161: Intelligence from the dessert shop

Upper City District.

"Alice's Garden" Dessert Shop.

The decor here was so pink and frilly it was almost criminal.

Lace and bows were everywhere, along with the kind of velvet sofas you sink right into.

The scent of cream wafted through the air.

Mixed with the expensive perfume of the noblewomen nearby, it became a bit overwhelming after a while.

Lin Keke was currently busy 'executing' a palm-sized strawberry mousse cake in front of her.

"Nom!"

With a large bite, pink cream smeared all over her mouth.

She was so happy her eyes narrowed into two slits.

Her right eye wore a colored contact lens, which flickered slightly with excitement.

"Incredible! This texture is incredible!"

"This melt-in-your-mouth texture is practically an SSR-tier experience!"

Lin Keke hummed indistinctly while reaching her fork toward the tiramisu next to it.

"Sister Xin, don't just watch, dig in! The Captain's paying anyway; not eating is just saving money for the capitalists!"

Sitting opposite her, Xia Xin appeared somewhat restless.

She sat with a straight back and her hands placed neatly on her knees; one might have mistaken her for being at a school discipline meeting.

The cup of black tea in front of her had gone cold, yet she hadn't taken a single sip.

"Keke, we've spent nearly ten thousand black gold coins..."

Xia Xin lowered her voice, her brow furrowed slightly as her eyes warily scanned the well-dressed diners around them.

"With this much money, if we bought high-explosive armor-piercing arrows, we could have turned that checkpoint from earlier into a beehive."

She still felt the sting of the cost.

As a budget-conscious discipline committee member and the eldest sister of the Xia family, this kind of extravagance was dancing on her nerves.

"Relax, relax, look at the big picture! This is called an 'intelligence gathering fee'!"

Lin Keke waved her fork nonchalantly.

"Look at the NPCs in this shop... ah, I mean, the customers."

"Every one of them is dressed to the nines; they look like rich and powerful big bosses."

"Places like this often spawn hidden quest clues. Don't you understand game mechanics, Sister Xin?"

Xia Xin sighed helplessly.

Just as she was about to give a lecture, a commotion came from the neighboring booth.

It was a semi-enclosed booth.

Two middle-aged men with thick necks and gold chains as thick as fingers were huddled together, smoking.

The smoke was pungent, carrying the tarry scent of cigars.

"Old Li, have you heard? There's some high-end stuff at the venue tonight."

One of the fat men with a receding hairline chuckled, the fat on his face trembling.

He made a mysterious gesture.

"Brought out from that Inverted Tower in the Inner Ring... supposedly it's still a fresh live specimen."

"Live specimen?"

The other man, whose face was covered in pockmarks, brightened up and rubbed his hands greedily.

"For real? Inspections have been strict lately. Didn't they say everything has to be sent up to extract that 'blood of god' thing?"

"That's where you're wrong."

The balding fat man lowered his voice, looking left and right before leaning into the pockmarked man's ear.

"There are always some defects, or things the people above passed over... but for us, those are top-tier!"

"And I heard there's a big secret being auctioned this time."

"Something called... the Countdown Key?"

"If you get that, you'll know when this damn game finally ends, and you could even..."

The voice grew quieter and quieter.

The fork in Lin Keke's hand stopped mid-air.

Pink cream was still smeared near her mouth.

Her expression switched from silly joy to 'cutscene mode.'

It looked a bit comical, but her heterochromatic eyes indeed showed a spark of cleverness.

She kicked Xia Xin's toe under the table.

"Ding-dong! The main quest has refreshed."

Xia Xin had also heard those keywords.

Especially "Pyramid" and "live specimen."

She instinctively reached for the outside of her thigh.

Several sharp shuriken were hidden there; the cold metallic touch calmed her down slightly.

"Follow them?" she asked with her mouth, making no sound.

"Definitely!"

Lin Keke stuffed the rest of the cake into her mouth in two or three bites.

She didn't forget to lick the plate clean before leaving.

"This is a clue related to clearing the dungeon, how could this young lady miss out?

"Let's go!"

The two fat men paid the bill and wobbled their way out.

They seemed to have drunk a lot, as their steps were a bit unsteady.

Lin Keke and Xia Xin exchanged a look and grabbed their bags from the table,

Acting like two 'plastic' besties who had just finished shopping, they trailed behind at a moderate distance.

They passed through the bustling main street.

The surrounding lights gradually became suggestive and dim.

The shops along the road changed from luxury goods to specialized massage parlors with pink neon signs and underground casinos.

The two fat men turned into a dead-end alley.

There were no streetlights here.

Only the piles of trash in the corners emitted a sour, rotting smell, with the occasional rat squeaking as it scurried past.

"This place... doesn't look like it's for legitimate business."

Xia Xin wrinkled her nose, disdainfully avoiding a puddle of unidentified liquid on the ground.

"Naturally."

Lin Keke, however, seemed very excited, as if she had discovered a hidden easter egg.

"According to RPG tropes, these dark corners are exactly where you farm elite mobs and top-tier gear."

The two followed to the end of the alley.

There was a seemingly ordinary rusted iron door with an "Under Maintenance" sign hanging on it.

The two fat men simply pressed a few buttons on the keypad by the door and flashed a gold card at the camera.

*Click.*

The iron door opened.

Inside wasn't the server room or pipes I expected, but a brilliantly lit staircase leading down, covered in red carpet!

Deafening heavy metal music drifted out through the crack in the door.

Faintly, the frenzied roars and bidding cries of a crowd could be heard.

"Is it... a black market?"

Xia Xin's pupils constricted, and she was about to rush forward to use her foot to block the closing iron door.

But Lin Keke pulled her back.

"Don't be rash! This door has an anti-intrusion mechanism; forcing your way in will trigger an alarm."

She pointed to the sensor flashing red above the door frame.

"Then what do we do? They've already gone in." Xia Xin was getting anxious.

They had finally found a clue; if it was cut off here, how would they explain it to Chen Du when they got back?

"Hehe, this is where this young lady's skills come in."

Lin Keke pulled out a magic wand she had recently bought from a roadside stall, its tip set with a pink crystal.

She straightened her skirt and took a deep breath.

Her goofy aura actually underwent some kind of transformation at this moment.

"Since it's a hidden dungeon, naturally we need an entry ticket."

She swaggered up to the iron door.

The infrared camera immediately swiveled over, staring intently at the two uninvited guests.

A cold mechanical voice came from the loudspeaker:

"Private property. No entry for non-members. Leave within three seconds, or the defense mechanism will be activated."

*Clack-clack!*

The sound of a machine gun chambering a round was grating.

Cold sweat instantly broke out on Xia Xin.

"Keke! Get back! This thing isn't a joke!"

But Lin Keke didn't budge.

She raised the plastic magic wand, pointing it straight at the camera.

The golden pupil in her right eye suddenly constricted!

A-rank Talent—[Old Dreamer], activate!

In that instant.

The surrounding air became viscous, as if an invisible layer of glue had covered their mouths and noses.

This was the effect of the [Slow Totem]!

"Get back?"

A wild and cool smirk curled onto Lin Keke's lips, and her voice became deep and magnetic,

Looking nothing like the girl who would roll around for a piece of cake.

"Before the great Great Old One, no door dares refuse the descent of the 'Abyssal Council'."