In the underground cave, the battle turned into a drawn-out fight. The fire ape was good at fighting. It moved up and down the walls like it was a flat surface, and there was no observable rhythm to the leaps and jumps that it took all over the room. The beast was fast and cunning, making it incredibly hard to read. The space within the entire cave was its three-dimensional battlefield, but in contrast, there was not much space the players could utilize to their advantage. If not for the firearms that Xiao Tan and Laughing Soul possessed, they would have been caught in a close-quarter combat with this dangerous fire ape.
“This is not going well. We have wasted plenty of ammunition, but we have not done much damage to that monster.” Laughing Soul turned her body sideways to speak to Xiao Tan. “I am afraid before we exhaust it, we will have exhausted our bullets.”
Xiao Tan was standing perpendicularly from Laughing Soul, forming a defensive guard that warded against the fire ape, which could jump out at them from any angle. After hearing Laughing Soul, he replied, “I have an idea.”
“Speak,” Laughing Soul said.
“I will drink a potion to fully recover my Life Points,” Xiao Tan explained. “Then I will put the gun away to engage in close-quarter combat with it to see who will appear victorious.”
Laughing Soul turned to glance at him. “Isn’t that obvious? The monster will beat you without wasting time on this meaningless battle.”
“That might not be the case. I have made my observation,” Xiao Tan said. “The monster’s expertise is its speed, but it has a very common offensive stat. Even though the fact that its body is wreathed in fire will pose some trouble, think of it this way… that does not mean that it will have a great defensive state. It can only mean that the attacker will take some damage when attacking it in close quarters.”
Xiao Tan really put his plan into action. He put the rifle away and took out his main close-quarter weapon instead, the Damascus Dagger.
“After abandoning the gun and focusing on close quarter combat… I should be able to follow up to its speed,” Xiao Tan said. “As long as I can touch it, I can use Bee’s Sting to slowly exhaust its Life Points. That is better than us wasting our bullets.”
“If you want to do something like that, I am afraid I am unable to support you,” Laughing Soul said. “With my shooting capability, facing this kind of high-speed target, my hit rate is less than thirty percent. And I have to avoid harming you while you are caught in close-quarter combat with it. That will be incredibly hard…”
“There is no need for that. I can handle this myself.” Xiao Tan cut her off. “If I feel there is a danger that I might be killed, or I cannot win the fight with it, I will run back to this place. At that time, you can fire to cover my escape. That’ll give me time to recover and take a break.”
“Okay, just be careful…” Laughing Soul indeed could not come up with a better plan than that, so she could only allow Xiao Tan to give it a try. After all, Laughing Soul’s fighting mastery was still at Level E. When facing an agile mini-boss, unless there was someone in her team that had a crowd control skill, she could only do some cover shot.
“Understood.” As Xiao Tan replied, he tossed back a full Life Points Recovery Potion.
At the same time, the fire ape roared again and suddenly materialized behind one of the rocks to initiate another round of attack. This ambush was aimed at Xiao Tan and gave the latter the opening he needed to put his plan into action. Xiao Tan did not take the fire ape’s claw head on but turned his body to the side to narrowly sidestep the ambush.
When the fire ape brushed past him, he used the short dagger in his grasp to poke forward, and he managed to graze the monster’s skin. His title skill, Bee’s Sting, applied the stated bleeding effect, and it started to apply its use from that moment onward.
Actually, when Xiao Tan said that he could keep up with the monster’s speed, the young man was being humble. After a series of observation and testing, he was confident that he could keep up with the monster’s speed, and that was why he could come up with the idea that he would face the monster alone.
The reason he had purposely made it sound like he was not confident was because… he was in consideration of Laughing Soul’s headstrong personality, and he wanted to take care of her pride. Furthermore, he rather enjoyed the feeling of someone being worried about him.
“Hiss!” After the fire ape was injured by the skill, it became very angry. With a roar, it leaped toward Xiao Tan again. There was a reason this monster was categorized as a speed type. The stun that it received after it was attacked was very short, and the counterattack came very swiftly.
With a twist of its head and a rush of its feet, two palms came flying forward. This was yet another dangerous skill. Or rather… this skill from the fire ape had the impression of a martial artist. The skill had basis in kung fu, and the fiery air that burst out from the palms was as powerful as the palm strikes of an expert martial artist.
