Chapter 14: The Crawler (With Gratitude to Lord Li Xuanmeng!)

After getting in the car, the old Santana creaked and groaned as it slowly moved forward, the sounds of parts rattling making one seriously doubt whether it could carry all five of us safely to our destination.

“Are you the Zhu Ying brothers?”

As we waited at the red light, the handsome driver turned to us with a smile. “I’m Chen Jinnan, captain of this leveling squad. I’m also responsible for organizing and planning this training outing. Currently level 11, combat energy 92 points, a Stellar Overlord.”

“Greetings, Chief Chen,” I nodded immediately.

“Heh heh heh~”

Chen Jinnan chuckled. “You kid…”

The burly man in the passenger seat turned his face toward us as well. “Brother, I’m Axe, same level as you at 10, but a different class—I’m a Gene Warrior.”

“A Gene Warrior?”

A chill ran down my spine, but I said nothing and just smiled, nodding. “Not bad~”

“Heh heh!”

Axe smiled in agreement.

Ruolin said, “Alright, I’m Ruolin. Since we know each other well, no need for introductions. And that guy next to me who fancies himself the number one beauty in Wuxi—weren’t you quite the chatterbox before? Now that you see newcomers, why are you so quiet? Social anxiety?”

“Cough cough…”

The beauty shot her a sideways glance, then extended her hand. “Hello, Ding Han. I’m the newbie of the team, real name Ling Baiwei, from Wuxi. Currently level 11, class is Psychokinetic, and I’m the team’s psychic damage dealer.”

“Nice to meet you.”

I shook Baiwei’s hand and immediately let go. “Our team’s strength is quite respectable.”

“That goes without saying!”

Chen Jinnan laughed. “Don’t laugh, but although we’re a small group now, it won’t be long before we grow into a real guild. I’ve even thought of a name—Heaven and Earth Society.”

“No way…”

I was surprised. “Is the secret code ‘Overthrow the Qing and Restore the Ming’?”

“We do have that idea.”

Axe turned around with a grin. “Zhu Ying brothers, I really envy you… sitting in the back with two beauties, unlike me, stuck sitting up front with the boss, this big rough guy…”

“Oh?”

I smiled. “You can apply to switch seats with me and come sit in the back. I don’t mind.”

“You think he hasn’t tried?”

Zhang Ruolin glanced at me. “He was just rejected by me and Baiwei.”

“I see…”

I silently gave Axe a thumbs-up. “Brother Axe is a man of feeling!”

Axe’s face flushed red.

“Zhu Ying brothers,”

Chen Jinnan asked, “are you getting used to life in Xi City?”

“Not bad…”

I pondered briefly. “At least we’ve settled in and haven’t starved yet.”

“Hahaha, if we players starved, that would be a joke.”

Chen Jinnan said, “But since we’re teammates now, I need to remind you—among the three major factions in the Xingyuan world, the Star Maple Federation and the Dark Tide are absolutely hostile to player forces. Once they discover a Descendant’s identity, they kill without hesitation. The attitude of the Red Dragon Kingdom is more ambiguous.”

He frowned. “Although Xi City is neutral, it has close ties with the Red Dragon Kingdom, and the attitude there is unpredictable too. So we must never reveal our player identities. You can consider Xi City a safe zone and the area outside the city as the wild leveling zone. Leveling outside is important, but so is every word and deed inside the city.”

“Understood!”

I nodded.

“Ding Han,”

Baiwei peeked at me and said, “there’s a saying among players lately: ‘Inside the city is life, outside the city is the game.’ You can ponder its deeper meaning.”

“Got it.”

Truly, I felt like a rookie who had too little contact with other players upon entering the Xingyuan world, still unaware of many things.

“Also,”

Ruolin said, “we don’t live together, fearing a total wipeout. Apart from going out to level up, we rarely contact each other. This is something to keep in mind.”

I nodded slightly.

Shortly after, the rattling old Santana arrived at the outskirts of Xi City. Military police came forward to inspect everyone’s residency permits.

“Where are you headed?” the soldier asked.

“Out for a trip,” Chen Jinnan replied calmly.

“Be careful.”

The young soldier frowned. “There have been many insect nests growing in the wastelands lately, and the Dark Tide is stirring. Don’t stray too far from the city.”

The car slowly exited the city, and everyone inside breathed a sigh of relief.

“The insect nest coordinates aren’t close—about two hours by car. You can get some rest.”

“Alright!”

The others weren’t particularly tired, but I was exhausted. Night shifts were brutal; although I slept most of the time in the network management chair, I was frequently woken up—sometimes due to machine problems, other times to buy instant noodles—so my sleep quality was poor.

Leaning back in the seat, I soon fell into a deep sleep.

…

I don’t know how long later, I awoke from a jolt and found my face resting on Ruolin’s fragrant shoulder.

