11: Chapter 11: Just watch me play.

"Sshh—"

Early the next morning, accompanied by a familiar, low sound of pressure release, the airtight lids of the four cultivation pods in Room No. 2 of the Fire Seed Shelter popped open simultaneously.

The four players scrambled out from inside, unable to contain their impatience.

"Brothers, we're online, we're online! Today is a big day!"

Flash hopped up and down in excitement, quickly pulling on his dusty, grey work uniform.

As a battle junkie who lived for extreme maneuvers, he was absolutely starving for the plan to solo an epic-level dungeon today.

"Flash, stop yapping and come over here to give us a hand!"

Ming Shen called out to Liver Emperor, and the two of them huffed and puffed as they wheeled the two bicycles they had hand-crafted yesterday out of Workshop No. 3.

"The equipment is all tied up in Old Liver's trash bag and on my back seat."

Ming Shen patted the rough, solid metal tires. As the brains of the team, he had already simulated today's tactics in his mind countless times.

"It's over fifty kilometers; we'll go in pairs. Old Liver has the most stamina, so he'll take me; Walker, you take Flash. We'll take turns pedaling and must reach the target depression within two hours!"

"You got it! Wasteland drifting, let's go!"

The four of them pushed their bicycles through the first-floor lobby, but they didn't see the aloof NPC, Lin Li.

They didn't mind, assuming it was just the NPC's schedule setting, and pressed the switch for the airtight door.

A violent wind laden with grit whipped into their faces.

Miracle Walker straddled the rugged metal bicycle and stomped hard on the pedals, while Flash seized the opportunity to jump onto the rear metal rack.

"Clunk!"

They hadn't even ridden a hundred meters before Flash let out a string of profanities. He clutched his buttocks in agony, bouncing on the back seat like a toad launched by a spring.

"Holy crap! Old Ming! Is this hand-crafted shock absorber fake?! This isn't a bike, it's a torture device! My tailbone is about to shatter!"

"What do you know!"

Ming Shen sat on the back seat of Liver Emperor's bike, gripping the edge of the seat tightly. Although he was also grimacing from the bumps, he remained stubborn.

"It's enough that it moves! The conditions in the wasteland are tough; what do you want, a leather sofa? Suck it up, just consider it a workout for your glutes!"

"Damn, this game even simulates the pain of a sore ass so realistically; the developers must be psychopaths!"

Flash ranted frantically while having no choice but to half-squat on the back seat, relying on his thigh muscles to force some shock absorption.

Amidst the chaos, the two pieces of junk bicycles kicked up long trails of dust across the wasteland as they sped toward the southwest.

...

Inside the Shelter lobby.

Confirming that the four players had gone far away, a tall figure draped in a tattered black trench coat slowly emerged from the shadows of the elevator leading to the second underground level.

A cunning smile tugged at the corner of Lin Li's mouth.

As the Shelter manager, he wouldn't truly entrust the heavy responsibility of exploration entirely to this group of unreliable players.

If these four guys failed to lure the monsters and ended up wiped out, where would he get food and plasma batteries?

"73, watch the house."

Lin Li instructed the glowing red Men of Iron head hovering in mid-air.

"As you command, Creator. I will strictly monitor the bodily fluids and dander left behind by these inferior carbon-based lifeforms to prevent them from polluting the sacred air of the Shelter."

STC-73's mechanical voice still carried that arrogance that disdained everything.

Lin Li rolled his eyes, too lazy to argue with this psycho AI.

He walked to Workshop No. 3 and tore off a piece of rag covering something in the corner.

A bicycle equipped with an ultra-soft, leather-wrapped seat was revealed before his eyes.

Lin Li securely slotted the [ADS Type - Civilian Halberd - No. 3] into the weapon slot on the side of the frame and straddled the leather seat.

"Comfortable."

Feeling the perfect embrace from the seat, Lin Li sighed with satisfaction.

He stepped on the pedals, and the bicycle silently glided out of the Shelter.

He deliberately controlled his speed, trailing far behind in the players' blind spot, following them like a ghost.

...

Two hours later.

The dark red wasteland star had risen to mid-sky, its scorching sunlight baking the cracked earth.

"Creak... creak..."

Accompanied by the teeth-grinding sound of metal friction, the two bicycles finally stopped at the edge of the depression.