Facing this surprise attack, Xiao Tan did not panic. He maintained his defensive stance and nudged back several steps to easily weave out of the danger. Xiao Tan was never one to lose his footing. Under normal circumstances, he was one who could hold his temper and focus very well. He had an inhuman level of patience. Unless he was spooked by things that he was very scared of, without the perfect opening, he was not one to launch an attack that freely and without planning. Whenever he struck, it could only mean that his opponent had revealed an opening.
Even though the fire ape was menacing and dangerous, it was just a monster and thus had limited intelligence. After it was injured by Xiao Tan and missed its counterattack, it became agitated. Its bestial nature fueled its anger, and it rushed forward, lashing it fiery claws madly and inordinately about. Seeing the mad rush from the fire ape, Xiao Tan did not retreat but charged forward. He had already noticed that the fire ape had a weakness—its chest was exposed whenever it raised its claws. So, the young man arched his body downward and slashed with his short danger. When he brushed past the fire ape, he not only managed to injure the fire ape, he managed to apply a second layer of the bleeding effect from Bee’s Sting.
After these two attacks, Xiao Tan had lost fourteen percent of his Stamina Points from using his two skills. Thankfully, the loss to his Life Points was so small that it was negligible. He would lose one percent of Life Points every two seconds whenever he was in close distance with the fire ape. When he retreated about one meter away from the monster, the damage would cease and stop.
On the fire ape’s side, even though it did not receive any huge direct damage, the bleeding effect had a double stack. As a speed-type mini boss, it did not have many Life Points. Before starting the close-quarter fight, it had lost a chunk of Life Points from being grazed by the bullets. With the double stack of bleeding effect that would last for two minutes, it was clear that the duel had been decided. What Xiao Tan needed to do was maintain his patience. While ensuring he did not receive any fatal damage, he would continue to lure the fire ape to persist with its attack, and that way, the bleeding effect would have a greater effect on the monster. However, at that moment, to everyone’s surprise, the fire ape decided to give up his aggression on Xiao Tan. It made a sudden turn and rushed toward Laughing Soul.
The monster also realized that Xiao Tan had quite a high speed, and continuing its chase would be a waste of time. It knew that even if it was exhausted from the battle, the young man might survive unscathed. Therefore, it changed tact and turned to another target. Even if that exposed it to a higher degree of bleeding, at least it had a chance of taking down one of its adversaries with it.
Seeing the fire ape rush at her with the intention of not holding back, Laughing Soul naturally did not sit idly, waiting for the monster to arrive. She turned and hid around the corner between two large rocks. She hurriedly squeezed herself into the wall. That way, the fire ape would have to charge at her from the front, limiting its aggression to a single direction.
When the monster came from that one angle, the MP5 in Laughing Soul’s hands had already started to spit bullets. Using the geographical advantage, about seventy percent of the bullets made contact with the target.
After Laughing Soul finished an entire magazine, there were about twenty news bullet holes in the fire ape’s body. Blood leaked out from them like waterfall, but this was not enough to stop its movement. Since it had decided to sacrifice its life for this attack, it was not going to stop as long as it still had a breath in it.
With one last mighty roar from the fire ape, the ruby-like face started to glow red. Then the fire ape turned around, and the tail lunged forward like a fire whip. The red gem at the end of the tail shot forward like a red cannon ball, heading directly for Laughing Soul’s chest.
Laughing Soul’s position could limit the opponent’s direction of attack, but at the same time, it put her at a disadvantage. There was a limited space that she could maneuver. She did not expect the monster to take the blanket fire from the rifle head on and sacrifice its life to make this one last attack. If she had known that, she would have swapped for a sniper rifle. Even though it would be a mid-distance shot, if the fire ape was shot by a sniper rifle, even if it survived the shot, it would at least have been incapacitated from losing a limb.
Realizing that the tail was about to hit her, there was nothing Laughing Soul could do but raise her arms to block it. She prayed in her heart that she had enough Life Points left to handle such a heavy blow.
With a whipping sound, a blast of fiery wind slashed past Laughing Soul’s face. At the last moment, the fire ape’s attack missed its target.
Laughing Soul’s watery big eyes stared ahead. She looked at the scene before her with a face filled with disbelief.
