Chapter 103
Chapter 103: Mutant Group +1 Point
“Not bad my ass—where the hell were you just now?”
The moment Li Hai Sheng heard Qian Qi’s voice, a fresh surge of fury crawled up his spine. He whipped around and lit into her. “Is your brain full of shit? Why didn’t you help me draw off a few magic beasts? What the fuck do I even keep you around for?”
Qian Qi scratched her head, looking wronged to her core. “Didn’t you say I should only move when we run into D-rank magic beasts? I thought E-rank didn’t need help! You should’ve made it clear! If you’d made it clear, I definitely would’ve helped you! You didn’t say anything, so I thought you didn’t need me! This is your fault—don’t blame me!”
Li Hai Sheng just stared.
One second.
Two.
Now he genuinely couldn’t tell whether Qian Qi was secretly brilliant or professionally stupid.
When she wanted money, she was sharp as a knife. The moment combat started, she turned into a farm animal.
“Don’t be mad.” Qian Qi patted his back with heartfelt sincerity. “Why get angry over little things? Later you’ll think about it and wonder why you bothered. If you get mad to death, who benefits? It drains your spirit and wastes your strength!”
Yeah. Great. Fantastic.
Please don’t die of rage yet.
She still needed him to “protect” her.
Li Hai Sheng sucked in a breath. Maybe it was the cramped darkness of the canyon, maybe it was the way his arms still trembled from fighting, but his temper was climbing a mountain. He wanted to put a fist through Qian Qi’s face.
He forced himself to breathe again. And again. And again—until the part of him that could think came back online.
“Next time we run into magic beasts—any rank—you get in the air and lure away half of them.”
His jaw clicked as he said it.
“Okay!” Qian Qi nodded so fast her ponytail nearly took off. “Don’t worry! This time I’ll definitely help you!”
“This time,” she said.
Not “next time.”
Li Hai Sheng didn’t catch it. He glanced at the bodies on the ground and muttered, “Move. Before more magic beasts show up.”
“Right, right!” Qian Qi fell into step. “Come on—this way.”
A few minutes later, Li Hai Sheng stopped dead.
A dozen E-rank magic beasts were waiting for them like a bad joke.
His mental defenses cracked. “Fuck—are you kidding me? Again?!”
“Yeah! We’re so unlucky!” Qian Qi echoed him in the most sympathetic tone imaginable, lips fighting not to curl upward. “Why do we keep running into magic beasts? This is awful!”
“Go. Lure them away.” Li Hai Sheng shoved her forward like he was tossing a problem into the trash.
“Okay!”
This time, Qian Qi actually committed. Backpack on, chin up, she charged the one-eyed magic rams. Right before she met them head-on, she grabbed one by the horn and shot straight into the air with it.
The ram bucked and thrashed, instantly drawing attention. Several others gave chase, their slender legs springing across jagged rock. They bounced off the cliff face in a string of terrifying leaps—then launched themselves toward Qian Qi in midair like the canyon had forgotten physics.
“Holy shit—!”
Qian Qi jerked System higher. “What is this, a mutant mountain goat? This canyon is practically vertical and they’re jump-flying!”
[You could just punch them once and be done.] System sounded thoroughly unwilling to be involved.
“No.”
Qian Qi twisted, dodging a snapping horn, and squinted down. Li Hai Sheng was hacking through the ones left behind, sweat flying, breath coming hard.
She held on.
Waited until he dropped the last of the rams below—
Then, still gripping the one in her hand, she dove toward him like a returning missile.
“Big Shot! You done yet? Kill these too! I’m about to fall out of the sky!”
Li Hai Sheng froze.
He blinked.
Then his face turned green.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?!” he roared. “Lure them away! Why did you bring them back?!”
“What—?” Qian Qi shouted. “The wind’s too loud! I can’t hear you—!”
Li Hai Sheng’s eye twitched so hard it looked painful.
The rams slammed in, and he had no choice but to keep fighting. He looked like he might cry purely out of spite.
Qian Qi hovered overhead and casually dropped the ram she’d been holding. “Big Shot—here’s one more!”
Li Hai Sheng barely dodged. If it had clipped him, he’d have been concussed by falling livestock. He looked up and screamed, “Are you a pig?! Fly higher and drop it hard enough to kill it!”
“Oh! Right! How did I not think of that? Aaah, I’m so, so sorry!”
Qian Qi clutched her face with both hands, mouth stretched wide, expression collapsing into theatrical misery. “I’m sorry! I’m really sorry! I was wrong! Don’t say that, I’ll be so sad!”
Li Hai Sheng didn’t even have words left.
System did.
System had exactly one number left.
[…6.]
By the time Li Hai Sheng finished the last ram, he dropped to the ground, panting like a dog run into the dirt.
Qian Qi landed beside him with a thud and panted too. “Ugh, I’m starving, Big Shot. Tired and hungry. Aren’t you hungry? Why don’t you go find something to eat?”
The grinding sound of teeth came from right next to her.
Li Hai Sheng’s voice went eerily calm. “What the fuck did you do to be tired?”
“Flying takes stamina too…” Qian Qi said, wide-eyed. “Look how weak I am. I’m working really hard not to drag you down, okay?”
Li Hai Sheng stared at her like he’d discovered a new species of problem.
Qian Qi’s tone suddenly turned serious. “Let’s go. The blood smell is too strong. We shouldn’t stay.”
Li Hai Sheng was too exhausted to argue. He stood and started forward.
Two steps in, he halted, remembered something, and shoved a hand out to stop Qian Qi from stepping ahead of him.
“This time, you follow me.”
He was starting to think Qian Qi was a walking jinx. Every time she led, magic beasts appeared like they had reservations.
Qian Qi puffed her cheeks and pouted at his back. Then she slapped on a sugary smile and said, “Sure. I’ll follow you.”
And this time—miraculously—they didn’t run into anything.
They walked most of the day. The light faded, and down in the canyon, darkness thickened until it was nearly impossible to see a hand in front of your face. Qian Qi’s flashlight became the only reason they didn’t walk straight into a rock wall.
“Big Shot,” she whined, dragging her feet, “I’m so sleepy. I’m hungry. And I’m tired.”
Li Hai Sheng tested the area with practiced caution. After a long pause, he nodded. “Fine. It’s safe enough. No mountain wind. If we make a fire, we shouldn’t get sick sleeping here.”
Then he started giving orders like he’d been born in the wilderness. “Go up and find burnable wood.”
“Wow, you really know what you’re doing!” Qian Qi beamed. She hopped onto System and flew upward.
She gathered an armful of firewood—
Then flew in the exact opposite direction from where they’d come.
[We’re not going back?] System asked.
“What’s the rush?” Qian Qi sighed theatrically, hugging the wood. “Sigh, my fault. It’s too dark, the flashlight died, and I got lost. Guess we’ll have to wait for daylight to find our way back~”
System went quiet.
Then it spoke with the exhausted dignity of a being that had seen too much.
[…6.]
Somewhere below, Li Hai Sheng waited obediently beside a cold fire ring, fully convinced Qian Qi would return.