The four players were all drenched in sweat, their stamina bars long since having dropped below the yellow line, but their eyes were exceptionally bright.

"We're here."

Miracle Walker wiped the sweat and dust from his face and pointed to the massive, crater-like depression below.

Liver Emperor and Ming Shen lay on the edge of the cliff looking down. Even though they had heard the description in the group chat yesterday, seeing that patch of morbidly fluorescent mutant moss and that pure metal drainage pipe with a diameter of five meters with their own eyes made them gasp in awe.

"This is freaking spectacular..." Liver Emperor's infrastructure-fanatic genes were jumping wildly.

"If we could dismantle this pipe and haul it back, it would be enough to forge so many top-tier pieces of equipment!"

"Stop obsessing over your junk and stick to the plan!"

Ming Shen patted Liver Emperor's shoulder and lowered his voice.

"I've checked the terrain of this depression; it's like a natural colosseum. Old Liver, we'll take the heavy crossbows to that protruding black rock over there. It has a wide field of view, and the rock face is steep. If things go south, it'll be hard for the monsters to climb up directly and catch us."

"No problem, just watch me work."

Liver Emperor unslung the ragged pack from his back, drew two heavy, wasteland-style compound crossbows, and began to forcefully crank the winches to string them.

Ming Shen turned to look at Flash and Miracle Walker, his expression becoming extremely serious.

"You two, the scouting team, don't even bother with weapons; maximize your movement speed. Remember, our goal is to lure the monsters, not for you to show off. Once you see the monsters, after you draw aggro, no matter what it is, turn around and run. Don't get greedy for attacks!"

"Don't worry, Old Ming. When it comes to running away and micromanagement, I, Flash, haven't yielded to anyone in this game!"

Flash grinned, casually pulling a piece of waste tire rubber wrapped in rags and soaked in mutant beast grease from his backpack.

The two skillfully used a flint to light the torches in their hands, and immediately, an extremely pungent black smoke and foul odor began to permeate the air.

"This smell is potent! It'll definitely smoke out the boss inside!"

Miracle Walker pinched his nose, exchanged a glance with Flash, and the two slid down the steep rock face, creeping into the depression and making their way toward the massive drainage pipe.

The closer they got to the drainage pipe, the stronger that unsettling sense of oppression became.

As soon as they stepped inside the pipe, the heat from outside seemed to be cut off instantly.

It was replaced by a chill and dampness that seeped into their bones.

The dim light of the torches danced on the massive metal pipe walls, illuminating the corners covered in rust and thick, mutated lichen.

The metal grating underfoot was covered in slimy moss, making it extremely slippery to step on.

"Be careful; this physics engine even calculates this kind of slippery friction. If you fall, you might lose half your health bar instantly."

Miracle Walker walked in front, his palms already slick with cold sweat.

As they went deeper, a nauseating stench became increasingly intense, and the faint, low sound of chewing and the rustling sound of crawling from some unknown creature could be heard in the air.

"Holy crap... this atmosphere is top-notch."

Flash gripped the torch tightly, his heart pounding in his chest like a drum.

As a fearless battle junkie, he actually felt a hint of real fear at this moment.

"This isn't an action game; this is clearly a horror game! I keep feeling like a face-hugger is going to drop down on my head at any moment."

"Don't scare yourself." Miracle Walker forced himself to remain calm.

The two groped their way along the pipe, and after walking for about a few hundred meters, an upward maintenance ladder appeared ahead.

The two carefully climbed up the iron ladder.

Poking their heads out from the massive, square drainage outlet, the space before them suddenly opened up.

"Holy sh*t..."

When Miracle Walker saw the scene before him by the faint light, his pupils instantly contracted to the size of pinpricks, and his scalp went numb.

This was an underground space the size of a basketball court!

Scattered around the walls were various massive, ancient cultivation tanks and processing assembly line equipment of unknown purpose.

But what was even more deadly—in the center of this space, it was densely packed with a sea of black creatures!

It was a swarm of mutated giant ants!

Each ant was as big as an adult dog, its body covered in a black-brown carapace with a metallic sheen. Their massive mandibles, like two sharp hydraulic shears, opened and closed in the air, making a teeth-grinding clicking sound.

And in the very center of the ant swarm, a terrifying queen ant, one size larger than a water buffalo, was gnawing on some white substance dragged from who knows where!