A glint of cold steel peeked out from the fire ape’s throat. At that moment, standing behind the fire ape was a figure wearing an assassin’s outfit. He was standing close, practically leaning against the burning body. A steady hand plunged a short dagger accurately and perfectly into the monster’s neck, resisting the scorch from the fire ape’s skin. The hand tightened, and the dagger was shoved through the fire ape’s throat. With a thud, the fire ape fell forward, and then Laughing Soul was given a full view of Xiao Tan, who was standing right behind the monster.
As it turned out, when the monster was about to use its tail swipe, Xiao Tan had already rushed to stand inches behind it. Ignoring the burn damage that he would receive from getting too close to the ape’s body, in that second, he was like a cold-eyed butcher. Perhaps it was his medical knowledge shining through, or perhaps his innate assassin’s talent was awakened at that moment. In that precious moment, Xiao Tan’s eyes accurately captured the one and most lethal weak point on the fire ape’s body. The puncture through the spine caused the lash of the fire ape’s tail to stray from its trajectory. With inertia pushing it forward, just as it was about to puncture Laughing Soul’s chest, the tail swiped slightly to the side.
“Ouch… Ouch ouch ouch ouch… Hot… hot!” Just as the monster crumbled, Xiao Tan reverted to his usual dumb self. His reaction was as if he was holding a potato fresh out of the oven. He tossed the short dagger back and forth between his two hands. Since the blade was a heat conductor, its body grew hot from the fire ape’s body, and Xiao Tan found it increasingly difficult to hold. Laughing Soul walked forward and lowered her head to glance at the monster’s body. Then she raised her head and used the barrel of the MP5 to point at Xiao Tan—because Laughing Soul had attached the flashlight to the body of the gun. With the light shining on the young man’s face, she said, “I’m surprised that you are quite reliable at the most crucial moment.”
“It was nothing… I was just lucky, yes, it was pure luck…” Xiao Tan was being humble on his lips only, but the truth was clear on his face. The smile that bloomed on his face could not have been brighter. He scratched behind his head with one hand and added shyly, “I am not as good as you say.”
While the two chatted, the body of the fire ape soon burned to ash. The only thing that remained of it was the red gem that was previously attached to the end of its tail.
“This should be one of the pieces of the stone slabs we have to find,” Xiao Tan said as he bent down to pick up the glittering gem. Since the monsters in Thriller Paradise would not drop any kind of equipment, so even Xiao Tan knew that there was an eighty percent chance that this was some kind of quest item.
The gem was quite hot, and Xiao Tan almost dropped it again. After touching the player’s hands, the red crystalline gem swiftly transmuted into a white light and changed its shape. Once the white light dispersed, the red gem had turned into the shape of a magatama, looking like it was the half of a Tai Chi Bagua.
———
Name: Stone Slab (Yang)
Item Type: Quest Item
Quality: Normal
Function: Placing it in the stone door with the Stone Slab (Yin) will cause the stone door to open.
Can be taken out of the scenario: No
Remark: As a key, this thing’s shape and operating mechanism is truly hard to understand.
———
After obtaining the stone slab, Xiao Tan and Laughing Soul explored the stone cave some more to see if they had missed out on some things to prevent the need for a return to this place later. And they were lucky enough to find something. In the gap between a few stalactites, Laughing Soul found a consumable item.
———
Name: Stone Crystal
Item Type: Consumable
Quality: Normal
Function: Recover fifty percent of the player’s Life Points and will increase the Life Points recovery rate for a certain period.
Can be taken out of the scenario: Yes
Remark: The recovery rate will not be influenced by the stacking effect from the overconsumption of Life Points Recovery Potions.
———
This item should be the system’s compensation for the players, it was equal to the recovery items that would normally be present after the players successfully killed a boss. Obviously, the system also thought that there was some price to pay to kill the fire ape. It was either the exhaustion of Life Points or some other resources. In any case, the fire ape was not going to be taken down so easily. But for the two ’rich players’ who were present, they were never lacking such recovery consumables. It was good that they had found one, but it would not have mattered if they did not. If they needed, they would not have felt anything even if they purchased ten or even a hundred Life Point Recovery Potions.
What? Where would they find the inventory to store so many potions? Easy, they could purchase more inventory slots.
