Chapter 039 Thunder Law King

Xia Xinyan found her current thoughts rather strange.

Previously, she had been secretly jealous of Ling Mo, but now, as she watched him show a dominant side in front of others, she inexplicably felt a sense of pride, as if saying, “My boy has grown up!”

Perhaps this is the joy of nurturing?

Though it wasn’t entirely voluntary for her.

Nonetheless, it’s undeniable that she was somewhat enjoying it now.

It was quite interesting.

However, as a newbie, there were still some oversights in Ling Mo’s earlier analysis. For instance, regarding infection, they obviously forgot about the status bar…

Under normal circumstances, various positive and negative buffs would be displayed in the status bar, with explanations of the buff effects provided. Even states that players had never encountered before would be marked, which serves as a very intuitive explanation, significantly aiding players—besides understanding dungeon mechanics, it also lets players constantly be aware of their current status.

However, there are rare exceptions.

When a certain state is tied to the dungeon’s difficulty, it might not provide clear alerts, leaving players to discover it themselves. Xia Xinyan had encountered such situations in her past life, where some big shots on the leaderboard ended up failing miserably due to their excessive dependence on the status bar.

This can be seen as a roundabout test of on-the-spot adaptability.

Since they weren’t aware of this point right now, Xia Xinyan didn’t plan to give any reminders, thinking it might help hone their reaction skills, and the worst-case scenario that might occur was within her acceptance range.

As long as it’s not a sudden transformation or a non-player spawned virus, the game would provide players with enough time to save themselves—this time refers to the duration from when the player realizes they’re poisoned or infected to when they find the antidote, rather than from the moment they get poisoned, which is quite humane.

So Xia Xinyan wasn’t worried about the infection issue; she was more concerned about the trouble once the number of infected individuals in the city grew.

As for the others, it was clear they weren’t thinking this far ahead.

What they were most focused on now was the pressing issue—

The car’s front was smoking.

“Crap, crap, crap! The front of the car is smoking!” The fat guy was the first to call out, “This car won’t explode, will it?!”

Even Ling Mo couldn’t stay calm: “Did you guys notice the car is starting to shake?”

“Absolutely, you should have asked if you could even drive from the start,” the fat guy complained. “A perfectly good car just got wrecked because of you!”

“Can you blame me?!” Murong Yue immediately retorted. “Who told me to drive?!”

“Isn’t it because you’re sitting in the driver’s seat?! How was I to know you can fail your third driving test four times?!”

“Well, you didn’t ask! If your driving skills are that good, why didn’t you just come over and drive?! Is it fun to play armchair quarterback?!”

Ling Mo couldn’t take any more: “Alright, enough of the fuss. Let’s think of a way to handle this next.”

“Get out of the car,” the fat guy suggested first, “I’m afraid this car is going to blow up any minute.”

Murong Yue couldn’t help but mock: “Still a man, and you’re so timid? Have you ever seen a car engine smoke and explode in real life?”

“Don’t you know this is a game?” the fat guy immediately shot back, “Didn’t they say women are supposed to be smart? So why are you dropping the ball here?”

“You…” Murong Yue gritted her teeth, “You really are quick with words, huh?”

“Flattery, flattery,” the fat guy nodded.

Ling Mo observed alongside, feeling astonished.

He suddenly realized why this guy had always struggled to find a girlfriend in high school.

Xia Xinyan played the peacemaker, “I also think it’s better to find a place to exit. Even if it doesn’t explode, it’s more dangerous if the car breaks down halfway.”

Now that the streets were filled with infected, if the car broke down and they couldn’t find a safe hiding place quickly, they’d essentially be like a tin of instant noodles.

“Where can we get out?” Murong Yue instinctively echoed.

For some reason, she felt a bit scared of Xia Xinyan; although she seemed harmless, she always had the feeling that Xia Xinyan was quite dangerous.

Maybe it’s because of that message Xia Xinyan sent earlier?

“Let’s get out at the intersection ahead,” Xia Xinyan pointed to a nearby intersection.

They were already quite close to the destination’s research lab, just a block away, and the navigation indicated a narrow alley leading to the lab—exiting here was the best choice.

Ling Mo immediately grabbed his backpack to distribute weapons, but he was also cautious, only giving the fat guy and Murong Yue one handgun and a baton, and not many bullets: “We don’t have a lot of bullets; better save them.”

“That’s enough,” the fat guy was pretty satisfied, “If it comes down to it, I have my own means of self-defense.”

Hearing this, Ling Mo seemed to have thought of something and suddenly asked, “By the way, what abilities have you activated?”

Xia Xinyan had previously mentioned that the early matched players were on par in strength, meaning players in this dungeon should have all activated abilities.

He was curious about what abilities the others had.

The fat guy paused and then mysteriously smiled: “My ability? Oh, it’s incredible! Do you know what my current identity is?”

“Night shift worker?” Murong Yue interjected.

“Worker my foot! Don’t interrupt,” the fat guy clapped his hands, a bit smug, “I am now the Thunder Law King—just not very skilled yet.”

“Didn’t you say you were a night shift worker…” Murong Yue rolled her eyes, parked the car at the intersection Xia Xinyan mentioned, chambered the handgun, and tilted her head towards the others, “Ready to go?”

Xia Xinyan was the first to get out of the car: “Let’s go.”

Ling Mo opened the door and stepped out, moving to Xia Xinyan’s side as a qualified chivalrous gentleman, with the fat guy and Murong Yue following closely behind as they ran towards the narrow alley.

There were not many pedestrians here, making the danger relatively lower. The four of them passed through the alley smoothly and soon reached the entrance of the research lab, encountering a single red-faced tank on the way, which Ling Mo dispatched with a single shot.

The doors of the research lab were wide open, and there wasn’t a single person inside. The map in the hall showed that the main corridor led straight to the innermost research area, without any branches, making it very user-friendly.

However, the innermost research area was locked and required staff ID cards to access.

“What do we do?” After trying for a while and confirming the door wouldn’t budge, the fat guy turned to the other three and asked.

Ling Mo surveyed the surroundings, slightly frowning: “There should be ID cards inside. Don’t games typically follow this pattern? Let’s look for them.”

“Then it won’t be much fun… I was hoping this game would have some novelty,” the fat guy smacked his lips and turned towards the nearest room, “We’re going one by one, right? Then we’ll have to turn this place upside down to find…”

Before he could finish, the door to the room was suddenly flung open from the inside, and a female researcher rushed out, crashing directly into the fat guy’s arms.

Unfortunately, it didn’t budge him.