"We're screwed..." Miracle Walker gasped, feeling his hands and feet go cold,

[part:gemini-3.0-Flash]

"Old Ming's judgment was off... This isn't just one boss, it's a whole monster legion! How do we handle this?!"

Cold sweat slid down Flash's forehead and along his cheek.

He looked at the dense swarm of giant ants, numbering at least a hundred, and then at the burning piece of scrap rubber in his hand.

"What do we do?"

"We've already come this far, what else is there to say?" Flash gritted his teeth and roared, "Of course we're going to A-move in!!!"

Before his voice even faded, Flash swung his arm in a wide arc and hurled the scrap tire rubber, which was emitting acrid black smoke, like a grenade right into the center of the swarm, aiming for the massive Queen Ant!

*Thud!*

The burning rubber struck the Queen Ant's abdomen with precision, and the scalding grease instantly burned through its exoskeleton.

"Screeech—!!!!"

An incredibly sharp, ear-piercing shriek of agony exploded within the enclosed underground space!

This action was like kicking a hornet's nest into its own ancestral grave.

The previously quiet, feeding ant colony instantly went into a frenzy!

Over a hundred giant ants, each the size of a stray dog, turned their heads in unison, their countless pairs of crimson compound eyes locking onto the two humans at the maintenance hatch.

*Click-clack, click-clack, click-clack!*

The skin-crawling sound of arthropod legs scuttling rose like a torrential rain, and a black tide of insects swept toward the two men like a tsunami!

"Run, run, run!!! We've pulled aggro!!!"

Flash and Walker felt like their scalps were about to explode from the tension.

The two didn't even dare use the stairs; they leaped directly from the two-meter-high maintenance hatch, landing heavily on the moss-covered bottom of the pipe, and scrambled frantically toward the exit.

...

Meanwhile, at the vantage point outside the depression.

Liver Emperor and Ming Shen lay flat on the scalding black rocks, their palms drenched in sweat.

Two heavy crossbows were already set up, bolts loaded.

"Why has it been so long without any movement?"

Liver Emperor anxiously wiped the sweat from his hands, staring at the dark pipe opening.

"Old Ming, those two idiots didn't trigger some instant-death trap inside and kick the bucket already, did they?"

"Hard to say..."

Ming Shen frowned deeply, his eyes fixed on the massive nest piled with white bones on the other side of the depression.

"If they're dead, we'll have to force our way..."

He hadn't even finished his sentence.

*Rumble—!*

From deep within the pipe, an incredibly dense, thunder-like vibration suddenly echoed!

Immediately following, two incredibly shrill, voice-cracking screams erupted from the pipe opening:

"Old Ming, save us!!! Ants! It's all freaking ants!!!"

Flash and Miracle Walker burst out of the pipe like cats with their tails stepped on, scrambling and crawling.

Their faces were covered in mud and water.

And less than ten meters behind them—

*Boom!*

A black tide gushed out!

The buffalo-sized Queen Ant frantically smashed through the rusted iron grating at the edge of the pipe, leading over a hundred clicking giant Soldier Ants as it charged into the depression like an out-of-control bulldozer!

"Holy crap!!!"

On the vantage point, Liver Emperor shivered at the sight of the dense insect tide, nearly dropping the heavy crossbow in his hands.

"How did they lure out a whole swarm of these things! This isn't the 1v1 Boss fight we wanted! What's the plan?!"

"Steady! Don't fire and give away our position!" Ming Shen's heart was also pounding wildly, but he forced himself to stay calm.

"The plan hasn't changed! Let's see if they can lead these ants into that bone nest! It all depends on whether this aggro transfer works!"

At the bottom of the depression.

Flash and Walker felt like their lungs were about to burst from running.

"Quick! Over there!"

Miracle Walker pointed instinctively toward the bone cave several hundred meters away, which was emitting a powerful stench.

The two didn't dare look back, their legs churning as they sprinted toward the bone nest like two bolts of lightning.

They could even feel the foul wind generated by the massive mandibles of the Soldier Ants snapping in the air behind them!

Fifty meters! Thirty meters! Ten meters!

Just as the two were less than five meters from the entrance of the bone nest!

"Roar—!!!!"

From deep within the bone nest, an incredibly terrifying, sky-shaking roar filled with tyrannical energy suddenly erupted!

The roar was like a physical shockwave, causing the surrounding bone fragments to rattle and fall.

