The dungeon ceiling cracked open like an eggshell.
Sunlight and city noise flooded in from above. Screams and car horns echoed from the streets of Jianghai City.
Lin Fan's stomach wound throbbed painfully as he stared upward.
"Shit… it really broke."
Bai Yuling stood beside him, still holding the pack of wet wipes like a precious treasure. Her silver hair fluttered from the sudden gust of wind.
"Master, there are people up there," she said quietly, her voice regaining some of its noble tone. "Many people."
Zhantian Jian's voice rang urgently in Lin Fan's mind.
"Host! This is a righteous cause! We must protect the innocent! Draw me and charge forth!"
Lin Fan clicked his tongue. "Easy for you to say. I'm still bleeding and my only fighter thinks monsters are walking biohazards."
He grabbed the glowing Abyssal Core that had dropped from the Ogre and shoved it into his inventory.
[Ding! You have obtained 1 Abyssal Core.]
At least something good came out of this mess.
The hole above widened. Dozens of smaller monsters — goblins, slimes, and wolf-like creatures — started pouring out into the busy downtown street.
Panic erupted instantly.
"Monsters! Dungeon Break!"
"Run! Call the Hunter Association!"
Lin Fan climbed out of the collapsing dungeon with great difficulty, Bai Yuling following closely behind him like a worried maid.
The moment they emerged onto the street, chaos greeted them.
Cars were abandoned. People were running in every direction. A few low-rank Hunters were already trying to hold the line, but they were clearly overwhelmed.
A giant green slime suddenly lunged toward a group of screaming office workers.
Bai Yuling saw the slime and froze.
Her face turned ghostly white.
"That… that thing is translucent! I can see everything inside it! The digested remains… the acid… it's disgusting!"
She took three steps back, almost hiding behind Lin Fan again.
Lin Fan's headache intensified.
"Yuling! People are going to die!"
"But Master… it's wet and gooey and—" She shuddered violently. "I can't! I just can't touch it!"
One of the low-rank Hunters nearby spotted them and shouted desperately, "Hey! You two! Help us! That girl looks strong, get her to fight!"
Lin Fan wanted to laugh bitterly.
Strong? Yes. Willing? Absolutely not.
The giant slime was getting closer to the civilians.
Lin Fan made a quick decision. He pointed at the slime and yelled loud enough for Bai Yuling to hear clearly:
"Yuling! If that slime explodes, its goo will splash everywhere! It'll get on your dress, your hair, your shoes — everything!"
Bai Yuling's eyes widened in pure terror.
"No… not the goo…"
Her aura exploded.
Freezing sword intent surged around her like a storm. The temperature around the street dropped several degrees.
She moved like lightning.
In the blink of an eye, she appeared above the giant slime and slashed downward with her palm.
A crescent of ice sword qi sliced the monster cleanly in half.
The slime froze solid mid-air before shattering into harmless ice crystals that rained down like snow.
The civilians who had been running stopped and stared in awe.
"W-who is she?!"
"So strong!"
"She's beautiful too…"
Bai Yuling landed gracefully, but the moment her feet touched the ground, she noticed tiny ice shards mixed with leftover slime residue on the hem of her dress again.
Her expression crumbled.
"Eek—!! It touched me again!"
She started hopping from one foot to the other, frantically brushing her dress while making distressed noises.
The onlookers were stunned into silence.
Lin Fan facepalmed so hard his palm left a red mark.
Zhantian Jian laughed loudly in his head. "Hahaha! The Fairy of the Frozen Heavens is afraid of a little slime juice? How adorable! In my day—"
"Old man, I swear I'm going to melt you down into scrap if you don't shut up," Lin Fan growled through gritted teeth.
A new system notification flashed.
[Ding! Bai Yuling has entered 'Panic Cleaning Mode'. All stats temporarily increased by 300%. Rational thinking decreased by 80%.]
Lin Fan sighed deeply.
This was going to be his life now.
Before he could say anything else, a loud voice boomed from the other end of the street.
"Well, well. What do we have here?"
A group of well-equipped Hunters walked over confidently. Leading them was a tall young man in expensive black armor, Rank B aura radiating from him.
He looked at Lin Fan with clear disdain, then shifted his gaze to Bai Yuling, who was still frantically cleaning her dress.
"An F-Rank trash dragging around a beautiful bodyguard? How pathetic," the young man sneered. "Miss, why waste your time with this weakling? Join my party. I can offer you proper protection and much better pay."
Bai Yuling stopped cleaning for a moment and looked at the young man with pure confusion.
"Bodyguard? Me?" She tilted her head. "I belong to Master Lin Fan. No one else."
The young master laughed. "Master? That loser? Don't joke around, beauty. Come with me. I'll—"
He never finished the sentence.
Because Bai Yuling suddenly pointed at him with a disgusted expression.
"Your armor… there's dust on it. And… is that sweat stain near your collar? How filthy."
The young master's face turned bright red from embarrassment and anger.
"You—!"
Lin Fan couldn't help but smirk despite the pain.
Before the situation could escalate further, the ground shook again.
A much larger shadow emerged from the dungeon hole.
The real threat of the Dungeon Break had finally arrived — a C-Rank Elite Boss, a massive two-headed serpent covered in poisonous mucus.
It roared loudly, spraying acidic saliva everywhere.
Bai Yuling took one look at the dripping, slimy serpent and let out the loudest scream of the day.
"MASTER!!! It's super wet and disgusting!!! Save meeee!!!"
She literally hid behind Lin Fan, clutching his torn shirt like a scared kitten.
The young master and his party froze, jaws dropped.
The civilians stared in utter disbelief.
Lin Fan looked at the incoming boss monster, then at the SSR waifu currently using him as a human shield, and finally at the growing crowd recording everything with their phones.
He took a slow, exhausted breath and muttered under his breath,
"…My life is never going to be normal again."
The two-headed serpent opened its mouths wide, ready to strike.