Chapter 125: Second Level
Hearing Lin Huai’s gentle words and seeing the cool, travel-worn girl smiling warmly at her, Milk Tea Seven Parts Sugar could no longer hold back her emotions. She rushed forward and threw her arms around Lin Huai, burying her face against her shoulder.
“Sister Bone Ash, I really thought I would never see any of you again!”
Milk Tea was a Southern girl, and being quite young, she stood only 152 centimeters tall. Looking at the petite girl clinging to her, Lin Huai raised a hand and gently stroked her hair. “Don’t be silly. No matter what happens, I will always find a way to reach you.”
Shortly after Lin Huai found Milk Tea, the rest of the squad arrived one after another.
Everyone had been drawn in by a wisp of shimmering golden light that seemed to drift through the woods from nowhere. Only after gathering together did they realize the glow was radiating directly from the ornate golden chest clutched in Milk Tea’s arms.
Lin Huai pointed to the box and asked, “What’s inside? Have you opened it yet?”
Milk Tea eagerly unlatched the lid, showing it to Lin Huai with sparkling eyes. “Sister Bone Ash, look! It’s a flame—the Samadhi True Fire!”
Lin Huai understood the importance of this discovery instantly, and excitement flared in her chest. “The alchemy furnace can finally be ignited!”
The others, unfamiliar with the details of the furnace, stared with curious expressions.
Old Wang, an avid reader of cultivation novels, was the first to react. “Wait, what?! Our little Milk Tea unlocked an alchemy furnace? Does that mean our squad can start cultivating immortality now?!”
The young heiress rolled her eyes in exasperation. “We already secured pill recipes earlier. An alchemy furnace is obviously meant for refining healing medicine. What kind of bizarre nonsense are you daydreaming about all day?”
Watching the lively young woman roll her eyes at him, Old Wang simply rubbed his nose in silence and turned his face away without arguing.
The heiress waited for a comeback, surprised to find that Old Wang wasn’t bickering with her as usual. She found it so unusual that she eyed him warily for several moments, genuinely wondering if this Old Wang was another Painted Skin Ghost in disguise.
Having just escaped the psychological trap of monster duplicates impersonating their friends, an uneasy tension still lingered among the group. A closer look revealed that while everyone was chatting, they were quietly maintaining a guarded distance from one another.
Even Cute and Sparkling, who usually clung to Milk Tea’s side, stayed several paces back, hesitant to step too close.
Milk Tea was especially affected. She kept stealing cautious glances at Brother He Ping, her eyes filled with quiet hurt and grievance.
Lin Huai chuckled softly under her breath. It was completely natural for everyone to be cautious after such an ordeal, but lingering suspicion would ruin their combat teamwork moving forward.
Reaching into her backpack, she pulled out several cinder bricks and handed one to each member. “These cinder bricks can only be utilized by genuine players. Everyone, crush a bit and sprinkle the dust over yourselves. This will allow us to tell friend from foe in an instant.”
She looked around at the squad, her tone firm yet reassuring. “We have already shattered the Painted Skin Ghost’s first-stage illusion and internal discord trap, so we shouldn’t run into any more duplicates here. There’s no need to stay overly anxious. If teammates start guarding against one another and lose their trust, we will simply be playing right into the enemy’s hands.”
Seeing each person apply the gray powder, the tension broke, and collective sighs of relief rippled through the clearing.
Cute and Sparkling finally hurried over and linked arms with Milk Tea, beaming with genuine pride for her best friend. “Wow, Milk Tea! You actually unlocked a legendary item on your own! You see? You don’t have to keep calling yourself useless anymore. You’re super useful now, okay?!”
Noticing Milk Tea’s lingering, uneasy glances toward him, Peace and Violence deduced that she had probably encountered a cruel duplicate wearing his face. Though he didn’t know the exact details of what the phantom had said, he stepped forward to offer warm encouragement:
“While Milk Tea’s raw offensive power may not be the highest, a dedicated healer is the single most vital pillar for an optimal squad formation. Now that our medical capabilities have ascended to an entirely new tier, everyone’s survival on the road is far more secure. Milk Tea deserves all the credit for this breakthrough!”
