Hearing Lance, who was actually a few months older than him, call him “big brother,” all of Zhan Pingchuan’s pores dilated.
That moment’s impact, combined with the tugging sensation of his clothes being pulled, made him feel as if he wasn’t in a dark, enclosed underground city, but in a fragrant, spacious, bright wedding hall. Old Zhan was tremblingly walking toward him, eyes moist, gripping his hand, sighing, “My handsome, righteous, kind, brave, fearless, awesome, perfect son, from now on, my property belongs to you two!”
Given that there were still two teammates around, Zhan Pingchuan tried to control himself.
“Big brother is here.” He stared coolly at the movement overhead, taking the hand clutching his clothes and pulling Lance into his arms, not forgetting to tease lightly, “Tsk, little Lance is so sweet-mouthed today.”
From Tang Li and Liu Bo’s perspective, Zhan Pingchuan had almost embraced Lance, who was also exceptionally docile, nestling against him.
Liu Bo pretended to be blind, while Tang Li stiffly turned his face away.
At the same time, the cameras had already transmitted the captured footage to the Federation network in real-time. Members of various guilds with permissions successively entered the live broadcast room. They would observe the freshmen’s performance here, looking for promising talents.
System: VIP user [High Tower Guild] HomeHasMyDarling has entered the broadcast room.
System: VIP user [Ghost Eye Guild] NotBuyingBathroom has entered the broadcast room.
System: Switched to team Lance’s Sky perspective for VIP user [High Tower Guild] HomeHasMyDarling.
System: Switched to team Lance’s Sky perspective for VIP user [Ghost Eye Guild] NotBuyingBathroom.
……
[[High Tower Guild] HomeHasMyDarling: ???]
[[Ghost Eye Guild] NotBuyingBathroom: :)]
Taking advantage of the darkness, Lance didn’t deliberately suppress the corner of his lips, and even the slight trembling brought on by amusement could be explained as extreme nervousness.
“Is this what you call being sweet-mouthed?” Lance adjusted his emotions and asked softly.
Being so close, he could even feel the rise and fall of Zhan Pingchuan’s chest with each breath, and soon, their breathing frequencies overlapped.
Lance attributed it to humans’ subconscious desire to mimic.
“It depends on the person. What you say… I find quite sweet.” Zhan Pingchuan deliberately paused meaningfully midway through his sentence.
[[High Tower Guild] HomeHasMyDarling: !!!!!!!]
[[Ghost Eye Guild] NotBuyingBathroom: .]
[[Night Walker Guild] HandsBlue: Laughable. I say, can the two big brother guilds stop fighting whenever they meet?]
[[Galaxy Guild] Flora: Why the fighting as soon as I arrive? Someone fill me in on the background.]
[[Hera Guild] Hercules: No need to persuade them. I heard High Tower Guild just snatched a big client from Ghost Eye Guild, so they’re angry.]
[[Eternal Light Guild] Galaxy: Tsk, the corporate culture of you two is really deeply rooted. Your employees are squabbling here.]
[[Roman Guild] Chaos: I must say, the HR representatives from both sides today are quite lively.]
[[Ice Shard Guild] White Orchid Soldier: The big guilds are truly genuine in their emotions.]
Zhan Pingchuan wasn’t just focused on saying flirtatious words. As soon as he finished speaking, his fingertips, thin as silk threads, had already precisely and ruthlessly stabbed toward the direction of the flapping wings.
A shrill cry rang out, and a heavy object fell to the ground with a thud. It raised a cloud of dust, struggled and fluttered a couple of times, then completely stilled.
A strong, foul smell of blood quickly permeated the air.
“Aaaaaahhhhh, holy shit, what fell down!” Liu Bo screamed, jumping three feet high. He hadn’t even seen when Zhan Pingchuan had made his move.
Lance’s peripheral vision glanced at the ground, giving it a cool look.
Pouncer, E-level beast, with a piranha-like head but bat-like wings. They mostly appear in low-level underground cities that are cold and damp. Although their attack power is average, they excel in numbers. Generally, if one appears, it means a group is already waiting.
[[Night Walker Guild] HandsBlue: The lights aren’t even on yet, but it seems someone has already gotten a kill.]
[[Galaxy Guild] Flora: Pouncer, killed quite cleanly and neatly, but unfortunately couldn’t see what ability was used.]
[[Hera Guild] Hercules: Well, this Alpha is quite responsible, constantly protecting the Omega in his arms.]
