In the dim underground cavern, the air hung thick like a pot of unrendered lard.
Stalactites dripped from above, occasionally releasing droplets of icy water that struck the stone below with crisp "plink" sounds.
Yin Mingtao walked in the center of the group.
Ahead was a disposable pawn holding a battered shield, followed by several trusted aides armed with spears, sandwiching him and Yu Weiwei securely in the middle.
"Keep your eyes peeled, all of you!" Yin Mingtao hissed, his raspy voice echoing through the empty tunnel, grating on everyone's nerves.
"This place is damned unnatural."
"Where are those scouts who went ahead earlier? Why is there no sound from them?"
Yu Weiwei hunched her shoulders, her originally revealing low-cut outfit now covered by a windbreaker she'd scavenged from somewhere.
"Poison Master... could they have been...?" She made a throat-slitting gesture.
Yin Mingtao's eyelid twitched as he backhanded her across the face.
"Smack!"
"Shut your crow's mouth!"
"Are you trying to make everyone desert faster?"
Yu Weiwei covered her cheek, tears welling in her eyes but not daring to make a sound.
The current Yin Mingtao was like a frightened mad dog, biting anyone within reach.
Just as the group crept forward like startled birds...
From a crevice dozens of meters high in the rock wall above,
Four pairs of eyes watched coldly through tactical visors equipped with optical camouflage.
Qin Yu crunched on a piece of compressed biscuit.
"Tch."
"These guys are really unlucky."
He pointed at the winding, endless maze of branching paths below.
"This Mist Ruins looks like an underground city, but it's actually a massive underwater labyrinth."
"And one with mist-induced hallucinogenic effects at that."
Yao Xue adjusted her tactical goggles, data streams cascading before her eyes.
"According to the sonar mapping we just received,"
"The structure of this instance is extremely complex."
"Like a giant ant nest."
Her fingers traced through the air, summoning a virtual map visible only to the four of them.
"The entire 'Mist Ruins' spans over a thousand nautical miles."
"The system has set up ten entrances to distribute the player load."
"Each entrance corresponds to a specific sea area."
Yao Xue pointed at the marker labeled '3'.
"Our area 9527, combined with several merged adjacent zones, covers too vast a maritime territory but only has this single No. 3 entrance."
"Which means,"
"Whether we like it or not,"
"If we want to enter this instance, we have to go through this same gate."
Li Ruobing listened with partial understanding, a lollipop dangling from her mouth.
"So you're saying..."
"It's not that idiot Zhang Nanhai predicted we'd come here."
"Nor are we specifically trying to ambush them."
"But rather the system has herded us all to the same pigpen entrance?"
Qin Yu nodded, swallowing the last of his biscuit.
"Exactly."
"This is what they call 'enemies often cross paths.'"
"Thousands of kilometers of ocean, and only this one dog hole to enter through."
"They want to set up an ambush here—logically, it makes sense."
"Unfortunately for them."
"They didn't account for the fact that the tiger they're trying to ambush is actually a T-Rex."
Yao Qian clung to Qin Yu's back, her small feet swinging playfully.
"Yu-ge, Yu-ge, what do we do now?"
"There are three branching paths down there."
"If they choose the wrong one, do we have to follow them into it?"
Qin Yu watched Yin Mingtao hesitating at the crossroads below, a faint smile curling at the corners of his mouth.
"This is exactly why I spared their lives."
"Scouting paths—high risk, low reward."
"Of course, we leave that to the professional 'cannon fodder'."
...
Below.
At the three-way crossroads.
Thick white mist billowed from the three cave openings, like three giant mouths exhaling smoke rings.
From the left cave, the faint sound of flowing water could be heard.
The middle cave was deathly silent.
From the right cave, occasional, almost imperceptible scraping sounds drifted out.
Yin Mingtao stood at the junction, the cold sweat on his forehead nearly dried up.
He glanced back at the two hundred people behind him.
Every face was etched with "I don't want to die."
"You!"
Yin Mingtao pointed at a man who looked relatively sturdy.
"Check the left path!"
The man's face turned pale, his legs trembling.
"P-Poison Master... I have a wife and children at home..."
"Pfft!"
A green toxic arrow shot from a poison canister, striking the man's thigh with precision.
"Ahhh—!!!"
The man let out a piercing scream.
His thigh muscle visibly blackened and rotted, emitting a nauseating stench.
"Go, or die?"