Hearing his sincere praise, the sting in Milk Tea’s heart melted away, and her eyes reddened slightly with emotion. She stopped looking at him with suspicion.
She nodded firmly, wiping her nose. “Mm! I promise I will protect everyone. I won’t let down the faith you’ve all placed in me!”
Dragon Emerging from the Sea had been quietly watching over the reunion from the perimeter, coordinating with Sister Cai to guard against monster ambushes. Seeing that the squad had regained its footing, he stepped closer. “Boss, what is our next objective? Do we keep pushing toward the central rift?”
Lin Huai nodded, pointing toward the edge of the newly grown woods. “Beyond this tree line lies a sheer cliff. Dropping down from that precipice will lead us straight into the second stage.”
She explained the layout for everyone’s benefit: “The cliffs mark the spatial rifts of this trial’s map. Whenever you spot a sudden drop-off in this realm, leaping through usually teleports you to another zone. However, if you are unsure of the destination, do not wander off alone. Stumbling blindly into an unknown hazard without communication would be fatal.”
The squad began marching forward, committing every guideline to memory.
Because Milk Tea’s golden container was an active quest object that couldn’t be tucked into her ordinary inventory, holding it by hand would leave her clumsy in battle. Lin Huai took the heavy box and safely secured it inside her dimensional jade bangle.
With her hands free, Milk Tea could raise her submachine gun and maintain proper tactical vigilance.
Cute and Sparkling walked beside her, watching her friend carry herself with fresh courage and confidence. A warm smile spread across her face.
Trailing slightly behind them, Flash Delivery Yellow Knight watched Milk Tea with undisguised envy. After staring for a few moments, he lowered his eyes with a quiet sigh, adjusting his pack and trudging silently along with the convoy.
With all eleven members reunited, their monster-clearing efficiency skyrocketed. Lin Huai actively directed their formation to sharpen their mutual coordination, while Milk Tea and Cute and Sparkling used the frontline skirmishes to hone their marksmanship and combat instincts.
Sister Cai stayed glued to the two younger girls, stepping in with her spear to deflect any stray attacks. Moving at a swift pace, the party quickly reached the outer boundary of the forest. Just as Lin Huai had predicted, the woodland gave way to an abyss.
Lin Huai stepped off the edge first. Arcs of violet lightning crackled across the blade of her war scythe. With a sharp horizontal slash through the air, she severed the boundary, tearing open a glowing crimson fracture directly above the void.
Without hesitation, the remaining ten members jumped into the rift behind her, their bodies vanishing in a collective burst of spatial distortion.
A flash of blinding red light washed over Lin Huai’s vision before her boots met solid, cold stone.
They had landed in a pitch-black, sunless valley. Rising directly before their eyes were three colossal, jagged mountain peaks standing shoulder-to-shoulder against the dark sky.
Those equipped with night vision goggles immediately pulled the lenses over their eyes. The members without specialized optics placed a steady hand on the shoulder of an outfitted teammate, forming tight, synchronized rows.
This was the three-person advancing formation standard in military operations, which Dragon Emerging from the Sea had drilled into them long ago. Today was the first time they were putting it into live tactical practice.
Lin Huai and Dragon Emerging from the Sea split up to secure the perimeter—she took point to carve open a safe path, while he took the rear to cover their retreat.
Right as their boots settled into the rocky soil, the trial system’s mechanical voice chimed through the valley air:
[Congratulations to the Bone Ashes Mixed with Rice squad for becoming the very first team to reach the second stage of the Monsters Brawl trial! Which of the three ancient Ghost Kings will you face? Look forward to the encounter with anticipation!]
[A friendly reminder: if you accidentally violate the zone rules and trigger all three Ghost Kings to descend at the exact same time… consider yourselves thoroughly out of luck~]