A nauseating scent of rotting flesh mixed with a strong smell of sulfur gushed out.

Then, a massive figure stepped out of the dark cave with a heavy thud!

It was a terrifying giant lizard, the size of a Jinbei van!

Its entire body was covered in grayish-black, rock-thick scales; its limbs were as thick as pillars, and its sharp claws easily plowed deep furrows into the hard ground.

Most terrifying of all were its blood-red eyes, which made one's scalp tingle just by looking at them.

"Holy shit..."

The sprinting Flash and Walker nearly ran headfirst into the nose of this behemoth.

The two were completely stunned as they looked at this monster, which was even larger than the Queen Ant and had acid dripping from its maw.

"What are you standing there for! Turn! Use the terrain to drop aggro and get out of combat!!!"

Ming Shen screamed from the heights, his voice cracking.

Flash and Walker snapped out of it, displaying the peak of human survival potential. Their right feet slammed into the ground to brake hard.

Then, with an incredibly bizarre ninety-degree turn, they dove frantically into a narrow rock crevice on the side of the depression that they had scouted beforehand!

Meanwhile, the red-eyed Queen Ant, having completely lost its mind in pursuit, had already charged to the entrance of the bone nest with its vast army of Soldier Ants.

"Roar!"

The Red-eyed Giant Lizard looked at this swarm of black insects that had suddenly invaded its territory and were practically stepping on its face; its already volatile temper was completely ignited.

In its logic of survival, this was an incredibly arrogant territorial provocation!

The giant lizard whipped its thick, bone-spiked tail, bringing a whistling gale as it smashed directly into the front of the ant swarm!

*Bam!*

Four or five Soldier Ants the size of dogs didn't even have time to scream before they were instantly crushed into a puddle of green meat and shell fragments by the terrifying brute force.

"Screeech—!"

The Queen Ant was completely enraged by this sudden strike.

Though its bloated body was clumsy, it commanded over a hundred Soldier Ants to launch a frantic counterattack against the giant lizard like a black tide.

The Soldier Ants brandished their massive mandibles, fearlessly biting into the giant lizard's grayish-black scales, creating a harsh grinding sound.

Some even crawled onto the lizard's back, attempting to bite its eyes.

The giant lizard roared in fury, its sharp claws shredding several Soldier Ants with every swipe, and its gaping maw bit ants clean in half.

The two factions of wild monsters engaged in a gruesome battle of flesh and blood in the center of the depression!

...

Inside the narrow rock crevice.

Flash and Miracle Walker squeezed into the crevice, watching the chaotic monster brawl outside, and both let out a long sigh of relief.

"Phew... we lived... I'm giving myself a perfect score for that limit-testing kiting!"

Flash wiped the cold sweat from his face and chuckled.

However, before he could finish catching his breath.

*Click-clack... click-clack...*

The hair-raising sound of arthropod legs crawling suddenly came from deep within the crevice beside them.

The two stiffly turned their heads.

They saw a dozen or so Soldier Ants that had charged too fast and failed to join the main force in besieging the giant lizard. They had now turned around, their crimson compound eyes fixed on the two hiding in the rock crevice.

This group of enraged mobs clearly hadn't forgotten who the real culprits were!

"Crap... we failed to drop aggro! A small wave of hatred is still stuck on us!" Miracle Walker's expression changed slightly.

In order to maximize their running speed, they had left all their weapons up above; they were essentially unarmed right now!

"Run! Run upward and regroup with Old Ming and the others!"

The two didn't have time to rest as they scrambled and climbed frantically up the steep rock crevice toward the vantage point.

"Quick! This way!"

Ming Shen's shout came from above.

By the time the two scrambled onto the black rock outcropping in a disheveled state, a dozen Soldier Ants were already clicking their way up the rock wall after them, their sharp mandibles glinting with a bloodthirsty chill in the sunlight.

"Damn it, being chased like dogs by a few mobs, I can't swallow this insult!"

Flash snatched up the greatsword he had left there earlier, his gaze instantly becoming incredibly fierce.

The four players regrouped.

Liver Emperor raised a heavy round shield covered in scrap iron with his left hand and held a short axe in his right, taking the front line.

Zanmei gripped a long spear, hiding behind the shield to look for openings.

Flash held his greatsword with both hands, standing on the flank.

Miracle Walker quickly retreated to the rear, drawing his bow until the string creaked.