Yin Mingtao's voice was as cold as a serpent's hiss.
"If you go, you have a fifty-fifty chance of living."
"If you don't, I'll turn you into a puddle of pus right now."
The man writhed in agony, snot and tears smearing his face.
"I'll go! I'll go!"
Dragging his half-rotted leg, he howled and crawled toward the left cave.
Everyone else fell deathly silent.
This was the apocalypse.
Human life was cheaper than grass.
The man crawled into the left cave, his figure quickly swallowed by the mist.
One minute.
Two minutes.
Suddenly.
"Gurgle—"
A strange, muffled sound echoed.
Followed by.
A grating, teeth-grinding chewing noise.
"Crunch... crunch..."
As if bones were being crushed.
But not a single scream was heard.
Yin Mingtao's face changed, and he took a sharp step back.
"Left path is blocked!"
"There's something in there!"
"Next!"
He pointed at a scrawny young man.
"Go to the middle!"
The young man was so terrified he wet his pants on the spot, but under the threat of the poison, he could only wail and charge into the middle cave.
This time.
There was no sound at all.
No screams, no chewing.
Like a drop of water merging into the ocean.
Ten minutes passed.
The young man did not return.
Yin Mingtao's expression grew increasingly grim.
The fear of the unknown tormented more than direct death.
"Damn it!"
"Useless trash!"
Just as he was about to forcibly pick a third person.
From the right cave.
Something suddenly rolled out.
"Clatter—"
It rolled to a stop at Yin Mingtao's feet.
In the faint glow of fluorescence.
Everyone could see clearly.
It was a skull.
But this skull was somewhat peculiar.
The skull had been neatly pried open, completely hollow inside as if something had scooped out and eaten the brains.
"Ah!!!"
Yu Weiwei screamed in terror, clinging tightly to a burly man beside her.
Yin Mingtao's eyes, however, lit up.
He crouched down, fighting back nausea as he examined the skull.
"The cut is smooth."
"The bone has already weathered."
"This means there's air circulation in the cave, and no large monsters that directly swallow people whole."
He stood up and waved his staff.
"Take the right path!"
"Since there are human remains, it means people have been here before!"
"Fortune favors the bold!"
"Charge!"
Though filled with trepidation, the group had no choice but to steel themselves and follow.
Over two hundred people filed into the right cave entrance like a long serpent.
...
Only after the last person disappeared did Qin Yu and the others drop down from the rock wall.
They landed without a sound.
The battle suit's built-in cushioning system perfectly absorbed all impact force.
Qin Yu walked over to the skull and kicked it aside.
"Brains are useful."
"Too bad Yin Mingtao doesn't have any."
Li Ruobing approached curiously and asked:
"Brother Yu, how did you know he chose wrong?"
Qin Yu pointed to the right cave entrance.
"Look at the dust on the ground."
"That skull didn't roll out."
"It was kicked out by something."
"Moreover."
Qin Yu activated the battle suit's [Biological Scan] mode.
The rock walls around the right cave entrance were densely covered with countless heat sources the size of red beans.
"The things in there."
"Outnumber what's in the left cave by thousands of times."
"He thinks no sound means it's safe?"
"Those little things are just sleeping."
Yao Xue glanced at the data and her expression shifted slightly.
"They're 'Bloodthirsty Flying Ants'."
"Grade A social creatures."
"Individual combat power is only 5, but once awakened, tens of thousands attack together."
"They can reduce an elephant to bones in three seconds."
"Their saliva has a nerve-paralyzing effect."
"Victims won't feel any pain until they die."
Yao Qian shrank her neck in fear.
"Eww—how disgusting."
"Does that mean Yin Mingtao and his group are doomed?"
Qin Yu shook his head.
"Probably not completely wiped out."
"That old fox Yin Mingtao's poison jars aren't just for show either."
"Perfect."
"Let him help us clear out these ants."
"Let's go."
"Stay close, don't fall behind."
"The show is about to begin."
...
Deep in the right cave.
The further they went, the stronger the strange fishy-sweet smell became.
As Yin Mingtao walked, he felt something sticky under his feet.
He looked down.
The ground was covered with a thick, carpet-like dark red substance.
It felt soft and stringy when stepped on.
"Everyone be careful!"
"Don't touch the cave walls!"
His words barely faded.
A subordinate at the rear of the group, slipping on the slick ground, instinctively reached out to steady himself against the wall.
Squish.
His hand pressed into something soft.
The subordinate froze.