“Ugh…”

I hurriedly swallowed my saliva, embarrassed. “Have we arrived?”

“Yes.”

Ruolin looked speechless and wiped the drool off her clothes, but not thoroughly, and shot me a glare. “You jerk…”

I gave her an apologetic look.

“Let’s go!”

Chen Jinnan stopped the car beside an abandoned road overgrown with weeds. “Switch to combat mode. This place is quite unsafe now. Everyone, be careful!”

“Got it!”

He was the captain, so his word was final.

After getting out, I switched directly into combat mode. Instantly, a green Howler submachine gun appeared in my hands. Ruolin opened the trade window and transferred 1,000 rounds of 9mm ammo to me.

Soon, everyone’s green health bars appeared, their IDs floating above.

At that moment, it finally felt like a game!

My blood surged with excitement.

“Be alert!”

Axe sniffed the air. “Something’s coming…”

“Rustle rustle…”

Leaves shook in the nearby shrubs—something was approaching.

“Get ready!”

Everyone instinctively crouched down, aiming their guns.

In the next instant, a figure burst from the bushes. It was a humanoid creature, but skinless, covered in oily slime. A long tail extended from its spine, its mouth could open wide, and its hands had mutated into sharp claws!

“Watch out, it’s a mutant!”

Chen Jinnan shouted.

It was my first time seeing a mutant in the game, and I was thrilled. Just then, its attributes appeared on my info panel:

【Lurker (Licker)】 (Elite)

Level: 15

Attack: 35-70

Defense: 20

Health: 1500

Skill: [Bite Lv.3]

Details: Lurkers are radiation-induced mutants, extremely ferocious, feeding on human and beast flesh.

…

“Hiss~~~”

As the lurker charged, it opened its blood-red mouth wide, releasing a tongue at least fifty centimeters long, looking terrifying.

“Fire!”

Before Chen Jinnan could speak, I pulled the trigger. Muzzle flash burst as I fired a five-round burst, each bullet hitting precisely on the lurker’s flesh.

In an instant, the lurker took fire from five people simultaneously. Its health bar plummeted to zero, and its body suddenly collapsed.

But at the same time, two more figures leapt from the bushes. One charged straight at Baiwei, claws slicing through the air with a sharp cracking sound.

“Watch out!”

Ruolin instantly leapt forward, a heavy shield appearing in her left hand. With a thud, the shield hit the ground just as the ambushing lurker’s claws repeatedly scraped the shield’s surface, emitting piercing screeches.

Baiwei was too scared to move.

Ruolin was a shield-class Overlord with defensive bonuses. She had just saved Baiwei—had that level 15 lurker landed a hit, it would have been brutal.

“Don’t just stand there…”

I stepped quickly to the right and fired a precise volley at the lurker’s head.

Compared to Ruolin and me, Chen Jinnan, Axe, and Baiwei were a bit slower to react; it seemed we were the veterans in the game, while the other three were momentarily caught off guard.

The second lurker fell, but the third took a flanking route, suddenly emerging from trees dangerously close to me!

“Hissss~~~”

With a sharp screech, its tooth-filled mouth lunged toward my throat.

“Ding Han, watch out!”

Zhang Ruolin shouted in alarm. By then, it was too late to save me!

In a flash, I instinctively activated the Step Slash!

“Whirr~~”

Three points of primal energy ignited. Sword intent instantly enveloped me. At the same time, a terrifying force pushed me from behind, propelling my body five yards forward and to the right, narrowly evading the lurker’s attack.

My Vanguard Stinger transformed into a streak of blazing light, slicing into the lurker’s back of the head with a “pfft.”

“312!”

The big damage number was a tremendous boost to morale.

“Holy crap…”

Axe was shocked. “Ding Han, you… you actually learned Step Slash? That skill tome is a hot commodity at this stage…”

“Just lucky,”

I modestly replied, switching back to the Howler and continuing precise shots.

“Awesome…”

Chen Jinnan also held his submachine gun and laid down fire.

Seconds later, the three lurkers’ corpses lay before us, though none dropped even a single mutant ability crate.

In fact, elite monsters usually have a higher chance of dropping ability crystal boxes, so our luck was just average.

…

“Let’s move on.”

Chen Jinnan said, “Didn’t expect to get attacked by mutants before even reaching the insect nest. Things aren’t going smoothly this time; everyone be extra careful.”

Everyone nodded in agreement.

I followed the group forward, swapping in a fully loaded magazine while reloading the partially used one. In my interdimensional storage, I had five spare magazines for the Howler, totaling 250 rounds. I still had to conserve ammo because when monsters swarm, there’s no time to reload.

Ahead, a tunnel appeared within the bushes. A pungent stench of rot wafted up from below.

Our destination had finally arrived!