156: Jack, Destiny's Child?

Chapter 156: Jack, the Child of Destiny?

Looking at Cecilia's proud expression, Dick was a bit speechless. She was, as always, a loyal fan of Elizabeth.

Speaking of Elizabeth, Cecilia quickly looked troubled again. In the end, she didn't want to compete with Elizabeth.

She had clearly come tonight to break up with Dick, but she never expected things to develop this way. What should she do?

"Dick, you... are Your Majesty's first love. To avoid making Your Majesty sad, I still..."

"Don't worry," Dick reached out and pressed against Cecilia's red lips, smiling. "I naturally won't make Your Majesty sad either."

Looking at Dick's usual confident appearance, Cecilia was somewhat disbelieving. After all, Elizabeth was so deeply involved, how could she let go easily?

Dick didn't offer much explanation. Instead, he found a comfortable position and held Cecilia as he fell asleep.

It's hard to be a responsible good man because they have to consider many things. Facing such a dilemma, they might collapse.

But he, Dick, was a scumbag, irresponsible, so naturally, he didn't need to think about so many things.

As soon as the Underground City Championship quest ends, he will simply leave.

...

Meanwhile, at the entrance to the Fourth Floor, the five members of the Ancient Godly Heart Team stopped.

Jack, who was leading, had a blood-stained bandage wrapped around his forehead, and his body was covered in wounds of various sizes. The other four were in the same state.

It was clear that the Ancient Godly Heart Team had experienced many battles on the Fourth Floor before this; collecting five golden treasure chests was by no means easy.

Not all teams had Xiao Nai, who could just pick up unwanted golden treasure chests while walking.

Although these highest quality chests weren't exactly rare, getting them inevitably required fighting high-level Beasts.

Moreover, besides the Beasts, even more terrifying were other teams lying in wait; there were quite a few people looking to reap the benefits.

In fact, most of the injuries on the five members of the Ancient Godly Heart Team were due to battles with other adventurers.

There was no such thing as a safe route. The Ancient Godly Heart Team would encounter other teams every now and then; fighting was a common occurrence.

Fortunately, thanks to their solid strength and excellent luck, they still successfully reached the Fourth Floor, surpassing the vast majority of Youth Group teams.

Although they were almost two days slower than Dick's group.

"Master Jack, they are all dead. Nine were decapitated, four were shot through the head with an arrow, and one... fell from a high place and died."

Hearing this, Jack gasped, lamenting how cruel the Championship truly was.

Looking at the corpses scattered on the ground, Jack couldn't help but feel a lingering fear, because most of them were adventurers stronger than himself.

Among them, Jack even found the Firebird Squad that had robbed them earlier on the Second Layer!

At that time, Lieta was incredibly arrogant, relying on her powerful strength and openly provoking everyone around, yet no one dared to step forward.

Except for Dick, who was escorted by Donald.

Honestly, Jack didn't think his Ancient Godly Heart Team could defeat the Firebird Squad.

After all, the average level difference was four or five levels.

Yet despite this, the Firebird Squad still met a tragic end at the entrance to the Fourth Floor, which made Jack feel a sense of inexplicable melancholy.

There was also another team, judging by their appearance, they seemed to be from the Adventurers' Group, all middle-aged men in their forties or fifties.

It's just... why were their bodies so clean?

Except for the most useless clothes, basically all their equipment was gone. They looked as if they had come to fight in the Underground City completely naked.

Although Dick let Xiao Nai have free rein, little did he know that in Xiao Nai's eyes, anything worth more than 10 gold coins could basically be considered a valuable treasure.

Therefore, Duncan's team was stripped so clean.

"Hiss, what vicious and evil bandits, robbing and then silencing witnesses..."

Jack shook his head and sighed, already having determined that these people were robbed. He just didn't expect such outrageous bandits, who seemed to have never seen money before.