Before he could react.
The "soft" mass suddenly split open.
Revealing a mouthpiece filled with dense, sharp teeth.
Then.
A pair of compound eyes.
Red.
Like two rubies saturated with blood.
"Sreeeee——!!!"
A sharp screech instantly shattered the cave's silence.
The sound was like pouring cold water into boiling oil.
Whoosh—
The cave walls came alive.
Countless "stones" peeled off, unfolding transparent wings.
Dense red lights ignited in the darkness.
They were tens of thousands of palm-sized flying ants!
"Holy shit!"
"Ants! They're all ants!"
"Run!!"
The crowd instantly erupted into chaos.
The overwhelming buzzing sound made everyone's scalp crawl.
The swarm of flying ants surged toward the crowd like a black tornado.
"Ahhh!!!"
The underling who had been leaning against the wall moments before was instantly covered by over a dozen flying ants.
He only managed to let out a brief scream.
His entire body began dissolving as if doused in sulfuric acid.
Clothes, skin, muscle...
Everything melted away in seconds.
In less than five seconds.
A blood-stained skeleton clattered to the ground in pieces.
"Burn them! Light the fires!"
Zhang Nanhai's remaining underlings frantically waved their torches.
But against such overwhelming numbers, the torches were nearly useless.
For every pile burned, dozens more swarmed forward.
"Help! Poison Master, save us!"
"Don't bite me! Please don't bite me!"
Screams echoed one after another.
This wasn't a battle.
It was a feeding frenzy.
A one-sided slaughter.
Yin Mingtao was also terrified by the scene.
Several flying ants broke through the defense line, heading straight for his face.
Their sharp mandibles still carried fragments of flesh from previous victims.
"Get away!"
Yin Mingtao was ruthless after all.
At this life-or-death moment, he yanked a trusted subordinate in front of him as a shield.
Thump thump thump!
The subordinate was instantly turned into a sieve.
Seizing this opportunity, Yin Mingtao tore the largest poison canister from his waist.
His ultimate lifesaving treasure.
[Quasi-S-grade Item: Sea Poison Canister (Mother Canister)]
"Die, you bastards!!!"
He smashed the canister onto the ground.
Bang!
The container shattered.
A cloud of smoke, not green but pitch black like ink, exploded outward.
The black smoke seemed alive, instantly expanding to fill the entire passage.
Sizzle—
Wherever the black smoke passed.
The Bloodthirsty Flying Ants reacted like flies hit with insecticide.
Their wings withered instantly, bodies stiffened, and they rained down with a clatter.
Within mere seconds.
The ground was covered with a thick layer of ant corpses.
The black smoke continued spreading.
Even the fungal growth on the cave walls corroded with sizzling sounds.
"Huff... huff..."
Yin Mingtao gasped for breath.
His face was pale from overexerting his mental energy.
But this move.
Had indeed controlled the situation.
The previously dense insect swarm was cleared from a large area.
The remaining flying ants seemed to sense the deadliness of the poison smoke, hovering in the distance, not daring to approach.
"Go!"
"Now! Move!"
Yin Mingtao roared.
The survivors scrambled over their companions' bones and ant corpses, desperately charging deeper into the cave.
Of the original two hundred-plus people.
Nearly half had been lost in this wave.
The air was thick with the smell of blood, poison, and excrement.
This was the Mist Ruins.
This was just the appetizer of an S-grade dungeon.
...
After the group had fled in disarray.
Qin Yu and his companions emerged unhurriedly.
Qin Yu frowned disdainfully at the carpet of insect corpses.
"What a waste."
"These are all high-protein."
He walked toward the area most densely covered with ant carcasses.
The black nano battle suit automatically activated [Air Filtration] and [Environmental Isolation].
The black smoke that could instantly kill an ox was like ordinary haze before him.
"Ruo Bing."
Qin Yu kicked a glittering object at his feet.
It was material dropped after the Flying Ant King's death.
[A-grade Material: Bloodthirsty Ant Queen's Poison Sac]
"Collect it."
"It'll be useful for making poison arrows later."
Though disgusted, Li Ruobing moved swiftly.
Taking out a specially designed sealed bag, she gathered all the valuable items on the ground as if picking up trash.
"Brother Yu, that old guy is quite fierce."
"He wiped out such a large ant colony in an instant."
Qin Yu gazed at the dark cave entrance in the distance.
"Fierce?"
"He's burning through his reserves."
