Chapter 203 Once Away from Ling Mo, the Act Drops

Xia Xinyan’s guess was similar to Ling Mo’s; this game seemed fond of forcing players to advance the story through such means. While this trope was quite clichéd, it was indeed effective.

They really had no way out now, did they?

However, the choice to forcibly separate them through an explosion surprised Xia Xinyan a bit. Thinking back, the dungeon likely intended for players to split into small groups from the very start, and here they were, gathering six or seven people, violating that rule.

This speculation made sense. After all, while the explosion was powerful, it hadn’t inflicted much harm on them. The shockwave was mostly absorbed by the floor, and they were merely suffering from secondary damage due to the collapse. For them, who could be considered superhumans at this point, it wasn’t a major issue.

So after some preparation, everyone quickly regained their best condition.

The three of them explored the area for a while, and their findings were much like what Ling Mo had said earlier: the way back was completely blocked by stone slabs, with only a narrow gap leading to the stairs that hadn’t been fully destroyed yet.

However, this staircase had also become a dangerous zone. Countless cracks had appeared around it, with piles of rubble forcibly dividing the staircase into two paths—likely a maneuver to separate them.

Given the state of the staircase, forcing a way through to reunite wasn’t a wise choice; it might lead to a secondary collapse. Even if they managed to meet up, who knew if the game system would come up with new tricks to split them again?

Thinking this way, it seemed safer to go separate ways.

As Xia Xinyan and the others ventured forward, the area around the Spire became lively at some point. Explosions and gunfire rang out throughout the tower; it seemed other teams had begun their assault, and the occasional tremor from the floor made everyone feel as if the tower could collapse at any moment, heightening their anxiety.

Gaotian later called Xia Xinyan and the others, mentioning that his team members were severely injured and had withdrawn from the operation. However, Gaotian planned to lead them alone to continue the mission, as he was the only one who knew how to breach the internal control center upon reaching the core area.

Before that, they needed to clear a path to the top core area, and currently, the tower had activated its full anti-intrusion protocols, posing dangers everywhere. So Gaotian reminded them repeatedly to be cautious.

It was just like those AI teammates in online games who mysteriously log off at crucial moments.

Interestingly, when Xia Jincang tried to call other players with his phone, the communication system showed it was unavailable. He tried several times, all yielding the same result, cutting off the only means of communication between players. This left Xia Jincang showing a puzzled expression.

This situation made him feel a bit like being in a type of prisoner’s dilemma.

Perhaps Ling Mo realized this early on, which was why he gave Xia Xinyan a walkie-talkie despite having phones.

Cunning boy.

Xia Jincang felt something was off with his mindset right now—he was well aware it was because his sister was here, but he couldn’t change that.

Even the strongest have their weaknesses, and his weakness might be his only younger sister. Whenever she was around, most of his attention was focused on her, making him easy to overlook the various information points in the dungeon. If he was in his usual state, Ling Mo wouldn’t have had the chance to show off in front of him.

Damn it, the more he thought about it, the more upset he became.

While he was lost in thought, the trio had just passed through a conference room when they encountered a group of silver cylindrical robots. They looked rather cute, but were made less interesting by the chainsaws, rifles, and rockets adorning their sides.

Xia Jincang immediately shielded Xia Xinyan behind him. “Be careful, just stay here. I’ll handle this…”

Before he could finish his sentence, he suddenly sensed a gust of wind beside him. In the next moment, Xia Xinyan appeared before the swarm of robots, slicing the frontmost one in half with her tail.

Xia Jincang: “…”

“Cough, since your sister doesn’t need protecting, would you mind protecting me instead?” Murong Yue sidled up behind him with a smile.

Xia Jincang gave her a complex look for a moment and tossed out, “Stay here,” before directly charging into the robot crowd.

“Okay!” Murong Yue obediently sat down right where she was, pulling out a cup of milk tea from her spatial watch.

Chilling is nice…

What a show!

On the other side, Xia Jincang’s emotions grew increasingly complicated.

—He suddenly realized that his sister was stronger than him.

Even if he completely didn’t want to admit it, he had to say that his sister was really stronger than him.

By quite a bit.

Whether it was reflexes, intensity of attacks, speed, or combat intuition, these differences could be felt in just a single battle, with Xinyan weaving through the robots exuding the aura of a killing machine—wherever she passed, there wouldn’t be a single intact robot left.

But her appearance didn’t instill any fear; rather, there was a grace and beauty to her movements, like a cat on the hunt.

In terms of physical combat strength, his sister was undoubtedly the strongest existence he’d ever seen!

This battle also completely shattered the image he’d held of his sister as delicate and in need of protection.

It even made him question if this was really the sister he knew?

This moment of distraction was abruptly shattered by a gust of wind that slapped him in the face.

Before him was the robot, gradually sliding down after being sliced in half.

It was the last enemy.

Standing before him, Xia Xinyan calmly swished her tail. “Spacing out while fighting? What were you thinking?”

Xia Jincang snapped out of it, looking at his sister’s impressive form, he promptly tossed aside that doubt and laughed, “I didn’t expect my sister to be so powerful! Almost stronger than me! I was just taken aback for a moment and sort of dazed.”

As expected of my sister! So good at gaming!

Xia Xinyan narrowed her eyes slightly. “What do you mean almost stronger? I’m already stronger than you. You can’t beat me.”

Xia Jincang: “…”

Though he knew that was true, did he need to be so shameless?

“Forget it, let’s keep moving.” Xia Xinyan tilted her head toward Murong Yue, who was drinking milk tea in the back. “By the way, are you planning to just keep slacking off?”

“You guys can handle it, right?” Murong Yue shrugged. “And you know my abilities are special, I’m more valuable on the frontline, right?”

“I know you can activate your abilities multiple times in a short period to maintain peak fighting power.”

“…How do you know?”

“Now I do.”

“…”

This woman’s sweetness in front of Ling Mo was clearly all an act!

Just away from Ling Mo, and the mask drops, huh?

   

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