ask but didn't dare to ask the whole question.

Cheng Shuili had no intention of answering voluntarily.

The number of people in the group chat established by Fengyun Tianxia kept dropping. Given that not many people had entered the dungeon to begin with, every single one was precious.

Cheng Shuili still hadn't figured out their purpose for entering a hell-level dungeon, but compared to saving them, she would rather remain ignorant of their motives.

Whether they could survive... would depend on Fengyun Tianxia’s own strength.

The underground shelter was quiet. Qi Wanyi held her flashlight and observed the walls; the wall plaster had bubbled up due to the humidity and fell off in clumps at the slightest touch.

Aside from that, the entire shelter was empty, without a single item.

Calling it a shelter was a stretch; it was more accurately described as a basement.

Cheng Shuili chose a clean spot and stood with her back against the wall, clutching her Night Hunt.

Ailin’s gaze fell on the long blade in Cheng Shuili’s hand from time to time. Only after looking closely several times did she shift her eyes elsewhere.

Since this boss was ranked first on the leaderboard, it was only natural that the weapon she possessed would be extraordinary.

Ailin admitted she was a bit envious, but she felt more curiosity and a faint hope to get a closer look. However, she always maintained a respectful attitude toward Cheng Shuili, so naturally, she felt embarrassed to speak up.

She tried hard to control herself and shifted her gaze away from the Night Hunt, unaware that Cheng Shuili had noticed everything.

Cheng Shuili very generously passed the Night Hunt over to her.

Although the action was a bit abrupt, since she was the boss, the others couldn't say anything.

Ailin took it with a face full of surprise, examined it thoroughly, and then returned it with satisfaction.

Qi Wanyi watched their interaction and asked curiously, "Did you see anything?"

Ailin shook her head. "I just learned something new."

A very polite response.

Cheng Shuili shook her head, pulled herself together, and looked at Master of Slacking. "Did the people from Fengyun Tianxia die out?"

What kind of question was that?

Master of Slacking’s entire back stiffened.

This person looked like a normal human, but in reality, she simply didn't care about the lives of others, did she?

He muttered to himself, but if Cheng Shuili had known, she would surely have retorted: "So... whether these people live or die, what does it have to do with her?"

Master of Slacking quickly reported the latest situation. "They found the shelter, but because things happened so urgently, they lost half their men. Now, only three are left."

Cheng Shuili nodded. "Is Fengyun Tianxia still alive?"

Master of Slacking couldn't figure out why she asked this, but after a quick thought, he decided to tell the truth. "He is still alive, and the two people remaining seem to be his trusted aides. Previously, other team members said the three of them were always together."

Oh... I see.

Cheng Shuili felt a bit disappointed.

Ever since she heard the ID "Fengyun Tianxia" in the dungeon, she had felt that this guy was targeting her.

This feeling came abruptly, yet it was very clear.

It was as if she had been locked onto by something.

Cheng Shuili shook her head. In such a large dungeon, there were definitely more than just their two teams. As for the other teams from whom there had been no news so far, she wondered how they were faring.

She stood up and walked to the staircase to stand still.

Based on Cheng Shuili’s attributes, she could clearly distinguish the intensity of the rain outside from where she stood.

It wasn't until the sound of the rain had weakened significantly that the group emerged from the underground shelter.

In addition to the survival mission, the dungeon also had a material collection task. The quota was ten items per person. With five people in their group, they needed to find a total of fifty.

Things wouldn't come looking for them on their own if they just hid.

However...

Cheng Shuili still hadn't figured out where the teamwork in this team dungeon actually manifested.

The five of them had no...

That wasn't entirely true; when collecting information at the beginning, having more people was indeed useful.

Especially with Jiang Tang, that lucky person, who had spawned right next to the map at the very start; the advantage that brought was obvious.

But if you were talking about cooperation...

Cheng Shuili frowned. Why did she always feel that this kind of dungeon wasn't about cooperation between team members, but rather cooperation between teams?

For example, the key piece of information found by Fengyun Tianxia—if they hadn't known that, the acid rain would definitely have caught Cheng Shuili’s group off guard.

Cheng Shuili cast a light glance at Master of Slacking. Having this guy around was fine... even if he was a hostage, he was a useful hostage who could cooperate.

That was enough.

The group returned to the control room. After the acid rain, although the walls hadn't changed much, the map on the wall had faded significantly.

This was definitely bad news.

It meant that the acid rain was destroying information within the dungeon. Cheng Shuili’s group had already saved backups of the information they had discovered, so it didn't matter if that was destroyed.

But what about the information that hadn't been discovered yet?

Could it still be found after being hit by acid rain?

Cheng Shuili frowned, feeling that the system had dug a pit waiting for them to jump into.

Plus that vague, persistent sense of unease, as if she were being watched...