"But that's fine."
"If he were too weak, how could he help us deal with the big one later?"
"The first maze node isn't far ahead."
"There's a gatekeeping BOSS there."
"If I'm not mistaken."
"It should be a tough nut to crack."
Qin Yu snapped his fingers.
"Let's go."
"See what other surprises our 'Engineer Corps' can bring us."
The four figures flickered.
Vanishing once again into the darkness.
...
Half an hour later.
Yin Mingtao led the remaining hundred or so battered survivors out of that damned insect tunnel.
The view suddenly opened up.
It was a massive circular plaza.
Twelve enormous stone pillars stood around the plaza, each carved with ferocious Sea beast reliefs.
In the center of the plaza.
Stood a tightly shut bronze gate.
There was no keyhole on the door.
Only a massive, sunken palm print.
And before the gate.
Crouched a colossal figure.
It was a five-meter-tall stone statue.
Bull-headed, human-bodied, holding a rusted giant axe.
It sat completely still, like an inanimate object.
But everyone present could feel an overwhelming murderous aura.
"Is this... the exit?"
Yu Weiwei looked at the bronze gate, a glimmer of hope returning to her eyes.
"If we open that gate, will there be treasure chests?"
Yin Mingtao remained silent.
He stared intently at the statue.
His intuition told him this thing was trouble.
"Go check it out."
He pointed at two subordinates carrying spears.
The two approached trembling.
One step.
Two steps.
Just as they were ten meters away from the statue.
"Crack—"
A crisp sound of grinding stone.
The statue's eye sockets.
Originally dull stone eyeballs.
Suddenly ignited with two eerie green flames.
"ROAR—!!!"
An ear-splitting roar.
The statue had come to life!
It abruptly stood up, dust cascading from its body.
The rusted giant axe was lifted single-handedly.
With a whooshing wind sound.
It swept horizontally!
"Run!!!"
The two subordinates hadn't even time to turn around.
"Thud! Thud!"
Two dull impacts.
Like a flyswatter hitting mosquitoes.
The two were directly smashed into pulp by the several-ton heavy giant axe.
Blood splattered across the bronze gate.
The palm print seemed to glow faintly.
"BOSS!"
"It's the gatekeeping BOSS!"
Yin Mingtao felt despair.
Out of the frying pan and into the fire.
This statue was made entirely of stone - his poison would be useless!
"Poison Master! What do we do?!"
Someone cried out in panic.
The stone statue took heavy steps, each one shaking the ground violently.
It raised its giant axe and unleashed a chaotic whirlwind upon the crowd.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Debris flew everywhere, flesh and blood splattered.
This was utterly unwinnable.
Even Yin Mingtao could only flee in disarray at this moment.
Meanwhile, on the crossbeam of the square's dome.
Qin Yu sat there, holding a telescope.
Watching with great interest.
"Tsk tsk."
"[Guardian Gargoyle], S-class Elite Monster."
"Extremely high physical defense, magic immune."
Qin Yu put down the telescope.
Watching Yin Mingtao being chased around like a dog below.
"Seems he won't make it through this level."
Li Ruobing had already drawn her laser cutter.
The blade humming ominously.
"Yu-ge, I can't take it anymore."
"That big guy looks way too punchable."
"I'm going to chop it to pieces!"
This time Qin Yu didn't stop her.
He could see it clearly now.
Yin Mingtao and his crew were just bullies who preyed on the weak.
When faced with real tough opponents, they were nothing but cannon fodder.
Moreover.
He had already figured out the activation condition for that bronze gate.
"Alright."
Qin Yu stood up.
The black battle suit's faceplate clicked shut.
Streamlined muscle contours bulged beneath the suit.
"Ruo Bing, you handle aggro control."
"Yao Xue, target its joints when you get the chance."
"Yao Qian, provide covering fire."
"I'll take the final blow."
Qin Yu's voice carried a hint of long-absent excitement.
"As for Yin Mingtao and his crew..."
He glanced down at the poison master who was preparing to push his own comrades into harm's way.
"Might as well."
"Bury them along with it."
"Since they're useless now."
"No point keeping them around."
"Boom!"
Four black figures descended like four dark meteors.
Plummeting straight toward the arrogant gargoyle's battlefield!
"Who's there?!"
Yin Mingtao, who was fleeing for his life, looked up abruptly.
Only to see four black soles of feet.
Rapidly enlarging in his pupils.
"SMASH!!!"