Laughing Soul passed the Stone Crystal directly to Xiao Tan. After all, it was the latter who did the most to deal with the fire ape. He not only used a potion and even burned through quite a few Life Points to save her from the fire ape. Xiao Tan did not deny the offer. The two took a tour around the cave and then returned from the path they came.
Several minutes later, they reached the junction again. This time, they took the path that led to the right. The tunnel was not long. The length was symmetrical to the tunnel on the opposite side. Five minutes later, the tunnel opened to another cave again. This cave was not large, and it was in an oval shape.
Under the reflection of the light, the walls around them shone in a turquoise halo. There was a pool in the middle of the cave, and there was a thin ring of land around the pool where one could stand.
When the two stood at the edge of the pool, they could feel the chill rising from the pool. It was clear that the temperature of the pool water was incredibly low. They did not see anything valuable in sight. Therefore, the Yin Stone Slab was most possibly resting at the bottom of the pool.
Xiao Tan squatted down and used his finger to poke at the surface of the water. He quickly pulled his hand back from the intense chill. “Wow… This must be what they call close to freezing point but not yet frozen.”
“I’ll go,” Laughing Soul said as she tied the flashlight to her outfit. Her special agent apparel had many functions. The areas around the shoulders and legs had button-like and hook-like contraptions that could be used to attach small things.
“Hey… it’s really cold,” Xiao Tan reminded.
“It’s fine.” She used her hand to cup the water and splash it on her face and neck. Even though her expression remained unchanged, she was thinking, This is so damn cold…
“You cannot use firearms underwater, so if you’re in any danger, quickly swim back up to the surface,” Xiao Tan reminded in a concerned know.
“I know,” Laughing Soul replied with impatience.
“How about this? If you haven’t come up for air in three minutes…” Xiao Tan was cut off before he could finish.
“Shut up!” Laughing Soul turned to glare at him. Then she took a full breath, got into a starting sprint, and leaped into the water. The cold water enveloped her. She resisted the pain and forced her eyes open, but her vision was hazy. The flashlight provided enough light to light up the immediate space before her. Nevertheless, she gritted her teeth to try her best to swim downward.
Even though laughing Soul looked like a smiling and happy go-lucky girl normally, she was very stubborn and headstrong. She refused to admit defeat to the idiot by the shore. The reason she had volunteered to jump into the water was simple—since he had suffered through the burn for her, she had to suffer the chill to salvage the item.
For a person wearing normal clothes, they could only stand several short minutes in near-freezing water, and this was when they were motionless in water. In reality, the numbness, loss of movement, fear, and blind struggle caused by low temperature would kill most far earlier than that.
Therefore, Laughing Soul’s choice was very dangerous. Xiao Tan was at least a doctor. He had this kind of knowledge, so he had repeatedly given her reminders, but the latter did not accept it. If anything, she felt like she had been looked down upon. Time slowly passed, and each second felt immeasurably long.
One minute… Two minutes…
Five minutes were about to pass. Even one who was very good at swimming would have to surface to catch their breath now. Although one would not faint from drowning in-game, one’s Life Points would deplete. Xiao Tan could not wait any longer. He lay down by the shore. Pressing down the miner hat with one hand, his other hand holding the ground, he closed his eyes and plunged his head under the water. He had no idea how far he could see, but he had to at least try.
But just as Xiao Tan was about to open his eyes underwater, Laughing Soul surfaced not far away from him. Because Xiao Tan had placed his entire head underwater, he did not hear the movement next to him. Laughing Soul crawled up to the shore rather haphazardly. With the quest item in her inventory, she sighed in relief when she caught her breath.
She slicked the hair that stuck to her forehead and face back. When she saw the idiot who had his head in the water, she could not help but laugh.
At that moment, even though Laughing Soul’s face was pale from the cold, the whiteness highlighted her crystal-clear skin and added to her beauty. Unfortunately, Xiao Tan was not there to witness that beautiful smile and the rosy hue that surfaced on her cheeks.
Several seconds later, there was another splash as Xiao Tan was kicked into the water. He swam to the surface with a frown and turned to look at the shore. “Eh? When did you appear behind me?”
“Found the item, let’s go,” Laughing Soul said as she moved away.
“Huh? Why did you kick me into the water?”
“Sigh… Such a helpless little idiot.” Laughing Soul snickered to herself. She ignored the young man and continued on her way.
“Hey, wait for me!”