[[Ghost Eye Guild] NotBuyingBathroom: ~~~]
[[High Tower Guild] HomeHasMyDarling: &#%%*#¥%!]
“Wait, listen!”
The crowd of nearly five hundred people instantly quieted down.
Rustle—rustle—
Suddenly, from the endless passage came the sound of a large number of creatures crawling. They occasionally collided with each other, stepping over each other’s bodies, swarming forward in groups, covering the sky and the ground.
Snap!
Suddenly, numerous oil lamps on both sides of the underground city walls lit up simultaneously. The firelight instantly illuminated the walls of the passage, revealing everyone’s either solemn or pale faces.
Before long, a smell of tar spread through the enclosed space, mixed with the beasts’ stench, particularly pungent.
No one knew where these lamps came from or who was filling them with oil.
Everyone finally squinted to avoid the strong light, and when they looked again, their scalps tingled and their blood ran cold.
“My God, what the hell is that! Is it a fish or a bird? How can there be such an ugly fish!!”
“It’s a Pouncer! My dad showed me before!”
“Pouncers often appear in groups, with tremendous reproductive ability. A single egg sac can produce over a hundred!”
“Damn, that’s disgusting!”
“Kill them quickly!”
“Hmph, making a fuss over nothing. Mere E-level beasts.”
Animal system A-level Awakened Ashlen’s arm quickly transformed into claws. Although he hadn’t yet learned a first-tier ability, his destructive power was at the A-level standard.
With one swipe of his claws, he directly cut three Pouncers into several pieces. The minced meat fell down with a patter, rolling to the tip of his shoe.
On the exposed stone wall, there were four deep, thick claw marks.
Ashlen beastified his other arm as well, swinging both arms, hissing continuously, carving a bloody path through the passage.
His score also rocketed up rapidly.
“Brother Lun is awesome!”
“As expected of an A-level, taking out three at once!”
“At this rate, Brother Lun will definitely be first!”
“Picking up the dropped [Pouncer Wings] for Brother Lun, they’re all his!”
The other Enhancement system A-level Awakened Tu Mo was stirred by competitive spirit. He closed his eyes, sank his breath to his dantian, and his joints made cracking sounds. Then, his limbs’ muscles bulged, instantly growing three times larger. His school uniform tightly constricted his body, looking like a ridiculous yoga suit.
He suddenly opened his eyes and swung a fist at the stone wall. Stone powder slid down through his fingers, and the entire passage seemed to have fallen onto a fault line, immediately shaking.
Those Pouncers clinging to the walls couldn’t withstand such a great tremor and fell down in a cascade. Tu Mo stepped on them like popping balloons, one foot for each. His score also chased closely behind Ashlen’s.
“Kill quickly, help Brother Mo get to first place!”
“Following Brother Mo is so convenient, just stab the ones on the ground and it’s done!”
Everyone started chopping and hacking. Although the Pouncers were low-level and gave few points, there were many to kill.
Ashlen and Tu Mo’s scores quickly soared to a different level.
Zhan Pingchuan actually wasn’t very interested in the 100,000 yuan and the Federation government internship opportunity. He was more curious about what trap Si Hongche had prepared for him to fall into. So while protecting Lance and the others, he didn’t go on a killing spree against the Pouncers.
Before long, Lance’s Sky team was dozens of points behind Ashlen and Tu Mo.
Lance didn’t care much about the 100,000 yuan, but the opportunity to intern at the Federation government was important. He wanted to find out Oliver’s purpose and the reason he wanted to die—this was the best opportunity.
Lance was very clear that he couldn’t display the White Pharaoh’s ruthlessness in front of everyone, so to win this competition, he had to rely on Zhan Pingchuan. But he could see that Zhan Pingchuan’s mind was clearly elsewhere.
He needed to provide some stimulation.
Another batch of Pouncers swarmed over. Lance pulled out the purple weapon [Black Mamba Fang] he had picked up in the Glacier Corpse Forest last time, bravely emerging from Zhan Pingchuan’s embrace.
He raised his finger, quickly brushing away the thin sweat on Zhan Pingchuan’s temple, and took a deep breath.
“Are you tired? Let me help. It’s okay if we don’t get first place.” Lance’s eyes were clear and innocent, full of understanding gentleness.
Zhan Pingchuan: “???”
[[High Tower Guild] HomeHasMyDarling: !!!!!!!!!!]
[[Night Walker Guild] HandsBlue: What’s wrong with the High Tower guy today? Why so agitated?]
##
(advanced chapters available on kofi)