"Ah, I wonder how Brother Dick is doing. I guess he, like me, is participating in the Championship for the first time. I hope I won't see his corpse along the way."

Jack prayed to himself. He already felt a sense of camaraderie with Dick, seeing him as another prodigy, and longed to meet Dick at the peak.

Suddenly, another person in the team pulled out a map from Lieta's waist. It was covered in bloodstains, but the large characters on the cover attracted everyone's attention.

"Adventurers Guild Internal Special Supply Map?"

"Is that real? Such acts of using public resources for private gain are strictly forbidden by the Guild. How could someone risk being executed to create such a map..."

"Greed knows no bounds, and human hearts are wicked. It might have been deliberately left by those bandits to trap us..."

Listening to the team members' chattering discussion, Jack was somewhat skeptical. He took the map and examined it repeatedly, quickly discovering many details.

"Look, some of the safe routes provided on this map are places we've passed through before, and they were basically free of traps and Beasts..."

Jack added, "Not only that, I observed the bodies of these people. They have all been dead for more than a day, which clearly shows that they reached the Fourth Floor faster than us!"

After several analyses, Jack concluded that this map found on Lieta's waist had a high degree of credibility and was very likely a genuine internal map!

The other four team members also nodded in agreement. After all, they were already among the frontrunners. To be so much faster than them, there was basically no other possibility besides cheating.

"Let's try it first. We'll follow the route on the map. If things don't seem right, we'll reconsider!"

As the captain, Jack had the final say. After all, this team was funded and assembled by Duke Stu, specifically built around Jack; he was the one in charge.

Looking at the darkness in the distance, Jack's lips curved into a smile, his heart surging with excitement.

Plans have changed, prepare to win the Championship!

...

Half a day later, Jack and his group looked at the eerie, mist-shrouded forest ahead, their faces showing hesitation.

Because this looked very much like the territory of the Fourth Floor's elite Beast, the Ghost Shadow Magic Wolf!

Ghost Shadow Magic Wolves were only around level thirty on average. Although they weren't the BOSS of the Fourth Floor, their actual combat strength was stronger than a BOSS because they were pack Beasts, usually numbering in the hundreds per pack!

If encountered, even the top teams from the Adventurers' Group would have a tough time!

"Master Jack, let's take a detour. It doesn't look very safe up ahead..."

"Yeah, I think I just heard a wolf howl. It might be the legendary Ghost Shadow Magic Wolf!"

Hearing this, Jack looked at the map in his hand, frowning in thought.

After all, for the past half day, the group had followed the safe route on the map and basically hadn't encountered any Beasts or traps; it was truly safe!

Jack felt his luck was incredibly good. To actually pick up such a map was like getting a cheat in the Championship.

The feeling of being the Child of Destiny arose spontaneously!

"Emmm..."

Jack looked at the eerie and treacherous forest ahead, then looked at the map, and let out a light breath, saying, "This should be a diversion tactic. The map notes that the area ahead is actually an abandoned wolf den..."

Awoo—

However, before Jack could finish speaking, a spine-chilling wolf howl echoed from the front.

"Uh... this, this diversion tactic is quite realistic, huh? It even has sound..." Jack wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, his voice trembling.

Awoo—

Awooo—

More wolf howls sounded, this time coming from all directions, one after another, making Jack and his group's scalps tingle.

Soon, pairs of eerie green eyes lit up all around, accompanied by the characteristic panting of canines.

"It's over, it's over. The first howl just now was the wolf king summoning the pack..." a team member said, wanting to cry but having no tears.

At the same time, Dick and his group, who had rested for the night, had fully recovered their energy and were now preparing to set off.

Kun's three-story massive wooden house, transformed, was no different from a five-star mobile hotel. The group stayed very comfortably and all had a good night's sleep.

Dick, who was tidying his equipment, felt something and subconsciously looked towards the direction of the Ghost Shadow Magic Wolf's den, muttering to himself, "I wonder if any fools fell into my trap..."